Warcraft is the very first. Everything about the movie "Warcraft": background, plot, shooting. Who are all these people

Frames from the film, on which you could partially see something. It became clear: the orcs are a little different. BlizzardWatch author Anne Stickney tried to answer the question of how canonical the Warcraft movie is. We publish a partial translation.

This is Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans?

Short answer: Yes and no.

long answer A: To some extent, yes. This is a story about the First War, but it's better to call it a retelling. When Warcraft: Orcs & Men came out 20 years ago, it was an RTS game - a game that should have taken you a fair amount of time; a game that didn't have to tell a good story, it just had to be a fun pastime.

The story has since been expanded year after year with new games, novels, and other related content. Now the story has been expanded to such an extent that it has become a giant, a huge fairy tale with millions of different twists and turns and things that should make the gameplay more interesting for the player.

However, what makes a game interesting and keeps people's attention for endless hours of gameplay is not something you can cram into a two hour movie and expect people to enjoy it.

There is too much going on in the original story, so some things had to be cut to create a concentrated and fun entertaining film. Not one that only gamers can enjoy, but one that will attract the attention of all people so much that they will pay for a ticket.

Of course, the film is made for Warcraft fans, but the film is also made for fantasy fans who may not even have heard of video games, let alone Warcraft.

Be that as it may, the film's story is likely to be a different story than the one we're used to. This is a common occurrence: think of the Marvel movies that came out of comic book stories. The story arcs turn into entire films, they are quite different from the original comics, but they make a great plot for a movie.

The end result should always be a movie that both fans and people who have never heard of the original story can enjoy.

Why aren't orcs green?

Some people began to worry after the release of advertising posters. According to the canon, exposure to fel magic killed Draenor, and the skin of the orcs changed color from brown to green. It wasn't because they drank Mannoroth's blood, it was because the world itself was corrupted. But advertising posters show orcs like Orgrim as brown instead of green.

What we know about the Warcraft movie is really just a small piece of the final product. There will be green orcs in the movie, and Orgrim and Durotan will most likely change their skin color over time. The promotional posters are made to show the characters out of context - we don't know what time period the characters are shown from. But we can assume that they show orcs that have not yet been affected by the Fel.

Now it's stupid to understand such small details - we don't have any context. It is foolish to make hasty judgments that someone somewhere has not understood something, because we have no information to rely on.

In addition to skin color, there were questions about Garona's parents. During a Q&A at Comic-Con, Paula Patton said that her character is half human, which caused many people to scream that her character should actually be half draenei.

Of course, that's how it is now, but in the original Warcraft game, she was always referred to as half-human. And she believed it until the Warcraft comics proved otherwise. But the thing is, according to canon, she didn't know about it until the release of Burning Crusade.

Who are all these people?

Lady Tarja, Callan, Aloman, Kultiran, Varys are the names of characters from the IMDB page of the Warcraft movie, but you will not find such names in the lore of Warcraft. What does it mean? Well, if you take a look at the Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans, you will notice that not many characters were involved in the history of the First War.

In games, it's easy to name a bunch of Stormwind Harbor Worker characters and it's okay - they don't affect the plot, so they don't need to be anything more than a background. You can't do that in a movie.

In the case of Lady Tarja, the film does something really interesting - it shows us King Llane's wife, a character we've never seen before. In WoW, we never knew who Varian's mother was, what happened to her during the First War, if she was involved in it at all.

She was never mentioned in any of the novels. So I'm really excited to finally be able to find out who Lady Tarja is and see how she performed during the conflict between humans and orcs.

As for other names: they may be random characters, or they may be important - we don't know. Again, we don't have context here, and we won't have it until the movie comes out. I'm interested in the character Kultiran. Given that we already have information about Kul Tiras in the original story, I'm just wondering if there's a connection between these characters and them. Or maybe someone just thought that such a name would sound cool? We don't know yet, but we'll find out soon!

So the movie can be considered "canon"?

Short answer: Yes and no.

long answer: yes... something like that. Big fantasy games haven't received screen adaptations like this before, so we'll have to watch and find out what's behind it. I'll point you to the Marvel Cinematic Universe again, because the comics and the living, timeless MMO have a lot in common in terms of story elements. In the case of Marvel, movies are canon. They borrow elements from different comics and stories, and then change them to suit the needs of the cinema.

In the case of Warcraft, we will see the same thing, most likely. The film is a separate entity, the canon of which lives in parallel with the game. Although both versions of the story have elements in common, the film obviously borrows heavily from the game's universe, but then changes them to suit its needs: the characters may look different, and the stories may be interpreted differently.

