Ashbringer

The Ashbringer...

World of Warcraft: Ashbringer is a mini-series from the World of Warcraft Comic series which set in Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe and released monthly in a standard western comic format. It is written by Micky Neilson. Art by Ludo Lullabi along with Tony Washington. The covers are by Chris Robinson, Ludo Lullabi, and Tony Washington The series consists of four issues and chronicles the history of the fictional sword known as Ashbringer.

It is part of the Warcraft Expanded Universe.

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The series contains examples of:

• Achilles in His Tent: Tirion Fordring.
• All There in the Manual: This is a strange reversal as much of the story loses its impact unless you know who the characters are from the video game.
• Cain and Abel: Renault and Darion. Ironically, Darion doesn't know it.
• Cameo: Argent Officer Pureheart is the "other" female in the Order of the Silver Hand but is never identified by name.
• Cool Sword: The titular Ashbringer.
• The Devil: Balnazzar's role in the comic.
• The Faceless: Castillian.
• Fan Service: The point of the entire thing.
• Fantastic Racism: Something that cripples the Scarlet Crusade.
• Foregone Conclusion: This is an adaptation of the Ashbringer story to Warcraft.
• Fate Worse Than Death: The punishment for Alexandros Mograine and his son Darion.
  • Dathrohan is viewed as an insanely evil Knight Templar when the book reveals that he died before he did anything questionable. It was all Balnazzar's doing.
• Grand Theft Me: Dathrohan.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Darion Morgraine makes one to free his father's soul from Ashbringer. However, it causes him to take his father's place.
• Knight Templar: The fanatical Scarlet Crusade is pretty much a direct analogue to the Knights Templars, except they fight Undead.
• Knight Templar Parent: Brigitte Abbendis' father. Unfortunately, she's not much better.
• Last Words: Alexandros Mograine gets some.
  • Specifically, it's the A Plague on Both Your Houses with Dramatic Irony. He informs Renault that he was wrong about his son. Specifically, he was wrong that his son was anything like him. Renault, who murdered his father for his lack of approval thus goes insane for the fact that he was actually the son that his father thought was the most capable and strong willed.
• Lawful Stupid: High General Abbendis, both of them, shoot down any plan that begins with "Allying with the other races."
• The Messiah: Tirion Fordring.
• The Mole: Castillian, although it is pretty obvious, and at least one character suspects it.
• Ms. Fanservice: Sally Whitemane exemplifies this trope. In a order of otherwise straight Knight Templars, she's walking sex.
• Redshirt Army: Darion's Argent Dawn companions infiltrating Naxxramas pretty much only exist to be killed.
• Retcon: Tons. One of the chief retcons is Sally Whitemane survives the events of WOW due to Darion not killing her in this comic as she would be in the fulfillment of the Ashbringer quests in World of Warcraft.
  • Not to mention Darion takes over the role of the player character in pursuing many of these events.
• Self-Made Orphan: The young Renault Mograine becomes this at the urging of the hideous Balnazaar.
  • Of course, Renault's dad gets him back for it.
• Stripperific: Whitemane's outfit. Of course, it WORKS on her.
• Trauma Conga Line: Poor, poor Darion...But he got he gets turned Death Knight, but snaps out of it with the help of his Dad's spirit, he goes on to form the Knights of the Ebon Blade and plays a key part in defeating the Lich King. This has the happy side effect of shattering Frostmourne, releasing the souls of thousands (Along with Daddy's), which, while not making up for everything. It at LEAST gives him something to hold onto. He may have been dragged into Darkness, but he helped bring Light to the world! Oh, and he still gets some pretty bad-ass Death Knight powers
• The Unfavorite: Renault's motivation for turning evil.
• The Virus: The plague of undeath sweeping the land.
• Voice of the Legion: For a comic, they really did a good job with Kel'Thuzad's voice. Twisted Speech Bubbles with a black/red background, white borders and text, and a shadow effect really lets you know that he isn't one of the good guys.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Renault Mograine wants his father's approval. In the end, he turns to the figure of Balnazzar possessing Dathrohan's corpse for approval and is convinced to murder his own father. Oh, and then he finds out he had Dad's approval, he just thought it was so obvious he didn't need to say it.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Scarlet Crusade exemplifies this trope. It turns out, however, that only the lower-ranking operatives are, as some of the higher-ranking ones, including Dathrothan himself, are demons in disguise, and want to destroy the Scourge for being enemies of the Burning Legion.