FOREVER
PATH
·
Azeroth companion
Heroes

The Warcraft Story

Read the story of Warcraft from the titans to World of Warcraft: Forever, and the history behind every class, race, zone, dungeon, raid and legendary item.
174 entries · 24 chapters · 11 eras

Story

Before recorded history

Titans and Old Gods

Chapter 1
The Titans and the Old Gods
Before recorded history
Before any mortal kingdom, the titans of the Pantheon fought the Old Gods for the soul of a young world, and Azeroth still carries the scars.
Chapter 2
Sargeras and the Burning Legion
Long before the night elves
The Pantheon's greatest champion lost his faith in creation and raised a demonic crusade to burn it, and Azeroth became the prize he wanted most.
Ten thousand years and more before the Dark Portal

The Kaldorei Empire

Chapter 3
The Rise of the Kaldorei
Roughly 15,000 to 10,000 years before the Dark Portal
Trolls ruled ancient Kalimdor until a tribe drawn to the Well of Eternity became the night elves, whose queen Azshara built an empire of breathtaking magic.
Chapter 4
The War of the Ancients
About 10,000 years before the Dark Portal
Azshara opened the way for the Burning Legion, and the world nearly ended before the Well of Eternity tore itself apart.
Chapter 5
The Long Watch of Hyjal
From about 10,000 years before the Dark Portal
The survivors grew a World Tree over a second Well, imprisoned Illidan beneath the earth and stood guard for ten thousand years.
Roughly 7,000 to 200 years before the Dark Portal

The Elder Kingdoms

Chapter 6
The Exiles of Quel'Thalas
About 6,800 years before the Dark Portal
Banished Highborne crossed the sea, kindled the Sunwell and built an elven kingdom in the northern forests of Lordaeron.
Chapter 7
Arathor and the Troll Wars
About 2,800 years before the Dark Portal
Humanity's scattered tribes united under King Thoradin, and an alliance with the elves broke the Amani Empire at the foot of the Alterac Mountains.
Chapter 8
Guardians and the Seven Kingdoms
The millennia after the Troll Wars
Human magic drew demons, so the magi founded Dalaran and chose Guardians to fight in secret, while Arathor split into seven kingdoms.
Chapter 9
The War of the Three Hammers
About 230 years before the Dark Portal
Ironforge's three dwarf clans fought for the throne, and a defeated sorcerer-thane summoned Ragnaros, burning the land into Blackrock Mountain.
The decades before the Dark Portal

The Orcs of Draenor

Chapter 10
The Corruption of the Orcs
The decades before the Dark Portal
On distant Draenor, Kil'jaeden turned the shamanistic orc clans into a bloodthirsty Horde bound by demon blood.
The opening of the Dark Portal (year 0)

The First War

Chapter 11
The Dark Portal and the First War
Year 0: the Dark Portal opens
Medivh helped the orcs open the Dark Portal, and the Horde overran the kingdom of Stormwind.
A few years after the Dark Portal

The Second War

Chapter 12
The Second War
About five to six years after the Dark Portal
The human kingdoms, elves, dwarves and gnomes united as the Alliance of Lordaeron and broke Doomhammer's Horde at Blackrock Spire.
The years after the Second War

Between the Wars

Chapter 13
Beyond the Dark Portal
Shortly after the Second War
Ner'zhul reopened the portal and tore Draenor apart, and Kil'jaeden remade the old shaman into the Lich King.
Chapter 14
Thrall and the New Horde
The years before the Third War
An orc raised as a slave escaped Durnholde, rediscovered shamanism and freed his people from the internment camps.
Chapter 15
The Lich King and the Plague
Leading up to the Third War
From Northrend the Lich King reached south, and the archmage Kel'Thuzad spread a plague of undeath through Lordaeron's grain.
About twenty years after the Dark Portal

The Third War

Chapter 16
The Fall of Lordaeron
The Third War, about 20 years after the Dark Portal
Prince Arthas hunted the plague to its source, took up Frostmourne and returned to destroy his own kingdom, Quel'Thalas and Dalaran.
Chapter 17
The Battle for Mount Hyjal
The end of the Third War
Warned by a prophet, orcs and humans sailed to Kalimdor, where they joined the night elves to stop Archimonde at the World Tree.
Chapter 18
The Forsaken Rise
Just after the Third War
As the Lich King weakened, Sylvanas Windrunner broke free with other undead and claimed the ruins of Lordaeron as the Forsaken.
The years after the Third War

New Homes in Kalimdor

Chapter 19
Durotar and Theramore
The years after the Third War
Thrall founded Durotar and Orgrimmar, Jaina built Theramore, and the two leaders kept a fragile peace even when Jaina's father came to make war.
Year 25 after the Dark Portal, the setting of Forever

The World of Warcraft Era

Chapter 20
Stormwind in Shadow
Year 25 after the Dark Portal
Rebuilt Stormwind faces a betrayed guild of masons, a vanished king and a dragon hiding at court, while the gnomes have lost their city.
Chapter 21
Fire Beneath Blackrock
Year 25 after the Dark Portal
In Blackrock Mountain the Dark Iron dwarves serve Ragnaros while Nefarian's orcs hold the spire above, and Onyxia guards her brood in Dustwallow Marsh.
Chapter 22
The Plaguelands and the Scarlet Crusade
Year 25 after the Dark Portal
Kel'Thuzad's Scourge holds the north, zealots of the Scarlet Crusade fight undead and living alike, and a few steadfast orders hold the line.
Chapter 23
Azeroth in Year 25
Year 25: the setting of Forever
The world of World of Warcraft's first year, where Forever's story is set: a fragile peace, old threats stirring and new places on the map.
Later expansions (not part of Forever)

After Classic

Chapter 24
Epilogue: After Classic
Later expansions (not part of Forever)
In the original timeline the story went on through Outland, Northrend and beyond; Forever stays in year 25 and tells its own.
Original text written for WoW Forever Path. Facts were checked against the listed sources; warcraft.wiki.gg pages (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Blizzard posts are references, not copied text. World of Warcraft and Blizzard are trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
An unofficial fan tool, not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment. · Checked 30 Oct 2026