So the lore of the Shatterspear is as follows. They were one of the tribes that split off from the Gurubashi Empire, except they, like the Darkspear, decided to leave Stranglethorn and settle somewhere else, because they had a more peaceful temperament. They chose Darkshore, precisely because it was recluded and away from war. They struck a deal with the local Kaldorei : they could live here in peace as long as they didn’t leave their Vale ; according to Exploring Kalimdor, they counted themselves lucky for that bargain.
Then in Cata, the Horde helped them out by building the Shatterspear pass that allowed them to get in and out the Vale more easily. Garrosh recruited them into the Horde and was planning to use them as a way to attack the Kaldorei from the north. The Kaldorei learned about that plan and preemptively genocided the Shatterspear. The tribe disbanded, only to return in BfA during the War of the Thorns. Currently they’re back in the Shatterspear Vale as members of the Horde, are led by a new chieftain named Ohseso, and went back to their bargain with the Kaldorei.
… See the problem here ? The Shatterspear fled the EK and settled in the least convenient place in Azeroth (exceedingly recluded, in the very middle of Night Elven land, far away from any ally) only to escape conflict. To phrase it another way : they deliberately chose the most sucky place imaginable just so nobody would take interest in their lands and attack them. But for some reason they accepted to partake in the faction war, when it was so obvious that they would get annihilated considering that they’re surrounded with Night Elves. Why… why the hell did they agree to attack the Kaldorei in Cata ? This contradicts everything we know of them, from their depiction as a peaceful, non-expansionist tribe, to the fact that they were thankful to the Kaldorei for letting them stay.
I see two possibilites :
Something happened between them and the Kaldorei prior to Cata
The writers don’t know their own lore or they simply don’t care whether things make sense or not
Here are their descriptions from the Troll Compendium :
Summary
The Shatterspear tribe split off from the Gurubashi empire after the defeat of Hakkar the Soulflayer. The various tribes claimed territories in the vast jungles of Stranglethorn Vale but quickly began fighting one another.
The Shatterspear tribe has since settled at the northeast edge of Darkshore, a continent away from Stranglethorn. Highly reclusive and apparently uninterested in claiming further territory, the Shatterspear trolls live in a small village that is almost entirely surrounded by jagged hills. Visiting the secluded village is a difficult endeavor, and a number of adventurers have fallen to their deaths in attempting to scale the steep hills around the Shatterspears’ home.
The trolls’ purpose in living here is unknown at this point in time. Certainly it is a strange location for any troll to choose to live: surrounded by mountains and, beyond that, the trolls’ ancient enemies: night elves.
And from Exploring Kalimdor (especially interesting for the emphasis put on how peaceful they are) :
Summary
Outsiders been scratching their heads for a long time, wondering why the Shatterspear trolls made their home in Darkshore. It be something of a secret, but truth is, the Shatterspear trolls chose peace instead of war. They had nothing to offer the night elves who lived here. The two peoples struck a bargain: the trolls could live in peace, but they could not leave Shatterspear Vale. If they be under attack, the night elves won’t come to their aid. The Shatterspear trolls agreed to the terms and counted themselves lucky.
Mountains and trees ring Shatterspear Vale, skimming the sky. For thousands of years, its waterfall beat against the ground, carving the bowl of the vale. The waterfall flows into a large pool whose shoreline is dotted with Shatterspear huts and smaller fishing tents.
After the Cataclysm, the Shatterspear lost their chieftain, Jor’kil. The Horde offered protection to the trolls, but in time, most returned to Shatterspear Vale to re-form their broken tribe. Their new chieftain, Ohseso, continues to rebuild in hopes that the tribe can ever answer the Horde’s call. As a return on good faith, the Horde built Shatterspear Pass—a bridge to the outside world. The skeletons that line the cliffs are said to be either failed messengers or those who sought a way out by force. Either way, I was glad to use the pass and not have to tempt the same fate.
Our brothers here have simple needs: medicine for bad days, three letters to bring back to Orgrimmar, well wishes for the council. Even after the terrible battles at Darkshore, the Shatterspear still choose harmony over bloodshed. They try to honor their bargains with both the night elves and the Horde. Like the Darkspear, they be putting their home, their people, above all else. We definitely don’t agree on the best way to make a loa loaf, but I be proud to have troll kin with peace in their hearts.
Thats most probably what happened.
Everyone loved the dancing trolls that you flew over in vanilla and in the wake of cataclysm and faction war Blizzard used them as another warfront in the Horde Alliance war.
I just want to additionally say everything Alliance side is very low effort in Cata. Its obvious they came second on the To-Do list and they ran out of time.
In almost all the Alliance territories its either a joke quest zone or randomly destroyed Vanilla zones that are “updated”.
Tornados, cracks, magma, flooding they are just there.
Any quest involving them or doing anything different for questing story? Nothing.
Like why is the tornado there? Why is it there? No one knows. What will it do? Nobody knows.
Save for one in darkshore that malfurion seemed to be dealing with but nothing got concluded if I recall.
This is what happened to these trolls.
Blizzard just put them into this war and did not care to elaborate further.
We learn from this that trolls should never be allowed to settle next to Alliance bases. No matter how “peaceful” they may seem. They’ll always be a potential threat, ready to be recruited by the Horde, and then they go all surprised pikachu face when the Alliance doesn’t want to put up with it. With good reason, as history shows.
