Breakfast Topic: The other kind of hybrids
by Max Warner 
May 10th 2010 at 8:00AM
Two examples of well-received hybrids are Garona Halforcen and Rexxar. Garona, originally created as a half-human, half-orc hybrid, has in recent times been retconned into a half-orc, half-draenei -- still a popular character among those that know of her. Rexxar, the half-ogre, half-orc Champion of the Horde, has been a popular character since his creation in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne's orc bonus campaign.
However, hybrids can also be targets of immense hatred from the fan base. Rhonin, while not a hybrid himself, is often accused of being a "Mary Sue" by fans, with one of the most popular reasons being that he is married to a high elf, Veressa Windrunner. His twin sons, by extension, have been poorly received. There was some anger when it was revealed that the first Guardian of Tirisfal was Alodi, a half-elf.
But among all the disputed hybrids, none is more controversial than Med'an. The son of the aforementioned Garona Halforcen and Medivh, last Guardian of the original Council of Tirisfal, Med'an is quarter-orc, quarter-draenei and half-human. This apparently gives him the natural aptitude to not only be a mage, but a shaman and paladin as well. Not only this, but he becomes a new Guardian of Tirisfal, which drives some to say that he "ruins the point" of Warcraft III. Regardless of your opinions on the character, the controversy created by Med'an has few rivals within Warcraft's history.
In addition to hybrid characters, some races are alleged by some to be hybrids. The drakonid, humanoid dragons, are said in some places to be half-dragon. The same goes for harpies and other races.
What are your feelings about hybrids? Should drakonid be the next playable race, or should Deathwing just eliminate them all in Cataclysm? Or are you somewhere in between?
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Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Bionic Radd May 10th 2010 8:15AM
While Hybrids are environmentally friendly, you have to be someone who drives a lot of miles per year for the superior fuel economy to outweigh the higher price tag that most hybrids carry. Plus there is the argument that buying a nice fuel-efficient pre-owned vehicle is more environmentally friendly than building a brand new hybrid.
Tim May 10th 2010 8:57AM
LOL funny stuff dood.
BigBadGooz May 10th 2010 10:15AM
But what if I bought. 07 mustang gt last year v8 and gets 20 mpg it's "used" but I have a leadfoot. Nice first post dude we need more like it.
KrusherX May 10th 2010 10:48AM
Funny use of the word hybrid...
Oh my god, they killed Kenny
YOU HYBRIDS!
aboutaboy21 May 10th 2010 8:17AM
Characters of hybrid origin sometimes seem to be a case of the writer/s trying to fit too much into a character to have them tick as many 'cool' boxes as possible, I think this is where people start to be annoyed. These characters fail in being interesting people we can identify with (like Rexxar), and instead are charicatures the writers expect we as readers SHOULD find awesome because of the multiple plot-threads and lore bytes they represent, but we don't identify with them because they haven't done anything to earn our investment in them. A character's genetic history doesn't really matter. It CAN present interesting storytelling opportunities, but ultimately it is the character's background, their personality and actions, and how the storytellers use them that will determine whether we as an audience like them.
Wulfkin May 10th 2010 8:58AM
I agree completely. Hybridity can be an interesting plot point, such as the reason that Rexxar is something of a lone wanderer. Yet too frequently it is used as an excuse for someone to be innately awesome. Me'dan is 'naturally' a mage, paladin and shaman; yet any normal person in each of these vocations spends years if not decades learning how to master these powerful abilities. Kind of a cop-out really.
macster May 10th 2010 8:19AM
Half-ogre, half-orc? Hoooooowwww?
Josh May 10th 2010 8:35AM
http://www.wowhead.com/item=2595
KrisseyB May 10th 2010 1:09PM
Well, when a mommy ogre an a daddy orc really love eachother....
Endless May 10th 2010 4:50PM
A lot more important question would be: whyyyyyyyyyyy? *wink*
Cowy May 10th 2010 5:24PM
More like "When a daddy Ogre can't find a mommy Ogre, and a mommy Orc happens to be walking by, and the daddy Ogre has a really big Club..."
Trilynne May 10th 2010 9:22AM
Drakonid would be a sweet playable race. xD But as far as hybrids go, I think they should be used judiciously... and they shouldn't be able to breed themselves *cough Garona cough*. Horses and donkeys can produce mules, but mules can't breed, because horses and donkeys are two separate species. Biologically speaking, if two different species can produce offspring, and those offspring can have their own offspring, then there is really only 2 variates of the same species(think different skin colors in humans; different kinds of the same species). Alternately, the offspring of the hybrid could be very weak and sickly, and unable to breed, but it still comes down to the same thing: if a hybrid can have kids who can have kids, then they are the same species, originally.
So, this might be true of the night elves/high elves/blood elves, since they are mutated forms of the same original species(in the case of the high/blood elves). I don't know about any of the other species, though.
In RP? You better have a REALLY good reason. REALLY good. And the human-and-elf-and-demon-and-dragon types are right out. >.>
deluded spider May 10th 2010 11:17AM
I think the only problem with this logic is that in WoW, species often seems to equal race.
It almost seems like every playable "race" is supposed to be the same species - humanoid or something - with major racial differences.
