Why is there such a big focus on Bolvar in the press material?

[Accendor]

So today new press material was released, e.g. this badass Bolvar pic:


It looks really cool and there are more badass Bolvar pics in older kits.
My question now is: Why? Blizzard decided to destroy the full Bolvar and Lichking mythos with the shadowlands trailer.
I don't want to judge that decision, but we already know that:
- His undead army are just a shadow of the scourge
- He is not a brilliant Mastermind that has its own agenda
- He got his ass whipped with a power difference that was close to Goku becoming SSJ style. Even Bolvar put up a better fight than him.

So we already know that he is neither strong nor smart. I get that he can still be useful as a humble guide, but this focus on him as a force to reckon with really irritates me.

[Puremallace]

Basically it is a revenge arc. Personally I like the player made story line that Sylvannas was level 120 and he was level 80. They should have made that canon if you ask me.

[Saltysquidoon]

He's going to be the new Tirion/Khadgar/Magni character. They gotta hype him up so normies who don't care about the lore remember who that "witch thing" everyone was talking about before they started playing know who he is.

Also, I can't help but find it hilarious that the implication of his get-up is at some point while no one was watching Bolvar scavenged some of the plate of the damned of Arthas' corpse, like Gollum trying to steal the ring from frodo.

[deenman]

He's going to be the new Tirion/Khadgar/Magni character. They gotta hype him up so normies who don't care about the lore remember who that "witch thing" everyone was talking about before they started playing know who he is.

Also, I can't help but find it hilarious that the implication of his get-up is at some point while no one was watching Bolvar scavenged some of the plate of the damned of Arthas' corpse, like Gollum trying to steal the ring from frodo.

LOL this was pretty funny,and i never even considered it

[Krakan]

Players don't like the characters blizzard wanted them to like so they are focusing on the older ones.

I wouldn't be surprised to see old favorite characters used in promo material closer to launch.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

His undead army are just a shadow of the scourge

There's still enough Scourge to cause problems if its ignored, hence why the helm being destroyed is...bad.

He is not a brilliant Mastermind that has its own agenda

...He doesn't need to be, he was the other Lich King and that role will probably return to him by the end of SL.

He got his ass whipped with a power difference that was close to Goku becoming SSJ style. Even Bolvar put up a better fight than him.

Sylvanas had an edge thanks to Jailer helping her, not to mention he was supposed to lose. One defeat doesn't mean he's child's play.

[Syegfryed]

Because he was the goddamit lich king and did jackshit with that power before blizzard shit on him with that lame fight to show how fucking awesome and powerful Sylvanus is

Since apparently the fanbase disliked the shit out of that crap cinematic they have to do amends, meaning, give him somehow more importance than planned, so we can't complain that they shit on him "it was part of the plan guys to make him a key character!1!!"

Plus, he is above average Death knight still, and have knowledge of the shadowlands from being the Lich king, make sense he being involved

So we already know that he is neither strong nor smart. I get that he can still be useful as a humble guide, but this focus on him as a force to reckon with really irritates me.

He is strong and smart... he should be a force to reckon, he is just inferior to the superior Sylvanus, that is above us all.

[trapmaster]

So today new press material was released, e.g. this badass Bolvar pic:


It looks really cool and there are more badass Bolvar pics in older kits.
My question now is: Why? Blizzard decided to destroy the full Bolvar and Lichking mythos with the shadowlands trailer.
I don't want to judge that decision, but we already know that:
- His undead army are just a shadow of the scourge
- He is not a brilliant Mastermind that has its own agenda
- He got his ass whipped with a power difference that was close to Goku becoming SSJ style. Even Bolvar put up a better fight than him.

So we already know that he is neither strong nor smart. I get that he can still be useful as a humble guide, but this focus on him as a force to reckon with really irritates me.

Idk why it reminds me of shan khan stance like this from mortal kombat wallpaper...

[Syegfryed]

Also, I can't help but find it hilarious that the implication of his get-up is at some point while no one was watching Bolvar scavenged some of the plate of the damned of Arthas' corpse, like Gollum trying to steal the ring from frodo.

since the hammer is completely new, what make more sense is this armor is also new, made from him, not the arthas armor...

[Caerule]

Ugh. This guy is the new Saurfang of the expansion. Been clear since they put him in that first cinematic.

It sucks, because right now, my character would very much like to kill this asshat for the attack on the Silver Hand in Legion, and the Wyrmrest Temple.

I guess Blizz will just go "Well, didn't you see that Sylvanas kicked his butt? He is a redeemed hero and your friend now!"

Blegh. At least make him give some sort of statement that the helm darkened his mind. Or make him show some sort of remorse for past actions. Wouldn't be hard. I am not looking forward to being saddled with this guy for 2 years.

[Syegfryed]

Ugh. This guy is the new Saurfang of the expansion. Been clear since they put him in that first cinematic.

It sucks, because right now, my character would very much like to kill this asshat for the attack on the Silver Hand in Legion, and the Wyrmrest Temple.

I guess Blizz will just go "Well, didn't you see that Sylvanas kicked his butt? He is a redeemed hero and your friend now!"

Blegh. At least make him give some sort of statement that the helm darkened his mind. Or make him show some sort of remorse for past actions. Wouldn't be hard. I am not looking forward to being saddled with this guy for 2 years.

Dude, we in legion had to stick with Maghata, the one who fucking kill Cairne and almost hijacked mulgore, do you think blizzard these days care, they go for the rule of cool.

[Saltysquidoon]

It sucks, because right now, my character would very much like to kill this asshat for the attack on the Silver Hand in Legion, and the Wyrmrest Temple.

