Breakfast Topic: Lore and fantasy comparisons
by David Bowers 
Jul 15th 2007 at 8:04AM
Or... maybe you've just read some of the quest texts every now and then. Everyone's got at least some idea of Warcraft lore just from playing the game, with some sense of what the story is about. Chances are you've also encountered many other fantasy stories of one sort or another, and perhaps started thinking about how WoW is different, or how it is the same.
What are some of the similarities and differences you see between the Warcraft lore and the lore of other great fantasy stories? Do you think it's just a cheap ripoff of Lord of the Rings? Or do you think it brings its own unique contribution to the genre of fantasy storytelling and cannot be fairly compared to any other story lore? Perhaps it even draws the most inspiration from a certain religion or philosophy! What do you think?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Lore
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andramalius Jul 15th 2007 8:41AM
I am actually working on a Literature M.A. with a focus on Fantasy Fiction. I am also an avid WoW player and the raid leader of my guild. There are some striking similarities between WoW and Tolkien's fantasy. WoW borrows some of the same races (Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, and Goblins) but instead of running the traditional way with them WoW altered some key components of them. Elves are semi-evil or at the best greedy magic addicts whereas in Tolkien they most often represent purity and goodness to the extreme (the Night Elves are actually kind of close to the Tolkien Elves). Dwarves are REAL similar, living under mountains, being hardy eaters and drinkers, gruff and tough, etc. WoW started using Orcs the same way Tolkien did when the series first started (Human vs Orc was a Good vs Evil fight), but now Orcs lean towards being good.
WoW also borrows some of Lovecraft's mythology (The Old Gods that existed before the current version of the world) C'Thun is an example of this.
There is also a little borrowing from Greek Mythology with the concept of the Titans, and Christian Mythology with the corruption of a celestial being in the form of Sargeras (former Titan) turning evil and becomming the lord of the Burning Legion (this is a lot like the fall of Lucifor in Christianity).
All in all, WoW has to deal with the same challenge of all fantasy writers, create a fantasy world that flows from the amazing tradition of its predecessors while steal adding something new. I think WoW does this really well, I just wish the WoW lore dept. wouldn't let the developers stomp all over the great lore of this game by changing things and not following things up.
Kyr Jul 15th 2007 8:46AM
Great post, both the article and Andramalius's.
One small thingy though: the event of a celestial being corrupted and "cast down" isn't native to Christianity alone, it's a recurring theme in most religions, big or small. Also, if you know your Tolkien - which I'll assume you do - you will undoubtedly see at least some parallels between Morgoth and Sargeras. Sauron might be "represented" by Deathwing, though perhaps that is taking it a bit far.
kyle Jul 15th 2007 9:49AM
If I had to guess the central theme of WoW it would be forbidden knowledge kinda like promethius and the flame or the tree of knowledge from genesis. its seems after beings on azeroth got their hands on magic from the well of eternity or sun well or whatever, well thats when all the trouble started. i believe that archimonde himself stated when he razed quel thalas (or was it dalaran) that they had stole the "secret fire".
if there is an end to WoW I wouldn't be suprised if it involved all races denouncing macigs because it isn't worth the trouble.
jsut and idea
Zechs Jul 15th 2007 10:14AM
The whole fantasy genre is side notes to Tolkien, but WoW seems not to be completely honest about this.
Baluki Jul 15th 2007 11:01AM
Like #1 said, I find it very interesting that the WC world takes the staple races of fantasy and gives them all their own unique twists (for the most part). There aren't really any EVIL races, just evil characters.
The orcs, traditionally an evil race, were actually a peaceful race before their corruption, and seeing how they deal with the aftermath of that corruption is one of my favorite elements of WC.
The tauren, who are obviously minotaur, are the most purely GOOD race in the game, which goes strongly against the archetype. Even the trolls, who are also typically evil throughout not just fantasy but also numerous Scandinavian legends, have some good-leaning tribes.
Warcraft's use of Humans too is somewhat different from what is traditional. They're portrayed as overzealous and somewhat xenophobic...which may be true in real life, but most fantasy doesn't want to admit that.
And then there's the Draenei. They're basically demons who never turned to evil. I don't think I've seen a similar race in any other fantasy worlds.
Warcraft is also somewhat unique in mixing some sci-fi elements into its fantasy universe. Many of its creatures and races come from other planets. Goblins and Gnomes build amazingly complex devices...and Gnomes even have COMPUTERS.
