User:Firenova/TotP

Tales Of The Past Series
Tales of the Past is a World of Warcraft storyline trilogy, based upon the realm of Dunemaul (EU) using Machinima. Martin Falch (Maquan) is the director of the trilogy. Of all WoW Fan fiction, Tales of the Past has arguably the most complex storyline, and the greatest tie-in to lore. It is also the best and largest scale machinima movie ever created using recordings from World of Warcraft - with multiple large battle-scenes involving thousands of players participating. It is worth noting that - whist Arthas and Northrend are all present in the trilogy - the movies were filmed before the release of Wrath of the Lich King. The series was preceeded by a film named Eden Aurorae Guild Movie, which was a self promotion movie for the guild Eden Aurorae. After getting some great feedback Maquan started working on the Tales of the Past trilogy. Maquans own words about the series: ''The series originally started out as a guild promotion movie for my guild, Eden Aurorae. However, as it got popular, I decided to continue and make my second storyline movie, Tales of the Past, which was indeed a way more serious project than the original guild movie. The original idea of Tales of the Past was to make a movie with arranged events between the Horde and the Alliance - as you've seen, the same thing goes for Tales of the Past II.''

''Tales of the Past II was my ambition to make what I did not make in Tales of the Past. Voiceacting, camera changes, action, a script, a plot - everything a movie should contain. This ambition turned out to result in quite a ride, spanning over 6 months of hard work, but also tons of fun with all the actors, voiceactors and supporters of the movie! In the end it fulfilled my ambition and I am satisfied with the result, even though I know I can improve in many areas! I have learned tons from this production and I know a lot more than I did when I began.''

TotP Brief Synop
The story set after the Third War in an era of 'relative peace' and follows the path of Yimo (a gnome mage and officer of Eden Aurorae) and Blazer (rouge in TotP II but later a warrior in TotP III - member of Eden Aurorae & Yimo's student) as they attempt to re-unite the world of Azeroth in peace. The Eden Aurorae guild's orginial aim is to forfill an oath to kill Ragnaros. Normally this oath has never been affected by the squabble between the Alliance & the Horde - but this changes when the guild is forced to aid the Alliance in a battle against the Horde to repay an old favour.

The battle is but the begining of a new wave of tic-tack-toe attacks on both sides. The long feud threats to escalate as the two sides prepare for one final battle - one that will shatter any hopes of a peace treaty and plunge the world of Azeroth into war - threatening to kill millions. As Yimo and Blazer rush to prevent the battle: Athus, the Lich King, has his own plans.

Lucking in the shadows lay an one of the greatest threats of all that will call upon Yimo, Blazer and heros, old and new, to rise to the occasion; for the willing adventurers to travel deeper into the unknown; for the world to bear more tragic loses; and - ultimately - the united force of both the Alliance and the Horde to save the world of Azeroth...before it's too late.

TotP Main Characters
See also Tales of the Past II Characters.

/Eden Aurorae / The Ancients Alliance Horde Scoruge  Other
 * Yimo - An officer of Eden Aurorae.
 * Blazer - Yimo's best friend, member of Eden Aurorae.
 * Jubai - A Tauren officer of a group known as 'The Ancients'.
 * Ball & Xconzoa - Taurens soldiers sent as guides to aid Yimo & Blazer.
 * Serphentos - Leader of Ironforge.
 * Monóri - An elf officer of the Alliance.
 * Jaina Proudmoore - One of the great Alliance sorcerers.
 * Conrad Schultz - An overzealous crazed general of the Alliance without care or honor in dealing with the Horde. Betrays Warchief Gorbag in a duel.
 * Thrall - The Warchief of the Horde.
 * Rexxar - A half-ogre, half-orc beastmaster champion of the Horde. h
 * Saurfang - High Overlord of the Horde, loyal and trusted friend of Thrall.
 * Smorisha - Orc General of the Horde, does not believe in working with the Alliance.
 * Morbid - Undead General of the Horde & leader of the 'Iron Edge' clan / guild.
 * Warchief Gorbag - An honorable warchief of the Horde who betrayed by Conrad Schultz in a duel.
 * Arthas - The Lich King.
 * Thainor - A Human Warlock living in the underground Stormwind, allied with the Scoruge.
 * Mograine - A death knight of the Scourage.
 * Gwaar - The wisest Tauren druid in the world found in Feralas.

