Line #22 Literature/WorldOfWarcraftChronicle


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/worldofwarcraftcrv1.jpg]]
2
3	''World of Warcraft: Chronicle'' is a three volume book series that covers the history of the the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe. It covers the events from the creation of the universe all the way to ''Cataclysm''. The books act much like an illustrated series bible for the franchise, taking the vast lore of ''Warcraft'' and condensing it into three easy to reference books, as well as updating and changing plot points to better fit into the game's current story.
4
5	The first volume was released March 15, 2016, the second volume came out March 14, 2017, and the third volume was released in March 27, 2018. While it was originally stated that the book series was going to end after three volumes, Matt Burns, senior writer for ''Warcraft'', has hinted that there may be more volumes planned.
6	----
7	!!This series contains the following tropes:
8	* AdaptationalBadass: Originally, after the death of her husband, Moira disappeared from the story until her attempted takeover of Ironforge. In the new canon, she and Dagran plotted to free the Dark Iron dwarves from Ragnaros's control and she continued these plans after his death, manipulating events and adventurers in order to banish Ragnaros back to the Elemental Plane.
9	* AdaptationDistillation: The new history mixes together Warcraft's original lore, the [[Film/WarCraft movie]] (in spite of the movie's world having its own separate {{continuity}}), and the ''Warlord of Draenor'' expansion.
10	** Gul'dan's new backstory mixes together his origin presented in ''Harbingers'' with his original backstory. Also the way he and Medivh opened the Dark Portal is changed to resemble that of the film.
11	** Queen Taria is made canon, and is one of the casualties of Stormwind's fall.
12	** Blackhand's official design looks almost exactly like that of his film incarnation. The designs of Orgrim Doomhammer and Grommash Hellscream also resemble their film designs, albeit with different skin colors as Orgrim turned green due to fel exposure and Grommash turn red after drinking Mannoroth's blood a second time.
13	** It's revealed that Medivh regularly threw parties at Karazhan for Stormwind's nobles, which matches ''Hearthstone'''s interpretation of the character and explains where the ghosts in Karazhan came from.
14	** ''Chronicles 3'' incorporates the majority of the revisions made to the ''Warcraft 3'' story from ''Arthas: Rise of the Lich King'', such as Arthas using Frostmourne to freeze the ocean separating the Sunwell from the mainland, and Uther nearly defeating Arthas due to his superior skill and the power of the Light.
15	* AdaptationExpansion:
16	** We get the full histories of almost all of the various planets, species and civilizations introduced in the franchise. This especially applies to Draenor, whose backstory before the games only spanned a few decades until ''Volume II'' expanded that into tens of millennia.
17	** It's explained that the reason the other human kingdoms didn't help Stormwind in the First War is because the city was very isolationist, And when they tried to ask for assistance, the other kingdoms don't believe their claims of the Orcish invasion, with Deathwing, disguised as Lord Prestor, convincing them that it was just a rebel uprising.
18	** It's revealed that the Dragonmaw clan's name had a different pronunciation and meaning in the Orcish tongue, explaining how the clan got its name before they first encountered dragons on Azeroth.
19	** The reason the Warsong and Shattered Hand clans didn't assist in the Horde's conquest of Azeroth was because they were too consumed by bloodlust at the time and were considered to be far more dangerous than helpful.
20	** Aiden Perenolde was now driven mad by Deathwing before his attempt to takeover Alterac and gain influence in the Alliance. This explains how Perenolde went from a cowardly traitor to a murderous lunatic who pointlessly requested that Gorefiend kill the Alliance soldiers stationed in Alterac in exchange for the Book of Medivh.
21	** Orgrim Doomhammer hunted down and killed the traitorous guards who murdered Durotan and Draka before they could report back to Gul'dan, which is why the warlock didn't try to have Doomhammer assassinated as well.
22	** How Medivh came back to life was something that was not elaborated on in ''Warcraft 3''. Here, its explained that Aegwynn was contacted by the spirit of Medivh after he learned of the Burning Legion's plan to create the Scourge. Though initially reluctant, she used most of her remaining powers to bring him to life long enough to set in motion the survival of the Alliance, Horde, and Night Elves, and the defeat of the Burning Legion's second invasion.
23	* AdaptationalHeroism:
24	** Originally, Aegwynn manipulated Nielas into thinking she was in love with him in order to get pregnant, after which she cruelly rejected his advances. In the new canon, she and Nielas legitimately fell in love with each other and Nielas was aware of her plan to empower their son from the beginning.
25	** Kael'Thas is written as a far more heroic and tragic figure than ''Warcraft 3'' portrayed him as. In ''Chronicle'', he is shown to be something of an outcast to his people because he wasn't there during the siege of Quel'Thalas, yet he still returns to lead his people despite this. Furthermore, he is shown to be no different from Arthas during the original ''Warcraft 3'', something that was implied, but not gone much into depth with originally. He also is given a more legit reason for becoming evil and joining the Legion, as its revealed Kil'jaeden manipulated him into doubting Illidan, then revived Kael'Thas after Tempest Keep, meaning Kael'Thas was more or less dead and thus not in sound mind anymore.