Coming soon to bookstores is a prequel novel by Christy Golden, as well as a graphic novel, Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood, both of which tell a story from the cinematic universe and tie into the film.

But in terms of gaming history, Warcraft: Chronicle Vol. will be released soon. 1, which will tell the story from the earliest days of Azeroth right up to the last Guardian. From what is known, these Chronicles will be full of knowledge about the game's history, and therefore they will be the most reliable source.

In principle, all materials related to the film, and the film itself are one universe, and materials related to WoW, novels, manga and games are another.

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003) - and now a pinch of RPGs... oops!

Each race in the addon for the third part was given as much as one new unit, but the heroes ... Now, in addition to pumping, they could stock up on fashionable gear in stores, there were more skills, the role of heroes in each mission became almost a key one.

There were also neutral heroes that could be hired additionally. And the orc campaign was generally more RPG than RTS. What can we say, if it was in the form of a mod for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne that the already legendary Defense of the Ancients (aka Dota) appeared, which in general was a completely new MOV genre at that time. It was the "Ice Throne" that completed both the plot and gameplay transition from the first slaughter of people and orcs to the bomb that exploded the very next year after the release of the addon.

World of Warcraft (2004) - Creation of the world ... Warcraft

Now it's hard to say whether the gradual addition of RPG elements to the games of the Warcraft series was just following the trends or still part of a grand plan. Only one thing is known for certain - in 2004, Metelitsa released one of the best MMORPGs of all time, which brings the company a billion dollars a year and beats all possible online records and the number of awards.

Paradoxically, it was the release of WoW that most likely put an end to the history of Warcraft as a series of real-time strategy games. It simply doesn't make sense for the company to release Warcraft 4 - yes, millions of WoW players will buy it. They will buy and begin to pass, having left the servers for this time. So, in the future, Metelitsa will lose more than it will gain. Therefore, within the franchise, any kind of game will continue to be released for any platform (such as Hearthstone or Heroes of the Storm) - but not RTS on PC. Warcraft is dead, long live World of Warcraft!

We are like gods for the creatures of the field, my jiggit.
We know the hour of their birth and the hour of their death.
In between, we have responsibilities to them.
.

Online game World of Warcraft at one time literally flew into the Guinness Book of Records as the most popular MMORPG on the planet. The universe of Azeroth, where WOW takes place, is known today to millions of users better than the geographical details of their own countries. The game has already brought up several generations, becoming for many one of the best memories of youth.

A long time ago Warcraft is much more than just entertainment. It is a philosophy, a lifestyle and a way of self-realization. And damn it if I don't consider World of Warcraft one of the most successful games of our time!

Where did World of Warcraft come from

What do you know about the company Blizzard? I'm sure a lot: it is these talented guys who own such platinum hits as Diablo And Starcraft. And, of course, World of Warcraft. Agree, it is difficult to explain such a champion line-up by luck alone. Behind millions of sales and tens of millions of subscribers is a colossal work and selfless love for games.

And it was this love that prompted in 1994 a group of developers at the then unknown Blizzard to create an RTS on a fantasy theme. Moreover, the ideological inspirer of such a step was once incredibly popular, and now completely sunk into oblivion Dune 2. After turning the code a little in their hands and studying some basic principles, the programmers from Blizzard firmly decided that they could do just as well.

And now, after quite a bit of time, the “great-uncle” World of Warcraft - the game appears on the arena Orcs and Humans. Of course, the appearance of the game would plunge a modern gamer into an aesthetic shock, but for the gamers of that time it was a breakthrough and an ideal of beauty. Yes, a lot of things were still buggy and did not want to behave correctly, but the playability was already at its best. The main thing that interests us is the game: it laid the initial foundation for the special game world of Warcraft, which today has turned into a huge universe with its own history.

With just a little time, already in 1995, a real hit of the end of the 20th century appeared - the game Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. All the same orcs and people who were present in the first part continued to conduct their usual showdowns. But now it happened much more meaningfully and more conveniently for the player. Yes, and the appearance of the game has changed significantly. And although the second part of Warcraft was written under MS-DOS, it also worked perfectly on Windows 95. In addition, there was also a special version for Macintosh.

I can say the following about the popularity of the game: in 1996, there were already more than 1 million officially sold copies of the game. In Russia, it was also incredibly popular, but I’m not sure that even a hundred official versions would have accumulated throughout the country. The current rampant piracy is nothing compared to what it used to be. However, this is a lyric.

