*Sings* He's got the whooole world, in his hands!

It's that time again folks! Time for another Shared Topic from Blog Azeroth. This week's topic is brought to us by Ringo Flinthammer. If you're curious about what others have to say on this subject or any of the Shared Topics for that matter, keep your eye on Twisted Nether for they list all of the participating blogs there every Sunday.

Deathwing may have caused the Cataclysm, but the leaders of the Horde have been quick to take advantage of the chaos.

The lands north of the Thandol Span now almost entirely belong to the Forsaken. The Alliance have been expelled from Azshara and the Stonetalon Mountains. Only in the Southern Barrens are the Horde losing any ground.

Is the war between the Alliance and the Horde close to an end, with a Horde victory? Are Sylvanas and Garrosh close to conquering the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor between them?

What, if anything, can stop the Horde warmachine?

Before I get into this topic, I first must state two things: 1) I am not a lore buff and 2) I am generally terribad with politics. Most of my arguments presented in this post are based off of what little I know/have heard, and what common sense tells me to be true. If I get facts wrong somewhere in here, by all means feel free to debate me and/or point me in the direction of a source or two that will help me in my Azerothian political education.

With that said I can how begin to debate the question presented to us: Are the Horde taking over Azeroth?

While they are indeed gaining some footholds in Azeroth, I don't think we (as in the Alliance) are in imminent danger of the Horde "taking over the world." There is always give and take of ground in contested areas. The two sides continually struggle over a territory to grant their side better resources or better positioning that helps them in their strategy of war against their opponent. Give and take of footholds will happen.

It just so happens that currently the Horde may have a bit of an edge over the Alliance. They have a new, more aggressive warchief at the helm. Sylvanas now has the Valkyr in her arsenal and is raising more new Forsaken at any chance she gets. The Horde recently also brought the rather crafty and almost sinister Goblins into their ranks.

What major changes have the Alliance received lately? They got the Worgen to join their team, who have a furry situation of their own with trying to deal with the Forsaken. Nothing else of note really comes to mind for me. Varian seems like a bit of a badass, but from what little story I've gleamed from him, he's not really stirring up a whole lot of...anything really...like Garrosh is for the Horde.

So currently the Horde have the bodies that enable them to make that push into the territories that the Alliance have been holding onto for so long. But - oh yes folks, there is a 'but' in here - while the Horde are able to currently push back the Alliance and gain new territories, they're having some pretty severe issues within.

- Many of the new Forsaken being risen are being done so against their will. They're not too happy about it.
- Some of the members of the Horde are somewhat horrified at the slaughter that happened in Ashenvale.
- Garrosh doesn't care for anyone it seems. Likewise Sylvanas doesn't seem to care for Garrosh, Vol'jin certainly isn't impressed by him, I'm sure Baine isn't a huge fan, and who knows what the Blood Elves think currently. A leader without the respect/trust/aid of his officers...problematic.

Thar be a great rift in the ranks, mateys.

While the Horde may be able to advance into the Alliance territories now, I don't think over all we'll see the Horde being able to hold it as a team for very long. Horde politics right now seem like they're shattering, or at the very least under a ton of pressure and are about to split apart at the seams. I touched on this topic last week, talking about the inner issues of each of the races, and how greatly the politics of the Horde have shifted in such a small amount of time. There may still be a lot of things going on internally that we're simply not aware of yet. I may have been mostly speaking about the moral values of the general Horde membership in that post, but I think that the moral differences will definitely play into whether or not the Horde is able to stick together as an alliance, and whether or not they will be able to claim these newly gained territories in the name of the Horde itself.


TL;DR version!
No, I do not believe that Garrosh and the Horde will take over the world and make Princess Leia slaves out of the ladies of the Alliance any time soon. They'll probably will however take over a few more areas before ultimately crumbling under the asshole/I'm-better-than-all-of-you leadership of Garrosh. Just a hunch. We shall see if I'm right or not by the next expansion or two.

Horde: Are they really the bad guys?

The shared topic over at Blog Azeroth this week is certainly one that makes you stop and think. Whether or not you really get into the lore of Azeroth, more than likely you have some basic opinion about which faction is good or evil. I'd like to explore the idea of the Horde's moral position with you all.

This week's topic is brought to us by Ringo Flinthammer.

For years, fans of the Horde have described them as noble savages or, at worst, misunderstood people trying to make their way in a hostile world.

But that may have changed in the wake of the Cataclysm. The Forsaken have rolled across the northern lands of the Eastern Kingdoms, slaughtering all enemies in the Hillsbrad Foothills and seek to claim Gilneas for their own. The orcish war machine is rolling across Kalimdor, unleashing fire and devastation in Azshara and the Stonetalon Mountains. Horde NPCs even argue amongst themselves about the brutality of their methods.

Has the Horde changed? Is Blizzard merely clarifying the way they've always wanted to portray them? Or is this merely the start of a story about the soul of the Horde?

As a fair warning, I am by no means the biggest lore enthusiast out there, but I have done some minor dabbling. I know generally who was jilted by who, why one faction may have a chip on their shoulder about the other, the reasonings behind why some races allied with which side, so on and so forth. When asked the question "Is the Horde the evil faction in WoW?" I'd have to be inclined to say no, even as a member of the Alliance. In order to convince you why I would say this, let me lay out my rational via giving a minor break down as to why the Horde is aligned the way that they are. Feel free to correct me on any points I may accidentally have gotten wrong.


