Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Thank the Ancestors the Orcs Aren't In Charge of the Horde Anymore

The Horde as we know it is a totally different beast than the Horde that existed during the First and Second Wars. Arguably, that Horde - the Horde of Blackhand and Orgrim Doomhammer (and Gul'dan - don't forget him) was dissolved after the Second War. There were remnants - and still are, at Blackrock Mountain - but that Horde ceased to be when the Orcs were defeated. The humans chose to imprison the Orcs rather than commit genocide. It was a decision done with the best intentions, but the inevitable mistreatment of the Orcs - not to mention the shame and thirst for vengeance that came from as simple a source as just being defeated - is what allowed tempers to flare again and what torpedoed the temporary cooperation during the Third War.

The thing is, Thrall may have technically succeeded Doomhammer directly as Warchief, but at that point, the Horde Doomhammer was putting together was already something different. It was free of the demon blood haze, and already it was a Horde that was trying to regain some of its shamanistic roots.

Thrall's tenure as Warchief was marred by a few awful decisions - chief amongst them being his selection of a successor - but no matter what happened in the aftermath of his reign, it's hard to argue he didn't do great things for the Horde. He diversified it - bringing in the Darkspear, the Tauren and... ok, the Forsaken was a more iffy addition, but they brought in the Blood Elves, so ultimately it was a positive move. He even brought in the Goblins after his time as Warchief (though his decision to recognize Gallywix as their leader was another one of his awful decisions.) The point is: whatever flaws he might have (and I think 99% of them are how he has related to Garrosh,) he was... a good Warchief.

Actually, the best.

The Horde is no longer some interloping, occupying force in Azeroth. It has deep roots in Azeroth's people. While the Alliance might have been well within their rights to slay any Orcs (or Ogres) who didn't march right back through the Dark Portal after the Second War, at this point, you couldn't just destroy the people of the Horde, because most of them have just as much of a claim to Azeroth as their home as the races of the Alliance. Technically, it's an even split (though the Orcs are a much bigger presence in the Horde than the Draenei are in the Alliance. And the Forsaken are... complicated at best.)

Thrall's Horde just isn't the same one that came in through the Dark Portal. And that's fantastic, because that Horde was, indisputably, evil. Even if you take out the demon blood and replace it with modern technology, it's still evil. It's bloodthirsty and violent and has no place for peaceful coexistence.

Setting aside the Forsaken, there's really no racial group in the Horde other than the Orcs who really wants to be that. The Darkspear suffered under that kind of stuff when they were a pariah tribe among the Gurubashi, and they don't want any part of it. The Blood Elves lost their most cruel and vicious members when Kael'thas allied with the Burning Legion. The Tauren would be perfectly happy in a world that didn't involve war, even though they're able to fight when it's needed. The Goblins can find a way to make a profit in peace as well as in war, so they're kind of indifferent.

Thrall chose Garrosh to be Warchief because he thought the Horde needed some old-school leadership, but this was a mistake, because at most, it was only the Orcs who wanted that. And even among the Orcs, there were many who were heel-clickingly happy to finally return to the reverent, shamanistic ways they once knew - or better yet, they foresaw a new era for their people, in which they could live in safety in big walled cities rather than fearing that every snapping twig in the wilderness was something trying to kill them.

The fact is that while the Alliance is more explicitly a different entity than its forebear from the Second War, the Horde is even more changed, and it's a wonderful thing that it has.

With Vol'jin as Warchief, the transformation is, if not complete, then getting there. It sends a loud message to the Horde - where once the other races were essentially subjugated to the will of the Orcs - a policy that Thrall only implied while Garrosh made explicit - now there's a beacon of true equality. Granted, just because the leader of a government is a member of a historically oppressed minority doesn't mean that that oppression disappears overnight... obviously no real-world examples here... but it's a good message to send, and marks a milestone of progress.

The Horde that exists in WoW - the one that we've been fighting for since vanilla (well, even as early as WCIII,) is an Azerothian institution. It is not the engine of endless warfare that Garrosh tried to turn it into, and it's not really about Orcs anymore. The Orcs have a special position within it, yes, but it is the position of a founder, and not the sole ruling caste.

It does mean, actually, that most of the Horde should feel no ambiguity in fighting the Iron Horde. The Iron Horde is the alternate-universe of a Horde that no longer exists. My Undead Rogue has no nostalgic love for Kargath Bladefist or Grommash Hellscream. He hates them for sacking his home city and nearly destroying his adopted home of Lordaeron (my Rogue was born in Stormwind, in my headcanon) My Blood Elf Priest feels much the same about these guys. Really, only Orcs are going to  have any chance at feeling some guilt in going up against these guys, but they're just one of the many Horde races - most of which at this point probably are ready to see the Orcs taken down a peg.

I know that Blizzard often says Warcraft is, at its core, about Orcs and Humans, but, invoking a "death of the author" argument, I disagree. I think that the Orcs v Humans story is played out, and it's a much more interesting narrative when we get away from that conflict. (Also, if that were the case, we'd have a lot more human-centric stories.) While following up the Siege of Orgrimmar with a Horde-centric expansion was not exactly a reassuring development, long-term I think that Vol'jin's ascension to Warchief was a concession to that fact. The Horde isn't just Orcs anymore, and really, the Horde that exists today never was. Moving forward, I hope we can see that reflected in-game.

No comments:

Post a Comment