The Lore of Troll Mages?

Lore Role-playing
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Hi! I’d like to ask about the lore of Troll Mages.

Since I know quite some knowledge about the Kaldorei and Highborne and all, I know Trolls are their ancestors. But…! I have no little knowledge about them, which is why I came here to ask the trustworthy Roleplaying Community. :slight_smile:

Troll Mages, what are they exactly? Is there a better word for them? Do they suit in a specific tribe? Is there a Troll Mage NPC I can look up? Is it Voodoo magic, Arcane magic or do they even call on to a Loa for their magic?

Are there any reliable websites that I can check out for this?

Many questions! I hope they can be answered. :smile:

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Honestly, I asked myself the same question over and over again, but honestly, from a Lore perspective, TRoll mages dont make much sense.

Shamans and Witchdoctors, sure, these are things trolls could do, but honestly, the mage as it is in the game seems to be a elven/human thing.

I dont even know if there is a canon Orc, Tauren or Troll NPC who is considered a mage… But well, i guess the Undeads could have taught the Horde to become mages, after all, they had to offer something other than “we have a base in the eastern Kingdoms” to them to become part of the Horde, so maybe there were Mage classes hold by Undeads before Vanilla or somthing like that…

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All troll casters are presumably some form of which doctor, from wowpedia " Witch doctors work with voodoo and arcane"

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Witch doctor, noted! I’ll read up on that. :smile:

I also had a question unrelated to Troll ‘mages’.

Since Night Elves are called Kaldorei and Blood Elves Sin’dorei, I was wondering if Trolls had some fancy term as well?

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I don’t think so since that’s just their names in their own language, troll seem to have suffixes though as 'jin at the end of the name for example to show it’s a leading character

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Pick up alchemy and herbalism and work with potions as well as spells to give a more which doctor feel :slight_smile:

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Noted! - And how about Zandalari? I assume they can be Witch Doctors too? I’m nearly sure about it!

Good thing my mage has Alchemy and Herbalism maxed. Perfect!

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The Zandalari, Gurubashi, and Amani Troll empires that existed before the Well Of Eternity was found already practiced some basic magic. While there aren’t too much sources on this, this archaeology item confirms it:

So the Darkspear trolls could have definitely inherited their affinity for magic arts from their ancestors. The arcane aspect of their magic they could have learned from the Forsaken, the Blood Elves or by observing other races.

'dorei is an elven suffix. This custom wasn’t introduced until after the first High Elves were created with the Well of Eternity.

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Thank you, that shapes my view on things quite a lot. Are there any places in game you think recommended I should visit (perhaps for books or monuments, etc)?

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I sadly don’t know any good locations for books or monuments, as far as i know there’s little concrete lore about trolls before the great sundering, even less so easily accessible in-game.

For generic troll locations, you could see Gurubashi in Stranglethorn, Tor’Watha in Eversong Woods, Zul’Aman in The Ghostlands, and Zandalar, but i doubt there’s much if any lore to be found there.

this article is the best collection of troll lore i could find, which is pieced together from many small hints, quest text mentions, physical books, etc.
http://et.worldofwarcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Troll

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As for other ‘Troll Mage’ / ‘Voodoo caster’ lore, these archaeology items are also interesting:

And as bonus, an excellent article on things like troll loa / animal magic, tribes, and common words: https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/10858675927

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I will have a look into it. Thank you very much for your help and effort!

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Why are people confused about Troll mages when we have Kul Tiran mages? You remember Jaina literally had to LEAVE Kul Tiras to study because mages didn’t exist in Kul Tiras? Because if they did I’m sure the Admiral of the continent (essentially the king) could have bargained for her lessons. But now the only Kul Tiran mage betrayed them so much that they wrote sea shanties about her but suddenly they can all be mages.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKK.

I accepted months ago this wouldn’t be possible to the point that I’d feel like a dumb idiot for making one. I refuse. I like lore characters and kul tiran mage is anti-lore just because people whined (because they don’t understand the plot).

