World of Warcraft Lore Every Player Should Know

[00:00] World of Warcraft isn't just a video

[00:02] game. It's a world with hundreds of

[00:04] thousands of years of history and a

[00:06] story that continues to pull in millions

[00:08] of players time and time again. Whether

[00:11] you're running dungeons, questing

[00:13] through new zones, or just hanging out

[00:14] in Dornagal, there's a good chance

[00:16] you're standing in the shadows of

[00:18] something huge, some moment in the

[00:21] game's past that shaped everything

[00:23] around you. Your character's background

[00:25] history, the zones you visit, and the

[00:27] characters you meet. In this video

[00:29] we're looking at five of the most

[00:31] important and most influential moments

[00:34] in Warcraft lore. These are some of the

[00:36] events that have changed Azeroth

[00:38] forever. And once you know them, you'll

[00:40] start to see their impact all over the

[00:42] game.

[00:44] We're not going to rank these by

[00:45] importance. So number one is no more

[00:47] significant than number five. But

[00:49] instead, we're going to follow these

[00:51] stories in the order it all happened in.

[00:53] Where else would be best to start than

[00:55] at the beginning? So, one of the first

[00:57] on our list of most important events in

[00:59] the World of Warcraft is the creation of

[01:02] the Burning Legion. The Burning Legion

[01:04] is, one, of the, longest, running, antagonist

[01:06] forces in World of Warcraft's history.

[01:08] To understand its origins, we have to go

[01:11] back hundreds of thousands of years to

[01:13] the time of the Titans, god-like beings

[01:16] born from world souls that slumbered

[01:18] deep within planets. As they awakened

[01:21] these titans found one another and

[01:23] formed the Pantheon, a group dedicated

[01:25] to bringing order to the cosmos. Among

[01:27] them was a Titan named Sargeras the

[01:30] Defender. True to his name, he was

[01:32] charged with protecting the worlds that

[01:34] the Pantheon helped shape. But

[01:36] everything changed when Sargeras

[01:38] discovered a planet corrupted by beings

[01:41] known as the Old Gods. These were

[01:43] twisted entities created by the void

[01:45] lords to infect slumbering world souls.

[01:48] The void lords can be simply explained

[01:49] as a kind of anti-titan. If the pantheon

[01:52] are kind of the good guysish, then the

[01:55] void lords are definitely the bad guys.

[01:57] If the old gods were successful, the

[02:00] corruption of a world soul would turn

[02:01] the sleeping titan into something the

[02:03] pantheon feared most, a dark titan

[02:07] something they couldn't defend the

[02:09] universe from. Horrified by the presence

[02:12] of the old gods, Saras decided to

[02:14] destroy the planet in its entirety

[02:17] believing it was the only way to stop

[02:19] the threat. But by doing so, he

[02:21] inadvertently killed the nent world soul

[02:23] within the planet. When he reported back

[02:25] to the Pantheon, they condemned his

[02:27] actions, arguing the corruption could

[02:29] have been cleansed instead. Consumed by

[02:32] fear and doubt, Saras isolated himself

[02:35] and eventually came to a grim

[02:36] conclusion. Life itself was the threat.

[02:40] vulnerable to corruption. And he decided

[02:42] that all life had to be purged to

[02:44] protect the universe. And so his burning

[02:47] crusade began. To build the army that

[02:50] would carry out this crusade, Sargeras

[02:52] shattered the demon prison world of

[02:54] Mardam, unleashing its countless

[02:56] inhabitants. The explosion of fell

[02:58] energy twisted his form into something

[03:00] monstrous and left behind a burning

[03:02] wound between the twisting nether and

[03:04] the great dark beyond. a fiery scar in

[03:07] the night sky that marked the beginning

[03:09] of his war on creation.

