[0:00] World of Warcraft isn't just a video
[0:02] game. It's a world with hundreds of
[0:04] thousands of years of history and a
[0:06] story that continues to pull in millions
[0:08] of players time and time again. Whether
[0:11] you're running dungeons, questing
[0:13] through new zones, or just hanging out
[0:14] in Dornagal, there's a good chance
[0:16] you're standing in the shadows of
[0:18] something huge, some moment in the
[0:21] game's past that shaped everything
[0:23] around you. Your character's background
[0:25] history, the zones you visit, and the
[0:27] characters you meet. In this video
[0:29] we're looking at five of the most
[0:31] important and most influential moments
[0:34] in Warcraft lore. These are some of the
[0:36] events that have changed Azeroth
[0:38] forever. And once you know them, you'll
[0:40] start to see their impact all over the
[0:42] game.
[0:44] We're not going to rank these by
[0:45] importance. So number one is no more
[0:47] significant than number five. But
[0:49] instead, we're going to follow these
[0:51] stories in the order it all happened in.
[0:53] Where else would be best to start than
[0:55] at the beginning? So, one of the first
[0:57] on our list of most important events in
[0:59] the World of Warcraft is the creation of
[1:02] the Burning Legion. The Burning Legion
[1:04] is, one, of the, longest, running, antagonist
[1:06] forces in World of Warcraft's history.
[1:08] To understand its origins, we have to go
[1:11] back hundreds of thousands of years to
[1:13] the time of the Titans, god-like beings
[1:16] born from world souls that slumbered
[1:18] deep within planets. As they awakened
[1:21] these titans found one another and
[1:23] formed the Pantheon, a group dedicated
[1:25] to bringing order to the cosmos. Among
[1:27] them was a Titan named Sargeras the
[1:30] Defender. True to his name, he was
[1:32] charged with protecting the worlds that
[1:34] the Pantheon helped shape. But
[1:36] everything changed when Sargeras
[1:38] discovered a planet corrupted by beings
[1:41] known as the Old Gods. These were
[1:43] twisted entities created by the void
[1:45] lords to infect slumbering world souls.
[1:48] The void lords can be simply explained
[1:49] as a kind of anti-titan. If the pantheon
[1:52] are kind of the good guysish, then the
[1:55] void lords are definitely the bad guys.
[1:57] If the old gods were successful, the
[2:00] corruption of a world soul would turn
[2:01] the sleeping titan into something the
[2:03] pantheon feared most, a dark titan
[2:07] something they couldn't defend the
[2:09] universe from. Horrified by the presence
[2:12] of the old gods, Saras decided to
[2:14] destroy the planet in its entirety
[2:17] believing it was the only way to stop
[2:19] the threat. But by doing so, he
[2:21] inadvertently killed the nent world soul
[2:23] within the planet. When he reported back
[2:25] to the Pantheon, they condemned his
[2:27] actions, arguing the corruption could
[2:29] have been cleansed instead. Consumed by
[2:32] fear and doubt, Saras isolated himself
[2:35] and eventually came to a grim
[2:36] conclusion. Life itself was the threat.
[2:40] vulnerable to corruption. And he decided
[2:42] that all life had to be purged to
[2:44] protect the universe. And so his burning
[2:47] crusade began. To build the army that
[2:50] would carry out this crusade, Sargeras
[2:52] shattered the demon prison world of
[2:54] Mardam, unleashing its countless
[2:56] inhabitants. The explosion of fell
[2:58] energy twisted his form into something
[3:00] monstrous and left behind a burning
[3:02] wound between the twisting nether and
[3:04] the great dark beyond. a fiery scar in
[3:07] the night sky that marked the beginning
[3:09] of his war on creation.
[3:12] Sometime after Sargeras's betrayal, the
[3:14] remaining Titans of the Pantheon
[3:16] discovered the planet of Azeroth and
[3:18] within it, a powerful, slumbering world
[3:21] soul. Like the planet Sargeras had
[3:23] destroyed, Azeroth was infested with old
[3:26] gods. But instead of destroying it, the
[3:28] Pantheon chose a different path to save
[3:31] and to purify the world. To carry out
[3:33] this mission, they created the Titan
[3:35] Forged beings shaped from the crust of
[3:38] Azeroth itself and imbued with the
[3:40] strength and purpose to battle the
[3:41] corruption. Some of these were empowered
[3:44] even further by the Titans themselves
[3:46] each granted a portion of their creators
[3:48] powers and personalities. These
[3:50] champions would then become known as the
[3:52] Nine Keepers. Under the leadership of
[3:54] the Keepers, the Titan Forged waged war
[3:57] against the old gods and the elemental
[3:59] lords, eventually defeating them and
[4:01] bringing order to the planet of Azeroth.
[4:03] The Keepers then created even more Titan
[4:06] forged to help shape the planet further.
