User:DeludedTroll/Wiki magic

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Artist's impression of a ne'er-do-well wiki magician, gleefully plotting to inflict their uncited headcanons on an innocent article.

Image credit: Akaria.

“We definitely leverage the community a lot. Uh, Wowpedia is an awesome resource for us as well. We go there like, 'What do we do with this character?' and Wowpedia has a nice summary of everything that's happened with that character. It's really helpful for us.”

— Dave Kosak[1]

An informal compilation of cases where Blizzard indiscriminately used information from the wiki formerly known as the wiki formerly known as Wowwiki, occasionally leading to editor mistakes or fanon becoming canonized, AKA wiki magic.[2]

This is not to be confused with Wikipedia's benign definition of "wiki magic". See also circular reporting.

Note that this page only compiles errors that originated from this particular website and not from the wider Warcraft fan community (such as Queen Azshara's erroneous 4.3 PTR appearance, or intentional canonization of fan fiction elements like Jed'hin and the Cask 'n' Anvil).

Jarod and the Watchers

Main article: User talk:Sports72Xtrm#Mistake became canon
September 13, 2011
In the novel Wolfheart, Tyrande Whisperwind tells Jarod Shadowsong that she intends to appoint a new leader of the Watchers from among those proven to have been innocent and unaware of Maiev's planned betrayal. She also states that she intends a different role for Jarod and asks him to become the leader of a new security force composed of members handpicked from the Sentinels.
September 27, 2011
Sports72Xtrm edits the Jarod Shadowsong and Watchers articles to erroneously state that Jarod was appointed the new leader of the Watchers.[3][4]
September 30, 2013
The Ultimate Visual Guide repeats information from the wiki, stating that Jarod was appointed leader of the Watchers.
May 1, 2016
The mistake is corrected in the Ultimate Visual Guide, Updated and Expanded.

Legion legendaries

Several legendary items from Legion have flavor text that is worded very similarly to Warcraft Wiki articles, such as the shadow satyr article ("The exact origins of the Shadow[sic] satyr are unknown [...] Regardless of their origins the shadow satyr are known to be incorporeal creatures that not only exist with inside the Nightmare but places on Azeroth that has come into contact with it as well") and  [Shadow Satyr's Walk] ("While the exact origins of the Shadow[sic] satyr are unidentified, they are known to be incorporeal creatures that not only exist inside the Emerald Nightmare but in places on Azeroth as well"). Below is an example using Hakkar the Soulflayer and  [Soulflayer's Corruption]:

2011
World of Warcraft: The Magazine Volume II Issue I is released. Brann Bronzebeard's troll lineage chart in the magazine states: "Still tryin' tae find out Hakkar's origins. No records in titan archives. Plenty o' records mention a demon called 'Hakkar the Houndmaster', but looks like a different beast."
February 18, 2016
DeludedTroll adds the information to Hakkar's article, wording it as "According to Brann Bronzebeard, the origins of Hakkar remain unknown, and there are no mentions of him in any Titan[sic] records."[5]
June 13, 2017
The  [Soulflayer's Corruption] item is added. Its flavor text is worded almost identically to the aforementioned sentence in Hakkar's article, including mistakenly writing "titan" as "Titan".

Although inconsequential for the most part, this has had an occasional minor impact on canon by re-canonizing removed material; see #The Sight and #Tirisgarde.

Mechagon mechagnomes

2019
Editors are faced with a conundrum on how to handle the mechagnome race introduced on Mechagon in patch 8.2.0. Initially referred to in Blizzard pre-release material and consequently also on the wiki as "junker gnomes", this name proves inaccurate as the race is only ever called "mechagnomes" in-game, prompting a discussion of how, if at all, content on the wiki referring to the Mechagonian race should be disambiguated from the original mechagnomes that were introduced in Wrath of the Lich King.
January 16, 2020
After a drawn-out discussion peters out with no consensus, Xporc moves the then-"junker gnome" article to Mechagon mechagnome[6]—an unofficial name only intended to distinguish the two different mechagnome races from each other—stating: "I took action because I was tired of this situation going nowhere".[7]
November 15, 2022
Exploring Azeroth: Northrend is released. The book uses the name "Mechagon mechagnome" in a lineage chart to distinguish the race from the original mechagnomes, bringing the wiki's ad hoc designation of the race into canon as an official term.

