In exchange for Arathor’s assistance fighting the Amani, their demands were that the elves of Quel’thalas teach humanity the ways of magic. Up until that point it was largely unknown to humans, and something the elves viewed as being rightfully “theirs”. This only changed when the one hundred Arathi mages proved their worth and more by conjuring an inferno so large that it razed the entire Amani army to cinders.
I think if I were a haughty elf who’s lived for thousands of years that’s been fighting a losing war against the trolls, I’d find a newfound respect for these weird, small eared barbarians that we passed some of our knowledge off to too. Imagine in a single Quel’dorei’s lifespan seeing the Arathi go from tribal warfare, to becoming the most powerful kingdom to the south, to overnight ending your long lasting war with a pitifully small handful of freshly trained magi.
Actually the more I think about it, the more terrifying it sounds.
I mean, you’re right, but I’d also state this is an example of how this also adds credence to my point.
This doesn’t come up in game, which it should because the social implications you mentioned are pretty significant. But both races work and live together like that ain’t no thing, and in many cases, like they’re the same species just with different backgrounds.
Its not a storyline blizz wants to explore, so i really can’t see a question like OP being answered with any real accuracy
Their elven tutors were involved in casting this spell, it was a mutual effort of human and elven magi. What actually surprised and frankly even shocked the elves was how quickly, naturally and not to mention the sheer potency of magic wielded without the natural grace of the elves, their human pupils took to wielding arcane magic.
Because back during Legion we killed the previous strongest Mage, ((Or atleast A version of them, With DF causing some weird timey windey nonsense that’s now up for debate.))
Jaina for all her strength cant control Time ((Or as far as we’re aware she can’t.)), While Elisonde repeatedly pressed the rewind button during her boss fight.
While freezing a portion of the Great Sea ‘IS’ impressive, it’s nothing compared to freely traversing time using your own abilities even if empowered by a Sunwell 2 Electric Boogaloo.
World’s greatest chronomancer = / = world’s greatest mage. Elisande is the best in her field, but that does not necessarily make her the best mage in the world.
Jaina and Khadgar have both admitted that Queen Azshara is the most powerful sorceress the world has ever seen, but now as a Naga versus an elf before her transformation.
Whether or not she was equally the most powerful before her transformation is an uncertainty no-one will ever truly know.
Holding back an ocean with a shield for a time is the only true test of ability we have seen thus far, although shattering the tide stone and unleashing a curse that kills everyone in Azsuna is another thought.
I’ll be honest here, I don’t think Azshara’s power comes from being an elf, and frankly she’s an entity unto her own in the ‘whose most powerful’ game.
Which is interesting, because we know next to nothing about her. We don’t know where she comes from, who parents were or even how she came to be queen. She just appears out of nowhere, inserts herself in the story and then fits in as if she always was; I have to wonder if that will ever be addressed.
Azshara was from birth recognised as one of the most magically capable night elves to have ever lived, but her magical power was also drastically enhanced when the Highborne learnt to draw power from the Well of Eternity and especially when Sharas’dal was imbued with its power. Her transformation into naga further empowered her as well.
Her powers come from, well, herself. It’s not because she is an elf.
Its not supremacy its just a change of roles. Elves had their time several thousand years ago. Now we step aside to let younger races have their moment in the sun.
I mean, to me it just makes sense. Sure, an old nerd who predates the internet has a lot of baseline knowledge, and can probably open up the command line to do things much easier and more naturally than me. But I can utilize modern internet in ways that are more employable and useful in the modern day a lot easier and faster.
I figure it’s about the same for magic. The elves are experts on command-line interface. The humans take that and run with it faster than the elves can even blink.
This is a p interesting thought, because…How fast do elves degrade, mentally? There are definitely 50, 60, 70 year old people still in the workforce who are as you describe, but there are also people of the same age who kept up to date with technology quite easily.
