World of Warcraft

I have always loved Blizzard’s cinematics. Back when I first played Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos as a pre-pubescent boy, the cinematics that opened and/or closed the various campaigns in single-player mode really jumped out at me. They were always so exciting and dynamic: a dream sequence of the Alliance and Horde rushing into battle with one another; the prince of Lordaeron killing his own father with a corrupted sword; two orcs squaring off against a massive demon in a scarred canyon. And the animation seemed so photorealistic, especially compared to the early Pixar films I had seen, which tend to be a bit more stylised. Surely, I thought back then, computer animation couldn’t get any better than it was in those Warcraft III cinematics.

The Warcraft franchise started in 1994 with Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, a high-fantasy real-time strategy game. While the game featured only three crude cinematics (an introductory one, plus one each for victory and defeat), the success of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans guaranteed its sequel, and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness brought with it almost eight minutes of cinematics. Though still quite simple by today’s standards, these pieces represented a breakthrough for Blizzard, with each cinematic not only setting the scene but also driving the story at key moments and rewarding players for hours of dedication. In a game that takes a top-down perspective of the map, cinematics offered an opportunity to better immerse the player in the world of Azeroth.

The artistic style of Warcraft has always been bold and exaggerated, with splashy colours and over-the-top proportions that stress oversized shoulder pads and massive weapons. Early on, these elements helped define each character when viewed from above. Faithfully translating the world of Azeroth and its heroes into a more realistic space wasn’t easy. In those early days, each member of the Blizzard cinematics team was a generalist – one person, for example, might be tasked with doing an entire scene alone, starting from a storyboard. The team weren’t seasoned filmmakers yet; they were simply young, hungry artists passionate about pushing Warcraft’s story forward and bringing its fantasy world to life for players. By Warcraft III‘s debut in 2002, the cinematics team had settled on a style now lovingly referred to at Blizzard as ‘hyperrealism.’

Recently, I played Warcraft III: Reforged, a remastered edition of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne. Compared to Blizzard’s more recent output, the cinematics I once thought could never be topped are now showing their age, but in this remastered version, they have received a resolution upgrade (one of them has even been completely recreated) and remain very fun to watch. I’m going to go through each of the cinematics in the game, reveal some behind-the-scenes information, and even, in some cases, try to find their in-game counterparts in World of Warcraft itself.

The Prophecy

Warcraft III‘s opening cinematic, which also doubled as the game’s original trailer, was revealed (along with the game itself) at the European Computer Trade Show in September 1999. This cinematic is the only one from Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos that was completely redone for Warcraft III: Reforged, and so most of the screenshots you’ll see here are from the updated version.

The Prophecy depicts the age-old battle between orcs and humans – the bitter feud that has defined the franchise thus far. A tattered banner blows in the wind as a human footman and an orc grunt fight to the death beneath a grey, tumultuous sky. The characters are recognisable to anyone familiar with the Warcraft series, with the armour-clad footman and the hulking grunt retaining the same silhouettes as their in-game models. But as their fight rages on, a burning green meteor streaks through the sky above and crashes onto the battlefield, erupting into flames and molten rock. From the crater, a towering Infernal emerges – a demon made of living stone, bound together by green fel energy. By now, the footman and the grunt have stopped fighting one another and look at the looming demon, aware that this new arrival is something far beyond their conflict. The massive Infernal roars, and the scene cuts to the bodies of the footman and the grunt bleeding out in a pool of water.

This cinematic was originally envisioned as a smaller piece depicting a group of orcs sitting around a campfire, only to be attacked by footmen. But after a discussion between Chris Metzen (the game’s creative director) and the cinematics department, the concept evolved into something similar to the final version. The team initially planned to show only close-ups of the footman’s and grunt’s arms and weapons during the fight scene at the beginning of the cinematic, but the scope of the project grew over time as the developers became increasingly passionate about it.

Even though it doesn’t contain a single spoken word, The Prophecy still tells players that Warcraft III, unlike previous games in the franchise, is no longer just about humans vs orcs. It shows that a new, greater threat is coming, and that the Alliance and the Horde must set aside their battles if they are to avoid annihilation.

