The Warcraft franchise is known for its expansive high-fantasy elements, with species and creatures ranging from humans to mythical beasts to cosmic entities, and the 2016 movie included an exciting mix of them. The film received divisive reviews upon its release from fans and critics and suffered from an underwhelming run at the box office. One of the praises for the movie was the CGI creation of its orc characters, who made up a significant portion of the Warcraft cast, while the human portion was clad in majestic fantasy armor.

Though the Warcraft movie made many changes to the game, it’s based on the 1994 real-time strategy game Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. The original game primarily featured the two playable races mentioned in the title, but the Warcraft franchise was expanded with sequels and the MMORPG World of Warcraft. Over three decades, the world’s lore has continuously developed, and the 2016 film adaptation tried to incorporate elements that came later to fully ingratiate audiences to the world of Azeroth.

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Human

The Leading Species Of The Alliance

The humans in Warcraft are represented by characters like Anduin Lothar, Khadgar, and King Llane Wrynn. On the Eastern Kingdoms continent, there are several kingdoms of humans, including Gilneas, Dalaran, and Lordaeron. The main focus of the original Warcraft game and the movie is the human kingdom of Stormwind, ruled by the noble line of Wrynn.

The humans of Stormwind are one of the main playable races in the franchise, but they’re not the only culture explored in the series. When Anduin Lothar first leads the humans north to organize the First Alliance of Lordaeron, several human nations join the cause to repel the orc threat. By the time of World of Warcraft, the humans of Lordaeron had been ravaged by the scourge, and many had turned undead. The people of Gilneas fell to the worgen curse. Stormwind still stands as the leadership of the Alliance.

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Orc

The Leading Species Of The Horde, Migrated From Draenor

The orcs are the main representatives of the Horde, with a fascinating complexity in the Warcraft universe that differs from other iterations of the species in fantasy. While The Lord of the Rings popularized the orcs as mindless beasts, orcs in the Warcraft world were originally a peaceful, shamanistic species. However, many of them were corrupted by a demon lord, causing clans to become violent and bloodthirsty, as exemplified by Gul’dan in the movie.

Orcs come from the world of Draenor and were brought to Azeroth through the Dark Portal, beginning the First War against the humans, which is depicted in the film. This war was caused by the violent majority of the orcs led by Gul’dan and Blackhand, and it wasn’t until the rise of Thrall that the orcs were able to re-achieve stability and peace from the leadership of their shamanistic ways.

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Dwarf

An Ancient Species Of Azeroth Who Dwell In Mountains And Mines

Like humans, dwarves are a race that populates the Eastern Kingdoms, primarily in the Khaz Modan region. Their culture closely resembles the Dwarves in J.R.R. Tolkien’s world, known for enormous cities and structures built underground and in the mountains, like Ironforge, Grim Batol, or Shadowforge. They’re also known for their expertise in craftsmanship, shown in the movie in a brief scene where Lothar travels to Ironforge.

Like the other races, dwarves are divided into kingdoms and clans, with the dwarves of Khaz Modan and the Wildhammer clan of Aerie Peak both joining the First Alliance of Lordaeron. They’re a popular playable race in the games, and were initially introduced in Warcraft II with the Gryphon Rider and Demolition Squad units, which laid the foundation for their role and culture in the franchise.

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High Elf

A Proud Noble Species Of Azeroth

There are many different forms of elf in the Warcraft universe. Players of the MMORPG may recognize the Night Elves as the Alliance race and Blood Elves as the Horde counterpart. The High Elves depicted in the 2016 movie are settled in the northern region of Eastern Kingdoms, Quel’Thalas, and are descendants of the elves from Kalimdor that migrated across the ocean. The High Elves join the First Alliance of Lordaeron and fight against the orcs in the second game.

The land of Quel’Thalas, like Lordaeron, was ravaged by the scourge and Prince Arthas Menethil. Following this, many of the High Elves renamed themselves as Blood Elves, joining the Horde. They’re still the same species, with the difference in terms being political, as the remaining High Elves were exiled from Quel’Thalas for supporting the Alliance. They were prevalent during the Second and Third Wars, though a significant majority of their population was lost during this time.

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Murloc

An Intelligent Minor Race Of Azeroth

The Murlocs are a staple of the Warcraft franchise as one of the races created originally by Blizzard. They’re recognized widely by fans of the games for their distinct, iconic sound effect, which actually makes it into the movie in their brief cameo. The cameo is brief and hard to notice, but one appears near a bridge during a nighttime scene. Murlocs are an aquatic race, typically settled in villages on beaches, lakeshores, and rivers, known by many game players as an NPC mob that they’ve likely killed thousands of.

