I decided to elaborate more on the subject of Horde representation.
The meeting on the Icecrown and showing mostly elves and human with token troll upset me because it just isn’t what Horde is supposed to be.
Horde’s theme should be tribalistic, focused on warrior pride and many more. I know that Horde is meant to grow and they got new members and such, but the core of the Horde should’ve been maintained.
The proud monster faction is what lured many people into it.
I don’t play Horde to be Alliance imitation.
I play the Horde because it is giving us a different theme than Alliance does.
And It’s even more frustrating that the narrative is showing that savagery/ tribalism is bad and totally backwards and we should capitalize on European kingdom themes to make Horde appealing instead of having deep dive in what makes Warrior factions with tough fighters and people who embrace primal energies with actual dignity and pride. And this is why I dislike Baine so much - he is not capitalizing on Tauren culture at all besides mentioning Earth Mother couple of times, there is zero insight on how tauren work, think and fight because his entire character is reduced to be Anduin’s BFF and it is the highlight of this character. Not his personal aims, the direction where he would like to lead the Tauren, or even defending his people from Alliance aggression. He is the good guy because he agrees with the other good guy on opposing faction.
Barbarians were written in dignified way in other franchises, and the best example I can think of is Tarnum from Heroes of Might and Magic Chronicles. The way he described the barbarian society, and mindset gave them lots of justice and made them look really cool when compared to other “civilized” nations, heck the mages of Bracada despite having all the perks for “high civilization” could still appear lame and even pathetic to Barbarians in terms of approach to various things and attitude.
Here is the example how cool the “warrior theme” feels :
I remember when we first encountered the tauren. I remember Cairne Bloodhoof’s deep voice and calm face. I remember sitting on the ground in a tent that could be broken down and erected with startling speed, and feeling oddly at home. We smoked pipes, shared food and drink, felt the drumming in our bones, and talked. The tauren seemed to me bestial at first, but there was wisdom and humor in them, and by the time the first round of negotiations had been conducted, I knew that the orcs had a rare ally in these half-bovine beings.
Night had fallen while we spoke, a soft night befitting this beautiful land. We left the tent and gazed up at stars too numerous too count, a sweet wind caressing our faces. I turned to Drek’Thar, to ask for his wisdom. To my astonishment I saw tears on his face, glinting in the moon’s light.
“This is how we used to be, my chieftain,” he said in a broken voice. He lifted his arms and tilted his head back, calling the wind to embrace him and dry the tears on his strong green face.
“Close to the earth. Close to the spirits. Strong in the hunt, gentle with the younglings, knowing our place in the world to be right and just. Understanding the balance of taking and giving. The only magic the tauren practice is the good, clean magic of the earth, and the land reflects that, the way Draenor once reflected our connection*.”
I thought of the tauren’s request for aid in fighting their enemy, the vile, filthy centaur.
“Yes … I feel for them. It will be good to be able to help them,” I said.
Drek’Thar laughed, turning his blind eyes to me and seeing me more clearly than anyone with sight could.
“Oh, my young Thrall,” he said, chuckling still, “you do not yet understand. They will help us.”
The worst thing is that Devs seems to know that this is the theme that they should strive for, and the Warfront music is the example of it :
this is the theme that in a music sais " This world gives us nothing, it is our lot to suffer and our duty to fight back".
And instead, we have elves who sip wine and read poetry and undead human that is all about light worship. And they wouldn’t be bad as just some addition, but I will strongly oppose them as people who should be Horde’s figureheads. They should never take over the tribal feel of the Horde. And this is why the Icecrown gathering is so depressing.
Among the group, there is only one person who was truly thematic to the Horde and he didn’t even have a speaking role.
