Why is it sometimes they regenerate and sometimes they don’t?
Zul Jin lost an arm and never got it back.
He just didn’t want to.
Does the story say why?
Honestly, the story says about 15 different things about, well, everything. WoW lore is not a shining example of consistency. The answer I personally like the best is that he kept the injury as a testament to why and how much he hates elves.
Lol, it’s always a hate thing with Trolls.
(At least being able to control their regeneration stops them from having the worse torture sessions ever)
WC lore you say?
Waits for Troubled to enter the chat…
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I like to think troll regeneration can be bypassed in isolated cases (like cannot be achieved on the battle field but can in a torment chamber).
Also certain Loas can abadon them and strip them from this ability iirc.
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The original lore from what I can recall is that troll regeneration is tied in with the Loa and with Zul’Jin he cheesed off the Loa at one point in time. He lost his eyes during his torture under the high elves who really should have just made him past tense since by that time he had racked up a body count against Quel’Thalas. He cut his own arm off to escape captivity.
Sometime after escaping the Amani trolls under his command started enslaving and stealing the powers from the Loa to take the war to Quel’Thalas during the events of the Burning Crusade expansion pack. He may have been punished by having his regenerative abilities taken away from him during that time period. It is either that or he was stripped of his regeneration due to some other transgressions in the past. Or he and the rest of the Amani lost their regeneration as a byproduct of what they did to the Loa and not done purposefully by the Loa. He may have consciouslly prevented regeneration to fuel the rage of his people. It never really was explained.
At least that is the lore I can recall. What is weird is his spirit still is missing an eye and an arm, though that may be the Loa still punishing him for the atrocities committed against them. The Loa can get quite grumpy with people that try to take advantage of them.
It’s not the last time trolls tried stealing the power from their Loa. It happened in Northrend as well when the Lich King was laying siege to the frost trolls (at least one Loa blew themselves up to take a few trolls with them) and at least one troll managed to steal the powers of one Loa to then replace them entirely thousands of years ago.
One group of trolls was stupid enough to try and enslave Hakkar the Souflayer (a really nasty loa who is all about blood sacrifices) which backfired horribly for the troll in question. Another group prior to Zul’jin’s uprising tried to summon Hakkar back to the living world but his subscription was cancelled before it could be reactivated the same time every troll that tried to bring him back had their life’s subscriptions cancelled.
Troll regeneration, and lifespan, is pretty murky. No one has really established just how potent it is lore wise or how long trolls can live. Zul’jin’s lore had a bit of a goof when they moved the Troll Wars from a few decades prior to the First War to a few thousand…but included Zul’jin as a participatant still which would have made him a couple thousand years old. Most trolls do not see old age as if they are not whacking each other they are getting whacked by someone else.
Recently the king of the Zandalari trolls lived a few centuries due to a pact with a loa from I can recall. The Zandalari trolls are supposed like the night elves of trolls in that they are superior to the other troll tribes and potentially can live longer as well.
There is way more to troll lore then that–tinkered with my post as I glanced at it to double check some things–but this post would require a publisher for me to write further.
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There’s currently no lore reason why Zul’jin never regenerated his arm. However, it is confirmed that trolls can consciously control their regeneration (which is how they can have tattoos and piercings), implying that Zul’jin refused to regenerate his arm as a reminder of what the elves took from him.
Also, currently it’s established that troll regeneration is a natural trait not granted by the loa. However, the loa can still take it away.
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I touched upon that on my previous post and do recall drummers that go beyond hardcore using their own skin for their drums.
The regeneration has been plagued with retcons over the years–much like rest of WoW lore–so I am not surprised if writers have shoved it to where trolls can regenerate like some comic book characters in certain literature.
According to the wiki page concerning regeneration during Zul’jins rough housing with the elves, that was the case where even when blessed by the loa fingers and toes were about all a troll could regenerate. So even if Zul’jin did not cheese off the loa his eyeball and limb was outside of warranty during that time.
Or until the regeneration becomes a problem with advancing the story. Vol’jin was poked with a smelly stick and wound up dying from an infection.
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