History Headscratchers / Warcraft

!! '''Are Death Knights, Acolytes, and Necromancers actually Undead? If not then how do things like Death Coil heal them?'''

* In ''Warcraft 3'' blame in on game mechanics. Death Knights were alive as Paladins were once said to be immune to the plague of undeath. Acolytes in [=WoW=] and that they were hiding as humans in [=WC3=] seem to suggest being alive. At least Kel'thuzard was alive while just a necromancer.

*** [[Tropers/{{Kerrah}} Lore fan]] to the rescue: The followers of the Lich King are bathed in the Shadow, and therefore harmed by positive energy (Holy Light etc) and healed by negative energy (shadow spells).
*** Not a lore fan here, but I think there was something about Death Knights actually being dead bodies that have not yet decayed and will not, controlled by the souls in the blades they wield. After all, the Death Knight's soul is the first one to be sucked into the blade they wield.
*** Another lore fan here, what the person before me said is true, but it applies to Gul'dan's (Warcraft II) Death Knights, such as Teron Gorefiend, which are made from the corpses of the Knights of Lordaeron imbued with the souls of the warlocks from the shadow council. But the Lich King's Death Knights are corpses risen with their (own) souls bound to the Lich King's will, hence why they can remember their former lives, instead of getting new souls like the Death Knights of old.
* If Arthas or any other person skilled in the art of controlling the dead used their vast Necromantic power could they make their own Thriller video?
** Heck, he could even produce his own ZombieApocalypse movie, for all we know!
** Arthas ''already'' has his own rock video. Or have we forgotten the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUgNBTLLvro bonus credits]] for ''Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne''?
*** Sadly, that one's been another Blizzard {{Retcon}} Victim, where the ''rest'' of the band matters more than Arthas' headlining role with it.
**** [[TheKhan BLIZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!]]
*** This troper prefers to think of it more as a song by Level70EliteTaurenChieftain, featuring Arthas. My worldview remains unshattered.
*** I read a recent (in-character) interview with [=L70ETC=], in which they mentioned Arthas. It would seem he wasn't good at tours, and had an attitude problem.

!! Who created the demons originally?
We know some types (i.e the eredar) were created by Sargeras however there are some races of demons that predate his FaceHeelTurn such as the dreadlords. So who created them?

!! '''The eternal Warcraft question: Was [=DotD=] before or after [=BtDP=]? We might be getting an answer for this with the [=BtDP=] book.'''

* Well, now that the book is out, seems ''Day of the Dragon'' is after ''Beyond the Dark Portal''. That creates its own paradoxes, but at least now we know.

!! '''It annoyed me when I finally kicked [[spoiler:Sylvanas']] ass, knowing that I would bring her to my side... and was rewarded with, not a potentially useful Dark Ranger, but a freaking ''banshee''. What was Arthas (or, depending on who really did the job, the Lich King) thinking?'''

* Well, she returned as an Undead ranger in the expansion. Not sure what they did, maybe they had to prepare the body first and put her banshee form into it afterwards.

*** Oh, so in other words, [[AWizardDidIt An expansion pack did it.]]

!! '''It just bugs me that a gladiator business such as portrayed in the comics could be so openly thriving within the walls of Orgrimmar. You'd sort of expect Thrall to have a thing or two to say about it, considering his past. Or is it supposed to be an underground thing? If so, where the Hell does Varian Wrynn get off blaming Thrall for anything he went through during his absence from Stormwind? (not that I think he's got any right to be whining about a few months as a gladiator to someone who ''was raised in slavery and became a gladiator at age twelve.'')'''
* The gladiator organisation that enslaves Varian is an underground gang composed of criminals from both sides of the 'Cold War'. Their fights are held in neutral places like Dire Maul. "The Ring of Honour" in Orgrimmar is, as recently confirmed in a [=WoW=] event, a place where orcs who get into fights go to settle things between themselves. Varian whining about his gladiator-ship is just very, very bad writing from the [=WoW=] developers. When he finds out he's the King in the comic, his first reaction is: "I wish I wasn't. I would stay a gladiator if I didn't have a son waiting for me in Stormwind."

*** He's not actually that bad, beyond the frankly depressing character model and that Warcraft's over-arching story writers suck at characterization (while some of the quest writers are amazing), he's one of the more well rounded alliance leaders. What do we know about Gelbin Mekkatorque? I get the feeling that certain members of the ''Warcraft'' writing team have a massive stiffy for the horde, which means that the alliance get pretty neglected. This may or may not be reveresed in game balance terms, depending on who you listen to.


!! '''Gold is fairly hard to come by for low levels in WOW but in one of the early barrens quest is to kill a pirate lord that is standing next to a pile of it that is as tall as a gnome yet you can't take any of it and the quest reward is a few silver pieces.'''
* They're probably merely gold-plated or something. Or it belongs to someone else and you can't be a jerkass and just swipe it (even if you were a jerkass earlier).

*** whats worse is the resale price to ingame vendors ore is always worth more the the smelted bars ad that is almost always more then a finished product.
**** Seems that Azeroth has adopted the copper standard for currency in lieu of a gold or even silver standard. Copper is worth far more per pound than the other two metals.
*** It would be worse if the opposite was true, like in Weimar Republic Germany.


!! '''How many draenei survived the orcs' genocide anyway? Wowwiki gives the population of Exodar as 17,000, which is higher than that of Orgrimmar or Darnassus. And that's just Exodar, not taking into account all those who stayed in Outland.'''
* [=WoWWiki=] has been wrong before and is probably wrong again. No surprise there. Considering what the race has been through, the ''entire'' draenei population (excluding Lost Ones, but including the Broken, the Auchenai, and Wyrmcultists) ''might'' number 17k. If that.
* It gets really confusing if you've read ''Rise of the Horde'', where Velen mentions that only a few hundred eredar ever left Argus. And since they very rarely have children, most of the ones that fought the orcs were part of that original few hundred. Just how did they survive a genocide with enough significant numbers to split into two distinct factions, one of which crashed into a planet and still has enough members to populate a city?

