In World of Warcraft there are many characters with a tragic story. However, these 5 NPCs in WoW have particularly stayed in our memory because their background is so sad.
The World of Warcraft is full of quests. The number has now reached into the thousands, and only a few players have really completed all quests. While questing for some is just “clicking and then killing everything”, some quests tell a sad or emotional story. It’s time to look back at the 5 saddest questlines that World of Warcraft has to offer.
1. Crusader Bridenbrad
Crusader Bridenbrad can be encountered in Northrend, in the scourge area Icecrown. His questline has nothing to do with the main quest and is completely separate from it. He can be found seriously wounded at a small camp. His body is too weak to be moved. Doing so would surely kill him.
Bridenbrad was a proud and brave warrior of the Argent Crusade, and as players, we try to save him from death. We gather great supernatural powers and try to find a way to save him. For instance, we acquire the breath of the red dragonflight or an emerald acorn with the power of druids.
As we keep returning to Bridenbrad, talking to many people and frantically trying to save Bridenbrad’s life, one thing becomes clear: There is no salvation. Bridenbrad will die, and everything we do will not prevent that.
Our final goal in the questline is the Naaru. Even they cannot save Bridenbrad from death, but they appear personally to escort his soul directly to the afterlife because “The Light does not forget its champions”.
The story is even a bit sadder when you know that it references the brother of a developer who died of cancer. The helplessness in the quest and the inevitable end that one tries to prevent is a dark yet beautiful metaphor for that in the game – especially with the redemption at the end.
2. Kaelynara Sunstrider
Most will not know Kaelynara, yet her story is one of the most tragic. You encounter this blood elf in Talador in the Jorun Mine. The whole mine is polluted by elementals and magic, and Kaelynara is in the midst of all this chaos. She channels energy from crystals and is virtually unstoppable.
The goal of the quest is quite simple: Teleport Kaelynara to a neutral location and kill her there to end the elemental madness.
We do that in the questline and then loot her corpse – only to receive a “tear-stained letter”. In it, the letter reads:
Dear Kaelynara,
I regret to inform you that I must dismiss you as my apprentice. I blame myself for misjudging your potential. I hope you understand that even the most gifted mages can make mistakes. But at least this gives you the opportunity to leave your inadequacies behind and pursue more suitable goals. Perhaps basket weaving would be more suited to your … talents.
Unfortunately, I personally know no basket weavers and do not have the time to provide you with a letter of recommendation. Please return to Azeroth as soon as possible.
– Astalor
The reason for Kaelynara’s excessive use of magic is the disappointment she experienced from her mentor. She was not only cast out but also humiliated.
This is particularly tragic when you think about the fact that the blood elves were decimated by 90% and that each family presumably has only a few members left. Pulling the only support a young woman has, namely her training as a mage, from under her feet with such condescending words is simply cruel.
3. Vaeldrin and Lyalia
Vaeldrin and Lyalia can be found by Alliance players in the Krasarang Wilds of Mists of Pandaria. A group of night elves has just arrived through a portal from Darnassus and has directly stepped into a trap laid by the Mogu. After freeing the group, they explain their goal:
Vaeldrin is a priest of the night elves and is searching for a way to restore the immortality of the night elves. He has been pursuing this goal since the events of Warcraft III and does so fanatically. His daughter, a high-ranking shieldguard who helps him on this expedition, constantly criticizes his fanaticism. She notes that he perceives almost nothing other than this objective.
However, Vaeldrin insists on it, as he had a vision of a spring that grants eternal youth and thus makes one virtually immortal.
During the questline, players also find this spring and can take water from it. After a brief investigation, however, it becomes clear that the water is not a miracle cure. Instead, it drains the life force of the drinker and distributes it to other beings nearby. Therefore, lives must be sacrificed to keep others young.
Throughout the questline, the shieldguards under Lyalia help the Pandaren, but that ends badly. Lyalia is captured by the Mogu. The quest to save Lyalia fails, and we have to watch as she is executed before her father’s eyes.
After the Mogu are defeated and the elf’s corpse is brought back to the camp, Vaeldrin decides to use the spring’s water. He mourns that he never told his daughter how much he loves her and never fully realized how much he actually neglected her in his fanatical goal. He drinks the water to transfer his life force to his dead daughter.
Vaeldrin dies in the process, and Lyalia rises – next to her father’s corpse, which immediately causes her to break down in tears.
4. Runas the Shamed
Runas can be encountered in Legion, in Azsuna. He is an important NPC in the story surrounding the blue dragonflight.
He is a nightborne who was rejected by Suramar, like many of his brothers and sisters. Without the nightwell, he became an addiction-ridden, constantly seeking mana to keep his mind intact. In doing so, he hunts blue dragons and drains their magic to sustain himself – and this is when we meet him.
Instead of killing him, we use him as a prisoner. He even willingly offers his help, wanting to betray his former comrades and help us support the blue dragons. He is a rather amusing character, claiming not to be so greedy for mana – only to instantly pounce on a mana crystal and devour it in the next moment.
The whole questline and all of Runas’s dialogues are designed to give the player the feeling that Runas will betray us in the end. As a player, one suspects that Runas only wants to satisfy his own hunger for magic and is using us for that.
In the final quest, the blue dragons are attacked by numerous Withered and nightborne. Runas is also with the blue dragons – but instead of joining the attack and seizing the necessary mana, he kneels in a small pond and struggles against his addiction. With his last words, he asks if he has been helpful and calls us a “friend” – he does not betray us until the end. Afterward, he transforms into a Withered: his mind is lost.
5. Grand Magister Elisande
Most players know Grand Magister Elisande primarily as a raid boss and antagonist in Suramar.
10,000 years ago, when the War of the Ancients divided the great continent, Elisande hid the city of Suramar under a massive protective shield. This shield isolated both the world from Suramar, and vice versa – neither moonlight nor sunlight penetrated the magical dome. The people indulged in the magic well of the Nightwell and became addicted to it over thousands of years.
In the events of Legion, Suramar is revealed and Gul’dan demands a pact with Elisande to allow the Legion into the city. After much deliberation, Elisande agrees to this pact, which leads to an uprising among her own ranks which she swiftly crushes.
Nevertheless, Grand Magister Elisande ends as a raid boss and must pay for having allied with the Legion.
One should not forget that Elisande is the rightful ruler of Suramar, who has cared for her people well. She investigated all possible ways through prophecy and found no other way to protect her people. She concluded that the only option for the nightborne was to allow the Legion into their city or they and her people would be exterminated.
Sure – ultimately, the Legion was defeated, and the First Arcanist Thalyssra gained control of the city, providing the nightborne with a new, likely better life.
However, Elisande was not a true villain to the end but a ruler who wanted the best for her people and made decisions that would have drastic consequences.
We can be sure that in the upcoming expansion Shadowlands we will also see one or another dramatically sad backstory.
Do you also know of any NPCs or quests that particularly touched you?
