History Literature / TidesOfDarkness

* TheQuisling: [[spoiler: Aiden Perenolde]]
** [[ItWasHisSled Which should be known anyway to everyone who played WC2 before.]]

* BadassGrandpa: Lothar.

* ChurchMilitant: Paladins don't exist before this war but are introduced by the Church of the Light.

* ColonelBadass: Turalyon fulfills this role for much of the book.
* DeusExitMachina: Lothar spends half the book hunting Orcs in a distant forest in the Hintherlands [[MemeticBadass because had he been there for the battles that happened during that time, he'd have defeated the Horde single-handedly]].

** In ''Warcraft II'', Anduin Lothar was killed when he attempted to parlay with Orgrim Doomhammer. Here, he got annoyed when Perenolde suggested they should try and negotiate peace with the Horde.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Turalyon, glowing with the power of Light itself, [[spoiler:picks up the slain Lothar's broken sword and handily defeats the stunned Doomhammer]].

''World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness'' is a novel by Aaron Rosenberg depicting on the events of BlizzardEntertainment's ''VideoGame/WarcraftII: Tides of Darkness''.

''World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness'' is a novel by Aaron Rosenberg depicting on the events of BlizzardEntertainment's ''{{Warcraft}} II: Tides of Darkness''.

After the Kingdom of [[strike:Azeroth]] Stormwind is conquered by TheHorde in the First War, its surviving people flee with ships to Lordaeron, led by their champion, Anduin Lothar. After the northern nations hear of the disaster, TheAlliance is founded, consisting of the humans, elves, [[strike:gnomes]] and dwarves. Lothar is appointed the Grand Marshal of the Alliance's armies and is joined by a group of other heroes such as Turalyon, a young paladin, Alleria Windrunner, an elven ranger and Khadgar, a wizard.

Meanwhile Orgrim Doomhammer, the [[KlingonPromotion self-promoted]] Warchief of the Horde, has rid his people of TheMagocracy led by demon-worshipping warlocks. He immediately begins preparations for a continuation war, allying himself with the trolls, enslaving dragons, [[strike:hiring goblin mercenaries]] and creating undead sorcerers. After assembling his army, he sets off to make history.

During the [[strike:long]] war both sides suffer casualties, betrayal and loss.

It is part of the WarcraftExpandedUniverse.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Orgrim Doomhammer and Kilrogg Deadeye are pretty much the only orcs who get portrayed positively at all, and even they openly want to commit genocide on all Azerothian races to prevent themselves from suffering a death by starvation. And yet, [[FanDumb some fans think the Orcs get portrayed too positively]].

* FantasticRacism: After [[spoiler: the death of Lothar]], Turalyon realizes the Orcs are not from Azeroth and are not of the Light. He considers them nothing more than creatures that have no good in them and need to be slain.

* Callback: When Khadgar first meets Magni, Magni points out that his name means "Trust" in Dwarven. "Young Trust" was a nickname given to Khadgar by Medivh, who pointed out the same thing.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Orgrim Doomhammer and Kilrogg Deadeye are pretty much the only orcs who get portrayed positively at all, and even they openly want to commit genocide on all Azerothian races to prevent themselves from suffering a death by starvation. And yet, [[FanDumb some fans think the orcs get portrayed too positively]].

* DeusExitMachina: Lothar spends half the book hunting orcs in a distant forest in the Hintherlands [[MemeticBadass because had he been there for the battles that happened during that time, he'd have defeated the Horde single-handedly]].
* FantasticRacism: After [[spoiler: the death of Lothar]], Turalyon realizes the orcs are not from Azeroth and are not of the Light. He considers them nothing more than creatures that have no good in them and need to be slain.

* FridgeBrilliance: A lot of this book is fairly straight High Fantasy good vs. evil. Just like the original Warcraft 2. Nothing wrong with that. A great deal of the book's best parts come from the fact that the Orcs will ultimately become heroes ''in spite'' of everything everything accomplished here. Furthermore, [[spoiler: Damn near every good guy and their nation suffers a horrific end or FateWorseThanDeath]].
* HonorBeforeReason: During the Horde's siege of the capital of Lordaeron, they are very close to breaking through the city gates and razing the city to the ground, which would likely spell doom for the Alliance, as Lordaeron is the glue holding it together. Just then, Gul'dan decides to make his move, taking two clans on a personal quest for power. Hearing of this, Orgrim Doomhammer is faced with a choice: he can continue the siege and secure victory, or he can send a full third of his remaining forces to hunt down and punish the traitors at the cost of victory. Being an (more or less) honorable orc, he goes with the latter. Not only is he left with an insufficient force to break through the gates but the Blackrock clan he sends to punish the renegades gets massacred at sea by Kul Tiras forces (who knew that ships needed to be armed?).