Talk:Tauren

September 2006: As per the recent race names vote at Wowpedia talk:Writing policy#Race name case, the correct race name spelling is "tauren" and not "Tauren"

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Don't put fan fiction in WoW info pages

Please don't put fan fiction in WoW info pages. Please see Help:Fan fiction for advice on how to add fan fiction into WoWWiki. --Fandyllic 5:47 PM PDT 21 Jun 2006

Tauren as Minotaurs

I can't help but always refer to the Tauren as the Minotaurs. They're so alike in appearence that Blizzard should've reconsidered before naming them. "Tauren" just doesn't fully define these powerful beasts of the Warcraft Universe. -- TheOneCalledRed - 2nd of December 06'

So, you maintain that the Tauren aren't based on the Minotaur? I know I'm going to regret asking this, but what do you suggest?--Ragestorm 16:06, 2 December 2006 (EST)

The name "Tauren" is obviously derived from the term "Minotaur". Blizzard just didn't want to completely blatent about it. But they certainly mention that hte race was inspired by minotaurs in various places.Baggins 16:09, 2 December 2006 (EST)

I'm aware that the Tauren are based on the Mythical Minotaur, thats not at all what I meant to say. I was just suggesting that Blizzard should've just went ahead and named them so...maybe even come up with another name? -- TheOnecalledRed - 2nd of December 06'

Um, well I personally wouldn't mind the use of the term minotaur thrown around occasionally, and who knows it could be used a nickname for them in a future source (I wouldn't mind). However, going by the name minotaur which means[1], Minos King of Crete, and Taur "Bull", so in reality it wouldn't fit into lore entirely as there is no King Minos in Azeroth. By just calling them tauren they avoid an earth legend refrenceBaggins 16:42, 2 December 2006 (EST)

I put this up a while ago on some page but couldn't find a source. I found one of my sources in the game on Elder rise in Thuder bluff. It says that tauren and anouther race were the first to be drawn from the water by the earth mother. The other race obey and they were called the dark ones. The Dark ones turned into night elves and took cenarious's blessing. I interpreted it as the tauren and trolls were the first race to appear on Azeroth.

Eh, thats true, I haven't really given that thought. I was just saying I liked the name better than tauren for all the matter it means. -- TheOneCalled - 2nd of December 06'

Actually i do believe that what you saw was mere folk lore/religious to the Tauren. The Dwarves and the mountain/sea giants were one of the first. Just look up Titan and read through it.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Milcon (talk · contr).

"Minotaur" is a singular, not a race name. There was only one Minotaur. A similar thing is calling all women with snakes for hair that turn people to stone by looking at them 'medusas'. "Medusa" is an individual name, the racial name was 'Gorgon', sort of. Calling Tauren 'minotaurs' would be like making the racial name of humans 'George'. As in "That stupid George paladin just bubblehearthed again". Besides, Tauren is a lot cooler. --Azaram 23:41, 11 March 2007 (EDT)

Not really. It's an annoying misconception that people assume, because the Minotaur's given name is Asterion, and the ancient sources are unclear as to whether Minotaur is used as a species name or as a given name. Other fantasy whole races of Minotaurs and Medusae. You're right about Medusa, that is blatantly incorrect, but it's not the same thing as callings humans "the georges." --Ragestorm (talk · contr) 23:55, 11 March 2007 (EDT)

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur: ""Minotaur" is Greek for "Bull of Minos". The bull was known in Crete as Asterion, a name shared with Minos's foster father." Everything with a bull's head on a human's body isn't a 'Minotaur', as Minos doesn't even exist in Azeroth, likewise Crete...Just because it was misused other places doesn't make it correct. And Tauren is still cooler. :-p --Azaram 01:44, 13 March 2007 (EDT)

I'm not saying they should be called minotaurs, I'm just saying that they're allowed to do so given the conventions set by previous fantasy. The name "Minotaur" doesn't work with the image of the Tauren, so a more harmonious name was developed. --Ragestorm (talk · contr) 08:15, 13 March 2007 (EDT)

