Warcraft film universe

The Warcraft film universe is an alternate, separate version of the main Warcraft universe. The movie lore is similar, but different. It was streamlined to be more accessible to the general public. Personalities of characters are the same with slightly changed backstories.

Material
Founded around the 2016 film Warcraft, the film universe is shared by the prequel comic Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood and prequel novel Warcraft: Durotan, as well as Warcraft: The Official Movie Novelization, and is expected to be used for any future film sequels or literature.

There's also a behind the scenes book named Warcraft: Behind the Dark Portal.

Timeline

 * Bonds of Brotherhood and the Warcraft film and its novelization are set 20 years apart.

Lore differences
Notably, the film universe is not simply a different timeline, created by a deviation in key historical events, but rather a subtle reimagining of the main universe, with some contradictions best explained by the unavoidable practicalities of producing a successful movie.

While the film is set in Draenor and Azeroth at the time of the First War with the Horde and the Alliance, the lore differences extend far beyond this period, with substantial historical changes to both Draenor and Azeroth.

Listed below are the main salient differences between the film universe and the main universe. For a list of differences between the film and its official novelization, see Differences from the film.

In addition to these specific differences, note that the film universe as it has so far been revealed is around 30 years behind the main universe in its timeline, with the latest material ending only a "very short" period after the first opening of the Dark Portal. As a result many characters which died or were changed long ago in the main universe are still living and unaltered in the film universe, but whether their ultimate fates will diverge from the main universe or repeat the known lore is yet to be revealed.

Original characters
The following characters are original to the film universe, not having appeared in any form in the main universe.

Taria Wrynn was later made into canon.

Explanations
While many of the above changes are simple plot deviations, some are more far-reaching. The reasons for these deviations are largely left up to speculation, but some have been explained by official sources, such as Warcraft director Duncan Jones; these explanations are quoted below.

Dalaran floating

 * [We just thought] it would be cooler if Dalaran was floating then if it were on the ground. Back in my head I have retconned ideas if we get to make more films on how to get back on lore track. So, please understand: I am aware and I do have a solution. - Duncan Jones

Durotan's death

 * In the games, those characters and their storylines are painted with pretty broad brush strokes. And I think when you’re making a movie, you have to work at a different level of fidelity. And you have to add a little more definition and three-dimensionality to who these characters are, why they do what they do, and what they’re thinking about when they’re not yet doing what they are going to do! And so I think films are different in that respect.


 * And for me, to engage an audience, both of fans but also people who are not fans, I need to make these characters that people are going to care about. If Durotan is going to go up against the Horde, if he’s going to go up against Gul’dan, why is he going to do that? Why is he going to out himself and his family and his wife and child in a position where they can be in danger? All of that has to be explained, and it has to come out of the mouths of characters who you believe would do these things. - Duncan Jones

Film ending: Orcs defeated, Stormwind still standing

 * I kinda feel like we’d bitten so much off with what we were trying to achieve. We had to introduce all of these characters, introduce all of this world to people who may not know anything about it. I think the fact that they got the portal closed was enough. You know, whatever happens next will happen next. But that kind of felt like a pretty good chunk size. In two hours, we can get that done. Anything more, you’re kind of running into a convolution of epilogues and of story. - Duncan Jones

Khadgar not ageing after defeating Medivh
Jones has stated that there is the possibility of adding Khadgar's sudden ageing in future films.

Alodi

 * Glenn Close is... well, we use the name Alodi, which is a guardian...kind of the original guardian and the retconning that we’ve done with that she is a guardian that comes from so far back that the Kirin Tor themselves don’t remember her in their understanding of war. So that kind of works for us and I think it builds from enough elements of the lore that, again, it’s one of those things where there may be pieces missing, but the pieces that are there are not wrong. - Duncan Jones

Changes in general
Jones explains the main reasons for making changes to the original lore:


 * There’s three different factors that would have an impact on making those kinds of changes. One of them would be, ‘Are there already pre-existing pieces of lore that dovetail and actually, over twenty years of storytelling, some things fits perfectly and some of it is actually in complete conflict with itself. So what do we do in those situations?


 * Secondly would be, as a filmmaker, we’re trying to make a film, which is a very different medium than a game, especially when you have twenty years to tell your story. Can I find ways to streamline things that keeps the spirit and the DNA of the lore? But at the same time just makes it practical? Because, it’s not a game. And it’s not The Iliad. I can’t talk about who-begat-who-begat-who. Which you kind of have to if you’re going to start throwing extra depth and explanations of who caused that, and then having to explain who that person is and who caused that. You just kind of go down a rabbit hole.


 * So there’s the simplification and the need to streamline. Third, once in a while there’s also the fact that it [something] would be cooler. But there’s not too many of those. I would say that most of the changes from the lore really fit into those first two categories.

Jones has described the differences as "retconning", acknowledging the deviations from official lore, although the story was created with Blizzard personnel such as Chris Metzen.