Original Worgen in Vanilla-Wrath didnât have tails. The new models in Cata didnât have tails, and the updated models now donât have tails. Blizzard, for whatever reason, decided to not give Worgen tails when they added them to the game back in Vanilla WoW.
We also have the instance where Christie Golden, one of the writers, wrote Genn as having a tail in her book and the devs, who make the lore, told her that worgen do not have tails. So she came out and tweeted that it was a mistake and Genn does not in fact have a tail. That is about as clear cut as it gets, the devs themselves said Worgen donât have tails, so if someone says their worgen has one it is lore-breaking.
Sorry. Just stating the facts as we have them now.
Could Blizzard add new lore explaining why some Worgen have tails? Sure. But as it is right now, their vision of Worgen is that they do not have tails.
I personally think they went this route because it gives them a more balanced look where they look truly half-man and half-wolf; wolf head, wolf legs and feet, wolf claws, and then a human torso and size. It is the perfect balance. If they add tails they would look more like 75% wolf and 25% man.
Maybe, but they also look like they are about to fall over.
A tail would also help with my RP, my character is very deep into the âwolfâ part of the worgen, and she is a druid. Goldrinn had a tail, and my character is so devout that it would make sense if she had a tail.
Thatâs all fine and dandy but that isnât how the lore is. Just being closer to Goldrinn and a devout follower of him doesnât make one have a tail. Hell, Goldrinn DIRECTLY gives Tess Greymane the worgen curse in the worgen heritage quest and she didnât have a tail, that is about as close as one can get to being connected to Goldrinn.
Why canât trolls become worgen? You are correct, the OOC reason is likely that it is an Alliance race, or hostile-neutral at most, but there are good in-character reasons as well.
How do we know?
First, we know which races can be afflicted based on the narrative. The kaldorei were the first to become worgen, having been the creators of this lycanthropy to fight the satyr. Kaldorei bitten by these worgen became so themselves, but satyr - who were once elves as well - did not. Later when they were released upon the world once more, they came into conflict with humans and later horde races as well. Worgen use their teeth in combat quite a bit, and it was discovered that humans were able to become worgen as well, but not the other races.
Second, constant contact and conflict with other races. The worgen have been in conflict with the horde and various other races for long enough that, if it were possible, we would be seeing it. It has not happened, else we would be seeing it. Third, testing. Forsaken, Gilnean humans and worgen, and even Kaldorei like Vassandra Stormclaw have become borderline mad scientists in their study of worgen, and have no doubt wondered this question themselves, and put it to the test. If any other race were able to become worgen, we would know about it. In fact there is also Salusbury the Help, a gnome in the Stonetalon Mountains, who wishes to become a worgen, but cannot.
Why is that?
So we know that kaldorei can become worgen, but not satyr. And we know that humans can as well, but not gnomes. One might think that if kaldorei can, then Sinâdorei can as well, being relatives, but this is not the case. The same could be said for Vrykul or Dwarves, who are closely related to humans, but cannot become worgen. This raises the question, what do kaldorei and humans possibly have in common? Do they have something that others do not, that enables them to become worgen, or are they lacking a defense the other races have, that makes them defenseless to the affliction?
Upon closer inspection, kaldorei and humans do in fact have quite a bit in common, from a cosmology and spiritual standpoint, dating back to their origins. Kaldorei were once trolls, yes, but they have since been changed by proximity to the Well of Eternity (and/or Elune), a font of arcane energy, coming from the core of Azeroth, who is a titan. Humans, likewise, are of Arcane origin, their ancestors having been created by the titanforged from Azerothâs body. What is more, both kaldorei and humans carry some amount of Shadow in their being as well; kaldorei are of the night and worship the goddess of light and dark even granting them the innate power of shadowmeld and other shadowmagic, while humans have been cursed by the Curse of Flesh from an Old God. In that regard, humans and kaldorei have two factors in common: arcane and shadow.
Those are two things that trolls do not have. But that dwarves, and even Sinâdorei, do. So even that theory is not foolproof. At which point, it may very well be not by happenstance that kaldorei and humans can become worgen. It may be by design. If you have read Curse of the Worgen, you have seen start-to-finish all those involved with the creation of the worgen curse, who was prayed to, who answered, and how She answered. To put it simply, Elune took Goldrinn by the scruff and made the scythe - and thus the curse - from his power and her own, making the worgen. We see later in the Curse of the Worgen epilogue a retelling of the Velinde Starsong questline from Classic wow, in which Elune once again plays a part, revealing the Scytheâs location and the worgen to Velinde when prayed to. All things considered, Elune has had a hands-on part to play in the worgen narrative, even if from the shadows. The curse was clearly made for kaldorei by design, and not anyone else⊠but why humans were included as well⊠might have been a descision of either Elune or Goldrinn. After all, it was Goldrinn who took a human - the human king Varian Wrynn - as his personal champion; something he took seriously, to the extent that he mourned Varianâs passing during Legion.
