A lot has been said about the Night Elves largely being ignored in the stories, unless they are there to be the victims in the story to add drama, or are being acted upon in some way rather than being the actors. It reminds of my Crime and Gender teacher, when she brought up the Woman in the Refrigerator trope (Flash comes home to find his girlfriend in pieces in his refrigerator.) Is this true? I have only a cursory understanding of WoW history, have read few books, and play infrequently. Are Night Elves really just damsels to be rescued from the Horde?
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They were genocided in a massive fire, then the entire aftermath was spent dealing with how Saurfang felt about it. Fully-rendered CG cinematics were made to explore his feelings on what happened and what it means for the Horde. The actual victims of the atrocity were ignored until 8.1, where they got a short questline and a warfront that is an eternal stalemate. Then it was back to Saurfang and his rebellion.
Considering the Night Elves have a matriarchal bent, that is pretty much the definition of the fridge trope. A woman who is killed (horrifically) solely for the impact it has on a man.
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This somewhat depends on the given media.
In-game, this is the impression one can be left with. Cata Ashenvale questing starts with a Horde victory. The Horde has already rolled in, curbstomped the Night Elves, burned their villages, killed their ancients, etc. Your job is to try and salvage it. You make things⊠kind of ok, by the end of it, but none of it is shown in-game (because why would they waste their shiny new phasing tech on those silly Tree Elves?). You had to wait months, even years, to learn that the Night Elves fully reclaimed Ashenvale and set it back to rights, through tweets and novels. Stonetalon was much the same, with the Horde constantly one step ahead, until an entire grove of Night Elven Druids was wiped off the map. The War of Thorns pre-patch likewise gives an air of tragic setback, after tragic setback, after tragic setback, culminating in the genocide of the Night Elves. Itâs only really in the novella that you understand itâs just Malfurion and the city guard versus the might of the Hordeâs collective, elite, trained soldiers, who vastly outnumber the Night Elves, and yet the Night Elves inflict numerically far higher casualties upon the Horde, before Teldrassil. Not a bad showing.
Not that out-of-game media is without sin. One of the biggest checks in the Human Potential box is Wolfheart. The Horde, once again, rolls in and curbstomps the Night Elves. Until Varian becomes the chosen one of Goldrinn (in lieu of a Night Elf, or even a Worgen), 1v1s Garrosh, and saves the day.
And even in neutral content, the Night Elves make strong showings. Hyjal and Valâsharah come to mind. Night Elves can beat up demons and Old God minions all day long. But, should so much as the least Horde peon show up, the plot will suddenly handicap the Night Elves in any way imaginable so that the Horde can win.
So⊠a bit of a mixed bag, but in answer to your question, Iâd say it more often leans toward âyesâ, than it doesnât.
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I think it has less to them being damsels and more with them being comically incompetent when itâs necessary to further a narrative.
The âLittle Patienceâ Scenario is actually a really good example of this. Here we have Tyrande, ready to take her Troops, comprised mainly of Huntress and Sentinels (if memory serves correctly) and rush a heavily fortified Horde encampment, because, for some reason her blood lust was cranked to 11 that day.
Then strolls in Varian, who has the plan to set traps, and use the Hordes (primarily Orcs at this particular location) desire for combat lead them out of their fortifications and into the slaughter. The Alliance took zero casualties because of this.
Now, the issue that this presents, is that Tyrande, a 10k year old Elf that has seen 2 (at the time) wars with the Legion, the world break apart (twice) and a plethora of other experiences, was only able to come up with the tactic of âlet me rush my light infantry and cavalry through an unfamiliar swamp at the entrenched enemy.â Her losses, despite the average Night Elven soldier having literal millennia of experience, would have been horrific. However, it allowed Varian to come in and save the day (and lives).
And I have nothing against either Tyrande or Varian. In theory, theyâre both very good characters, but one of them was developed at the expense of the other. And this goes for the Night Elves. A lot of development for other characters, races, etc, has come at the expense of the Night Elves over the years. The War of Thorns was just what finally sent everything over the edge. It was just too much.
