It is 2:13 am in the morning, and I should be asleep. Yet, I am not. So, what’s your favorite part of Warcraft lore? Anything that’s happened in the games, books, etcetera. Doesn’t have to be major, can be relatively obscure/minor. Though they are non-canon, feel free to include the RPG and Hearthstone if you so wish.
Don’t have to list any reasons if you don’t want to, why is entirely optional.
Well, there -
A whole lot. 
… but since Shadowlands retconned a whole lot of it & rewrote great aspects of the lore into pure garbage – It’s hard to find that love I use to feel for the games story & lore of what I use to feel. 
It’s why I keep hoping they’ll retcon Shadowlands. Ignoring it isn’t enough, they ruined so much that it makes me want to quit the game because the fantasy of it just feels dry. 
In the book ‘WARCRIMES’ when Tyrande brought Alexstrasza to the stand on the Garrosh trial, and tried to put the whole orc race on stand - not just Garrosh, and ask openly about Alexstrasza’s feelings harbored to their entire race of people and Alexstrasza looked to Thrall & his family, then said she forgave them – which Tyrande tried to retort but Alexstrasza was firm on what she’d said. Was such a “YAAAS QUEEEEN!” @ Alexstrasza moment. 
Hmm.
A bigger event: The Alliance Expedition to Draenor.
Favorite cinematic: The BfA one, even though they screwed it up totally it still gets me hyped and makes me wish the story was handled much, much differently.
In-game cinematic: Genn shattering Sylvie’s lantern.
Some of my other favorite moments include Varian’s speech at the battle for Undercity, unmasking Onyxia in classic Stormwind with Reginald Windsor (Masquerade quest) and the Purge of Dalaran.
Apothecary Underhill -Bears are soulless beasts put upon this earth to torment us. Only through forsaken ingenuity have we devised to make use of the bears so that they may serve some purpose.
Spider handler Sarus – … The Bear gods are cruel masters. They will continue to populate this world with bears until the end of days. It is our right as civilized people to make use of this nuisance – for the betterment of all.
Warden Stillwater – What I’ve created here is an evolution. This is how the forsaken will thrive, not through some magical winged fairy sprinkling happy dust on corpses.
I absolutely hate Cata for what it did to Kalimdor zones. But the Lordaeron zones, especially those that involve the Forsaken, are simply phenomenal.
My god, I am still drunk from the day before. I woke up and… well… the debate has become either to continue the binge or try and go back to sleep… the gin is looking good…
WoW, how generous.
The High Home of the Elves being scourged is not a part of the lore I love… but it is a part of the lore that touches me.
And their effort to come back from the smack down. I am there for it.
Mists of Pandaria was probably my favorite if we’re being honest. It really got me back into WoW again. While it was based around the Faction Conflict, the expac really wasn’t in your face about it.
Lei Shen was one of the coolest villains added to WoW in a long long time.
I love DF so far, while the Campain Story is your usual wow story, there’s a lot of other stuff to do and to keep you occupied that it’s nice to be able to sit back and do things at my pace.
While I can’t narrow it down I would honestly say I enjoy the fact that Warcraft as a whole is a universe that has both magic and technology in it. Not to mention the fact that the various races are always combining the two to create some crazy machines and weapons. From airships to tanks, Sniper rifles to land mines. Thats the lore aspect I enjoy about it the most. The progress of technology as each expansion comes and goes.
The Nightborne! I love Suramar too. The whole concept of Arcwine and the Nightwell I found fascinating.
My hope is that the Nightwell will be restored some day…
The story of the Nightborne, and in particular Thalyssra, will probably remain the height of my engagement with the story in WoW.
It may be apparent, but I love the Forsaken.
But I’m not gonna talk about the Forsaken.
I do that enough.
Instead, I want to talk about my favorite, specific, lore story.
A story that is completely irrelevant, but incredibly neat.
The story of how Shen-zin Su, the turtle that is the Wandering Isle, got his name.
And a story about an umbrella.
800 years before the Dark Portal, there existed a Pandaren named Liu Lang.
One day, Liu Lang met a sea turtle and befriended it. Possibly bonding over their shared rotundness.
Liu Lang was an explorer at heart, and his spirit burned with wanderlust. Long had he wondered what lay beyond the mists that clung to Pandaria’s shores. And with his new sea turtle friend, Liu Lang created a preposterous plan.
He planned to sail out to see on the back of his sea turtle, at the time only large enough for the Pandaren to sit neatly atop the shell. But for such a trip, he would need supplies. And so Liu Lang went to the commerce capitol of Pandaria; Halfhill
There existed a store manned by a Pandaren named Shen-zin, who presided proudly over Shen-zin’s Sundries. And on this fateful day, a jovial Liu Lang walked through the door and provided a curious shopping list.
A lantern and oil. Dried foods. Fresh water. A compass. A spyglass.
Why, it almost seemed that this man was planning a sea voyage!
Liu Lang happily announced that, yes! He was planning to sail out into the world atop his trusty sea turtle! Which earned him an odd glance from Shen-zin. After all, it was a crazy plan. This happy loon was clearly sailing to his doom.
But business is business. And as Shen-zin gathered the items, he humored his strange client, advising that surely he’d need an umbrella to ward off rain and sun. And that he’d be glad to provide one free of cost!
And Liu Lang, joyful, dense Liu Lang, was ecstatic at this news! Beaming, he thanked Shen-zin for his kindness and promised the storekeeper that he would name his turtle after him.
