Remember the last step of "The Missing Diplomat"? ...where you fly over the island and spot the runes on the ground, nagas and Black Dragons. From that moment on, I wouldn't be surprised if Varian Wrynn ends up being Neltharion himself in a disguise and acts as the path to lead the third expansion which will include The Maelstrom, as allying black dragonflight with the Naga and yet another crusade on Azeroth, this time from the sea.

So... in summary, what's the story behind him? How did he escape his island prison? What was he doing there in the first place? I had always assumed that the Black Dragons holding him captive were working for Onyxia; but what's with the Naga? Who are they working for? Why are they working with Black Dragons?

Sorry, haven't seen the comics.

From what I can remember of the comics we don't quite know how he escaped. He just washed up on shore in horde territory, forgot who he was, became a gladiator, kicked some major ass and sailed home eventually.

I'm sure someone else could do the story much better justice.

I haven't been following the later issues of the comic book like I should, but does anyone know if Broll or the blood elf rogue (Varian's friends) will be showing up as well? I actually kinda liked them, and I thought that Varian being friendly with a blood elf might lead to some reconciliation between the two factions. Which I know that most people probably wouldn't care for that, but I'd like it at least!

This was removed many many patches ago.

Varian Wrynn is now inside Stormwind Keep with his son at his side.

First half of the Comic series involved Varian washing up on shore in Kalimdor(not sure exactly where). An Orc named Rehgar Earthfury turns him into a Gladiator and makes him train with Broll, a Night Elf Druid with a short temper, and a young Blood Elf Rogue named Valeera Sanguinar(No relation to Sanguinar in TK I don't think). He has no memory of his past at this point, and only visions as hints of where he came from. Rehgar forces them to fight in the Dire Maul arena and they slaughter all of the competition and get a reputation as the Champions of Dire Maul and Varian is referred to as Lo'Gosh by the Horde(And his 2 new friends). Back in Stormwind Katrina Pastor starts sending assassins after Varian. Rehgar after Dire Maul sells off Valeera, and goes to Thunderbluff to see if he can get Varian's head clear from the visions that are hampering him, while at Thunderbluff Varian has visions of his wife dying and learns he has a son, he and Broll resolve to escape so they summon a Hippogryph(Sharptalon) and flee. Meanwhile Valeera somehow overhears that an assassin is after Varian and she starts to pursue him. I'm gonna skip over most of what happens with Broll since we're focusing on Varian at the moment. They end up in Darnassus where Tyrande informs Varian magic is keeping his memories at bay, she then sends him over to Jaina Proudmore who informs him that he's the missing King of Stormwind. Valeera intercepts Varian's attacker feeds him to a spider, and through Aegwynn reunites with Varian again.

The second half of the comic series involves Jaina lending Varian her boat to take to the Eastern Kingdoms, where they're to meet with a Dwarf at Menethil Harbor., Along the way, the boat is attacked by Naga, who apparently also had a hand in his kidnapping, he gets into a fight with a Sea Witch which results in him getting two slashes across his face, leaving a wicked scar. They slaughter the Naga and arrive in Menethil Harbor, before they can meet the Dwarf they're supposed to meet, they get into a bar fight with some Defias who had a part in his kidnapping. Unfortunately they slaughter them all without getting much information and one escapes, at this same time the Dwarf Thargas Anvilmar joins with them and informs Varian that it was his older brother that taught him how to fight. They make their way through the wetlands, and encounter another assassin, this time a Warlock, the Warlock taints Valeera with fel magics since she's vulnerable to that sort of thing, and proceeds to attack the party, he's killed quite easily of course but they learn that Thargas' brother has been captured by the Dark Irons. So the party takes a detour to the Thandol Span to rescue Thargas' brother, but they fail to save him, however they do save the bridge, and unite with a King Magni who's not happy with the job that Varian's doppleganger(SP?) is doing in Stormwind. They reconvene in Ironforge, and another assassin tries to kill Varian, this time a Black Dragon, convinced that the Dragons are connected and that Marshal Windsor might have answers since he was investigating BRS. They head to Blackrock Depths, they rescue the Marshal with the name of Black Dragon behind all of the events, and they plan to head to Stormwind for the finale.

Issue 12 isn't out just yet, so I can't tell you what happens next.

