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* StuffBlowingUp: [[EasterEgg Click on a sheep]] enough times.
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* MightyGlacier: Dragons/Gryphon Riders in Warcraft 2 are a variation. They're extremely powerful and actually move pretty fast, but they react very slowly to commands.
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* NoCureForEvil: In Warcraft I and II, the Orcish Horde had no healing spells. In the expansion for 2, the Orc heroes(whose deaths meant mission failure) had way more HP then their human counterparts to make up for this. Even after their HeelFaceTurn in Warcraft III, the orcish Horde only had healing ward till the expansion added the Shadow Hunter.
** Averted with the Scourge in Warcraft III who had several effective skills to heal their units like Deathcoil and Vampiric aura.
** Averted with the Scourge in Warcraft III who had several effective skills to heal their units like Deathcoil and Vampiric aura.
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Deleted stuff pertaining exclusively to World Of Warcraft
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** Draenei may also have this form of immortality (Velen is explicitly stated to), or they may just be extremely long lived.
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** Funnily enough, many of the races a player would expect to be ChaoticEvil from other works are anything but, whereas a lot of races that are portrayed as good elsewhere are actually pretty nasty in the ''Warcraft'' universe. Tauren are basically minotaurs, but most of them are good and honourable. As detailed in the description, the orcs made a HeelFaceTurn. Meanwhile, centaurs are brutal savages and satyrs are demon-worshippers. As for goblins, see OurGoblinsAreDifferent below.
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** Funnily enough, many of the races a player would expect to be ChaoticEvil AlwaysChaoticEvil from other works are anything but, whereas a lot of races that are portrayed as good elsewhere are actually pretty nasty in the ''Warcraft'' universe. Tauren are basically minotaurs, but most of them are good and honourable. As detailed in the description, the orcs made a HeelFaceTurn. Meanwhile, centaurs are brutal savages and satyrs are demon-worshippers. As for goblins, see OurGoblinsAreDifferent below.
** Also the Human nations/Orcish clans are only different in game by their color.
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* CutscenePowerToTheMax: One of ''Warcraft 2'''s cutscenes shows a Catapult destroying a Goblin Zeppelin, despite the fact that catapults cannot attack flying units in actual gameplay.
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* CutscenePowerToTheMax: One of ''Warcraft 2'''s cutscenes shows a human using a stolen Catapult destroying to destroy a Goblin Zeppelin, despite the fact that catapults cannot attack flying units in actual gameplay.
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* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: In the BackStory, Sargeras had a bad [[HeWhoFightsMonsters experience]] with the Nathrezim.
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* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: In the BackStory, Sargeras had a bad [[HeWhoFightsMonsters experience]] with the Nathrezim.Demons.
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* PsychoRangers; Illidan's Blood Elf, Naga and Draenei forces are smilar to Alliance, Orcs and Night Elves.
* PutOnABus: Gnomes disappeared entirely in ''Warcraft III'', their role having been taken over by the dwarves. They were eventually brought back for ''WorldOfWarcraft''. Also Turalyon and Alleria.
* PutOnABus: Gnomes disappeared entirely in ''Warcraft III'', their role having been taken over by the dwarves. They were eventually brought back for ''WorldOfWarcraft''. Also Turalyon and Alleria.
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* PsychoRangers; Illidan's Blood Elf, Naga and Draenei forces are smilar similar to Alliance, Orcs and Night Elves.
* PutOnABus: Gnomes disappeared entirely in ''Warcraft III'', their role having been taken over by the dwarves. They were eventually brought back for ''WorldOfWarcraft''. AlsoTuralyon and Alleria.the Beyond the Dark Portal Heroes excluding Grom Hellscream.
* PutOnABus: Gnomes disappeared entirely in ''Warcraft III'', their role having been taken over by the dwarves. They were eventually brought back for ''WorldOfWarcraft''. Also
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* SinisterScimitar: Skeletons are equipped with scimitars, no matter what weapon the creature they were created from was holding.
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* SinisterScimitar: Warcraft III Skeletons are equipped with scimitars, no matter what weapon the creature they were created from was holding.holding.
** The then evil Raiders used scimitars in Warcraft I. Daemons have used flaming scimitars throughout the series.
** The then evil Raiders used scimitars in Warcraft I. Daemons have used flaming scimitars throughout the series.
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** In ''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' the summoning spell was the most powerful and expensive for each side, summoning ranged water elementals and huge blade-wielding daemons for the humans and orcs respectively.
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** In ''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' the summoning spell was the most powerful and expensive for each side, permanently summoning ranged water elementals and huge blade-wielding daemons for the humans and orcs respectively.
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* StormingTheCastle: The Blood Elf/Naga/Broken Draenei coalition stormed the Black [[strike:Citadel]] Temple.
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* StormingTheCastle: The Blood Elf/Naga/Broken Elf/Naga/Lost One Draenei coalition stormed the Black [[strike:Citadel]] Temple.
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[[caption-width-right:350:The main factions of the third installment.]]
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* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The Burning Legion was originally intended in Warcraft 3 to be a playable faction.
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fixing link
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* WhatItCouldHaveBeen: The Burning Legion was originally intended in Warcraft 3 to be a playable faction.
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* WhatItCouldHaveBeen: WhatCouldHaveBeen: The Burning Legion was originally intended in Warcraft 3 to be a playable faction.
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* WhatItCouldHaveBeen: The Burning Legion was originally intended in Warcraft 3 to be a playable faction.
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added video and corrected the quote to match the official subtitles from the game (the intro videos on youtube that have subs either have poor audio quality, has a long uploader intro, or voiceless, so the video is voice only)
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->''[[HilariousInHindsight Welcome, to the]] [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft world of Warcraft]]''.
--> -- '''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans''' opening.
--> -- '''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans''' opening.
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->''[[HilariousInHindsight Welcome, Welcome to the]] [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft world of Warcraft]]''.
VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''.
--> -- '''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'''opening.
[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DhXUgrKK_s intro]].
--> -- '''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'''
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* BestServedCold: Ner'zhul thinks this way. His brilliant plan to [[spoiler: destroy the Legion and install the Scourge (with himself as head) as the dominant power in Azeroth]] is one of the finest examples of this trope.
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* TheChessmaster: A fair few: Ner'zhul, Tychondrius, Kel'thuzad, Sylvanas and Mal'ganis being prime examples.
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An AdventureGame was planned, called ''Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans'', which would detail the Horde shaking loose their demonic influences and make a HeelFaceTurn under the leadership of a human-raised Orc named Thrall, but the game was cancelled supposedly due to low quality (It was animated by the same studio as the Mario and Zelda CD-i games). The key elements of its story were then used for one of the tie-in novels, ''LordOfTheClans''.
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An AdventureGame was planned, called ''Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans'', which would detail the Horde shaking loose their demonic influences and make a HeelFaceTurn under the leadership of a human-raised Orc named Thrall, but the game was cancelled supposedly due to low quality (It was animated by the same studio as the Mario [[VideoGame/HotelMario Mario]] and Zelda [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Zelda]] CD-i games). The key elements of its story were then used for one of the tie-in novels, ''LordOfTheClans''.
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* StagedPopulistUprising: During a mission in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, a peasant revolt erupts in the township of Tyr's Hand while the Alliance is still fighting the Horde. It's later revealed that it was started by spies from Alterac, whose king had been working with the Horde the whole time.
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* MisplacedWildlife: In an underground cave in Kalimdor, Thrall runs into a bunch of sheep, remarking he'd never seen them on that continent. Which is the signal for the BalefulPolymorph to wear off and leave you facing a bunch of footmen.
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* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Arthas. Possibly averted in that he is not white-haired and a pretty boy at the same time, though...
** Well, this troper's not sure he can totally agree with that (See the WotLK opening cutscene). But he's been told he has bizarre taste.
** Well, this troper's not sure he can totally agree with that (See the WotLK opening cutscene). But he's been told he has bizarre taste.
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* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Arthas. Possibly averted in that he is not white-haired and a pretty boy at the same time, though...
** Well, this troper's not sure he can totally agree with that (See the WotLK opening cutscene). But he's been told he has bizarre taste.
** Well, this troper's not sure he can totally agree with that (See the WotLK opening cutscene). But he's been told he has bizarre taste.
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* BadassBeard: Every dwarf unit.
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* BadassBeard: Every dwarf unit.unit and paladins.
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** Justified with units that have Roar or Howl of Terror, as it increases/decreases your allies'/enemies' damage.
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** '''Elf Priest''': By the power of The Light, Burn!
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->''[[HilariousInHindsight Welcome, to the]] [[WorldOfWarcraft world of Warcraft]]''.
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->''[[HilariousInHindsight Welcome, to the]] [[WorldOfWarcraft [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft world of Warcraft]]''.
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BlizzardEntertainment's famous RealTimeStrategy trilogy ([[SequelDisplacement yes, the franchise did exist before]] ''{{World of Warcraft}}'').
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BlizzardEntertainment's famous RealTimeStrategy trilogy ([[SequelDisplacement yes, the franchise did exist before]] ''{{World of Warcraft}}'').
''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'').
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Warcraft's success eventually gave birth to the MMORPG monster ''WorldOfWarcraft'', which retconned some of the backstory developed by the previous games. It also created the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.
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Warcraft's success eventually gave birth to the MMORPG monster ''WorldOfWarcraft'', ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', which retconned some of the backstory developed by the previous games. It also created the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.
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**Let's not Forget Aleria Windrunner from the WC2 expansion, who also happens to be Sylvanas' older sister.
**There seem to be several species of trolls. Forest Trolls still resemble the WC3 Jungle trolls, but the difference (most notably the former's green skin vs the latter's blue skin) is still remarkable.
**In WC2, the wizard's polymorph is a permanent instakill move, which simply turns any hostile unit into the tileset-appropriate critter. There's a reason it's one the most expensive ability to both research and cast.
**In WC1 each side's high-end caster could summon weaker mooks and a single powerful summon, the orcs having the warlock summoning spiders and Daemons, and the human Conjurer creating scorpions and water elementals.
** Basically your mouse. Keep klicking each and every unit and you ''will'' piss him/her/it off, often with threats of physical violence.
***''Aleria Windrunner: Do that again and you'll pull back a stump.''
***''Aleria Windrunner: Do that again and you'll pull back a stump.''
**Beyond the Dark Portal has some, most notably Deathwing in the human campaign. In the final orc mission you also have to kill all human hero units bunched together. Best not bring Terron Gorefiend there...
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* CombatMedic: Druids of the Claw are the rare melee-oriented spellcaster, capable of turning into a rampaging bear as well as being able to heal their allies. They're even pretty beefy when not in bear form. Paladins in Warcraft 2 and 3 are also melee-oriented spellcasters.
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* CombatMedic: Druids of the Claw are the rare melee-oriented spellcaster, capable of turning into a rampaging bear as well as being able to heal their allies. They're even pretty beefy when not in bear form. Paladins in Warcraft 2 and 3 are also melee-oriented melee-oriented healing spellcasters.
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* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: In the first two games, the two factions were almost identical. Averted '''hard''' in number three.
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* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: In the first two games, the two factions were almost identical.identical, save for their spellcasters and some upgrades. Averted '''hard''' in number three.
**Let's not forget Warcraft 2's ozn Bloodlust, which doubled both the normal damage and the armor ignoring damage of the target. In some cases this can mean triple damage or even more.
***Gnomes seem to have got cut from WC3 entirely.
**There were also some of escort missions with normal units. The Alterac PoW's spring to mind.
**There's quite a lot of infighting in the Horde in the first two games.
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* FleshGolem: The abominations.
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* FleshGolem: The abominations.abominations through necromancy, and in TFT you get actual flesh golems.
**Warcraft 2 started the prototype "blizzard hero", with at first being identical to other units of the same kind (with the strange exception of Zul'Jin's slightly higher range), but over the course of the later blizzard games including starcraft they grew to be a lot more unique.
** Grom Hellscream, at least in his first appearance. He had a remarkably high and screamish voice in Beyond the Dark Portal, and one of his responses when selecting him was simply screaming "'''EEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHH!!!'''"
** For the rest, too many to list.
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* SelectiveObliviousness: ''Warcraft 2''. Level 8: There's been a peasant revolt by guys wearing Alterac colors - how strange. Level 9: Uther Lightbringer was almost killed by Alliance ships sailing with Alterac colors - how strange. Level 10: Let's interrogate these traitors who were wearing Alterac colors when they were caught. Level 11: [[CaptainObvious Alterac has betrayed us!]] So ''that's'' why their national banner has a [[http://www.wowwiki.com/Alterac Horde emblem on it]].
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* SelectiveObliviousness: ''Warcraft 2''. Level 8: There's been a peasant revolt by guys wearing Alterac colors - how strange. Level 9: Uther Lightbringer was almost killed by Alliance ships sailing with Alterac colors - how strange. Level 10: Let's interrogate these traitors who were wearing Alterac colors when they were caught. Level 11: [[CaptainObvious Alterac has betrayed us!]] So ''that's'' why their national banner has a [[http://www.wowwiki.com/Alterac wowpedia.org/File:Alterac.jpg?c=1 Horde emblem on it]].
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** In ''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' the summoning spell was the most powerful and expensive for each side, summoning ranged water elementals and huge blade-wielding daemons for the humans and orcs respectively.
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** The final missions of both sides in the original. The siege of dalaran for a notable one from the second.
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* CannibalTribe: The Bonechewer Clan and various Troll tribes.
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* HookHand: The Shattered Hand Clan and its leader Korgath Bladefist.
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* ProudMerchantRace: Kul Tiras was known for its merchant fleet before the Second War. The Goblins are a more violent example.
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Alterac\'s weakness
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* ButtMonkey: Alterac, before the Syndicate. Lore keeps reminding us that they were "the weakest of the Human nations" and "only a minor contributor of troops and equipment to the Alliance" before their betrayal. The Orc campaign in ''Beyond the Dark Portal'' has an Alterac-based mission that adds some more trash talk, and an accompanying cutscene in the Playstation version shows Orcs killing a couple of allied Alterac soldiers just for fun, while the Alterac mage dips his head in shame ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpEXhNjEeHY skip to 3:09]]).
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* ButtMonkey: Alterac, during the Second War and before the Syndicate. Lore keeps reminding us that they were "the weakest of the Human nations" and "only a minor contributor of troops and equipment to the Alliance" before their betrayal. The Orc campaign in ''Beyond the Dark Portal'' has an Alterac-based a mission that adds some more trash talk, in which you aid the survivors of Alterac and one of their mages. Its mission briefing reminds you how weak the nation is, and an accompanying cutscene in the Playstation version shows Orcs killing a couple of allied the Alterac soldiers mage's bodyguards, just for fun, because they ''can'', while the Alterac mage helplessly dips his head in shame ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpEXhNjEeHY com/watch?v=2gs-hjD5lHE skip to 3:09]]).
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* ButtMonkey: Alterac, before the Syndicate. Lore keeps reminding us that they were "the weakest of the Human nations" and "only a minor contributor of troops and equipment to the Alliance" before their betrayal. The Orc campaign in ''Beyond the Dark Portal'' has an Alterac-based mission that adds some more trash talk, and an accompanying cutscene in the Playstation version shows Orcs killing a couple of allied Alterac soldiers just for fun, while the Alterac mage dips his head in shame ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpEXhNjEeHY skip to 3:09]]).
