Do you have any ideas about what's going on with Pauline in Donkey Kong Bananza? Why is she a child when the game is set in the modern day? Time travel? A redesign just for this game? Completely seperate person with the same name (and singing talent)? It's driving me...bananas....
I wish!
These are all very good questions! However without any meaningful evidence from trailers (only happenstance), I don’t have the answers yet…
However, I’m sure there will be answers when the game releases next month. Aging a character down by 15 years or so, without explanation, is not something Nintendo, let alone Mario or Donkey Kong games have ever done. I am positive that the promotional material is being intentionally vague about why Pauline is so young and what VoidCo wants with her to drum up online discussion and intrigue - and it’s certainly worked on me!
I’ll be first in line at launch to find out exactly what the deal is here.
At the moment, the best hypothesises I’ve seen speculate that VoidCo is responsible, and that her being young was necessary for whatever they’re doing with the Banandium Root at the core of the world. Either she’s been time-displaced or magically de-aged, and this franchise is hardly a stranger to either concept. Let’s wait and see!
DK Rant: while I’m happy with the game itself, the one rant I have with the game is Pauline herself being a kid in this.
When the game was first announced when she was leaked, I was hoping she was be either Pauline’s Daughter or Niece since it would’ve a lot more intriguing but alas, I was wrong and it’s Pauline but younger.
I don’t hate it per say but it just confuses me, especially since Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong are still at their exact same ages, so it makes me ask why they don’t at least look a lot more younger to match Pauline’s Age?
There’s also the fact that with Pauline in this as kid, when does Bananza actually take place, is it before the events of DKC Trilogy and Wrinkly Kong’s Passing, we probably might know all about this and this might make sense when the game launches but it could anyone’s guess.
I also add that it’s ok for people to care about the DK and Mario Lore, even if you don’t care about it yourself, just let others care about it bc they love and care about this franchise just as much as anyone else who cares about a series they love. This is also coming from a Sonic fan who’s been-
Down this road before with the many past retcons with many of them thankfully gone but still make no sense like the “two worlds” canon or “classic sonic being from another dimension even tho modern Sonic recognizes him form generations”. The point is, I hope all of this will make sense later on.
How are death knights’ bodies different from those of other undead like the Forsaken?
As both the death knights and the Forsaken are technically undead, much about their bodies and vital functions – or lack thereof – is similar. Virtually all death knights do not feel temperature or physical pain and have no real need to breathe, rest, or sleep, which are traits they share with the Forsaken [Death Knight, Chapter Five, Legends: Volume One: Fallen, Volume Two: Fallen, Volume Three: Fiend, Quest: They’re Doing it Wrong, Item: Diving Log, NPC: Prince Erazmin Dialogue, Traveler, pg. 96 (softcover edition), Object: Guide to the Side Effects of Reanimation]. That said, it is still technically possible for death knights to sleep if they want to [Object: The Death Knights of Acherus].
Additionally, the death knights and the Forsaken are both capable of bleeding, provided they have some sort of substance running through their veins. The fact that Arthas could still bleed and feel, even as a death knight, enraged him so much that he removed his own heart and threw it down a pit immediately after becoming the Lich King [Quest: The Hunter and the Prince]. Another death knight, Koltira Deathweaver, also complained of internal bleeding at one point [NPC: Koltira Deathweaver Dialogue].
While many of the Forsaken are described as being bloodless, some, including the undead player character, have a type of fluid inside them that oozes out when they are cut [Traveler, pg. 96 (paperback edition), Elegy, Quest: Hiding in Plain Sight, Page: Undead]. Archbishop Alonsus Faol, for example, has no blood as an undead, but it is pointed out that he is “tied together” with ichor [Before the Storm, Chapter Twenty-Six]. Not dissimilarly, a group of gnolls were reanimated after their bodies were infused with a unique type of embalming ichor [Quest: Graverobbers, Quest: Rot Hide Ichor]. Others still, such as the Scourge’s gigantic flesh giants, cannot be created without both blood and embalming fluid to preserve their parts and keep them functioning [Quest: Spill Their Blood].
