Warcraft 3: The Death of Hellscream
How do I describe this scene as far as how it hit me? WC 3 was probably my first experience with the WC franchise, and with Blizzard. I dabbled with one of the previous WC games on my SNES as a rental from Blockbuster, but, it had zero impact on me. But, WC 3 came along, and that opening cinematic of the Prophet, calling Thrall to lead the Horde to a new life. That just grabbed me and brought me in. I fell in love with that green skinned Shaman, and his wish to find a safe place for his people to live in peace, no longer as slaves. I was 100% down for that plot motivation.
And THEN Grom Hellscream comes along, and fucks it all up! In an effort to recapture the glory of the old days (Make Orcs Great Again!), he re-binds his people into mystical slavery to a demon lord, dooming them to repeating their previous plight. Thrall breaks his chains, at lest temporarily, and convinces Grom to help him. Grom, shook by what he's done, and how fucking stupid he was, agrees. Cut to the cinematic, of the two of them, wandering into the lair of the Demon Lord, so small, and alone.
They hear the demon taunting them, and Thrall hurls his most powerful attack at him, only to find it easily deflected. Then, taking down with a backhanded slap, Grom is left, alone. Feeling the call of the demon blood, even louder. He staggers, all the while, hearing the demon tempting him to give up his control and his free will. Grom glances at the one person he has loved and respected in this world. The one person who he truly felt could save his people, that HE had failed, turns to the demon lord, and just screams in defiance. No word is needed. He lets his pure rage to convey "FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR PLANS!!" He charges, screaming the whole time, oblivious to everything but his target, and with a might slam, buries his axe in the demon lord's chest. He screams, going critical, and explodes in hellfire, consuming Grom.
Collapsing to the ground, Grom, pants out his last breaths, to the sound of a choir of voices, singing a sad lament. Thrall hobbles over, and kneels next to him. Grom, delirious, and dying, is only able to comment about how he's freed himself from the demon's control...then dies. Thrall corrects him, saying he has freed them all. Then lets out a very Klingon-esque howl of the dead over his fallen friend.
Just, SO fucking good. That scene is why I started playing WoW, and was Horde for Life. So much enjoyment in that Horde campaign, I just, it was fucking great. Every time after that, if I was in the outlands when someone was doing the quest where they showed Garrosh Hellscream what his father did, and you got that zone wide buff, I would stop whatever I was doing, and fly over there, to watch the little re-enactment of the fight as Garrosh watched. I would /cheer every time. Because that shit was just fucking awesome.
