Villainpedia: Edwin VanCleef

none may challenge the brotherhood by far the most common comments i get on any of  my villain pd videos is that villain did nothing   wrong you big dumb idiot head there are zero  villains i have made videos on that i would say   did nothing wrong until right now well kind of  anyway because for warcraft's edwin van cleef i   would say he did significantly less wrong than  any villain covered to this point now looking   at the scope of something like world of warcraft  there are obviously multiple huge scale villains   hard at work seemingly at all times with plans to  take over the world stab a big ass sword into it   whatever shivers their timbers but at its best  the world of azeroth is a rich layer cake of   narratives big and small i mean to me some of the  most compelling storylines can be found by just   reading quest text following little plots in  a random zone or hopping in a dungeon at least   this is true for the classic era of the game the  modern version of world of warcraft is something   narratively different altogether but it's along  those smaller threads back in the day that we   find edwin van cleef the final boss of the early  game alliance dungeon the deadmines not plotting   to summon some world-eating demon or anything  crazy like that but just a guy who wants to see   the corrupt nobility of the kingdom of stormwind  toppled a character that is emblematic of the   eternal class struggle that has plagued human  society for millennia because this is a man who   was legitimately and i mean legitimately wronged  on multiple fronts and found himself an appointed   leader during a fierce post-war labor dispute but  of course with any good villain nothing is ever so   simple you see edwin was unbeknownst to him being  used as a pawn in a much grander game than his own   so how did a hard-working and beloved  stonemason turn into a bandit overlord   what was his plan with his brotherhood of  ruffians and thieves and why did all of his   followers wear red well before we get fully  started here i just want to take a moment to   thank all of my lovely patrons who support me  away from the tyranny of youtube you are all   very much appreciated if this by chance is your  first time finding my channel and you enjoy   character analysis video game lore game reviews  and other stuff like that you have found yourself   in the right place i am ghost your host as always  and without further ado let's don our red bandit   masks head for the gold mines of westfall and  learn everything about the villain edwin van cleef you probably wouldn't be too surprised if i  told you that this warcraft villains origins   begin with a war i know it's kinda crazy but  the continent of the eastern kingdoms is a   land that has a long history of it i'm talking  trolls gnolls dwarves gnomes humans elves and   other races long quarreling over territory  and influence you know the usual but it was   often the advanced human dwarf gnome and  elf civilizations that came out on top   until everything changed and i mean everything  when after a long period of peace and prosperity   the alien orc invaders arrived through the  dark portal from their homeworld of draenor   bloodthirsty and searching for a new land  to call their own the eastern kingdoms at   large were in an instant sent into panic in a  large-scale conflict known as the first war began   this was a bloody messy thing and it's what we  see depicted in both the warcraft movie which   i made a video on as well as the first game in  the entire series the humans were in a bad way   caught with their pants down they had obviously  not been preparing for such an epic war to just   start out of nowhere on a wednesday afternoon so  the orcs struck fast and hard taking advantage   fully of the element of surprise they're all so  [ __ ] huge in green that's a pretty big advantage   if you ask me this war raged for several years  and at its climax the capital of the southern   kingdom of stormwind was under siege what was  once a paradise for the humans was now a hell   and their prized city was destroyed and sacked  as the orcs occupied and controlled the territory   the royal family and other survivors were forced  to flee to the northern kingdom of lordaeron   many many people died and the humans attempted to  regroup in hopes of recapturing their home one day   eventually though through the events of the second  war aka warcraft 2's story they were able to do   exactly that because with the formation of the  alliance of lordaeron the united races stood   against the orcs took back stormwind and for the  moment drove away the enemy but the returning   humans seemed to have a pretty big issue on their  hands their entire city had been reduced to a pile   of bricks this wouldn't do it all and all human  kingdoms around the world saw rebuilding the city   of stormwind as a top agenda item because not  only was it a key strategic location for future   orc conflict and whatnot but also a vital symbol  of hope and reclamation for the human forces and   people at large but let's pause here with the big  events and get tabs on our man because during this   whole insane conflict a young edwin van cleef was  simply surviving the details of his personal path   to make it through such dangerous times are foggy  at best but i always want to know with a villain   at the beginning of their life who is this guy  where did he come from what did he come from   well sadly much is shrouded in mystery regarding  his upbringing as well but what we do know is that   in times of peace edwin had long called stormwind  home and growing up was known as a roof walker i   always took this to mean he was no stranger to the  underbelly of the world and likely kept company   with those with a nose for pickpocketing tracking  and other roguish activities stinky little buggers   you know but