Blood elf timeline help

Wyrmrest Accord
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Hey guys :wave:t2: Just trying to flesh out my blood elf’s story and had a few questions.
If I wanted my BE to be a child/young teen during the fall of Quel’Thalas(her father died during this battle) how old would she be now? I’m new to rp so I’m trying to figure all this out :slightly_smiling_face:

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I want to preface this by saying I DO NOT PERSONALLY CARE- but you will get a lot of flak from some people for this. It’s a pretty common trope, and given how long-lived elves are, unlikely and rare. Those two things combined tend to annoy some… sensitive people.

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Why is this a bad thing? Like I said I’m new to rp so I’m not sure…?

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It’s pretty much up to you since elves live for a long time. In the time that passed from then to now it could be almost no time at all to very little time to maybe a bit of time. It’s up to you to decide. Keep them the same age relatively or 5-7 human RL years later equivalent.

The time line is made up and some of it doesn’t make any sense, so take advantage!

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The real answer is- it’s not. Some people just have a weird reaction to teen characters and they become raving, hissing lunatics over nothing.

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The fall of Quel’Thalas was about thirteen years ago, as of the current expansion, so your character would be a very late teen or adult.

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I want her to be a young adult right now, I was just curious if he being a teen during that time made sense. If not I won’t do it I just need to know how old she would’ve been then if she was a young adult now.

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Sorry, I genuinely wasn’t trying to discourage you from anything, it’s just an annoying thing about some people worth noting. I think her being a young adult right now and teen at that point makes perfect sense :ok_hand:

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No you weren’t I honestly was just trying to figure out the timelines and it wasn’t making any sense to me. I want her back story to make sense and not be questioned of that makes sense. I very much appreciate the help :slightly_smiling_face:

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There’s nothing to say that it doesn’t make sense. I’d say you’re good to go, and don’t worry about it.

While elves are long lived and a couple lore sources have described children as “rare” in Quel’thalas, all elves were obviously children at some point and not all elves are currently hundreds or thousands of years old. There’s also a novella that makes clear the fact that there were children around during the Fall of Quel’thalas (though, unfortunately, this is in the context of describing how many of them died), so there’s no reason why your character couldn’t have been one.

How old she would have been then depends on what you mean by “young adult” now. As Vyrael said, the Fall of Quel’thalas was about 13 years in the in-universe past, so you could take whatever age you want her to be in the present and simply subtract 13.

Some people may tell you that if she was a child during the Fall of Quel’thalas, then she wouldn’t be grown up yet, because elven children mature more slowly than human ones do. These people are wrong. Lorewise, Blood Elves appear to reach physical adulthood at around 18 to 20 years of age.

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Eledriss makes a great point.

There is a lot of misconception about elves and aging. All the elves of Warcraft seem to reach physical maturity at the same rate as humans, though it stagnates around 20-30 years old. Quel’dorei, and presumably sin’dorei, are the only elves known to become old and wrinkly (though after thousands of years).

That said, there is rampant speculation about when elven societies perceive elves as “adults”. This has been up for debate since the release of World of Warcraft, because Blizzard has not given us definitive examples or lore regarding the subject.

Essentially, while an elf can reach physical maturity (“fully grown”) in their 20s, many speculate that they aren’t recognized by society as adults until around 100-300 years old. When you compare the experience of an elf of 2,000 years to an elf of 20 years, there is likely going to be a huge maturity and experience gap.

Do not be surprised if your character gets treated like a child by elves older than him/her for this reason. It’s definitely been known to happen, and it isn’t necessarily a negative thing. It’s not really any different from an 18 year old being a legal adult, but still getting called a teenager. Or a 21 year old being a legal adult with a few additional legal permissions and being called a “kid” by those older than them, particularly ones who are done with their partying years.

The only difference, with elves, is that instead of a few years or decades of separation from other adults, the gaps can be significantly larger (centuries to millenniums {multiple human lifetimes}).

If this is something you’d rather avoid, I find that it’s easier to give your character an age classification instead of a numerical value (e.g. “Young Adult” instead of “21”). This helps avoid people that might meta-game, and makes adding new lore to your character’s background a bit easier if Blizzard decides to change and/or add lore to the timeline later on.

Ultimately, age does not define your character - you do. Roleplay your elf as you choose, and to your heart’s content, and do not let anyone stop you from creating an experience to your liking.

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Thank you. Like I said I’m new to the rp scene and I’m having someone fix up my trp profile and they are asking all sorts of questions one of which being my age. Being a specific number to see what events my character has been through. I hadn’t given it all that much thought but they say that if I am 103 now then I wouldn’t have been a teen when the fall of Quel’Thalas happened,I would’ve been like a college age. So I’m lost in what to do :woman_shrugging:t3:

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If you specifically want your character to have been a teenager at the time of the fall, then she would be somewhere in her 20s to early 30s now. If her being a “young adult” is the important factor, then 20s-30s still works, but so does 103.

Or at least, I think so. Feyawen’s post makes a good point about the (possible) perception of age and maturity in such a long-lived society. We don’t know how the elves see this matter, how old is ‘old’, or pretty much anything else. But a century of age or so does fall in my general headcanon range of elven young adult.

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Is there a particular reason you’d like your character to have been a teenager during that time period?

I ask because I feel it’s relevant to point out that maturity, emotional or otherwise, is not a given with age. For example, your elf could have been an innocent and youthful spirit for much of their first century.

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No I don’t suppose she has to be that young, I can make adjustments as needed. I want her to be seen as mature so what age would that be around??sorry for all the questions :pensive:

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Questions aren’t a bad thing!

What age is seen as “mature” will depend both on the individual characters you encounter, and probably on their players’ OOC interpretation of the matter. An elf who’s 100 years younger than yours will likely have a different view from one who’s 100 years older, who may have a different view from one who’s 500 years older, and so on.

That’s aside from the fact that some elves may see time lived as an important factor in maturity, while other elves might think that individual experience and personality is more important.

Meanwhile, players vary in their perception of the whole thing between those who feel that long lifespans equal long maturation time, vs those who don’t; those who have strong opinions on what ages an elf “should” or “shouldn’t” be taken seriously at, vs those who don’t so much care; those who enjoy the potential for extremely long-lived characters, vs those who prefer the (non-canon) RPG standards and get annoyed when they see a belf who’s older than 300; etc.

It’s impossible to pick a “standard” that’s going to work for everyone – so you should design your characters in the way that works best for you. And I think this is true and important:

I think your character’s age as a number isn’t something over which you need to be too exacting. Her experiences, wants and needs, behavior, and outlook on life are more important, and the relationship of those things to age is complex and flexible.

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Thank you so much, this has all been such a huge help :heart:

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You’re going to have people who will throw RPG book information–about age and such–at you like a spear of absolute, final law.

It’s not canon. Hasn’t been in years. Keep that in mind and don’t fret when this inevitably happens.

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