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Malfurion’s back, and he’s pissed! Two weeks ago, wow.com featured the cover to Richard A. Knaak’s Stormrage, the next Warcraft novel. Now, I’m a huge Warcraft lore nerd so this sparked my interest immediately. With Blizzcon only a day away, and an imminent interview with Knaak by WC Radio’s Pride, I figured this would be a good time to discuss some possibilities with the book.

At Blizzcon ’08 Christie Golden was quoted saying that Stormrage was not going to be Illidan centric, but Malfurion centric. Seeing as Malfurion is my favorite Warcraft character, I couldn’t be more excited. I am disappointed that it is going to be written by Knaak as opposed to Golden, because honestly, Golden’s writing is much more captivating than Knaak’s. I guess though, Knaak was the one to originally flesh out Malfurion so who else would be better to continue the Stormrage story.

As anyone who has followed the Warcraft story knows, Malfurion is currently sleeping. He’s sleeping, but his “spirit” is in the Emerald Dream battling the Nightmare. I’m sure it’s pretty safe to say that in Stormrage he wakes up finally. It will be the first time since the battle at Mt. Hyjal against Archimonde.

Aside from the obvious, what else can we expect from Stormrage? There’s no telling for sure until Blizzcon! We can come up with some theories and possibilities ourselves in the mean time though.

The main source we have right now on the novel is the cover art itself.

Let’s review this:

He’s obviously pissed off

This isn’t the Malfurion I know from prior books. Malfurion is usually very calm, and peaceful. You know, druidic. My only assumption about this is that he’s seen/experienced things in the Emerald Dream/Nightmare that has changed him. He won’t be a bad person, I think. He’ll just come out with thicker skin and ready to battle what waits.

His eyes

In the War of the Ancients trilogy he is characterized as having the normal silver eyes of his people. Illidan was always the one expressed as having amber eyes, which were the symbol of greatness to the night elves. What could’ve caused the change in Malfurion’s eye color? My guess is it was a change that happened over time as his power grew, a gift from Elune or Ysera, or it could just be a mishap by the artist. Hell, all the WoW night elves have amber eyes!

There are a few possible reasons why Malfurion is returning in the first place, but I think it will be the most obvious one: Cataclysm. It makes sense, right? Since Malfurion did stand against both in the War of the Ancients, of course he would come back to fight them again. I’m sure he will also have an impact on the world as it tries to heal, and as it changes after the catastrophe. Also, maybe the Nightmare will become more prevalent in Azeroth since an old god’s influence is strong within Azshara and Deathwing.

Like I said, there’s no telling what’s going to be included in the novel until the Lore panel, and interviews with Richard A. Knaak begin. But what do you all think? Let me know what you feel will be included in Stormrage. Have any theories on the future of the druids after the cataclysm? In particular, if Malfurion comes back, what do you think will happen to Staghelm?

-Astrella

Some other awesome sources for lore:

• Scrolls of Lore
• WC Radio: But Wait There’s Lore
• Elitist Jerks: Lore and Storyline Discussion