The named one is now but states himself he was a Paladin before the fall of Silvermoon.
I’ll grant the others are suspect as they’re light vague mentions.
Again though the before isn’t so important as the now. High elves regularly show up as paladins from Wrath onwards.
(also to be clear so folk don’t misunderstand me. I’m only arguing about whether or not high elves have paladins in general. I still want void based paladins for void elves in the lore.)
Again, not really? Like we have one character who was inexplicably a Helf paladin, but that’s a stretch to say that it’s in any way common to them unless of course they’re so decimated that stray individuals count for a double digit percentage of the race as a whole.
Like the other end of it though, is that paladins in the context of Azeroth are a pretty new thing outside of the Zandalari (where it’s basically an analogue as opposed to the same thing according to the lore); Like paladins came about because the alliance determined after the first war that they needed trained warriors to act as their battlefield medics because the priests were just getting slaugtered by horde forces. Further, that would have been… maybe 35 years ago in game lore?
Doesn’t exactly leave a lot of time for a race that is known for taking the long view of things to adapt a whole new philosophy for war.
They’ve been showing up since Wrath as paladins with the SC, Argent Crusade and the Silver Hand. By Legion they’re a common race you get for the troops you make in your order hall, sometimes they’re also just standing around. Most recently they’ve added a new named one too.
Seems to me that they’ve been growing as a standard class since Wrath. Maybe because like all high elves, blood elves included, they’re connected now to a big ole Sunwell infused with both arcane and light power.
The Elves in WoW are very capable of adapting. We’ve seen this plenty. lol
Would not disagree with that, even now on DL a new HE paladin NPC has been introduced, so the notion that HE have grown closer to the light, maybe due to their cohabitation with Humans, it’s a possibility.
Whether that possibility is ever addressed, who knows heh.
They really are the War2 Elven vibe.
The game is getting QoL changes all the time to cater to the majority.
Majority pays the bills.
I think another way to look at it is:
Paladins get to be “Twilight Paladins” (Holy/light like the NPC and its bosses)
DK can be “Void Knights” since their dead they can go full Void and be ok. lol
IMO it also a nice way to mix up the Void stuff.
This, I have always supported the idea of Twilight Paladins ever since I learned they already exist in game
Interestingly “Twilight” is also an in game classification for the combination of Light and Void schools of magic. Brom both a lore and gameplay perspective the use of both forces in tandem already exists, so it would be very interesting to see that as part of a Void (or Twilight) Knight concept.
Technically speaking, the lore and gameplay implications of Twilight magic are at odds.
Lorewise it’s a branch of Void.
It’s only game mechanic wise that it has any involvement with Light.
I think you’re conflating “twilight” as the “Twilight’s Hammer” void organization and “twilight” as the magic school.
They are different things with an overlapping name. The connection being made between “twilight” magic as a school is made specifically to the “Twilight Vindicators”, which are members of the organization that are also Paladins, thus potentially not only being “Twilight” members, but also using twilight magic.
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Twilight_Vindicator
And they simply use Holy magic in game, which could be a gameplay limitation.
I’m referring to “twilight magic”
Which is a form of just Void magic
It has no canonical connection with Light
Twilight magic is presumably Old God magic of the void branch.[27]
presumably, from a twitter thread with a deleted post for context?
Old god magic, void I think?
It really isn’t evidence strong enough that dismiss the in game definition of twilight magic. It’s certainly not a definitive answers, clearly an off the cuff answer, and still doesn’t negate a light connection, given what we know about the light/void cycle.
According to wowpedia it’s a multi spell school. A combination of shadow and holy. How accurate that is is hard to say. But it is more of a derivative of the Light than a combination of Light and Shadow.
As far as we know it’s a combination of Light and Void magic rather than a a derivative of either, cause that’s how multi-school spells works. They are both.
I’m going to take it with a grain of salt as the establishment of what Twilight magic is wasn’t until recent, if I remember correctly.
And… to say the recent years of lore/story has been nominal would be a lie. I’m not sure how concrete something made/defined under Danusers rule can be respected.
“twilight” magic as a school has only been used with some NPC’s in Cata and a Legion priest ability. Both well before Danuser’s time for all that’s worth.
We really don’t know a whole lot of “twilight” as a magic school. We just know it exists, that it was used by some members of the Twilight’s hammer, and that it could be used to explain how the TH had Paladins (Twilight Vindicators) in their ranks.
I think the last is the important bit here TBH. These were paladins that were members of a Void organization.
Twilight magic has been used quite a bit, especially in BfA. It was exclusively used by Old God/Void forces. It’s also one of the main magics used by Twilight Dragons.
I’m sure outliers will exist in differing areas. Sir Zeliek is an outlier of a Paladin retaining their Paladinhood after death. I think there’s many instances where we see Undead using the light such as Forsaken Holy Priests or some of the fallen in Northrend, but it’s not exactly common.
Will a Void Elf Paladin exist? I’m not sure. It’s two different principles on how Priests use it, but a Holy Void Elf Priest was a curveball for me. Maybe they’ll define them more in the future.
My skepticism is that this is all based on their own Cosmic Forces. Fel and Arcane aren’t exactly buddies nor is Nature and Necromatic.
Do you have a source on that? I really don’t know how to search spells by magic school on WoWhead, so I can only go by the WoWpedia listing.
Indeed, it’s just that the “twilight school of magic theory” serve to explain how those Twilight Vindicators could work within the lore and not be question mark, as they are now. We do have lore on how undead can use the Holy light -it’s not pleasant for them- but we have almost nothing on Void worshipers using light, which leaves us with a lot of questions.
IMO so far a “VE holy priest” is more of a gameplay hiccup, such as a “LFD shadow priest”, I don’t think they are meant to be necessarily canonical. I think twilight magic could help explain how they exist within the lore more strongly.
Honestly I don’t know either if there will ever be VE Paladins, i just think there’s a lot of potential in expanding the Paladin archetype to be about the light/void cycle in terms of lore and worldbuilding.
Which is why I think the Void/Light dichotomy stands separate to those tbh, because not only are they opposites, but also part of the same cycle as we can see most obviously with the Naaru.
That is a very good point. Has there ever been an instance of a Naaru that’s expended all of their light, turning Void and turning back? Also, would that cycle not notate that they are either one or the other? Not both?
Alleria’s interaction with the Sunwell is another point. Perhaps it’s purely Void/Light beings cannot contain the power, but those that are more… diluted, can? I suppose that doesn’t explain LFD and Void Elves with the classes you mentioned.
It would be great if there’s an explanation, but the way Sylvanas’ arc into Shadowlands turned out, I am terrified what that explanation is going to be.