
Exile of the Highborne
Long before they were the elves we know today, the high elves were members of night elf society. During the War of the Ancients, Queen Azshara and her upper cast of Highborne mages entered into a pact with the Burning Legion, intent on summoning them to Azeroth through the magical Well of Eternity for the sake of power. The vast majority of the lower caste night elves led by Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind fought against Azshara and her allies, and a small number of Highborne mages did as well. The war ultimately ended with the Well of Eternity imploding in on itself, shattering Azeroth into the continents we know today.
The surviving night elves settled on Kalimdor, where they were quickly met with a betrayal by Malfurion’s brother Illidan, who used the vials of water he had obtained from the Well of Eternity to create a second Well, one that risked attracting the Burning Legion back to Azeroth. After imprisoning Azeroth and plannting the world tree Nordrassil atop the new Well to suppress its magical powers, the night elves shifted their society towards one centered around druidism and the worship of their moon goddess Elune.
In the wake of the horrors wrought by Azshara and her caste of mages, Malfurion and Tyrande outlawed the use of arcane magic, much to the chagrin of the Highborne who had allied with them in the war. Despite this prohibition, they continued to use arcane magic, eventually manifesting a dangerous unnatural storm that nearly tore through elven lands in protest. Unwilling to kill them for their crimes, Malfurion chose instead to exile the Highborne from Kalimdor, forcing them to sail to the east towards unknown lands — but not before their leader, Dath’remar Sunstrider, managed to steal one of Illidan’s vials of water from the Well of Eternity.
Eventually, the Highborne landed on the Eastern Kingdoms, in the lands known as Tirisfal. Cut off from their connection to the distant Well of Eternity, the Highborne began to mutate, shrinking in height and gaining skin tones similar to humans. Known now as high elves, they were confronted with dark energies buried deep beneath the human-inhabited Tirisfal, and chose to march north of the human lands to find the nearest congregation of arcane leylines.
As they marched north, the high elves were met with a ferocious winter storm, one that caused many of their numbers to freeze or starve to death, exposing their vulnerability so far from their font of power. Continuing to march north, they were met with another threat — the trolls. Despite multiple run-ins with hostile troll groups, Dath’remar and the high elves managed to reach the conflux if leylines they had been searching for, placed beneath a great lake. Pouring the vial from the Well of Eternity into its waters, the lake was transformed into a font of immense arcane power: the Sunwell.
Now nourished by their new well, the high elves declared their new lands to be Quel’thalas, the High Home of the elves, of which Dath’remar was named King. From there, they shaped the land into one of eternal spring, with grandiose forests all leading to their shining, impregnable capital of Silvermoon City. To the high elves, they had established a paradise befitting their arcane heritage… but not all of the locals agreed.
The Amani and the Troll Wars
Unfortunately for the high elves, they had not been the first inhabitants of the lands now known as Quel’thalas. The local Amani trolls of Zul’Aman had lived on the land for millennia prior, and the region that the high elves had built their kingdom was considered sacred ground by the forest trolls. The Amani quickly attacked the high elves in full force, pushing them back to their borders with ferocity. Eventually, Dath’remar managed to lead the battle to a standstill, and piece by piece carved out the borders of Quel’thalas we know today, with the Amani forced back to the far reaches of what was once their land.
Amidst these battles, the high elves began to fear the cost of the immense magics they wielded against the Amani. While their vitality and power had been restored by the Sunwell, they knew much of the dangers such an arcane font posed towards drawing in threats like the Burning Legion, and so Dath’remar instructed them to erect protective measures such as the elven Runestones and a shield known as Ban’dinoriel to protect both the Sunwell and the high elves from outside attention. For many thousands of years, these protective measures would last against the Amani, until the arrival of the Zandalari.