I don't know. I think it's logical that Orcs and Draenei could breed and then their children could breed, too. But within the universe of WoW, I think they should be careful with that, lest there be so much "in-breeding" that all the races look the same and don't seem unique anymore.
Tethra May 10th 2010 12:15PM
@Trilynne
I take it you're not a biologist. Even though biologists still debate over how to define "species", the most common definition, which is found in most textbooks, is: groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations, which are reproductively isolated from other such groups. So, it doesn't mean they can't potentially reproduce and have fertile offspring with other species. Wolves and dogs are different species. So are grizzly bears and polar bears. But they can produce fertile offspring.
Trilynne May 10th 2010 1:46PM
@Deluded spider
You might be entirely right, I never thought of that.
@Tethra
No, I'm not, but I took a few classes, and I was lead to believe that 'reproductively isolated' meant that they couldn't produce fertile offspring; at least, that's what my text book said. But good point about dogs and wolves, I didn't realize they were still genetically similar enough to produce fertile offspring... You learn a new thing everyday. :P
Draelan May 10th 2010 3:24PM
Yep. If I recall correctly, Lion/Tiger hybrids are also fertile.
The "produces offspring that can't breed" description is, I believe, used as a "simplified" explanation of what a species is. It's meant to prevent unnecessary confusion for presumably non-biologist audiences. (Such as what you'd run into in a high school biology course.) It's certainly not the only topic where a simpler, technically incorrect, answer is given in a school environment.
I also have a hard time believing the orc/draenei breeding. It would be one thing if both species were from the same planet, at least then you could speculate that they have some similar ancestory that makes them genetically compatible, but Draenei are from Argus. They fled to Draenor when the Burning Legion took over their home world.
But, this is Blizzard's world. They have ogres breeding with orcs, Keepers of the Grove breeding with Earth Elementals, and a Moon Goddess of unknown form getting jiggy with a giant stag. Part of the game is a suspension of disbelief, to accept what it tells us is possible in this world, even if it's not possible in ours. And for that reason, I can accept the existence of hybrids.
Endless May 10th 2010 5:00PM
Not only wolves and dogs can breed, they are also actively breeded. You can even own one if you feel inclined to; one of most well known breeds is Czechoslovakian Wolf-dog (www.wolfdog.org), a fairly popular army and police dog in Eastern Europe, if a tad tough to raise and control properly. Another, a few dozen years older breed is Saarloos Wolfdog from Dutch breeders.
Anyway, it's safe to say that Draenei and Orcs shouldn't be able to reproduce, since they a result of two different evolutionary lines from two totally different worlds. Draenei x Orc would be like Human x Tauren, really: one of them isn't even a primate.
Neither Draenei nor Orcs should be able to reproduce with Azerothian humanoids, because once again, it's a different planet. Orcs might be able to reproduce with Ogres, since they probably share a common ancestry.
Azeroth is a tad more complicated. Elves and Trolls probably share a common origin, Goblins might be of the same ancestry as well. Humans however, they came from Vrykul. Dwarves and Gnomes are both artifical constructs originally, so they probably could be made to mate with each other.
Of course, we're talking World of Warcraft here. That's a world where you can walk on water if you sprinkle your feet with a bit of fish oil. So, I guess, we can't really rule out anything; if two incompatible people really really want to have offspring, they can always resort to some sort of magic in-vitro. *wink*
CaryEverett May 10th 2010 8:27AM
Hybrids seem to be a lot more common than you'd think in Azeroth. It seems almost every humanoid species is capable of mating with every other humanoid species (perhaps that is why they are called races instead of species by Blizzard).
If you consider the RPG books to be lore accurate... then you are looking at a huge percentage of of all human children living in Alliance cities are half-orc. The Hillsbrad region being the most concentrated, with nearly 3% of all humans in the area being half-orc.
I don't mind hybrids, but it's usually a good idea to not have them be major lore characters. Med'an is an example of a badly written hybrid, because his ancestry makes him godlike. I'm really tired of hybrid species getting all the good traits of their parents, and none of the bad.
CaryEverett May 10th 2010 8:39AM
As part of a conversation last week, I made a list of every racial combination, I was able to find which produced at least one offspring in lore... From this list, it's not hard to imagine that every race in Azeroth is capable of breeding with any other race.
EVERY ONE of these hybrids currently exists in lore...
Human/Draenai
Human/Giant
Human/Dragon
Human/Night Elf
Human/High Elf
Human/Ogre
Human/Orc
Orc/Draenai
Orc/Ogre
Night Elf/Troll
Night Elf/Eredar
Stan May 10th 2010 9:17AM
Since no actual biological evolution exists and entire races are created due to a matrix glitch or a curse, I guess it's not too far a stretch to go with all races can breed.
You just have to get rid of the whole sperm and ova thing. Apparently in this universe, when humanoids mate (with the possible exception of the undead) the male shoots arcane missles in the female's mana receptacle at which point the forces join together like Play-Doh and create a whole new toon.
Also, all bad genes are removed by magic when hybrids are bred. That's why they all so far have amazing powers (of observation).
Sorry got a little Pink Floyd there.