What can you do?
All in all, you donât need to worry about your darkspear contracting the curse. However, if you -did- want to play something similar, there are a couple options available.
Firstly, while a troll becoming a worgen is impossible to our knowledge, a half-troll half-kaldorei becoming a worgen is viable, just as a half-elf or half-orc of human blood might be. Half-breeds of this nature are rare enough in lore that the logic of âwe havenât seen it yetâ isnât as applicable, and sense they are at least half genetically human or kaldorei, they could become worgen for the same reasons humans and kaldorei can.
Second, while only humans and kaldorei can become true worgen, there is actually a Forsaken worgen in Classic WoW named Apothecary Berard, and a possible vrykul worgen or two in Northrend. The reason why is Arugal, and his own homebrew curses he came up with. He was a mage and, just as mages can polymorph you into a sheep or rabbit, he was able to enchant âPyrewood Shacklesâ to turn the wearer into a worgen. Since this is only a surface-level curse, lifts upon death (seen in Grizzly Hills), and can be used even on Forsaken, such can be used on any other race as well.
Third, if you are simply going for a more savage kind of troll, there is this form of pseudo-druidism known as the âPrimalâ. While the more indepth description comes from the non-canon RPG, there are Primal NPCs in the game, often wearing animal masks, wielding claws, accompanied by beasts, or a mixture of the three.
Ah, well that sounds like it thoroughly torpedoes a silly little headcanon idea of mine about being infected and needing to find sanctuary in the alliance. The answer might have disappointed me but I appreciate the detailed write-up about the whys or why-nots.
Edit: If I recall correctly, the well of eternity stuff was recently retconned such that it actually accelerated all life on Azeroth, and the shift from troll to night elf was mostly proximity-based and moved it at a faster rate. I was hoping the nature link between the two races would have been enough to explain it.
Maybe! Maybe not! Check out the Pyrewood Shackles idea. You would have to do some research, and play it well, but âtroll discovers pyrewood shackle and puts it on, accidentally becomes a worgenâ might actually be fun and viable. It is heavily implied that the shackles were unable to be removed as well, but would only turn the villagers into worgen at nightfall.
Worgen donât have tails. That much is a fact. If you claim your worgen has a tail, then yes, that is abnormal at best, and will need explanation.
-Why- donât worgen have tails? You could ask as well, why do they talk? Why do they stand on two legs? Yes, wolves have tails, and Goldrinn has a tail, but worgen are not wolves, and worgen are not the Pack Form. For more, please see post #111 for a more indepth examination of the topic, including some possible lore-friendly options. There is also a full thread dedicated to that topic in General Discussion where you can go to discuss the topic.
Hmmnn⊠yeah⊠no⊠not really⊠no⊠I do try to find a way to say yes when I can, so find a way to make the idea work in a lore-abiding way, but it doesnât always work.
Details
For one, Azerite is a complex variable to throw in there. True, it was calming to Anduin, but it was also inspiring to Sylvanas, enraging to elementals, and equally so to animals. For two, yeah, a true troll would not be able to become a true worgen.
One more unrelated question I had while leveling through Drustvar. Itâs stated in the opening post that worgen arenât affected by silver, but is it possible that this has been soft-retconned into being so, if indirectly? I know itâs a little weird to bring game mechanics into it, but at one point the alliance player receives a buff called Silvered Weapons, which grant a low chance to stun undead, elementals and aberrations. When taking into account that one of the worgen racials is straight up named Aberration (source of the shadow/nature resistance), and the function of the silver needle in a previous quest is to forcibly reveal the true form of the concealed Drustvar witches, shouldnât the same apply to worgen now?
This is a really good point. It may be true, but I donât think Blizzard has said anything. The only example of a weapon that has harmed Worgen is in Silverpine Forest when Godfrey, or Baron Ashbury, I donât remember which, has a buff that says wolfsbane bullets. It basically does extra damage to worgen.
If a Worgen was travelling at sevenity awoos a minute and another awoo was travelling at eight awoos a minute - both heading to Stormwind from Booty Bay, where is the last place they will be able to hear each otherâs awoos?
(I know this isnât a real question, this thread needs more love though.)
Google says that a wolfâs howl can carry up to 10 miles in open terrain. Assuming no foliage to help muffle the sound, and because I think the actual speed traveled is irrelevant since the two worgen are moving with the same unknown speed variable, they stop awooing at each other when the slower one crosses about 1.143 miles north of Booty Bay, or the total length of 100.58 uninterrupted Blinks or 287.38 seconds of straight-line running at the base movement speed of 7 yards per second.
