Elf and Human is the most common crossbreeding that occurs in fantasy settings, because they are physically very similar so it’s logical they would find at least some traits physically attractive in each other.
Even if the big differences in lifespan would make a lasting union unlikely.
I personally like the half-elf trope, belonging to both but neither at the same time.
As individuals having to find their own place in the world.
As long as it doesn’t go overboard, such as all the Windrunner sisters having a thing for human men.
And as long as half-elf doesn’t just equal “Human, but better!” which is unfortunately often the case in fantasy.
Unfortunately for all the Draenei women captured by orcs on Draenor.
Probably unfortunately for human women captured by orcs on Azeroth.
Naturally, they are still humans.
Of course, their plumbing is completely different.
A half-human/half-dragon would make as much sense as a half-human/half-murloc.
The rules almost seem like “if they look human enough, they can crossbreed.”
Racial origins be damned…
But in most fantasy settings the more “beast” like races are often unable to crossbreed with others. Probably to avoid the similarities with illegal activities related to animals in our world.
In WoW, that would be Tauren, Vulpera and Pandaren.
Yeah, the (Unfortunately) was a direct reference to those crazy Windrunners.
Half-elves were a ‘thing’ in AD&D, as were Half-Orcs. (For some reason Half Elves made really good Bards, though I can kind of see the logic there) and those two are the most common fantasy trope, yeah. Half Elves used to get a rough time from their Elven peers, whereas interestingly in WoW it seems to be that both human and elven peers give a half-breed a rough time, neither seeing them as ‘one of us’ In Azeroth we know that the other races find Elves attractive, which is fair enough, thats kind of an Elven thing. But Elves being into humans should be a very rare thing indeed. Possible, but rare. Three Sisters in one family? Crap writing and utterly stupid.
Yeah, Blizz sailed into dangerous waters there…
Probably vice versa too, but yeah, not good.
Yeah, a lot of people thought they would give birth to a shapechanging pupper until Blizz went “Nope, that does not happen!”
That was retconned, It was actually Yrel as well who was in the MU originally a relative of Maraad, and was in the original WoD storyline but the references were swiftly axed from the game.
Night Elf and Tauren relationships honestly do seem like one of the more likely horde alliance romances though! They have a lot in common, they share love for nature and druidic arts, a lot of them are pretty peaceful. The only thing the Tauren dislike about Night Elves is that they can be a bit uptight is what i’ve heard. But it seems much more likely than lets say… a troll and a dwarf
Keep in mind that Gnomes and Dwarves, aswell as humans and orcs somewhat were never intended to pro create. As they were titan constructs.
The curse of flesh might be the connecting factor in some way. As it made many races “fertile” for reproduction.
Trolls and tauren could be the exception (natural origin)
with the elves having the exposure to the well of eternity, all kinds of messed up doodeliedoo happened to the dark trolls.
Draenei are just weird, space goats. No explanation needed.
Vulpera, no clue what their origin is. Could be either.
Pandaren are also a natural race right? Thus in the same boat as the Tauren and trolls.
One “race” we do know won’t have any options ever are the forsaken. But they’re a “race” and not a race
I’ve mostly played 5e… A little bit of Pathfinder.
I really like the halfbreed races for RP purposes, be they half-elves or half-orcs.
Or the other races that are part something or other, like aasimar or tieflings who are part divine or devil/demonic respectively, or genasi who are part elemental.
And the shifters who are a mix of beast and human, who were introduced in Eberron.
That’s something I really like in Warcraft Half-Elves, that both sides look upon them with disdain or suspicion.
In many fantasy settings half-elves are looked upon with reverence or at worst jealousy among humans because they are “humans, but better.”
I prefer it if half-elves are “different” rather than “better” if you know what I mean.
Physically I see no problem with elves finding humans attractive, they are very similar.
But a deeper connection is something I would expect to be very rare indeed.
Also, why is it always a human man and an elven woman? Couldn’t it be the other way around sometimes? (In fantasy in general).
Or well, I know why… It’s because of author self inserts, authors who often happen to be male.
But would be refreshing to see something other than “human man + female (insert race)” when it came to crossbreed couplings.
Too much self-insert and “this Windrunner sister is my waifu” among some authors.
The only relationship I don’t mind among them is the one between Alleria and Turalyon.
They fought side by side against the orcs and both delved into the Dark Portal as part of the expedition to Draenor. I can see how mutual respect could grow into something more etc etc…
And Alleria was always the sister that was more outspoken about having closer ties with the Alliance, so she was already less xenophobic than the majority of her people.
The relationship between Vereesa and Rhonin was just creepy considering their ages. She was pretty young if I recall, while he was middle-aged at best.
While Sylvanas and Thanos was just a stupid self-insert.
She’s was the typical arrogant elf, why would she consider a human as her lover?
It was strange enough that she vouched for this human to undergo Ranger training out of the blue.
We’ve seen nothing to support that though…
It seems that most humans consider orcs “ugly”, and on top of that a female orc would probably be on the physical strength level as a human male, if not even stronger.
So to force himself on an orc woman a human soldier would risk death, to a much higher degree than orc men forcing themselves on human women.
Unfortunately Med’an hasn’t been completely axed out of wow lore, though he thankfully hasn’t made an appearance in the game or in chronicles.
He is the worst kind of half-breed, the one that is better than everything just because.
What gets me is Draenei and Orcs mating with anyone.
Azeroth’s races make sense, they come from the same distant ancestors being on the same planet, so it makes sense their biology might be compatible. But Draenei and Orcs both come from different planets and they both show as being compatible, and then they both seem to be compatible with Azeroth’s species.
So either everything can mate with everything, or Draenei and Orcs are the most virile species in the universe.
In-lore it should be just as unlikely that certain Azerothian species are able to interbreed.
Some races came into being naturally, like the Trolls and by extension the Elves.
While others are descended from Titan constructs, like Humans and Dwarves.
I think Warcraft operate by the rule of “if it looks similar enough, it can produce babies”.
Thumb of rule, if it can go in, someone will come out.
Thus, Male Tauren is probably not having many options, considering size…Females on the other hand…
mama mia