Lore Watch Podcast

Now that we've seen Lorewalking a bit, a listener asks the Lore Watch team what other events in Azeroth's history we should get to go visit through that system. While the listener suggests the War of the Three Hammers -- which Joe and Matt are on board with -- the response runs the gamut of Azeroth's history, from ancient events to a couple from  WoW  we just weren't there to see, all th...

The ultimate fight of  The War Within , Dimensius is a hulking purple Void Lord, and several developer interviews have led us to believe he may be the last one. Or, at least, that's what two of our listeners asked about -- is he the last Void Lord? And if he is, what does that even mean? So Matt and Joe start off explaining the Void and Void Lords a bit, before making a turn -- in the way onl...

This week we're having a throwback episode from the Archives. Over a hundred episodes ago, Matt and Joe discussed what they would like to see from an elf-centric expansion, which is more or less coming to fruition with  Midnight . They begin by talking about the lore behind elves in general, their historical origins as an offshoot of the Trolls, through the Night Elf schism with the High Elve...

The topic of Forsaken Paladins is the meat in a three listener question sandwich this week. We start off with the idea of corruption, and just how the Old Gods managed to bend the kobolds eating Milly Osgood's grapes in Elwynn Forest to their will, being that they're generally not all that geographically adjacent. Besides which -- kobolds? Really? Then, the Forsaken Paladin discussion, which dives...

This week's show is devoted to two listener questions. The first asks what the Void fears, in reference to a line from our old pal Ve'nari who asserts that she knows what it is -- but doesn't let us in on the secret. Can Matt and Joe unravel the mystery posed by our Broker friend? They go down some twisting paths to discuss their way to the answer, including a lot of discussion of all the elves on...

Most people think of the 80s as a simple time full of big hair and scrunchies, but those of us who were into  Dungeons and Dragons  will remember the Satanic Panic, a period of time when parents were terrified that every piece of media was making their children evil. Our hosts Matt and Joe take a walk through a history they remember quite well, drawing from their own experiences as kids...

Lore Watch this week explores three questions sent in by our listeners, all ending in answers we may see as we go forward into  Midnight . First, they talk about the different types of magic -- specifically that Warlock magic stems from the Titans -- and why that knowledge didn't knock the socks clean off the Kirin Tor. Or maybe Xal'atath literally knocking those socks off also knocked some s...

With the rigidity of the structure of the Kirin Tor and the Jedi Order, and their propensity for keeping secrets about power -- and sometimes that power for themselves -- there are a ton of parallels between these two organizations. Our hosts Matt and Joe dive deep into both the  World of Warcraft  universe and the  Star Wars  universe in order to compare and contrast the maste...

While we’re all excited about the new trailer for  Midnight  from gamescom, Matt and Joe took this opportunity to discuss what narrative threads we may see in  Midnight  as a whole. They recap some of our adventures on K’aresh, discuss the order of what might be coming, plus what the nature of the energy-based Ethereals have to do with Azeroth. It’s a multi-faceted lore deep di...

This week's Lore Watch Podcast is just as majestic as the last, with even more discussion of the lore of  Jurassic Park . This time, Joe, Matt, and special guest Eric O'Dea discuss the second set of Jurassic media, starting with  Jurassic World . They give a rundown of the plots of the newer movies, then move into analysis. While scientific hubris clearly has its role to play, perhaps th...

This week, Matt, Joe, and special guest Eric O'Dea dove into one of the most influential series for the 90s kids in the audience:  Jurassic Park . From Michael Crichton's groundbreaking novels to the movies, dinosaurs were inescapable -- pun intended. Our hosts discuss the first few works in the series, how the books and movies differed, and just how wrong the science was.  Jurassic Park...

This week's Lore Watch Podcast featured three different listener questions, answered by our intrepid hosts Matt and Joe. First, they delved into some pop culture references in  WoW , specifically focusing on  Final Fantasy  (or possibly  He-Man ). The second question talks Quilboar and the Scourge -- what did the Scourge get out of working with the Quilboar anyway? Finally, we...

