The Amani are NOT the good guys

Lore Story Forum
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Their angle on it in Legion was a lot different than previous incarnations, they took the angle basically the Nightborne’s bodies were terribly unbalanced and had lost the ability to survive without arcane energy. It was less a drug angle and more a “you are more arcane than mortal now”, which is what the arcan’dor fruit fixed when it re-balanced the Order and Life energies in their bodies.

Old school arcane addiction was more like… “this is magic méth and withdrawals are awful”.

Dire Maul’s feeding on demons is a weird one to square with modern Arcane/Fel lore—It made more sense when Arcane magic was Fel magic, basically. I guess the Shen’dralar figured out how to turn Fel energy into Arcane energy. Neat.

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The problem with the Amani is that they’re more interested in looking for some miraculous way to defeat the high elves than they are in making something worthwhile out of what they still have first. What kind of idea is it to keep rallying the other, similarly dispossessed forest tribes into these haphazard wars against the high elves when they haven’t even rebuilt the ruined city they currently occupy? What’s even the plan if by some miracle they lay waste to Silvermoon? Live among the ruins there? Congratulate themselves and then go back home to keep languishing in the ruins of Zul’aman?

They could become something great again, but instead they’d rather spend their energy on brooding in the wreckage of their glorious past, and punctuating said brooding with occasional fits of throwing away troll lives against more advanced and entrenched foes. They could be trying to rebuild Zul’Aman into somewhere all of the forest tribes would want to live again, but nope, better to use it as a staging point for starting more wars against the outside world that are doomed to fail.

And really, the other forest tribes are doing themselves no favors every time they come running to follow the latest Amani warlord who promises them conquest and dominion in Quel’thalas instead of protection and a better life in the homes they still have. The Witherbark, Mossflayer, Vilebranch and the rest (yes, even the Revantusk back during the Second War, though it’s fortunate they’ve at least changed) are clearly just used as bodies to be thrown at the enemies of the Amani, and it’s saddening that they don’t seem to realize it.

At least the jungle tribes turned against the Gurubashi and Hakkari when things got completely out of hand; the forest tribes just keep putting up with abuse from the Amani Empire’s former ruling tribe/caste, spilling their blood toward the cause of achieving an unachievable end in which they’ll be rendered even more subordinate than they already are if it hypothetically succeeds.

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The Amani are quite right when they say Silvermoon was once sacred troll land, but what people forget is that the High Elves didn’t even know it was troll land to begin with and they never moved into Quel’thalas with the deliberate and explicit intent to attack the Amani Empire, they only moved into Quel’thalas because living in Tirisfal was driving them insane, and they’ve fought the High Elves with the explicit intent of genociding/destroying them in addition to retaking their homelands, when the Quel’dorei & Sin’dorei, despite common belief do have a code of honor: they place themselves firmly above the Trolls in what they are willing to do. If you want proof, look no further than their quests in TBC: They are framed around the specific goal of either retailiating against the Amani for their encroachment into Eversong Woods & weakening them to the point they can focus their full attention on the Scourge in the Ghostlands.

Hell, the elves never even invaded Zul’aman. in TBC you go in there with treasure hunters and in Cata, the Darkspear did in an effort to kill Daakara so that the Zandalari couldn’t rule over the Amani. The one time Zul’aman actually got invaded, it was for a specific purpose and they immediately dipped after they were done, leaving the city for the Amani forest trolls. By no means are the Amani poor victims or entirely innocent, there is just as much blood on their hands as the High Elves, and later, the Blood Elves. Arguably, there is far more.

Retaking a homeland is a good goal, there is nothing inherently wrong with the Amani’s stated goal, but their actions?