The biggest question most players have concerning death knights, however, is whether or not they decay like their Forsaken counterparts. The seemingly immaculate appearance of their bodies compared to the Forsaken, many of whom are in a perpetual state of decomposition and often lose limbs, led many to assume that death knights’ bodies are preserved and maintained by a greater degree of necromantic magic [Traveler, pg. 96 (paperback edition), NPC: Forsaken Battleguard Dialogue, Quest: The Wakening, Short Story: Dark Mirror]. This is, in fact, true as Sylvanas once explained that the Val’kyr serving under Arthas raised death knights in rituals so potent that it made their bodies much stronger and hardier than those of traditional undead [Short Story: Dark Mirror].
Some of the original orcish death knights were depicted as rotting corpses, but it is important to note that the orcs’ souls had been placed in already decomposing bodies by the time they were reanimated [Tides of Darkness, Chapter Six, Chapter Seventeen]. In other words, there is no doubt that strong necromancy preserves the death knights’ bodies and prevents them from decaying at the same rate as lesser undead, but the appearance and state of their bodies likely depends on how long after their deaths they were reanimated.
How do different races and cultures view the death knights?
The havoc wrought by the Scourge in the last decade and a half has left a deep scar on the psyche of both the Alliance and the Horde. The deaths of countless innocents, the fall of kingdoms, and the unholy twisting of the fallen has made the living reluctant to trust any of the undead, no matter their new allegiances. It should come as no surprise, then, that many of Azeroth’s inhabitants still revile the death knights today, years after they broke free from the Lich King’s grasp [NPC: Darion Mograine Dialogue].
In the Beginning
The death knights who deserted from the Scourge were not initially well received by their new living allies in either the Horde or the Alliance. Those who had personally felt the impact of the plague condemned the death knights as traitors, some going so far as to blame them for the demise of their own families [Quest: Where Kings Walk, Comic: Death Knight, Chapter Four]. Moreover, many of the living were wary of the death knights’ former position as servants of the Lich King, which did little to alleviate their distrust [Quest: Thassarian, the Death Knight, Quest: …All the Help We Can Get.]. Although the death knights sought to reintegrate back into society, many, such as Thassarian, felt stigmatized and that they had not been accepted by their peers [Comic: Death Knight, Chapter Five].
When Trag, a tauren raised as a death knight by the unholy power of the Orb of Ner’zhul, returned to his tribe to find a cure for his undeath, they tricked him and attempted to kill him [Legends: Volume One, Fallen]. Although the tauren race had allied with the Forsaken and promised to help those previously under the Lich King’s thrall, the shaman of his tribe – worried that Trag would ultimately succumb to Arthas’ control – plotted to put an end to his life [Legends: Volume One, Fallen]. The taunka, on the other hand, were much more accepting of Trag when he stumbled across them on his journey through Northrend. They welcomed the lone tauren with open arms in part because they felt kinship for him and his fight to survive, being engaged in a constant struggle against the Lich King themselves [Legends: Volume Three, Fiend].
Present Day
While the death knights have now been free from Arthas’ control for approximately six years, some of the living still continue to treat them with heavy disdain. Of course, the death knights’ dark past is not totally to blame for the uneasy relationships they have formed. Many of their recent actions are also viewed as morally questionable and, in some cases, even borderline treasonous. Without a doubt, the death knights’ need to increase their numbers by raising their fallen comrades on the battlefield draws the ire of their living allies [Quest: Knights of the Ebon Blade]. In fact, Darion Mograine recently remarked that turning both Nazgrim and Thoras Trollbane into undead horsemen would greatly upset the Horde and the Alliance [Quest: Return of the Four Horsemen, Quest: The Ruined Kingdom].
Even members of neutral factions such as the Argent Crusade have openly declared they barely tolerate the death knights, which is little surprise seeing as undead forces have attacked Light’s Hope Chapel no less than four separate times [NPC: Argent Sentry Dialogue, Ashbringer: Issue Four, Dust to Dust, Quest: The Light of Dawn, Quest: The Fourth Horsemen, Object: Compendium of Fallen Heroes]. When Darion led the charge to infiltrate the chapel barely a year ago in an attempt to raise Tirion Fordring as the final of the Four Horsemen, it weakened an already tenuous peace between the Knights of the Ebon Blade and the Knights of the Silver Hand. Moreover, the death knights’ attack on their own allies and flagrant disregard for the dead that day also drew the anger of prominent members of the Alliance and the Horde, including Lady Liadrin [Quest: The Fourth Horseman].