And so, the next stop is 1999, when Blizzard releases the version WarCraft II: Battle.net Edition.

You are absolutely right, in this version it was already possible to play via LAN and . It became clear that, having tasted success, the company would not stop. The gaming world was disturbed by the most incredible rumors. Something that the gaming community had not yet seen was expected. And then came 2003...

The advent of World of Warcraft

In 2003, the long-awaited third part of Warcraft comes out - The Frozen Throne. It was a triumph! The popularity of the game has become simply incredible: fresh copies were bought up by hundreds of thousands. It would seem that it's time to calm down: write addons and . But Blizzard is not one to be content with half measures. In early 2004, Battle.net opens in Europe, and then, in November 2004, comes the long-awaited premiere - World of Warcraft. with amazing features and great functionality.

The reports of that time testify: tens of thousands of players subscribed to the game every day, thereby once again proving the correctness of the company's path. Gradually, Blizzard patches up gaps, fixes bugs and conducts a massive PR campaign, attracting more and more new adherents to the game.

WOW Recognition

In 2007, the Guinness Book staff announce their verdict: MMORPG World of Warcraft is gaining more than 8 million subscribers and is becoming the most popular online game in the world. By 2010, the number of fans of the game rises to 10 million. And these are flowers: according to the official data of the company at the beginning of 2014, the total number of WOW players is estimated at a crazy figure - 100 million people. Seriously nowhere.

In the period from 2004 to 2014, several add-ons were released at once, which became the main source of game traffic. It has been noticed that as soon as the company announced a new addition, the number of subscribers instantly increased. What can I say, Blizzard knows the gaming market very well and is well versed in how to attract its audience.

And the game became so popular that full-fledged works of art were written based on it, and it was even announced that in the future, a full-fledged feature film was planned for this already fairly promoted franchise. In addition to selling services on their gaming sites, the company earns simply huge sums from the sale of souvenirs and paraphernalia based on the game. There is even a separate WOW board game.

And some tar...

What else can be said in the end? Perhaps it should be remembered that any medal has two sides. So World of Warcraft is not going smoothly from the point of view of the moral component. The facts of the death of gamers from exhaustion and overwork after a multi-day gaming “marathon” are already known. A persistent pattern was revealed: after the appearance of new game add-ons, the number of suicides on the basis of the game (especially in the younger age group) increases significantly. Some public organizations even sound the alarm, equating adherence to World of Warcraft to drug addiction.

And yet, I will not allow myself to condemn the creators of the game: it is not their fault that they love their work so much that they created such a game that is crazy in terms of drive. They did their job and, I must admit, they did it perfectly. Good luck, WOW!

The events replayed in the game refer to the First Great War (or simply the Great War) in the World of Warcraft. This game, according to rumors that have not been officially confirmed, was planned for the Warhammer Fantasy setting, but disagreements with the Games Workshop led to the creation of a separate universe.

Warcraft II

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995)

World of Warcraft

• World of Warcraft TCG: Heroes of Azeroth
• World of Warcraft TCG: Drums of War
• World of Warcraft TCG: Hunt for Illidan
• World of Warcraft TCG: Servants of the Betrayer
• World of Warcraft TCG: March of the Legion

According to separate rules, raids are conducted for several players:

• World of Warcraft TCG: Onyxia's Lair
• World of Warcraft TCG: Molten Core

Books

• Warcraft: Master of Clans
• Warcraft: Of Blood and Honor
• Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy
• World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred
• World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde
• Warcraft: Night of the Dragon
• Warcraft: The Frozen Throne

Movie

In May 2006, Legendary Pictures acquired the rights to film the Warcraft series with Blizzard. Both companies plan to make a movie that doesn't follow one of the games' specific storylines, but still takes place in the same fantasy world. The film will have a budget of over $100 million according to Paul Sams.

In June 2007, Legendary Pictures chairman Thomas Tull announced that their film studio was working closely with Blizzard's designers and writers to bring World of Warcraft to the silver screen.

Geography

The Warcraft universe includes many worlds, united by a chaotic funnel, which is called the Lower Whirlwind (Twisting Nether). The transition between the worlds is a very rare phenomenon, it can be done with the help of the so-called portals.

World of Azeroth

Azeroth is a planet that resembles Earth. Most of the Warcraft games take place on this planet.

The world of Azeroth includes three major continents:

• Kalimdor (English) Kalimdor);
• Eastern kingdoms The Eastern Kingdoms);
• Northrend (English) Northrend).

