Warrior
From the way that warriors are available to nearly every race in the
game as a sort of default fighter person, you'd think that they would be
the fallback choice for any number of different sort of characters you
might imagine. Any sort of regular shmuck could be a warrior right? You
just gotta pick up some sort of weapon and start swinging it around at
an enemy, yes?No. Even though the Warrior class is available to almost every race in the game, every race has its own tradition of what it means to be a warrior -- it's not just a farmer with a pitchfork running around and trying to kill things. Warriors go through extensive training, learn to wield a wide variety of weapons, and train themselves in staying upright and charging about even while wearing all kinds of heavy metal on their bodies.
So today we'll look into some of the ways that the races of the Alliance understand what it means to be a warrior, and see which heroes your character might look up to, as well as the archetypes these heroes represent.
Humans
Warriors in human history books tend to be leadership figures, such as Anduin Lothar, Danath Trollbane, and even the current king of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn (son of Llane Wrynn, also a warrior). If your warrior character follows this tradition, he or she is likely to try and be a leader lots of the time, leading other people into battle and generally acting very brave, even against terrible odds. You may call yourself by the title of "Knight" or "Champion," (especially if you have one of those titles left over from the old PvP system).
Then again, those common everyday guards in Stormwind are warriors too, so your character needn't necessarily be very ambitious. You might even take some inspiration from the quests various guards will give you in Elwynn, Duskwood, and Redridge settings, and just decide to be a random soldier trying to get by in the world, practicing with your trusty sword on the target dummies, sweating under the weight of his armor, getting sent to all sorts of strange places on various assignments just like people do with soldiers in the real world. The more you can make use of military jargon, the better.
Dwarves
Dwarves are generally a more focused lot than humans, being much longer lived and usually more patient too. A dwarf is likely to have spent hours upon hours training and sparring with axe and hammer, and are far too proud to complain about the weight of their armor -- being genuinely related to the Earthen stone people of ages past, they probably don't even feel the weight that much anyways. The armor probably feels like an extension of their own skin in ways they can't really describe. Your dwarven warrior might see himself as a great explorer who makes the way safe for his people's archeologists, or as a noble defender of his people's homeland and the principles it stands for.
King Magni Bronzebeard is a warrior, along with his brother Muradin Bronzebeard, who was thought killed by Arthas in Northrend. Kurdran Wildhammer might be a good example of a more feral sort of dwarven warrior, since he used to be Thane of the Wildhammer clan, who are widely known for their daring acts of bravery... and foolhardiness too -- one dwarf's glorious death against impossible odds might seem like an idiotic charge into a wasteful death in the eyes of a human, but oh well. That's what you get with some cultural differences in Azeroth. Incedentally, a dwarf warrior is also the race and class most likely to try fighting while drunk.
Night elves
Night elves are unique in that their warriors are more likely to be female than male, at least according to tradition. These female warriors continue to be known as Sentinels, especially if their main task is to defend the forests of Ashenvale from intrusion. Nowadays the Sentinels are part of the Alliance, however, and they may not be so accustomed to working with strange peoples in far away places when the situation requires it. A night elf warrior prizes speed, agility, and quickness with their weapon more than brute strength or foolhardy charging into danger. Cunning, planning, and precise execution are the ways of a night elf warrior, not vainglorious shows of false valor.
Strangely, even though Sentinels were primarily female, it seems a lot of the more leader-like warrior figures in Warcraft lore were male, such as Kur'talos Ravencrest and Jarod Shadowsong (though these examples were mainly from the time before so many night elf men were called away to other duties in the Emerald Dream, which opened the door for more women to become warriors). Even Illidan Stormrage was a warrior before he became the first demon hunter. [Edit: oops. He was a caster, not a warrior as such, but in becoming a demon hunter, he became very much like a warrior, I would say.] Your character, too, might hope to become a demon hunter someday, especially if he thinks Illidan was kind of cool. Night elf women warriors have a few great role-models, however, such as Shandris Feathermoon, the general of all Sentinels, stationed at Feathermoon Stronghold in Feralas, and of course the woman who tracked down Illidan to the very gate of death: Warden Maiev Shadowsong.
