If you were asked to name and describe the conflict, what would your answer be.
WoW lore sites, like WoWwiki and Wowpedia, all point to the events of Wc3 and the battle against the burning legion. They quote numerous cannon sources and in-game references.
The problem is, that the first 2 wars were explicitly between the horde and the alliance. Following, the Veteran of the Fourth War title comes at the conclusion of the war campaign, where again, it is premised on the horde vs the alliance. Furthermore, each war, can be defined by the warchief in charge, and also help explain what should be considered the correct Third War.
The First War accounts the horde led by Rend Blackhand and the invasion of Azeroth (stormwind).
The Second War is a campaign led by Orgrim Doomhammer.
The Third War, SHOULD be understood as the Alliance expeditionary force into the Dark Portal to put an end to a NerâZhul led Horde.
The Fourth War, is an effort initiated by the warchief Sylvanas for clandestine reasons.
I understand it is easier to go number the wars as 1 2 3, corresponding to the rts, but why, after all the WoW expansions, is this decidedly the fourth war. What relevance does the battle against the legion in warcraft 3 have to do with the previous 2 wars between the horde and the alliance?
The battles between Azeroth peoples and the Legion should be in its own category. The First War was between Night Elves and allies vs the Legion, 10 000 years ago. The Second War against the legion would be the events of warcraft 3, and the Third War took place in the previous expansion, Legion.
I assume the number wars refer more to battles that have had lasting impacts on the world as oppose to being a faction war. But we can also say that the faction wars really started to heat up again during Warcraft 3 and in way its one of the root causes of the current faction war.
History and the naming of events and eras isnât a neat business, even in real life where we have tons of retrospectives and knowledge, just like how World War 1 was originally known as The Great War because until World War 2 nobody thought there would ever be anything like it again. Names change, ideas change. Your point about the previous wars and the later war being mostly Horde vs. Alliance is mostly coincidental honestly, and in reality has no bearing on the wars names.
First War, Second War, Third War are all simple and catchy and easy to think about for a population that has had almost nonstop war throughout their lifetime. In another hundred or so years in Azerothâs history maybe theyâd go back and rename them to be more fitting or break them up a bit the way we do in real life.
Some believe it has to do with a titanic shift in the way Azeroth âworksâ in terms of the major factions.
The First War saw the Horde come to Azeroth and destroy Stormwind, the Second War saw the Alliance combat the Horde and defeat them. The Third War was the Horde and Alliance coming together and defeating the Burning Legion.
This has led a few to believe that Fourth War isnât simply MoP 2: Undead Gigoloâs war but the entirety of WoWâs lifespan, Vanillia to BfA where despite the world ending threats, was always in the Cycle of Hatred of Faction War > Coming together to stop world ending threat > Faction War > Repeat. All this finally coming to an end with this Blood War to break the Cycle of Hatred and stop the cycle of Alliance vs Horde.
I would prefer this to be the case, as it would tidy up quite a few things and be a good narrative close on the Cycle of Hatred. (Though because this is Blizzard I canât trust any of that)
Just a small correction, Rend is the original Blackhandâs son. We donât know the name of Blackhand the Destroyer as anything other than Blackhand. Rend and Maim led the Black Tooth Grin Clan in Warcraft 2, they later took over the remnants of the Blackrock Orcs (and the subplot with Nefarian) during the events of classic WoW.
The so-called First and Second Wars were really the same war. We donât seaprate Hitlerâs overrun of Europe from the war that was fought to bring the Axis down.
The original reasoning for the numbering was to match up with the 3 core releases of the RTS, Warcrafts 1, 2, and 3. 3 however became a mini-franchise of itâs own with the expansions that were released for it up to Reign of Chaos.
Yeah assuredly he had a name prier and gained the name âBlackhandâ after a certain incident involving the Doomhammer. Though I forget if that story applies to mu canon or not.
I think the MU Blackhand has a black tattoo in the pattern of a stylised burn.
If you look at his wowpedia profile page, it doesnât really look like a burn, but more a pattern imitating a burn.
The story is canon save for recieving permanent burns in the MU.
Can I ask for clarification? Warcraft III was Reign of Chaos, and it only had one expansion, The Frozen Throne.
They did release most of the orc campaign of TFT after the initial launch, but that wasnât seperate expansions or needed to be brought they were just downloaded.
Honestly the only reason the first, second and third wars have their names I think are to make it easy for people to understand âoh theyâre talking about WC 1/2/3.â
I find it a bit odd that this would be called the 4th war, what the hell was Garroshâs war then? War 3.5?
Itâs my personal theory that the âFourth Warâ includes the Garrosh one. Basically everything from Varian declaring war in the Undercity in Wrath up until now I think could be considered one conflict.
Although, the Hellscream war wasnât even the 4th conflict between the Alliance and Horde anyway. The Invasion of Dreanor is treated as its own war, but not named the âThird Warâ, nor was the war on the interment camps Orgrim and Thrall led inbetween the Second and Third Wars. Then there was the Invasion of Durotar, another Alliance versus Horde conflict not counted.
I donât know what identifies this one as the Fourth War though. Sargerasâ Sword? The rest of the wars were driven by demon influence before.
Exactly. The first/second/third war titles are just to help keep track of what game they were in. And labeling anything recent the 4th just feels confusing. Especially if they ever do make a WArcraft 4 though that feels less likely these days to me.
Pfft. Most expansions begin with the Alliance loosing something. Southshore, Theramore, Nethergarde, Varian, etc. Teldrassil was upping the ante to an entire zone.
I wonder how future expansions will up Teldrassil. /s
Iâve seen this question raised across various forums since Veteran of the 4th War came out. The general consensus has been that all of WoW is considered the 4th War, the easy justification being that all the wars have been named after the games and this is the 4th game so it fits.