Specific Races and Their Views
Most night elves – and perhaps tauren by extension, as evinced by Trag’s story – canonically abhor the death knights because of their unnatural existence, which goes against everything they stand for [Ask CDev, Round Four].
Unfortunately, there are few specifics on how many other races view the undead among their ranks. While it is safe to say humans and blood elves certainly despise the death knights given their personal past with them, there are not many in-game examples to corroborate this.
Having said all that, it appears some death knights seem to have fully reintegrated back into society and adopted something close to a normal lifestyle without much of an issue. Libbiara Blightrunner, for example, is a wealthy sin’dorei socialite who dresses up and spends much of her free time watching Brawler’s Guild fights [Quest: Undercover Agent: Nugg Lumbo]. Even Thassarian, who initially struggled to find acceptance among the Alliance, was eventually lauded by his brothers-in-arms [Quest: Thassarian, the Death Knight].
How do each of the death knight generations differ from one another?
Before beginning, it is necessary to clarify that “generation” is a somewhat misleading term when applied to the different groups of death knights over the years. Rarely, if ever, is a generational distinction made between them in canon – in fact, the phrase is often solely used by the player-base to distinguish between death knights based either on when they were created or what Lich King ruled at the time of their reanimation. With the exception of the very first death knights – the only group to ever be referred to as a “generation” in lore –, the rest hardly vary from one another in any significant way* [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 52].
An Orcish Legacy
While the original death knights were similar to modern Scourge-raised death knights in that they were technically undead, had no need for rest or sleep, and wielded impressive necromantic powers, their origins were far different than those of the death knights most are familiar with today [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 52, World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume II, pg. 149]. Instead of being raised by the Lich King, whom they actually predate, the first death knights were created by the orc Gul’dan through an unholy sacrificial ritual. Seeking to bring back his slain comrades in the Shadow Council, Gul’dan tricked and killed several orc necrolytes, then used their necromantic energies to reanimate his brethren in the bodies of some of Stormwind’s greatest human knights following the First War [Tides of Darkness, Chapter Six, World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume II, pg. 148-149, World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 52].
The orcish death knights would have been little more than shambling corpses after reanimation without the slain necrolytes’ magic to power them. To prevent that from happening, Gul’dan preserved the necrolytes’ magic in their own crystallized hearts after killing them, then imbued truncheons with their power and gave the weapons to the fallen death knights to raise them, making them more powerful than they ever were in life [Tides of Darkness, Chapter Six]. Although modern death knights are exceptionally powerful in their own right, they, too, depend in part upon a magical weapon, known as a runeblade, for some of their power [Object: This is my Runeblade…, Quest: The Emblazoned Runeblade, RPG: Alliance & Horde Compendium, pg. 24].
Ner’zhul’s Warriors
The first group of modern death knights, beginning with Arthas Menethil, consisted of those raised before and during the Third War, coinciding with Ner’zhul’s solo tenure as the Lich King. Some of the earliest death knights ever made, the likes of which include Thassarian and two of Arthas’ captains, Falric and Marwyn, were raised on the prince’s expedition to Northrend [Death Knight, Chapter Three, Dungeon Journal: Halls of Reflection: Falric, Arthas, pg. 193 (hardcover edition)]. After returning from the icy north, Arthas would continue to raise many other death knights in Lordaeron and during his raid on Quel’Thalas at the height of the Third War [RPG: Lands of Conflict, pg. 95, Death Knight, Chapter Three, Page: Lord Alexei Barov].
According to the largely outdated Warcraft III manual, some death knights were also made out of a group of embittered paladins who traveled to Northrend and accepted Ner’zhul’s dark promise of power [Unit: Death Knight]. Regardless of whether or not that is still canon, many powerful light-wielders were actually raised as death knights during the Third War, likely because the active stand they took against the Scourge made them easy targets [RPG: Alliance & Horde Compendium, pg. 24]. In fact, three of the original Four Horsemen – Thane Korth’azz, Sir Zeliek, and Alexandros Mograine –, were paladins in life [NPC: Commander Eligor Dawnbringer Dialogue, Ashbringer: Issue Two].
