The Real Problem with Shadowlands - "Though I Walk Through the Valley of the Retcons..."

Lore Story Forum
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“Though I walk through the valley of the retcons of lore…”

There’s been quite a bit of discussion about Sylvanas shattering the Helm of Domination, the new lore (or lack-thereof) about the Shadowlands, and the overall mixed opinions on the direction Blizzard chose to take gameplay-wise. While I’ve voiced my opinions on all of these issues, one came to mind that trumps all the others, and it’s a problem we as fans of the story need to address/discuss:

Blizzard completely retconned Sylvanas’ story from Edge of Night onward to fit the direction of the game, along with the previously established lore pertaining to the Shadowlands.

Really think about it.

Shadowlands is the first expansion where almost the entirety of its lore is based off of retcons. And it doesn’t bode well for the future.

Sure, Burning Crusade had the draenei/Eredar retcon - but that was about a single race. And yes, Legion had the Illidan retcon - that was about a single character. But even the expansions with massive retcons for their premise had other things to make up their backbones which we were familiar with (the Burning Legion, in both of the examples I provided, along with Outland and the Tomb of Sargeras).

What does this mean for the future? I’m well aware that Blizzard is notorious for retcons, but now that they’re out of RTS characters is THIS what we can expect from the story? Past events like the Broken Shore or short stories like Edge of Night being completely retconned to justify a plot that makes no sense otherwise? Character development (or in the case of Sylvanas surges in power) occurring completely off-screen?

I seriously doubt that this “Jailer” was something Blizzard planned all the way back in Edge of Night. I seriously doubt Vol’jin’s death was thought out or planned when he was made Warchief now that we’ve seen the Helm of Domination shattered . . . something that Blizzard couldn’t possibly have fathomed back at the end of Wrath with the whole “There must always be a Lich King” concept was revealed - or else what was the point?

Why care about the story heading forward if all of it can be changed to justify the dev team’s whims - to the point where revisiting older “chapters” is a waste of time and cause for confusion?

Leave your thoughts and opinions, but as always, keep it civil.

-Aspiring (and Dashingly Stylish, Wickedly Witty and Courageously Curious) Lore Master Wickham

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Sylvanas is one of my fav characters from WC3. Yes she did more then a few things that are questionable and that fine. Still this newest info even goes against the one of the newer books where she thinking she never wanted to be warchief.

As for there must always be a Lich King if i had to take a guess it only cause of have powerful of a army that Arthas control at the end of the day. The Heroes cut down alot of the Undead but arthas did not throw his full army against the Horde Or the Alliance.

Sylvanas is one of the few characters left from WC3 most have been used up and are gone. Thrall Jania and Sylvanas are the only ones really left that mean anything. The rest are either minor characters for the overall story or dead.

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This is my point. Why are we trying to rationalize Shadowlands when we should be discussing and acknowledging what a massive, glaring jumble of retcons it is?

As far as I can remember it’s unprecedented.

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This is adding up to be one of there biggest retcons with wow. Bolvar becoming Lich King there no way there plan was for him to lose the Helm if i had to guess i think at least the feel i got was that he was slowly slipping during Legion and would of either become a threat or let his undead armies start causing trouble. I really doubt ICC was meant to be a gateway to the other side.

Now even if the new xpac is great and i will admit there alot of good in this coming xpac but i feel like i am losing one of my fav characters for a story that i think is force even if they write it right from here on out

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I see where you’re coming from, and I think Blizzard would be much better served if they had the discipline to write within the constraints of their established lore with only the most minimal and unavoidable retcons. If consistent lore is important to you, and this makes you drop off WoW, more power to you.

However, I still enjoy a lot of DC comics even though they retcon their entire continuity every so often and don’t even seem particularly good at keeping things consistent in between. At a certain point you just accept that the universe is in flux and try to enjoy the ride in the moment.

That goes for old material too. 30 year old comics are totally irrelevant to modern lore—but reading them is not a “waste of time” because they’re still fun. It’s only a waste if your goal is the fool’s errand of seeking consistency from writers who very openly don’t gaf.

