Actuallly you do, but it was all covered with the Craftmasons/Defias story arc.
Two starting zones of humans are filled with outdated memes and references. This alone speaks volumes. Instead of helping Rambo in Redridge, Iâd rather have a plotline involving the Brotherhood of the Horse defending Lakeshire.
And something a bit more general (not directed at you): Iâm personally getting sick and tired of the constant human bashing, as they are the ones who suffer the most from the constant Wrynn-oversaturation. At least all other races have something else going for them in one way or another: The humans of Stormwind have nothing outside of the Wrynns.
(Alright there is Shaw and Wyrmbane, but neither of them really gives us an insight into the Kingdom of Stormwind.)
4 Likes
I could be wrong, but I believe Hearthstoneâs story and lore is handled by a completely separate team from WoW.
Itâs possible weâll see Anduin Lothar at some future point in Shadowlands, just like itâs possible that we could see any other dead character at some point. I find it interesting that you point to Hearthstone as evidence that Blizzard has forgotten him, but completely ignore the existence of the Warcraft movie that features him as the main protagonist of the Alliance side of the story.
The recognizable characters weâve seen playing significant roles so far in Shadowlands have all been pretty neutral to the current faction divide, either because theyâre a raid boss that was hostile to everyone last we saw them (Vashj and Kaelâthas), they were already relatively faction neutral when alive (Ysera), or they arenât strongly affiliated with the current iteration of the Alliance or Horde (Uther, Draka, and Alexandros). Given how strongly Anduin Lothar is associated with the history of the Alliance, I donât think it would suit him to be a neutral quest giver, which is likely what heâd be if he were involved in the current patchâs content. I think certain historic Horde characters like Orgrim Doomhammer and Grommash Hellscream would have been poor candidates for the same reason. If we get more faction-specific content in a future patch, that would be a better place to see some of these characters, but thatâs not the sort of content that weâre getting right now.
1 Like
I would love to see Lothar in Shadowlands. But that said there are other characters who I think would serve the story better right now. Orgrim Doomhammer for one is a character I was hoping to see in Revendreth or Maldraxis. For another I really want to find Liam Greymane somewhere; no idea where he might have ended up though.
1 Like
We did with Uther. While not as old of a character, heâs much more relevant to the gameâs broader appeal; Arthas. Lothar hasnât got any strong, compelling ties to any other characters to make it truly worth bringing him back. Sure, heâs Andyâs grandpappy and namesake, but beyond a name? Not much. Turalyon? Not even in the Shadowlands because heâs needed back home.
By contrast, Uthar still has ties to the franchise-maker Arthas, ties to Jaina that still should be explored, indirect ties to Sylvanas (if only through Arthas) and opens the door, if the devs are taking it, for their escape claus with Sylvanas; Utherâs soul was severed by Frostmourne, meaning that might be why Sylvanas is all darkside and we can just reunite her âgoodâ half with her Banshee half to save the Merch Queen (Iâm not saying this is what theyâre doing or even a good story, just saying having Uther there to establish the soul-severing leaves it open).
But this isnât to say weâll never see Lothar. We might in a future patch. But at release, thereâs just no story-based need for him over the other noble human soldier in Uther.
7 Likes
Well, I mean⌠he did found the Alliance, thatâs kind of significant.
2 Likes
Still not relevant to make a cameo in Shadowlands. What would he do exactly? Have a chat with Anduin? Alliance side suffers enough from humans sucking up the story beats and not allowing anyone else to be front and center, without being made out to be complete idiots.
The thing is, Lothar doesnât really fit into the modern theme and scale of WarCraft any more. Heâs from an era when the protagonists werenât predominantly larger-than-life superheroes with fantastic powers.
He and Doomhammer were just mere mortals fighting and leading like mortals fight and lead. Heâs good as an inspirational figure of the past, but having him actively doing stuff in the here-and-now would require saddling him with warrior âsuperpowersâ just to relevantly fit in among the factionsâ current protagonists.
And that would undo his whole character. Contrary to what some posters here are claiming, he wasnât perfect. That was the point. He was grounded and mortal. In a franchise where significant character deaths are now made to be cinematic and epic, he had a blunt, grim and unpleasant death of getting his chest caved in and his head mashed to pulp by a massive (but at the time still non-magical) hammer. He wouldnât fit modern WarCraft because heâs far too âmundaneâ to carry the same sort of weight as he did in the early RTSâs among all these looming paragons of the myriad cosmic powers now driving the story.
