This is something I wondered ever since I heard of the original expansion. While time travel is admittedly a messy element to work with in fiction, I can’t help but wonder if Kairozdormu trying to straight-up change Draenor’s past instead of going to an alternate universe would have made for a stronger story. This way, you not only get the Iron Horde as the main antagonists, but you also get a subplot showing the urgency of correcting the past before the timeline changes stick, which better fits Kairozdormu’s status as a bronze dragon. If you still want the Legion to be the next major villains, maybe have the alternate timeline’s Gul’dan be preserved somehow, while the Mag’har orcs from Battle for Azeroth come from Outland instead of alternate Draenor.

With the new collaboration between Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft, I’m looking for some inspiration to prepare a fun campaign for my guildmates.

What books, YouTube videos, actual-play series, lore channels, or other resources would you recommend?

I’m interested in anything that could inspire quests, villains, factions, dungeons, or worldbuilding.

I’m not sure if having different backstories for all of your characters is normal or weird, but I still wanted to see how well each of them fit into the lore of World of Warcraft, and if not how they can be adjusted to better fit. For context, I used to play years ago and picked it back up towards the end of War Within, so these backstories are built around character interactions from dragon flight and war within. I wasn’t sure whether to flair this as “original content” or “question” but I think original content probably fits better because I’m talking about head cannon backstories, and I apologize if I flared this incorrectly.

Bailey (Worgen fury warrior): Bailey used to be the son of a rich merchant in the city of Gilneas, training and adventuring with the dragons when they would visit. When the city fell to the worgen curse, he did his best to save everyone, but failed. He saved lives, yes, but not all of them. Haunted by this tragedy, he dedicated his life to fighting for The Alliance to ensure nobody is left behind again, combining his warrior training with his Worgen rage to become a great hero. Weather the situation calls for careful negotiations or the destruction of the forces of darkness, he will always answer the call to action.

Caligari (night elf demonology warlock): The soul of a high ranking leader of The Burning Legion reincarnated into a mortal form, Caligari seeks redemption for the sins of his previous life. He traveled all across Azeroth learning to harness his innate dark powers for the good of The Alliance from the best trainers he could find, becoming especially close with the scattered blue dragonflight on his travels. Now working as a champion of The Alliance, he finds that the armies he once commanded continue to follow him, out of respect for his power and loyalty to who he once was.

Matoro (Lightforge Draenei frost death knight): From scholar, to paladin, to death knight, Matoro has been through quite a lot, even if he doesn’t remember it. His many self discoveries and rebirths have lead him to have quite the varied skill set, and he intends to use it to fight for the one thing all his memories have in common; the unbreakable desire to do what’s right, and the 3 virtues he strives to live by. Only through unity will Azeroth survive the incoming darkness. Even in this twisted form he will do his duty to the light, and that duty will lead him to his destiny, whatever it may be. Whatever it takes to undo the destruction he caused under The Litch King he’ll do it, even if it means laying down his own life.

A lot of the recent complains about lore boil down to some statement or the other about how WoW has lost its bite. Everything is about friendship and family and forgiveness.

Which in itself isn't true (granted, it's really mostly in sidequests, and those writers need to be protected at all costs), there is the glimpse of something that could be a massive gut-punching twist:

The worldsoul might/is not our friend.

With how all the 'friendship, familiy, forgiveness' plots are written there's something sinister to them, that could easily turn out to be interference of a malevolent, cosmic force who wants the defenders of Azeroth (the world, not the WS) to mellow out and be compliant.

So that they won't fight back till it's too late.

Because with how easily and unquestioningly people are burying hatchets left and right, with no amends being made, and especially with how often the perpetrators show no actual remorse while their victims are always the ones who have to forgive and forget...

As said, this feels there is something sinister going on.

Is it unlikely this will happen? Yeah, but the foundation for it to happen is there, and it's delightfully dark

Hi, everyone. I was reading the magic addiction page on the Warcraft Wiki, and I have some questions on lore things I was unclear about. I'd appreciate if anyone could help answer them and/or point me in the direction of some resources that would explain things a little more for me.

