Library of Varrock

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This article is about the section on the RuneScape website. For the in-game location, see Varrock Library.
The Library of Varrock at its height.

The Library of Varrock was a navigational page on the RuneScape website introduced on 11 January 2003 (Update).[1]

The Library of Varrock contained links to:

Introduction & Expansions[edit | edit source]

The original function of the Library of Varrock was to consolidate the existing archives[2] of emailed God letters with the new Bestiary which was released in February of 2003.[3] Although the newsletter archive was referred to as a "library" at the same time as the site redesign on 11 January 2003, it wasn't until the Bestiary was released the next month that the phrase "Library of Varrock" appeared on the RuneScape website.

New God Letters were released regularly, about one per month, until December 2004. The Bestiary was expanded in May 2003, and again in 2005. The "Lores & Histories" and "Tales from the Tavern" sections were added in October 2003.[4]

Decline & Removal[edit | edit source]

The Bestiary was removed from the library some time between June and August of 2004,[5] but it continued to be available on the RuneScape website under its own section in the game manual[6] until it was ultimately removed, likely in early 2007.[7]

The "Library of Varrock" name was de-emphasized in 2006, but was still used continuously from its introduction in February 2003 up until November 2011.[8] At that time, the contents of the Library were migrated into Jagex's new official self-hosted wiki, under the name "Scribbles & Sketches".[9] The Library of Varrock contents continued to be available there until 12 August 2016, when Jagex removed their wiki.[10] Lores & Histories may have continued to be hosted on RuneScape.com into 2019,[11] though it's not clear where that page was linked from to be accessed, or when the page was added and removed from the website.

Currently, no content from the Library of Varrock remains on runescape.com. This is likely because the contents were deemed non-canon, there was a lack of viewership,[12] and because the historical articles continue to be available to players on the RuneScape Wiki.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Main RuneScape page after 11 January 2003 redesign, Contains link to "Newsletter", but does have "library" in URL at this time.
  2. Newsletter 1 available not just through email, but also on the web, previous to 11 January 2003 site redesign.
  3. Main page link still called "Newsletters" 18 February 2003; First capture of the Bestiary 23 February 2003; First capture of Library of Varrock URL 24 February 2003
  4. Library of Varrock on 2 October 2003 does not list Histories or Tales sections. Histories page first archived 18 October 2003. Tales page first archived 20 October 2003.
  5. Bestiary present in June 2004 but not present in August. Moved to Manual section by 5 August 2004
  6. Bestiary continues to be available in a different section, August 2004
  7. last archive of bestiary page 29 December 2006
  8. Tracking of the "Library of Varrock" over the years:
  9. The Varrock of Library contents moved into "Scribbles & Sketches" section of the Official Jagex RuneScape Wiki in November 2011, without the foreword by Reldo
  10. Last known location of various Library of Varrock articles @ Scribbles & Sketches, just prior to Jagex wiki takedown in August 2016
  11. Lores & Histories, runescape.com, 2019
  12. 2010 era poll reveals that "God Letters", the most prominent feature of the Library of Varrock, was also the feature of the RuneScape website that the least players knew about.