Lore behind Trolls and druidism.

[Bagira]

After I have readed almost all WarCraft lore stories from WarCraft III to Cata i found so many interesting stories about Trolls and their ''NEW'' druidism. This post may be a bit longet than you expect, but I doubt any WC lore fan will be borred reading it. Enjoy

We all know that Trolls are the master race of Azeroth, which means they are even older than Night Elves. There are so many Troll kingdoms all over the Azeroth, such are Gurubashi empire known as Zul'Gurub, Amani empire known as Zul'Aman, Drakkari empire known as Zul'Drak, Sand Fury empire known as Zul'Farak and the Zandalari empire.

There are also a stories about Trolls being ancestors of the Night Elves, that might sound weird but Trolls and Nelfs haveso many things in common, the most interesting is their religion. Trolls are worshiping Loa Gods and Nelfs are worshiping Ancient spirits and Gods/DemiGods such are Elune and Cenarion. According to Troll Lore, Loa have the same meaning as Spirit in Azeroths common language. At the Troll starting area there is a Druid quest chain about Troll Druid lore and it says that after Zalazene took the Echo Isles and corupted the plants and animals on the isles with his black voodoo, the GREEN RAPTOR Loa Gonk, appeard in Zen'Tabra's (Troll druid trainer) dream and took her spirit into the Emerald dream to introdouce her to the rest of the spirits and learn her how to worship all of them in the same time instead of one at a time, so she becamed DRUID... So...if Troll and Nelf gods are not the same..how can you explain the Troll God presence into the Emerald Dream? In fact, that Green raptor loa was noone else than a green dragon aspect from Emerald dream, probably Ysondre or Emeriss, green dragonflight aspects and guardians of the Emerald dream. Raptors are common in Troll culture so it is possible that Dragons are something like Raptor Gods in Troll culture so Zen'Tabra called Ysondre a RAPTOR.

There are also many Troll animal Gods in their lore sucs are:

-Amani pantheon:

Ula'Tek - Snake God
Nalorakk - Bear God
Akil'Zon - God of Eagles
Jan'Alai - God of dragonhawks
Halazzi - God of Lynx

-Gurubashi/Darkspear pantheon:

Hakkar - Blood God
Shadra - Spider God
Shirvallah - Tiger God
Bethekk - Panther God
Hethiss - Snake God
Bwonsamdi - God of the deth, hexmaster, necromant(Probably a inspiration for Troll Warlock)
Gonk - Raptor loa (Probably same as Ysondre)
Hir'Eek - Bat God

-Sandfury pantheon:

Kimbul - God of tigers
Mueh'Zala - God of the death

-Drakkari pantheon:

Har'Koa - Leopard God
Rhunok - Bear god
Mam'Toth - Mamooth God
Zim'Torga - Goddes of prosperity
ZimAbwa - God of war

-Zandalari pantheon:

Well, Zandalari pantheon have just one God and his name is Zanza, he isprobably the God of all Gods in Troll lore.

There are also some Troll gods such are:

Legba - Goddess of speed
Lukou - Goddess if healing and respite
Shango - God of storms

So as you can see there are many ANIMAL Gods in Troll lore, so basicly Troll Druids have learned their shapeshift forms from their Gods...for example:

Bear form from Nalorakk
Cat for from Shirvallah
Bat form from Hir'Eek
Travel form from Zim'Torga
The pover of healing through resto spec from their goddess Lukou (Possibly same as Elune)

One more interesting fact, there is uncomon type of druids among the Nelfs, and those druids are known as ''Druids of the fang'' you can check it on internet. They have a pover to shapeshift into a SNAKE, and we all know there are NO SNAKES in Night Elf lore...only in Troll lore...Only Trolls have Gods that can shapeshift into a Snake form, and some of those Gods i have mentioned abowe...

I hope all druid mains enjoyed this ''short''lesson about Troll/Druid lore here ^^

[Macedo931]

First druid was Malfurion, who was taught by Cenarion (child of Elune and Malorne, and was taught about the Emerald Dream by Ysera, the aspect of dreams) over 10k years ago, back when the Well of Eternity was still there.
So, Trolls could have worshiped the same Gods, but they can't be the first druids, they could have only came after Malfurion.

[Wtfhaxx]

Macedo931 wrote:

Cenarion

Cenarius*

Bad George... bad.

And not Elune but Ysera.

[Varda]

Macedo931 wrote:

over 10k years ago

Poo. Azeroth is only 20 years old !

[Macedo931]

Wtfhaxx wrote:

Macedo931 wrote: Cenarion Cenarius* Bad George... bad. And not Elune but Ysera.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Cenarius It's Elune, according to WoWWiki. (And yes, Ysera, acording to Warcraft books)

[Bagira]

Macedo931 wrote:

First druid was Malfurion, who was taught by Cenarion (child of Elune and Malorne, and was taught about the Emerald Dream by Ysera, the aspect of dreams) over 10k years ago, back when the Well of Eternity was still there. So, Trolls could have worshiped the same Gods, but they can't be the first druids, they could have only came after Malfurion.

