Baine's big, achy tauren heart

[Wilfire]

Looming iron construction, heavy and black and ominous, had replaced the simple wooden huts, “to prevent another fire,” Garrosh had said. And, Baine knew, to evoke the so-called glory days of the Horde. To Baine, the ugly changes did not represent strength. The “new Orgrimmar” represented domination. Conquest. Subjugation. Its hard, jagged metal was a threat, not a comfort.

Yes Baine, it's completely fine to continue living in mud huts when your people are repeatedly threatened by elementals, demons and even gods. Good thing the Legion never bothered to invade Thunder Bluff because that place would've been burned to a crisp by a single assault ship.

“I bid you all welcome,” he said, spreading his arms in an encompassing gesture. “You are true servants of the Horde. Your warchief calls you, and you come.”
Like trained wolves, Baine thought, trying and failing to hide a frown. Thrall had never spoken so to his people.

Members of the Horde swear their oath to the Warchief, not the Horde. But Baine seems to have forgotten that.

“Perhaps I am inclined to prejudge,” said Baine. “I think better of the tauren than I do of orcs.”

No comment.

Baine’s heart ached at what he was about to do. “Report back to Vol’jin. Tell him his people may attack at will. Once they have engaged the Alliance, we will open the Great Gate and follow up with our own weapons.”

Baine shook his head, regret filling him. At least he offered a swift death.

Good thing Baine's big tauren heart didn't ache when he slaughtered those poor forsaken troops who were just following orders.

Baine felt as if his own core were molten with outrage. It was with the greatest of efforts that he had kept from exploding in anger when Malkorok had challenged him. He was not afraid Malkorok could defeat him—by all accounts, Cairne had been winning the battle against Garrosh, before Magatha’s poison had claimed him. Baine bore his father’s blood and he had youth on his side. No, he had declined because there was no way to truly win. Poison would be used again, but better hidden this time. Or even if he slew Malkorok, there would be an ambush waiting in the shadows. And then, what would happen to his people? There was no clear successor yet. Garrosh would somehow see to it that a tauren was appointed whose thinking was more in line with his own—or who could be persuaded to think so.

Baine won't challenge Horde authority through Mak'gora because he is scared. Instead, he slinks behind the Warchief's back and makes plots and schemes. Speaking of slinking...

Unable to bear it, unable to bear his own self-loathing at having been a reluctant and even ignorant part of it, Baine Bloodhoof, high chieftain of the tauren, covered his ears, turned his back, and sought what illusion of respite he could in the warm dampness of the swamp.

Baine, just like Saurfang, has an uncanny penchant for slinking about in swamps.

Jaina clutched the mace. “I would never mistake Fearbreaker,” she said. When Baine had accepted the gift, Fearbreaker had shown its approval by glowing softly in the tauren’s giant hand.

Anduin might as well have branded Baine with the official Alliance stamp of approval. I wonder if Anduin's magic bones ache when his BFF gets in trouble.

“No one here is a traitor to the Horde,” he said in his deep, rumbling voice. “It is possible to be loyal and yet question the wisdom of certain behavior. But all of us gathered here tonight know well that treason is in the eye of the beholder and that Malkorok views us with a very unkind eye indeed.”

To Baine, it's not treason as long as it benefits the Alliance.

Why?” Baine said aloud. He thought of his people, steady and solid, and his oath of loyalty to Garrosh as leader of the Horde. And he thought of them lying as stiffening corpses, slain more truly by Garrosh’s foolishness and utterly inexplicable decisions than by Alliance weapons.

The Alliance is never at fault. Even when it is murdering the tauren people in cold blood.

He lifted his muzzle to the sky, sharp, stinging tears filling his eyes, and, alone with his ancestors, shook his fists furiously and cried with all his confused and aching and angry heart, “Why?”

[RangerDaz]

oh, time to fetch some popcorn

(and just sit and wait for the incoming replies)

[Kwento]

It would have been funny if it wasn’t so sad...
I remember leveling my first character through Mulgore back when Baine was just a small-time questgiver in Bloodhoof village. When I read up on him, it seemed so awesome that he’s being taught by his father in order to take Cairne’s place when the time comes...

[Berndorf]

Don't tell Baine's heart, his achy breaky heart..

[Grazrug]

He should have been starting to shout "For the Alliance!" or "FOR ANDUIN!" by now, with the way his characterization executes itself. Blizzard once more disappoints me.

[Super Dickmann]

You've outdone yourself, OP, this is an excellent post. I'll be getting a lot of mileage out of these quotes.

“Perhaps I am inclined to prejudge,” said Baine. “I think better of the tauren than I do of orcs.”

What a bigot. And they say Garrosh was a racist. Have you seen a single orc in Thunder Bluff? I think not.

P.S: What do people think is the correlation between treason and swamps? Do you think committing treason makes you mope in a swamp or were you already inclined to mope in a swamp and that's suggestive of a higher risk of treason?

[KrakHed]

who were just following orders.

You do realize the context of "just following orders", right? You don't win any sympathy by quoting that line.

[Nathasil]

If you would have spent as much time thinking about if Baine is actually RIGHT with his assumptions about everything you just quoted instead of making up cynical comments to justify the burning of children as a somehow honorable cause, this thread might have actually been good!