* 17,000 seems like a fairly small number for the population of a capital city. Considering that 50,000 people died in the war against the Lich King on the Alliance side (5,000 at the Wrathgate), and this was a catastrophic death toll, it seems as though population figures as a whole may be fairly small in the ''World of Warcraft'' universe.
** Orgrimmar and Darnassus are both very new cities, Orgrimmar being 5 years old at the time of TBC and Darnassus 4. Every orc that lives in orgrimmar was either part of the three ships that sailed there, or had to break out of an internment camp/other clan, Reach Booty bay, and from there sail to Ratchet (the orgrimmar-undercity alliance, and thus zeppelin line, was a fairly recent thing at the time of WoW, and the only faction to hold big ports on both sides of the ocean is the steamwheedle cartel). Darnassus was founded as part of a highly controversial, failed project, is surrounded by corruption, and, most importantly, was not needed housing-wise. Honestly, the issue is more why those two cities have several thousand citizens.
* According to the manuals of ''Warcraft 1'' and ''2'', the Orcs wiped out the Draenei.

!! '''Why is Arthas seen as so strong, besides Blizzard saying he is? I mean Arthas himself was weakened significantly during The Frozen Throne. And the Lich King is really only a weakened orc shaman with some undead powers. By their powers combined, they still should be weaker than say, Kil'Jaedin, who was on par in strength with the person who -gave- them their powers.'''
* Arthas was weak during The Frozen Throne because Ner'zhul was losing his powers. He was strong enough to become Ner'zhul Dragon, has Frostmourne and Death knight powers, and he beat Illidan. Ner'zhul was sealed by Kil'jaeden in the Frozen Throne, but he also granted him new powers in order to create a zombie invasion. Stronger than Kil'jaeden? No, but definitly stronger than what you think.

!! '''How is Garrosh Hellscream brown-skinned and (originally) on Draenor? At first I assumed he was born there and left behind when the Horde invaded Azeroth, but Thrall calls him "boy", which implies that Garrosh is younger than him. Now, Thrall was born on Azeroth, and if memory serves, Grom Hellscream was one of the first orcs to go though the Dark Portal. What's going on?'''
* It's... A little complicated. The green skin of the Orcs came about due to the demonic corruption. In ''Rise of the Horde'' it was noted that the skin of most Orcs (including those of Durotan, father of Thrall, and his mate, who had resisted the growing bloodlust among the clans) began flaking green as the Horde unified and began its assault on the Draenei, due to contact with warlock magic. When the Horde finally accepted the blood of Mannaroth, become almost completely corrupted, their skin became fully green - Even those that ''had'' refused or had been prohibited the blood (The entire Frostwolf clan, for instance; and Orgrim Doomhammer, Griselda Blackhand and even Ner'zhul), but a portion of the Orcish population somehow avoided the skin change (Greatmother Geyah, for one). Another thing to note is that Grom was ''not'' among the first to go through the Dark Portal, his Warsong clan was one of those ordered to remain behind on Draenor while the Frostwolf were part of the initial invasion (and were exiled before the end of the First War, which was when Thrall was born). Grom and the Warsong never went through the Dark Portal until ''after'' the end of the Second War, as part of a diversionary assault on Nethergarde Keep and defence of the Dark Portal while the Death Knights collected the relics necessary to open more portals. Garrosh is likely to be (if only slightly) younger than Thrall, and was by all accounts born a sickly child. This probably is what prevented the corruption from setting in, as he's found with the rest of the uncorrupted Orcs in Garadar, the main village of the Mag'har. The novelisation of ''Beyond the Dark Portal'' states that Garadar was a refuge for the ill and frail Orcs that were generally considered unfit or unwilling to join the Horde. As for ''how'' they avoided the corruption... Eh, it's not really specified how. The corruption affected parents but not children (Garrosh Hellscream, Jorin Deadeye, Saurfang the Younger), skipped generations, or even spread to Orcs that did resist (Frostwolves), but probably had something to do with a disease that was going around the Orcs called the Red Pox, which could prevent corruption but leaving the sufferer extremely frail.

*** Even if Garrosh ''is'' older, he's an insufferable brat.

*** "Fel" orcs are basically the orcs who, after drinking demon blood, became ''especially'' corrupted. Maybe that's what they looked like right after the original deal, too.

!!'''Why is it that the farms in ''Warcraft III'' don't, you know, grow any crops? A single "farm" consists of a cottage, and that's it. No field, not even a tiny garden. Which creates strange situations in which players will build dozens of "farms" within a few feet of each other.'''
* First of all, UnitsNotToScale. Secondly, the game is drawn intentionally with a cartoonish art style. And finally, for convenience, balance and [[RuleOfFun fun]]'s sake, it's an AcceptableBreakFromReality.


!!'''In ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'', in the eighth mission of the Human campaign, Arthas burns his ships so that his army can't return home until after they beat Mal'ganis. So once they beat Mal'ganis, how exactly did Arthas and co. return to Lordaeron? The game never explicitly covered this point...'''

* Built new ships?

!! '''What era is Warcraft supposed to be in? It seems to have everything from futuristic technology (Gnomes) to classic medieval fantasy. They have battleships with cannons and footmen with swords. What is the main reason that they arent all basically using Gnome tech? Rule of Cool'''?
* It's a Schizo-tech world. The place is largely Medieval but with magic and the fact that humans can pretty much shrug off bullets like it's nothing, the urge to upgrade to technology isn't all that high. The Draenai are from an advanced futuristic world but they couldn't beat the Orcs themselves. Try and think of Grom Hellscream as able to cut through tanks with his magic ax and you have the basic idea. Plus, Gnome tech is unreliable. It's like "why does no one use Henry Ford's cars if every third one blows up?"
** Ahem. The draenei are ''not'' from an "advanced futuristic world." Argus was ''magically'' advanced—approximately on a par with old Quel'thalas even way-back-when, most likely—but they were as impressed at first sight by naaru constructs such as Oshu'gun and Tempest Keep as anyone else was. (By the way, said constructs are run by magic.)\\