Actually, you are wrong. 1st Druid of Azeroth was the tauren Xarantaur. His teacher was directly Cenarion but Xarantaur didnt pass that knowiledge to other Taurens so they forgot the way of druidism untill Hamuul Runetotem. Hamuul Runetotem have learnt Druidism from Malfurion. But even after all those facts, Trolls remain the older race, they are still Nelf ancestors, they could probably turn into a animals and regrowth their plants through the powers of Lukou even before some of them turned into a Nelfs. The world was primitive in that time, Trolls could be a cats, bats, bears, leopards, snakes, Birds, they could heal, regrowth...so it can be that they were actually the first race who practiced druidism or that kind of spellschool befeore Druidism was even clasified and discovered by a mortal races.

As for 1st KNOWN druids:

1. Xarantaur was a 1st druid of Azeroth.
2. Malfurion was the 2nd druid, BUT Nelfs are the 1st druids as a nation, becouse Taurens forgot the way of druidism.
3. As for Trolls according to how old are they and how similar are they with Nightelves, and accoriding to the fact that Trolls and Nelfs are practicly worshiping the same beings/gods/spirits, there is possibility that Trolls were druids before Nelfs, but it is possible they didnt even know that they are druids.

My explanation why i believe trolls were 1st.

If trolls and Nlfs are worshiping the same Gods (Just different names) it is impossible that Trolls havent worshiped Cenarius or Elune (Lukou) before some of them turned into Nelfs. That is IMPOSIBIRU.

[Wtfhaxx]

I'd like to know where did you read that nelfs evolved from the trolls according to lore.
And about that Elune/Ysera thing, bad wowwiki is bad.

[Bagira]

Wtfhaxx wrote:

I'd like to know where did you read that nelfs evolved from the trolls according to lore. And about that Elune/Ysera thing, bad wowwiki is bad.

Those are the facts from WarCraft RPG Books.

I will put here just one quote from RPG here:

''Ancient texts speak of a small faction of trolls that broke off from the Amani Empire and founded their own colony in the heart of the dark continent.
There, these brave pioneers discovered the cosmic Well of Eternity which transformed them into beings of immense power. Some legends suggest that these adventurous trolls were the first Night Elves''.

Also there are some posibilities that those Trolls were not from the Amani tribe but a small group of a Dark Trolls.

About Ysera and Elune....they are not the same thing. Elune (Mu'Sha - Tauren name for Elune), (Lukou - probably the Troll name for Elune) is the one and only Goddess of Kalimdor, and Malorne (Elune's husband) is the only God of Kalimdor, their son is Cenarius (DemiGod and a 1st Druid)
Appart from the Gods, Trolls and Night Elves are also worshiping Loa (Trolls) and Ancient spirits (Night Elves). LOA means SPIRIT, and it is really possible that Troll Loa and Nelf Ancients are actually the same.

Gonk (The Green Raptor Loa) is probably the Green Dragon Ysondre from Emerald Dream who took Zen'Tabra into the Emerald Dream. If we say that Troll and Nelf religion is not the same, than what the hell is GREEN Raptor loa doing in Emerald dream if he is not Ysondre (Green Dragon - Keeper of the Emerald Dream)

Lukou, Troll goddess of healing and respite is probably a synonime for Elune becouse Elune is also a Goddess of Healing and respite (Priestess)

Zanza, Troll God of all Gods is probably the same as Malorne

And since shapeshifting into a animal is common thing for all types of Druids, we all know that all Troll ancient Loa Gods are shapeshifters, mostly bears (Druids of the Claw), tigers (Druids of the Claw) , birds (Druids of the Talon), dragonhawks (Nelf Dragonflights), Snakes (Druids of the Fang).

Practicly all spirits/loas/gods/ancients worshiped by Nelfs and Trolls are the same, just with different names.

[Wtfhaxx]

Well, according to the book Lore, Cenarius was son of Malorne, and Ysera. This is how it was explained in the War od the Ancients trilogy. I'd rather follow the books' Lore instead of wowwiki because they were written mostly by Richard A. Knaak, who's basicly building the Lore we've got in the game. And wowwiki as any other wiki page is being written by people. Everyone tries to add something fron himself. This is why even at the original wikipedia you can often find terrible mistakes.
Getting back to the topic, also worgen nas some interesting Lore regarding druidism.

[Bagira]

As I have mentioned before, those facts are from Books, Not from wowwiki.

