boilingheart:

I’ve watched the into cinematic a dozen times already, and there’s some specific details they animated for Anduin that I really enjoy

In Blood of Our Fathers, Varian was killed during an ambush, and Anduin, at 14, resurrected him. The way they described it stuck with me.

“No! This is not how it ends!” He shook the king. “Do you hear me, Father?! A Wrynn prince will not again watch a loved one die before him! This is not our fate!” Anduin screamed into the sky, and the clouds seemed to part in sympathy.

The others present watched in awe as the prince closed his eyes and slowly began to chant. At first it was a soft and gentle sound, but as his voice rose in crescendo, it became a beautiful and powerful song. As the words came, his hands began to glow with light, faint at first, then brighter and brighter, until it was competing even with the setting sun, bathing the entire cemetery in the shadowless light of midday.

The song reached a fever pitch, and the young priest lifted his eyes and voice to the heavens, calling to the very heart of the cosmos for a source of divine power.

Suddenly, liquid rays brighter than a thousand suns burst from Anduin’s fingertips, penetrating the king’s body and painting everything in a brilliant yellow glow. The guards gasped and stepped back, shielding their eyes as Varian’s entire being was rocked by an influx of pure light. And at the center of it all was Anduin, holding his father close while a vortex of infinite beauty danced between them.

Anduin’s mass resurrection in the cinematic fits this description very well, but expanded upon beautifully. 

_{(Notice the crackle of Light forming in the clouds above him as he begins to cast)}

_{(… the young priest lifted his eyes and voice to the heavens, calling to the very heart of the cosmos for a source of divine power.)}

_{(Suddenly, liquid rays brighter than a thousand suns burst from Anduin’s fingertips… painting everything in a brilliant yellow glow.)}

_{(And at the center of it all was Anduin… while a vortex of infinite beauty danced between them.)}

Resurrection is an extremely difficult feat lorewise, so seeing Anduin be able to do it at 14, and then again at 18ish but for an entire army is phenomenal, and goes further to show just how truly powerful Anduin is.

What I think I like most of all is Sylvanas’s reaction to it.

It’s not fear, nor is it anger or frustration because an entire battalion just got rezzed and dammit we’ve got to fight it again. She’s smirking, and I don’t know about anyone else but that detail really stuck with me.

She knows and understands, at least vaguely, Anduin’s power. He’s still a kid, really, still mourning his father, and heavily burdened by his crown, but he made a grand stand to show that he is not broken by it, that he’s still more than capable of holding up and leading his people here. And Sylvanas knowing that her opponent is not an incompetent, cowering child is probably why she smiled. There’s a challenge, there’s some kind of fight in him, there’s power in him, and there’s nothing better than fighting someone capable of holding their own.