Orc (Warcraft)
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Orcs are one of the races in the Warcraft Universe — a fictional universe where a set of games and books are set.
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Overview
In the Warcraft universe, the Orcs, contrary to popular custom, were not savages, but a noble race from the world of Draenor who were corrupted by a demonic force known as the Burning Legion. Under the Legion's influence, the Orcish Horde slaughtered the Draenei, another race native to Draenor, and were then led to the world of Azeroth. After two devastating wars, the Orcs were finally defeated by the Azerothians, and rounded up into internment camps. There, a young Orc named Thrall rallied them together, and broke the Horde free from demonic influence, leading them towards a return to their shamanistic roots.
Orcs have been in all the Warcraft computer games released by Blizzard:
- Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
- Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
- Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
- World of Warcraft
They are a playable race in each of the above noted titles.
Warcraft Orcs are nearly identical in appearance to the Orcs used in Warhammer. However, Orcs in Warcraft usually have more hair on their heads than Warhammer Orcs, and are generally possessed of a greater intellect, with general intelligence ratios comparable to that of any human. Warcraft is one of the few settings in which Orcs are not inherently evil, and can even be heroic.
This, however, as noted above, was not always the case. The evolution of Warcraft Orcs is one that shifts rather abruptly, as in the most recent installments, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion set Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
Evolution of the Orcs
In the first three Warcraft games - Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and its expansion set Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal - the Orcs were unabashedly, and unashamedly, evil. They summoned demons, raised the dead, and celebrated their victories by impaling their enemies heads on spikes. No trace of their supposed nobility was to be found in any of the in-game actions or text, nor was the player lead to believe such granted any of the material in the publisher's manual.
This apparent oversight was explained in Warcraft III, their evil actions from the previous games having been caused by their former pact with demons of the Burning Legion, a pact which had been broken by the time of Warcraft III due in great part to their leader Thrall.
It is difficult to say where the impetus to take the Warcraft Orcs and "turn them good" came from. Likely it began with Blizzard Entertainment's ill-fated adventure game Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, which was never released despite having neared completion, and eventually was turned into a Warcraft universe novelization of the same name. In Lord of the Clans, the player would have taken up the role of Thrall, a young Orc who grew up in human-regulated prison camps following the events of Beyond the Dark Portal, and would later become the leader of the Orcish Horde. It is speculated that in-game events would have lead the player towards a better sense of the kinder, gentler, Warcraft Orc, prominently featured in later games.
Story of Horde
The Modern Horde
In Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, set some years after Lord of the Clans, Thrall, under instruction by The Prophet gathered up many of his fellow Orcs and fled Lordaeron, eventually landing in the barrens of the continent Kalimdor. During the campaign, Thrall made strong alliances with the native Tauren and the Human faction lead by Jaina Proudmoore. This new Horde also made a temporary alliance with the Night Elf Sentinels in order to destroy the Burning Legion. Having been forsaken by their Forest Troll and Goblin allies from the Second War, the Orcs instead enlisted the aide of the Tauren and a group of Jungle Trolls to form the new Horde.
By Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, the Horde had settled down in the barrens, where Thrall created the new nation of Durotar (named after his father, Durotan) and built its capital city Orgrimmar (named after the previous leader of the Horde, Orgrim Doomhammer). Despite brief tensions with the humans (quelled by the half-orc/half-ogre Rexxar), the orcs finally knew peace for the first time in their history.
Clans
Blackrock
The Blackrock clan was originally led by Gul'Dan's puppet Blackhand the Destroyer, Warchief of the Horde during the First War of Azeroth. He was slain by, Orgrim Doomhammer, chieftan of another tribe, who then led the Horde in the Second War, to defeat. When Thrall finally became warchief of the Horde, it was under the Blackrock name, to honour the great Doomhammer.
Presently, the Blackrock Tribe resides in Blackrock Spire, a volcanic mountain northeast of the human kingdom of Stormwind. They are led by Rend Blackhand, son of Blackhand the Destroyer, who claims to be Warchief by right of succession. Rend is allied with the Black Dragonflight, and enemy to the Alliance, the Dark Iron dwarves, and Thrall's Horde.
Frostwolf
The Frostwolf clan was once lead by Durotan, and he alone of the chieftans of the Orcish clans refused to drink the blood of Mannoroth the Pit Lord, and so was not corrupted by the Burning Legion. His clan was later exiled in the Alterac mountains in Lordaeron where they continued in the shamanistic customs now discarded by the rest of the Horde. Durotan, seeing the Orcs vile corruption and deeds, approached the Orcish warchief, Orgrim Doomhammer, about the Demons hold over the Orcs. However, his plea went unheard and so unnerved the warchief that he ordered his sons to kill him and his family. So it was that Durotan was assassinated by the sons of Blackhand and his son left to die. Durotan's son, by a miracle of fate, survived the massacre of his family, and was raised by humans. In time, he was given the name Thrall. Upon reaching adulthood Thrall escaped back to the Frostwolf clan and there learned of his origin. Tempered by his loss, and struck by the change of the orcish people, he set about freeing the now defeated Horde from their prisons and reintroducing them to their native shamanistic ways, as a result Thrall was named warchief of the Horde.
Stormreaver
Assembled by Gul'dan the warlock to protect himself from Ogrim Doomhammer and support the voyage to the Tomb of Sargeras. It became one of the most powerful clans during the course of the Second War, which is why its betrayal spelled doom for the Horde. However, the Stormreavers were destroyed both by the demons in the Tomb of Sargeras and the Blackrock strikeforce sent to destroy them. While many of the fallen Stormreaver warriors were raised as undead creatures, a small sect of Stormreaver warlocks survived and remain hidden throughout the Broken Isles and the coasts of Durotar.
Twilight Hammer
A fanatical group ruled by the Ogre-Mage Cho'gall as a secondary source of support for Gul'dan. They too betrayed Doomhammer and set sail to the Tomb of Sargeras, which caused the Twilight Hammer to share the fate of the Stormreavers.
Shadowmoon
Ritualistic and greatly feared, the Shadowmoons were most powerful of the Orc Clans that remained in Draenor after the creation of the Dark Portal. Prior to the destruction of Draenor, the Shadowmoons were ruled by the Shaman Ner'zhul, Third Warchief of the Horde.
Orcs in World of Warcraft
Orcs are a playable race in World of Warcraft, and they are on the Horde faction.
The Orc starting area is The Valley of Trails, in Durotar, along with the Darkspear Trolls. This is a good advantage because the horde's major city, Ogrimmar is nearby.