Priest Lore Questions!

Community General Discussion
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TLDR: Healing magic. Is it a thing in the canon? We see Anduin use it in the BFA cinematic, as well as resurrect Calia Menethil. If it’s a canon magic, why isn’t it used more? Why do people even die in the Warcraft universe?

Is “The Light” more powerful than “Nature” healing magic?

What Shadow Priests are in the Lore that have a decent impact on the story? (Background characters like Natalie Seline don’t count. She doesn’t do anything. She’s just there to fill out the order hall roster of minions.)

Most of the Priests we see only ever use The Light, and don’t even touch their Shadow side. It’s the most polarizing class in the game. You’re either one side, or you’re the other. (Unlike Warrior’s, rogues, Druids, Shammies who use all three/four specs… Malfurion is seen using all of his abilities from all of his class’ specs. He’s a composite Druid. However, Anduin, Velen, Tyrande, Sally Whitemane, are strictly all Holy Priests. They only ever use The Light.)

Hey, I was doing some thinking and I have some questions about Priests in the lore.

First question; is healing magic canon? We see Anduin use what we can assume is Circle of Healing during the BFA cinematic, and we’ve seen actual, legit resurrections by Priests of the light. Non-game play related resurrections. (Calia Menethil)

If healing magic is canon, and it’s just a thing people can do; why don’t they? We see tons of camps where people are bandaged up, suffering lying on the ground/bed recovering. Why not just have a Priest/Pally heal them?

Is Holy healing magic better, or on par with Nature magic healing? We’ve only ever really see Nature magic heal the planet and nature itself, but never really other people.

One of the few times we see it used on a person in the lore, is the Crusader Bridenbrad questline in Icecrown, and even then, it just made him feel “rejuvenated, and full of energy” but it didn’t cure the plague within him. It took A’dal the Windchime from Shattrath to fully heal him, and carry his soul… To heaven? To be apart of the Light? To be a slave for the Windchimes outside of the universe? We don’t know, but we do know that the Light was able to cure the plague.

However, this might just be a case of Windchimes > Mortal Druids, seeing as how the Naaru are the physical manifestation of the living essence known as “The Light”, where mortal Druids are just mortals wielding the power of the living essence known as “Nature”, but aren’t actually beings of “Nature”. They’re just tapping into it’s power, where the Naaru are part of the power they wield.

So, back to the original question… Is healing magic canon, and if it is, why isn’t it used more? Why do people even die in the first place? How is it that losing a war is even a possibility?

Second question is about Shadow Priests. Are there any major Shadow Priests in the lore? And I’m not talking about the background npc’s like Natalie Seline who are just kind of there for game play, and not actually active in the lore.

We know of several Priests in the lore who have massive roles. Anduin, Velen, Sally Whitemane, Calia Menethil, Moira Thaurissan (Magni’s daughter.) Tyrande. (Maybe Talanji?)

But all of these people are Priests of the Holy Light. They’re all Holy Priests. And yes, Lore characters aren’t just one spec like we are, they’re technically the entire class composite. However, every other class in the game exhibits these traits, and shows us them using all of their class abilities. (Mages Excluded, because they seem to be more focused on one school. Jaina is Frost, Kael’Thas is Fire, Rhonin/Medivh are Arcane.)

Except the Priest. We’ve never seen; to my knowledge; Velen, Anduin, Tyrande, or Sally Whitemane using shadow powers. Tyrande is Elune’s vengeance now, but she still uses light based magic to fight. Anduin; even in his darkest times; still relies on the Light, and doesn’t dip into the Shadow.

So, are there any real Shadow Priests in the game that have any kind of major impact on the Lore/story? (No background characters that are only there for game play purposes like filling out the order hall follower roster with minions.)

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Because we’re mortal. Not meant to last forever. I’m no Priest but I’m pretty and sure that the Shadow Priests are over looked cause Holy is needed cause the other characters are filling the DPS roles. Holy is needed for the heals. However, Whitemane is more remembered for her thighs than her magics though.

It is easier to have a big bright flash of light and animate everyone getting back up than Nature mending their wounds and getting them back up.

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I meant from wounds. Why do people die in battle when you can just have a Priest/Pally cast healing magic toward them and physically heal their wounds.

That has nothing to do with the lore though.

Again, this has nothing to do with the lore either. Sure, in a cinematic this might be true, but even in quests in game, The Light seems to be more powerful at healing than Nature is. It has nothing to do with the game’s designers animating anything.

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According to the Priest Class Hall, Priests are there to be saved by Paladins.

As for Shadow Priest… Next question. Is the light more powerful than Nature magic?