* Probably because no one's technology is actually that good. Both gnomish and goblin technology has a high failure rate; those races tend to think it's worth it, others don't. Elves (and to a lesser extent the Dalarani humans and draenei) have exceedingly powerful magic, but magic is hard to learn and harder to teach, and has its own risks to boot. And, of course, there's the fact that everything is oddly balanced. [[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Weird, but true]]. Nobody has any real reason to make a wholesale switch to another mix of magic and technology until something comes up that nobody can match.
* Besides which, the technology of the races HAS been advancing over that last few expansions. For example, when WoW was first released, the Horde made use of simple catapults, barely-armored infantry, spear throwers, and wooden fortifications. Fast-forward to Wrath, where they are shown to be using Demolishers and Steam Tanks, fully-armored soldiers, gunmen, and metal-and-stone fortifications. not to mention that their battle tactics of "Zerg the enemy" has fallen out of favor for organized battles, sieges, and mechanized warfare. A good example of these changes can be seen in Warsong Hold, particularly in the conversation between Saurfang and Garrosh, where we have Saurfang (who represents the technological advancement of the Horde) lecturing Garrosh (representing the zerg-and-destroy mentality of the older Horde) on the finer points of having clear supply lines. It can be found [[http://www.wowwiki.com/Varok_Saurfang#Dialogue_with_Garrosh_in_Warsong_Hold here]]

!! '''This one's been bugging me for a little while. Why is it that the people of Stormwind and Orgrimmar throw rotten fruit and vegetables at the Death Knights, but they've never shown any similar hostilities toward the Warlocks?'''
* They do hate warlocks too. In Stormwind, warlocks have to hide in the back of ''the slaughtered lamb'' and in Orgrimmar, in the Cleft of shadow (with rogues and other non-respectable citizens). They are accepted as a necessary evil in Orgrimmar, and Undercity (and maybe Silvermoon) are the only capitals where they are genuinely accepted. They are strictly forbidden in Darnassus, Thunder Bluff and the Exodar (but I don't know about Ironforge). The rest is GameplayAndStorySegregation.
* You can't tell someone is a warlock just by looking at them -- warlocks aren't going to walk around Stormwind openly (the fact that players get away with their demon minions is GameplayAndStorySegregation), whereis it's more or less impossible to hide the fact you are a death knight. What bugs me is why the guards attack Horde on sight but not death knights, even though story-wise they don't yet know they aren't allied with the Scourge.

* In case you haven't noticed, Warlocks are almost always segregated. The Human warlocks hide in the cellar of the ''Slaughtered Lamb'', as the first replier mentioned. Even in Orgrimmar, Ironforge and Silvermoon, while not quite prohibited, they're confined inside dark, unsavory ghettos (along with the rogues, another badly-tolerated class). The exception to the rule is Undercity, where warlocks share the same quarter of the city as mages, but... they're undead, for crissakes. For them, it ''doesn't matter'' you sold your soul in exchange for demonic power, as long as you serve the Forsaken.

* At the Blizzcon 2010 Quest & Lore panel, someone asked about warlocks being able to walk around without any problems. The response was that it's an obvious case of GameplayAndStorySegregation, and if the guards in pretty much any city saw a demon they'd attack on sight without a second thought. The Death Knight thing was probably just viable because it only lasts a couple minutes before the [=NPC=]'s go right back to thinking you're an average Joe.
* There's a passage from ''Literatue/TidesOfWar'' that deals with the issue.
-->"It was always uneasy when those who worked with demons were pressed into service for the good of the Alliance, but they had certain spells- and certain creatures in thrall- whose efficacy was undeniable."

!! '''What is the status or Princess Moira Bronzebeard and her child?'''

*** The child isn't old enough to inherit the throne, even if he was born. What bugs me is this- Who would get the throne if Magni died? Would it be his younger brother Muradin, his daughter Moira, or his illegitimate grandson?
* As of Cataclysm, she is in Ironforge as a representative of the Dark Iron Dwarves, under the name of "Moira Thaurissian". She can be seen clearly in [[http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2010/cataclysm/cataclysm_zones/12319/sandbox/ironforge_01.jpg this]] picture from MMO-Champion.

!! '''Why did Arthas need Frostmourne to win the campaign, anyway? Hearing the Dark Lord's voice aside, the blade didn't raise his attack all that much, and its Chaos element only helps against Divine Beings, which Mal'Ganis certainly wasn't.'''
* Lore-wise, Frostmourne is ''extremely'' powerful. Gameplay-wise, chaos attacks are effective against ''all'' kinds of armors, and IIRC when Arthas gets Frostmourne he becomes ''a lot'' stronger.

!! '''Shouldn't the war attrition rates have reduced the numbers of the Forsaken to zero by now, what with they being to dead to reproduce? And how will they replenish their ranks after there is no more Scourge, seing as they are all former Scourge?'''
* I haven't done the last instances, but [[spoiler:if the Lich King dies]], what do you think will happen to all the undeads he controls?

* More or less the entire kingdom of Lordaeron was converted, and most of them seem to be Forsaken now; that's a ''lot'' of people, and until the Northrend campaign (which is relatively recent) Forsaken military strategy kept most of them save the Defilers away from any kind of primary attack (while the Defilers prefer to act through [[strike: suckers]] adventurers). They also might be able to "induct" other, non-Scourge undead into their ranks.
* This is explained through the forsaken starter quests. New independent undead are always waking up from the crypts, it isn't just the forsaken Sylvanas initially came with. Plus Sylvanas is said to be always trying to recruit other independent undead, as there are many who believe they alone are independent and have yet to join the Forsaken. The real question is about the Darkspear trolls.

