The Siege of Dalaran

[Khazmo]

Here is a discussion thread for the Siege of Dalaran mission.

I think it'd be good if we could begin by identifying all the characters who were present during the Siege & its aftermath, whether they come from games, novels, comics or the RPG. Once we have this information (and any associated info on appearances, spell types, etc), we can decide who makes sense to include, and how exactly the mission should be changed.

 

[Dagren]

A while ago I researched the main archmages bios and made a list of everyone who should (and should not) be in Dalaran during the last two chapters of the undead campaign.

Besides Antonidas, canonically the names of three archmages holding the barrier were Conjurus Rex, Landazar and Fordred Aran, while World of Warcraft revealed other two archmage as well helped Antonidas during the siege: Ur and Dalar Dawnweaver.

Ur is a forgotten character in Reforged, but is often mentioned in WoW, because his books on the knowledge of shadow magic and worgen research has influenced so many other important characters and was mentioned in different quests ranging from Silverpine to Elwynn and Redridge mountains. In WoW is stated he died in The Siege of Dalaran.

Also, in The Siege of Dalaran there are 9 unnamed Council Wizards (not to be confused with the Council of Six) and since patch 1.33 in Under the Burning Sky the enemy heroes have all unique names referring mostly to WoW NPCs: Karlain, Ansirem Runeweaver, Ericon, Dalar Dawnweaver, Ulrik von Stromhearth, Pascal Spellbinder and Relios the Relic Keeper

• Archmage Karlain in Dalaran during the scourge attack is inconsistent with his biography, as he was supposedly residing in Goldshire at the time, since he fled Dalaran in peacetime after he he killed one of his apprentices and he was invited back into the Kirin Tor and elected as a member of the Council of Six years later, during Mists of Pandaria time. So I wouldn't include him. Have him there is an oversight imo.
• Ansirem Runeweaver is confirmed in WoW as a member of the Council of Six who fought and survived the third war.

• Ericon is just a random name, he doesn't exist at all in wow or any other official source, I guess it's poetic license by Kam. He can be maintained and killed or get removed altogether.

• Dalar Dawnweaver is a Forsaken in WoW and he confirmed to be a former archmage of the Kirin Tor, he died. But he should die during the siege, not during the counterattack of the last chapter.

• Baron Ulrik von Stromhearth is a noble mage member of the Kirin Tor that survived the third war.

• Pascal Spellbinder, like Ericon is nowhere to be found in WoW, nor do we have any mention of this character in any Blizzard source, so we can assume this character is just a poetic license from the map designer too. He can be maintained and killed or get removed altogether.

• Relios the Relic Keeper is confirmed in WoW as the pupil of Dalar Dawnweaver who survived the war, and we know that his title "the relic keeper" comes by the fact that he stole the ring from the corpse of his dead master. Basically a jackal. Since he is described as a "pupil" of an archmage who was not even a member of the council I wouldn't see him as an enemy archmage, but rather as a minor easter egg of some lesser mage who takes advantage of the disaster to steal stuff or just as a guardian of some treasure box.


Also, we do know that there were also other important Archmages there:

• Archmage Modera, a member of the Council of Six since the second war, fight during the third and survives.

• Archmage Drenden, like Modera he's a member of the Council of Six too, but he was believed to be dead as he was no longer a member after the Third War, however in The War Within it was made clear that he actually survived the Siege of Dalaran.

Often mentioned characters such as Bethor Iceshard and Gunther Arcanus confirmed they were killed by the plague, not during the actual siege, so there's no need to see them die violently in war, while other important characters, often demanded by fans like Krasus, Aethas, Rhonin & Vereesa were all away from Dalaran during the attack.

Color legend:
Characters who were present and died
Characters who were present and survived
Characters whose presence is inconsistent with other sources
Characters likely invented by the map maker with no sources at all

It would also be nice to see a differentiation between the specs of the 3 archmages holding the barrier during the siege, to enrich and give more variety to the map: Fordred Aran could be a frost mage, Conjurus Rex arcane-based and Landazar fire.
For the surviving characters I wouldn't mind the same mechanic seen in Reforged for Sylvanas, that when you face her and bring her down to a few hp she vanishes/blinks away.

Sidenote: the 6 members of the Council of Six at the time of the siege had to be Antonidas (the leader), Modera, Drenden and given the task so important for the defense of the city it is assumed the other 3 archmages who held the barriers: Fordred Aran, Conjurus Rex and Landazar. (Kael'thas had given up his position shortly before the siege. Ansirem Runeweaver joined the Council of Six during the Third War, and is known for sure to have been a member of the Council when Garithos liberated the city and condemned the blood elves. So we can assume that he assumed the role right after the murder of the previously mentioned council members.)