more on that later because as  a man he had straightened out considerably   and was eventually a respected stone mason by  trade a profession that his father had mastered   and passed down to him well before the wars not  only was edwin a good mason he was one of the best   and had been appointed leader of the stonemason's  guild an organization of builders sort of a union   you could say where they would share contracted  work look out for each other and just generally   have a sort of central body to communicate and  make sure everyone was being treated well out   there in the uh the stone business i guess so it's  very clear to me that edwin even at this early   stage of his life was charismatic he was used to  leading and probably enjoyed being a guiding voice   for a group of like-minded hard-working people hmm  foreshadowing perhaps so yes the war and all that   well at whatever point edwin returned home to find  it obviously destroyed so that sucks ass sorry   buddy but even beyond stormwind this entire area  of the continent was just in really rough shape   you know it needed some tlc some repairs some  fortifications and whatnot so edwin and some of   his other guild mates were just simply regrouping  picking up the scraps of their old lives when   they were tasked with a rather big job building  netherguard keep a very very important castle   and outpost for the purpose of holding a constant  watch on the dark portal obviously at this point   with all the orcs you're going to want to keep  tabs on that [ __ ] right well that job went   very well so well in fact that the stormwind  house of nobles took note of the craftsmanship   and pitched to the workers a much larger gig to  come rebuild the entire city of stormwind i mean   holy smokes it seemed like a match made in heaven  right the hard-working stonemasons guild returning   to the rubble of their home and rebuilding their  own capital a really nice narrative for morale   too i think so just like that contracts were made  up rates agreed upon and the deal was finalized   or uh maybe not because depending on who you ask  some say that the stonemasons guild just took it   upon themselves to rebuild as a show of good faith  this is uh needless to say a key distinction in   edwin's life story that will come back up in a bit  but either way no matter who said what and what   agreed upon de hudawa to huda edwin was to take  charge of the rebuilding of stormwind and doing so   must have been an extremely proud moment for him i  mean imagine how his daddy would feel if he could   see him now this is very likely i would say with  confidence the high point of edwin's entire life   so as we like to do in these videos let's  let's do a little check-in you know on our   villain and i know we know very little so  far but edwin seems like a pretty stand-up   normal hard-working blue-collar everyman right  i don't detect many breadcrumbs of evil here   no shitty stonework to make a quick buck no  embezzling funds or abusing his workers nothing   like that this is a guy that again seems rather  normal we would probably all enjoy grabbing a pint   with him in goldshire oh [ __ ] maybe a different  tavern but he is proof that some villains can   truly be transformed in an instant if crossed  in just the right way at just the right time   so the task at hand was gargantuan to say the  least it would not just take a crew but an army   of builders planners tinkers to construct the  new vision that edwin and other leaders had for   the city and beyond the established members  of his guild countless volunteers from the   eastern kingdoms flocked to the project seeing  the restoration of stormwind as either a noble   cause to lend a hand or a chance to cash in on  some lucrative government cash also the wars   had changed things politically the neighboring  gnomes and dwarves were now closer allies than   ever and the city would need to reflect this in  some way so with so much to do work began slowly   but would pick up considerably in pace until the  project was completed in under 10 years which   hey that's pretty impressive i mean look at the  size of this place this truly was a no [ __ ] no   shortcuts high quality executed operation  stormwind was not only back it was bigger brighter   and better than ever with an entire quarter  dedicated to the dwarf and gnome homies and   a high-tech tram system built in tandem with the  gnomes that could transport supplies troops and   visitors between stormwind and the dwarven city of  ironforge in the blink of an eye i mean the work   of edwin and the stonemasons guild was pretty  much universally loved and praised alright well   all edwin had to do now was wash his hands have  a snack collect payment for himself the workers   and then take a much deserved vacation but here we  come to the largest turning point in edwin's life   story because when the guild communicated that  work was complete when they were ready to throw   a party and cash out the stormwind house of nobles  refused to pay they even came to edwin and a few   others offering them government positions to just  hush the whole thing up and move on say [ __ ] the   other workers well van cleef enthusiastically  refused my disappointment is immeasurable   and my day is ruined uh-oh this is not gonna go  well man i mean imagine the shock that probably   came over edwin and all of the workers they  thought that they were all in this together   you know a project of a lifetime nearly a decade  dedicated to this work and now the people who did   the actual work are gonna be left hungry no matter  how you slice it that is not cool well apparently   the house of nobles was split some of them claimed  that there was simply no money in the treasury   left i mean the city was recently destroyed after  all and war is an expensive pastime the alliance   had been splurging to fortify their