I dont know why I didn’t get in on this sooner. Anyway…
This is not true. The sole governing body of the Kaldorei has been the Sisterhood of Elune. The Cenarion Circle is it’s own body within the society but it has no decision making power.
No they didn’t as the guarding of nature and its powers are under the Circle’s purview.
Name a conflict that they haven’t participated in.
Also not true. Equal in respect yes. Malfurion is a huge part of the societally shift that occured after WotA which gives him a equal level of respect and admiration to his wife but Tyrande has always been the sole leader of the Kaldorei until they married and chose to make him her co leader. Malfurion didn’t think it was fair as he had been absent for so long but she insisted that they do it together. This is stated in Stormrage.
In any case the Kaldorei were not always a matriarchal society. Their were many males in leadership roles. We only know about one of their monarchs, Azshara. There could have been a king prior to that. It became a matriarchal society becuase the only surviving governing body, The Sisterhood, was primarily a female organization.
Malfurion was seen leading the Kaldorei army - with both Sentinels and Druids fighting side by side - in the War of the Satyr, which was only one hundred years after the new Kaldorei government formed after the Sundering, even before the Cenarion Circle was even formed.
This is of course a call back to that classic Warcraft III image. Where the male Night Elf, female Night Elf are just standing right side by side, the Druid here, the female in front, female in front because that’s the Night Elf culture from Warcraft III, right? The Sentinels. The matriarchal society.
That’s what I thought when I read it on the link I gave. It makes a little sense, but ultimately this is just a lore justification for a gameplay-based decision Blizzard made.
Night elves aren’t as cut and dry as implied, really, per Blizzard’s own lore even. While being a priest of Elune was of course a female dominated one (hence Sisterhood of Elune), and druidism was mostly male, there was certainly overlap.
Sisters of the Moon have clear ties to nature as well, for instance, and there were probably plenty of female nelf naturalists and huntresses that called on nature magic and were able to use it. In addition, every night elf has blessed vision and Shadowmeld by the grace of Elune (as far as we know thus far) so it would be fairly simple for a male nelf to be very devout but not a part of the Sisterhood.
The reason there was something of a matriarchal aspect was simply because of the absence of the Cenarion Circle as they slept. The Circle and the Sisterhood were the governing bodies, along with the Sentinels, and so when the druids slept, it just ended up with the female group being in charge.
Original war of the Burning Sands. And technically they weren’t in the War of Thorns either, everyone there was reporting to either Daeleryn who herself reproted to Malfurion.
Not that it matters, he is not the head of any Kaldorei institution. The Authority allowed to him is an extension of Tyrande’s.
Furthermore, men in positions of power or success does not rule out matriarchy, the same way having a minority of women in congress does not rule out patriarchy.
To even say otherwise is an argument rooted in sexism.
War of the Shifting Sands.*
And the Sisterhood did participate in that war, because the Sisterhood is the leading branch of the Sentinels.
They were, but The War of Thorns was primarily fought with civilians and local militia. They were scrapping the bottom of the barrel for troops in that conflict. Most Warrior Priestesses would have been with the Sentinel Army that was in Southern Kalimdor. Despite that, the Sisterhood was still present… Because as I said, they are the leading Branch of Kaldorei Government, Military and society… Malfurion himself is an extention of Tyrande’s authority.
Malfurion muddies the situation because he’s married to Tyrande and has been slavishly devoted to her for literally eons.
When Fandral was running the Druids due to Malfurion’s incapacity, he wasn’t obliged to give her as much as the time of day. (And generally did not.) Fandral was the leading Night Elf figure in the war of Shifting Sands as shown in the relevant cinematics and stories about it. In fact, prior to the Wounding, there was still a Staghelm stationed at a watch tower on Staghelm Point.
Which is a society and familial norm in Kaldorei culture.
And yet, he ultimately didn’t have the authority she had over government branches, only the Druids, who have ALWAYS been separate from Kaldorei Government AND Society.
The War of the Shifting Sands was a Cenarian Expedition, which is why Fandral has the authority he did in it. Silithis was beyond Kaldorei boarders, and thus not a concern worth the attention of Tyrande and the Sisterhood, consistent with the isolationist policy during the long Vigil. The only reason the War of the Shifting Sands was fought at all was because of the global threat is posed.
And the fact that one of the first things they did was gobble up the local Night Elf village? Even during the Vigil, the Night Elves were ALL over Kalimdor. They had settlements in Feralas and Silithus, curiously though seemingly nothing in Un’Goro or Tanaris.
It wasn’t a Village, it was a Cenarian outpost. This was a Druidic expedition, the goal wasn’t to settle the area, it was to learn why the land was so desolate and how to return life to it’s soil.
It was a settlement that was larger than Astranaar. It had families and everything. Whatever you want to argue about it’s nature, it still boils down to the fact that the Silithids attacked it and wiped it out when they emerged.
You have no source for that, but in the quest there, it is described at the base of operations for the Druids during their expedition. Again, this wasn’t a settlement mission, this was a cleansing mission. This village was likely only built to house the druids during their time there.
Yes I very well do. I QUESTED there in the old days. It had more physical buildings than Astranaar so it represented a larger settlement, in perhaps a more compact arrangement.
Quick question for reference: How much canonicity is an in-game representation? Zero? Minimal? (I’m sure not maximal/literal.)
Like, say there are five buildings in a town in-game, clearly that doesn’t preclude the existence of other buildings not represented, but is it even possible to say that the existence of those five buildings are canon? Or do they mean nothing at all?
I think of them as represential. Like I don’t believe that Kalimdor is a place that you can walk from top to bottom in an hour, but that walk represents days and weeks of journeying.