Gnomes
Of all races and classes in World of Warcraft, gnomish warriors are the feistiest. When you're that small, you can't tolerate any fear in the face of enemies so much larger than yourself. Still, gnomes had to fight a lot in their ill-fated defense of Gnomeregan, so it makes sense that there would be quite a few gnome warriors who no longer fear the big creatures of the world -- or have been driven so mad by the terrifying realities of war intruding on their otherwise gentle demeanor that they just don't give a poopie about death anymore.
Gnomish warriors take great advantage in being so small, without ever admitting that they are small at all (the other races are just very large, you see). They easily dodge blows and weave their ways under their enemy's legs to cripple them from below, striking at their feet, their legs, or even that most tender and vulnerable of places on the body.
Gelbin Mekkatorque, leader of the gnomes, could be viewed as a warrior, though his first love is for tinkering. Like him, it would make sense for a gnomish warrior to have a completely different persona he wears in times of peace, only to surprise everyone with his ferociousness once push comes to shove.
Draenei
Of all the races who train to be warriors, draenei are the least likely to brag about their prowess with weapons, to look forward to any sort of battle, or to even think of themselves as "warriors" in the same sense that other races do. The draenei whose job it is to defend the Exodar see themselves as "Peacekeepers" rather than fighters in grand battles.
One of the reasons that there are so few notable warriors in draenei lore is that draenei seem to view combat abilities as an unfortunate necessity rather than a praiseworthy achievement. For them, true glory is attained through more peaceful pursuits, such as learning, prayer, and harmonious society. They fully recognize, however, that the peace must be kept, sometimes through violent means, and they prepare themselves for such violence without shame or hesitation.
The Warrior is not merely a well-trained fighter who loves his weapons and armor and takes great care to wield them well -- inside each one is a boiling cauldron of rage and passion. By and large, warriors feel at home on the battlefield because it is the one place where they can express themselves, where they can finally let go of all the restraint society imposes on them and unleash all their emotions. Without his raging passion, a person would be much better suited to some calmer form of work -- it is this unquenchable fire which sustains a warrior, driving him into action in the midst of mortal peril.
Alliance warriors tend to focus more on training and weapon mastery, sometimes downplaying their rage so much that you hardly even see it. Some warriors like this (even in the Horde sometimes) may be so stoic that even they do not believe that they have any emotions whatsoever, although I doubt anyone who watched them fight could really agree. Something's got to make you willing to put on all that armor and risk death every day.
But Horde warriors are more likely to display their rage, bloodlust, and other aggressive emotions much more freely. Of course, it's possible that a Horde warrior could have a collection of stuffed animals, write poetry, and even play hopscotch with children, but their rage lurks deep within, and the essence of their profession is to let it loose.
Orcs
The image of the orc warrior calls to mind the blood-red-eyed growling monstrosity roaring with demonic bloodthirstiness and wielding his great axes with abandon in his single-minded pursuit of nothing but death and destruction. For a time, while under the control of the Burning Legion, many orcish warriors were like this, but now even the wildest of barbarians remembers the need to rein in the anger from time to time. Orc warriors (or, at least many of them) are a civilized people when all is said and done, though you might not know it if you only saw them in battle.
Grom Hellscream is probably the most famous orcish warrior, a blademaster who combined immense skill with unbridled passion for the fight. Durotan, Thrall's father, was the very image of the restrained warrior who put the reasons for fighting above the passion of battle itself. High Overlord Varok Saurfang is the perfect role model of the aged warrior who regrets the excesses of the past, and makes up for it with special wisdom and caution in the present.