26	* AdaptedOut: A few minor events are omitted to keep the pacing and intent much more smooth and organized.
27	** The Night Elfs helping the Blood Elfs escort their people is cut from ''Chronicle 3'', meaning Tyrande doesn't HoldTheLine against the Scourge and get swept up by the river. Admittedly this does cut a major part of Illidan and Malfurion's relationship since they instead part after Illidan tries to use the Eye of Sargeras to destroy the Frozen Throne.
28	* AdaptationalJerkass: Previously Blackhand, while ambitious and power hungry, still ultimately wanted to help his family and his race. In the new history presented, Blackhand was a murderous tyrant who was nearly as bad as Gul'dan himself.
29	* AdaptationalVillainy:
30	** Orcs as a whole get this in comparison to ''Literature/RiseOfTheHorde.'' Originally pre-Legion, orcs and draenei simply avoided each other and rarely interacted, Chronicles changed this to many orc clans persecuting the draenei and enslaving the females.
31	** The Bladewind clan was mentioned in the novels as one of the clans to oppose Ner'zhul's orders for the most part and stayed out of most of the conflicts until ''Literature/BeyondTheDarkPortal.'' Chronicles has the Bladewind as one of the orc clans that used Draenei females as [[SexSlave as breeding slaves]].
32	* AscendedExtra: Archaedas was totally overshadowed by his counterparts in Ulduar, who were more powerful, more numerous, more friendly, and more clearly important than being a defense mechanism in some dilapidated ruins. Here we learn his backstory, revealing he is actually their equal in rank and power and making him a HeroOfAnotherStory.
33	* BeenThereShapedHistory
34	** Gul'dan threw Draenor's elements into disarray and rose tensions between the orcs and the draenei, setting the stage for their war.
35	** Deathwing helped the Horde throughout the First and Second Wars. He disguised himself as a human noble and tricked Lordaeron into not helping Stormwind, disguised himself as a Blackrock orc to influence the Horde's leaders and he taught the Dragonmaw clan how to wield the Demon Soul, allowing them to enslave the Red Dragonflight.
36	** While the Old Gods have always been manipulating things behind the scenes, ''Chronicle 3'' states they were behind the Naga allying with Illidan, as they wanted him to defeat the Scourge and Legion for them.
37	* BroadStrokes: [[WordOfGod Matt Burns]] used this trope by name when discussing how ''Chronicle'' should be viewed. If a character or event from ''Warcraft'''s lore doesn't appear in ''Chronicle'' then they're probably still canon as long as they don't contradict any information presented in the books.
38	* CanonDiscontinuity:
39	** The history of the orcs' corruption and Medivh's backstory are changed so much that ''Literature/RiseOfTheHorde'' and ''[[Literature/WarcraftTheLastGuardian The Last Guardian]]'' are now almost completely inaccurate.
40	** Garona is no longer the result of Gul'dan forcing a orc and a draenei to mate, though his manipulations did indirectly lead to her birth. She is now the daughter of a Bladewind orc and a draenei prisoner, born before the war with the draenei even began. She also isn't related to Maraad since she was already past childhood when his sister Leran was captured and sacrificed, and before meeting Gul'dan and receiving a PlotRelevantAgeUp as in earlier lore.
41	** There's no mention of Garona having a love affair with Medivh and being impregnated by him. This, combined with Garona's new origin, makes her son Med'an's already shaky position in series' canon even more questionable. The only mention of him in the books was in Volume 3, where he said to appear in page 404 of the 184 page book.[[note]]For those who don't get the joke, a HTTP 404 error is a message that appears when a computer attempts to access a website or program that no longer exists.[[/note]]
42	** Sargeras was originally corrupted when he decided that chaos and destruction was the natural way of the universe after losing ground against infinite demon armies. His new backstory is that started his Burning Crusade when he saw the power of the Void Lords corrupting a world soul and decided the only way to save the universe from them was to destroy all of creation and hope that new, uncorrupted life was born in the aftermath.
43	* ChildByRape:
44	** The Bladewind clan mated with their draenei captives, resulting in half breeds like Garona who were despised by both orcs and draenei.
45	** The Mok'Nathal clan was created through the forced unions of Highmaul ogres and their orc slaves in hopes of creating a SlaveRace.
46	* DecapitatedArmy:
47	** The Arrakoas were able to slow the Primals army long enough for them to finish the Breath of Rukmhar by assassinating their leader, the treant named Gnarlgar.
48	** The Draenei were able to defeat the ogres quickly and with minimal casualties by killing their imperator and frightening them with their superior powers and military.
49	** Anduin Lothar tried to do this to the Horde by setting an ambush aimed to kill Blackhand. The ambush would have worked if Blackhand hadn't been saved by two warlocks.
