What ARE Peons?

Basically Peons are the runts of the Orcish horde.

Just like how you get runts in a group of hatched eggs the orcs have runts who are dumber, weaker, etc than a normal orc.

You can see this is their underdeveloped tusks and they're attitude. (i.e normal orcs have a blood-lust and peons are just lazy and sleep everywhere).

That's the simplest way to think about it.

Just dumb, lazy orcs who dropped out of basic or whatever the orcish equivalent is. They don't have to be mentally retarded indentured servants or anything, just orcs who don't really wanna get chopped up on the front lines.

I mean, there are plenty of lazy, stupid humans who aren't good for much beyond menial labour, and there are plenty of honest, hardworking humans who work in manual labour jobs for whatever reason.

The peons are just lazy, dumb orcs. They're not fierce enough to be warriors. Not smart enough to be mages or warlocks. So they chop chop dig dig. They're that kind of orc.

I think the "Runt" description is the best so far. Here I go:

Orcs, while many of us horde players view them as sophisticated awesome dudes, for the most part, are actually a relatively savage and brutish race. Up until Garrosh took over, bones and flimsy lumber made most Orcish architecture.

What we can glean from this is that Orcs probably have similar living situations as cave-men as a larger culture. Meaning: Orcs have lots of kids to further the gene pool and ensure survival. Not all of those Orcs can be great warriors, shamans, and others like us. Some just don't quite make the cut. Whether they be not as strong or not as smart, this gives us our peons.

Me not that kind of orc...

Man, i wish i could play a peon class.

Well, remember how spartians threw the babies that didn't look "good" enough in a pit to die? Orks just choose to give them a job instead.

It's easy to think of them as mentally retarded or overly useless to the Orcish War Machine, but I think that makes the orcs seem too evil, exploiting handicapped people like that.

I prefer to think of the peons as orcs who were shamed sometime in their life from a lack of honor or crime they committed. It might not be correct but it's my headcanon

From wowpedia.

The label of peon denotes the lowest station amongst those in the Orcish Horde. Inferior in all skills of worth, these dogs are relegated to menial tasks such as harvesting lumber and mining gold. Their labor is also required for the construction and maintenance of buildings necessary to support the vast undertakings of the Horde. Pity the poor peon, working from dusk to dawn, slaving away in the service of the orc and Horde. Peons are permanently bent from years of labor. These expressionless orcs trudge in their duty, a large sack slouched over malformed shoulders that are broader than any soldier's. Commonly treated with contempt, the wise Horde chief knows that without these sturdy little guys, the Horde war machine would grind to a halt. They are nearly worthless in combat, which is why they prefer to hide in burrows and throw spears out the windows, if it comes to that.[1] Downtrodden, the orc peons slave thanklessly to please their overseers.[1] While it is rare, it is possible for a peon of the Dragonmaw to rise from the dregs to attain a new rank, like that of Overseer.

This said, the importance of the peon is recognized in the holiday Peon Day.

Edit: realized you already Said wowpedia. But i seem to remember sometime saying they failed their trial into adulthood or something. But they are simply weaker stupider and to much of a coward to fight.

To put it in a horrible but accurate way; Peons are the Orcs born with mental/physical retardation. They aren't strong enough to be warriors, and they aren't smart enough to commune with the elements. What can they do? They can pick up (WC1/WC2) 3 sticks at a time.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and just say that peons are probably, most likely, mentally challenged Orcs.

Perhaps they were never taught how to speak properly, maybe it's a mental deficiency. I didn't know it at first but the peons in shadow moon valley (outland) have the same dialogue/audio queue when you click on them as the peons from the original Warcraft games, and honestly none of the non-main characters sound normal in those games. You can see the same thing with the alliance ones but I assume they just used the old audio samples as sort of a nostalgic thing rather than using the normal Orc/human ones. I don't play horde so those shadowmoon valley ones from the netherwing rep quest grind are the only Orc peons I ever really encountered.

Product of bad environment, like a kid born into a poor family.

You know Autistic and other mentally handicapped people in the real world? Like that

They are slaves. Orcs make some of their own people slaves, that's all, no need to sugarcoat.

They're the reason I stay in my garrison . I love clicking on them.