And so Liu Lang carted away his supplies, leaving befuddled Pandarens staring in his wake. Umbrella in hand, he sat atop his friend, now named Shen-zin Su, and sailed out to sea for the first time.
We know the rest of the story.
Liu Lang didn’t just survive. He prospered. Shen-zin Su grew massive in size and more Pandaren from the mainland joined his travels.
And all the while, Liu Lang kept that umbrella with him.
The same umbrella we see in statues of his likeness.
The same umbrella that was thrust into the earth upon his death, transforming into the first tree of the Forest of Staves.
An umbrella gifted by a doubtful shopkeeper who fully expected Liu Lang to be eaten by a shark.
The cata forsaken story. I loved the seeds that were planted during vanilla questing begin to bloom as the forsaken evolved from victims hiding in the shadows to becoming their own power and empire building.
I have always liked how expansive and flexible Warcraft’s universe can be. You can tell about any story you want, from cyborg gnomes to seclusive moon worshipping tribal elves and it all works. I also like how they did dragons. They are not just these monsters, they have a culture and role in the world.
I am wounded sir. WOUNDED I SAY.
Trolls
/10chars
Before shadowlands, and I guess really before Legion changed aspects of the story I really enjoyed the story of Arthas. His fall from grace was tragic, yet felt so real because anyone put in his position could’ve fallen into the same trap. And before people pull out the whole “He WaS a SpOiLeD aRrOgAnT PrInCe wHo DiDnT cOnSiDeR OtHeR pEoPlEs ThOuGhTs oN ThE cUlLiNg Of sTrAtH.” I have two points for that.
In Warcraft 3 during the campaign Jaina leaves Arthas to get Uther after discovering the plagued grain, neither of those two had witness people change into undead before them. Secondly after seeing this which put a lot of stress on him already, there was a literal demon going “household to household” speeding along the change so quarantining the city would’ve been a pointless endeavor, oh and Jaina and Uther really had no other ideas to give the prince.
But in the end it was a tragedy, a heroes fall and the rise of a villain. Plus the lore for WC3 was pretty dope, such as how the runeblade stole his soul which made Arthas’ personality change, becoming more cruel, more petty Just like how he turned Syl into an undead for the soul crime of inconveniencing him.
I know this might be shocking because I’m not too vocal about my opinions on these things but I actually think the Forsaken are pretty neat.
Beyond that though? I gotta give it up to the Trolls. They’re one of those concepts pretty unique to Warcraft. Like let’s be real you can find a lot of Azeroth’s races elsewhere. Maybe no other High Elf has the Sin’Dorei’s precise aesthetic but if I’m keeping it real I use the same Helf name for D&D, WoW and TES because it always fits.
The Trolls though are 100% Azerothian. I’ve seen nothing in any other comparable fantasy setting you can even sort of compare them to. They’re the setting’s only naturally occurring dominant hominid who ride dinosaurs and wield esoteric magics. And while the handling has been embarrassing at times their Afro-Carribean inspirations remains pretty unique. Typically if we’re getting anything beyond the usual Western European and East Asian styled factions you’re getting at best like Ancient Egypt and maybe the Incan Empire but they’re lizards. Having Jamaican and Haitian styled stuff is still pretty unheard of.
And the Loa remain the first and last time this setting made deities interesting. Going into BFA I was pretty disinterested in the idea as imho this setting just hasn’t done gods all that well. The Titans are vague versions of the old IRL pantheon gods everyone’s heard of with the personalities of the mannequins they technically are. The most interesting thing about the Naaru begins and ends with their design. The Old God’s incomprehensible cosmic horror turned out to be Fortune Cookie tier mumbling esoterica. And Elune is apparently a very inattentive juiced up crash test dummy so the less said about her the better.
The Loa though are all as unique as the Trolls themselves, and just as oozing with personality. Bwomsamdi was such an instant success that he preformed a genuine miracle by defying the villain bat will of the actual gods of the setting. Jani’s introduction remains one of the best I’ve seen in gaming, as going from a standard filler quest to getting choke slammed by hobo rat lizard Jesus is a hell of a plot twist. And Krag’Wa has the best dialogue of anyone in the setting;
“You are a friend of the frogs. I will… not eat you”
Blessed Be His Holy Circumference. Hippotus Hoppitus Deus Domine.
To say nothing of the Zandalari themselves who have my favorite city in the genre. It’s a golden pyramid city full of domesticated dinosaurs. I don’t need to elaborate. Get out of my face if you don’t think that’s the dopest ish ever.
So here’s to the Trolls, WoW’s frequently concerning but always kickass race so unique to the IP it only makes sense Azeroth really belongs to them.
Pretty much most of the scourge and undead lore was my favorite, admittedly though it makes Shadowland lore hurt me much more.
I’m on the fence if anyone should inform dear Underhill of Ardenweald. The Death of Ursoc would probably warm his heart. But regrettably it seems the Bear gods cruelty is matched only by their volume. As not only do more exist, but the insatiable monstrosities apparently crawl upon worlds even yet discovered by Azerothian eyes.
We won the battle only to discover a war without end. I worry such news might be… unbearable.
Same brother, same.
Gotta love how the scourge apparently just ripped their architectural design from maldraxxus, instead of the original where the LK adopted nerubian architecture after defeating them in the war of the spider.