No. The Cenarion Circle started as a night elven organization but has long since grown beyond the boundaries of being subject to night elven politics. This is why when the night elves go to war they don’t also drag the Cenarion Circle along with it. Tyrande, leader of the night elves, has absolutely no authority over the Cenarion Circle.
Malfurion co-rules the night elves and is also the founder and leader of the Cenarion Circle. These are separate positions of authority. Not linked. If Malfurion were to die there’s a good chance Hamuul would replace him.
The Cenarion Circle is beyond ownership by any outside political body. It is why even now, with Malfurion engaging in the defense of his homeland, the Cenarion Circle as a whole is not being rallied against the Horde. That isn’t how the Circle works.
Because, as I said, it’s leader being Malfurion is what keeps them from going after the Horde while the world is at stake.
If Cenarion Circle members are originally Night Elves, is built upon elven druidic knowledge granted by Cenarius (who happens to be the son of Night Elves greatest Goddess) and it’s located in Mt. Hyjal/Moonglade which are also Night Elves zones then yeah, Cenarion Circle is an Elven Organization that allows other races is.
The thing is that the Circle knows how to separate other members from the Horde. They won’t punish non elven druids for the action of the Horde.
Malfurion leads the Circle, but the Circle is not a dictatorship. It operated fine when he was unconscious and trapped in the nightmare for a decade. Fandral was Malfurion’s replacement among the night elves, but he didn’t have authority to kick Hamuul out like he would’ve wanted (Fandral strongly disagreed that tauren were worthy of being druids) because the night elven druidic rep is not automatically the Cenarion Circle’s singular chief. During that time Fandral and Hamuul seemed to have equal authority.
The Circle’s leadership is more complicated than you’re making it seem. The Alliance and Horde both have their own chief representative in charge of managing the druids from their faction and each race has their own primary representative who has influence within the Circle.
Then you have beings like Keeper Remulos, Cenarius, Ysera before her passing, and the wild gods who are divine beings not beholden to night elven rulership but respect Malfurion as an individual enough to let him take charge.
Malfurion’s authority comes from his status as the first druid and a teacher. His authority comes from respect and admiration. It doesn’t come from a legal precedent or a blood oath that all other members are expected to adhere to.
Similarly if he died whoever replaced him would get the position for similar reasons. If Hamuul was promoted to the leader of the Circle would he also become Tyrande’s co-leader of the night elves? Unlikely, because the two titles are separate.
Fandral in all his madness was still a druid so he was perfectly capable as mentioned before to understand the difference between non elven druids from the horde as a whole.
Every non elven druid has earned their trust and place among the rest of the Circle but at the end of the day the very land they are setting foot upon belongs to Night Elves.
It may fill a power fantasy of yours to think that the Night Elves own and operate the Cenarian Circle, but that hasn’t been true since the start of the MMORG. The Tauren were already equal partners and there are now more Horde races than Alliances ones that claim membership.
The Darkspear are barely involved in the Cenarion Circle, and even in the Dreamgrove Druid Class Hall there were additional Night Elf NPCs in leadership positions than Tauren as even Champion followers. With the Gilneans, I don’t know you’re adding up more Horde races than Alliance.
But overall Kisin is right with at least this point:
She is probably counting allied races, though none of the allied races have officially joined the Cenarion Circle.
And while there are more night elves in positions of power that is due to night elves having practiced the craft longer. Not because the Cenarion Circle is a subsidiary below the Kaldorei government. The Circle is an independent body at this point.
I’ve argued that in the past, but people have argued against me. Notably for example how quick the Druids in Val’sharah were to follow Tyrande’s lead and the authority of the Temple of Elune there at.
Night elven druids would follow her authority as a priestess of Elune and in that moment wasn’t it an emergency? It has been a while since I did Val’Sharah.
Ultimately the Circle can only be truly subservient to the Kaldorei if you believe tauren can hold high positions within Darnassian government or that a tauren would be denied the position of head archdruid. The first seems unlikely and the second definitely feels like it goes against what makes the Cenarion Circle what it is.
Possibly. It is hard to say. The night elves we interact with the most are a lot more tolerant than night elves as a people are supposed to be.
But what if it weren’t Hamuul specifically? Shoot, what if it was Zen’Tabra? I’ve always viewed the Circle as a sort of meritocracy. It doesn’t matter where you come from so much as what you can do to help Azeroth.
If there is a hard limit to how far the non-elven races can get within the organization purely due to their race it paints the Cenarion Circle as… Kind of gross.
Indeed. That is ultimately how I see the Circle. Every race, even the trolls (begrudgingly at first) are seen as and treated as equals with the same opportunities.
Though I can’t really imagine a jungle troll sitting in Darnassus issuing orders to the Kaldorei to martial their strength for the coming Horde attack.
Which is why the Cenarion Circle doesn’t really work as a branch of the kaldorei government. It needs to be its own thing so no one race gets preferential treatment.
Also as an aside, I’m mad we didn’t get more quests with Zen’kiki in Legion. I was super excited at the prospect of taking him on as a real student.
Hopefully when he gets a big role next he’ll have grown into a matured and capable druid. Though one that still occasionally references Alamo.
True, but that is a big leap from fully joining the Alliance, which is necessary if they are a part of the Kaldorei government.
Maybe some day in Azeroth’s future racial boundaries won’t be so strict and every group will be more like the Circle. It just doesn’t feel like it is there yet.
Especially not for as long as the faction war is a “pillar of the franchise”.
The Darkspear were also able to see when the Horde had gone wrong and so started the Darkspear Rebellion under Vol’jin. If Zen’tabra had taken charge of the Darkspear instead of Rokhan BfA might have gone differently.
Non elven druids can climb to high position of power within the circle and that’s fine as long as they do no harm to Night Elves in general. That would be a good excuse to be expelled from our organization.
Anyway I hardly believe that would happen because there’s a reason we allowed Tauren to be with us. They are the perfect partners to spread druidsm along side us.