50	** The death of Llane Wrynn at Garona's hands was a killing blow to the morale of Stormwind defenders during the second siege of the city by the Horde. This cemented the fall of the city and destruction of the kingdom.
51	** Orgrim Doomhammer tried to repeat this by killing Anduin Lothar during the assault on Blackrock Spire, hoping that his death would demoralize the Alliance army and give the victory to the depleted Horde forces. However this didn't happen as despite Doomhammer managing to kill Lothar after an epic duel, Turalyon was able to rally the Alliance armies to win the battle and the war in honor of Lothar. Ironically Orgrim's own defeat and capture at Turalyon's hands would have the same effect on the Horde that he hoped to accomplish with the Alliance by killing Lothar.
52	* DividedWeFall:
53	** The Apexis civilization was destroyed twice because of internal struggles, with each time the priesthood of Rukhmar trying to monopolize power and knowledge for itself and Anzu's followers fighting to get it back or to return to the city from where they were cruelly banished, with the Breath of Rukhmar being destroyed and causing a catastrophic explosion that would decimate the Arakkoas each time. The second time the Horde exploited the CivilWar by manipulating the exiled followers of Anzu to have them neutralize the Breath of Rukhmar in exchange to allow them to take back their home only to betray them after the weapon's explosion, and massacre the survivors of each faction of Arakkoas.
54	** The First War ending so badly for Stormwind because of its diplomatic isolation with the kingdom being alone to face the Horde, though to be fair Llane Wrynn tried to get help from the other kingdoms but his attempts were ruined by Deathwing who disguised himself as a Stormwindian lord and convinced Terenas Menethil II and the other kings that Stormwind was just dealing with an insurrection.
55	* EarlyBirdCameo: The nightborne's backstory was given in Volume 1, almost half a year before their in-game introduction.
56	* EvilIsPetty: The void lords motive for corrupting a world soul is that they were jealous of the power and achievements of the Pantheon and they wanted to create a titan who would become an instrument of their dark will and desires.
57	* EvilVersusEvil:
58	** The Burning Legion and the Void are mortal enemies with each other with Sargeras having created the Legion to prevent the Void Lords from reaching their goals of corrupting a world soul and using it to annihilate the universe. He has also killed several Old Gods and the Old Gods have tried several times to use the Legion or foil their plans such as during the War of the Ancients or the Second War.
59	** The Mogu and Mantids have fought many times with the Mogu having buit the Great Serpent Wall to protect the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and the rest of Pandaria from mantids attacks.
60	** During the First War a portion of the Horde led by the Bleeding Hollow clan tried to conquer Stranglehorn Vale as it reminded them of their home in Tanaan Jungle, only to be fought by the native Gurubashi Trolls. The two sides fought with particular brutality and savagery, though the Gurubashi were capable of getting the upper hand with their knowledge of the land and guerilla, until Blackhand called back Killrog Deadeye and his troops as they were wasting many lives for no gain.
61	** The Scourge vs the Burning Legion after Ner'zhul and his forces betrayed and broke free of the Legion's control.
62	* {{Foil}}:
63	** In a lot of ways the worlds of Azeroth and Draenor are counterparts. Azeroth had very little Spirit, causing the elements to take form, become violent and dominate the planet; Draenor had an abundance of the same, pacifying the elements (at least uniting them) and causing the growth of flora and fauna. Azeroth was threatened by an invading force descending from the cosmos, Draenor was put in jeopardy by the expansion of its natives. And while Azeroth's land and history were painstakingly shaped by the Pantheon over thousands of years, Draenor's were shaped in haste by one of their members on an impulse.
64	** The Mogu Empire and the Gorian Empire. Through the power a magical warrior king, both the mogu and the ogres managed to rise up and become the most powerful and corrupt civilizations of their times. They both also practiced slavery and ended up being brought down by their slaves or those they tried to enslave.
65	** The kingdom of Stormwind is one to Gilneas. Long before the First War, the other kingdoms of Azeroth refused to send aid to help stop gnoll attacks, Stormwind decided that they could handle its own problems and adopted a more isolationist attitude. After the Second War, Genn Greymane, who was already an isolationist king to begin with, grew tired with giving support to the other members of the Alliance so he decided to build a wall around the Gilneas and cut the country off from the rest of the world. And both countries ended up getting destroyed by Horde invasions.
66	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The story of the Zandalari Trolls in volume 3 ends on a cliffhanger, with a mention of an 'old enemy from the past' drawing their attentions. This is likely a reference to their ongoing conflict with the Blood Trolls that was revealed when the Horde travels to Zandalar in Battle for Azeroth.
67	* GaiasVengeance:
68	** When they were on the verge of losing their war with the Gorian Empire, the desperate orcish shaman requested the elemental spirits destroy the ogre's capital city. Due to the Empire repeated meddling with the Throne of the Elements, the spirits agreed with the request and destroyed Goria in a devastating display of power, letting none in the city survive and leaving nothing but ash and rubble in their wake. The remaining Gorian cities immediately ceased any actions against the orcs or the elements while the shaman were left terrified of the elementals' wrath.