military  presence in the east and the south so they said   listen we're in too much debt i'm sorry but  there's no money to give you guys but other nobles   claimed that this was expected to be a project  for the good of the people charity essentially   and that the builders should not expect a coin but  meanwhile all of the workers universally thought   they were at least gonna get something of course  edwin was at the center of this dispute acting as   the voice of his guild and representing all of  those who dedicated their time to the building   of the city everyone on either side was furious  i mean what the hell how could there be such a   massive miscommunication well at the top of the  video i mentioned that edwin was a pawn in a game   bigger than he realized so let me introduce  you to a woman known as lady katrana prester   a high-ranking noble woman within stormwind that  had a powerful and influential voice amongst her   peers well over the years lady prester had used  a little dark magic here and there to let's just   say influence the quality of some of the stone  mason's work in tiny ways she would then point out   these little flaws to her fellow nobles noting how  kind of poopy the work was and maybe they should   have selected better builders and generally just  poisoned many around her against the stonemasons   but when this dispute arose she was also  communicating with edwin and the guild   telling them not to budge on their demands dig  in guys like you should even ask for more money   you worked hard and deserve that coin she was  playing both sides but she was careful to only   influence about half of the nobles and half of  the workers to ensure that even amongst each other   compromise would never come riling up a fight  masterfully from nothing and generally causing a   [ __ ] mess so why who are you why are you doing  this to my man edwin well it is actually one of   the biggest villains in the entire franchise  in disguise onyxia of the black dragonflight   and the daughter of deathwing himself this is  her human form and in it she caused all sorts   of problems beyond this her personal goal  was eventually to try to take over stormwind   and assist her brother who was doing all kinds of  stuff in the nearby blackrock mountain but that's   a story for another day what we care about right  now is that her agenda is directly responsible   for things becoming so contentious around  edwin van cleef she perfectly played all   of these humans like an absolute fiddle and  watched gleefully as the disagreement grew   increasingly tense so you might be wondering what  about the overall leadership here right the royals   well the king a very young varian wren attempted  to make peace of this situation but the corruption   of lady prester had already done its work funds  were legitimately low and he struggled to find   a middle ground that worked for anyone involved  it didn't help that he was like in his 20s and   just now learning what it takes to be a king the  queen however tiffen had long sympathized with the   stonemasons guild and acted as an advocate  for their getting just payment but again   it was too little too late their hands were tied  everything had been masterfully messed up so bad   so next in a desperate attempt to end the dispute  the house of nobles did something i consider to be   extremely stupid they ordered the stonemasons  guild to disband permanently right now   or face the consequences oh boy what resulted  from this order should not surprise anyone   riots in the streets led by edwin van cleef  the masons all felt that if the work they did   was not going to be respected and they were  not going to receive compensation they were   absolutely content burning it all back down to the  ground again hey nobles you can build it yourself   but these riots soon turned more violent angry  and chaotic the city guards were forced to meet   their violence with violence and all of a sudden  we got an absolute donny brook breaking out here   but in the madness the king and queen looked  on horrified and tiffin spoke up to try to calm   the crowd when something extremely unfortunate  occurred a stray stone flung by a protester hit   queen tiffin in the skull resulting in a serious  wound that would take her life meanwhile edwin   rallied his workers and attempted to push further  towards stormwind keep but when the queen fell   a devastated king varian took more drastic action  the stonemasons were now facing deadly resistance   people were dying and they were forced to retreat  with edwin leading them they headed out of the   city gates and into the night to live to fight  another day now a small side note one of edwin's   closest allies named basil thread was captured in  this melee and thrown in the stormwind stockades   that ends up being like a whole other subplot  line where he and other defias and stinky dudes   are trying to cause a riot and hurt stormwind  from within i mean it's not super relevant to   this but i just wanted to at least mention it  now regardless of edwin's legit claim that he   and his guild were wronged they had just literally  murdered the queen so edwin knew that uh yeah they   were kind of screwed you know they were never  gonna be going home again and they were not gonna   sniff any sort of payment they were essentially  an enemy of the king probably top of the list too   so damn i mean what a turn of events right which  should have been a time of celebration unity   and some peace turned into corruption infighting  violent riots and one dead queen this is why you   always make sure you can pay your workers fairly  so this is a perfect time to pause again and do   our second little villain check-in and i think  regarding edwin van cleef it is very important   to remember that 99.9 of all characters and people  are not the super noble hero type right there are   