*** I'm not seeing it as outright "CharacterDerailment" as mucg a case of "HeWhoFightsMonsters". And the sarcastic tone in her voice seems to be her boasting that there really isn't a difference, except [[GenreSavvy she knows she's a]] DesignatedHero. She's a MagnificentBastard, and AntiVillain only because she's on the "Good Guy's" team, yet there's nothing her "[[EnemyMine allies]]" can really do about it, because she [[ButNotTooEvil merely skirts]] the MoralEventHorizon, so the horde can't really do anything to stop her carefully-restricted actions without diving into DisproportionateRetribution. And as long as she's [[TeethClenchedTeamwork serving the horde]], she's still an invaluable resource, as detestable as she might be. Check out the TruthInTelevision section of HeWhoFightsMonsters for an explanation on how it's not quite CharacterDerailment.

!! '''Weird pets'''

!! '''Why did the catapult and ballista get ditched in between Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne? Those things were iconic! '''
* Well, it's generally explained in that the Orcs and Night Elves respectively upgraded their technology a bit in the interim between the Battle of Mount Hyjal and the time of Frozen Throne. The Orc Demolisher is clearly a step up from the old Catapult, being a neat-looking phlogiston-powered steam-cannon compared to a traditional old catapult. As for the Night Elf Glaive Thrower, it's basically change of ammo for what is essentially the same device - just, instead of large arrows, they now shoot glaive-thingies like the ones used by Huntresses.

!! '''Naga are snake-men. The males have two arms. Females have four. WTF?'''
* Snake-people ''created by [[AWizardDidIt the Well of Eternity]] exploding''. Reality need not apply.
* Men are deliberately engineered to be little more than DumbMuscle. It's an incredibly matriarchal society; male Naga actually find Night Elf women terrifying because of the similarities to Naga females.

!! '''In the last mission of ''Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos'', why doesn't Archimonde just plow through the bases? He's certainly strong enough, what with his divine armor. Instead he waits until Furion is almost done implementing his plan.'''
* He's a freaking demon lord, he loves destruction and chaos. He destroyed Dalaran just ForTheEvulz. He probably just wanted to murder every mortal(and immortal) being who tried to oppose him before going and taking the tree. His dialogue throughout the mission made it seem as if he was challenging the Night Elves to try and put up a fight that could actually prove a threat to him. When they didn't, and their allies were overrun, I guess he just got bored and finally decided to walk up to the gate. Of course, by the time this happens, there's only 40 seconds left on the timer, and it doesn't take a whole lot of distraction to keep him away from the gate until the timer runs out and you win.

*** After messing around in the map editor, and experimenting with Divine Armour, I realize why they didn't let Archimonde plow through your base until the end: It would be impossible to stop him. The last level is supposed to be NintendoHard, not impossible and having Archimonde take a more aggresive stance would have made the level completely impossible. Story wise, the above point makes sense. Gameplay wise, only the playing with the Warsong Clan (after drinking the blood of Mannaroth) would make that level even winnable.

!!'''Why is it emphasized that Warlocks are former Mages or Shamans who have turned to Fel magic in an ever-greater thirst for power? How exactly is Fel magic supposed to be any more powerful than regular Arcane or Shamanistic magic? Gameplay-wise, a Warlock is not really stronger than a Mage of the same level, just somewhat different, but lore-wise, they seem to be hyped up to be more powerful somehow. Is this just another case of GameplayAndStorySegregation, or is it just a (false) perception of in-world characters that sacrificing their soul to demons will yield them more powerful magic than just following the regular Arcane(or Shamanistic, or whatever) path?'''

The Latter.
* Demons make a lot of empty promises.
* Lorevise, Fel is described as being more powerful than Arcane, atleast if you go all the way and start drinking demon blood (which is basicly concentrated Fel). Playable warlocks don't do that, however, probably because they're supposed to be using the power of the demons against them, instead of serving the Legion (drinking demonic blood is pretty much quaranteed to make you a slave for the demons. The stuff is really addictive!).

*** That's akin to an adrenaline shot, rather than demonic drugs.
* One of the novels explains that fel magic isn't inherently ''stronger'' than arcane or nature magics, but is a hell of a lot ''easier''. Warlocks of considerable power can be practically mass produced, where as arcane magic requires decades of study and shamanism requires spiritual devotion and is, in the end, left partly to the whim of the elements themselves.

!!'''After [[spoiler: Bolvar becomes the new Lich King]], why doesn't he order the undead of the Scourge to go jump into a volcano or slaughter each other? I take it most (if not all) of them are supposed to be mindless and unquestioning slaves to Lk, aren't they?'''
* Because [[spoiler: the whole thing about there having to be a Lich King to keep the undead in check was only invented as a excuse to keep the Lich King and the Scourge around as major characters within the lore even with Arthas dead. Having Bolvar just have the undead jump into a volcano or let the dead guys slaughter each other would be bad for the lore.]]

* It's established that with stuff like Fel and Arcane magic, the more you use it the more addictive and hard to control it becomes. It's possible [[spoiler:Bolvar doesn't want to do anything involving the power of the Lich King for risk of falling down a slippery slope. Or, he just doesn't know how to control them. The helmet of the Lich King never came with an instruction manual, you know.]]
* This bugged me too, my guess would be that there's a RestrainingBolt that prevents the Lich King from actively sabotaging the Scourge otherwise there are plenty of ways you could do it it even if issuing a mass suicide command wasn't an option. And I'd assume that this would also extend to preventing the Scourge from attacking the Legion which would explain why they always had to manipulate people into killing Dreadlords for them

!! '''Oil. In ''Warcraft 2''. What's it for? It makes sense for the Submarines, but the Destroyers and Battleships/Juggernaughts are all sailing ships. Are the sails just decorative, and there's really some type of Gnomish engine in all those vessels?'''

* There actually might be. In RealLife, many early steamships had sails too, in case of engine failure, wiith less ships having both as engines got more reliable.
* It's a component in the insulation used to waterproof the ships.
!! Why did Furion change his name to 'Mal''furion in The Frozen Throne? Legal reasons?
* The '''Reign of Chaos''' manual lists his name as Malfurion, so Furion was just a nickname he used until he was ascended to the position of All High Magician of the Purple People. Imagine a prince named Eddy being crowned king; he'd be known as King Edward from then on.

