So eh… the Orc Male models have like no eyebrows. But the female orcs do. Also the Orc children DO have eyebrows. And the model of Thrall does have eyebrows too. I constantly see Orcs in official Blizzard art that do have eyebrows, and others that don’t.
Now I know Blizzard never makes mistakes, but they could have added an expansion explaining the topic on how some orcs do have eyebrows and the majority doesn’t.
Do they shave it off as a coming of age ritual? Or do the alpha chads like Thrall just glue on their eyebrows?
To my knowledge, there is no concrete lore regarding the lack of eyebrows on male orcs. It is likely due to the devs’ unwillingness to add eyebrows to the male orc model, just how they have been unwilling to add eyebrows to the male night elf beardless facial hair option until Shadowlands. Thrall having eyebrows further suggests this to be the case.
The art seems to be highly inconsistent in this regard as well. Some depicts them with eyebrows and some doesn’t.
So far though I have been unable to find any official lore source regarding the lack of eyebrows on orc males, so the reason for this most likely is likely purely gameplay-based.
Yeah, the old manual art has different depictions. Gul’dan usually had bushy eyebrows in the art for the RTS games, but most other orcs didn’t. Also, the orcs in the official art for Warcraft II looked less monstrous and more humanoid in body type.
Male orc eyebrows could be yet another oversight that was subject to the tastes of multiple artists without a larger purpose or direction.