only so many of those to really go around most of  us are just normal flawed and nuanced assuming the   writing in the game is any good that is and i  think edwin firmly falls into that 99 sure he   was never a bad guy before this but he wasn't a  particularly good selfless guy either from what   we know anyway just a person with a certain set of  skills and it really really does not take much to   push the average human down a dark path perhaps an  edwin in another universe would have been able to   calm his guild mates down you know take the high  road and find a more diplomatic solution here but   at the end of the day he just isn't that guy most  of us aren't you probably are not i'm probably not   and edwin now is truly crestfallen he felt that  the world had cheated him that the systems he   once looked up to were thoroughly corrupt and  that it would always be the common people that   would suffer in situations like this never those  with wealth and influence he was just completely   done add in the onyxia corruption and it's a  perfect storm for a once hard-working artisan to   be turned into an outlaw in a single afternoon i  also think this is important too that many average   people like edmond are looking to have a sense of  purpose and for him that purpose presented itself   when all those he had known and worked with for  literally years rallied behind him as their leader   in that moment i mean regardless of the situation  it must feel good to look around at all those   people behind you seeing you as the face of a  movement evil is a slippery slippery slope man one   man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist  one man's hero another's villain well at this   point the band is on the run and edwin took his  crew into the rural fields of westfall to hide out   cutting down or scaring away local farmers  who stood in their way because across the   board there was now this unshakable anger almost  a bloodlust a hatred within these men and women   toward stormwind they next made their way for  the gold mines under westfall and van cleef   declared a particularly large mine under the town  of moonbrook in the south the guild's new hideout   this would eventually be edwin's seat of power  the deadmines where he would brood and scheme up   ways to strike blows at stormwind whenever he  could he had obviously committed high treason   and would have to lay low for uh the rest of his  life but edwin was no stranger to the skills of   subterfuge remember at the beginning when we  talked about him being a roof walker as a kid   learning the tricks of the trade stealing candy  from the 7-eleven well to add a bit more context   he was a childhood friend of one matthias shaw the  man who would end up being spymaster and leader of   the si7 in stormwind which is essentially the  fbi and it was matthias who trained edwin and   taught him everything he knew of the roguish world  back then so he was very well equipped to evade   authorities secure supplies illegally train up  his members in the same manner and plan revenge   there was no going back now and at this moment  the defias brotherhood was officially born   mason set down their tools in favor of daggers  and cutlasses adorned themselves with red bandanas   to symbolize the blood of the oppressed people at  the hands of the nobility mechanical monstrosities   were constructed in league with the goblins  to terrorize the locals of westfall and over   time the influence and anger of the defias would  spread far and wide so edwin's original plan for   the brotherhood was pretty simple if they weren't  going to be paid they would amass the wealth they   were owed by robbing traders and travelers  outside of stormwind always staying in the   shadows out of sight and along the way attempting  to expose and take down the house of nobles   their mortal enemy but as months turned into years  edwin and his brotherhood's ideals strayed further   and further from their kind of noble beginnings  their ranks grew to include pirates outcasts   thieves murderers and runaways i mean what started  as a fractured group of tradesmen had transformed   into a legitimately full-on criminal operation  and edwin sought to expand defias influence   constantly working in tandem with river paw knolls  bloodsail buccaneers some sex of naga and kobolds   ew dude why would you want to work with those  little goobers i mean damn it because of his   past and stormwind and his experience as a mason  he had some serious connections and that is a   huge key to his villainy as well that he is  an extremely resourceful guy all throughout   and turned very very little into a small  criminal empire hell bent on stormwind's downfall   impressive very nice well eventually you  got defias in elwynn westfall duskwood and   even beyond and they were seen as one of the  biggest legitimate threats facing the kingdom   the more the defias caused trouble and stretched  stormwind's guard thin the weaker the city became   and all the while he oversaw the construction  of a big-ass boat in his dead mine's grotto but   not just any boat a juggernaut vessel akin to  those the orcs take to the seas a crude massive   thing with enough firepower to park right off the  coast and give stormwind hell when everything fell   into place his plans were coming together and he  always seemed to be just out of reach of the king   so whoo alright i mean that is a lot of backstory  for an early game dungeon boss right and i just   think it's so good i love it the upper and lower  class division is truly the stuff of legend when   it comes to villains on both sides and again it's  all a matter of your perspective right there are   of course many characters within the lore and  probably some of you at home that view edwin   van cleef as their only hope for a better world  but as every villain has a rise to power they too   