Tales of the Past I - This is Your Story
Tales of the Past I (TotP I) is the first movie of the series and was first released on the 2nd of November 2005. As such, it lacks many of the features found in later movies - especially to do with the script and the lack of voice overs. But despite this, it was one of the greatest movies of it's time with one of the biggest battle scence at it's time.

Storyline
'''--- Warning: This section contains spoilers. ---'''

The movie starts in the Broken Back Inn in Ironforge where a group of adventurers are gathered drinking beer. One of the dwarfs begins telling a tale told to him by his grandfarther - a story that took place many years ago:

The story begins in Stormwind Keep where Yimo, a gnome mage and officer of Eden Aurorae, is talking with Simon, a noble of Stormwind. The nobles of Stormwind are currently incharge along with the five year old king. The Eden Aurorae guild is a group of Alliance adventurers brought together by an oath to defeat Ragnaros - an occurrence that is attempt once a year. The nobles of Stormwind force Yimo and Eden Aurorae to join with Conrad Schultz, an overzealous Alliance officer aligned with the Scarlet Crusade, and his 'defence' against the Horde to repay an old favour. After much debating and thought, Yimo is forced to reluctantly agree to the demands and the members of Eden Aurorae are gathered.

The Eden Aurorae members meet up with Conrad Schultz and his Alliance army. On route to fight the Horde army, Schultz orders an attack on a defenceless village - to which Yimo protest against. However, Yimo is ignored by Schultz and the attack begins. All the Horde - men, women and children - are killed. Later Schultz hears reports from Alliance scouts that the Horde army is building up in Durotar and quickly orders his army to head towards them.

On arrival, the Horde army is being lead by Warchief Gorbag; with his brother Swoog as second in command. The Alliance and Horde armies line up and the commanders on both sides address their troops before proceeding into the mid-ground. There, Gorbag talks with Schultz - remembering him from the Third War and how he has changed since then. He suggests, instead of a full battle that would result in much bloodshed, to settle things in the way of a duel. Schultz agrees and the duel starts. During the duel, Schultz then surrenders to Gorbag - but as Gorbag heads back to his troop, he kills him yelling 'Only a fool trusts in honor!'. Swoog rushs to Gorbag who's dieing words are orders to Swoog to begining the attack on the Alliance. Swoog relives memoires of their childhood before killing Schultz. The Horde army then charges towards the Alliance army and the battle ensues.

By the end of the battle, the Horde have won and many Alliance soldiers have perished - although few Eden Aurorae members lost their lives. Swoog debates with the leaders of the other clans and agrees to let the Eden Aurorae go - beliving as his brother did that Schultz had changed. He suggested that maybe something had infected the nobles of Stormwind and permit the Eden Aurorae to investigate further. Knowing that this would bring 'dishonor with their fraction', he offers the shelter of his own clan as well as the help from 'The Ancients' guild. However, Swoog warns that some of the other clans will not believe in the 'infection' and thus will begin launching their own attacks.

For the next three years, massive attacks are launched on all the major cities of the Alliance. Dispite constant appeals by Swoog, it seems like an impossible task to convince the warchiefs stop. Rumors begin circulating that Morbid of the Iron Edge clan is gathering the Horde clans together for an even greater attack - one that will shatter any hope of a peace treaty. The Eden Aurorae have little time to reveal the truth before another full scale war.

Tales of the Past II - Revalations
Tales of the Past II (TotP II) is the second movie of the series and was first released on the 16th of June 2006. The film, with a total run time of 41 minutes, it was arguably one of the best and largest scale machinima movie from World of Warcraft at the time. Production of the movie took place over approximately six months to complete and included more than 1000 extras in the form of other World of Warcraft players providing support for epic battle scenes.

Storyline
'''--- Warning: This section contains spoilers. ---'''

TotP II occurs four years after the events of TotP I. During those four years, continuous attacks and counter-attacks by the Horde and Alliance have taken place - lead on the Horde side by Morbid of the Iron Edge clan. Any peace treaty has been rejected by the Alliance, namely the nobles of Stormwind. Due to their actions in the battle covered in TotP I, the Eden Aurorae has been thrown out of Stormwind as traitors - therefore the guild is unable to gain any information as to any infection or corruption within Stormwind. To make matters worse, the Horde and the Alliance are preparing for one final battle - one that will shatter any chance of future peace and will lead to another full scale war.

