History of Warcraft

Not to be confused with The Story of Warcraft or The Story So Far.

The History of Warcraft is a part of the Warcraft universe. It is a comprehensive account of Warcraft's history created by Blizzard Entertainment as background information to the World of Warcraft universe, and is made up of the entirety of Blizzard's published record so far. The majority of the text was not newly written but instead copied from the earlier Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Game Manual and World of Warcraft: Game Manual. The full text was available on the official World of Warcraft site. Additionally, all chapters can be read below or within the game itself as in-game books.

The compendium was first released on July 16, 2004.

An updated version of Warcraft's history is presented in World of Warcraft: Chronicle.

History of Warcraft

Note: Certain parts of the History section are outdated and may therefore conflict with other pieces of lore or stories. They plan on updating this section someday to bring it up to date.

Timeline

• Timeline

Chapter I: Mythos

• The Titans and the Shaping of the Universe (in-game  [Mythology of the Titans])
•  [Sargeras and the Betrayal]
•  [The Old Gods and the Ordering of Azeroth]
•  [Charge of the Dragonflights]
• The Waking World and the Well of Eternity (in-game  [The Kaldorei and the Well of Eternity])
•  [The War of the Ancients]
• The Sundering of the World
•  [Mount Hyjal and Illidan's Gift]
•  [The World Tree and the Emerald Dream]
•  [Exile of the High Elves]
•  [The Sentinels and the Long Vigil]

Chapter II: The New World

•  [The Founding of Quel'Thalas]
•  [Arathor and the Troll Wars]
•  [The Guardians of Tirisfal]
•  [Ironforge - the Awakening of the Dwarves]
•  [The Seven Kingdoms]
•  [Aegwynn and the Dragon Hunt]
•  [War of the Three Hammers]
•  [The Last Guardian]

Chapter III: The Doom of Draenor

•  [Kil'jaeden and the Shadow Pact]
•  [Rise of the Horde]

Chapter IV: Alliance And Horde

•  [The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind]
•  [The Alliance of Lordaeron]
•  [The Invasion of Draenor]
•  [The Birth of the Lich King]
•  [Icecrown and the Frozen Throne]
•  [The Battle of Grim Batol]
•  [Lethargy of the Orcs]
•  [The New Horde]
•  [War of the Spider]
•  [Kel'Thuzad and the Forming of the Scourge]
• The Alliance Splinters

Chapter V: Return of the Burning Legion

•  [The Scourge of Lordaeron]
•  [Sunwell - The Fall of Quel'Thalas]
•  [Archimonde's Return and the Flight to Kalimdor]
• The Battle of Mount Hyjal
•  [The Betrayer Ascendant]
•  [Rise of the Blood Elves]
•  [Civil War in the Plaguelands]
•  [The Lich King Triumphant]
•  [Old Hatreds - The Colonization of Kalimdor]

Chapter VI: The New Age

• To Be Continued

Trivia

• Most of these chapters were updated / reworded from the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Game Manual chapters.
• The Sundering of the World, The Alliance Splinters and The Battle of Mount Hyjal chapters are not found in the game.
• New troll-based chapters can be found in the game, but were not added to the History of Warcraft site:  [Wrath of Soulflayer],  [Empires' Fall],  [The Twin Empires].
• Old chapters from Warcraft III manual didn't make it to the History of Warcraft site (apparently being replaced by  [The Alliance of Lordaeron] and  [The Invasion of Draenor]) but were added into the game:  [Aftermath of the Second War] and  [Beyond the Dark Portal] (along with the new ones).
• Chapters 5 and 6 are, with different wording and additions, found in the World of Warcraft: Game Manual. Only The Battle of Mount Hyjal and  [Old Hatreds - The Colonization of Kalimdor] (with the exclusion of one had) are completely identical in both sources.

See also

• Troll Compendium
• The Warcraft Encyclopedia
• The Burning Crusade Townhall
• The Burning Crusade Flash site
• Timeline (Ultimate Visual Guide)