Nearly four thousand years after the founding of Quel’thalas, the Amani trolls of the era still boiled with hatred for their invasive neighbors. That hatred was discovered by the Zandalari, the ancient troll empire that ruled Azeroth before Azshara and her empire of elves, and they saw the Amani as an opportunity to regain the power they had lost. Spurring the Amani to action, the Zandalari incited them to rally their numbers and begin attacking the borders of Quel’thalas as the start of what would be known as the Troll Wars, forcing the high elves to act.
Led now by Dath’remar’s descendant, Anasterian Sunstrider, the high elves first acted in two ways. First, they formed an order known as the Farstriders, composed of elven rangers committed to defending the far reaches of Quel’thalas’ borders and led by Talanas Windrunner. While the new order of rangers helped slow the advance of the trolls, it did not stem the tide of blood, and Anasterian was forced to rely on another local of the Eastern Kingdoms — the humans.
Organized into the Empire of Arathor at the time, the humans were led by King Thoradin, a legendary warrior who had rallied their scattered clans in preparation for any potential threats from the forest trolls. Upon receiving Anasterian’s request for aid, he offered the high elves a deal: the humans would ally with the high elves against the Amani, in exchange for the high elves teaching the humans how to wield magic. Anasterian worried over what such a request would entail in the future, but faced with no other options, he agreed to teach one hundred humans to become mages in exchange for their alliance.
With the combined human and elven armies, and the immense power that the newly trained human mages wielded, the newfound alliance of nations was able to soundly defeat the Amani army, forcing them back into their forests where their numbers would never recover, even into the modern day. Rejoicing over this victory, the humans and high elves entered an era of peace and partnership that would last for millennia.
The humans that had been trained would eventually go on to found the city-state of Dalaran, a hub for magical learning that many high elves would find value in, leaving Quel’thalas for human lands to integrate into the magical city, where notable mages such as Aethas Sunreaver, Magister Rommath, and even Anasterian’s son Kael’thas Sunstrider would find a home.
The Alliance of Lordaeron
Around two thousand years later, the alliance between elves and humans would be tested. In the centuries following the Troll Wars, the Empire of Arathor would begin to fracture, with its unified lands being split into the modern kingdoms we know today. While most of them, such as Lordaeron, Alterac, and Stromgarde were located in the northern reaches of the Eastern Kingdoms, some of King Thoradin’s descendants chose to move south and found the nation of Stormwind. Despite many conflicts with the local jungle trolls and gnolls alike, Stormwind managed to stand firm as a kingdom independent from its contemporary nations…. until the invasion of the orcs.
When the Orcish Horde invaded through the Dark Portal, the clash between them and the humans of Stormwind known as the First War ultimately resulted in Stormwind’s destruction, with its surviving citizens fleeing north to the kingdom of Lordaeron. As the orcish armies marched north, they aimed to conquer the rest of the Eastern Kingdoms, and so the human nations banded together in response. Forming the Alliance of Lordaeron at the onset of the Second War, the humans called upon the elves of Quel’thalas for aid, and while Anasterian sent a small force led by Ranger-Captain Alleria Windrunner, he initially chose to stay out of the war so long as it did not put his own people at risk.
Unfortunately for Anasterian, Quel’thalas would quickly come under attack by the Orcish Horde, now allied with the local Amani and their chieftain, Zul’jin. With the powers of their warlocks combined with their troll allies and enslaved red dragons, the Horde came dangerously close to assaulting Silvermoon, protected only by Ban’dinoriel as their forests burned in the distance. Fully committing the elven armies to the war at last, Anasterian tasked his Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner to work alongside the Alliance of Lordaeron in full, forcing the Horde to a standstill. Seeing no way of winning in Quel’thalas, the Horde was forced to retreat, with the Amani abandoning their ranks upon seeing the orcs flee from the battle.
The Second War would eventually be won by the Alliance of Lordaeron, with the orcs pushed further and further south until their sound defeat at Blackrock Mountain where the orcs were subsequently imprisoned and interned. In the wake of the war, Anasterian returned Quel’thalas to its relative isolation from its neighboring kingdoms, eventually withdrawing from the Alliance of Lordaeron entirely. While many high elves chose to remain in human lands, especially in Dalaran, most of them retreated back into their kingdom, leaving the humans to fend for themselves in the Second War’s aftermath.
