It comes from people who never played Warcraft 3 or read the TBC Blood Knight lore. Warcraft 3, the high elven priest was a light worshipping unit. Then, in TBC, the lore blurb for Liadrin stipulates that she was a priestess who lost her faith in the light and simply wanted to use it as a tool in the form of siphoning the Naaru.
Now, I don’t think every High/Blood Elf is a Light worshipper. I’m sure some are “athiest” (I guess just non-worshipping considering every religion is real in Warcraft) while others seem to have some sort of vague sun worship thing going on that’s never expanded on or explained in official lore.
After the Light Paladins of Que’thelas failed so spectacturlarly when Arthas made his social call, there may have been a mass disillusionment along with the name change to Blood Elf.
The Light had failed to stop the Scourge and failed again in dealing with the subsequent mana drought and the onset of Withering in so many.
As far as we know, the High Elves didn’t have any Paladins. That era of lore only had Human Paladins and all of them were members of the Knights of the Silver Hand. There clearly was some disillusionment following the genocide considering that’s Liadrin’s entire backstory. But clearly, not every Blood Elf stopped worshipping the light. As far as I remember, the blood elf priests are never referenced as having siphoned light from the captive Naaru so they are probably composed of people who never gave up faith.
Did people ever claim that? Many Blood Elves lost their faith in the Light after the Scourge attacked, including the Blood Knights, who enslaved a Naaru to channel his power instead.
That’s fanon. Blood Elves use the phrase “The Eternal Sun guides us”, but it’s never specified what that even means. There’s no evidence of a separate sun deity existing. There’s also no logical reason given why they “abandoned nocturnal activities and embraced the sun” (i.e.: embraced a diurnal lifestyle) after their ancestors sailed eastwards. Well, ok, there’s a logical explanation, and it’s quite simple: Blizzard had to cope with the fact that they created High Elves before Night Elves, and had to explain this evolution somehow (without actually explaining it, as always).
It arguably stands to reason that the high/blood elves’ sun “reverence” would be more knowingly symbolic than literal anyway. By casting off Azshara and then leaving the night elves, among other things they were basically leaving behind the practice of deified personifications of worship. From their rejection of the night elves’ ways to even their eventual use of M’uru, the post-sundering que’dorei cultural identity arguably revolves around seizing their own destinies and power without having to ask permission from “higher beings” who could deny them.
Many of them following the Light fits into that because it’s a codified set of ideals and philosophies that doesn’t really revolve around any centrally identifiable deity. Even the draenei - who’ve long revered the naaru as allies and guides - know that the naaru aren’t themselves the source of the Light.
I always thought it was a declaration that they’re different from the lowborne peasant scum who tossed them out. The ones with the Moon fixation. The Sun you can count on being present and full every day… the Moon, not so much. Given a few genertions, younger High/Blood Elves may have even forgotten those origins.
They abandoned the worship of Elune, and venerated the sun not as a deity, but a symbol/icon of their separation from the Kaldorei. There’s never been anything to suggest they started worshiping another deity.
The absence of evidence may not be evidence of absence, but in this case, until we’re told otherwise, the High Elves stopped the only known religious practice they knew, and weren’t known to have another until the Light came into their culture.
Thus I worded my statement in such a manner as to convey a lack of certainty.
Ah, I seem to have missed the word ‘Seemed’ – Apologies.
However yeah, until we’re told otherwise I suppose it’s up to wide speculation. I guess you could possibly wager they could even be an open minded society without any firm grasp on anything specific.
“Whatever rocks your boat man, just don’t bring Elune back into this neighborhood – or go worshiping Sargeras or the old gods and we’re good.”
But they did rekindle their faith. Liadrin is the leader of the blood knights and she represents and leads them. She did reaffirm her belief in the Light.
You answer your own point. Anyway, the Light is not infinite just because it can be provided indefinitely. Potentially objects of the Void and other forces can extinguish the Light. The void elves were already a threat because they attracted forces that could quench the Light within the Sunwell.
Laidrinn rekindled her faith. There’s no lore suggesting the Blood Knights at large did. It can certainly be inferred, but we know they’re not getting the Light through their faith, but from the Sunwell directly.
The void elves weren’t even a threat, unless they were within spitting distance of the Sunwell. Bad lore may still be lore, but that doesn’t give us carte blanche to misinterpret it either. So, sure, the Void could extinguish the Light in the Sunwell. Then, a Naaru or Velen could rekindle that light again. Just because something could happen does not reflect on the current state of a thing. Right now, the Sunwell is an infinite font of the Light, and the source from which Blood Elves draw on it.
“Thalassian” has been used as the demonym for individuals and items from Quel’Thalas a fair few times. It’s a useful blanket appellation considering there are about eight different high elf offshoots with that common root nowadays. The WC3 manual also coined the term “Quel’Thalassian”, although that particular spin on the phrase has never been used again.
I always just assumed that High elves picked up Light worship from humans as there was probably some cross pollination between their cultures after the Troll Wars.
I don’t really understand what the sun has to do with Light magic. Sunwalkers also have this problem. They’ve associated the sun with Light magic before but I’ve never seen nor heard any reference to the sun being made out of Light energy or something. Maybe stars in WoW are made out of Light energy.
I think there was. The Humans taught the Elves the light and the Elves taught the humans Arcane magic.
It is not so much the sun itself for Sunwalkers & Seers but what the sun represents in their culture. That being An’she, one of the eyes of the Earthmother. Likewise for Night Elves it is their faith in Elune, whom is represented by the moon that allows them to use the light. Basically Tauren and Night Elves viewed these celestial object(s) and appropriated their deity’s to them.
For Tauren and Night Elves, the moon is Elune / Mu’sha respectively.
For Tauren only; Sun = An’she and the planet itself = Earth Mother. Baine even equates the Earth Mother to Azeroth the Titan.