Ysera is not mother of Cenarius, his mother by birth is Elune, Ysera is just the one who raised him, so she is kinda his surogat mom. I will quote some facts from the book so you can read them:

1. Malorne's love with the goddess Elune resulted in the birth of his son, and his later association with Ysera guaranteed his son would be raised safely and with the right kind of guidance.

2. Ysera's relationship with Malorne resulted in a son she didn't expect. Though not his mother by birth, Ysera was just as much a mother to Cenarius as Elune -- perhaps more. After all, it was Ysera and the Emerald Dream that helped shape Cenarius into the demigod we know today.

So as you can see Elune is true mother of Cenarius.

As for Worgens....i wont speak about them...They have the worst lore in the game, idk why did Blizzard added them as a playable race since they were just a bunch of moobs near the Undercity, not even important moobs. Blizz should add Brokens as a playable race since they are cool and have really interesting lore behind them.

Yo mon, we summon Nalorakk to tank da boss, and we kill da Boss so fast mon!!!

[Powerman]

Discussions like these are why WoW goes from just a video game - to an actual living, breathing, historic world with a rich background.
It's too bad very few people pay attention to it as those features totally enrich the game (ie. "Who are those dragons and why are they helping us?")

One thing I could add to how religion is structured in WoW is that there seems to be a deliberate attempt to avoid "monotheistic" religions (Christian, Muslim, Jewish), or at least comparison to them.
Majority of races are actually polytheistic (multiple gods) or shamanistic (commune with nature).


DRUIDS (Druidism) = the worship of nature and shapeshifting, primarily centered on Cenarius and the Emerald Dream of Ysera

- Trolls have their animal pantheon just as the TC mentioned, this is similar to the Native American concept of "animal spirits" (ie. Indians who claim to have the power of the bear spirit); there's a huge event back on Cata about how they would reclaim their homes, and also provide a background on how they were able to harness druidic powers from the Emerald Dream
- Night Elves have their meditation/thousand year sleep in the Emerald Dream along with Ysera, along with a millenia of history in relation to Cenarius and Malfurion
- Tauren are another race with ancient beliefs, as they are a nomadic people, worshiping the surroundings that sustain them is a given
- Worgen, rather Gilneas, much like all human kingdoms, have had ancient beliefs in nature; due to the Worgen curse, partly druidic, they turned to the Night Elves for help in attempts to restore their normal form, thus a bond was formed and those who remained in close commune with nature were further trained as full-fledged druids



SHAMANS (Shamanism) = similar to druidism although extends further to control of the elements (earth, fire, wind, water, and most certainly not heart, LOL);
this is of course similar to paganistic beliefs (Native Americans, Romuva, Slavic, etc)

- Orcs, prior to being corrupted by the Burning Legion and the Blood of Mannoroth, have been a simple agricultural, somewhat hillbilly race, simply in contact with the spirits around them; Thrall is of course the strongest and prime example of Orcish shaman
- Tauren are already in close contact with nature, thus upon meeting the Orcs in the WC3 campaign, they were able to harness it further in a different way
- Trolls are similar to Tauren in this regard, with their Witch Doctors
- Goblins, according to the wiki, simply seek out and bind the elements by means of profit (treating the elementals as actual customers, LOL)
- Draenei were inducted to shamanism through Nobundo, once a follower of the Light, he became one of the Broken draenei (homeless wanderers after the Orc genocide of their race); he lost contact with the Light and was instead guided by the spirits
- Dwarves, dwelling beneath the earth or inside mountains, are not in touch with all of nature's spirits; this would change when their ruling council accepted the Wildhammer representatives, as their clan are more in touch with nature while living in the wilderness



PRIESTS / PALADINS (The Light) = while yes, there is no actual monotheistic religion as those we have today (the Abrahamic God), The Light is an abstract representation of that; in the beginning there were only Light and Darkness, and it was in Light that life, hope, and all the is good, came from

- Draenei became primary practitioners of the Light by way of the Naaru, who taught them thousands of years ago as they attempted to escape the grasp of the Burning Legion
- Humans were the first practitioners of the Light on Azeroth
- Dwarves and Gnomes, due to an Alliance with Humans, were obviously taught the same
- Worgen were obviously humans before, and so were able to do the same jobs they had as they had normally
- High Elves were a staunch ally of Humans in previous wars, and thus were taught the Light as well, becoming Priests; later on most of them would become Blood Elves



PRIESTS / PALADINS (The Light - in other forms) = some paladins/priests use the religion of the Light in a different way, by means of their culture's history

- Blood Elves were High Elves corrupted by magic, like crack addicts looking for the next hit, they found one in M'uru (a Naaru kidnapped by Kaelthas); creating an "Artificial Light" they were able to wield this power by becoming Paladins and newbie Priests
- Troll version of the Light is known as "Voodoo Magic"; since Light is associated with life and death, and the soul, it was their way of using its power through Voodoo (resurrecting the dead, fatal curses)
- Forsaken had normal jobs when they used to be alive, although their version of the Light is known as the "Forgotten Shadow"
- Night Elves draw their power from a celestial body, The Moon, who they believe is the manifestation of their goddess Elune
- Tauren, similar to Night Elves, draw their power but from The Sun