!! '''How do Illidan and Vashj know about Outland in the Frozen Throne expansion?'''
* Illidan perhaps is perhaps partially excusable, as he had absorbed the Skul of Gul'dan's memories, but even than those memories would not have included anything about Draenor after the explosion. Vashj, Illidan, and Maiev's orc knowledge also seems a bit strange, as they would only have known about orcs for presumably a few months at most, with maiev presumably busy with other activities, and Illidan and Vashj would have been on the run without any method for contwcting orcs. It certainly would not be enough time for, say, Maiev to learn orc writing, or for Illidan and Vashj to learn orc history.

!! '''If the Oracle in ''Warcraft 3'' is Medivh, where did the Tauren "legends" come from?'''
* Medivh is quite young, whereas Cairne describes the legends in a way that makes them sound quite old.
** Medivh ''wasn't'' the Oracle, though. He said so when Thrall reached him; the Oracle was probably further back in the cave, hiding behind the wall Medivh was stanidng in front of or something.
*** What was said was "You're no Oravle, youre the prophet", "Very perceptive, Son of Durotan, I am the prophet", whic hisn't so much a denial of being the orcale as a confirmation of being the prophet Thrall had bee speaking too. However even if the oracle is a completely separate being not associated with Medivh, that still brings up the oddity of how he was able to just take over the location with no clues of what the previous oracle was, where it is now, and if the oracle is still there, why it doesn't communicate at all with any of the orcs or humans.
*** They're only Tauren ''legends'', who says there even is an Oracle?

!!'''When Murlocks captured Thrall and his warriors, why did they think letting their prisoners keep their weapons was a good idea?'''
* That tribe in Borean Tundra aside, murlocs aren't known for their intelligence.

!!''Why does everyone think Sylvanas is crossing a moral event horizon because She is making more undead?''
* People it's pretty much a fact that the NPC characters in this game don't get to go to a spirit healer to come back to life after they are killed, and most don't get rezzed by spells (well most don't), and the Val'kyr aparantly die if they bring back an undead from the dead. Now think about this for the forsaken perspective. They have NO way to reproduce naturally, their warriors that die in battle stay dead, and if they continue to loose people, soon the forsaken race dies out. The only way for her to keep her race alive is to use the Val'kyr. And yes she brings people back to life after the kill them, but most were combatants attacking the forsaken. Yes I will admit, there were those refugee's but they were in a place where if they got a hold and was able to build up strength, they could be a bigger thorn in her side alive than dead and on her team. And we see that it did happen, those refugees became Worgen, and started to attack the Forsaken as well. All I see is a Woman that want's her race to survive, and is doing the only thing she can think of to keep it alive.

##Many of them, including Forsaken player characters, were already dead before the Valkyr raised them out of their grave.
## Not all of them are sentient or free willed; see the ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' Headscratchers page for more on which ones were and were not.
## Thrall initially allowed the Forsaken into the Horde only because the Earthen Ring wanted to work on a way to cure undeath, which many, Sylvanas included, see as a form of torment. Now, they're planning to inflict this fate on other people, and have presumably given up on returning to normal themselves.

*** Gilneas was pretty much the result of ''Garrosh'' randomly deciding he wants a port and essentially using the Forsaken as cannon fodder, leading them to either use the weapons they have available to them or get killed - and they still incurr major losses. The revamped starting area quests make it very clear that they really do give the 'new recruits' a choice (for example, some random [=NPC=]s are allowed to just walk away) and put those who'd prefer to stay dead out of their misery. They used to see their situation as a curse, but they'd had many years to come to terms with their situation and came to see it more as a second chance that's not per se a bad thing to share.

!!'''What's the point of Symphony of Frost and Flame?'''
* Controlling the four obelisks opens the door to the Lich King. When you beat the mission Illidan is waiting for Arthas they have a fight, Arthas wins and goes in to become one with the Lich King. That's all well and good, but the problem is that Illidan wanted the obelisks for the exact same reason Arthas did to open the door... In theory couldn't Arthas have just set up camp outside the magical door, let Illidan control the four obelisks, use them to open the door and then either go straight to the Lich King or attack Illidan when he shows up?

*** This. Lorewise, Illidan or Arthas would have to fight through the majority of the other person's army to seize all four Obelisks, and they would also logically hold the entire outer ring around Icecrown Glacier. Arthas can take Illidan just fine in a one on one fight, but he wouldn't be able to do much if he were busy getting dogpiled by Myrmidons.
*** Then take two obelisks, let Illidan have the other two, and have your guys beat the crap out of his guys while you do the same to him.
**** That's pretty much what you do in the mission.

*** Having control of when the door opens means that you will fight for the door solely when you want to, if Illidan had camped out by the door with his whole army Arthas would have just kept the door shut. Thus, the only way to break in at that point is for the Illidari to be far enough away that Arthas feels safe enough to open the door on his own, then attack with a powerful, fast moving strike. Like, say, the talented sorcerer, Demonically empowered, flying guy making straight for the gate, who happens to run into Arthas who was likely planning to dart inside and slam it shut again.

!!"Why did the Legion not just steal the tome of Medivh or have Medivh summon the Legion into the world? Why bother with destroying the humans who know jackshit about them?"
* Considering that the Legion fell largely because the Horde (the weapon meant to destroy humankind) turned on them and worked with the humans (who only fought the legion due to the horde and weren't really a threat.) If they had just stolen the tome of Medivh and sent the horde to Kalimdor, wouldn't they have had an army to attack the Night Elves, steal the tree of life's power and usher in Armageddon?

* The Horde was Kil'jaedan's baby, maybe he wanted to see how effective they would be. Consider that by the end of the war with the Legion Archimonde is dead and Sargeras is banished and largely powerless, leaving Kil'jaedan as the most powerful demon lord in existence and undisputed master of the Burning Legion. Not conquering some mudball is a worthy sacrifice.

