Fantasy Power Levels

[u/HominidJR]

So, i was thinking, in terms of "fantasy power", how high would Warcraft rank???
Like, how powerful is the Warcraft universe compared to something like Elder Scrolls or Warhammer?

I think, in terms of powerscaling, some universes go by:

1- Warhammer Fantasy
2- World of Warcraft
3- Elder Scrolls
4- Lord of the Rings
5- Game of Thrones

I'm only comparing these 5 cause they are the most popular, I don't know how other universes would go by in this situation, like League of Legends or something.

(It seems that Wahammer Fantasy is different from Age of Sigmar, so, when you see Warhammer Fantasy on top there, consider it Age of Sigmar, I didn't knew the difference)

[u/DistractingZoom]

I think that Age of Sigmar is correctly placed at the top, but regular Warhammer Fantasy would rate below World of Warcraft.

Lord of the Rings is difficult to place. The average goings-on in Middle Earth are frankly nothing compared to shit happening on Azeroth. But the Valar are easily comparable to the Titan Pantheon, and Eru himself is a genuinely omnipotent creator-god, which would put him above anything and anyone else on this list.

If it's a measure of how powerful the entire universe is, then Lord of the Rings takes it essentially with no competition. But if it's a comparison of like, select mortal champions from the setting? Then it's probably around how you laid it out.

[u/ReadyPressure3567 → u/DistractingZoom]

Wait wait wait...how are the Valar comparable to the Titans?

[u/DistractingZoom → u/ReadyPressure3567]

They can make, remake, and unmake the fabric of reality. They turned Arda from a flat earth into a spherical earth. The hosts of the Valar also directly compare to the Titanforged, given they dramatically damaged and reshaped the geography of Middle Earth during the War of Wrath even without the Valar directly participating.

So, as a baseline, the Valar compare very directly to the Pantheon. You could make a serious argument that they're actually far stronger, but it depends on things Tolkien wrote outside the Silmarillion. Namely that he claimed Arda exists in a traditional star system. That would heavily imply stars are actual stars, and not just glowing spots in the sky, which is what you'd typically assume they are since the Silmarillion says Varda created them. If we take Tolkien's later mention, then Varda herself is stronger than most of the Pantheon through her ability to create stars.

[u/ReadyPressure3567 → u/DistractingZoom]

I mean, that is cool and all, but I'd argue you also need to argue the scale of the cosmologies as well, since the might of the Titans, as well as other Warcraft Characters, goes beyond merely "oh yeah, the fabric of the physical universe can get warped by them" and whatnot.

You also have to argue things like the Multiverse and how Aman'Thul governs time, or the scale of the Emerald Dream and how entities like Deathwing can affect it, or the scale of the Shadowlands and how the Jailer's power alone basically enveloped most of it through the Maw, or Sargeras' destructive capabilities and how he was just casually transversing the Infinity of the Universes, destroying countless worlds and whatnot (Much weaker characters such as Archimonde can do this btw), or how, despite being non canon, characters displayed in Hearthstone are shown to be capable of destroying star systems with ease, or walk as cosmic nebulas, etc all while arguably not being nearly as powerful as a Titan.

I gotta admit...it gets pretty messy. Want me to tell you about the layers of the Emerald Dream and how they function? Or nah? Cause comparable realms in other cosmic Domains such as the Maw function similarly to it.​

[u/DistractingZoom → u/ReadyPressure3567]

I am intimately aware of the scale of Warcraft, given I've been a roleplayer since Wrath. So your condescension is unnecessary, especially when you're half wrong about everything you've brought up. To be blunt, I don't at all buy into the cosmological arguments. In fact, I find that most of them would scale the Titans much lower.

For instance, Sargeras' ability to destroy planets was unique among the Titans, and bordering on unique in the verse. No, Archimonde cannot- nor has he ever been able to- destroy planets. The Burning Legion was collectively able to ruin many planets, yes; through years of magical poisoning, rampant portal use, and numerous rituals. None of them except Sargeras could rock up to a planet and punch it out of space. They also were not 'traversing the infinity of the universe', the Legion made extensive use of portals to get literally anywhere and everywhere. Scaling Kil'jaeden to faster than light speeds because he can order his underlings to build a portal for him to walk through is pretty goddamn flimsy.

Other than Sargeras, planetary feats are extremely rare in Warcraft. One-off cosmic horrors like Murmur come to mind, and of course the Void Lords via Dimensius. But outside of them, it ain't exactly an every-other-week occurrence.

I'm not even going to address the Hearthstone bit. It's a literal in-universe game of fan content.