Furbolg Tribes – WoW Dragonflight

Furbolgs are a hulking, simple-minded race of bear-men who live in the northern regions of Kalimdor, in the continent of Northrend, in the Broken Isles, in the Dragon Isles, and in the Verdant Wilds island.

Though they have no special love for war or murder, their tribes have become increasingly hostile as of late, many tribes have fallen to multiple forms of corruption, including but not limited to the corruptions of the Burning Legion, the Old Gods and the Primalists. Some tribes and individuals aren’t hostile and are tolerant of outsiders, with tribes such as the Timbermaw, Stillpine, and Longclaw.

In northern Kalimdor, the furbolgs were old allies of the night elves. The night elves concerned by the once peaceful race’s condition have attempted to help the furbolgs settle their tensions, but the mighty bear-men retreat ever further into their territories and fall deeper into the rage that is overtaking their race, they turned into fearsome new enemies of the night elves.

Culture

Ceremonial beads, decorated with shells and feathers, are worn by a clan’s chieftain. Winterspring’s furbolg prize the brilliant white feathers of the snowy owls for ritual purposes.

These days, it seems few furbolg ever become shaman. Shamanism is much more common among the free-willed furbolg tribes. Furthermore, some free-willed furbolg are even capable of basic shapeshifting, much like a trained druid.

The furbolg tribes worship the twin bear Ancients, Ursoc and Ursol, as gods.

Notable

Tribes and clans

Uncorrupted

• Barkskin — Found in Mount Hyjal during the Third War. They assisted the night elves, orcs and humans during the Battle of Mount Hyjal.
• Blackmaw — Found in Azshara. They existed during the War of the Ancients. Agents of the Alliance attempted to ally with the Blackmaw but their efforts were thwarted by the Horde. They are led by Ungarl.
• Blackwood — Found in Darkshore. They were led by Elder Brownpaw.
• Bristlelimb — Found on the Azuremyst Isles. They are rivals of the Stillpine tribe. They are led by High Chief Bristlelimb.
• Grizzleweald — Found in Val’sharah.
• Longclaw — Found on Longclaw Island in Azure Span. They came to the island to escape the elemental corruption on the mainland. They are led by Adday.
• Smolderhide — Found in Val’sharah.
• Stillpine — Found on the Azuremyst Isles. They are rivals of the Bristlelimb tribe and allies of the draenei and the Alliance. They are led by High Chief Stillpine.
• Timbermaw — Found in Timbermaw Hold connecting Felwood, Winterspring and Moonglade. In the times before the Cataclysm the tribe was in Azshara, but that part broke away from them as the Blackmaw tribe. They claim to be the last uncorrupted furbolg tribe.
• Wildlands — Found in the Verdant Wilds. They are led by Gurlack.
• Winterpelt — Found in Azure Span. Some have been corrupted by the Primalists. They are led by Kranac Sagesnow.

Corrupted

• Bloodtooth — Found in Ashenvale. They are led by Ran Bloodtooth.
• Deadwood — Found in Felwood. They are rivals of the Timbermaw tribe. They are presumably led by Chieftain Bloodmaw.
• Felwood — Found in Ashenvale and Winterspring during the Third War.
• Foulweald — Found in Ashenvale. They are led by Chief Murgut.
• Frostpaw — Found in Grizzly Hills. They are rivals of the Redfang tribe.
• Gnarlpine — Found in Teldrassil. They are led by Ursal and Ferocitas the Dream Eater.
• Redfang — Found in Grizzly Hills. They are rivals of the Frostpaw tribe.
• Rustpine — Found in Azure Span. Splintered not all have been corrupted by the Primalists.
• Thistlefur — Found in Ashenvale. They are led by Dal Bloodclaw.
• Winterfall — Found in Winterspring. They are rivals of the Timbermaw tribe. They are led by Grolnar the Berserk.

• The Blackroot furbolgs

Notes and trivia

• Females (such as Ferli and Princess Stillpine) do exist, but they use the same model as the males.
• Some pandaren from Warcraft III are just recolored furbolgs.
• On a Warcraft III bonus map Bunny Island there is a race of humanoid rabbits simply called bunnies who’s model is based of the furbolg’s model.
• There are two cases were a satyr is responsible for the corruption of entire furbolg tribes, the Blackwood tribe of Darkshore being corrupted by Xabraxxis and Winterfall tribe of Winterspring being corrupted by Xandivious.
• According to Brann Bronzebeard, the furbolgs are descended from the bear Ancient Ursoc. But Ursoc’s direct descendants may actually be the jalgar race.
• Players can transform into a furbolg for a limited amount of time using the [Stave of Fur and Claw]. The original version of [Dartol’s Rod of Transformation], supplied for Raene’s Cleansing allowed for permanent furbolg form; the updated version of the item ( [Dartol’s Rod], supplied for [7-30] True Power of the Rod) only works in Ashenvale.
• The “Might of the Grizzlemaw” druid [Bear Form] appearance from Claws of Ursoc is a different-looking bear humanoid.
• Wolvar use the same animation skeleton as the original WoW and WotLK furbolgs, albeit with added tail animations.
• The Dragonflight furbolg model has the same animations as a dire troll, dire orc or drogbar, also in contrast to previous furbolg models the new model has five fingers on their hands instead of the previous four.

Inspiration

Furbolgs origins were described by Chris Metzen as: “The initial idea was trying to spin a somewhat cool Ewok, some super-foresty badass furbolg kind of character, but make it hard. Back in the day we were playing tabletop role-playing games – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game was always the best. So we’d anthropomorphize. Animal characters and the wolverines were always badass. In a way we were trying to fuse a bear and a wolverine into some kind of badass forest race. Once we got the furbolg, which became much more bear-like than the wolvar, I think ultimately in Northrend we wound up developing, so it just shook out a number of ways.”

Furbolgs are probably loosely based on the Fir Bolg of Irish mythology. The Fir Bolg were a pre-Celtic race who inhabited Ireland millennia ago; as with most such beings, it is unclear whether they were human, near-human, or something else entirely. The Fir Bolg were forced out of Ireland by the Tuatha de Danaan, who are vaguely similar to elves.

More specifically, “furbolg” is likely a pun on “firbolg”, a race of giants in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game that were inspired by the aforementioned Fir Bolg.