Yimo and Blazer, a human rouge, take the opportunity to sneak into Stormwind during a celebration party for a recent Alliance victory against the Horde in Searing Gorge. In Stormwind, they meet up with Thainor, a human warlock living in the underground of Stormwind. He tells them about Conrad Schultz's diary, which may contain the clues to the corruption within Alliance to prevent the upcoming war. After successfully retrieving the book, they teleport out to their camp in Tanaris - but accidentally end up at tower of Karazhan instead.

At Karazhan, Yimo and Blazer face an ambush from undead members of the Scourge army. Blazer is quickly polymorph leaving just Yimo to fight an undead mage. A long fight scene occurs and Yimo eventually wins - although the fight drains much of his strength and giving him a sence of 'emptyness'. Luckily, as more undead Scourge arrive, members of a group of warriors known as 'The Ancient' save the heroes and transport them back to the safety of their camp.

Initially, no one can understand the strange language written in the Diary of Conrad Schultz - but upon the suggestion of Jubai, a officer of The Ancient, the heroes travel to Feralas to seek the wisest Tauren Druid: Gwaar. Accompanied by two Tauren companions, Yimo and Blazer travel to the Twin Colossals in Feralas to find Gwaar. Gwaar informs Yimo that the diary is not written by Conrad Schultz - but is in fact a ritual summoning of some sort - mentioning a place called Darkwhisper Gorge in southern Winterspring multiple times. He also hands to Yimo an Orb of Vision - a rare artefact that will store the memories of its carrier. Along the way to Darkwhisper Gorge, the heroes set up camp for the night during which Yimo is visited by the Arthas, the Lich King, in his dream. Arthas reveals the true purpose of giving the book to Yimo and sending him on this adventure - to drain his purity, his soul, to fill in the missing piece of the book so that he, the Lich King, may use it. He also reveals that there never was any corruption - just the evil in all souls of all the races in Azeroth.

Blazer, Ball & Xconzoa awake to find Yimo missing. When they follow Yimo's trail to Darkwhisper Gorge, they are confronted by the Scourge army lead by Arthas himself. Blazer leaves Ball & Xconzoa, on their insistence, to save Yimo from a Scourge patrol. Yimo refuses his friend's help and gives him the book and the orb - mentioning how he cannot live and asks Blazer to 'stop them' (referring to the Alliance and the Horde) and to 'stop him' (referring to Arthas) before teleporting Blazer to safety.

Meanwhile, the armies of the Alliance and the Horde gather near Ironforge for the final battle - the battle that would end all peace. Monóri, a night elf officer, tries to reason with Serphentos, leader of Ironforge - however Serphentos has no sympathy and wants revenge for his murdered family, the pain they cause. He address his Alliance army:

'' 'Today...Were not only here to defend the mighty capital of Ironforge, were not only here to show the world what the Alliance is made of - No! Today we shall claim our revenge for those who have fallen...And I'll tell you...Do not fear death...For your name shall live in eternity! So I'll ask you...Will you...Follow me...Into legend?! Then follow me!' ''

At the same time, the Horde general address his troops:

'' 'Fellow warriors! For too long; we have been slaves to the false treaties of the Alliance! For too long; have our blades thirsted, for revenge! I have held the innocent children...Dying...In my arms, and I shall accept it no more! No! Today will be the day...When we end...This insolence! And bring justice...Back...To the Horde!' ''

As the fighting ensues, a Horde hunter unleashes a dragon upon the battle. Monóri quickly heads over to deal with the Horde hunter whist her archers deal with the dragon. Blazer arrives mid-battle and runs, with the Orb of Vision, into the dragon's flame - breaking the orb and spilling Yimo's memories into those around the orb for miles and revealing the Lich King's plan. In the coming days, a memorial service is held for Yimo back in Winterspring, attended by all parties: Eden Aurorae, The Ancients, Alliance, Horde. During the service, Blazer makes a pledge to retrieve Yimo's soul – stating he’ll do 'whatever it takes'.

The scene then moves onto Blazer filling Gwaar upon the events. The Horde and the Alliance are now united against the Lich King, the Eden Aurorae guild has been reinstated into the Alliance and has been given the task of finding a way to defeat Arthas. Blazer asks Gwaar about how to kill someone who is invincible. Gwaar answers by asking Blazer if he has heard of the Ashbringer - sparking everyone else around them to laugh. However, Blazer replies simply with 'Tell me.'

