Breakfast Topic: What constitutes canon in WoW lore?
by Scott Carson 
Jul 12th 2010 at 8:00AM
Can-on
Function: noun
[Middle English, from Late Latin, from Latin, standard] a : an authoritative list of books accepted as Holy Scripture b : the authentic works of a writer c : a sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works
Lore is an incredibly huge part of the Warcraft universe. It tells us where the world has been and can give us clues about where it will be going. Unfortunately, it can become very muddied as more and more people contribute. When I was in high school, I can remember reading many of the Star Wars novels, which took place in the "expanded universe." The names and places were often the same, but there were often glaring inconsistencies from author to author. When you grow up with a universe, as I did with Star Wars, or when it grows up with you, those inconsistencies can drive you nuts.
The difference that you find in the much of the licensed material that comes out about the Warcraft universe is that Blizzard has a much stricter control over what can be created. Blizzard works with the authors and artists and will often give them advance knowledge of where the property is going, story-wise, in order to make the work fit with unreleased game content. The first time I noticed a character from a licensed product in game was when I stumbled upon Dar'Khan Drathir in Deatholme while leveling my first blood elf. The first book of the Sunwell Trilogy was published almost two years before The Burning Crusade went live. As we progressed into and through The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, more characters from the books, manga and comic worked their way into the game.
We now have several sources of material that are now considered, at least in some ways, canon for the Warcraft universe. Many of the books and comics that have come out over the past few years expand the back stories of the World of Warcraft beyond what any quest or instance can. Where was Varian before Wrath of the Lich King? Read the World of Warcraft comics. What's up with the creepy kid in Icecrown Glacier? Read Arthas: Rise of the Lich King. Why should we care about the newly announced Caverns of Time raid in Cataclysm? Read the War of the Ancients trilogy. You will find that many of the licensed products are well written, with stunning visuals in the comics and manga.
With the lore appearing to be under a careful watch, does everything need to be explained and fleshed out in game, or is there a risk that a huge chunk of potential content will be side-stepped through a licensed work?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
IvanZephyr Jul 12th 2010 8:10AM
I don't think they have to incorporate EVERYTHING from the comics and the novels into the game, however the important and overarching themes or plot twists should be involved in the WoW game.
As much as people hate him, Med'an should be in the game, or they should explain what happens to him (Which they are).
The Crimson Ring should be in the game in at least some form, if even a mention by Varian or Thrall.
You get my point.
Fletcher Jul 12th 2010 8:31AM
I'm going to have to disagree with you; unless things are *integrated* into the game, just putting them in there as cameos doesn't work. There's no explanation in-game as to why we're attacking the obsidian sanctum, or for who Broll and Valeera are (they show up at the Battle for the Undercity). And I found it tremendously frustrating that Blizzard put them in there as if we were expected to know these things ... but the only way we'd know about them would be if we'd read the books and comics.
Gamer am I Jul 12th 2010 8:11AM
The trouble is, some of us simply don't enjoy reading, or don't enjoy fiction, or don't enjoy comic books, or, even if we do enjoy reading, don't enjoy the writing style of the authors of these novels. I count myself in all of those categories except the first, and for that reason, any lore I can't find out about in-game, though Know Your Lore, or through WoWWiki will forever remain unknown to me. And I'm sure there are many like me who also don't know about Know Your Lore or WoWWiki, so for them, the game is the only portal to the lore that they have. Thus, though I don't think everything needs to be fleshed-out in game (it would take forever to do that), everything should at least be explained so that those who only know the lore through the game have some basic idea of who they are fighting/fighting with and why they are fighting.
vinniedcleaner Jul 12th 2010 8:23AM
Maybe CliffsNotes..... or an uneditable author written (or fan written, author approved) synopsis on WoWwiki.
Sleutel Jul 12th 2010 8:30AM
The biggest problem for me is the people they choose to write the extra-game materials. Quite frankly, they're just not up to snuff, compared to what I'm usually reading. It's very hard to go from something by Haruki Murakami or Michael Chabon or Milan Kundera or even Terry Pratchett to something that reads like... well... fan fiction. And some of it even particularly BAD fan fiction (*cough*Knaak*cough*).
Itanius Jul 12th 2010 8:33AM
Just add more in-game books (you know, the kind you see laying around that you click on and read) to fill those lore gaps.
Dreamstorm Jul 12th 2010 8:51AM
Manga is just... yuck... :S
Can't put myself to read the WoW manga, the style just feels wrong.
Mr. Tastix Jul 12th 2010 8:58AM
I'm with Gamer, on this one.
I love the WoW lore but can't bring myself to read any of the novels of comics. The only ones I ever read were Arthas: Rise of the Lich King and the Ashbringer comics. Both of which I liked, but I generally have to be in the mood to read something nowadays (aka: I'm lazy).
Despite my lack of knowledge on the novels themselves, however, I still think I know a good chunk about the lore of Warcraft, or at least many parts of it. The lore of the Warcraft games, as well as many other games, has always interested me, but I'd rather read about each specific part that interests me, as opposed to a novel that has a lot of parts I'm just not intrigued about.
Sleutel Jul 12th 2010 9:26AM
And a follow-up for anybody who thinks I'm sounding like a bit of a lit snob:
It is entirely possible to write GOOD genre fiction within established universes. For me, an excellent example of this would be the trilogy of Star Wars: X-Wing novels written by Aaron Allston: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, and Solo Command. They mostly center around entirely original characters, but nobody feels like a Mary Sue. And in addition to characterization, the writing itself is excellent: plots that make sense, plenty of humor, prose that's descriptive without being overburdened by clunky strings of modifiers.
