User:Xporc/Second War

My only real beef with the second Chronicle book is that instead of being fantasy World War II, the Second War and the Invasion of Draenor are now depicted as small campaigns that lasted for a very short time, not even a year for the Second one. The Alliance of Lordaeron was made up of seven human kingdoms, as well as the nations of Gnomeregan, Ironforge and Quel'Thalas, and the fighting occurred over a whole continent, so why does it feel like the First War lasted longer and had more battles? (2023 update: Well the First War lasted longer because no Alliance city fell in the Second War while everything in Stormwind had to be fought over)

This page is my attempt at reconciling Warcraft II and Chronicle.

Color code

• Green - Almost everything in that mission is still canon.
• Yellow - The general idea behind the mission is still canon, but a RTS-style battle might not have happened, it might have just been a small skirmish. Alternatively, the mission is unmentioned in the new lore but could still have possibly happened.
• Orange - The mission is unmentioned in the new lore and rather unlikely.
• Red - The mission is technically impossible in the new lore without heavy headcanon or reinterpretation of the Chronicle books. World of Warcraft lore may still reference them, strangely.

Warcraft II missions

Second War - Alliance side

• Hillsbrad - Technically still canon as part of the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills.
• Ambush at Tarren Mill - Possibly still canon as part of the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills. It is known that Quel'Thalas sent a token force of archers and destroyers before things got serious, and this mission depicts both.
• Southshore - Technically still canon as part of the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills.
• Attack on Zul'dare - Possibly still canon as part of the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills, it could be an Alliance counterattack on Zul'Dare in order to finish cleaning up the region.
• Tol Barad - Technically impossible as depicted in-game, but it still happened somehow. World of Warcraft says the Baradin's Wardens originate from Stromgarde even after moving the isle out of Baradin Bay. Maybe the Black Tooth Grin clan attacked the area when they sailed to/from the Tomb of Sargeras? Maybe even two battles, one before and one after?
• Dun Algaz - Unmentioned but can only be canon, as at some point the Alliance had to route the Horde's land forces and march south to Blackrock Spire.
• Grim Batol - Unmentioned and unlikely. Could be an attack to destroy the Horde port and/or the stolen dwarven infrastructures of Khaz Modan but eh.
• Tyr's Hand - Unmentioned. Take note that the number of paladins was reduced from an untold amount to only five.
• The Battle at Darrowmere - Unmentioned but possible: it is known Uther Lightbringer traveled to Caer Darrow at some point, possibly during the Second War, and Alterac used to own the southern shores of Darrowmere, so such a naval engagement was possible.
• The Prisoners
• Betrayal and the Destruction of Alterac - Technically impossible. Chronicle says Alterac wasn't attacked by the Alliance, but the kingdom still ended up as ruins somehow.
• The Battle at Crestfall - Still canon, as the Battle of Crestfall. Warcraft II however depicts this as an assault on the main Horde naval base, when now it was an ambush on the routed Horde forces.
• Assault on Blackrock Spire - Still canon, as the Siege of Blackrock Spire. The major difference is that in Warcraft II Anduin Lothar was killed in an ambush rather than assaulted by Orgrim Doomhammer, and that the Alliance attacked instead of defending themselves from the orcish assault.
• The Great Portal - Still canon, as the Destruction of the Dark Portal.

Second War - Horde side

• Zul'dare - Possibly still canon as part of the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills, with Zul'Dare as one of the Horde's landing sites and primary staging points.
• Raid at Hillsbrad - Still canon as part of the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills since Zul'jin was held in Durnholde Keep. Somehow Chronicle went back to the original version, whereas in the novels the rescue of Zul'jin happened when the troll was still being transferred.
• Southshore - Technically still canon as part of the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills.
• Assault on Hillsbrad - Technically still canon as part of the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills.
• Tol Barad - Technically impossible as depicted in-game, but it still happened somehow. Maybe the Black Tooth Grin clan attacked the area when they sailed to/from the Tomb of Sargeras? Maybe even two battles, one before and one after?
• The Badlands
• The Fall of Stromgarde - Unmentioned but possible since an assault on Stromgarde could still have happened if a second Horde force had marched north from Thandol Span while the main army sailed to Hillsbrad.
• The Runestone at Caer Darrow
• The Razing of Tyr's Hand - Unmentioned and unlikely, but still possible since the Scarlet Enclave was added. Also, point of note, the people of Tyr's Hand already possibly wore red before joining the Scarlet Crusade, just like in the Warcraft II mission.
• The Destruction of Stratholme - Unmentioned and unlikely, but an assault on Stratholme could still have happened during the march to Capital City.
• The Dead Rise as Quel'thalas Falls - Still canon, as the Burning of Quel'Thalas.
• The Tomb of Sargeras - Still canon.
• The Siege of Dalaran - Unmentioned and unlikely, but an assault on Dalaran could still have happened during the larger Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills. Of note is that the Eye of Dalaran still exists despite having been originally created to help rebuild the Violet Citadel.
• The Fall of Lordaeron - Still canon, as the Siege of Capital City. The two differences are that in Warcraft II the Horde attacked by Lordamere Lake as well and actually won the battle.

