High Elves of the Horde & Blue-eyed Blood Elves

Lore Story
21

There certainly was.
Even if it wasn’t an addiction, they certainly depended on it, as it was the handy alternative Silvermoon rulers chose to spread the new practice.

The main source to sate the population’s thirst for magic came from the crystals that stored demonic energies that eventually turned their eyes green.

Let alone that said crystals also served to fuel most of the city’s magic. People would be affected by it simply for living nearby.

The schism was created because certain elves disagreed with the method Rommath brought on Kael’thas orders.

The one that included the usage of Fel Crystals as widespread practice to sate the population addiction to mana.

There was really no way around it.
Either you approved of it, stayed, and eventually ended up corrupted due to the Fel crystals, or disagreed and were forced to leave, keeping your blue eyes.

That would make it hard for any elf to remain in good terms with Silvermoon, without being physically affected by the practices its population used to sate their mana addiction.

22

This is somewhat true.

The fel crystals fueled the Blood Elves’ experiments and kept the floating buildings… well… floating.

It was not used for sustenance, or consumption.

You seem to misunderstand what was taught to the Blood Elves.

It was how to siphon magic from living beings, not fel.

No.

What eventually turned their eyes green was indeed exposure to fel, but not consumption of fel.

How did the blood elven fel eye glint become so widespread? The Warcraft Encyclopedia suggests that Rommath only taught the blood elves of Azeroth about how to siphon arcane magic, as most of the populace would likely be “horrified” if they knew the true extent of Kael’s dealings with Illidan

The situation regarding blood elf eyes is, in fact, extremely similar to that of the green skin of orcs: just being around heavy use of fel magic turned the eyes of the blood elves green. You could be the most pious of priests or most outdoorsy of Farstriders, chances are, if you were a high elf in Quel’Thalas or Outland following the Third War, you were around fel energies, and your eyes would turn green. Like the orcs’ skin color, such an effect would take a very long time to wear off. Fel magic works a bit like radiation in this sense; it permeates the area and seeps into anything in the vicinity. Anything near a source of fel magic shows signs of slight corruption, it just so happens that high elves and orcs manifest it in a very visual way.

  • Ask CDev Answers - Round 3

I am admittedly getting a little annoyed about how many of us who actually know this lore have to keep explaining this over and over again. I really hope blizzard start doing something with this lore to really smack it into people’s thick skulls.

It is even hinted to already in the early Blood Elf quests

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Thirst_Unending

Mana wyrms… what are mana wyrms? Not fel creatures, I can tell you that much. They are creatures of with some arcane magic in them… that is what is sucked out of them, not fel.

Blood elves as a general population siphoned arcane, be it from objects as was noted in the novella ‘Blood of the Hightborne’

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Blood_of_the_Highborne

Or from living beings as is shown in game, and hinted to in the Lor’themar story ‘In the shadow of the sun’

Yes

No.

The crystals being fel was unknown, also implied in the novella ‘Blood of the Highborne’

And we were supposed to be given clarification to this (because it does indeed sound strange) in the Kael’thas story which never came out.

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23

There are several rather famous examples that show they indeed were.
You could take a walk aound Silvermoon ingame right now, and see several kinds of resting places and inns, all with Fel crystals surrounded by cushions, food, and drinks.

We even have a boss exemplifying a case that abused said practice:

The teachings included doing such with living beings, but given the circumstances, and probably the amount of energy they could extract from them, its rather obvious that the primary source Illidan proposed Kael, were in fact the demons.
The crystals used ended up storing demonic energies. Not harmless or natural ones from normal living beings.

I won’t insist further on this point, as i already commented on it in the bits above.

In either case, any elf that had a continuous relation with Silvermoon would end up being affected by Fel regardless. Be that because he syphoned directly from those crystals, of by virtue of living nearby.
In short, every elf that were part of the faction would end with said green eyes. And only those that were kicked out of the kingdom, or had their entrance prohibited, would manage to keep their untainted blue eyes.

24

And that tells you that they used the crystals for consumption? :thinking:
Why? Is it stated anywhere? You are likely to be misreading the visual cues.

But yeah, is there a possibility that a minority sniffed a little fel here and there? Certainly, but it is hardly a ‘general publics’ thing as you so want it to be.

And as I already told you, with actual lore and just some misconstrued visuals… yes, actual lore, actual text… black and white writing. It was not widespread… the fel being in proximity was an unknown factor.

So it was not a determining fact for the High Elves leaving.

We see a boss exemplifying the results of drinking fel blood and siphoning fel energies… yes.

I haven’t seen any other Blood Elf look like Selin Fireheart or other Felblood elves, or end up with similar effects… have you?

And how many demons do you see in Quel’thalas? Most of them are hidden in cellars and one comes out in the shadows of night.

Soooooo… yeeeaaaah… I assume you see the problem.

You are in large part wrong.

As I have quite obviously shown with black and white writing.

The Creative devs disagrees with you.
All the books, written stories, quests, disagree with you.

