WoW Rookie: Reading about Warcraft
by Lisa Poisso 
Sep 9th 2009 at 5:00PM
Even if you're not a roleplayer, it's almost impossible not to find yourself swept up by some aspect of the hundreds of compelling stories tucked into the World of Warcraft. The question is, how can you dig deeper? Where do you find more? The answer: Books ... Manga ... Comics ... RPGs .... Page after page after page of glorious lore. Blizzard approves the storylines and lore included in the Warcraft and World of Warcraft line of novels, although you won't find a straight and clear progression across the whole line. Not every story and character crosses over from books to game (and vice versa).
Besides the Warcraft novels, WoW-starved readers can chew through enough manga, roleplaying game books and gaming guides to sate any lore feeding frenzy. The best part? You enjoy +Lore bonuses to your online play experience. Even the RPG books add color to the overall picture. Follow us beyond the break for a basic reading outline to escort you down Warcraft's path of lore.
Start at the beginning
Most readers who are just getting into Warcraft's rich lore want to take things from the beginning. Here's our supplemented version of the canon according to Blizzard, including novels and manga and showing where the games fit into the timeline. (Note that this listing is in story timeline order, not publication order.)
- (Novel) War of the Ancients trilogy
- The Well of Eternity (Richard A. Knaak)
- The Demon Soul (Richard A. Knaak)
- The Sundering (Richard A. Knaak)
- (Novel) Rise of the Horde (Christie Golden)
- (PC game) Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
- (Novel) The Last Guardian (Jeff Grubb)
- (PC game) Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness
- (Novel) Tides of Darkness (Aaron Rosenberg)
- (PC game) Warcraft 2 expansion: Beyond the Dark Portal
- (Novel) Beyond the Dark Portal (Aaron Rosenberg, Christie Golden)
- (Novel) Day of the Dragon (Richard A. Knaak)
- (Novel) Lord of the Clans (Christie Golden)
- (Novel) Of Blood and Honor (Chris Metzen)
- (PC game) Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos
- (PC game) Warcraft 3 expansion: The Frozen Throne
- (Manga) The Sunwell trilogy
- Dragon Hunt (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)
- Shadows of Ice (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)
- Ghostlands (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)
- (Novel) Cycle of Hatred (Keith R. A. DeCandido)
- (PC game) World of Warcraft
- (PC game) World of Warcraft expansion: The Burning Crusade
- (Novel) Arthas: Rise of the Lich King (Christie Golden)
- (Novel) Night of the Dragon (Richard A. Knaak)
- (PC game) World of Warcraft expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
- Stormrage (Richard A. Knaak)
- Excerpt available online
- Cover art
- Richard Knaak interview on Stormrage
- Dragons of Outland manga trilogy (Richard A. Knaak)
- Warcraft: Death Knight manga (TOKYOPOP)
- Unnamed Cataclysm novel (Christie Golden)
- Christie Golden interview on Cataclysm novel
- Warcraft: Legends manga (TOKYOPOP)
- World of Warcraft: The Comic series (Wildstorm)
- World of Warcraft Roleplaying Game (White Wolf)
WoW Rookie walks you through all sort of new-player concerns, from game lingo for the beginner to joining your first guild as a mid-level player and on to what to do when you finally hit level 80. Visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's.Filed under: Features, The Burning Crusade, Lore, WoW Rookie, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
benicrystal Sep 9th 2009 5:08PM
You can't truly enjoy the in game quests and dungeons without knowing the lore, imo.
Good read. I'll recommend it to some of my friends who raid naxx and don't even know who KT is :P
Camo Sep 9th 2009 7:21PM
Yeah I think you should know at least the little 'who is who' of wow, but I think it's not mandatory to read the books. If you want to read something I would suggest wowwiki a great source and not mentioned in the post.
gboyd Sep 9th 2009 5:16PM
I love all the little things Blizzard implemented in the game from prior games/novels. For example, the little trail of blood in the Lorderon throne room just down the steps from the throne (from the cinematic WC3 video of Arthas killing his father), the rose petals on the path just outside that room (same video), the wrecked caravan outside Grim Batol (from Day of the Dragon), and the unearthed grave near the farm to the east of the Undercity (from Arthas: Rise of the Lich King). Whenever I see little things such as those, and knowing the story behind them, it brings a smile to my face.
Endless Sep 9th 2009 5:39PM
If you turn your ambient sound volume high and turn off your music, you'll hear ghostly bells when passing around the crashed bell, and then you'll hear a distant cheering crowd as you pass through the entrance hall. That's some nice touch.
Nazgûl Sep 9th 2009 8:49PM
Also, if your ambient sounds is at max, you can hear the audio from the WC3 cinematic in the Lordaeron throne room.
Chilling.
Jewbanks Sep 9th 2009 5:18PM
So Ive played wow forever like shortly after the actualy launch, but (and please dont crucify me here) Iv never played any of the RTS's. Anyway, Im actually fairly proficient at lore due to hours, Id rather not admit to, of scouring lore articles on wowwiki.
Anyway on to the question, Ive been thinking about reading the novels and playing the RTS's. Should I do them in story time-line order like you suggest or order published produced or whatever?
