User blog:Arathorstories/Bloodsports

An idle little thing here, maybe the seed of an article down the line. We know Azeroth adores blood sports. The evidence for it is ubiqituous: To step off to specific examples, Blackmoore's gladiatoral matches involved animals fighting animals, animals versus humans, presumably humans on humans, and everything against orcs (including ogres). The inclusion of animals in the games suggest that a form of bullfight could develop, and other animal bloodsports are probably in play as well.
 * The Crimson Ring's very existence necesittates broad popularity of gladiatoral combat. Slaves are expensive - slaves that can fight, doubly so. A good gladiator prospect could cost two thousand gold, to give an idea of just how expensive. That kind of cost doesn't allow the existence of a large, well-organized, and broadly accepted fighting ring unless that ring is very popular.
 * Arenas, obviously.
 * The people of Lordaeron certainly enjoyed keeping Orcs as Gladiators in at least two incidences - Thrall, obviously, but also Rehgar Earthfury. An argument could be made here that the same cost argument that applies to the Crimson Ring doesn't apply to Orcish gladiatoral slaves at the time, as almost every Orc taken prisoner could fight to one degree or another and they had plenty of them, with no value as anything else. The human gladiators involved were mostly convicts (and most of the gladiators were, in fact, humans.)
 * Gladiatoral combat actually has a bit of history with the Orcs. They instituted it themselves on Draenor as the world collapsed, fighting for prizes of food and water. Which also raises the question of where the idea to have them serve in that capacity came from in Lordaeron. Was it a purely human cruelty or actually suggested by some of the Orcs? That humans were also part of it suggests human origins, but the Orcish history is worth consideration as well.
 * Underground boxing rings, anyone? The Brawlpub?

So one day when I'm drunk as hell and have been watching too much Spartacus (it is the worst. However, when you're drunk, it suddenly becomes enjoyable!), I'll probably wind up writing about a gladiator or something.