Are you saying you got a howl lot more than you bargained for?
As far as we know, the Heartsbane weaknesses (silver and onions) do not apply to anything else known to Azeroth, thus being so bizarre and unheard of to the re-formed Order of Embers. Except the Drust, from whom the Heartsbane draw their power.
Silver
Now -why- do silver and onions effect the Drust, and nothing else? We arenât told exactly. We might yet find out more, when we learn more about the Drust and their source of power next expansion, where we run into them in Ardenwaeld. Traditionally, silver is regarded as harmful to werewolves and even vampires in olden folklore because it is regarded as holy, whereas both vampires and werewolves are considered the spawn of dark sorcery if not demons themselves. Sometimes this is even attributed to Judas trading Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, or silverâs alchemical nature of corroding in the presence of Sulfer, an element commonly attributed to demonic spiritual activity. In modern tales, whatever the explanation may be, the weakness is often used as a plot point and a reminder that the antagonist is no longer human, and is in fact something unnatural and evil that must be vanquished.
Aberrations
Thus the reason for its use in Drustvar, combatting the forces of darkness. Now if you remember, worgen were - at one point - thought to be such things. Humans once believed - from the writings of Ur and their own folklore - that worgen were beings of shadow, from a nightmarish realm. They could not have known that this nightmarish realm was in fact the dream (in its nightmare-stricken state) or that worgen are the creation of two benevolent deities; not of evil. Therefore, while worgen are indeed aberrations from the traditional websterâs dictionary definition of the word, they are not aberrations as defined by World of Warcraft. In WoW, the term is used to define beings typically hailing from the Old Gods. Since a faceless one is neither an undead, nor an elemental, Aberration is what is used in the mechanics terminology. Worgen meanwhile are catagorized as humanoids, much like other Wild God related beings are, like Furbolg, Dryads, etc.
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Aberration
Weaknesses
Now when it comes to the true weaknesses for worgen, that is where Wolfsbane comes into play, as Dardillian mentioned. There is very little on it, but what little there is, I have long since added to the Worgen Weaknesses section on wowpedia. Now, why exactly does Wolfsbane harm worgen? That, we can only speculate. https://wow.gamepedia.com/Worgen#Weaknesses
On a related note, hereâs a few working theories based on lore. I had to go dig these up from another thread from this time last year, and figured Iâd post them here at least so I donât have to go digging again. One includes the question as to why exactly Wolfsbane is deadly to worgen, and the others are more⊠food for thought.
Theories
Wolfsbane is deadly becauseâŠ
Theory: Wolfsbane is Void Infused
Wolfsbane is deadly to worgen, that much is canon. But why wolfsbane, and why to worgen specifically? Weâve seen that it grows in the Grizzly Hills and Gilneas at least, both places steeped in void energy, and right on top or near to Old God prisons ( Yogg-Saron) and Zakajz) respectively). Plant life can be corrupted by void energy, see Vordrassil and Nightmare. Nature magic is also vulnerable to void energy, see Saronite.
With that in mind, Wolfsbane may be void-powered. Worgen are nature powered. Void hurts nature. Therefore, Wolfsbane hurts worgen.
The Blackwald is corrupt looking becauseâŠ
Theory: It is infected with Nightmare
The Blackwald is a forest in southern Gilneas, with the great tree Taâdoren at its center. Talâdoren is the physical counterpart to âDaralânirâ, a great tree in the Emerald Dream known to calm enraged beings. Over nine thousand years ago, the first worgen created the curse to better fight the Satyr army, then rebelled against Malfurion Stormrage when he called them freaks. He banished them to sleep forever under this tree in the Emerald Dream. He said they were to sleep, at peace forever.
Unbeknownst to Malfurion, the Emerald Nightmare began to take form 4500 years ago, when Vordrassillâs roots (see above) reached into Yogg-Saronâs prison, allowing him to corrupt the dream through the treeâs connection. The Emerald Dreamâs shadowy corruption began, aided by the fiendish Satyr.
When the archmage Ur studied shadowmagic in Dalaran not but a couple decades ago, he looked at shadowy dimensions. One of which he described as a ânightmarish world of darknessâ. He saw the worgen, and how fiercely they battled their mortal enemy; the Lords of the Emerald Flame. Finally, he says never to attempt what he did, and absolutely never summon the worgen to our world.
About ten years ago, Archmage Arugal uses Urâs research to summon the worgen. Alpha Prime is summoned as well, and convinces Arugal to serve him instead of Greymane. Alpha Prime starts a cult in the shadows of Gilneas, turning willing Gilneans into worgen. When confronted by Belysra - his slain best friendâs lover - he describes how torturous it was to be in the Emerald Dream, and never wants to go back. Curse of the Worgen also reveals that the âLords of the Emerald Flameâ is another name for The Satyr.
