The Unofficial High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Fyrebusche-kiljaeden]

You people just complain about it cause then your nice little theory of Helves not being just as much addicts as Belves turns to dust. Stop trying to handwave lore AND actually look at it like a chance to develop your own lore.

[Bladinas-scarlet-crusade]

Why are we bringing up old arguments about the Sunwell again? It’s too late in the evening for this…

[Lavinya-moon-guard]

You people just complain about it cause then your nice little theory of Helves not being just as much addicts as Belves turns to dust. Stop trying to handwave lore AND actually look at it like a chance to develop your own lore.

There’s an entire community of High Elves that don’t practice magic anymore because they know it’s addictive to their race.

Until the Quel’Lithien Lodge incident, only Blood Elves had become wretched I believe - and in the Quel’Lithien’s case there was some mysterious magical object involved.

So yeah, I’d say High Elves are at the very least more responsible with their magic addiction than Blood Elves.

[Ariël-drakkari (Ariël)]

Well, considering space is expanding faster than lightspeed, I don’t think so…

Dude, the rays do cross it. Nothing prevents it (yes, the space-time seems to go ahead of the rays thanks to Dark Energy on the math equations, but nothing says the rays will stop traveling anytime soon)…

Blood Elves will empower themselves through this connection. High Elves do not. That’s about the jist of the difference between High Elves and Blood Elves where the Sunwell is concerned, and also why we don’t see any High Elves with Gold Eyes.

Aurora didn´t empower herself and she was bathed by the magical energies just the same. It´s not about sucking arcane/light juice from it, is about mere game mechanics.

High elf NPCs don´t have golden eyes because devs still believe we´re children unable to distinguish which factions a toon belong to. Under canon lore ALL the High Elves in Outland should have developed fel green eyes; but they aren´t portrayed as such IN GAME to facilitate differentiation by the playerbase (why do you think that NPC in Allerian Stronghold does have to make the distinction to the ally player she´s no Belf? Cause canon wise, she probably looks exactly like a Belf).

Helves should start to develop Golden Eyes too… after all is passive irradiation (unless lore comes to tell us they purposely binded themselves to another magical source like Velves).

No, it’s not. It was confirmed in the Warcraft Encyclopedia during TBC,

Put the quite, cause so far the only thing I´ve seen is in regards to abstinence. The meditation is sourced as RPG.

Because when they where exiled away from them they couldn’t use them anymore.

I repeat: says who? Aszhara had quite the tight control over the Well of Eternity, and we know magical founts can be bound to particular individuals.

Sunwell was never bound to the mage cast of the Highborne turned Helves, it was made free for all and that was the reason they had to put magical safes to prevent the Legion from learning it was just there in EK. It was centuries of “free for all” irradiation with no temperate Cult of Elune to control this.

That’s already established by the lore stating that mana tap made their hunger worse.

Irrelevant, addiction gradient is not absence of addiction. High elves ARE arcane junkies too. Still are and still will be if the Sunwell gets turned off. Again, Aurora Skycaller dialogue which is word for word the testimony of a junkie getting a fix (for the love of God, you are the Helf fans!! how is that you don´t remember basic stuff like that?)

[Drede-cairne (Drede)]

Why are we bringing up old arguments about the Sunwell again? It’s too late in the evening for this…

Because for some reason complaining about the inconsistency in writing results in a completely unrelated topic about us supposedly writing our own lore or something…

[Bladinas-scarlet-crusade]

I mean, what’s canon is canon. As silly as it may be to some people.

You guys were just expressing your opinion on the matter. It’s not like you were you demanding Blizzard to change the lore.

I mean, last I checked we’re here for high elves, right?

[Drede-cairne (Drede)]

Irrelevant, addiction gradient is not absence of addiction. High elves ARE arcane junkies too. Still are and still will be if the Sunwell gets turned off. Again, Aurora Skycaller dialogue which is word for word the testimony of a junkie getting a fix (for the love of God, you are the Helf fans!! how is that you don´t remember basic stuff like that?)

So?

The point is they both suffered the addiction and took different paths to treat it, not that they didn’t suffer addiction.

I repeat: says who? Aszhara had quite the tight control over the Well of Eternity, and we know magical founts can be bound to particular individuals.

Then why did the Sunwell ever get made in the first place if they didn’t need it?

Sunwell was never bound to the mage cast of the Highborne turned Helves, it was made free for all and that was the reason they had to put magical safes to prevent the Legion from learning it was just there in EK. It was centuries of “free for all” irradiation with no temperate Cult of Elune to control this.

