I had the idea behind this post for many moons now, but recently Rades posted over at Orcish Army Knife a post on the new races of Pandaria and more specifically the Sha. If you haven’t already, you should really check it out. It’s a fantastic read. You can find the post <here>.
With the Cataclysmic expansion we’re currently enjoying (or maybe not) one of the main changes that Blizzard implemented into the game (other than the world shattering) was new race / class combinations. I know some of us have been rocking out on our tauren paladins, or our gnome priests, or maybe even a blood elf warrior. With the addition of the warrior class to the blood elf race that puts the tote at 12/12 races that can become warriors, all alliance and horde races can become warriors. As the title of this post suggests, this isn’t going to be about warriors but about paladins and priests, or more importantly lack-there-of. Currently there are 12 races in this game (go ahead count them off on your fingers, I’ll wait) and of those 12 races only 11 of them can be a light utilizing class. Who is the odd (wo)man out? Orcs!
Why wouldn’t Blizzard give orcs a light wielding class? Well there could be many possibilities, which this post will explain. Although to answer this question we’re going to have to answer some other questions first. First off the bat, what is the light?
Taken from Wowpedia:
“The Light, referred to as the Holy Light by some cultures, is a non-theistic religious form of philosophy with adherents among the Alliance and some members of the Horde. The organization closest related to the Light is the Church of the Holy Light. The followers of the Holy Light do not worship any gods. Instead, it is a philosophy, training its followers to seek perfection within themselves. It is very much an active practice of virtue rather than a passive worship. Those who follow it closely gain spiritual awareness and guidance, allowing them to lead others. “
The way I see the light is somewhere in between the use of mana and the assistance of the elements. Magi draw on mana to cast their spells and use their abilities, although they do it regardless of situation, they casts spells how they want, and when they want. Shamans on the other have to ask the elements for assistance from the elements and if they deem the cause worthy, they will then use their abilities. The only discernable difference between shamans and paladins and priests the fact that paladins and priests act as a vessel for the light. The miracles they do with the light come from their own being. They cast the healing spells, they use the shielding abilities, and they blind their enemies with the light. It’s their hand that causes the effect (much like a mage). Shamans on the other hand ask the elements to do something like flood a plain that is on fire. The water doesn’t come gushing out of the shamans hand but instead the nearby river floods its banks or the clouds let out a torrential downpour. So as you can see paladins and priests are a mixture of shaman and mage.
Second question: Where does the light come from?
For different races, it comes from different places.
For humans the light comes from the world itself. Everything that was created has the light in them, kind of like a soul or spirit.
The dwarves had a similar viewpoint until recently when they discovered their titanic roots. This led them to a shift in faith from one of a more faith-based origin to a gift-given from the titans origin.
Naaru are the gift givers of the light to the draenei. When the draenei needed to flee their home world of Argus the Naaru presented themselves to the then eredar and helped them escape their doomed world. Ever since then, the draenei have been devout in their stalwart faith to the light and the Naaru. So much in fact that is has become one of the major basis upon with their culture is built.
The night elves worship their moon goddess Elune who in turn grants them the ability to wield the moon light to blind foes or heal friends.
The blood elves originally drained and subdued their light from a captured Naaru, M’uru.. At the end of the Sunwell raid Prophet Velen uses M’uru’s spark to reignite the Sunwell, thus giving blood elves a means of which to use the light.
Now that we know what the light is and where it comes from we can determine why the orcs are incapable of wielding it.
Here’s an excerpt of “Broken, by Micky Neilson”
“Kra-KABOOM!
Not the ogre this time, but an explosion that originated from somewhere below but out of sight, knocking Nobundo off balance. He rolled to his side and glanced over the edge to see a fine red mist billowing out into Lower City. The few defenders who were left immediately began choking and retching. They doubled over, many of them dropping their weapons. The barbaric orcs made quick work of the sickened warriors, reveling in the carnage. The mist had spread throughout the entirety of Lower City and was now beginning to rise, slowly obscuring the bedlam below.
* * *
The mist had worked its way onto the rise now, where it rolled out and covered the stone like a carpet. Nobundo and his fellow Vindicators fought on as the mist rose to chest level, then finally to their faces, stinging their eyes and burning their lungs.
Nobundo heard the death-cries of several of his companions, but he had lost sight of them in the dense red fog. Mercifully the attacks on him seemed to have abated; he stumbled back a step, stifling the urge to vomit. It felt as if his skull was about to burst.
* * *
Nobundo vomited thick blood onto the orc’s face and chest. He closed his eyes and frantically, desperately hailed the Light, beseeching it to neutralize the orc long enough for him to mount a defense. He called out…
And for the first time since he had contacted the Light and been graced by its blessed radiance…
There was no answer.”
If you haven’t read the whole story, as a draenei shaman, I demand that you go and read it. It describes how the draenei progressed from light wielding to shamanism, and how the go from being proud and noble draenei to diseased and corrupt broken. For a link to the story click <here>
From reading the except above or from reading the whole story it’s pretty obvious that the red mist the orcs use is demonic in nature and as we know, anything demonic in nature corrupts indefinitely. A once proud paladin, Nobundo gets infected by the mist and is now no longer able to wield it. It also corrupts his body and he goes from draenei to broken within a few short months.
Now what if the same thing happened to the orcs? The only instantaneous effect of the mist was the inability to use the light which the draenei experienced; the bodily mutations came much later. The orcs went through a bodily mutation too.