Arthas’ Death Knights
The next large group of death knights, the Death Knights of Acherus, was raised shortly before the Alliance and the Horde set sail for Northrend [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 172-174]. The bulk of the death knight forces at this time likely came from assaults perpetrated by the Scourge on the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor before the war in the north, although many more would be raised from fallen enemy ranks on the battlefield in New Avalon and later on in Northrend during the main offensive [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 172].
Death’s Power Grows
After the war against the Lich King was over, the Knights of the Ebon Blade continued to make death knights by raising some of their fallen allies in both the Horde and the Alliance well into Legion [Quest: Knights of the Ebon Blade]. Sensing something ominous on the horizon, however, the new Lich King decided to expand their ranks significantly and raise a large number of death knights in the time immediately preceding the events of Shadowlands [Quest: Death’s Power Grows].
While pandaren would be one of the many races to join the death knights upon Bolvar’s initiative, it is possible that they, along with just about any other race, could have wandered and been transformed by the Scourge at any time [Twitter: Dave Kosak].
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* There appears to be a popular misconception regarding how some death knights were created, leading many to see a crucial difference that is not technically canon between them and the rest of the death knights. Some believe that what the player-base call “second generation” death knights – those raised by Ner’zhul and Arthas during the Third War – were gradually corrupted into undeath rather than killed and raised like death knights traditionally are today. This line of thought likely owes its origins in part to the non-canon RPG, which claims that all death knights were former paladins who swore allegiance to the Scourge [RPG: Alliance & Horde Compendium, pg. 24]. The absence of any mention of “death” in the transformation ritual – in fact, the RPG describes the entire process of becoming a death knight as simply taking a vow and receiving a runeblade – may have caused some confusion as to how the earlier modern death knights were made.
While the details are still a little vague, there is no doubt that many “second generation” death knights actually died and were then raised into undeath, not gradually corrupted as the RPG may imply. When Arthas returned to his army after wandering into the icy wilds with Frostmourne, he killed most of his followers and raised them either as mindless undead or fearsome death knights like himself [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 52]. Other salient examples include Thassarian, who was murdered by Falric shortly after Arthas acquired Frostmourne, and Koltira, who met his end during Arthas’ march on Quel’Thalas [Death Knight, Chapter Three, Ibid].
Like Shark Week on the Discovery Channel… but better, because it’s about death knights.
Long story short, I put together a week-long info lore dump on everything death knights. I asked you to give me some of your most puzzling questions regarding death knight lore and then I set off to research and answer them using as many canon sources as possible to the best of my ability.
What did I do?
All of the posts have been archived under the tag #death knight lore week here on Tumblr. Just in case you missed any of them, I’ve also provided links below:
How much free will do death knights have under the Lich King?
Who are the Four Horsemen?
How do different races and cultures view the death knights?
How are death knights’ bodies different from those of other undead like the Forsaken?
How do each of the death knight generations differ from one another?
What is the exact nature of the death knights’ curse to inflict pain on others?
As always, I am not an absolute authority on any of these topics and readily admit I have not meticulously combed through all of the relevant source material (although I really tried my best). Therefore, if you see I’ve missed something or you want to contribute your own input on these topics, you are more than welcome to do so even though Death Knight Lore Week is officially over.
Will there be more Lore Weeks in the future?
I think I can confidently say yes, but I have no definite plans for another one right now. I had so much fun researching and putting together these posts, but I was slow to write and it’s a terribly time consuming effort, so I ended up neglecting a lot of my other lore projects to get this one cobbled together in a decent amount of time. That makes me hesitant to do another one anytime soon because I want to go back and focus more on my botany posts and Highborne Lore Project posts, but rest assured I will definitely do another Lore Week at some point.
On the topic of death knights, Death Knight Lore Week may be over, but that does not mean I’m done writing about them! You are always welcome to ask me more questions about death knights, but even if you don’t, it’s highly likely that I will continue to write more posts on the topic in the future, especially since there’s always something to cover (and Shadowlands is on the horizon…).
What is the exact nature of the death knights’ curse to inflict pain on others?
