The name is used in the modern day as a reference to the empire that Azshara ruled and pretty much literally defined. Azsharan Empire is a far more accurate name for it. And that is a name mainly a creation of non-Kaldorei who have no first person awareness of that long past history.
The caste system of the Azsharan Empire was based on magical ability. This set the Highborne so high above all other casts, that even Ravencrest was a peasant compared to them.
The nation ruled by Malfurion and then Tyrande bears almost no relation to that prior empire, there is no connection between the ruling bodies as the Night Elves went a major cultral revolution, just as Dath Remar would later do with his people when he became the first Sunstrider, remaking their culture as Queldorei, or Elves of the High.
The Highbourne held the other castes in so much contempt that they stood aside and approved the Burning Legion’s extinction drive of lowercaste Night Elves. The major bulk of those that survived the Sundering still have that attitude as Naga. A very small minority broke away partially from this mentality under Dath-Remar.
There is a bit of a problem, firstly, we dont even know if said Empire even existed prior to Azshara, and it is suggested that Azshara was their only Empress considering the timelines.
Therefore, calling it the Kalodrei Empire is also a very valid name for that empire considering well, it was the empire of the Night Elves, the term Kalodrei is more synonimous with “Night Elves” than “peasants of the night elves”, the Quel’dorei (Hightborns) were also Kaldorei from what i know.
The term “Azsharan” is more an ajective to signal an era than the name of their Empire, in the same way you would use the term “Victorian” for the era of England in my sense.
I will add that, as nagas they even went further into thinking that the whole Night Elf race and even any elves to be honest, even highborns that were not turned into Nagas (such as the Shen’dralar) are inferior to them now.
As nagas they see everything even their former form as inferior to what they become, they see themselves as some kind of ultimate evolution.
I mean, even on the wiki, when you type Kaldorei in the search field and go to the “Kaldorei page” it put you on the Night Elf page, and on the Night Elves, well there is everyones, even Azshara (prior to her nagas transeformation)
I am a bit confused why people would state that the term is only for the non-highborns, i guess they just confused, since its still the same night elves.
I suppose that peoples get cofused becuse you have so many terms now that either refer to different creatures, or different groups within the same creatures.
I have had this argument over the years many times, on General Discussion and The Story Forum. As you can see by the years old necro. Sometimes I have the energy for it, sometimes not.
My personal cynical opinion :
I think there is a certain segment of the Night Elf fandom who wants to pretend their modern day Kaldorei are largely pure of the past mistakes of the kaldorei race. They want to dump that onto the Highborne that became the Blood Elves/Nightborn/Naga - to the point of some fan fiction about what “kaldorei” means.
I don’t think it is an honest misunderstanding of the lore, it is almost a fit of denial to say the Highborn were not kaldorei as well.
I think you are newer to these forums, and these arguments haven’t been going on as much these days. Thankfully.
Oh, i see, that reminds me of a friend who argued with me that the name of the modern Kaldorei socity is “Kaldorei Resistance” even to these days…
Sometimes they really want to do some kind of revisionism.
Yes, i am new to the US story forums, and i mean, i am just a person who is trying to be logical and consistent with what is offered to me, and i have the mindset that peoples also think that way and would not be “dishonest” on purpose.
I think that the material is open to interpetation. One would not call Apartheid South Africa a black nation, given that the black majority were segregated from power and most of the wealth of the country.
Heck, it’s now official policy of the United States that the body of water that borders the land of Florida, Texas, and all between is the Gulf of America.
Someone viewed Ron Howard’s recreation of the Apollo 13 launch as ridiculous. “No one he said would ever launch a rocket that way, with all those things that could go wrong with those swinging gantrys.”
That person was one of the Apollo 15 crew. Memories and how we experience them, change over time.
Kaldorei society is a weird place, It’s present population for the most part are still the same individuals that founded it, 13,000 years ago.
Warcraft is an OLD franchise, it’s had a lot of different authors who wrote stories coming from diffrent places, sensitivities, and backgrounds. The resulting variation is expected, normal, and healthy.
Lets be honest here. The Sundering, yes, that itself can be laid at the feet of what we call Kaldorei today. But the circumstances that made it neccessary can be laid on the feet of Azshara and her Highbourne who enthuisascticaly supported both her and the activities of the Legion. The ones that never turned away from her are Naga now.
The ones that broke away joined Malfurion and Tyrande, but they never rested easy with the restrictions that were laid down on their use of the arcane, those divisions would result in futher sunderings. Those Night Elves never saw themselves as Kaldorei, referring to themselves as Quel’dorei even before they began to physically change.
Kaldorei is an example of a word with multiple meanings that have changed over time.
No one would call those people left behind in Suramar Kaldorei, nor the ones hanging out Quel’thelas even though they were all Night Elves. In fact the Highbourne were not referred to as Kaldorei even before Malfurion kicked them out of Kalimdor even though they were Night Elves.
You cant refer to them as such because they became something different, the ones in suramar are no longer night elves but Nightborn (shalldorei) and the ones in quel’thalas are no longer night elves either they became high elves.
And, i think you are confusing some things here, the highborns are refered to as kaldorei during the Kaldorei Empire, as much as being refered to as Night Elves.
There are two options. EIther you are a thousand years old Shen’drelar Highborne or you are a novice from Darnassus after it burned. There is nothing inbetween.
This is important to mention tbh. Not all Night Elf Mages in the present time are Highborne though. Vestia Moonspear became a Mage in Cata. She wasn’t one before.
Even more true since the majority of those were killed by Forsaken during the Warof Thorns. In addition to the two who sacrificed themselves to evacuate Darnassus.