And so are goblins deeply Horde core.
The issue isn´t with Arathi leaning more towards Alliance (although I would say they also have some pretty big blood elf ties), it´s with this weird idea that somehow, because the goblins in Undermine are neutral (just like Arathi), that means the whole patch hasn´t been about Horde race.
With the other half surrounding the Horde goblin who, unlike the Alliance one, didn´t die, had voiced lines, and ended up as the guy at the head of Undermine Board of Directors.
The problem with “Horde vibes” is that, in the eyes of the community, they seem to be centered around 3 Horde races in Vanilla Kalimdor, while “Alliance vibes” are applied to literally any other race, even some Horde ones (looking at blood elves and Nightborne here).
Of course nothing is going to be “Horde-coded” when pandaren, goblins, Forsaken, blood elves, vulpera, Earthen, Nightborne and probably Zandalari too don´t fit the “Horde” theme.
I just feel like we’re retreading the ditch about how the Horde got narrative focus for several expansions (including unique questlines in BfA as the buildup to Shadowlands) but people are still mad and saying it was alliance focused because anduin was there and night elves suffered.
That’s part of the major problem of Horde identity. They no longer have an identity or culture.
That’s not necessarily a refute to Hood’s point; it’d be equivalent to pronouncing “yeah they’ve already screwed up the Horde’s identity and its a contradictory mess, so how can we say what is Horde”. Is no bueno. The distilled idea of the Horde is basically all-but-lost in modern WoW.
I think there’s potentially a bit of bad blood because yet another bout of supposed Horde focus leads to yet another former Horde leader figure being killed off. On the one hand, I’ve wanted Gallywix dead ever since he ruined one of my favourite zones in the game - Azshara.
On the other hand, I have been gunning for the likes of Vereesa to be held accountable for her crimes ever since the Purge of Dalaran.
Same could be said for the Alliance with stuff such as werevolves, demons (although as of now, those are still not official), pandas and Void beings. I´d even say that, outside of being a pretty race, night elves don´t really fit the “luv me Light, luv me Titans” vibe of other Vanilla Alliance races. But I doubt you´d find people saying that night elf, worgen or void elf focus isn´t Alliance focus.
In that case, there has been no Alliance focus in Dragonflight, as it has all been about night elves (some corrupted trolls worshipping a moon just aren´t Alliance vibe), worgen (eww, werewolves) and Man´ari (Demons? That´s no Alliance).
We could accept that goblins are indeed Horde-y, just as the pinkskin Arathi humans who are descended from the human empire and are basically Stormwind-but-Red are Alliance-y.
Doesn’t seem like a big jump to me.
The Arathi may have pointed ears, but their aesthetic, culture, and design is clearly human-oriented, not Thalassian.
I´d even argue that what we see in Undermine is the way “faction” focus is going to go forward. We just aren´t going to see an Alliance-only zone for Alliance-only race, there´s always going to be Horde element present. And if there´s going to be a way for Blizzard to say “actually, this is all neutral”, they will take it. And the same goes for Horde zones and races.
They do however have that little tidbit with Sacred Flame being close to how Sunwell works now rather than just Light. I wouldn´t be surprised if Arathi make appearance in Midnight, pulling on that elf connection.
Pretty much every Horde race has been introduced with a certain vibe only to later have that very same vibe eroded away almost entirely. The Alliance genuinely doesn’t suffer as much from that predicament (not in the least because they are also not the faction having multiple leader figures killed off as unapologetic raid bosses…)
I quite liked the ‘band of unlikely associates sticking together for the sake of mutual survival and convenience’ that the Horde once stood for. It was a lot more interesting to me than every playable race slowly shifting over to a ‘council’ and spouting the exact same ideals as the Alliance on practically every front.
I’m not entirely sure the Sacred Flame is a singular object like the Sunwell is. There are occurrences of it (Eternal Flame of Arathor), but it doesn’t seem like an individual thing like the Sunwell - it’s still an abstract force/energy (like Human Light worship), albeit one that sends prophetic visions (like Naaru). I don’t think it being a mixture of ‘Light+[thing]’ is enough to really have a connection there personally.
Then again maybe the Sacred Flame is just Lightlord Ragnaros having migrated from Hearthstone.
I don´t think it´s a single object either. However, the similarities lie more in the combination of Light and Arcane within it (and Fire, the whole thing is just a bit unexplained) and how Liadrin notices them too. I´d say it´s enough of a breadcrumb to tie Arathi to upcoming expansion and elves (on top of their elven ancestry), especially if Sunwell ends up destroyed and new source might be needed.
Also, it would fit the theme of blood elves yoinking a race that looks like Alliance one, but ends up being far closer to them instead. I simply need it to happen because it would be funny.