Let’s talk about lore
May 10, 2007This comment on WoW Insider got me thinking about Warcraft lore:
IMHO, the only way to do any more expansions is to make up lore (even moreso than they already do)
Yeah, and what’s the problem with that?
One of the most common complaints I read on forums, blog comments, etc, is that Blizzard is constantly “ruining their lore.” It ranges from “He’s not supposed to stand here!” to “Blizzard has no respect for lore and has ruined the Warcraft world beyond repair.” I seem to see more of the latter than the former. Maybe (hopefully) it’s just the “vocal minority.”
Here’s a hint for all of you out there who feel that Blizzard has destroyed their own lore: IT IS THEIR OWN LORE THEY CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT TO IT!
Who created the Warcraft universe and mythology? Blizzard, or a bunch of fanboys? Warcraft is Blizzard’s creation, it’s their baby. It’s absurd to say Blizzard ruined the Warcraft mythology when they introduced the spaceship-like Exodar and alien-like Draenei. It fits because Blizzard says it fits. The loremasters at Blizzard have every right to create new stories and make changes to existing Warcraft history. They were the ones who created it in the first place. If they feel that it is necessary to retcon something or add something new, so be it. If they want to expand on existing history, more power to them.
Blizzard has every right to add new content, new areas, new races, new mythology, new anything to the Warcraft universe. The commentor who got me thinking believes that the only way to make new expansions is for Blizzard to “make up lore” and he infers that this is a bad thing. Let me get one thing straight here, if Blizzard wants to say that there’s a new portal to somewhere, or whatever they come up with, Blizzard can say that. The Warcraft universe doesn’t end with what is in WoW right now (or what was in WC3, for that matter). If Blizzard wants to “make something up” they have every right to do so. A series’ “lore” can change and evolve.
The world of Warcraft is huge, there is plenty of room for new stories and new adventures. But some people think that nothing should ever change, characters should stay how they’ve always been, no new story arcs are possible. Those people are wrong.
Basically, Blizzard can “make up” whatever they want and it is perfectly fine. Fiction can change and evolve to suit new needs. If Blizzard “makes up” something, that is what they are supposed to do. How else do you think all the current lore came to be? Warcraft’s lore didn’t just magically appear out of nowhere, it took people “making up” stories to flesh out the mythology that we have now. You need to realize that fictional universes are “made up” and that this is not a bad thing.
EDIT: I took out a few paragraphs that I realized took away from my main message.
The Barracks 
I have to agree with you on that. Isn’t that what Lucas has done with the Star Wars universe when he made the prequel trilogy? For instance, in Jedi, Leia remembers her mother, but in Ep. III Padme dies in childbirth (Leia must have some kind of super memory). If Blizzard wants to expand the Warcraft world, then they have to add to the lore, and revise it at times.
The paragraphs I removed actually talked about Star Wars a bit, but it took away from the actual message I’m trying to get across.
Sometimes owners do make changes to a property that we (the fans) do not like (don’t get me started on midichlorians!). But to say that it “doesn’t fit with the continuity” or “they’ve disrespected THEIR OWN PROPERTY” is foolish. If they make the change, it obviously fits with their continuity. We may not like it, because it contradicts what we’ve become accustomed to, but that’s our problem not theirs.
“If Blizzard wants to expand the Warcraft world, then they have to add to the lore, and revise it at times.”
Exactly! Fictional history isn’t like real world history. IRL you can’t go around changing history and making up your own events, but in fiction you can. That’s the beauty of fiction. It’s good to stay within continuity, but if the creator feels something should be changed, or something should be added, they have every right to do so.
I think Chris M. shot himself in the foot though when he made the “Whoops… WC3 was so long ago, I forgot the lore we wrote in the manual.” When the own creator of an entire world doesn’t have his stuff straight, and has to retcon something due to his own ineptitude, that’s where I draw the line at ruining the lore. It’s one thing if you need to retcon something in order to allow for something to happen, it’s another thing to completely forget about the lore you’re writing when evolving it.
I think the only real things that their changes has ‘ruined’ would be the following:
#1. Nobody knows how old Khadgar is anymore. They don’t know if it’s because he was aged over time due to Medivh, or if he’s really just that old, or what.
#2. Nobody knows what other breed Garona Halforcen is, is she half-draenei, half-human? or what?
#3. When a key lore character gets turned into a raid boss and is then killed off. I think some people can be excused of this, such as Kel’Thuzad & Vashj (They’re just lackies), but if they were to officially kill off Kel’Thuzad or Illidan and having it ‘raid’ based or some silly non-interactive ‘world event’, that just sucks. I’d much prefer them doing it the way Matrix Online has tried, IE Save Morpheus and such.
I guess I have to agree with you on the needless retconning.
I was a little confused going back to Old Southshore (5 or 7 years ago? something like that?) and seeing all these supposedly “old” people running around.