Thrall’s Vision

This cinematic is the opening to the prologue campaign, Exodus of the Horde. From a story perspective, it presents a series of images that form a vision given to Thrall by a mysterious Prophet. The cinematic has a lot of reds and oranges, including a blue-orange sky, to convey a detached, dream-like feeling. The images ‘build up a sense of urgency’, according to Chris Metzen, culminating in a battle between humans and orcs – a resurgence of the conflict between the two factions. However, their conflict is interrupted by the arrival of the Burning Legion…

We discover much later in the Warcraft III campaign that the Prophet is actually Medivh, the Last Guardian. Though he was killed in Karazhan many years earlier, he has returned to the world to help humans and orcs get over their differences so they can save the world from the even greater threat that is coming to consume them all, as hinted by the Infernals raining down on the mortal armies towards the end of the cinematic.

The foreboding vision seen in this cinematic is a glimpse into a possible future. It is likely not supposed to be a literal depiction of any future event, but rather a representation of the escalating conflict between the Horde and the Alliance, and the ultimate threat posed by the Burning Legion. It serves as a warning from Medivh, highlighting the need for Thrall to heed his advice in order to avert the catastrophic outcome shown in the vision. 

Oh, and according to Nick Carpenter, former Vice President of Art & Cinematic Development for Blizzard Entertainment, who helped create this cinematic, there is a Zerg hydralisk from Starcraft hidden somewhere within the charging orc army. Try as I might, I couldn’t find it. Has anyone else been more successful?

The Warning

In the opening cinematic of the human campaign, a raven flies over a series of disparate landscapes, seemingly travelling an immense distance, before arriving in Lordaeron’s Capital City. Here, King Terenas is having a meeting with various Alliance ambassadors, discussing problems such as the orc uprising in southern Lordaeron and a new, mysterious plague that has emerged in the north. The raven flies into the Throne Room and reveals itself to be the Prophet (aka Medivh) in disguise. Having already approached Thrall and the orcs, Medivh now tries to warn King Terenas that humanity is in peril, telling him to lead his people west to the lands of Kalimdor.

Terenas does not pay heed to the Prophet’s warnings, although, to be fair to him, Medivh does sound a bit like a rambling madman. For a start, his warnings are extremely vague – he hints that there is something much bigger at stake, but he doesn’t even mention the Scourge or the Burning Legion. If I were King Terenas, I would probably have had Medivh thrown out as well. In any case, Medivh leaves, determined to find another who will listen to him.

The Throne Room was particularly challenging to render due to its immense size and minute details. Blizzard initially attempted to incorporate textures, but the tools they used did not allow them to achieve the level of realism they sought. Consequently, they decided to model every single brick, which clogged their render farm but yielded incredible detail.

Whereas the previous cinematic had incorporated bright, dream-like, almost surreal colours, Nick Carpenter chose to use a lot of blues and purples in this cinematic to make the Throne Room a colder, more hostile environment, especially for Medivh. Everything is somewhat glossed out, making the room look stark and austere. And, coincidentally, this helped the animators with King Terenas’s skin. The cinematics team had been having trouble making him look realistic, especially in close-up shots, but once they started adding cooler colours, it helped hide some of the imperfections in his skin.

Arthas’ Betrayal

To cap off the human campaign, there is a cinematic that features King Terenas’s son, Prince Arthas, returning home to the Capital City from a horrific campaign in Northrend fighting the undead Scourge. But, as anyone who has played the campaign missions will know, Arthas essentially sold his soul in order to defeat the dreadlord Mal’Ganis, and he has now become a tool for his enemies to bring the kingdom of Lordaeron to ruin. So even though, at the beginning of this cinematic, there’s an upbeat, almost joyous tone – the sun is shining, trumpets are blaring, and rose petals are being thrown for the returning prince – there is also an underlying sense of unease; something is not quite right here. For a start, Arthas remains hooded, keeping his face shadowed.

I thought I would try something a little different for this cinematic. I decided to log in to World of Warcraft to try and see the locations depicted in the movie. That meant heading over to the Ruins of Lordaeron in the Tirisfal Glades. Humans no longer dwell here, but the old ruins of the capital still stand under the ragged banner of the Forsaken. The opening shot in the cinematic shows the bells of Lordaeron ringing to herald the victorious return of Prince Arthas, so the first thing I did was check if this bell tower is in-game.