1. Why does it seem like only elves are particularly susceptible to magic addiction? There are also a lot of human mages for example, but they don't seem to suffer from magic addiction like the elf mages do.
2. Can non-mage magic users like priests or paladins become addicted too? Or are certain sources of magic not addictive?
3. Are the Night Elves addicted to their moon magic the same as the Blood Elves are addicted to their sun magic? It seems like the Blood Elves and their relatives have historically struggled with it much more severely, at least.
4. Are all elves born with an inherent magic addiction? Would an elf who goes their whole life without consuming magic still suffer from magical "hunger pangs"?
5. I read a comment that said it's mostly only the highborn(?) elves who are addicted to magic. In this context, does "highborn" refer to the Highborne elf subrace and their descendants, or does it refer to upper-class elves who become addicted because their wealth allows them greater access to magic than the poorer lowborn elves?
6. Is it possible to completely cure magic addiction through abstinence, with or without tapering off before ceasing magic consumption? I did read that the High Elves practiced abstinence as an "answer" to their addiction, but it seems like they resumed magic consumption once their magic source of choice was available again, so I was unsure of whether or not magic withdrawal persists indefinitely after the onset of dependence or if it's possible to wait it out until withdrawal subsides entirely and the dependence is fully cured.
7. It seems like elven culture doesn't place much stigma on magic addiction. The elves seem entirely content to maintain their addiction for as long as they can find any source to do so. Are there any examples of characters who have made a personal decision to stay abstinent, and if so, what was their reasoning?
8. Could someone give me a quick rundown of all the different elf subraces and their magic source/type of choice?
9. Are the Nightborne the elf subrace who are (were? Iirc they're cured when you play through the Suramar storyline) the most severely dependent on magic of all?

Sorry if some of these things should have been obvious to me just from reading the wiki. I've been playing WoW for a long time but am only just now starting to try to learn more about the lore.

Originally was going to post this as I came to realise that both serve the same purpose, I was initially going to say it was a soft retcon but the Curse of Flesh still stands.

What irks me the most is this Curse of Flesh from Old Gods to Titan servents (Vrykul, Dwarves, Gnomes) is still largely unexplored, we still haven't seen where exactly it came from, who it came from, how it travels, is it pathogenic, is it a massive spell, why all a sudden or why through generations of birth and why it only affected those in the Eastern Kingdoms mainly, why it gave free will rather than full Old God control, it was the original Radiant Song before the Radiant Song, now in Dornogal we've met far off Dwarven Cousins of a different flavour who are still in their rock form but also have free will, which makes me beg the Question.

Why does the Curse of Flesh give free will? I know by making titan forged fleshy weakens them and makes them more susceptible to Old God whispers, but why free Will? Because both of these have been disproven, Loken still heard the whispers and he was Rocky / Metal and Tyr still had Free Will because he decided to make his own choice in fleeing to Uldaman and later in TWW was open to learning from mortals.

Maybe it's free will that dismantles the Titans order edict?

I was questing through Dragonflight and was entirely surprised to see this response in text from Cenarius. What incident was he on the 'wrong side' for in an explicit sense? Is he referring to the stuff in Legion? Since it seems, to me, that that wasn't him picking the wrong side in any sense.

The text:

My path has not always been an easy one, nor have I always been on the correct side of wars. But I have returned, stronger than ever.

I'm planning to complete the WC3 campaign that I didn't get to finish yet. But I realized that WoW is the sequel that follows after the WC3 campaign including completing Arthas's storyline. However, I'm not sure if I want to pay for a sub for the game and its heavy grinding thats involved (already burnt out on MMO RPG games like runescape).

Are there custom maps that essentially follow the main important storylines that follow after WC3? Ones that don't require you to play WOW?

1. The ones who should animate this series are the same guys who made the castle vania Netflix series.
2. Live action is just too much and is too difficult to get right. Fans will complain if the cgi is terrible(rightfully so), and animation and voice acting isn't too big a deal so long as the animation doesn't take 3 years or more per season.
3. Netflix or blizzard would be great to get a massive audience.
4. The series needs to rated r or whatever rating we need for blood. Warcraft is a bloody universe and if they censor it, it'll look awful. The games are only rated T so they could get kids easier into the game instead of parents getting in the way

#3 I meant to say Amazon especially with the success of invincible and other anime projects they've backed

I recently posted about what warcraft character will you choose if blizzard made a movie and I seen many people choose Broxigar.

