World of Warcraft Lore

[Northy]

I am extremely interested in fully understanding all of the details concerning Warcraft lore. I want every single detail about it. I want to go hard in the paint on this. So where the heck do I start and in what order should I read it? I'm completely overwhelmed and need some help. Ideally one would have a list of all lore sources in chronological order but I doubt such a thing exists. Help please.

I know there's a new lore history book coming out covering everything but I doubt I'll get the immense amount of details I want from it. With an exciting new expansion and movie both coming soonish, I want to know everything. Thanks!

[Friendlyimmolation]

I would start with rise of the Horde, and then beyond the dark portal after followed by lord of the clans and then Arthas. Those books will give you a lot of the foundation for more current lore.

[Fawkess]

The way i learned was from the lore for noob youtube series


you might also want to check out Nobbel87s videos on lore
https://www.youtube.com/user/Nobbel87

If you want a more readable version check out wowpedia
http://wow.gamepedia.com/Portal:Main

if you want a more playable version check out warcraft 3 and play that game
you also might want to check out the book the post above me mentioned

[Tatzi]

If you're looking for books, I've made a small list (in chronological order) of the most worthwhile books, in my opinion.

1. Warcraft War of the Ancients Archive
-Trilogy Book One: The Well of Eternity
-Trilogy Book Two: The Demon Soul
-Trilogy Book Three: The Sundering

-Rise of the Horde (about the Horde on Draenor in the Main Universe)

Warcraft Archive (Warcraft 1)
-Book One: Day of the Dragon
-Book Two: Lord of the Clans
-Book Three: The Last Guardian

-World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness (Warcraft 2)
-World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal (Warcraft 2 exp)

-World of Warcraft: Arthas; Rise of the Lich King (Warcraft 3 + Expansion)

-World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred (Right before World of Warcraft)

[Neyze]

Don't follow that order. I'm following what was posted second post in this thread
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3657615359
And I am currently enjoying it immensely. Start with rise of the horde btw

[Northy]

Do any go far enough back in time to deal with world creation? I'd love to be able to go from world creation to Legion and just cover absolutely everything.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Do any go far enough back in time to deal with world creation? I'd love to be able to go from world creation to Legion and just cover absolutely everything.

I think that will be covered in that new book they will release.

[Northy]

So there really haven't been any Warcraft books published since 2013?

[Friendlyimmolation]

So there really haven't been any Warcraft books published since 2013?

well he have warcrimes and the shattering, wolfheart and stormrage but those are all dealing with newer lore and wont be about the origins.

[SeaSalt]

Watch Nobbel!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX3...BVC4WVC9qQGyMw

He covers a lot so you can pick what you want from his videos. He also has a Story of Warcraft with lightly scratches the surface of the lore and then you can go further from there (I believe that video has annotations for a video that goes in depth on each topic he lightly touches on as he talks about them)
Also his voice makes it very relaxing to watch a lot of his videos and not get burnt out on them.

[Caerule]

Also you'll want to bookmark http://www.wowpedia.org/,
It's basically the Wikipedia for all things WoW.
Should help you find the details about whichever subject of lore you wish to learn more bout.

[Northy]

Where, chronologically speaking, do the War of the Ancients trilogy and the original Warcraft series of books (4 of them?) fit into the 14 WoW novels?

[Friendlyimmolation]

Where, chronologically speaking, do the War of the Ancients trilogy and the original Warcraft series of books (4 of them?) fit into the 14 WoW novels?

They happen before rise of the Horde, but a mary sue or two are shoe horned into the main roles of the book so it is better to read the other books first. Atleast imo

[Northy]

I'm guessing the new book Warcraft: Durotan takes place right after Rise of the Horde?

[Madeupname999]

Just play Warcraft 3 and its sequel!

Not only is it prolly the best game blizz has ever done but it will get you started on so much of the storyline threads then you can look up parts that intrerst you on wowpedia and such.

I do recommend the books but to me most of the books are just fanwank that blizz ignores at its leisure so i never really feel they are cannon but thats just me. Iam a guy who feels if its ingame its lore if its not its just fanwank that the devs can ignore therfore making it worthless and nothing more but like i said thats just me.

