Wowpedia

We have moved to Warcraft Wiki. Click here for information and the new URL.

READ MORE

Wowpedia
Register
(Moved to correct location)
Line 138: Line 138:
 
|[[Wolfcult]], [[Scourge]]
 
|[[Wolfcult]], [[Scourge]]
 
|-
 
|-
||{{RaceIconExt|Worgen|Male|Small}} [[Ripsnarl]]
+
||{{RaceIconExt|Worgen|Male|Small}} [[Admiral Ripsnarl]]
 
| Defias Admiral
 
| Defias Admiral
 
| <font color="limegreen">Alive</font>
 
| <font color="limegreen">Alive</font>

Revision as of 16:23, 26 September 2010

For the playable race, see Worgen (playable).
Worgen
File:MGWorgen.jpg
Worgen from Monster Guide.
Faction/Affiliation Alliance (Greymane's faction)
Scourge (Arugal's Wolfcult)
Independent
Character classes Barbarian,[1] Death knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior
Racial capital Darnassus (by way of Gilneas City) (Alliance)
Racial leader(s) King Genn Greymane (Alliance)
Archmage Arugal (Wolfcult)
Velinde Starsong (other)
Homeworld Azeroth
Language(s) Worgen
Height 6 - 7 feet
Weight 250 - 300 lbs
Alignment Always neutral evil
Sources: Monster Guide, 146-147

Worgen are large, lupine humanoids reminiscent of a werewolf that walks upright, but lopes on all fours to run.

Introduction

Worgen are not native to Azeroth, and have only recently appeared in remote areas, where they menace travelers and small settlements. Some believe they are arrivals from another world in the Twisting Nether, while others think they might have been created through magical experimentation, or brought here as servants of some evil entity. Whatever the case, they are most unwelcome. These creatures are thoroughly evil, delighting in torturing and devouring intelligent creatures. They enjoy hearing the screams of their victims as they tear them apart piece by piece. Worgen never show mercy or remorse. They may seem savage, but they are fairly intelligent and possess a cruel bestial cunning that can come as a surprise to the unprepared. Worgen society is patriarchal, with the eldest male leading the pack. Worgen never challenge leadership; the patriarch leads until he is physically incapable of doing so any longer, at which point his younger kin devour him. The worgen see this not as cruelty, but a great honor — they consume the bodies of their fallen as well as their victims. They believe the flesh and blood of their own kind improves their strength and cunning. Worgen look like humanoid wolves. They dwell in simple huts and usually wear cured leather scraps as rudimentary armor. Worgen do not use weapons, preferring to tear foes apart with their claws. They stand 6 feet tall, except when loping along on all fours, and weigh around 250 pounds. They speak their own language, made up of a variety of growls, barks, and howls.[2]

These sources, however, have been proven incorrect. The worgen in fact derive from an ancient druidic sect known as the Druids of the Scythe who worshiped the wolf Ancient Goldrinn. The chosen shapeshift form of these druids was the worgen form, but these druids lost themselves to the form's savage nature and descended into feral behaviour.[3]

Most worgen keep their wolf-like forms at all times, but experiments by the mage Arugal have resulted in human/worgen "hybrids" who only appear as worgen under the light of the moon. They carry with them a dark, corrupting malaise that grows wherever they infest, making the surrounding area dark and gloomy.

Worgen are among the few humanoids that can be skinned.

With the news of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, the Greymane Worgen, who have developed a partial cure to the curse which allows them to retain their sanity even while transformed,[4] have been announced as the sixth Alliance race.

