Makes perfect sense, because this was literally the plot of the Bonus Orc Campaign “Old Hatreds” in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, which still has unresolved ramifications today:
Daelin Proudmoore brings his army of Kul Tiran colonizers (imperialists) to Kalimdor
“Orcs! They’re savages! I remember them from the Second War! To hell with what my daughter says, even if she claims they’re reformed! Kill them all!”
Daelin proceeds to build fortresses, bases, and all other manner of settlements literally up and down the Kalimdor coast, stretching from Durotar (Tiragarde Keep) all the way into Dustwallow Marsh and Theramore itself.
Thanks to the deforestation of Durotar, we have the Warsong Gulch situation in Vanilla WoW.
Classic case of “Western imperials come to improve the lives of them poor savages,” and of course end up making everything worse. Which is why it’s frankly jarring not only to see Blizzard insisting on Alliance moral superiority, but also to see Alliance players saying, “No, don’t make the Alliance racist, I don’t want to play as a racist!”
Ok, well…if you play as a (Stormwind) human, a worgen (Gilnean), or a Kul Tiran (human), you come from a racist background that’s clearly-established in Warcraft lore. Sorry, not sorry?
I do agree with Baalsamael that
And this is particularly jarring if they really are fully aware of the—let’s call it what it is—sheer hypocrisy of what they are doing.
But then again, for reference, this is the same company that gave us:
Bastion: Pelegos is trans, hooray for representation!
Ardenweald: Two homosexual male spirit deer! Who are married! Yay for representation!
Tyrande, Jaina, and Sylvanas: Oh, powerful women who have traditionally fought against their oppressors?
Nah, we can’t have that—make them psychotic, murderous, and genocidal. Also, make one of them (Tyrande) terminal on top of that.
Excuse you the Grumpy Night Warrior with the deeper voice is a STAG and his supportive husband with the softer voice is a UNICORN even when performing inclusivity they fall back to ridiculous tropes
Couldn’t have just done two runestags, or like, a raven and an owl
I mean, not wanting ANY sort of racists/bigoted alliance members is silly. Genn was one up until BfA. I think the whole I don’t want play a racist is just that, the PLAYERS don’t want to be told they’re racists. It doesn’t mean you can’t have a Genn or a Admiral Taylor who hates the orcs for Insert reason here.
Because by the same token, you have players who have unapologetically played Forsaken since Vanilla—not for the chemical weapons, but because they got to play characters from Tim Burton movies—only to now be told by Alliance players (present company excluded, I’m sure):
“Oh, you don’t want to play a terrorist? You don’t want to play a murderous, genocidal psychopath? Too bad, your ‘people’ have always been that way!”
Which, of course, isn’t just racist but also goes right back to the Alliance’s original shunning/shaming of the Forsaken—many who, as seen in Before the Storm, have living relatives—that caused them to join the Horde to begin with, in a manner not unlike that of the Blood Elves.
My point was that racism shouldn’t become a part of the main storyline. As you said we’ve been there and done that. If it’s handled well I’m not opposed to it being tackled in fiction, but that’s the thing, when was the last time the writers handled things consistently well?
Just because racism in WoW might be an orc hating an elf doesn’t mean it isn’t a terrible way to make one side “interesting.” There are plenty of others. Since I’m actually a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire, I’d point to the political intrigue and drama as an example of something I’d actually support to make the Alliance more interesting.
Yeah, which is more of a meta issue with blizzards writing choices, which I think we can all agree is a complicated issue. How do you solve it without dragging the other faction through the mud, you know?
Sure, just like we’ve also seen the Alliance portrayed as morally-superior before.
The problem is, where once it was used as a narrative technique—to then pull the curtain back and reveal how the Alliance was not actually morally-superior—now it feels as though the writing team actually believes this to be the case.
Vanilla? Wrath of the Lich King at the latest?
Also Legion, though I’ll admit I’m biased on that one.