The Eastern Kingdoms array includes two subcontinents - the southern one (on which the states of Azeroth and Haz Modan are located) and the northern continent Lordaeron. In ancient times, the continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms were part of one large supercontinent with the Well of Eternity at its center. When the well exploded at the end of the War of the Ancients, this supercontinent shattered and took on its present form.

History of Azeroth

In ancient times, Azeroth was ruled by the Old Gods and their deputies for a long time. After the arrival of the Titans and the battle with them, one of the Old Gods was killed, and the Titans began to change the landscape of the planet and create intelligent creatures (including trolls, dwarves, etc.). They made an agreement with the Great Beings - dragons - to protect Azeroth. The Titans endowed the dragons with unique abilities. The main titan Aman "Thul, brother of Sargeras, chose the bronze dragon Nozdormu and made him the protector of time, fate and fate. The titanide Eonar chose the red dragon Alexstrasza and made her the protector of all living beings. Eonar also chose the green dragon Ysera, Alexstrasza's younger sister, to control human madness from her kingdom of the Emerald Dream. The Emerald Dream). The titan Norgannon chose the blue dragon Malygos to protect magic. The titan of Khaz-Gorot chose the black dragon Neltharion to guard the land.

After that, the Titans left, leaving the dragons to protect Azeroth. However, the Old Gods drove Neltharion mad with their whispering, and he betrayed the other dragons. Neltharion later became known as the Deathwing and the Destroyer.

Soon trolls from Zandalar appeared in Azeroth, who began to build their great empires. The most famous of them are Gurubashi and Amani. When the new empire of Azj-Akir emerged, the trolls fought for supreme power. Soon the priorities changed, and Azj-Akir was transformed into the state of Qiraj (Eng. Qiraj) (insectoid humanoids) and nerubians.

Around the same time, the night elves appeared on Azeroth. They quickly began to oppress the trolls and as a result, in the territory where the Well of Eternity was located in ancient times, they developed their huge magical empire.

After the war, the elves divided into two groups - the night elves, adherents of druidic magic, and the high elves. The high elves were expelled from the land of the night elves. They settled in the north of Lordaeron and created their own powerful state - Quel'Thalas. But the Amani empire was still very influential here, and soon two completely opposite cultures converged in battles, later called the Troll Wars. At the end of the Troll Wars, the high elves allied with people, and after the battle of the trolls and elves, it turned out two peoples and one scattered state.

World of Draenor

Draenor (also called the Outlands, or after its partial destruction) is a harsh world lit by a reddish light. Before the destruction, Draenor was very similar to Azeroth. After being destroyed, it was sucked into the Under Vortex. Draenor no longer had a sun, but had a moon that was much further away than before the destruction of this world. The Orcs called her "The Pale Lady". Water may seem dirty, but it is not: this planet is quite capable of supporting life. This is the home of the orcs and other similar races (ogres, draenei giants and draenei) who invaded Azeroth through a rift in the fabric of the universe called the Dark Portal. The forces generated by the opening of this and other portals have caused the world to fall apart into several islands and landmasses that drift independently of each other. These wrecks are connected by chains along which various creatures fly or jump from wreck to wreck.

In the past, the orcs built many black fortresses around their land, and some of them still stand today. The forces of the Burning Legion set up their camps here and defiled the draenei communes scattered around the islands.

Draenor used to have a relatively warm climate. Its surface was almost completely covered with prairies and forests of trees that looked like giant mushrooms. The color of the sky changed from orange to red. Orcs who practiced shamanic cults fell under the influence of the Burning Legion and began to use black magic, which led to the corruption of the whole world. Gradually, the prairies disappeared, giving way to red wastelands. The world was slowly dying.

Once the main population of Draenor were the draenei. The sorcerer Gul "dan described them as "a weak people - hardly worthy of the effort to destroy them." After the destruction of Draenor in the Outlands, few survived, and the remnants were further mutilated by the Fallen Orcs, led by the Lord of the Underworld Mageridon, who finally subdued the remnants The damage done to Draenor has changed reality and time in it.

The world was wrested from the steely grip of Magheridon by Illidan, the blood elves and the naga.

The most significant remnant of Draenor (along with the remnants of the Flame Mountains) is the still-inhabited Hellfire Peninsula, currently floating in space and known as Outworld. The demon of hell Magheridon (one of the Burning Legion) ruled over it from his Black Citadel with the help of his devoted assistants known as the Lord of Pain and the Lady of Torment. He turned the orcs that inhabited this world into the Fallen Orcs, also known as the Orcs of Chaos.