[4:08] Races you might recognize today. The
[4:11] Ethen, the Vool, Mecca, Mou, Tolvia, and
[4:15] some others. All crafted from stone and
[4:18] metal using the forge of wills, a
[4:20] massive titanic construct designed to
[4:23] build life. But peace wouldn't last
[4:25] forever. One of the now imprisoned old
[4:27] gods, Yogsauron, secretly manipulated a
[4:30] keeper named Lo, turning him into a
[4:32] puppet of the old god. Through Loan
[4:35] Ysaron corrupted the forge of wills
[4:37] unleashing a terrible curse that would
[4:39] change the fate of Azeroth forever. Now
[4:42] you might be wondering on a list of only
[4:44] five events, why include a curse? But
[4:47] the curse of flesh is far more
[4:48] significant than it first seems. Over
[4:51] time, this curse spread to nearly all
[4:53] Titan forged beings. True to its name
[4:56] it transformed them, turning beings of
[4:58] stone and metal into creatures of flesh
[5:00] and blood. It often stripped them of
[5:03] their immortality and left them far more
[5:05] vulnerable than before. The became
[5:08] dwarves. Machinomes became gnomes. and
[5:10] the Royool gave rise to the humans. Many
[5:13] of the core races of the Alliance we
[5:15] know today all trace their origins back
[5:17] to this single event. Without the curse
[5:20] of flesh, the Alliance as we know it
[5:22] might never have existed. Kind of wild
[5:25] when you think about it that way. Moving
[5:27] on to our third major event in the
[5:29] Warcraft history, the Great Sundering.
[5:31] This was the catastrophic aftermath of
[5:33] the War of the Ancients, which took
[5:35] place around 10,000 years ago. At the
[5:38] time, the night elves had evolved into a
[5:40] powerful civilization thanks to their
[5:42] proximity to the well of eternity, a
[5:44] shimmering lake of arcane energy drawn
[5:46] from the very lifeblood of Azeroth's
[5:48] world soul. The well was actually formed
[5:51] when one of the other old gods was torn
[5:53] from the planet's crust years ago
[5:55] leaving behind a wound of raw magical
[5:57] power. Over time, the night elves began
[5:59] to experiment with the arcane magic. But
[6:02] by doing so, they were unknowingly
[6:04] sending waves of energy rippling across
[6:06] the universe. Those ripples eventually
[6:08] reached Sargeras, the dark titan who was
[6:11] always hunting for signs of powerful
[6:13] world souls. Consumed by his mission to
[6:16] destroy all life, he set his sights on
[6:18] Azeroth, determined to claim its power
[6:21] for himself. And with that, Sargeras
[6:24] assembled his army of corrupted demons
[6:26] the Burning Legion, and launched the
[6:28] first invasion of Azeroth. Azeroth was
[6:30] then defended by those who lived on it
[6:32] at the time. Primarily the night elves
[6:34] who opposed their kin's reckless use of
[6:36] the arcane magic and then the dragon
[6:39] aspects. Powerful dragons evolved from
[6:41] titan forged beings and charged by the
[6:43] keepers with protecting the world. As
[6:46] the war against the burning legion
[6:48] reached its peak, arcane spells fueled
[6:50] by the well of eternity spiraled out of
[6:52] control. The portal allowing the
[6:54] legion's invasion became unstable and
[6:57] the well itself imploded in a massive
[6:59] eruption of raw magic. The explosion
[7:02] shattered the temple that was built
[7:04] around the well. It sent violent quakes
[7:06] across the land and triggered the
[7:07] worldaltering event known as the great
[7:09] sundering. In the aftermath of the great
[7:12] sundering, the once massive superc
[7:14] continent of ancient Calumdor was torn
[7:16] apart and nearly 80% of the land mass
[7:19] was sent to the bottom of the great sea
[7:21] leaving behind the scattered continents
[7:23] and islands we know today. So, so far
[7:27] we've covered ancient cosmic battles
[7:29] the rise of our ancestral races, and the
[7:32] cataclysmic events that shaped the very
[7:34] world beneath our feet. But now, it's
[7:36] time to bring things a little closer to
[7:38] home. Next on our list of the most
[7:40] important events in Warcraft's history
[7:42] the creation of the Dark Portal. Now, I
[7:45] know I just said we're bringing things
[7:47] closer to home, but ironically, this
[7:49] next story starts on an entirely
[7:51] different planet. In the vast Warcraft
[7:54] universe, there are many worlds and
[7:55] planets, and one of the most important
[7:58] is Drenor. Unlike Azeroth, Drenor didn't
[8:01] have a world soul, which meant the void
[8:03] lords had no reason to send old gods
[8:05] there. As a result, life on Drenal
[8:07] evolved more naturally and one of the
[8:09] dominant races to emerge on the planet
[8:11] were the orcs. The orcs originally lived
[8:14] in harmony with the elements following a
[8:16] deeprooted shamanistic culture. But over
[8:19] time, they lost their connection to
[8:21] these elemental spirits. As they
[8:23] struggled without that guidance, one
[8:26] ambitious shaman, Gul'dan, became
[8:28] desperate for power again. And that