Orcs - These guys are given a bad name mainly due to their tempers. They were enslaved, tampered with by demon blood, hunted by the Humans...they've been through some pretty nasty situations. I think they have some right to be rather defensive. Did they go overboard with some of their killing rampages? Probably. Thrall has done wonders to calm the blood lust of his people though, bringing them back to what can be considered "civil." It will be interesting to see what kind of influence Garrosh has over the Orcs. We may need to hide the Shaman while he's doing the leading.

Are Orcs evil: Depends on which branch of Orcs we're talking about. The one's in Hellfire Peninsula? Yeah, I'd toss them in the evil pile, but the last I knew they weren't a part of the Horde. The typical green guy we see strutting on Orgrimmar? Nah, not evil. Having a temper does not make one evil, demon blood on the other hand...yeah, that could do it. It may be possible that Orc Warlocks are evil, but you'd have to question one's motives before casting that judgment.


Tauren - Sweet, giant, land loving cow people. The Tauren needed help, the Orcs came to the rescue. Because of that simple act the Tauren are allied with the Horde. It seems to be an alliance out of a sense of debt more than anything else, but it's what you'd expect out of such a noble race.

Are Tauren evil: Not in the least. Except for those flower-picking druids who get a kick out of ninjaing nodes. Their moral values are debatable.


Trolls - These guys kind of have a sketchy past. They deal with da Voodoo mon. Trolls have been known to be vicious. The Horde's brand of Troll though? I'm not convinced that those guys are evil. They simply want a place to call their own. They needed help, the Orcs lent a hand, now the Trolls are allied with the Horde. Heck, they shared a home city with the Orcs for the longest time. That brotherly outreach from the Orcs was certainly compassionate in my eye.

Are Trolls evil: Dey may mess wit da Voodoo mon, but dey jus be wantin' a place to call 'ome. Dun cross der paths, and dey not be harmin' ya.


Blood Elves - Shunned by the Night Elves, cast aways who landed on the shores of northern Eastern Kingdoms, sufferers of a severe magic addiction, devastated by a vicious attack launched by the Scourge. They lost part of their beloved Silvermoon City, they lost Sylvanas and many of their fellow people, eventually they lost Kael as well. The Blood Elves have been through some stuff. They're a bit callous, somewhat vicious, and I can't help but have my heart go out to them. They have known suffering. They're the drug addicts of WoW who have witnessed their families being massacred by the undead scourge. They needed help, and because of the past actions of the Alliance, they turned to the Horde (whom they found out Sylvanas was a part of, so they reluctantly joined up).

Are Blood Elves evil: As much as one would like to hate their vicious beauty, you cannot really call Blood Elves evil. They've been wounded as a people badly, and they're defensive because of it. It's a coping mechanism, and I certainly cannot consider them evil for using it.


Goblins - They're sneaky, thrifty, shady little devils. They're the new kids on the block as far as team Horde is concerned, and quite frankly I don't know a ton about them yet. So yeah, I got nothing.

Are Goblins evil: Depends on if they steal your socks or not to make a quick buck. They're kind of shady, so they *may* be evil...but are they Deathwing evil? Nah.


The Forsaken, aka the Undead - Out of all of the members of the Horde, the Undead would be the group that I'd consider to be the most likely to be "evil." They're a sketchy, baggy boned bunch raised from the dead for one purpose: to be an army. Ever since Sylvanas has been brought back from the dead (again) and the Val'kyr have joined the Forsaken, the Undead ranks have been swelling. Frankly, I think something has been done to Sylvanas to cause her to raise resting souls unwillingly from the dead. Before she had a right to be miffed at the world; she was captured by the Lich King, killed, and raised as a banshee slave until she managed to free herself. Now though? Something bigger is at play.

Are the Undead evil: At best I give them a possibly. The vast majority of the Forsaken have been turned or risen from the dead unwillingly, and rallied under Sylvanas to take down the causes for their creation. There's something more sinister going on within the Undead ranks now though, and while many of it's people are not at fault, something fishy is definitely going on.


So, do I believe the Horde are evil? As a whole, no. There are some rather sketchy characters within their ranks, but just because you have a few bad apples in the bunch doesn't mean that the fruit as a whole is bad. The Horde are by no means more "evil" than the Alliance, who - I say this despite my great love for the Alliance, her people, and it's cities - have done some pretty incredibly shady things themselves because of politics and in the name old, terrible, pointless, and often misguided feuds.

Has the Horde changed as of late? Most certainly. Garrosh is now at the helm of the Orcs, Sylvanas seems to have been tainted somehow, Cairne is dead, and the Goblins have aligned with the Horde. Politics have changed drastically within that few year jump that Cataclysm gave us, so of course things have changed quite a bit for the Horde. I think Blizzard's story line is simply progressing very similarly to how things would change in real life had this political shift happened. I don't really think it has anything to do with how they want the Horde to be portrayed, nor do I necessarily think that the current or future actions have anything to do with the "soul" of the Horde as a whole. Each race has their own reasonings for choosing the side that they did, and even the NPCs are nervous as of late about the actions they are forced to take.

It all boils down to politics and misunderstandings, neither of which I'm a big fan of, but they seem rather unavoidable. The plot is thickening dear readers, and it shall be interesting to see how the Horde keeps its fragile alliance together.