The Fall of Quel’thalas
Unfortunately, the isolation of Quel’thalas from the struggles of its neighbors would ultimately prove its downfall. While the elves largely ignored the events beyond their borders, a plague brewed within Lordaeron, turning its people into mindless undead. Though the threat seemed quelled for a time, it would eventually rear its head with Lordaeron’s own crown prince, Arthas Menethil, as its leader. For reasons unknown to the elves, Arthas would then turn his monstrous Scourge army upon Quel’thalas, beginning a deathly march through elven lands towards Silvermoon and the Sunwell.
While their lands were protected by the Runestones and Ban’dinoriel alike, the elves initially thought themselves save from the attack, but what they didn’t know is that Arthas had an elven ally at his side named Dar’khan Drathir. Believing himself deserving of more power than Silvermoon’s Magisters would offer, he worked with Arthas in exchange for such strength, murdering the mages responsible for erecting the magical barrier around Silvermoon and pointing Arthas in the direction of the Runestones.
The defense of Quel’thalas was mounted by Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner, whose family had protected the forests of Quel’thalas for millennia as leaders of the Farstriders. Sylvanas and the Farstriders put up a valiant effort in staving off the Scourge, much to Arthas’ immense irritation, but their actions proved futile, with Arthas slaying them and raising Sylvanas as an undead banshee for her defiance.
Arthas then marched on Silvermoon itself, murdering over 90% of the elven populace in Quel’thalas including King Anasterian. Ultimately, the reason for the invasion was to place the remains of the necromancer Kel’thuzad into the Sunwell so that he might be reborn as an unholy Lich. In the process of his rebirth, the Sunwell was corrupted by necromantic magics, sending it into a chaotic spiral that would eventually corrupt the remaining elves and finish their remaining population off.
When word of what happened reached Dalaran, Anasterian’s son Kael’thas was distraught, quickly abandoning his place in the mage city and returning home to survey the damage. Gathering their remaining numbers, he led an assault on the Sunwell, having to make the difficult choice to destroy it entirely rather than see his people defiled by its magics. In the wake of its destruction, he stood before his people and declared them high elves no longer — in honor of the fallen, they were now the blood elves.
Searching for a Cure
Believing himself partially responsible for Quel’thalas’ fall due to his absence, Kael’thas declared his father the last King of Silvermoon, and set out to find a cure to the ailment now afflicting his people. Without the Sunwell, the blood elves were cut off from their source of power, and left with a crippling addiction to magic that consumed their every thought. In order to find a way to alleviate their addiction, Kael’thas chose to leave Silvermoon once more, placing Sylvanas’ former lieutenant Lor’themar Theron in the role of Regent-Lord until his return and tasking him with rebuilding Quel’thalas.
With the blood elf army at his back, Kael’thas ventured back into human lands, where he initially met with the night elves and helped them in their pursuit of Illidan Stormrage in exchange for aid. Illidan had been freed from his bonds during the Legion invasion that occurred thanks to the Scourge’s actions, and while the Legion had been defeated, Illidan had been approached with an offer by Kil’jaeden, the demon lord of the Legion: destroy the Scourge’s leader, the Lich King, in exchange for great power. Though Illidan attempted to do so by destroying the entire continent of Northrend, he was stopped thanks to the night elves and their blood elf allies, eventually reconciling with his brother and Tyrande and fleeing through a portal.
In the wake of his Alliance with the night elves, Kael’thas and the blood elves joined up with the remnants of the Alliance’s forces in Lordaeron, led by a haughty human named Grand Marshal Garithos. Garithos was once the lord of the human lands bordering Quel’thalas, and when the elves initially refused to aid Lordaeron during the Second War, Garithos developed an intense disdain for the elves. Wielding his bigotry to great effect, Garithos sent Kael’thas and the blood elves on suicide missions, content to see the results of the missions regardless of the outcome. The blood elves only survived such tasks thanks to the covert aid of the Naga; the remnants of the very Highborne who stayed loyal to Azshara to the end during the War of the Ancients, and had been transformed into monstrous fish-people.