Invasion of Draenor - Alliance side

• Alleria's Journey - Still canon.
• The Battle for Nethergarde - Still canon. According to Chronicle, this battle had no survivors besides Danath Trollbane, but in World of Warcraft several mercenaries survived.
• Once More Unto the Breach - Still canon.
• Beyond the Dark Portal - Still canon, as it is just a generic battle in Hellfire Peninsula. Chronicle doesn't give much information besides the fact that Hellfire Citadel fell in a single day. Still, the presence of human cannons and the siege of Zeth'Gor indicates that several big battles happened in the area.
• Upon the Shadowed Seas - Unmentioned, but who cares? It's just a naval battle.
• The Fall of Auchindoun
• Deathwing - Technically impossible but Blizzard still said Ashran was used as Deathwing's Lair in the main timeline.
• Coast of Bones
• The Heart of Evil
• Siege of Vanguard - Still canon, but Vanguard got retconned into having been Honor Hold all along. This may have been the battle during which the Expedition Armory fell.
• Dance of the Laughing Skull - Unmentioned but likely, as the Laughing Skull clan bartered a truce with the Alliance Expedition.
• The Bitter Taste of Victory

Invasion of Draenor - Horde side

• Slayer of the Shadowmoon - Unmentioned and unlikely. Nothing really indicates that the death knights would follow Mogor. The saving of Grommash Hellscream might still have happened however.
• The Skull of Gul'dan - Unmentioned but likely. Check what happened to the Skull in Chronicle.
• Thunderlord and Bonechewer - Unmentioned but possible.
• The Rift Awakened - Still canon even though the Horde of Draenor didn't led a full siege of Nethergarde Keep.
• Dragons of Blackrock Spire - Still canon but in a twisted way: the Horde of Draenor failed to convince the Dark Horde to lend them red dragons, and Deathwing gave them black dragons instead.
• New Stormwind - Still canon but it was a small expedition instead of a full attack.
• The Seas of Azeroth - Technically impossible unless the Tomb of Sargeras expedition decided to attack Kul Tiras during its travels.
• Assault on Kul Tiras - Technically impossible unless the Tomb of Sargeras expedition decided to attack Kul Tiras during its travels. Still, it would be nice if an attack on Kul Tiras really happened. It could justify Daelin's racism and maybe Freehold as an abandoned Proudmoore naval base.
• The Tomb of Sargeras - Still canon even though the presence of the Kirin Tor is unlikely.
• Alterac - Still canon but it was a small expedition instead of a full attack.
• The Eye of Dalaran - Still canon but it was a small expedition instead of a full attack.
• The Dark Portal - Still canon.

Other considerations

• The number of paladins was reduced from an untold amount to only five.
• Chronicle says that only a few ogres crossed the Dark Portal and joined the Old Horde, but what is depicted in WoW is that ogres are absolutely everywhere and in high numbers, even after being culled by years of Alliance hunting (look for ref in Chronicle 3). So presumably many ogres joined the Old Horde, like depicted in Warcraft II.
• Were there other naval battles than the two major ones? Cyrus Crestfall's story make it possible. If the only naval engagements of the war were the initial Hillsbrand landings and the Battle of Crestfall, it would have made no sense for the Kul Tiran to deploy transport ships.
• The Horde tone is very different between then and now. In Warcraft II Orgrim Doomhammer was a relentless conqueror here to destroy humanity and take their lands, in the new lore he is more of a desperate man trying to make the most of a dire situation, by doing a preemptive strike on the enemy headquarters. This could still be explained by saying that even if Orgrim took the Horde's reigns from Blackhand and Gul'dan, the rest of the orcish soldiers were still blood-crazed madmen, and as such they misinterpreted the strategies of their leader.
• It's a common fan-fiction that in Warcraft I you play as Orgrim Dooomhammer on the orcish side, since you end up betraying Blakchand, but what about the other campaigns? Anduin Lothar could be seen as the one you play on the human side, but you have to save him in the middle of the campaign. What if in Warcraft II you played as Danath Trollbane (during the Alliance Khaz Modan missions), as Turalyon (Lordaeron missions), and on the other hand Saurfang and Rend (notably when attacking the Broken Isles)?