It seems. There’s a quest where you need to save a Paladin afflicted with the plague. You go to the Cenarion Circle for help, but doesn’t work. You go to Alexstrasza and doesn’t work either. The last bet is A’dal. And he purifies him.

Even though he does it guiding his soul to eternal glory. But by A’dal’s words: “This Paladin shall never know death”. So… take that how you will.

Did they consider Druid magic first because they thought it was more powerful and left the light when there was no hope? Or did Blizzard leave it for last because it’s the most powerful?

I’d also think it depends on what we’re trying to heal, as Nature magic is seeing to be more effective than the light by healing Azeroth (or is the one shown to be used) and Druids are firmly sure they can restore the plaguelands.

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You brought up the cinematic. As for dying in battle. LoS, OoM, Stun, fear, sap, kick, pummel, asphyxiate, hammer of righteous stunning, shield bash, skull bash, etc. In other words, the healer couldn’t get to them in time. Looks like the bulk of your question comes down to game mechanics vs Lore. Might want to keep them separated. Like how we keep bugs out of out tai- oh. ahem

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I feel like healers aren’t as powerful in lore as they are in game

Spoilers probably

Like how in the Shadows Rising book, Zekhan can’t just be easily healed after he is lit on fire while saving some children from being sacrificed.

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Right. That’s why I was asking, because it seems like healing magic is either extremely rare, or significantly weaker than it is in game.

We see instances of people doing mass healing, like Anduin in the BFA cinematic (which we know the cinematics are considered canon), but we also see instances of people simply not using healing to get people back into the fight. Ie. Triage camps or referencing your spoiler.

That’s why I’m confused about it. It’s very inconsistent. Maybe it’s so rare that not every member of (insert favourite healing class here) can use healing magic? Maybe it’s only the best of the best. The ones that dedicate everything they have to learning and mastering the class.

But if that’s the case, why can Anduin perform such great feats of healing magic? He’s only 18. You can’t tell me that in the few years he’s been active, he’s accomplished so much more than other Priests/Paladins that he’s able to not only heal massive groups of soldiers at once, but bring the dead back to life. Something that; if we’re going off of the assumption that healing is a rare skill; most master level (insert favourite healing class here) can’t even perform?

If that’s the case, then… Well… That’s just bad writing.

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Archbishop Benedictus used both light and shadow magic. In the end though the only thing he believed in was powah.

Lady Liadrin also started out as a priest before losing her faith in the light and becoming a warrior.

I’ve wondered the same things. Healing people with the light seems a little brutal. If you are healing a tank over and over, do they feel the pain of every wound? It seems like it would be torture.

In the books featuring Anduin, healing magic was always used as part of a prayer in a moment of great need and didn’t seem like something he could just do whenever.

Also, if we can heal people, could a butcher cut a steak out of a living cow, and then a priest heals the cow for infinite steak? Seems like something goblin priests would be investigating.

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I personally think it’s just this. I feel as though the writers don’t focus on the world in their lore, but instead focus on the moment and what’s happening in that very moment. That’s at least my reasoning for why many things don’t make sense in WoW

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Is due to mana, yeah, I’m being 100% honest.

You see, while in game we have a bar of Mana and stamina in lore is not like that but they use it.

For example, all classes that have healers specs can resurrect people but lore wise is a very rare occurrence and really taxing on the people that has attempted said thing.

Calia for example, was brought to life, as undead but alive and it took three powerful beings. A Naru, Velen and Anduin.

Also you could take as example Thalysra, in the book she ports herself and a group to a place and she is needed to Port them again, but she says she needs to rest however when she sees the situation is dire she pulls a vial with a strange liquid and when she takes it she is revitalize and is able to do so.

So I think that might be a possible answer to your question.

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Healing magic is a game mechanic more than a lore thing. In lore, my understanding of healing magic is it’s very very rare and difficult to use.

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Tyrande and Velen are probably the most powerful healers tbh. Both priests too. Honestly I had the same questions but answers are harder to find and its inconsistent.

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I think that Alonsus Faol can use both shadowmagic and holy magic.

Also tjere was a cult in wow called the cult of the forggoten shadow, that were forsaken priest that adore the shadows.

I think that giving or not giving importance to the lore of wow in regards of it magic “Sistems” is useless. Because, the writters only do what they think is cooler, necesary in thar partocular moment, they dont take in account globally those kind of actions.

In game they are a lot of priest that are heling the wounds of the soilders, aame with a few druids. Also paladins.

The quest of the hero in northrend, was a memento, to an blizzard employee that died from cancer, so it would have been irrespectfull if magic could heal him.

So, when I am Game Master in some rps, i just evalue case by case, depending on the character situations

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