Windrunner: Three Sisters | |
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Author(s) | Steve Danuser, Christie Golden, Andrew Robinson |
Artist(s) | Antonio Bifulco, Sebastian Cheng |
Pages | 24 |
Publisher(s) | Blizzard Publishing[1] |
Publication date | June 5, 2018 |
“Three Sisters share battle. A dance. A breath. But the game will be won by the Sister of Death.”
Windrunner: Three Sisters is a comic published digitally by Blizzard Publishing as the third tie-in for the World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth expansion.
It features the three Windrunner sisters meeting. The story takes place around a month after the events of Argus.[3]
Description[]
After returning home to Azeroth, Alleria Windrunner calls upon her estranged siblings—Sylvanas, the warchief of the Horde, and Vereesa, ranger-general of the Silver Covenant—to join her in a quest to retake their ancestral home, Windrunner Spire, from the undead who have overrun the place. On their journey, the three sisters will navigate both the dangers of the present and the ghosts of the past to discover if time and tragedy have divided them irrevocably—or if, despite everything, they are still a family.[4]
Characters[]
Major | Supporting | Minor | Flashback | Mentioned |
---|---|---|---|---|
Locations[]
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- Kalimdor
- Dustwallow Marsh (flashback)
- Pandaria
- Kun-Lai Summit (flashback)
- Kalimdor
Others[]
Interview[]
In a 2018 interview with Lorekeeper, lead narrative designer Steve Danuser along with several Blizzard writers were asked about the background of Three Sisters, and how it related to the individual struggles of all three Windrunner sisters.[5]
Lorekeeper: The Windrunner sisters have had all led radically different lives. What would you say is the defining characteristic of being a Windrunner—that one thing that, despite all their differences, they still share in common?
Steve Danuser: Before Sylvanas was killed, before Alleria went off, they were all united in their love of their country, of Silvermoon, of Quel'Thalas, the Sunwell. And the Windrunners had been hugely important in the history of the high elves—so to see that chipped away and broken has certainly affected each of them in different ways. But I think they all feel strongly about what they consider family—they just have different perspectives on it now. For Alleria, she decides that in order to save her son, in order to preserve her family, she has to fight a war, no matter how long it takes or what the cost. For Vereesa, she loses her husband Rhonin when the Horde attacks Theramore, and dedicates herself to making sure there’s a better world for her twin sons. As for Sylvanas—I think she’s had to redefine, more than anyone, what family means to her. But I think they still have those same drives and those same commitments. Clearly they have some different priorities, but there’s still a commonality there that plays into this comic. But the question is, are those similarities enough to connect them in the long run?
Does Vereesa know that Sylvanas meant to turn her undead if she would have gone through with the plan in War Crimes and joined her sister’s side?
I think she has no idea. Why would she? Why would Sylvanas tell her? And what’s fun about that is Sylvanas doesn’t think this is a bad thing at all!
One of the interesting things about writing Sylvanas is that if you look at it from a purely human perspective, she does a lot of horrible things. You might recoil at the thought of someone killing her own sister just to be together. But when you think about what’s always driven Sylvanas—preserving her family, making sure her people endure—then she’s doing the same kinds of things she did before, just in different circumstances. I would also say that Sylvanas is ineffably lonely. She commands an army, but she has no one she can truly identify with. And here’s this sister she has so many fond memories of—from her perspective, she’s preserving her family, and making it so she’ll never be alone.
Trivia[]
- The story was initially pitched as a short story, but it ended up becoming a comic.[3]
- This is the first time that Giramar, Galadin, and Lirath have been depicted visually. They had only appeared in novels since they were introduced 13 years earlier for the twins[6] and 10 years earlier for Lirath.[7]
- Vereesa mentions that Sylvanas and Alleria let her think that they were dead. Vereesa learned about Sylvanas' official death from the elven leaders of Quel'Thalas, including her grandfather, in The Well of Eternity, and was initially unaware of the rumors about Sylvanas' resurrection as an undead, although she eventually found out that she became a banshee.[8]
- As of July 2018, the comic has been read more than 4 million times.[1]
- The comic was the last to be released, and was by far the longest of the three comics.
- Sylvanas apparently won the game of the Three Sisters.[9]
- Both Alleria and Sylvanas would later regret their reunion, as it seemed to have wounded them both, with Alleria mentioning that the reunion did not go well; she further advised Anduin against trusting Sylvanas, as she has been in the darkness for too long, and it has eaten away what was left of the sister she loved so dearly, and that furthermore, that there much none of them knew about Sylvanas or how she thought. While recalling the reunion herself, Sylvanas mentioned how harking back to a time when was no shadows within them had been a futile endeavor, and that while people could indeed change, like all three Windrunner sisters had, it was not likely for the better, at least as Anduin saw as such.[10] Alleria would later openly regret not killing Sylvanas when last they met.[11][12]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ a b Andrea Ayres 2018-07-21. SDCC ’18: An Inside Look at Blizzard Publishing. Beat Comics Culture.
- ^ Steve Danuser on Twitter: "Three Sisters share battle. A dance. A breath. But the game will be won by the Sister of Death."
- ^ a b Christie Golden, Andrew Robinson and Steve Danuser interview with WoW Chakra
- ^ Windrunner: Three Sisters on the Official Website
- ^ WoW: Battle for Azeroth – The Three Sisters Comic Is Up Now!.
- ^ The Sundering
- ^ Beyond the Dark Portal
- ^ Night of the Dragon, chapter 14
- ^ Steve Danuser on Twitter
- ^ Before the Storm
- ^ Battle for Lordaeron
- ^ Shadows Rising
External links[]
- Blizzard Entertainment Official comic page
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