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I think youâve opened the FloodGates on this topic. TBH, the Kaldorei have never had what I would consider a poor showing in power. Without ANY effort to maintain their military advantage on Kalimdor, even a skeleton police force left in the territories were able to inflict massive causalities against 8 to 1 odds in WoT. They lost sure, but that level of power ainât nothing to sneeze at.
The exception of this is exclusively Teldrassil Burning, as it was used as a shock value tragedy to motivate OTHER characters in their stories (rather than focusing on the victims). However, if you were to tell me that a largely militarily stagnant civilization would start having a harder and harder time against a HIGHLY adaptive and rapidly advancing group like the Horde ⊠Iâd believe you. Thus, if taken as an independent entity from Teldrassil the WoT I was OK with mechanically.
Outside of that, other than NE fans believing that THEY deserve to be the ONLY group that reflected cata zones post cata (nobody did outside SW); the NEs presence has always been particularly potent. They were shown soloing several fronts in Legion; their ability to deal with a corrupting power of one of their own most powerful assets in the Nightmare was very respectable; and their handing of the Firelands situation was very competent (despite getting blindsided).
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That seems like an untruthful accusation. While Night Elf fans want their representation, if you have examples of them saying they donât want anyone else to get representation Iâd like to see them.
Night Elf fans are likely there in support of anyone pointing out that Westfall was still on fire as much as anyone else is.
The ones that have, however, gotten their more areas in victories represented is always the Horde. Cataclysm: Andorhal; Thalâdarah Grove. War of the Thorns: Ashenvale, Darkshore, Teldrassil.
As for the topic of the thread, the problem is more Night Elves have been routinely used to start storylines, and then almost always dropped out of the story completely after, and such has been the case for almost all Night Elf related lore since Cataclysm:
- Garrosh efforts almost entirely directed towards the Night Elves --> Night Elves not involved in Battle Field Barrens or the end of Garroshâs invasion of their lands beyond a token appearance at the Gate of Orgrimmar.
- Deathwing destroys the âNight Elf Districtâ of the Park in Stormwind --> Left as a carter for years until itâs finally rebuilt as a memorial for Varian.
- Night Elves defending Pandaria and welcomed in to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms --> No part of the lore involving them in the defense of the Vale from Garrosh.
- All of Tyrandeâs and the Night Elvesâ presence in Legion and their history with it punctuated with the idea of seeing them at the Legionâs final defeat --> Not even a token Darnassian Night Elf on Argus.
- Illidan resurrected from the dead at the Nighthold --> Never comes to talk to the other Night Elves, not even Malfurion or Tyrande in person despite their having been around at the start of the story but - as is my point - not on Argus or even the Tomb of Sargeras. Illidan never even came back to talk to the Illidari and the Demon Hunter player personally. His end cinematic of staying to take on Sargeras just served to remove him from the story in preparation for BfA so that it wouldnât have to be explored how Illidan would react to the Horde attacking the rest of the Night Elves again and burning down their capital.
- And of course now the entirety of BfA starting off with a war of devistation against the Night Elves and we get the empowering of the Night Warrior and the raising of Night Elves as Forsaken --> Potentially leading to a dead end narrative as Blizzard moves on to Mulgore or something else.
This is not unique to Night Elves, however.
- Make Volâjin Warchief. --> Do nothing with him then kill him.
- Have Sylvanas make a deal with Helya --> Have Sylvanas completely disappear from the storyline and kill Helya. Never speak of it again.
- The entire Suramar Campaign to get the Eye of Amanâthul --> Never actually have us use the Eye of Amanâthul.
- Forsaken and Blood Elves defined by what Arthas did to them --> Not present to take down Arthas.
- Kilâjaeden manipulates the Orcs --> Orcs arenât even shown to be aware of Kilâjaeden when heâs taken down, let alone present for it.
