Original artwork, not a still
The orcish cry for "Victory or death", World of Warcraft (2004)
Lok'tar ogar!
— World of Warcraft • 2004
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is the Horde's creed in three words: no retreat, no surrender, glory or the grave. It spread beyond Azeroth because it is easy to shout and sounds like a team motto, so players use it as a raid-night rallying cry and fans use it for any all-or-nothing push. The fan habit of writing it with an apostrophe against the books' hyphen is itself a bit of lore trivia.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for World of WarcraftShow the scene
In Warcraft lore this is the orcs' war cry, Orcish for "Victory or death". It is an in-world phrase more than a single scene. Orc characters in World of Warcraft yell it before a fight; Thrall, for example, calls it out in the Battle for Mount Hyjal raid as a wave of enemies approaches, and its short form "Lok'tar" doubles as a greeting between Horde members. Wowpedia notes the canonical spelling in publications uses a hyphen, "Lok-tar", while the game shows an apostrophe.
Sources (2)
- Wowpedia: Orcish (language)Vocabulary list, entries for Lok-tar and Lok-tar ogarReference checked
- Wowpedia: ThrallGreeting and Battle for Mount Hyjal quotesReference checked
Context reviewed
