As stewards of the forest, it’s surprising how often Night Elves send adventurers to “cull” the numbers of these supposedly intelligent beings. We’re usually told that they’re corrupted or suffering some sort of rage that has made them hostile. But take the Thistlefur in Ashenvale for example; the Sentinels put players to the task of sacking their tribe for the crime of…being there? Because (and I quote) "If they grow too geat, they may find the courage to attack Astranaar." What kind of insane genocidal logic is that?? They might be a threat someday, so we’d better go murder them now??
It’s enough to make you question all of the “corrupted” or “rage-addled” claims, in the first place. I’d be pretty hostile too if my people were treated in such a throw-away manner.
I’m not going to pick the WoW forums to debate the definition of genocide. But artificially reducing the population of a non-hostile people via… well, killing them, based on theories of what they might do if their culture was allowed to develop, is pretty horrendous if you applied it to anything other than some furry xp pinatas with very little character development.
I’m not here to debate the definition of genocide either. The Sentinels have never held punches or hesitated to act in the defense of their people. If it really was genocidal logic and behavior, the night elves would have been pretty explicitly clear about indeed, wiping out the entirety of the tribe with no survivors left.
Also lets be very honest here. A lot of quests are def not logical, they just want you to go killing things because we play a theme park MMO that likes to pretend it’s not one lol. You do have quests where Night Elves are working to cure them. In fact, you basically are doing that even in the Thistlefur quests. In the Cata version, troll artifacts were corrupting them, and the Night Elves had us get rid of those artifacts. Then the Blackwood Furbolgs.
Not even mentioning the MVP Barkskin Furbolg back in Wc3- which I admit, I only remember because of a video showing how their mercs in the Battle for Hyjal could be used to kill Archimonde through his barriers lol. You help them multiple times through the night elf campaign.
The Sentinels have never held punches or hesitated to act in the defense of their people.
That’s specifically what I’m not referring to. I’m talking about all the times when they’re doing absolutely nothing, to anybody–just hanging out living Furbolg life. And we’re told to go rough them up anyway. Like they’re the insert-Night Elf-theme equivalent of Murlocs–dumb, savage pests to occasionally cull. While elsewhere in the lore (especially WC3 as Valeclaw mentioned) they’re described as pretty mutually respected allys.
As someone else stated, Night Elves don’t pull their punches. If you are a danger to them, they can be as ferocious as berserking orcs. They held off the entirety of Garroshs’ armies alone until Varian was able to come help.
That being said, if they were committing genocide, there’s no doubt they would have killed them off long ago. However, as also was stated, the Furbolgs are corrupted. They’re driven mad. Protection isn’t always about defense. As was also stated, if they grow too much in numbers, they will overrun the zones.
The corrupted furbolg aren’t peaceful. Add nuance to the situation and think that they run raiding parties, attack caravans or otherwise pose a danger to innocent civilians. Reducing their numbers which is the primary element of their strength ensures no full scale war or does it require more extreme measures, such as calling in more Alliance forces to end up wiping them out.
"If they grow too geat, they may find the courage to attack Astranaar." What kind of insane genocidal logic is that?? They might be a threat someday, so we’d better go murder them now??
Wasn’t that the logic that sold Sylvanas’s war to Saurfang and The Horde at large?
“During the Fourth War, the home of the Blackwood tribe furbolgs Blackwood Den was attacked and taken over by the Horde during their invasion of Darkshore, both Horde and Alliance slew Frenzied Blackwood Furbolgs as the ruin wrought by the Horde drove Blackwood furbolgs mad, but the Alliance would manage to rescue three Blackwood leaders that were captured by the Horde. During the invasion Horde poachers were able to take the furbolg’s Blackwood Camp.”
If you are a danger to them, they can be as ferocious as berserking orcs.
Absolutely true, you’ll find no disagreement from me on that.
But the perceived danger of the Furbolgs just doesn’t seem consistant with the background we’re told of them. These are the same Night Elves that have generously opened their lands to the Draenei (whom they would have known as Eredar) and Worgen (with whom the Night Elves share a… complicated past). While at the same time one of their oldest, intelligent, culturally distinct allys for thousands of years, with whom they fought the Burning Legion–are treated as meddlesome pests of the forest.
Sure some Furbolgs are corrupted. But even those that are uncorrupted are poised as enemies to Night Elf players. Krolg, one of the Furbolg specifically called out as uncorrupted offers us this bit of explanation:
The night elves and now the orcs have visited many atrocities upon my people.
Corruption runs through our veins, corruption brought down upon us by the prideful night elves and the warlike orcs. They are the ones who did this to our people… They are the ones I blame for being cast out of my tribe.
At night I can still see the campires burning in the darkness. Source.
It’s not… clear whether he’s speaking directly or abstractly about the Night Elves part in Furbolg corruption, but if we take the Night Elves account of things as gospel, then we have the accept the Furbolgs’ side as well.
We are under constant threat from the furbolg. Hopefully this will keep them at bay for a bit longer.
Sounds to me like the furbolg were already attacking/threatening them. The difference between Sylvanas is there is already an active threat. Her whole shtick was “there may be a threat someday, in the far off future”.
Or y’know, the Goblins imperalizing the Blackwood Furbolgs in Azshara, who’ve been there since before the War of the Ancients and fought against the Legion. Who weren’t even a corrupted tribe. Literally just trying to keep their food and water from being destroyed lmao.
We… we know where it comes from? It’s not what he’s saying it is, lmao. Krolg is just objectively not correct. At worst, it’s that they failed to stop the corruption’s spread. The Night Elves did not bring the fel corruption that’s currently affecting them, and we have seen through doing their quests, in zones like Darkshore, that they’ll actively try to sever the source of their corruption. Such as the Satyr Xabbraxis.
I like how GiantGrantGames rewrote that whole video to make it sound like the furblog are getting vengeance on the Legion for all the suffering they had throughout the Night Elf campaign.