All of this is what sets it apart from other fantasy. I'm not saying that Warcraft is the only fantasy that doesn this stuff, but it certainly doesn't follow tradition in most situations, which is what makes it so interesting.
Natalie Jul 15th 2007 12:42PM
I actually don't think comparing WoW to fantasy novels is a fair comparison--they're two different modes of storytelling and rely on different methods to do things like worldbuilding, character development, and plot advancement.
Honestly, if I were to compare WoW to my very favorite fantasy novels, it'd fall down flat every time. The folks at Blizzard just don't have the storytelling chops of a Lois McMaster Bujold or Brandon Sanderson--and they don't need to. They're doing something different.
feadin Jul 15th 2007 4:15PM
the lore in WoW is very different. every race is strugling to survive (in its own way (forasken killing everything with their new plague XD)) but all in all... wow takes a lot of other cultures and miths. just not completly and accurate but realistic in their sort of way.
no one is good or bad (although in my opinion humans are bad, they are the ones that move everything here)
it has good lore and history be that original or taken from other places
Merus Jul 15th 2007 7:05PM
I have nothing to add other than that there are too many dragons in WoW. They're friggin' everywhere.
overneathe Jul 16th 2007 5:59AM
I'm sry but I read too much BS in this thread to actually reply to it. You guys have no idea of 'lore' in WoW, neither by size or content.
CVJ Jul 16th 2007 9:34AM
@9 - Then care to add your input to the conversation or merely say they have no clue and hide the fact that you really do not as well?
Metaphyzxx Jul 16th 2007 10:28AM
Well, learning the lore as it happens, there's a strong "warhammer" feel to the early part of the interactive history. It branches significantly as we get to the WC2 expansion. By the time we reach WoW, it does have it's own distict flavor, but is forced to build upon what feels like a borrowed past.
Heraclea Jul 16th 2007 10:32AM
The Blood Elves in WoW are one of my favorite creations in fantasy, largely because they take two entirely different takes on elves and attempt to merge them.
One the one hand, they come off visually like fairy princesses from a Disney movie, with their tra-la-la movement animations. Their cities come complete with magically animated broomsticks everywhere.
But their culture and attitude resemble the subterranean Drow Elves from D&D, in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. They are power-mad, vengeful, and given to endless in-fighting. (And they seem to be a matriarchy in practice if not in theory. Female player characters definitely seem to predominate, and the males aren't all that male.)
Their visuals make them all the more scary, IMO. Orcs aren't an "evil" race anymore. Tauren are not an evil race. Trolls aren't evil, only ugly. Even the Forsaken are not really evil, what with the struggling to free themselves from the Scourge and such. Blood elves are Evil with a capital E. My only regret is that we can't skin them for trophies.
The merger of these two concepts was something of a coup, even if neither half is entirely original. In high fantasy, "originality" comes from recycling the stereotypes in new combinations.
overneathe Jul 16th 2007 11:12AM
Well CVJ there isn't much to say. Methaphyzxx already said a lot in that little post. The inspiration of Blizzard for Warcraft came from early Warhammer. The stories didn't come from there though. It's more then obvious that Blizzard has borrowed a lot of sidestories from different games, fairy tales, movies, books etc. but they only borrowed the main idea, after which they build an extremely solid evolution of all of them tales with tons of details and imagination. I doubt i can compare a lot of the legendary book authors to the Blizzard masterminds.
Mark Jul 16th 2007 12:09PM
I posted this in the Breakfast topic Is Wow Science Fiction? but I figured it would probably be better here. I feel WoW does draw heavily from several different fantasy worlds but most fantasies do the same. I do see a lot of key things taken from the series "The Wayfarer Redemption" by Sara Douglass. Humans are Xenophobes for the most part, Blood Elves are extremely vain and love magic as do Icarii, Tauren and Night Elves both value the power of the trees and nature and the Night Elves are extremely reclusive and unwilling to fight much like the Avar. Undead can be seen as the villains in books 4-6 (Don't want to spoil in case you read it) in they want to destroy all life by various plagues. There are a lot more similarities but they can be seen as spoilers. Definately worth the read IMO and I am glad to see Blizzard, even if unintentionally, has some parts of this series in their own Warcraft series.