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* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Orcs. Maybe the [[NobleSavage Tauren]] as well, but they don't [[GentleGiant actively seek battles]].
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* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Orcs. Maybe the [[NobleSavage Tauren]] as well, but they don't [[GentleGiant actively seek battles]].
** The human nation of Stromgarde, led by a family named ''Trollbane''. Guess how they became famous.
** The human nation of Stromgarde, led by a family named ''Trollbane''. Guess how they became famous.
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* ColorCodedArmies: In III.
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* ColorCodedArmies: In III.the entire series.
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Um, WC 3 doesn\'t use sprites...
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* SimpletonVoice: Peasants and Ogres in ''Warcraft II''.
* ASinisterClue: Arthas begins a right-handed paladin, but switches to his left after he changes class. That may actually just be a result of Blizzard not wanting to flip the sprite in order to make him right-handed; the cinematic at the end of the Human campaign does show him wielding Frostmourne in his right.
* ASinisterClue: Arthas begins a right-handed paladin, but switches to his left after he changes class. That may actually just be a result of Blizzard not wanting to flip the sprite in order to make him right-handed; the cinematic at the end of the Human campaign does show him wielding Frostmourne in his right.
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* SimpletonVoice: Peasants and Ogres in ''Warcraft II''.
II'' and ''III''. Averted with the orcish peons, who are supposedly just as dumb as human peasants, though you can still hear some HulkSpeak from them.
* ASinisterClue: Arthas begins a right-handed paladin, but switches to his left after he changesclass. That may actually just be a result of Blizzard not wanting to flip the sprite in order to make him right-handed; class, though the cinematic at the end of the Human campaign does show him wielding Frostmourne in his right.
* ASinisterClue: Arthas begins a right-handed paladin, but switches to his left after he changes
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* ConstructAdditionalPylons: Farms, burrows, moonwells and ziggurats.
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* ConstructAdditionalPylons: Farms, burrows, Farms for both sides in the first two games. The orcs switched from farms to burrows in ''III'', while the two new factions had similar buildings of their own: moonwells for the night elves and ziggurats.ziggurats for the undead.
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* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Rend and Maim Blackhand.
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An AdventureGame was planned, called ''Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans'', which would detail the Horde shaking loose their demonic influences and make a HeelFaceTurn under the leadership of a human-raised Orc named Thrall, but the game was cancelled due to low quality (It was animated by the same studio as the Mario and Zelda CD-i games). The story was used for one of the tie-in novels, ''LordOfTheClans''.
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An AdventureGame was planned, called ''Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans'', which would detail the Horde shaking loose their demonic influences and make a HeelFaceTurn under the leadership of a human-raised Orc named Thrall, but the game was cancelled supposedly due to low quality (It was animated by the same studio as the Mario and Zelda CD-i games). The key elements of its story was were then used for one of the tie-in novels, ''LordOfTheClans''.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warcraft.jpg]]
->''[[HilariousInHindsight Welcome, to the]] [[WorldOfWarcraft world of Warcraft]]''.
--> -- '''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans''' opening.
BlizzardEntertainment's famous RealTimeStrategy trilogy ([[SequelDisplacement yes, the franchise did exist before]] ''{{World of Warcraft}}'').
''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' tells the story of the kingdom of Azeroth, which is attacked by a Horde of [[OurOrcsAreDifferent green-skinned marauders]] that are hell-bent on exterminating the human population. The player is either a valiant human lord who beats back the orcs and gets crowned the monarch of Azeroth after King Llane dies, or an orc general who crushes the noble capital of Stormwind and betrays his warchief, becoming the new leader of the orcs.
In ''Warcraft II: the Tides of Darkness'', we discover that while elements of both campaigns happened, the orc campaign victory was {{canon}}. The new orc warchief (Orgrim Doomhammer, who slew BigBad [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Blackhand]] after the conclusion of the previous game) is creating a Horde more dangerous than ever by enlisting creatures such as trolls, ogres, dragons, and goblins into its ranks, while the surviving humans of Azeroth (led by the human commander from the previous game, Lord Anduin Lothar) have fled across the seas to the countries of Lordaeron and created an Alliance consisting of humans, elves, dwarves and gnomes. Soon, the two juggernauts face each other over global domination. Again, while missions from both sides occur, the Alliance victory is canonical, but Lothar, their greatest hero, falls; Doomhammer flees into exile. In the ExpansionPack ''Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal'', the Alliance pursues the beaten Orcs to their dying homeworld of Draenor to stop them from gathering reinforcements... and discover a far darker plot. Ner'zhul, a powerful Orc warlock, decides to use several ancient artifacts to open doorways from Draenor to other worlds for the Orcs to conquer. The foiling of his plot finally seems to spell an end to the red planet. The Orcs remaining on Azeroth are rounded up and placed in internment camps. The other creatures of the Horde go their own ways.
An AdventureGame was planned, called ''Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans'', which would detail the Horde shaking loose their demonic influences and make a HeelFaceTurn under the leadership of a human-raised Orc named Thrall, but the game was cancelled due to low quality (It was animated by the same studio as the Mario and Zelda CD-i games). The story was used for one of the tie-in novels, ''LordOfTheClans''.
''Lord of the Clans''' plot was worked into the backstory of ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'', which added the Night Elves and Undead as playable factions. In the game, the Horde, now under Thrall, flees Lordaeron on advice from a human prophet. Shortly after, the Scourge--an undead army created by the demons who had corrupted the orcs in the first place, and led by Ner'zhul, trapped in an almost formless existence--assaults the Alliance, which was already beginning to fracture politically. The Elves of Lordaeron are decimated; Lordaeron's prince, Arthas, becomes the Scourge's most powerful minion due to his lust for vengeance; and his former lover and princess of the nation of Kul Tiras, Jaina Proudmoore, takes any survivors she can over the sea--again, on advice from the prophet. Across the sea, on Kalimdor, the Horde has allied with a native race, the Tauren, and found a new tribe of Trolls that can join them. The Alliance arrives soon after, and again following the words of the Prophet, unite against their greater foe - the Scourge and their burning masters. But their settlement does not go unnoticed - the Night Elves, led by Tyrande Whisperwind, see the outlanders as despoiling Kalimdor...until faced with the horrible reality of the Scourge, and facing again the Burning Legion after ten thousand years. The truce between the Horde and Alliance expands to include the Night Elves, and their combined forces are enough to break the Burning Legion's advance and slay its leader. Despite the victory, Lordaeron is left ravaged, and the Scourge is feasting on the bones.
The expansion pack, ''Warcraft III: the Frozen Throne'', focuses on the secondary night elf [[strike:[[DefenseOftheAncients Anti-Mage]]]] AntiHero Illidan Stormrage, who is hired by the Burning Legion's new lord to kill the Lich King, the ruler of the Scourge, who through his machinations and indeed his dealings with Illdan had ensured the demons' loss, despite ostensibly serving the Legion. Illidan hires the serpentine Naga, night elves corrupted by ancient magic, to help himself achieve the task, but is stopped by his people, who think he was trying something more villainous. Desperate now, he flees in search of new allies and a place to hide. In Lordaeron, the Blood Elves (the scraps of of the Elven civilization the Scourge had destroyed) are cast aside by Alliance's bigoted commander...and are aided by Illidan and his Naga, who go into hiding in the shattered remnant of Draenor. Illidan cannot hide from his master, however, and turns his focus back to the Scourge, settling on all-out assault with his new allies. Arthas, now calling himself King of Lordaeron, finds himself dealing with a rebellion led by minor lords of the Legion and some of the enemies he had killed and brought back as undead allies, who have regained their minds with the Lich King so harried. One of them, an Elven general named Sylvanas Windrunner, takes commanad of the rebellious undead and carves out a new nation for them. Arthas has no time to deal with her, however, and hurries to save his Master. He and Illidan battle in Northrend, and the death knight defeats Illidan, sending him and his allies packing. Arthas then goes to his master and enacts the Lich King's masterstroke--their bodies and minds fusing permanently into one of the most powerful beings on the face of Azeroth.
Meanwhile, Thrall and the Horde settle down and the orcs begin work on their new capital city, Orgrimmar. The traveling beast master Rexxar becomes involved in the orcs' work to forge a new homeland, but trouble rears its ugly head when Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, Jaina Proudmoore's father and an Alliance hero from ''Warcraft II: the Tides of Darkness'' shows up. Jaina has built a city for her refugees called Theramore Isle, and has been able to maintain peace with the nearby Horde. However, her father still hates the orcs for their demon-fueled war crimes, and, unwilling to see that they have changed, takes control of Theramore from his daughter and begins to attack the Horde. After helping the trolls evacuate to Orgrimmar, saving the tauren leader Cairne Bloodhoof's son, and taking over a clan of ogres, Rexxar is declared the Champion of the Horde and the Horde attacks Theramore. In return for Jaina's aid in stopping her father, Thrall agrees to spare her soldiers, so Rexxar and his posse of Cairne, the troll scout Rokhan and the pandaren brewmaster Chen Stormstout go and kill Daelin while the forces of the Horde and the Admiral fight. Daelin is slain, Jaina is sad, and the Horde leaves the city of Theramore to rebuild.
Warcraft's success eventually gave birth to the MMORPG monster ''WorldOfWarcraft'', which retconned some of the backstory developed by the previous games. It also created the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.
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!!This series provides examples of:
* ActionGirl: Tyrande Whisperwind, Jaina Proudmoore, Sylvanas Windrunner, Maiev Shadowsong... and there's even {{Mook}} style [[ActionGirl action girls]]: the Night Elf Archers and Huntresses, and High Elf Sorceresses.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Every novel and comic released is technically there to provide the backstory of the side characters. Though since every campaigns have different set of main characters, each campaign is probably one since there is no single 'main character' in the story.
* TheAgeless:
** Night elves used to have this form of immortality, before sacrificing it to save the world from the Burning Legion.
** Draenei may also have this form of immortality (Velen is explicitly stated to), or they may just be extremely long lived.
** Demons also have this type of Immortality
** Dragons, or at least the Aspects, seem to be undying as well. [[spoiler: Or were until they recently had to relinquish it, anyway.]]
* TheAlliance: [[CaptainObvious The Alliance]] in both the sequels, and the Horde in ''Warcraft 3''.
* {{All Trolls Are Different}}: In this case, a savage yet spiritual people with ties to the elves who happen to have Cuban and Jamaican accents.
** In fact, the possibility exists that [[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/troll/trollsandnightelves.html trolls and night elves are related]].
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: [[strike: The Horde,]] The Burning Legion, the Satyrs, the Gnolls...
** Funnily enough, many of the races a player would expect to be ChaoticEvil from other works are anything but, whereas a lot of races that are portrayed as good elsewhere are actually pretty nasty in the ''Warcraft'' universe. Tauren are basically minotaurs, but most of them are good and honourable. As detailed in the description, the orcs made a HeelFaceTurn. Meanwhile, centaurs are brutal savages and satyrs are demon-worshippers. As for goblins, see OurGoblinsAreDifferent below.
* AncientTomb: The Tomb of Sargeras.
* AndIMustScream: What Kil'jaeden did to Ner'zhul to transform him into the Lich King.
** Arthas, already dead, is spiritually stuck in something similar, when Sylvanas sees what waits for her in the afterlife.
* AnimatedActors: The HilariousOuttakes in the closing credits for ''Reign of Chaos''.
* AnimateDead: Scourge Necromancers can make {{skeletons}} from corpses. The [[ClownCarBase Graveyard]] provides infinite corpses. Thus the only limiter is [[ManaMeter mana]]. Even that limit can be raised to an extent using [[TheMedic Obsidian Statues]].
** The Night Elf Avatar of Vengeance spams a variant of AnimateDead (on top of being huge).
** The Death Knight hero unit has for his ultimate move AnimateDead, which revives six nearby corpses to fight for him for 40 seconds. And they're invincible!
** Necrolytes in ''Warcraft'' and Death Knights in ''Warcraft 2'' could also create {{skeletons}} from corpses.
* AntiGravityClothing
* ArtificialStupidity: Highly visible in WC2, where melee units will happily stand still and get killed by a ranged attacker two spaces away.
** Visible as well in WC3, where sometimes a computer opponent will just stop evolving at the second tier. Worse, if you choose to start with a random hero they sometimes ignore it completely and build up to second tier [[CantCatchUp before starting to explore and level their hero.]]
* AscendedExtra: Some of the major characters were initially just mentioned briefly in the early games. For example, [[BiggerBad Sargeras]] was nothing but a throw-away name for a demon whose sceptre Gul'dan was trying to steal.
* AsteroidsMonster: Hydras. As there's no way to represent one hydra's head being replaced by more, a dying hydra will be replaced by two smaller and weaker hydras.
* AttackAttackAttack: While attacking hero units with [[ZergRush a horde of weak units]] is an effective tactic, you need enough {{Mooks}} to overwhelm the heroes. This is not the case with the small bandit gangs at the beginning of the Human Alliance campaign...''but they insist on making a beeline for paladin Arthas and his high defense stats and '''enormous smite-mallet''' anyway.'' It's common for him to one-shot *thock* them [[CatchPhrase (for honour)]]. Very entertaining, but the labour turnover for bandits has to be ridiculous.
* AuthorAppeal: Character Designer Samwise Didier's love of [[PandaingToTheAudience pandas]] led to the creation of the Pandaren, though it was the fan's affection for the notion that finally made them canon. You have to squint to see it, but Illidan also has tiny pictures of panda faces on the hilts of his weapons. And there's somebody in the Blizzard staff (probably several) who really, really likes MontyPython.
* AutobotsRockOut: ''' ''The Power of the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRDDEEEE!!!'' '''.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''A lot.'' Most characters from all the races, right down to the generic hero units in multiplayer, get surnames that are just two cool-sounding words squashed together. Even so, "Malfurion Stormrage" stands head and shoulders above the rest.
* BadassBookworm: Jaina Proudmoore. "All I wanted is to study."
* BadassBeard: Every dwarf unit.
* BadassMustache: Knights in Warcraft 3, and units with similar models (Bandit Lords, Garithos).
* BagOfSpilling: Happens to Arthas between the Human and Undead campaigns of ''Warcraft III'', but the game goes to some effort to avert this within the campaigns themselves, as a Hero unit that departs for story reasons leaves all their items behind.
* BalefulPolymorph: Sorceress' "Polymorph" and Shadow Hunter's "Hex" spells can turn opponents into critters. Quite a few mobs and bosses have access to these spells as well.
* TheBeastmaster: The, uh, [[CaptainObvious Beastmaster hero]]. However, gameplay-wise, he's closer to SummonMagic; every one of his abilities involves summoning an animal companion to fight at his side from nowhere.
* TheBechdelTest: In Warcraft III, Tyrande and Jaina have a conversation about the defense of Mount Hyjal against Archimonde; Sylvanas also has a conversation with one of her banshees about their newfound freedom. Warcraft I and II, however, fail the test.
** Lady Vashj also has an extended conversation with Maiev about the origin of the Naga early on, too, and Maiev and Tyrande have a few (admittedly hostile) conversations during the course of the Night Elf campaign.