69	** Desperate to save their world and to put an end to the orcs' atrocities and use of fel magic the elements of Draenor gathered their weakened forces together to form an extremely powerful fire elemental named Cyrukh the Firelord. However this attempt failed as Gul'dan and the Shadow Council gathered their powers together to use a spell that filled Cyrukh with fel energy and destroyed his physical form, creating the fel volcano named the Hand of Gul'dan.
70	* GardenOfEvil: In its early age Draenor was dominated by the Evergrowth, a collective HiveMind of all plant life on Draenor that was created when the titanic plants called the Sporemounds tapped into the spirit of life, allowing the plants of Draenor of acting as a single gigantic organism and to act in unison against any threat. Upon observing Draenor Aggramar realized that if left unchecked the Evergrowth would soon consume every other life form on Draenor, even the elemental spirits, before eating itself once it had no more food and as thus would turn Draenor into a barren wasteland. To save Draenor from such a tragic fate Aggramar infused the tallest mountain of Draenor into the giant Grond and sent him to destroy the Sporemounds and put an end to the collective conscience between the plants. After a long war Grond was able to kill most of the Sporemounds but succumbed to the last one Botaan, though parts of him that had fallen had turned into the smaller but still very humongous and formidable Colossals which carried on Grond's work with the help of Aggramar who reinforced them with titans discs containing vast power, though Aggramar was forced to leave because of Sargeras' actions. After a very long war against Botaan and the other plants of Draenor the Colossals managed to destroy Botaan and end the Evergrowth via HeroicSacrifice, saving Draenor and allowing new animal and humanoid forms to appear and grow on the planet.
71	* GeniusLoci: Titans like Sargeras and the Pantheon are living worlds. It should be noted that the art and ''Legion'' contradict this and makes them entities with a CelestialBody that emerge from planets.
72	** The fate of Draenor was decided by a battle between these. Grond, a literal mountain on legs, battled against the sporemounds of the Evergrowth, a group of living biomes. Each of their corpses became entire regions of land.
73	* TheGhost: Elune, one of the more prominent and mysterious deities in Warcraft lore, is given no backstory or explanation and is barely mentioned throughout books.
74	* GodzillaThreshold:
75	** The threat of the freshly arrived Old Gods was such that the Elemental Lords, who were locked into an eternal war before, agreed to set aside their differences and to join their forces together to defeat the Old Gods and their minions. However despite their formidable powers they ended up overwhelmed by the Old Gods' Aqir and N'raqi endless numbers and enslaved.
76	** When Y'Shaarj proved to be too powerful for the Titan-forged to defeat, Aman'thul thought that he had no choice but to intervene himself despite knowing that it could damage or destroy Azeroth. After Y'Shaarj's death left an open wound in Azeroth, the Titans realized that killing the Old Gods could destroy Azeroth and decided instead to imprison them.
77	** When Lei Shen ambitioned to take Uldum which held the Forge of Origination and Titans' machineries in order to carry on the work of the Titans and get eternal life, the tol'vir who knew that they could never stand a chance against Lei Shen's divine power and his army, used the power of the forge itself to scour the land, killing Lei Shen and everyone in Uldum and turning the region into a barren desert.
78	** The High Elves and the humans allied with each other during the Troll Wars because they knew that they weren't capable of beating the Amani Trolls who had been united by the Zandalaris and got the support of the Loas. As such, despite his pride and contempt for humans, Anasterian Sunstrider agreed to form an alliance with Arathor and to have his mages teach magic to humans. During the final battle of the war the new human mages released their newfound power into a massive magical fire attack from the sky that decimated the trolls and their Loas, giving them and the elves the victory.
79	** 2000 years before the First War the Primals of Draenor were united by the treant Gnarlgar with the goal of bringing back the Evergrowth and eradicate the Arakkoas that Gnarlgar saw as an affront to nature and bigger threat that the Breakers. To do that Gnarlgar used a fossilized remain of the Sporemound named Botaan in order to create an even greater Sporemound named Taala that would eradicate the Arrakoas. Upon discovering this mortal threat to their existence the Arrakoas decided to build a super weapon with a solar beam named the Breath of Rukhmar in order to destroy the Sporemound. However upon realizing that the weapon wouldn't be finished in time assassins were sent to kill Gnarlgar, who managed to kill his foes but not before one of them cursed him with void magic, causing him to die and decapitating the Primals. This gave enough time for the Apexis to finish the Breath of Rukhmar and destroy Taala and the Primal army.
80	** The orcish clans united for the first time at the call of the elements as the ogres continued to experiment on the Throne of the Elements which had disastrous consequences on the elements and Draenor. They quickly overwhelmed the ogres with their superior numbers and mobility, which prompted the ogres to create the Red Pox by magic in order to weaken the orcs. Desesperate to win the war and preserve the Throne of the Elements, the orc shamans begged the elements to destroy Goria which they did with multiple cataclysms.
