I can’t seem to find a source that actually specifies what the effects of Alexstrasza and Ysera’s blessing on Teldrassil have (if any) on the Night Elves. I’ve read something that nodded towards it giving the Night Elves immunity to disease, but would prefer to see the actual source that states it and I’m not sure where else to check at this point.
I assume it would be exactly the same blessings they did on Nordrassil. Which is the following :
The tree was grown from a single acorn of the recently lost Mother Tree, G’Hanir by the great dragon Alexstrasza in the waters of the newly reborn Well of Eternity on the sacred Mount Hyjal. After that she blessed the tree with strength and vitality, which also extended the night elves. Ysera’s blessing upon the tree bound it and the elven druids to the Emerald Dream, allowing them to enter her realm freely where before it required difficult meditation.
Yeah, Blizz just avoided that. If they can’t get deceased they wouldn’t die cause of poisons.
Though given the Teldrassil quests, Night Elves no longer have their immortality, even after Teldrassil was blessed by Alexstrasza and Ysera, so how much of that quote would apply, with that in mind?
The immortality blessing came from Nozdormu and not the other 2. But Nozdormu never blessed Teldrassil due to Fandal planting it in arrogance. That and probably some left over beef from the War of the Shifting Sands.
On a slight side note Alexstrasza and Ysera only blessed Teldrassil to stop the corruption what was spreading through it in Cata’ (I think it was after the Thrall questchain in 4.1 but not sure).
But the blessings really have never played a big part and/or have been widely overlooked in WoW.
it wasn’t fully blessed though was it?.
Or are the Night elves immortal, these days?..
from an old reddit lore thread.
“Alexstrazsa is the matron of all life, of course she would bless another World-Tree, but the others did not because they believed the night elves were selfish for planting another Tree just to get their immortality back.”
and
"At the time (midway through the novel Stormrage ) she did it, Alexstrazsa was the only aspect around to do it, and the biggest reason she did it was to help heal the corruption that Xavius was able to spread through a specific tree planted on Teldrassil and rooted into it (a tree that grew from the sapling of the tree Malfurion turned him into). Because of that corruption (corruption that the player dealt with in the original Teldrassil quest chain), the Emerald Nightmare was able to spread and grow more powerful, as well as corrupt Fandral Staghelm. Teldrassil itself was rotting in places, too, it only looked fine due to an illusion. She had to do it to help save the world.
She initially refused when it was first planted, as did Ysera and Nozdormu, because it was selfish (and short sighted - Nordrassil did eventually heal from Archimonde’s death) for the Night Elves to plant another world tree just because they missed their immortality. Heck, Teldrassil was only planted because Malfurion, who was absolutely against it, never awoke from the Emerald Dream and Fandral took over his job, and Fandral was a selfish dick long before he got the full villain treatment.
As for where the other aspects were during Stormrage:
Tyrande, Broll, Lucan, Eranikus, and Thura only just rescued Malfurion from the Nightmare. They still couldn’t reach Ysera.
Nozdormu was lost in the timeways, and didn’t actually show up until the Cataclysm.
Malygos was dead (Stormrage took place after WotLK) and the blues were without an aspect (though him and Deathwing weren’t necessary for blessing a world tree. Only time, nature, and life were.)"
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I thought so at first, but the quote you left in your original post confused me with the “which also extended the night elves” part, since it looked like part of the sentence got cut off or something (so as in, it could’ve read fully as “also extended the night elves life-span”), so my apologies on that end.
Not anymore they’re not, I’m pretty sure.
it’s a plot hole or forgotten.
If Teldrassil was blessed and spelled, you would think it would have resistance to magical or natural fire. Like Nordrassil was.
Nordrassil was protected magically to prevent it from being destroyed. It served a vital purpose of masking the energy signature of the second Well of Eterntiy, which was the at the centre of the night elves’ long vigil endeavour.
Destroying it would have exposed the well for the legion to discover.
Those who keep ignoring the huge role the arcane played in the night elves throughout the long vigil completely foget the Well of Eternity was at the centre of both the Long vigil and Pre-sundering era. Difference is in teh long vigil they wouldn’t use spells with it… but they used its arcane energies via the moonwells to boost everything.
The arcane has always been an integral part of the night elves. It made them elves, it brought them to their highest point and their arrogance with it during that period is also what led to the legion. They ahve awlays been close to it. Whether they use it (shen’dralar, nightboren, moonguard, farondis, darnassian highborne and mages) or do not (druids, priests, sentinels, wardens).
The arcane is the reason their eys glow mostly silver and amber - sometimes the amber is because of nature magical gifting.
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They’re definitely not immortal anymore, we know that. Their lifespans are the same as High/Blood Elves (And presumably Nightborne), we know they can die of old age and sickness. Fandral’s gambit, whilst bold and understandable, failed.