Lothar was strong in WC1 & 2 by virtue of being a veteran knight of Stormwind with good training, good equipment, a good head on his shoulders and a long lifetime of combat experience. Heck, the guy was unusual in that rather than a standard (pre-Stratholme)Arthas- or Varian-style mighty epic fantasy hero, he was an aged, gray and balding soldier nearing the end of his prime, fighting the Horde with the last of what he had left. That doesnât cut it in WoW; to be seriously relevant in WoW a warrior has to be a thundering effigy of power, Heroic Leaping tall buildings in a single bound, calling down lightning strikes and cleaving whole regiments with a single blow.
(Incidentally, that difference in character scale is one of the things that always rang a little false for me in the WoD trailer cinematic. Its effort to âalmost parallelâ the WC3 Mannoroth encounter didnât really work because these arenât the orcs as they were shown in WC3. In WC3 when Mannoroth shows up, itâs clear that Thrall and Grom are these tiny mortals standing up to a monstrously destructive force against which they really shouldnât stand a chance. But Grommash in WoD is a WoW-era Grom; heâs this bulging mountain of muscle and power, so from the very start he looks almost like he could square off and perhaps even win against the Destructor one-on-one.)
But as for Lothar, a one-off appearance in the Shadowlands, perhaps to speak some words of wisdom or inspiration to Anduin or something? Could work. But anything more than that would feel out of place; the legends of the First and Second Wars just donât scale up very well into the exaggerated power fantasy of modern WarCraft unless theyâre pumped with a bunch of superpowers, and that feels to me like it would be a disservice to Lothar as a character. In a war with Khadgar and Turalyon running around Alliance-side, he expressly wasnât the guy tossing magic or performing impossible feats. He was the guy who led the Alliance army to victory by being an effective leader without needing that sort of stuff.
13 Likes
He is one of the most important figures in Stormwindâs history. Iâm honestly kind of saddened that thereâs not an appearance by both him and Doomhammer somewhere in Shadowlands.
Maybe in a future patch.
7 Likes
Raselle I disagree that a warrior who uses their head and experience more than their muscles and awesomeness would be unwelcome in WoW. In fact I believe the opposite would be true. Saurfang was certainly well respected (before BFA) and I think Danath and Nazgrim can fill that role for living characters in WoW.
Back to Lothar, I enjoyed the detail you put into your post but please forgive me for paraphrasing, I agree that he may not fit with the story for Shadowlands at the moment. Uther can easily fill most roles Lothar can in the story and be more easily identified by the majority of WoW players.
1 Like
Enough with the humans and what about the orcs?
We orcs need a moment with our greatest heroes!!!
e.g
-
Kargath Bladefist
-
Kilrogg
-
Grom
-
Blackhand
-
Ner´zhul
-
Orgrim Doomhammer
-
Durotan (Durotan is better than Draka )
They are heroes and we orcs need a big moment or Blizz will keep abusing the orcs and WoD got them dirty.
iirc, Lothar was originally suppose to appear, Iâm assuming as a ghost, in the warriorâs class hall in Legion. But he and all the other spirit whatevers were all dropped when that expansion entered beta.
Honestly they probably would have ruined him some how especially with how the writing team seem to have an issue with strong male characters at the moment.
Same with Ogrim Doomhammer, Both characters were instrumental to the development to the modern Horde/Alliance but they were both the main strong male characters so instead blizzard characters Like Draka and Uther. Hell Uther doesnât even represent anything to do with the current Alliance and has more in common with the forsaken than the Alliance. Draka other than being Thralls mommy that he never knew had nothing to do with the current Horde.
4 Likes
Lothar was pretty epic, why are people malding over him?
2 Likes
What role would do Lothar other thsn play a fiddle for Alexandros?
Orgrim lasted only 2 secs in WoD, doubt Lothar is getting anything aside of his other 5 companions are alive
literally posted on a human character
I care about Anduin Lothar.
As to the op:
He is rather irrelevant right now, its been more than 30 years since his death. He does get nods though.
An example I can think of is that Turalyon still uses his broken blade. Anduin mentions him in his personal quest in Legion.
3 Likes
You know, Iâd be up for an afterlife where bitter enemies from terrible wars are forced to live together and cooperate for survival to better understand one another and find peace so they can let go of their hatreds and move on to their proper Afterlife. I think there would be a good narrative to explore with Anduin Lothar and Ogrim Doomhammer.
3 Likes
For some reason this inspired two mental images for me. One is of a couple of fighting toddlers being broken up by an adult, but itâs Lothar and Doomhammer. The other is the âDarmokâ episode of Star Trek: TNG.
2 Likes
Looks at his worgen portrait, than stares at Kate Someone needs glasses