81	** The orcs were united again in the Horde because they were tricked into believing that the Draenei were the enemies, and because they had no chance of winning if disunited against the superior discipline and magic possessed by the Draenei. The adoption of Fel magic was also this as the orcs were losing against the Draenei due to their superior magic and military and to the fact that the elements stopped helping them because of the wrongness of their cause. Later Blackhand woudld also have the warlocks accelerate the growth of young orcs and recruit ogres and mok'nathal into the Horde to better their chances against the Draenei.
82	** The Draenei's defense of Karabor and Auchindoun was so strong that the Shadow Council had to summon and use the power of the Dark Star in the first case, and the sound element Murmur by accident, for the Horde to be able to overpower the defense of the Draenei.
83	** Enraged at the orcs' actions and destruction of the lands with their use of Fel magic and desperate to save their world, Draenor elements joined their forces together and fused into Cyrukh the Firelord with the purpose of destroying the orcs and stop their devastation. However in spite of Cyrukh's tremendous power this was for nothing as Gul'dan and the Shadow Council gathered their forces and unleashed a terrible spell that flooded Cyruhk with fel energy and shattered his physical form,, creating the fel volcano known as the Hand of Gul'dan.
84	** The formation of the Alliance of Lordaeron was this for the human kingdoms as Anduin Lothar and Turalyon were able to convince the kings that without unity none of the human kingdoms would stand no chance alone against the Horde.
85	* GoodIsNotSoft: Despite them preferring to avoid violence and to end conflicts with the least casualties possible the Draenei are not to be underestimated when they are pushed too far. When the ogres attacked them because they believed that they had stolen magic and secrets from Goria the Draenei made short work of them with their superior magic, discipline and technology, and when the Bladewind orcs pushed them too far by kidnapping and raping Draenei females and caused the death of Maarad's sister the Draenei furiously massacred the orcs as revenge for their atrocities. Despite being greatly outnumbered the Draenei gave great difficulty to the Horde, with their defense of Karabor and Auchindoun having been such that the orcs wouldn't have been able to win without the use of the Dark Star in the first case and the accidental summoning of Murmur for the second.
86	* HeroicSacrifice:
87	** Chased by two Faceless generals sent by Loken after he discovered Loken's betrayal, Tyr chose to face his foes to allow his vrykul companions to escape and survive. After a battle that lasted six days and six nights Tyr released all of his energy in a magic explosion that killed one of the C'Thraxxi and grievously injured the second, forcing him to retreat. The vrykul would never forget Tyr's sacrifice and called the vale where he died Tyr's Fall, which would later be renamed Tirisfal.
88	** After the fall of Grond his descendants the Colossals, that had been powered by discs containing tremendous magic energy by Aggramar, decided to carry on his work and to battle the Sporemound Botaan and the Genesaurs to put an end to the Evergrowth and its threat to Draenor. After a millennia long war the Colossals were on the verge of losing. Assembling their forces for a last battle they grabbed Bootan together and released all the energy contained in their discs to provoke a tremendously powerful explosion that annihilated Botaan and destroyed the collective conscience uniting the plants of Draenor, putting an end to the Evergrowth and allowing life to develop on Draenor.
89	** After king Thoradin allied with the High Elves of Quel'Thalas during the Troll Wars the Amani Trolls turned their sight to the human empire of Arathor. To allow his king and friend to fully prepare his armies and mages to defeat the trolls in the Alterac Mountains, general Lordain guarded the passes to the mountains with 500 men to slow the trolls down. Despite their low numbers Lordain and his men managed to put up a real fight against the Amani and to stop them long enough to allow Thoradin's army and the High Elves to prepare their trap for the trolls. The kingdom and subcontinent of Lordaeron were named in honor of Lordain and his sacrifice.
90	** To slow down the Primals and especially the Sporemound Taala from reaching Skyreach before the Breath of Rukhmar was ready, Skalaxi Arrakoas assassins were sent to assassinate Gnarlgar and deprive the Primals of their leader. While Gnarlgar was able to split his foes and kill them the Arrakoas managed to use their Void powers to curse him and cause his death, decapitating the Primals army and giving the Arrakoas the time to finish the Breath of Rukhmar and kill Taala.
91	* HitAndRunTactics: Trolls are masters of this kind of warfare:
92	** During the Aqir and Troll war the trolls used their knowledge of their lands, the observation points in the Zandalar Mountains and their superior agility to detect the weaknesses in the Aqir's movements, constantly outmaneuver them and set ambushes on them to whistle their superior numbers and halt their invasion, while the priests called upon the Loa for help, with the ferocious Wild Gods being able to tear through the Aqir's ranks and injuring their leader the C'Thraxxi general Kith'ix. This strategy allowed the Trolls to get the advantage and eventually get the victory over the Aqir.
