High Elf Allied Race Megathread (Continuation)

It’s the difference between being painfully hungry and then either having a snickers (alleviating the withdrawal) or having a steak the size of a small child (satiating it).

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It’s still a good source of then-canon at the time, as it had a lot of info from Blizzard itself. Of course, not all of it is true, but there’s been a lot confirmed by canon in the years since, and the part about the high elf addiction is very similar between the 2003 RPG and the 2006 Encyclopedia.

This is a good description.

High elves were “eating” magic snacks now and then, in small doses.
Blood elves prefered to have big juicy banquets of magic regularly.

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no the retcon in WOTLK implied most high elves were neutral living off the charity of dalaran. it wasnt until the sc that a few acted on their alliance sympathies

before that you could only find 1 or 2 actual alliance high elves we know this because there is no lore about a group of alliance high elves anywhere only “that a few would remain loyal”

Here, lemme get that quote

most modern high elves remained loyal to the Alliance following the Second War, disobeying royal edicts from their reclusive masters to return home

No way these fellas could be around to learn Mana Tap from Rommath

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guess we just have to take your word for it. even if it was true, its not like blood elves weret going back and forth from dalaran, or neutrals who went back and forth. all it takes is 1 person to tell another. still waiting on the source that high elves never learned mana tap in any capacity

Blood Elves where ticked at Dalaran for letting Garathos use their magical prisons on Kael’Thas. They only came back in WotLK after the Sunwell was restored.

Mana Tap was taught by Illidan whom High Elves never had contact with.

For someone who claims to be a fan of Blood Elves you sure don’t know about their lore…

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I’m sort of loathe to bring up this point since I’m about to head out, but in the quest Vessels of Power, which is the one quest that indicates the High Elves using magical artifacts to feed their addiction…to me, it reads like it’s something unique to only the Allerian hold High Elves in that they’re specifically dosing themselves with magic to sate their addiction soas to resist the lure of Fel and not join Kael’Thas’ forces.

Aside from the artifact at Quel’Lithien (which we can agree is a pretty anomalous incident), are there any other examples of High Elves tapping magic from artifacts?

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then explain how being in the presence of an object is enough to sate withdrawal(even thought its implied they siphoned from these objects). and if its this easy why didnt the blood elves do this

I’d mana tap dat…

Because Kael thought the withdrawal would kill his people so he sought help from Illidan who taught them mana tap.

Do you know any Blood Elf lore?

Edit.

I never said that. That wasn’t even part of our discussion.

I was commenting on High Elves not learning mana tap.

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whats the point of quoting people out of context if they can just click the expand arrow

It’s not my fault you keep editing your post for clarity after I respond.

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This is actually what Im getting at in my previous post. Maybe all High Elves did was subconsciously tap into residual or ambient magics - like in Dalaran, for example - and outside of the Allerian Hold elves, they just went cold turkey.

Maybe the Blood Elves, who especially at the start of TBC were a bit mana-crazy - maybe they were mana tapping so they could feed their addiction, rather than resist it or ‘survive’ it. We already know Kael basically didnt consider any alternatives in his haste to help his people after all.

It would make a major characteristic divide between the two, where High Elves went to rehab while Blood Elves never let the party stop.

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the problem with this is their source even says

“This is not to say, however, that withdrawal from magic would leave the high elves unharmed. On the contrary, permanent mental or physical damage is possible.”

its not ‘possible’ it was likely. their source also says there were allegedly a FEW who did cold turkey but it was unconfirmed

And before anyone posts anything, I just want to say that this is speculation that Im investigating, not something Im claiming as fact.

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frankly I have no problem with a small group of exiled high elves functioning as story support on the alliance side, adding depth and texture to the story. but since that apparently cannot be tolerated without a never ending demand they become playable exactly as they are, turning them into void elves would at least nix this debate

if blizzard could go back in time again i suspect theyd just leave them being called high elves. one adjective really hasnt been worth 12 years of arguments

They didnt know how until after ROMmath appeared.
ALl elves were stuck in that state prior to them appearing.
Kaelthas left because he stated his people would die from magic withdrawal.
It wasn’t like he was a nobody.

Hence the schism

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Then they should make them playable. Simplest solution.

Not really. Void Elves don’t fit the High Elf fantasy and there are too many groups to have them all convert.

Or make them playable like they originally intended.

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Oh I know. Remember, Kael’Thas bought Illidan’s line on siphoning magic, hook line and sinker - Rommath’s teachings came directly from Illidan and were essentially an early version of the teachings that would go on to drive Kael’thas mad with his addiction.

Also remember that the ‘creation’ of the new High Elves comes from multiple reasons over a span of time while Silvermoon was rebuilding - they weren’t just a single bloc. Some became High Elves when Kael’thas declared them as Blood Elves, or were immediately exiled for refusing to return to Quel’Thalas, while others were exiled or fled Silvermoon during its reconstruction out of fear of Rommath’s new teachings and/or the changing and particularly heavy-handed nature the Blood Elves were using to keep the peace, such as imprisonment or mind control.

So it stands to reason that the modern pool of High Elves either didn’t engage in Rommath’s teachings, or gave it up quickly before fleeing, since it never became common practice for them - and they outright oppose it, as well.

The point to be made is that - going back to my speculation that Vessels of Power was about innoculating those High Elves against the temptation of feeding on Fel rather than survival or sustenance - the idea that High Elves habitually used magical artifacts to dose their addiction is, in fact, an overreach, and most of the High Elves actually survived by resistance, rather than dosing themselves. Which in turn distinguishes themselves even more strongly from the Blood Elves in that High Elves would have survived their withdrawal through sheer willpower and fortitude alone, rather than turning to alternate sources of magic like Blood Elves did.

The difference would stop being a question of how they dosed themselves differently, but that (the majority of) one group didn’t dose themselves at all. Which is a pretty big distinction when the core narrative for High and Blood Elves was about the Sunwell going dark and being addicted to magic.

EDIT: Again, speculation disclaimer applies.

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Why are you clinging to this, its just not relevant as the sunwell was restored

its even presented as speculation

A few high elves are ‘said,’ that doesnt mean all or that its confirmed. This might be a greater reach then the jeremy feasel off the cuff joke from that one interview. I also dont see how a few elves could have never been exposed to or picked up mana tapping in any capacity. Did they not evacuate dalaran before it was destoyed? Or did they come back and just stand in rubble waiting for dalaran to be rebuilt. We need a citation that they never learned mana tap. We have bits saying they resisted the urge to mana tip beings but nothing about cold turkey or never learning the ability. Until then as you said, its speculation