Ask a Lore Nerd: The Burning Legion and equal opportunity corruption
by Alex Ziebart 
Oct 19th 2008 at 4:00PM
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week Alex Ziebart answers your quests about the lore in the World of Warcraft. If you have any questions, no matter how big or small they might be, ask them in the comments section below and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.
I was wondering if there was anything in the lore that implies that demonic blood could empower any races other than orcs? And if not, what is it about orcs that makes them so susceptible to demonic taint? Does that imply some sort of common ancestry?
Right in World of Warcraft we see other races being empowered with demonic energy/blood. It's not just Orcs. Satyrs were once Night Elves (or Highborne, or Kaldorei), and I'm sure you've seen what happens to Blood Elves when they drink in the demon juice. The horned, winged elves you see in Magisters' Terrace, Sunwell Plateau, and the Throne of Kil'jaeden. They're not all specifically caused by drinking demon blood, but it's the same idea, really.
I think it's safe to say that all races across all worlds are susceptible to demonic taint. It just depends on who is willing to give into it or not. We all know how the Orcs drank the blood the first time. The first satyrs came about during the War of the Ancients, when the Elves weren't exactly in a good spot. Now we're seeing it with the Blood Elves, during a major civil war within what little remains of their civilization. You might even be able to count the Eredar here, too, with the current Eredar being the demonically charged version of what the Draenei used to be. It's just a matter of who gives in to the temptation, I think. They don't really worry about race here.
Ian R. said...
I had a question about Frostmourne's origin. All the lore seems to be from after Arthas picked it up, but where did it come from? And how come it is so Eeeevviill?
It was originally suggested that Ner'zhul himself forged the sword, but that's highly unlikely. Everything since then has stated that the Legion had a hand in the creation of the sword, so there you go. Is there anything the Legion does that isn't evil?
Anyuska said...
I've got a question that a lore guy could come up with. Is there a lore based reason why Tauren can't become priests? I think it's a little silly considering that zombies can heal themselves and others and Trolls, whom are supposedly not the smartest folks around, can do this as well.
It has nothing to do with how smart you are, so the bit about the Trolls is irrelevant. It's all about faith and beliefs. The Tauren belief system is not at all based in worshiping deities or calling upon them in any way. They revere the Earth Mother, sure, but the Earth Mother is nothing like Elune or the Light, for example.
They do have Druids and Shaman because that's how they roll. They're down with nature, the elements, all that jazz. They have no gods they worship, no higher powers beyond that. Forsaken and Trolls do have those things.
Jason asked...
I was wondering whether any lore was ever attributed to the Revenant that guarded Frostmourne. He (if it was a he) seems like a pretty compelling character, given that most undead entities are either in league with the Lich King, or at least not overly concerned about the fate of the living. And yet, this Revenant selflessly decided to guard living beings against the Lich King's soul-stealing blade. Any ideas?
I don't believe anything has been stated about that specific revenant, but revenants are described as undead (spirits, likely) that have bonded with elementals. In some sources, anyway. Manual of Monsters says they're simply elementals, but we'll go with the undead/elemental fusion thing.
Revenants are mostly independent. They're not under the Lich King's control at all. This particular revenant probably just figured letting something get their hands on that sword was bad news. Even the elementals would be in trouble if the Legion (and the Scourge) washed over Northrend. Since it was partially undead, it probably had some idea of what was going on.
And that'll do it for us this week. Thanks for reading!
Ask a Lore Nerd is here to answer all of your questions about the lore and story of the Warcraft universe. From the religions of the universe to the 'evils' of Azeroth, everything is fair game. If you want more in-depth answers to some of your questions, you may find what you're looking for in Know Your Lore or the WoW Insider Directory.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Ask a Lore Nerd
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jake Oct 19th 2008 4:10PM
So are the Doomguard (http://www.wowwiki.com/Doomguard) fel infused Tauren, or was blizzard just lazy when they made the model for them, and made them look similar?
Gurluas Oct 19th 2008 4:20PM
They are completely separate, Doomguards are part of a race named Ered'ruin.
Here is a question:
What happended to the Highborne who survived the sundering and did not flee to Lordaeron, who is Tarsis Kir-Moldir, it seems he was in the Kirin Tor, any news from him in Northrend?
Chupathingy Oct 19th 2008 4:23PM
im goin with the lazy bout, although i do see what your saying, however doomguard, like all other lower demons, have rather blurry origins
Chupathingy Oct 19th 2008 4:29PM
im pretty sure that there wasnt any high elves that didnt flee. A fair majority of them died/went naga form.
the ones that werent sucked into the abyss were the ones lead by Dath'remar Sunstrider who abandoned Azshara just before there town went under. and they were all exiled and hoped on a boat to Quel'thas
What i wanna know is if the exiled high elves got the immortality granted to all the night elves by the dragons
realmreaver Oct 19th 2008 4:56PM
Question: if the humans turned their back on the Forsaken due to their undead condition. Why are they all lovely dovey towards the Death Knights? Are not an army of undead LOVED ONES a nessary evil too?