93	** During the First War a portion of the Horde led by Killrog Deadeye and his Bleeding Hollow Clan sought to take Stranglehorn Vale because it was similar to their homeland of Tanaan Jungle on Draenor. They were quickly opposed by the local inhabitants, the Gurubashi Trolls who were still recovering from their failed invasion of Stormwind. Against the numerical superiority of the orcs the Gurubashi Trolls used their perfect knowledge of their environment and agility to constantly ambush their foes from all sides with the orcs being unable to properly respond to them and of truly conquering any land. This guerilla was effective enough for Black Hand to order Killrog and his troops to stop wasting warriors and retreat from Stranglehorn Vale to come back to help the fight against humans.
94	* LockedOutOfTheLoop: After killing Sif and being tricked by Yogg-Saron into instigating a war with the ice giants and creating an army of corrupted warriors, Loken decided he needed to kill all the other Titan Keepers in a mad attempt to hide his crimes from Algalon and the Pantheon. He was unaware that the Pantheon had already been killed by Sargeras by that point.
95	* LossOfIdentity: The Mogu made it punishable by death to learn to write, read or speak any other language beside the Mogu tongue. This meant that the Pandaren and the Yaungol lost much of their early early history.
96	* OnlySaneMan: The only orc chieftain to openly oppose the creation of the Horde and the war against the Draenei was the chieftain of the Whiteclaw clan, Zagrel. Unlike most orcs Zagrel did not believe that the Draenei were a threat nor that killing them would make the life of the orcs better, even correctly deducing that it would anger the elements even more. When Gul'dan introduced Fel magic to the orcs Zagrel again called the other clans to stop their pointless war against the Draenei and to focus on repairing their relationship with the elements, believing that it was only by dedicated worship and return to their roots and traditions that the orcs would be able to reconnect with the elements and better their lives. This opposition drew Gul'dan's ire who sent Garona to assassinate him in order to silence any opposition to the Horde.
97	* OurGiantsAreBigger: The first of Draenor's famous giants was Grond, a literal living mountain and one of the largest ''anything'' to ever walk on any world. Chunks of his body became the colossals, which as seen in the game are the size of smaller mountains.
98	* {{Retcon}}: Naturally, trying to reconcile two decades of WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants by multiple writers and developers into a coherent narrative is going to involve some major finagling.
99	** Aegwynn, Medivh, and Garona's backstories have been almost completely rewritten and Med'an has officially been retconned. Medivh's backstory in particular is heavily altered; Sargeras' possession is more of a variation of SymbioticPossession with elements of MoreThanMindControl instead of being a straightforward DemonicPossession like it used to be, with Medivh being a TragicVillain.
100	** The depiction of Draenor matches more closely with the version seen in the ''Warlords of Draenor'' expansion, rather than the versions described in Literature/RiseOfTheHorde and Literature/BeyondTheDarkPortal which had more in common geographically with ''Burning Crusade'''s [[AfterTheEnd Outland]].
101	** Sargeras's motivation was originally a disillusionment with the idea of order in a fundamentally chaotic universe, which came from failing to permanently defeat the evil demons even after eons of fighting them. Here we get a name and a specific end-result that he is trying to prevent with his extreme solution, and establishes they have little to no relation to demons (though the demons did help put him in a state of mind where he felt the extreme solution was necessary).
102	** Many actions and feats originally attributed to the titans of the Pantheon are here attributed to the nine Keepers, such as the war against the Old Gods and the growth of the Emerald Dream.
103	** Much of what we knew about Ulduar, its history, and its leaders turns out to have been falsehoods and lies-by-omission by Loken.
104	** Lei Shen was previously described as having died of old age. What actually killed him was a failed campaign into Uldum where he, his army, and the surrounding land were blasted to death by the Forge of Origination.
105	** Arcanagos originally was killed by Medivh when he tried to force him out of Karazhan after sensing the dark forces manipulating him. In the new version, he was killed when he attempted to assist Aegywnn during her battle with Medivh while he was possessed by Sargeras. The quest chain that depicted the old version of his death was removed from the game a few months prior to the release of the second volume.
106	** The creation of the Gilnean Worgen is changed from being the result of Argual summoning them in Silverpine to fight the Scourge on his own, to being instructed to do so by Genn. In addition to that, Gilneas is changed from isolating themselves completely for several years, to isolating itself shortly before the Third War, and even tried to defeat the Scourge outside the Greymane Wall before failing and retreating, leading to the use of the Worgen.
107	** Gilneas' reason for leaving the Alliance are also changed. In the original lore, Gilneas left the Alliance after the kingdom of Alterac was given to Stromgarde despite Genn's request it be given to him, in addition to being angry that the captured Orcs were not killed, as he saw it as financially stupid for Gilneas to have to invest in it. In the new lore established in ''Chronicle'', the latter reason is the largest reason instead of being one of several.