Interestingly enough I thought they were going to go down the cliché route of making Valeera the love interest of Varian, however it looks more like the Night Elf Broll and Blood Elf Valeera have developed feelings for one another instead, which is far more interesting.

Ashbringer #1 is also out now. Very cool comic, darker art style. Apparently King Magni was the one who forged Ashbringer in the first place.

Thanks for filling that in, Emeraude. I'm also a bit sad that Varian, Broll, and Valeera aren't just hanging out anymore. At least the fact that they WERE there shows that they haven't been forgotten. Maybe some day they'll all be ambassadors for peace along with Jaina and I'll get my neutral third faction based out of Theramore. (A guy can dream, can't he?)

As for Ashbringer, I'm really hopeful for that comic. It SHOULD put together all the loose plot threads hanging around that damn sword once and for all. And I haven't read it yet, but Magni makes at least some sense as the person who forged it. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how they're handling things so far in regards to making sure that the comics and such have an impact on the game world.

Actually ... it could make sense. I'm not completely familiar with the comic book and only know the rough outlines, but didn't he loose his memory when washed upon the shorelines of Durotar. Or didn't Aegwynn and Jaina sense a dark aura around him and stumbled upon a strong magical barrier when trying to see what really was in his memories?

The possibility remains open that he is in fact a black dragon in disguise, but that he can't remember it himself anymore.
The idea intrigues me at least ... and it would be truly 'badass' for an Alliance leader.

Wow, the Wrath gate chain is ridiculously epic. Too bad I guess you miss the cutscene where the Horde is betrayed if you turned in the available parts of the chain before this patch. But here's a quick sequence of events:

1. Something happens after you turn in the last previous part of the Wrath gate chain. Putress and Varithamas betray the Horde somehow, which leads to Saurfang the Younger's and Bolvar Fordragon's deaths. Alexstraza intervenes to clear things up, and tells you to take Saurfang's armor to his father in Warsong hold.

2. You do so, and the elder Saurfang tells you to go to Orgrimmar and see Thrall. It's now under martial law.

3. When you see Thrall, he tells you that Varithamas has summoned demons to Undercity and that he now controls it. Jaina ports in and says that the King of Stormwind is about to declare war on the Horde because of Bolvar's death. She leaves, hoping that war will be averted. (No "btw I'm pregnant Thrall" stuff yet.) Sylvanas is also there, she was almost killed in the betrayal. I guess she's not part of it, so.. what's the deal with the sound files in the mpq? Maybe Blizzard just changed their plans with the story.

4. Thrall teleports you outside of the Undercity, and you're supposed to gradually battle to reclaim it along with Sylvanas and Thrall (I guess they changed it from featuring Vol'Jin.) It's kinda like an escort, but I think it simply runs periodically... if you get there when Thrall and Sylvanas are just going in, awesome. Otherwise, you'll have to catch up, which can be tricky.

5. Thrall and Sylvanas battle their way to the Royal Quarter, where Varithamas is summoning tons of demons. Apparently he's serving some master (Kil'Jaeden, right? Or maybe Tichondrius, that wouldn't be a big surprise anymore) and trying to summon him to Azeroth. We never learn who this is, but eventually you battle the demons, then you battle him, and then the battle is won.

6. But it's not over! Thrall and Sylvanas say that they have to go take Putress out now, but suddenly in storms Varian Wrynn with a bunch of SW knights, and the King declares that he's here to kill Thrall. Fighting begins, but a few seconds later Jaina ports in, freezes everyone, and then mass teleports away with the Alliance forces. Thrall is despondant that war has begun again. (Which might explain why the Horde are such jerks to the Allies in subsequent zones.) You get blue loots and are ported back to Durotar.

Overall, it's pretty awesome. I'm guessing that the Alliance side of the chain will send you to Stormwind to talk to the King, who then has you go with him to Undercity where you do a similar quest, only you take out Putress instead of Varithamas. Then you find Horde and the Jaina ports you out.

Truly bringing the WAR back into Warcraft.

Blue said you could talk to Alexstrasza to see the cut scene, does this not work?

I think we need more quests like that throughout every part of the expansion. I am blown away over how awesome that is.

If only they could make 25-man raids feel that epic for the entire thing and not just the last boss.

I actually played through the RoC campaign recently, and Muradin never actually dies. He gets hit by a shard of Frostmourne's case, but Arthas just ignores him from there on and assumes he dies. Him showing up with amnesia isn't that much of a stretch.