You ended up misconstrueing visual cues, and you ignored any text opposing that thought… for whatever reason.

But yes… the Blood Elves were affected by fel radiation.

As was stated by creative dev team.

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25

I’d say that if a tavern offers a large hookah and an enormous Fel Crystal as part of an elf’s appetizer, then its quite obvious that these are indeed used for consumption.

Going by the latest novel that references even if tangentially this mindset, the first reaction Kael’thas had when witnessing the binding of Magtheridon was to lick his lips as if seeing some particularly enticing meal.

The Fel Crystals came at the same time as the practice that drove certain elves away. Basically, because both came from the same person.

That means, that any elf that stayed would be affected by said crystals.
Leaving aside for a moment whether these elves indeed syphoned from them, or simply learned to live nearby, any elf that lived or delved in Silvermoon would end up being affected by them and having his or her eyes turned green.

That makes it near impossible, for any Silvermoon affiliated elf to keep his or her blue eyes.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170523131958/https:/twitter.com/MickyNeilson/status/433059417437650944
These elves were indeed absorbing from those Fel Crystals.

I’m not denying the exposure the elves had for simply being near those crystals. But i 'm also noting the fact that they had a widespread practice that included siphoning directly from them.

26

I didn’t quite catch that novel.

Which one was that?

Still did not make it a determining factor for the High Elves leaving or getting into an uproar.

It was the idea of siphoning magic from living creatures alone that these High Elves had a problem with.

How did the blood elven fel eye glint become so widespread? The Warcraft Encyclopedia suggests that Rommath only taught the blood elves of Azeroth about how to siphon arcane magic

Funny thing.

Rommath too wore a green-colored amulet, yet its power was described to be arcane in nature.

Blood of the Highborne.

Micky made a statement about absorption, certainly.

But that is Micky… one guy… against a ton of other sources stating everything else. At best we had a very small minority of Blood Elves actually doing a little fel sniffing.

We know the effects of actual fel siphoning, we see it… and none of this happened to the Blood Elves in Silvermoon.

GRANTED!

There is actually a whole lot of problems in regards to the Blood Elf starting zone lore in general.

One of the earliest quests also states that the burning crystals have been there since before the scourge invasion.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Reclaiming_Sunstrider_Isle

Blizzard have practically stumbled upon themselves several times when writing lore for the Blood Elves, making it a confusing mess.

So far though, ‘Blood of the Highborne’ have provided us with a clear-cut view of what the blood elves as a general population made use of to satisfy their magic urges, and that were mana crystals.

I am quite annoyed that Micky did not manage to release his Kael’thas story though… I would have loved that.

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27

Illidan’s one. When Kael, Vashj and Illidan trap Magtheridon.

For the record, I’m not denying that.

Yes, the HE left because they stood against the practice in all its forms (be it with normal living beings, or demonic energy).
But that would still make anyone with blue eyes, a silvermoon outcast.

This practice has been repeatedly referenced throughout several gaming instances. To the point we had calls back to it in more recent examples such as the Nightborne and their Mana Crystals.

We have Wretched over several questing zones and dungeons that are shown latching and sucking from these fel crystals. Even in the Magisters Terrace, the boss i mentioned is surrounded by them.

In all, i don’t want to stretch it further, but this practice definitely wasn’t about a minority.
We wouldn’t have one of the lead writers of the game at that time talking about it if it were.

Although i agree with you that its all rather messy (as most of BCs lore was).

28

I only listened to that as an audio book. I don’t really remember hearing Kael’thas salivating over the thought of consuming fel… but I also would not be surprised considering Kael’thas and his group would be in that exact position.

Yes.

Blood Elves too suckled at mana crystals.

As was stated in the ‘Blood of the Highborne’ novella.

Just Quel’Danas when Kael’thas and his followers came back and kicked everyone.

THe Wretched you see all other places in Quel’thalas are not fel tainted to the same extend and will usually beg for normal mana crystals.

It is basically told to us that it was a minority.

Not so sure about that. The lead writers seem to be opposing each other quite often, and the only really consistent piece we have had so far is Blood of the Highborne.

Surprisingly also written by Micky.

I do wonder why the Kael’thas story was cancelled.

Could he never finish it… it had too many inconsistencies?

29

Right, there is no such thing as a clear “canon” in WoW when you look at details. But one could interpret this as: “the burning cristals were there for long, as mere fire/sun mana cristals, then the Scourge invaded and the mana wyrms went wild, then the illidari returned from Outland recharged the cristals with fel power, then here we are”
to imagine something consistently put in order.

30

And this is why a story needs consistency.

31

Ion Hazzikostas just a moment ago gave interview there he told that those blue eyes from data mine are just a NPC new high resolution model update.
There will be no blue eyes Blood Elves!

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32

Datamine had already confirmed it. This thread shouldn’t have gone past 5 replies.

33

Now the only question is if we are getting fair-skinned, blond, blue-eyed Night Elves to get the next round of laughing at elves…

34

This cannot be said enough times, but Garithos did nothing wrong.