[03:12] Sometime after Sargeras's betrayal, the

[03:14] remaining Titans of the Pantheon

[03:16] discovered the planet of Azeroth and

[03:18] within it, a powerful, slumbering world

[03:21] soul. Like the planet Sargeras had

[03:23] destroyed, Azeroth was infested with old

[03:26] gods. But instead of destroying it, the

[03:28] Pantheon chose a different path to save

[03:31] and to purify the world. To carry out

[03:33] this mission, they created the Titan

[03:35] Forged beings shaped from the crust of

[03:38] Azeroth itself and imbued with the

[03:40] strength and purpose to battle the

[03:41] corruption. Some of these were empowered

[03:44] even further by the Titans themselves

[03:46] each granted a portion of their creators

[03:48] powers and personalities. These

[03:50] champions would then become known as the

[03:52] Nine Keepers. Under the leadership of

[03:54] the Keepers, the Titan Forged waged war

[03:57] against the old gods and the elemental

[03:59] lords, eventually defeating them and

[04:01] bringing order to the planet of Azeroth.

[04:03] The Keepers then created even more Titan

[04:06] forged to help shape the planet further.

[04:08] Races you might recognize today. The

[04:11] Ethen, the Vool, Mecca, Mou, Tolvia, and

[04:15] some others. All crafted from stone and

[04:18] metal using the forge of wills, a

[04:20] massive titanic construct designed to

[04:23] build life. But peace wouldn't last

[04:25] forever. One of the now imprisoned old

[04:27] gods, Yogsauron, secretly manipulated a

[04:30] keeper named Lo, turning him into a

[04:32] puppet of the old god. Through Loan

[04:35] Ysaron corrupted the forge of wills

[04:37] unleashing a terrible curse that would

[04:39] change the fate of Azeroth forever. Now

[04:42] you might be wondering on a list of only

[04:44] five events, why include a curse? But

[04:47] the curse of flesh is far more

[04:48] significant than it first seems. Over

[04:51] time, this curse spread to nearly all

[04:53] Titan forged beings. True to its name

[04:56] it transformed them, turning beings of

[04:58] stone and metal into creatures of flesh

[05:00] and blood. It often stripped them of

[05:03] their immortality and left them far more

[05:05] vulnerable than before. The became

[05:08] dwarves. Machinomes became gnomes. and

[05:10] the Royool gave rise to the humans. Many

[05:13] of the core races of the Alliance we

[05:15] know today all trace their origins back

[05:17] to this single event. Without the curse

[05:20] of flesh, the Alliance as we know it

[05:22] might never have existed. Kind of wild

[05:25] when you think about it that way. Moving

[05:27] on to our third major event in the

[05:29] Warcraft history, the Great Sundering.

