As it says, all on point with the lore, the tauren joined with the orcs to repay their debts with the orcs that saved them from the Centaur. After going through this and that, changing warchiefs and now being stuck with sylvanas. I don’t think the Tauren have any further reason to stay as they have well past paid their debt to the horde that thrall formed.
Even as the tauren and trolls are them most sensible and reasonable races of the horde. I can see the Trolls reason to remain because of the Zandalari, but the tauren don’t really have any more legitamate reason to stick around the horde, and could go neutral lorewise.
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b/c in Blizzard’s mind –
“pretty” races go to Alliance
“monstrous”, rough races (excepting blood elves of course) go straight to Horde
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Because this is an MMO, not a single player RPG. Once a race joins a specific faction, they’re locked in for better or for worse.
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Well, they can’t go neutral because they’re a playable race. They’re either Horde or Alliance for the time being. If they left the Horde to join the Alliance… their major hub is located right next to the Horde capital, on a continent that has a very diminished Alliance presence. It’s in their best interest to stay in the Horde.
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But that’s actually dumb, and the Tauren have more than just liking what the Warcheif does to stay in the Horde.
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They really need to. The horde that they joined is not the same one of now. With Carine and Vol’jin gone the bond that created ther new horde with Thrall isn’t there anymore.
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Meta reasoning, really. If the storyline wasn’t bound by the factions and the playable races within, we’d probably see factions secede more often. Closest we’ve come is the Ren’dorei, and they were exiled.
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It’s quite a conundrum, really. On one hand, they could join the Alliance who wiped out an entire tribe of tauren. On the other, they could remain with the Horde who wiped out an entire tribe of tauren.
Hmm, maybe they could just form their own alliance that consists entirely of no one but tauren. Magatha still chillin at the shaman order hall? Wait, never mind.
Is there anyone on Azeroth who has not wiped out a significant portion of the tauren race?
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They wouldn’t last 2 seconds without the Horde backing them.
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Honestly the Tauren have been portrayed as wallowing in hypocrisy for a long time now. Their efforts at ‘peace’ have been token at best, and they’ve benefited immensely from having a veneer of being the peaceful nature loving race.
They’ve only ever truly acted against the Horde’s interest when the Warchief turns against them first, and as we’ve seen that takes a lot. Their treatment of the night elves, who revere nature just as much as the Tauren claim to, shows they don’t actually care unless it’s used as justification to strike at people on their land.
Tauren shammies were fighting in the War of Thorns, and per the novellas, the Burning was helped along by shaman sweettalking fire spirits. The Tauren belong on the Horde.
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It’s really not as easy as it seems. Leaving the Horde would mean withdrawing from all Horde-based services as well, like zeppelins, which are crucial for continental travel. They also lose a lot of protection and could be open to attack by enemies whether it be centaur or others. Most of their weapons and armor, pretty much gone since they don’t really have much in the way of an industrialized weapon producing facility like in Orgrimmar.
There’s a lot of unforeseen consequences that come with a big decision like that.
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The taurens have always tried to steer the Horde along the moral path. Also, the taurens value loyalty. At the very least I can appreciate that about them.
Their nation is now relatively secure and short of some big bad like the Lich King/Old God attacking them I think the tauren could withstand any major assault. Being neutral would also mean they would be capable of asking for help from the Alliance.
Not that I think they would ever leave the Horde. The taurens are staying because they believe they have an eternal debt to the Horde. Hell, the dwarves are the same. Magni once said the dwarves would forever owe a debt of honor to the Alliance.
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Then they’re really bad drivers.
The tauren are perfectly fine where they are in the Horde. None of the individual races of the Horde would be better off if they seceded, they would all be severely weakened and vulnerable. Even the orcs and the Forsaken.
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Because they couldn’t even handle some centaur alone and the Horde would crush Thunder Bluff if they dared. The Alliance’s closest major settlement is on Azuremyst. If they couldn’t help Teldrassil, they won’t be able to help there in time.
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That explains Baine’s actions…
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From a logical stand point despite Sylvanus actions on the Hordes behalf the Tauren would be made a prime target if they tried splitting off on their own if not from local threats like the Grimtotem or Centaur tribes near their local region it’ll be a vengeful Alliance.
It doesn’t matter how many ways you could spin it there would be enough bloodthirsty idiots in the Alliance liken to Daelin Proudmoore’s nature who wouldn’t bat an eye to wipe out Thunder Bluff.
There is also the possibility of a major population decline among the mortal races of the Horde…by comparison to how the other races possibly breed the Forsaken has the fastest growth rate since they can add to the ranks by raising corpses from the dead.
But then population hasn’t been an issue since…Anduin brought it up? Something about recruiting farmers for war yet showing no signs in game of issues sending a seemingly limitless supply of troops to their deaths in BFA…
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Think of World War 1. Professional Soldiers were killed off fairly early on in the war, then it was the people who were required/felt obligated to fight. Regiments cut down to a tenth in a few weeks in some cases but the war did not end until it was obvious Germany was going to lose, losing ground and oil, and a republic replaced the Kaiser which then negotiated peace. There probably is not such a shortage of men and women in Stormwind to be unable to send forces, but its going to be an increasing problem as the war drags on, if things were written to respect that.
The Horde are just a really genocidally inclined SUV. Can’t blame the driver for how many children they run over. Can’t blame anyone really. Sometimes you just gotta run over a few children you know? It’s the way of things.
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And do what? Join the Alliance and the Dwarves who desecrated their sacred land and destroyed the Stonespire clan?
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