Playing through the DK Legion chromie time campaign for the first time (my previous Legion chromie times were as a DH and a Rogue) and wow, the tone of Bolvar in this is NOT at all what I expected.
He absolutely comes off as utterly ruthless and sinister and dare I say outright evil, not like a noble knight reluctantly taking the mantle of Lich King in order to keep the Scourge in check.
His character in Shadowlands is more what I expected from him. This Legion Bolvar is such a departure from what I imagined.
Was he meant to be like, gradually losing his sanity over the course of the post Wrath expansions or something?
am I tripping about this?
To me its like “Typical dad doesn’t want his kids to know he cares about them”
Cat goes out of the bag once its revealed he’s trying to prepare for Sylvanas
I put it down to some influence from the helm of domination. It’s not a feel good hat.
I think his creation of the four horsemen is the clearest sign he was not himself. Remember he originally wanted to raise Tirion! No way Bolvar in his right mind would do such a thing!
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Especially since he can glimpse The Maw / Shadowlands with it on
Yes, he is being corrupted by the Helm of Domination. You can hear it at the end of the Lich King defeat cinematic.
He was wearing a helmet that was quite literally trying to dominate his mind. It probably took every ounce of his willpower to not unleash the scourge and be Arthas 2.0. Honestly it was a losing battle that if Sylvanas had not come along and destroy it. He probably would do another Wrath of the Lich King.
If you’ve played Soul Calibur at all, think of the Helm of Domination as Soul Edge.
SL Bolvar is just half of what the Lich King was.
Because he was more sinister and evil. Basically his will against the corrupting Helm of Domination was always on a time limit, and he was slowly turning closer to the original Lich King. He was able to keep his guns pointed at the Legion, but his morality was slipping. He essentially was having his own Culling of Stratholme.
The short story that came out before Shadowlands “We Ride Forth” tells that he had tasked the Four Horsemen with being ready to take him down once he was no longer able to maintain control.
During the Shadowlands cinematic we see his red flames turn blue; that’s him fully forfeiting his will to that of the Lich King in order to have the most power to fight Sylvanas.
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He would still be dark and evil but Blizzard needed an opener for SL.
good explanation.
I did think in We Ride Forth, that Bolvar sent Darion to grab his homies because he knew Sylvanas was coming for him and he didn’t think he would win, so they were supposed to come back and kill Sylvanas before she fully mastered the Helm’s power.
then…she didn’t.
did I misinterpret that?
Spoeaking of We Ride Forth, can I just say that I was surprised at just how much Personality the Horsemen retained. not saying this is a bad thing, I was just always under the impression that Death Knights were able to retain a sense of honor and duty, but not much in the way of actual Personality.
You’re correct, IIRC he didn’t know who would win but regardless who was left standing the loser would be dead and the victor would be weakened and need to be finished off.
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