I honestly don’t put much stock in in-game representation. There is no consistency of scale. And I just don’t think Blizzard was thinking about how big Astrannar was when they were populating the already unpopulated zone of Silithus. They just wanted it to look cool.
In this particular area, yes. Strangely. In soooooo many other areas, no. 
The War of Shifting Sands. And yes they did. It was the combined effort of both the sister and the druids that created the force field that kept the aqir trapped.
They’re were still priests there. If they weren’t fighting they were managing the evacuation effort. The game does however ask you to recruit the sisters specifically.
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The nations still have flaws, this particular flaw has thankfully been eliminated by the playable races and consider a very negative trait regardless of who does itpoints at blood trolls
Night Elf Matriarchy is still in effect.
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Not really, if anything both Tyrande and Malfurion are co leaders. We know male priest/female druids are now the norm. And Wolfheart even mention some male night elves are now part of the sentinel army proper.
Not to mention there is already hints that both Shandis and Jarod will take over leadership after Malfurion/Tyrande.
Hell, just look at the Warfront, male and female night elves of various ranks helping the cause.
Not to mention the Night Elves assembled at the pier in Borallus.
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All of Malfurion’s authority is just an extension of Tyrande, who is actually head of the Sisterhood, the Governing institution.
Accepted, but very much not the norm. At least not the case for Priests. The widely accepted notion that only women can know the mysteries of Elune acts as a cultural and society barrier of entry for men in the Sisterhood.
And Yet Terren Gregory spesifically used the term Matriachal to describe the Kaldorei forces in Darkshore.
Case in point, Kaldorei Matriachy is still in effect. Just because men can exist successfully within that system doesn’t change that. And to argue otherwise is an argument rooted in sexism.
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I was going to disagree with you but then I thought about it. Unlike Tyrande Malfurion doesn’t have a governing organization behind him. Unlike the Sisterhood the Circle had zero political power. So yes he is a legitimate co leader but it’s more so becuase of Tyrande. Everyone isn’t used to it as I think it was stated in either Wolfheart or Elegy but they do report to Malfurion as well.
I wouldn’t say it’s the norm, at least for priests anyway. The mother aspect of Elune is still what keeps it grounded as a primarily female organization.
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Exactly, and Terran Gregory even used the term Matriarchal to explain some of his narrative decisions for Terror of Darkshore. Specifically why Tyrande is standing in front of Malfurion in the cinematic.
That is pretty clear cut if you ask me. I don’t think Terran would just throw out the term Matriarchal Society in casual conversation. I think it’s more likely a term thrown around Blizz HQ, and likely a footnote for Kaldorei story telling.
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To quote Tyrande. “I am no Queen”. The modern Kaldorei don’t really seem to have a strong hiearchal government. There seems to be a lot of adhoc nature to it. so a Malfurion or a Jarod who’s regarded well enough can pretty much take command of any unit they come across.
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To quote Tyrande is Stormrage, " I am Tyrande Whisperwind, ruler of the Kaldorei". Albeit I think Knaak used the wrong word there. Ruler should have been leader, ruler sounds a like a monarchy.
Are kidding me?!?! Tyrande has been sole leader of the Kaldorei. Malfurion and Jarod are held in extremely high esteem but don’t mistake that for leadership. In terms of government the higher ranking members of the sisterhood out ranked them both until Malfurion married Tyrande. In battle the lines may be blurred a bit if Tyrande or Shandris are not present, unless someone has been appointed. The fact is the Kaldorei have a clear governmental structure and chain of command.
Tyrande and Malfurion at the top
The Sisterhood of Elune
The Sentinel Army
Shandris was or still is a priest and general so she’s probably after the first two.
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Not really, it was actually the druids(and by extension Malfurion) who exiled the high elves back in the day. Fandral was also competing with Tyrande for political control of the night elves.
It was Malfurion that Leyara blamed from the Horde being allowed to rampage in Ashenvale. Not Tyrande.
