Question is in the title. I watched the Harbringer videos yesterday and it struck me that perhaps Blood elves couldn’t be part of the Illidari before he went to Outland and recruited them. Does this make sense?
Wasn’t Illidan the First and only Demon Hunter untill he started training more himself, which was in Outlands. So it would make sense that more of them were Blood Elves, than Night Elves honestly.
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everyone in this is a night elf.
When I played TBC and idk if this a mandella effect or whatever… But i have this memory of Blood elves training as illidari NPC’s in Shadowmoon
Atop the black temple
This was TBC not Legion obviously. I remember Blood elves Npc’s training to become demon hunters.
Eh, I honestly sum that up to just lazy creators. Because when we see basically the same cinemtic ingame, there are lots of Blood elves amongst them.
It makes sense since the DH was originall a hero unit from night elves in Warcraft 3.
According to lore, originally, Illidan trained Night Elf outcasts who became demon hunters to fight the Burning Legion during the Third War. Some were sought out by Illidan whilst others sought him out later.
Kael’thas Sunstrider, after being convinced by Illidan’s Naga that his blood elves could be cured of their addiction to magic during Warcraft III, met with Illidan after his escape from arrest under Grand Marshal Othmar Garithos’ orders.
Illidan told Kael that there was no cure for their condition, but promised Kael that if he joined him, he would provide the Blood Elves with enough magical energies to keep their hunger sated forever. Upon hearing this, Kael pledged his loyalty to Illidan.
In The Burning Crusade, Kael, together with 15% of the blood elven people, made the journey into Outland, with the goal of finding a lasting method to sate the elven addiction. However, as Illidan prepared his army of Demon Hunters to assault Argus, Kael’thas became alienated. Following this, several of his followers had left him to join Illidan to be trained as demon hunters.
So yes, prior to Burning Crusade and Kael and some Blood elves going to Outland, there would only have been Night Elf Demon Hunters.
I’m uncertain of the split of Night Elf v Blood Elf Illidari though.
I read the Illidan book years ago and my memory sucks I’m afraid. It was a good read, I enjoyed it, I’d recommend it. I do vaguely remember there being some pact or understanding between Illidan and Kael’thas…? And there being blood elves that way?
That is what I thought yes. that is why the mount is a saber and not a hawkstrider. Hope we see Kayn and Allari again in Midnight at least.
Illidan basically took the best soldiers from Kael and swore them to secrecy. No one knew about his real plans about the sargerite key stone.
Unless Midnight has something to do with the Legion, I don’t see how they would fit in.
They are blood elves and Silvermoon is their home.
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No, it is the Sin’dorei.
In fact, the very first Illidari were five Blood Elven spellbreakers, chosen and sent by Kael’thas Sunstrider for training. Of those, only one survived.
In the cinematic, it might look that the majority are Night elves, but in reality, they are the minority.
Historically it checks out.
- Kael’thas served Illidan.
- Illidan teaches some of Kael’thas followers how to use powers like he does.
- Blood elves get taught to demon hunt, strong implications that them being elves is a massive part of why it even works.
- Kael’thas betrays illidan and starts serving the legion
- The illidari blood elves trained as Demon Hunters remained loyal to Illidan who taught them the power they wield and gave them an enemy to wield it against.
Demon Hunter being a night elf hero class was a game mechanic thing, lorewise Illidan was the only one and he didn’t start training more Demon Hunters until the black temple.
Think about it, he was jailed for 10000 years for claiming the power that turned him into a demon hunter, why would night elves then be lenient towards other demon hunters who did the same?
If anything it makes more sense that its blood elves then night elves because Illidan in WC3 didn’t have a night elf following but a naga/blood elf following when he entered outland.
I like that its both night elves and blood elves tho, its just a bit unclear where Illidan got his night elf followers from (unless I missed a quest that explained it) but otherwise DH’s being on the races they are now is fine.
Until TBC all followers of him were other races so far. And apart from Fel Orcs who are pretty much all dead now he was the only night elf we saw in his army. So where do they come from?
Going from wc3 which is what I know the most of is that after Illidan absorbs the skull of Gul’dan in Reign of Chaos he is exiled then turns up again in The Frozen Throne with a Naga following in the night elf campaign of the expansion.
Then the second faction that we see beginning to follow illidan are the Blood Elves after Vashj saved Kael’thas and his men from being overrun by the undead and later to help them escape Garithos prison. The undead then follow Vasjh into outland where they find and save Illidan from Maiev and help him conquer the black temple, during which they pick up the broken Draenei (back then just Draenei) of Akama
Illidan at that point still served the legion, who gave him the mission that we see him fail at in the last campaign of TFT, the undead campaign. The famous arthas vs illidan fight where Arthas wins and then ascends the frozen throne to become the new lich king.
So going by WC3 TFT which sets up the illidan in outland narrative at the very least we have;
- Naga
- Blood elves
- Broken draenei
- Demons that cannot escape his commands or are loyal to him over sargeras because idk the nature of chaos or something (I would also put fel orcs under this category)
If you mean any other races that aren’t mentioned here I am low on knowledge on them, but I do know for one that being a Demon Hunter is something that has exclusively happened to and has been showcased only on elves.
You might be able to make an arguement that trolls might be able too because that’s where elves came from but Illidan didn’t have troll followers.
Anyhow, betrayed he turns away from Sargeras, but as he was serving the legion that probably explains the many demons still under his command.
I’ll be honest I don’t have sharp what happens between TFT and TBC but by the time we catch up with Illidan in TBC he’s holed up in the Black Temple, betrayed Sargeras who probably ‘disowned’ him for failing to stop Arthas’ ascension to the lich king and we actively see on the ramparts of the black temple on the outside groups of both Night elves and Blood elves training to become demon hunters even tho there were members of the other races also present there so to me it makes a ton of sense
In tBC he’s trying to hide from Kil’Jaedan to build up his forces and gets seriously annoyed at us showing up ruining his plans because we apparently care about Outland and he doesn’t - at all. He’s more than willing to destroy Outland to save Azeroth, but we don’t hear him out because of the forces he’s allied himself with.
Otherwise good summary!
Now, Blizzard would probably argue that:
- Demon hunters can teach other demon hunters, so in theory any race is demon-hunter compatible
- The fantasy of the demon hunter requires a lean body; Pandaren demon hunters would be quite the meme.
- They don’t have time to make enough art, so it won’t happen.
it is a 8 year old video . you might have to check now with story department in wow if it is still true .
The bulk of the Illidari should be Sin’dorei after the deal he made with Kael’thas. Most of the Kaldorei in his service sought him out by themselves.
I recommend the Illidan novel by William King.
Not only does it give very interesting insights on Illidan’s pov, it really fleshes out the state of mind, psychology and straight up trauma of a lot of the Illidari.
It goes onto more details regarding how the blood elves started joining the ranks.
I’d say it’s one of my favourite warcraft novels, together with Lord Of The Clans and Arthas: Rise Of The Lich King.
You know that edgy line DH npcs give you? The “I have given everything to” blablabla? Well that book really fleshes out that line and makes them a lot more scary and determined instead of magical edgy rogues.
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