Peoples of Draenor

The original races of the world Draenor:

• Draenic Giants
• Draenic "people"
• Gronns
• Arakkoa (birdmen)
• Ethers - astral travelers

Note: Draenic giants are rarely mentioned. A reference to them can only be found in connection with the temples of the Damned, which were used by the orcs during the Second War. The building material for these temples was the petrified bones of the giants who once inhabited Draenor. Nothing more is known about them. The only mention of the Draenor people (more precisely, the humanoid race) is contained in the story "The Last Guardian" ( The Last Guardian), where they are referred to as the ancestors of the half-orc Garona, who was born before the opening of the Dark Portal.

Draenor is not actually the homeworld of the draenei, but since they cannot return to their homeworld of Argus, they have named Draenor as their sanctuary.

Twisting Nether and Beyond

Despite various factors, the worlds in the Warcraft Universe are subject to the laws of nature. But not the Twisting Nether. Twisting Nether). She is everything that the rest of the worlds are not. The Twisting Nether is infinite, it has no concept of time. Neither thirst nor hunger matters here. Only magic matters. A chaotic swirling mass, the Twisting Nether is a kind of material from which the universe was born.

The Twisting has its own gravity. It is similar to the earth, but not for all creatures. Everything is as if multicolored and in a fog. It would be most accurate to define the Twisting as the highest facet of being, where powerful beings live, forming the phenomena of reality. Twisting is not synonymous with space, since there is evidence that the peoples of Azeroth had an idea directly about space. The gnomes, for example, had astrolabes, they possessed information about the movement of planets and stars, including celestial bodies outside the solar system. Moreover, the elves had telescopes to observe the night sky. The space between the stars and planets was called the "Great Otherworldly Darkness" (Eng. The Great Dark Beyond), or simply "Otherworld" (eng. The Beyond). Gul "dan described it as a place where the souls of the recently dead go. On the other hand, the Twisting was sometimes called the Void, a hellish place outside of space and time, as mortals understand them, the realm of demons, which Gul "dan speaks of as "long dead" . It is not clear whether all the dead go into the "Great Darkness" or into the Whirlpool, since, for example, people who worship the so-called "Holy Light" experience the resurrection and appear as winged creatures in the rays of light leaving the dead body. Further, orcs regularly communicate with the spirits of dead ancestors living in water and earth. It is also possible that during the life of Gul "dan, before the orcs were freed from the power of demons, they simply did not have the necessary virtues to go anywhere else but the Otherworld after death.

Demons of the Burning Legion

Known Nether Vortex Demon Races:

• Lords of the Underworld

see also

• Warcraft organizations
• Warcraft Magic Items

During the preparation of the next material from the “game history in patches” series, I noticed that in the articles on the history of the game little attention was paid to the actual plot of World of Warcraft. Googling, I did not find on the net more or less structured texts devoted to this particular issue. So the idea arose to make a separate series of articles strictly on the development of the plot of the game. It is quite natural that the first part should deal with the plot of the original WoW.

I’ll make a reservation right away - in the text that follows below, it will be told about the main milestones in the plots of the original WoW, and then, mainly related to the endgame. Let me remind you that at launch, two main continents were available - the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, and the content was intended for characters of level 1-60. A significant part of the quests of the original WoW was cut out of the game after the release of Cataclysm, and what players now go through until the 60th is the development of the plot after the events of WotLK.

The events of the game begin approximately four years after the events of RTS Warcraft: The Frozen Throne (the continuation of The Reign of Chaos and), that is, after the Third War. The battles with the Scourge and the Burning Legion are over, the kingdoms are being restored after the war. The Lich King sits on a frozen throne in Northrend, and his powers make only sporadic appearances in the game. It is not until the very end of the vanilla that the Scourge makes another invasion attempt. Players have to deal with several groups of enemies, which are mainly the elemental lords, the Old God, the Black Dragonflight, the "Horde" led by the sons of Blackhand.

Due to a number of game restrictions - mainly due to the division into factions and races - vanilla did not have any root plot and a single main bad guy for the whole game. It was a whole bunch of sometimes non-intersecting storylines that brought players to a common denominator only in the endgame. They were not connected to each other in terms of plot. Players alternately had to deal with the descendants of the marriage of an earth elemental and the son of the demigod Cenarius, then deal with ogres in the ruins of an abandoned elven city, then gurubashi trolls, or even with the Old God himself.