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35

And nothing that happened to him was wrong!

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36

Same Ion H. one year ago:

If you want to play a fair-haired, light-skinned, blue-eyed majestic high-elf, sorry but…the Horde is waiting for you!

If it’s true that would be the ultimate proof Ion is inconsistent.

I was considering to give a chance to Shadowlands. Well… Sorry Blizzard.

37

I don’t think he said anything about blue eyed in this regard, but fair-skinned, blonde hair, majestic elf… certainly.

But I do believe Ion may slip a little in his interviews in regards to these details in lore.

Personally I would rather see Steve Danuser’s, as the current narrative lead designer, answers to a couple of things in regards to the Blood Elf eye colours.

How did the [blood elven] [fel] eye glint become so widespread? The [Warcraft Encyclopedia] suggests that [Rommath] only taught the blood elves of Azeroth about how to siphon arcane magic, as most of the populace would likely be “horrified” if they knew the true extent of [Kael’s] dealings with [Illidan].

The situation regarding blood elf eyes is, in fact, extremely similar to that of the green skin of [orcs]: just being around heavy use of fel magic turned the eyes of the blood elves green. You could be the most pious of priests or most outdoorsy of [Farstriders], chances are, if you were a [high elf] in [Quel’Thalas] or [Outland] following the [Third War], you were around fel energies, and your eyes would turn green. Like the orcs’ skin color, such an effect would take a very long time to wear off. Fel magic works a bit like radiation in this sense; it permeates the area and seeps into anything in the vicinity. Anything near a source of fel magic shows signs of slight corruption, it just so happens that high elves and orcs manifest it in a very visual way.

Then the chronicles explaination that the Sunwell’s energies now being of Light and Arcane properties.

Then the Creative dev answer to the Blood Knights

The Blood Knights of Silvermoon lack direction. None of them were seen in Northrend, and it is very unclear whether the Order still exists, or if it’s been disbanded. It’s also very unclear where the Blood Knights obtain their power, now. It used to be the Naaru but then… remnants of the naaru. Surely these remnants are all but tapped now. Do we obtain power from the Sunwell?

As of the end of the [Burning Crusade] expansion, [blood elves] who wield the [Light] do so through the power of the renewed [Sunwell]. It is a harmonious relationship, no longer one of discord caused by the blood elves’ attempts to bend the Light to their will, which will likely have a positive effect on blood elf society in the long run. Look forward to updates that reflect this change in the [Silvermoon] and [Blood Knight] quests.

Then his own take on the blood elf golden eyes

It’s not that all blood elf eyes have changed from green to gold. It’s that the potential for golden eyes is present, based in part on the individual’s degree of devotion to the Light.

And

For players, we intentionally didn’t restrict which classes can have golden eyes. Whatever story you want to make for your character’s eye color, more power to you.

For NPCs, we will be selective. Priests & paladins are more likely to have them, but others can if it makes sense.

It stands to reason that the more devoted to the light you are, the more light energy you manifest. In case of High and Blood Elves this logically means that their eyes would shift to a golden hue.

Now we have the Demon Hunters.

Demon Hunters are using arcane tattooes to keep the fel in their bodies in check, because arcane counteracts fel.

Back to the Sunwell being a mixture of Light and Arcane energies.

The High and Blood Elves do not have a on/off switch of what energies that affects them, the energies of the Sunwell passively surges through their bodies unless the elves now have to go and drink from the Sunwell, which is irrelevant because they still can’t choose what energy they wish to take.

The Light cleanses fel, and the arcane counteracts fel. Two energies that overpowers fel are passively surging through the Blood Elves bodies, and if they are devoted to the light and manifests a whole lot of light energy they get golden eyes.

But if they are mages and are continueally manifesting a whole lot of arcane energy whilst their body is being cleansed by light… it seems logical that their eyes would turn blue.

We know from Mists of Pandaria that the green crystals are implied to have been removed, or at the very least are not used in a similar manner as they have in the past which was trapping demon souls.

So unless they are warlocks, there is nothing preventing the rest from quickly losing the greenish hue.

I would absolutely love to see Steve Danuser’s answer to this, rather than Ion’s.

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38

He did say, just ear it (47:39)

“Sorry, the Horde is waiting for you” … but ackchyually it isn’t.

Yes that’s the first hypothesis I listed in OP.
A shame Ion is not able to understand this again.

39

Arh yes.

I misremebered. Curiously enough he immediately says “Eye colour is not quite the same” right after.

So there is indeed a tendency of slips of the tongue when he talks about these smaller details of the lore.

40

He wants the High Elf potential kept in their sleeves, so they may play that card to earn more money/ hope to rebalance the player base should the gap become to big.

High Elves at this point are technically more or less of a retcon anyway. I mean after the whole Blood Elf story arch in TFT…
Adding them would be a definite fanservice, the one they already tried with the assp- I mean Void Elves.