Description

Resembling a cross between human and dire wolf, the hunched over creature is roughly humanoid. Its body is covered in coarse, grayish-black fur with twitching claws and snarling teeth. The creature's eyes are mottled yellow in colour, unblinking and devoid of any discernible emotion other than hunger.[5]

Cursed beings from another dimension, worgen only appear in Azeroth as the result of magical mishaps. True aberrations, they are accidentally drawn through temporary rift tunnels and deposited in this world with no apparent way of returning. Nothing is known about the worgen's home realm, or even precisely how to spawn the rift tunnels through which they come. Worgen are usually encountered in small packs near sites of recent intense magical activity.[5]

Fiercely territorial creatures, they rarely stray from the general vicinity of the place in which they first appeared. Fearless beasts, they brazenly prowl near both villages and monster lairs. Although worgen display an apparent fondness for nighttime and its darkness, they can perform equally well in the daytime.[5]

Pure killing beasts, worgen tend to attack any creatures that they encounter, regardless of whether animal, humanoid, Scourge or something even more fearsome. Strangely, however, worgen refuse to feed on the remains of their victims, preferring to shred and tear the corpses and then to return immediately to prowling. Rumors suggest that worgen somehow receive sustenance continually from their native dimension... as well as guidance from a distant force.[5]

Worgen are usually encountered in small packs near sites of recent intense magical activity.[5] A pack may contain four to twelve individuals.[2] A worgen tribe may contain between twenty and two hundred individuals.[5]

Actually cursed druids from Azeroth's ancient past, the worgen were released from their prison in the Blackwald by several tamperers over the recent years. Unfortunately the methods of removing them from their prison do not appear to be reversible, leaving the insane druids unfettered and unrestrained.[3] For a long time, the worgens' origins remained a mystery, and their home was thought to be another dimension, or another world.

The worgen are not from another dimension, as they originate on Azeroth, but they discrepancy may be interpreted as referring to the Emerald Dream.

The reason for the worgen refusing to devour most of their victims may be some lingering vestige of sanity in the worgen's minds.

Combat

Worgen prefer to hide in shadows before leaping great distances upon their foes. They attack with feral tenacity, slashing with their deadly claws and biting with sharp, infectious fangs. Worgen are nearly fearless and typically fight to the death, relying on their regeneration to save them.[5]

Worgen love nothing more than to pounce on an opponent and tear him to ribbons. If a foe is helpless, the worgen delivers a coup de grace before moving on to another target, unless the fight is well in hand. Then it turns to torture (or "playtime") — and the unfortunate victim is almost certain to wish he had died.[2]

The saliva of a worgen carries a dangerous infection that can prove deadly against those who are bitten.[5]

History

Cataclysm-Worgenartwork1

Concept art of a new Gilnean worgen.

Ur, a mage of Dalaran, did research on worgen but never summoned them. He found out that the worgen seemed to hail from a dark and treacherous world, from which there was no corner which was truly safe.[6] Velinde saw the worgen battle an unflinching enemy in a vicious war; the Lords of the Emerald Flame.[7]

Frustrated by the destruction of Dalaran by the Scourge and against the advice of his peers, Archmage Arugal elected to summon an army of the extra-dimensional entities by using Ur's research. The summoned worgen fought against the undead armies, but quickly turned on the wizards themselves. Driven mad with guilt, Arugal adopted the worgen as his children and retreated to the newly dubbed Shadowfang Keep, where he then cursed the village people of Pyrewood to turn into worgen whenever the sun went down.[8]

At approximately the same time, the night elf Sentinel Velinde Starsong was given the task of clearing Felwood of demons. She prayed to Elune and was granted a magical scythe which could summon worgen. Using the Scythe of Elune, she summoned a very large number of the creatures to fight at her side against the demons. Later Velinde began to notice that some of her force were unaccounted for. It was as though the Scythe of Elune no longer required her presence to perform the summoning process. Perplexed by this development, she ordered the remaining worgen to remain at the Shrine of Mel'Thandris in Ashenvale and began to search for Archmage Arugal, whom she had heard also summoned worgen.[7] From that point on her fate became a mystery, but it was rumored that she was killed in Duskwood and lost the Scythe of Elune.[9] Black Riders from Deadwind Pass came to Duskwood looking for the Scythe and murdered a family of farmers in the search to find it.[10]

It is also known that the dark mage Morganth was searching for the Scythe of Elune, and stole Inv misc book 01 [Ur's Treatise on Shadow Magic] as well.[11]

Wrath-Logo-Small This section concerns content related to Wrath of the Lich King.

