This is the hill I will die on, even as a primarily horde player.
Void Elves were stupid. Zero lore presence, there were only like 40 of them (I think they even say they are few in number during unlock quest chain). They were kicked out of Silvermoon because their presence was corrupting the sunwell. Not that they were intentionally doing it, just that their very presence was anathema to the light of the sunwell. And I bet in another few years they will rival human/night elf as most played alliance race.
We are currently fighting against the Old Gods, who were created by the void lords, who are the manifestation of the void. The current faction leader of the void elves is hearing whispers to kill a bunch of other characters. That’s not sketchy. We do know (now) it’s coming from the old gods because of Ebonhorn and Wrathion hearing whispers.
Yup, this is all ok and makes complete sense.
You know what would have been better if you wanted alliance to have a “pretty” elf race? Just have given them high elves. That are 1) actually around and in greater numbers than the void elves, and 2) actually have some lore presence rather than being shoe-horned in, by unlocking them through exalted with a faction that has absolutely nothing to do with them.
Blizzard wanted to give the pretty elf model to the alliance so they would stop complaining but did not want to give them high elfs because that would make the alliance too happy.
The omnipotent gods at Blizz had to give the Alliance SOMETHING to mix up their aesthetic. From all the Shiny Soy-Milk Paladins, and 256 Reskinned horses.
Where else to take it from? the Horde of course! where all of blizzard’s actual creative effort goes.
made a lengthy discussion about this sometime back, the void elves and their place in the Alliance (after going through all of their dialogue and known lore from 7.3.5-8.+)They are practically High Elves it’s worth a read.
What’s the difference between a forsaken and one of Arthie’s dolls?
Also, We remember how the team work between Garithos and his formaldehyde muse ended!
Did you want the night elves, who were being invaded by orcs, friends of the taurens, to help the taurens deal with their civil war?
the same taurens who made a point of helping the orcs, their friends, to invade the looting Ashenvale, while the taurens continued to support the orc’s actions against the night elves?
I also don’t know how we can have Silvermoon blood elves using void energy on ally!
I also don’t understand why they are not killing each other right now!
Void belves are carriers of a profane energy and should be destroyed where they are but for some reason the devs decided that relativism explains everything!
Honestly, I hope she kills Turalyon. If that “Three Sisters” comic taught me anything, it’s Alleria feels some type of way about her husband. It’d be epic if she just destroyed him and consumed the remains.
This is an opinion. Personally I find velves to be objectively worse.
Lore? The Velves have little, and all of it is contrived, filled with glaring leaps in logic, which the OP has kindly pointed out.
Aesthetics? Extremely limited transmog options as their skin colors do not mesh well with most transmogs. It’s like that racial for cheaper mogging is an apology.
Story? Considering what’s coming in 8.2.5, we’re up to 5 missed opportunities for velves to shine in what they were sold to us as.
By contrast, helves have a lot of lore already from all their appearances in the game up to this point. Aesthetically they work with a large number of transmogs. In terms of story they don’t have much potential, but I kind of count that as a good thing. They can show up here and there as troops and play their role, but don’t need the spotlight considering how much they’ve featured. Velves by comparison need an entire expansion, a few novels, and several short stories in order to get anywhere near as fleshed out.
At the end of the day if you like velves, good for you, keep enjoying them. But you can’t say they’re better than helves from an objective point of view.
That’s not entirely correct. The real reason is even more pathetic: they were kicked because they were studying the Void - they weren’t even practicing with the Void or anything, just theory, and Rommath was afraid about the possibility of corrupting the Sunwell.
It was established in my head canon that the High Elf Wayfarers were able to study and confirm the former Blood Elves ability to control the Void, and prove it–as a result they were able to be accepted into the Alliance.
If it turned out that N’Zoth had control of the Void Elves, we would know it and King Anduin would have never accepted them into the Alliance of Stormwind.
The Forsaken tricked and then killed the Alliance army sent to reconquer Lordaeron. They initially made a deal to work together, and then the Forsaken broke that deal.
From the Forsaken’s perspective, the Alliance was led by Garithos who probably would’ve betrayed the Forsaken if they didn’t betray him first.
The Alliance didn’t get that perspective. They probably didn’t even know Garithos was such a horrible person. That is a major reason why they refused to work with the Forsaken.
The Lightforged don’t kill the Void Elves because they’re led by the wife of their leader. They’re trained to be loyal and in addition to being their leader, Turalyon is a guy they’ve fought with for a thousand years. They’re not going to betray him by going after his wife.
Also to answer the OP, the Lightforged seem okay-ish with the velves if the Zandalar incursion turn-in dialogue is anything to go by. The Lightforged Draenei you turn it into says something about the Horde being forced to accept the Alliance has powers they can’t even imagine.
So, it’s likely the Lightforged accept the velves because from their perspective, the velves might be corrupted and cursed and the power they wield absolutely evil, but it’s working for the Light.
