The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how — but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

I never thought in a million years that I’d be revisiting the topic of the pandaren, but it looks like it’s now something worth discussing. Earlier this week, it was discovered that Blizzard filed a new trademark for something called «Mists of Pandaria.» Blizzard’s done this before, filing the Cataclysm trademark back in 2009 before the expansion was announced. This has led to the assumption that the mysteriously named «Mists of Pandaria» is lined up to be the next expansion. Needless to say, this information was so far out of left field that it appeared to be coming in from the right.

But let’s think about this from a lore standpoint. All expansions need a storyline behind them — now moreso than ever, given the extremely story-driven vehicle that is Cataclysm. For a race that was originally an April Fool’s joke, the popularity of the pandaren, as well as what little written word we have on the race, makes this a pretty interesting prospect. Believe it or not, there are actually potential reasons behind all of this, given what’s happened so far in Azeroth to date. So let’s take a tinfoil hat look at what this expansion could theoretically look like, from a story standpoint.

Today’s Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition, meaning the following is a speculative look into what has gone before and what’s to come. The events presented are just theories at this point and should not be taken as fact. Continue reading Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The Mists of PandariaFiled under: Lore, Know your LoreKnow Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how — but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

I never thought in a million years that I’d be revisiting the topic of the pandaren, but it looks like it’s now something worth discussing. Earlier this week, it was discovered that Blizzard filed a new trademark for something called «Mists of Pandaria.» Blizzard’s done this before, filing the Cataclysm trademark back in 2009 before the expansion was announced. This has led to the assumption that the mysteriously named «Mists of Pandaria» is lined up to be the next expansion. Needless to say, this information was so far out of left field that it appeared to be coming in from the right.

But let’s think about this from a lore standpoint. All expansions need a storyline behind them — now moreso than ever, given the extremely story-driven vehicle that is Cataclysm. For a race that was originally an April Fool’s joke, the popularity of the pandaren, as well as what little written word we have on the race, makes this a pretty interesting prospect. Believe it or not, there are actually potential reasons behind all of this, given what’s happened so far in Azeroth to date. So let’s take a tinfoil hat look at what this expansion could theoretically look like, from a story standpoint.

Today’s Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition, meaning the following is a speculative look into what has gone before and what’s to come. The events presented are just theories at this point and should not be taken as fact. Continue reading Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The Mists of PandariaFiled under: Lore, Know your LoreKnow Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments