Elune expansion possibility and speculation

Lore Story Forum
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That’s because in our plane of reality, none of the cosmic forces exist and operate in a vacuum. There’s long been an overlap going on between those three forces, especially with balance druids calling upon all three between their Nature, star and sun-based spells.

In the same vein, there’s a particularly salient amount of overlap between Death, Disorder and Void, with them frequently borrowing from and conjuring one another. In addition to the six-way overarching balance, within the physical plane there’s an accompanying two-sided thematic divide in which Life, Order and Light are forces for creation and growth while Death, Disorder and Void are forces for destruction and decline.

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42

Which is exactly why I would have preferred the First Ones route of there only being 2.
Elune being the entity of Life/Light/Arcane and a counterpart entity of Death/Void/Fel

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I mean, it is a spotlight on Nelves, they take center stage. In a dramedy.

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The issue with that is, I’m increasingly convinced that an important part of the First Ones angle might turn out to be that they aren’t around any more. That part of creating the universe as it is involved each of them “giving of themselves” to cap the whole thing off and “start the engine” of existence, causing them to stop existing as beings and become the driving “essence” of everything they’ve made.

I just feel that the Diablo idea of Anu and Tathamet outright becoming the immortal realms of that universe might be too attractive a premise for them not to borrow, so that they don’t have to actually make the First Ones be fully realized beings, but rather make something to the effect of each cosmic realm literally being the sum total essence of a former First One sacrificing itself to make existence “go.”

45

Please no more elves

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No they don’t. They are used as an emotional plot device while the spotlight is on Jaina, Anduin and Sylvanas.

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47

You kinda neglected to mention the spotlight on Tyrande who kind of has a zone questline dedicated to her.

I’m not saying that Blizzard hasn’t made Teldrassil about Saurfang and Anduin in the past. That was most of BFA while we got some snippet of Tyrande and the warfront. I’m not saying that they’ve treated Teldrassil with the kind of weight that is required and have constantly tried to walk back their hasty decision to destroy a capital city.

What I’m saying is that Night elves were a large part of Legion, a part of BFA, and are a part of SL. None of it has been good, but it has been there.

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48

They’ve been a part but not the central focus.

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49

They didn’t exactly get the kind of screentime their fans wanted.

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50

Your contrarianism is noted, but also, what was the end of 9.1 to you? Those two cutscenes we got in Ardenweald and the questline of Ardenweald being so all over the place because it’s split between troll stuff and NE stuff? What is a ‘spotlight’ to you?

What other race received that sort of attention in SL? Again, I’m not saying its good attention at all. This storyline has effectively trashed NE forever. But it’s still a spotlight.

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That’s when we saw a cutscene of Anduin and Sylvanas that didn’t amount to anything.

They’re two cutscenes and a questline. Not the only cutscenes in the expansion and Ardenweald isn’t the only zone in the Shadowlands.

Humans, and possibly Dreadlords.

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I’m done with you.

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53

Well, Blizzard spent more time giving one of the chief architects of an attempted genocide more focus and screentime than the actual victims of it. Where was Tyrande’s high-quality full CGI cinematic? What about Malfurion’s? Or Shandris’?

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54

There was the cinematic of Tyrande killing Nathanos, and one with her fighting Sylvanas.

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55

While those were good, I meant the fully rendered ones, like Saurfang and Anduin in Stormwind’s jail or Saurfang going to Thrall’s farm to get him to join the fight.

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56

A fully rendered Tyrande would be awesome to see.

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57

And that amounted to… what? Nothing of relevance. It had nothing to do with the major story and Tyrande is not even present for in anything Sylvanas related… which is kind of the whole reason she is in the Shadowlands to begin with.

Whatever the Night Elves have gotten, it’s been shallow with no substance. Or, the night elves are only meant to be a plot device for someone else.

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58

Name a single thing in Shadowlands that isn’t this. I’d even go far as to say name a single thing in WoW that isn’t this.

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59

Anything related to Anduin and Sylvanas.

We can argue the story is bad, but significance in a bad story is still significant. Anduin nearly slew the Arcon and stole a Key that helped free the Jailer. Sylvanas’ actions is the only reason we are in the Shadowlands at all.

Thing with the Night Elves is they are present, but nothing they do have anything to do with the main plot, and it was the burning of Teldrassil that kicked off this entire story. The story should be about them, not a stupid, nonsensical redemption arch for Sylvanas.

Hell Tyrande isn’t even present in the cutscene where Sylvansa is captured and in a coma… Which is the only reason Tyrande went to the Shadowlands in the first place. Baine, Jaina, Thrall, Uther and Bolvar all discussing what to do with her, but the person who has the most vested interest in that conversation is nowhere to be see? Why do you think that is?

Because that is how Blizzard has always treated Night Elves. They have no agency of their own. What happens to them is only in service of a narrative that they will play no role in.

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60

I get what you’re saying, but theose are still shallow.

Sylvanas’s actions are certainly the motivating force behind our journey into the Shadowlands, but it’s still increadibly shallow. We have no idea why she acted how she acted beyond the latest “well, y’see, her soul is all split, right? And, uhh…” Which obviously isn’t a reason, just an excuse. We don’t know what she wanted from the Jailer, why she’s been helping him for ambiguous years, what she thought she was getting, or really anything at all. We just know she worked for Zovaal, then she didn’t because enslaving wills is bad (when other people do it).

Anduin’s arc has been extremely shallow. He was captured in a cinematic, stayed captured, talked to Sylvanas, then became a puppet off-screen. There’s no depth there, just action and inaction. There’s… Just a bunch of nothing.

Tyrande absolutely got it worse than them, but that isn’t because her story is more shallow (but it definitely is shallow). It’s because her story is almost entirely divorsed from her. Her scenes could almost entirely be taken out of the Shadowlands and placed on Azeroth pre-Helm Breaking with only minor changes. There’s a whole Ardenweald campaign about figuring out how to fix her, but even that is less about Tyrande and more about “Night Warrior is Super Bad For You”. The only real tie we have to Tyrande herself is Shandris hanging around there, standing next to Ysera. Then when Tyrande does show up and has a fight with Sylvanas for a minute, it’s back to her power-up is bad and she should let it go.

Tyrande’s SL arc isn’t about Tyrande at all really; it’s a glorified spoiler for future Elune content, and an excuse to undo the only “gain” any night elf made in BfA. We don’t learn anything new about Tyrande, but we do learn that Elune’s kinda bad at helping people entirely.

Ultimately, I agree that night elves have gotten shafted with disgusting, unappealing, hostile treatment from the devs.

But let’s all be honest here; everything in Shadowlands has been shallow. Like a grave. That the franchise is burying itself in.

Someone give me a better pun than that for Christmas, okay?

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