Led by Lady Vashj, the naga repeatedly assisted the blood elves, but their alliance was eventually discovered by Garithos, who used it as an excuse to imprison the blood elves within Dalaran (which had since also been razed to the ground by the Scourge) and prepare them for execution. Yet again, Lady Vashj intervened, freeing the blood elves and offering them a choice: to stay and die at the hands of Garithos, or flee with the naga to the shattered orcish world of Outland, where her master awaited — none other than Illidan Stormrage.
Despite his recent encounter with Illidan and his schemes Kael’thas accepted Vashj’s offer, and the two armies fled to the distant planet to meet with Illidan. Understanding the addiction that the blood elves suffered as an elf himself, Illidan made Kael’thas an offer: in exchange for the loyalty of the blood elves, he would teach them how to drain magic from living creatures and wield fel. Eagerly accepting his offer, Kael’thas assisted Illidan in routing the Legion from Outland and beginning the work of claiming the shattered planet for themselves.
The Burning Crusade
Intent on sharing their newfound powers and one day leading the blood elves as a whole to the supposed ‘paradise’ of Outland, Kael’thas sent his closest advisor Grand Magister Rommath back to Quel’thalas to teach the rest of his people how to sate their addiction. Quel’thalas quickly became reliant on these practices, rebuilding their destroyed lands into a portion of the splendor it once held — though the Dead Scar, a plagued mark stretching through the entirety of the land, refused to heal. Unbeknownst to most of the population, the floating spires and magical enchantments that rebuilt the city of Silvermoon were made using fel crystals, subtly infusing the people of Quel’thalas and turning their eyes from blue into a sickly fel green.
Not all citizens of Quel’thalas agreed with these practices, however. Some were vehemently opposed to the use of dark magics and torture of living creatures to sustain their addiction, and refused to take up the moniker of blood elf in accordance with Kael’thas. Intent on preventing a civil war during their crucial rebuilding period, Lor’themar exiled these high elves from Quel’thalas, forcing them to live in the Scourge-tainted Plaguelands or move to other human settlements across the Eastern Kingdoms where their hatred for their fel-corrupted kin boiled for years.
Back on Outland, Kael’thas and the Illidari went through many tumultuous tasks, briefly returning to Azeroth at the behest of Kil’jaeden with another failed attempt to destroy the Lich King before returning to Outland. Upon their return, Illidan became obsessed with defeating the Legion by taking the fight to their own worlds, and the idea of helping the blood elves with curing their addiction began to fade into the background. Taking it upon himself, Kael’thas took the blood elves to Netherstorm, where they found the naaru complex known as Tempest Keep. Quickly storming it, the blood elves claimed it for themselves and captured the naaru in control of it called M’uru.
Sending M’uru back to Quel’thalas as a gift, the Magisters chose to use the holy potential of the naaru to its fullest extent. Calling upon the distraught former priestess Lady Liadrin, they taught her how to directly steal Light from the naaru, anointing her as the first blood elf paladin and leader of the Blood Knights. Shaping the new paladin order as a sadistic, spiteful order against other Light wielders across Azeroth, the Blood Knights became a new crux of Silvermoon alongside the Farstriders and Magisters.
Despite their rebuilding efforts, the Scourge remnants continue to push Silvermoon to the brink, but they were eventually helped by an unlikely ally: the free-willed undead of the Forsaken. Led by their former Ranger-General Sylvanas, the newly anointed Banshee Queen sent her people to aid Quel’thalas out of both practicality and sentiment; her former homeland would be a great asset to her goal of enacting vengeance against Arthas, if their might was added to the ranks of the Horde she had recently joined.
