In the wildly popular online game World of Warcraft, Taurens were one of the original races of the Horde faction. The Taurens, led by Chief Cairne Bloodhoof, were dedicated to worshiping the forces of the earth and its creatures. Taurens are the only Horde race that can be druids, and much of their class-specific quest lines revolve around the spirits of animals and reverence for the land. They worship the Earth Mother, and live an existence that mirrors those of Native Americans.
However, the announcement of the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion: Cataclysm at Blizzcon in August 2009 included the ability of Tauren to choose the Paladin class. How does the Paladin class, which focuses on the power of the “Light” fit into the lore of the Tauren race?
Currently, only Blood Elves in the Horde faction and Humans, Dwarves, and Draenei of the Alliance faction can choose the Paladin class.
Hints of Change in Tauren Philosophy
Even before Blizzcon, a clue was provided that got the Warcraft fan base buzzing. In Patch 3.2, a quest was added in Dalaran that involved returning a shield to a Tauren non-player character (NPC) in the city of Thunder Bluff. While the quest itself isn’t all that interesting, the conversation between the NPC and a Tauren druid, Tahu Sagewind is worth hanging around to listen to.
The two Taurens talk about the origin of druids, the moon and the sun, and the source of the Night Elf’s power, the Moon goddess Elune. It is inferred that the Tauren belief system may be out of balance because they only focus on the power of the moon, like the Night Elves, for their druidic magic.
The discussion suggests that the Tauren may begin to explore the magic of the sun, not to replace the magic of the moon, but to balance it.
Announcement of Cataclysm at Blizzcon 2009
The announcement of the Cataclysm expansion at Blizzcon in August 2009 provided an answer to the questions generated by this seemingly innocuous quest. Tauren would gain the ability to become both paladins and priests. At first, a player with any background in Tauren lore would find this addition puzzling, but as with much of the world of Azeroth physically changing in the expansion, the Tauren’s views of magic are changing as well.
The simple conversation between two Tauren NPCs suggests that the Tauren will draw on the magic of the sun to cast the spells and use the abilities of the paladin and priest classes. With this realization in mind, the addition of the paladin class to the Tauren race makes sense.
As for gameplay, Tauren are already widely used as tanks (warrior and druid forms) and healers (druid and shaman forms), so the functions of the paladin class do fit with the existing roles of Tauren.
Sources
World of Warcraft Cataclysm website
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