side note Quel’dorei stole the art of “enchanting” from learning voodoo from Amani trolls who learned it from Zandalari trolls and watering it down according to Zanza the Restless who was there.
`https://wow.gamepedia.com/Zanza_the_Restless
So Dark Trolls become Nelves become Helves who steal Zandalari Voodoo
Granted, this is a Troll source. Of course he is going to see elven magic as inferior to his own. I am a bit more skeptical. Azshara defeated the Empire of Zul without any real effort due to the Highborne’s superior magic. To this day, it’s the most humiliating defeat in Troll History, and the source of the lasting animosity between Elven and Troll races.
So, sometime between the Kaldorei Empire, and the Exile of the Highborne, we have to assume either Amani enchanting improved, or Quel’dorei magic became weaker.
Perhaps most of the ancient knowledge stayed in Eldre’Thalas, and did not travel with the Quel’dorei? Hard to say.
Think of it this way. Would being compared to a Neanderthal be an insult to most?
Lots of people have some Neanderthal DNA, but I doubt they would take pride in being called one.
Could we not ask the same question of the Nightborne? What is their opinion of their troll ancestry? After all, what is a nighborne but a night elf with ears that point the wrong way?
Actually, the same could be said of all elves. In the end they are all nothing but magically mutated troll-spawn
Also, I thought it was because the night elves in game don’t actually know that they have indeed evolved from trolls and found the suggestion to be preposterous when it was brought up to them.
Of course we the players know that it is true, but in game characters are not privy to the same information we have.
Straight to the point,
It’s basically re-writing history to something “divine”
Seems most Night Elves can’t handle the truth of their origins
Well, it would also challenge their religious worldview. So I understand why they would reject it. Frankly, I do not like that aspect of the lore myself.
Nor I while it doesn’t have to be discouraging,
They are indeed Elune’s children and we’re far gifted by the Wildgods, Cenarius and Elune,
They built wonders,
Same reason humans shun their ape heritage. You don’t glorify in having once been a lesser being.
My question is… we know it as players.
Is it really common knowledge in game? Because that’d be a pretty good reason.
Actually they are embracing it as trolls are infamous for absolutely despising the differences of other troll tribes.
Not sure it is common knowledge more-so than rumor or supposition.
Probably because it seems like they dislike Trolls for being aggressive, barbaric, and savage.
Wasn’t that what Night Elves were advertised as from the get go? The very first time they show up in WC3, Grom Hellscream comments that “they almost look like elves, but are far too tall, and far too savage”. At the very least, Night Elves match two of those qualities.
The Quel’dorei didn’t steal enchanting from the Amani or Zanza. They knew it before, they just copied some of that loa’s enchanting spells and techniques.
I mean, do we have material in-game proof of Quel’dorei “enchanting weapons” prior to contact with Amani or Zandalari Trolls? And regardless, Zanza didn’t specify if this was pre or post Sundering, and could very well have been preSundering.
I feel like the decision to make Night Elves (and all Elves by proxy) Troll descendant was probably an impulsive choice way back when and has since proven to be a fairly poor one at that.
I don’t think there would have been an issue with both the Night Elves and Trolls be the first two (natural) native Races to Azeroth. If anything it would have made for an interesting fued between the two.
Back in the day, the Night Elves were the first Race to “Awaken”. While that lore may not of held up and was Retconed, the choice to make them Troll descendant is just strange and honestly unnecessary.
It is possible that their dislike for the Troll heritage is entirely meta, as the current team feels like it was a bad decision.
Night Elves are the “good” kind of savage. The ones with hot women in skimpy armor, but don’t do things like wear bones in their noses. They are wise and uncorrupted by technology, but build cities of stone, because only cities of stone are true cities. They live in tune with nature, but only the good kind of nature like bears and eagles and deer and faire dragons. One might even call them noble.
It makes sense if you take into account the real-life “roots” of much of in-game Troll construction (an amalgamation of Afro-Caribbean, African, and Latin American Indigenous myths and stereotypes) and a Gen X/Boomer desire to introduce Evolutionary Theory into the game, making the IRL “We Are All Africans” Richard Dawson Meme into the in-game “We Are All Trolls”.
Anywho all land is Troll land.
That’s certainly Grom’s perception of them. That said, whether they originally were or not, I think the presentation of them since then has been more chill. Not peaceful but emphasizing their connection with nature than savagery.
It’s more likely an example of the trope wherein there’s always an ancient civilization that was advanced for its time, but has since devolved into violent savages/succeeded by its successors. Which is the most common context in which most all “Jungle ruins inhabited by tribes” exist in fiction.
Probably the same reason humans shun their great ape heritage.