Ben Brode - ARTHAS
- "How did Arthas become the Lich King? Sure, you could read the story, or go play Warcraft III. Or you could just listen to this rap!"[1]
"Ben Brode - ARTHAS" is the title of a rap by Game Director Ben Brode, released July 31st, 2017.
History[edit | edit source]
In February 2017, Blizzard announced the Journey to Un'Goro expansion for Hearthstone and released a cinematic trailer for the expansion. Players were quick to notice the lack of a song in the trailer, leading to the creation of a reddit petition to make Game Director Ben Brode sing a song. The day after the petition was posted, Brode released Un'Goro: The Journey, a video featuring himself rapping, on his personal YouTube channel.
When Knights of the Frozen Throne was announced in July 2017, players again noticed the lack of a song in the trailer. Within a few days of being posted, a player-created reddit thread entitled "Petition to make Ben Brode record another song" had received roughly 13,400 upvotes. Brode responded to the thread with a tweet stating "This is some kind of bizzaro world we are living in where "rap petitions" have 10k upvotes".[2]
During his July 14th reddit AMA, when asked if he was going to perform another rap, Brode hinted at the possibility.[3]
On July 24th, Brode tweeted an image of the room and office chair seen in "Un'Goro: The Journey", with an accompanying message simply reading "ARTHAS" 07.31.2017.[4] He also referenced the lyrics of "Un'Goro: The Journey"[5][6] and stated that the tweet was not hinting at an upcoming card reveal,[7][8] nor at the release date of Knights of the Frozen Throne, but rather at something "HOT".[9]
Finally, on July 31st, Brode released "Ben Brode - ARTHAS" on his personal YouTube channel.[10][11] The rap tells of the story of Arthas Menethil, the future Lich King, by recounting the events of the human campaign in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. The video is interlaced with gameplay and cutscene footage from Warcraft III and also features the appearance of several Hearthstone cards.
By popular request,[12] Brode also released a lyrics-only version of the song for fan remix purposes.[13][14]
Video[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
- Brode created the video in his home during his free time, taking about 20 hours to write and 40 hours to record and edit.[15][16] He wrote the lyrics to the rap by himself.[17] In the YouTube video's description, Brode extends special thanks to all of Team 5, and especially Andy Brock for mixing the soundtrack.[1]
- When asked if the rap had taken any inspiration from the musical Hamilton, Brode stated that he had "probably listened to that soundtrack 80 times this month"[18] and that he had listened to "assloads" of the musical while writing the song.[19]
Lyrics[edit | edit source]
- Well met!
- My name is Ben Brode
- I got a story to tell
- Are you ready?
- Then come on and listen well
- Many years ago there lived a paladin
- He was prince of the Alliance when our story begins
- This ain't a happy story, it's a little dark
- This ain't no summer day
- This ain't no walk in the park
- You see, this prince's name was Arthas
- AKA The Lich King
- This is the story of how he became him
- It all started with a mysterious plague
- Only vague reports were all the Alliance scouts gave
- The King sent Arthas to go check out the rumor
- And he met up with his college buddy, Jaina Proudmoore-a
- Arthas and Jaina, yo, they were on the case
- They found some crates with grain that were poison-laced
- Suspicious - they looked about
- as something moved in the forest
- Shadows emerged and Arthas yelled
- "They're coming right for us!"
- That's when the Scourge attacked
- The defenses just cracked
- and Arthas just snapped
- He jumped in to act
- But quickly got trapped
- Ghouls at his front and ghouls at his back
- Arthas looked up and through battle
- saw a necromancer's shadow
- It was Kel'Thuzad
- Arthas gave him a nod
- And then he swept the ghouls away
- And clawed his way towards KT and
- punched that necromancer straight square in the teeth
- KT said, "seek Mal'Ganis where he makes his home
- He controls the Scourge from the city of Stratholme"
- Those were the last words Kel'Thuzad said
- Arthas killed that necromancer with a blow to the head
- Then said, "Jaina, I demand
- that you call the Silver Hand and
- Uther will command them
- and we will purge the damned then"
- And Jaina said, "Yo yo yo, OK I'll go
- I will go find Uther and I'll tell him what I know. Yo"
- And she teleported away
- There wasn't much else to say
- They had to go stop the plague
- undead were coming this way
- ARTHAS
- WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
- WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
- ARTHAS
- WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
- WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
- Right then he arrived at Hearthglen
- Looked down
- Saw plagued grain on the ground again
- Arthas took a deep breath, then turned around
- he was surrounded by the entire town
- "Wait a second", said Arthas, filling with dread
- "This plague doesn't just kill it turns you into UNDEAD"
- The prince's stomach began to churn
- At that second townsfolk began to turn
- Twelve hours later, Arthas barely alive
- His royal bodyguards, well, they didn't survive
- The undead had him on the ropes, all outta hopes
- Guess who showed up then?
