This thread is for people who give their characters backstories and motivations, stuff like that. You don’t have to actually partake in roleplaying with other players to participate. The RP you do with yourself inside your head counts 
Why does your character fight? What drives them to face world ending threats every tuesday?
In my case, Luxuria doesn’t actually seek to fight. She is generally just looking for fun and she runs into the apocalypses by sheer bad luck.
For purps.
My druid is always out for a sense of adventure. She’s pretty whimsical in her thought process and will often see even the most daunting of quests as mere inconveniences.
My paladin is driven by a righteous need to purge the world of evil or die trying.
My death knight is also kind of silly, but in a scarier way. My dk doesn’t take anything seriously and her first thought is to “kill”. She’s the hammer and everything’s the nail. She doesn’t care about life or death at this point only killing.
And my shaman is very spiritual, she just wants to make her ancestors proud, and to have something to brag about in the next life. She is a follower of Bwomsomdi.
I have nothing for the hunter, and plan to possibly remake them.
I want a good story for a priest, but I haven’t thought of one yet.
(I just realized that between the eyepatch placement and love of combat, Herne is basically Kenpachi)
The last character I role-played lost her home when Southshore was blighted.
A big part of her journey was to go behind enemy lines and help orchestrated the murder of king rastakhan.
Tiffany grew up next to the Windrunners. Sylvanas is her best friend. She drops by Sylvie’s condo in the Torghast tower from time to time to share a bottle of wine and chat about old times.
And future times as well but you won’t get either of them to admit it.
I had a goblin BM hunter.
he didnt fight. He was a scared little guy who always found himself in horrible situations. So his pets fought for him.
For my Undead Warrior, he lived a warrior and died fighting as a warrior. It’s all he knows.
Used to be for the chance to maim the hell out of the Legion.
Now because he gets roped into it. Just does it while mentally going ‘I want to go back to my wife this is annoying.’
I’ve got about…four different Pandaren Monk characters I may portray on this and other Pandaren Monks I have. Each has a different motive for fighting. For the first and oldest one (from a meta perspective), Zhaoyang Cloudpaw, it’s a combination of knowledge, defense and peacemaking, for her mother, Pingyang, it’s legacy and education, upholding family traditions and passing on her knowledge. For my assassin turned temple monk, Liangyu, it was duty in service of a lady, now it’s a catalyst to discovery and self-improvement; and for my active assassin, Ngo-Kwang, it’s the pursuit of a death wish that may never be fulfilled.
One of my Mages once participated in war to gain prestige among her people to use as political influence.
Some, like my first Dracthyr, just do it because it’s what they know best, and it puts food on the table.
Apart from maintaining sanity, my Death Knights have diverging reasons, with the Night Elf following what she sees as her personal nature and the Pandaren seeking redemption from wrongs unwittingly committed late in life.
My first Demon Hunter works in pursuit of a goal most others around have now long viewed as already complete. While she may invoke the original mission of the Illidari, or rather an interpretation of it, as her own, her motives may now go deeper than the intent of that mission. Combat has also become something like a twisted means of coping with the reality that is the world she finds herself in; a far cry from the one she originally fought for. To experience even a fraction of what in service to Illidari used to be is a comfort and an (likely false) affirmation of progress. Only when all demon souls, including her own, find oblivion will she be truly satisfied.
I have a Darkspear Troll who was orphaned in the massacre of Zul’Farrak, when all her living and sacred undead relatives were wiped out. Despite being adopted by a family of Tauren healers, she was never able to get past her childhood. And so she became a shadow hunter, a rogue with no allegiance to anything but her own damaged psyche.
He’s a DRACTHYR. The WoW equivalent of a Supersoldier.
Fighting was his only purpose, what he was CREATED for,
And Damned is the Creation that denies why it was made.
i’m a scarlet crusader i’m an outcast it’s me against the world 
I feel like it’d be the reverse for me and the IC missus.
Because the more humans she kills, the better the world will be.
My paladin is my RP character. Retired Paladin of Stormwind. Born in Gilneas, Xander (Sir Xanderios Ravenstorm) was taken to Stormwind after his mother died in child birth and his father was killed while guarding workers building the wall by a pack of fenrir worgen. Placed on the Cathedral steps by mistake, and not the orphanage, he was found and taken in by a Paladin who trained others. Xander was told the truth about his birth parents, and the surname given to him when he was just a squire.
In exchange for a place to live and his training, Xander swore an oath to his “father” that he would pick up the mantle and help defend storm wind till his dying breath. In service as knight for almost 30 years, Xander retired after the mission that broke him. His King sacrificed himself on the Broken Shores, and he knew it was time to stop fighting and start training future generations.
Now, at 52 years old, he lives on his Apple farm in Westfall and comes into the city three times per week to help train other paladins in-service of their new king. Whether taking a patrol into the searing gorge or the burning steps, he has sworn to train them in the Light and ready them against the forces of evil. Fighting is all he’s ever known, and while his heart may not be as fully vested as it was when serving his king, he places duty and honor above all else to ensure the King‘s son, Anduin, and current king has a fighting force equal to the task of his slain father.
No matter where the training or the incidental mission takes him, Xander still dawns his sword and shield in service of his kingdom, proving honor above all else. Although his hair and beard have grayed in the years since the broken shore, he still calls Stormwind home, and has since been reunited with his original homeland of Gilneas.
This is the paladin I just told you about 
She’s lightforged in the Army of the Light. Peace was never an option.
Born in a hut at Crossroads, I grew up being taught glory is in war and only the strongest will survive. Lok’tar O’gar was engraved in my mind and blood, and ending the wrath of my enemies was bestowed on me. Later on, as a young adult, I joined the Warsong fight as an Outrider. Honing my skills with blades, bow/rifles, I became what my father wanted…a killing machine that takes the front lines to protect others. I was at Crossroads when Camp Taurajo was attacked and knew I what I had to do. We raided the Northwatch camps, slaying every last one we found. In the aftermath, we looked around at the destruction, and I had slaughtered so many, they called me a beast of war, hence my name as of now.
I headed home with an entire new sense of who and what I was…and had become. Was I a monster? Was I a soldier doing my duty? I fought these thoughts for a long while, trying to reasure myself it was just war, and death is a part of it. Even mine.
Through the decades of fighing constantly with the Alliance, battling politics and private motives, I knew the impacts that Garrosh and Sylvanas had made to the Horde. Eventually, all of the negative events hardened me into a steadfast soldier. I still knew when a leader was different from a dictator, and swore Sylvanas and Garrosh’s reigns would never happen again. Even Garrosh had some redeeming values, which Sylvanas had none. I stood with my people against the tyranny, and the Alliance that offered to aide us in defeating her. And formed many new relationships that would have otherwise been impossible, learning that even in dark times, there is a flicker of light.
I am an Orc of Duratar. A soldier. Fearless and even hard-headed. Determined. As long as Azeroth has her enemies to fight, I have a purpose.
LOK’TAR O’GAR!!
My family was born in Gilneas. My sister, Amelia, was cursed with the fur suit. I fight to find a cure for her and all those inflicted with this curse.
It just so happens, however, that I keep getting dragged into the End Times shennanigans, so sis just looks at me all sad like and whimpers. Then licks herself, because doggo.