They did kind of leave a hole by not saying -why- and -what- these blessings did, the only one we know of is Nozdormu’s and that’s only because he withheld it…
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I don’t know, Ysera’s blessing was pretty obvious to, to be fair.
It connected the Kaldorei Druids to the Emerald Dream in ways to make it easier to enter and navigate!
Alexstrasza’s one is abit more tricky; but we can assume it had to do with immunity to disease due to Kaldorei suddenly not being immune to diseases anymore(I think it was pointed out somewhere, I’ll try to dig it up!)
Please and thank you. This is exactly what I was hoping for.
Depend if the Nightwell had an influence on Nightborne’s longevity or if they are really well preserved. (The Kaldorei still alive from the War of Ancients presumably because of the blessing of immortality; Shal’dorei still alive from that time? Nightwell? Family genes? Elves are actually that long lived? Will the Arcan’dor have the same effect if it was the Nightwell? Who knows.)
Okay. okay. .back up a little, there is a lot of confusion over the night elves and arcane magic… largely because people just assume they are forest evles and don’t bother with it any more.
But, night elves’ transformation by the well of eternity has given them virtually immortal lives - they extremely long lived - according to chrocnicles.
Night elves were immortal during the pre-sundering. They used the well of eternity to freeze the ravages of time, making them immortal, just like their already highly enhanced intellect was further enahced - accoording to War of the Ancients
When the Well of Eternity imploded, night elves lost their immortality - ALL of them, not just the Hyjal survivors (shen’dralar, Suramar night elves, the works.). When the new Well of Eternity was reformed by Illidan, the concentrated pool of arcane was sufficient to restore their link - however 2 things happened.
- The Hyjal group banned the use of arcane magic for spell to prevent the legion returning - this made it not possible to use its power for immortality on principal
- The Dragons grew Nordrassil to regulate the flow of arcane energy, i.e. act as a buffer and then linked the Hyjal survival group to the Tree, gaining them a nature attunement in addition to their arcane one. When the tree was blessed by the dragons, this extended to the night elves linked to it. One of the blessings was Nozdormu’s immortality.
This is how the Hyjal group who later become the bulk of the alliance nigiht elves, gain the immortality they have in WC3.
The shen’dralar night elves gained it by arcane power drawn from Immol’thar
The Suramar nighte elves gain it from their new well, the Nightwell.
The high elves, humans and other groups even when connected to powerful magical sources do not gain immortality - only night elves do.
The conclusion is something genetic as a result of their arcane essence, that when actively linked to and using a powerful source of arcane energy, their lives become immortal.
Because the Long Vigil night elves don’t use their well for magic, they don’t gain immortality through it. It is possible that though connected to it or rather to Azeroth’s arcane blood, that Nordrassil’s filter prevents them from accessing it. The ban on the arcane has been lifted since cataclysm, yet the night elves don’t use its power. It is either because they can’t, or won’t. It is possible it is both too. And this would make sense until the cure for arcane is found - they may have been afraid of using so much power in case it got them all arrogant and reckless or even addicted again. but now the Arcan’dor exists and addiction is understood. - this shouldn’t be the case any more.
Another reason why they may not have used it after the ban was lifted in cataclsym, was because the legion still needed it. While itwas no longer secret, it is possible the night elves felt accessing the power would draw the Legion because at the time they believed the Legion was still primarily after the well, it is only after Illidan’s return in the nighthold and Magni’s revelation that they are certain the Planet has awlays been the legion’s goal. This also makes the Well an option currently.
Fandral Staghelm, new the blessing of the Dragons was not the only thing that could make a tree immortal. The Emerald dream is immortal, nothing there dies, a tree properly linked to it would be immortal too, he must have known this from Shaladrassil, a much older tree. Therefore he theorized if the night elves were instead linked to Teldrassil instead of Nordrassil and Teldrassil was immortal via the Emerald Dream, the night elves would regain immortality. It didn’t work - the Dragon’s blessing is necessary for such a boon to transfer to the night elves.
The nightborne without the nightwell are presumably no longer immortal. But as they use arcane magic, if they get to link to a sufficiently powerful source, like the Sunwell or something else, they will be again in theory.
When the Dragons lost their power, I assume the effect of many of the works they wrought with it faded, including the recently re-blessed Teldrassil, the power of those blessings would have faded, making the tree a lot more susceptible to attack than it was before - the night elves did not use their returned arcane power to ward and enchant the tree… I presume they’d been distracted and the arcane wing hadn’t grown in prominence yet - or most likely, they just dind’t fathom such an attack oon the tree - who face it, was not as important as Nordrassil was for the planet.
this is as much as i can make out so far.
This is factual incorrect. Nozdormu’s blessing is what gave the Kaldorei their immortality after the War of the Ancients, not the Second Well of Eternity.
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That is what I said…if in a roundabout way.