!!"How did Rexxar get to Kalimdor?"
He's a loner who stays far from civilization. Where did he get a boat? How did he know about Kalimdor?
* The same way all of the ogres in Feralas, Tanaris, and Dustwallow Marsh did, probably. I bet he came with them.
* Alternatively, wander up the Eastern Kingdoms to Lordaeron, sail north to Nothrend, wander around Northrend's southern coast, sail to Kalimdor from Borean Tundra. Could probably be done with a small, one man craft and a lot of luck, especially if the man was trying to avoid civilization. Kalimdor wasn't completely unknown by people in the eastern kingdoms, plenty of scholars knew about or suspected it's existence, and the goblins knew about it(Kezan is significantly closer to Kalimdor than it is to the Eastern Kingdoms). But most of the common people didn't know about it, likely considering tails of a far off land to be just that, tales. Rexxar's a guy who came from another ''planet'', so he's less likely to be skeptical about stories of another continent, and if he heard it was almost completely devoid of civilization and overflowing with wild animals, that would sound like the damn promised land to him.

!!"How did Deathwing know what Rhonin was doing?"
While I get the whole of Deathwing's plan in "Day of the Dragon", how did he know about the mission Rhonin was on? The book doesn't offer an explanation, just that he knew. Rhonin does even ask how he knew.

!!Why was the Footman in the ''Warcraft III'' trailer wielding what looks like an executioner's sword?
This is the trailer that shows the Footman fighting the Orc Grunt before an Infernal arrives and kills them both. The sword seems to have a blunt, flat tip. I know of no reason to design a sword meant for real combat like this.

*** The same footman is seen in a later cinematic leading an Alliance force against an army of Orcs and his sword is both longer and tapered. So yeah the end of his sword was broken off in the battle.

!!Why did Ner'Zhul wait so long to merge with Arthas? He could have called Arthas back to Northrend after the latter told Illidan about the Skull of Gul'dan. When Illidan eventually invades Northrend when the Eye of Gul'dan plan fails he'd have to deal with a Lich King who happens to have a strong body.
* Probably wanted his best general to stay out in the field to keep things running properly. Ner'Zhul didn't have a particularly pressing reason to call Arthas back until Illidan arrived in Northrend with an army of fish and elves. He may have wanted to wait until he was sure the outlying fortifications were under control before pulling Arthas out.
* Also, possibly to avoid what happens when [[spoiler:Arthas finishes his BattleInsideTheMind and absorbs Ner'Zhul.]] If Ner'Zhul was aware that was possible, he might have only fused as a last resort measure to keep from losing his powers altogether.

!!"Why did Prince Kael and blood elves joined Garithos' forces instead of remnants of the Silver Hand?"
The first mission of undead expansion campaing titled "King Arthas", which takes place after Blood Elf Campaing, features Arthas and his forces fighting against remnants of the Silver Hand, which consisted of paladins, human, dwarven and ''high elven'' forces. First off, there is no indication that these remnants have any connection to Garithos's forces and it seems that this was seperate group from Garithos's troops (existence of elven forces prove this). Second, it seems that the Silver Hand remnats were near the Lordaeron palace gardens for some time, before Arthas had returned. So why Kael and his forces didn't join this group after the destruction of Quel'thalas and instead went to assist Garithos? These remnants were not just some ordinary survivors, these were the Knights of the Silver Hand, the finest warriors of Lordearon Kingdom who specialized in Holy Light. It would have made a lot more sense if Kael went to joined a group of refugees that consisted of King Terenas' strongest warriors and high elven survivors, instead of some random survivors. Kael could have even joined Daelin Proudmoore, assuming that Kul'Tiras hadn't sailed for Kalimdor yet. If Kael had joined the Silver Hand remnats, things would have turned out differently (Blood Elves wouldn't be forced to go to the Outland, would have stayed loyal to the Alliance and would decently hold out against the undead)
* They went to Dalaran because that was the member of the Alliance they had the strongest ties to. When they got there they didn't have the luxury of bailing the war effort just because they didn't like their commander.

!!In "Twilight of Gods" why couldn't Archimonde just destroy all the bases the same way he destroyed Dalaran?
* Real reason? Because then we wouldn't have a level. Plausible in-universe reason? He's being arrogant and lazy, letting the Scourge do all the work while he watches. When he levels the bases himself it's because he's lst his patience and is trying to speed things along.

!!If Kil'jaeden couldn't just up and enter Azeroth, why was Illidan so afraid of his wrath that he decided to flee to the Outworld? I presume the demon lord didn't appear to him in person when he hired him to kill the Lich King, but rather as some kind of illusion (which still burn the ground with its hooves so I don't really know), did he?

!!If the Forsaken broke free from the Lich King's control after he was wounded by Illidan, then wouldn't Arthas merging with him reinstate that control? How could the Forsaken remain free willed?
* According to the RPG, that was happening. Some of the Forsaken were gradually being subverted back into the Lich King's control, with their fellows often killing them before they could slip too far.

!!The Undead Meat Wagon. How can a flimsy catapult that throws ''corpses'' deal more damage to buildings then a mortar or glaive thrower?

!!Sylvanas hasn't stopped to care for the Blood Elves at all
While Lor'Themar interprets her actions this way, she speaks about "getting rid of their common foe" and devotes some words to her fallen people when she hears of Arthas' death. She simply is, like she has ''always'' been, a RevengeBeforeReason person who might lose sight of preserving what's left over paying their enemies back, while his priorities are very different. She only threatened to withdraw her forces because she knew he'd never let that happen/ as a way to strongarm him into doing what she wants him to do. From her PoV, she probably she's probably just bossing him around like back when he was still her second-in-command.