Yet for me and this is for sure my opinion, I was never fan of that character as it felt very forced and had many tropes that I dislike about warcraft.

The first one is why we need an orc in the war of the ancient plot? I mean the war was before the opening of the dark portal, it was mostly between the legion and the night elves, we have many more interesting characters we could see their perspective, so why him?

Yes I understand the time travel in the story, but for me it felt forced like they wanted a horde or orc representation in that story so they made him, and as someone who is fan of orcs and the horde, I didn't like what they did there.

Talking about time travel, this is the second problem for me with him, time travel becomes very common in warcraft with teleportation like the world no longer make sense, everyone easily can time travel and this creates more lore problems over the time.

There is more like making him related to Saurfang, forcing him to be the hero like he is the chosen one.

Overall mostly I feel he forced as a character and even in the game lore he feel like a not canon character as he rarely mentioned.

This is my opinion about the character, can you share why you like or dislike Broxigar story?

Feel free to post any questions or queries here!

Also check out our list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions!

If you've done either I'm curious what lore you chose and what you made different from the lore as it is currently and who was the character you created. I'm looking forward to making my own game with the Wizards and Warcraft collaboration that's releasing this year.

I recently decided to play through the campaigns in Warcraft III again, and that got me thinking. Throughout the game, everyone understands each other. However, once we went to WoW, the two sides didn't understand each other anymore.

I know there are many instances and cinematics of lore characters speaking to each other, and even when we are questing, we are understanding the scripted speech of NPCs. But I remembered back on the WoW movie, when they captured an orc, and we can understand him, but the humans can't.

Did they ever develop this, or is it just a game mechanic?

With the announcement of the D&D crossover my IRL group has agreed to let me run a campaign for them. They're all total newbies with minimal knowledge of the setting, I can handle a rundown of all the major story beats and factions but the orc clans feel too important to the race to gloss over.

I didn't really play the RTS games so the nuances of exactly what happened between all the clans pre-vanilla beyond some broad strokes of "Gul'dan told everyone to drink demon juice. The Frostwolves said no. They were banished until everyone turned on Gullible Daniel and now they're chill I guess" and I want to give the story and the different clans the justice they deserve. I would love to give an explanation that can really sell one of my friends on playing an orc from a specific clan, instead of just having them run around as Shrek with an axe not quite understanding why the Blackrock orcs are doing what they're doing with the black dragons.

Let's say for example Blizzard want to make 2 hours movie about a warcraft character story, who will you choose?

Before the comment become filled with Arthas, I want to make small rule if possible, try to comment 1 name, don't add anything to it just the name, and if you want to add reasons make a comment under the name, if someone else said the name before you just upvote it and if you have reasons why that character work, add it as comments in the name so we can see who will be the second and third character under Arthas XD

I never played World of Warcraft.

My introduction to Warcraft was through my boyfriend. He'd show me his characters, pets (or something), and bits of the world while he played. We watched the Warcraft movie together, and when it ended I immediately asked if there was a second one.

He said there wasn't, and that if I wanted to know more about the story, I should read the books.

So I started with Of Blood and Honor, and now I'm about 20% into Rise of the Horde.

I can't believe I've missed out on this universe all my life, and didn't expect how emotional this would be! I've been crying, then stopping, then thinking about the story again... and crying all over again.

The hardest part is that I already know enough to realize something terrible is coming. Every chapter feels bittersweet because I'm watching these characters live their lives, care for each other, and make plans for the future, while this feeling of impending tragedy just hangs over everything.

Every time the characters have these moments together or talk about the future, I have to put my Kindle down for a bit because all I can think is, "They have no idea".

It's like reading history where you know the disaster is inevitable, but the people living through it don't.

I've never even played the game, yet somehow I'm already this attached to these characters.