Trolls
Trolls are most likely to blend voodoo beliefs and ritual in with their battle. Their religion is savage and primal, and it fuels their fury with beliefs about revenge, death, and the desires of the spirits. They do not have the demon-possessed history of the orcs, but they are sometimes equally vicious. They are well known as berserkers who get more and more dangerous the more wounded and cornered they become.
The most famous troll warriors are Vol'jin, leader of the Darkspear tribe, and Zul'jin, ruler of the Amani trolls in Zul'Aman, although both of them are witch-doctors in addition to being warriors. Vol'jin is by far the more approachable of the two, known for his wisdom and intelligence. Zul'jin on the other hand is well known for his all-consuming hatred of the blood elves and anyone associated with them. Any troll warrior is likely to follow their example of intense cunning, likely with a good mix of voodoo rituals and ruthlessness thrown in too.
Tauren
Despite their immense size, and the apparent limitlessness of their battle fury, the tauren are among the least likely to be totally consumed by rage in battle. At all times they are connected to the earth and are intensely aware of practical concerns as well as bloody ones. A tauren warrior's sense of spirituality and religion is almost diametrically opposed to that of the trolls, and he fights to bring natural order to the chaos, even if outwardly he seems like a giant savage monster to some.
One of the most famous tauren warriors is Tagar, Cairne Bloodhoof's second in command, who helped guide and command the tauren in times of crisis. Cairne himself could also be considered a warrior, though he may also be a druid or something else instead.
Undead
Many Forsaken warriors remember a lot of what being a human or elven warrior used to be, with all their talk about honor, justice, the glory of Lordaeron and all that. They may have been called Knights or Champions at one point, or they might have just been regular old guards and soldiers, but now all that has faded away for most of them. Among the Forsaken, great warriors may be known as Deathguards [Thanks Thiosion!].
Who's to say what really remains? Do Forsaken warriors feel anger and rage the same way a living person might? Undoubtedly, many are driven by a desire for vengeance against the Scourge and perhaps even humanity as well. But this rage likely does not burn in them the same way that an orc's might -- rather it is cold and calculating. An undead warrior's rage not unbridled passion or anger so much as it is almost intellectual, so very sharp and chilling that it cuts like a scalpel.
Additional notes
Of course there are blood elf warriors in the Warcraft setting, but for various reasons none of them are player characters, so we won't touch on them in this article except to suggest that someone who wants to play a warrior-like blood elf choose a paladin, a rogue, or perhaps best of all, a death knight, for a similar type of character archetype.
Also, keep in mind that none of what I say in this or any other article is the one-and-only truth. This is not the one true way to roleplay -- rather it is a proposed standard based on lore and common sense, to which you are welcome to contribute your own ideas and or disagreements in the comments below. These are places to begin when you think about how your race and class interact to make your character who he or she is, not limitations I'm trying to impose upon your creativity. Perhaps these articles can help you think of a reason why your character is different from the standard case. In fact, many of the most interesting characters will break these molds even as they to conform to the same lore and common sense they are based upon.
Arms Warrior: Some warriors don't focus on protecting their allies; instead they charge into the fray, and with deft flicks of their powerful wrists are able to decapitate their enemies. If you want to be the fast-attacking champions, then arms is the specialization for you. They use their rage in controlled bursts for devastating strikes against those that wish to do them harm. A tactical warrior. They have names for all their weapons.
Fury Warrior(Barbarian): This one is a beast. Their rage envelopes them, sometimes at inopportune times, and makes them powerful. When your axe hits him, he gets stronger, his fury unbridled, his wits having fled from his skull. His vision is crimson like blood, his teeth gnash insanely, his strength is unimaginable; he can carry two two-handed weapons, and jump impossibly far and high. Shows up half naked, hammered drunk and ready to charge head-first into anything.
Protection Warrior(Knight): For those that strive to protect their allies, there is protection. These brave men and women hold a shield and a sword, barricading the path to their friends, absorbing attacks that were directed at them, and making SURE their foes hit him instead of his friends.
