The Lady Bird over on WoW Ladies posted about a quest I've heard about but never done before. It's the Sully Ballou's Letter quest-- it starts from a poor deceased dwarf that you can find in the water beneath the Thandol Span (that's the bridge just north of Dun Morogh). In his hand, there's a letter that you can read, and that needs to be delivered to a woman in Ironforge.Lady Bird read the letter and found it suprisingly emotional, and then found out the reason for that is because it's real-- it was written by one Major Sullivan Ballou, directly before the Battle of Bull Run in the Civil war. It was famously read in Ken Burns' Civil War documentary, and the full text of the original letter is also available online. It is pretty darn touching, both as a love letter, and as a meditation on what real life war really costs us, both for those directly involved, and for those waiting at home for them to return.
Blizzard has put a lot of hidden gems in this game, of course, but this might be one of the most touching.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-09-2007 @ 4:27PM
the deaf guy said...
Classy!... I always did like that quest, the suck part was having to swim to shore when my hearthstone was on CD >.< I shoulda remembered "look before you leap".
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7-09-2007 @ 5:10PM
FireStar said...
goosebumps all over during the entire time of reading the original letter.
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7-09-2007 @ 5:16PM
RogueJedi86 said...
Historical content aside, this is the first I've heard of this quest. I did all the quests in those areas, and never found that. Sounds like it's more of an accidental discovery. Interesting.
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7-09-2007 @ 5:46PM
Trudie said...
That letter is so touching and heartbreaking at the same time. Imagine being the woman receiving that letter. As sad as she must have been, there must have been some comfort in knowing that he loved her until his very last breath.
Things like that make me contemplate why we are such a barbaric species that throughout the ages, war has been one of the leading mechanisms of solving political conflict? Such a tragedy, indeed!
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7-09-2007 @ 6:26PM
RogueJedi86 said...
Stuff like that makes me wonder why some people play this game and ignore all the quest logs and Lore.
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7-11-2007 @ 5:47PM
batty said...
I was curious about an npc in IF and found this quest via searching thottbot.
Posted screenshots for friends who wanted to do quest:
http://flickr.com/photos/batgrl/465392951/in/set-72157594320933606/
http://flickr.com/photos/batgrl/465392947/in/set-72157594320933606/
http://flickr.com/photos/batgrl/465392931/in/set-72157594320933606/
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