!!How was Arthas able to beat Illidan ?
So, Arthas has frostmourne (a cursed sword), is a death knight and the remaining power of Ner'Zul, the ghost of an orcs shaman.
Illidan has the blades of Azinoth (wich seem quite powerful on their own), is an half-demon, has power granted by ''motherfucking'' KIL'JAEDEN, absorbed the power of the skull of Gul'Dan and of the Eye of Sargeras.
How could he lose against a (powerful but still) human?
* Illidan never drew power from the Eye or got any from Kil'jaeden. And even if he had, much of his ability comes from his sorcery, whereas Arthas was more a physical fighter with some magic skills. Since their duel was a straight sword fight, it's not surprising Arthas came out ahead.

* For the entirety of the final mission the Lich King was putting all of his remaining power into Arthas and the forces around Icecrown. Arthas was as powerful at this point as he had ever been.

* Illidan never drew power from the Eye or got any from Kil'jaeden. And even if he had, much of his ability comes from his sorcery, whereas Arthas was more a physical fighter with some magic skills. Since their duel was a straight sword fight, it's not surprising Arthas came out ahead.

* In Warcraft 3 blame in on game mechanics. Death Knights were alive as Paladins were once said to be immune to the plague of undeath. Acolytes in [=WoW=] and that they were hiding as humans in [=WC3=] seem to suggest being alive. At least Kel'thuzard was alive while just a necromancer.

* If Arthas or any other person skilled in the art of controlling the dead used their vast Necormantic power could they make their own Thriller video?
** Heck, he could even produce his own Main/ZombieApocalypse movie, for all we know!
** Arthas ''already'' has his own rock video. Or have we forgotten the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUgNBTLLvro bonus credits]] for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne?

**** [[Main/TheKhan BLIZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!]]

** I always just assumed they buy it from the unseen civilians. Of course, noramlly you would do the same with wood (and oil, unless that's a resource limited exclusively to military use). Also, why would the military need to run its own farms? Couldn't they buy food?
** I like the WoWinsider podcast's reasoning with the World of Warcraft world - the world the players ''play'' in is just a smaller "model" version of the "real" World of Warcraft world. That is, the Stormwind or Orgrimmar you see in game is just a smaller version of the city itself, its not the city that the [=NPC=]s themselves see, if that makes sense.

*** He's not actually that bad, beyond the frankly depressing character model and that Warcrafts over-arching story writers suck at characterization (while some of the quest writers are amazing), he's one of the more well rounded alliance leaders. What do we know about Gelbin Mekkatorque? I get the feeling that certain members of the Warcraft writing team have a massive stiffy for the horde, which means that the alliance get pretty neglected. This may or may not be reveresed in game balance terms, depending on who you listen to.

* 17,000 seems like a fairly small number for the population of a capital city. Considering that 50,000 people died in the war against the Lich King on the Alliance side (5,000 at the Wrathgate), and this was a catastrophic death toll, it seems as though population figures as a whole may be fairly small in the World of Warcraft universe.

* According to the manuals of Warcraft 1 and 2, the Orcs wiped out the Draenei.

** I'll accept everything else, but "after the end of the Second War"? But isn't Grom an unit in Warcraft 2?

** Why is it, then, that in ''WarCraft III'' standard green Orcs got '''red''' skin when they became corrupted? And then turned back to green again when they got back to normal? Apparently red is to green as green is to brown. Which seems odd to this troper.

!!'''Why is it that the farms in ''WarCraft III'' don't, you know, grow any crops? A single "farm" consists of a cottage, and that's it. No field, not even a tiny garden. Which creates strange situations in which players will build dozens of "farms" whithin a few feet of each other.'''

!!'''In Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, in the eighth mission of the Human campaign, Arthas burns his ships so that his army can't return home until after they beat Mal'ganis. So once they beat Mal'ganis, how exactly did Arthas and co. return to Lordaeron? The game never explicitly covered this point...'''

!! '''In the last mission of Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, why doesn't Archimonde just plow through the bases? He's certainly strong enough, what with his divine armor. Instead he waits until Furion is almost done implementing his plan.'''

!! '''If the Oracle in Warcraft 3 is Medivh, where did the Tauren "legends" come from?'''

## Not all of them are sentient or free willed; see the WorldOfWarcraft Headscratchers page for more on which ones were and were not.

!!Why was the Footman in the Warcraft III trailer wielding what looks like an executioner's sword?

How could he lose against a (powerful but still) human?

* It's... A little complicated. The green skin of the Orcs came about due to the demonic corruption. In ''Rise of the Horde'' it was noted that the skin of most Orcs (including those of Durotan, father of Thrall, and his mate, who had resisted the growing bloodlust among the clans) began flaking green as the Horde unified and began its assault on the Draenei, due to contact with warlock magic. When the Horde finally accepted the blood of Mannaroth, become almost completely corrupted, their skin became fully green - Even those that ''had'' refused or had been prohibited the blood (The entire Frostwolf clan, for instance; and Orgrim Doomhammer, Griselda Blackhand and even Ner'zhul), but a portion of the Orcish population somehow avoided the skin change (Greatmother Geyah, for one). Another thing to note is that Grom was ''not'' among the first to go through the Dark Portal, his Warsong clan was one of those ordered to remain behind on Draenor while the Frostwolf were part of the initial invasion (and were exiled before the end of the First War, which was when Thrall was born). Grom and the Warsong never went through the Dark Portal until ''after'' the end of the Second War, as part of a diversionary assault on Nethergarde Keep and defence of the Dark Portal while the Death Knights collected the relics necessary to open more portals. Garrosh is likely to be (if only slightly) younger than Thrall, and was by all accounts born a sickly child. This probably is what prevented the corruption from setting in, as he's found with the rest of the uncorrupted Orcs in Garadar, former home of the Frostwolf clan and the main village of the Mag'har. The novelisation of ''Beyond the Dark Portal'' states that Garadar was a refuge for the ill and frail Orcs that were generally considered unfit or unwilling to join the Horde. As for ''how'' they avoided the corruption... Eh, it's not really specified how. The corruption affected parents but not children (Garrosh Hellscream, Jorin Deadeye, Saurfang the Younger), skipped generations, or even spread to Orcs that did resist (Frostwolves), but probably had something to do with a disease that was going around the Orcs called the Red Pox, which could prevent corruption but leaving the sufferer extremely frail.

