No lmao
Darkspear are a Tribe of Jungle Trolls aka Gurubashi
I’ve gone back and forth and trying to figure what the future of the troll nations should be, mostly how openly hostile they should be to the Horde given the historic Zandalari and the respect they command among the tribes, the Revantuks who now control the 2nd largest Amani city, and the Darkspear who have been the most successful tribe, and seen as potentially one of the most powerful, as of late.
I can see the Gurubashi joining the Horde though. They’ve been knocked down and beaten up so many times that they’d be looking at their options. Given the Darkspear’s recent history, with some Zandalari backup, I can see them taking a leading role in a re-emergent Gurubashi Empire. While they broker some deal (and surely there would be some dissent) the periphery tribes could, would, likely see this as a weakness to give up their city and seat of power to the Horde aligned trolls. Nothing has to be pretty and wrapped with a bow when its all said and done.
Just on the topic of old troll empires and their relations to the Horde, Amani and Farraki would be hold outs for some time in this wibbly wobbly unofficial non-aggression pact. One or two tribes might reach out or officially join the Horde, like the Mossflayer, but the core tribe would keep an arms length knowing that joining would likely upset many of their citizens, while being openly hostile would only spell doom.
What is left of the Drakkari with the help of Taunka, Forsaken, Darkspear, and Zandalari I feel as if would join the Horde and be a major mixed undead and troll tribe like the Mossflayer. While maybe not the best lesson to put into WoW, maybe air lift the Frostmane out of Dun Morogh, give them a poor break from the genocidal baby killin dwarves. Again, doesn’t exactly gives the best message, but if we’re rebuilding the Drakkari I feel as if they should be there.
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Sorry, got my 'jin’s mixed up. But fine, Island trolls, or whatever trolls.
Mainly I was just saying it’d be cool to have players able to select from different troll tribes as part of the Horde character creation process.
If they were to join the horde I’d prefer them to do so via the Zandalari Empire rather than the Horde directly.
The more I think about it the more I have to agree that the Amani would take a loooong time to bring to the peace negotiation table. Too much bad blood spread over way too many years between the elves and trolls.
Maybe in a generation or two someone might take a long of things, realize the Amani have hit a dead end, realize all this hate is getting them nowhere, and speak up.
And promptly have his head stuck on a pike.
A few generations after that might get more asking the same thing however. We can see where things go from there.
Same for the Sandfury/Farraki I suppose.
Assuming the dwarves haven’t wiped them completely out. I mean, I can still make a dwarf character and go punch some troll babies GoblinSlayer style but that’s still Cata era content and lots might have happened since then. 
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Last we hear of the Frostmane is they agreed to help the Legion against the Dwarves (cause of course we need to make them more evil) and were there in Zandalar, but no real update to their condition. Safe to say not great, but certainly still alive.
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Damn, I didn’t know that. I was 14 when those Legion Invasions came and ended. That’s so messed up.
Humanity spreads genocide wherever they go. Azeroth and Earth alike.
So, just to clear up any confusion here.
There’s the Gurubashi Empire.
And then there’s the Gurubashi Tribe.
The Gurubashi Empire is defunct and no longer exists. So yes, while the Darkspear are technically ‘Gurubashi’ as they were part of the Gurubashi Empire. The Empire doesn’t exist anymore so they’re just really not.
The Gurubashi Tribe is currently leaderless and is now a shadow of its former self after the majority of their surviving kin were slaughtered by the Jambani in Zandalar. They’re also not fans of the Horde, at all, in particular the Darkspear.
No, Gurubashi means Jungle Troll.
This is established in Chronicles and in the entire game.
Think of how IRL there are Tribal Umbrellas/Nations, eg the Nasa of Colombia (mine), the Dine of the US, etc, and then each of those Tribes (Nations) are composed of other Tribes (specific to territories).
Ah yes “Gurubashi have brain damage because of Hakkar and loud noises scare them haha finish them off”, totally a piece of lore that is worth keeping around.
Like miss ma’am c’mon
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Uhh, no, Gurubashi does not mean ‘Jungle Troll’.
