#worgen lore

Do shapeshifted druids have to deal with animalistic urges?

The short answer is: yes. However, I suspect the intensity of urges they have to deal with varies from form to form and depends in part on the practicing druid’s level of control. 

To start, we know that druids do fully take on the traits and abilities of their chosen form. When Ferryn in Elegy shifts into a nightsaber, his, “sense of smell [is] keener than . . . when he was in night elf form” and, further, he has “the augmented vision of the great cat whose form he had taken.” As another example, one quest has the player shapeshift into a nightsaber because that form’s heightened senses are necessary for tracking an adversary [Quest: Tracking the Enemy]. Lastly, snippets of dialogue from the druids in Sylvan Falls, seen below, clearly indicate that fledgling druids do have to deal with certain animalistic urges unique to their chosen form. I would bet, however, that more practiced druids can overcome and suppress these urges.

While I consider it a unique example that doesn’t necessarily apply to the other animal forms, it’s important to talk about pack form, more popularly known as worgen form, in answering this question. During the War of the Satyr, the druids who practiced pack form found themselves utterly consumed by the form’s rage and volatility, practically becoming savage beasts in the process. One character says of being in pack form that, “Feral power surged through every fiber of our beings with but one primal, savage, and base instinct - survival,” while another comments, “It is as if… I lose all that is myself in that form. I only recall fragments” [Curse of the Worgen, Issue #2, pg. 10, 22]. Druids employing this form didn’t just transform into something akin to a wolf, they actually took on the bloodthirsty essence of the wild god Goldrinn himself [Curse of the Worgen, Issue #1, #2].

The Origins of Pack Form

“The pack form’s strength comes from the wolf demigod Goldrinn, as you know, but its essence is rooted in his rage against our moon goddess. You see, it was Goldrinn’s feral insistence that disappointed Elune so. It was his unwillingness to tame his savagery and bloodlust that overshadowed his noble heart. When her great light illuminated the dark during the full moons, it was as if her eyes glared down upon him in judgment. His anger at her conviction caused Goldrinn to become even more bloodthirsty and indomitable than ever. It is this volatile nature of which Malfurion is most concerned. It is this essence that is rooted deep within the form.” - Tyrande, Curse of the Worgen Issue #1, pg. 27-28

It’s easy to see that pack form, which is no longer widely practiced by druids, was notorious for how incredibly difficult it was to control. This strongly implies that druids do have to deal with animalistic urges when shapeshifted, but pack form was so singularly extreme that I don’t think it can be used as a baseline example when it comes to the kind of animalistic impulses druids might experience in their other forms.

There is, however, an additional example that proves druids can still succumb to animal urges in less dangerous forms. Originally an RPG-only concept that recently made it into the live game, Savagekin are druids who sacrifice their humanity to live exclusively like beasts [RPG: Alliance Player’s Guide, pg. 60]. In fact, one line from the RPG even says, “Savagekin constantly battle the inner beasts that threaten to consume them, clinging to their last vestiges of sentience.” This certainly seems to suggest that druids have animalistic urges, but because this is from the RPG, it’s no longer canon.

Despite that, there is a form of Savagekin that exist in-game, although they are never directly referred to as such. These druids, who can be found on the Verdant Wilds island, are night elves who believed that they are, “at [their] core, wild creatures, and [their] humanoid forms are merely a guise” [Quest: Druidic Fur]. Because of that, they left mainstream society after the War of the Satyr and chose to live as animals for millennia.

With all of this in mind, it appears druids do have to deal with animal impulses, especially since they take on the attributes of whatever animal form they choose. Even so, it’s likely that trained druids are able to suppress it whereas feral druids, or Savagekin, choose to fully give in.

Link to #druidweek introduction post here!

A Cataclysm-era quest maintains that Sylvanas and her Val’kyr are unable to raise non-human races, such as night elves and dwarves, into undeath [Quest: Lessons in Fear]. This is in part because the Val’kyr are nowhere near as powerful as the Lich King when it comes to raising undead, hence why certain races like the worgen can be Death Knights but also particularly resistant to the corruption of undeath at the same time [Ask CDev, Round II]. Unfortunately, this information has recently been contradicted by the events of the Darkshore warfront, in which Sylvanas’ Val’kyr raise multiple night elves, including both Sira Moonwarden and Delaryn Summermoon [Quest: In Darkest Night].