Honestly, I'm more than a little disappointed that Allston has never yet been tapped to write a Warcraft novel. I can only dream of how much better the lore would be right now if, say, everything Knaak wrote had been given to Allston instead.
miggedymike Jul 12th 2010 10:14AM
Building on Itanius's reply, what if those books when opened actually showed you the comic itself? That way the developers can incorporate the lore and pay homage to the craftsmen who created these pieces of literature.
Scooter Jul 12th 2010 10:44AM
To expand upon the above ideas. I'm all for books/comics/etc being part of the lore but they should strictly be non-essential to playing the game. I shouldn't be asking questions about why such and such is standing in front of me. I need to know who this person is, why they are there, and why I should even care within the first two minutes of meeting them. You might think this is shallow...and you'd be right, but this is something all video games follow. The challenge here is for designers to come up with ways to make you care about this organized assortment of binary standing in front of you.
I knew Tirion because I found him, gained his trust, and did everything in my power to rescue his lost son. To have him appear again two expansions later to become the most vibrant character in the game was wonderful.
Then Varian returned looking very pissed off and brought some DBZ haircuts with him. Not to mention there is a "teenage" Blood Elf and a antlered night elf hanging around. Correct me if i am wrong but the only explanation I got was... he had amnesia, fought in the arenas, and came home with his two companions. It was enough but...still very shallow.
Now if Varian returned, shouted out to Stormwind that he was traveling to Onyxia's lair just to climb down her throat and pull out her still beating heart for all that has gone on then actually did it with me there to see it...I would be singing his praises to this very day.
"Screw Garrosh...let Varian lead the Horde! This guy dives down dragon's throats and eats their still living insides for breakfast!"
Either way, Blizzard did focus on the most lore-important characters in WotLK. I eager to see what happens next.
Shassar Jul 12th 2010 11:06AM
@miggedymike
Because then they wouldn't sell any comics - realistically, the only person who'll buy a WoW comic is a WoW player, and would you pay real money for something you could obtain in-game for free?
jrb Jul 12th 2010 1:28PM
There are some great lore podcasts out there that cover a lot of background lore which i would recommend. But wait there's lore, and the councilmof six being two. BWTL covered some really fundamental things, like the war of the ancients, the titans, old gods, dragon aspects, and even things like horde and alliance, down to relatively minor things like the defias brotherhood. Shame that podcast ended.
cygnus Jul 12th 2010 1:57PM
Most of the time I can't say if I enjoyed the style of certain book or not. I seek the lore, and if its presented to me in abundance then im happy and satisfied. If, on the other hand, the author shows a completely idiotic course of events (Arthas:RoLK) while focusing his/HER attention in the most unimportant details (the f****ng pony) and writing the dialogs as if they were to be used in a venezuelan soap opera, COMPLETELY destroying a key character in the warcraft universe ( the girl had her farther killed, now you tell me she's hesitates with the thought of killing the LK?, ty, christie, gg ). Yet know that this rant is against the novel and not the author, she also wrote one of the greatest novels of the warcraft universe, Raise of the Horde, this book is beautiful, the amount of lore is just...amazing, when someone ask me what book should he read first, Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden is the answer. What books NOT to read first, Arthas:RoLK, due to the reasons stated above, and Night of the Dragon, the lack of useful lore in this book is outstanding, there is only 1 piece of usable information that is found in the last page, and seems like blizzard didn't like that for canon.
Josin Jul 12th 2010 2:07PM
@Sleutel: Allston's been pretty busy with his Star Wars writing schedule as well as recovering from a heart attack. But I highly recommend the work he, Christie Golden and Troy Denning have been doing over in Force-land for the past 2 years or so with the Fate of the Jedi series.
Sleutel Jul 12th 2010 6:40PM
@Josin:
Unfortunately, I stopped reading Star Wars books... man, some time in high school, maybe, so over ten years ago. The whole Yuuzhan Vong thing was just getting going, if that pins it down.
Really, I have so many other really good books backed up right now that I can't afford to get sucked back into a bunch of interconnected series (with varying degrees of well-written-ness). But it's good to know that if I suddenly find myself with a lot of time on my hands that there's new Allston out there waiting for me.
cyanea85 Jul 12th 2011 4:26PM
The king of all Star Wars fiction is and always will bit Timothy Zahn.
If they tapped him to write a Warcraft book, I'd be the first in line at my local BN. (I can dream, can't I?)
kvanje Jul 12th 2010 8:16AM
Things absolutely need to be explained in game, and it breaks immersion when that doesn't happen. I have yet to manage to fit any WoW fiction into my other reading, and consequently to me (and by extension my characters), Sartharion is just a loot piñata, and Varian is just an unreasonable hatemonger. The trend has taken a lot of the fun out of the story during WotLK, and I really hope they won't repeat it to this extent with Cataclysm. Especially when it's so easy to fix: just add a few breadcrumb quests and some optional dialogue.
jealouspirate Jul 12th 2010 8:19AM
I think WoW lore suffers from a huge case of "too many cooks in the kitchen". The problem is made even worse by spreading out the lore across different mediums.
If it was up to me, I would limit the writing of lore to a very select group of people as small as possible, and contain all of it in-game only. No more comics, novels or anything else. I know that might upset people who enjoy those things, but... I can live with that =)
Bernie Roscoe Jul 13th 2010 4:59PM
KNAAAAAAAK