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Zeitgeist: An Orcish Time Capsule
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Post by
Skreeran
Lately, I have been reading about the disturbing but fascinating history of
Zeistgeist
“the spirit of the times.” Zeistgeist is everything that one period in history feels about everything. Before the mid-twentieth century, racism was normal. Even thinkers who were ahead of their time, like Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Huxley, who were far less racist than their contemporaries, still condemned dark-skinned people as somehow inferior to people with light skin. Anti-Semitism was also quite common, and hardly seen as intolerant or offensive.
Violence has also done its dance through the Zeitgeist. While genocide is seen as wholly vile and unforgivable now, as little as a thousand years ago this was hardly the case in most parts of the world. Ghengis Khan killed thousands of innocent civilians in rival nations, as did Caligula, Nero, and many others. And this was not seen as a bad thing. Killing enemy civilians, taking them as slaves, and breeding with their wives was considered morally upright behavior. We find this repulsive and cannot understand it, but that is merely because we are further downstream in the timeline. Our views and ideas and cultural norms have grown and evolved further than those of our ancestors. This is Zeitgeist.
The topic that I intend to speak on right now is the orcs, and specifically, Garrosh. You see, the orcs experience Zeitgeist as well. What was once understood to be acceptable for an orc is not necessarily so now.
One thing that I have noticed in the movements of Zeitgeist is that it is nearly always driven by influential figures. Martin Luther King championed the Civil Rights Movement, and his namesake, Martin Luther, drove forward the great shift from Catholicism. The great Greek philosophers can be credited with many of the Western ideals that we hold now. Elvis and the Beatles helped bring about the Rock and Roll revolution of the ‘60s. The Zeitgeist is driven by charismatic and iconic figures, and that is a great part of how cultural ideas evolve.
The New Horde has come a great distance since its origins on Draenor. There were many causes for its becoming what it is now. The orcs have changed, and not just from the absence of the Blood Curse. The minds and standards of the new generation of orcs have been shaped and influenced by individuals like Doomhammer, Thrall, and Drek’thar and that has helped mold them into what they are today. Others, like Grom and many of his clan have lagged behind the rest in this shift, but they have not been unaffected.
Think of how the orcs are different now than they once were. Before the Horde, the orcs tended to keep to themselves as a race. They rarely traded with the Draenei. They actively hunted the ogres. They did not trust outsiders. You were born into the tribe, or you were not welcome among the tribe.
Since then, thanks initially to Blackhand (ironically) and his recruiting of the ogres into the First Horde, the orcs have gradually grown more tolerant of the other races. Since then, they have accepted no less than 6 foreign races into their number (7 if you count the Taunka as a race independent of the Tauren), including undead humans and the Blood Elves, both having been bitter enemies of the Horde in the past. Many of the orcs now regret their genocide of the Draenei. They see it as a mistake, not just because they were tricked into it, but because of the actual loss of life as well.
Contrast that with the First Horde. The First Horde objected to the slaughter of the Draenei at first, but found it to be acceptable. They found it acceptable to kill draenei, down to every woman and child they could find. This was before the Blood Curse, mind you. The orcs, as a people, were different on a fundamental level, from most of those we see today. The spirit of the times has changed.
Enter the Mag’har. These are isolated orcs. Cut off from the shifts in ideals that the Horde has undergone on Azeroth, they are a living time capsule, virtually unchanged since the formation of the Horde. They still view the Draenei as ancient enemies. They still remain rather untrusting of outsiders, and still wage war against the ogres and Broken around them.
Garrosh now is just as Grom was in the early days of the Horde. His father was an eager participant in the massacre of the Draenei. Grom was the first to drink the Blood of Mannoroth. When the Dark Portal was opened, he had wished to cross with the Horde and engage in more bloodshed, and when it opened the second time, he eagerly took the opportunity to cross through.
However, with the passage of time, and the changing of the Zeitgeist, he changed as well. Not to the extent that Saurfang, with his exposure to Orgrim, or Nazgrel, with his exposure to Drek’thar, did, but he did change, and we can see this change when Thrall encounters him. He is not quite the same person as he was back on Draenor. And it is this changed Grom that we have come to remember and respect.
However, Garrosh has not been exposed to the same factors that Grom has. He was effectively in the control group, back on Draenor, unchanging. He represents the orcs exactly as they were when they stepped through the Dark Portal. Zeitgeist for the Mag’har, including Garrosh, has moved slower than it has for the Azerothian orcs.
It is for this reason that Garrrosh acts exactly like Grom did during the rise of the Horde. He is bloodthirsty, racist, and has no qualms about genocide. His thinking is in exactly the same line as the orcs had when the Horde was formed and they made the decision to annihilate the Draenei.
He is not particularly bloodthirsty or stupid, at least no more than Grom was at his age. Just to be clear, I am not saying that Garrosh’s age is what makes him the way we see him. Just because Grom acted the same way at the same age is because they have the same genes and were raised in the same environment. Had Garrosh been raised on Azeroth, with Grom, he would have been exposed to the same cultural pressures that have driven the Zeitgeist in the direction that it has gone. Garrosh is not an unusually warlike orc. Instead, he merely represents the orcs at a different period in their history.
As he is exposed to the new ways of thinking and the new circumstances that are prevalent in the New Horde, he will most likely adapt and catch up with the times in the same way that his father did. Already, we can see him changing due to Saurfang and Thrall’s influence.
In summary, it is not Garrosh’s fault that he acts the way he does. Where the rest of the Horde has been exposed to the new ideas and new attitudes that shape it today, Garrosh not only was raised in the absence of those virtues, but also possesses his father’s characteristic short temper and lust for glory. If you didn’t like Grom in Warcraft 3 and Lord of the Clans, you probably won’t ever like Garrosh. However, those of you who believe Grom to be a hero later in his life should give Garrosh a chance to adapt and change in the same manner that Grom had to.
Post by
283679
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Post by
306612
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Post by
Adamsm
Keep in mind that Garrosh has pretty much been groomed to become the leader. I don't know if the title of Warchief is passed from familial relations, but notice how Thrall has no son, and I find that in most of their interactions, Thrall almost treats Garrosh like one.
Which is semi-ironic as Garrosh is a few years older then Thrall.....
Post by
306612
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
HiVolt
Keep in mind that Garrosh has pretty much been groomed to become the leader. I don't know if the title of Warchief is passed from familial relations, but notice how Thrall has no son, and I find that in most of their interactions, Thrall almost treats Garrosh like one.
Which is semi-ironic as Garrosh is a few years older then Thrall.....
Worst part is, I thought that was the case. But I still get that vibe.
You're not alone, either.
Post by
Skreeran
While I believe this is written to better understand Garrosh, it also shows why he shouldn't be a leader in the 'New Horde.'Yes, I agree. I still do not think that he is prepared to become Warchief, but it looks like Thrall didn't just hand the position over to him either, which I'm glad for. Thrall isn't that stupid.
But yeah, the prevailing point that I was trying to make is just that Garrosh was essentially raised in another time period in the orcs history, and that he isn't just an extraordinarily stupid and bloodthirsty orc. All the orcs were more or less like him when the Horde was first formed
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