must fall so what is edwin up to for us as a  player in world of warcraft what can we do to stop   him and of course we always must ask the eternal  question why does he ultimately fail one of the   great things about vanilla world of warcraft is  that you the player are nothing special you're   not given artifacts of legend willy-nilly you're  not standing shoulder to shoulder with kings and   queens you are just an adventurer an average joe  making your way through azeroth learning about   the world and assisting where it pleases you  well listen imma keep it really real with you   growing up and to this day i much prefer playing  as the [ __ ] i mean if given the choice to be   a big green man a cow a dead guy or nba draft  prospect chet holmgren i'm taking those over   being anything on the alliance every day of the  week but many many people disagree with me there   as humans are always the most played race in  the entire game at all times or so it seems   well pardon the tangent but it is relevant because  if you start as a human you start in the lap of   edwin van cleef and the defias brotherhood  even within the baby zone before you head   out into the world you are introduced to them as  adversaries clearly marked by their red defias   masks this is really the main function of edwin  and the defias overall mechanically speaking a   little thread for human and alliance players early  in their adventure to visually pick up on and then   over time build up a desire to investigate and  learn more about who those red masked people   are it's admittedly very very simple design wise  but it's clever and obviously the character and   faction have successfully etched themselves in the  fandom's long-term memory i mean i think that's   because it's all presented very clearly because as  you level so too do the defias you almost seem to   be moving up their food chain as you increase  in power you go from facing defias thugs to   bandits to ambushers to highwaymen to the dreaded  pillagers that kill you in like three hits you   really feel yourself following those breadcrumbs  towards something or towards someone and i think   the majority of players are keen on learning a  little bit more finding the source of these red   bandanas and i really like it i think it's good  gameplay storytelling well if you are playing   alliance you are absolutely destined to end up  in westfall for an extended period of time while   leveling this of course is the region where edwin  brought his band of merry thieves to hide out   but it's very important to note that the people  within world warcraft at this time do not connect   the name edwin van cleef with the threat of the  defias it is an unknown thing well to you as a   player it's immediately obvious that the defias  run this [ __ ] when you show up and this is made   even more clear when you head to the area known as  sentinel hill and speak with an old wizard paladin   named brian stoutmantle this poor son of a [ __ ]  is the member of the silver hand that has the very   unfortunate title of marshall and enforcer of  westfall yikes worst job ever obviously things   are not going well for him here at all due to  the corruption of the nobility lady prester   doing her thing and no money in the stormwind  vaults westfall has received almost zero aid in   regards to the defias taking over everything so  stout mantle has taken it upon himself to rally   the locals you know pig farmers housewives cows  dogs cats anyone who could lend a hand to join the   people's militia a kind of grassroots effort to  purge the area of danger and let me tell you you   are exactly what the doctor ordered for old stout  mantle an eager capable adventurer willing to do   mindless slaughtering for silver coins and a few  experience points well you and the other millions   of people doing the quest you ain't that special  but what follows is a nice little question i'm   gonna be honest it starts out with you just wiping  out various groups of defias that stand around in   various areas of westfall but soon it turns into a  little bit more you're being sent to the red ridge   mountains meeting with secret contacts and even  hearing word from matthias shaw himself of si7   and slowly but surely everything we have talked  about in the backstory comes into scope for the   player the history of the stonemasons the riots  the disputes and one name emerges edwin van cleef   a captured defias traitor confirms that he  is indeed their leader and points us players   toward the hideout ah yeah the path is clear we  have cut through his ranks gathered necessary   lore and now have a mark on the map it's time to  kill edwin van cleef however it's just funny to   me you know all these amazing lore characters in  warcraft and any mmo for that matter with these   epic feuds and all this writing but it's always  a group of just random ass strangers dressed in   kind of clown-ass outfits coming in and killing  them with little fanfare rinse and repeat it's   kind of a wet blanket on all the badass backstory  we just covered but hey it's a quirk of the mmo   genre i suppose well of course you must gather  your party before venturing forth once you are   finally ready to brave the dead mind's dungeon the  full power of edwin van cleef is fully on display   every boss in here is in some way representative  of his brotherhood's influence he got an ogre some   goblins murlocs engineers pirates again really  impressive how much he built out this movement   in the last 20 or so years i mean maybe it's just  me but i almost feel bad coming in here and [ __ ]   it all up so fighting through to the end will at  last bring you to his pet project the dreadnought   and atop the vessel at long long last we can come  face to face with the master stonesmith himself so it is here in a dark cave on a massive war  machine with all of his friends and