The discussion has derailed slightly, but I find it quite interesting to discuss the night elven culture and society, so I’ve changed the topic accordingly.
Original post:
Curious to hear what do people think. Considering the lore, druid seems to be the only male class, but things have since changed drastically - I recall seeing charts that say that most Nelf Druids are now female, whereas most Nelf Warriors are male.
But what do you think, which class fits male nelf the most if not druid?
Tough one. If you think of it as Shen’dralar I guess maybe mage. Most of the NE warriors in Silithus are/were male, but I’m not sure if that’s a reflection of lore or just a game thing. Their general’s male though. Maybe hunter? There’s been a few of those in the NE areas with storylines even.
Nobody said that either. The Shen’dralar was merely mentioned. The Shen’dralar mages still exist as part of Kaldorei society as teachers so they are very much relevant, and if I choose to RP a Kaldorei mage, I could make that a Shen’dralar mage or a mage of the main nelf society.
I suppose an argument can be made that the Shen’dralar no longer really exists, as they don’t live in Eldre’Thalas and are not hidden as a cult anymore.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t nelf mages who appreciate their Shen’dralar heritage and wants to remember where they come from. The point is that the majority of current Nelf mages hail from the once secluded Shen’dralar, as I doubt there are many already adult, venerated Nelves who would want to swap their servitude as a priestess, druid, whatever they are, to be a mage just because the Shen’dralar came back. Our “ordinary” Nelves will still be skeptical and cynical towards the practices of the arcane. Nelves do not easily forget.
So, yeah, the Shen’dralar is very much part of current Kaldorei lore. They probably make up 99% of Nelven mages. It’s only a few years ago in the timeline that they were admitted back into Kaldorei society. Not much time to train new mages, especially when finding anyone willing to learn the Arcane ways is, presumably, highly difficult.
Yep, but I don’t think we should look at Warcraft 3 at this point, because the story has evolved quite drastically since then. I mean, if we go far back enough, to my understanding there was also a time before druidism for the night elven society? I don’t know anything about the night elf pre-history though. It seems they were the first to study magic, and I think that alone opens a number of different paths.
By asking what gender of night elf should be which classes you have already looked to Warcraft 3, which is why I bring it up. The matriarchy of the Night Elves has basically been gone since classic came out. It’s very sad but it’s what happened.
The Night Elves of Warcraft 3 were, above all else, savage and fierce warrior women. Amazonians, really, with the men being pretty much gone and reproduction not being needed due to them being immortal but still being respected tremendously due to their communion with nature. Just all the men turning into bears and sleeping for 10,000 years, that is just wild. It’s an incredibly unique concept and it was executed very well, so I think it’s sad they got rid of it.
EDIT: But I understand why, mind. I rolled a female night elf druid immediately - I couldn’t have done that if they’d kept it the way they did. But the only reason I did that was because the Night Elf males looked strange to me. I was looking for something far more… large and round. Like the Druid of the Claw in Warcraft 3. Oh well.
I haven’t played Warcraft 3, but if we go further back in their history - before druidism, it probably wasn’t men sleeping whilst women were fighting. To my understanding Warcraft 3 presentation isn’t the origin of Night Elves even if they were introduced back then. It is stated they originated from Dark Trolls and before druidism, studied magic from the Well of Eternity and were curious about its Arcane essence - before Arcane magic was banned from their society. I think at this point, it is very likely that there were male night elves as well as female night elves who chose a different path to druidism (or priesthood), which would only become a part of their culture later when Cenarius came around.
When they moved to the well of eternity that is when they became night elves, and during this time their land was at peace from what I understand, and already by this point the society is extremely matriarchal with our favourite arrogant queen at the helm during much of that time.
They had not yet been granted immortality nor the ability to become druids. That comes in the aftermath of the War of the Ancients in the form of a blessing by the Green Dragonflight to those druids who decided to stop using arcane magic.
With this in mind, I find it quite odd that you couldn’t create night elf mages in classic, because it is an rpg and as we now know, they did exist. I read somewhere that they existed even in classic, just not as playable characters.
And I also find it quite interesting that when given the option most female players would choose druid over warrior (referring to the race/class combo statistics someone published a couple years ago).
And I find this change actually better than keeping the classes strictly gender specific, not just for gameplay reasons, but considering the lore as well, it speaks of a culture that has evolved to better, stronger, and more “open minded”, in my opinion.
Afaik they pretty much banned arcane magic since their mages were responsible for the war of the ancients and the great sundering. Can’t blame them tbh and it wouldn’t have made sense to have night elf mages run around everywhere.
Classic lore had Night elf Highborne banned from Night elven society after the Sundering.
And the only remaining ones as far as we knew of where the once in Dire’maul the Shen’deblabla I can type right.
Highborne Night elves where later accepted back into Night elven society in Cataclysm… Where they had to suffer prosecution and murder by none other that Maiev Shadowsong her self. At one point she was liable to become some next in line Night Elf villan…
