Yeah, I don’t know how anyone would think that sabotaging the Belf defenses when they’re at risk of being overrun by the scourge would be seen as an attack. God forbid. Next thing you know belves are gonna take offense to the little matter of the night elves sending assassins to kill a magister for finding out their plans.
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I understood that the dwarf was not part of the sabotage and that he was only observing the work of the night elves as a spy so after finding the documents written in dwarf we are going to kill the ambassador
Here is the thing. We are not even sure the night elves were sabotaging it. The quest NPC seems to think the Sanctum was going to malfunction with or without the night elves interfering.
Malfurion was in Sleepy-Bye Land for Vanilla, BC and Wrath. He only re-emerged in Cataclysm.
The expedition to Quel’Thalas certainly happened in game - the units are still there! They were present long enough to build moonwells! - and appear to have been under Sentinel leadership.
At a guess, neither Tyrande nor Shandis Feathermoon (whose troops those were) elected to tell Malfurion about it.
It isn’t clear whether the Sentinels and their infiltrators did more than spy. My characters are led to believe that they were responsible for sabotage that disabled some Arcane Sanctums, but this is not necessarily supported by in-game events. We do, however, intercept communications directly from their agents, both in Eversong and Ghostlands.
We have evidence that they were there, and of what they planned to do while there. That can’t be retconned without some big Bronze Dragonflight switcheroo. It’s easier to believe that Malfurion was simply never told about it.
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Correct. All we know is, that the Night Elves had received the know-how from the dwarf, so they knew how they could sabotage the sanctums, and they just happened to be near the destroyed sanctum. There is nothing else indicating that the Night Elves had anything to do with it, but they certainly did incriminate themselves a whole lot.
But at the end of the day, the night elves should not have been there in the first place, let alone sending armed forces to Quel’thalas. And then trying to kill Blood Elves simply because the Blood Elves figured out that the night elves were going to spy at them.
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You’re right… they shouldn’t have done that… because it was out of character from their previous interactions in TFT. So why did they and who sent them? We certainly never got that answer.
And until we do, several things being argued here are missing the context of the situation.
Agreed.
Several things are indeed missing, but thus far, it happened because Night Elves are bum-bums… or rather, the Alliance are bum-bums to the Blood Elves.
I find it weird that Ironforge and Darnasus would plan this on their own, considering neither of these people have a specific tight relationship, and both nations are far apart. Seems like an overall Alliance operation.
Perhaps.
/10c
That’s what makes it seam less likely to be an Alliance operation. The Alliance as a whole had no knowledge of what the Blood Elves were up to nor would they even care. They had no investment in Kael or Illidan and didn’t even know about either’s dealings in Outland until after they get there. Only a few in Darnassus would even be interested in what the Blood Elves were doing.
And there’s no indications that it’s even an operation between Ironforge and Darnassus either. Just a recon team Night Elves (not just Sentinels) using a single Dwarf as a middleman.
(Also worth noting, it was Fandral who sent Night Elf forces to Alterac Valley. We know he had command of the Night Elf military as well as fanatical views of any non-Kaldorei, or just anyone he just didn’t like. Plus, he had other Night Elves, even as far back as in Vanillia, who followed him and shared his views.)
I’d put it up there with the Horde attack on Brennadem, if a much milder version of it, to be honest. It makes little sense, it’s barely ever mentioned again, the perpetrators are almost entirely wiped out, and the only real purpose was to justify some form of hostility from the affected party.
To construe it as an attack though is weird. I disagree with OP, those events weren’t retconned, they absolutely happened, but keep it mind this happened at the same as the draenei were fighting Kael’s forces openly on Azuremyst and Bloodmyst, and the blood elves were still entirely his subjects. And yet no war was declared between the two factions as a whole, nor are those attacks ever brought up again either.
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I think setting up military camps is far more than just intel gathering. It is a very aggressive move. Sure, they didn’t actually sabotage the sanctums, but the whole thing of receiving sketches and info on strategic locations sure looks like a full assault was being considered.
As for why it happened, it was a victim of early day loose storytelling. However, I think when one does not assume Alliance to be paragons of morality (same era of Tauren tribe killing just to have an excavation), then it happening under at least somewhat understandable circumstances seems likely. Personally my headcanon was the Night Elves recognizing Fel which reasonable concerns would mix with their disdain of the Highborne the presence of Fel reaffirms.
