Warcraft: Difference between revisions

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''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' tells the story of the kingdom of Azeroth, which is attacked by a Horde of [[Our Orcs Are Different|green-skinned marauders]] that are hell-bent on exterminating the human population. The player is either a valiant human lord who beats back the orcs and gets crowned the monarch of Azeroth after King Llane dies, or an orc general who crushes the noble capital of Stormwind and betrays his warchief, becoming the new leader of the orcs.

In ''Warcraft II: the Tides of Darkness'', we discover that while elements of both campaigns happened, the orc campaign victory was [[Canon]]. The new orc warchief (Orgrim Doomhammer, who slew [[Big Bad]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Blackhand]] after the conclusion of the previous game) is creating a Horde more dangerous than ever by enlisting creatures such as trolls, ogres, dragons, and goblins into its ranks, while the surviving humans of Azeroth (led by the human commander from the previous game, Lord Anduin Lothar) have fled across the seas to the countries of Lordaeron and created an Alliance consisting of humans, elves, dwarves and gnomes. Soon, the two juggernauts face each other over global domination. Again, while missions from both sides occur, the Alliance victory is canonical, but Lothar, their greatest hero, falls; Doomhammer flees into exile. In the [[Expansion Pack]] ''Warcraft II: Beyond The Dark Portal'', the Alliance pursues the beaten Orcs to their dying homeworld of Draenor to stop them from gathering reinforcements... and discover a far darker plot. Ner'zhul, a powerful Orc warlock, decides to use several ancient artifacts to open doorways from Draenor to other worlds for the Orcs to conquer. The foiling of his plot finally seems to spell an end to the red planet. The Orcs remaining on Azeroth are rounded up and placed in internment camps. The other creatures of the Horde go their own ways.

 

 

''Lord of the Clans''' plot was worked into the backstory of ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'', which added the Night Elves and Undead as playable factions. In the game, the Horde, now under Thrall, flees Lordaeron on advice from a human prophet. Shortly after, the Scourge--an undead army created by the demons who had corrupted the orcs in the first place, and led by Ner'zhul, trapped in an almost formless existence--assaults the Alliance, which was already beginning to fracture politically. The Elves of Lordaeron are decimated; Lordaeron's prince, Arthas, becomes the Scourge's most powerful minion due to his lust for vengeance; and his former lover and princess of the nation of Kul Tiras, Jaina Proudmoore, takes any survivors she can over the sea--again, on advice from the prophet. Across the sea, on Kalimdor, the Horde has allied with a native race, the Tauren, and found a new tribe of Trolls that can join them. The Alliance arrives soon after, and again following the words of the Prophet, unite against their greater foe - the Scourge and their burning masters. But their settlement does not go unnoticed - the Night Elves, led by Tyrande Whisperwind, see the outlanders as despoiling Kalimdor...until faced with the horrible reality of the Scourge, and facing again the Burning Legion after ten thousand years. The truce between the Horde and Alliance expands to include the Night Elves, and their combined forces are enough to break the Burning Legion's advance and slay its leader. Despite the victory, Lordaeron is left ravaged, and the Scourge is feasting on the bones.

Meanwhile, Thrall and the Horde settle down and the orcs begin work on their new capital city, Orgrimmar. The traveling beast master Rexxar becomes involved in the orcs' work to forge a new homeland, but trouble rears its ugly head when Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, Jaina Proudmoore's father and an Alliance hero from ''Warcraft II: the Tides of Darkness'' shows up. Jaina has built a city for her refugees called Theramore Isle, and has been able to maintain peace with the nearby Horde. However, her father still hates the orcs for their demon-fueled war crimes, and, unwilling to see that they have changed, takes control of Theramore from his daughter and begins to attack the Horde. After helping the trolls evacuate to Orgrimmar, saving the tauren leader Cairne Bloodhoof's son, and taking over a clan of ogres, Rexxar is declared the Champion of the Horde and the Horde attacks Theramore. In return for Jaina's aid in stopping her father, Thrall agrees to spare her soldiers, so Rexxar and his posse of Cairne, the troll scout Rokhan and the pandaren brewmaster Chen Stormstout go and kill Daelin while the forces of the Horde and the Admiral fight. Daelin is slain, Jaina is sad, and the Horde leaves the city of Theramore to rebuild.

 

{{tropelist}}

 

* [[Action Girl]]: Tyrande Whisperwind, Jaina Proudmoore, Sylvanas Windrunner, Maiev Shadowsong... and there's even [[Mook]] style [[Action Girl|action girls]]: the Night Elf Archers and Huntresses, and High Elf Sorceresses.

** Let's not Forget Aleria Windrunner from the [[WC 2]] expansion, who also happens to be Sylvanas' older sister.

* [[The Ageless]]:

** Night elves used to have this form of immortality, before sacrificing it to save the world from the Burning Legion.

* [[Asteroids Monster]]: Hydras. As there's no way to represent one hydra's head being replaced by more, a dying hydra will be replaced by two smaller and weaker hydras.