I think it would be wholly inappropriate to call the Tauren by the name of Minotaur. For one thing, a Tauren really isn't "part man and part bull" [2]. A Tauren is really more like bipedally favoring cow/bull humanoid. By the classical definition, a Minotaur is a human body, with a bull head and tail, whereas a Tauren has human-like hands (albeit with only 3 or four thick "fingers"), but otherwise shares only a hairy, human-like body with a human. Tauren have cloven hooves for "feet", unlike the Minotaur (as far as is described in myth). While they are similar, similar doesn't equate same. If you were to call a Tauren a Minotaur, you might as well call a Night Elf a Troll. They share about the same amount of features. --Fandyllic (talk · contr) 5:33 PM PST 13 Mar 2007

I agree it still wouldn't be proper to call them minotaur... However the artwork, statuary, etc, for minotaur made throughout the centuries have interpreted the minotaur in different ways. Some are more tauren like than others, that is having cloven feet, and fuzzy bodies. I've seen some that gave minotaur a bull lower body, and a torso like a centaur coming from the 4 legged body, with a bull's head. Not only that I've read at least three greek versions of the minotaur story, and the minotaur isn't always described exactly the same in each one. The tauren design is actually quite unoriginal in design, its a minotaur concept design that predates warcraft by many years. Back in warcraft 3, tauren are called "bull-men" by ingame characters that didn't know who their proper name, as races see them as having elements of human and bull physical nature. Plus, its been stated by the designers that tauren are based on the minotaur design, although as far as culture they went their own direction.Baggins

That's True. My only point was that you can't cite Earth-specific origins as a reason for naming something; if that were the case, then high fantasy wouldn't exist. That Asterion was the core inspiration cannot be questioned, however. --Ragestorm (talk · contr) 21:51, 13 March 2007 (EDT)

I agree, completely.Baggins 21:57, 13 March 2007 (EDT)

I am surprised nobody considered the fact that the word tauren is closer to the 'Taurus' than the word 'Minotaur' , you might (might) also consider that the ancient Greeks were pagans like the tauren, although it is obvious tauren beliefs are more representative of Native Americans. C00n3y

Double History

There are currently two sub chapters called history which have a lot in common. I'll try to rework it into one story. -- Sander 12:27, 27 December 2006 (CET)

Bulls or Bison

Do you think that the Tauren are more like Buffulo or Bulls. I know that there is a bunch of cow jokes, but them being bison fits in with the "native american" thing. So I think they are Buffulo-People, not Man-Cows. What do you think? ~Nicholas

Yeah, they are probably supposed to represent buffalos. They certainly doesn't look like tame cattle at least :P --Odolwa 00:50, 1 January 2007 (EST)

Does the word Minotaur mean anything to you?--Ragestorm (talk · contr) 20:16, 31 December 2006 (EST)

Indeed Minotaurs are the main-source of inspiration for the Tauren-race, but that doesn't mean Tauren can't have other sources (such as buffalos of North America).--Odolwa 02:30, 1 January 2007 (EST)

Fair enough, but I don;t think it matters, since neither species has any culture to speak of, and they're both bovine.

Actually, Knaak uses the word "bullish" instead of "bovine", though most other sources use the latter.--Ragestorm (talk · contr) 23:03, 31 December 2006 (EST)

Maybe they're more like water buffalo or zebu? They're all bovine, I guess. --Fandyllic (talk · contr) 11:47 AM PST 1 Jan 2007

I would describe Tauren as bull-people with society based on native american (obvious). But their looks (head, and especially horns) show that they're more bulls (or african buffalo) than bison. --Sul'jin 14:58, 1 January 2007 (EST)

Both/either. If you look at their horn selection it could be either. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Milcon (talk · contr).