While Lor'Themar interprets her actions this way, she speaks about "getting rid of their common foe" and devotes some words to her fallen people when she hears of Arthas' death. She simply is, like she has ''always'' been, a RevengeBeforeReason person who might lose sight of preserving what's left over paying their enemies back, while his priorities are very different. She only threatened to withdraw her forces because she knew he'd never let that happen/ as a way to strongarm him into doing what she wants him to do. From her PoV, she probably she's probably just bossing him around like back when he was still her second-in-command.

* Besides which, the technology of the races HAS been advancing over that last few expansions. For example, when WoW was first released, the Horde made use of simple catapults, barley-armored infantry, spear throwers, and wooden fortifications. Fast-forward to Wrath, where they are shown to be using Demolishers and Steam Tanks, fully-armored soldiers, gunmen, and metal-and-stone fortifications. not to mention that their battle tactics of "Zerg the enemy" has fallen out of favor for organized battles, sieges, and mechanized warfare. A good example of these changes can be seen in Warsong Hold, particularly in the conversation between Saurfang and Garrosh, where we have Saurfang (who represents the technological advancement of the Horde) lecturing Garrosh (representing the zerg-and-destroy mentality of the older Horde) on the finer points of having clear supply lines. It can be found [[http://www.wowwiki.com/Varok_Saurfang#Dialogue_with_Garrosh_in_Warsong_Hold here]]

** I like the WoWinsider podcast's reasoning with the World of Warcraft world - the world the players ''play'' in is just a smaller "model" version of the "real" World of Warcraft world. That is, the Stormwind or Orgrimmar you see in game is just a smaller version of the city itself, its not the city that the [=NPCs=] themselves see, if that makes sense.

*** Gilneas was pretty much the result of ''Garrosh'' randomly deciding he wants a port and essentially using the Forsaken as cannon fodder, leading them to either use the weapons they have available to them or get killed - and they still incurr major losses. The revamped starting area quests make it very clear that they really do give the 'new recruits' a choice (for example, some random NPCs are allowed to just walk away) and put those who'd prefer to stay dead out of their misery. They used to see their situation as a curse, but they'd had many years to come to terms with their situation and came to see it more as a second chance that's not per se a bad thing to share.

!! "Who created the demons originally?"

!!Sylvanas hasn't stopped to care for the Blood Elves at all!!

!!The Undead Meat Wagon. How can a flimsy catapult that throws ''corpses'' deal more damage to buildings then a mortar or glaive thrower?

* Controlling the four obelisks opens the door to the Litch King. When you beat the mission Illidan is waiting for Arthas they have a fight, Arthas wins and goes in to become one with the Lich King. That's all well and good, but the problem is that Illidan wanted the obelisks for the exact same reason Arthas did to open the door... In theory couldn't Arthas have just set up camp outside the magical door, let Illidan control the four obelisks, use them to open the door and then either go straight to the Lich King or attack Illidan when he shows up?

!!In Cataclysm, Why the the freshly raised forsaken are loyal to Sylvanas?
Especially since most of those who were revived were Alliance's members or Scarlet Crusade's members.

The first mission of undead expansion campaing titled "King Arthas", which takes place after Blood Elf Campaing, features Arthas and his forces fighting against remnants of the Silver Hand, which consisted of paladins, human, dwarven and ''high elven'' forces. First off, there is no indication that these remnants have any connection to Garithos's forces and it seems that this was seperate group from Garithos's troops (existence of elven forces prove this). Second, it seems that the Silver Hand remnats were near the Lordaeron palace gardens for some time, before Arthas had returned. So why Kael and his forces didn't join this group after the destruction of Quel'thalas and instead went to assist Garithos? These remnants were not just some ordinary survivors, these were the Knights of the Silver Hand, the finest warriors of Lordearon Kingdom who specialized in Holy Light. It would have made a lot more sense if Kael went to joined a group of refugees that consisted of King Terenas' strongest warriors and high elven survivors, instead of some random survivors. Kael could have even joined Daelin Proudmoore, assuming that Kul'Tiras hadn't sailed for Kalimdor yet. If Kael had joined the Silver Hand remnats, things would have turned out differently (Blood Elves wouldn't be forced to go to the Outland, would have stayed loyal to the Alliance and would decently hold out against the undead)

** Nibblet is an [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Animagus]] who got lost in [[HarryPotter the wrong universe]]. Good an explanation as any.

The first mission of undead expansion campaing titled "King Arthas", which takes place after Blood Elf Campaing, features Arthas and his forces fighting against remnants of the Silver Hand, which consisted of paladins, human, dwarven and ''high elven'' forces. First off, there is no indication that these remnants have any connection to Garithos's forces and it seems that this was seperate group from Garithos's troops (existence of elven forces prove this). Second, it seems that the Silver Hand remnats were near the Lordaeron palace gardens for some time, before Arthas had returned. So why Kael and his forces didn't join this group after the destruction of Quel'thalas and instead went to assist Garithos? These remnants were not just some ordinary survivors, these were the Knights of the Silver Hand, the finest warriors of Lordearon Kingdom who specialized in Holy Light. It would have made a lot more sense if Kael went to joined a group of refugees that consisted of King Terenas' strongest warriors and high elven survivors, instead of some random survivors. Kael could have even joined Daelin Proudmoore, assuming that Kul'Tiras hadn't sailed for Kalimdor yet. If Kael had joined the Silver Hand remnats, things would have turned out differently.

----

* Controlling the four obelisks opens the door to the Litch King. When you beat the mission Illidan is waiting for Arthas they have a fight, Arthas wins and goes in to become one with the Lich King. That's all well and good, but the problem is that Illidan wanted the obelisks for the exact same reason Arthas did to open the door... In theory couldn't Arthas have just set up camp outside the magical door, let Illidan control the four obelisks, use them to open the door and then either go straight to the Litch King or attack Illidan when he shows up?