WoW Rookie: Reading about Warcraft

by Lisa Poisso Sep 9th 2009 at 5:00PM

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic, and be sure to visit the WoW.com WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's.

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

Not yet published

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

Also worth reading

Warcraft: Legends manga (TOKYOPOP)
World of Warcraft: The Comic series (Wildstorm)
World of Warcraft Roleplaying Game (White Wolf)

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Tags: Aaron-Rosenberg, Beyond-the-Dark-Portal, Chris-Metzen, Christie-Golden, comics, Cycle-of-Hatred, Day-of-the-Dragon, Dragon-Hunt, Dragons-of-Outland, featured, Ghostlands, guide, how-to-play-world-of-warcraft, how-to-play-wow, Jae-Hwan-Kim, Jeff-Grubb, Keith-R-A-DeCandido, Lord-of-the-Clans, lore, manga, new-to-world-of-warcraft, Night-of-the-Dragon, noob-guide, novels, Of-Blood-and-Honor, Reign-of-Chaos, Richard-Knaak, Rise-of-the-Horde, rookie-guide, RPG, Shadows-of-Ice, Stormrage, Stormrage-novel, The-Demon-Soul, The-Frozen-Throne, The-Last-Guardian, The-Sundering, The-Sunwell, The-Sunwell-trilogy, The-Well-of-Eternity, Tides-of-Darkness, timeline, War-of-the-Ancients, Warcraft, Warcraft-2, Warcraft-3, Warcraft-Orcs-and-Humans, world-of-warcraft-guide, world-of-warcraft-help, world-of-warcraft-noobs, world-of-warcraft-rookies, wow-guide, wow-help, WoW-history, wow-noob-guide, wow-noobs

Filed under: Features, The Burning Crusade, Lore, WoW Rookie, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm

Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)

hawk Sep 10th 2009 1:24AM

this timeline is a lifesaver for an unashamed warcraft newbie like me, thanks. i've been trying to figure out how to properly go about learning comprehensive lore for ages, besides wowwiki (which, while being extremely useful, doesn't satisfy my weird desire for order and efficiency when joining a new fandom and learning its history)

but now i'll be compelled to go through it completely in order, crappily written fantasy novels, ancient PC games and all. i even have the crazy urge to try and get my hands on a copy of orcs and humans, i am beyond help

AmazonLily Sep 10th 2009 5:35AM

Thank you for this article! I've been trying to figure out where to start on reading up on the Warcraft universe and this is more than helpful! Thank you! :)

LilyG Sep 10th 2009 6:07AM

I'm half-way through the Ancients trilogy, and I totally agree, it is pretty poorly written, very 'fluffy' - but it has added a hell of a lot to my WOW experience. Although I played Orcs and Humans, I missed out the games in between, and came to WOW shortly after Burning Crusade launched. Hence, I missed out a hell of a lot of back story. Playing through my many alts with this new knowledge about who people are, where they came from, has made the whole experience much more rewarding... has even led to me really wanting to do some of the group content I've missed out on, just so I can go and kick Illidian's ass for being such a moron!

In summary, yes the books are, at times, rather excruciating to read, but they can really add to the general experience of playing - even more so if you tend to solo a lot, just makes the game feel richer imho.

mikejl Sep 10th 2009 8:30AM

Lord of the Clans .. still one of my favorites. Wish Bliz would do a full featured movie on that story. (using their music and animation depts).

Skarlette Sep 10th 2009 2:27PM

See the aborted "Warcraft Adventures." ;)

Warthok Sep 10th 2009 11:54AM

The Beyond the Dark portal novel is in the wrong place. Should immediately follow Tides of Darkness. Should go

(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)

And While Arthas was published later it happens before NotD. The events it culminates in preceed Onyxias death by Varian Wrynn (Scourge attack on Azeroth as a result of Arthas awakening follows immediately after). In Night of the Dragon word of Onyxia's death has already spread.

As far as recommended reading order i recommend either publication order so the reader can understand how warcraft lore has evolved, or chronological order with one exception: War of the Ancients which begins after the third war, often makes refrences back to that time, and has character previously introduced. IMO it's best read after Of Blood And Honor but before Sunwell Trilogy

Lisa Poisso Sep 11th 2009 3:04PM

Good chronological points. So noted -- thanks!

forthepie Oct 21st 2009 7:36PM

I am still seeing Beyond the Dark Portal in the wrong place. I just finished it and it needs to go before Day of the Dragon.

I was following your timeline with the books and I started reading Beyond and realize...wtf is Grom still doing on the other side of the Dark Portal.

None of these books will be a classic, but I've enjoyed them. And they do give you a lot more lore than you probably knew.

Sir Broose Sep 11th 2009 3:16PM

This just happens to be a very timely article for me. I have been playing WoW for almost exactly 1 year. I was, originally, only interested in the video game aspect, but I am now getting to the place where I want to dig deeper and learn more of the lore and feel a little more connected to the wider community of fans. I decided I need to buy some books and start learning. Thanks for reading my mind, Lisa.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to go back and play old games. Is there any way to get just the lore synopsis of what transpired during the old PC games? I suppose Wowikki is going to be the answer, but I've been there a couple of times and don't even know where to begin. Encyclopedias are great when you are looking for specific information, but not really set-up to just start at the beginning and read. Wowikki feels very encylopedia-like to me.

Lisa Poisso Sep 11th 2009 4:32PM

Eddie Carrington here at WoW.com recommends http://www.lorecrafted.com/, although I don't at first glance see anything there specific to your question. Perhaps readers will have more ideas?

Lisa Poisso Sep 12th 2009 11:44AM

And this just in from Daniel Whitcomb:

Another place to look for an overview of the WoW storyline is actually on the official site itself: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/story/index.html#a

This page actually has a timeline and a basic history overview that, while not 100% comprehensive, gives you a good feel for the major events of Azeroth's history and their place in the timeline.

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