As we make our way into the Midnight prepatch and beyond, Matt, Joe, and Eric take the opportunity to recap the lore of The War Within. In case you missed it -- or maybe missed some of the signs leading up to it, or through it -- we have the story. It starts with a literal bang, and the destruction of Dalaran. The implications of that, from how it affects the plot all the way to how it affects the way the writers can shape the story forward, set the stage for all the The War Within, and perhaps beyond as we make our way back into Silvermoon City in Midnight, and then Northrend in The Last Titan. We'll talk about the hijinks of Xal'atath, and why the heck we ended up in Undermine, anyway.

All those detours and more on this episode of Lore Watch!

If you want even more background story, we also have a guide to every Warcraft book in chronological order (for those of you who prefer reading that way).

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This week Joe is joined by our writer Eric O'Dea to discuss Blood Ties, the newest WoW novel. The events of Blood Tieshappen between the end of The War Within but just before Midnight -- basically when we are right now. As such, there will be spoilers for both Blood Ties and a little bit of what we know happens in Midnight.

Joe and Eric point out various details they found particularly effective, and things they wished we had more of in other contexts. A fun little dinner party with lots of expository dialogue is a treat, for instance. But there's a lot of ground to cover, and Eric and Joe have a lot to say!

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This week Joe and Matt are answering another listener question, this time concerning Paladins, and how they serve as an intersection between the divine Light, and the Titans who shaped Azeroth. As you might imagine, the answer will span the cosmos, and go completely off the rails in the process. Paladins in particular serve as a mash-up between some Light power and Titanic power -- does that mean a Titan of the Void could occur? There's a lot of ground to cover, some of which will take us into Midnight and what may happen as we start to make our way toward the final act of this trilogy.

But you can count on one thing: an Odyn mention means he gets called a jerk again. We don't make the rules.

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This week by special listener request, Matt and Joe are delving into Icewind Dale -- perhaps literally, because it involves the iconic character Drizzt Do'Urden, the Drow Ranger. Icewind Dale began simply as a region in Dungeons and Dragons, and then became the title of a series of three novels penned by R. A. Salvatore, with the first published in 1988 and the last in 1990, and then a video game in 2000 set in the region. As such, there is a ton of lore to discuss, including its roots, which begin -- like almost every work in modern fantasy fiction -- back with Tolkien, and its use as a setting in D&D. Join us as we discuss one of the most beloved series in the D&D oeuvre.

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Because it's Christmas, and on Christmas you get a little treat, Joe and Matt are discussing all the ways crossovers are used in comics. From KISS to that one time Doctor Doom was Santa, to more mundane crossovers, adding a different set of characters to an existing comic can add new life to a stale plot. This episode has it all, from Archie to Transformers, perhaps both at the same time, and maybe in the Spiderverse. The sky's the limit when it comes to mashing up pop culture!

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Since Paladins were announced as the next class to join the roster in Diablo 4 in its next expansion Lord of Hatred -- and already playable with preorder -- Matt and Joe sat down this week to chat about both, but mostly Paladins and their history within the franchise. First, they dive into the place of Paladins within the franchise as contrasted by other classes. Blizzard seems to be cribbing heavily from Diablo 2, with almost all the classes from that game now available in D4. They touch on Paladins from D2, their famous fall, and how that led to the Crusaders from Diablo 3.

The story we see in the cinematic also has our Paladin facing off against Mephisto while he inhabits Akarat's body, which he possessed at the end of the previous expansion, Vessel of Hatred. Akarat being one of the founders of the faith the Paladin belongs to, this is a deeply interesting contrast -- as well as a personal religious crisis in the making.

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In this birthday episode of Lore Watch, Joe gave Matt a gift, and let Matt talk about whatever called to him -- and that was the lore of The Outer Worlds. They discussed everyone's favorite Gilded Age throwback with minimal spoilers, talking about how the world itself is setup and constructed in this alternate version of earth. In this version of history, the robber baron tycoons who brought you public works like Carnegie Hall and Rockefeller Center so they wouldn't be guillotined felt as though they wouldn't have to do such a thing -- McKinley wasn't shot by an anarchist, and thus his Vice President Teddy Roosevelt, who was known for rooting out corruption in the NYPD, just stayed Vice President. As such, inequality remained rampant and worsened, while that Gilded Age aesthetic continued to reign supreme.

Led by Matt, they discuss how that has affected the world of The Outer Worlds, from the job market to the cuisine. They run down some of the more significant characters and their roles within that world. And of course, there are diversions galore, from Futurama to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Though, we're thinking the oompa loompas probably know a thing or two about working a crummy job at unfair wages.

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Our listeners wanted to know about the legacy of the Troll raid. We've been killing those poor saps a lot -- just about every expansion in either raid or dungeon form, in fact, to the extent that "the Troll raid" is almost a meme. Midnight may be bringing us another chance to murder a whole bunch more Trolls, with rumors swirling about islands off the coast near Zul'Aman -- which, incidentally, was the Troll raid for The Burning Crusade.

We start off with a brief recap of the myriad of times in the past when we defeated one branch of trolls or another in a variety of settings. Of course, with such a broad topic, the rabbit hole goes deep. Matt and Joe discuss the Loa, notable troll heroes like Zul'jin, and the future of Trollkind. Since we're going into Midnight without a Troll raid as such, they also speculate a little on how it could come to pass before the expansion is out.

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