Despite the trepidation of working with undead, let alone the orcs and trolls of the Horde, the blood elves were eventually convinced when the Forsaken aided them in putting an end to the traitor Dar’khan Drathir. Using her place as a member of the Horde, Sylvanas convinced then-Warchief Thrall to admit the blood elves. Their admission came with a hope from Thrall: in exchange for admittance into the Horde, he believed the blood elves could aid him in contacting his surviving orcish kin on Outland.
That wish would eventually come to fruition, when the Dark Portal opened the way from Azeroth to Outland. There, the Horde and Alliance armies fought back the Legion invasion seeking to use Outland as a staging ground, but quickly found the threat of Illidan and his Illidari just as pertinent. Among the forces journeying there were the blood elves, initially believing that this was their chance to begin migrating to the promised land with Kael’thas. However, they quickly found that Kael’thas was involved in much darker dealings.
With Illidan’s neglect of the blood elf plight long since solidified, Kael’thas was eventually approached in secret by Kil’jaeden. Convincing Kael’thas that he could supplant the addiction of the blood elves with fel magic, Kil’jaeden recruited the prince to his cause, and Kael’thas began to act against Illidan’s interests. Between sending his forces to assault the naaru A’dal in Shattrath (forces who would eventually defect and form the Scryers) and draining the magical energies from Netherstorm, Kael’thas proved to be just as much of a threat as the Illidari, and Lor’themar would eventually make the difficult choice to endorse an assault against their own prince. Alongside the Sha’tari, the Horde sent a force to kill Kael’thas in Tempest Keep and prevent his descent into madness in the hands of the Legion.
Despite his near-death encounter, Kael’thas survived, infused further with fel magic to keep himself alive and only further fueling his descent into madness. Returning to Quel’thalas, Kael’thas with his remaining forces, Kael’thas set out to summon Kil’jaeden to Azeroth, in a crazed last-ditch effort to offer his people salvation. His plan required two things: the naaru M’uru, and a human woman named Anveena Teague. Despite its destruction, the power of the Sunwell had survived, and with the intervention of the red dragon Krasus, been hidden away to prevent its misuse. Transformed into a human, Anveena’s power was nearly taken on multiple occasions, but Kael’thas would manage to capture her, utilizing her power to begin transforming the Sunwell itself into a gateway.
In the wake of M’uru’s theft, Liadrin and the Blood Knights traveled to Shattrath in search of a new source of power. There, they found A’dal, who informed them of the destiny fulfilled by M’uru’s sacrifice — one that would eventually lead to their redemption. Swearing herself before A’dal, Liadrin inducted the blood elves into the Shattered Sun Offensive, an alliance with the Sha’tari of Shattrath to defeat Kael’thas and prevent Kil’jaeden’s arrival.
The assault on the Sunwell Plateau was ultimately successful, with Kael’thas slain for good and Kil’jaeden’s summoning averted via to the efforts of the players and the sacrifice of Anveena. In the process of the assault, however, the naaru M’uru was encountered, so drained of Light by the Blood Knights that it had transformed into a Void God. M’uru was slain, but with the aid of the Prophet Velen, M’uru’s core was purufied into a state of pure Light and place it into the Sunwell.
Combined with M’uru’s power, the Sunwell was reborn as a font of holy energy — one that once again sustained the blood elves’ need for magical energy. No longer a slave to the whims of their addiction, the process of true rebirth and redemption began for the blood elves, with their focus turning fully towards rebuilding their broken and corrupted nation. Over time, their eyes would begin to turn from green to a holy gold, starting with the most devout among them and signifying their purification as a people.
Commitment to the Horde
Despite their commitment to rebuilding Silvermoon, the blood elves were quickly roped into the War against the Lich King by Sylvanas, who twisted their arms into committing their forces to the efforts of defeating Arthas. Alongside that, however, they also committed their forces towards the war that brewed between the mighty Dragon Aspects.