Lemons Oct 19th 2008 5:31PM
Humans turned thier back on the forsaken? Of course they would! A forsaken is just another undead creature who'd sooner eviserate you and feast on your bloody inards than ally with you. If you've read your wow manual at all you'd learn that the horde don't even fully trust the forsaken.
If your homeland was ravaged by hordes of undead I don't think you'd differentiate one undead from another, you'd pretty much just hate them all. Ipso facto, humans hate forsaken end of story.
Why do humans then condone death knights you ask? Well theres an entire cutscene in wotlk that explains that. Even after that it's more of an "an enemy of my enemy is my friend" relationship than a true alliance.
J. A. S. Oct 19th 2008 11:38PM
Well Deathknights seem to be largely leaderless, while the forsaken had the choice of following Sylvannas or going back to the scourge. Sylvannas then decided to slaughter the human forcess in lorderon and then move into the largest human city prior to the third war, Sso by that point the forsaken and scourge were mostly the same to the alliance races. Really the Forsaken never had a choice in their allegiance.
Aerei Oct 20th 2008 12:11AM
Doomguards only look vaguely like tauren as they do because A) they're based on classic demon imagery that depicts demons with bestial attirbutes in a roughly humanoid form and B) Blizzard took a shortcut by designing their "skeleton" based on the tauren one.
The Highborne who survived and didn't sail away are in the West wing of Dire Maul and call themselves the Shen'Dralar. They were never granted the immortality that Nordrassil provided, rather they have sustained their lifespans through draining energy from the demon Immol'thar.
Oh, and Alex, the Light isn't a deity. Less so than the Earthmother, even. The reason the tauren have no priests is that they completely lack the black and white duality view of morality in their culture; rather they simply take things as they come and act according to their nature. Well, that and they have no concept of organised religion, instead opting for a very personal and experience-based (rather than dogmatic) faith system.
SmokyBG Oct 19th 2008 4:19PM
Anyone have any idea what the big door in the northern part of Stormwind Harbor leads to?
Caiginn Oct 19th 2008 4:54PM
That's likely to be their shipyard, or at least some sort of ship construction/storage area.
Think the last room of the Deadmines, but with better workmanship.
theturtle363 Oct 19th 2008 5:26PM
but there are ships being built right in the harbor part we can walk around in.
SaintStryfe Oct 19th 2008 6:40PM
You can put the ship's skeleton together inside, and when she can float, take it outside to work on everything else. It's how a lot of ship builder's work.
Grock Oct 19th 2008 4:40PM
"It was originally suggested that Ner'zhul himself forged the sword, but that's highly unlikely. Everything since then has stated that the Legion had a hand in the creation of the sword, so there you go. Is there anything the Legion does that isn't evil?"
It was created at the same time as the rest of Ner'zhul's armor. He just ejected it from the Frozen Throne so that someone (Arthas) would pick it up and become his avatar.
Danel Oct 20th 2008 8:48AM
He used to be a blacksmith, but he dropped it and got herbalism instead to sell on the AH.
Zarfay Oct 19th 2008 4:58PM
A question about that Eredar comment; Eredar are red as opposed to draenei yet archimonde was blue. Why is that?
Siona Oct 19th 2008 5:07PM
Actually, alot of eredar mobs are blue.
Shanic Oct 19th 2008 5:43PM
It's also worth noting that while Draenei can be white, there are no white Eredar. And that Kil'Jaeden was a red skinned member of the original Eredar race BEFORE the Legion corrupted it, yet you cannot roll a red Draenei.
Likely separations in the original Eredar society caused this.
mattarin Oct 19th 2008 11:24PM
Wrong shanic....kil'jaedan was a blue eredar before sargeras came to Argus. He turned red after the gave into the demonic power. Archimonde didnt give in as much as him so he remained blue. Read "Rise of the Horde" it explains it better. Also Prince Melchanzzar or w/e in kara is a blue eredar :P
Siona Oct 19th 2008 5:06PM
Why is it that Arthas is known as the Lich King? From all of what I understand, Ner'zhul is really the spirit now in Arthas' body, or is at least the major presence in it. So, in reality, shouldn't we all be going "ARGH, NER'ZHUL!!" instead of "ARGH, ARTHAS!!"
totemdeath Oct 19th 2008 5:40PM
My guess, you go by the body instead of the soul. If he looks like Arthas, talk somewhat like Arthas, and does evil things like Arthas, he's called Arthas, even if he has a tormented orc rattling around that demented skull.