Lore


 * For other lore-related sections, see Lore (disambiguation).

Lore in the Warcraft series of games is a term used for "background story". The use of the term stems from Blizzard's snippets of "lore" for many of the multiplayer maps in their Warcraft RTS games, although how much of it has a relationship to the main Warcraft universe storyline is unclear.

Major areas

 * Articles
 * Timelines
 * Retcons – changes in lore
 * Locations
 * Organizations, clans, factions, etc.
 * Religions
 * Magics
 * Technologies
 * Class lore
 * Languages
 * Sources

See also Portal:Warcraft universe.

Why don't we use the word "canon"?
Canon is an oft-used term by Warcraft fans regarding official lore, specifically the fictional accounts in the Warcraft universe. This type of lore can be referred to as "canonical" lore.

Wowpedia strives to have a neutral point of view on official lore due to it being rarely discussed by Blizzard, although examples exist:


 * Chris Metzen has stated that some things are less canon than others, but he wants everything as integrated as possible:
 * ...yeah, the novels are pretty much considered canon, ahm, the funny thing is that some things are less canon, you know, but we shoot for canon... that's a strange statement... we shoot for canon... but yeah, typically the characters in novels are canon.


 * A lot of times... depending on when one thing gets started during another, we happen to be in the middle of the game, or doing the manga thing for instance or this comic series specifically, we try to engineer as much inner play as possible. Like characters in the manga series showing up in Netherstorm and we are doing stuff like that, so we want to make everything feels as continuity friendly and as integrated as possible. Cause that would make it cool as if all its moving, right. - Chris Metzen

Metzen also stated that a character of the RPG books is not necessarily considered canonical:
 * "I’m sure this will be controversial, but I don’t necessarily consider her canonical, and based on that we haven't really had any plans of leveraging her in the future. Uh, I think she appeared in one of the RPG books, but you know she's just not a character I have thought about, so at this point I don't really know if we are going to do much with her." - Chris Metzen

Because the use of the term is rare and mostly in interviews, and as calling something "canon" often precludes the possibility of discussion about validity and "truth" (i.e., whether something in-universe is supposed to be gospel truth in that universe versus the more realistic stance of belief from a group's point of view) we avoid using this term to describe lore in the Wowpedia articles in order to keep a neutral point of view.

While we cannot stop the use of the term "canon" in talk page discussions, the term is not allowed in articles. The only exception is when verifiable public quotes from actual first-party Blizzard employees (such as Chris Metzen) are allowed in articles, and then only if there are direct links to the sources of the quotes.

However, Blizzard later clarified about the RPG:

Q: Are the Warcraft and World of Warcraft RPG books considered canon?
 * A: No. The RPG books were created to provide an engaging table-top role-playing experience, which sometimes required diverging from the established video game canon. Blizzard helped generate a great deal of the content within the RPG books, so there will be times when ideas from the RPG will make their way into the game and official lore, but you are much better off considering the RPG books non-canonical unless otherwise stated.

For more on Wowpedia's lore policy, see Wowpedia:Lore policy.