World of Warcraft’s latest short story has fans swooning over elf smooches

World of Warcraft takes place in a vast universe, and not all of the stories that take place there happen in the game itself. Instead, lore is often released through novels, short stories, comics, or spinoff games like Hearthstone. On May 29, Blizzard released the short story “A Moment In Verse,” by author Madeleine Roux. It’s an utterly indulgent piece where two characters read poetry and smooch, and it’s one of the best parts of the Battle for Azeroth story so far.

“A Moment in Verse” stars two elven side characters in the World of Warcraft universe: First Arcanist Thalyssra and Regent-Lord Lor’themar Theron. We met Thalyssra back in 2016 in the Legion expansion; she leads the Nightborne, an elven faction who became an Allied Race for the Horde with Battle for Azeroth. Lor’themar has been around in-game for 13 years as the leader of the Blood Elves in Silvermoon City. Both of them are fan favorites, even though Lor’themar has mostly hung out in the background and played a supporting role.

Unlike most of the side stories that are released alongside World of Warcraft, there’s no action or daring chases. Instead, Lor’themar has a big crush on Thalyrssa, and when she invites him over, his friends force him to get out of the house and go see the cute girl he likes. He heads over to Suramar, and the two of them have a poetry reading. That’s basically all that happens, and it’s awesome.

Battle for Azeroth has been jam-packed with storylines: There are evil genocidal Warchiefs, Lovecraftian Old Gods, big battles between lifelong enemies, and heroic sacrifices for peace. These stories have had a few problems; “A Moment In Verse” is beautifully simple in comparison. It’s just really nice to read about two wholesome characters reading poetry and talking about their problems. It’s small-scale in the best way; it still has those fantasy dressings and decadent descriptions you might expect from a story about elves, but it’s just about two people and their personal problems.

And of course, it’s fun to see a relationship where a tall lady smooches a short king.

Fans are also glad to see these two characters get the spotlight, especially since Blizzard has been teasing the possibility of a ship between the two of them throughout Legion and Battle for Azeroth.

There’s a little bit of Shadowlands foreshadowing as well. The two characters discuss Kael’thas Sunstrider, a Warcraft 3 character who died during World of Warcraft’s Burning Crusade expansion. Kael’thas is set to come back in the Shadowlands expansion, so this story also serves as a nice refresher as to what he did to get sent to the vampire hell zone of Revendreth. Mostly, though, I’m just glad to have a nice and sweet story. In a big world, sometimes it’s the little things that matter.

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