We’ll see.
My bet is no we won’t.
It’s also completely conceivable that Malfurion was the first that Cenarius Granted that Title to.
In all likelihood, Cenarius has been trying to teach many Races Druidism since the first races walked Azeroth. Malfurion’s probably the only the first one that Cenarius himself recognized as truly mastering his teachings.
That isn’t to say that those other races did not forget Cenarius’s teachings and continued to practice themselves in the mean time.
Very Possible that Gonk himself was taught by Cenarius and developed his own form of the Craft himself. But Cenarius never recognized him, the Zandalari or the Tauren as true Druids.
Unlikely. Gonk and Cenarius are both wild gods. Nature magic is intrinsic to both of their natures in the same way Malorne has immense druidic power despite pre-dating Cenarius for obvious reasons.
Then maybe they consider themselves rivals of sort? Like two masters of different schools of Druidism.
Not sure exactly how their particular styles differ exactly though.
That is more or less how I see it. Cenarius taught the Cenarion branch of druidism while Gonk taught the Raptari.
Darkspear druids learned from Gonk and then learned more from the night elves, so they are kind of a marriage of the two.
As for how they differ? Probably in the nuances of their gods’ teachings.
Cenarius is more of a balance druid. He’s a pure caster with direct familial ties to Elune. His teachings emphasize living in harmony with nature and emphasizes peacefulness and tranquility.
Gonk is more of a feral druid. He’s the only wild god that can freely shapeshift into different species which I find to be rather fascinating. His teachings emphasize coordination and cooperation a lot like Cenarius’ does, but more with the goal of making the pack stronger than simply seeing harmonious cooperation as an end in and of itself. Gonk is the Master of the Hunt and as such seems to focus more on the predatory, vicious side of nature.
Interestingly, they both also have a habit of pushing for the other wild gods of their respective pantheons to work together in times of conflict. Cenarius takes a more diplomatic approach and tries to appeal to the Ancient Guardians’ sensibilities while Gonk strong arms the other loa into doing what he needs them to do.
I really hope Gonk and his druidism gets fleshed out more. I’d love to see how many ways the two druidic traditions differ and how many ways they are similar.
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They could start by showing Gonk’s different forms, rather than have his tale say he can, but not actually ever show him doing so.
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Maybe he’s a Reverse Druid?
Raptor who can shapeshift into Troll form?
Wonder what Spec that is?
There is ever the issue of funding to create more models for Gonk. Blizzard decides where they spend their money.
Which unfortunately led to BFA.
I really wish we’d gotten this. Though I guess he was never in a situation to do it. When your base form is a magical talking raptor shapeshifting is really more for fun than it is for combat.
Would’ve been cool to see him doing it when he, Pa’ku, and Kimbul were fighting Mythrax though. Maybe turn into something that can fly and then dive bomb Mythrax’s face as a raptor.
Kinda like Wrathion in that last cinematic.
Gonk teaches the Zandalari Druids how to use all of their forms. None of the other Wild Gods are capable of that.
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I decided to look into this myself, and it does not seem to be the case:
Gonk did for the Zandalari the same as he did for the Darkspear: Helped them commune with several different loa at the same time rather than only one.
Every culture will have a mythology that they were the “first”. In the main, it doesn’t really matter if any of them are right.
And Cenarius did not teach the Night Elves as a race. He only taught ONE of them, Malfurion (or Furion, as he was known in the RTS) He taught the others.
My personal opinion is this:
Cenarius taught Malfurion and Illidan druidism. Where Malfurion was masterly in teaching not only the content of the training but also the characteristic requirements, Illidan was too impetuous, too impatient.
This key component, I think, is central to why there was no one before Malfurion who not only learned nature magic, but also had the necessary mental attitude.
It was the same with the Yaungol of that time when they traveled north, we know that Yaungol are impetuous and wild, I think they didn’t lack intelligence, because they learned how to use nature magic, but the mindset that Cenarius dared to lead them into the dream they didn’t have, that’s why their training - even as Tauren - remained incomplete and was only completed culturally with Hamuul in the 3rd war. He became the first druid of the Tauren.
The Zandalari are a certain freecard, but here too we know clues, because Gonk brought the Darkspears much later closer to the path of druidism than presumably the Zandalari, nevertheless we know that he didn’t ALWAYS think that way and, like many other loa, thought jealously and possessively about his followers. We just don’t know when he changed his mind. So the current Blizzard lore remains instant since 2002/2003: Malfurion was the first Druid, but not the first Nature Caster.
The Drust are known to have arrived on Kul’tiras only after the Sundering, the humans even only 2000 years ago, so they are completely excluded from this consideration. But it is not impossible that the Drust had druids before the sundering.
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That was from a blue poster, not from mythology. As you can see if you quote that whole section of that post instead of trimming it.
Not allowed to quote blue posts.
Testing:
Though Nethaera’s post is not on the current forum system. However, here’s an archive link:
You have trust level 3, I 'm pretty sure I’m at zero. I’m not allowed to post any links outside of Youtube videos.
Well there you go. Blue poster, not mythology.