The Lore Of Disney Lorcana So Far, Explained

Disney Lorcana merges the magic and warm familiarity of Disney characters with a tabletop game that’s simple and accessible enough to draw in crowds, yet with sufficient complexity to appease competitive folks once you dig beneath the surface. It’s a winner of a combo that’s led to the game taking off bigger than anticipated; it seems Lorcana will be around for a while yet.

What’s a bit less apparent, however, is the game’s story. Believe it or not, there’s an entire universe of action and adventure going on behind the scenes, with many of the cards depicting scenes from, or otherwise tying into, the narrative. It’s tough to glean what’s going on just from playing the game; so we’ve pulled together all the info to give you the complete rundown!

Updated on December 10, 2024, by Bobby Mills: Lorcana continues to expand, in terms of both its player base and its set count. The release of Azurite Sea brings a dollop of swashbuckling into the fray, which is a bit of lighthearted adventure sorely needed after the misery of Ursula’s reign. We’ve taken the time to add its new plot deets into our article!

Many of these plot points can be discovered only via digging through the Lorcana website, or its assorted socials. This isn’t particularly user-friendly, but it’s the best way to keep up if you’re interested.

The First Chapter

Lorcana’s story begins in the magical realm of the same name, and specifically with the structure at its heart, the Great Illuminary. Eons ago, the Curator, a mysterious sorcerer about whom little is known, constructed the Illuminary and harnessed its mechanical contraptions to act as a sort of library, a repository for stories of all kinds.

The Curator had the ability to summon ‘Glimmers’, i.e. characters (only ones belonging to Disney IP, mind) to assist him in this task, and did so via the use of six magical inks: Ruby, Amethyst, Emerald, Sapphire, Steel, and Amber.

Depending on the color used, the personality and abilities of the Glimmer would differ, though they would always retain the core character traits from their original movie. Villains will still be villains, and the princesses are all excellent singers, for example.

Eventually, the Curator and his Illumineer disciples would disappear for unknown reasons, and Lorcana fell dormant, the ‘Lore’ energy of its stories being scattered to the winds. It wouldn’t be until years later that a trio of plucky youths would be magically summoned to Lorcana to set things right.

Chosen for their innate creative ability, Shayzan (a poet), Venturo (a programmer), and Martin (a musician) are magically teleported to Lorcana and given ‘Inkcaster’ wands. With these, they summon such characters as Mickey Mouse, Hercules, Moana, and more to help get Lorcana cleaned up and begin re-gathering the Lore of the Illuminary.

Rise Of The Floodborn

It wouldn’t be long until evidence of foul play was discovered within the Great Illuminary. Mickey happens upon piles of seaweed with an evil aura emanating from them, while Basil the Great Mouse Detective follows a trail into a secret room with an ominous-looking tome in it. It’s covered in revolting barnacles, and has clearly been left there by the sea witch Ursula, so they decide to leave it be.

While Venturo and Shayzan are pre-occupied with tinkering with the Illuminary’s tech, Martin wanders into the book room alone, and it calls to the musical spirit within him. The front cover lights up and plays the first few notes of a song – suspecting nothing, Martin finishes the song on his guitar, and the book bursts open.

A torrential wave of dark ink spews forth, flooding through the Great Illuminary and transforming any characters it comes into contact with. Some age (like Cogsworth), some gain newfound magical abilities (like Pooh), and some are simply altered beyond all recognition, as seen with Cinderella morphing into a badass knight.

These new Glimmers come to be known as ‘Floodborn’, and while most are allies, some cause trouble for the Illumineers. The tidal wave of ink pours down into the surrounding Inklands, and Shayzan, Venturo, and Martin decide to sort things out, while more organized characters like Judy Hopps stay behind to maintain civil order.

Into The Inklands

Into the Inklands is a bit of a breather chapter after Set 2, focusing more on good old-fashioned adventure and camaraderie as the Illumineers explore further into this forgotten land. Eggheads like Milo Thatch and his crew come to the forefront here, as they chart maps and discover ancient treasures.

Venturo leads a small crew, consisting of mechanic Audrey Ramirez, Prince Eric, and Tinker Bell, to go after one artifact in particular: King Triton’s trident, which has shown up on one of Milo’s sensors.

The team makes it to the trident’s location, and Tink even has eyes on it; but at the last moment, Venturo is distracted by another reading, allowing Ursula to make off with the prize.

In fact, this is where things get a bit complicated, as there are actually two versions of Ursula running around, thanks to the Illumineers summoning a duplicate by mistake. One is known as ‘Ursula, Deceiver of All’, while the other is the regular ol’ sea witch.

You can tell them apart from the snazzy rainbow-coloured hair that Deceiver has given herself.

The two Ursulas have a big scheme in mind, and to this end, they’ve been recruiting other malicious Glimmers, like Prince Hans and the Queen of Hearts, to their cause. Of course, it isn’t in Ursula’s nature to share power – so at a crucial juncture, the regular Ursula double-crosses her doppelgänger and seizes the trident to rule Lorcana alone.

