State of the Horde (Lore)

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
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In Classic, we are unwinding a lot of changes to the Horde.

For the people that like the lore, this is what I think the state of the Horde is in Classic Vanilla (simplified).

Orcs - Primarily made up of Frostwolf and Warsong clans. Many were born in the internment camps in and around the kingdom of Lordaeron before the Plauge. At war with all other Orc clans in Azeroth, particularly the Blackrock clan.

Tauren - Primarily made up of the Bloodhoof, Cloudsong and Dawnstrider Tribes. At war with the Grimtotem Tribe.

Trolls - Are they all Darkspear? I am assuming they are at war with all other Troll tribes that we know about in Azeroth.

Forsaken - Basically all of the former human inhabitants of Lordaeron (minus the Scarlet Crusade/Silver Hand/Argent Dawn who lived) that were exposed to the plague and did not become permanently part of the Scourge.

What am I missing or what do I have wrong?

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Should also be noted that Orgrimmar is a very new city as it was just established at the very tail end of Warcraft 3. I suppose all the Horde capital cities are really. Undercity is really only new in the sense that it is controlled by the Forsaken.

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Even though you are technically correct here it’s a little more complicated than that. The forsaken was apart of the scourge and really just broke free of it when Arthas was weak in his power to control them and this is when Sylvannas broke away from them and brought her followers with.

I mean it’s even more complicated than that, but I think that simple explanation is really important to the feel of being a forsaken.

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Warcraft lore runs very very deep. This isnt even the tip of the iceberg. Its like looking at an iceberg through binoculars. Hit up the various books and see just how deep this rabit hole goes.

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Well, and not being too critical of it, that is part of my question. There are for example two or three different versions of what happened to Durotan and Draka and how Thrall ended up being raised by humans as a slave at Durnholde Keep.

I’m pretty sure it is indeed an epic rabbit hole.

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I think I’ve read around 12-13 books that were in the timeline of pre-WoW and honestly… I probably remember about 1/30th of the information in them, there is just too much to remember lol.

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The Orcs of Thrall’s Horde do seem to have a high number of Frostwolf and Warsong, though as far as I know there is a mix of all the clans as it was primarily just whoever Thrall and Grom could rally and rescue from internment camps or hiding in Lordaeron.

Though with the Blackrock clan still partially in control of Blackrock Mountain, you’d probably not see much of them.

You’d also see a mixture of both Orcs born in internment camps, and those who were part of the old Horde and lived through it. The second war wasn’t so long ago that there can’t be a decent number of veterans among the Orcs, but still long enough that you’d have adult Orcs(albeit young adult) who were born in the camps.

Since all the Trolls were brought from Vol’jin then they’d all be Darkspear. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say some from other tribes were welcomed later, but the founding group would be almost entirely Darkspear.

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Yes. They were driven out of their home in Stranglethorn by the Gurubashi.

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Lore is going to be MUCH different a lot less diverse than modern day WoW.

Thrall only sought a place for him and his merry band of outcasts to call a home, since the Alliance certainly didn’t want anything with them. Following the events of WC3, Thrall (with a ton of help from Gazlowe and Rexxar) forged the city of Orgrimmar. Orcs finally have a new home.

The only Orc ‘race’ that exists at this time are prisoners of the Second War, formerly residents of Draenor after drinking the Fel juice and sent to attack Azeroth. Stragglers of their respective clans exist in some way, shape, or form (Blademasters are Burning Blade, Raiders are Warsong, etc.) However, mag’har orcs are not around because there’s no way to Draenor at this time.

Trolls and Tauren are heavy supports of Thrall, and are honored allies of the Horde. I do believe all the Trolls of the Horde at this time are Darkspear, having lost their traditional home, the Echo Isles, to Daelin Proudmoore. If that wasn’t bad enough, Zalazane betrayed them after. It took until Cataclysm for the Darkspears to properly retake the Echo Isles.

Tauren are Tauren, and are 100% loyal to Thrall. This was well before “Sunwalkers” were a thing. I’m still not even sure if Sunwalkers were properly explained. They still even at this time got along very well with Night Elves due to the Druid ties. Only real enemies they have are the Centaurs and Grimtotems.

Finally, the black sheep of the Horde family, Undead. With Sylvanas free of the Scourge’s control, she needed a base. With Illidan and Arthas busy with the Lich King with their respective goals, Sylvanas staged an attack on the ruins of Lordaeron, employing the many undead (Many with self control due to the Lich King weakening) and others to assist her, and even forcing the Dread Lord Varimathras to her service.

The Forsaken are pretty fun because no one really likes them. They reached out to the Tauren, who, bless their souls, feel like they could be redeemed. Despite Thrall’s doubts, and there were many doubts, he allowed Sylvanas and her new army of Forsaken into the Horde. Basically, in most of the Horde’s eyes, they are tolerated, but never really loved, especially by the Darkspears.

At the time in Vanilla, Thrall is trying to not only solidify his new Horde’s position in Azeroth, he’s also wanting to ease hostilities with the Alliance. Naturally, he will fight, but really all he wants is a unified world. He does build strong ties with Jaina Proudmoore, who’s family launched attacks on Durotar.

All the factions have their own goals, but I think that kinda sums up what the Horde was doing during Vanilla. Considerably less complicated than the current state of things, for certain.

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Been hitting that peace pipe a little too much.

I wonder if human zombies are any more weird to a Tauren than humans themselves. Things that make you go, hmmmmm.

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