Recently awoken from a millennia-long slumber, the Aspect of Magic Malygos looked upon the mortal mages of the world with disdain, believing that their actions would only continue to draw the Legion to the world. Declaring ownership of Azeroth’s leylines, he began redirecting them to the Nexus to expunge the use of magic from the mortal races. The other Aspects vehemently opposed this, and began the conflict known as the Nexus War to prevent him from succeeding. In coordination with the Aspects, the mages of the Kirin Tor raised their newly rebuilt city of Dalaran from the ground, and teleported it above the skies of Northrend. In coordination with their efforts, the blood elven Sunreavers, led by their titular leader Aethas Sunreaver, petitioned to rejoin the Kirin Tor and aid in their efforts.
Though the majority of elves lived inside of Quel’thalas for the many millennia of their lives, some chose instead to live in human cities like Dalaran, and when the divide between blood elves and high elves arise, that same divide occurred within the Kirin Tor. The Sunreavers were one such group, and while they had returned to Quel’thalas to aid their efforts, they saw the Nexus War as an opportunity to return home — an opportunity vehemently opposed by the high elves in the city. Led by Vereesa Windrunner, sister to Sylvanas and wife to the Kirin Tor’s leader Rhonin, the Silver Covenant was formed, a faction of militantly Alliance-loyal high elves who opposed the admission of the Horde and the blood elves into Dalaran.
Despite that opposition, Dalaran became a neutral city during the conflicts to come, aiding in defeating both Malygos and the Lich King. Their neutrality seemed an evergreen stance of their leading Council of Six, up until the events of the ongoing Horde and Alliance War reached the city-state of Theramore. Believing the city’s stance of neutrality worth defending in the face of an ongoing attack by the Horde’s newly appointing Warchief Garrosh Hellscream, Dalaran came to the aid of its leader Jaina Proudmoore, a member of the Kirin Tor herself and a fierce advocate for peace.
Unfortunately, the Sunreavers had a mole from within: a man name Thalen Songweaver worked to undo the Kirin Tor’s defensive measures, and when the Horde’s attack ‘failed’, was ultimately revealed as the architect of a massive mana bomb that was used to utterly obliterate everyone in the city except Jaina, including the Kirin Tor’s leader Rhonin. Left distraught by her city’s destruction, Jaina nearly destroyed Orgrimmar in retaliation, but was pulled from the brink and instead instated as leader of the Kirin Tor.
Despite the losses she suffered at the hands of the Horde, Jaina still believed in her tenets of peace, and allowed the Sunreavers to remain in Dalaran… for a time. Eventually, she would face betrayal from the Sunreavers yet again as their magics were used to facilitate the theft of a powerful artifact for Garrosh’s ambitions. Pushed to the brink by this, she hastily began forcibly evacuating the Sunreavers and all Horde citizens from Dalaran. Happily aided by Vereesa and the Silver Covenant, they began exiling and imprisoning civilians who went quietly, and slaughtering those who fought back. By the end of the Purge of Dalaran, the Kirin Tor was in control of a wholly Alliance city, ready to serve in the ongoing war.
Unbeknownst to Jaina, Lor’themar was just as troubled by Garrosh and his actions as Warchief, and seeing security for his people above all else, was in the midst of talks with the Alliance to leave the Horde and join their ranks. Upon hearing of Jaina’s actions, however, he was forced to cast those talks aside, and remain in the Horde. Looking to instead bolster their defenses with magical artifacts from the newly discovered continent of Pandaria, the Sunreavers were reorganized into an offensive wing dedicated to blood elven interests.
Those interests would eventually converge with the their Silver Covenant and Kirin Tor adversaries on the Isle of Thunder, where both factions had been recruited by the local Shado-Pan Pandaren to aid in preventing an ancient tyrant warlord called the Thunder King from rising again and reclaiming his empire. With both the Sunreavers and the Kirin Tor intent on claiming the Thunder King’s power for themselves, they fought each other as much as the Thunder King, but they were eventually brought to a standstill. In a conflict that nearly ended in the leadership of both factions coming to blows, the Shado-Pan leader Taran Zhu bid them cease their pointless cycle of violence just this once.
