So with the release of Shadowlands, as we all know a slew of new customization options were released for a bunch of different races. Notably, Darkspear Trolls were given a skin colour option that resembles that of the Sandtrolls that we have encountered in Zandalar, and throughout Azeroth.
I basically make this post to ask the lore buffs out there, are the sand trolls now officially allied with the Horde? Or is this simply a flavour option that should be taken with a grain of salt?
No confirmation in-game in any direction but lets headcanon that the Farraki trolls have re-integrated into larger Troll society under Talanji.
There’s a theory that the Zandalari trolls got all of the other tribes that bent knee to them to fall in with the Horde, so, customization options reflected that. Maybe. I’ve nothing concrete on the matter.
I think the safe bet would be that after the Zandalari joined the Horde, some Sand Trolls still loyal to them joined as well. Jakra’zet was a traitor but I doubt they’d all be.
Well, Devs said the High Elf options were to represent High Elves, so I’d guess it’d be a safe bet the Sand Troll options are to let Horde players represent Horde-Loyal Sand Trolls.
As always though, play/RP whatever you want. If other people tell you you’re wrong, then they’re not the crowd for you.
Much of the assumption can come that with the allying of the Zandalari into the Horde brings all the tribes (or refugees thereof) also may side with the Horde as well. Though there’s no confirmed details… The Farakki tribe may very well throw their lot in with the Horde.
There’s nothing officially stated but it can either be viewed as the Farakki joining up with the Horde or a simply matter of those sand trolls players merely being individuals who joined the Darkspear and/or Horde.
Remember Talanji taking the Crown as Queen of the Zandalar? Pretty much the other Tribes ended up coming together as one. So in the future we might see ice and forest trolls playable for the regular trolls since Dark and Sand Trolls are playable now.
The general consensus, while not hard confirmed, is that Rastakhan’s death, Talanji’s subsequent coronation, and Zandalar’s allying with the Horde brought most of the other troll tribes under the allegiance of the Horde, or at least a notable number of them.
In the case of the Farraki - Ukorz Sandscalp was confirmed alive in Traveler, but that book takes place around the time of MoP, so it’s possible he could have been killed sometime in between then and now. Sul and Jakra’zet were both confirmed killed, and Zul’Farrak is largely a wasted city that I don’t imagine is sustainable for what’s possibly a largely wasted tribe.
Given its proximity to both a recent Old God invasion AND the Horde capital, I can imagine the combination of all of the things I mentioned would give the Farraki PLENTY of credence to finally buddy up with the Horde.
I believe Blizzard already explained this as:
“Formally yes, these were your enemies. San’layn, Sand Trolls, Fel Totem, Yangol, etc etc (depending on what they add, this is wishful thinking) but at this point, everyone is fighting for their life on Azeroth. YOUR character has their free will. YOUR character can break away from the typicality of their tribe/race in general. Therefore, your character can fight as a hero or whatever you wish. They are fighting for Azeroth.”
So it’s not so much that, say the Sand Trolls are joining the Horde. It’s that you’re a lone Sand Troll who’s breaking away to join up with the heroes trying to save the world.
Head canon is all we got. You look like a sand troll. Act like one. Talk like one. You are one. So the Farakki tribe who bent the knee to the Zandalari and were given a position in the Zonchuli Council in spite their representative’s failures. They are still bound by the throne of Zandalar. They joined the Horde. In other words you a Sand Troll joined the Horde by proxy. Least that’s how I would interpret it.
As people already mentioned, I’m sure there were outliers who did join the Horde due to their loyalty to Talanji/the Zandalari. Until we get official word, if we ever do, nothing stopping you from rping a Sand troll loyal to the horde.
My bet is that the tribes are officially still hostile to the Horde but you have offshoots of those tribes that are tired of scraping out their existence amid the ruins of their civilization and have come in out of the cold to join the Horde.
Make sense, I can picture some of them thinking What has all this hostility really gotten us? Besides our teeth kicked in repeatedly? and decided a change of pace was needed.
So far Ion said “it’s up to the player” aka they don’t have any idea how to write it but looked cool for them. However more later on the road we can see a proper explanation as it seems the current team are focused in their “master piece” called SL rather than rest of the game and setting.