Baine's Purpose

[Shadowferal]

Yes, his purpose is to uphold the heart and soul of the New Horde. Without him, the Horde would simply be the Scourge, BfA already showed it quite literally (one of the Forsaken Kul Tirans wore a Scourge tabard).

Without him, there might not be much difference between horde and scourge.

[Grazrug]

Baine is commonly hated by the Horde community and Blizzard knows this which is why he is barley used by them in the story apart from they have to dig him out lamenting about "honor" and all that stuff.

[Varodoc]

Without him, there might not be much difference between horde and scourge.

Without him there is obviously no difference between the Horde and the Scourge, as evidenced by the fact that the Horde under Sylvanas was literally nuking entire cities and mass-raising the dead.

Sylvanas literally tells you in Shadowlands that she became the very man she hated, Arthas.

She admitted this in that famous cinematic where Arthas was turned into 23 Anima piece.

The point is that even Sylvanas herself acknowledges that she became the Lich King. And so, her Horde became the Scourge. I wish some irl Horde players could acknowledge this simple fact too.

[Raisei]

To be the representative of the second playable faction's token good guy race who are not predisposed towards launching into mass slaughter every couple years, which also makes him said second faction's best character suited for interacting with the first faction's characters in storylines.

Funnily enough Baine goes full Anakin vs. Tusken in this questline. Probably a good thing that centaurs do not have children... or well they weren't there at least.

It shows a very different side of Baine, but sadly enough he appears weaker in this questline then he did ever before. When he stood up to the Banshee, he was strong and clear headed. In this quest he is for one a complete ass to anyone with more then two legs and seems to be constantly in panic.

Maybe it is normal that after so many times that he could not stop the Horde from becoming monsters and loosing people because of it, he is just constantly afraid of loosing more people. Maybe Mayla should just take over the leadership of all Tauren and Baine can retire, so the responsibility is no longer his.

[Varodoc]

Funnily enough Baine goes full Anakin vs. Tusken in this questline. Probably a good thing that centaurs do not have children... or well they weren't there at least.

It shows a very different side of Baine, but sadly enough he appears weaker in this questline then he did ever before. When he stood up to the Banshee, he was strong and clear headed. In this quest he is for one a complete ass to anyone with more then two legs and seems to be constantly in panic.

Maybe it is normal that after so many times that he could not stop the Horde from becoming monsters and loosing people because of it, he is just constantly afraid of loosing more people. Maybe Mayla should just take over the leadership of all Tauren and Baine can retire, so the responsibility is no longer his.

Right? These guys on this forum always call Baine a "coward" and a "craven", but how many characters have the balls to tell to Sylvanas' face to fuck off and that he betrayed her? I definitely think that BfA showed Baine's courage as a character. Standing up for his beliefs even in the face of a psycho who literally tortures and brainwashes dissidents (see what she tried to do to Koltira).

It's a shame that Baine was wasted in Shadowlands, all he did was get humiliated publicly by Zobald and then stare at a wall for 2 years. His most noteworthy moment was when he suggested that Sylvanas should never wake up, which was actually very badass and it's what most of the Community was thinking honestly.

[Grazrug]

Seeing Baine being thrown away by the Jailer was balm to the soul. Danuser knows how to make us happy.

[Mehrunes]

After Thrall took a hiatus from Horde's affairs to become Green Moses (and then from the story at large because the playerbase told Blizzard to fuck off with the Go'el nonsense no one wanted), the Horde needed a new character serving as the Alliance's appeaser that bends over the second a human enters the room to ruin the Horde with.

[micwini]

Seeing Baine being thrown away by the Jailer was balm to the soul. Danuser knows how to make us happy.

Baine should have died there. Then we come back and see Magatha Grimtotem has taken control. BOOM. Interesting story. Also could have served as a better bridge between SL and DF, because then Kurog could have been introduced better.

[Combatbutler]

Baine was supposed to be some moral compass, but ultimately blizz decided to throw that under the bus as well, since they made him a straight up racist in his latest questline.

[Grazrug]

Baine was supposed to be some moral compass, but ultimately blizz decided to throw that under the bus as well, since they made him a straight up racist in his latest questline.

They tried to make him look badass. And for once he acted realisticly. Centaurs almost drove the Tauren to extinction so it is just logical that Baine and the others react with mistrust at first.

[Combatbutler]

They tried to make him look badass. And for once he acted realisticly. Centaurs almost drove the Tauren to extinction so it is just logical that Baine and the others react with mistrust at first.

It contradicts his character though, he never had such a problem with others trying to beat the ever living shit out of his people, not to mention these centaurs had absolutely nothing to do with the near annihilation of the tauren.