[Bagira]

Powerman wrote:

Discussions like these are why WoW goes from just a video game - to an actual living, breathing, historic world with a rich background. It's too bad very few people pay attention to it as those features totally enrich the game (ie. "Who are those dragons and why are they helping us?") One thing I could add to how religion is structured in WoW is that there seems to be a deliberate attempt to avoid "monotheistic" religions (Christian, Muslim, Jewish), or at least comparison to them. Majority of races are actually polytheistic (multiple gods) or shamanistic (commune with nature). DRUIDS (Druidism) = the worship of nature and shapeshifting, primarily centered on Cenarius and the Emerald Dream of Ysera - Trolls have their animal pantheon just as the TC mentioned, this is similar to the Native American concept of "animal spirits" (ie. Indians who claim to have the power of the bear spirit); there's a huge event back on Cata about how they would reclaim their homes, and also provide a background on how they were able to harness druidic powers from the Emerald Dream - Night Elves have their meditation/thousand year sleep in the Emerald Dream along with Ysera, along with a millenia of history in relation to Cenarius and Malfurion - Tauren are another race with ancient beliefs, as they are a nomadic people, worshiping the surroundings that sustain them is a given - Worgen, rather Gilneas, much like all human kingdoms, have had ancient beliefs in nature; due to the Worgen curse, partly druidic, they turned to the Night Elves for help in attempts to restore their normal form, thus a bond was formed and those who remained in close commune with nature were further trained as full-fledged druids SHAMANS (Shamanism) = similar to druidism although extends further to control of the elements (earth, fire, wind, water, and most certainly not heart, LOL); this is of course similar to paganistic beliefs (Native Americans, Romuva, Slavic, etc) - Orcs, prior to being corrupted by the Burning Legion and the Blood of Mannoroth, have been a simple agricultural, somewhat hillbilly race, simply in contact with the spirits around them; Thrall is of course the strongest and prime example of Orcish shaman - Tauren are already in close contact with nature, thus upon meeting the Orcs in the WC3 campaign, they were able to harness it further in a different way - Trolls are similar to Tauren in this regard, with their Witch Doctors - Goblins, according to the wiki, simply seek out and bind the elements by means of profit (treating the elementals as actual customers, LOL) - Draenei were inducted to shamanism through Nobundo, once a follower of the Light, he became one of the Broken draenei (homeless wanderers after the Orc genocide of their race); he lost contact with the Light and was instead guided by the spirits - Dwarves, dwelling beneath the earth or inside mountains, are not in touch with all of nature's spirits; this would change when their ruling council accepted the Wildhammer representatives, as their clan are more in touch with nature while living in the wilderness PRIESTS / PALADINS (The Light) = while yes, there is no actual monotheistic religion as those we have today (the Abrahamic God), The Light is an abstract representation of that; in the beginning there were only Light and Darkness, and it was in Light that life, hope, and all the is good, came from - Draenei became primary practitioners of the Light by way of the Naaru, who taught them thousands of years ago as they attempted to escape the grasp of the Burning Legion - Humans were the first practitioners of the Light on Azeroth - Dwarves and Gnomes, due to an Alliance with Humans, were obviously taught the same - Worgen were obviously humans before, and so were able to do the same jobs they had as they had normally - High Elves were a staunch ally of Humans in previous wars, and thus were taught the Light as well, becoming Priests; later on most of them would become Blood Elves PRIESTS / PALADINS (The Light - in other forms) = some paladins/priests use the religion of the Light in a different way, by means of their culture's history - Blood Elves were High Elves corrupted by magic, like crack addicts looking for the next hit, they found one in M'uru (a Naaru kidnapped by Kaelthas); creating an "Artificial Light" they were able to wield this power by becoming Paladins and newbie Priests - Troll version of the Light is known as "Voodoo Magic"; since Light is associated with life and death, and the soul, it was their way of using its power through Voodoo (resurrecting the dead, fatal curses) - Forsaken had normal jobs when they used to be alive, although their version of the Light is known as the "Forgotten Shadow" - Night Elves draw their power from a celestial body, The Moon, who they believe is the manifestation of their goddess Elune - Tauren, similar to Night Elves, draw their power but from The Sun

Yes agree with ya, WoW is just a more than a game, and I think that I couldnt play WoW without any knowiledge about lore. Actually lore is what is keeping me play this game for 6 years

Yo mon, we summon Nalorakk to tank da boss, and we kill da Boss so fast mon!!!

[kazorla]

collorfull again by Mr. M. nice ones..hehehe

only true Santi