* TheBerserker: [[BadAss Grom Hellscream]]. And, of course, Troll Berserkers.
* BerserkButton: Screwing with the land, and Illidan in general, tend to stress Malfurion out, but he usually keeps his cool in most any situation, unlike his partner Tyrande. Mess with her though...
* BigBad: Blackhand and Gul'dan in ''Warcraft I'', Orgrim Doomhammer in ''Warcraft II'', Ner'zhul in the expansion ''Beyond the Dark Portal'', Archimonde in ''Warcraft III''. ''Frozen Throne'' didn't have a single BigBad, but the main campaign sequence was driven by the EvilVersusEvil conflict between Kil'Jaeden and the Lich King, while Admiral Proudmoore was BigBad for the Orc bonus campaign. Sargeras for the whole series.
* BigBadassWolf: Orcish Raiders (AKA wolf riders) in part 1 and 3. Also the ones the Far Seer ride.
* BiggerBad: Sargeras is the ultimate evil in the setting, but as he's usually [[OrcusOnHisThrone on his throne]] and/or out of commission, this is the role he takes in most of the games and novels, rather than direct BigBad.
* BigNo: "You... did this... to our people... ''knowingly!?'' ''' '' GGRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!! '' '''"
** "No, old friend, you freed us all... RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!"
** "Within your heart, you know, we are the same!" "NUUUUUUUUUUURGH!" (It's actually a "NO", but Grom's yell sounds almost inarticulate.)
* BigRedDevil: Kil'jaeden is the most famous example. Several other demons including the Succubi, the Eredar and especially the Doomguard also qualify.
* BilingualBonus: In ''The Frozen Throne's'' Orc campaign, there's a bear called Misha, which means 'bear' in Russian.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Ballnazar, Detheroc and varimathras in the "Legacy of the Damned"
* BlackMagic: According to {{Canon}}, most types of magic in the Warcraft universe are this. Although [[DarkIsEdgy Shadow]] magic (used by Shadow Priests, Death Knights and the Undead) and [[DealWithTheDevil Fel]] magic (used by Demons and Warlocks) are explicitly derived from TheDarkSide, even [[PureEnergy Arcane]] magic (used by Mages) has the twin drawbacks of being [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity extremely addictive]] and acting as a beacon to attract demons to Azeroth -- as the High Elves found out long ago. Also see WhiteMagic, below.
* BlackMagicianGirl: Jaina.
* BonsaiForest: The forests seem to be very thick compared to how short the trees are.
* BoozeFlamethrower: Pandaren Brewmasters in ''Warcraft 3'' have both a "throw booze" and "spit fire" abilities, which can be combined.
* BossBattle: Kathuulon, Ra'Adoom, Xaxion Drak'eem from "Warchasers" are explicit bosses.
* Butterface: The Blademaster.
* CaptainErsatz: Between his undead pallor in lieu of albinism, his soul-drinking runeblade, and his being monarch of a kingdom he eventually turns against and destroys, Arthas has a ''lot'' in common with ElricOfMelnibone. Even the naming and art of the swords is similar.
** Sylvanas is [[StarCraft Sarah Kerrigan]] with the serial numbers filed off.
* ChainLightning: The Far Seer can use this.
* ChewToy: Malygos... until ''{{World of Warcraft}}''.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder:
* CivilWarcraft: The TropeNamer.
* ClassicCheatCode: {{AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs}} gives instant win, and {{SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb}} gives instant failure.
* ColorCodedArmies: In III.
* CombatMedic: Druids of the Claw are the rare melee-oriented spellcaster, capable of turning into a rampaging bear as well as being able to heal their allies. They're even pretty beefy when not in bear form. Paladins in Warcraft 2 and 3 are also melee-oriented spellcasters.
* CombatTentacles
* CombinedEnergyAttack: The Nature Spirits' combined energy is what killed Archimonde.
* CommandAndConquerEconomy
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: It sees the full map, needs no resources, and can control more units at once than you can. And prioritizes players over other AI opponents.
* ConstructAdditionalPylons: Farms, burrows, moonwells and ziggurats.
* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: In the first two games, the two factions were almost identical. Averted '''hard''' in number three.
* CrateExpectations: In ''Warcraft III''.
* CreativeClosingCredits
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: One of ''Warcraft 2'''s cutscenes shows a Catapult destroying a Goblin Zeppelin, despite the fact that catapults cannot attack flying units in actual gameplay.
** In part 3. Cairne's war stomp can cause an avalanche and Tyrande's Starfall can destroy bridges. Neither is possible in the game.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: Several examples in ''Warcraft III''.
** The Berserk status allows to user to attack much faster, but it takes a lot more damage (in %).
** Faerie Fire, an autocast move, removes some armor from the target and allows the user to see that unit until the effect fades.
** One armor-boosting magic aura is often modified in custom maps to decrease nearby enemies' armor.
** Using Banish on a unit makes it immune to physical attacks, but greatly reduces its resistance to Magic-type attacks and spells. As it also slows the target considerably, it's risky to use it on your own units.
* DamageIsFire
* DarkActionGirl: Sylvanas Windrunner
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Night Elf race.
** The Orcs as well, after their HeelFaceTurn in III anyway.
* DegradedBoss: The abomination in ''The Scourge of Lordaeron'' .
* DemotedToExtra: Ogres had a major role in Warcraft II but were neutral creeps and mercenaries in Warcraft III.
** Ditto for Goblins (mostly as merchants.)
** The human campaign in the ''Frozen Throne'' expansion focused largely on the plight of Kael'thas and his Blood Elf remnants... for about two and a half missions. Then they became more or less OutOfFocus as the story importance shifted to Illidan and his Naga (made worse by the Blood Elf forces being completely irrelevant alongside the much stronger Naga). By the middle of the Undead campaign, the Blood Elves were out-and-out {{Mook}}s with the exception of [[TheDragon Kael'thas]] himself.
* TheDragon: Just to name a few:
** Kil'jaeden and Archimonde for Sargeras.
** Tichondrius for Kil'jaeden
** Anetheron and Azgalor for Archimonde
** Orgrim Doomhammer was the Dragon and TheStarscream for Blackhand
** Cho'gall was the Dragon for Gul'dan (WC2)
** Dentarg was the Dragon for Ner'zhul (WC2 Expansion)
** Both Arthas and Kel'thuzad for the Lich King
** Kael'thas and Lady Vashj for Illidan
** Varimathras for Lady Sylvanas
** Master of Pain and Mistress of torment for Magtheridon.
** Chief of Chaplains and Chief Petty Officer for Admiral Proudmoore.
** Morbent Fell and Ras for Balnazzar.
* DevourTheDragon: Or the Mook, anyway - Death Knights can eat minions for a health boost. Liches can do the same to get mana. Om nom nom.
** One could theoretically devour a frost wyrm in this fashion, making this more literal - and probably a massive waste of a good unit.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
-->Shade: "I'm invisible...gaseous...and ''deadly''."
* DroppedaBridgeonHim: Dagren the Orcslayer.
* DuelBoss: Rexxar Vs Kor'gall.
* DumbMuscle: Specifically Ogres and Abominations. Some Orcs fall into this, but [[GeniusBruiser not the Orc Shamans.]]
-->'''Ogre(s)''' [[HulkSpeak "Kill!"]]
-->'''Abomination''' [[HulkSpeak "We done waiting!"]]
-->'''Orc Peon''' [[HulkSpeak "Me not that kind of Orc!"]]
* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Grom.]]
* ElementalShapeshifter: ''Warcraft 3's'' Pandaran's "Storm, Earth, and Fire" ability splits the hero into three different beings, each themed after the particular element.
* EliteArmy: The army of Kul Tiras.
* EnemyCivilWar: The Forsaken against the Dreadlords' enslaved undead forces (starts out as a three way war with Undead still loyal to Arthas, but he took off to Northrend); Thrall's orcs against fallen orcs under a corrupted Grom.
* EnemyMine:
** The Horde team up the remnants of The Alliance to defeat Mannoroth. They then both team up with the Night Elves at the Battle of Mount Hyjal.
** The Night Elves and The Naga team up to rescue Tyrande from the Undead.
** The Forsaken strike an unholy alliance with Alliance forces to defeat the Undead force holding Lordaeron.
* EntropyAndChaosMagic: The burning legion, and associated warlocks, demons, and mages, often use a highly destructive form of magic, including many spells with "chaos" in the name, and Chaos damage being a strong damage type in Warcraft 3.
* EscortMission / BadassInDistress Nearly every HeroUnit who appears before ''Beyond the Dark Portal''. Lothar, Garona, Zul'jin, Cho'gall, and Uther Lightbringer are all either escorted or rescued-then-escorted. Of those, only Cho'gall is of any special use in the mission.
* EverythingFades: Eventually, the corpses disappear.
* EverythingIsWorseWithBears: Druids of the Claw, Furbolgs, Pandaren and the Largest Panda Ever.
* EvilCounterpart: Warcraft III plays this ''perfectly'' straight in the form of Death Knights and Paladins. Paladins have a spell that heals the living and [[ReviveKillsZombie hurts the dead,]] Death Knights have a spell that does exactly the opposite. Paladins can improve their lifespan with a spell that makes them invulnerable, Death Knights can improve their lifespan by [[DevourTheDragon sacrificing minions for hitpoints.]] Paladins have a defensive aura that improves armor, and Death Knights have an offensive aura that boosts hitpoint regeneration and movespeed for hit-and-run attacks. Paladins have a spell that resurrects the six strongest dead friendly units near him permanently, while the Death Knight can animate the corpses of the six strongest units of any sort near him to fight for 40 seconds before [[LudicrousGibs exploding in a shower of gore]].
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The Scourge.
* EvilIsBurningHot: The Burning Legion.
* EvilPrince: Arthas Menethil.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Illidan's voice gets quite a bit deeper after he absorbs the Skull of Gul'dan and becomes half demon.
* EvilVersusEvil: The battles between the Scourge and the Burning Legion in ''The Frozen Throne''. Also, Illidan versus Magtheridon.
* ExpandedUniverse: Specifically, the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.
* FaceHeelTurn: Arthas, (sort of) Sylvanas in the expansion, Sargeras in the backstory.
* FallenHero: Arthas, Illidan, Kael'Thas Sunstrider and Grom Hellscream. A few others might be considered this as well.
** RedemptionEqualsDeath: Grom
* FactionCalculus: Humans (Balanced) vs. Orcs (Powerhouse) vs. Undead (Subversive) vs. Night Elves (Glass Cannons) in ''Warcraft III''
* FantasyAxisOfEvil: Almost literally in ''Warcraft II''. The Horde consists of Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Goblins, the Undead, Daemons, and Dragons (willing allies in the expansion). Pretty egalitarian, too. If they weren't TheHorde, they'd be TheAlliance.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Lordaeron is quite obviously [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy European]]. The Jungle Trolls are Jamaican-like. The Taurens seem to be the native peoples of America's Great Plains, but with their cultural ties to buffalo herds brought to extremes - they actually ''are'' [[PettingZooPeople Buffalo Men]].
** The Tauren are Cow-men; their cousins, the Taunka, ''are'' the actual Buffalo-men, but they're Inuit.
** The Pandaren are a race of anthropromorphised [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pandas]]. Nevermind being the mascot of Chinese culture, the Pandarens also believe in a religion similar to Daoism, practise similar style martial arts, wear stereotypical Asian clothing have an equally stereotypical accent.
* FantasticRacism: A lot of races in Warcraft '''''really''''' don't like each other. The most prominent example is the Humans and Night Elves viewing Orcs as murderous war-like savages [[BloodKnight (while having some basis in fact,]] [[DarkIsNotEvil this isn't completely true)]]. Then there's [[GeneralRipper Grand Marshal Garithos]], who hates '''other Alliance races'''. Warcraft loves this trope.
* FaunsAndSatyrs: Satyrs in the Warcraft universe are half-demonic corrupted night elves, and Fauns are half-daughters of the Demigod Cenarius.
* FirewoodResources
* FishPeople: The mur'guls and the murlocs.
* FiveManBand:
** The Heroes of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
*** TheHero: General Turalyon
*** TheLancer: Captain Danath Trollbane
*** TheSmartGuy: Archwizard Khadgar
*** TheBigGuy: Kurdran Wildhammer
*** TheChick: Alleria Windrunner, though she's a real ActionGirl
* FiveBadBand:
** The Burning Legion:
*** BigBad: Sargeras
*** TheDragon: Kil'jaeden and Archimonde
*** TheEvilGenius: Kil'jaeden himself, also Tichondrius and Gul'dan
*** TheBrute: Mannoroth [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Destructor]]
*** TheDarkChick: Queen Ashzara
** The Horde leadership in ''Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal'':
*** BigBad: Ner'zhul
*** TheDragon: Dentarg the Ogre-Mage
*** TheEvilGenius: Teron Gorefiend, the Death Knight
*** TheBrute: Both Kargath Bladefist and Grom Hellscream
*** SixthRangerTraitor: Mogor the Ogre-Mage, who allies himself with the Alliance Expedition
* FleshGolem: The abominations.
* FogFeet: The Firelord hero from ''Warcraft 3''.
* ForgedByTheGods: Frostmourne... well it was forged by ''something'' pretty powerful, anyway.
** Implied to be Kil'jaeden, or his underlings.
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: The Alliance and The Horde went to war over oil in part 2. Not so in part 3.
* ForWantOfANail: One of the tie-in manga brought up an interesting question: What if Jaina didn't leave Arthas at Stratholme? [[spoiler:Well, Arthas wouldn't have become the Lich King. There'd be a Lich ''Queen'', though.]]
* FungusHumongous: Some areas had giant mushrooms that could apparently be substituted for lumber. And used for healing Ancients or summoning Treants too.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In Jaina's first appearance. Two sorceresses duel and one of them gets turned into a sheep.
* GeneralRipper: The bigoted Garithos, who planned to get Kael and the Blood Elves killed by the Undead. And Jaina's father Daelin Proudmoore who wants to continue fighting the orcs, despite their peace treaty with Jaina's forces.
* GentleGiant: The Tauren. Don't piss them off, though.
* GladiatorRevolt: Thrall, the warchief of the Horde, was raised as a gladiator by humans.
** The comic photocopied this (however narmily): After the king of Stormwind washed up on the shores of Durotar after escaping his imprisonment, some orc found him and made him fight as a gladiator.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The only Queen known by name in the series is Aszhara, a narcissistic egomaniacal Nightelf Highborne largely responsible for bringing the Burning Legion to Azeroth the first time. After the plan was foiled and the Well of Eternity consumed itself, she was lost in the deep sea along with her servants... only to remerge as the Naga.
** The speculative [[spoiler:Lich Queen Jaina]] nightmare in one of the manga sure fits this too.
* GoingThroughTheMotions: It really kills the mood when Illidan, in the middle of a dramatic speech, starts flipping out and going through his idle poses. How exactly does standing on one foot and throwing your hands in the air help your case, great demon hunter?
** The Blood Mage has one where he puts his hands on his hips, thrusts his chest out, and laughs. It pops up during Kael'thas' story at some very unfortunately timed moments.
