I have a personal love for the Laughing Skull orcs. They’re my favorite orc clan in the game. There’s something about a group of orcs made almost exclusively at Joker levels of cruel, laughing in the face of death, and carving a smile into their victims’ faces before they die that I sincerely wanna know more about. Anything at all about these downright insane mag’har that I haven’t already scoured the WoW wiki and other sites for. I just unlocked the mag’har allied race and I have multiple questions/speculations about how I should roleplay my favorite clan.
More in particular of what I wanted to know: Are all Laughing Skulls required to wear their skull mask at all times? If not, at all?
I ask this because just about every Laughing Skull NPC (to my knowledge) has had their mask on. It’s very likely that it IS a requirement, hence why none of the NPCs I’ve found was without their mask. (I dunno, it’s just hard finding leather transmogs that match with the skull mask and I’m looking for loopholes around that because I like to see my character’s face and I don’t wanna look like a clone of other Laughing Skull RPers, haha.) But, that’s kind of like saying all night elves have to carry around a glaive because it’s their most iconic weapon…
The best answer I could find is a quote from Kaz the Shrieker in the quest, “We Die Laughing!” where she states: “These are more than fancy facewear. With a mask and some proper incentive, we can make anyone a Laughing Skull.” Implying that the mask is, if not, one of the biggest factors of becoming a Laughing Skull, but is it as big as the other requirements? After all, the mask isn’t the only way to tell when an orc is a Laughing Skull. There’s their pale gray skin, the scars, and the bone piercings all over them. That should be more than enough to signal when it’s one of them, right?
As much as I’ve looked in on this, the skull mask is as generic of a trait as a Frostwolf always wearing fur. Can you still call yourself a Laughing Skull if you have a mask, but just not the mask?
Far as I can see, every AU Laughing Skull orc uses the skull mask. Even Cutter, Kaz’s little kid, has a mask of his own.
You could create RP reasons you don’t have one, maybe it was stolen or something, but if you desire to play as an AU Laughing Skull orc, then the mask is kinda a must have. It’s also highly signifying if you are a Laughing skull orc.
I think the Skull is culturally important to the Skulls. It’s more than just a frostwolf wearing fur, it’s a part of their identity and who they are.
If you want to RP a Skull who doesn’t have the mask, go ahead, but I’d say it would require special circumstance and you’d have to constantly explain it. It’d also probably have to be something that drives your character to reclaim, since the mask seems super important to the skulls.
Burning Blade and Shattered Hand also use those skins though, so it’s not something that would identify you as a Skull.
Ximothy pretty much hit all the points, so I’ll mainly just echo what he said. As far as we can tell, yes, a Laughing Skull has a mask. In fact, building off of the quest you mentioned “We Die Laughing”, Kaz mentions the following:
Gather the masks of our fallen Laughing Skull brothers and sisters and meet me on the western side of the village.
I will need them if our clan is to rebuild.
To me, that line implies that the clan can’t be rebuilt without those skull masks. That they are integral to what makes an Orc a Laughing Skull. No masks means no new clan members.
You mention the Frostwolves and fur, and I disagree that they’re equivalent. The Laughing Skull and their masks are closer to the Frostwolves and their… well… wolves.
For the Frostwolves, in order to be granted full standing within the clan, one must bond with a wild frostwolf. We don’t know the fine details about what separates Clan members with “full standing” and those without, but it’s an integral part of their culture. One might even say you can’t be a “true Frostwolf” without your own wolf.
And I’d say the same for the Laughing Skull. As Ximothy mentioned, you can ultimately RP what you want. But if your Skully is gonna be without a mask, it’s gonna need explanation.
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That even made me suspect that the handing down of masks from deceased members may have some relevance. Like maybe new masks are never made, or rarely made because there’s something special behind them. Maybe there’s only X amount of positions available in the Laughing Skull because of the masks?
I came back just because I’m wondering now…
How do the mask stay on their faces if they have tusks?
I don’t see any string…
Glue.
In all honesty, there’s either rope or string we just don’t see (how long did it take us to get bowstrings in game again?) or they use some sticky substance to keep it on. Or maybe it’s attached to their piercings.
What mask? This is my face.
Suspected the skull masks were attached to the facial piercings.