Tuesday 27 April 2021

Interview with Joseph Lacroix, author of the maps and black & white sketches from the Chronicle

An interview with Joseph Lacroix, author of the various maps and black & white illustrations from the World of Warcraft: Chronicle series. Our dialogue happened back in the winter of 2018-2019, but I posted the translation of it for my Russian blog only last summer. Today I finally post the original interview in English.

So, why post it right now? The thing is that I asked a few additional questions last week because of the fan theory about a possible tease of the First Ones back in the Chronicle vol.1. A tease that would be very unlikely given what I've learned from the first talk with Joseph Lacroix.

 

 Part 1

 

Kiraser: Was this map sketch supposed to depict the continent prior to the Sundering that shattered the world, or were you just trying to think how the modern continents looked as parts of the original one?

Joseph:  So from what I recall this map is a transition era of the continents... Those moved like in our world.

 

Kiraser: I've always wondered, is there some meaning behind the sigils in the old world map? Maybe icons of some factions and nations?

Joseph: No meanings. It was supposed to be icons for the cities on the map but they didn't used it that way. I have just made those randomly without a precise idea of witch city or nation... because I didn't had this information. ^_^

 

Kiraser: There’s this question about one of your Chronicle vol.3 artworks, that still intrigues me to this day. The book opens with the picture of the Old Gods. 4 of them are all known to the players, but the 5th one looks like a Cthulhu of sorts. So my question is, whether it was some sort of a nod to the existence of another big Old God on Azeroth (like, in Battle for Azeroth there are 2 characters that kind of count as such: G'huun and Xal'atath)? Or maybe it was just a Cthulhu-reference?

I understand that if it’s a big plot-twist secret Old God, you can’t reveal it. I'm just curious if the “Cthulhu” was more than a reference.

Joseph: Hey, Tried to find some of my references for this drawing but at the end I think that I made this one up. So no big plot twisted secret, sorry ^_^ 


Part 2

Kiraser: Hello, a very late response, and once again thanks for all these answers! But since there's an announcement of the new Chronicle-like Warcraft book called the "Grimoire of the Shadowlands and Beyond" with a new pantheon of "Gods amongst Gods" (called the First Ones, who stand even above the Titans), fans started to wonder, if the symbols from the corners of the cosmological map are a reference to these First Ones? 

Given your previous answers, I guess, that's not the case, but people are very curious about that, so I had to ask. By the way, were these two creatures from your early sketch redrawn because of Blizzard, or was it just you getting a different idea of how the "undead" and the "void lord" should look like?

By the way, will we see your artworks in that new grimoire? It was cool to see your art in the Exploring Azeroth book. 

Joseph: Hello. The Blizzard edition team asked for those two changes on the cosmology chart. It is often the case... I made proposals and they asked for changes that are more relevant with the lore. For the shells on the corners, I am not sure etheir they asked for it or if I made that up... You should ask the writers. I think that in that case, it was Matt Burns.
 
For the rest I am under a non-disclosure agreement. 🙂

***

I've already contacted Matt Burns, one of the authors of the trilogy, but I got no answer as of yet. Over the years, he did answer some of my lore questions, but it's been years since then. Maybe the way NDA works also changed. On top of that, it's worth remembering how the lead story developer on WoW, Steve Danuser, tends to answer questions during interviews: lots of smoke and mirrors, changing topics, and asking rhetorical questions in return. Not that I criticize this approach: I even kind of respect Steve for this skill. All am I trying to say, this can be a sign of how the lore devs are supposed to talk with the players now: less open. Or maybe not. Let's wait and see.

My preliminary conclusion: looking back at my first talk with Joseph, most likely, these shells were added just for the sake of prettiness. But it is possible that Steve Danuser might use them to tie in the First Ones with the older lore. But there's another, way more likely possibility: since the book is supposed to give us a new point of view on Warcraft cosmology, we might be introduced to a new, different cosmological chart in the Grimoire, one made by the Brokers and based around the information about the First Ones. Moreover, just like the Chronicle one (now, a PoV of the Titans and their servants), the new chart will also be merely someone's PoV, Brokers's. This means while the Grimoire take will be more accurate, neither agents of Death nor Order wouldn't be able to claim that their take is completely accurate.

That's more or less how cosmology is treated in Dungeons & Dragons, where multiple charts coexist, treated as in-universe works made by scholars of magic. Whatever the case, I might be wrong about the Grimoire introducing a new map of magic powers. All we know is that the book will provide "a new point of view on cosmology" and that this view will be related to the First Ones.

No comments:

Post a Comment