If you go into details, the plot situation at the very beginning of the game was as follows. King Varian Wrynn has disappeared, and Katrana Prestor, who is actually the daughter of the dragon Deathwing, Onyxia, becomes the adviser of the very young Anduin. She and her brother Nefarian have kidnapped Rynn and are themselves undermining the Alliance. In particular, it was at the suggestion of Katrana that the masons who rebuilt Stormwind after the war were not paid, which provoked a riot among them. The Stonemason's Guild becomes the Brotherhood of Defias, led by Van Clyffe, and begins to run amok in Westfall and the surrounding lands. It is on the opposition to them that the plot is built for characters of levels 1-20 (unless, of course, you have chosen the side of people). Each location had its own little plot. For example, in Duskwood, players had to deal with the Worgen, and in Redridge Mountains, players had to deal with the Blackrock Invasion. In other words, there were dozens of less important episodes in the game.

If we talk about the line of Black Dragons, then in the end, the players managed to expose Onyxia, who fled to her lair in the Dustwallow Marsh, where a squad of forty heroes put an end to her difficult fate. However, it is more correct to call it an ellipsis, since subsequently it was resurrected more than once. Onyxia's Lair is basically vanilla's first raid. Another raid available from the start was Molten Core, which led through Blackrock Depths, where the Dark Iron dwarven clan ruled under the heel of the Firelord, Ragnaros. This was the second vanilla raid available, with ten bosses and a bunch of gooey trash.

Patch 1.2 "Secrets of Maradona"

The first content patch for the game was released in December 2004 and was tailored for players level 40-49. Actually, it was not an end game, but expanded the plot for players who were approaching the level cap. Leveling a character to 60 then took quite a long time, and a month after the release, the bulk of the players were still on their way to the level cap. The Secret of Maradona dealt with the story of Princess Teredras, daughter of the Mother of Stone herself and offspring of the demigod Cenarius, Zaethar.

For thousands of years, tauren nomads have roamed the lush forests of Kalimdor in harmony with nature and its spirits. They visited many lands, but one of them became a special, sacred place for all tauren shamans. It was called the Mashan'che, or "Spindle of Mother Earth," named after the mythical deity they believed created the world. These emerald meadows along the western coast of Kalimdor were located between the jungles of Feralas and the Stonetalon Mountains.

Led by the low whispers of the spirits of nature, the tauren shamans believed that Mother Earth lived somewhere in these meadows. For decades they have tried to awaken her by speaking to the elementals and performing festive rituals.

In the end, they succeeded, but they soon realized that the whisper they heard was not the whisper of the beneficent Mother Earth. It was an echo of something darker - something that came from Azeroth's violent past. From the depths of a massive cavern beneath the meadows emerged a gigantic earth elemental, Princess Theradras, who was a descendant of the Stonemother herself, Therazane.

Thousands of years ago, the Guardians imprisoned most of the elementals in another plane of existence. Some, like Theradras, were able to escape capture. She hid underground and fell into a deep sleep. Millennia of sleep had slowly weakened Theradras' mighty body.

The awakened Theradras reached the flowering meadows and absorbed the energy from it. Life-giving forces poured into the body of the elemental, restoring its stone-angular forms. The pulling of power from the environment has led to the fact that vast areas of the meadows were dried up. Plants and trees around Mashan'che withered and died. The tauren were horrified and forced to fight for survival. Later they called these places the Wastes.

The sudden and brutal demise of so many living beings has not gone unnoticed on Azeroth and beyond. Many of the mortal druids and spirits of the Emerald Dream faltered from the hesitation caused by the mass death of the living. One of the meadow sons of Cenarius, Zaetar, came out of the Dream to find out what had happened.

Just like his father, Zaetar appeared in the physical world in the beautiful form of a half-deer, half-man. Supple vines and bright green leaves curled around his arms and legs, curling around his beautiful antlers. Where his hooves touched the ground, dozens of shoots were born. Over time, they grew into flowering groves.

Zaetar's search led him to the dark caverns beneath the Wastes, where he discovered Theradras. Although he was about to capture the strange creature, he soon admired her. Stolen from a living force emanating from Theradras in waves, Zaetar was fascinated and he was amazed by her beauty.

Theradras also found him beautiful and decided to win his love by all means. The elemental princess knew perfectly well how she was able to attract Zaetar and used it to her advantage. She said she did not mean to cause harm and is now looking for ways to restore the former beauty of this place. Together, she suggested, they could do it.

Continuation of a story . From the union of Teredras and Zaetar came a tribe of cruel centaurs. As for the instance itself, it was in the full sense of the word "classic" 5ppl vanilla - massive, with many bosses, requiring several hours to complete.