And indeed it is. Unsurprisingly, it’s in a state of disrepair now; the roof has partially caved in, and one of the bells has fallen to the floor below. What is particularly neat is that the game developers have made sure that the pattern on this fallen bell more or less matches the design on the bell seen in the cinematic.

Returning to the cinematic, here we see Arthas and his men walking through the bell tower as seen from above.

And this is what the same view looks like in-game. It’s a pretty good match, I would say. Quite a bit of the wall design is similar, and chains hang down from the ceiling, just like in the movie. The flooring is a little off, though. As you can see from the cinematic, there’s a flagstone path that goes through the bell tower, which doesn’t appear in World of Warcraft.

Next, Arthas and his men walk over the drawbridge to reach the Keep.

Again, it’s a decent match in World of Warcraft. The drawbridge has a similar metal design, although due to the relatively low poly count in-game (especially at launch), it’s nowhere near as detailed as seen in the cinematic. The stone pillars flanking the bridge, with the metal bowls on top (for lighting fires?), are visible in both depictions. The moat in the Ruins of Lordaeron is now a slimy green, though that’s due to events that occurred after Warcraft III.

The only issue with this depiction is that, if we assume Arthas’ journey through the Capital City in the cinematic is taking place chronologically, it doesn’t make much sense in World of Warcraft, because the bridge seen above comes before the belltower that he has seemingly just walked through.

In this scene in the cinematic, Arthas walks past a large stone statue in an alcove as he heads for the Royal Chamber. Bright, warm tones convey the joyous and victorious atmosphere surrounding his return to the Capital. But this jubilant welcome parade for the returning prince takes a sinister turn when Arthas reveals his altered allegiance and new look – white hair, gaunt features, and the black armour of the undead army.

Exploring the Ruins of Lordaeron, I soon found the statue from the cinematic. It’s a bit different when you look at it closely, but it’s definitely supposed to be the same one. The columns of brick on either side of the statue can be seen, and the plants clinging to the walls are even represented in-game, although by now they are dried and withered. The rose petals that the people of Lordaeron showered Arthas with can also be seen in World of Warcraft, still littering the stone walkway.

Arthas continues to the Throne Room to be greeted by his father, the king. Arthas draws out his new sword, Frostmourne, and kneels. The runeblade whispers to the fallen prince. The men that accompanied Arthas through the city – actually death knights now loyal to the Scourge – confront and kill the Alliance guards in the room, while Arthas plunges Frostmourne into his father’s chest. The king’s crown falls from his head, bloody and broken, and rolls across the floor. If anyone was in any doubt, Arthas has truly gone over to the dark side.

The Throne Room in World of Warcraft is a pretty accurate recreation. Note the arched doors, the long, blue, elegant curtains, and the balconies where the various ambassadors stood in the earlier cinematic, The Warning. The design of the throne itself is also a good match, as is the pattern in the centre of the room. It’s clear that the game developers paid close attention to the Warcraft III movies when designing this part of the world.

And that’s not all. If you look closely, you’ll even notice traces of King Terenas’s blood still staining the stone floor, from where his bloody crown fell from his head. If you turn the sound up and listen carefully, you may hear echoes of time whispering to you the brutal occurrences of that fateful day. That’s because, in creating the ambient music for the Ruins of Lordaeron, the sound team wanted to achieve a haunting experience that harkened back to Warcraft III. So, as you enter the ruins through the gates and see the giant bell on the ground, players will hear the sound of corrupt, almost ghostly bells ringing in the distance. Heading down the walkway with statues to the side, you can faintly hear the crowd chanting and slowly turning into zombies. And if you stand in the Throne Room for a while, you will start to hear actual pieces from the cinematic in Warcraft III, up to the point where Arthas kills his own father. It’s one of the best callbacks in the entire game.

