What’s the official stance on this? Is our main character canonical to the lore or not? I’ve heard that we are and that we aren’t. I’m not sure which is the truth.
Blizz can’t make up their mind
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Kind of. Our victories up through Cataclysm are recorded in Chronicles as “groups of Alliance/Horde heroes” so it’s not like we never happened.
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“Adventurers” from both factions are canon.
The authorship of major exploits is determined in Chronicles, afaik.
My head canon, BFA champion = players who earned Azeroth’s Champion.
Rip, forever 10/11 rank 4s.
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Sometimes.
And sometimes not.
I don’t think Blizzard has an answer to that question either.
I would say no, other than fulfilling the role of a rando Alliance/Horde adventurer who took down certain bosses
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I mean I play so far from the Lore its almost irrelevant. For example, my Shaman isn’t total trash, doesn’t bargain with the elements to use powers, and spends a lot of his time communing with the ancestors.
Any expansion after Wrath of the Lich King isn’t Canon. It’s more like Nikon storytelling with a Nikkor lens. So what you see may look real, but it’s either a retelling or a strange offshoot of the original lore certified by the Warcraft Lorewriters Association in Irvine.
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More of a Blizzard failure IMO. They fail on the flavor front in every way imaginable.
It’s no different in SL.
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I honestly believe an issue with this class is they don’t know what a shaman is. If they don’t do a rewrite of the lore, it will forever be a hard class to balance. It’s also not great that we’re doing this giant cosmology chart, and the Shaman don’t really fit in anywhere.
I think there’s a generalized ‘hero’ in lore but we the PC are not? Idk man.
In Pandaria when you speak to Lor’themar after the Purge of Dalaran he say’s to you;
“Your victories during the Northrend Campaign and Cataclysm are legendary.”
Each faction has an unnamed ‘Hero’, which is where our involvement in the story begins and ends.
I completely agree with you. Shamans to me, as Blizzard has made them, have always seemed like weaker Mages with more steps.
Mages dont need to consult with the elements to wield them. Mages cant be deprived of their power on a humbug (like Thrall).
What even is a Shaman? Like you said, I don’t think Blizzard has ever stopped to ponder that question.
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I really appreciate you saying this. That’s exactly how I feel. And as you say, if that’s what Blizzard thinks they are, then the next question should be - why does the game need a whole class designated as “the weak mage”?
We’re canon in the loosest sense of the word, and only when Blizzard decides it matters. They wanted to make us feel like we were a part of the classic RTS lineup of legendary figures, but they can never really decide how to do that or whether they should even bother trying. So right now we’re somehow Azeroth’s only hope for salvation, but we also don’t hold a candle to the likes of Jaina Proudmoore or Nathanos.
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Are we canon?
Vaguely. Not specifically.
Akston the Shaman is not canon to the lore.
“A group of Horde/Alliance heroes defeating X boss” is
I wish I could find the quote from Blizz. But we weren’t even canon leading our class halls in Legion.
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Legion proves that the main character is cannon. Several of the actions, especially in class hall campaigns like the Death Knights, have lasting impacts that only the Deathlord and other player-character leaders could have achieved. The Four Horseman who were just shown in a major cutscene with Bolvar were created by the Deathlord.
In Draenor, you are the Commander/General. You’re the one founding these bases.
In Wrath you’re referenced by the first questgiver as ‘The Hero of Outland.’ Singular, as in one. Not a bunch, but one.
There’s a good chance that the story may very well be that each expansion are separate hero(s) and you’re filling in the role of said hero(s), but regardless the player characters do exist and do make pivotal changes to the story.
It is all nonsensical BS that doesn’t have to follow anything. It used to make sense, when they had vision up until Cataclysm. Then they grabbed at straws that were notes until those ran out, then they revisited old concepts, and those were worn out. Then they threw BFA crap at us wrecking any semblance of rhyme of reason in their story essentially making the Alliance the conquering faction. We are once again hunting another Horde leader… The best evil characters are human.