 

[Khazmo]

That's a pretty comprehensive list, here are some additional ones that survived or died:

DIED:

Kilnar Goldensword - high elven sorceress that was killed during the Siege of Dalaran, rumoured mother to a bastard of Admiral Proudmoore. Comes from two different RPG sources (an easter egg I really want to see)

Old Fillmaff - A librarian who went missing during the Siege of Dalaran, before popping up years later as undead and resumed his job of sorting out the library. According to the mage Varenthas, he died during the siege. Easter egg quality at most.


SURVIVED:

Archmage Ataeric - Considered to be an archmage of "great power" by Horde questgivers in WoW, he survived the Third War and was responsible for trying to restore ley line nodes in Ambermill

Mage-Lord Urom - Though there is very little backstory for this character, it is known he was in the Kirin Tor (which makes him a mage of noteworthy ability) and he betrays them during WoW to fight on behalf of Malygos. Easter egg potential.


CONFLICTED:

Archmage Arugal - Survived. Conflicting lore about his role in the Third War, earlier lore suggested he unleashed Worgen against the Scourge to protect Dalaran, latter lore does not confirm or deny this but focuses on him unleashed them on behalf of Gilneas' king -after- the fall of Dalaran

Archmage Angela Dosantos - Survived. She was the guardian of the staff Atiesh during the Third War, but Medivh's ancient staff was destroyed when Dalaran fell. What is conflicting about this is that Medivh is seen holding his staff in WC3, so how was she guarding it?

Korrigan the Librarian - Was around during the First War as he is mentioned in The Last Guardian as having a secret pamphlet on demons, but never mentioned again. Possibly still alive at the time of the Siege of Dalaran, potentially someone to die during the battle. Conflict is over his fate.

 

[Dagren]

In the reforged Siege of Dalaran the entire city is seen, whereas in the classic version it was only a section of the city, running long to its core. In the old map the hypothesis was left open that other reinforcements could arrive from other unexplored parts of the city, in the reforged absolutely not, besides making the world extremely small in scale. Medivh's book also makes sense that it should be kept in the Violet Citadel, in the very core of the city, not on its outermost part. The drama effect of the destruction the city by Archimonde has no place on a city that you have already completely raided and conquered in game. We also may have more poetic license than how Dalaran appears in WoW, since it is never specified that the reconstructed version is identical to the previous one.

We could draw on how the city looks in the end of the UD campaign footage and find the right compromise between how the city looks in the different chapters and give it more dignity than what was done in Reforged. Personally I would keep a layout a bit more similar to the classic, because it maintains the feeling of not having conquered the whole city yet, that there are still other mages ready to kick our ass after recovering Medivh's book, which is absolutely what the dialogue suggest.

I would suggest a layout roughly like this for this chapter. Clearly it can also be more irregular in shape than the circle I sketched, but the concept of making the city into "rings" as the final video suggests is cool and each "ring" could correspond to the area of effect of each aura.
Each archmage hold the aura that affects a ring of the city and gradually make the player proceed up to the core of the city, the violet citadel, which I would see well as an indoor area with its own micro phase (and own boundary) for the boss fight against Antonidas.

 

[Dagren]

Below are paragraphs from Chronicles vol.3 regarding the Siege of Dalaran during the Third War, with some highlights of events that weren't originally too obvious.

The Siege of Dalaran details

Tichondrius came into possession of the Skull of Gul'dan from the same vault where the Book of Medivh was kept in those same moments, therefore without making the dreadlord playable (must be excluded for game mechanics reasons, Tichondrius has divine armor), the inclusion of the Skull of Gul'dan could have been inserted into the background of the final scene of the siege, with Arthas watching Tichondrius claiming the skull and then rushing Kel'thuzad to take Medivh's book by saying his regular line of dialogue "The spellbook is all yours, lich. Let's take it and leave before the wizards amass for their final attack", with this small canon-friendly inclusion we make known both how the Legion came into possession of the Skull and how Arthas knows that it is being used by Tichondrius, preparatory elements to later chapters which form a good narrative bridge.

Additional note: from the Arthas novel we learn that Sylvanas was present during the siege of Dalaran, however it seems she was not present at the boss fight with Antonidas.




Under the Burning Sky details

According to Chronicles, shortly before Archimonde's summoning, some of his lieutenants were summoned: Mannoroth and Kazzak.
Mannoroth appearing now feeds very well into the following orc campaign, which starts from the chapter immediately after this one, and a single voice line from WoW could fit him in nicely (see attached .mp3 file). I wouldn't make Mannoroth playable, it would be just a cameo shortly before the end of the timer.

