Wouldn't there be more hybrid races lorewise?

[Queen of Hamsters]

I can promise ya'll this; You people have put FAR MORE thought and depth of logical reasoning into this topic than the writers ever have done.

If they suddenly found a use for a Tauren/Gnome hybrid, there'd be a Tauren/Gnome Hybrid. Great Scott...

[ArenaDk]

We don't really know how extensive the alterations are, but assuming they follow the same general rules of the Polymorph spell it would seem to just be a visual/sensory change and not a complete physiological mutation or alteration. This is bolstered by the notion that the effect can be relatively easily stripped away by sufficiently powerful magic, or dismissed by the user themselves as needed (such as when Baron Sablemane changes back into their true form as the dragon Sabellian). There's no period in which the user's form seems to morph or mutate between forms, it's just an almost instantaneous transformation from humanoid into draconic form and vice-versa.

I could be wrong since its been a few years since the book came out. But in night of the dragon I mean to remember that the transformation from Krasus was slow and of shapeshifting nature and not just a instant spell. It was at the beginning when he came out of his cave, sadly I dont have the book anymore

edit : found a pdf : world. Krasus spread his arms to each side. It did not matter whether what lurked in Grim Batol was simply the culmination of ages of past evil or some sinister new foulness; he would find out the truth. His body swelled out of proportion. With a grunt, the mage fell to the floor, dropping on all fours. His face stretched forward, his nose and mouth melding together as they formed a long, powerful snout. The robes Krasus wore shredded, the pieces f lying up into the air, then immediately settling all over his body, where they became hard crimson-colored scales. From Krasus's back burst two small, webbed wings that grew as his body did. A pointed tail sprouted. Hands and feet twisted into powerful paws ending in a sharp set of claws. The transformation took but the blink of an eye, but by the time it was done, the mage Krasus was no more. In his place stood a magnificent red dragon who nearly filled the cavern and who was dwarfed in size by few of his kind other than the great Aspects. Korialstrasz stretched his vast wings once, then leapt up toward the stone ceiling

[DatToffer]

Hybridization is better left to cringey roleplayers and gamer parents who pay a commish for a family portrait with their characters.

[Aucald]

I could be wrong since its been a few years since the book came out. But in night of the dragon I mean to remember that the transformation from Krasus was slow and of shapeshifting nature and not just a instant spell. It was at the beginning when he came out of his cave, sadly I dont have the book anymore

edit : found a pdf : world. Krasus spread his arms to each side. It did not matter whether what lurked in Grim Batol was simply the culmination of ages of past evil or some sinister new foulness; he would find out the truth. His body swelled out of proportion. With a grunt, the mage fell to the floor, dropping on all fours. His face stretched forward, his nose and mouth melding together as they formed a long, powerful snout. The robes Krasus wore shredded, the pieces f lying up into the air, then immediately settling all over his body, where they became hard crimson-colored scales. From Krasus's back burst two small, webbed wings that grew as his body did. A pointed tail sprouted. Hands and feet twisted into powerful paws ending in a sharp set of claws. The transformation took but the blink of an eye, but by the time it was done, the mage Krasus was no more. In his place stood a magnificent red dragon who nearly filled the cavern and who was dwarfed in size by few of his kind other than the great Aspects. Korialstrasz stretched his vast wings once, then leapt up toward the stone ceiling

That's probably the only instance I can think of where transformation is described more in-depth. I'd say the description is given more for a literary license than attempting to imply that his humanoid form is more physiological than a magical glamour. The passage does say that it happens "in the blink of an eye."

- - - Updated - - -

But that's the thing. The alteration is important enough to be its own ceremony/ represent their identity and the dragons live in their mortal forms as casually as their dragon ones. They also retain all the base traits of the new form, w/ whatever draconic features they tack on. Turning back and forth willingly/forcefully could be due to a difference in power rather than the transformation just being an illusion or flippant magic. They're tangible and the spell is strong enough not to break whenever their draconic aspects show through. If it was just like a polymorph, it'd shatter the second they used something related to their draconic form. Perhaps it's like changelings/skin walkers rules? Wear the flesh, but the innards are still dragon?