Not incorrect, and very factual
The night elves had 2 stages of immortality, pre sundering and post sundering, however post sundering different groups achieve this via different means.
Not exactly the same. Nozdormu refused to give his blessings again until the very end, when the Aspects lost their powers. Immortality is NOT a part of the Kaldorei society again, or at least shouldn’t be.
According to you. The rest of your statement is correct, apart from the last word, where I would swap “again” for “at the moment.”
I think immortality should be a part of the night elves, they have been immortal since the start and is a feature of their race. However it is not the first time they’ve lost it, and I’m not sure even if it is the longest period. Blizzard would have to define that.
I certainly for one think this is a main feature of the race, and the fact it is absent currently is just part of a larger story arc that will see an incredible turn of fortune that would have it restored.
I suspect then losing their immortality was a lore nerf at the start of classic, when blizzard at first felt all the races needed to be on the same level in the lore as well as in game statistics.
However, subsequent races introduced, like the draenei who are also virtually immortal, made such concerns seem trivial, and then they realised it makes no sense to equalise the races in the lore as it removes vital aspects that make each group special in different ways. Some have 1 thing, some have many - it varies.
THe important fact is that the adventurer is on par, not the race or the class. Generally speaking the Mage should be head and shoulders above the warrior, on average. However for the calibre of individual the player character is, you have very special warriors that can match any mage, even the most powerful.
Same race wise, they are all different. It’s fine for the night elves to be quite as special as their lore described, for the high elves to have their extraordinary features, and its okay for humans to be ordinary on average, however you can have individuals from some of hte weakest or less gifted races rise to be just as incredible as some individuals from the most incredible ones.
In truth when you think about it, it’s just that the average of one race is higher than another, however the potential of what can be achieved by a sentient race is limitless, which means ,any individual from any of the main races can rise to be the most incredible.
This is how i view it anyway. Elves, especially night elves make sense to be at a much higher level than most others - their long life, their intelligence, their incredible intelligence, their healthy or even spotless living, good psychie and psychology - all these mean things… then ofc not to mention they would have certain special genetic advantages, like their arcane essence making them incredibly gifted at magic, especially the arcane and that with its double edged sword making them more fallible to addiction given their very intense disposition. Which is why they need a nature counter balance to prevent their society from ever rpeating the mistakes that lead to the end of their first civilziation.
There is a logic to it I like.
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The blessing were just a sham, the dragons bamboozled you. But don’t worry, I took vengeance for you, my… dear allies in the Ruby Sanctum.
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Perfect. You just proved Nozdormu right again why he shouldn’t give you immortality again in the first place. Also, mate, try to write less walls of text, please.
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There is a difference between out of game reasons, and in game reasons.
From an out of game perspective I want them to have immortality because it is a cool feature of their race when it was introduced, and part of their WOW factor. The first night elves never died, and were known as immortal until it was lost recently. I think its cool to have, and a nice twist that it is the dark elves that have this for a change.
From an in-game perspective, guys like Fandral Staghelm growing a tree just to restore immortality regardless of the circumstances of its loss, seems rather ignoble for such a noble race - and if that is the attitude of the night elf, it smacks of the type of arrogance that dominated the highborne but was by no means exclusive to them AT THE END of the pre-sundering era. Malfurion is proved right if the attitude is "lets get immortality back no matter the cost b/c it’s our right/brithright - any night elf that feels this should be no matter the cost is unworthy.
However the lore shows Fandral mainly behind this, and his motivation was a corruption of the old gods.
Night elves haven’t striven to regain their immortality in any group. They’ve just tried to live right and deal responsibly - especially the Farondis Highborne, Thalyssra since the Legion and the shen’dralar. The groups you’d have thought would be the most difficult about this.
As such I’d like to see them regain it, probably as a by product of something else. I have a sneaky suspicion that they have natural pseudo immortality. And by that i mean it is easier or possible for them to be immortal as opposed to other races.
My Theory
Simple: Because night elves have this arcane essence and affinity. We notice in lore every time they are in command off or utilizing a powerful source of arcane magic (Well of eternity, Immol’thar’s power, the Nightwell) they are immortal. This is not the same for other races. including high elves who had their natural arcane link severred. High elves, humans and others when they channel arcane energy or link to a large source, get longer life, but not immortality, only night elves do.
I think this is part of their genetic make up - they are the original elves, and thus not humanised like high elves are. Notice this also applies to ngihtborne, who unlike high elves, never stopped being night elven, their nightwell source just makes the more “more night elven” for lack of a better term, like a different path of night elven, but still night elven. Nothing was severed or removed or cut off, they just continued using arcane magic even more, and a very specific source they ingested when they were starving. Which is why they look like starved night elves. - with the tip of their ears turning upwards the only discernible difference. and until the last release build of beta, that was only the males.