The Amani:
-They’ve sought to genocide not one but two races; Humanity and Elvenkind. (Genocide, attempted genocide or desired genocide is indefensible.)
-They’ve kidnapped human & elven children and turned them into frogs. If you get the Amani Hex Stick in Zul’aman, you can use it on the Forest Frogs in the dungeon. They have a chance of being children. (Kidnapping children… yikes.)
-They’ve forcefully imprisoned and bound the spirits of their sacred loa into four Amani champions for little to no reason, and they didn’t even hesitate in the act either: Once Malacrass proposed the idea, Zul’jin gave his immediate full support. (Let’s be real; The Amani were not driven to desperation. Quel’thalas was in the dump when Zul’jin made his move, and the Scourge largely ignored the Amani. You can’t compare the Drakkari doing the same thing in Northrend with the Amani doing it in Quel’thalas. By no means are the Elves and the Scourge a comparable threat. One is a literal undead army capable of producing biological weapons (Scourge Plague, other various toxins), horrific monstrosities, and that thrived in psychological warfare, the other… are just elves. Compared to the absolute willingness of the Amani, the Drakkari actively regretted their deeds and took no pleasure in it at all.)
-Torture (Zul’jin had tortured multiple elves over the years in an effort to gain information regarding the runestones, as he believed they would have a key to subvert the magical defenses of the elves. He attempted to do this to Lor’themar Theron, but no luck.)

The elves are not entirely innocent, but by comparison, they have done far less.

The Quel’dorei:
-Establishing Silvermoon on top of land sacred to the trolls.
-Torture (Farstriders did it to Zul’jin, possible they might have done it to other trolls as well but i don’t know of any off the top of my head)

The Sin’dorei:
-They’ve poisoned Amani food and water supply, said poison given by a Forsaken Apothecary with the goal of getting the trolls off the Farstrider’s backs.
-Torture (Farstriders did it to Zul’jin, possible they might have done it to other trolls as well but i don’t know of any off the top of my head)

The Quel’dorei and later Sin’dorei have never launched a genocidal campaign with the deliberate intent of wiping out the Amani once and for all. The lore has never stated the Elves have ever done this or something similar to this. The Troll Wars firmly places on the Elves on the defensive, and it’s described as them essentially fighting for their lives, indeed; if the Elves never went to seek the aid of humanity, the Amani Empire would have won.

Perhaps the Amani would be in a better spot if they instead of seeking to restore the Empire to bring back the glories and legends of the past, looked and adapted to the future, much like what the Darkspear have done, and what the Revantusk forest trolls eventually did.

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Garithos’ hatred for elves was born because as he was amongst the Alliance forces aiding Quel’thalas, a group of orcs broke off from the main force and razed Blackwood to the ground, an act which saw the to the deaths of Garithos’ family. Garithos then decided to blame the elves for the losses, on the belief that the Alliance had diverted troops that could have been used to defend humanity.

There is nothing to suggest that his hate was born because the elves refused to help Blackwood and the exact status of Quel’Lithien Lodge during the Second War, especially when the Horde invaded Quel’thalas, is unknown. That is just speculation at best and at worst deliberate misinformation.

Now exactly why he decided to blame the elves as a whole isn’t mentioned but I figure it was born out of a mixture of guilt over not being there to help his family and his human supremacy beliefs. After all he believed that the Alliance should have put humanity first, ignoring other races like elves, dwarves, and gnomes, pledged themselves to the Alliance. Which suggests that the supremacy beliefs were already present before he lost his family and home.

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Another thing: the Amani Tribe has mind controlled at least one Sin’dorei. https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Alyson_Antille

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It was a joint effort during cata between the darkspear, sin’dorei and quel’dorei.
Not to mention that it’s stated in the lore that in the original raid that killed Zul’jin the Horde sent some of their strongest champions to stop them from attacking Quel’thalas according to chronicles and the Sylvanas book.
It’s also stated that they bound the loa spirits so they could get a lot of power to strike the elves during their moment of weakness as they were busy in outland.

We have not seen any genocidal tendencies though. All expressed grievances by the amani so far is that the land should return to them, if they have to kill the colonizers so be it. It is an extreme measure sure but Azeroth is an extreme world. and nothing worse then what we players or other playable races already done.

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On the topic of the Amani, I wonder if it is canon that some of them did help Arthas(or at least used that chaos) to attack the elves? It was one of those changes to the Warcraft 3 reforged. You could recruit some Amani to help you destroy Silvermoon.

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It was a joint effort though the only force that went into Zul’aman itself was the Darkspear; the Farstriders and the Silver Covenant both remained outside of it. My bad on the treasure hunters part, forgot Chronicles.

And yes, that was the reason Malacrass bound the spirits of the loa into the Amani’s champions; Zul’jin still gave the go-ahead to put the Loa’s spirits into the Amani’s champions.