** ''WarCraft III'' also indulges in the voice equivalent, if such a thing exists - unit or hero quotes are sometimes inserted into {{cutscene}}s, especially in ''Frozen Throne''.
* GovernmentInExile: Azeroth in ''Warcraft 2'' has lost both its homeland and its king, but it remains one of the most powerful human nations and is leader of TheAlliance.
* HairRaisingHare: The Easter-egg hunt themed map includes horrifying bunnies.
* HappilyMarried: [[BattleCouple Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Again, ''sort of'' Sylvanas at the end of the ''Frozen Throne'' expansion, though she remains quite ruthlessly hostile to any possible threats against her new people.
** Don't forget the Orcs and Night Elves in III.
* HerdHittingAttack: Many of the hero skills.
* HeroicNeutral: The Night Elves... [[NeutralNoLonger at first anyway.]]
* HeroUnit: In ''Warcraft 3''. You can level them up, collect equipment for them, and resurrect them for a fee if they die.
* HolyHandGrenade: Paladins and Priests.
** '''Elf Priest''': By the power of The Light, Burn!
* TheHorde: The titular example, though only in the first two games. The Scourge and the Legion take over in the third.
* HornedHumanoid: Illidan, Dreadlords, Kil'jaeden, and - well, Malfurion is more antlered, but still.
* IgnoredEpiphany: Before becoming the Lich King, Arthas remembers the voices of his friends and teachers telling him what a bad idea all the other things were that he's done to get this far. This doesn't stop him.
* InstantWinCondition: Destroy all buildings, it doesn't matter if your opponent has an unstoppable army compared to yours, if you trash ''all'' of your opponent's buildings before he trashes yours, you win. Several parts of the campaign do this as well.
* ItGotWorse: The Human Alliance ''Scourge of Lordaeron'' campaign is just a perfect example of this. What starts out as a few isolated cases of mysterious, scary illness quickly escalates into a full-blown disaster, and as all hell breaks loose Arthas starts to gradually lose it. This is, of course, all part of the Lich King's colossal bloody EvilPlan.
* IgnoredExpert: The Dalaran Ambassador from "The Warning" counts as this; when he warns the council that "The orcs are not our primary concern here... this plague that has gripped the northlands could have dire ramifications", another ambassador laughs him down: "Plague? You wizards are just being paranoid!"
* JustEatHim: Kodo Beasts and Dragons have an ability that does this. Dryads have a spell immunity, that somehow results in them being indigestible.
** In the story, Alexstrasza also did this to Nekros Skullcrusher.
* KlingonPromotion:
-->'''King Terenas''': What are you doing, my son?
-->'''Arthas''': Succeeding you, ''father''.
** It's also how Warchief Doomhammer got his job.
* KnightTemplar: The [[LightIsNotGood Silver Hand under Arthas]], during his StartOfDarkness. Later, you get the Argent Dawn, and the templars-in-name-only (definitely NOT in attitude) Scarlet Crusade.
* KnightTemplarParent: Daelin Proudmoore.
* LargeAndInCharge: The hero units, and by extension the "leader" units in the campaigns, are much larger than the other units...[[UnitsNotToScale and sometimes the buildings]].
* LargeHam: ''Bill'' '''Ro'''per, THE narr-A-''tor'' for '''War'''craft II is a bomb'''bas'''tic joy, especially when proNOUNcing names like Org''rim'' '''''Doom'''''hammer and Lord '''Lo'''''thar''.
** He also does the voice for the Orc mission briefings. One word: '''''DRAGONS!'''''
** He actually does nearly all the voice work in the game.
*** Only the narrators, footman, grunt, peon, elven archer, Danath and Grom Hellscream.
** For a taste [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpEXhNjEeHY click here]].
** Kael'thas to an extent, most apparently when he's promising loyalty to Illidan at the end of the Black Citadel battle. Illidan gets in on the fun, too, when he's taunting Magtheridon.
** Let's not forget the Paladin. "[[ForGreatJustice STRIKE with great JUSTICE!]]" and "In Lightbringer's name, HAVE AT THEE!"
** [[PungeonMaster Chen Stormstout]]: "''I will bring'' '''[[IncrediblyLamePun PANDA]]'''-''MONIUM''"
* LadyOfWar: Tyrande and Maiev.
* LawfulStupid: Again, Tyrande and Maiev. Tyrande grows out of it eventually, though. Maiev doesn't.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Arthas: "It's time to finish the game."
* [[LightningBruiser Lightning Bruiser Spellcasters:]] The Ogre-Magi and Paladins in ''Warcraft 2''. They were your [[TankGoodness tanks]].
* LeeroyJenkins: Grom pulls this off in the 3rd Orc Mission; when Thrall was about to move on past the humans, Grom goes along to ''attack'' some human bases.
* LesCollaborateurs: The human nation/city-state of Alterac.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces: Type 1: a few races in ''Warcraft'', mainly [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin orcs and humans]] (with a dash of undead and demons). Elves, dwarves, gnomes, goblins, ogres and trolls were added in ''Warcraft II''. Night elves, taurens and naga added in ''Warcraft III'', plus countless other neutral races.
* LooksLikeOrlok: Dreadlords.
* LoveTriangle: We have the old Malfurion-Tyrande-Illidan triangle in Reign of Chaos. In Frozen Throne, we get hints that there ''was'' a triangle between Arthas-Jaina-Kael, which is confirmed in Rise of the Lich King.
* MagicIsAMonsterMagnet: Attracts demons and other things.
* MagicKnight: The Paladin in Warcraft 2 and 3, the Ogre-Mage in Warcraft 2, and the Death Knight and Priestess of the Moon in Warcraft 3.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]]. They live in jungles, have ziggurats, and have been known to practice human(oid) sacrifice.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Gul'dan for Blackhand. [[ExaggeratedTrope Mal'ganis for KelThuzad, then the Lich King for Mal'ganis, then the Burning Legion for the Lich King.]]
* TheMessiah: Thrall.
* MeaningfulName: Arthas/Arthur, Medivh/Merlin, Sylvanas (ForestRanger)...
* MirroredConfrontationShot: Box art for the first two games.
* MistakenForGranite: At one point in the third game there's a hallway with statues of armored men on either side. Further down the hallway are robotic golems which activate when you reach them (complete with "The statues are coming to life!" in case you missed the point). The golems and the statues look nothing like each other, but that might be GameplayAndStorySegregation.
** In the same game certain treasures are seemingly out in the open, only for the nearby rocks to crumble and turn into golems. This is done better than the statue example, as the game script actually destroys said rocks (which are normal, destroyable doodads that would otherwise yield additional loot) and spawns golems almost instantly after the rocks are "destroyed". The animation of the rocks crumbling and the golems being summoned (which they are formed from rocks coming out of the ground) blend together well. A variant of this happens with a pile of bones and flesh turning into skeletons.
* {{Mook}}
** EliteMooks: The soldiers of admiral Proudmoore and the naga royal guards.
*** Heroes sometimes fulfill this role.
** GiantMook/ SuperpoweredMooks: Bloodfeast, Lord Talendar and The butcher.
** MookLieutenant: Captain Thornby and some heroes.
** PraetorianGuard: Admiral's Elite Guard, the Chief Petty officer and the Chief of chaplains.
* {{Monster Mash}}: The Scourge.
* MultipleHeadCase: Ogres.
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: Kel'Thuzad.
* MysticalPlague: The plague of undeath that turns people into zombies, preparing the way for a demonic invasion. [[spoiler:Well, that was the original intention, anyhow. Ner'zhul had other ideas.]]
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Gets used to a greater or lesser degree with Tyrande Whisperwind and Alleria Windrunner.
* NoArcInArchery: Somewhat subverted by Night Elf Archers firing at a (fixed) angle, but other projectiles don't arc.
* NoCanonForTheWicked: Averted in the first game, where the orc campaign was {{canon}}. Used in the second game, though parts of the orc campaign ''did'' take place despite their eventual loss.
* NonEntityGeneral: Sometimes given a name and face in the sequels, such as Doomhammer for the Horde.
* NonHumanUndead: The Scourge in ''Warcraft III'' includes undead spider-men called Crypt Fiends, undead elves called banshees, and a super flying undead dragon with ice breath. Plus, generic human skeletons can be made with the corpses of any species.
* TheObiWan: Grom to Thrall, Uther to Arthas. Later, Grom to Garrosh, and deceased loved ones of death knights in Battle of Light's Hope Chapel, at least to Darion and Thassarian.
* OminousFloatingCastle: The Undead necropolis.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Shadow Council.
* OneManArmy: The Admiral Proudmoore.
* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Frostmourne in ''Warcraft III'', encased in a floating block of ice.
* OurMonstersAreDifferent:
** AllTrollsAreDifferent: Tall, thin {{Mayincatec}} barbarians with Jamaican accents, some of them cannibalistic.
** OurCentaursAreDifferent: Pretty much the same as the Greek version (barbaric and violent), except they have a Mongol-inspired society. Said to be the cursed offspring of Cenarius (a night elf/stag god), whose daughters are the much nicer Dryads (night elf/doe).
*** There are also Magnataurs, a much larger polar creature that are a mix of human and mammoth.
*** Dragonspawn are draconian versions, following the same body layout as a centaur.
*** Nerubians, Crypt fiends (undead Nerubians), and Crypt Lords are centauroid versions of spiders and beetles respectively: a large abdomen supported by four legs, a vertical humanoid torso (head, arms and shoulders) and the thorax joining the two together.
**** Apparently a pre-release version of the Crypt Fiend was a drider-like unit, rather than the mutated spider it is now.
** OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Dragons of Azeroth take a lot of cues from other fantasy stories, though there are some differences. There are 5 main "Dragonflights", each headed by an "Aspect" of a particular part of Azeroth.
*** Red: Life. Led by Alexstraza the Life-Binder, who also happens to be the queen of all the dragons. (Except for Black, and more recently Blue). They were enslaved by the orcs during Warcraft II to be used as mounts, a feat only possible with the Dragon/Demon Soul.
*** Blue: Magic, led by Malygos the Spellweaver. Nearly wiped out in the past which threw Malygos into a {{Heroic BSOD}} for a several millenia. When he snapped out of it, he decided that Magic was being over used, and that he should get rid of it... by killing all Mortal Magic users and their allies, i.e. pretty much ''everyone,'' and trying to redirect the planet's {{ley line}}s to a central point, and direct the energy into space, which could result in an EarthShatteringKaboom.
*** Green: Nature/Dream, led by Ysera the Dreamer. This Flight mostly resides in the Emerald Dream, protecting nature. They're also responsible for the introduction of Druidism to the mortal races, through Cenarius. Recently, the Emerald Dream has been corrupted by a strange force called the Nightmare, and there are rumors of powerful Green Dragons being corrupted by it, including (possibly) Ysera herself.
*** Bronze: Time, led by Nozdormu The Timeless One. These dragons have the power to travel through time, ensuring history isn't altered. Recently, a strange flight known as the Infinite Dragonflight has been attempting to derail history, keeping the Bronze Dragons very busy. [[spoiler:There are rumors that the Infinite Dragonflight is actually a future version of the Bronze Flight, as indicated by quests in Dragonblight and a timed event in the Caverns of Time)]]
*** Black: Earth. This Flight is led by Neltharion the Earth-Warder, now known as Deathwing. Once charged with shaping the earth, this Dragonflight now seeks to subvert all of Azeroth to it's masters will.
*** There are also some other dragonflights that seem to have mutated from these five, such as the Infinite, Chromatic, and Twilight Dragonflights. You can also find the ancestors of the Dragons, known as Proto-Drakes, throughout Northrend.
** [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Our Dwarves Have the Funniest Unit Quotes.]]
** OurGargoylesRock: Flying undead bats that can turn into statues to regenerate health.
** OurGoblinsAreDifferent: ''{{WarCraft}}'' goblins are smaller than orcs, but also have some knowledge of technology, particularly [[StuffBlowingUp that which explodes]]. They first showed up in ''[=WarCraft=] II'' as the inventors of the Horde. They were characterized by their suicidal insanity and seem to be fighting for [[ForTheEvulz kicks]]. In ''[=WarCraft=] III'' goblins left the Horde, becoming a neutral force, but they still aren't exactly good. They've [[CharacterDevelopment become]] a bunch of greedy industrialists with a ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney attitude, a taste in clothes that would shock Paris Hilton, a deep belief that people from other cultures are inferior to them, and a mercantile ruthlessness that would be horrible if it wasn't PlayedForLaughs. [[EagleLand Sound familiar?]]
** OurOgresAreHungrier: For starters, they have two heads, and are capable of magic.
** OurOrcsAreDifferent: They appear to be traditional Orcs at first, but they're [[DarkIsNotEvil actually fairly decent folks.]] [[FantasticRacism It's just the world reviles them.]]
** OurTitansAreDifferent: There seem to be two flavors of this trope within ''Warcraft''. The humanoid and semi-benevolent creator race of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Titans]], and the [[EldritchAbomination Old Gods]].
* PantheraAwesome: The panthers ridden by Night Elf Huntresses and the tigers ridden by Priestesses of the Moon.
* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: In the BackStory, Sargeras had a bad [[HeWhoFightsMonsters experience]] with the Nathrezim.
* ThePennyfarthingEffect: ''Warcraft 1'' is pretty bad with this, being one of the first [[RealTimeStrategy RTS]] games ever made. You can't drag a box around a group of units without holding Ctrl down. For no readily apparent reason.
* PinballProjectile: Happens with projectiles with the Missile(Bounce) attribute.
* {{Plaguemaster}}: The Lich King spends much of ''Warcraft III'' spreading his Plague of Undeath across Lordaeron, and the Scourge's units have a few disease-related abilities on the battlefield.
* PrecisionFStrike: Done a few times.
-->''Uther the Lightbringer'': This urn contains the ashes of your father, Arthas! What, were you hoping to piss on them one last time before leaving this kingdom to rot?
-->''Sylvanas Windrunner:'' Give my regards to hell, you ''son of a bitch''.
-->''Kael'thas Sunstrider:'' Insolent [[CurseCutShort son of a...]] let's get this over with.
-->''Dwarf Rifleman:'' (Of [[GeneralRipper Garithos]]) They don't pay us enough to put up with that ''asshole.''
** Oddly enough, the dwarf units seem to get a pass on this: "Take this, you bastard!" for both the Mortar Team and Muradin, though with different word emphasis.
--> ''Mortar Team:'' Move yer ''arse''!
* ProphecyTwist: "Your young prince will find only death in the cold north." Which he does, in the form of a sword which turns him into an (undead) Death Knight--and a lot more death besides (an entire undead army). But Arthas doesn't find what he was looking for, a way to save his kingdom; instead, he's turned into his kingdom's destroyer.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Orcs. Maybe the [[NobleSavage Tauren]] as well, but they don't [[GentleGiant actively seek battles]].
* PsychoRangers; Illidan's Blood Elf, Naga and Draenei forces are smilar to Alliance, Orcs and Night Elves.
* PutOnABus: Gnomes disappeared entirely in ''Warcraft III'', their role having been taken over by the dwarves. They were eventually brought back for ''WorldOfWarcraft''. Also Turalyon and Alleria.
* RecurringExtra: Thornby, Timmy, Captain Falric and Dagren the Orcslayer.