Ursula’s Return

Ursula’s Return is by far the grittiest chapter to date in Lorcana. The witch wastes no time in utilizing the dark ink to grant herself untold power, growing to gargantuan proportions and ensnaring the minds of any characters unfortunate enough to be nearby.

The likes of Mulan, Raya, and Beast are able to resist her charms, but several Glimmers aren’t as lucky: Anna, Jafar, Minnie, and even the ostracized uncle about whom we do not speak, Bruno Madrigal, are among the afflicted. Ursula’s pawns begin to do her bidding, hoovering up Lore and laying waste to the Inklands.

Indeed, Encanto’s Madrigal family plays a big role in this chapter. Mirabel gathers pieces of a prophecy that shows Bruno becoming Ursula’s slave, and asks her buff sister Luisa for help in preventing that outcome; but obviously, she’s too late. Mirabel’s other relatives, including Dolores, Antonio, and Isabela, all join the fight against Ursula.

The war culminates at Ursula’s lair, where the Illumineers arrive with an enhanced Ariel, Mulan, and Mickey in tow.

Thanks to Bruno being on her side, Ursula was able to see them coming in advance – but this advantage isn’t enough to win the day, and the villain is soundly defeated after a long, grueling battle. The Lore pieces she had hoarded are set free, and her crown is destroyed.

Shimmering Skies

Party time! With Ursula down for the count and the Lore liberated, our heroes throw a bash for a job well done. Set 5 is mostly a celebratory affair, with the cards depicting characters kicking back, playing carnival games, and otherwise making merry. After the doom and gloom of the previous chapter, it’s a welcome break.

Colourful fireworks explode in the skies above, and Martin works up the courage to perform on stage – to rapturous applause from all his friends, who have forgiven him for his role in Ursula’s rise. It’s smiles and laughter all around.

Of course, it doesn’t last. Chunks of the Great Illuminary begin to fall off and plummet to the ground, indicating that a new threat to Lorcana looms. Basil and Merlin the wizard do a bit of investigating in the Illuminary, and happen upon yet another secret room, this time containing an Amber amulet, which they give to Martin.

Meanwhile, a shadowy figure approaches the remains of Ursula’s crown, and Hades (as is his wont) kicks up a fuss among the other characters. Good thing Hercules is on hand to deal with him.

In some of Set 4’s cards, it was implied the God of the Underworld had his own sinister plot, which we may now be seeing the beginnings of. With the Great Illuminary decaying, anything’s possible.

Azurite Sea

In a similar vein to Into the Inklands, Set 6 is quite lighthearted and swashbuckly, albeit this time on the open seas rather than the dreary wasteland of terra firma. Faced with a boundless vista of watery blue ink, our intrepid Illumineers are dabbling in the pirate’s life.

Jim Hawkins from Treasure Planet (his first major appearance, in any official capacity, since 2002) helms the Illumineers’ ship, and it gets a bit Mad Max, with ridiculously ornate vessels battling it out. The Kakamora (coconut bandits) from Moana and its sequel show up, as does the entire cast of Big Hero 6, who make their Lorcana debut.

The objective of the voyage is to find the owner of a mysterious dropped Inkcaster, located by Ariel during Set 3. Their logic follows that, if they find one of the missing disciples, they may even find the Curator himself, who’ll be able to mend the damage that’s been dealt to Lorcana by the forces of evil. As Baymax soars above the mast to navigate, Mr. Smee from Peter Pan secretly conspires with Captain Hook to make the journey more treacherous than it needs to be.

Meanwhile, the Great Illuminary continues to decay, and Aladdin’s nemesis Jafar has begun putting together a scheme of his own. He’s the one who laid his spindly mitts on the remnants of Ursula’s crown (now officially dubbed the ‘Hexwell’ crown), so between him and Hades’ expansionist desires, the Illumineers are going to have a lot on their plate.

Looking Forward

The future of Lorcana is a bright one – if not one mired in several intertwined plot threads that need resolving! At the moment, we still have no clue where the Curator is, or even if he’s still alive. Disney tradition dictates that he’s either dejected and in hiding somewhere, or long since deceased, in which case our band of heroes will need to learn that friendship is all they ever needed. Or something.

Ursula’s off the battlefield, but Jafar and Hades are plotting their naughty socks off; a coalition between those two unsavoury characters would be a tough challenge. We also still need to sort out the Great Illuminary, as it’s crumbling to bits. Perhaps whatever the Illumineers find at the far end of the Azurite Sea will provide an answer?

There’s also the question of how the Pixar franchises will fit in, as those are slated to arrive sooner rather than later. The likes of Buzz, Woody, Mike, or Sulley would make for good teammates – and Merida could pick off foes from a distance with her bow and arrow. Perhaps even Lightning McQueen could take the villains down with a hearty ‘ka-chow.’

Although Set 7 has yet to be named or dated, we’ve seen one card from it already: a promotional Moana 2 card, which details the synopsis of that movie. While it’s unlikely the events of the film will tie into the Lorcana plotline in any real way, we can at least glean that the Polynesian princess will be a key player next set.