Also, am I missing to much if i ignore the mangas and comics because those really arent my things?
gboyd Sep 9th 2009 5:33PM
It would be suggested to read/play them in order of the timeline, but don't feel that you have to. Most of the stories aren't linked to each other. That is, reading The Last Guardian will not be affected if you never read the Rise of the Horde. However, having read the Rise of the Horde will give you a little more insight to the Draenor (Outland) side of the opening of the Dark Portal, while The Last Guardian will give you the Azeroth events leading up to it.
I tend to suggest, to people that have already played WC3, to read Day of the Dragons prior to reading the War of the Ancients Trilogy as you'll have a little better idea who some of the characters are. Chronologically it'll be a bit backwards, but story wise it'll make sense to read them that way. Hopefully I gave nothing away with that bit of advice.
Good Luck!
Dreyja Sep 9th 2009 5:38PM
I'm telling people to go ahead and start with the "War of the Ancients," series right now mostly to give them some insight into Deathwing and the Maelstrom, which all start out here.
That's just my bias at the moment. I'm also telling people to read, "Arthas," since we are dealing with him at the moment and the book helps you see that he was more than a bit of a douche before he even picked up frostmourne (IMHO). ;) It also sheds light on what was going on w/ Sylvanas and her Apothecaries.
Mostly the Manga's have been nice little self-contained stories really, outside of the sunwell trilogy.
Shionia Sep 9th 2009 6:33PM
I've read almost all that list, and if you're buying, I'd save some money and skip the Sunwell manga. What those three manga cover in terms of lore and "characterization" is completely covered by the wowwiki pages on Kalecgos, Anveena, the Sunwell, and Dar'Khan Drathir.
Urza Sep 10th 2009 11:58AM
I would read the Knaak stories in published order. Everything else can be read in timeline order.
There's a reason for this and if you don't want to know why stop reading this NOW. The War of the Ancients trilogy is a tricky trilogy because it's sort of a caverns of time event. Characters from his previous novels are go back in time. So you know little of the main characters if you skip Day of the Dragon who's story is also spoiled by reading War of the Ancients.
Radigand Sep 9th 2009 5:32PM
Not a big fan of WoW novels, as they are poorly written. Fantasy genre isn't my thing, but I have seen better styles among it. It's better to play the game and follow the Lore development through there. Sorry, folks, I've been spoiled by classic writers like Marc Twain, Oscar Wilde, Jules Verne and others, so don't yell at me right away; they knew how to tell a good story. If you want great adventures - read them instead. WoW novels are mostly dry event recites.
sandman Sep 9th 2009 5:42PM
If one were to limit himself, as you claim to, to the exalted works of Verne, Twain, Tolkien, Lovecraft, and their ilk, I fear reading material would become quite scarce. True a steak may be a delicious well rounded meal, but that doesn't mean a bowl of ramen can't be enjoyable.
So, ease up on 'em man. Nothing wrong with a little light, digestible entertainment now and then.
Radigand Sep 9th 2009 5:48PM
Speaking of steak, did you know that the author of "The Three Musketeers", Alexandre Dumas, was a great cook and published his "Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine", an encyclopedia cookbook :)?
Cheers! Read them if you want, but don't neglect the classics!
krizzlybear Sep 9th 2009 5:52PM
As a corollary to the above statement, those who aren't well-versed or "spoiled by" american/world literature (or just don't read in general) will find these novels relatively easy to read compared to the more 'refined' literature out there.
Failing that, wow wiki has lore backgrounds on that a wide variety of topics. While the quality of wikis are in suspect, this site for the most part cites from the novels and rpg books as sources. So for those who don't like to spend an entire day's worth or reading, they can simply find summary information on the wiki.
gboyd Sep 9th 2009 6:30PM
I don't think I can agree with you here. I just can't see how someone could compare the works of Twain and the others you've mentioned to this particular genre. Nor would I be inclined to believe that if a Warcraft Novel was written by them, that it would be nearly as good or as interesting as the works of Knaak, Golden, Metzen and the others on this particular subject. The worlds they've written about are vastly different from the world we're discussing here. I just don't believe they can be compared in any way.
Kerberos Sep 9th 2009 7:02PM
I have to agree with Radigand, and you don't have to limit yourself to classics to find better. I tried reading Arthas and Golden's narration was so bad I couldn't get past the first chapter. I flipped through to see if it got better and just returned it.
tim Sep 9th 2009 7:12PM
@sandman
I don't care to comment on whether those books are entertaining or not (that's a personal thing), but
"If one were to limit himself, as you claim to, to the exalted works of Verne, Twain, Tolkien, Lovecraft, and their ilk, I fear reading material would become quite scarce."
Do you really believe that? There are literally thousands of such "exalted" works.
Outis Sep 9th 2009 5:32PM
You forgot the novel Tides of Darkness.
Other than that, good work organizing this.
Lisa Poisso Sep 9th 2009 6:25PM
Thanks, I'll make that addition to the list!
Kevin Sep 9th 2009 5:39PM
Would be a good list...if you got rid of Richard Knaak. Seriously, just read the Wowwiki articles on his books. They're shorter and better written.