* RedHerring: The ''Warcraft 2'' manual has a few. Gilneas thinks its army is powerful enough to face the Horde alone? Well, no need to find out. The Black Tooth Grin Clan is led by the sons of Blackhand, who was killed by the current Horde leader Doomhammer, and now they're secretly plotting revenge? And the Dragonmaw Clan has close ties to them? Well, no worries; you won't hear anything about them, ever.
** However, these storylines have been developed further in WoW.
* RedHerringShirt: The Captain Thornby.
* RemixedLevel: "The Siege of Dalaran" in Reign of Chaos becomes "The Ruins of Dalaran" in The Frozen Throne.
** The Tomb of Sargeras.
* {{Retcon}}: The third game changed the orcs from TheHorde into a brainwashed [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy proud warrior race]] and Medivh from an EvilSorcerer into a FallenHero. The demons were coined into the overall villains of the series.
* RedemptionDemotion: Inverted in Warcraft III. Arthas goes from a level 10 Paladin with awesome gear to a level 1 Death Knight [[BagOfSpilling with no items]].
* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: Sometimes justified, like buildings summoned by the Undead in ''Warcraft III''.
* RoarBeforeBeating: Infernals in teaser trailer, and Grom in his battle with Mannoroth.
* RunningGag: The Demon Hunter, the Dreadlord, Tichondrius, and Arthas have a running gag based on the line "Darkness called." Darkness attempts to call them but can't because of his mediocre phone service.
* SavagePiercings: In ''Warcraft III'', trolls have bone piercings.
* SchizoTech: Thanks to the gnomes, dwarves, and goblins. [[FantasyGunControl Bows, crossbows and thrown weapons are still used alongside guns, though.]]
* SchmuckBait: Frostmourne. "Just as the blade rends flesh, so must power scar the spirit." Arthas falls for it.
* SelectiveObliviousness: ''Warcraft 2''. Level 8: There's been a peasant revolt by guys wearing Alterac colors - how strange. Level 9: Uther Lightbringer was almost killed by Alliance ships sailing with Alterac colors - how strange. Level 10: Let's interrogate these traitors who were wearing Alterac colors when they were caught. Level 11: [[CaptainObvious Alterac has betrayed us!]] So ''that's'' why their national banner has a [[http://www.wowwiki.com/Alterac Horde emblem on it]].
* SerratedBladeOfPain: Frostmourne has a barbed blade.
** And the whole 'scarring the spirit' warning on its plinth isn't for show. It rips souls out.
* ShockwaveStomp: The Tauren Chieftain does it for his Shockwave and War Stomp abilities.
* SimpletonVoice: Peasants and Ogres in ''Warcraft II''.
* ASinisterClue: Arthas begins a right-handed paladin, but switches to his left after he changes class. That may actually just be a result of Blizzard not wanting to flip the sprite in order to make him right-handed; the cinematic at the end of the Human campaign does show him wielding Frostmourne in his right.
** Left-handedness seems to be incredibly common in the world of ''{{Warcraft}}''. All human Footmen and orcish Grunts are left-handed as well, along with the Priestess of the Moon.
* SinisterScimitar: Skeletons are equipped with scimitars, no matter what weapon the creature they were created from was holding.
* SummonMagic: Many heros or magic caster units can temporarily create other units to fight in your army. Hero-summoned units are usually pretty tough, however, dispelling effects damage or destroy the summoned creature (a Tauren spirit walker can wipe out a squadron of skeletons).
* SuspiciouslySmallArmy
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Northrend.
* SnakePeople - The Naga
* SpaceIsMagic: The Twisting Nether.
* SpikeShooter: ''Warcraft 3'' has quillboars, a race of {{Pig M|an}}en who can throw their quills at enemies. The quilbeast, a warthog-like creature summoned by the Beastmaster, does the same.
* StandardFantasySetting: Averted as most races, including humans, have 20th century technology but have for the most part been blown back into the dark ages by infrastructure loss resulting from cataclysm and war.
* TheStarscream: The Horde has had several. Orgrim Doomhammer (read as: you) in the original game. Gul'dan in the second game. Ner'zhul himself.
* StillTheLeader
* StopPokingMe: TropeNamer
* StormingTheCastle: The Blood Elf/Naga/Broken Draenei coalition stormed the Black [[strike:Citadel]] Temple.
* StoryAndGameplaySegregation: Combined with CutscenePowerToTheMax in the last level of ''Warcraft 3'', when Thrall defiantly tells Archimonde that the orcs are now free, hitting him with a lightning spell before teleporting away. In-game, Archimonde is immune to magic, meaning not only would the spell do no damage, you wouldn't even be able to target him with it.
** There's a beautiful subversion of this in ''The Frozen Throne'' - Arthas LOSES LEVELS as the Lich King loses power.
* SuperEmpowering
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: In general, melee units beat artillery, artillery beats towers, and towers beat melee units. In Warcraft II, destroyers beat gryphons, gryphons beat battleships and submarines, and battleships and submarines beat destroyers.
* TalkingToHimself: Chris Metzen voice acts both Thrall and Rexxar, who get a lot of dialogue in the orc campaign of ''The Frozen Throne''.
* TankGoodness: Dwarven [[SteamPunk siege engines]] in ''Warcraft III''.
* TechnicolorToxin: Mainly green, seen with the Poison Globe, the Scourge's Plague cloud and the attacks of Dryads, Chimeras and Assassins. There's also a purple Globe which "slows enemies down" which could fit as toxin.
* TheComputerShallTauntYou: In a cutscene preceding one mission in ''Warcraft III'' where you are controlling the undead Scourge, the orc leading a charge against you opines that killing a bunch of weak, mindless undead like you guys should be no problem.
* TheNameIsBondJamesBond: One of the Druid of the Talon's quotes:
-->'''Druid of the Talon:''' Talon. Druid of the Talon.
* ThemedCursor: The cursor is the hand of whatever race you're currently playing as.
--> '''Priest''': [[StopPokingMe I have been]] [[ToyStory chosen by]] [[MediumAwareness the big metal hand in the sky!]]
* UnexpectedGenreChange: In ''The Frozen Throne'', the Orc campaign is an RPG.
* UnholyHolySword: [[spoiler:Frostmourne]] when you first encounter it, though it's not too long before TheReveal.
* UnitsNotToScale: Very obvious. The Tauren Chieftain in ''Warcraft III'' is as tall as the barracks!
* {{Video Game 3D Leap}}: ''Warcraft III''.
* WhenTreesAttack: Treants and Ancients.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Arthas. Possibly averted in that he is not white-haired and a pretty boy at the same time, though...
** Well, this troper's not sure he can totally agree with that (See the WotLK opening cutscene). But he's been told he has bizarre taste.
* WhiteMagic: Consists of [[LightEmUp Holy]] magic (used by Paladins and Priests) and [[GreenThumb Nature]] magic (used by Druids and Shamans). In [[{{Canon}} lore]], these are the ''only'' pure sources of power; all other types are either corrupt to begin with or inevitably lead there. See BlackMagic, above.
* WizardBeard
* WizardsLiveLonger (Well, many of them are elves to begin with.)
* WorkerUnit: Human Peasants, Orc Peons, Acolytes and Ghouls for the Undead, and Wisps for the Night Elves.
* WreathedInFlames: The Immolate ability and the Infernal.
** And Illidan's ridiculous little hoofprints.
* XanatosGambit: HOLY CRAP, [[spoiler: Ner'zhul]] the Lich King. Everything he does leads up to the end result he gets (although it does fall apart on him very very slightly at the final stages, as he didn't count on his host being such a stubborn punkass). Actually kind of terrifying when you stop to think on it. Even Illidan playing roflstomp-the-glacier ultimately works to his benefit...
** There's actually a scene in-game where one Dreadlord exposition-fairies much of this to a startled Arthas. The player will share his 'bwuh!?'
* YouHaveFailedMe: Reign of Chaos. At the start of the 2nd Night Elf mission, Archimonde and two doomguards corner Tyrande but she uses her invisibility to make them think she got away. Archimonde was so pissed, he killed one of the doomguards.
** This is one of Archimonde's favorite lines, and preferred method of dealing with minions.
** Kil'jaeden drops this on Illidan, but gives him another chance.
* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier Ghouls]] actually have to research the ability to eat the dead. Night Elves have to learn Ultravision, the ability to see well at night. Crypt Fiends don't know they can burrow into the ground, and Chimeras haven't figured out that their second head spits [[HollywoodAcid acid]].
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: The Prophet might have had more success in getting people to go to Kalimdor if he warned them in a calmer tone.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[DarkActionGirl Sylvanas Windrunner]] promises to give the Capital to Grand Marshall Garithos if he aids her in destroying the Dread Lord Balnazzar. After a two-pronged attack, [[OutGambitted their joint forces overwhelm those of Balnazzar]], and he is (seemingly) killed. [[BadassMustache Garithos]] then demands that Sylvanas leave his city, and she has no problem [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness commanding her lieutenant, Varimathras,]] [[KicktheSonofaBitch to kill him]].
* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Gold and Lumber are your resources here. Also oil in ''Warcraft II'' for naval units.
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->''[[HilariousInHindsight Welcome, to the]] [[WorldOfWarcraft world of Warcraft]]''.
--> -- '''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans''' opening.
BlizzardEntertainment's famous RealTimeStrategy trilogy ([[SequelDisplacement yes, the franchise did exist before]] ''{{World of Warcraft}}'').
''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' tells the story of the kingdom of Azeroth, which is attacked by a Horde of [[OurOrcsAreDifferent green-skinned marauders]] that are hell-bent on exterminating the human population. The player is either a valiant human lord who beats back the orcs and gets crowned the monarch of Azeroth after King Llane dies, or an orc general who crushes the noble capital of Stormwind and betrays his warchief, becoming the new leader of the orcs.
In ''Warcraft II: the Tides of Darkness'', we discover that while elements of both campaigns happened, the orc campaign victory was {{canon}}. The new orc warchief (Orgrim Doomhammer, who slew BigBad [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Blackhand]] after the conclusion of the previous game) is creating a Horde more dangerous than ever by enlisting creatures such as trolls, ogres, dragons, and goblins into its ranks, while the surviving humans of Azeroth (led by the human commander from the previous game, Lord Anduin Lothar) have fled across the seas to the countries of Lordaeron and created an Alliance consisting of humans, elves, dwarves and gnomes. Soon, the two juggernauts face each other over global domination. Again, while missions from both sides occur, the Alliance victory is canonical, but Lothar, their greatest hero, falls; Doomhammer flees into exile. In the ExpansionPack ''Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal'', the Alliance pursues the beaten Orcs to their dying homeworld of Draenor to stop them from gathering reinforcements... and discover a far darker plot. Ner'zhul, a powerful Orc warlock, decides to use several ancient artifacts to open doorways from Draenor to other worlds for the Orcs to conquer. The foiling of his plot finally seems to spell an end to the red planet. The Orcs remaining on Azeroth are rounded up and placed in internment camps. The other creatures of the Horde go their own ways.
An AdventureGame was planned, called ''Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans'', which would detail the Horde shaking loose their demonic influences and make a HeelFaceTurn under the leadership of a human-raised Orc named Thrall, but the game was cancelled due to low quality (It was animated by the same studio as the Mario and Zelda CD-i games). The story was used for one of the tie-in novels, ''LordOfTheClans''.
''Lord of the Clans''' plot was worked into the backstory of ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'', which added the Night Elves and Undead as playable factions. In the game, the Horde, now under Thrall, flees Lordaeron on advice from a human prophet. Shortly after, the Scourge--an undead army created by the demons who had corrupted the orcs in the first place, and led by Ner'zhul, trapped in an almost formless existence--assaults the Alliance, which was already beginning to fracture politically. The Elves of Lordaeron are decimated; Lordaeron's prince, Arthas, becomes the Scourge's most powerful minion due to his lust for vengeance; and his former lover and princess of the nation of Kul Tiras, Jaina Proudmoore, takes any survivors she can over the sea--again, on advice from the prophet. Across the sea, on Kalimdor, the Horde has allied with a native race, the Tauren, and found a new tribe of Trolls that can join them. The Alliance arrives soon after, and again following the words of the Prophet, unite against their greater foe - the Scourge and their burning masters. But their settlement does not go unnoticed - the Night Elves, led by Tyrande Whisperwind, see the outlanders as despoiling Kalimdor...until faced with the horrible reality of the Scourge, and facing again the Burning Legion after ten thousand years. The truce between the Horde and Alliance expands to include the Night Elves, and their combined forces are enough to break the Burning Legion's advance and slay its leader. Despite the victory, Lordaeron is left ravaged, and the Scourge is feasting on the bones.
The expansion pack, ''Warcraft III: the Frozen Throne'', focuses on the secondary night elf [[strike:[[DefenseOftheAncients Anti-Mage]]]] AntiHero Illidan Stormrage, who is hired by the Burning Legion's new lord to kill the Lich King, the ruler of the Scourge, who through his machinations and indeed his dealings with Illdan had ensured the demons' loss, despite ostensibly serving the Legion. Illidan hires the serpentine Naga, night elves corrupted by ancient magic, to help himself achieve the task, but is stopped by his people, who think he was trying something more villainous. Desperate now, he flees in search of new allies and a place to hide. In Lordaeron, the Blood Elves (the scraps of of the Elven civilization the Scourge had destroyed) are cast aside by Alliance's bigoted commander...and are aided by Illidan and his Naga, who go into hiding in the shattered remnant of Draenor. Illidan cannot hide from his master, however, and turns his focus back to the Scourge, settling on all-out assault with his new allies. Arthas, now calling himself King of Lordaeron, finds himself dealing with a rebellion led by minor lords of the Legion and some of the enemies he had killed and brought back as undead allies, who have regained their minds with the Lich King so harried. One of them, an Elven general named Sylvanas Windrunner, takes commanad of the rebellious undead and carves out a new nation for them. Arthas has no time to deal with her, however, and hurries to save his Master. He and Illidan battle in Northrend, and the death knight defeats Illidan, sending him and his allies packing. Arthas then goes to his master and enacts the Lich King's masterstroke--their bodies and minds fusing permanently into one of the most powerful beings on the face of Azeroth.
Meanwhile, Thrall and the Horde settle down and the orcs begin work on their new capital city, Orgrimmar. The traveling beast master Rexxar becomes involved in the orcs' work to forge a new homeland, but trouble rears its ugly head when Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, Jaina Proudmoore's father and an Alliance hero from ''Warcraft II: the Tides of Darkness'' shows up. Jaina has built a city for her refugees called Theramore Isle, and has been able to maintain peace with the nearby Horde. However, her father still hates the orcs for their demon-fueled war crimes, and, unwilling to see that they have changed, takes control of Theramore from his daughter and begins to attack the Horde. After helping the trolls evacuate to Orgrimmar, saving the tauren leader Cairne Bloodhoof's son, and taking over a clan of ogres, Rexxar is declared the Champion of the Horde and the Horde attacks Theramore. In return for Jaina's aid in stopping her father, Thrall agrees to spare her soldiers, so Rexxar and his posse of Cairne, the troll scout Rokhan and the pandaren brewmaster Chen Stormstout go and kill Daelin while the forces of the Horde and the Admiral fight. Daelin is slain, Jaina is sad, and the Horde leaves the city of Theramore to rebuild.
