History Film / Warcraft2016

* CanonForeigner:
** Taria Wrynn, Queen of Stormwind, was created to give the movie another important female character (and to give a name and backstory to Llane's wife / Varian's mother). She is also Lothar's sister.
** Callan, Lothar's son, is also a newcomer to the franchise -- in the game, there's no word on Lothar having any relatives, and he's stated to be the last of the Arathi bloodline.
* CanonImmigrant: Not characters, but phrases. Gul'dan's signature phrase in the movie, ''"Fuel for the fel!"'', has been used by demons in the ''World of Warcraft'' expansion ''Legion''.
** As shown in ''World of Warcraft: Chronicle'', Blackhand's design from the film universe has been adopted as his canon appearance in the game universe as well, replacing his previously-canon ''Warlords of Draenor'' design [[EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference (which in itself replaced his old design from]] ''[[EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference Burning Crusade]]'', [[EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference which in turn replaced his first design from the original RTS games)]].

* AlienInvasion: [[InSpace Recycled IN FANTASY!]] The orcs come to Azeroth from their dying homeworld through a portal fuelled by [[BlackMagic The Fel]], rather than a starship, and carry big axes and [[DropTheHammer hammers]] instead of laser guns. They still aim to colonize the planet and [[HostileTerraforming pollute the area with fire and fel]], however.

* DropTheHammer: Orgrim's weapon is a positively ''enormous'' hammer from which he takes his nickname, "Doomhammer".

* AdaptationDistillation: [[WordOfGod Chris Metzen]] has compared it to Creator/MarvelComics' [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate brand]] -- which served as a foundation for the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse''. The human kingdom is called "Stormwind" as in some maps of ''Warcraft III'' and most prominently in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' instead of "Azeroth" as in the original RTS games (since "Azeroth" came to refer to the whole world, Blizzard changed the kingdom's name to avoid confusing [=WoW=] fans).

** The dwarf who offers Lothar a newly designed pistol calls it a boomstick, which is a reference to the dwarven soldier's StopPokingMe comment in ''VideoGame/Warcraft3''... [[ShoutOut which is itself a reference to]] ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness''.

* FanserviceExtra: The well-endowed High Elf noblewoman at the Alliance meeting in Stromwind [[note]]Canonical art and in game models of the High Elves depict the women as being slender[[/note]] wears robes which show off her cleavage and [[BareYourMidriff midriff]].

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking:
** Everyone, basically. Durotan and Gul'dan resolve their feud through good ol' fashioned fistfight, Gul'dan control the orcs through a show of his powers, Lothar is the only character except for Garona who can singlehandedly kill scores of orcs, and Llane participates in the battle and kicks serious amounts of green ass.
** Most blatantly shown in the mak'gora between Durotan and Gul'dan. [[spoiler:When Gul'dan resorts to using his fel magic to kill Durotan, even the other fel-corrupted orcs are disgusted by him. He promptly vaporizes two or three of them with a gesture, at which point the entire warband is intimidated enough to fall back in line.]]

* FanserviceExtra: The [[BuxomIsBetter well-endowed]] High Elf noblewoman at the Alliance meeting in Stromwind [[note]]Canonical art and in game models of the High Elves depict the women as being slender[[/note]] wears robes which show off her cleavage and [[BareYourMidriff midriff]].

* AlienInvasion: [[InSpace Recycled IN FANTASY!]] The orcs come to Azeroth from their dying homeworld through a portal fuelled by [[BlackMagic The Fel]], rather than a starship, and carry [[AnAxeToGrind big axes]] and [[DropTheHammer hammers]] instead of laser guns. They still aim to colonize the planet and [[HostileTerraforming pollute the area with fire and fel]], however.

* BalefulPolymorph: [[MythologyGag Khadgar turns the soldier keeping watch]] on [[spoiler:Lothar]] into a sheep.