Patch 1.3 Dire Maul Ruins

The second content patch was released in March 2005 and expanded the story for level 55-60 players. This time around, the story took players to Ferallas, the ruins of the elven city of Eldre'Thalas.

When the Great Sundering destroyed the world, Eldre'Thalas narrowly escaped destruction. Only the efforts of Tortheldrin and his associates saved the city. Together they cast a great spell that protected the city from the destructive waves of the Sundering.

Although they saved the city, the Shen'dralar soon learned that the Sundering had destroyed the Well of Eternity. Without a source of strength, Tortheldrin and his companions realized that they could not live forever. Soon the Shen'dralar fell into deep lethargy and began to weaken in their isolated sanctuary.

Eventually, Tortheldrin found a way out and breathed new life into the Shen'dralar. From the pylons of one of the destroyed wings of Eldre'Thalas, he constructed a prison for a new source of energy - a demon named Imsmer'ther. Much to the surprise of the other Shen'dralar, Tortheldrin surreptitiously summoned and imprisoned a terrible creature in order to take its power and give it to his followers. Any objections ended after the other Shen'dralar felt the demon's energy themselves. Dark and erratic, Imsmer'ther's power was life-giving and addictive, even greater than that of the Well of Eternity.

The Shen'dralar rejoiced at the new source of power, but they also knew that keeping such a demon was dangerous. Therefore, they used a device that both allowed him to use his power and keep him in chains. And for thousands of years everything was fine.

True, the further, the more difficult it was to keep Bessmer'ter in chains - it required more and more strength. In the nine thousand years since the Sundering, the demon's prison has worn down a lot. The device began to absorb too much energy, leaving little for the Shen'dralar. And one night, Tortheldrin was unable to access the energy of the demon. The Shen'dralar not only lost their immortality again, but became hopelessly dependent on the demon's magic. Tortheldrin, desperate to regain power, plotted with his followers to kill the rest of the Shen'dralar.

Tortheldrin's treacherous plan worked. There were fewer elves and those who survived could use the energy of the demon forever ...

However, forgotten does not mean empty. In Eldre'Thalas, players had to meet with ogres, centaurs and other evil spirits. Like Maradona, Dire Maul was massive and made up of several separate wings.

Patch 1.6 "Siege of Blackwing Lair"

In the third raid of the game, the plot related to the Black Mountain and the Black Dragons continued. The players had to return to the Black Mountain again, but this time they would not descend into its bowels, but rise a little higher from the surface of the earth. Deathwing's eldest son, Nefarian, captured the upper reaches of Blackrock Mountain and began experimenting there with breeding a new breed of dragons. He was in constant confrontation with Ragnaros and his minions and was able to subdue the sons of Blackhand, Dal'rend and Maim. The adventurers managed to defeat Nefarian, but he, like Onyxia, was eventually resurrected by Deathwing during the Cataclysm.

Patch 1.7 "Rise of the Blood God"

A year after the release, WoW was rightfully considered one of the most successful MMO projects of its time. No one expected such a rapid growth in the number of subscribers, but at the same time there were already some problems that needed to be addressed. So, the developers realized that a significant part of the players who have reached the level cap simply do not have the opportunity to fully play. Not all guilds could afford to collect raids of forty people. The answer was the first raid for twenty people - Zul'Gurub.

In the 1500 years to the present, the Gurubashi troll tribe has experienced a bloody civil war. In the course of it, the followers of the loa of Hakkar were defeated. The Zandalari and those Gurubashi who did not want to worship the cruel god Krov, and expelled them from the city and the surrounding lands. Hakkar lost his physical form and was banished to the spirit world. But as it turns out, Hakkar has regained physical form and has now reappeared in Zul'Gurub. The players had to fight him and his followers.

In 2011, Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman underwent an overhaul and the old story, along with related content, was cut from the game.

Patch 1.8 "Dragons of Nightmare"

For a long time, the theme of the Emerald Dream remained one of the top ones in the lore and even claimed to become central in the first addition to the game. It's entirely possible that the introduction of the Four Dragons of Nightmare should have been a prelude to, if not the next expansion, then at least a decent amount of content. But “something went wrong” and the portals where these world bosses could be found remained just decorations leading nowhere. And the plot related to the Emerald Dream was continued twelve years later, already in the Legion expansion.

Patch 1.9 - Gates of Ahn'Qiraj

A further twist in the plot took the players far to the south of Kalimdor, and here they had to meet one of the Old Gods, C'thun, for the first time.

