HUGE SPOILERS: The Full Story of The End Times. Facts gathered directly from official sources.

[Lyrithus]

Now, the game is designed to be a sandbox, you you the player, choose a faction and can disrupt the canon story of "The End Times". Nevertheless, the setting of the game IS "The End Times". This is why the devs left out SOME of the events, but the biggest and most MAIN events can, and DO occur.

In the most direct and easiest way for you to understand:

From: http://warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Archaon

"Archaon is the Everchosen, the Three-Eyed King, the Lord of the End Times and the self-proclaimed supreme champion of the four Gods of Chaos who was sent to command the last, and greatest Chaos Invasion during the apocalyptic age known simply as the End Times. "

The above IS the setting for The End Times, and it is what happens if you play as archaon and conquer everything in Warhammer TW 1. It is NOT the storm of chaos, which is NON-canon.
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In the above page of that wikia, "The End Times" links here:

http://warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/The_End_Times

"The End Times (2519 IC - ???) is the great cataclysmic apocalypse that was prophesied to bring about the end of the Warhammer World. It was heralded upon the arrival of the Twin-Tailed Comet, both an omen of hope and destruction, which signaled the coronation of the new Everchosen; Archaon the Three Eyed King."

While Archaon's Wikia page focuses only on his campaign in the old world, this page contains the short version of that same story, PLUS all the events that are unfolding everywhere else in the mean time, including the New World. In this page we see the full list of events that occur during the end times that happen all around the world; Old World, and the New World.

On this page, the following setting is portrayed:

"The last days of Ulthuan have arrived. For too long, this mighty continent stood on the brink of sinking to the depths, held up only by the powers given to the Great Vortex at the center of the inner sea. Now, if the world were to have a chance to survive, the powers held within must be unleashed. And so do two forces vie for control of the Vortex; on one side stands a false savior whose rage shall engulf his race whilst the others stands as a denied King, long neglected but now has revealed the true fire which once burned him to cinder." - the "denied king" is Malekith

The above is the setting Warhammer total war 2, and its basic starting point, where the "other force" wanting to control the vortex is the high elves.
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HUGE SPOILER - DO NOT WATCH IF YOU DONT WANT TO LEARN THE STORY BY PLAYING WARHAMMER TOTAL WAR 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS1rQjHOEwo

In the video above, we learn that the vortex was vulnerable due to the REAL twin tailed comet. The skaven, also wanting to control the vortext, are told it is vulnerable by their "horned god" and he has them build the "thing" and do the "thing" that disrupts the vortex. Other factions in the game think the "thing" is just another passing of the Twin Tailed Comet. The Great Vortex is disrupted and weakened, but NOT destroyed.
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Again SPOILER ALERT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTodK6HgbvE

At the end of the above video, the last line entry says there will always be enemies to fight and wars to rage. Well that because the high elves were still a threat to Malekith. It's also as far as the story goes in so far, with the dark elves at least, in the game until DLC is released.
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WARNING - NOTHING BUT PURE TRUTH AND SPOILERS AHEAD!

From:
http://warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/The_End_Times
https://1d♥♥♥♥♥.org/wiki/Malekith#The_End_Times_A.K.A._Present

A large, HUGE, number of things happened in The End Times. After the dark elves ending in Wahammer TW 2, most notable event that occurs is that Malekith left Naggaroth to for Ulthuan in a last-effort ditch to take the throne, or die trying... and he succeeded. All hail Phoenix King Malekith I, and he is a good guy now, and no longer lives with his mom, who was taken by Slaanesh.

"Those that surrendered were spared from death, for Malekith once became the once proud prince he has always wanted to be. Yet the Phoenix King as much to learn, for too long has he been a Tyrant and if he is to truly unite his race, he must win the hearts of his people. The hour of the last Phoenix is at hand, and the fate of the Elves along with it."

"In that moment, the host of all the Elven kingdoms marched forth under the banner of their true king, and the army of Korhil either fled in terror or threw themselves to their knee's after seeing the light of Asuryan upon Malekith's brow."