108	** The Orcs and Draenei were originally in lore friendly with each other, with the Draenei helping teach the Orcs various abilities and the Orcs helping Draenei learn the ways of Shamanism. It was only when Gul'dan corrupted the Orcs through the Burning Legion that the Orcs turned on the Draenei and slaughtered many of them. Here, it's made clear the Orcs were mostly hostile with the Draenei but only were pushed to slaughter them when Gul'dan was given power for it and the Legion found out about Draenor.
109	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The high elves' flight from Kalimdor and the night elves is made out to be this.
110	* ShownTheirWork: While not without retcons and inconsistences, the book in general qualifies as an example of authors taking a deep study of their universe, revisiting dozens of mission briefings and cutscenes as well as supporting material such as manuals, comics and novels, often obscure, outdated or contradicting each other, and coming up with a coherent and sensible timeline with a lot of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness rooted out or provided with a sensible background. However, the artists also put a lot of effort to ensure the illustrations include a lot of ContinuityNod moments and stay as true to lore as possible. Notable examples:
111	** The map of Draenor seems to be a carbon copy of one from Warlords of Draenor... except for the area in northern Gorgrond. Since the main universe Horde was not as industrialized as Iron Horde, the Iron Docks weren't constructed and that shore has a natural shape.
112	** Farahlon is also present on the Draenor map, despite being never implemented in actual WoD and only mentioned in lore and appearing in Outland as a fractured Netherstorm.
113	** Volume 2's map of Azeroth has Broken Islands ''without'' its south-eastern bit. It (along with the Tomb of Sargeras) was raised by Gul'dan only in the end of the Second War.
114	** While Blackhand's looks are based on his film counterpart, on the ''Shadow Council'' picture he is wearing the same helmet as in Warcraft 1 and 2 manual, and in cancelled Warcraft Adventures (although with horns instead of antlers).
115	** On the same picture, Blackhand's armor has red bits, and Cho'gall has purple face paint. These are their clans' team colors in Warcraft 2 (and both are missing from their ''World of Warcraft'' models).
116	** Deathwing in Draenor is clad in adamantite scale armor, but is missing the armored jaw and the chest plates - he got them only prior to the Cataclysm.
117	** Death knights and paladins have been drawn to resemble Warcraft 2 units instead of their ''World of Warcraft'' counterparts, though one of the paladins is wearing Judgment Armor (giving the armor set an implied backstory).
118	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Aggramar appears only in the first section of ''Volume II'', when prehistoric Draenor is JustBeforeTheEnd. He doesn't stay long, as Sargeras's first killing of a planet calls him away, but his few actions save Draenor from a premature death by starvation. All of Draenor's history and races, including the orcs, owe their existence to Aggramar's passing whim, and many races, including the orcs, descend from his creation(s).
119	* SpecialEffectsFailure: For all the awesomeness of books' art, at least one picture has a glaring flaw - at "Beyond the Dark Portal", Turalyon has mirrored "L" symbols on his shoulderpads, indicating the picture has been originally drawn with him facing in other direction, and then just receiving a very lazy edit. Also, on the same picture, Alleria is missing her Artifact bow (despite the fact that another Artifact, Jeweled Scepter of Sargeras, is present on the picture with Ner'zhul and is drawn according to ''Legion'' reference), and Khadgar looks exactly like his ''World of Warcraft'' model despite most sources indicating he was wearing different clothes and facial hair at that time.
120	* StartMyOwn: Disagreeing with the rest of the Titan Keeper's decision to empower the Dragon Aspects, Odyn pettily decided to create the Valarjar.
121	* StoryBreakerPower:
122	** The Pantheon are the closest thing the series has to true omnipotent beings. They are planet sized deities who can destroy entire worlds with a single gesture. They also have the power to remake worlds as they see fit and they can create entire armies of powerful servants to maintain them. The only reason they didn't directly destroy the Old Gods and Evergrowth themselves was because their strength was so great that even minor intervention on their part could have destroyed Azeroth and Draenor, or at least damage them beyond repair.
123	** Lei Shen the Thunder King, after he defeated Ra and took his power for himself, was one of the most powerful individuals in Azeroth history, being able to effortlessly crush all his rivals and resistance to his conquest and rule, the only ones who gave him a challenge were the August Celestials and even them were eventually crushed by him. Lei Shen's power and threat were such that the tol'vir had no choice to use the power of the Forge of Origination, a device capable of annihilating all life on Azeroth, to stop and kill him.
124	** Medivh's Guardian powers makes him the most powerful mage in existence, possibly the most powerful individual on Azeroth. He has strength to destroy entire armies in a matter of minutes and annihilate dragons with ease. He also has the power to the travel the Twisting Nether and still have more than enough strength to overpower Gul'dan. For reference, when Illidan traveled the Twisting Nether, it took an enormous amount of physical and mental energy and it left his body and spirit defenseless.
