Lorcana’s latest story reveal teases more of the lore behind the Disney TCG
How DID Hercules get here, anyway?
With Disney Lorcana finally seeing its full release today, the trading card game’s debut set The First Chapter is also looking to tease more details about how so many familiar Disney characters - and some less familiar ones, too - ended up in the same place.
Lorcana’s story was first teased during its pre-release at US convention Gen Con in early August, with a short teaser entitled The Story Begins showing an anonymous character - presumably the stand-in for the player - sucked into a glowing portal branded with the Lorcana insignia before arriving in the mysterious Great Illuminary, the titular setting’s central library that holds every story ever told.
A longer follow-up, titled The Power of an Illumineer, sheds more light on the lore attached to Lorcana’s central ink mechanic, with player’s Illumineers using magical ink to summon alternate versions of Disney characters known as glimmers.
Continuing the original teaser, the trailer shows the character encountering two companions and a magical machine, which then activates with a beam of light, leading them to a magical staff, the inkcaster.
The staff is touched on the floor, activating more machinery which ultimately beams a drawing of Hercules - specifically his appearance as seen on the Hercules, True Hero card in The First Chapter - from the open book on a podium into a living, breathing, winking Hercules in the Great Illuminary.
The latest video - referred to as the trailer for The First Chapter, rather than an explicit story trailer, despite continuing the previous story teaser - appears to set up some of the story details hinted at throughout Lorcana’s cards, with Lorcana cards in The First Chapter showing versions of the Great Illuminary in various states of splendor or disrepair.
We also know that Lorcana’s lore involves a catastrophic event known as the Flood, which appears to leave seaweed scattered throughout the realm - as spotted on multiple cards in The First Chapter - and leads to the creation of characters known as Floodborn, depicted on cards that offer distinctly different takes on classic Disney characters, from a supersized Tinker Bell and flying Captain Hook to a hooded rogue Mickey Mouse. Floodborn are explicitly said to tie more directly into Lorcana’s lore than characters’ more conventional appearance on Storyborn and Dreamborn cards.
Where could this all be headed? We’ll likely find out more as The First Chapter rolls out and Lorcana’s next set The Second Chapter prepares to release in November.