But do you think that’s what the book was going for when it chose to make Zekhan illiterate, or a more recognized trope of “older learned man takes uneducated country bumpkin under his wing”? Especially since this also came with Lor’themar teaching him what erosion is. Which is not only an elemental thing, but a more basic “living by the beach” knowledge to boot.
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I think it wasn’t malicious, and any racist trope applied is just an interpretation of something that’s not present in the text. I think you’d have to make those racist implications yourself in your interpretation. The book itself doesn’t make that implication.
Is the majority of Horde illiterate? Yeah I would think so, it’s due to cultural instability and war, not racism.
Do you think orcs were taught to read in concentration camps? No, Thrall was an exception because he was a human pet.
One of the main causes of illiteracy in the developing world is focus on survival needs rather than education. I think the Horde fits that to a T. Zekhan represents the first generation of the new Horde with enough stability to gain literacy.
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It’s kind of necessary for story purposes that they fail. The needs that drove the Horde into Ashenvale haven’t gone away.
I’m not so sure about that. It took the Cataclysm to cause the resource crunch that ultimately started the war, and with all the druids and Earthen Ring druids at their disposal, I can’t imagine Durotar’s not somewhat recovered.
They still hold 90% of Azshara for wood and are not trying to rapidly upgrade/industrialize org like Garrosh was doing or building a city from scratch like Thrall was doing in WC3.
Honestly the only reason I see the fighting continuing, especially now that time has passed since the end of BFA is a meta one, it’s probably so the people who were mad about Anduin’s sudden order for an armistice at the end of BFA got a bone thrown their way.
It just seems so out of character for the current Horde movers and shakers to want it to continue even if time and the literal divine intervention Tyrande got didn’t bring her and Malfurion to the table.
The group that has the Ashenvale holdings are the Warsong Clan. After all the fighting they did to take them, they’re not that keen on giving them up.