125	* UnwittingPawn:
126	** Loken was this to Yogg-Saron at first with the old god manipulating his thoughts and feelings for Sif, Thorim's wife with whom he was having an affair, to make him lash out at her and kill her by accident, before sending an illusion of Sif's ghost to manipulate him further and have him betray his fellow Titanic Keepers while also creating an army with the Forge of Wills, unaware that Yogg-Saron had planted the curse of Flesh inside the forge. Later Loken would become Yogg-Saron's servant willingly after Cho'gall and the Twilight Hammer weakened Yogg-Saron's chains and allowed him to twist Loken's mind completely.
127	** Azshara and her Highborne followers were this to Sargeras and the Burning Legion who manipulated them into using the Well of Eternity as a gigantic portal for the Burning Legion, with the promise of creating a perfect world devoid of all impurities, and Azshara secretly hoping to make Sargeras her mate. Sargeras had of course no such intention and planned to get rid of Azshara and the Highborne as soon as they weren't useful anymore.
128	** The Old Horde was evidently manipulated from the start by Kil'jaeden and the Burning Legion into attacking and massacring the Draenei, and later into invading Azeroth to weaken its defenses and prepare the ground for another invasion of the Burning Legion.
129	** Both humans and the Horde were manipulated by Deathwing who disguised himself as a Stormwindian lord to discredit Llane Wrynn's calls for help during the First War in other human kingdoms' eyes, and who secretly guided the orcs into finding the Demon Soul and enslaving the Red Dragonflight as a way to help the Horde devastate Azeroth and decimate its defenders in order to help the Old Gods' escape from their prisons. He later disguised himself as Daval Prestor and manipulated the kings into believing that he was a cousin of Aiden Perenolde, driving Aiden Perenold insane with his magic so the king of Alterac couldn't discredit his claims, and charmed them with his charisma and magic in order to have the kings make him the new king of Alterac with Terenas Menethil II granting him his daughter Calia as his spouse. His scheme was foiled after his defeat at Grim Batol, with him being forced to go in hiding at Deepholm to recover from the attacks of the other Aspects, causing Daval Prestor to "disappear" and the Alterac issue to go on.
130	** Deathwing was himself this to the Old Gods with them having promised him to free him of his burden as warden of the Earth, but in truth planned to get rid of him once they were freed from their prisons and back to power.
131	** Onyxia under the disguise of Katrana Prestor manipulated the whole kingdom of Stormwind for years, using her manipulation skills and magic to run the kingdom into the ground by aggravating the crisis between the House of Nobles and the Stonemason Guild, preventing a solution to be found between the two and leading to the riots that caused Tiffin Wrynn's death leading to the banishment of the stonemasons from Stormwind City which would lead to the creation and rise of the Defias Brotherhood, and Varian Wrynn's depression which allowed Onyxia to put him under her thrall for years until he finally broke of her control and eventually unmasked and killed her. Onyxia's goal was to weaken Stormwind enough to allow the Dark Horde led by her brother Nefarian to invade and destroy it again.
132	* VillainsNeverLie: Originally, Kil'jaeden left the orcs to die on Draenor when he believed that they had killed Velen and the draenei. In the new continuity, he fully intended to keep his promises of power to Gul'dan and bring the orcs in the Legion, until Gul'dan's betrayal caused the Horde to lose the Second War.
133	* VirtueIsWeakness: Justified partially due to how savage and ruthless their world and life was, but the notion of mercy was totally unknown to the Orcs as shown after the Ogres' failed attack on the Draenei, as the Orcs were totally shocked and incredulous that the Draenei chose to spare the remaining Ogres and let them leave peacefully after killing their leader and telling them to go without further bloodshed.
134	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
135	** Med'an's removal from the series lore means that the circumstances of Aegwynn's death are unclear.
136	** While other sources confirmed that he died between the Second and Third Wars, the exact fate of Aiden Perenolde after he gave the Book of Medivh to the Horde is not detailed in the books. Likewise, the destruction of Alterac and the creation of the Syndicate is not described in the series either.
137	** InUniverse, the Alliance was frustrated that the Gnomes seemed to vanish from activity during the Scourge's attacks, unaware of the battle inside Gnomeregan with the Troggs.
138	** How exactly the Night Elves joined the Alliance between Warcraft III and World of Warcraft is left unexplained, despite an entire passage explaining how the Forsaken joined the Horde.
139	* TheWorfEffect
140	** Y'Shaarj was the most wicked and powerful of Azeroth's Old Gods and the full force of the titan-forged army faced defeat against him. Aman'Thul then reached down from the sky with one hand and crushed him to gibs.
141	** Much is made of the indomitable might of the Evergrowth and the sporemounds, only for Grond to suddenly appear and kill the first one with ease. We never even learn its name.
142	** Many attempts by the remaining armies in the Eastern Kingdoms to defeat the Scourge ended up this way. Gilneas, Dalaran, Stormgarde, and Quel'Thalas all tried to defeat the Scourge and it only ended in failure.

Context Literature / WorldOfWarcraftChronicle