The Unitarian Universalist Healers

After a comment left by Skraps about where shaman fit into my religious examples for druid and paladin healers, I started to try and put together some ideas.

I have always thought that both druids and shaman were more like eastern religions. The balance in druids has always led me to think of them as Buddhists, and I had never really considered where shaman fit in. He suggested that shamans are Unitarian Universalist’s. If you Wikipedia Unitarian Universalist you will find the phrase “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Having only played an Alliance shaman, this is probably a pretty accurate description. I think the lore that is set up for Draenei shaman is great. Former followers of the light who feel that the light has somewhat abandon them searching to discover the answers to their confusion. Velen’s gift of prophecy and openness to accept what he saw as Nobundo fullfilling the prophecy of a broken who would rise to power, illustrates that it is not only the shaman who are in constant pursuit of enlightening. A leader for thousands of years could have scoffed at the idea of an education that relied on the elements instead of the light, but his acceptance would fuel Draenei shaman who would study under Nobundo.

Draenei shaman all carry with them the Gift of the Naaru, a reminder that even in their quest to learn to harness the power of the elements, the light itself still accompanies them. Draenei shaman are the epitome of openness who only use that to perpetuate their knowledge. As a druid, I have always felt a closer connection to the shaman than the priest or paladin healers, but where a druid uses his connection with earth to cultivate a healing philosophy, shaman seem to jump straight to the source, water.

Water is fierce and unforgiving. It can annihilate an entire city with one tsunami and yet in all that destruction bring opportunity for new life as well. Druids use patience to heal their allies, but shaman would prefer to hit them with a wave.

Beyond the powers themselves lie the philosophy. Thrall is a shaman who is a fierce fighter, and I have as much respect for Thrall as I do not have for Varian because he is, like all shaman should be, a healer. He has united the races under the horde, and in two of those four races that have joined his orcs, he found other shaman. He knows no matter how someone learns to commune with the elements, that each are linked in the ability. What he lacks in abilities to prophesize, Thrall makes up for it with vision. Even when the races that joined the horde didn’t share his shamanistic views, he does know that what everyone seeks is inner peace. Sylvanas and the Forsaken may only find it when the Lich King falls. The Blood Elves, like many addicts, may never really find peace but they will search for the strength to fight their urges for greater magic pulsing through them. They search for a peace like the orcs and trolls who have been driven from their homes, or the Tauren who were forced to retreat to Thunderbluff. It is Thrall’s vision and understanding, or his “free and responsible search for truth and meaning,” that has united the Horde.

I hope that one day that little orphan girl you escort around for children’s week will study under Nobundo like her letter tells us, and she like her Broken teacher and Thrall will someday become a great healer. Maybe it is in her that the Draenei and the Orcs will look past the wounds that each has caused the other and find peace together.

-Rhab