The Sunwell Trilogy

[Rowan Seven]

I bought the first volume of the new Warcraft manga trilogy on Friday and figured I'd start a discussion on it. First, for those of you who don't already know this, the manga was written by Richard A. Knaak and drawn by Jae-Hwan Kim, a Korean artist. Since I've placed such a big emphasis on not making a final judgment on Knaak's "War of the Ancients" trilogy until I've read the entire series, I might as well give "The Sunwell Trilogy" the same treatment and keep my thoughts on the quality of the first volume to myself for the time being. I will say, however, that, in my opinion, it is following the action/adventure manga model very closely...or at least what I consider to be the action/adventure manga model. I'm more a fan of trippy anime myself, so my understanding of manga is probably a little off.

Anyway, the story appears to take place after "The Frozen Throne" but before "World of Warcraft" and "Lands of Conflict" because the main characters pay a visit to a Tarren Mill still occupied by living, breathing humans. There's a condensed, edited timeline in the beginning of the volume that, if I read it correctly, follows the version of history where the vortex through which the Burning Legion traveled to Azeroth was in the Well of Eternity. Kalecgos, the blue dragon main character, also gives vocal confirmation that the blue dragonflight's numbers are growing again, albeit slowly and there still aren't a lot of them.

If you don't want to have parts of the story spoiled for you, don't read ahead.

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Well, for those of you who feel that Quel'Thalas fell too easily, you might be consoled to know that the Scourge had inside help. Dar'khan, a high elf mage with a hunger for power, allied with the Scourge and helped them attack Quel'Thalas. With help from Prince Arthas/Ner'zhul, Dar'khan attempted to absorb the Sunwell's magic, but before he could finish his task something else seized it, and the Sunwell's power disappeared. At the time of the manga's beginning, the Sunwell's magic appears to be flaring up, but neither the blue dragonflight or Dar'khan/the Scourge know exactly where the power is emanating from. Both, however, are quite interested in finding out.

[Romanov77]

I could never stand anime...

[Twisted örc]

Blizzard uses to much background histories to explain the main one.

[Karsail]

If this mage is still alive he could be usefull against the forsaken if he still loyal to the scourge.

[Twisted örc]

The scourge doesn't see the forsaken as a potential enemy, but as a people that can redeem themselves, or at least is what "The Lands of Conflict" says.

[Karsail]

The scourge doesn't see the forsaken as a potential enemy, but as a people that can redeem themselves, or at least is what "The Lands of Conflict" says.
If they scourge doesn't see the forsaken as potential enemy the forsaken do, sylvanus purpose was clear in the undead campaign of the frozen throne when she tried to kill arthas and swore to hunt him.

[Nephalim]

Of course the Forsaken see the Scourge as an enemy, no one contests that. The Lich King feels that they are a dissident asset in need of reclaiming. He doesn't want to destroy them.

[Inquisistor7]

I can see why the Lich King would think that, after all, who would want to destroy so many potential soldiers? However, such a sentiment might come back to haunt him, especially if the Forsaken develop their plague before he is able to regain control over them.

[FirstBorneEldar]

Hmmm can we go baack 2 Sunwell Trilogy?

Well something i discovered well playing undead warrior was that rocks cutting off the way 2 Silvermoon...........( yes that means something :D :D :D :D )

[Karsail]

Is there anything new about the story of the "Sunwell Triology"?

[Jiggious Prime]

From what I've read of the Sunwell Trilogy, Lands of Conflict and a few guildies, I've put together the following:

1) In WoW, the entrance to the Blackened Woods will be through an instance, Zul'Aman, which is in the northeast shore of the Hinderlands once it has been implemented.

2) There seems to be a quest that needs to happen WoW-wise for the Sunwell to be restored, as outlined in Lands of Conflict..

a) A vial from the well of eternity (unopened Hyjal area)
b) Three crushed gems from Pandaria (haven't even heard about that area)
c) a titan-made chalice from Undermine (hinted by Tanaris and Booty Bay quests)
d) a skull from the last Sunstrider king (Outland)
e) 300 repentant blood elves (Outland and Zul'Aman)

so I am unsure if they plan to have it happen in the Sunwell Trilogy or not.. maybe it'll be a world event.

3) As mentioned by Rowan earlier however, Sunwell Trilogy may be set before Tarren Mill fell.. so, I'm not sure how it fits in.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

~ J.P.

[Diskordjah]

there is indeed a blank space on the Hinterlands map, in the northeast corner. its been nothering me for ages. so that makes sense, anyway.

[FirstBorneEldar]

There is an entrance near Stratholme deu east of it....Maybe secret entrance into Stratholme or into Qeul'Thalas.

Oo remebered something I visited Qeul'Thalas already but it was blank only an road was there nothing more.

[Nephalim]

I just read Dragon Hunt and I'm not impressed. I'm not really against it or anything either, it just seems like fluff, and the conventions of the story reinforce this. And of course, there's the limitations of the genre. Manga is a very formulaic genre that thrives on archetypes and this is quite evident in this. But I'm not really upset about that because a high fantasy comic (manga or otherwise) that isn't conventional is not on the horizon, and likely won't be for a long time.

Not a lot actually happens in this comic. It's more like an introduction to all the characters. There's a lot of backstory that should be addressed. Anveena's past, especially, seems to merit some explanation, and I'm surprised when the surrounding characters don't ask to know more. Inconsistencies are avoided by avoided mainstream storylines and remaining abiguous, which I can handle, but there's some confusion about the Sunwell. In the story, Dar'khan, the elven mage Rowan mentioned goes over how he helped to take the Sunwell during the invasion of the Scourge, and then it blew up or something. This explanation fails to mention or recognize Kel'Thuzad. Of course, maybe I'm screwed up on the timeline, or maybe Knaak is.

As for art, this isn't Warcraft. Even granting leniency for the fact that this is manga, there's a lot this could've done to make it more Warcraft. The elves don't look like warcraft elves, the dragons don't look like warcraft dragons, the zombies don't look like warcraft zombies, the architecture doesn't look like warcraft architecture, etc. etc.

There's nothing truly wrong with this book, but nothing, save the warcraft logo, that distinguishes it from the millions of other mangas. If that's what they were going for, then I suppose they acheived that.