The term "Bull-man" gets thrown around in WC3 by various characters.Baggins 21:48, 13 March 2007 (EDT)

Native American Influence

The Native American influence comes from more than just the plains tribes of the United States and Canada. The dreamcatchers and some of the rug weavings are influenced from tribes of the Southwestern United States; the longhouses and totem poles come from tribes of the Northwestern United States/Southwestern Canada. I have edited the More Info section of the article to reflect this. Mingonashoba 13:42, 1 March 2007 (EST)

Size and measurements

The article says 'six and a half to nine feet tall'...Tauren females, maybe, but tauren males seem to be twice the height of Forsaken or human males (assuming their heights as 6 feet...Forsaken may be somewhat smaller, from the process of going from beefcake to beef jerky...) and around 8-12 times the volume at a rough estimate (= S.W-A.G.).

Trolls are just about the same height as Tauren males, but spend most of their time hunched over; if you stand one next to the other, though, when the troll does his idle animation of standing up straight, you can see he's about the same height, but much thinner than the tauren.

Measurements of length/distance seem to be odd in the game...there's no way a human wielding a normal sword has a reach of 15 feet (5 yard melee range) while standing in one place, much less so a pink-haired football. Conversely, a Tauren, whose arms are each easily as long or longer than a George (see above) is tall, should have a much longer melee range. (and yes, I understand that it's done for reasons of fairness and ease of coding in the game...) --Azaram 00:06, 12 March 2007 (EDT)

Tauren and guns?

I think its really weird the tuaren start out with guns. We can all tell theyre based of the Native Americans and though they used them, they hated guns. What Im saying is its weird a nature loving race would use guns tools of expansion. But I realize just like the Alliance used to have one race with a bow and one with a gun, the Horde needed a race that starts with a gun and the orcs and trolls dont really "look" like theyd use guns either. Mr.X8 00:15, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Actually its a bit stranger from the fact that lore pegs tauren to be actually the least likely members of the horde to use technology (well perhaps with exception of trolls). And that the full extent of their technology know how is in the pully system used for the elevator systems in their cities, but they have no interest to pursue technology further. In some cases seeing it as affront to nature.Baggins 07:49, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Bounty hunter dude in orgrimmar says no tauren would be caught dead using a flimsy bow (except me maybe). Do you notice how they don't shoot a bow right? Maybe tauren are afraid they'll break the bow, and it's just a weak piece of wood and string. That or they don't like to cut down trees.Midgardsormr

In the end I think they did it just because it "looks" better. Think about it. Big hulking people carrying big noisy weapons. Mingonashoba 21:31, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

According to the horde player's guide the Tauren are more accepting of technology then Orcs and Trolls, they just dislike how goblins and dwarves and such use technology. Hordesupporter 03:20, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Tauren and Forsaken.

Though I really hate to bring this up. Some tauren seen in World of Warcraft do wish to cure the Forsaken. Thinking of them like leper victims. Others think their allying is a good chance to cure undeath,the guards reflect this too. A big example being Mani Winterhoof,elder council,they have a small spot in Thunder bluff as well.

Not all tauren like Forsaken,a major example is Sage Truthseeker who feels the Forsaken are exploiting the tauren's sympathy for them. Zarnks 05:34, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

"have a small spot in Thunder bluff as well."

Not because the "tauren want them there", however it is said that they are "grudingly allowed there", according to Brann and Cairne in Lands of Mystery.Baggins 05:36, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Well obviously not all want them but some do. The tauren guards speak of them with pity rather then disdain. Obviously though,their presence is controversial. Zarnks 05:38, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Sure, there are few, even the grimtotem mutually need them.Baggins 05:50, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Well theres powerful higher ups who pity them. Most of the Tauren elder council(Minus Magatha,who has her bad reasons) seem to generally want to help the forsaken. I'd say we should say that the Elder council,some alchemists support it,but many of the regulars aren't too fond of it. Zarnks 05:58, 14 August 2007 (UTC)