The first reference to the Gurubashi in the Chronicle is on the second page of the Ancient Kalimdor chapter, which states that the ‘Gurubashi Tribe’ was one of the tribes that rose up to challenge the Zandalari Tribe for territory and power, along with the Amani and the Drakkari. The smaller sub-groups within the Gurubashi Tribe did not exist yet. So at this point the ancestors of the Darkspear, Bloodscalp, Skullsplitter tribes, etc, were all part of the Gurubashi Tribe.
The Gurubashi would not splinter into separate tribes until after the Gurubashi Civil War when the Gurubashi Empire collapsed on itself. It’s at this point when the Darkspear, Bloodscalp, Skullsplitter, Atal’ai and other tribes emerge, each claiming territory and often fighting each other over said territory (as the Bloodscalp and Skullsplitter tribes do to this day).
The exception to this (and the only exception mind you) is the Razorbranch Tribe. They were separated from the rest of the Gurubashi Empire with the Sundering and became their own tribe long before the collapse of the Gurubashi Empire. Eventually they would evolve into Sand Trolls, aka the Farraki, after the Tol’vir used the Forge of Origination to kill Lei Shen, which turned Uldum, Silithus and Tanaris from a lush jungle into a mostly barren desert.
Also, the whole ‘Gurubashi is the name for all Jungle Trolls’ comes from the Troll Compendium. While most of the Troll Compendium remains canon, no references remain that paint all Jungle Trolls as Gurubashi. Blizzard did not move that particular bit of lore over into the Chronicle, meaning it’s no longer canon.
lol no, it’s still canon
Chronicles is just Titan Perspective remember hahahahahahahaha
Not like the Titans have ever worked intimately with the Trolls
Hell, not like Blizzard respects canon
Their discourse in the Troll Compendium is superior to Chronicles
It’s more politically coherent and reflects how things work IRL
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That’s… not how canon lore works.
Yes, the Chronicle is written from the perspective of a Titan, but that doesn’t change the fact that Blizzard did not canonize that particular bit of lore when they deleted the Troll Compendium.
The Troll Compendium is on the same level as the Warcraft RPG. It’s not canon until Blizzard pulls something specifically from it. Then that particular thing is canon. So any information from the Troll Compendium that appears in other official sources is canon, anything that was in the Troll Compendium that isn’t in other official sources is not.
Sure Carhagen, whatever you say, Blizzard totally has a coherent system of canonicity that they always respect lmao
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When there’s an official lore source that says that ‘All Jungle Trolls are referred to as Gurubashi’ then I’ll be more than happy to agree with you. But right now, the only source that does is no longer canon.
Which means if you want to continue using it, you’re free to, but it will be your own headcanon at this stage. That’s fine and all, but don’t expect other folks to accept your headcanon as lore when there’s nothing official backing it up.
Well wowpedia describes the Gurubashi as the strongest of the jungle tribes implying the concurrent existence of other tribes like the darkspear within their numbers. Presumably its not until the empire breaks down that the names of those tribes become relevant and visible within ‘records’. This is not to say that some tribes weren’t born out of the breakdown, like a warband for instance following a successful leader.
Matters of canonicity and conflicting sources put aside, ingame and in modern sources ‘Gurubashi’ has always only been used to refer to either the Gurubashi Empire or the modern-day Gurubashi tribe. And for now nothing hints at the Darkspear or the Shatterspear currently being part of a larger ‘Gurubashi nation’ or belonging to a Gurubashi political continuum. At the contrary, the exile that eventually brought both tribes to Kalimdor was a consequence of them wanting to severe their ties with the remnants of the Gurubashi Empire and get as far as possible from the constant clashes in Stranglethorn.
The Darkspear and Shatterspear are independant nations that are completely separate from the Gurubashi political structure ; the only larger political entity they belong to is the Horde really
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I have to wonder how the Darkspear would feel about their former slavemasters joining the Horde
They can join the support group of orcs with forsaken, pandaren with zandalari, and I think trolls as a whole with nightborne? If I remember right, there’s a bit in the WotA trilogy about the highborne having troll and human slaves.
If I remember right, there’s a bit in the WotA trilogy about the highborne having troll and human slaves.
I don’t recall the trolls ever being enslaved by the Highborne. The Zandalari by goblins, sure; but not the Highborne.