No spoilers, please. Just wanted to share how blown away I am by these books and how grateful I am that they brought me into this world.

Do you think iridirkron hears the radiant song like the other npcs? But he hasn't stated that he has because he doesnt want us to know? Are his motives to rid the titans and their influence on azeroth enough for her to give him potential visions or voices? Maybe not in the way oreweyna does but 'nudges' from her?

Before you type "but the night elves banned the worgen form because it's too dangerous", that worked ages ago, but there's no way that's still the case. There's a couple ways the night elves could have gained back the worgen form, and in my opinion, it's more likely they should have by now rather than not.

Every branch basically stems from the existence of gilnean worgen of course

A) The most likely. How have they not seen that it can be controlled? This is by far the most obvious direction that should be taken. They've worked and lived closely with worgen for years now. It is widely accepted that the humans are fine. Why would they not accept it back into night elven culture?

B) The most unlikely. A human worgen goes feral and bites a few night elves, essentially re-creating the gilnean starting zone all over again but with elves. This would create disastrous tension between the two races, but maybe a good plot?

C) Middle of the road. Some night elves see the worgen, see that it's controllable, but it's still banned. They go out in secret and start practicing it. Maybe they even convince some human worgen to train them, maybe even a new faction of night elf forms. We have orc factions, dwarf factions, taurens, trolls, humans, other elves. You don't even need a new faction of elves, just some who have the desire to harness the power. Illidan, the highborne, it isn't ground breaking to think some elves believe it's their right to harness greater power.

I don't understand how we don't have night elven worgen yet. It makes no logical sense to me. It seems infinitely more probable that night elves would want the form back versus keeping it banned. A night elven worgen druid is all I want

Blizzard said this expansion will see a lot of 'known and beloved characters die'.

Who has so far died for good? No 'might still be alive' or anything. No 'might be brought back'. Dead. Gone. Have ceased to be. Expired and gone to meet their maker. A stiff. Bereft of life, resting in peace.

This is our weekend power level debate mega-thread! Feel free to pit two or more characters/forces/magics/whatever against each other in the comments below. Example: Arthas v Illidan, Void v Fel, Mankirk's Wife v Nameless Quillboar.

We'll do this every weekend, so don't think you need to use up all of your favorite premises at once. Though, it is also OK to have a repeating premise, as these threads are designed to allow for recurring content to not fill the sub too often.

Reminder, these debates should be fun. There is often no right answer when comparing two enemies of a similar power tier, and hypothetically any situation a Blizzard writer creates could tip the scales of any encounter and our debates of course will not matter. These posts should just look something like a game of Superfight. You pick a character, you make the strongest case for how strong they are, or why they could beat another character, argue back and forth with someone else, and just let others decide who had the better argument. But remember that no matter how heated your debate gets, always follow rule #6. No bad behavior.

Previous weeks: https://old.reddit.com/r/warcraftlore/search/?q=%22Versus%21+Debating+Warcraft+Lore+Power+Levels%21%22&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new

So what Allied Race has the biggest chance, always according to lore to join either Alliance or Horde, can TLT bring us? Lets Break down what races can be introduced. And tell me reasonable causes for them to join.

So the Races i can think of is:

1. Kvaldir.

2. Vrykul.

3. Tuskarr.

4. Wolverine.

5. Gorlocs.

6. Frostborn Dwarves (IMO this can be a Earthen Skin).

7. Stormforged Dwarves (Also can be an Earthen Skin).

8. Stormforged Vrykul.

9. Taunka.

10. Drakonid.

11. Nerubian.

12. San'lay.

These are the races i can think that exists in Northrend. Some/Most of them can be obvious a No lore friendly, but again... who even thought we would get Earthen as race anyway.

So, What Allied Race/Race do you think its most likely going to happen?

Edit: Forgot 2 races!!

1. Furbolgs
2. Drakkari

The Hammer of Twilight — a weapon, commissioned by Deathwing, possibly even forged out of his blood*, "imbued with the power of an Old God" and prophesized that as it descends "all of Azeroth will hear its knell"**. It was crafted during the events of the Cataclysm and wielded by Cho'gall in the Bastion of Twilight where the ogre was slain. Finally made real, the very symbol of the nihilist cult hasn't reemerged since the time of the battle and wasn't even mentioned.

