Too many people obsessively compare every fictional war to WWII or American colonization, and it’s exhausting.
The elf-Amani conflict follows a standard historical pattern: an empire (Amani trolls) loses territory to newcomers (high elves) after a war in which both sides commit atrocities (with varying justification). The high elves arrived seeking a homeland, were attacked, and won decisively—they weren’t there to chase, convert, enslave, or massacre the locals.
Crushing the Amani army was not genocide. It’s comparable to Russia repelling Napoleon’s invasion: defensive victory, not extermination. Proof: trolls survived in sufficient numbers to threaten Quel’Thalas centuries later, and they had weapons and powers of their own so it wasn’t “guns vs spears”.
High elf settlement of Zul’Aman was not, and is not, colonization—no exploitative resource flow back to Kalimdor, no “stolen generation” style assimilation attempt, no subjecting the Amani to the rule of a foreign government; they conquered the land in war 3,000 years ago and made it their permanent home. They have never encroached on remaining modern Amani territory unprovoked, and Zul’Aman itself is far larger than Quel’Thalas.
Getting upset that a savage, sexist, racially homogeneous, oppressive troll empire was fractured and its land settled by elves then a diverse coalition of them, humans, and dwarves is absurd—equivalent to demanding an ancient Earth empire be restored under “social justice” after 3,000 years.
By that logic, trolls should reclaim the entire planet because they once dominated most of Azeroth, and everyone else should submit or be exterminated. Historical claims of dominion do not grant eternal ownership.
Funny that for all the talk of “morally grey”, so many fans have a black and white view of this issue.