Lore Watch Podcast

Doom's gore-fueled Hell was one of those games Tipper Gore woke up in cold sweats dreaming about in the 90s when they were all about censoring things for the good of the children. The story of Doom was initially a bit light on the ground (of Mars), being mostly just a vehicle for good ol fashioned wanton violence. But there have been so many entries in the series that now that Doom has several different alternate timelines worth of story. Joe and Matt rip and tear their way through the lore of Doom, from the early days through the Dark Ages and beyond.

Oh, and Isabelle from Animal Crossing and Doomguy are married. It's canon now. I don't make the rules.
If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lore Watch Podcast starts off with a dive into the lore of the Midsummer Fire Festival, particularly since so much was added over the past few years. How has this little event about a melting ice stone grown to reflect the culture of fire and summer in the different races?

Then, we go back to the Shadowlands for the rest of the podcast. We start with actually getting there. If we were the only Maw Walker, why is there a whole portal in our capital cities for any rando to traipse into Oribos? As long as we're in Oribos, let's chat First Ones. What do we know about them, exactly? How has the lore we know about them changed what we used to think we know about Azeroth?

We wrap it up by touching a figurative third rail: what would it take to make it feel like Sylvanas coming back was earned, and not a "somehow, Palapatine returned" cop out?
If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Looking back and knowing what we do about Harandar and the deep roots of the World Trees, do we owe Fandral an apology in hindsight? Matt and Joe have a lot of lore to back up their answer, which is like 20 minutes worth of "lol, no." A stopped clock may be right twice a day, but it's still broken, and Fandral Staghelm didn't just ask us humbly for Morrowgrain. All bets are off when you try to re-summon Ragnaros.

But starting off the show is a discussion on Vol'jin and his family, and why we don't really see them in the game. We don't have a ton of Darkspear characters, and that difference is pretty stark in an expansion packed with Amani. So, why might Blizzard not be making Vol'jin's family front and center when they're some of the few other representatives of the canon baseline Trolls?
If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In World of Warcraft, we've come across several shattered worlds, in varying degrees of obliteration. From Outland to K'aresh, these worlds have been corrupted with various forces, were shredded into near-oblivion, and some looked as though they may have some kind of shot at redemption against all odds.

But what about their world souls? How does each world soul relate to the creation of these worlds by the Titans? And how worried should we therefore be about the fate that may await Azeroth? This one gets pretty deep into the weeds of tinfoil hat theorizing, pulling elements from several different expansions for reference.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lore Watch kicks off with a discussion from Diablo 4 this week, which breaks the seal on the Lord of Hatred spoilers. This question concerns the Chekov's Gun that was Neyrelle's lopped off arm. Matt and Joe discuss the possibility that Neyrelle isn't truly, fully dead, as through the lens of that arm, which apparently washed up on shore in Skovos, despite being cut off in a very different place. Is it really a hint that she may come back, or is this just more residual echoes of hatred?

Then, Eric gets to flex his astrophysicist street cred with the next question, which asks, if we can time travel, where are all the time travelers in Azeroth? Shouldn't we be crisscrossing all over the cosmos, or whatever, running into each other all the time? He posits a pseudo-connection to the Fermi Paradox, which essentially asks the same question, but about non-humans in real life, and where all the spacefaring civilizations are. And yes, contemplating this is truly terrifying.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.