In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Arthas has discovered Arugal's activities and has brought him back from the dead to work for him. This also means that there are a lot of worgen allied with the Scourge in Northrend and in particular, the Grizzly Hills.[12]

Cataclysm This section concerns content related to Cataclysm.
Main article: Worgen (playable)

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, it is revealed that the worgen curse has spread into secluded kingdom of Gilneas, transforming its inhabitants into the worgen. More recent evidence suggests that their true origin has a connection to the night elves and a secretive druidic order from Kalimdor's distant past. At the starting point of the worgen starting experience, many Gilneans believe that a treatment for the worgen curse may exist, although others have nearly given up, fearful that if the barricades should fall, their humanity will be lost forever.[13]

The curse originated from the druidic order who followed Goldrinn, known as Druids of the Scythe. They shapeshifted into the feral worgen and eventually lost their minds to its violent nature. The other Druids agreed that they must be locked away, and thus put them into eternal slumber deep beneath a tree...[3] until the days Arugal utilized Ur's research, and Velinde Starsong used the Scythe of Elune. It was the night elves, after all, who created the curse in the first place. Obliged to help their newfound allies, they re-introduce them to the Alliance.[14]

Worgen groups

Alliance
Scourge
Independent/Hostile

Notable worgen

Name Role Condition Location Allegiance
IconSmall Worgen Male Genn Greymane King of Gilneas Alive Gilneas and Stormwind City Kingdom of Gilneas, Alliance
IconSmall Worgen Male Liam Greymane Prince of Gilneas Deceased Gilneas Kingdom of Gilneas, Alliance
IconSmall Worgen Male Darius Crowley Leader of the Gilneas Liberation Front, former dissenter Alive Gilneas and Silverpine Forest Kingdom of Gilneas, Alliance
IconSmall Worgen Male Tobias Mistmantle Gilneas Liberation Front Alive Gilneas and Duskwood Kingdom of Gilneas, Alliance
File:IconSmall Worgen Small.gif Big Bad Wolf Karazhan opera house boss Killable Karazhan, Deadwind Pass Independent
File:IconSmall Worgen Small.gif Garwal Alpha worg of Rivenwood Killable Rivenwood, Howling Fjord Wolfcult, Scourge
File:IconSmall Worgen Small.gif Selas Arugal's lieutenant Killable Bloodmoon Isle, Grizzly Hills Wolfcult, Scourge
IconSmall Worgen Male Admiral Ripsnarl Defias Admiral Alive Sentinel Hill, Westfall Defias Brotherhood
File:IconSmall Worgen Small.gif Eviscerator Prisoner/Gladiator Killable Blackrock Depths Independent

Inspiration

The worgen bear a strong resemblance to the "Myrkridia" from Bungie's Myth II: Soulblighter (a contemporary of Warcraft I and II), especially the idea of them being from another dimension. Beside that, the worgen obviously resemble a werewolf as it is known in popular fiction, particularly the part where they managed to get the curse under control and only changed when the moon was up.

Hunter pet

Garwal was a tamable pet during 3.1 until a hotfix was deployed on 7 July, shortly after the discovery was widely known on the internet. During this time, the tamed Garwal pets were no longer an effective pet as they were stripped of their abilities and could not even be fed.

Community Manager Blizzard Entertainment Zarhym responded on the forums shortly after the hotfix with this statement:

Re: Worgen pet. | 2009-07-07 22:49 | Blizzard Entertainment Zarhym

The worgen should not technically belong to any of the pet families and was therefore removed. This means the pet no longer has access to pet talents or abilities. Whether or not similar circumstances with hunter pets in the past have occurred isn’t really relevant. Given the nature of the creature that was tamed in this case, we feel it should not belong to any of the eligible pet families from which a hunter can choose his or her combat companion.

...We don't want hunters to have worgens as pets. That is the reason whether you find it reasonable or not.

View original post

Only 21 July, the Garwal skin (appearance) was changed to a normal white worg for all players who had tamed him, and normal pet abilities were restored for those players.

Gallery

Videos

Here is the new starting introduction movie for the Worgen race. It is currently lacking the audio voice-over in beta.

See also

References

da:Worgen ru:Ворген