You can check the night elf page on the website. It specifically lists Malfurion as a faction leader
That is a belief, not a fact. More to the point we have seen night elven male priest. We have Lorekeeper Valedrin who have proven be adept priest.
I will have to check that interview but a preception of matriarch does not a matriachy make. As a I recall he wanted to give a sense of the night elves as they were in Warcraft 3, not neccesarily a reflection of what the night elves are right now. Ie, it was an attempt at nostalgia even though game wise male and female NPCS were everywhere in near equal measure of power.
The night elven males are not treated as lesser than a female night elf. As far as we know there doesnt seem to be any particular rights/advantages that a female night elf will have over a male. And if says, a male night elf manages to rise in the ranks of the priesthood/sentinel I dont think there any particular person who would bar him.
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I was speaking in the past tense prior to their marriage.
All true but Tyrande was the leader. Malfurion and Tyrande were the main figureheads culturally as Malfurion helped shift the society from arcane to nature and Tyrande was the leader of the only surviving societal institution. It’s why i say that the Kaldorei weren’t always a matriarchy but event became that way over time due to the druids being gone and the only leading institution left was primarily female.
But a matriarchy doesn’t need to make the males second teir citizens. But if leadership is always in the hands of the Sisterhood by way of the High Priestess then it is essentially a matriarchy, a society ruled by a women or women.
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Again, this is an argument that simply points at men acting in society, and using that as a basis against matriarchy, which is an argument rooted in sexism. Both can be true, and in this case, the protests made by the Highborne were pointed specifically against the Druids. It was not an exercise of authority on Malfurion’s part, simply a warning of the consequences of failing to adhere to Kaldorei law.
Because Leyara is a druid, and Malfurion is the leader of the Cenarian Circle who allowed Horde in Moonglade. The Circle is not a governing branch of Kaldorei society, that is solely the SIsterhood of Elune.
He is a leader by the virtue of being married to Tyrande. Without Tyrande, he has no authority.
It doesn’t matter, it is a clear-cut observation of a cultural and society matriarchal structure.
We have seen a minority of them, and no evidence to suggest that they are anything more that novices, or play any role of significance within the sisterhood. One can be a practitioner of a faith without being a member of the clergy, and the lore explicitly states that the Sisterhood of Elune is still, to this day, exclusively female.
That is so far from the truth I have to assume you are blind, either literally or blinded by a sexist bias.
They are, as noted before, it is a common belief that Kaldorei men cannot know the mysteries of Elune as well as a woman can. That is a cultural view that women are superior to men. The men are not suppressed and humiliated to the degree of the Blood Trolls, that does not mean a Matriarchy isn’t in place.
Like Western society irl is a Patriarchy despite successful women existing within that society. It doesn’t change the fact that there are cultural, societal and systemic barriers in place that disadvantages them. This is the case with Night Elves, but where the United States is a suppressive patriarchal system, Kaldorei society is a cultural Matriarchal system.
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They have both been the commander in chiefs of armies. That’s the definition of leadership. Malfurion led the Night Elf contingent of the Cenarian Circle when Night Elves were the only members. Jarod Shadowsong holds the record for leading not only Night Elves but crap tons of allied races.
Jarod lead the army during the war. He was a general, not a leader of the people at large. We are taking about the Kaldorei society as a whole. That has only ever been Tyrande. It’s possible that Tyrande and Malfurion lead prior to the druids needing to go to the dream for long periods but the fact that they were not present puts leadership in the hands of a female organization.
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And the Matriarchal nature of the Kaldorei is rooted in their Elunarian faith, and the Sisterhood of Elune. This is why I also take issue with a lot of the faith crsises Blizzard is trying (and failing) to write into the Kaldorei story.
