Half-draenei

Half-draenei
Lantresor of the Blade
Faction/Affiliation	Independent, Horde, Burning Blade clan, Uncrowned Formerly: Old Horde, Bladewind clan
Character classes	Warrior, Rogue, Assassin, Blademaster
Racial capital	Varies
Racial leader(s)	None
Homeworld	Draenor
Language(s)	Orcish, Draenei, Common

“Not orc, nor draenei. My own kind are a rare breed. Most having been killed decades ago... I live because of my strength of will.”

— Lantresor of the Blade to the adventurer

Half-draenei is a term used to describe the half-breed offspring of one draenei parent, or half-draenei, and a parent of any other species, such as an orc. The term half-orc can also be used.

According to Lantresor of the Blade, his kind are a rare breed, with most having been killed decades ago. Half-orc, half-draenei are reviled and scorned by both draenei and orc cultures. However, times changed under the New Horde, as Lantresor and Garona Halforcen were included at the first Kosh'harg festival held on Azeroth. According to Garona, being half-blooded used to mark one as an outcast among the orcs, but she then mused that it was now a thing of the past, and that she could possibly join one of the clans.

Background

Around 99 years before the First War, the Bladewind orcs began raiding draenei caravans. While many draenei wanted to retaliate, their leader Velen forbade it. Instead, he allowed the Rangari to launch covert missions to rescue prisoners, while future caravans were well guarded, often by squads of Vindicators. The Rangari managed to save a number of prisoners, but not all. These few poor souls were forced into slavery for the rest of their lives, and some of them bore half-breed children for their masters.

Many years later, Garona Halforcen was one of the few Bladewind half-breeds who survived past childhood. After she met Gul'dan, Garona was bound to his will, and the warlock later began to secretly train her as his personal spy and assassin. As a half-breed, she lived beneath the notice of most orcs, and those who noticed her saw only a servant of Gul'dan, held on a tight leash. She later became infamous among the humans, being the half-orc assassin of King Llane Wrynn during the First War, although it was not her will.

Among the Old Horde forces that invaded Azeroth, Lantresor of the Blade is a blademaster of half-draenei and half-orc descent who served under Warchief Blackhand and Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer, before returning home after the Second War.

Characteristics

As the son of the human Medivh and the half-orc, half-draenei Garona Halforcen, Med'an is half-human, quarter-draenei, and quarter-orc.

The half-draenei possess the traits of both races which they inherit from their parents. However, this is not necessarily always the case, as Lantresor looks exactly like an orc, to the point that even the adventurer could not tell the difference between him and another orc.

Half orc half-draenei may have less-pronounced draenic physical features, such as horns, tails, or hooves. Garona Halforcen, and her son Med'an, notably show little draenei features like shiny eyes or chin spines on the latter, instead looking almost entirely orcish. When Khadgar met Garona for the first time, he immediately recognized her as an orc, but when he compared her to the others, he mentioned that she have a smoother skin, which have a lighter shade of green than the jade flesh of the orcs, her fangs are a bit smaller, her eyes are a bit larger and more expressive, but he could not determine if this was due to her being female or because she was a half-breed. According to Garona herself, the orcs saw her as an inferior being, considering her deformed because of her "wrong face", her feet almost like hooves, that she was too slender, too pale, too weak, too ugly, and because she doesn't have enough muscle for a female orc.

About their life span, Med'an was still an adolescent at the age of 23 years old, even though his father was killed "almost thirty years" earlier. Meryl Winterstorm suspected that this is due to Med'an's mixed blood; human, orc, and "something else" (later revealed to be draenei). However, they are so rare that Blizzard don't really have any established lore about their potential longevities.

Known half-draenei

• Garona Halforcen - She is an orc-draenei half-breed, although she personally identifies with her half-orc heritage and others primarily identify her as a half-orc. She and others believe her to be half-human (two speculative races were invented to describe her nature: near-humans and humans of Draenor descendant), this confusion was caused by Gul'dan who lied to Garona and told her she was half-human.
• Lantresor of the Blade - He is a half-draenei half-orc blademaster, the leader of the ogre Boulderfist clan of Outland, and the chieftain of the orcish Burning Blade clan.
• Med'an - He is the son of the half-orc half-draenei Garona and the human Medivh. This makes him quarter orc, quarter draenei, and half human.

In the RPG

This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

A half-draenei, or Half-orc half-draenei, is a term used to describe the half-breed offspring of one draenei parent or half-draenei and another species such as an orc.

In his notes about the half-orc Garona Halforcen, Brann Bronzebeard couldn't say what her other parent was, as it would seem impossible for a human and an orc to have produced her since she was already a young woman at the time of the First War. He also mentioned that Garona may "not" be a half-draenei, as her features did not match those of the draenei, or any other known race.

Notes

• The adventurer once heard of their kind, but never thought to see the day when they would meet one of them.
• Originally, Garona was the result of a breeding experiment done by Gul'dan with one of his followers and a draenei captive, with the Bladewind clan being mentioned in prior lore as opposing war with the draenei.
• According to Orgrim Doomhammer, when Garona had been tortured into revealing the Shadow Council's location, it was her non-orc blood that made her too weak to withstand much.
• The Community Manager Caydiem claimed that Garona's other half was "draenei" based on the assumption that draenei were once human-like in appearance before there was ever any knowledge that draenei were of the eredar race.

Gallery

• 
  Lantresor of the Blade model in The Burning Crusade.
• 
  Garona Halforcen in World of Warcraft.
• 
  Garona in World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 2.
• 
  "Garona" by Chris Metzen.
• 
  An early render of Garona from a pre-alpha version of Warcraft III.