Blegh. At least make him give some sort of statement that the helm darkened his mind. Or make him show some sort of remorse for past actions. Wouldn't be hard. I am not looking forward to being saddled with this guy for 2 years.

What are you talking about? Bolvar and I are bro's. We fucking pranked the shit out of the paladins, got a cool new frost wyrm, raised some dope ass horsemen and even broke our agreement with the alliance and horde to not mass raise new DKs.

Shit was so cash.

[Allan Coe]

So today new press material was released, e.g. this badass Bolvar pic:


It looks really cool and there are more badass Bolvar pics in older kits.
My question now is: Why? Blizzard decided to destroy the full Bolvar and Lichking mythos with the shadowlands trailer.
I don't want to judge that decision, but we already know that:
- His undead army are just a shadow of the scourge
- He is not a brilliant Mastermind that has its own agenda
- He got his ass whipped with a power difference that was close to Goku becoming SSJ style. Even Bolvar put up a better fight than him.

So we already know that he is neither strong nor smart. I get that he can still be useful as a humble guide, but this focus on him as a force to reckon with really irritates me.

I don't know if you're a lore expert or not, but he used to be the Lich King.

[LemonDemonGirl]

Because he's the 'Lich King'? And Death Knights/Northrend is relevant again?

[Allan Coe]

My question now is: Why? Blizzard decided to destroy the full Bolvar and Lichking mythos with the shadowlands trailer.

I don't think you've really understood the basic premise of the expansion. It was Bolvar's role to be the Jailer of the Damned. He failed when he let Sylvanas destroy the helmet, causing the undead to roam free uncontrolled.

From everything I've seen, the expansion will focus around stopping Sylvanas and the Jailer, and trying to reforge the helmet so Bolvar can resume his role as the Jailer of the Damned.

By having Sylvanas beat him so mercilessly in the cinematic, they have actually allowed Bolvar to become the hero of the expansion. A hero needs an obstacle to overcome. That obstacle is Sylvanas. I understand that people feel Blizzard mistreated him when they let Suevanas beat him like that. But I think what some people don't realize is that by giving Sylvanas these ridiculous powers and making her the antagonist of Shadowlands, they have actually relegated her to the role of a supporting character in the larger story that is the redemption of Bolvar. He is the main character. She is just a means to an end. A storytelling tool to tell Bolvar's story. Ironic, considering so many people see her as a stronk female character.

[Mirishka]

Ugh. This guy is the new Saurfang of the expansion. Been clear since they put him in that first cinematic.

It sucks, because right now, my character would very much like to kill this asshat for the attack on the Silver Hand in Legion, and the Wyrmrest Temple.

I guess Blizz will just go "Well, didn't you see that Sylvanas kicked his butt? He is a redeemed hero and your friend now!"

Blegh. At least make him give some sort of statement that the helm darkened his mind. Or make him show some sort of remorse for past actions. Wouldn't be hard. I am not looking forward to being saddled with this guy for 2 years.

Legion definitely hinted at him being more evil than we've seen, I'm curious why they seem to have backed away from that.

[Allan Coe]

Legion definitely hinted at him being more evil than we've seen, I'm curious why they seem to have backed away from that.

Probably because they felt it's more interesting that way. Evil Lich King seems like too much of a repeat of what we already had.

[Accendor]

I don't think you've really understood the basic premise of the expansion. It was Bolvar's role to be the Jailer of the Damned. He failed when he let Sylvanas destroy the helmet, causing the undead to roam free uncontrolled.

From everything I've seen, the expansion will focus around stopping Sylvanas and the Jailer, and trying to reforge the helmet so Bolvar can resume his role as the Jailer of the Damned.

By having Sylvanas beat him so mercilessly in the cinematic, they have actually allowed Bolvar to become the hero of the expansion. A hero needs an obstacle to overcome. That obstacle is Sylvanas. I understand that people feel Blizzard mistreated him when they let Suevanas beat him like that. But I think what some people don't realize is that by giving Sylvanas these ridiculous powers and making her the antagonist of Shadowlands, they have actually relegated her to the role of a supporting character in the larger story that is the redemption of Bolvar. He is the main character. She is just a means to an end. A storytelling tool to tell Bolvar's story. Ironic, considering so many people see her as a stronk female character.

Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that the "Bolvar overcomes Sylvanas" arc is a possibility that was set up through the cinematic. The problem in my opinion is, that the ad material already pictures him as a mighty powerhouse, while he actually is completely powerless and broken right now. The trailer showed us a weakling who neither was cunning nor strong enough to stop Sylvanas (and again, it was not even close, more like a child fighting Ali in his prime).
If you go for the redemption arc don't show him leading an army or show him in battle - we already know he failed in both of those things and is no match for bigger characters.
Instead show him pondering. Show him on his quest for MOAR POAH.
Simply showing pictures of him being badass while everything in the lore right now contradicts it feels just really, really off.

[apustus]

Because something something WotLK 12million subs new Blizzard bad waa waa this is why retail sucks I play classic btw

[Tiwack]

He's done reflecting on his cruel twist of fate, being reborn in Alexstrazsas flames after dying valiantly on the battlefield like all warriors strive for just so others won't have to. He's embracing his role as the champion of life by dishing out death to those who upset that balance in the first place. It'll be glorious and that artwork is freaking awesome, thank you for posting it, a phoenix of death transformed into a human.

If you think he's weak, I think Sylvie is just souped up on Jailer powers by comparison.
If he seemed weak compared to Arthas, most of the power came from the sword that is no more.
Bolvar may have wielded the crown in the fight but it was Sylvie that deployed the Lich King abilities we used to see Arthas channel with Frostmourne. Similar to Saurfang, Bolvar didn't stand a chance.