This week's episode was inspired by a question from a listener, about where the story is going from here as we make our way toward the next expansion of World of Warcraft, Midnight. We veer right into Tinfoil Hat territory pretty quickly. After all, it's tough when a lot of the sources we have are either written by unreliable narrators, or were written well before any of current events were even thought of -- which is part of the question itself. The Titans, the First Ones, and how they interact with the Void is a topic with a lot of intricacies and ground to cover, so Matt and Joe will do their best to navigate all this treacherous ground.

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The Netflix animated show Cyberpunk Edgerunners is a great entry in the Cyberpunk universe, and one we felt worth exploring in-depth. Joe and Matt give us a spoiler-filled tour of Night City and how all the details of life in that universe lead to a dystopia packed with despair. This is an episode from the archives, so it's one we felt we should bring back to the front in case you missed it.

Content Warning: both the podcast and the show we're discussing involve violence, bodily harm, mental health, and drug use.

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While we do enjoy going off on wild tangents or thinking about "what if," sometimes it's important to just go back to the crucial source material. The specific writing in-game can not only work to create a vibrant world, but with careful study, can inform the overall trajectory of what you can expect to come. WoW is no different, so today we're taking a look at a set of perhaps overlooked, but no less beloved, sets of writing from the game. We hope you enjoy.

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If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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This week's Lore Watch Podcast is Q&A style, so the topics veer all over the place -- more so than usual. We start off with a question about the Emerald Dream and whether it was designed as a prison -- timely, given Hearthstone's latest expansion releasing yesterday. Speaking of Hearthstone, the next question concerns in-game board games, and what kind of play happens on Azeroth. Then, they follow it up with a question about the Botani and other NPCs potentially coming to Azeroth from different planes and timelines. Seems like a good way to get new games, but then I usually just look through Steam.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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Join our hosts Joe Perez and Matt Rossi as they discuss the lore around the Sethrak, the snakelike humanoids we initially met in Vol'dun in Battle for Azeroth. How does their worship of the animalistic Loa spirits shape their society? Titans may tie in to the animalistic loa, and the two working together may have shaped Azeroth as we know it. Plus, they discuss the evolution of species in the context of a magical world: when is a dragonfrog a froglike dragon and when is it dragonlike, but a frog?

This week's Lore Watch Podcast is a Sethrakstravaganza.

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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This week we put on the tinfoil hat to contemplate Xal'atath's plans for the future, the nature of the void, and where we might be going in the Midnight expansion due out in 2026. As with most of our wild speculation episodes, the conversation goes off the rails and then forgets there were ever rails in the first place. Enjoy!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

If you enjoy the show, please support us on Patreon, where you can get these episodes early and ad-free!

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We're doing something a little new this week for Lore Watch, with a remaster of an older episode. As Joe explains in the new intro, we wanted to highlight something that we've already covered, but which could use another look as it becomes relevant again. Paladins or Crusaders are one of the most common fan picks for the second new class to come to Diablo 4, so we're revisiting the lore that makes them so popular.

In this episode, Joe and Matt give us a primer on the in-game religions that Crusaders, Templars, and Paladins are holy warriors for -- and why they declined in power after each expansion where they were featured. They are fascinating to explore, being holy warriors in a game so consumed in every way by evil. Join us as we go through the ages, from Akarat's visions all the way up through the information we get from Deckard Cain.

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Death Knights, one of the most iconic, lore-heavy classes added to World of Warcraft, are the core topic of this week's Lore Watch, this time with a focus on what dead means, really. Join Joe and Matt as they discuss the other types of undead we know, and how their existence shapes current Death Knights. The concept of Death Knights, and death in general started a long time ago in WoW's history, so there's a lot of ground to cover.

How were they made? Are they fully dead, or partly alive? How will they make new Death Knights since Sylvanas destroyed the Helm of Domination? And do they literally have to "suffer well?" All addressed in this week's Lore Watch.

Thanks to our supporter Tetsemi for the question.

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In this week's show, Matt and Joe discuss the conflict between Alliance and Horde -- and more importantly, the lack of conflict some characters may feel when they're just out there adventuring. Even if their factions are opposed, we've had a ton of time collaborating and helping each other out on a personal level. Could a third, neutral faction be possible, and if so, what would it look like? Then, they deep dive on the question of the relationship between the various opposing forces controlling the WoW universe. Which are completely opposing forces, and which transition from one to the other easily? Would it be possible, for instance, for N'Zoth to become Holy, like we've seen with the Naaru?

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This week's Lore Watch Podcast is a Q & A, but sometimes those questions can give us a chance to go off on a topic we love to discuss. For instance, why Odyn in World of Warcraft is just the worst. Maybe not the absolute worst given what horrors the setting has to offer, but he's certainly getting coal from Greatfather Winter next December. Matt and Joe lay out the reasons why he's a huge J-E-R-K, going back to Azeroth's creation.

Then, speaking of Grandfather Winter, if he were suddenly unavailable for Winter Veil Eve, who would take up the mantle? Perhaps Santa Clause-style?

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