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I take a look at the lore and realize there’s not much left

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Any long-running worldbuilding project is going to experience retcons. This is doubly true for a game, rather than a novel series. It’s silly to imagine that this could ever not be the case.

The alternative is that the creators of Warcraft one were literal galaxy-brains, standing upon a grand design of incredible breadth and depth that they knew would unfold over the course of the coming decades.

It’s silly to be precious about this. The stuff we’re seeing with the Shadowlands is no more egregious a retcon than the existence of the Night Elves. The writers of WCII did not, when implementing elves, imagine that there was a race of bigger, purpler elves on the other side of the ocean from which the pink ones descended.

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I agree that retcons have their uses, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say all the retcons in Shadowlands fall into the “legitimate use” category.

Ideally the things you retcon should minimally impact existing story, both so that the story continues to make enough sense to be immersive, and so you don’t hurt fans deeply invested in existing lore.

Both Sylvanas and the Lich King had a lot of really invested fans. Meanwhile, Sylvanas’ motives wrath gate and onward are central to the main story. Retcons that significantly affect either are liable to be…bad.

My previous post isn’t defending Shadowlands’ retcons. I’m just saying it’s something I can live with, begrudgingly, as a flaw in the storytelling I don’t think the writers are liable to improve.

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I agree with respect to the Sylvanas thread in particular - we literally have in-her-head narration that contradicts what they’re now saying. Going against that is just lazy.

But for the broader world-building concepts around the Shadowlands - I stand by the idea that there simply must be retcons when you’re building a setting out over such a long period of time from such a small seed. A 25-year franchise cannot flow from a modest RTS without constant, substantial reinvention.

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I agree with the points being made about how it’s foolish to expect no retcons in any form of long-running fiction. That wasn’t my argument, however.

My argument is that Shadowlands features more retcons than any other expansion to date, and I don’t feel that bodes well for the future of the story.

The fact that they’ve used up Argus, Azshara and presumably N’Zoth when each could’ve easily had a dedicated expansion shows that - despite a thin roster of potential antagonists - Blizzard is content to call audibles as they go heading forward.

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Well, I think this new version of the Shadowlands is more interesting than the old one, so the retcon doesn’t bother me at all.

I’m all for retcons as long as they’re fixing or improving things.

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While Azshara is still kicking, so she could serve as an expansion central villain down the road.

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I find it funny that so called story forum goes, people that I know some of them have been playing forever are upset for this, I really hope you complained at the start of every xpac, cause retcons are the par for the course since the dawn of wc2

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Don’t worry honey, we did.

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Sure you did, theres more to wow than bfa honey, did you complain about the Classic retcons? What about TBC or the Wrath ones? Remember when WC2 retconed a bunch from wc1? Or when wc3 retconed both those rts

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Yeah, people have complained about retcons since the beginning. Some are more egregious than others anyways though.

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Following Classic (elemental, old god), BC (fel), Wrath (faction war, death, old god), Cataclysm (elemental, old God), Pandaria (Faction War, Old God), Legion (Fel), BFA (Faction War, Old God)
They’re gonna do:

Shadowlands, ending with Sylvanas getting Kerriganized
Faction War + Something Elements, maybe Trolls
No Faction War + Azshara again + void lords

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It’s clear you either didn’t read the OP or failed to understand the point I was making entirely.

First off, I’m not upset. Second, I was pointing out that - while retcons are common in Warcraft - there are more than ever before in Shadowlands.

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hardly, there was no info about the shadowlands, finding out new infomation isnt a retcon, the only retcon in shadowlands is the bit about frostmorune and the helm of dom.

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It’s said that Blizzard does think about 4 expansions ahead. I definitely see the whole “There must be a Lich King” as a forshadow of a time where the Lich King would be removed from the table. Just like whenver a Big Red Button is introduced, peanuts to pineapples, you just know that it’s going to be pushed eventually.

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