An excerpt from “Rise of the Horde, by Christie Golden”:
“ Behold the blood of the Destructor,” gloated Kil’Jaeden. “It burns away all that will not serve you, Gul’dan. It cleanses all thoughts of hesitation, confusion, or uncertainty. It creates a hunger that can be directed anyway you choose. Your little puppet believes he rules the Horde, but he is wrong. The Shadow Council thinks they rule the Horde, but they are wrong.”
Gul’dan lifted his eyes from the pool of glowing green liquid that continued to pump from Mannoroth’s injured arm to gaze raptly at Kil’jaeden.
“Gul’dan…it will soon be you who rules the Horde. They are ready. They thirst for what you will give them.” Gul’dan again turned to look at the flowing liquid.
“Call them to you. Quench that thirst…and whet their hunger.
* * *
Gul’dan bearly had time to take the chalice from Grom before the other orc stiffened and shuddered. He doubled over from the moment, and the crowd murmured in worry. Durotan stared, horrified, as Grom’s hunched-over body pulsated and quivered. Before his eyes, Grom’s shoulders, slender for an orc’s broadened. His armor creaked as it settled over this newly powerful body. Slowly, Grom straightened. Tall as ever he had been, reshaped by the green liquid to be stronger and thickly muscled, be looked out over the crowd.
What Durotan could see of his face was smooth and healthy, save for the tattooed jaw…completely green.”
That’s right! They went from brown skin to green skin in a matter of months as well. My theory is that whatever “light bone” the demonic mist broke in the draenei also broke it in the orcs. The only difference being that the orcs hadn’t learned how to use the light yet so they didn’t really feel all that bad about missing something they never had. Now if that demonic mutation is hereditary it seems unlikely that our green skinned companions will ever gain the ability to use the light. Thus leaving them being the only race without a light wielding class.
Another potential other theory might be that they just don’t deserve the light. They murdered their way out of the right to the light.
The draenei, or eredar as they were known upon their home world of Argus, had to flee from their planet as the majority of the population had decided to side with Sargeras and turn over their free will. The draenei escaped with the help of the Naaru and were pursued across the cosmos until they landed on the home world of the orcs, Draenor or Outlands. Kil’jaeden vowed he would end the draenei for their betrayal. He used his underlings to find the draenei and once he had, instead of summoning the legions he had commanded to rain hell down upon them he decided to use the natives on Draenor, the orcs. Now the orcs may have been misled to slaughter the draenei but as we know, many of the orcs had reservations about going to war against their peaceful neighbour but refused to stop the bloodshed. They even used the Naaru’s gifts to the draenei (Ata’mal crystals) against them. There are the Naaru’s reasons for not wanting to spread the light.
The orcs upon settling on Kalimdor began establishing Orgrimmar, by you guess it, chopping down ancient forests. Cenarius, Night elves, and treants went to defeat the orcs once and for all, but things didn’t go according to plan. Grom Hellscream and a group of orcs drank from a pool of tainted water. Who defiled this pool? Mannoroth of course. That’s right the orcs who lived in lorderaon internment camps due to the lethargy they experienced as a withdrawl from their demonic power decided once wasn’t enough. They killed Cenarius and defeated the army he brought with him. Now you might be thinking, oh great orcs won’t ever become druids, what does this have to do with the light? Well look at Cenarius’ parents. His father was Malorne, the great stag demigod and his more was Elune. Yeah, that Elune. I have high doubts that Elune will grace them with her powers after they killed her only son.
The titans main goal is to create peace, unity, and order. Basically everything the demons or burning legion sought to oppose. The titans appointed their greatest warrior to combat these demons back, and he did for countless years without hesitation. Eventually seeing all the demons and their evil corrupted this great and noble soul so Sargeras. Yes, that Sargeras decided the only thing that could last forever was chaos and turmoil so he decided to undo everything the titans had created, one demon at a time. The demons are Sargeras’ tool to use to destroy planets, and be default so are the orcs. The titans wouldn’t be giving their powers over to the one who want to destroy everything they’ve spent countless eons doing.
That being said the orcs could always do what the humans do and just believe in the light. Hell they even technically did. They worshipped the Oshu’gun which housed a light-brining Naaru in it, but there is one main reason that wouldn’t work. The humans look at the light as a kind of soul or spirit, the light is in them and they use it. The orcs already have something like that, as a primarily shamanistic culture they believe in the spirits or fire, earth, water, wind, and wilds. The spirit of the wilds is what they perceive to be a soul or the shaman’s “light”.
To make myself clear, the reason the orcs can’t use the light isn’t because their evil, it’s because they just kind of forced all the “light” opportunities out the window. Evil races can still use the light, look at the forsaken or look at this one guy (He’s so evil, I totally saw him take a flower from a little girl just because it matched his outfit). The forsaken only use the light because they remember it from when they were human. Although if you ever become a forsaken don’t go using the light because it brings you back to humanity, an example being feeling your jaw missing, feeling the maggots eating their way up your chest cavity and the taste of your rotting tongue, just to name a few.
“He reached out with his mind. Surely in the tumult of battle he had simply failed to concentrate hard enough to reach the Light, but now, now he could make contact, now surely he could…
Nothing.
There was no response.”
And for the orcs, there never will be. Or will there?
