The Loa of Side Quests, and more Midnight lore

This week Joe and Eric were joined by Liz, and it was a great opportunity to begin discussing the abundance of Loa we've had in Midnight so far. Our cohosts discussed some of the ins and outs of becoming a Loa, and talked about what they thought they might be the Loa of one day, since none of them were nepo babied into the situation. After that they moved into Harandar and its relationship to the Emerald Dream, and how that figures in to the Rift of Aln and the World Soul.Then, they wrapped up with a discussion on revamped zones, and which ones we'd like to see in the future. While Northrend is in the offing, our hosts have some ideas on other zones they'd like to see updated. Personally, I'm rooting for the Exodar.If you want even more background story, we also have a guide to every Warcraft book in chronological order (for those of you who prefer reading that way).If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We love answering your questions, especially when it lets us don our tinfoil hat. Our first question this week was relatively straightforward: If you were to run a WoW TTRPG for a Horde campaign and an Alliance campaign, what would it be? With three hosts, there were six varied answers. We move from there to conflict among the Titans, and why some all-powerful beings might clash. Speaking of all-powerful, then we talk about the counterplay of the Light and the Void -- and the Naaru. Part of it is how the two forces interact, based on some of the earlier vignettes from the first few expansions of WoW. And how do all those forces relate to another magic force we've seen coursing inherently through all creatures through a few different expansions: Anima?It is a tin foil hat good time on this week's Lore Watch.If you want even more background story, we also have a guide to every Warcraft book in chronological order (for those of you who prefer reading that way).If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week our usual crew of Joe, Matt, and Eric was joined by Liz to discuss William Gibson's novel Neuromancer. This 1984 novel was foundational to the cyberpunk genre in many ways, from establishing the grittiness of the setting all the way down to shaping the way this genre looks and feels across different types of media. The crew discuss themes through Neuromancer which are also inherent through a lot of cyberpunk media now, like the idea of what makes a person, and whether an AI could ever have personhood. They also discuss how older tech can affect our modern reading of futuristic media -- if you've never seen a payphone, you probably have no idea how eerie a bank of them ringing all at once would be, but then Gibson would have no way of knowing where payphone tech ended up today.It's a great conversation on a foundational work of sci-fi, and if you haven't picked it up, Joe has some suggestions as to where to get it online while still benefitting your local book store.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We thank our listeners and patrons for giving us another round of great questions, which we summarily answered and used as a diving board directly into the deep end of tin foil hat theories and speculation. First, who was the elf Xal'atath is currently using for a body? While we do have a pithy answer to this identity courtesy of a particular quest line, there's also a broader lore implication in terms of who this poor erstwhile High Elf once was. Another listener wanted to know what kind of humanoid form Azeroth will have, and specifically suggests it may be a Troll. Trolls were one of the progenitor races of Azeroth, so is it possible they were formed in her likeness? This leads us into a discussion of the races of Azeroth and how they may have evolved over the centuries -- and who may have been pressing a thumb on that evolutionary scale.If you want even more background story, we also have a guide to every Warcraft book in chronological order (for those of you who prefer reading that way).If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our readers dutifully sent in questions, and our three hosts -- Joe, Matt, and Eric -- gave them all the answers they could want, and more. They start off with a discussion on the music of WoW, spurred by the inclusion of Player Housing decor, and how Taurens all got drums. It evolves from there, to discuss how the themes present within in-game music mirror real life music characteristics. Then, they pivot to more Void vs Light in a continuation from last week, and how those forces might shape both the world we play in, and Anduin and how his characterization may continue forward. The last question involves the discussion of source influences on WoW, from Arthurian Legend through Tolkien, and then we come back to music. However, now the topic is basically the soundtrack to Stranger Things.If you want even more background story, we also have a guide to every Warcraft book in chronological order (for those of you who prefer reading that way).If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our listeners had a lot of questions for the Lore Watch crew this week, and they all center on Midnight, specifically the role of the Void and Old Gods. Is there another forgotten Old God waiting in the wings? Will all the Old Gods come back to wreak havoc during The Last Titan?Perhaps most tantalizingly in light of the events to come, with all this Void power at her command, what exactly is the prize Xal'atath is here to seek?If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we make our way into the Midnight prepatch and beyond, Matt, Joe, and Eric take the opportunity to recap the lore of The War Within. In case you missed it -- or maybe missed some of the signs leading up to it, or through it -- we have the story. It starts with a literal bang, and the destruction of Dalaran. The implications of that, from how it affects the plot all the way to how it affects the way the writers can shape the story forward, set the stage for all the The War Within, and perhaps beyond as we make our way back into Silvermoon City in Midnight, and then Northrend in The Last Titan. We'll talk about the hijinks of Xal'atath, and why the heck we ended up in Undermine, anyway.All those detours and more on this episode of Lore Watch!If you want even more background story, we also have a guide to every Warcraft book in chronological order (for those of you who prefer reading that way).If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Joe is joined by our writer Eric O'Dea to discuss Blood Ties, the newest WoW novel. The events of Blood Tieshappen between the end of The War Within but just before Midnight -- basically when we are right now. As such, there will be spoilers for both Blood Ties and a little bit of what we know happens in Midnight.Joe and Eric point out various details they found particularly effective, and things they wished we had more of in other contexts. A fun little dinner party with lots of expository dialogue is a treat, for instance. But there's a lot of ground to cover, and Eric and Joe have a lot to say!If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Joe and Matt are answering another listener question, this time concerning Paladins, and how they serve as an intersection between the divine Light, and the Titans who shaped Azeroth. As you might imagine, the answer will span the cosmos, and go completely off the rails in the process. Paladins in particular serve as a mash-up between some Light power and Titanic power -- does that mean a Titan of the Void could occur? There's a lot of ground to cover, some of which will take us into Midnight and what may happen as we start to make our way toward the final act of this trilogy.But you can count on one thing: an Odyn mention means he gets called a jerk again. We don't make the rules.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week by special listener request, Matt and Joe are delving into Icewind Dale -- perhaps literally, because it involves the iconic character Drizzt Do'Urden, the Drow Ranger. Icewind Dale began simply as a region in Dungeons and Dragons, and then became the title of a series of three novels penned by R. A. Salvatore, with the first published in 1988 and the last in 1990, and then a video game in 2000 set in the region. As such, there is a ton of lore to discuss, including its roots, which begin -- like almost every work in modern fantasy fiction -- back with Tolkien, and its use as a setting in D&D. Join us as we discuss one of the most beloved series in the D&D oeuvre.If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.