Today's post is relatively short, but I wanted to talk briefly about the religion of the tauren in WoW. While the draenei are the goat people of World of Warcraft, the tauren are most certainly the cows.
Their culture is simple yet elegant, and has always been one of my favorites in game. There are strong ties in both culture and religion between the tauren and Native Americans. In addition, the tauren capital city remains, in my opinion, the most gorgeous city in World of Warcraft.
(Thunder Bluff, the main city of the tauren.)
The tauren in World of Warcraft have a
pantheon with several deities, each of them representing some aspect
of nature. I mentioned in my night elf post that the tauren revere
the moon goddess, Mu'sha. They tell the story of when a Wild God
named Apa'ro became trapped in the stars. Mu'sha saw Apa'ro and fell
in love with him. She promised to free him, if he would give her his
love in return. The child of Apa'ro and Mu'sha is Cenarius, a
demigod with strong ties to nature who trains druids.
(Baby Cenarius sleeping against Apa'ro, with Mu'sha looking on. Too cute to not post!)
Another god in the tauren religion is
An'she, the god of the sun. An'she provides powers to tauren priests (called Seers) and paladins (the Sunwalkers).
However, Mu'sha and An'she are but two parts of a larger whole. The primary focus of worship in the tauren culture is the Earth Mother. All of their other gods reflect aspects of this chief goddess. Mu'sha and An'she are the two eyes of the Earth Mother - though An'she was ripped from her face, and is now chased by his lunar counterpart.
The Earth Mother is the physical embodiment of nature. She can be seen in the plants, the rivers, the oceans, the skies, the stars...all aspects of the world. She represents the land. Respect for the Earth Mother is shown by respecting the land and all upon it. As such, the tauren use a subsistence strategy of living, taking only what they need to survive. Mining and logging for profit are viewed as desecration of the land, and thus of the Earth Mother. The same is true of needless killing of the land's creatures, which is abhorred by the tauren.
In their mythology, the Earth Mother is said to have created the earth, the sun, and the moon. She is also said to be the maker of the tauren. Many of this bovine race show their devotion to the Earth Mother by becoming either druids or shaman, connecting them intrinsically with nature and the earth.
Interestingly, there's a reference in World of Warcraft to the Sky Father. If I recall correctly, it's mentioned in quest dialogue during a holiday. Once a year, during a week in summer there is a holiday in-game called the Children's Week. During this week players can adopt an orphan from their respective faction (either Alliance or Horde). This orphan has a series of adventures they want to go on, and the player is responsible for accompanying them. Grunth, the Horde orphan, wants to go and see a tauren ceremony honoring their fallen chieftan, Cairne Bloodhoof. I believe it is during the funerary rites that the Sky Father is mentioned - if memory serves, by Cairne's son Baine. There's little more information out there about the Sky Father, but I think it's interesting that he exists, balancing the female nature of the Earth Mother.
What do you guys think of the tauren?
I have two more posts written up about the various species in World of Warcraft, and after that will be making a return to real world mythology. I'll be back next week with a post about the dwarves of WoW. See you then!
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