Troll timeline

One would think so, but no...



(( On a side note.. We all love to bash Blizz over all their silly mistakes, but overall they've created a very detailed and complex setting for us to play with. Mistakes aside, there's still lots and lots left that actually works. Any other generic mmo would probably have given us "You are trolls! You can play these classes!" and be happy with that. ))

Just to add my two copper's worth to this discussion:

I've always assumed that in the quest 'The Mind's Eye', Witch Doctor Kin'weelay is simply mistaken. Or perhaps he believes that some ancient evil spirit, that was known in Stranglethorn when the Darkspears were there, has now taken over control of the ogre Mai'Zoth. You can't always take the words of a troll witch doctor as literal truth. They see things the rest of us don't see. They think in strange ways . . .

I have always believed that the Darkspears left the shores of Stranglethorn many many generations ago. Certainly long before the first ogre set foot on Azeroth soil.

From what I have read, the ancient history of the Darkspears probably runs like this:

10,000 years before the present time, the land was ripped apart by the Sundering caused by the War of the Ancients (although I doubt that we trolls know much about this, except the troll legend about how the great waves drowned the city of I'lalai. - Could this be where we now see the underwater ruins of the Vile Reef?)

There followed centuries of famine and terror. Eventually the Gurubashi trolls called upon the aid of Hakkar the Soulflayer. [Some sources say this happened 'More than a thousand years ago . .", but it may have been longer.] When the strongest tribes rose up against Hakkar's priests there was a terrible war that caused the fall of the Gurubashi Empire. After that, the various jungle troll tribes claimed their own territories within their ruined homeland.

After the last vestiges of the old empire had crumbled away, the jungle trolls in Stranglethorn were tribes fighting amongst themselves. Probably after many many years of struggling against the larger stronger Bloodscalp and Skullsplitter tribes, the Darkspears were eventually driven out of the Vale and made their way to the Broken Isles. [Some sources say the Darkspears were only driven out "in recent times".] They lived there at least long enough for many to refer to them as 'island trolls'.

So, the fall of the Gurubashi Empire may have occurred only a thousand years ago, or it may have been a lot earlier. And the Darkspears may have left Stranglethorn a few centuries or even only a few decades ago, or it may have been hundreds of years earlier. We can't be sure. There is a HUGE margin of uncertainty. Probably they were too busy fighting for survival during this time to preserve these details of their ancient tribal history. Although the Zandalari probably know the truth of it . . .

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

All the articles I found on wowwiki claims that the darkspears were driven out before the empire fell, during the rebellions and general turmoil that eventually led up to it ending.