The Destruction of Dalaran

In this cinematic, Archimonde the Defiler – a huge demonlord who is one of the main leaders of the Burning Legion – emerges from the Twisting Nether and overlooks the wizard’s city of Dalaran. He draws a sigil on the ground that corresponds with the layout of the magical city. His intent here is to very creatively wipe Dalaran out using a powerful spell.

The demonlord takes a handful of sand and spills it over the sigil. The shape of Dalaran rises from the ground in sand. Archimonde then reaches through one of the sand towers and crushes it. In the distance, a real tower crumbles and falls. Archimonde destroys the remaining sand buildings, and Dalaran is heard collapsing in the background. This cinematic was originally planned to show Infernals smashing the towers of Dalaran, but Chris Metzen considered a sand simulacrum more creative than just blatant destruction.

The Death of Hellscream

The orc campaign ends with a cinematic showing Thrall and Grom Hellscream searching for the pit lord Mannoroth in a dark, demon-scarred canyon. We learn during the course of Warcraft III that the orcs have been cursed with a bloodlust for years – the result of them drinking the volatile blood of Mannoroth back when they lived on Draenor, before Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. This is why they were so aggressive and savage during their invasion of Azeroth. But now that they have discovered where the bloodlust came from, Thrall and Grom have come to face Mannoroth and try to put an end to their curse.

They soon find Mannoroth lurking within the canyon. Thrall throws the Doomhammer at him, but the pit lord simply blocks it with his wing. Mannoroth then charges towards the two orcs, throwing Thrall aside and knocking him unconscious. Grom leaps at Mannoroth and buries his mighty axe, Gorehowl, into the demon’s chest. Letting forth a roar of agony, Mannoroth explodes in a fury of fire and light, and Hellscream is badly injured in the blast. He lives long enough to see the blood haze lift and to feel the demon’s corruption leaving his body. It cost Grom his life, but his actions have not only ended his own curse but also that of his entire race.

The canyon featured in this cinematic can be visited in World of Warcraft. Located in southern Ashenvale, it is bleak and tainted. Being the site of Mannoroth’s death, it has been named Demon Fall Canyon, but, ironically, it has become a haven for a small force of surviving demons from the Third War. Perhaps they were drawn there by the historical significance of the canyon, or maybe because the broken spear that once belonged to Mannoroth still magically floats in the air at the site of his demise. The blackened remains of the explosion caused by Mannoroth’s death can also be seen.

In the middle of the canyon, there is a monument to Grom Hellscream, which reads:

Here lies Grommash Hellscream, Chieftain of the Warsong Clan. In many ways, the curse of our people began and ended with Grom. His name meant ‘giant’s heart’ in our ancient tongue. He earned that name a hundred-fold as he stood alone before the demon Mannoroth – and won our freedom with his blood. Lok’Tar ogar, big brother. May the Warsong never fade.

-Thrall, Warchief of the Horde

Eternity’s End

In the final cinematic of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, the Burning Legion has started to assault the World Tree, Nordrassil, which has protected the night elves and granted them immortality for 10,000 years. Archimonde himself has reached the tree and is attempting to corrupt its powers to claim them for himself.

But Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage has no intention of letting that happen. He blows the Horn of Cenarius and summons countless wisps from the surrounding forest. Wisps are ancient spirits of nature that inhabit the wild woods of Kalimdor, and they begin to channel their energies into the World Tree to try to counter Archimonde’s evil power. Eventually, they use the primal fury of Nordrassil itself, igniting its ancient enchantments and power. A devastating explosion erupts from the World Tree, shaking the very continent to its core. Archimonde and the majority of his forces are instantly vapourised in the devastating shockwave, along with much of the surrounding forest.

Medivh quietly observes the victory from afar, satisfied that Azeroth has been saved from destruction and that the land will heal in time. He is confident that the victory achieved – and the cooperation of the various mortal races – proves that the world no longer needs Guardians; Azeroth’s people are now capable of defending themselves. With his power waning, he knows that his time on the physical plane is ending, and he vanishes.

But, of course, there are still several more Warcraft games after this, including World of Warcraft and its many expansions. Yes, the orcs, humans, and night elves who defended Azeroth from the Burning Legion have been brought together for the big win – but old hatreds have a way of rearing up again. And that’s what we see in the franchise moving forward.