I prefer to just go with, yes, the Warchief position is in fact cursed.
Everyone is corrupted, no one is responsible for anything. WoW is a game with no stakes because WoW is a game with no decisions.
That’s a lie. Do you know how much time it takes to decide what transmog to wear?
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I may have spent more time playing Orc Barbie than much else when I subbed.
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Man, remember when Varian was introduced and the Alliance got an aggressive, anti-Horde voice to it and there was that brief window of time where “Oh crap, The Alliance might be the one to actually start something this time around.”
And then the moment passed, Garrosh became a cackling Saturday Morning Cartoon villain, and Varian schooled at 10,000 year old War Leader in grade school fundamentals of warfare.
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They stopped trying after that, honestly.
The Horde would always do something horrific like burn down a kitten orphanage and the Alliance would downvote the ensuing reddit picture and you’re meant to believe these two things are the same.
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I’m bring a different approach to this.
Because I’m a little worn down at a lot of the same responses I always see to this kind of topic.
And I want to explore this from an avenue that’s a little bigger than just “bad writing”. And before people think I’m defending, I too, am often disappointed and not happy with a lot the narrative choices for certain stories, many changes to canon or lore or not paying attention to certain details that end up conflicting each other. Characters suddenly not behaving in ways they would ect ect…
But the position of the Horde leader has always …always had issues. When you look at how it was formed, it was always going to be a constant struggle.
The orcs were already doomed when they were convinced the draenei were going against them, and felt they had to form together to fight a threat they were told were going to hurt them to be pawns in the Legion’s personal war.
It was all a huge manipulation tactic to get them to fight. Blackhand being made leader, was never really in charge. Because Gul’dan was pulling the strings on what he wanted to happen. The demons, the fel, the taking over of land, all guided form the shadows for selfish reasons when the orcs just wanted safety.
So when you start there, it’s very plain to see that this is something that might have future issues. It was a quick formation. Warchief is a new title. The orcish Horde a new formation. No real rules other than this needing to be done quickly to combat their faux threat. And with all of their culture being stamped out by force and replaced with fel, they lost what gave them their heritage and tradition that helped guide their rules.
And then when Doomhammer becomes Warchief, he’s left to continue to battle against unknown races on an unknown world against a people who have technology far different than their own but experience with the fel. People who believe themselves to be so high and mighty. And by not understanding fully the culture of humans, Doomhammer and the orcs lose the war when the death of their leader brought hope, not loss. To which he then becomes a “pet” for King Terenas and lives in a cell before he escapes and disappears into obscurity.
You have Thrall , forced to live as a personal slave and gladiator. Raised in environment not his own. Struggling with who he was.
Being treated less than filth and only being raised for the purpose of making money and Blackmore’s own selfish goals for the future. An orc who missed what he was suppose to be and do and ended up having to reforge that gap with parts that still don’t look right. But he is the son of a Chieftain, and he brought hope back to the orcs and freed them from the camps and led them all wiith success. Bringing back traditions that were lost…
[Broken up under hide details for ease of reading]
Summary
And skipping over the details of why he departed to aid the efforts in the cataclysm I’m going to discuss something here a moment. The Horde at this point is now made up of races, and still continues to be, made up of people who were refused in some way shape or form. Cast aside, hunted, targeted, shunned. Seen as a people not worth helping or fighting for. A people seeking to rebuild what was lost.
And the fact that ALL of this began in a time where things were corrupt , that no matter what happens now. No matter how more progressive things are not, there is still a risk of corruption. Especially when you have these walks of life among people are given less chances for redemption and constantly seen as the enemy.
A corrupt or imbalanced leadership on the Horde is not surprising and it has nothing to do whatsoever about them not knowing how to lead, or being stupid, or being less civilized. It all comes down to the reasons why they are all together and why it’s important we see each of shifts in power.
And is it tiresome? Yes. I’m over seeing Horde leadership being the butt of the joke or the punching bag for being the antagonist in the narrative. But even if the writing isn’t exactly what many of us want it to be, it makes sense if you go beyond the surface for a moment.
But the fact that it all lead to the Horde finally coming to the conclusion that they need to be unified is perfect. The Alliance are together because their continued union is based on hatred and bigotry mostly against the orcs. The Horde is together because each of them needed a safe haven away from the Alliance who see them as lesser.
If anyone needs to speak together in a unified force for the purpose of helping each other as a community it is the Horde.
Summary
Because after seeing Garrosh kill Cairne , Thrall kill Garrosh, Sylvanas back stab Vol’jin and then Sylvanas be the face of an antagonist we’re suppose to be loyal to…I don’t find it all too unbelievable that this is the cycle that ended up happened.