[05:31] This was the catastrophic aftermath of

[05:33] the War of the Ancients, which took

[05:35] place around 10,000 years ago. At the

[05:38] time, the night elves had evolved into a

[05:40] powerful civilization thanks to their

[05:42] proximity to the well of eternity, a

[05:44] shimmering lake of arcane energy drawn

[05:46] from the very lifeblood of Azeroth's

[05:48] world soul. The well was actually formed

[05:51] when one of the other old gods was torn

[05:53] from the planet's crust years ago

[05:55] leaving behind a wound of raw magical

[05:57] power. Over time, the night elves began

[05:59] to experiment with the arcane magic. But

[06:02] by doing so, they were unknowingly

[06:04] sending waves of energy rippling across

[06:06] the universe. Those ripples eventually

[06:08] reached Sargeras, the dark titan who was

[06:11] always hunting for signs of powerful

[06:13] world souls. Consumed by his mission to

[06:16] destroy all life, he set his sights on

[06:18] Azeroth, determined to claim its power

[06:21] for himself. And with that, Sargeras

[06:24] assembled his army of corrupted demons

[06:26] the Burning Legion, and launched the

[06:28] first invasion of Azeroth. Azeroth was

[06:30] then defended by those who lived on it

[06:32] at the time. Primarily the night elves

[06:34] who opposed their kin's reckless use of

[06:36] the arcane magic and then the dragon

[06:39] aspects. Powerful dragons evolved from

[06:41] titan forged beings and charged by the

[06:43] keepers with protecting the world. As

[06:46] the war against the burning legion

[06:48] reached its peak, arcane spells fueled

[06:50] by the well of eternity spiraled out of

[06:52] control. The portal allowing the

[06:54] legion's invasion became unstable and

[06:57] the well itself imploded in a massive

[06:59] eruption of raw magic. The explosion

[07:02] shattered the temple that was built

[07:04] around the well. It sent violent quakes

[07:06] across the land and triggered the

[07:07] worldaltering event known as the great

[07:09] sundering. In the aftermath of the great

[07:12] sundering, the once massive superc

[07:14] continent of ancient Calumdor was torn

[07:16] apart and nearly 80% of the land mass

[07:19] was sent to the bottom of the great sea

[07:21] leaving behind the scattered continents

[07:23] and islands we know today. So, so far

[07:27] we've covered ancient cosmic battles

[07:29] the rise of our ancestral races, and the

[07:32] cataclysmic events that shaped the very

[07:34] world beneath our feet. But now, it's

[07:36] time to bring things a little closer to

[07:38] home. Next on our list of the most

[07:40] important events in Warcraft's history

[07:42] the creation of the Dark Portal. Now, I

[07:45] know I just said we're bringing things

[07:47] closer to home, but ironically, this

[07:49] next story starts on an entirely

[07:51] different planet. In the vast Warcraft

[07:54] universe, there are many worlds and

[07:55] planets, and one of the most important

[07:58] is Drenor. Unlike Azeroth, Drenor didn't

[08:01] have a world soul, which meant the void

[08:03] lords had no reason to send old gods

[08:05] there. As a result, life on Drenal

[08:07] evolved more naturally and one of the

[08:09] dominant races to emerge on the planet

[08:11] were the orcs. The orcs originally lived

[08:14] in harmony with the elements following a

[08:16] deeprooted shamanistic culture. But over

[08:19] time, they lost their connection to

[08:21] these elemental spirits. As they

[08:23] struggled without that guidance, one

[08:26] ambitious shaman, Gul'dan, became

[08:28] desperate for power again. And that

[08:30] desperation caught the attention of, of

[08:33] course, the Burning Legion. The powerful

[08:35] Eridar demon lord Kil Jaden offered

[08:38] Guldan a deal unimaginable power in

[08:41] exchange for waging a war against the

[08:43] Dreni. The other major race living on

[08:46] Dren at that point in time. Guldan of

[08:48] course agreed and the corrupted horde

[08:51] was born. After devastating the Dreni

[08:54] and their part of the bargain complete

[08:56] the orcs found themselves abandoned by

[08:58] the Legion and struggling to survive

[09:00] once again. Desperate to escape their

[09:02] world and searching for a new planet to

[09:04] conquer, they looked outward and they

[09:07] eventually found one. Thanks to Medivh

[09:09] a human mage under the influence of

[09:12] Sargeras. Together, Medivh and Guldan

[09:15] opened the Dark Portal, a portal linking

[09:18] the world of Drenor to Azeroth and then

[09:20] soon after unleashing the orcish

[09:22] invasion that would change the world

[09:25] forever. And I think it's safe to say

[09:27] no Dark Portal, no invasion of Azeroth

[09:30] no World of Warcraft. And that's exactly

[09:33] why this moment earns its place on the

[09:35] list of the most important events in

[09:38] Warcraft's history. And finally, we come

[09:40] to the last event on today's list, the

[09:42] rise of the Lich King. One of the most

[09:45] iconic and defining moments in

[09:47] Warcraft's history. When most people

[09:49] hear the term lich king, they

[09:51] immediately think of Arthus Menithil and

[09:53] his infamous fall from grace. But Arthus

[09:56] wasn't the first to bear the title of

[09:58] 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]