Do spells like rebirth and resurrection exist in the lore of wow?

[vrsick]

And if they do, how can any important person die? Can understand why some people who maybe had their soul stolen by Arthas can't be rezzed but why couldnt someone like Cairne Bloodhoof be rezzed?

[Raiju]

Ressurection is possible but not normal, requires massive amounts of work, body and soul intact.

Unless you're anduin or the scarlet crusade

[CaptainV]

In earlier incarnations of wow's lore, death was permanent, when you died it was the end, no coming back, finito, but lately they seem to have pulled a 180 on that idea and decided that anyone can return if there's some legit excuse for them to do so.

Ultimately I think they need to start making permadeath a more prominent thing because atm, it feels pointless to just let everyone come back.

Lore wise, resurrections have happened and people dying have returned, again, its a matter of how important they are due to plot armor.

Its a pretty weak logic but apparently its the one blizzard goes by.

[Thage]

It's there, but it requires a potent priest (or other healer) to perform (yay, alliteration!). Someone like Cairne likely wasn't rezzed because nobody present was able to revive him, and by the time someone with the skill to do it had come on the scene, the usual fantasy limitations had come into play and his spirit passed on. Also, because of drama.

Resurrections in fantasy in general have to be rare or death as a story mechanic loses its impact. Why build up the paladin's brave last stand against a horde of orcs to buy his friends time to get away safely if the cleric can just swing by, slap a raise dead on him, and call it a day? (this is why, coincidentally, resurrection spells have a decently-high level requirement and are a bitch to pull off in D&D)

[Baracuda]

In earlier incarnations of wow's lore, death was permanent, when you died it was the end, no coming back, finito, but lately they seem to have pulled a 180 on that idea and decided that anyone can return if there's some legit excuse for them to do so.

Ultimately I think they need to start making permadeath a more prominent thing because atm, it feels pointless to just let everyone come back.

Lore wise, resurrections have happened and people dying have returned, again, its a matter of how important they are due to plot armor.

Its a pretty weak logic but apparently its the one blizzard goes by.

At least we're not at Dragonball Z level yet.

[RoughJustice]

At least we're not at Dragonball Z level yet.

Lol realm event..... Find the 7 Drake Balls acrossed Azeroth!

[Aquamonkey]

Lol realm event..... Find the 7 Drake Balls acrossed Azeroth!

Jaina already has a tight grip on a pair.

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True resurrection is quite rare. It took Aegwynn 20 years to gather enough energy to resurrect Medivh and remained severely weakened from doing so even years afterwards.

Necromantic resurrection has become somewhat common.

[Auxis]

Jaina already has a tight grip on a pair.

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True resurrection is quite rare. It took Aegwynn 20 years to gather enough energy to resurrect Medivh and remained severely weakened from doing so even years afterwards.

Necromantic resurrection has become somewhat common.

Could the power of the deceased person determine how much power is required for the resurrection?

[Deleted]

I like to think dead player character aren't actually dead, just unconscious. A ressurection spell as seen in game can be used on them.

Actually returning from death is, like people already pointed out, a hard task to pull off and quite rare. And what thread would dead be if you couldn't die?

[Ciddy]

At least we're not at Dragonball Z level yet.

*3 expansions later*
[Cairne] Hey guys! I'm back! I hiked up a long-road to the middle of nowhere in the Twisting Nether and received training from a broken Draenei called King Jai!
[Garrosh] Holy shit.....his attack power is through the roof now...

[Drilnos]

There's a quest in Borean Tundra that comes to mind. An apprentice shaman sends you into a magnataur den to collect the remains of her master, who's been ritually slaughtered and partially eaten. You scoop up what's left, bring it back and she rezzes him, whereupon he goes to take a nap. Now, his soul was being kept imprisoned in some sort of totem down there, which you had to bring back with the bag of guts, but his body had been reduced to a slurry of giblets, bone shards and magnataur droppings, and the rez went off just as a player rez would.

[Doktor Faustus]

Still, corpse running... lore?

[Thage]

Still, corpse running... lore?

Game mechanic, same as how easily the players can sling rez spells around.

edit: It's one of those tropes called Gameplay and Story Segregation

[Deleted]

Still, corpse running... lore?

I recall Blizzard stated that corpse runs are game mechanics, not lore. I'm not really sure, though.

[Thage]

Could the power of the deceased person determine how much power is required for the resurrection?

Maybe. I'd also guess the emotional state of the rezzer may play into it--Anduin managed to resurrect Varian in a state of grief in Varian's Leader short story, but it exhausted him and given his other in-lore appearances, it was one of those things he was only able to do because he was desperate.

[Serenais]

I believe they do exist, however, their usage is quite limited due to necessary effort combined with the body needing to be in a "healable" state - you can't really ressurect red/blue/green paste or a pile of ash.
"Ressurection" of the Forsaken probably just requires clever reassembly + a raise spell, with the "reassembleable" condition being in place (similarly as above).
Both likely require the ressurection being done shortly after death, thus it could be said that "lore" ressurection, unless it is an outright miracle, is in fact a form of "magical CPR".

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I recall Blizzard stated that corpse runs are game mechanics, not lore. I'm not really sure, though.

That makes me wonder what the named Spirit healer actually is...
In the quest, Easy is Boring, the player character reffers to her as "the spirit healer", meaning that they are both known and serve some sort of purpose in the game's world.

[Thage]

That makes me wonder what the named Spirit healer actually is...

Someone with no regard for the fourth wall.

[Orrin]

It's there, but it requires a potent priest (or other healer) to perform (yay, alliteration!). Someone like Cairne likely wasn't rezzed because nobody present was able to revive him, and by the time someone with the skill to do it had come on the scene, the usual fantasy limitations had come into play and his spirit passed on. Also, because of drama.

Resurrections in fantasy in general have to be rare or death as a story mechanic loses its impact. Why build up the paladin's brave last stand against a horde of orcs to buy his friends time to get away safely if the cleric can just swing by, slap a raise dead on him, and call it a day? (this is why, coincidentally, resurrection spells have a decently-high level requirement and are a bitch to pull off in D&D)

Where do you get this? In all books healing magic is much less potent then in the game. Misweawers are barely able to do anything, priests are tending injured, etc., etc.
Healing in WoW and resurrection are just a game mechanic.

[Thage]

Where do you gat this? In all books healing magic is much less potent then in the game. Misweawers are barely able to do anything, priests are tending injured, etc., etc.
Healing in WoW and resurrection are just a game mechanic.

Anduin revived Varian in Varian's short story, and several instances of in-universe resurrection are seen ingame. Not just necromantic resurrection, but honest-to-goodness revival, like Whitemane reviving Mograine/whatshisface the Not-Mograine guy in the new Monastery, a tauren in Northrend, and a couple other instances that I can't recall offhand. Again, it exists, but it's rare by necessity to preserve the impact of death as a story mechanic.

edit: Healing is also a thing in-lore. Healing spells are used all the time by the player character in quests that specifically ask you to do so (like the daily to heal wounded Golden Lotus defenders, never mind the similar quests scattered throughout the other zones), NPCs use healing spells like Brother Samuel on Stormwind Guards in Northshire as they defend the Abbey from Blackrock Orcs and goblin assassins, and Argent Crusade mobs heal each other in Trial of the Champion.

[Jawless Jones]

only when its relevant to the plot it seems

also when a Forsaken/Death Knight is "resurrected", wouldn't it be called reanimation instead?