Soundtrack
Below is the list of music used in TotP II, found from www.edenaurorae.com:

Easter Eggs

 * Yimo's Eyes
 * Throughout the movie Yimo's eyes change colours: Green/Purple/Brown. This is because there are three actors for Yimo since the 'real' Yimo stopped playing during production.


 * Red Tauren
 * At 30:24, when the undead patrol is chasing Yimo a Tauren with red shoulders can be seen on the right behind the hill in Winterspring. The tauren seen is a guy who should have hidden behind a rock when his Noggenfogger Elixir didn't work - but accidentally he hid the wrong place and got into the shot.


 * Drinking Undead
 * At 31:17, when Yimo says "Please stop them Blazer...", the high angle shot revealed an undead infront of the crowd sitting down and drinking. At 31:31, when the undead patrol charges at Yimo, the same undead was still drinking while everyone else moved. The drinking undead and the group of undeads had just been attacked by a dragon, so he felt he had to regain some health.


 * Red Dress Tauren
 * In the attack on Stormwind Sequence, the Tauren Xconzoa is wearing a pretty red dress.


 * Two Blazers
 * At 36:37, there is a rogue in the middle that looked exactly like Blazer who walked up with the army and stealthed. Then at 37:38 it seemed that Blazer had just arrived to the battlefield. (The rogue seen at the battle is actually Blazer, though he's supposed to just fill in a spot - the reason he was there was simply that the scene lacked rogues so he might as well fill out a spot if he used his hood and some other weapons.)

Tales of the Past III - Legendary
Tales of the Past III (TotP III) is the third and final installment of the series and was first released on the 12th of December 2007. A trailer was released eight months after the first release of TotP II on 12th February 2007 - marking the start of filming. Just under an hour and a half long, it is a full feature-length movie. It involed 75 pages of script and took eight months to plan.

Tales of the Past III out of the series has the links to lore. The presence of Mograine, Arthas, The Ashbringer, and even a Naaru make for a rich and enjoyable experience. The movie is masterfully devised in such a way to leave the ending open for other opportunists to expand on the story. The film is filled with all kinds of scenes, beautiful, intense, sad, happy, and everything in between. It is an absolute must-see for anyone, even, for that matter, people who don't play World of WarCraft.

Storyline
'''--- Warning: This section contains spoilers. ---'''



"'Legendary...That was what they used to call me...That was my title...My glory...'"

TotP III opens by following the true lore story of the Ashbringer - from obtaining the dark crystal during an assault on Blackrock Spire during the Second War, to it's purification and forging into the blade, and - ultimately - the betray of Mograine and fall of the Ashbringer by Renault, his own son, in Stratholme.

The story begins in Orgrimmar where Smorisha, a horde general, address a crowd about his discontent with the possibility of working together with the Alliance. However Saurfang quickly breaks it up – asking if Smorisha was questioning the Warchief’s judgement. As Saurfang arrives at the Hall of the Brave, Morbid is telling warchief Thrall that negotiation would take too long. Thrall agrees and the Horde ‘stand alone’ – surprising Saurfang. As Thall leaves, he reveals to his friend that he himself had lost faith in the Alliance. Saurfang surprise Thrall about his hesitance to go to war – stating this time there was ‘more at stake then honour and glory’. Rexxar arrives and is instructed to keep tabs on the Alliance – but to avoid any interactions with them whatsoever.

As Jaina Proudmoore arrives in Ironforge – a council meeting is being held by Serphentos as they discuss about Blazer’s progress in tracking the Ashbringer and recent scout reports of Scourge near the Altar of Storms in Blasted Lands. Jaina ask to be taken to the Conrad Schultz's diary – now called ‘The Book Of Secrets’. The city suddenly becomes under attack by the Scourge: the council meeting is quickly ended aa Serphentos leads the defence of the city. Monóri takes Jaina to the book, only to find it has been taken by a Scourge rouge - Monóri gives chase. Eventally she is able to shoot the Scourage with the book from his flying mount, and the book is caught by Jaina whist it is falling. Outside the city gate’s, Rexxer defys orders and help save Serphentos who eventally brings down the necromancer.