Kazzak is a doomlord, a very powerful type of doomguard, his character was originally absent from Warcraft 3, he later gains importance for being the last surviving high lieutenant of the Legion in Azeroth and the main responsible for reopening the Dark Portal in WoW and thus the for TBC expansion. However, his role during the Third War is marginal, so he may or may not be included, if he was included, it wouldn't be bad to see him (a very little) later during the Night Elf campaign like when Tyrande is escaping from doomguards in the second nelf chapter or in the chapter set in Winterspring with unreacheable enemy bases. He is also voiced in WoW with many voice lines that could be integrated (see attached .mp3 file)

 

[Ethenil]

I agree with everything Dagren has said.

To me, ideally, the final mission would see Mannoroth and Kazzak being summoned (even if not playable). Then, in the final cutscene, when Archimonde is summoned, we see his lieutenants - Azgalor, Anetheron and Kaz'rogal - smaller, beside him.

 

[Dagren]

Below are some excerpts from the novel Beyond the Dark Portal (chapter 11) describing the chamber where the Kirin Tor holds their most powerful artifacts: the Arcane Vault of the Violet Citadel.

It would be fitting to use this location as the site of the boss fight against Antonidas where the Skull of Gul'dan and Book of Medivh are recovered, instead of a balcony that doesn't give the slightest feeling of "maximum security".

 

[Flinn]

Since Veilwright's screenshots of

View attachment 432725

In the reforged Siege of Dalaran the entire city is seen, whereas in the classic version it was only a section of the city, running long to its core. In the old map the hypothesis was left open that other reinforcements could arrive from other unexplored parts of the city, in the reforged absolutely not, besides making the world extremely small in scale. Medivh's book also makes sense that it should be kept in the Violet Citadel, in the very core of the city, not on its outermost part. The drama effect of the destruction the city by Archimonde has no place on a city that you have already completely raided and conquered in game. We also may have more poetic license than how Dalaran appears in WoW, since it is never specified that the reconstructed version is identical to the previous one.

View attachment 432726
We could draw on how the city looks in the end of the UD campaign footage and find the right compromise between how the city looks in the different chapters and give it more dignity than what was done in Reforged. Personally I would keep a layout a bit more similar to the classic, because it maintains the feeling of not having conquered the whole city yet, that there are still other mages ready to kick our ass after recovering Medivh's book, which is absolutely what the dialogue suggest.
View attachment 432728
I would suggest a layout roughly like this for this chapter. Clearly it can also be more irregular in shape than the circle I sketched, but the concept of making the city into "rings" as the final video suggests is cool and each "ring" could correspond to the area of effect of each aura.
Each archmage hold the aura that affects a ring of the city and gradually make the player proceed up to the core of the city, the violet citadel, which I would see well as an indoor area with its own micro phase (and own boundary) for the boss fight against Antonidas.

Since Veilwright's screenshots of this post in the Discord server were part of what prompted my ideas that I posted there, I thought I'd post them here, too:

Going clockwise from the bottom right corner (screenshot below):

RoC Undead 7:
Arthas's base (yellow diamond) is situated outside the southeast entrance of Dalaran, as they just came out of the Alterac Mountains. They cross the river/moat (dark blue) at the bridge (purple lines), and fight through southeastern section of the city (light grey hexagon), until coming to the vault outside/adjacent to the Violet Citadel where the Book of Medivh is guarded by Antonidas (orange circle). The water in the bottom left of the map even fits with the river in the cinematic, as well.

RoC Undead 8:
The summoning Ziggurat and the surrounding undead base (yellow circle) are built across the river valley (light blue lines) to the southwest of the city (light green polygon), with the southmost Human base crossing the river via a bridge (red lines - departing from a ford in the mission, to match the bridge in the cinematic), the middle base crossing the river via a ford (pink lines), and the third base is in a fortress (lavender square) on the left bank of the river, connected to the city with another bridge (green lines).{Maroon pentagon and sky blue polygon connect this area to the first TFT Dalaran mission.}

TFT Night Elf 7:
The Night & Blood Elves came from west via Silverpine Forest, and set up their bases (purple and yellow stars respectively in the maroon pentagon), with two undead bases to the west and east (light green and offwhite stars respectively). The 3rd base/fortress from RoC UD 8 is in the unplayable portion (lavender square), and the playable portion of Dalaran with Illidan's Naga base is northwest of them (sky blue polygon, base is red star).

TFT Human 1 & 2:
The river continues to curve around the city, flowing into Lordamere Lake (light blue lines), and Kael and Co. are now in the northwest of the city, in a northern area we don't see in the cinematic view of the city. Fenris Isle is also obscured by Dalaran, but the far side of the lake is visible in the distance (red polygon - where the 3rd and final observatory and main undead base of HU2 are).