So we know the Darkspear came from an isle somewhere in the ocean after leaving Stranglethorn. Pushed out by the Murlocs and Naga. It would of been a jungle island and we know it has a volcano.
And the Lost Isles match this description. Giant volcano, jungle island, even the animals there from jungle beasts to dinosaurs. There is even a small Naga encampment there as well as around the island. As well as pygmy witch doctors, indicating there’s some form of voodoo practice there.
All of these things could indicate the Darkspear had a presence there. Do I think its enough to say for sure, no. But it works what do you all think?
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I think there are dozens of basically interchangeable islands in the seas - BfA literally had a whole game mechanic to that effect.
If the Lost Isle from the goblin starting zone were intended to be the specific one of these that the Darkspear previously inhabited, wouldn’t there have been troll buildings somewhere?
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The Darkspear usually chill in tikis, just wooden structures easy enough for naga to destroy, but the logic could hold if they were something like a temple for a loa.
I believe lore wise the Darkspear Isle sank. Hence why the Darkspear had to relocate to another set of islands (Echo Isles). But then again, Zandalar was meant to be underwater after the Shattering so /shrug.
Just adding as a trivia:
Darkspears were initially attacked by Kul’Tirans. When Thrall arrived Sen’Jin reached out to him and asked for aid, as his tribe as overwhelmed with Kul’Tiran aggression, then when all of them - trolls, orcs, humans, were captured by sea witch forces.
Now for the issue.
Initially, this island was meant to sink under the sea, hence why everyone had to flee (I mean Volcano eruption can be alone very deadly, if we take Pompei as an example). But over the course of expansions, Cataclysm happened and Sargeras Stabbed the planet, which would be a good excuse to push this island back on the surface.
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If it was intended to be the same place there’d probably be troll ruins on the Lost Isles.
I like to imagine the Molten Cay island expedition is the Darkspear island but it really could be anywhere and I doubt it’s somewhere we’ve ever been. There’s tons of tiny islands across the Great and South seas.
According to lore, thanks to a Naga called the Sea Witch, the Darkspear Isles did an Atlantis just before Thrall’s Horde landed on Kalimdor.
WC3 does say the island started to sink when the volcano erupted, but Chronicle says some trolls stayed behind on the island when most left with Thrall, so evidently there’s still some land left.
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Darkspear_Islands#Aftermath
https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/story/short-story/leader-story/voljin shows the Island remained so the island is still there.
Speaking of the Darkspear Islands, do we know when the Darkspear left Stranglethorn to go there? The best I can find is it was after the Dark Portal opened since one Stranglethorn quest mentions the tribe knew an ogre, but is there anything more specific than that?
If Yenniku was given to the Gurubashi, does that mean Vol’jin was old enough to have a kid when they were still in Stranglethorn, or did Yenniku get shipped from the islands?
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That is very unlikely. In Leaders short stories it was implied that Vol’Jin was very young when he became a chieftain. He barely reached adulthood ( so 17 if we take old rolplay guide charts) when he became a shadow hunter, and shortly after became a chieftain.
And in the books Vol’Jin never references his children. He did mention he had a woman, but not children. And it would be odd for him to not spare a single thought about them when he had such a strong bond with his father.
Originally Yenniku was Nimboya’s son back in Vanilla, before Cataclysm rewrite. After the quest Nimboya admitted that he lied because he was afraid that nobody would help him with his son, but if he said it was chieftain’s son then that automatically increases priority of quest.
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He does not say he lied about Yenniku. This is the last thing he says in the questline:
You’ve done it! You freed Yenniku from the will of Zanzil and the tyranny of the Skullsplitter, and completed the mission I had thought was so hopeless. Zanzil still looms a threat in the Cape of Stranglethorn, but for now, I at least know that the soul of my chief’s son is free.
As I said - that was original quest that was in Vanilla. It was changed in cataclysm.
Well not quite, the original quest in vanilla never calls him Nimboya’s son, but the cata revamp did call him it before they changed it again during cata to be in line with the vanilla version.
I remember doing these quests in Wotlk, and then doing them again Cata which confused me greatly because I thought that thr case of Yenniku was over.
Besides the entire quest description is sloppy. Because from the description of Nimboya - that Yenniku was left when they crossed the sea - Sen’Jin was the cheiftain, not Vol’Jin. Vol’Jin was still a teenager that had to attend Shadow Hunter training.
So If anything - Yenniku would be Vol’Jin’s younger brother.
And the thread I was reading even highlighted that Vol’Jin’s family didn’t even had to be a mate, she could be a mother or sister because the response was so vague.
Anyway I just don’t believe that they’re related, that he would leave son or brother for this long - it would be oddly cold seeing his portrayal as a son and as a chieftain.
This is why it was speculated about for so long yeah, but Matt Burns, a writer and story director at blizzard (The one that co-wrote all three Chronicles and many other warcraft books and comics) was asked if it was correct that it’s Vol’jin’s son, and this is the reply.
“Checked on this. Per that quest, that’s the case. Looks like that’s the only mention of him, though.”
So it seems that they literally just forgot about it and have no other lore than that about him. But that it is in fact his son.
Edit: He answered this back in 2016 for clarity.
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But the timing doesn’t match. Yenniku was left when the Darkspears fled from Stranglethorn, Vol’Jin was likely a kid himself when it happened.
Or you’re telling me that after Vol’Jin reached maturity he sent Yenniku back to STV to Bloodscalp tribe?
It just doesn’t make any sennse. And even the quote you provided didn’t really elaborate in detail. He just said “Well the quest said so, so it might be it”.
To me it really is too big gap in time, and too big contrast in Vol’Jin’s character.
Annd lastly, we never met any of his family members then. Where are his other sons? Why he didn’t mention them in his own book?
It’s warcraft lore, many niche areas don’t make sense and are still canon. See how apparently the Zandalari hates slavery and views it as weak so they won’t do it, and yet they enslaved the goblins. Alleria supposedly fought in the troll wars yet was a young elf (until they retconned it with her being named after her grandmother who also was called Alleria Windrunner)
Not to mention that blizzard used (and still is but not as bad) at writing about the families of characters. How long did it take until we learned about Baines mother? I can answer you, in a cata book. Baine that’s from all the way back in wc3 and we didn’t even know his mother/Cairne’s wife.
There are non-sensical things in the lore all the time, still, they’re canon. Better to not think too deeply about it.