History Main / TheLastGuardian

* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'': A video game by [[VideoGame/TeamIcoSeries Team Ico]] about a boy who is trying to escape from the ruins of a castle aided by a baby griffin named Trico, set in the same universe ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' and ''{{ICO}}''.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'': A video game by [[TeamIcoSeries Team Ico]] about a boy who is trying to escape from the ruins of a castle aided by a baby griffin named Trico, set in the same universe ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' and ''{{ICO}}''.

* ''Literature/WarcraftTheLastGuardian'': A tie-in book to ''{{Warcraft}}'' III, and one of the original three novels which started the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'': A video game by [[TeamIcoSeries Team Ico]] about a boy who is trying to escape from the ruins of a castle aided by a baby griffin named Trico, set in the same universe ''ShadowOfTheColossus'' and ''{{ICO}}''.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'': A video game by [[TeamIcoSeries Team Ico]] about a boy who is trying to escape from seemingly ruins of a castle, aided by a baby griffin named Trico, set in the same universe ShadowOfTheColossus and {{Ico}}.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'': A video game by [[TeamIcoSeries Team Ico]] about a boy who is trying to escape from seemingly ruins of a castle, aided by a baby griffin named Trico, set in hte same universe ShadowOfTheColossus and {{Ico}}.

* ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'': A video game by TeamIco about a boy who is trying to escape from seemingly ruins of a castle, aided by a baby griffin named Trico, set in hte same universe ShadowOfTheColossus and {{Ico}}.

If you're looking for the third work in the TeamIcoSeries, you can find that at Videogames/TheLastGuardian. If you're looking for the ''{{Warcraft}}'' novel, read on.

''{{Warcraft}}: The Last Guardian'' is a tie-in novel to BlizzardEntertainment's ''{{Warcraft}} III: Reign of Chaos''. It is the closest thing to a retelling of the first game of the franchise, ''{{Warcraft}}: Orcs and Humans'', that there is.

The story stars Khadgar, a young mage from the [[TheMagocracy magocratic]] city-state of Dalaran, who is chosen to be the apprentice of Medivh, the greatest wizard of the known world. After arriving to the eccentric magus' home tower of Karazhan, Khadgar is given the impossible task of... cleaning the library. Dozens of apprentice candidates have failed, but the young man does indeed succeed.

Soon after Khadgar finds out that Karazhan is built in a location where the time and space are bent, causing people within to occasionally see visions of the past and future. Furthermore, the Magus himself seems odd, leaving the tower for months at a time with no warning and then falling asleep for weeks after returning.

Just to make Khadgar's life more interesting, the Kingdom of [[strike:Azeroth]] Stormwind, wherein Medivh's home is located, is beset by [[TheHorde green monsters called orcs]], whom no one has ever before seen. The barbarians strike from the eastern marshes of the Black Morass with increasing severity, only kept at bay by the King's champion Anduin Lothar, with whom the young mage becomes friends during a visit to the capital of Stormwind.

One day, an ambassador of the orcs named Garona, who is in fact half [[strike:human]] [[strike:Draenor human]] Draenei, arrives to Karazhan. Despite Khadgar's hostile initial reaction, the two quickly become friends and begin to unravel a mysterious plot to kill powerful wizards, make the orcs win the war and unlock the body of the demon-lord Sargeras, which had been sealed in the bottom of the ocean by Medivh's mother.

After almost a decade, the book got a kind of a sequel, called TidesOfDarkness, which retells the events of [=WC2=].

One of the original three novels which started the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.

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This book contains the following tropes:

* ActionGirl: Garona.
* TheAragorn: Lothar.
* AtLeastIAdmitIt:
--> '''Garona:''' "In your histories, there are continual justifications for all manner of hellish actions. Claims of nobility and heritage and honor to cover up every bit of genocide, assassination, and massacre. At least the Horde is honest in their naked lust for power."
* BadassBookworm: Khadgar.
* CoolOldGuy: Lothar.
* EvilMentor: [[spoiler: Medivh]]
* EvilSoundsDeep: [[spoiler: This is how you know Sargeras is in control]]
* EvilSorcerer: [[spoiler: Medivh]]
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Medivh lives in one of these.
* FanPreferredCouple: When Garona was first announced to have a son with magical potential, many fans assumed the father would be Khadgar.
* ForegoneConclusion: When the book was released (before [=WC3=]) anyone who had played the original game knew that [[spoiler: Medivh is evil.]] Nowadays, anyone and their mother knows that [[spoiler:Medivh is possessed by the soul of Sargeras, the Dark Titan, and is killed by his friends.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Medivh makes a very brief mention of the Kaldorei. The book was released before Warcraft III.
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Garona.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Garona's life is treated as a fairly typical example of this trope with all the loneliness and outcast status that it implies.
* TheHorde
* TheIgor
* JustFriends: Garona and Khadgar's relationship.
* TheKingdom: Retconned into being Stormwind when it was originally Azeroth.
** Not retconned, it offically, if quietly, changed its name from Azeroth to Stormwind.
* MeaningfulName: Medivh won't quit calling Khadgar "young Trust" because his name is Dwarven for trust.
* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler: Medivh is so powerful in his will that it requires Sargeras to convince him that he's breaking the cycle to finally get him to give into his evil plans.]]
* RageAgainstTheMentor: Khadgar's version is quite even handed upon the discovery that [[spoiler: Medivh unleashed the orcs on Azeroth.]]
* SorcerersApprenticePlot: In this case, it's Khadgar getting a vision from messing with the tower's weird properties.
* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler: Medivh recruits Khadgar and Garona to serve as a spanner in Sargeras' plan.]]
* UpgradeArtifact: Medivh has a spell that teaches Khadgar how to ride a gryphon.
* YourMileageMayVary: Most fans consider ''The Last Guardian'' either the best or the worst book in the expanded universe. On the good side of things, it feels like something original rather than just a book assignment to explain parts of the story. On the bad side, it has some continuity errors and has a lot less to do with the franchise than other books.
* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Sargeras allows his avatar to be destroyed by Aegwynn so he can reincarnate himself in her unborn baby. Then he proceeds to open a gateway to Draenor and release the Orc horde on the world]].
** Turned into a full-blown XanatosRoulette in ''RiseOfTheHorde'', where it is retconned that [[spoiler: the Horde were created entirely separately and their mere existence was total coincidence and had nothing to do with Sargeras' plan]].
** The demon who [[spoiler: devised the Horde's corruption was Kil'jaeden, the direct right-hand of Sargeras himself. ''RiseOfTheHorde'' only implies that he had ulterior motives for creating the Horde beside their military power]].
* WaxOnWaxOff: Khadgar's first task is to clean Medivh's library.
* WizardingSchool: In the flashbacks, Khadgar's days in the magic academy at Dalaran are highly reminiscent HarryPotter's misadventures at Hogwarts.

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<<|WarcraftExpandedUniverse|>>

* SorcerersApprentice: In this case, it's Khadgar getting a vision from the tower's weird properties.

If you're looking for the third work in the TeamIcoSeries, sorry, it does not exist... yet. If you're looking for the ''{{Warcraft}}'' novel, read on.

* Foreshadowing: Medivh makes a very brief mention of the Kaldorei. The book was released before Warcraft III.