Because now, when we look at Garrosh…am I upset that there were different plans for him they changed their mind on? Yes. Do I wish they handled him differently? Yeah. But do I feel his change was entirely inaccurate? Not really, but I don’t blame Thrall for it either. It’s a very 2D way of examining that story. Just because THRALL feels he did, is not suppose to tell us that it IS his fault.
Garrosh is an interesting character because I feel like he really represents his disconnect to his own people. He grew up thinking he was a disgrace, only to find out otherwise. He has this fantasy way of viewing his people and in a way, behaves on how he thinks he should, when all it did was further problems. He didn’t go through what the green orcs did (and he was looked down on for that). So Garrosh was also sort of doomed as well. Even if Thrall trusted him. Because we all have people we trust that we never expect from our point of view to do certain things.
I’m also going to say, I hate the line from the Mag’har story line that implies what a shame it is that Garrosh turned out the way he did because he was an amaaaazing leader in another timeline. Our world we’re playing in is the only timeline that matters to me, and is the main one. Some AU Garrosh who was amazing is of no concern to me.
This topic is important to me, because I feel its important we sort of explore -what- the Horde is. And where they came from.
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…I mean you make a point-that is a large part of what the horde is. They were made as a world-invading army, so-they would have some fundemental issues.
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i can’t wait for Baine to consume the power of a fallen naaru and usurp the council’s power and install himself as Forever Warchief Darth Lightba(i)ne
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I just feel like this whole situation could have easily been avoided had Thrall installed Carine as overall Warchief of the Horde, and put Garrosh in as the leader of the Orcish people.
We still get the same end result of Garrosh’s “True Horde” nonsense, but it makes it a lot easier as a narrative for both the game and for players to say “Yeah, I’m not with this guy.” when the inevitable time to turn him into a Raid Boss comes.
The biggest problem with Warchief is the way Blizzard misused the position. It actually gave the faction a great out for simultaneously being the antagonist faction while explaining why it would never be wiped out (Because you keep the Warchief and thereby the Horde as a geo-political entity above the antagonist elements that inevitably go rogue).
It also helps serve the idea that the Horde is a motley band of survivors, banding together for mutual protection more than bonds of loyalty and friendship and the minute one of them sees an opportunity they take it and sod their so-called allies if they don’t agree.
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In Garrosh’s case, the answer is as simple as it is obvious. How nobody else has noticed this is absolutely astounding, because the truth is as clear as day.
In the ending of cataclysm, Thrall beat up the bad dragon with a magic laser.
Garrosh, always feeling small and insignificant next to Thrall, needed to hang his manh- I mean PRIDE on something even bigger.
Thrall got a dragon-killing laser?
Garrosh will bring a city-destroying tactical magic nuke!
And when that’s not enough, he’ll try and get a bell that can shake the world!!
And when Anduin ruins that, we’ll one-up both Thrall and Garry’s own dad. Screw drinking a demon’s blood, Garry will eat an old god’s heart! That’s GOTTA be bigger than a dragon-killing laser, right?
It’s all about his secret pants shame.
Well thats underwhelming.
B-but then the orc’s would be upset because theres a tauren and not an orc! ignore the fact that Carine is a well respected cheiftan in both wisdom and strength, ignore the fact that the tauren people have helped orcs re-find alot of there shamanistic roots and tauren are overall strong imposing creatures in themselves. Ignore the fact that orc’s like themselves a code of honor and strength that the tauren people share. NAAAAAAAH WE NEED AN ORC, JUST AN ORC! not even carine as a side-ruler with garrosh to direct them. we don’t need to give some edgy orc boy some fatherly guidance, naaaaahhhh.
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I can assure all of you that no one was more upset at how Blizzard did the Orcs than the people who love Orcs the most.
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The only compromise is Lor’themar for War King
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Ji firepaw for warchef.
Not warchief, I just think Ji knows exactly how to feed an army of warriors to keep them at peak effectiveness.
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Who has, in my opinion, been canonically dead since the Siege. I’m reasonably confident his only contribution to the Horde narrative since us rescuing him in that raid was wanting to fight Dinosaurs on Zandalar.
Thus, Ji is dead and we’re just briefly seeing his phantom.
I mean, now that we’ve seen the afterlife, wouldn’t you rather hang around Azeroth and dream wistfully of punching dinosaurs instead of helping a bunch of incredibly catty grandparents find their laundry money?
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This reminds me of the time before I knew who Genn was and thought he was Anduins grandpa
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Thats really why Garrosh turned evil.
He didn’t punch enough dinosaurs.
This was just him taking out his frustration.
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