Warcraft's success eventually gave birth to the MMORPG monster ''WorldOfWarcraft'', which retconned some of the backstory developed by the previous games. It also created the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.
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!!This series provides examples of:
* ActionGirl: Tyrande Whisperwind, Jaina Proudmoore, Sylvanas Windrunner, Maiev Shadowsong... and there's even {{Mook}} style [[ActionGirl action girls]]: the Night Elf Archers and Huntresses, and High Elf Sorceresses.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Every novel and comic released is technically there to provide the backstory of the side characters. Though since every campaigns have different set of main characters, each campaign is probably one since there is no single 'main character' in the story.
* TheAgeless:
** Night elves used to have this form of immortality, before sacrificing it to save the world from the Burning Legion.
** Draenei may also have this form of immortality (Velen is explicitly stated to), or they may just be extremely long lived.
** Demons also have this type of Immortality
** Dragons, or at least the Aspects, seem to be undying as well. [[spoiler: Or were until they recently had to relinquish it, anyway.]]
* TheAlliance: [[CaptainObvious The Alliance]] in both the sequels, and the Horde in ''Warcraft 3''.
* {{All Trolls Are Different}}: In this case, a savage yet spiritual people with ties to the elves who happen to have Cuban and Jamaican accents.
** In fact, the possibility exists that [[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/troll/trollsandnightelves.html trolls and night elves are related]].
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: [[strike: The Horde,]] The Burning Legion, the Satyrs, the Gnolls...
** Funnily enough, many of the races a player would expect to be ChaoticEvil from other works are anything but, whereas a lot of races that are portrayed as good elsewhere are actually pretty nasty in the ''Warcraft'' universe. Tauren are basically minotaurs, but most of them are good and honourable. As detailed in the description, the orcs made a HeelFaceTurn. Meanwhile, centaurs are brutal savages and satyrs are demon-worshippers. As for goblins, see OurGoblinsAreDifferent below.
* AncientTomb: The Tomb of Sargeras.
* AndIMustScream: What Kil'jaeden did to Ner'zhul to transform him into the Lich King.
** Arthas, already dead, is spiritually stuck in something similar, when Sylvanas sees what waits for her in the afterlife.
* AnimatedActors: The HilariousOuttakes in the closing credits for ''Reign of Chaos''.
* AnimateDead: Scourge Necromancers can make {{skeletons}} from corpses. The [[ClownCarBase Graveyard]] provides infinite corpses. Thus the only limiter is [[ManaMeter mana]]. Even that limit can be raised to an extent using [[TheMedic Obsidian Statues]].
** The Night Elf Avatar of Vengeance spams a variant of AnimateDead (on top of being huge).
** The Death Knight hero unit has for his ultimate move AnimateDead, which revives six nearby corpses to fight for him for 40 seconds. And they're invincible!
** Necrolytes in ''Warcraft'' and Death Knights in ''Warcraft 2'' could also create {{skeletons}} from corpses.
* AntiGravityClothing
* ArtificialStupidity: Highly visible in WC2, where melee units will happily stand still and get killed by a ranged attacker two spaces away.
** Visible as well in WC3, where sometimes a computer opponent will just stop evolving at the second tier. Worse, if you choose to start with a random hero they sometimes ignore it completely and build up to second tier [[CantCatchUp before starting to explore and level their hero.]]
* AscendedExtra: Some of the major characters were initially just mentioned briefly in the early games. For example, [[BiggerBad Sargeras]] was nothing but a throw-away name for a demon whose sceptre Gul'dan was trying to steal.
* AsteroidsMonster: Hydras. As there's no way to represent one hydra's head being replaced by more, a dying hydra will be replaced by two smaller and weaker hydras.
* AttackAttackAttack: While attacking hero units with [[ZergRush a horde of weak units]] is an effective tactic, you need enough {{Mooks}} to overwhelm the heroes. This is not the case with the small bandit gangs at the beginning of the Human Alliance campaign...''but they insist on making a beeline for paladin Arthas and his high defense stats and '''enormous smite-mallet''' anyway.'' It's common for him to one-shot *thock* them [[CatchPhrase (for honour)]]. Very entertaining, but the labour turnover for bandits has to be ridiculous.
* AuthorAppeal: Character Designer Samwise Didier's love of [[PandaingToTheAudience pandas]] led to the creation of the Pandaren, though it was the fan's affection for the notion that finally made them canon. You have to squint to see it, but Illidan also has tiny pictures of panda faces on the hilts of his weapons. And there's somebody in the Blizzard staff (probably several) who really, really likes MontyPython.
* AutobotsRockOut: ''' ''The Power of the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRDDEEEE!!!'' '''.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''A lot.'' Most characters from all the races, right down to the generic hero units in multiplayer, get surnames that are just two cool-sounding words squashed together. Even so, "Malfurion Stormrage" stands head and shoulders above the rest.
* BadassBookworm: Jaina Proudmoore. "All I wanted is to study."
* BadassBeard: Every dwarf unit.
* BadassMustache: Knights in Warcraft 3, and units with similar models (Bandit Lords, Garithos).
* BagOfSpilling: Happens to Arthas between the Human and Undead campaigns of ''Warcraft III'', but the game goes to some effort to avert this within the campaigns themselves, as a Hero unit that departs for story reasons leaves all their items behind.
* BalefulPolymorph: Sorceress' "Polymorph" and Shadow Hunter's "Hex" spells can turn opponents into critters. Quite a few mobs and bosses have access to these spells as well.
* TheBeastmaster: The, uh, [[CaptainObvious Beastmaster hero]]. However, gameplay-wise, he's closer to SummonMagic; every one of his abilities involves summoning an animal companion to fight at his side from nowhere.
* TheBechdelTest: In Warcraft III, Tyrande and Jaina have a conversation about the defense of Mount Hyjal against Archimonde; Sylvanas also has a conversation with one of her banshees about their newfound freedom. Warcraft I and II, however, fail the test.
** Lady Vashj also has an extended conversation with Maiev about the origin of the Naga early on, too, and Maiev and Tyrande have a few (admittedly hostile) conversations during the course of the Night Elf campaign.
* TheBerserker: [[BadAss Grom Hellscream]]. And, of course, Troll Berserkers.
* BerserkButton: Screwing with the land, and Illidan in general, tend to stress Malfurion out, but he usually keeps his cool in most any situation, unlike his partner Tyrande. Mess with her though...
* BigBad: Blackhand and Gul'dan in ''Warcraft I'', Orgrim Doomhammer in ''Warcraft II'', Ner'zhul in the expansion ''Beyond the Dark Portal'', Archimonde in ''Warcraft III''. ''Frozen Throne'' didn't have a single BigBad, but the main campaign sequence was driven by the EvilVersusEvil conflict between Kil'Jaeden and the Lich King, while Admiral Proudmoore was BigBad for the Orc bonus campaign. Sargeras for the whole series.
* BigBadassWolf: Orcish Raiders (AKA wolf riders) in part 1 and 3. Also the ones the Far Seer ride.
* BiggerBad: Sargeras is the ultimate evil in the setting, but as he's usually [[OrcusOnHisThrone on his throne]] and/or out of commission, this is the role he takes in most of the games and novels, rather than direct BigBad.
* BigNo: "You... did this... to our people... ''knowingly!?'' ''' '' GGRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!! '' '''"
** "No, old friend, you freed us all... RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!"
** "Within your heart, you know, we are the same!" "NUUUUUUUUUUURGH!" (It's actually a "NO", but Grom's yell sounds almost inarticulate.)
* BigRedDevil: Kil'jaeden is the most famous example. Several other demons including the Succubi, the Eredar and especially the Doomguard also qualify.
* BilingualBonus: In ''The Frozen Throne's'' Orc campaign, there's a bear called Misha, which means 'bear' in Russian.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Ballnazar, Detheroc and varimathras in the "Legacy of the Damned"
* BlackMagic: According to {{Canon}}, most types of magic in the Warcraft universe are this. Although [[DarkIsEdgy Shadow]] magic (used by Shadow Priests, Death Knights and the Undead) and [[DealWithTheDevil Fel]] magic (used by Demons and Warlocks) are explicitly derived from TheDarkSide, even [[PureEnergy Arcane]] magic (used by Mages) has the twin drawbacks of being [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity extremely addictive]] and acting as a beacon to attract demons to Azeroth -- as the High Elves found out long ago. Also see WhiteMagic, below.
* BlackMagicianGirl: Jaina.
* BonsaiForest: The forests seem to be very thick compared to how short the trees are.
* BoozeFlamethrower: Pandaren Brewmasters in ''Warcraft 3'' have both a "throw booze" and "spit fire" abilities, which can be combined.
* BossBattle: Kathuulon, Ra'Adoom, Xaxion Drak'eem from "Warchasers" are explicit bosses.
* Butterface: The Blademaster.
* CaptainErsatz: Between his undead pallor in lieu of albinism, his soul-drinking runeblade, and his being monarch of a kingdom he eventually turns against and destroys, Arthas has a ''lot'' in common with ElricOfMelnibone. Even the naming and art of the swords is similar.
** Sylvanas is [[StarCraft Sarah Kerrigan]] with the serial numbers filed off.
* ChainLightning: The Far Seer can use this.
* ChewToy: Malygos... until ''{{World of Warcraft}}''.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder:
* CivilWarcraft: The TropeNamer.
* ClassicCheatCode: {{AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs}} gives instant win, and {{SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb}} gives instant failure.
* ColorCodedArmies: In III.
* CombatMedic: Druids of the Claw are the rare melee-oriented spellcaster, capable of turning into a rampaging bear as well as being able to heal their allies. They're even pretty beefy when not in bear form. Paladins in Warcraft 2 and 3 are also melee-oriented spellcasters.
* CombatTentacles
* CombinedEnergyAttack: The Nature Spirits' combined energy is what killed Archimonde.
* CommandAndConquerEconomy
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: It sees the full map, needs no resources, and can control more units at once than you can. And prioritizes players over other AI opponents.
* ConstructAdditionalPylons: Farms, burrows, moonwells and ziggurats.
* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: In the first two games, the two factions were almost identical. Averted '''hard''' in number three.
* CrateExpectations: In ''Warcraft III''.
* CreativeClosingCredits
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: One of ''Warcraft 2'''s cutscenes shows a Catapult destroying a Goblin Zeppelin, despite the fact that catapults cannot attack flying units in actual gameplay.
** In part 3. Cairne's war stomp can cause an avalanche and Tyrande's Starfall can destroy bridges. Neither is possible in the game.
* DamageIncreasingDebuff: Several examples in ''Warcraft III''.
** The Berserk status allows to user to attack much faster, but it takes a lot more damage (in %).
** Faerie Fire, an autocast move, removes some armor from the target and allows the user to see that unit until the effect fades.
** One armor-boosting magic aura is often modified in custom maps to decrease nearby enemies' armor.
** Using Banish on a unit makes it immune to physical attacks, but greatly reduces its resistance to Magic-type attacks and spells. As it also slows the target considerably, it's risky to use it on your own units.
* DamageIsFire
* DarkActionGirl: Sylvanas Windrunner
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Night Elf race.
** The Orcs as well, after their HeelFaceTurn in III anyway.
* DegradedBoss: The abomination in ''The Scourge of Lordaeron'' .
* DemotedToExtra: Ogres had a major role in Warcraft II but were neutral creeps and mercenaries in Warcraft III.
** Ditto for Goblins (mostly as merchants.)
** The human campaign in the ''Frozen Throne'' expansion focused largely on the plight of Kael'thas and his Blood Elf remnants... for about two and a half missions. Then they became more or less OutOfFocus as the story importance shifted to Illidan and his Naga (made worse by the Blood Elf forces being completely irrelevant alongside the much stronger Naga). By the middle of the Undead campaign, the Blood Elves were out-and-out {{Mook}}s with the exception of [[TheDragon Kael'thas]] himself.
* TheDragon: Just to name a few:
** Kil'jaeden and Archimonde for Sargeras.
** Tichondrius for Kil'jaeden
** Anetheron and Azgalor for Archimonde
** Orgrim Doomhammer was the Dragon and TheStarscream for Blackhand
** Cho'gall was the Dragon for Gul'dan (WC2)
** Dentarg was the Dragon for Ner'zhul (WC2 Expansion)
** Both Arthas and Kel'thuzad for the Lich King
** Kael'thas and Lady Vashj for Illidan
** Varimathras for Lady Sylvanas
** Master of Pain and Mistress of torment for Magtheridon.
** Chief of Chaplains and Chief Petty Officer for Admiral Proudmoore.
** Morbent Fell and Ras for Balnazzar.
* DevourTheDragon: Or the Mook, anyway - Death Knights can eat minions for a health boost. Liches can do the same to get mana. Om nom nom.
** One could theoretically devour a frost wyrm in this fashion, making this more literal - and probably a massive waste of a good unit.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
-->Shade: "I'm invisible...gaseous...and ''deadly''."
* DroppedaBridgeonHim: Dagren the Orcslayer.
* DuelBoss: Rexxar Vs Kor'gall.
* DumbMuscle: Specifically Ogres and Abominations. Some Orcs fall into this, but [[GeniusBruiser not the Orc Shamans.]]
-->'''Ogre(s)''' [[HulkSpeak "Kill!"]]
-->'''Abomination''' [[HulkSpeak "We done waiting!"]]
-->'''Orc Peon''' [[HulkSpeak "Me not that kind of Orc!"]]
* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Grom.]]
* ElementalShapeshifter: ''Warcraft 3's'' Pandaran's "Storm, Earth, and Fire" ability splits the hero into three different beings, each themed after the particular element.
* EliteArmy: The army of Kul Tiras.
* EnemyCivilWar: The Forsaken against the Dreadlords' enslaved undead forces (starts out as a three way war with Undead still loyal to Arthas, but he took off to Northrend); Thrall's orcs against fallen orcs under a corrupted Grom.
* EnemyMine:
** The Horde team up the remnants of The Alliance to defeat Mannoroth. They then both team up with the Night Elves at the Battle of Mount Hyjal.
** The Night Elves and The Naga team up to rescue Tyrande from the Undead.
** The Forsaken strike an unholy alliance with Alliance forces to defeat the Undead force holding Lordaeron.
* EntropyAndChaosMagic: The burning legion, and associated warlocks, demons, and mages, often use a highly destructive form of magic, including many spells with "chaos" in the name, and Chaos damage being a strong damage type in Warcraft 3.
* EscortMission / BadassInDistress Nearly every HeroUnit who appears before ''Beyond the Dark Portal''. Lothar, Garona, Zul'jin, Cho'gall, and Uther Lightbringer are all either escorted or rescued-then-escorted. Of those, only Cho'gall is of any special use in the mission.
* EverythingFades: Eventually, the corpses disappear.
* EverythingIsWorseWithBears: Druids of the Claw, Furbolgs, Pandaren and the Largest Panda Ever.