Though they have desired to wipe out the High Elves & Humanity, that’s the reason why Zul’jin signed up with the Old Horde. Yes, all the Amani have ever wanted was/is to see their lands retaken at the solid end of the day but they’ve also sought to slaughter every single elf and human,

Zul’jin was the first forest troll since those terrible wars to reunite the tribes of Zul’aman and beyond. One by one he had challenged the other tribe leaders and defeated them, whether at combat or at racing or at some other task. And all had bowed before him, pledging themselves and their tribes to his rule. The forest trolls were a single people once more. He believed that with the Horde’s help they would wipe the world clean of humans and elves alike, rule the forests once more and avenge the Amani Empire.

from WOWPEDIA; that passage from WOWPEDIA has Tides of Darkness & The Ultimate Visual Guide as a citation.
Zul’jin was the warlord of the Amani and he had more than earned the respect and reverance the Forest Trolls, indeed; most trolls of all kinds give him, there’s a reason why he’s revered by the forest troll tribes, the Revantusk being the only exception (The Revantusk Tribe take great pride in being the only forest troll tribe to serve the Horde, as stated by Torntusk himself: meaning that what the Sin’dorei and the Horde did to Zul’aman; killing Zul’jin, etcera; is a non-issue for them.) and they do have legitimate reason to be pissed at both races; their anger in the first place was not unfounded.

The Amani still followed Zul’jin’s cause with no dissent, no disagreements, they were more than happy to follow Zul’jin to the bitter end. If Zul’jin gave them the command: “Move out, and kill every human and elf you can find, no matter what.” they would have done so without hesitation.

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I don’t think any of the Amani bolstered the Scourge’s efforts, could be wrong though. As far as i know, the Amani /afked during the events of Warcraft lll as far as general activity, and the Scourge never touched them.

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did to Zul’aman and the Amani; killing Zul’jin, etcera’

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Yeah that change rubbed me the wrong way. Like the events of that is what caused Budd to go insane in the first place.

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It is literally impossible to be symphathetic for the modern high elves when you know their whole history. They literally exist to be the bed companions of the humans of the setting. Anduin has Valeera. Rhonin used to have Vereesa. And Turalyon has Alleria. The Amani however are the wronged party here. They lost their land through forceful human conquest. The heart of their empire used to be located in the Hinterlands. Since that is the place where most of their bigger settlements are. Despite Zul’Aman being the capital. So I support Blizzard finally stop treating the Amani awful and give them some victories for a change. If the Trolls need to get their justice then we need to kick out any alliance presence as hard as possible. The Wildhammer Dwarfs, The gilnean Worgen and the Stromgarde forces who are pretty much just a colony of Stormwind now, need to leave Lordaeron for good.

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Anduin and Valeera are by no means romantically involved nor have there been any hint that they were.

Valeera is also far from being a High Elf, and is 100% behind whatever the Blood Elves did to survive. She considers herself a Blood Elf, she considers the Blood Elves her people, and her loyalty is to her people and the Wrynn family alone. Not to the Horde and not to the Alliance, to the Blood Elves and the Wrynn family.

Everyone else in the Horde and in the Alliance can die for all she cares, as long as the Blood Elves and currently Anduin; lives.

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I think the Amani are an example of the “Jerka-- Has a Point” trope (as listed at TV tropes):

(Censoring just to be safe. You never know what’s going to set off the mod trigger.)

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if that were the case the amani took those lands from the insect people

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I agree. I’m part Taino (Arawak Native American) and many indigenous people point out what the conquerors did, and they’re not wrong, but today we can’t feel so bitter and defeatist even if it’s very recent in the minds of those who are alive. We have to learn to thrive and not just survive. Most people with indigenous heritage feel very conflicted about sharing our lands with those who not so long ago was butchering us and well I won’t go into details about sterilization programs… Let’s just say we have list a mile long, like the Amani, but we need to overcome that anger and learn to adapt. We need to also learn to forgive something I remind my people. Hard considering the times we living in, but I hope in WOW we see a shift in the trolls where more of them come around to coexisting with their neighbors and learning to build themselves up and not just survive in the ruins of their once great civilizations.

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Veleera is working to lortemar these days

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While some will claim that it’s just justice for the Trolls in reclaiming their land. IT’s a convenient overlook on how Trolls typically get their lands in the first place.

The main reasons more often boil down to the urge of being a contrarian style of edgelord.

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All land is bug land.

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All land is elemental land. The Primalists have the right idea.

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