So, if memory serves Orcs were able to be mages around Cataclysm when Garrosh was pushing Orcs away from the dark Warlock arts and towards the Arcane and being Mages.
Most places that I use for lore, namely the wiki’s, tend to all state that “The other races taught them”. I’m wondering if there’s specifics around the world or in books I’ve missed that would shine some light on the bits after Orc Mages becoming a thing.
In addition, it’s clear Dalaran has had it’s allegiance shuffled a bit from being pure alliance to neutral and back and forth so would it have been possible that an Orc or another Horde race would’ve spent some time training and become acclimatised there, before the crazy Jaina purge of course, or was it purely Blood Elves? (I skipped most of Cata and MoP)
Feel free to correct me and info dump your sources. Orcs and the Arcane have been busting my balls for a while.
I suppose it theorically could have been possible for a member of an Horde race to have been sponsored in Dalaran in the period ~end of WotLK to beginning of MoP by the Sunreavers, though probably not the most likely. (There’s at least one orc associed with the Sunreavers, while not seeming to be a mage, so the association is not completly unheard of.)
My theory is that there’s a possibility of Horde members/Children being trained in the Arcane Arts during the period of Dalarans neutrality. Given the animosity between the Forsaken and the other Races around cataclysm It feels just as unlikely that they would have gone to them. Which leaves the Trolls but their magic strikes me more as voodoo, but I must admit I’ve not really looked into the Troll side of things.
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mage_races#Orcs
That’s also all I was able to find too which makes me feel like a lot of the bits between are “Head-canon” which will forever irk me
You’re kinda forgetting the expert magic users of the Horde here. The blood elves were in the Horde since BC, and it’s not even the majority of them that joined Dalaran to be Sunreavers.
Also likely, I can’t really remember Garrosh’s opinion on the Blood Elves during his time. I do remember seeing them near the Throne of Thunder. But Silvermoon is also a possibility, that did slip my mind.
I feel like the primary tutors of Orc Mages would have been Darkspear Trolls, since they’ve been the closest, both in terms of cultural similarities and just their physical proximity, for the longest time.
As Trolls themselves gained Warlocks in Cataclysm, presumably they got the short end of that cultural exchange!
Except for Orcs their Shaman became Warlocks; while for most races on Azeroth, their Magi became Warlocks. Hence the reason why Orcs were not able to become Magi.
As for Mag’har; their is a time-skip of 30 year between them being playable, in which they could’ve learned from both the Draenei and/or the Ogre’s.
With the whole war against Trolls from Garrosh I’m actually leaning more towards Forsaken/Blood Elves as the more primary source of the Arcane in Orcs. More likely the Blood Elves due to the timing of the Orc mages arrival.
Their bond with the Horde has always been quite loose but I wouldn’t say there’s been a great deal of mistrust due to leadership. The elves have proven over the years to be reliable and steadfast allies.
Officially the canon reason Durotar Orcs have Magi is because this one Orclady trained herself with the knowledge in Undercity’s library or something akin to that!
I’m pretty sure the mage trainer in the valley of trials is the first orc mage, trained by the forsaken in Undercity. A lot of small lore bits were gutted with the skill revamp that removed trainer flavour text.
She did, yes. She spent several years studying the arcane arts in the Undercity and since this quest was added in Cata, it’s fairly safe to assume her training started years before orc mages actually became playable. Probably she started around the time the Forsaken first joined the Horde, I imagine.
“Ahh, where to start… introductions! I’m Acrypha - the one who sent you that parchment - I’ve spent the last several years in an Undercity library, my head in a book. I learned everything I could about the arcane, and now I’ve returned home to share it with grunts like yourself.”
There’s also Hagara the Stormbinder, from the Dragon Soul raid. She looks to have been a shaman before starting to study the arcane, if her outfit and some of her spells are any clue. She likewise studied arcane magic in the Undercity.
“Hagara, one of the first students of arcane magic under the Forsaken, showed surprising potential for one who had started learning so late in life. But in her undisciplined attempts to bind elementals into servitude, she was ensnared and twisted by the Windlord, Al’Akir. Now fiercely loyal to the Twilight’s Hammer, Hagara binds others for her elemental masters to torment.”
htt ps://wow.gamepedia.com/Hagara_the_Stormbinder
And that is just about the extent of what lore we have for orc mages.
I’d say the main route is to have your orc be an apprentice of the other Horde races. It can spark a lot of cool RP imho. It’s also the one we have lorewise.
However, RPwise, there might be an alternative route. One may remember how ogre mages came from elven runestones in Warcraft 2. According to WoD’s lore, elven runestones have similarities with Draenor’s ogre runestones. It’s not impossible for an orc to learn the arcane from the vestiges of the fallen ogre empire, though it requires an huge knowledge of the lore.
The blood elves were in the Horde since BC, and it’s not even the majority of them that joined Dalaran to be Sunreavers.