At end of the War of the Ancients, and at the precipice of a new era of a forever changed world, the Kaldorei restructured their society as the anti-culture of the Highborne. Learning from the mistakes of the predecessors, they Kaldorei breeched the dawning of this new era with a naturalistic world view and Elune set upon the highest pedestal of their society. With the Elunarian belief that women are truer to the heart of Elune, worshipped as mothers in the image of the mother moon, and the bringers of life in the druidic world view, it makes sense that the feminine would be among the most divine aspects of Kaldorei culture, faith and society. Punctuate that with an all-female system of Government, and the explicit use of the word “Matriarchal” used by Devs in relation to night elves… this becomes so blatantly obvious, the Night Elves so obviously a matriarchal society… that the fact that this is even being debated is disgusting.
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WERE, being the operative word, a matriarchal society.
Here is the thing, I would say certain aspects of the night elven culture was matriarchal, but by the end of Warcraft 3 most if not all of it has desolved due to the precarious situation everyone ended up in. Every men and women who could fight amount the playable races had no choice but to adapt.
Also, if the druids, particular Malfurion had not been forced to sleep I expect Malfurion would have taken a heavier hand in leading the Kaldorei, hell, the moment he woke up he took the initiative/create the plans to stop Archimonde.
The druids, are not under Tyrande and in effect they self governed themselves. In effect, the entirety of Kaldorei society did not bow down to Tyrande.
When Tyrande was presumed dead. Maeiv followed Malfurion and not lead/had another female leader. Being a Shando of the night elves means he has great influence and if he was forced to could end up rallying the night elven people to himself. Elune is NOT the only god the night elves follow.
Considering there are plenty of other gods the night elves worship I am not even sure it matters. Hell, the night elves had plenty of male deities like Cenarius.
Even if it was exclusively female with the catacylsmic changes that have occured over the years I dont think it even matters. We have seen plenty of males/none sisterhood of elune types leading the fray. Entire swaths of land(like Valsharah) under the control of druids as oppose to Tyrande.
So while a portion of night elf civilization had matriarchal leaning another portion of it definately did not as well. So calling night elves as a whole a matriarchy is already incorrect.
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No… IS! Still is.
No it hasn’t… First, you do not see massive cultural shifts in the span of 1 decade. Not at a massive scale. Secondly, THEY ARE STILL DEFINABLY MATRIARCHAL!
The Sisterhood of Elune is STILL exclusively female, Tyrande is Still the head of the hat institution, and The Sisterhood is still the sole institution of Government of the Kaldorei. Just because Tyrande got married doesn’t change that. Just because men aren’t being collared and shamed like Blood Trolls doesn’t change that. At a cultural, societal, and religious level, women are seen as superior to men, and they carry more systemic and cultural authority then men.
The druids have always been a separate institution from Kaldorei society, even pre-sundering. What you expect doesn’t matter, what definably IS is that Kaldorei are still matriarchal.
We are talking about Kaldorei society. The Cenarian Circle is multiracial, and thus outside of Kaldorei society. This is a non-argument. Deviant from the discussion.
No, she manipulated Malfurion in the effort to capture Illidan. This is not a display of Kaldorei hierarchy, the implication that Maiev was 2nd in command to him is never made.
But she is the most significant.
This is once again an argument rooted in sexism. “There are wild Gods who are men.” SO what? Elune is still above all of them, but somehow you think Elune is less important because Male deities exist. Check yourself.
It is.
And it does matter. You are doing the same thing again. Men exist, and therefore the prevalence and power displayed by women is less significant. This is an argument rooted in sexism.
Furthermore, you are deviating from the point. We are talking about Kaldorei society, not multiracial factions of druids, who fall outside of Kaldorei culture. The Cenarian Circle has night elves within it… but it is made up of several races, none of which have the Elunarian worldview from which Kaldorei Matriarchy comes from.
You can split hairs all you want, but the fact remains that Kaldorei culture, society, faith and government are all matriarchal systems. If the contextual evidence is not enough for you, then you can take Blizzard’s explicit word for it… But I suspect it is far more likely for you to continue to try and mansplain every bit of evidence away.
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