I’m more annoyed by the fact Blizzard did decide they wanted status quo on as much of EK/Kalimdor. Honestly, why wouldn’t the night elves have tried to wiped them out again(anyone who did the War of Thorns would have seen how horribly they treated any night elves they captured)? If I was Tyrande they would be top of my list of people to take vengeance on.
It wasn’t preemptive. The Shatterspear and the Horde had already expanded out into Darkshore proper and begun their war campaign. They had killed night elf survivors of the Cataclysm and captured/tortured others.
Your larger point still stands, I just wanted to correct the record.
His style of recruitment wasn’t like Thrall’s, where all races were respected and he brought in groups that could help the Horde but only if they themselves wanted to join. Garrosh’s style was more along the lines of: “Serve or die.”
That style of recruitment went on to be used with the Iron Horde.
Honestly I look at it like this, The shatterspear were sealed off from all other creatures so were peaceful until the cataclysm occurred and made it possible for them to invade their neighbors.
Its the standard MO for trolls to attack their neighbours not one tribe is not guilty of this. There is no such thing as a “peaceful” troll tribe in warcraft.
So does this mean they were allowed BACK into the Vale in Darkshore AFTER the 4th War?
How does that make any sense? The Alliance is written so incompetent and apparently makes no logical demands even when they “win” or come out in a much stronger position in these faction wars. If the Alliance won Darkshore, why would they even be allowed to return?
I strongly believe a standing order from on high when this Exploring Azeroth series was approved, was to not change anything because that would be taken by players as tantamount to saying old world zones would be actually updated, and they presently have a policy of only updating old world stuff in tiny bits when they can justify that it results in profitable game content.
So, they had to bend themselves into a pretzel to logic small changes that don’t actually do a lot to push stuff forward but still try to acknowledge time has passed. This several year time skip that seems nearly a certain thing will only make this feel more awkward still.
It’s one of those vengeance upon vengeance situations. In Cata the goal of the Kaldorei questline was really to kill every single one of the Shatterspear. The problem I have is that it’s nonsensical that the Shatterspear started the fight in the first place
You’re right, the Horde had already started its offensive. I used the word “preemptive” because the point of the Kaldorei’s attack was to annihilate them before they could become a bigger threat
I don’t think so, because they sticked with the Horde after Garrosh was overthrown. In Cata the NPCs had dialogues that clearly indicated that the Shatterspear took pride in being in the Horde
This is just wrong. There are several examples of Troll societies having friendly relationships with their neighbors (see the Drakkari or the Zandalari). The Trolls generally only attack two types of groups : other Troll tribes, and those who trespass upon their lands
Also the Darkspear are, by all means, peaceful ; and in Exploring Kalimdor, Zekhan basically describes the Shatterspear as Darkspear²
My guess is the Horde made it a condition of the armistice that their subfactions could all go back to living on their respective lands. Obviously they wouldn’t have left a Horde group homeless, not when said home is on Kalimdor of all continents. It’d have given the Horde a pretty poor image (after all the reason why the various groups join the faction is that they seek protection ; there’s no point in joining if doing so may bring them to lose their lands)
So as to why the Alliance accepted, I’d say :
Either they didn’t really have a choice because otherwise the Horde would have refused the armistice
Considering that the Kaldorei apparently accepted to go back to their old bargain, it leads me to think that maybe there’s more to it than what we saw in Cata, and the two groups did have peaceful relations until something went wrong
Of course those are in-universe explanations. The most plausible answer would probably be that the devs needed the lore to reflect the Cata state of them map (hence why Exploring Kalimdor is all about maintaining status quo lol)
Sadly, it’s the latter.
Blizzard writing for trolls has often been less than stellar, but at least they usually have reasons for what they’re doing ( old grudges, existential threats etc etc )
But the Shatterspear? Nope. They are peaceful, then they’re suddenly not, then they’re peaceful again.
It’s lazy and annoying.
And food supply is not, especially when you’re not allowed to leave the valley. It would make a lot of sense, yes, but alas.
The Night Elves during Darkshore questing are all completely clueless about what suddenly riled up the trolls after many years of peaceful co-existence ( or toleration rather, on their part ) and so are we, because the writers couldn’t be bothered with explanations.
I would have hoped Exploring Kalimdor addressed this but as we all know, this was not the case.
I think at that point it was too late for them to go back. Once you swear an oath to the Horde, you can’t easily break it and walk away. The Horde offered them protection that they would need if the Night Elves ever pushed into their territory post-cata. Also, and I’m just spitballing here (this is all personal belief) but maybe they stayed because Vol’jin was the new Warchief, so there was a form of mutual respect there.
After they got beaten heavily by the Night Elves in Darkshore, I think they saw the writing on the wall and realized that if they didn’t attempt to honor their non-aggression pact with the Night Elves that they’d be easily wiped out. The Shatterspear value home and people above all else, so self-preservation would have been a key factor in any decisions they made.
“Trolling”. Pretty rich coming from a Troll lover playing a Blood elf for God knows what reason! At least be honest and reroll! Same goes for all other Troll loving Elf players, like Erevien!