We get Kul tiran mages because people whine.
Well screw hunters, I want dark ranger.

Trolls have been into magic before all other races on Azeroth existed.
They could even just learn it from other Horde NPCs, they’ve been part of the horde long enough. There could also be troll mages who use loa / shamanistic powers to use frost/fire, shamans get water / fire & manipulating pressure for a class that can control weather (including wind and heat) is literally easy. There’s NOTHING confusing here. There could be 10 different reasons they can be troll mages. Troll mages might have an origin, but by now there are probably even trolls who learned magic in pandaria or hyjal, just because of the vast amount of trolls who have existed in WoW history (if we all had to write our own stories). But kul tiran mages? Wowzers

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This thread is about Troll mages, not Kul Tiran mages. And there are myriad different ways to introduce Kul Tiran Mages without breaking lore. There could have been a hidden society for all we know.

This thread is not about WHY Trolls can be mages, but rather if there are examples of troll magic in the lore, be it voodoo or arcane or any other school of magic. That’s a completely different question.

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I mean… the person made a thread with a question. They confusion came from the fact they don’t know the answer for the question yet. And as Grimmj said, this thread has nothing to do with Kul Tirans at all so it was hardly a necessary addition. Speaking of it, we’ll probably get some lore retcon as in how their mages work because we meet mages on Kul Tiras other than Jaina and they’re giving the allied race that choice. Like that girl Valyri in Tol Dagor and I’m preeetty sure there’s some more Kul Tiran mage NPC’s I can’t name off the top of my head.

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To go with the Loa guide above there’s also this https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/916826889 on voodoo and troll religion. Should note it’s written in 2010 so may be in part out of date, but it was a good resource for its time and still makes a good reference.

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Thank you Grimmj, Coldshade and Mithcha. I feel there is much to learn! :smiley:

I would say, when it comes to Trolls using types of magic, I think I’m most interested in Witch Doctor.

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Trolls learned to be Mages from their alliance with Mogu. This is why Zandalar is still there getting through the Saundering.

There were also tablets in vanilla about Gurubashi sorcerer that harmed Kraken.
Trolls were also creating enchants, and it’s hinted (sadly not explored at all in BfA) that Zanza, the ascended troll Loa who granted enchants to Amani tribe was mage, and now could be Loa of Mages. * but please take it as theory not as proof.

As for Darkspears? It was implied that they studied in Undercity, but in vanilla trolls still had lots of knowledge passed via tablets so my headcanon is that Darkspears had it from Zandalari because during the Vanilla period they had very good relations. (Simply because I hate the idea of “studying in UC” - that is so lame).

My troll mage is enchanting body paint, making tiki masks fly and be enchanted with arcane and spiritual magic. So it’s a mix up of traditional magic, tribal magic and Loa worship too even.

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19

Hi Zakkaru,
I actually love this theory, but i do have a question.

Isn’t the Zandalari-Mogu alliance from after the sundering? Do we have any proof that this alliance with the Mogu existed before the Well of Eternity blew up?

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No, troll-mogu alliance predates Ascension of night elves. Lei Shen died before Azshara made appearance. Zandalari had to have sorcerers that elevated shield around majority of their territories so violent waves wouldn’t drown Zandalar.

Zandalari mages were shocked at the potency of nelven magic, but we know that nelves drawn power directly from well of eternity hence why Zandalari mages couldn’t do much about it.

But without Well I’d say they’d be on equal grounds - their enchants were superior to elven, high elves were unable to counter them so they had to steal them. And Zanza was very angry about it.

Also in Shadows of the Horde book, Vol’Jin had vision of his previous life - and he was Zandalari mage. : )

Ah as for source - you need to read either Chronicles volume 1 or wowpedia about the mogu and Trolls.
But the moment night elves ascended Pandaria was already ruled by pandaren, and during burdens of Shao Hao we knew that he was the last of pandaren emperors so there were at least few before him.

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