The Mag'har and the Light

Well, it took me a lot longer than the Dark Irons, but I finally got the Mag'har Orcs unlocked and created a Blackrock-looking Monk.

I'll confess that I've never been terribly into the Orcs, and the Mag'har were thus maybe my least anticipated allied race. That being said, their inclusion has been a long time coming - I'd say that Dark Irons, Mag'har, and High Elves have all been requested for ages, and hey, two out of three ain't bad! (For the record, I personally find the Void Elves a lot more interesting than High Elves would have been, but I do understand how some people really wish they'd gotten High Elves for the Alliance instead.)

Still, what the Mag'har bring with them in addition to cool new looks for Orcs is an intriguing epilogue to Warlords of Draenor that raises some interesting questions.

After securing the ability to return to Draenor B, we find that its timeline has caught up with ours - the Mag'har there only vaguely recall us as having been there decades ago, when we helped expel the Legion from the world.

But the Orcs we find are paranoid about the Draenei and the "Lightbound."

The timeline appears as follows: the Orcs and Draenei united against the Legion and drove them out, and there was peace and friendship between the two peoples. But the Naaru seemed to want the Draenei to use this time to convert the Orcs to worship of the Light. Notably, there's mention of a "Lightmother" who comes to Yrel and charges her with this task - someone I suspect is actually Xe'ra.

Yrel, now High Exarch, pushes the Orcs to convert, and wins a fair number of them, including Grommash's son.

The Draenei are so focused on converting the Orcs that those who don't become their enemies. So we actually find the Mag'har in the midst of a religious war - one that the Draenei are definitely winning.

It's pretty tragic to see Yrel become a villain, though it's clear she thinks she is doing what is right.

What's particularly interesting is that it appears that Draenor is dying - there seems to be a drought that is heating and drying the planet. The Draenei believe this to be due to the Orcs' practices, while the Mag'har believe it is essentially caused by an excess of the Light.

While Xe'ra's actions toward Illidan gave us a real moment of doubt about the Light, we've never seen in portrayed so unambiguously corruptive as in this case. But on the other hand, we're only seeing it from the Mag'har perspective.

I see this conflict as one between Lawful Good and Chaotic Good. But it appears that the Orcs of Draenor B are ultimately going to lose.

What happens to that world? Does the Light kill it? What of Yrel and Grommash's Lightbound son?

We're ultimately left with some real mysteries. It remains to be seen what role the Mag'har will play in the Horde's destiny.

One thing of note is that the leader of the Mag'har, Overlord Geya'rah, is almost certainly Thrall's alt-Draenor doppelganger (guess an X-chromosome got there instead of a Y.) She has his blue eyes and, you know, is the daughter of Durotan and Draka. Does that make her his sister, in a way? I'd be curious to see these two interact.