Taran Zhu yells: ENOUGH!! There will be no more bloodshed today.
Taran Zhu yells: I see now why your Alliance and Horde cannot stop fighting.
Taran Zhu yells: Every reprisal is itself an act of aggression, and every act of aggression triggers immediate reprisal.
Lady Jaina Proudmoore yells: They have undermined EVERY attempt at peace!
Lor’themar Theron yells: I must protect my sovereign people.
Taran Zhu yells: SILENCE! YOU must break the cycle.
Taran Zhu yells: It ends TODAY. Here. The cycle ends when you, Regent Lord, and you, Lady Proudmoore, turn from one another. And walk. Away.
Both Jaina and Lor’themar relented in their aggression (much to the chagrin of Vereesa and the high elves), and returned to their faction with an understanding that Garrosh was the ultimate problem. Together, the Alliance and the rebellious elements of the Horde would eventually assault Orgrimmar together, deposing Garrosh and installing Vol’jin as Warchief. Despite Garrosh’s tyranny, the events during Mists of Pandaria served to solidify the relationship between the blood elves and the Horde, and under Vol’jin, they saw the potential for a brighter era for their newly bonded faction.
Nightborne, Void Elves, and the Fourth War
The most notable appearance of the blood elves following the Siege of Orgrimmar took place amidst the last Legion invasion, in the newly uncovered Nightborne city of Suramar. While most of the Nightborne had allied themselves with the Legion under Grand Magistrix Elisande, some few rebels under First Arcanist Thalyssra oppossed that alliance, and worked in secret to undermine her despite their own form of magical addiction they suffered from when isolated from their font of power, the Nightwell.
After some time of building the rebellion against Elisande, Thalyssra was eventually joined by the combined elven factions of Azeroth. While the Silver Covenant and the night elves under Vereesa and Tyrande both contributed to the cause, it was Liadrin and the blood elves that truly bonded with the Nightborne amidst their fight, relating to their struggle with addiction and the turmoil of seeing your nation lost to the Legion.
In the wake of the Legion invasion, the Nightborne would find themselves in a position to welcome the world to their doorstep rather than shield themselves, and in typical Azerothian fashion, that meant allying with a faction. With the bond they had formed with the blood elves and the cold nature of Tyrande’s treatment of their plight, the choice to join the Horde was a simple one, but amidst their induction, they would come across a returning face: Alleria Windrunner.
While Alleria and her husband Turalyon were thought lost on Outland, they in truth had joined a millennia-long struggle against the Legion in the Twisting Nether. As a paladin, Turalyon joined the draenic Army of the Light with little hesitation, but for Alleria, her journey was more complicated. Through a series of imprisonments and assaults from the Legion, she came in contact with the Void, eventually making the choice to learn how to wield it for herself. Those skills only deepened on Argus, where we finally met her and aided her in absorbing the heart of a void-corrupted Naaru.
Now finally returned to Azeroth, she came to Lor’themar with a request from the Alliance at the same time as the Nightborne delegation. Despite Lor’themar’s refusal to work with the Alliance, he did grant one of Alleria’s requests: her wish to see the Sunwell once more. This choice would prove immensely dangerous, as even coming into contact with the holy Sunwell caused Alleria’s v powers to erratically open a portal to the Void, where Void Ethereals nearly laid claim to the Sunwell’s power. The portal was closed thanks to the aid of the Nightborne, and Alleria was exiled from Silvermoon for her threat to the Sunwell.
…but she wasn’t the first to have suffered such a punishment. Some time before, a group of blood elf researchers led by Magister Umbric began to study the powers of the Void. Believing that understanding the threat to their holy font of power would prove the best way to safeguard it, they continued to explore the Void despite the demands of Grand Magister Rommath and Lor’themar to cease their actions. Seeing no better option, Lor’themar was forced to yet again exile his kin, forcing them into the Ghostlands where the harm might be minimized.