Which was, in fact, an interesting part to read about during the original Lordaeron days—I would definitely recommend reading both Tides of Darkness and Day of the Dragon if you haven’t already.
The alliance I admit, was far more interesting when they were easily manipulated by forces they didn’t quite grasp, due to arrogance or just sheer indifference to everything around them that wasn’t human.
Agreed; in the early novels like Day of the Dragon and even The War of the Ancients trilogy, as well as in Reign of Chaos, there was always that implication that, “people who are already ruled by arrogance/bureaucracy/lust for power are more easily preyed-upon” (Terenas, Daelin Proudmoore, Greymane, Grom Hellscream, Xavius, Azshara, etc.) by outside forces.
Because then on the other hand, we see characters like Rhonin and Malfurion actively resisting villains like Deathwing and Sargeras, for example.
There was that recurring theme of, “People are who they are; the villains aren’t actually changing someone’s personality, just bringing it out in full.”
Yes, and neither of those expansions dealt with racism. It wasn’t and isn’t necessary to tell an incredible expansion-spanning narrative, even if racism has existed throughout the history of the lore.
I too quite enjoyed the politics in Tides of Darkness. Day of the Dragon was the first Warcraft book I read, followed by Lord of the Clans. I stopped after the Illidan novel, but have all the books prior to that.
I’ve long been in support of the idea that the Alliance needs some flavor, some political intrigue, some nuance. Racism, in my opinion, isn’t a flavor I’d like to see featured by the current writers. Maybe a side quest here or there, but it wouldn’t make the Alliance interesting.
We’re not talking about an individual character. We’re talking about an entire faction. Teldrassil was a horrible way to ignite the “Fourth War” (no pun intended). Imagine how they’d handle a catalyst based on one side being racist.
I find this discussion very interesting, and I’m not sure yet which side of the argument I fall under.
Several times now in WoW the horde has been hit with the racism villain bat (the horde under Garrosh being the major example), so its not like fantasy-racism is a forbidden, over-the-line flaw that Blizzard refuses to put in the playable factions.
I wonder, though: does the fact that we can now play actual nonwhite people on the alliance at all ameliorate the situation?
That’s not entirely true, as demonstrated by Varian’s speech during the Battle for the Undercity:
I was away for too long. My absence cost us the lives of some of our greatest heroes. Trash like you and this evil witch were allowed to roam free – unchecked.
The time has come to make things right. To disband your treacherous kingdom of murderers and thieves. Putress was the first strike. Many more will come.
I’ve waited a long time for this, Thrall. For every time I was thrown into one of your damned arenas… for every time I killed a green-skinned aberration like you… I could only think of one thing.
What our world could be without you and your twisted Horde…it ends now, Warchief.
But, you know…this was back when racism in WoW could be used as an effective story-telling technique, and the Alliance was allowed to be imperfect and flawed.
Except that even during the Alliance of Lordaeron days, you still had noteworthy exceptions like Taretha Foxton (Lord of the Clans), Tirion Fordring (Of Blood and Honor), and of course, Jaina Proudmoore, to demonstrate that, “We [humanity] aren’t all racist bigots.”
So there does need to be that emphasis on individuality and differing opinions, but whether or not the writing team is capable of that level of detail…
Nope.
Racism and discrimination are behavioral. Ironically, they don’t…discriminate.
The Alliance could literally be made up entirely of black humans and/or black elves, and so long as they continue to see orcs/trolls/tauren/etc. as inferior because they’re orcs/trolls/tauren/etc…that’s racist.
I think you could do it with the old vanilla dark human skin tones but they bizarrely soft-retconned black people out for a while when the darkest tone suddenly became tan instead during the character model revamp in WoD.
Hardly, considering that Blizzard already made their non-white/non-european cultures be represented by non-humans. No matter how many Asian customization options they add, humans are still surrounded by castles, big churches and are named “John” or “Katherine”.
So humans in WoW remain “white” even when they’re not “white”.
even when performing inclusivity they fall back to ridiculous tropes