#81: Vol'jin: From Cataclysm to Legion

Nick and Katie finally get back around to picking up our look at Vol'jin's history in preparation for our study on the Horde War Campaign in Battle for Azeroth. We left off in episode 70 with Vol'jin leading the Darkspear in reclaiming Echo Isles at the start of Cataclysm. Now we pick up with his confrontation with new Warchief Garrosh Hellscream and how Vol'jin harshly threatens him upon his assumption of the mantle. This is followed by Vol'jin turning his back on the Zandalari leading into the troll dungeons in Patch 4.1.

In Mists of Pandaria, Vol'jin begins by reluctantly serving under Garrosh in the attack on Theramore. Vol'jin then reappears once the expansion begins in patch 5.1 as he comes to Pandaria to keep an eye on Garrosh. Garrosh sends Vol'jin into a trap, which Vol'jin recognizes as such, but he is still injured in an ambush and rescued by the player and Chen Stormstout.

This leads to Shadows of the Horde, which proves to be a controversial novel. Nick and Katie air their greivances with the story. It recounts how Vol'jin struggles with his identity as he learns the way of the monk and becomes friends with Taran Zhu and the human Tyrathan Khort. Katie feels that the story was paced poorly and should have been made into a collection of short stories. Nick feels that Vol'jin's motivation for opposing Garrosh is clear enough in the game and we didn't need a side story for Vol'jin to go into it any further. They do consider Bwon'samdi's involvement in the book interesting since he's become a character in Battle for Azeroth.

Vol'jin recovers from his injuries and then leads the Horde rebellion in Patch 5.3 until Garrosh is overthrown in Patch 5.4. Vol'jin assumes the mantle of Warchief, and does little in Warlords of Draenor, until he is slain in the introductory quest for Legion. It seemed like that would be the end for Vol'jin, except that his spirit is involved in Battle for Azeroth, which will be covered as we return to the War Campaign in the future.

Thank you for listening to The Tauren & the Goblin! Please send any comments or questions to [email protected] or @taurengoblin on twitter.