And again. What does this have to do with anything I was talking about?

You’re literally getting mad over nothing and making arguments out of nowhere.

I mean, what’s canon is canon. As silly as it may be to some people.

You guys were just expressing your opinion on the matter. It’s not like you were you demanding Blizzard to change the lore.

I mean, last I checked we’re here for high elves, right?

I don’t know why they’re doing this.

I never tried to make up anything I was just upset that Blizzard lacked consistency at times.

Guess that made them angry? I have no idea.

[Lavinya-moon-guard]

Helves should start to develop Golden Eyes too… after all is passive irradiation (unless lore comes to tell us they purposely binded themselves to another magical source like Velves).

Didn’t they say in the stream that Blood Elves get their Golden Eyes by having their Fel taint purified by the Sunwell? If so, since High Elves have nothing to purify, no reason to get Golden Eyes. Or Glowy eyes at all.

[Alamara-goldrinn (Alamara)]

Put the quite, cause so far the only thing I´ve seen is in regards to abstinence . The meditation is sourced as RPG.

Hmm, you are right. Hazy memories on my part. Thought I’d argue that meditation can help with the abstinence part, since, as the encyclopedia says: Indeed, a few high elves are said to have succeeded in taking this route through sheer willpower. I’d say meditation is a way to endure such trials.

[Vexander-wyrmrest-accord]

Aurora didn´t empower herself and she was bathed by the magical energies just the same. It´s not about sucking arcane/light juice from it, is about mere game mechanics.

There’s still a difference between being passively sustained by the Sunwell, and actively drawing upon it to empower yourself. Blood Knights and Magisters are examples of actively drawing upon the Sunwell to empower themselves. It’s how Blood Knights wield the Light at all.

By contrast, High Elves are passively sustained by the Sunwell. We have no lore anywhere stating that, since it’s return, they empower themselves with it.

This is the important distinction, even if it doesn’t seem like a significant one. The two groups have a different relationship with the Sunwell.

[Fyrebusche-kiljaeden]

ariel

[Nindraine-moon-guard (Nindraine)]

And really, to add to this, there’s nothing vital about the High Elves being connected to the Sunwell. If Blizzard decided they wanted to write into the narrative that ever since TBC the High Elves have felt the Sunwell less and less due to no longer living right next to it, essentially weaning themselves off of being sustained by its energies, it wouldn’t have any real or significant impact on current events or lore. The High Elves’ relationship with the Sunwell is minimal significance and zero real consequence.

[Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord]

It’s the, “Are we the baddies?” conundrum.

The Blood Elves adopted a less moral solution in regards to dealing with magical addiction.

So if High Elves are made playable and your High Elf stands next to a Blood Elf, one of the two Elves didn’t do bad things to get over mana addiction.

I always personally thought being a Blood Elf was about owning that bit of lore though.

[Jericha-draka (Jericha)]

I not only do bad things, I am a bad thing. Smokes some blood thistle because I can and mana taps Nyshant. Because being a void nut Rommath has a conniption whenever she tries tapping the well.

But I agree I always saw Blood Elves as willing to do practically anything to alleviate their hunger for magic. Whether they be acceptable or not, didn’t much matter to them.

[Nindraine-moon-guard (Nindraine)]

I always likened the divide over the whole mana issue to be principles vs pragmatism. Which you can use as a basis to inform all kinds of personality/behaviour traits.

[Nyshant-wyrmrest-accord]

[Alamara-goldrinn (Alamara)]

Baenan spat on the floor near the elf’s feet. “Ye blood elves wouldn’t know nobility if ye had th’ definition tattooed on yer foreheads. Pathetic, slavering magic addicts, ye even sold out yer own people!”

Talithar’s face whitened, giving Baenan the satisfaction of having hit a nerve. He realized it was unwise to bait his jailor, but he was too angry to care.

“Aye,” he pressed, “I’ve met high elves in me life. I know what ye did tae them. I come from Loch Modan; I’ve heard th’ stories from th’ Farstrider lass there—”

In a surprising display of raw physical strength, Talithar crossed the room in a single stride and lifted Baenan clean off his feet, slamming him into the wall. He held Baenan there at the blood elf’s own height, almost twice that of the dwarf’s, and stared him dead in the eye.

“Do not ever— ever —mention her in my presence.” Talithar’s voice was calm, but had a menacing undercurrent that made Baenan’s hair stand on end. He’d intended to upset the elf, but the depth of Talithar’s reaction was shocking. Still, the Horde had taken Baenan captive and denied him the chance to fight with weapons, so he battled with words. And this mage was a symbol of everything he despised.

