I’ve recently watched the WarCraft movie again. And again, it did not disappoint as a fan of the world and its design and characters. The rich environments, crazy armor designs and Murloc cameo’s make it a blast to watch.
From a story and film enthusiast point of view it sadly has some issues. Concepts, characters or story backgrounds are just not well explained. As a pre – WarCaft 3 lore enthusiast I am fully aware of the rules, politics and characters in place. A general filmbuff does not have this knowledge and will get lost very fast in the story of this movie. It also does not help that the film covers events from WarCraft: Orcs and Humans, as well from books Rise of the Horde, The Last Guardian and Lord of the Clans (only intro and flashbacks).
So from my perspective it does not matter how much you can condense the story into one suitable for a film, it is a large pool of work that was available. Perhaps too big for a first movie. There are simply too many concepts that need to be explained to those not in the know. On the other side of the argument: people who know what WarCraft is about would be disappointed at the lack of depth. You either know it or don’t understand a thing.
So I see it as a testament to the franchise and how it can look on the big screen. It’s a shame it is not the “game movie” that made the big difference and received critical acclaim vs the other “game movies”.
If we get another movie, I would like a tie-in story of sorts. Something with a smaller scope of things, with more room for character development and concept explaining. And there is enough talent with Blizzard to create a good story, that’s for sure.
That said, I’ve also written a short story set in the WarCraft storyworld. It’s no secret that I love Blizzard games. WarCraft is that special one that has been with me since the late Nineties, when I played WarCraft 2 on my nephews pc for the first time. I simply don’t have the time to play World of Warcraft as much, but follow it’s development with interest. So it’s only natural that one of my first released stories is in the WarCraft setting.
I’ve got the initial idea for this story from the Battle for Azeroth Features Overview, back at Blizzcon 2017. And specifically from the one shot of Jaina. Shining in her new wardrobe (1:55min), taking center stage again. The question arose what happened to her during the event’s of the Legion expansion. From there I’ve done some research and eventually ended on a story (or fanfiction if you will) of Talron, a Human mage with a background similar of Jaina’s.
As I consider this as a finished story with a quality that I am happy with, I also realize this is my first publication and my first big step into writing. So there probably are some things that will come up as I get more adept in writing. All I can say now is enjoy reading and please let me know your thoughts. Find the story here.