Murlocs never really make a grand imprint on the conflicts in the Warcraft universe, yet they’re always present and have indirectly altered events in the course of the world’s history. They’re not as intelligent a species as many of the main races, but they’re civilized enough to communicate, form tribes, and have a religious culture. They’re an ancient race in Azeroth but have only recently begun to dwell inland, having moved on from their previous ocean habitats.

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Draenei

A Peaceful Species From Draenor Who Were Nearly Wiped Out

Draenei are the last of the playable races in World of Warcraft to appear in the film. They were added to the game in The Burning Crusade expansion as a faction from Draenor, who had to flee their homeworld due to the Burning Legion. Their species is technically called Eredar, but the term Draenor is used to refer to the faction who successfully fled, uncorrupted by the demonic threat. In the beginning of the film, Draenor are held captive in cages, and Gul’dan is siphoning their lives for fel magic fuel.

For most of their time, the Draenei lived in peace with the orcs on Draenor before the Burning Legion corrupted the orcs. The violent, corrupt orcs slaughtered Draenei in masses. Eventually, the species escaped Draenor on an enchanted floating city called the Exodar, using it as a ship to travel to Azeroth and settle in Kalimdor. They eventually joined the Alliance after hearing of the humans’ valor against the Burning Legion in the Third War.

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Gryphon

Trusted Flying Mounts Of The Alliance

Fans of World of Warcraft will recognize griffins as the quintessential flying mount of the Alliance. The half-eagle/half-lion creatures are highly intelligent and powerful, as demonstrated in the Warcraft movie ending, making them loyal pet companions. They were first introduced in Warcraft II as a fast-paced, flying unit ridden by Dwarves, and they continued to be a staple of the Alliance side of the franchise.

Official lore states that the Dwarves introduced humans to the use of domesticated griffins after the formation of the Alliance, which creates a minor but interesting inconsistency in the film. Lothar rides one throughout the movie, but humans haven’t discovered the ability to domesticate these creatures at this point in the timeline. Griffins come from the Aerie Peak and the Hinterlands, which are further north past Khaz Modan and not areas well-known to the humans of Stormwind during the First War in the games.

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Wolf

Trusted Ground Mounts Of The Horde

As horses and griffins are to the Alliance, wolves are one of the staple mounts for the Horde. Each playable race in the games has its own set of mounts, and wolves are the representatives of the orcs. The wolves mounted by the Horde are specifically larger dire wolves, and they exist in both Azeroth and Draenor. For Durotar in Warcraft, they’re a representation of his Frostwolf Clan, which he migrates to Azeroth.

In World of Warcraft, feral wolves are fairly common killable NPCs, and they come in various shapes and sizes for both factions. Like boars and bears, they’re one of the most consistent animals that populate the game’s forests. The ones seen in the movie are the more intelligent, larger dire wolves that are used as ridden mounts.

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Titan

The God-Like Beings Of The Warcraft Franchise

In the Warcraft movie, Garona, Lothar, and Khadgar try to get the corrupted Medivh to close the Dark Portal to stop the flow of the Horde into Azeroth. Medivh and Gul’dan opened the portal together from opposite ends under the influence of the titan Sargeras. Sargeras is one of the mega villains of the Warcraft franchise, as he’s the creator of the Burning Legion whose influence led to the destruction of Draenor and the orcs moving to Azeroth.

In the film, Medivh can briefly be seen transforming into Sargeras. The titans are enormous, planet-sized beings akin to gods and are among the most powerful beings in the Warcraft franchise. Their influence is constantly at play, shaping events across planets to form the game’s main narratives. Sargeras, in particular, is the final boss of the Tomb of Sargeras raid and one of the main antagonists in the Legion expansion.

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Infernal

Summonable Minions Formed By Fel Magic

In the same scene in which Sargeras appears, an infernal is summoned to fight the heroes. Infernals are unintelligent creations of fel energy that can be summoned and utilized by warlocks and more intelligent demons. They’re used in the armies of the Burning Legion as siege weapons and warriors, following the destructive commands of their masters in their short life spans.

Infernals are both a common NPC enemy to kill and a tool to be utilized by players in World of Warcraft. The Warcraft movie slightly changes the design of how they appear in the game, but it embodies the necessary threat of the creature. Other summonable creatures, like elementals, serve a similar purpose, but infernals are made using corrupt magic.