* EvilCounterpart: Warcraft III plays this ''perfectly'' straight in the form of Death Knights and Paladins. Paladins have a spell that heals the living and [[ReviveKillsZombie hurts the dead,]] Death Knights have a spell that does exactly the opposite. Paladins can improve their lifespan with a spell that makes them invulnerable, Death Knights can improve their lifespan by [[DevourTheDragon sacrificing minions for hitpoints.]] Paladins have a defensive aura that improves armor, and Death Knights have an offensive aura that boosts hitpoint regeneration and movespeed for hit-and-run attacks. Paladins have a spell that resurrects the six strongest dead friendly units near him permanently, while the Death Knight can animate the corpses of the six strongest units of any sort near him to fight for 40 seconds before [[LudicrousGibs exploding in a shower of gore]].
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The Scourge.
* EvilIsBurningHot: The Burning Legion.
* EvilPrince: Arthas Menethil.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Illidan's voice gets quite a bit deeper after he absorbs the Skull of Gul'dan and becomes half demon.
* EvilVersusEvil: The battles between the Scourge and the Burning Legion in ''The Frozen Throne''. Also, Illidan versus Magtheridon.
* ExpandedUniverse: Specifically, the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.
* FaceHeelTurn: Arthas, (sort of) Sylvanas in the expansion, Sargeras in the backstory.
* FallenHero: Arthas, Illidan, Kael'Thas Sunstrider and Grom Hellscream. A few others might be considered this as well.
** RedemptionEqualsDeath: Grom
* FactionCalculus: Humans (Balanced) vs. Orcs (Powerhouse) vs. Undead (Subversive) vs. Night Elves (Glass Cannons) in ''Warcraft III''
* FantasyAxisOfEvil: Almost literally in ''Warcraft II''. The Horde consists of Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Goblins, the Undead, Daemons, and Dragons (willing allies in the expansion). Pretty egalitarian, too. If they weren't TheHorde, they'd be TheAlliance.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Lordaeron is quite obviously [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy European]]. The Jungle Trolls are Jamaican-like. The Taurens seem to be the native peoples of America's Great Plains, but with their cultural ties to buffalo herds brought to extremes - they actually ''are'' [[PettingZooPeople Buffalo Men]].
** The Tauren are Cow-men; their cousins, the Taunka, ''are'' the actual Buffalo-men, but they're Inuit.
** The Pandaren are a race of anthropromorphised [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pandas]]. Nevermind being the mascot of Chinese culture, the Pandarens also believe in a religion similar to Daoism, practise similar style martial arts, wear stereotypical Asian clothing have an equally stereotypical accent.
* FantasticRacism: A lot of races in Warcraft '''''really''''' don't like each other. The most prominent example is the Humans and Night Elves viewing Orcs as murderous war-like savages [[BloodKnight (while having some basis in fact,]] [[DarkIsNotEvil this isn't completely true)]]. Then there's [[GeneralRipper Grand Marshal Garithos]], who hates '''other Alliance races'''. Warcraft loves this trope.
* FaunsAndSatyrs: Satyrs in the Warcraft universe are half-demonic corrupted night elves, and Fauns are half-daughters of the Demigod Cenarius.
* FirewoodResources
* FishPeople: The mur'guls and the murlocs.
* FiveManBand:
** The Heroes of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
*** TheHero: General Turalyon
*** TheLancer: Captain Danath Trollbane
*** TheSmartGuy: Archwizard Khadgar
*** TheBigGuy: Kurdran Wildhammer
*** TheChick: Alleria Windrunner, though she's a real ActionGirl
* FiveBadBand:
** The Burning Legion:
*** BigBad: Sargeras
*** TheDragon: Kil'jaeden and Archimonde
*** TheEvilGenius: Kil'jaeden himself, also Tichondrius and Gul'dan
*** TheBrute: Mannoroth [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Destructor]]
*** TheDarkChick: Queen Ashzara
** The Horde leadership in ''Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal'':
*** BigBad: Ner'zhul
*** TheDragon: Dentarg the Ogre-Mage
*** TheEvilGenius: Teron Gorefiend, the Death Knight
*** TheBrute: Both Kargath Bladefist and Grom Hellscream
*** SixthRangerTraitor: Mogor the Ogre-Mage, who allies himself with the Alliance Expedition
* FleshGolem: The abominations.
* FogFeet: The Firelord hero from ''Warcraft 3''.
* ForgedByTheGods: Frostmourne... well it was forged by ''something'' pretty powerful, anyway.
** Implied to be Kil'jaeden, or his underlings.
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: The Alliance and The Horde went to war over oil in part 2. Not so in part 3.
* ForWantOfANail: One of the tie-in manga brought up an interesting question: What if Jaina didn't leave Arthas at Stratholme? [[spoiler:Well, Arthas wouldn't have become the Lich King. There'd be a Lich ''Queen'', though.]]
* FungusHumongous: Some areas had giant mushrooms that could apparently be substituted for lumber. And used for healing Ancients or summoning Treants too.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In Jaina's first appearance. Two sorceresses duel and one of them gets turned into a sheep.
* GeneralRipper: The bigoted Garithos, who planned to get Kael and the Blood Elves killed by the Undead. And Jaina's father Daelin Proudmoore who wants to continue fighting the orcs, despite their peace treaty with Jaina's forces.
* GentleGiant: The Tauren. Don't piss them off, though.
* GladiatorRevolt: Thrall, the warchief of the Horde, was raised as a gladiator by humans.
** The comic photocopied this (however narmily): After the king of Stormwind washed up on the shores of Durotar after escaping his imprisonment, some orc found him and made him fight as a gladiator.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: The only Queen known by name in the series is Aszhara, a narcissistic egomaniacal Nightelf Highborne largely responsible for bringing the Burning Legion to Azeroth the first time. After the plan was foiled and the Well of Eternity consumed itself, she was lost in the deep sea along with her servants... only to remerge as the Naga.
** The speculative [[spoiler:Lich Queen Jaina]] nightmare in one of the manga sure fits this too.
* GoingThroughTheMotions: It really kills the mood when Illidan, in the middle of a dramatic speech, starts flipping out and going through his idle poses. How exactly does standing on one foot and throwing your hands in the air help your case, great demon hunter?
** The Blood Mage has one where he puts his hands on his hips, thrusts his chest out, and laughs. It pops up during Kael'thas' story at some very unfortunately timed moments.
** ''WarCraft III'' also indulges in the voice equivalent, if such a thing exists - unit or hero quotes are sometimes inserted into {{cutscene}}s, especially in ''Frozen Throne''.
* GovernmentInExile: Azeroth in ''Warcraft 2'' has lost both its homeland and its king, but it remains one of the most powerful human nations and is leader of TheAlliance.
* HairRaisingHare: The Easter-egg hunt themed map includes horrifying bunnies.
* HappilyMarried: [[BattleCouple Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Again, ''sort of'' Sylvanas at the end of the ''Frozen Throne'' expansion, though she remains quite ruthlessly hostile to any possible threats against her new people.
** Don't forget the Orcs and Night Elves in III.
* HerdHittingAttack: Many of the hero skills.
* HeroicNeutral: The Night Elves... [[NeutralNoLonger at first anyway.]]
* HeroUnit: In ''Warcraft 3''. You can level them up, collect equipment for them, and resurrect them for a fee if they die.
* HolyHandGrenade: Paladins and Priests.
** '''Elf Priest''': By the power of The Light, Burn!
* TheHorde: The titular example, though only in the first two games. The Scourge and the Legion take over in the third.
* HornedHumanoid: Illidan, Dreadlords, Kil'jaeden, and - well, Malfurion is more antlered, but still.
* IgnoredEpiphany: Before becoming the Lich King, Arthas remembers the voices of his friends and teachers telling him what a bad idea all the other things were that he's done to get this far. This doesn't stop him.
* InstantWinCondition: Destroy all buildings, it doesn't matter if your opponent has an unstoppable army compared to yours, if you trash ''all'' of your opponent's buildings before he trashes yours, you win. Several parts of the campaign do this as well.
* ItGotWorse: The Human Alliance ''Scourge of Lordaeron'' campaign is just a perfect example of this. What starts out as a few isolated cases of mysterious, scary illness quickly escalates into a full-blown disaster, and as all hell breaks loose Arthas starts to gradually lose it. This is, of course, all part of the Lich King's colossal bloody EvilPlan.
* IgnoredExpert: The Dalaran Ambassador from "The Warning" counts as this; when he warns the council that "The orcs are not our primary concern here... this plague that has gripped the northlands could have dire ramifications", another ambassador laughs him down: "Plague? You wizards are just being paranoid!"
* JustEatHim: Kodo Beasts and Dragons have an ability that does this. Dryads have a spell immunity, that somehow results in them being indigestible.
** In the story, Alexstrasza also did this to Nekros Skullcrusher.
* KlingonPromotion:
-->'''King Terenas''': What are you doing, my son?
-->'''Arthas''': Succeeding you, ''father''.
** It's also how Warchief Doomhammer got his job.
* KnightTemplar: The [[LightIsNotGood Silver Hand under Arthas]], during his StartOfDarkness. Later, you get the Argent Dawn, and the templars-in-name-only (definitely NOT in attitude) Scarlet Crusade.
* KnightTemplarParent: Daelin Proudmoore.
* LargeAndInCharge: The hero units, and by extension the "leader" units in the campaigns, are much larger than the other units...[[UnitsNotToScale and sometimes the buildings]].
* LargeHam: ''Bill'' '''Ro'''per, THE narr-A-''tor'' for '''War'''craft II is a bomb'''bas'''tic joy, especially when proNOUNcing names like Org''rim'' '''''Doom'''''hammer and Lord '''Lo'''''thar''.
** He also does the voice for the Orc mission briefings. One word: '''''DRAGONS!'''''
** He actually does nearly all the voice work in the game.
*** Only the narrators, footman, grunt, peon, elven archer, Danath and Grom Hellscream.
** For a taste [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpEXhNjEeHY click here]].
** Kael'thas to an extent, most apparently when he's promising loyalty to Illidan at the end of the Black Citadel battle. Illidan gets in on the fun, too, when he's taunting Magtheridon.
** Let's not forget the Paladin. "[[ForGreatJustice STRIKE with great JUSTICE!]]" and "In Lightbringer's name, HAVE AT THEE!"
** [[PungeonMaster Chen Stormstout]]: "''I will bring'' '''[[IncrediblyLamePun PANDA]]'''-''MONIUM''"
* LadyOfWar: Tyrande and Maiev.
* LawfulStupid: Again, Tyrande and Maiev. Tyrande grows out of it eventually, though. Maiev doesn't.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Arthas: "It's time to finish the game."
* [[LightningBruiser Lightning Bruiser Spellcasters:]] The Ogre-Magi and Paladins in ''Warcraft 2''. They were your [[TankGoodness tanks]].
* LeeroyJenkins: Grom pulls this off in the 3rd Orc Mission; when Thrall was about to move on past the humans, Grom goes along to ''attack'' some human bases.
* LesCollaborateurs: The human nation/city-state of Alterac.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces: Type 1: a few races in ''Warcraft'', mainly [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin orcs and humans]] (with a dash of undead and demons). Elves, dwarves, gnomes, goblins, ogres and trolls were added in ''Warcraft II''. Night elves, taurens and naga added in ''Warcraft III'', plus countless other neutral races.
* LooksLikeOrlok: Dreadlords.
* LoveTriangle: We have the old Malfurion-Tyrande-Illidan triangle in Reign of Chaos. In Frozen Throne, we get hints that there ''was'' a triangle between Arthas-Jaina-Kael, which is confirmed in Rise of the Lich King.
* MagicIsAMonsterMagnet: Attracts demons and other things.
* MagicKnight: The Paladin in Warcraft 2 and 3, the Ogre-Mage in Warcraft 2, and the Death Knight and Priestess of the Moon in Warcraft 3.
* {{Mayincatec}}: The [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]]. They live in jungles, have ziggurats, and have been known to practice human(oid) sacrifice.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Gul'dan for Blackhand. [[ExaggeratedTrope Mal'ganis for KelThuzad, then the Lich King for Mal'ganis, then the Burning Legion for the Lich King.]]
* TheMessiah: Thrall.
* MeaningfulName: Arthas/Arthur, Medivh/Merlin, Sylvanas (ForestRanger)...
* MirroredConfrontationShot: Box art for the first two games.
* MistakenForGranite: At one point in the third game there's a hallway with statues of armored men on either side. Further down the hallway are robotic golems which activate when you reach them (complete with "The statues are coming to life!" in case you missed the point). The golems and the statues look nothing like each other, but that might be GameplayAndStorySegregation.
** In the same game certain treasures are seemingly out in the open, only for the nearby rocks to crumble and turn into golems. This is done better than the statue example, as the game script actually destroys said rocks (which are normal, destroyable doodads that would otherwise yield additional loot) and spawns golems almost instantly after the rocks are "destroyed". The animation of the rocks crumbling and the golems being summoned (which they are formed from rocks coming out of the ground) blend together well. A variant of this happens with a pile of bones and flesh turning into skeletons.
* {{Mook}}
** EliteMooks: The soldiers of admiral Proudmoore and the naga royal guards.
*** Heroes sometimes fulfill this role.
** GiantMook/ SuperpoweredMooks: Bloodfeast, Lord Talendar and The butcher.
** MookLieutenant: Captain Thornby and some heroes.
** PraetorianGuard: Admiral's Elite Guard, the Chief Petty officer and the Chief of chaplains.
* {{Monster Mash}}: The Scourge.
* MultipleHeadCase: Ogres.
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: Kel'Thuzad.
* MysticalPlague: The plague of undeath that turns people into zombies, preparing the way for a demonic invasion. [[spoiler:Well, that was the original intention, anyhow. Ner'zhul had other ideas.]]
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Gets used to a greater or lesser degree with Tyrande Whisperwind and Alleria Windrunner.
* NoArcInArchery: Somewhat subverted by Night Elf Archers firing at a (fixed) angle, but other projectiles don't arc.
* NoCanonForTheWicked: Averted in the first game, where the orc campaign was {{canon}}. Used in the second game, though parts of the orc campaign ''did'' take place despite their eventual loss.
* NonEntityGeneral: Sometimes given a name and face in the sequels, such as Doomhammer for the Horde.
* NonHumanUndead: The Scourge in ''Warcraft III'' includes undead spider-men called Crypt Fiends, undead elves called banshees, and a super flying undead dragon with ice breath. Plus, generic human skeletons can be made with the corpses of any species.
* TheObiWan: Grom to Thrall, Uther to Arthas. Later, Grom to Garrosh, and deceased loved ones of death knights in Battle of Light's Hope Chapel, at least to Darion and Thassarian.
* OminousFloatingCastle: The Undead necropolis.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Shadow Council.
* OneManArmy: The Admiral Proudmoore.
* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Frostmourne in ''Warcraft III'', encased in a floating block of ice.
* OurMonstersAreDifferent:
** AllTrollsAreDifferent: Tall, thin {{Mayincatec}} barbarians with Jamaican accents, some of them cannibalistic.
** OurCentaursAreDifferent: Pretty much the same as the Greek version (barbaric and violent), except they have a Mongol-inspired society. Said to be the cursed offspring of Cenarius (a night elf/stag god), whose daughters are the much nicer Dryads (night elf/doe).