This week's podcast features three different reader questions shoved into one podcast trenchcoat. First up, would it be possible to see a Void version of Demon Hunters, considering what we know now about Void as a magic source? Which of course, raises the question of, say, Light Demon Hunters or Arcane Demon Hunters. Then, we try to shove magic sources together, like Deathwing's Shadowflame (and w...

Our hosts Joe and Matt were joined by frequent guest and DM for our Tavern Watch podcast, Phil Ulrich. Together they explored the storytelling aspect of TTRPGs. While they do enjoy the aspect of "math rocks go brrrr" TTRPGs bring to the table, the ability to tell a story collaboratively makes it more appealing to them than a typical game like  Catan  or  Monopoly , though certainly...

Two listener questions form bookends to an overarching concept this week on the Lore Watch Podcast. First, what is happening to Outland as it is now, 20 years after we visited? Is it still crumbling as it was, and what is becoming of the people and creatures still living there? Then, continuing on the theme, the next question asks, what if Azeroth's fate -- after burrowing Old Gods and Titan stabb...

This week's episode covers a lot of ground, because we're answering your burning listener questions (but you should still see a doctor). One involves modding and romance options in games like  Fallout 4  or Cyberpunk 2077 . The next question is all about class fantasy in  WoW , and which our hosts think is defined the best. The final question is about the upcoming  Legion Remix...

With the new Lorewalking feature, it has some of us curious about the Lorewalkers. What is their history in the game, and why exactly do they know so much? A listener asked us just that -- somewhat suspiciously. As Matt and Joe discuss the Lorewalkers, it is evident that many are not your average NPC, empowered with longevity, or great memory. The path leads us to the Time Walkers and the dragonfl...

This week Lore Watch takes a deep dive into the character of Faerin Lothar, based on the recent short story " Faith and Flame ," as well as the release of  patch 11.1.7 , which sends us questing back into the Arathi Highlands. Faerin's story is inextricably tied to the Arathi race as a whole, but also unique to her -- noble or no, not many seven year olds are going to stow away on a ship to j...

The new Lorewalking feature in  World of Warcraft  is one we can use to explore more moments from the game we haven't seen, or explore the ones we have seen more in-depth. A listener wrote in and asked Matt and Joe which other points of lore they'd like to see show up in Lorewalking later, so of course, the entire hour is devoted to answering that question. From the huge, earth-shaking m...

Who would have thought that the hosts of the Lore Watch Podcast would be excited to talk about the new Lorewalking feature coming to  World of Warcraft ? The episode goes through the scenarios in detail, so if you'd prefer to have your Lorewalking experience as unspoiled as your own recollection of past events, note that they discuss everything about them at length. Part of that discussion al...

If in between hauling Brann's sorry carcass through another delve and racing around in your car in Undermine you haven't been paying close attention to the story of  The War Within , we've got your back. Starting from the pre-patch and the radiant song, Matt and Joe recap the events of the expansion so far. There  will be spoilers  up through the end of the Undermine raid, so be war...

This week's Lore Watch is based on a listener question, which mashes together two of Joe and Matt's favorite topics: Azeroth and  Dungeons and Dragons . Specifically, this episode goes through doing just that: how they would play their way through a  World of Warcraft -themed  D&D  campaign. They discuss their picks for the best tabletop system to play their way through a p...

On this week's Lore Watch Podcast, Joe and Matt are joined again by our writer Eric O'Dea, and they continue to explore how the telling and re-telling of stories about creatures in folklore has evolved into the creatures we now know in some of our favorite media. This week they start the discussions with dragons and all their forms -- sapient, verbal, Dungeons and -- and how Dragons tend to affect...

While they are unassuming little creatures, their presence in fantasy lore ranges all the way from traditional folklore all the way into modern day  Dungeons and Dragons  and  World of Warcraft . With the help of staff writer Eric O'Dea, Joe and Matt delve deep to discuss the history of these little critters, from their origins as sprites or brownies or the fae all the way up to "yo...

This week, Joe and Matt take to the mailbag to answer your questions, which are as varied as you are. First, since WoW has a tendency to bring back characters from the dead, and we just quote-unquote "killed" Gallywix, do we think he's actually dead, or will he be back? Then, in harkening back to a past episode, the connection between the Arathi and the Nerubians -- and whether the Nazrethim is wh...