There, they found the research of none other than Dar’khan Drathir, the traitor who caused the fall of Quel’thalas. Where even Dar’khan saw his research into the Void as too dangerous, Umbric and his allies saw it as an opportunity, using it to open a rift to a space in the Void itself known as Telogrus Rift. After following their trail through the Ghostlands following her exile, Alleria eventually found them in Telogrus, just in time for disaster to strike.
The experiments of Umbric blew up in their face, summoning more Void Ethereals intent on transforming the blood elf researchers into new members of their race. While Alleria stops them, the process partially completes, transforming Umbric’s compatriots into a new race: the Void Elves. With the whispers of the Void now swirling in their mind and a debt to Alleria, Umbric and the void elves choose to join the Alliance in hopes they can put their skills to use and ‘liberate’ Silvermoon from the Horde’s clutches amidst the brewing conflict.
Amidst the Legion invasion, Sylvanas had ascended from Banshee Queen to Warchief of the Horde after Vol’jin’s death, and in the calm following the invasion, she chose to lead the Horde into war against the Alliance. While her reasons were far more cosmic in nature than anyone anticipated, the Horde was left in turmoil at this course of action, especially following the infamous Burning of Teldrassil that set off the Fourth War. Few were left more conflicted than Lor’themar, who struggled to reconcile the Ranger-General he had once loyally followed with the actions Sylvanas was now taking. Eventually, Sylvanas would be deposed, and while Lor’themar eventually supported the rebellion against her, he would be left wracked with guilt for years to come.
Not all was somber for Lor’themar, however. In the wake of the Fourth War, he formed romantic ties with the Nightborne leader Thalyssra, the two having bonded over their shared leadership struggles. Eventually, the two would go on to be married, signaling what seemed to be a new era for both nations of Horde elves — an era we can expect to see very soon.
What Comes Next: Midnight
With Midnight, Quel’thalas is serving as the central point of conflict during our fight against the Void. Intent on claiming the power of the Sunwell for herself, Xal’atath will soon assault Silvermoon with all her dark forces, and with in order to combat that threat, we are returning to the home of the blood elves as our central hub.
In recent years, Quel’thalas has finally healed from the damage inflicted by the Scourge, with the Ghostlands healed of its sickness and the damage from the Dead Scar restored to its former glory… perhaps too restored. Areas of Quel’thalas now contain a holy ‘Overgrowth’, where life has manifested amidst the overabundance of life and begun overtaking blood elf settlements. Silvermoon will also act as the capital city for the expansion, with a small portion opening itself up to the Alliance to welcome their aid, while the rest of the city remains Horde-exclusive, to reflect their commitment to the faction.
The blood elves will also have to deal with their relationship to their neighboring Amani trolls this expansion. During the war on Outland, a brief uprising at the hands of Zul’jin and the Amani also briefly occurred. Enraged at seeing their hated enemies now standing beside their former allies in the Horde, Zul’jin swore vengeance on Horde and Alliance alike, but he was eventually slain by the Horde before his assault could begin in earnest. Now in Midnight, we are finally seeing Zul’Aman as a full zone, and the blood elves will have to deal with their lingering hatreds by entreating with Zul’jin’s grandchildren.
Characters that will feature in major roles for the expansion include Liadrin, Alleria, Turalyon, and their half-elven son Arator, all of whom have an investment in safeguarding Silvermoon for various reasons. We’ve followed Alleria throughout The War Within, where her struggle against Xal’atath and her own relationship to the Void have defined the narrative. Now, we’ll be following her into Midnight, where she will have to grapple with the Light not only as allies against the Void, but as an integral part of her nation and her family. Liadrin will likewise be grappling with her hatred towards the Amani, and likely leading the charge during our fight against Xal’atath on Quel’danas in the months to come.
The blood elves of Quel’thalas have a storied history, and much of that will manifest in the unified zone of Eversong during our questing experience in Midnight. Let us know which bit of Thalassian history you are most looking forward to touching on in Midnight!