Many times, when I see Danath Trollbane brought up in lore or story discussions, it’s-… Usually not a particularly favorable light. Accusations of racism and being unfair to orcs (and trolls, obviously) are pretty common, and let me just say-
I get it. I do. Danath does not like orcs. That’s pretty much indisputable. He is pretty belligerent towards Eitrigg and Rokhan during the Arathi warfront.
…But I also think we need to give the guy a break. Here’s a short version of the guy’s last 30(ish) years, from his perspective;
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Led the liberation of Khaz Modan, witnessing first-hand what the Horde did to the Bronzebeard dwarves and their lands.
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Was the original pick to direct the orcish internment camps, tasked with containing and imprisoning the surviving orcs, who had just been stopped from swarming over the entire continent in a murderous campaign.
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Went to Draenor, the Orc’s homeland. One of the first things he sees is the path of glory- A road quite literally paved with the bones of the Orc’s victims.
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Survived the Ner’zhul destroying the orc’s own planet, and making the choice to stay on the shattered world, because the only path home was closed to save it from destruction as well. (Also he 1v1s and kills Kilrogg Deadeye)
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Spent twenty years trapped, defending Honor Hold, on a destroyed planet, fighting off Orcs at their absolute most corrupted. He misses the entirety of the orcish redemption story on Azeroth, and instead deals with attacks from red-skinned orcs.
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BC, Finally receives aid from his Azeroth, only to learn that his homeland has fallen into ruin. Vows to return home and restore it to greatness. Also other Orcs show up? An apparently redeemed Horde, fighting the Burning Legion alongside the Alliance.
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The next time we see him is in Legion, where he is heading to the Broken Shore to survey the battlefield after the first, disastrous attack, where the belief among the Alliance is the Horde betrayed and abandoned them. He gets shot out of the sky but survives.
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Finally, in BFA, he is back home, trying to rebuild his kingdom, after the Horde destroyed the home of Alliance elves on a far-off continent, and total war has broken out. It seems that once again the Horde wants to wipe the Alliance and its people out.
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The Horde arrives in his homeland, telling him his claim to this, birthplace of human civilization and his family’s ancestral homeland, has expired/is illegitimate/is superceded by trolls (even though the trolls who live in Arathi aren’t even in the Horde I sincerely have no idea what Rokhan was talking about but that’s another issue).
Just… Put yourself in his shoes for a minute. The guy has every right to think “Oh, to hell with this Horde.”
He missed pretty much all of the Azerothian Horde’s heroic moments, their redemption, and instead spent that time fighting the Fel Horde. And then when he does encounter the Horde, they’re attacking the home he sacrificed so much to protect, and fought so hard to return to.
Again, if you think he’s racist, that’s probably fair. Like 80% of Azeroth is lol. But I don’t think he’s as bad as a lot of people make him out to be, and I hope Blizz eventually gives him a chance to show how much he really does deserve that statue in Stormwind.