[8:30] desperation caught the attention of, of
[8:33] course, the Burning Legion. The powerful
[8:35] Eridar demon lord Kil Jaden offered
[8:38] Guldan a deal unimaginable power in
[8:41] exchange for waging a war against the
[8:43] Dreni. The other major race living on
[8:46] Dren at that point in time. Guldan of
[8:48] course agreed and the corrupted horde
[8:51] was born. After devastating the Dreni
[8:54] and their part of the bargain complete
[8:56] the orcs found themselves abandoned by
[8:58] the Legion and struggling to survive
[9:00] once again. Desperate to escape their
[9:02] world and searching for a new planet to
[9:04] conquer, they looked outward and they
[9:07] eventually found one. Thanks to Medivh
[9:09] a human mage under the influence of
[9:12] Sargeras. Together, Medivh and Guldan
[9:15] opened the Dark Portal, a portal linking
[9:18] the world of Drenor to Azeroth and then
[9:20] soon after unleashing the orcish
[9:22] invasion that would change the world
[9:25] forever. And I think it's safe to say
[9:27] no Dark Portal, no invasion of Azeroth
[9:30] no World of Warcraft. And that's exactly
[9:33] why this moment earns its place on the
[9:35] list of the most important events in
[9:38] Warcraft's history. And finally, we come
[9:40] to the last event on today's list, the
[9:42] rise of the Lich King. One of the most
[9:45] iconic and defining moments in
[9:47] Warcraft's history. When most people
[9:49] hear the term lich king, they
[9:51] immediately think of Arthus Menithil and
[9:53] his infamous fall from grace. But Arthus
[9:56] wasn't the first to bear the title of
[9:58] the Lich King. The original Lich King
[10:00] was Nirzul, once a respected orc shaman
[10:03] whose transformation marked the
[10:05] beginning of one of World of Warcraft's
[10:07] darkest legacies. After the orcs failed
[10:09] to conquer Azeroth, most of them
[10:11] returned home to Drenor. A few years
[10:13] later, they launched a second invasion
[10:16] into Azeroth. Not to conquer it though
[10:18] but to gather powerful artifacts that
[10:20] they could use to open portals to new
[10:23] worlds. Terron Giend, the first death
[10:26] knight and disciple of the fallen
[10:27] Guldan, approached the aging shaman
[10:30] Nerzol. He urged him to reunite the orc
[10:32] clans and restore the dark portal.
[10:35] Nerzol agreed and Giend was sent into
[10:37] Azeroth where he successfully recovered
[10:39] three legendary relics. The Book of
[10:42] Medivh, the jeweled scepter of Sargeras
[10:44] and the Eye of Dalaran. With these, Nol
[10:47] planned to open gateways to other
[10:49] worlds. But by this time, the fourth
[10:51] artifact, the skull of Guldan, had
[10:53] already began to corrupt him. The wise
[10:55] shaman, was now gone, replaced by
[10:57] someone driven by the hunger for power
[11:00] no longer caring about the fate of the
[11:02] Horde. As Nol cast the spells to open
[11:05] multiple portals, the chaotic energy
[11:07] tore Renor apart. Just before the world
[11:10] collapsed, he and his followers escaped
[11:12] through one of the portals, only to then
[11:14] be captured in the twisting nether by
[11:17] Kil Jaden. Furious at Nirzul's betrayal
[11:19] Kil Jaden sentenced him to a fate worse
[11:22] than death. The demon lord's loyalists
[11:24] known as the dread lords, Tyondrias
[11:27] Malganis Balnazar Deathro and
[11:29] Varimathus all tortured Nzol until he
[11:32] submitted. His spirit was then ripped
[11:34] from his body, bound into a suit of
[11:36] enchanted armor known as the Helm of
[11:38] Domination, and a powerful room blade
[11:41] known as Frostborn. These two relics
[11:43] were then sealed in a block of
[11:44] unbreakable ice, creating the prison
[11:47] that would become to be known as the
[11:48] Frozen Throne. Imprisoned in the frozen
[11:51] throne and reshaped by demonic magic
[11:53] Nerzol's mind and spirit expanded beyond
[11:56] mortality, and he eventually became the
[11:59] Lich King, a being of terrifying will
[12:02] dark power, and the artifact of the
[12:04] horrors still to come. And there you
[12:07] have it. Five of the most important
[12:09] moments in Warcraft's vast history. Of
[12:12] course, these aren't the only major
[12:13] moments, but they're a pretty good
[12:15] collection to start off with. From
[12:17] cosmic betrayals to worlds shattering
[12:19] cataclysms, dark portals to dark kings
[12:22] each one of these events helped shape
[12:24] the world we step into every time we log
[12:27] in. They're not just background lore.
[12:29] They're the reason Azeroth looks and
[12:31] feels the way it does. The reason why
[12:33] our characters stories even exist.
[12:36] Whether you're a veteran player or
[12:37] someone just discovering the World of
[12:39] Warcraft, understanding these moments
[12:42] adds a whole new depth to the
[12:44] experience. You start to see the hidden
[12:46] threads connecting the zones, the
[12:48] characters, the quests, the entire
[12:50] expansions, all relating back to these
[12:52] ancient defining events.
[12:56] [Music]
[13:03] [Music]