“Shamanic traditions” are not a monolith. Many religions and traditions are referred to as “shamanism,” such as Korean shamanism.
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I realize splitting hairs is your hobby but come on, you know my post is entirely on point in regards to this.
The Trolls have the oldest written language on Azeroth, and since their role on the Horde is spiritual advisor, they’d need to learn written language anyway to do their job, especially in Thrall’s Horde, where Zekhan likely grew up.
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This isn’t true. They are not mages. Their power does not come from rigorous study or an academic understanding of magic. Their power comes from pacts they make with elemental forces. This can be accomplished through bargaining. In which empathy and communication reign supreme.
Education also takes many shapes. One can be educated through story and oral tradition. Educated through life experience. Education isn’t always sitting in a classroom, nose-deep in textbooks.
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Really curious if you are going to answer this question, buddy.
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Watching the depths people will sink to in the name of defending this whole thing is actually amusing.
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It’s kind of depressing. But than I remember it’s the story forum and really should expect this sort of thing, which is in of itself is sad
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If you would carefully re-read what I was saying and perhaps garner a more thorough understanding you would note I wasn’t comparing them to Mages. A Shaman’s role on the Horde is advisor, and spiritual guide, and they need to commune with a wide variety of elementals and spirits in a lot of different locales as a result.
I never mentioned academia, what my point was is that in order to be prepared for what is a very important role, a Shaman would be given an education, and training, in a wide variety of aspects.
The better at negotiation and communing a Shaman gets, and the more educated they become about the various cultures the elementals exist beside, the stronger they become.
Unless you’re Thrall who can just tapdance to immense power.
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The story forums are tame. There’s a thread right now where people are doing mental gymnastics to say Teldrassil wasn’t genocide, or saying how it doesn’t matter because the game’s about killing, and other nonsense.
In bfa, Zekhan is also Saurfang’s contact with the rebellion in Orgrimmar. How did they communicate?
And most of all, he is the horde’s ambassador in Shadow’s Rising. It would be absurd to send someone who isn’t able to write reports. ( Which he does. For example he informs Rokhan about the assassination attempt on Talanji. )
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I would assume that the majority of humans that live in Stormwind don’t know how to read either.
Pretty sure that’s a troll thread.
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Yeah, but people believe it.
The myriad of peoples whom the trolls are based on.
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I believe their language is pictographic, not written
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The spiritual advisor role is traditionally been credited to the Tauren. who both reconnected the orcs to the elements, sponsored the Forsaken, and played a major part in civilizing the Darkspear trolls who are not any way urbanised the way the Zandalar re.
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“Civilizing?” Really? This is headcanon and not even true.
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Well, they have to HIDE their cannibalism now.
Such deceptive behavior is truly the mark of civilization.
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Thats a simplified view of what a Shaman is. Each race has their own version of Shamanism, and it should be remember that Zekhan is still practically a kid. Probably younger than Anduin.
Zekhan was likely not advising anyone, or at least no one that would require reading and writing as a necessary skill. You specifically said that shaman obtain their power via education, which shows you perceive shamanism as an academic pursuit.
And he can be well versed in those specific topics, that doesn’t mean he ever need to learn to read. Especially when you consider how many of those languages use a totally different alphabet.
Trolls or the Darkspear specifically? Because the justifications I provided only apply to the Darkspear, who, as I said, have no large urban centers or metropolitan cities, unlike other Troll Tribes.
So what assumptions am I making and about who? And why would you think that I would make those assumptions?
Perhaps you are the one making assumptions about certain people here.
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Making Trolls cannibals was a mistake. It should be rectified that outsiders just think they’re cannibals but actually the only preform funerary cannibalism. Making Trolls into cannibals is just based on bad stereotypes and it only just makes them more cartoonishly evil so we feel justified wiping them out.
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I defend it because in canon Darkspear are just not that much developed. They are categorized as smallest tribe. Which likley translates to them not having any bigger contact with the rest of the empire. For gods sake they got literally bullied out of Stranglethorn and then had to live on an island where they lived in isolation. You can’t expect much from people who broke any contact to the rest of the world. Get real now.
You are cute.
You are the one who assumes “Undeveloped parts of the world” and “backwater” translated to “POC cultures”
It is funny, so often people’s attempt at virtue signaling is often so revealing of a person’s predisposition.
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