[Aucald]

It contradicts his character though, he never had such a problem with others trying to beat the ever living shit out of his people.

With the centaur, it was personal, though; given that they kidnapped him as an infant and held him for ransom. They also killed his good friend Bovan, making his subsequent rampage a bit more understandable and relatable (which is probably a first for Baine).

[Combatbutler]

With the centaur, it was personal, though; given that they kidnapped him as an infant and held him for ransom. They also killed his good friend Bovan, making his subsequent rampage a bit more understandable and relatable (which is probably a first for Baine).

Different centaur altogether, which makes him just as racist as Dealin Proudmoore.

[Aucald]

Different centaur altogether, which makes him just as racist as Dealin Proudmoore.

I'm not saying he's not being racist, I'm saying his position however flawed is based on his previous experiences with the centaur, and he quite literally announces he sees no fundamental difference between the Nokhud specifically and the other major centaur tribes on Kalimdor like the Magram and Gelkis. He does seem to eventually make an allowance for the Shikaar and other non-violent centaur tribes, as well; showing that he's slowly overcoming his prejudices.

[Combatbutler]

I'm not saying he's not being racist, I'm saying his position however flawed is based on his previous experiences with the centaur, and he quite literally announces he sees no fundamental difference between the Nokhud specifically and the other major centaur tribes on Kalimdor like the Magram and Gelkis. He does seem to eventually make an allowance for the Shikaar and other non-violent centaur tribes, as well; showing that he's slowly overcoming his prejudices.

Still doesn't make much sense, he was the guy who was willing to overlook the Quilboar slaughtering his people left and right and still reached out again. They simply should have used a different tauren as the one being a dick and baine while being understandable, trying to temper outright hatred. By doing the questline in this manner, blizz genuinely undid his core characterization of cooperation between bitter enemies, thus unraveling the character as a whole.

[Maljinwo]

Baine was supposed to be some moral compass, but ultimately blizz decided to throw that under the bus as well, since they made him a straight up racist in his latest questline.

I would be racist against the species that almost drove mine to extinction

[Combatbutler]

I would be racist against the species that almost drove mine to extinction

Baine was never one to shy away from the people trying to actively wipe his people off the map before, which is the core issue. Consistency is the problem here.

[Aucald]

Still doesn't make much sense, he was the guy who was willing to overlook the Quilboar slaughtering his people left and right and still reached out again. They simply should have used a different tauren as the one being a dick and baine while being understandable, trying to temper outright hatred. By doing the questline in this manner, blizz genuinely undid his core characterization of cooperation between bitter enemies, thus unraveling the character as a whole.

I disagree - showing that Baine has his own flaws and isn't necessarily all-forgiving and/or all-compassionate goes to make him a bit more realistic in the long term. Baine doesn't really have any kind of personal beef with the Quillboar, and their renewed violence is ultimately understandable in that they've lost their water supply and lack the refinement for trading or economy. The problem was solvable without Quillboar genocide, in other words. which Baine demonstrated. One day his restraint could even be the olive branch for more positive relations with the Quillboar in Mulgore and the Barrens.

I also think this whole assumption that every character needs to be a monolith is wrongheaded on its face. Baine needn't be all-forgiving, Thrall needn't be 100% self-hating, Garrosh doesn't need to a total warmonger, etc. Real people aren't like that, and realistic depictions in fantasy needn't be either. Tropes and memes are convenient tools for classification, but that's all they are - they have their built-in limitations as well as a limited scope. Everything doesn't have to boil down to memes in the end.

[Combatbutler]

I disagree - showing that Baine has his own flaws and isn't necessarily all-forgiving and/or all-compassionate goes to make him a bit more realistic in the long term. Baine doesn't really have any kind of personal beef with the Quillboar, and their renewed violence is ultimately understandable in that they've lost their water supply and lack the refinement for trading or economy. The problem was solvable without Quillboar genocide, in other words. which Baine demonstrated. One day his restraint could even be the olive branch for more positive relations with the Quillboar in Mulgore and the Barrens.

I also think this whole assumption that every character needs to be a monolith is wrongheaded on its face. Baine needn't be all-forgiving, Thrall needn't be 100% self-hating, Garrosh doesn't need to a total warmonger, etc. Real people aren't like that, and realistic depictions in fantasy needn't be either. Tropes and memes are convenient tools for classification, but that's all they are - they have their built-in limitations as well as a limited scope. Everything doesn't have to boil down to memes in the end.

I disagree in this case, in my eyes it just makes him more of a joke and meme character.

[Aucald]

I disagree in this case, in my eyes it just makes him more of a joke and meme character.

YMMV, of course. But at this point, could he actually do anything that wouldn't make him more of a joke and/or meme in your eyes?