Frankly, we’d be a lot better for them in the long run and before Garrosh sabotaged it with the Divine Bell incident, they clearly thought so too.
We’ve always had a history of friendship with them ever since the Troll Wars when they taught Humans magic and with their aid defeated the Trolls and saved Quel’thalas. And when the Orcs of the Horde came to burn Quel’thalas to the ground, we diverted our forces to save them even when they didn’t necessarily think they needed our help. For the second time, we saved their entire race from extinction.
And then everything went to hell when Arthas was corrupted by Ner’zhul and ravaged Lordaeron with the Scourge. With the Alliance in shambles and the BEs having adopted an isolationist policy, they were caught wholly unprepared when the full might of the Scourge descended upon them. In an eye blink, 90% of their race was slaughtered and the Sunwell itself was shattered.
And so we enter into the most controversial time of all: Garithos. Now let me be clear, he was a racist and should never have been in command of such a highly volatile and stressful situation nor did he have any justification whatsoever to attempt to execute the BEs for trying to save themselves.
His irrational hatred and bigotry that drove the BEs away from the Alliance was unforgivable. But I also think the Alliance in general gets way too much flak for his actions when, for all intents and purposes, they didn’t know about it.
Think about it, the leadership was in ruins and communications between Alliance groups was pretty much non-existent. Garithos wasn’t the Alliance, he just so happened to be the highest ranking officer left in that general area as far as anyone knew.
Had the actual Alliance leadership had a voice and awareness of what he was doing, I have no doubt they would have immediately removed him from command and viciously disciplined him for having the gall to try to execute their own allies over a spat of personal bigotry, especially in the middle of a cataclysmic war where they were fighting for their very lives.
But regardless, what was done was done. The BEs eventually join the Horde for protection and are soon helped by Sylvanas’ Deathguard, only for her to almost immediately turn around and blackmail them into sending troops to Northrend to fight her war with the Lich King or else lose all Deathguard protection and leave their lands nigh defenseless.
And prior to this, the BEs are saved from their fel addiction and the loss of Mu’ru by Velen of the Alliance, would actually reignited the Sunwell and cleansed it with the heart of the valiant Naaru. Again, the Alliance saved them, not the Horde.
Going in Cataclysm, the BEs begin becoming increasingly marginalized by Horde leadership under Garrosh. So much so that they actually begin considering a return to the Alliance fold. Unfortunately, Garrosh finds out about it and sabotages it by using the Dalaran portals to frame the Blood Elves for the theft of the Divine Bell, causing Jaina to go into a rage and expel them from Dalaran.
Admittedly, Jaina probably went a bit farther than she probably should have, but she was still suffering from significant post traumatic stress from the loss of Theramore from a previous Horde theft from Dalaran so she can’t entirely be blamed for taking such an aggressive step the second time it happened.
Still, the Blood Elves remained with the Horde over the fallout. Fast forward to BfA, and the BEs are once again under the control of a maniacal Warchief bent on a genocidal war that never should have happened and whose actions are once again making them question themselves.
Bottom line, the Horde has always been a chaotic mess whose shenanigans have continually thrust the BEs into conflicts they never asked for, in many cases against former friends who have no real quarrel with them personally.
The Horde only saved them once, and almost immediately used that fact to blackmail them into an untenable situation. The Alliance saved their entire race twice, including from the very faction they’re currently with, and possibly a third time given how they purified the Sunwell.
It just seems petty to keep using Garithos as an excuse when his actions clearly would never have been sanctioned by the actual Alliance leadership had they been aware of them. We’ve been friends through so much in the past and it just seems sad to keep throwing it away to remain with a faction who only ever seems to exploit them.
Inevitably, Sylvanas is going to do something stupid, again, and once again the BEs will be thrust into a conflict for their very existence at the hands of those who are supposed to be their friends.
Had the BEs actually rejoined the Alliance in Cataclysm, we would absolutely have rendered them protection against the Scourge as well as the livid Sylvanas and welcomed them with open arms and without prejudice.