Wow Worgen

by sillybooth on 2009-12-04 10:34:33

Welcome to Know Your Lore, where we uncover the stories behind the people, places, and cultures of Azeroth. The Worgen are coming. We now know for sure that, with Deathwing's Cataclysm, the Worgen of Gilneas will be answering the call of the Alliance.

The Worgen, while they have quickly become a classic, iconic race in Warcraft lore, actually only appeared in World of Warcraft itself, providing enemies for both Horde and Alliance players in Silverpine Forest, Duskwood, and Ashenvale. But who are they, and what brought them to the place where they will become one of the next playable races in the World of Warcraft before other choices?

To understand how it all begins, the first place to look is The Book of Ur. This book, written by Ur, a Mage of Dalaran, eventually found its way into the personal library of Archmage Arugal. It describes the origin of the Worgen. According to Ur, Worgen come from another dimension. They are a savage, beastly race who leave "terror and bloodshed" in their wake. They are also reported to be powerful mages in their own right, using dark shadow magics. Luckily, they seem content to stay in their own world and have not tried to invade others, for such an occurrence, Ur insists, would be a catastrophe.

So, how did they get to our world? For the answer to that question, I’m going to direct you to a previous installment of Know Your Lore by Alex Ziebart’s treatment on the Scythe of Elune. Go ahead and click here to read it. I’ll wait for you. You’ll seriously want to.

As you can see, once again, the Night Elves messed stuff up. While it’s certainly possible that Elune sent the Worgen like she sent the Moonkin, it would seem to clash with Ur’s description of a savage and sadistic race, and the aggression of pretty much all current Worgen in game. It’s my general opinion that the Scythe of Elune came from someone looking to sow discord, possibly an agent of an Old God, and Velinde just assumed it came from Elune. But that’s neither here nor there.

Now that we know where Worgen come from and how they came to Kalimdor and later Duskwood because of Velinde and her Scythe, it’s time to move on. There was one other person who figured out how to summon Worgen to our world. The Rise of Arugal.

Arugal was an Archmage of Dalaran, and by some indications, he may have had good intentions — the defense of his beloved Gilneas — when he first used Ur’s research to summon the Worgen to our world, looking for a weapon to fight the Scourge. But the Worgen proved savage and vile, escaping Arugal’s control, they went on a rampage, eventually slaughtering Baron Silverlaine of Shadowfang Keep and his entire court. Arugal, driven mad with grief, decided to adopt the Worgen as his children and rule over the countryside with an Iron Fist.

This is where things get a bit murky. Apparently, in addition to his summoned extra-dimensional Worgen, he decided to make some of his own, homegrown. He developed a curse that would turn humans into Worgen by night. With this curse, he turned the whole village of Pyrewood. The villagers were in their right minds during the day, even conducting business with passing Alliance members, but at night, they turned into savage mindless Worgen under the thrall of Arugal. Eventually, a group of Horde confronted Arugal and, by all indications, ended the Worgen menace, but the story does not end there.

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