What culture are Wow races based on?

Community General Discussion
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Its an old question but lets revisit. The wow races are based off on IRL culture from around the world based on their accent or architecture or customs. Lets see the list

Alliance

  1. Stormwind Humans - America
  2. Gilnean Humans/Worgens - British
  3. Kultirians - Wales???
  4. Dwarves - Irish
  5. Draenei - East Europe/ Slavic / Middle east?
  6. Night elves - Japanese? (Their architecture seems Japanese themed)
  7. Gnomes - American?
  8. Mechano gnomes - American ?
  9. Void elves - British ?
  10. Light forged Draenei - ???
    Horde -
  11. Orc - African Americans
  12. Undead - ? (Im Guessing American or British)
  13. Tauren - Native Americans
  14. Trolls - Jamaicans (West Indies)
  15. Zandalari - Inca/Mayans/Central America
  16. Blood Elf - British
  17. Goblin - New York Americans AKA (Italian Americans)
  18. Nightborne - British?
  19. High mountain Tauren - Native Americans
  20. Maghar Orc - Africans?
  21. Vulpera - South America (Chile)??

Neutral Races

  1. Panda- Taiwan/Hong kong
  2. Evokers - ???

Non Playable races

  1. Tuskarr - Scandinavia
  2. Mogu - Mainland Chinese
  3. Uldum denizens - Egyptians
  4. Rivendreth - West Europeans?

Add if i missed out any obvious races and What kind of culture would you want to see more in the game???

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Kul Tiran be the Cornish folk in England. Yarr!

I’d imagine dwarves to be Scottish.

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Both kultirans and humans are pretty close, I do not see them having any particular “culture” but more of a blank slate.

More like Scottish but close enough.

They have some Japanese characteristics (As you said architecture/isolationism), but I see them more of like tribal/aboriginal people.

For most other races apart from Tauren and trolls, that you categorized as british or american, it is more the case of them not being influenced by real world cultures, but from other fantasy settings (blood/void elves are not influenced by britain in the slightest for example).

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Maghar Orcs are definitely not Africans
Trolls are Africans/Jamaicans etc.

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Orcs are based on the mongol horde, hence the warlord system and warchief = khan.

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The friendly races of the Dragon Isles are probably based on the modern 1st world progressive human subspecies given how lame most of them think and act.

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How on earth did you conclude with that?

There is zero british about them as far as I can see.

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True. OP, look up Yggdrassil - the world tree in norse mythology, and it’s guardians. Otherwise I do agree that the architecture is very asian.

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Dwarves being Irish, wat? They’re stereotypically Scottish.

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The night elf culture is just Gaelic Celtic with Greek and Japanese architecture.

The naming schemes are Celtic, and the goddess Elune and the Winter Queen are based on Celtic gods and actual Gaelic folklore.

Druidism and priesthood are the two foundational pillars of their Celtic society, even down to the sex split regarding societal roles, i.e. only males are druids. Only females can be priests, and they are matriarchal, except for a few exceptions.

The Winter Queen in Shadowlands is actually a very accurate depiction of how she is presented in Scottish folklore even depicting her with blue skin and being the goddess of death and rejuvenation.

This is basic archetypal storytelling these characters aren’t new and they are basic copies of real-world cultures and gods with a slight fantasy twist. Even games like Elden Ring are based on Celtic culture What could Ranni possibly be based on?

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They steal from real-world folklore and cultures. Wow, it has never been original. Thrall is just Moses.

You also can’t have a different interpretation when you take a cultural depictions of a god, along with how they relate to their counterparts, perfectly representing them as such. Plaster that very culture naming conventions to the point it’s definitive view of their afterlife.

Dude, it’s just appropriating real-world cultures, and I’m all for it because the work has been done and has lasted thousands of years and most people don’t know anything about it.

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Even has the lightning going on!

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I laughed when he was placed in the basket and pushed down the river :joy:. So he can go to free his people from slavery.

The only thing we didn’t get was when he said let my people go.

This whole idea of it can be anything to anyone as you sit there looking at the very Highlander Scottish-inspired dwarves going other cultures can relate, aka someone in South America, and Africa is so stupid because it’s a representation of a singular culture at a specific point in time. After all, it was cool.

It’s like saying the vrykrul can be anything when they are Northmen and come from Northrend with Scandinavian accents, imagery and naming conventions. It’s a moronic stance to have.

It’s like saying the Titans are not the Greek pantheon or that areas south of Kalimdor aren’t Egyptian with Npcs based on the sphinx.

Even characters like Sargeras aren’t original. He’s just Ares the God of War, and like Ares, he aligns himself with chaos or discord, aka Eris, and a few others, such as Deimos, aka terror or dread and Phobos, fear to combat the Olympians.:rofl:

It’s like going to the shadowlands and seeing the naming conventions such as Tir Na and going no that could be multiple different cultures. I’m sorry to tell you it’s actually Gaelic. It means “the land of”. Tir Na Nog is the actual Celtic afterlife called the land of the young which is beyond the veil and the primordial ruler of death is the winter Queen who is almost perfectly represented and the reason the seasons change is because she shares power with her sister who’s also a tripple goddess. :rofl: you can’t make it up and in the folklore, the only way for her to give up power is for her people to convince her that spring is needed.

The Wow story is such a Frankenstein monster of plagiarism it’s funny.

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