Where do the Elements tie into Troll culture? Like ive always seen Troll Shamans as more voodoo than elements as opposed to Orcs, but they obviously use elements, where does this connection come from?
Stay away from da voodoo.
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Come get da voodoo~.
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Honestly I could see it. What’s so different about consorting with the elements for power compared to asking a Loa? All you’re doing is making a deal with a different being.
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Few races make use of a class’ entire toolset. You take bits and pieces: the Priest combines the Cult of Forgotten Shadow, Church of the Light, and Old God Cults into a single class. The Hunter class abilities draw on a combination of Elven Rangers, military marksmen, a Rexxar-like beast/warrior combo, and more.
Same with trolls and Shamanism. The parts of the Shaman class that are taken from Trolls aren’t the elemental powers. It’s the hexes, placement of totems, the healing wave, and spells related to the border between life/death.
It’s especially worth noting that of all the classes, the Shaman is the only one that seems to come up when it’s time to undergo spirit visions to speak to dead ancestors. And that’s definitely a big part of Troll culture.
Also, it seems to me that “voodoo” is how trolls refer to all supernatural skills/techniques/traditions- from fel fueled inflictions to arcane , just as “loa” refers to all supernatural creatures of import, whether they be wild gods, ghosts, or the titans’ attempts at recreating old gods.
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Honestly trolls probably consider Elemental Spirits as their own kind of Loa.
Anywho, the old Zandalari seem to have had a caste of shamans called Augur, who used the “mojo of the Elements” and were able to guide the Zandalari through storms and what not.
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Shaman is not just elementalist. Shaman is a spiritual leader of the tribe. It’s very upsetting that meaning of the class was so simplified - to guy that throws lightning bolts.
But as what was mentioned before, even troll loa grant them elemental powers. Such as Shango is the master of storms, Akunda loa of thunders and rain.
Shadow hunters also can make totems that work like flame throwers.
Also Darkspears were hinted to be known from having affinity with water healing magic. ( Ithink it was with old Yenniku quest).
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It’s not a huge focus. I believe there’s lore suggesting troll shamans (and orc shamans, before they regained their own heritage) learned their elemental magic from the tauren. (Also the dog-ate-my-homework reason that Horde shamans all had a tauren appearance to their totems for so long.)
But moreover, “loa” just means “great spirit”. The elementals are loa. The Night Elven animal gods (Malorne, etc) are loa. Bwonsamdi might have been a troll at one time and then grew enough in power so he became a loa. (And it seems this might be happening to a certain other troll I could name…)
Not sure what voodoo means in-world, but mojo literally just means magic. (Voodoo may specify dark or divine magic?) Before WoW, trolls were strong in Shadow magic and hunting, but the Shadow hunter class didn’t make it in. Their abilities instead got split up between Hunter, Priest, and Shaman, with Shaman probably being the closest.
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I’m pretty sure the trolls had shamans before coming to Kalimdor. The orc shaman trainer in Valley of Trials mentions to troll newbie shamans in Classic WoW that her mentor was a troll as well.
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One of those things that since got a minor retcon probably, like the orc shamans. Trolls had witchdoctors instead of shamans. Slightly different focus and spells, more Shadow based, more spirit based.
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And Tauren had spiritwalkers and not shamans. Still there are bloodscalp and Scullsplitter shamans in STV, Darkspears came from that zone too.
Secondly the tales of Gurubashi sorcerer harming kraken was suggesting that trolls were aware of Neptulon at least.
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The WoW Shaman is a combination of the spiritual traditions of Tauren, Troll, and Orcs and the abilities their units had in Warcraft III. In the MMO, rather than create entirely new classes for Trolls, Tauren, and Orcs, they just made “Shaman” and jammed all of the abilities together.
Troll Witchdoctors in WCIII had placeable wards/totems. Shadowhunters had the Hex and Healing Wave spells.
Tauren Spirit Walkers in WCIII had the Ancstral Spirit spell and could shift into ethereal forms for reduced damage. Tauren Chieftans had Reincarnate.
Orcish Shamans in WCIII had Bloodlust and Purge. Farseers had Chain Lightning, Earthquake, and Feral Spirit.
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