- You better check ya notes!
- It was UTHER, Arthas' tutor
- an incredible maneuver
- shoulda come sooner
- He saved the day
- Poor Arthas would never be the same
- Something clicked in his brain
- And they heard him exclaim:
- "STRATHOLME
- Mal'Ganis is there
- He will pay for what he did today, I swear"
- And then he left, still covered in ichor
- heading to Stratholme, all alone
- And here is the kicker:
- Empty crates lined the streets
- the plague had been released pretty soon
- the city would be an undead army of beasts
- Arthas knew he couldn't let them become Scourge
- Turned around and shouted, "Listen to my words!
- There is only one way to emerge as victors
- We surge into the city and PURGE the villagers!"
- Uther said, "Are you serious?
- Your father would be furious!
- You can't possibly consider this!
- There must be some other way!"
- Arthas said, "Not today
- There is no other way to save this town
- You betray the crown!"
- Uther said, "Fine, then, do it alone
- I'm taking my army home."
- Arthas started killing people in the night
- They were sleeping? Didn't matter, he would kill 'em on sight
- Better to kill 'em now before they turned to undead
- so he burned the town down 'til the skies turned red
- Then he found Mal'Ganis in the wreckage
- He was just seconds from wrecking him
- when he said, "Wait, I have a message
- Do you think you can get the best of me?
- Then come to Northrend, Arthas!
- Fulfill your destiny!"
- ARTHAS
- WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
- WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
- ARTHAS
- WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
- WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
- Yeah, he went up to Northrend
- He would chase Mal'Ganis and do anything to avenge
- the death of his people, including doing things that sound a little evil
- or at least a little illegal
- But his campaign in Northrend didn't go very well
- His army kept getting weaker
- His soldiers fell
- It was bleak, they'd only been there for a week
- but they were close to defeat
- Arthas was willing to cheat
- There was a rumor of a sword full of ultimate power
- But the inscription said that it would devour
- the soul of any that touched it
- It was called Frostmourne
- Arthas tracked it down anyway
- because he'd sworn
- to kill Mal'Ganis
- It was worth any risk, including this
- So he lifted his fist and gave the sword a twist
- It came out of the altar
- Arthas did not falter
- He ran back to his army where the undead all were
- Arthas tore through the undead forces
- straight to Mal'Ganis, of course
- The dreadlord laughed
- "You think you're winning?
- When you picked up that sword
- you became a pawn of The Lich King"
- And Arthas knew it was true
- He was doomed, through and through
- "I've damned everyone and everything I've ever loved
- and I still feel no remorse."
- A lot happened after that
- He killed his father
- But I'm just not gonna bother to rap the rest
- I guess I oughta tell you one last thing
- He found the crown of the Lich King
- He put it on his head and now it's time to sing
- ARTHAS
- WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
- WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
- ARTHAS
- WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
- WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ben Brode - ARTHAS, video description. (2017-07-31). Retrieved on 2017-07-31.
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2017-07-07).
- ↑ Ben Brode on reddit. (2017-07-15).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2017-07-24).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2017-07-24).
- ↑ Ben Brode on reddit. (2017-07-24). Retrieved on 2017-07-24.
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2017-07-24).
- ↑ Ben Brode on reddit. (2017-07-24). Retrieved on 2017-07-24.
- ↑ Ben Brode on reddit. (2017-07-24). Retrieved on 2017-07-24.
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2017-07-31).
- ↑ Ben Brode - "ARTHAS" (The story of Arthas, performed as a rap, because I'm SUPER excited for the new Hearthstone expansion!). (2017-07-31). Retrieved on 2017-07-31.
- ↑ Ben Brode on reddit. (2017-07-31). Retrieved on 2017-08-01.
- ↑ Ben Brode on reddit. (2017-07-31). Retrieved on 2017-07-31.
- ↑ Ben Brode on reddit. (2017-07-31). Retrieved on 2017-07-31.
- ↑ Ben brode on reddit. (2017-07-31). Retrieved on 2017-07-31.
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2017-07-31).
- ↑ Ben Brode on reddit. (2017-07-31). Retrieved on 2017-07-31.
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2017-07-31).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter (X). (2017-07-31).