The Sight

Main article: Talk:Sight
May 10, 2006
The Velen article is created by Ragestorm46443. The article mentions that "Velen, unlike Archimonde and Kil'jaeden, had the gift of Sight".[8] However, the only official source for information about Velen and the draenei at the time makes no mention of this, suggesting that the term "Sight" as a proper noun in Warcraft was coined by Ragestorm when writing the Velen article, taking the term from other works as a flourish.
September 30, 2013
The Sight is mentioned in the Ultimate Visual Guide, bringing the term into canon.[9]
May 1, 2016
The Ultimate Visual Guide, Updated and Expanded removes mentions of the Sight from the book and instead refers to the ability as the "gift of prophecy".
January 10, 2017
The Sight is mentioned again in the flavor text of the  [Velen's Future Sight] item, reaffirming its canonicity.

Nazja

July 1, 2003
In the Warcraft III mission The Broken Isles, a naga myrmidon yells the Nazja phrase "Ash-thero-sauguine!".
June 21, 2007
WoWWiki-Paulus adds the phrase to the Nazja article but erroneously spells it as "Ash'thero sanguine!".[10]
March 28, 2017
Harjatan is added to World of Warcraft. Upon aggro, he yells "Ash'thero sanguine!", using the wiki's incorrect spelling instead of the original Warcraft III spelling.

Tirisgarde

December 17, 2015
The Tirisgarde article is created by the toxic dweeb DeludedTroll. The article describes the Tirisgarde as "the elite mage-guard of Dalaran", based upon the quest text of N Mage [10-45] The Dreadlord's Prize used in the Legion beta at the time.[11]
Unknown date
The text of The Dreadlord's Prize is changed, removing mention of "the elite mage-guard of Dalaran" and replacing it with "the protectors of Dalaran". However, the Tirisgarde article is not updated to reflect this and retains the outdated description.
June 13, 2017
The  [Soul of the Archmage] item is added. Its flavor text appears to based on the opening sentence of the wiki's Tirisgarde article, including the description "the elite mage-guard of Dalaran", thus bringing the removed beta description back into canon.

Venture "Trading" Company

Main article: Talk:Venture Company#Venture Trading Company
January 1, 2005
The Venture Company article is created by Hughsonj under the title "Venture Trading Company", without any citation for the name.[12] This is reinforced by a series of fanon-based edits by Nuge across several goblin-based articles, with the assumption that this is either describing content in early (poorly documented) WoW questing or from Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game. No use of the name "Venture Trading Company" has been found in official material from this time, so it appears that Hughsonj invented it. The article remains at "Venture Trading Company" until May 14, 2011, when it is moved by Sandwichman2448, though the longer name continues to be used in the opening sentence of the lead section and throughout the article.[13]
August 17, 2013
The name "Venture Trading Company" is canonized through a mention in one of the Major Payne's Pet Menagerie blogs.[14]

Blackmoore's appearance

The depiction of Aedelas Blackmoore in World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 3 (2018) bears a striking resemblance to a fanmade model created by Xavius in 2008 using in-game item models, with nearly identical shoulder pads, vest, gloves, pants, and boots. The shoulder pads, in particular, are not found in any official pre-Chronicle depiction of Blackmoore. It's therefore likely that the artist took inspiration from the fan art when creating the Chronicle artwork.

  • Blackmoore by Xavius (2008).

    Blackmoore by Xavius (2008).

  • Blackmoore in Chronicle (2018).

    Blackmoore in Chronicle (2018).

See also

References

 
  1. ^ MMO-Champion 2015-11-07. Blizzcon 2015 - Legion Community Amphitheater Discussion (03:23). YouTube. Retrieved on 2019-06-05.
  2. ^ Talk:Sight
  3. ^ Difference between revisions of "Watchers" - 27 September 2011
  4. ^ Difference between revisions of "Jarod Shadowsong" - 27 September 2011
  5. ^ Difference between revisions of "Hakkar the Soulflayer" - 18 February 2016
  6. ^ Difference between revisions of "Mechagon mechagnome" - 16 January 2020
  7. ^ Talk:Mechagon mechagnome#If merging is shot down
  8. ^ Revision of "Velen" - 10 May 2006
  9. ^ Ultimate Visual Guide, pg. 97
  10. ^ Difference between revisions of "Nazja" - 21 June 2007
  11. ^ Revision of "Tirisgarde" - 17 December 2015
  12. ^ Revision of "Venture Company" - 1 January 2005
  13. ^ Difference between revisions of "Venture Company" - 14 May 2011
  14. ^ Major Payne’s Pet Menagerie: Pocket Reaver (2013-08-16). Archived from the original on 2013-08-23.
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