The focus then turns to Blazer, now a warrior, changed by his encounters in TotP II, on his quest for the Ashbringer. He informs his troops that they are going to Northrend. As they cross though Northrend, a group of dwarfs from Muradin’s original expedition are under attack. Despite orders from Blazer, the only dwarf in Blazer’s party runs to aid them – Blazer threatens to kill anyone that follows him. Blazer order’s his men to set up camp for night above the battleground and a flashback occurs as he stares into the flames of the camp fire. In the flashback, Gwaar tells Blazer that the Ashbringer is in the hands of Mograine the death knight in its corrupted form. He warns Blazer that only once he has let go of Yimo and releise that nothing he can do will bring him back, then he will be able to choose his own destiny.

Blazer stands on a ledge looking at the sunset. Leanna, a human priest, the only woman on the expedition and Blazer’s lover, joins him. She tells how she misses the ‘Blazer of Old’ and more importantly – them. Blazer tells her things change and to leave him alone. When blazer returns to the fireplace, Leanna is being assaulted by another member of the expidtion. Blazer steps in, tells Leanna to run and not look back, and fights him in pure rage. Despite pleas from the defeated man, Balzer slays him – only to realise afterwards what he’s done and sink to his knees – with Leanna watching.

Soundtrack
Below is the list of music used in TotP III:

Contradictions To Game Lore
Despite the fact that TotP III features numerous tie-ins to the game plot (namely, the story of the Ashbringer up to the death of Mograine at the hands of his son is recreated perfectly), it also has a lot of contradictions:


 * In battle scenes of the Second War at the start: tauren and night elves are seen, though they were not a part of the Alliance and Horde at the covered time.


 * Jaina is different from her WoW model, with brown eyes and Stormwind tabard.


 * Arthas / Lich King wears Dreadnaught armor, different from his actual attire. This is because no Arthas mode existed in WoW at the time the movie was created, and the authors simply used lookalike clothes to recreate his image.


 * A Naaru is depicted as the force behind Arthas, which seems extremely unlikely considering Naaru lore.


 * Many important characters, like Sylvanas or Kel'thuzad, are missing, though by the story's logic they should have taken a minor part in the action.


 * The story of the Ashbringer starting with the fight between Mograine and Blazer, as well as the following plot, are major lore fabrications and should not be taken as related to the official story. However, as mentioned already, the beginning of the Ashbringer plot has little to no contradictions, and before the release of the Ashbringer comic could be considered canon.


 * In the final confrontation with the Blazer and Lich King, both characters make direct references to a singular God. This simply wouldn't happen in the World of Warcraft as the main faith of paladins resides in the concept of the worship of the Holy Light, not a singular entity named God.

Speculation About The Naaru
There is a theory that makes sense of the presence of a naaru at the end of the film. It's plausible that that was NOT, in fact, intended to be a naaru, but merely a representation of the unbound Lich King, Ner'zhul, who's character model is absent from the WoW image files. It makes sense that the Lich King, unwilling to suffer utter defeat, would return to once again merge with Arthas, returning Frostmourne to him and following with the quote: "We... had... a... deal...".

Falch never elaborated on this, so it is a mere speculation, but after all, it's the closest he could have come to representing the Lich King using WoW models only, and it's much more fitting to the storyline than a sudden, unexplained appearance of a naaru.

Unfortunate this "theory" falls apart due to the fact that Arthas and the Lich King are now fused as a single entity, as they were at the end of the Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. Again the appearance of a Naaru suggestining that it would willingly assist the Lich King would be extremely unlikely considering the lore of the Naaru in the Warcraft Universe.

Reception of TotP III
The movie was a great succes on www.WarCraftMovies.com with an average rating of 5 out of 5 and almost 200.000 downloads the first three days (1xRecommended + 2xPlatinum). The seeding of the satisfied downloaders on .Torrent made it clear that the movie was a succes.

Weapons

 * Ashbringer
 * Corrupted Ashbringer
 * [???] as Boneslasher
 * The Hungering Cold as Frostmourne

External Links & References

 * Official Eden Aurorae Webpage


 * Official Tales of the Past Webpage


 * Tales of the Past Forums


 * Tales of the Past mentioned on Denmark radio (included for notability)
 * Tales of the Past mentioned in a Danish newspaper (included for notability)