* [[Attack! Attack! Attack!]]: While attacking hero units with [[Zerg Rush|a horde of weak units]] is an effective tactic, you need enough [[Mooks]] to overwhelm the heroes. This is not the case with the small bandit gangs at the beginning of the Human Alliance campaign...''but they insist on making a beeline for paladin Arthas and his high defense stats and '''enormous smite-mallet''' anyway.'' It's common for him to one-shot *thock* them [[Catch Phrase|(for honour)]]. Very entertaining, but the labour turnover for bandits has to be ridiculous.

* [[Autobots Rock Out]]: ''' ''The Power of the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRDDEEEE!!!'' '''.

* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: ''A lot.'' Most characters from all the races, right down to the generic hero units in multiplayer, get surnames that are just two cool-sounding words squashed together. Even so, "Malfurion Stormrage" stands head and shoulders above the rest.

* [[Big Bad]]: Blackhand and Gul'dan in ''Warcraft I'', Orgrim Doomhammer in ''Warcraft II'', Ner'zhul in the expansion ''Beyond the Dark Portal'', Archimonde in ''Warcraft III''. ''Frozen Throne'' didn't have a single [[Big Bad]], but the main campaign sequence was driven by the [[Evil Versus Evil]] conflict between Kil'Jaeden and the Lich King, while Admiral Proudmoore was [[Big Bad]] for the Orc bonus campaign. Sargeras for the whole series.

* [[Big Badass Wolf]]: Orcish Raiders (AKA wolf riders) in part 1 and 3. Also the ones the Far Seer ride.

* [[Big No]]: "You... did this... to our people... ''knowingly!?'' ''' '' GGRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!! '' '''"

** "No, old friend, you freed us all... RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!"

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: In ''The Frozen Throne's'' Orc campaign, there's a bear called Misha, which means 'bear' in Russian.

* [[Big Bad Duumvirate]]: Ballnazar, Detheroc and varimathras in the "Legacy of the Damned"

* [[Black Magician Girl]]: Jaina.

* [[Bonsai Forest]]: The forests seem to be very thick compared to how short the trees are.

* [[Crate Expectations]]: In ''Warcraft III''.

* [[Creative Closing Credits]]

** In part 3. Cairne's war stomp can cause an avalanche and Tyrande's Starfall can destroy bridges. Neither is possible in the game.

* [[Damage Increasing Debuff]]: Several examples in ''Warcraft III''.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]

{{quote| Shade: "I'm invisible...gaseous...and ''deadly''."}}

* [[Duel Boss]]: Rexxar Vs Kor'gall.

* [[Dumb Muscle]]: Specifically Ogres and Abominations. Some Orcs fall into this, but [[Genius Bruiser|not the Orc Shamans.]]

'''Abomination''' [[Hulk Speak|"We done waiting!"]]<br />

'''Orc Peon''' [[Hulk Speak|"Me not that kind of Orc!"]] }}

* [[Elemental Shapeshifter]]: ''Warcraft 3's'' Pandaran's "Storm, Earth, and Fire" ability splits the hero into three different beings, each themed after the particular element.

* [[Elite Army]]: The army of Kul Tiras.

* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]: Lordaeron is quite obviously [[Medieval European Fantasy|European]]. The Jungle Trolls are Jamaican-like. The Taurens seem to be the native peoples of America's Great Plains, but with their cultural ties to buffalo herds brought to extremes - they actually ''are'' [[Petting Zoo People|Buffalo Men]].

** The Tauren are Cow-men; their cousins, the Taunka, ''are'' the actual Buffalo-men, but they're Inuit.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: A lot of races in Warcraft '''''really''''' don't like each other. The most prominent example is the Humans and Night Elves viewing Orcs as murderous war-like savages [[Blood Knight|(while having some basis in fact,]] [[Dark Is Not Evil|this isn't completely true)]]. Then there's [[General Ripper|Grand Marshal Garithos]], who hates '''other Alliance races'''. Warcraft loves this trope.

* [[Fauns and Satyrs]]: Satyrs in the Warcraft universe are half-demonic corrupted night elves, and Fauns are half-daughters of the Demigod Cenarius.

* [[Flesh Golem]]: The abominations through necromancy, and in TFT you get actual flesh golems.

* [[Fog Feet]]: The Firelord hero from ''Warcraft 3''.

** Implied to be Kil'jaeden, or his underlings.

* [[Forgotten Phlebotinum]]: The Alliance and The Horde went to war over oil in part 2. Not so in part 3.

* [[Going Through the Motions]]: It really kills the mood when Illidan, in the middle of a dramatic speech, starts flipping out and going through his idle poses. How exactly does standing on one foot and throwing your hands in the air help your case, great demon hunter?

** The Blood Mage has one where he puts his hands on his hips, thrusts his chest out, and laughs. It pops up during Kael'thas' story at some very unfortunately timed moments.

* [[Government in Exile]]: Azeroth in ''Warcraft 2'' has lost both its homeland and its king, but it remains one of the most powerful human nations and is leader of [[The Alliance]].