Spoilers spoilers spoilers: The End of the Great Vortex

During the final battle between Malekith and Tyrion, Teclis destroyed the Great Vortex that kept Ulthuan from sinking. Chaos is running rampant at this point, as Achaon is campaigning in the old world against the Empire. Ulthuan sinks, and all the high elves and dark elves, now lead under ONE banner, Malekith, retreat to Athel Loren, and join up with the Wood Elves.
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Now, after the above events that happened during, and after Warhammer TW 2, we come to the point back in the old world where Archaon has continued his campaign against the empire, the SAME CAMPAIGN that is the grand campaign for Chaos in Warhammer TW 1.

There is sooo much more that happens, and in the end, the story is so huge, that game 1 couldnt possibly contain all the events of the end times. However, so far, much of the most central events and characters from "The End Times" are in the game. With the release of DLC, and the release of Game 2, more of the end times events have been added, and will continue to be added upon with more DLC, as both maps will be playable in a large, single campaign map in a future DLC called Mortal Empires. This will most likely contain the events AFTER game 2, where Malekith and the rest of all the elves from the new world join with the elves from Athel Loren.

In Short, Game 1 is the beginning; the "setting" for the coming of "The End Times". Game 2 tells the events that occur in the new world in the meantime. Combining the two, we end up with the Mortal Empires expansion, and the campaign map that will contain both old and new worlds.

The Mortal Empires DLC is where more "The End Times" events will be added, reaching it's story climax, and we will start to see ♥♥♥♥ hit the fan.

[HobbyCathartic]

This is the story of how Archaon created a brand new IP.

[Lyrithus]

Originally posted by Wu Ziheng:

This is the story of how Archaon created a brand new IP.

Everything meantioned exists and happened in both the games, and the official Games Workshop lore for Warhammer. Can't be a "New IP" if it's the same. Which means you clearly didn't read everything, and thus, without the factual knowledge, any statement you make is just conjecture or made up entirely.

[Budoshi]

i wonder what WTW 3 story gonna be

[Remus]

Originally posted by Budoshi:

i wonder what WTW 3 story gonna be

Hopefully a rewrite of the horrible fanfiction that was the ET and AoS. Id like to see that fixed very much

[Baragon-Kun]

Originally posted by Lyrithus:

A large, HUGE, number of things happened in The End Times. After the dark elves ending in Wahammer TW 2, most notable event that occurs is that Malekith left Naggaroth to for Ulthuan in a last-effort ditch to take the throne, or die trying... and he succeeded. All hail Phoenix King Malekith I, and he is a good guy now, and no longer lives with his mom, who was taken by Slaanesh.

"Those that surrendered were spared from death, for Malekith once became the once proud prince he has always wanted to be. Yet the Phoenix King as much to learn, for too long has he been a Tyrant and if he is to truly unite his race, he must win the hearts of his people. The hour of the last Phoenix is at hand, and the fate of the Elves along with it."

"In that moment, the host of all the Elven kingdoms marched forth under the banner of their true king, and the army of Korhil either fled in terror or threw themselves to their knee's after seeing the light of Asuryan upon Malekith's brow."

God, End Times lore is so bad.

[Remus]

Originally posted by Naughty Rarity:

Originally posted by Lyrithus:

A large, HUGE, number of things happened in The End Times. After the dark elves ending in Wahammer TW 2, most notable event that occurs is that Malekith left Naggaroth to for Ulthuan in a last-effort ditch to take the throne, or die trying... and he succeeded. All hail Phoenix King Malekith I, and he is a good guy now, and no longer lives with his mom, who was taken by Slaanesh.

"Those that surrendered were spared from death, for Malekith once became the once proud prince he has always wanted to be. Yet the Phoenix King as much to learn, for too long has he been a Tyrant and if he is to truly unite his race, he must win the hearts of his people. The hour of the last Phoenix is at hand, and the fate of the Elves along with it."

"In that moment, the host of all the Elven kingdoms marched forth under the banner of their true king, and the army of Korhil either fled in terror or threw themselves to their knee's after seeing the light of Asuryan upon Malekith's brow."

God, End Times lore is so bad.

amen to that

[Macros]

Originally posted by Naughty Rarity:

God, End Times lore is so bad.

I believe my reaction when it came out could be summarized by "someone got PAID to write THIS?"

