The 2016 *Warcraft* movie has a tricky ending that’s hard to follow if you’re not familiar with the games. The film is based on Blizzard Entertainment’s 1990s real-time strategy games, which expanded into the massively popular MMORPG *World of Warcraft* in the 2000s. With its rich lore and huge fanbase, *Warcraft* seemed poised to become a big multimedia hit. However, the movie didn’t do well with critics or at the box office, making only $439 million and getting a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the movie, the orc leader Gul’dan leads his people from their dying world into Azeroth, where they plan to conquer and take prisoners to fuel dark magic. The humans of Azeroth, led by King Llane and Anduin Lothar, fight back and plan to rescue the prisoners. Meanwhile, the orc chief Durotan is unhappy under Gul’dan’s cruel rule and challenges him to a duel. Durotan loses because Gul’dan cheats by using fel magic.
In the final battle, King Llane asks the orc Garona to kill him, a move meant to unite the orcs and humans against Gul’dan. Lothar narrowly escapes with King Llane’s body, setting the stage for future conflicts.
How The Warcraft Director Explains The Ending
The 2016 Warcraft film makes some notable changes to the world and story of the original game. Director Duncan Jones discussed these changes with Collider when the movie first came out. One key change was leaving out the Fall of Stormwind, an important event in the game. Jones said this adjustment was made to help the film’s pacing.
The deaths of Durotan and King Llane were also significantly altered from what fans knew from the game. Jones explained these changes, saying they were necessary for the movie’s narrative flow and to make the story more engaging for viewers who might not be familiar with the game’s extensive lore.
This is what he had to say:
In the games, those characters and their storylines are painted with pretty broad brush strokes. And I think when you’re making a movie, you have to work at a different level of fidelity. And you have to add a little more definition and three-dimensionality to who these characters are, why they do what they do, and what they’re thinking about when they’re not yet doing what they are going to do! And so I think films are different in that respect.
The Full Meaning Of Warcraft’s Ending
The Warcraft universe takes classic fantasy elements and adds depth to them, exploring themes like race, cultural clashes, and colonialism. Unlike Tolkien’s orcs in The Lord of the Rings, who are depicted as evil brutes, Warcraft portrays orcs as a noble race. The film shows that both orcs and humans share a common desire to live and thrive in peace. Each side has its heroes, but also those who feel superior to other races, like the villainous Gul’dan.
The tragic reality in the Warcraft universe is that extremists like Gul’dan make it nearly impossible for orcs and humans to coexist peacefully. One act of violence leads to another, creating an endless cycle of conflict. Despite the best efforts of heroes, as long as figures like Gul’dan hold power, this cycle will continue, which is why the series is aptly titled Warcraft.