[TheFirstOnes]

Ok, ya want some Warcraft LORE? here's the lore in a quicky! (No troll)

WoA- Stupid queen adores magic, she gets called by demons, they answers because she is a bitch, a demon named sargeras thinks she's his bitch, and the queen thinks so too. 3 elves train, 1 is a nelf with golden eyes, which was said to have brung great destiny, sadly they lied, the other one is a druid who has a half horse half elf as a trainer, the last one is a female whore named tyrande who cannot decide who is to love more because she is a mary sue...ya know. Also, she love elune so much, she loves her more than her husband, LOL! Stupid queen summons demon, he summons more demons, elves find out that demon is bad, dragons help too because reasons, 1 dragon goes bad, he tries to stop other dragons, artifact is helping with the portal, artifact blasts deathwing, however the 3 tween elves stop the portal, it blows, azeroth is split, queen die...but doesn't, Old god (Hentai guy with intelligence) buffs her with (Tentacle surprise inside), the end.

Argus- Demons go find race to help, they find a planet full of goat alien things, they go there, they commune with their 3 leaders, 2/3 agree to join, 1 doesn't, he talks with a crystal, but then the crystal turns into light thing, thing # 1/7 tells the guy to GTFO, but race turns bad, savior grabs suspects, they leave home, they go places.

WC1- Race goes down on a planet full of life, other race is there shocked, both races live in harmony, however big evil leader of race number 1 decides to take planet different way (The goat race went to many planets before this), demon manipulates grey hippy dude, hippy orc gathers race, he tells them that his wife told them to fight other goat race, however...due to him being an idiot, he leave. Other orc steps in, orcs kill goats, they kill each other when they seemed to have extinct, old orc knows another world, orc powers a new portal, the orcs enter. They enter planet mainiverse and discover that there is another race that live there, humans. Humans fight, they get beat the fuck out of, orcs attack main city, humans leave, ORCS WIN DONE!

WC2- Humans gain elves, dwarves, gnomes, and that's all, while orcs gain trolls...LOL! Old orc creates undead warriors, new found factions fight, orcs attack main city again, they lose, old orc leaves to temple, temple is mean and he dies, faction good kills orcs at a mountain, they win, they push them back towards the portal, they win, and then...they close other portal...planet blows...they win..done.

WC3- Demons invade, factions suck at defense, they gain help from night elves, cow people enter, good orc finds new home after saving imprisoned orcs on planet cliche, prince fights undead, he finds demon, he purges city, he goes to x marks the fucking spot, he kills dad after finding a blade that even frozen finds "Too memeish". Undead prince fights good, he destroys 2 cities, he summons dead guy, and summons giant smurf, smurf find tree, he decides to blow it to get a raise from his logging job, he gets killed by some of hippy elfs sperm. Prince goes to to iceland, other elf tries to stop him, elf gains friends, even with them, they get beat the fuck out of by prince, elf and prince fight, prince wins, he become an enemy.

WoW- Level, save prince, kill dragon, raid, win at life, experience. No lore here...LOL!

TBC- golden eyed elf leaves towards the exploded planet from WC2, he gains an army, they invade, we fight back, we defeat enemies there, former friends left illidan ebcause he's not fair, light thing from last time tells illidan that he needs to karrigan hos way out in order for his life to have any more meaning, we kick his ass after because we're little shits that need a legendary blade, elven women fucks his dick inside a prison, we fight red demon from the argus session, and we help a blue dragon. DONE!

WoTLK- We invade iceland, We help a king, we go to a floating city, we stop scottish people, we stop big metal things, we go to the future, we fight tentacles, we assault a gate, and we kill a dragon...and the undead prince king guy from WC3. That's it...and people wonder why I don't like wrath that much.

Cata- Old god Dragon from before assaults our planet (Azeroth), we help elements, we kill elements, we kill cults, thugs, help orcs, shamans, we kill tentacles, and we kill this guy, oh and we help dragons, we stop futures, and many more. Also, dragons lose power in the end. And dwarf dies...for a bit.

MOP- Pandas join, we help our turtle home, we gain allies, we join either blue ally, or red ally, red ally is fighting blue ally elsewhere, blue allies are looking for puny prince, we find isle, isle is big, we fight for a homes there, we find pandas, we fight with them, we fight bugs, emotions, celestials, dead old things, thunder gods, jaina clones, lor'themar clones, we stop hell from a bombed city, we see lady mage pissed from that, she purges, we leave, king talks to prince, king doesn't do shit, blue helps red with city problems, blue becomes spy cats, red becomes badass, we fight in raid, we take down brown hitler, the end.

WoD- Go to time portal, fight orcs, help goats, kill demons, fight major orcs and ogres, help birds, fight things, help evil orc, be friends with evil orc, kill blue demon again, we win yay! .....Fuck Warlords Of Draenor.

Legion- Alternate old orc from last expac escapes, he finds dead golden eyed elf, he frees him, he goes to tomb, he doesn't die this time, he summons badass army of demons, we fight them, we lose, we lose king, prince becomes a king, we help old mage with kicking lady faction hating mage out, we find out that old dwarvern said dead king is back, we find out that our planet is a female god, we learn about how to stop the villians, we fight with warewolves and undead, we fight scottish guys again, we help a god, we get class halls, we gain artifacts, we fight nightmare, we help dragons, we lose main green dragon, she attacks goddess base, we help defend goddess base, we help cow people, we stop big guys, we find more dragons, we fight old magic addiction queen from WoA, we find artifacts, we help sea guys, we help cursed elves, we help near extincted dragons, we help mana addicts, we fight fish people, we get knocked out, some elven cursed ghost prince helps us, we are saved, we defeat fishes. We assault major legion base, we kick the shit out of elves, we befriend drugged outlawed elves, we fight demons, we help other elves and the drugged ones get their kingdom back, we assault the base head on, we stop a party, we fail, we gain allies, we assault the palace, we destroy their power well, we kill time stopping queen, and we kill old orc. DONE!

Legion is so badass...that's it.

[RedGamer030]

I'm guessing the new book Warcraft: Durotan takes place right after Rise of the Horde?

That book is not canon nor does it exist in World of Warcraft's lore. It is the shitty prequel book to the even shittier movie.

[TheFirstOnes]

I'm guessing the new book Warcraft: Durotan takes place right after Rise of the Horde?

Well, the books called "Durotan, and...I think "Tides of brotherhood?" take place in its own universe. So, book wise...this is how it goes.

WoTA

Rise of the horde

Last guardian

Tides of darkness, and day of the dragon

I forgot the one with tirion and eterigg (Sorry, forgot his name)

Lord of the clans

Arthas

Illidan

Wolfheart

Shattering

Stormrage

And lastly, war crimes.

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That book is not canon nor does it exist in World of Warcraft's lore. It is the shitty prequel book to the even shittier movie.

I thought the movie was good. Me and my nerdish family gave it a 9/10.

[Aquamonkey]

I'm guessing the new book Warcraft: Durotan takes place right after Rise of the Horde?

That book is not canon nor does it exist in World of Warcraft's lore. It is the shitty prequel book to the even shittier movie.

The book is canon to the Warcraft cinematic universe. It is separate from the game universe.

[Northy]

I thought the movie was good. Me and my nerdish family gave it a 9/10.

I have yet to actually meet a person irl who hasn't loved the movie. Can't wait.

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Well, the books called "Durotan, and...I think "Tides of brotherhood?" take place in its own universe. So, book wise...this is how it goes.

WoTA

Rise of the horde

Last guardian

Tides of darkness, and day of the dragon

I forgot the one with tirion and eterigg (Sorry, forgot his name)

Lord of the clans

Arthas

Illidan

Wolfheart

Shattering

Stormrage

And lastly, war crimes.

- - - Updated - - -

Are you sure the Illidan novel goes there? Also, how many years does the Illidan novel cover?