Blizzard just has a really bad track record of starting plot threads and then not tying them into anything.
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This is true, and I do stand by my sentiment. As potent as their presence was in Legion, BfA was NOT time to dial back on the relevance of the Kaldorei; and I can only HOPE that we see a stark shift toward focusing on the NEs and Forsaken for the final chapters of this story (and to ensure they get maximum focus we can, the âRebelsâ, both Alliance and Horde, should be coalesced into a single narrative pathway on a Meta level).
BfA will define the fates of these two peoples. The territorial control they both hold; the future of their civilization (in the case of the Forsaken, preferably getting a leader that actually cares for their future); and even the fates and future narratives of the very likely racial offshoots they will both likely have (the Forsaken NEs ⊠and I would wager a Calia Brand of Undead). While I certainly am looking forward to things like the Worgen/Goblin 8.2.5 content (as well as further continuation of the Volâjin narrative + discovering what the Velanora side story relates to) ⊠Blizz needs to shift and shift hard to focus on the people that MOST matter in this conflict.
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It is annoyingly more often than not Horde posters that say that the Night Elves should be patient and wait as long as the Gnomes and Gilneans are still waiting and so the Night Elves should not get anything for years.
This is most ironic, when this is even more showing of the Horde getting their victories represented when the Darkspear got the Echo Isles back, and the Gnomes did not get Gnomeregan back.
And Blizzard even wasted the Gnome heritage questline to do it, when itâs no longer an excuse that Gnomeregan is a dungeon, when the playable Dark Iron get their own phased version of Shadowforged City despite that its a dungeon, too.
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Donât remind me on the Gnomergon thing, Blizz REALLY squandered their AR quest ⊠as well as the Taurenâs. I would wager the reason they chose these stories was that the facets they introduce will be relevant in some way. But, I would certainly be lying if I said I wasnât supremely disappointed.
But I do agree, the focal point of this story for the remainder should be on the Forsaken/the Kaldorei/and their new sub-groups. 8.2.5 can progress other narratives, but it absolutely should make it clear where and who the focal point will be on for 8.3 and 8.3.5 (NâZoth can be put on the backburner until next expansion for all I care ⊠heâd be such a waist for a final boss of this mess of an expansion anyway).
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The Night Elves seem to have plenty of their own story. And despite being matriachal, have an alright amount of male characters. So I donât think it really fits.
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Itâs not just night elves who suffer under this sort of characterization, is the issue. For many years now itâs been any Alliance or Alliance leaning race that is considered peaceful by nature thatâs been constantly hamstrung and used as a plot device by the writing team.
Ever since Cata, the writers have leaned more and more into wanting to write edgier races, âmetalâ races. Conan the Barbarian types, Game of Thrones types, âmorally greyâ characters that act like conquerors and even villains at times but are framed as being protagonists. Orcs, goblins, and undead have all been shifted via this mindset since Cataclysm, orcs and undead the most. The writers have a passion for this idea of the Horde, akin to that one kid that would always pick the villain to play, if that were an option.
Conversely, theyâve shown a lack of passion, even a disdain, for races that are peaceful by nature, at least the ones that arenât humans. Draenei fall into this category, and because of years of defanging, so do night elves. Look at WoD as a prime example, and then followed by Legion, where our draeneiâs story was basically hijacked by a new, more âbadassâ version of the draenei whom weâd never even met before now.
The writers like orcs, and dislike draenei, so they have the orcs in WoD steamroll the draenei and do all sorts of awful things to them, until the Alliance bails them out, and then the orcs get off scott free. I mean, they couldnât even give these new Lightforged a leader who wasnât human. Itâs the same with the kaldorei and the War of Thorns, hell, even in Cata. You do some messed up stuff as a Horde player to the nelves in Ashenvale, and in Stonetalon. And just like in War of Thorns⊠no payback. Because the peaceful races donât get payback.
So while this trope somewhat applies, itâs a bit more far reaching than that.