* FanserviceExtra: The [[BuxomIsBetter well-endowed]] High Elf noblewoman at the Alliance meeting in Stromwind [[note]]Canonical art and in game models of the High Elves depict the women as being slender[[/note]] wears robes which show off her [[AbsoluteCleavage cleavage]] and [[BareYourMidriff midriff]].

** There are also hints of this as part of the general disunity of the Alliance during their initial meeting; when one delegate demands the dwarf forges work overtime to provide more armor and weapon, King Magni angrily proclaims that the humans treat dwarves like dogs. In the deleted version of the scene, one human woman also whispers a disdainful "pointy-eared fucks" to her human neighbor, who nods in agreement, when a High Elf delegate asks why the Guardian hasn't been summoned about this crisis.

* TrespassingHero: Lothar and Khadgar meet for the first time when the latter breaks into garrison morgue to examine the bodies he believes he's smelled fel on.

** The film changes the origins of Garona's heritage from the official lore, this time going from half-draenei to half-human again, [[spoiler: with the implication that Medivh was Garona's father.]] Though the change was controversial as per usual, many fans found this explantation to be superior than the one in game lore, citing how the Garona's heritage in the games was a subject of ContinuitySnarl with previous attempts to {{retcon}} or explain away her half-"human" status only leading to [[VoodooShark more complications]] while the movie simply implies [[spoiler: that Medivh [[AWizardDidIt travelled to Draenor through his powers]] and had an affair with an Orc woman there.]] Additionally, it also makes the [[TheScrappy fan-unfavorite Me'dan]] unlikely to appear since [[spoiler: Medivh and Garona's status as [[{{Squick}} father and daughter]] makes their original lore status as lovers [[IncestIsRelative incompatible with each other]]]].

* AdultFear:
** Durotan doesn't express any concerns with following Gul'dan until he wonders aloud what sort of future his son will have in a Fel-ravaged world.
** It can't be easy watching your only child get infused with demonic energies mere seconds after being born, especially when it's done at the hands of an AxCrazy genocidal maniac.
** Lothar's reservations about Callan being a part of the Stormwind infantry have a lot to do with this. Made worse when [[spoiler: Callan dies while fighting the orcs]].

** The dagger Taria gives Garona as a show of trust [[spoiler:is later used by Garona to kill Taria's husband, Llane.]]
** The book Khadgar is directed to early in the film [[spoiler:is later shown to contain a clue to Medivh's true loyalties.]] Said book is also heavily implied to be the Book of Medivh, which appears in ''Warcraft III'' when Arthas and Kel'thuzad steal it from Dalaran so the latter can summon Archimonde.
** The boomstick presented to Lothar in his first scene [[spoiler:is later used by him to shoot off Blackhand's hand, saving Lothar's life.]]

* BaldOfAwesome: Orgrim, bearer of the decidedly well-earned title "Doomhammer", is bald.

* ManlyFacialHair: Both Lothar and Llane have beards to confirm their badass credentials.
* MassTeleportation: What the Portal does.

* BadassBeard: Both Lothar and Llane have beards to confirm their badass credentials.

* RealityEnsues: Lothar demonstrates in his first encounter with the orcs that their massive size and strength, while sufficient to nullify the protection of plate armor and shields, are useless against an opponent who can dodge -- Blackhand only gets gets the best of Lothar with the element of surprise. As such, when Blackhand is later transformed into a huge and horrifically strong monster, [[spoiler:it doesn't help him against Lothar at all, because all of the above is still true.]]

* AdaptationDistillation: [[WordOfGod Chris Metzen]] has compared it to Creator/MarvelComics' [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate brand]] -- which served as a foundation for the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. The human kingdom is called "Stormwind" as in some maps of ''Warcraft III'' and most prominently in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' instead of "Azeroth" as in the original RTS games (since "Azeroth" came to refer to the whole world, Blizzard changed the kingdom's name to avoid confusing [=WoW=] fans).

* TheGoodKing: Llane is ultimately just and good, even telling Garona that he won't threaten her and promising her freedom, and he [[spoiler:commits HeroicSacrifice to give orcs and humans a chance to live in peace.]]