Elf lifespans are measured in hundreds of years and by all accounts they don’t degrade physically or mentally, really, except when they get super close to dying of old age…? I don’t recall off the top of my head any blizzard writing about an elf with Alzheimer’s or something, though. And sure, elves like Tyrande are thousands of years old, but they’re still running around with a pack of wild lesbians and keeping up. Azshara and the Naga still seem quite sharp.
I can see the idea that the elves become extremely set in their ways over time, and to a certain extent I can add my +1 to that. But, also - take Night Elves, who work on their physiques, or trade, etcetc, for thousands of years and perfect it. Or warriors who perfect their fighting style with a given weapon and environment. I can kinda get it when it comes to social traditions, but for stuff like ‘this magic method is clearly better than this other one’, I don’t buy them not doing that because ‘old elf is crusty’. Admittedly for magic stuff in particular there is a solid reason behind the Night Elves probably not having a lot of folks who are great at it, cause of the whole tradition thing and they yeeted the magic users out, but for more magic inclined elves like the Sin’dorei, it doesn’t really make much sense, imo.
So, we don’t really know much about elven mental decline because:
Kaldorei/Highborne: were functionally immortal until roughly 20 years ago.
Most high elves alive have been sustained by a magical font of power until roughly 20 years ago. And many continue to be nourished by the sunwell.
Stories about elves with dementia isn’t really what blizzard wants to be writing about.
With that said, we know Jarred Shadowsongs wife felt the ravages of time within a few years of the World Tree being destroyed. It could be a time and resilience type of thing. Its also probably too early to tell.
We know that the draenei can experience mental decline, we saw that in that side quest with a lovely old goatlady asking us to collect frogs because she thought her husband was turned into one. (Not to mention Velen totally forgetting he had a whole grown-up son suggests a touch of the brain worms, but thats just my opinion)
Not the same species, so obviously not a 1:1 example. But clearly magic ability alone isn’t enough to sustain the mind.
It’s even worse actually. He, like the devs, once again forgot the ‘demons respawn unless killed in the Nether’ lore they’d literally made the last xpac. So there was actually no issue with Velen’s son dying in the Exodar and he should have respawned in Antorus.
I think there is a time frame from death to restructuring regarding demon deaths.
A suitable body has to be found in which the demon soul can inhabit or a physical reconstruction of a shell is needed to allow the demon to regain its own physical form.
Now because there was a fel portal opened between Argus and the exodar and his proximity its highly likely Rakeesh’s death was final.
If I recall correctly, wasn’t it that the Argus would-be worldsoul was being used to fuel demon regeneration? And that’s how they kept coming back so fast, but without it the regeneration takes enough time that they might as well be dead?
Admittedly with a Draenei’s lifespan that might still be okay, he just has a bit of waiting to do, but still.
Actually some members have their hands full tending to the honored dead of Tel’anor. It has always been our responsibility to safeguard and show respect to our proud ancestors and lineage.
Something few other orders take part in. For shame.
I think overall, it probably only takes 20-30 years to learn -most- of what some of the more powerful mages know. Anything beyond that is just refining magic you already know to be more powerful and potent. As in, truly pushing the limits and refining your spellcraft to be utterly perfect.
This would explain why we see powerful human mages on a fairly even footing with powerful elven mages in some cases. Talking the Khadgars, Jainas of the world. You can only become so powerful with magical knowledge before you hit a point where powerful enchanted artifacts, rare reagents, and other important implements are essentially required to exceed the norm. Obviously, an elf who has trained for 1000+ years (or 10,000+ years, in many cases) is going to have an edge over a human who has only been learning for 30-50+, but it is more experience and precision that makes them more powerful than raw magical power.
I think seeing a 10,000 year old elven magi at full power would show a stark difference, but that stark difference would be in the speed and precision at which they cast spells. A human mage needs a second or two more to cast a spell that a blood elf or a night elf could cast with a flick of their wrist, but a human can still ultimately cast that spell, and get pretty close in their later years.