*** There are also Magnataurs, a much larger polar creature that are a mix of human and mammoth.
*** Dragonspawn are draconian versions, following the same body layout as a centaur.
*** Nerubians, Crypt fiends (undead Nerubians), and Crypt Lords are centauroid versions of spiders and beetles respectively: a large abdomen supported by four legs, a vertical humanoid torso (head, arms and shoulders) and the thorax joining the two together.
**** Apparently a pre-release version of the Crypt Fiend was a drider-like unit, rather than the mutated spider it is now.
** OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Dragons of Azeroth take a lot of cues from other fantasy stories, though there are some differences. There are 5 main "Dragonflights", each headed by an "Aspect" of a particular part of Azeroth.
*** Red: Life. Led by Alexstraza the Life-Binder, who also happens to be the queen of all the dragons. (Except for Black, and more recently Blue). They were enslaved by the orcs during Warcraft II to be used as mounts, a feat only possible with the Dragon/Demon Soul.
*** Blue: Magic, led by Malygos the Spellweaver. Nearly wiped out in the past which threw Malygos into a {{Heroic BSOD}} for a several millenia. When he snapped out of it, he decided that Magic was being over used, and that he should get rid of it... by killing all Mortal Magic users and their allies, i.e. pretty much ''everyone,'' and trying to redirect the planet's {{ley line}}s to a central point, and direct the energy into space, which could result in an EarthShatteringKaboom.
*** Green: Nature/Dream, led by Ysera the Dreamer. This Flight mostly resides in the Emerald Dream, protecting nature. They're also responsible for the introduction of Druidism to the mortal races, through Cenarius. Recently, the Emerald Dream has been corrupted by a strange force called the Nightmare, and there are rumors of powerful Green Dragons being corrupted by it, including (possibly) Ysera herself.
*** Bronze: Time, led by Nozdormu The Timeless One. These dragons have the power to travel through time, ensuring history isn't altered. Recently, a strange flight known as the Infinite Dragonflight has been attempting to derail history, keeping the Bronze Dragons very busy. [[spoiler:There are rumors that the Infinite Dragonflight is actually a future version of the Bronze Flight, as indicated by quests in Dragonblight and a timed event in the Caverns of Time)]]
*** Black: Earth. This Flight is led by Neltharion the Earth-Warder, now known as Deathwing. Once charged with shaping the earth, this Dragonflight now seeks to subvert all of Azeroth to it's masters will.
*** There are also some other dragonflights that seem to have mutated from these five, such as the Infinite, Chromatic, and Twilight Dragonflights. You can also find the ancestors of the Dragons, known as Proto-Drakes, throughout Northrend.
** [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Our Dwarves Have the Funniest Unit Quotes.]]
** OurGargoylesRock: Flying undead bats that can turn into statues to regenerate health.
** OurGoblinsAreDifferent: ''{{WarCraft}}'' goblins are smaller than orcs, but also have some knowledge of technology, particularly [[StuffBlowingUp that which explodes]]. They first showed up in ''[=WarCraft=] II'' as the inventors of the Horde. They were characterized by their suicidal insanity and seem to be fighting for [[ForTheEvulz kicks]]. In ''[=WarCraft=] III'' goblins left the Horde, becoming a neutral force, but they still aren't exactly good. They've [[CharacterDevelopment become]] a bunch of greedy industrialists with a ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney attitude, a taste in clothes that would shock Paris Hilton, a deep belief that people from other cultures are inferior to them, and a mercantile ruthlessness that would be horrible if it wasn't PlayedForLaughs. [[EagleLand Sound familiar?]]
** OurOgresAreHungrier: For starters, they have two heads, and are capable of magic.
** OurOrcsAreDifferent: They appear to be traditional Orcs at first, but they're [[DarkIsNotEvil actually fairly decent folks.]] [[FantasticRacism It's just the world reviles them.]]
** OurTitansAreDifferent: There seem to be two flavors of this trope within ''Warcraft''. The humanoid and semi-benevolent creator race of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Titans]], and the [[EldritchAbomination Old Gods]].
* PantheraAwesome: The panthers ridden by Night Elf Huntresses and the tigers ridden by Priestesses of the Moon.
* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: In the BackStory, Sargeras had a bad [[HeWhoFightsMonsters experience]] with the Nathrezim.
* ThePennyfarthingEffect: ''Warcraft 1'' is pretty bad with this, being one of the first [[RealTimeStrategy RTS]] games ever made. You can't drag a box around a group of units without holding Ctrl down. For no readily apparent reason.
* PinballProjectile: Happens with projectiles with the Missile(Bounce) attribute.
* {{Plaguemaster}}: The Lich King spends much of ''Warcraft III'' spreading his Plague of Undeath across Lordaeron, and the Scourge's units have a few disease-related abilities on the battlefield.
* PrecisionFStrike: Done a few times.
-->''Uther the Lightbringer'': This urn contains the ashes of your father, Arthas! What, were you hoping to piss on them one last time before leaving this kingdom to rot?
-->''Sylvanas Windrunner:'' Give my regards to hell, you ''son of a bitch''.
-->''Kael'thas Sunstrider:'' Insolent [[CurseCutShort son of a...]] let's get this over with.
-->''Dwarf Rifleman:'' (Of [[GeneralRipper Garithos]]) They don't pay us enough to put up with that ''asshole.''
** Oddly enough, the dwarf units seem to get a pass on this: "Take this, you bastard!" for both the Mortar Team and Muradin, though with different word emphasis.
--> ''Mortar Team:'' Move yer ''arse''!
* ProphecyTwist: "Your young prince will find only death in the cold north." Which he does, in the form of a sword which turns him into an (undead) Death Knight--and a lot more death besides (an entire undead army). But Arthas doesn't find what he was looking for, a way to save his kingdom; instead, he's turned into his kingdom's destroyer.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Orcs. Maybe the [[NobleSavage Tauren]] as well, but they don't [[GentleGiant actively seek battles]].
* PsychoRangers; Illidan's Blood Elf, Naga and Draenei forces are smilar to Alliance, Orcs and Night Elves.
* PutOnABus: Gnomes disappeared entirely in ''Warcraft III'', their role having been taken over by the dwarves. They were eventually brought back for ''WorldOfWarcraft''. Also Turalyon and Alleria.
* RecurringExtra: Thornby, Timmy, Captain Falric and Dagren the Orcslayer.
* RedHerring: The ''Warcraft 2'' manual has a few. Gilneas thinks its army is powerful enough to face the Horde alone? Well, no need to find out. The Black Tooth Grin Clan is led by the sons of Blackhand, who was killed by the current Horde leader Doomhammer, and now they're secretly plotting revenge? And the Dragonmaw Clan has close ties to them? Well, no worries; you won't hear anything about them, ever.
** However, these storylines have been developed further in WoW.
* RedHerringShirt: The Captain Thornby.
* RemixedLevel: "The Siege of Dalaran" in Reign of Chaos becomes "The Ruins of Dalaran" in The Frozen Throne.
** The Tomb of Sargeras.
* {{Retcon}}: The third game changed the orcs from TheHorde into a brainwashed [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy proud warrior race]] and Medivh from an EvilSorcerer into a FallenHero. The demons were coined into the overall villains of the series.
* RedemptionDemotion: Inverted in Warcraft III. Arthas goes from a level 10 Paladin with awesome gear to a level 1 Death Knight [[BagOfSpilling with no items]].
* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: Sometimes justified, like buildings summoned by the Undead in ''Warcraft III''.
* RoarBeforeBeating: Infernals in teaser trailer, and Grom in his battle with Mannoroth.
* RunningGag: The Demon Hunter, the Dreadlord, Tichondrius, and Arthas have a running gag based on the line "Darkness called." Darkness attempts to call them but can't because of his mediocre phone service.
* SavagePiercings: In ''Warcraft III'', trolls have bone piercings.
* SchizoTech: Thanks to the gnomes, dwarves, and goblins. [[FantasyGunControl Bows, crossbows and thrown weapons are still used alongside guns, though.]]
* SchmuckBait: Frostmourne. "Just as the blade rends flesh, so must power scar the spirit." Arthas falls for it.
* SelectiveObliviousness: ''Warcraft 2''. Level 8: There's been a peasant revolt by guys wearing Alterac colors - how strange. Level 9: Uther Lightbringer was almost killed by Alliance ships sailing with Alterac colors - how strange. Level 10: Let's interrogate these traitors who were wearing Alterac colors when they were caught. Level 11: [[CaptainObvious Alterac has betrayed us!]] So ''that's'' why their national banner has a [[http://www.wowwiki.com/Alterac Horde emblem on it]].
* SerratedBladeOfPain: Frostmourne has a barbed blade.
** And the whole 'scarring the spirit' warning on its plinth isn't for show. It rips souls out.
* ShockwaveStomp: The Tauren Chieftain does it for his Shockwave and War Stomp abilities.
* SimpletonVoice: Peasants and Ogres in ''Warcraft II''.
* ASinisterClue: Arthas begins a right-handed paladin, but switches to his left after he changes class. That may actually just be a result of Blizzard not wanting to flip the sprite in order to make him right-handed; the cinematic at the end of the Human campaign does show him wielding Frostmourne in his right.
** Left-handedness seems to be incredibly common in the world of ''{{Warcraft}}''. All human Footmen and orcish Grunts are left-handed as well, along with the Priestess of the Moon.
* SinisterScimitar: Skeletons are equipped with scimitars, no matter what weapon the creature they were created from was holding.
* SummonMagic: Many heros or magic caster units can temporarily create other units to fight in your army. Hero-summoned units are usually pretty tough, however, dispelling effects damage or destroy the summoned creature (a Tauren spirit walker can wipe out a squadron of skeletons).
* SuspiciouslySmallArmy
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Northrend.
* SnakePeople - The Naga
* SpaceIsMagic: The Twisting Nether.
* SpikeShooter: ''Warcraft 3'' has quillboars, a race of {{Pig M|an}}en who can throw their quills at enemies. The quilbeast, a warthog-like creature summoned by the Beastmaster, does the same.
* StandardFantasySetting: Averted as most races, including humans, have 20th century technology but have for the most part been blown back into the dark ages by infrastructure loss resulting from cataclysm and war.
* TheStarscream: The Horde has had several. Orgrim Doomhammer (read as: you) in the original game. Gul'dan in the second game. Ner'zhul himself.
* StillTheLeader
* StopPokingMe: TropeNamer
* StormingTheCastle: The Blood Elf/Naga/Broken Draenei coalition stormed the Black [[strike:Citadel]] Temple.
* StoryAndGameplaySegregation: Combined with CutscenePowerToTheMax in the last level of ''Warcraft 3'', when Thrall defiantly tells Archimonde that the orcs are now free, hitting him with a lightning spell before teleporting away. In-game, Archimonde is immune to magic, meaning not only would the spell do no damage, you wouldn't even be able to target him with it.
** There's a beautiful subversion of this in ''The Frozen Throne'' - Arthas LOSES LEVELS as the Lich King loses power.
* SuperEmpowering
* TacticalRockPaperScissors: In general, melee units beat artillery, artillery beats towers, and towers beat melee units. In Warcraft II, destroyers beat gryphons, gryphons beat battleships and submarines, and battleships and submarines beat destroyers.
* TalkingToHimself: Chris Metzen voice acts both Thrall and Rexxar, who get a lot of dialogue in the orc campaign of ''The Frozen Throne''.
* TankGoodness: Dwarven [[SteamPunk siege engines]] in ''Warcraft III''.
* TechnicolorToxin: Mainly green, seen with the Poison Globe, the Scourge's Plague cloud and the attacks of Dryads, Chimeras and Assassins. There's also a purple Globe which "slows enemies down" which could fit as toxin.
* TheComputerShallTauntYou: In a cutscene preceding one mission in ''Warcraft III'' where you are controlling the undead Scourge, the orc leading a charge against you opines that killing a bunch of weak, mindless undead like you guys should be no problem.
* TheNameIsBondJamesBond: One of the Druid of the Talon's quotes:
-->'''Druid of the Talon:''' Talon. Druid of the Talon.
* ThemedCursor: The cursor is the hand of whatever race you're currently playing as.
--> '''Priest''': [[StopPokingMe I have been]] [[ToyStory chosen by]] [[MediumAwareness the big metal hand in the sky!]]
* UnexpectedGenreChange: In ''The Frozen Throne'', the Orc campaign is an RPG.
* UnholyHolySword: [[spoiler:Frostmourne]] when you first encounter it, though it's not too long before TheReveal.
* UnitsNotToScale: Very obvious. The Tauren Chieftain in ''Warcraft III'' is as tall as the barracks!
* {{Video Game 3D Leap}}: ''Warcraft III''.
* WhenTreesAttack: Treants and Ancients.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Arthas. Possibly averted in that he is not white-haired and a pretty boy at the same time, though...
** Well, this troper's not sure he can totally agree with that (See the WotLK opening cutscene). But he's been told he has bizarre taste.
* WhiteMagic: Consists of [[LightEmUp Holy]] magic (used by Paladins and Priests) and [[GreenThumb Nature]] magic (used by Druids and Shamans). In [[{{Canon}} lore]], these are the ''only'' pure sources of power; all other types are either corrupt to begin with or inevitably lead there. See BlackMagic, above.
* WizardBeard
* WizardsLiveLonger (Well, many of them are elves to begin with.)
* WorkerUnit: Human Peasants, Orc Peons, Acolytes and Ghouls for the Undead, and Wisps for the Night Elves.
* WreathedInFlames: The Immolate ability and the Infernal.
** And Illidan's ridiculous little hoofprints.
* XanatosGambit: HOLY CRAP, [[spoiler: Ner'zhul]] the Lich King. Everything he does leads up to the end result he gets (although it does fall apart on him very very slightly at the final stages, as he didn't count on his host being such a stubborn punkass). Actually kind of terrifying when you stop to think on it. Even Illidan playing roflstomp-the-glacier ultimately works to his benefit...
** There's actually a scene in-game where one Dreadlord exposition-fairies much of this to a startled Arthas. The player will share his 'bwuh!?'
* YouHaveFailedMe: Reign of Chaos. At the start of the 2nd Night Elf mission, Archimonde and two doomguards corner Tyrande but she uses her invisibility to make them think she got away. Archimonde was so pissed, he killed one of the doomguards.
** This is one of Archimonde's favorite lines, and preferred method of dealing with minions.
** Kil'jaeden drops this on Illidan, but gives him another chance.
* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier Ghouls]] actually have to research the ability to eat the dead. Night Elves have to learn Ultravision, the ability to see well at night. Crypt Fiends don't know they can burrow into the ground, and Chimeras haven't figured out that their second head spits [[HollywoodAcid acid]].
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: The Prophet might have had more success in getting people to go to Kalimdor if he warned them in a calmer tone.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[DarkActionGirl Sylvanas Windrunner]] promises to give the Capital to Grand Marshall Garithos if he aids her in destroying the Dread Lord Balnazzar. After a two-pronged attack, [[OutGambitted their joint forces overwhelm those of Balnazzar]], and he is (seemingly) killed. [[BadassMustache Garithos]] then demands that Sylvanas leave his city, and she has no problem [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness commanding her lieutenant, Varimathras,]] [[KicktheSonofaBitch to kill him]].
* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Gold and Lumber are your resources here. Also oil in ''Warcraft II'' for naval units.
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