Might want to tell blizzard that they need to âupdateâ their blood elf racial page here on the official site. Because it specifically says that High elves are those who live in Silvermoon, created the Sunwell etc.
Which is us.
An off site doesnât trump official lore. Sorry.
But I love this argument (constantly) about How the High elves pre 3rd war were âreal high elvesâ and were Alliance. But the EXACT same race of people post 3rd war, is suddenly ânot real high elvesâ- simply because they went horde after 90% were slaughtered. Talk about cherry picking.
I guess that fel tainted Sunwell turned them into furblogs.
So remember folks: A single elf is representative of an entire kingdom and raceâŠUnless you are the prince/king, of course.
The point of them âNo longer being High Elvesâ isnât a matter of changing their race, but is representative of their cultural shift. Losing 90% of your population in a day will do that
Except thatâs missing the point entirely. If their name-change wasnât about actually changing who they are, and is centered entirely on honoring who they are then you canât draw a parallel with changing your name from âJustinâ to Charles" or that being called one or the other is somehow offensive.
And yet High elves are also said to have no real culture, or identifying society as a group after the splintering; essentially driving home the point that theyâre defined by their past âgloryâ aka the theme still being carried by the Blood elves.
In consequence, there are very few high elves left on Azeroth today. High elves did not gather in any significant numbers and are a very small group of individuals. Indeed, modern high elves cannot even truly be said to have a cultureâonly a past filled with glory and regret.
If thatâs what really defined who Blood elves are then why did the heritage quest turn Blood elves into High elves? Why was it centered almost entirely on the events that occurred before they turned into Blood elves?
When Lorâthemar makes his speech, he doesnât refer to the high elves from before the attack on Quelâthalas any differently than the ones who stand before him. The Blood elves are the result of the choices the High elves made to survive, but that doesnât make them any less themselves. Even Liadrin mentions this to Thalryssa towards the end of the Heritage quest, that despite everything they will never forget who they are.
You can be a proud Blood elf, and High elf, for thatâs really the whole point of it in the first place.
Being a Blood Elf is all about honoring their once glorious past, but also acknowledging that they will never be the same. Neither Blood Elves or High Elves will ever resemble what they once were
Honoring the fallen after facing near extinction, subjigateing the light and bending it to their will, employing the use of fel crystals, sucking the mana out of living creatures, all of that is uniquely Blood Elf culture
Itâs not even really about all of that. The truth is, people donât actually care about lore. Well, aside from those who took to the High elves in the first place, back in BC but I am talking about those arguing for Alliance.
If you read through out this thread, you can see that. Itâs about Horde vs Alliance. Thatâs it. Itâs about a slippery slope that people can abuse.
Look at Nightborne and Suramar as an example. Itâs an amazing place, beautiful and has a lot of lore behind it (which a lot of people donât care about). Itâs about holding it over the hordeâs head and saying âSee what we got. We are better than you.â Even though the tantrums would never stop. Silvermoon is no different in this respect.
âI want it because itâs good and good belongs to us.â
The general mentality is that Horde can only have evil or ugly things.
The changes made were not done so in efforts of being different from high elves though, they didnât suddenly stop practicing their traditions, or destroy their culture and beliefs the moment they declared themselves as Blood elves. The name change was meant to merely honor their people, and their sacrifices.
Being a Blood elf doesnât mean departing as who you were as a high elf, and being called one would be, in no way, shape or form offensive to a Blood elf. To suggest otherwise would defeat the whole purpose of why they took up the name at all.
In other words, yes. Which would open a slippery slope that will allow people to claim âloreâ (which they donât care about in the first place) and claim Silvermoon for the Alliance, through said âHigh elvesâ. People cherry pick main lore all day long and pick out what supports their perspective for their faction.
Like I said in my other post: People claim the lore ALL the way up until the 3rd war happened. Same people, same city, same royal family and all. But then will be like âWe got a few betrayers. We will go with that.â And ignore everything else. Then say âBut they arenât High elves. We have the betrayers!â.
Not sure this is true due to how big the High Elf fan base is. Itâs kind of like trying to speak about the general mentality of Pokemon or Star Wars fans.
Their fanbases are way too large for anyone to stereotype in a meaningful manner.
I obviously am playing a Blood Elf, enjoy their looks. I donât care that Horde will get the cute Vulpera, nor cared that we also got cool looking Zandalari Trolls (best Allied Race so far imo still).
I still want Alliance to get High Elves in some fashion just because they honestly should, in equal fashion the Horde should get Ogres within that same vein.
I generally agree, all Iâm saying is that Kael declaring that they are no longer High Elves ended up holding deeper meaning than he originally intended. Culturally they arenât the High Elves of WC2
I could actually see it being insulting depending on the context, if a Blood Elf were to take it as disregarding the fallen theyâre honoring with the title âBlood Elfâ
I mean I donât have any examples in game, I donât think Blood Elves are often referred to as High Elves other than whatâs in their raceâs description, but we have seen a High Elf in game get mildly annoyed when being called a Blood Elf
Because there are alliance defectors that believe siphoning mana from animals is wrong, being as it conflicts with the High elf culture. But they also ignore the reason behind doing such, which was for their own survival. Itâs easy to abandon your people, join an easy life with the Alliance where all of your magical needs are met, than to stay with your own people and deal with the suffering.
So what do you do? Do you make sure that your entire population, kingdom doesnât die off and find alternatives until you can return to your former glory or run to the other faction like a dog?
Silvermoon wanted to remain independent, most of all because of what they been through. Defectors might be able to sit in a nice chair and suck on mana crystals given to them but they gave up their people, culture for it.
Again this could be the case for any race, or culture, many have evolved from who they once were in the past, but that doesnât mean their name change holds some stronger significance than itâs original intention. Their name change wasnât meant as a departure, but an honorific gesture. Not to bolden the lines that divide their race.
Yes we did see a High elf getting annoyed, but that was when they were fed a false narrative of who the Blood elves were by the Alliance. Claiming that they were all following Kaelâthas and the Blood elves of firewing point. It would be different if these were High elves that were actually present on Azeroth and experienced the splintering and dividing of their race and had some idea of what they were talking about, and not a single high elf who might as well hopped out of a time-bubble.
I still think a conclusion is being jumped to here, that being that the current High Elves are traitorous dogs that deserve to be put down. The Blood Elves donât seem to view them as traitors, they generally welcome them with open arms. Weâve seen many High Elvesâ desire to return home as well, there just doesnât seem to be bad blood here
Blizz didnât fill in these blanks because High Elves were meant to be a minor NPC faction and nothing more, which I find frustrating. Iâd like answers, someday
There is bad blood there. Most of all from higher ranking officials. Like the Silver Covenant for example. They run on a never ending hatred that views their kin as abusers instead of what they actually are.
The difference is that Kael and the remaining High elves were willing to do whatever it took to survive, as 90% were slaughtered. The ones that were not there, became/were the Silver Covenant and the like. So basically, the hatred comes from the fact that they survived at all and did not leave Veressa as the sole survivor. This is even stated in her personal lore. That when she got to Dalaran with Rhonin, she was greeted as the Last Survivor of a dead people (haha) and was even give a title. Well, until they actually DID survive and that got shot down.
They showed up one day and said âSurprise?â. And she has been filled with bitterness and resentment ever since.
Do the Silver Covenant really hate their kin though? I thought they were anti Horde before they were anti Blood Elf. Just so happens that the Sunreavers were representatives of the Horde. Even Vereesa, their leader, considers Silvermoon her home and contemplated returning (her half elven children being the reason she didnât, if I remember correctly).