And finally, in modern day, we see the Blackwald. The physical body of Daralânir is blackened, covered in black roots choking the forest with red thorns. Glowing red pixie-like creatures fly around the forest, and the woods is shrouded in an eternal darkness. In fact, Gilneas as a whole is said to have become darker as the years went on, and even experienced a famine as crops began to fail.
To summarize, the forest was fine over nine thousand years ago. The worgen were put to sleep in that portion of the Emerald Dream. When the Nightmare began to take hold, it not only corrupted the forest, but also woke the worgen, who did battle with the satyr. This spiritual war brought the attention of scholars, leading to their return to the mortal world. I cannot help but wonder, what would Gilneas look like if the worgen were not there to oppose the satyr?
People still believe worgen misconceptions becauseâŠ
Headcanon: we let them
There are a handful of misconceptions about worgen that persist to this day. Things that were theorized in vanilla, never confirmed, proven false, but that people still OOCly believe. Examples include,
âWorgen are shadow creaturesâ
Some people still believe the worgen curse is shadow in nature. Even though thatâs disproven even in Vanilla content, with the Scythe of Elune questline in Felwood and Ashenvale.
âWorgen cause Shadow Corruption whereever they goâ
Many people believe that any territory the worgen make home, they then terraform into the likeness of their nightmarish homeworld. In reality, Gilneas was dark before the worgen were ever summoned. Similarly, Duskwood is the result of Medhivâs death in Karazhan, the resulting explosion that cursed Deadwind Pass and Duskwood. This is confirmed in general lore, Chronicle, and Curse of the Worgen epilogue. Duskwood was already cursed by the time the worgen were summoned.
âThe Gilneas outbreak was an accidentâ
A little more sensical, since thatâs what the Starter Zoneâs quests have you believe. In reality, The Bloodfang Pack was sane, and the attack was intentional and orchestrated.
âFeral Packs are Mindless Worgenâ
Again forgivable, since thatâs what biased questgivers have you believe. However, the feral packs we see ingame (the Nightbane and Bloodfang) wear clothes, speak common, build houses, read and write, practice magic, use weapons, and more. Curse of the Worgen and Dark Riders reveal the Bloodfang and Nightbane packs respectively to be two sects of The Wolf Cult, people who have elected to become worgen and live in the wild, choosing it over city life.
Tons more, but these in particular come up quite a bit. Since players still believe this stuff, their character speak it as truth. So as a character that knows that theses are misconceptions, my character has to wonder why so many people think these things.
The headcanon here is in place to preserve immersion. Being, people still believe these things because society allows them to. Anti-worgen racism is still quite real, and many Gilneans know only as much as the elves have told them, cannot correct people on these rumors, and even begin to believe them themselves. What is more, these feral packs are very secluded, seldom interacting with civil society apart from secretly entering the city to recruit, so they have little reason to try and correct people on these rumors.
People still believe Darkshire is alive becauseâŠ
Headcanon: they can't tell they're actually ghosts
This oneâs pretty straight forward. In lore, the Night Watch joined the Burning Legion during the Legion expansion last year. Under the command of the Legion, the Night Watch - formerly Darkshireâs defenders - slaughtered Darkshireâs population, and used their organs and gallons of blood in a ritual to summon demons inside Stormwind Keep.
This all took place in the Assassination Rogue artifact questline which, although canon, a lot of us didnât get to do, and so donât know about. The rogue playercharacter is tasked with killing Althea Ebonlocke and the rest of the Night Watch, thwarting their plans. The questline ends with most of Darkshireâs citizenship dead. Darkshire was struggling to begin with, and now with only a few survivors, the town is no doubt evacuated to Stormwind.
However, Blizzard didnât update Darkshire with phasing or anything of the sort, so people that donât know of this still see Althea Ebonlocke. And being a beloved roleplay spot for those that like grim atmosphere, like myself, people still roleplay there and speak as if nothing happened. So what do? Ignore canon lore, or ignore roleplayers?
Answer being, neither. Human souls have been known to return to the location of their deaths as ghosts, especially if their death was particularly gruesome. In some cases, you donât even know they are a ghost until it is too late. Therefore, it is reasonably plausible for Raedolf to act as if theyâve seen a ghost, if a roleplayer speaks as if theyâd just spoken with Althea Ebonlocke. Thus saving immersion, and saving face.
It is worth noting that not ALL of the citizens of Darkshore were slaughtered. Morgan Ladimore and a couple others didnât join up, and were protecting survivors in the town.