I'm certain I'm thinking about this more than they ever intended lol

The dragons seem to choose a default humanoid glamour that will serve as an extension of themselves to the mortal races - it's a part of their personality, and so it's not done lightly by any means. Not only that, but they can also adopt a variety of forms as needed, such as the dragon Korialstrasz having his normal guise as the high elf Krasus, but also a human disguise known as "Borel." Krasus was part of Korialstraz's identity, whereas Borel was just a disguise. Nozdormu is also mentioned in some sources as enjoying an insect form, where he can observe events without interruption of any kind, even though his humanoid form is high elven.

Since even when transformed dragons retain their strength, extrasensory powers, and also the ability to manifest elements of their draconic nature (claws, wings, scales, etc.) I would say they likely retain their interior physiology despite their altered dimensions and outward appearance. This is sort of demonstrated when Anduin cuffs Wrathion in the Visions of N'Zoth intro cinematic, and you can see Wrathion's black draconic scales beneath his face as the magic is briefly disrupted.

[HateTrain]

I can promise ya'll this; You people have put FAR MORE thought and depth of logical reasoning into this topic than the writers ever have done.

If they suddenly found a use for a Tauren/Gnome hybrid, there'd be a Tauren/Gnome Hybrid. Great Scott...

Woahwoahwaohwoah. First, it's fucking Gnauren™; second, best gargle some resect before you even think about drooling out the name of the chosen of Azeroth.

[Ivarr]

Agreed. The Gnome/Tauren hybrids 4 lyfe. Gnauren.

I would play one.

[Susanoo]

Given Dalaran and the Kirin Tor being a place for Humans and High Elves to congregate for hundreds of years there probably is a small Half-Elf population in the city. It would be interesting if later on Half-Elves and Half-Ogres were added into the game. Although some players may be upset with the addition of more "elves".

[Narwhalosh Whalescream]

If rule34 canon is anything to go by there'd be a lot of orc/night elf hybrids.

[Powerogue]

One man is doing his best.

[Triceron]

In game lore, of course. And I think this would actually be best represented through the traditional RTS setting, where they can crunch out far more models than in WoW where they have to painstakingly pick and choose what NPC race gets a new model, which ones get female variations, which ones reuse skeletons/animations etc.

If this was the RTS, it'd be as simple as representing entire race comboes with a simple hero. WC3 Alpha had Half-Elf Ranger hero, we had a Mok'nathal Rexxar, and plenty of Troll variations. It wouldn't be difficult to throw in some other half-breed races as some form of unit, hero or NPC.

[sighy]

There probably is a reason Med'an was retconned out of the story. Generally speaking Blizzard has been vague regarding the compatibility of interspecies offspring, with a few exceptions.
Dreanei/Orcs are generally conceived through non-consentual circumstances and not really accepted by either society.
Half-elves are relatively rare, in that the elves of Warcraft generally suffer from asuperiority complex and are chronic isolationists. The exceptions we see seem to be aging at human rate so they probably don't have an elvish lifespan either.

Outside of that we can only really ascertain that it should be possible for subgroups of the same species like the Troll/Elf family tree or Ogron, Ogre, Orc and such tree, for example.

[Atrea]

The simple answer is, "No, not if they didn't write it that way."

There are any number of reasons why that may be, but it's all speculation. The simple answer is, if they don't exist (or aren't common) in lore, then they don't. There's no grey area.

Other posters have posted a number of reasons why canonically that could be true; genetically, most of the races are very different. They are also culturally very different. However well thought-out and plausible they may be though, we simply don't know the answer to "why". We just know there aren't.

Why? Because it's a fictional story and it follows the direction of the writers.
It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

[Sagenod]

Unpacking it, so to speak, there's no sound logic or reasoning as to which species can produce offspring and which can't.

There are half-elf hybrids like Arator, and while High Elves and Humans look similar, but... cladistically, I guess... speaking, their origins are about as far-distant as WoW races can get.