All death knights have an irresistible compulsion – formally called the “eternal” or “endless hunger” – to regularly inflict pain upon others, lest they themselves experience an incredible agony prone to drive them into a mindless and bloodthirsty hysteria [Ask CDev, Round Two, Quest: The Endless Hunger].
A Question of Pain
The lack of any specifics about the death knights’ affliction has given rise to many questions, virtually all of which are impossible to answer definitively without more details. For example, as to the question of what type of suffering death knights have to cause in order to sate their addiction, the answer is unclear. Some canon references to the endless hunger – of which there are only approximately three total, the most recent of which was in Legion – merely say or at least imply that “agony” and “pain” must be inflicted on another creature [Ask CDev, Round Two, Quest: The Endless Hunger]. One might argue that does not mean death knights have to kill in order to feed their addiction, although it is worth noting that the text of one quest explicitly says, “Kill and the pain will cease. Fail and suffer for eternity” [Quest: The Endless Hunger]. Additionally, the Maw of the Damned, an infamous weapon designed to drain the life energies from its victims and thus kill them, is said to embody the eternal hunger [Quest: The Dead and the Damned].
A Question of Intention
Another popular question is whether or not Arthas deliberately instilled in his death knights the addiction to causing pain and, moreover, if that means the death knights created by the new Lich King, Bolvar Fordragon, experience a similar malady. Unfortunately, beyond conjecture and speculation, there is no sufficient answer to this question, especially since the death knights’ affliction is barely ever mentioned. Highlord Darion Mograine does make a passing reference to the endless hunger in Legion, but his comment – that the Maw of the Damned reminds him of the “eternal hunger” – is not enough evidence to say whether or not all death knights still experience the affliction [Quest: The Dead and the Damned].
The Four Horsemen are some of the most powerful, formidable death knights to ever walk on Azeroth [NPC: Commander Eligor Dawnbringer Dialogue, Spell: Raise Horseman]. Resurrected into undeath through pure, unholy power granted only to the lich Kel’Thuzad and the Deathlord, the Four Horsemen were initially meant to serve as the Scourge’s harbingers of destruction and, to a lesser extent, Kel’Thuzad’s personal guard [Quest: Return of the Four Horsemen, Comic: Ashbringer, Volume Two, NPC: Commander Eligor Dawnbringer Dialogue]. Now, however, the elite cadre of death knights has a slightly different purpose: to lead the remaining death knights alongside the Deathlord and combat any enemies the heroes of Azeroth may come across.
The first generation of horsemen – Sir Zeliek, Lady Blaumeux, Thane Korth’azz, and Alexandros Mograine – were each raised by Kel’Thuzad and set to watch over the floating citadel of Naxxramas. Following Alexandros’ death at the hands of his son Darion Mograine during a small raid on the undead fortress some time after the Third War, Kel’Thuzad appointed Baron Rivendare to serve as the leader of the Four Horsemen in his place [Comic: Ashbringer, Volume Three, NPC: Commander Eligor Dawnbringer Dialogue, World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 130]. In time, all four death knights would meet their demise when soldiers of the Alliance and the Horde stormed Naxxramas during the war against the Lich King [World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume III, pg. 175].
When the Burning Legion reappeared to threaten Azeroth many years later, the new Lich King, Bolvar Fordragon, decided that it was time to raise another generation of horsemen in order to combat the growing demonic menace [Quest: Our Next Move]. The next Four Horsemen, Bolvar decreed, were to be General Nazgrim, King Thoras Trollbane, High Inquisitor Sally Whitemane, and Highlord Tirion Fordring [Quest: Return of the Four Horsemen, Quest: The Ruined Kingdom, Quest: The Scarlet Assault, Quest: The Fourth Horseman]. The Deathlord was successful in raising three of the four, but bringing Tirion back from the grave required the death knights to trespass on holy ground at Light’s Hope Chapel, which weakened the horsemen and ultimately prevented them from completing their task. Trapped and fatally wounded by the staggering power of the Light, Darion sacrificed his life to ensure the other death knights made it to safety. In a twist of fate, his sacrifice allowed him to be raised as the leader of the Four Horsemen instead of Tirion [Quest: The Fourth Horsemen].
