Warcraft Race Origins: Trolls

Today we continuing our exploration of the lore behind World of Warcraft's playable races by taking a look at one of Azeroth's oldest native races: Trolls.

Trolls as a race have presumably been in existence nearly as long as Azeroth itself. Many speculate that the Trolls wandered the chaos of Azeroth's primordial state long before the Titan's arrived to impose order on the world being ravaged by the Old Gods. Regardless, it is widely accepted that Trolls are perhaps Azeroth's oldest sentient, mortal race and they are almost certainly the first race to discover magic.

All Trolls ultimately originate from a single progenitor tribe, the Zandalar. Eventually two separate powerful Troll empires were formed. Over time, due to conflicts with the Night Elves, the High Elves, and the meddling of Blood God Hakkar the Soulflayer, the Trolls were scattered around Azeroth, separated into numerous tribes and sub-races.

Player character Trolls are from the Darkspear Tribe. The Darkspear originally called Stranglethorn Veil their home, but due to conflicts with other tribes in that region they were forced to relocate to the Broken Isles south of Durotar. Unfortunately, trouble followed the Darkspears and they soon found themselves at war with a powerful Naga sorceress, The Sea Witch, and her band of Murloc followers.

By a strange twist of fate, Thrall and his recently freed band of Orcs also found themselves on the Broken Isles. Thrall and the Darkspear leader Sen'jin were ultimately captured by the Sea Witch along with several other Orcs and Trolls. Sen'jin perished at the hands of the Sea Witch, but not before prophesying that Thrall would lead the Darkspear tribe off of the Broken Isles. Thrall freed himself, the other Orcs, and the remaining Trolls forever entwining the destiny of the Darkspear Tribe with that of the Horde.

As for the future of the Trolls, in Cataclysm, Druidic magic will apparently come to the Darkspear. Also, as Azeroth's attention begins to focus on coastal regions, it is almost certain that Trolls will have a significant role to play in developing the world's destiny. Here is hoping that Blizzard will use this opportunity to further develop the Troll's rich back story.

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