Since the last war with the trolls, the descendants of the aqir have been hiding in underground caves. Only the Mantids in Pandaria remained a real threat. Almost all the races of Azeroth have forgotten how destructive the insectoid creatures that roamed the earth were.

One of their colonies, the Qiraji, lived beneath the walls of the ancient fortress of Ahn'Qiraj. Initially, the Guardians built a huge fortress in order to capture the Old God C'Thun there. There, under the lifeless corridors of sandstone, was their kingdom.

Although Azshara and the night elves were aware of the existence of this stronghold, its location was forgotten over time. Few living creatures lived near Ahn'Qiraj - all around lay the endless desert of Silithus, the sands of which stretched from the towering obelisks of the fortress.

Ahn'Qiraj remained hidden until the days when Archdruid Fandral Staghelm undertook a journey to Silithus to bring life to the land. He sent his son, Valstann, and several of his most trusted druids to carry out this task. They struggled through the scorching sand dunes in search of hidden water deposits that could be used to turn the land into dense forests. Valstann and his friends unexpectedly discovered Ahn'Qiraj. Although some of the druids warned against entering the fortress, Valstann did not listen to them. His inadvertent appearance in the cold, dead halls of the fortress brought the dormant Qiraji back to life.

In his underground prison, C'Thun sensed the awakening of the Qiraji. The Old God had driven them into a deadly rampage. The higher castes of the qiraji began to streamline the ranks of their subordinates, the most numerous of which were the silithids. These malevolent creatures came in a variety of forms, bending their will to the Qiraji overlords.

The Qiraji shocked Valstann and his companions. After fleeing from Ahn'Qiraj, they built a small outpost to watch over the insectoid creatures. Before their eyes, the fortress began to fill with more and more swarms of qiraji.

Then, without warning, hordes of silithids emerged from the tunnels of Ahn'Qiraj. The Qiraji were at the head of this army. They led the silithids that infested the desert and the surrounding lands.

By this time, Walstann called on his father for help. Fandaral brought druids, Sentinels, priestesses, and grove keepers to help stop the qiraji threat. This army took the fight to the silithids in the southern reaches of Kalimdor. They drove the qiraji back into the sands of Silithus, but they gathered their strength and counterattacked. These repeated over and over again, the waves of death leaving behind the corpses of elves and insectoids.

The War of the Shifting Sands has begun.

To counter them, a thousand years before now, a combined army of night elves and dragon Aspects managed to drive the Qiraji back from the city's walls and seal them away. The War of the Shifting Sands seemed to have ended in victory. But in fact, beyond the walls of this city, the qiraji and C'thun continued to gain strength and, in the end, the peoples of Azeroth had to fight them again.

The Scarab Gate was opened in January 2006. This event was preceded by one of the first large-scale events in the game, which required the participation of players from all over the server. After completing all the necessary preparations, the Gates opened and two raid instances became available to players - Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj (20 people) and Temple of Ahn'Qiraj (40 people).

Patch 1.11 "Shadow of the Necropolis"

As it was written at the beginning of the article, the original WoW began shortly after the events of RTS Warcraft: The Frozen Throne, in which the Lich King was the main enemy of all living things. Throughout the vanilla, he did not appear to the players, acting through his henchmen, however, these were all secondary storylines. Only towards the end of the original period of the game, in the summer of 2006, was the 1.11 content patch released, in which the Scourge returned to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms again. Necropolises began to soar over Azeroth, and the lich Kel'Thuzad, who sat in Naxxramas, led the invasion. The Right Hand of the Lich King is a character well known to those who have played RTS Warcraft. Once a wizard of the Kirin Tor, Kel'Thuzad was prone to practicing all manner of dark magic. This was taken advantage of by Ner'zhul, who was once the sole Lich King. Kel'Thuzad came to Northrend, where he began to serve his new master. It was he who was responsible for the spread of the plague in the Eastern Kingdoms and the creation of the Cult of the Damned. Eventually, his activities caught the attention of the Order of the Silver Hand and he was killed by Prince Arthas. Thus began their long and difficult relationship. Then, later, when Arthas takes the Frozen Throne, he will resurrect Kel'Thuzad, defiling the Sunwell along the way. The necromancer will become his servant.

The Scourge Invasion was implemented in the game as a massive event, and the Naxxramas raid became one of the most difficult instances of the original WoW.

That, in a very brief summary, is the story behind the original WoW. It ended with the fact that another iconic place in Azeroth began to show alarming signs of life - the Dark Portal. The theme of the first expansion was supposed to be the Burning Legion and Outland.

But more on that in the next post.