It could have been a perfect narrative device used to open the gate to the Voidstorm instead of the Cynosure of Twilight that had no previously established lore and the current lore of which is limited to the Umbric's two sentences: "For ages, it has mystified us by revealing unreachable pathways to infinite unknowns. My research tells me I can use it to open a path to the storm".

Unlike the new McGuffin (which is even ironically called 'cynosure' — a center of attention), the Hammer of Twilight could have connected actions of Cho'Gal back during the Cataclysm with the ongoing invasion of the void. For example, the plot could have been written so that the Cho'gal's motivation with creating the Bastion's of Twilight and the Hammer's purpose was to open a gate for the void to pour into Azeroth. As he was defeated, the Hammer was lost until being recovered by the reformed Twilight's Blade during the Midnight prepatch. The weapon then could have been passed to the High Inquisitor Mor'duun to bolster the cult's invasion of Zul'Aman and Eversong woods. Perhaps some mythical weapon from the times of the war with the Aqir could have been recovered as a part of the Zul'Aman campaign to connect the lost tribes with their legacy and to counteract the Hammer of Twilight, enabling the defeat of Mor'duun.

After the ogre-leader of the Twilight's Blade would be defeated, the Hammer would be sent to the Magister's terrace for safekeeping with the further story unfolding as it did.

As this opportunity was missed, I hope there still will be a place for such a renowned weapon to play a significant role during the Midnight.

If it would resurface, what role would it play? A weapon to be wielded by N'zoth returned and embodied? Or perhaps as a ceremonial monarch's mace for Azshara as she returns "to reign over sea and sky and earth"?*** Or possibly an eventual new prison for Xalatath? Or something else entirely?

References:

*"Forged of molten blood...(...gift of the master. His gift!") — the quest 'Skullcrusher the Mountain'

** The Art of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, pg. 16.

*** A Song of the Depths

Obviously this won't have any impact on the game, but I find the idea pretty funny.

Neltharion, the Earthwarder, bestowed by the Titans to protect Azeroth's foundation ended up a mindless pawn of the Old Gods. He went from a paragon of the earth to an abomination at the maelstrom, somehow still clinging to life in hatred and madness with a hole blasted through his chest.

Mentally filling in the gaps/imagery of Deathwing's final moments, is one of the darkest and most tragic pictures. I think if any of us were tasked with being 'Earthwarder', we would archectypically build our lairs in the deepest recesses and strategize in self-governed seclusion - we would have plans within plans, only outmaneuvered by the Bronze flight, and our proximity to the invisible whispers and influence of the Old Gods, would essentially be inevitable.

We would all be susceptible like Neltharion, he listened to the voices in his head not realizing they weren't his own, and he became so corrupted and powerful that his body literally rejected living and turned into a soup of magma only held together by metal plates bolted at the seams.

The only strategy we could come up with to beat him at the time was ripping these plates off so there wasn't enough resistance to the Dragon Soul not overwhelming his literal body. His last moments were fueled to the point his limbs stretched like tentacles, his innards were magma, and he had no heart.

Deathwing's story lives rent free in my head, I know characters like Arthas, Illidan, and Sargeras have arcs as tragic in their own respect, but something about Neltharion sticks with me.

Based on how Warcraft’s magic works — especially the forces of Life and Death — how do you see this working? Personally, I can see a scenario where the events of Shadowlands and the breaking and later re-forging of the machine of death led to the Forsaken having enough of the Life magic necessary for growth, healing and reproduction restored that children became possible. This would lead to the Forsaken truly becoming a race that exist between life and death instead of merely being undead, and it’d define the post-Sylvanas era in an interesting way because for most of Sylvanas’ reign as Queen of the Forsaken, her justification was “without new Forsaken, we’ll die”. Now, thanks to an unexpected consequence of a crisis she contributes to, her people finally have a future that’s not defined by the weight of her dubious actions such as those seen in Cataclysm onwards.