The new Khadgar video is so well done, some of the details are really worth appreciating


Let's be honest, Blizzard isn't known for their great writing. As visually impressive and dramatic as the cinematics they put out are, once you watch them two or three times you start to go "Ehhh.." at the dialogue and narrative for being a little heavy on the clichés.But the new harbingers video was just so so well put together and written that I really feel the need to go through and discuss some of the details in it because it's just so good, damn it!0:12 - Straight away this is a great establishing shot, it copies the Legion trailer and Khadgar flying out from the storm gives the sense of urgency of the situation, as if the Legion is literally on his heels.0:18 - You could say this is bad ambiguity, but I like how "Stronger, more determined than ever before" could refer to the Legion, but also Khadgar himself. He's been through all this crap and he's not going to give up.0:30 - It's likely this is just a dramatic shot to ramp up the urgency, and there's nothing really there, but it's also possible this was the dreadlord's "essence" following Khadgar inside as he arrived, maybe?0:42 - You can just see the tip of a Raven's beak watching Khadgar here.1:12 - This line is so well done by Tony Amendola. It's realisation, but also he sounds sorrowful, likely because he feels bad that Medivh's spirit is essentially trapped, but also maybe he regrets not realising this possibility before and talking to Medivh sooner.1:17 - "Medivh" interrupts Khadgar here because he can't actually answer his questions, he's trying to shift the conversation in the direction of guardian-ness.On a related point - The dreadlord did an amazing job at not revealing his hand right away. I know some people have said they "saw it coming a mile off" but did you really? You probably suspected slowly throughout and the end just confirmed it. When "Medivh" initially begins pushing Khadgar, it's still not totally unreasonable for Medivh to be forceful about this. At this point I wasn't sure if Medivh was corrupt, or if he just genuinely believed what he was saying and was being zealous about it.1:47 - Medivh leads Khadgar over to the mirror because he is the weapon. Also the whole mirror thing is a trope of "building up" the character that's looking into it. Basically it's very effective at putting the spotlight on Khadgar.2:22 - Nothing really subtle going on here, just some very impressive shots. Especially Dalaran falling with the two in the bottom corner giving a sense of scale.2:38 - Khadgar seems to take up less space in the mirror in this shot, making him seem smaller. He's feeling powerless after what he just saw.3:00 - That book actually looks really tempting. The yellow light hides the whole demonic corruption really well and makes Medivh still seem credible. Also the book "winks" at 3:06.3:10 - This is where it clicks that something is definitely wrong with Medivh. He's literally a devil on Khadgar's shoulder whispering in his ear. But it's still not clear if Khadgar is going to accept this offer and eventually fall to corruption somewhere down the line.3:36 - Aaand this is where it becomes clear he isn't going to take the offer, the smile just shows it's a very bad idea.3:58 - Quite a few things here. Khadgar's dialogue here isn't as heavy handed as Blizzard has been in the past, he explains he can't take the power because he wants it so much, without blatantly explaining it. It wouldn't be unusual to Blizzard to have written this as something like "Oh I can't take this, I would be corrupted." props to them for not.Secondly, "Medivh's" face is priceless here as he's thrown by what's going on, and finally after Khadgar's eyes glow blue, Medivh's blue-ghosty aura dissapears. Either Khadgar dispelled the illusion, or the dreadlord realised Khadgar knew and was beginning to drop the act.I think the rest is pretty self explanatory in cool-ness, but you might not have noticed at 4:38 Khadgar's spell actually pierces the clouds which causes the opening for the sun to shine through at the end.Well that was a fun pointless ramble, I hope others appreciated the video as much as me, and feel free to point out anything I missed! Blizzard, please keep this quality up throughout Legion's plotEdit: Wow, obligatory thanks for the gold!