The Remarkable Life of Ibelin - Now Available on Netflix
wowhead.comNetflix has released The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, a heartfelt documentary of the true story of Mats “Ibelin” Steen, a Norwegian World of Warcraft player who suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the real world while living a life of friendship and passion online.
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin on Netflix
Upon passing away from the degenerative disease on November 18th of 2014, his parents were left grieving with the idea that Mats' life had been an isolated and lonely one. Sharing the news on his blog, they were stunned to discover the large network of devoted friends within the virtual world, represented by an outpouring of hundreds of letters, emails, and other tributes from a community that only existed online.
Mats' story was first published by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in 2019, drawing the attention of several filmmakers before Benjamin Ree pitched the idea of capturing Mats' life through his avatar Ibelin.
Combining archival home videos with immersive WoW animation drawn from over 42,000 pages of in-game text logs saved over ten years and 20,000 hours in World of Warcraft, the Norwegian director took a big risk in filming the documentary — working over two years with Rasmus Tukia and two other YouTube animators to painstakingly recreate the in-game world Mats had lived in, they never actually got permission from Blizzard to use its IP. It wasn't until screening the final product in California that the Blizzard bosses gave their blessing with tears in their eyes: “The main boss turned around and said, ‘This film is fantastic.’”
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is available today on Netflix.
During Dragonflight, Blizzard commemorated Mats with a memorial in Elwynn Forest, modeled after his real-world gravestone.