followers   slaying around him that edwin at last meets a  quiet end we then take his head back to stout   mantle as proof of his demise i believe ultimately  that edwin van cleef fails because he flew too   close to the sun with all of his ambitions he  accidentally rallied the people of westfall and   attracted adventurers like us who were more than  capable of tracking him down and kicking his ass   but this is a man who legitimately thought  he was doing the right thing to his last   breath standing up to the bullies of the world and  was making it a better place by taking stormwind   down but one thing that always disappointed me  and does right now you can probably tell in my   voice is how anti-climactic this encounter is i  mean we don't even really get to hear from edwin   he's a man of like 19 total words but we are given  such an interesting backstory i always wanted him   to come out of his quarters here at the end of  the deadmines and pitch to us why we should join   him or something you know you'd think they would  at least give him that one last opportunity to   talk his way out of death and gain some more  powerful allies i don't know it's just always   has felt like kind of a letdown or a missed  chance to deepen this character a little bit more   but hey i understand because ultimately this is  an early game dungeon boss from vanilla world   of warcraft of which there are dozens yes his  backstory happens to be amazing but i bet 90   of players rolled in here with the rude sandstorm  pumped up over the game audio to get their loot   and rolled out again so it goes but i just can't  help but imagine edwin as a character in a game   like warcraft 3 oh man where we would really  get to hear his perspective on the world and his   half of what happened back in stormwind because  remember history is always written by the victor   but regardless of the anticlimactic encounter  i think it's really the backstory that shines   here and it shines bright edwin not only stands  out amongst other minor warcraft villains but   just video game minor villains at large of  course he has become one of the most memorable   simply because he is the head honcho of an early  game enemy faction in the most popular starting   zone in the game so he's kind of enjoyed  that massive amount of exposure even to   casual players for years but for anybody who has  ever dug deeper and read the quests learned the   story and motivations of edwin it really is clear  that he's a bit of a unique bad guy for warcraft   a sort of dark robin hood you know who at one  point had somewhat pure intentions but slid down   the slide of evil a little bit too fast and found  himself a kingpin of a pretty dastardly operation   so now some just little like additional notes  about his legacy his impact on the game overall   well over the years edwin has become a legendary  rogue and of course rogue is one of the playable   classes for us in world of warcraft and his  design his unique set of abilities is what   inspired the outlaw rogue specialization which  was added to the game with the expansion legion   it's kind of that classic swashbuckling pirate  type rogue that i think edwin really well embodied   players also saw him pop up during the wrath of  the lich king in the trial of the champion dungeon   in which players are facing memories from other  characters pasts and a small thing about his name   van cleef well lee van cleef was a famous western  film actor who often played villains that were   kind of similar to edwin you know sour ass outlaws  that had some reason to be pissed off at the world   additionally of course he appears in hearthstone  as a legendary card for the rogue set as well as a   purchasable hero for the rogue class so his legacy  is undeniable of course i have to mention that   that dastardly operation did not die with edwin  he set several things in motion that continued   on with defias sympathizers within the house of  nobles as well as a plot to have king varian wrynn   captured in dust while a marsh then a few years  later a new defias leader even took his place   you see edwin had a daughter vanessa in secret  who would grow into the new boss post cataclysm   she led the brotherhood through new challenges  with new plans and plots for stormwind's demise   and for some reason she refuses to put on a damn  pair of pants but that is indeed a character for   another time because for edwin van cleef his story  his legacy is tragic he had many perfectly good   reasons to do the things that he did he stood on  principles of hard work honesty community but was   manipulated by one much wiser than he at the end  of the day his greatest weakness is that he was   just an average man susceptible to the basic human  emotions conjured by the dealings of lady prester   add in the lack of payment from the nobles and his  desire to represent his fellow workers honorably   i mean he was primed for a fall he gave everything  to his home city to really see it shine and be a   beacon for all humans around the world but  the cold shoulder he got in return forever   darkened his heart from hard-working stonemason to  working-class hero to enemy of the free people of   stormwind edwin van cleef for a minor villain  made quite a mark on the world of warcraft   and over the years he has become one of the  poster boys for villains that did nothing wrong thank you so much everyone for watching  and or listening to the end i greatly   appreciate it as always who knew that  such a small character could have such   a great backstory and mechanical  function within a game so massive   it's so easy to skip over a villain like  edwin van cleef and dismiss him but i assure   you there are always interesting tales to be  told always shout out to my patrons once again   and all of you who have subscribed watched  liked all that jazz and until next time peace