* [[Hair-Raising Hare]]: The Easter-egg hunt themed map includes horrifying bunnies.

* [[Lady of War]]: Tyrande and Maiev.

* [[Lawful Stupid]]: Again, Tyrande and Maiev. Tyrande grows out of it eventually, though. Maiev doesn't.

* [[Lightning Bruiser|Lightning Bruiser Spellcasters:]] The Ogre-Magi and Paladins in ''Warcraft 2''. They were your [[Tank Goodness|tanks]].

* [[Leeroy Jenkins]]: Grom pulls this off in the 3rd Orc Mission; when Thrall was about to move on past the humans, Grom goes along to ''attack'' some human bases.

* [[Les Collaborateurs]]: The human nation/city-state of Alterac.

* [[Looks Like Orlok]]: Dreadlords.

* [[Love Triangle]]: We have the old Malfurion-Tyrande-Illidan triangle in Reign of Chaos. In Frozen Throne, we get hints that there ''was'' a triangle between Arthas-Jaina-Kael, which is confirmed in Rise of the Lich King.

* [[Never a Self-Made Woman]]: Gets used to a greater or lesser degree with Tyrande Whisperwind and Alleria Windrunner.

* [[No Arc in Archery]]: Somewhat subverted by Night Elf Archers firing at a (fixed) angle, but other projectiles don't arc.

* [[Non-Entity General]]: Sometimes given a name and face in the sequels, such as Doomhammer for the Horde.

* [[Non-Human Undead]]: The Scourge in ''Warcraft III'' includes undead spider-men called Crypt Fiends, undead elves called banshees, and a super flying undead dragon with ice breath. Plus, generic human skeletons can be made with the corpses of any species.

** [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|Our Dwarves Have the Funniest Unit Quotes.]]

** [[Our Gargoyles Rock]]: Flying undead bats that can turn into statues to regenerate health.

** [[Our Ogres Are Hungrier]]: For starters, they have two heads, and are capable of magic.

** [[Our Orcs Are Different]]: They appear to be traditional Orcs at first, but they're [[Dark Is Not Evil|actually fairly decent folks.]] [[Fantastic Racism|It's just the world reviles them.]]

* [[Panthera Awesome]]: The panthers ridden by Night Elf Huntresses and the tigers ridden by Priestesses of the Moon.

* [[The Paragon Always Rebels]]: In the [[Backstory]], Sargeras had a bad [[He Who Fights Monsters|experience]] with the Nathrezim.

** The human nation of Stromgarde, led by a family named ''Trollbane''. Guess how they became famous.

* [[Psycho Rangers]]; Illidan's Blood Elf, Naga and Draenei forces are smilar to Alliance, Orcs and Night Elves.

* [[Recurring Extra]]: Thornby, Timmy, Captain Falric and Dagren the Orcslayer.

* [[Red Herring]]: The ''Warcraft 2'' manual has a few. Gilneas thinks its army is powerful enough to face the Horde alone? Well, no need to find out. The Black Tooth Grin Clan is led by the sons of Blackhand, who was killed by the current Horde leader Doomhammer, and now they're secretly plotting revenge? And the Dragonmaw Clan has close ties to them? Well, no worries; you won't hear anything about them, ever.

* [[Simpleton Voice]]: Peasants and Ogres in ''Warcraft II'' and ''III''. Averted with the orcish peons, who are supposedly just as dumb as human peasants, though you can still hear some [[Hulk Speak]] from them.

* [[A Sinister Clue]]: Arthas begins a right-handed paladin, but switches to his left after he changes class, though the cinematic at the end of the Human campaign does show him wielding Frostmourne in his right.

* [[Sinister Scimitar]]: Skeletons are equipped with scimitars, no matter what weapon the creature they were created from was holding.

* [[Staged Populist Uprising]]: During a mission in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, a peasant revolt erupts in the township of Tyr's Hand while the Alliance is still fighting the Horde. It's later revealed that it was started by spies from Alterac, whose king had been working with the Horde the whole time.

* [[Storming the Castle]]: The Blood Elf/Naga/Broken Draenei coalition stormed the Black <s>Citadel</s> Temple.

** The final missions of both sides in the original. The siege of dalaran for a notable one from the second.

** There's a beautiful subversion of this in ''The Frozen Throne'' - Arthas LOSES LEVELS as the Lich King loses power.

* [[Super Empowering]]

* [[You Have Researched Breathing]]: [[Our Ghouls Are Creepier|Ghouls]] actually have to research the ability to eat the dead. Night Elves have to learn Ultravision, the ability to see well at night. Crypt Fiends don't know they can burrow into the ground, and Chimeras haven't figured out that their second head spits [[Hollywood Acid|acid]].

* [[You Have to Believe Me]]: The Prophet might have had more success in getting people to go to Kalimdor if he warned them in a calmer tone.

* [[You Require More Vespene Gas]]: Gold and Lumber are your resources here. Also oil in ''Warcraft II'' for naval units.

 

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