Even two years on from the Nightborne’s introduction as an Allied Race for the Horde, I’ve seen the same points still being parroted by users to discredit Thalyssra and the Nightborne.
Example: “Boo-hoo! Tyrande said some mean words and Thalyssra went running to Horde!”
When preparations for the march on Suramar began, Tyrande had this to say:
(Horde)
Tyrande: When I let you take the Tears of Elune, I assumed the next time we would see each other would be at the final battle with the Legion.
Tyrande: I did not expect to see you in the company of mana addicts at the footsteps of the city of my birth.
Tyrande: Speak quickly. I am not in the mood for Thalyssra’s petitions.
(Alliance)
Tyrande: I am glad to see a friendly face on this battlefield.
Tyrande: It is… hard… for me to once again walk in Suramar. Ten thousand years have passed since my feet last felt the grass of this land.
Tyrande: Back then, we were fleeing the Burning Legion.
Tyrande: I never believed I would return to the place of my birth to wrest it from the grasp of those I once believed were my people .
Tyrande was not present during the march on Suramar out of a sense altruistic duty to the oppressed Nightborne fighting to overthrow their corrupt rulers. She didn’t even view the Nightborne as kin despite their close ties in the past. Tyrande was merely there as a representative of the Alliance to defeat the legion - nothing more. Tyrande’s obstinacy and unwillingness to trust drove a wedge between any possibility of a relationship between the Alliance and the Nightborne.
On the Horde side, Liadrin and Lor’themar were empathetic to the Nightborne’s plight, a near-identical plight the Blood Elves overcame themselves. The Nightborne were a fledgling race looking to rejoin a completely foreign world without allies, so naturally, they accepted the Blood Elves’ offer to join the Horde when it was extended.
I mean, you’re not wrong, but, “Tyrande hurt Thalyssra’s feelings,” is a dumb reason to rip on the Nightborne anyways. You wanna rip on the Nightborne you need to go full propaganda IC rage mode.
I don’t know what’s worse. The content of this mess of a post, or the fact that the poster is from Moon Guard posting on Wyrmrest Accord, like he’s tryna get the word out there as much as possible.
The only ones I’ve seen that I particularly liked were more about the rebellion’s methods.
Take the Wretched. We actively go around subduing and enslaving them by magical means to throw them into the middle of parties, terrorizing people just trying to relax and enjoy themselves, ripping the mana from their bodies in a horribly painful way. Treating the Wretched as disposable creatures is certainly a pragmatic course of action, but it’s pretty morally reprehensible. Considering Thalyssra, Occuleth, Valtois, etc… were getting close to that point as well, the sheer lack of empathy is kind of disturbing.
They were still just Night Elves when the elders of Suramar decided the fate of their people by erecting the shield and locking them away from the world.
Also…
Thalyssra: Suramar rebelled against Azshara. Were it not for our courage, the Legion’s forces would have overwhelmed Azeroth.
Thalyssra: We sealed off Suramar to keep the Pillars of Creation free from Azshara’s grasp. The power she holds with just the tidestone…
They’re just getting set up in Shal’aran and who should decide to take pity on them but Valewalker Farodin. A Night Elf. He gifts them with an incredible gift. An Arcan’dor, a unique specimen that ultimately ends up saving their entire race and civilization from magic withdrawal.
Valewalker Farodin was fulfilling his duty as the last of the keepers of the arcan’dor seeds when he extended his aid to the Nightfallen in Shal’aran. Also, Valewalker Farodin was a hermit residing in the forests of Suramar - not a member of the Alliance. It goes without saying that the Nightborne are grateful for his help, but why would that gratitude extend to the Night Elves of Kalimdor who had nothing to do with him?
On the Moon Guard: Then the Nightborne betrayed them and slaughtered them all, finally killing off one of the only remaining orders of the Kaldorei empire.
Yet, interestingly, when one of the last members of the Moon Guard joins the forces marching on Suramar, they choose to join the Nightborne camp, not the Kaldorei. It’s clear that the Nightborne that descended on the Moon Guard were Elisande’s forces.
I mean, they joined pretty quickly. They could have just as easily stayed neutral, many races and factions in the world do.
I wish I could find Amadis comments on the matter, he had the best. Something a long the liens of the Suramar campaign only showing us a side of the Nightborne they want us to see, but that the harsh reality is the Nightborne are not actually seeking change of any kind and not who they say they are in the campaign.
Either way the entire race was created out of thin air for exactly this purpose - to give Horde cultists a new way to try and antagonize and troll fans of the Night Elves
Hey I could understand the Nightbourne staying out of the Conflict between the Alliance and Horde.
However for them to actively participate in the war of thorns and stay sided with the Horde is Abhorent. They didn’t have to rejoin the Kaldorei but they certainly look like the monsters Tyrande thought them to be by siding with Horde.
Tyrande isn’t the Alliance. If the Nightborne are looking for allies, they should have taken the time to research them thoroughly, instead of going by biased conversations with both Liadrin and Tyrande.
Thalyssra is a leader of a sovereign nation, not a high school celebrity.
Tyrande was written horribly in that entire scenario. They need to let Knaak write Tyrande and no one else. That dude knew how to write a kind character without her being entirely dependent on her husband.
Gosh I miss WotA Tyrande. Young and not full of herself and willing to turn the other cheek. Old Tyrande befriended an Orc and took him into a temple of Elune and told all the other elves to shut up.
Current Tyrande is somehow still afraid of arcane magic yet allowing mages? Zero consistency.
Nightborne being horde is very similar to Forsaken being horde. There may be Nightborne who have family members who are now with the Night Elves. Tyrande escaped Suramar, others could have as well.
That provides nice contrast. Also while not clearly stated, Nightborne could still believe in Elune given their unusually large amount of religious crescent shapes all around Suramar. Also the fact that there was a bridge from the Nighthold to the old temple of Elune. So Nightborne on Horde now give the Horde a stronger connection to Elune aside from just Tauren.
I’m pretty sure most of the Nightborne Thalysra included were content to let all low borne Night Elves perish Until the Legion actually came knocking on their door.
Not saying they have no reason to join the Horde but I do think it’s a little silly to act surprised that the Night Elves aren’t very sympathetic to their cause.
Or even just stop being butthurt over legitimate questions and suspicions, and just research Tyrande, herself, in contrast to the Blood Elves.
Tyrande: shows kindness to Brox, accepts a Draenei (Eredar) Mage as her ambassador from the Exodar and gives her a place of prominence in her Temple, re-admits the Shen’dralar into Night Elven society, accepts a pack of cursed werewolves into her people’s home, and accepts the Illidari’s re-emergence with more poise and tact than her husband, even if it’s just to be pragmatic.
Thalyssra: “Omg. The Alliance is so cloistered and closed-minded!”
Also, Thalyssra: immediately jumps into bed with the Elves that recently banished two different batches of their own people for dissenting opinions (other than the ones they mind controlled into submission), and, as of now, are the only Elves we know of with an active ban on a school of magic
