I think TES, or The Elder Scrolls, already invented a perfect out for WoW; mixed species are of the mother’s race though they have attributes of their fathers.
In TES an Orc born from say an Imperial (fantasy Italians) father might have more flowing dark hair and a better penchant for speechcraft than his full Orc companions but nobody would think the kid is anything other than an Orc. Flip the script and you’d just have a human but with really pointy and pronounced lower canines.
I think Azeroth would be better off if we just took a similar approach. It would answer a lot of questions at least. Like let’s say against all medical advice a Tauren fathers a child with a Gnome woman. What’s the kid look like? Well - just a Gnome. Albeit one that might be mistaken for a Dwarf for how stocky and hairy he is. But still undeniably a Gnome. Flip the script with Azeroth’s most bold Gnome and we get a Tauren with hints of primary colors in his mane and maybe a larger than normal head.
This really is a non issue lore wise but if we want to make the factions tone down the war drumming this is something that bares at least some consideration.
Honestly, I think outside of certain groups, hybrid races shouldn’t be a thing, as it really doesn’t make sense.
Ogres and Orcs, fine. Same planet, same evolutionary lineage.
Trolls and Elves, same thing.
Elves and humans? Eh, borderline acceptable because fantasy tropes. (Even though that shouldn’t technically be possible because Humans’ Titanic origins (Vrykul) and the fact that all Elves descended from Trolls)
Orcs/Ogres and Draenei? SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. (looking at YOU, Garona…) Not only are they from different planets, but they should be biologically incapable of crossbreeding due to being from different genetic lineages. Same with Draenei and Elves (I’ve seen it in RPs…), Orcs/Any Azerothian race, etc. It would be like breeding cats and dogs.
They can do the deed with each other, but there shouldn’t be any offspring as a result.
Also, fun fact, any crossbreeds should be sterile (Ligers and Mules IRL are capable of mating, but they cannot breed)
I am not a fan of the whole “half breed” thing. If people want to RP it, more power to them. But as far as a playable or customizable option… I think it just muddies the water and adds bloat.
Arator is a Half Human/ Half Elf. He looks like a Blood Elf to me. That’s OK. What ever. I never once thought : “he needs to look more Human.”
Same with Garona. She is some magical amalgamation of Draenei and Orc. It is likely her mother was a Draenei who was violated and experimented on, while her father was probably an Orc. Just because of the power dynamic involved in her creation. And she looks like an Orc. Maybe lore wise she is slimmer than the average Orc, but in game, she gets by with her Orcish good looks.
The whole half breed thing does not seem like a big deal Lore wise. When it happens, it does, and it is what it is. Is there even a problem?
I am interested in what Lorthemar and Thalyssra’s kids would look like. Maybe zebra stripes. But they are both Elves, so that should not ruffle the feathers of “genetic purists” who argue that some races should not be able to interbreed.
I do think we might meet more cross race couples as this tenuous peace holds. But I do not know if their kids will enter into the story much until the next time skip.
Call me crazy, but the Dracthyr visage form looks like Blizzard had been working on a Half-Elf Allied Race before halfway through going, “Forget it, just slap Blood Elf stuff on Void Elves and call it a day.”
That having been said, looking at Visage Form… yeah, it’s pretty much Blood Elf male/Human female with some new faces and hairstyles.
We live in a fantasy setting where six cosmic powers basically influence everything. Mortal races created as a result of these powers being capable of interbreeding hardly seems illogical. Orcs and Ogres are the indirect progeny of Titans, being descended from Grond, while the Draenei evolved on a world that had the World Soul of a Titan in it. Similarly, while humans are the product of Titan constructions afflicted with the Curse of Flesh, Trolls/Elves evolved on a world with a World Soul.
The fact Garona had a child proves this does not apply to WoW though.
Honestly they need to make playable races with these, with rexxar we can see there is an actual difference between an pure orc vs an half breed. That kind of deal needs to be made on half elves too.
I also wouldn’t mind if we see some half dreanei/orcs in azeroth since we know they had existed in some numbers in the 2nd war, although they where mostly slaves.
I am not really a fan of different species¹ having mixed offspring in a lot of settings.² The door was opened for this in WC a long, long time ago, but I would like more limits on it than that. I don’t like the Elder Scrolls solution for WC because that is a setting where a lot runs on esoterica and poetry. WoW frequently cribs terms and themes from sci-fi and even though it is strongly on the fantasy side of the slider, the metaphysics are very mundane. It feels like the sci-fi side should have some meaning here rather than a simple ludic rule of “womb decides”. Pokémon also uses “mother decides” and yet places limits on how far that compatibility goes, HSOWA³ aside.
However, any more complex rule than either “womb decides” or “pretty humans and scowly humans” is likely to be poorly transmitted among the team and playerbase so… I mean, realistically speaking there are worse rules?
¹ I understand how the terms have evolved but I do not love the decision to typically use the word “race” here in fantasy.
² This is purely just me being unable to turn off biology brain. I’m all for, and would like to see more of, interspecies romances between unlikely pairs.
³ If you get it, great, if you don’t, don’t look it up. It’s not even that funny. I’m just old.
Does it not have that? I guess we don’t see any weddings but I figured it was implied. I think marriage is discussed in the Sylvanas novel. I recall her causing a faux pas by smack talking the idea of marrying Kael’Thas while unknowingly in his ear shot.
Because sitcom level “He’s behind me isn’t he?” is where we’re at nowadays.
I’m not sure how well that would work. In general tying your RP to WoW characters is risky business. Hell tying them to just about anything is risky. I thought “vaguely involved with the Forsaken” was a safe enough bet. But then they blew up Tirisfal and outright refused to update me on the Forsaken’s status for 4 god damn years. Seriously I think I enjoy WoW more now because I can finally RP my characters again. Even with my toons who’d find SL stuff interesting (which was pretty much just this guy and my DK as the others are fairly mundane) it just didn’t feel realistic they’d care when they had the pressing matter of being part of a displaced refugee population to attend to.
So tying your character to a NPC they’re liable to casually delete isn’t the best idea. And it’s also very likely everyone would be marrying the same 6 or so ones. In Skyrim for example the PC has dozens of options for spouses but the vast majority of players married the same NPCs. As while there’s tons of options there’s only a handful of genuinely interesting ones who feel like actual characters with personalities.
ESO though had a system where PCs could get married and would receive a bonus if they played together. That could possibly work.
Well unfortunately pandora’s box is already opened on this so we can’t walk it back to Elder Scrolls rules or completely cut out mixed species altogether. Even just ignoring Garona Halforcen there’s also Lantrestor, Arator, and the entire Mok’nathal species. And if two different species from different planets can produce viable offspring, then that means it is something that could happen regularly in the future.
I think it is both fair to say he is canon and also that his likelihood of future reference is extremely low bordering on nil for the foreseeable future.
He was still with Blizzard then, and spoke for it. So, yes, Medan is still canon, until we’re told otherwise. The new writing team hasn’t stated Medan isn’t canon (kind of wish they would mind you).