High elves are the descendants of the Quel'dorei who in turn were a faction of Night Elves who themselves were trolls mutated by the powers of the well of eternity while the trolls themselves were naturally evolved life forms of azeroth. Humans, meanwhile, are the descendants of Vrykul affected by the old-god created curse of flesh while the Vrykul are direct creations of the titans. And yet these two races can create viable offspring with one another.

I'm pretty sure it's a matter of "if these two races bang, are the offspring they create cool/hot enough?"

Well Azeroth contains a world-soul, which are nascent Titans. Trolls and Elves being indigenous to a Titan world would allow hybridization to make more sense. Same goes for the Orcs and Draenei. Orcs are in a similar boat as the humans, being descended from Titan creations, and the Eredar lived on Argus, a planet containing a world-soul.

[mickybrighteyes]

There probably is a reason Med'an was retconned out of the story.

I think that reason is more related to fans reaction and what he was being made into and not about lineage.

[sighy]

I think that reason is more related to fans reaction and what he was being made into and not about lineage.

Doesn't have to be a single reason, but i do believe that his lineage being such a mess didn't help the case of his sticking around.

[mickybrighteyes]

Doesn't have to be a single reason, but i do believe that his lineage being such a mess didn't help the case of his sticking around.

Maybe his tie to Medivh. Being an orc/dranei/human... I think that's more of a meh in comparison to the rest of the BS going on in his story

[Lynnaroo]

Much like everyone else in this thread, yes and no. There could be more hybrid races... but that would be absolute hell with all the freakish combinations that could only be thought up by a depraved rper. In short, its a rabbit hole that shouldn't be followed, the lore is already fucked...

[loras]

There are hybrids but they are rarities and outcasts who shunned by both parent races probably....I'm guessing human/elf hybrids are probably more accepted and even then you won't see too many because of the xenophobia between most of the races on Azeroth.

- - - Updated - - -



Do not and should not ain't ever stop humans from banging elves, ogres, orcs and draenei from banging and trolls from banging elves and vice versa. the biggest barrier is the large scale xenophobia prevent any sizable population of hybrids from ever being noticeable which is understandable because that would be too many assets for the devs and writer to flesh out.

On the off topic I would be the Ganghis Khan of wow minus the bloodshed because I would sling dick everywhere.

People bang goats and pigs in real life as well, doesn't mix to produce viable offspring.

Now consider that orcs, draenei and humans differ even more than a real goat and human by the grace of being from entirely different planets.

- - - Updated - - -

Species do mix in WoW with Human/Elf hybrid and Orc/Draenei Hybrids. Humans are descended from Titanforged and Elves descended from trolls who evolved form native life on Azeroth. Orcs and Draenei are from different planets and have had successful offspring.

Human and elves mixing i know of, but is the rest of that canon?

[Susanoo]

Human and elves mixing i know of, but is the rest of that canon?

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Lantresor_of_the_Blade

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Garona_Halforcen

[DatToffer]

First off this is not a thread asking for hybrid races in the game.


Given that the Horde and the Alliance are coalitions made up of the various races of Azeroth, some of these races long time members, others new, wouldn't there be more hybrid races in reflected in the factions?

Orcs and Trolls have shared a long history dating back to the Second War with Forest Trolls being part of the Horde and later on Darkspear Trolls. Similarly, Gnomes and Dwarfs have a close relationship dating back hundreds of years. Although in game we did see a marriage between a gnome and goblin in BFA. While this is not a priority, it would be cool to see in a novel that races of the Horde and Alliance have started to intermingle.

Obviously Me'dan was a complete flop to introduce mixed races in-game. Which is partly why it is not touched upon, but done correctly it would be interesting to see what the reaction of lore characters would be.

I mean an Orc/Troll Hybrid would be a scary sight. The strength and bloodlust of an Orc combined with the regeneration and berserking of a troll would be legendary.

Yes there should. And the already present hybrids show that there is no restriction to the mix.

If I had to go for an explanation, I'd say that those mixed couples don't actually give birth to hybrids but to children of one or the other race.

Of course my only argument is that they never actually made a relevant model for the hybrids present ingame. Arator looks like an elf and Garona and Lantresor like orcs.