[p30pl3h4t3m3]

...

the truth of the end times

england, nottingham, games workshop headquarters

"warhammer 40 k sales are good, but warhammer fantasy sells bad"
"so what we do ? kill the franchise ?"
"yeah, lets kill it and reboot it, new figures, new rules, more casual style"
"get me some writers, we need to end the lore and start a new one..."

[Toaster Maximus]

Originally posted by Budoshi:

i wonder what WTW 3 story gonna be

Well we know they have hinted at heading east, which means chaos dwarfs and ogre kingdoms, no way to include those two factions in game 2 without expanding the map a lot, so we will have to wait and see. Given CA has shown a love for the old ones and what not, and ogres where at one point in time meant to be the greatest weapons against chaos the old ones have, but the gates at the poles fell apart before the old ones could gift the ogres with brains to match their size...so who knows where they will head with game three.

Given the pulled the skaven rocket stuff out of the blue, even though they blew up the moon in end times, skaven have long since been launching rockets into space and so on, so will be interesting to see what old gem CA pulls next for the fans.

I am glad that CA has basically ignored the end times for the most part.

[Macros]

Originally posted by Toaster Maximus:

Given the pulled the skaven rocket stuff out of the blue, even though they blew up the moon in end times, skaven have long since been launching rockets into space and so on

Actually, what I found hilarious wasn't the fact that skaven launched a rocket, it was that Mazdamundi, Teclis and Morathi all fell for it.

"This is... crap, it's been a few centuries since I last opened an astronomy treaty... it's a comet! Huh, the twin-tailed one, yeah! And it means... huuumm... that we should... do... something... with the... vortex? Yeah, the vortex!"

[Toaster Maximus]

Originally posted by Macros:

Originally posted by Toaster Maximus:

Given the pulled the skaven rocket stuff out of the blue, even though they blew up the moon in end times, skaven have long since been launching rockets into space and so on

Actually, what I found hilarious wasn't the fact that skaven launched a rocket, it was that Mazdamundi, Teclis and Morathi all fell for it.

"This is... crap, it's been a few centuries since I last opened an astronomy treaty... it's a comet! Huh, the twin-tailed one, yeah! And it means... huuumm... that we should... do... something... with the... vortex? Yeah, the vortex!"

Yeah but given the whole shuttle is glowing with warpfire and such, doubt they could make out the shape till it fell to earth, but yeah is more of a reach for the lizardmen then any other race though given they are the best stargazes even if their gear is dated

Still better writing the end times for the most part!

[Zoie Shales]

Originally posted by Toaster Maximus:

I am glad that CA has basically ignored the end times for the most part.

Yea, for the most part, TW:W is kind of doing its own thing too, heck if you wanted to, you could play as Karl Franz, and kill Archaon and the warriors of chaos, no more end times.

[Remus]

Or just be Lizardmen and slaughter the Skaven wholesale :)

[Toaster Maximus]

Originally posted by Zoie Shales:

Originally posted by Toaster Maximus:

I am glad that CA has basically ignored the end times for the most part.

Yea, for the most part, TW:W is kind of doing its own thing too, heck if you wanted to, you could play as Karl Franz, and kill Archaon and the warriors of chaos, no more end times.

Which is why I am kinda wondering if they will hold off on demons of chaos for game 3 and turn the ogres into the heroes they where original designed to be, should be interesting reguardless of the angle they pick for the final game. Ogres are the only none chaos related race less left, even if the great maw is just a huge piece of warpstone that crashed sometime back! If I recall right. So all the races have some sort of tie to chaos for game 3, even if ogres are not chaos just te old ones forgotten to give them brains. :) (Edit: Yes I know tomb kings are still not done, but more focusing on game 3 with this talk and thoughts)

But yeah and think people are hoping for to much story in mortal empires also it seems, its a pure conquest map and sandbox they have been clear on that, so not expecting much story myself hope their is a little, but have a feeling it mainly will be about conquest if its there

[Faptor]

Originally posted by Remus Talaghan:

Or just be Lizardmen and slaughter the Skaven wholesale :)

I cant wait until ME so I can be the Skaven and defeat Chaos once and for all. Good guy Skaven being all firendly with everyone lol