“I see ye know Vyrin Swiftwind,” Baenan said, purely out of spite. “Someone special tae ye? Well, she hates yer kind now, an’ everything ye stand fer!”

Talithar threw Baenan to the floor. The dwarf landed painfully on his shoulder, bracing himself for the mage’s wrath, but Talithar possessed a surprising amount of restraint and took no further action.

Baenan managed to push himself into a sitting position. His shoulder throbbed, but it was worth it to have provoked the blood elf. Talithar’s head was bowed, and his fists were clenched and white at the knuckles. He looked up, and Baenan’s mouth fell open.

Talithar’s face was streaked with tears.

“A wife does tend to be someone special to her husband.” His voice was thick with rage, humiliation, and despair. He reached into the front of his robe and wrenched a thin gold chain from around his neck, hurling it at Baenan’s feet. The necklace boasted no beads or pendant, just two exquisitely crafted rings, a man’s and a woman’s, high elven in design.

“You think I do not know what I am? We sin’dorei were given a choice: our integrity or our well-being. As if that were any kind of choice at all. I chose my well-being. My wife chose her integrity.”

…

“This is yers,” the dwarf said awkwardly. “Ye should have it back. And”—Baenan paused—“I’m sorry fer what I told ye. It was cruel o’ me.”

Chen blinked. Clearly, he had missed something.

“No,” Talithar said softly. He reached out and caressed the two rings, then withdrew his hand. “You were right. Vyrin left me for a reason. I made my choice. It had its consequences.”

“Aye, but…” Baenan hesitated again. "There’s something else. She used tae talk about ye. I mean, I didn’t know it was ye in particular, but she did mention she had been married. She never told me why she left her husband.

“She doesn’t hate ye,” Baenan said. “I know she’s angry, but she does miss ye.”

Talithar’s expression had gone through several permutations while Baenan spoke, and settled at last on wistful melancholy. Still, he did not take the necklace.

“Keep it,” Talithar said. “But do me a favor, please.”

Baenan nodded cautiously.

“When you return to Loch Modan, take the rings to her. Tell her I miss her, and that I never stopped loving her.”

“I will,” Baenan said. “I promise.”

Quest for Pandaria - Part 4 by Sarah Pine - WoW

[Talendras-sargeras]

Only worry I have for if San’layn and High Elf happens is if the devs make some crazy unnecessary backstory to have them in the game instead of something simple, organic, and easy.

It’s not entirely without precedent. Draenei, Worgen, and Void Elves all came with unnecessary backstory changes to justify them being playable and the devs really didn’t need to go as far as they did to have such concepts. I could go further but it would derail the thread, so I will just say that in the case of Void Elves they really should have just been Alleria’s followers in Outland, the ones that were in Allerian Stronghold, captured and Void-corrupted by an ethereal while they were on a mission with her, and becoming staunch Alliance loyalist shadow elves. The only Silver Covenant member that should be a Void Elf should have been that Summoner Nolric guy to go along with them.

Now for High Elves, I would worry Blizzard would create some weirdly unnecessary background lore that just kinda be silly and superfluous writing. I hope that doesn’t happen, but it’s very much a possibility considering the trend they’ve set with other races.

[Nindraine-moon-guard (Nindraine)]

I suppose the one mitigating factor is that High Elves are kind of just…already around doing their thing and helping the Alliance, so the simplest way to add them is to more or less pull a Dark Iron Dwarves style recruitment where you just kind of go to them and say ‘So, we want you to join the Alliance officially. Cool? Cool.’ and that’s it.

There’s 100% the risk of the writers pulling something out of left field though. I hope they don’t, but the possibility is there, it’s true.

Unfortunately it’s not really something we can control, though. I think worrying about that is slightly putting the cart before the horse, too - just getting so far as Blizzard deciding to make them an Allied Race should be the main concern/focus/goal right now.

That being said, it’s always good to discuss narrative ideas and whatnot. I’m always down for that.

[Alamara-goldrinn (Alamara)]

Draenei, Worgen, and Void Elves all came with unnecessary backstory changes to justify them being playable and the devs really didn’t need to go as far as they did to have such concepts.

I think worgen was well done. Their starting area is very good and has all the lore that is needed to get behind them, and it wasn’t far-fetched, as people were theorizing that Gilneas was taken by the worgen way back in Vanilla. The big mistake with worgen was to ignore them and treat them like furry night elves once we got out of their starting zone.

But yeah, draenei and void elves were both messes. Amazing how Alliance always ends up with the behind-spawned ideas.