Tauren

Background and appearances

Tauren are very large compared to humans, with males reaching up to 10 feet tall and females up to 9 feet. Their hands have three fingers, and their feet are hooves. Males are bulky, muscular, and covered in fur with cow-like colors and patterns, possessing a hunched posture, hairy mane, and horned head. Females are noticeably slimmer and more upright, with smaller manes.

In combat, Tauren use totem poles as both religious meditation tools and club-type weapons, as well as Tauren halberds with wooden handles and massive blades. Introduced in Warcraft III as the Tauren warrior class, they were powerful in melee combat. Thunder Bluff became their capital in World of Warcraft. The 2015 game Heroes of the Storm features a Tauren Chieftain character who plays an electric guitar as part of a rock band. The Highmountain Tauren, with elk-like antlers, were added in the 2016 expansion World of Warcraft: Legion.

Development

The Tauren paladin and priest class became available in the 2010 World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion. Male Tauren received a character model redesign in 2014 to add facial expressions and increase realism, with female Tauren updated months later. The 2022 Dragonflight expansion allowed Tauren to become rogues, a class choice long considered a joke by fans due to the race's large size, hooves, and lack of stealth.

Reception

The Tauren have been compared to Greek minotaurs by William Sins Bainbridge, who saw them as an example of World of Warcraft’s mix of different influences. In gameplay, they are known for being calm and dependable, but within the game’s story they still deal with racial prejudice. Female Tauren stand out from the usual slim, model-like female characters in the game. Their plump bodies, hooves, and cow-like noses are traits often seen as ugly, which gives players more variety in appearance and moves them far from traditional ideas of femininity.

The use of Native American imagery for the Tauren has been called offensive. Colin Campbell of Polygon described it as a poor, exaggerated appropriation. Critics have said the portrayal of Horde culture, including the Tauren, lacks depth and relies on shallow stereotypes similar to colonial views of primitive peoples. The Tauren are shown as both quiet and peaceful and as fierce enemies who crush opponents under their hooves, unlike the more pseudo-Western Alliance.

Philip Michael Alexander noted that the Tauren seemed like a good concept until he saw how they mocked Plains Indian culture, finding it shockingly close to real life. He pointed out that they are even displaced from their homeland, and he found their characterization almost too lazy. This led him to change his character’s race away from Tauren.