But as it stands i give you...
4/10 for cynicism
10/10 for blind genocidal confidence in maniacs and monsters that will butcher your own people at the end of the day
0/10 for thought

[Grythletubs]

You're aware that the entirety of the horde excluding that Maghar rando is against Sylvanas' actions right? Baine is the only one who openly opposes her while the rest are afraid/plotting in silence.
Baines just happens to be getting the most attention in the lore, obviously anything he does against Sylvanas will benefit the alliance, you might as well complain about the others as well.

[Super Dickmann]

You do realize the context of "just following orders", right? You don't win any sympathy by quoting that line.

Tsk. Couldn't even wait for the second page to Godwin. Call me when we're suiting up in Hugo Boss outfits and putting void elves in the oven. Until then, Baine is those guys' moral inferior, since he saved one person from being abused and sent three of them on his own side to hell.

[Dellis0991]

I've never seen a bull get castrated before until now.

[naeblis495]

You've outdone yourself, OP, this is an excellent post. I'll be getting a lot of mileage out of these quotes.



What a bigot. And they say Garrosh was a racist. Have you seen a single orc in Thunder Bluff? I think not.

P.S: What do people think is the correlation between treason and swamps? Do you think committing treason makes you mope in a swamp or were you already inclined to mope in a swamp and that's suggestive of a higher risk of treason?

maybe Old Gods have a better internet connec- i mean ,whisper spreading in swamps ? that or Anduin really like swamps .

[Grazrug]

@ the OP, excellent Post and perfect summary of Baine as a character. He is like a walking traffic accident. You don't want to watch it but the devs are forcing you to look at him against our better judgment.

- - - Updated - - -

He lifted his muzzle to the sky, sharp, stinging tears filling his eyes, and, alone with his ancestors, shook his fists furiously and cried with all his confused and aching and angry heart, “Why?”

This was after Theramore right? Damm he cries more about slain alliance soldiers than fellow horde members. How more pathetic can you get?

[KrakHed]

Yes Baine, it's completely fine to continue living in mud huts when your people are repeatedly threatened by elementals, demons and even gods. Good thing the Legion never bothered to invade Thunder Bluff because that place would've been burned to a crisp by a single assault ship.

Mudhuts would work just fine. They don't burn easily. What's more, I think they would actually be a bit cooler than outside. Garrosh's rebuilding of Orgrimmar had turned it into an oven in the middle of a desert, which massively increased Orgrimmar's need for water imports from Mulgore. In theory, Baine could have just stopped sending over water and killed every single Orc living there through inaction, because Garrosh had polluted Azshara's water past the point of potability.

Baine is literally the only reason Orcs are able to survive in Garrosh's Orgrimmar.

[Darth-Piekus]

It's like seeing Cata and MOP all over again. A random fanboy of the current Warchief cherrypicks lines to show that everyone else on Azeroth is at fault apart from the current Warchief who is a saint and justified to everything. You should do something better instead of wasting your time on a forum 24/7. And that is a healthy advice for your own good.

[KrakHed]

This was after Theramore right? Damm he cries more about slain alliance soldiers than fellow horde members. How more pathetic can you get?

Forsaken are parasites who have done nothing but betray the trust that the Tauren initially placed in them. Jaina has done more for the Horde than they ever have, as dumb as that sounds.

[naeblis495]

@ the OP, excellent Post and perfect summary of Baine as a character. He is like a walking traffic accident. You don't want to watch it but the devs are forcing you to look at him against our better judgment.

- - - Updated - - -


This was after Theramore right? Damm he cries more about slain alliance soldiers than fellow horde members. How more pathetic can you get?

i can also imagine him rolling in anger on the ground , flaying and kicking.

[Grazrug]

Forsaken are parasites who have done nothing but betray the trust that the Tauren initially placed in them. Jaina has done more for the Horde than they ever have, as dumb as that sounds.

And here they come, the first wave of alliance apologists who are probally alliance mains. Not surprised, only Alliance players have a positive view on Baine since he works in their favor at every chance he get's.

[Hubbl3]

It's like seeing Cata and MOP all over again. A random fanboy of the current Warchief cherrypicks lines to show that everyone else on Azeroth is at fault apart from the current Warchief who is a saint and justified to everything. You should do something better instead of wasting your time on a forum 24/7. And that is a healthy advice for your own good.

That Baine is a badly written character has nothing to do with that Sylvanas is an evil Warchief.

[Grazrug]

Mudhuts would work just fine. They don't burn easily. What's more, I think they would actually be a bit cooler than outside. Garrosh's rebuilding of Orgrimmar had turned it into an oven in the middle of a desert, which massively increased Orgrimmar's need for water imports from Mulgore. In theory, Baine could have just stopped sending over water and killed every single Orc living there through inaction, because Garrosh had polluted Azshara's water past the point of potability.

Baine is literally the only reason Orcs are able to survive in Garrosh's Orgrimmar.

They don't. They get set on fire easily proven during the Shattering. I would have prefered solid stone instead but the Alliance horts those resources like a swarm of loctus so iron has to do. One of the few smart things Garrosh has done during his reign.