Let me preface this by saying that I am fully aware there are always threads about how WoW copied this or that from some other game but this was just too much of a coincidence for me. I will tackle this zone by zone rapid-fire style for folks who don’t want to read the detailed explanations and then elaborate below.
Revendreth = Sylvania; Sire Denathrius = Mannfred von Carstein; Venthyr Houses = Vampire Counts
Ardenweald = Athel Loren; Winter Queen = Mage-Queen; Wild Hunt = Wild Hunt (yes, they literally used the same name)
Maldraxxus = Nehekhara; Primus = Settra The Undying; House Margraves = Tomb Kings
The similarities end here with Bastion and the Maw simply being the stereotypical heaven/hell. Bastion being an amalgam of the Elysian Fields (ancient Greek part of the underworld where deserving souls spent the afterlife) and the High Havens of Diablo 3 while the Maw a cross between Tartarus (the worst part of the ancient Greek underworld where the Titans are imprisoned) and the super generic climbing of a foreboding, ominous tower looming in the distance fantasy trope (Torghast). Technically not plagiarism because it’s mythology but hardly worthy of any originality points, lol.
From the moment Shadowlands was originally announced I was flabbergasted by a story that read like a piece of poorly written fan fiction comprised of an unoriginal hodgepodge of little bits and pieces seemingly cobbled together at the last minute. But it took actually playing through the story for me to notice the rather glaring similarity to the Warhammer fantasy lore. It really is quite striking.
Ardenweald is particularly obvious because the Winter Queen literally looks exactly like the Mage-Queen of Athel Loren. I don’t want to give any spoilers for those who haven’t played through the story yet but her entire background including possible relations wink wink and Tyrande’s Warrior of Elune aspect tying into the plot are again just ripped straight from the lore of the Wood Elves of Athel Loren and their queen. Even the “winter” part of the Winter Queen is again one of the first things that pop up when doing just a cursory search the Mage-Queen and her reign. It’s all honestly very flagrant. As a lawyer, I am staggered by the copyright implications, I’ve seen people go to court over much less. And as a historian and an avid fantasy reader I am wholly unimpressed by how little originality and how much virtual copy and pasting from what must have been a mythology wiki took place.
If I wasn’t so bored with quarantine and content-starved this whole thing would have very much tarnished my enjoyment of the game and it yet may.
WoW was supposed to be Warhammer in the first place
Warhammer is based on IRL myths, same as WoW, because “Winter Fairies” are part of millennia of folklore in real cultures. None of WoW is original. None of it. 100% of the game are derivatives of other franchises (WH, Tolkien) or IRL mythologies and cultures (the Amerindigenous motifs in Troll and Tauren architecture, the African and African Diasporic Traditions origin of the concept of Loa and especially Bwonsamdi). That isn’t bad. Shadowlands is just more evident to you because you grew up with Fairies and Vampires and Greek myths more than you did African Lwa.
the specific aesthetics of the Covenant Leaders are admittedly borrowing from Warhammer more than usual, but I actually think that’s good and signifies a “back to basics” approach
wait… you’re telling me that a fantasy story based parts it’s afterlife on real life mythology and folklore??? And that different fantasy universes borrow from another? NOOO WAYYYYY BROO!!! I never saw this coming in a million years!!
And to compare every vampire race that have feudal houses and gothic themes to be like the vampire counts??? Is Twilight stealing from Warhammer Fantasy too?
Warcraft by itself is a big rip off from warhammer, this is old as the franchise itself with few modification and original stuff(Trolls being the only original concept) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DsPu2tHXgAAZyxA.jpg
The rest I say you mostly are in the wrong tracks and the whole cosmic aspect we are exploring including Shadowlands is actually Blizzard taking some concepts from Age of Sigmar realms
Incidentally both Guild Wars and Trials of Mana stole the Crystal Desert from My Little Pony N Friends! It appeared in only one episode but still!
As for how the Winter Queen was able to grab Mage Queen Titania’s Fashion Sense… Fashion Sense can’t be Copyrighted! The Winter Queen of course has to wear different patterns on her clothing which is why it’s all Blue!
The simplest Fashions can be used by anyone so Blizzard can easily copy the Kokiri exactly for the Summer Court when they make it! Names aren’t Copyrightable either though they can be Trademarked so the name Kokiri can’t be used unlike the Fashion Sense and appearance!
Kokiri-Rip-Offs for the Summer Court please! Blizzard!
I don’t see the comparison as a Warhammer fan, sorry. Zerg were ripped wholesale from Tyranids.
I don’t see the rest of it. The cancer that is Bastion is not represented anywhere in Warhammer old world. The rest of it is all based in the material plane, not the afterlife, and while you may be seeing influences aesthetically or thematically, it really isn’t the same thing.
This is the last thing I would criticize Shadowlands for.
I’m particularly not seeing the Nehekhara-Maldraxxus similarity.
Vampires is a dull old trope and I don’t think this is equivalent to the Vampire Counts of Warhammer anyway even if aesthetically and thematically similar.
The Wild Hunt, as said by others, is folklore that precedes anything in Warhammer. You could easily point out tropes in Warhammer too, despite unique elements like the Skaven and their Chaos pantheon or the greenskins, they have a dopey Thor clone, The Empire is literally the Renaissance Holy Roman Empire, Bretonnia is King Arthur, high elves are friggin’ Tolkein ripoffs. At least the elves in Warcraft have some kind of a backstory and alterations with their magic addiction that make them sufficiently unique within the universe to pull them apart from the Tolkein/D&D tropes.
No, I won’t fault Shadowlands for inadequate originality. Like most fantasy, it’s basically throwing Tolkein, D&D, maybe Planescape and some other high fiction and videogame tropes in a blender. You can tell they’re trying, albeit poorly.
I’m sorry … the majority of Shadowlands is just taken from classic fantasy tropes in general. Warhammer does this as well. Its far from the only fantasy universe to depend on them.
Bastion is classic Celestial motifs, with a bit more investment in the celestial creation process.
Ardenweald could not be more of a classic FeyWild fantasy. The Winter Queen is a Archfey.
Maldraxxus is any sentient Undead setting, with a bit of Great Houses from GoT mixed in.
Revendreath is Vampire the Masquerade style Vamps. With a dash of purgatory.
Like, this stuff is pretty standard. The Art design is good, but its fairly clear that the writers wanted to go on a bit of a alter-plain smorgous board with the Shadowlands serving as a backdrop.
