which had lead him to burn himself inside-out
He was coughing and then it suddenly cut out. Maybe he was meant to explode, however seeing as that would make the game far too simple (you were literally in that area for only a few seconds) it was more likely originally the open sequence for a section involving him which might or might not have ultimately led to his death (he was meant to be unhealthy if you paid attention, smoking some sort of troll head water pipe thing and eating far too much, not the huge threat he was described as).
However it was the inconsistencies involved that made no sense. For example he was described as being clad in durable armor however all he was shown in was wearing some sort of spinal armor on his back. It also did not match the rest of the story since he listened to the one dragon that tried to kill him yet not the other. The severed head art work also looked suspiciously place holder which is why I think that sequence was either rushed (to hide cut content) or was part of an on-going revision.
The main nonsense comes from Ghrom however. You start out looking for him (without a reason why), you find where he lives (his pet dragon tells you he went out for a bit) and then all of a sudden you are the War Chief and you know he is being held in the same place you were due to the same people that caught you etc. You then ally with the dragons who proceed to do nothing else in the final sequence. Finally you go to kill the captain but then do not with it ending. Inconsistencies all the way.
Most noticeable, as I said, was that from a game where you killed no one (you just spat on them when they were KOed even though you had a dagger) suddenly you are killing stuff. That shows a major change in direction midway which would explain all the inconsistencies. It also supports that Deathwing was not meant to be killed in the way it is implied in the Beta, and that the final sequence was also rushed.
As such I would say only the first half of the game was the actual final game. The rest was sort of a mish-mash of WIPs, axed or tested content. This would also explain its cancelation since it would have taken another 50-100% more resources to finish and would have been up against some huge name adventure games from people with experience (Monkey Island 3 was just one of them).
People here are probably grateful of the cancelation, as it would have meant more resources devoted to other Blizzard products which went on to be huge successes.
It is interesting to note that the first half does fit WC3 lore to some degree. It clearly was going to explain how Thrall and Ghrom met each other, their back stories etc, and also introduce many characters which still exist. However as it progressed it became less and less "cannon" which also emphasises what I said above, that the end was still very much a WIP without anything ever being finalized. Some of the basic stuff should still exist even in the current lore (if WoW did not overwrite it with nonsense) since we all know that Thrall and Ghrom migrate at the start of WC3 and that Thral and Ghrom were close friends.
I do apologise if it is Grom and not Ghrom, fantasy names are too confusing.