Channel: Ghostcharm

Views: 121,395

Keywords: edwin, vancleef, villain, villainpedia

Id: NFLwQ9XY400

Length: 33min 55sec (2035 seconds)

Published: Tue May 17 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/saintzaiya]

Yeah edwin van cleef is a shit head

[u/saturday_lunch]

My friend used to play WoW religiously, but I would have never thought a mission like this would exist. That's pretty hilarious!

[u/Badger-of-Horrors]

Yup. The storm wind royalty are bastards. And they even go after his daughter

[u/Xo_lotl]

You guys should look into the Vulpera questline, the first part is basically union busting, the quest is like "we definitely cant pay the peons more but... we could beat up their leader and throw them a pizza party!"

[u/DAgati43]

If I remember the quest line properly: both sides were “Manipulated” by an evil black dragon to destabilize the kingdom. Though it really didn’t take much on Onyxia (Katrana Prestor) aka evil dragon’s part. Yes the Nobel class are/were trash and had overspent on “Nobel things” instead of paying for common folk. This is no surprise really if one looks at history both present and past.

[u/NeonDinosGoRawr]

I mean, one of the first quests you do in wow as an orc is hitting “lazy” sleeping peons with a rod to get them back to work.

Also, I remember a quest line in a recent expansion where you go in disguise or something to stop a workers movement. It has multiple stages and it was super weird. First you go in and talk to some peons, then you try to distract them with food (pizza party?), then you give a couple of them better tools, then you give a couple of them “promotions” where it states they are unlikely to get paid more. Then you fight their foreman to ensure he doesn’t lead a revolt.

The whole thing reads exactly like how companies try to union bust.. I’d say it is satire if the writing didn’t blatantly try to make you seem like the good guy by showing mercy to the foreman by letting him live.