World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1

World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1
Author(s)	Blizzard Entertainment (Chris Metzen, Matt Burns, Robert Brooks)
Artist(s)	Peter Lee, Joseph Lacroix
Pages	165
Publisher(s)	Dark Horse Books
Publication date	March 15, 2016
Format(s)	Hardcover, Digital
Retail price	US: $39.99
ISBN 10	1616558458
ISBN 13	978-1616558451

World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 is the first of the three books in the Chronicle series which attempts to codify, tighten up and clarify the history of Warcraft. It released on March 15th, 2016.^[1] The first volume goes from the creation of the Warcraft universe up until the story of The Last Guardian, slightly before the First War.^[2]

The authors are Matt Burns, Robert Brooks, and Chris Metzen, with full-color illustrations by Peter Lee and additional artwork by Joseph Lacroix.

Description[]

This beautiful hardcover book features over twenty full-page illustrations by World of Warcraft artist Peter Lee and marks the first in a multipart series exploring the Warcraft universe; from the distant past to the modern era.

From Blizzard^[3]: World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 is a journey through an age of myth and legend, a time long before the Horde and the Alliance came to be. This definitive tome of Warcraft history reveals untold stories about the birth of the cosmos, the rise of ancient empires, and the forces that shaped the world of Azeroth and its people.

Contents[]

World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1 is divided into the following sections:^[1]

Preface
Introduction: Cosmology, describing the various forces, magic schools, realms and cosmic beings of the universe.
Chapter I: Mythos, describing the origins of the universe, the titans, the Old Gods and the Burning Legion.
Chapter II: Primordial Azeroth, describing the reign of the Elemental Lords, the arrival of the Old Gods and their war with the titan-forged, as well as the ordering of Azeroth and events such as the Winterskorn War.
Chapter III: Ancient Kalimdor, detailing the trolls, their war with the aqir, the reign of Lei Shen and the mogu empire, the pandaren revolution and the Zandalari Troll Wars, as well as the history of the night elves up until and including the War of the Ancients.
Chapter IV: A New World, describing much of the history of Azeroth from the time immediately following the War of the Ancients up until just before the opening of the Dark Portal and the beginning of the First War.

Subjects covered[]

Volume 1 covers the major events from the beginning of the universe up to the beginning of Medivh's story. The core of the book is already established lore,^[4]^[5] shedding light on old lore and establishing new things.^[6] The book is not written by an in-game character.^[7] It doesn't have a timeline, but dates are throughout the book. It contains several maps that explain territorial boundaries through various ages.

The following are some of the subjects covered in the Volume 1:

Naaru origins and interactions with major races.
Demon origins and several types.
Sargeras' corruption.
Titanic watchers such as Tyr, Ra-den, and Algalon the Observer.
- The Dragon Aspects.
- The Well of Eternity.
- Tyr's fate in the Storm Peaks.
- What is under Tirisfal Glades.
The mantid and nerubians.
The origins of most of the playable races.
How Elune and the Earth Mother relate to mortal cultures.
Background of the tauren and the first druids (Malfurion).
What it means for Balnazzar possessing Saidan Dathrohan and being stuck between worlds of the living and dead.
Human organizations (Arathor, Council of Tirisfal, the Seven Kingdoms).
- How early humans discovered the Light, as well as the Brotherhood of Northshire.
Dwarves, the three main clans, and the War of the Three Hammers.
Vrykul, their clans, and King Ymiron.
Flesh-shaping indirectly referenced.
Hakkar the Soulflayer (not his origins).

Announced topics not covered[]

The following will perhaps be treated in other volumes of the Chronicles series:

Information on voidwalkers.^[8]
Draenor.^[9]
- Necrolytes.^[10]
Ethereals.^[11]
Timelines and alternate universes.^[12]
The Reliquary of Souls and Devourer of Souls and what they are.^[13]
Gronn - Gruul^[14]
The origin of the ruling houses of the Seven Kingdoms.^[15]
Aegwynn resurrecting Medivh.^[16]
The details of the gnomes joining the Alliance.^[17]
Affiliation of Tyr's Hand before the Third War.^[18]

Characters[]

Trivia[]

It was originally planned to include more demon information.^[19]
The Riddle of the Mind-Seekers puzzle consists of riddles where you'll have to hunt down pages across Azeroth in a certain order, the clues of which are inspired by the cosmology chart from Chronicle Volume 1. The initial page numbers even spell out the ISBN of the book: 9781616558451.^[20]
Like with the in-game world map, Chronicle's maps don't portray the locations of two isle battlegrounds, the Strand of the Ancients and Isle of Conquest.

Retcons and inconsistencies[]

The Ultimate Visual Guides^[21] stated that Liu Lang set out of Pandaria thousands of years ago. Chronicle changed it to 800 years BDP.
Ancient Kalimdor on Azeroth was previously described as the only continent of the world after the titans moved and shaped the earth until at last there remained only one continent.^[22]^[23] Chronicle however states that Kalimdor was the biggest continent, implying there were still others. And though Chronicle Volume 3 mentions the titans having "shaped" the planet, previous volumes have no mentions of the titans doing anything, as all the work of the ordering of Azeroth that previous lore attributed to the titans has been attributed to the keepers instead.
The Pantheon was previously described as the elite ruling sect of the titan race.^[24]^[25]^[26] The Pantheon is now the only group of titans in existence, outside of still-slumbering world-souls. The titans were also previously described as giants of metal instead of planet-sized beings.
Kezan was previously located northeast of the Isle of Thunder in the Ultimate Visual Guide. Chronicle changed its position to being northwest of it.
The backstories of Aegwynn and Nielas Aran were slightly changed, with them first meeting while the Tirisgarde mage was hunting the rebellious Guardian instead of just Aegwynn seeking Aran in Stormwind.
The book describes Zin-Azshari surrounding the entire Well of Eternity. The War of the Ancients Trilogy put a smaller scope of Zin'Azshari and the city Galhara on the opposite side of the Well.
Y'Shaarj was previously killed by mogu,^[27]^[28] now by Aman'Thul.
The Well of Eternity was stated to be crafted after Azeroth had been ordered.^[23] Now, it was the first task the keepers accomplished after the fall of the Black Empire, before they began shaping Azeroth.
It was previously stated that trolls predate the titans' arrival to Azeroth.^[29]^[30] Now, they arose through the influence of the Well of Eternity after the world was ordered.
Similarly, it was previously stated that tauren predated the arrival of the titans.^[29]
- The yaungol were said to be a splinter group of the tauren race. Now yaungol are the ancestors of the tauren race.
There were five Old Gods imprisoned by the titans,^[23] Chronicle changed this to four. The Word of the Conclave theorizes that a fifth may have been consumed by the others before the titans arrived.^[31]
Barathen Wrynn was originally named "Adamant Wrynn". Now, Adamant is a nickname.
The trolls of the Drakkari tribe were originally described as being so bloodthirsty that the other trolls were forced to drive them out in the far north of ancient Kalimdor.^[32] Now, they were sent north by the Zandalar tribe to chase down the aqir.
It was originally said that the jungle trolls enslaved the goblins of Kezan,^[33] and the enslaved natives shown during the goblin starting experience are forest trolls. Chronicle changed it to the Zandalari.
During the Elemental Unrest, Cho'gall indicated that the caverns of Terramok that Princess Theradras calls home is a titan prison.^[34] Chronicle contradicts this by stating that Theradras was among the elementals who managed to elude being banished to the Elemental Plane by the titan-forged and instead hid beneath the earth, where she fell into a deep slumber until she was awakened by the tauren millennia later.