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A minor addition. I had a theory about it in another thread.
TL;DR: the resources of the team (maybe) were cut, so the had to use created assets in a way to make sense out of the story. The original intention with night elves and blood elves is covered in the blizzcon 2005 video.
[edit: while the execution of early times - Classic / TBC - is gnarly, it oddly enough feels mostly “in universe”, “in character” and simple ideas lead to a seemingly coherent world building. So, I’d early stories could’ve been presented better, but concepts IMO worked better than what we got in Cata+ time.
It’s still a mystery to me, what happened. Metzen is the same lead writer for Cata and W3, yet one of them is simple yet works well, and another is, sort of where it falls apart. But he was not even in the quest team afaia]
gl hf
I think it simply happened to put some wedge between the Elves, that’s it.
I mean, I frankly think that this is the best answer. Vanilla quests demonstrate that the Night Elves are aware of the role of fel corruption on elven beings in the form of Naga and Satyr, they by that point are aware of the experience of the War of the Ancients and potentially what took place with the Shen’dralar. They have shown concern that Fel corruption can, in their words, have Azeroth “give birth to another vile race of monsters” (such as the Naga and the Satyr), and here we have the High Elves turning to fel magic en masse.
This may also potentially be taking place at the same time as the Draenic starting line, which does take place on what is technically Night Elf land.
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They were Sentinels for the most part. Which means they came under Tyrande’s command, not Fandral’s.
Source? although it is logical in this case since the “Night Elf Forces” were Ivus, his Arch Druid handler Elerethe Renferal who had a prior interest in preserving the Alterac Valley Flora. She would later be assasinatec by the Twilights during Cataclysm. There’s some indication that it might have been Malfurion who originally sent her there prior to his coma and the raising of Teldrassil, so she may have never laid eyes on the World Tree.
Incorrect. The whole operation was made up of Sentinels, Druids and Rogues.
Salandris Isle had Huntresses (which I suppose could be interpreted as Sentinels, but carried neither the outfits nor name of Sentinel) and Druids (which, oddly enough all carried Fandral’s Hair color… Make that of what you will.)
Eversong Woods had Night Elf Scouts and Ambushers (lets call them Rogues), and Ghostlands had the only NPCs with “Sentinel” in their names.
You also have to remember, Fandral has the respect and backing of all the Night Elf Military as he led the Night Elves in the War of the Shifting Sands. While he may not of been about to countermand an order from Tyrande, he most certain can give them orders.
Quest: Staghelm’s Requiem.
At least, he was the one who was giving commands to them there.
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Actually the events on Ghostlands would happen BEFORE the Draenei arrive to Azeroth. They are included in the racial descriptor for the Horde in Christie Golden´s “Rise of the Horde” (I just hope the person I´m about to throw to the proverbial wolves doesn´t hate me too much for this: h^ttps://public.ds003.info/wcbooks/novels/World%20of%20Warcraft%20-%20(2006)%20Rise%20of%20the%20Horde%20-%20Christie%20Golden.PDF).
Check the first page AND the two last pages. Sooo, nope. No Draenei vs. Belf aggresion issues at the time the Nelves decided it was A-Ok to go, spy and do anything but actually helping the survivors of the zombie apocalypse.
Literally NOTHING in the ghostlands proper show any indication of “High elves turning to Fel magic en masse”. The Nelves didn´t even manage to reach Silvermoon proper -you know, the place the actual Fel infused crystals that were acting as the magical support for the buildings are located-. And as I quoted above: no Draenei in Azeroth BEFORE the Belves joined the Horde, the Draenei arrived AFTER. So basically, the Nelves decided to act like OCD jerks for the lols.
Which i guess puts both Tyrande AND Malfurion in the same weird place as Aethas Sunreaver a.k.a. “we´re the leaders but people do whatever shenanigans they want behind our backs”. Funny is how they never realized people suddenly dissapeared with no real explanation?
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Difference is, when Tyrande and Malfurion discovered what Fandral was doing, they held him responsible and apprehended/punished him.
I meant more in regards to portraying them as not as competent leaders.