Edit: Also, it was Green Lantern, not Flash, who found his girlfriend in the fridge. Kyle Rayner, if Iâm remembering right⊠my obsession over lore doesnât end with WoW.
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Bear in mind that the Night Elves have about ten thousand years of cultural history of being aloof and stand-offish, with an olympian disregard for the rest of Azeroth.
By the standard of Nelf lifespans, all that has happened in or since WCIII is very recent - contact with the Alliance of the Eastern Kingdoms, conflict with the upstart nation of Durotar, welcoming Tauren and Trolls into the Cenarion circle (itself a good diplomatic gambit, but too late in the larger scheme, or too soon to yet bear worthwhile fruit) - all of that, the Horde, the Scourge, Deathwing, the Legion - is happening right on top of itself from a near-immortal perspective.
It is all of a piece with the disruption that started with Legion assault in WC III, and as hard as they try to keep up - even with huge innovative changes like welcoming and aiding the Draenei, opening the Cenarion Circle, freeing Illidan and the Illidari, welcoming Highborne Arcanists back into the fold - it has to have been disruptive of their culture.
Growing Teldrassil was controversial. Losing it is going to bring that controversy back. Night Elves have a long history, but nothing since the War of the Ancients has been this disruptive until now. Itâs going to take a lot of sorting out. Thatâs mostly background to the main Alliance story which, for all the races of the Alliance, is really the Human story, in the Warcraft universe.
Night Elves are sidelined because they sidelined themselves on their magic mountain for ten thousand years, lore wise. Game wise, they are Alliance johnny-come-latelies from WC III and are essentially sidekicks to a game about Orcs and Humans.
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8.1: am I a joke to you?
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An absolute joke.
âI think she had her moment where we told some of her story and she got her revenge for the Night Elves."
And thereâs the punchline.
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If anything, it may just be that night elves are in the unfortunate situation of being the Allianceâs designated ânature race,â while despite a few tribal âwarriorismsâ thrown in, between the orcs, Forsaken and goblins the Hordeâs military is heavily influenced by themes of heavy industry. That means by standard entertainment tropes, when the Horde starts unleashing the smoke and sludge and gears and treads and flames and poisons of its industrial war machine against the Alliance, itâs the night elves and their lands who represent nature being over-harvested, bulldozed, polluted and depopulated as a result.
Iâm not sure itâs really a result of the night elves themselves being targeted, insomuch as given the Hordeâs thematic âkitâ for whenever it starts acting badly, their own thematic âkitâ unfortunately provides an easy and natural means of showing just how bad the Horde is being. Someone using giant engines of death and explosives and toxins to wreck the land? Well, haul out the folks who live in pristine lands harmoniously with nature, where being poisoned and ruined by such a threat will be especially obvious.
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To take this a bit further, it notably effects a few men, not just Saurfang. Shaw mentions it when he helps break out Baine, and Anduin is sad about it all over the place.
As if âNight Elvesâ as this notion were a woman with several boyfriends.
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Not even a single Sentinel during the ToS raid. All we get is Dejahnaâs apology to Tyrande.
At the very least he could have called to Tyrande and in anger she turns and walks away. It could have been something but we got nothing.
I didnât even think about that one.
Not even an appearance from Sylvanas or Jaina. Why create lore and important characters if they arenât going to use them.
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I at least can appreciate that Shaw doesnât make it about him like Saurfang and Anduin do. He acknowledges that what happened is a tragedy for the Night Elves and holds the Horde responsible for it.
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In the short cinematic that was supposed to be a fist pump for the Night elves, was told from a horde perspective.
When the Orc female claimed âno single nightelf could have done all that.â That sums up the dev attitude towards them.
I understand the Night elves cannot be all powerful and steamroll everyone, but the stories are never fleshed out and seem more of a target⊠besides theramore.
I donât mind taking a loss here and there, but hand the loss over more or less to an alliance race that never seems to lose out? Dwarves, Draenei, or the Humans. Gnomes, worgen, and Night elves get rolfstomped lol.
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