What personally baffles me is the eagerness with which some of the initially neutral races not only joined a faction, but -also- don’t seem to have any qualms about immedeatly entering a war against the other side that -also- helped you.
Take the Nightborne for instance, they sat under their dome for 10k years, when they emerged, they found the demons waiting for them almost immedeatly, and had to fight a civil war before -finally- being free to take their fate into their own hands. Aaand… not only do they decide to join the Horde, but also join their war because… Tyrande said some mean things?
I know I should not expect too much nuance, but the nightborne choice always felt bruteforced ( despite their similarities to blood elves) due to how Tyrande was mishandled, which others already pointed out.
Personally , if I were the Nightborne or the Highmountain, I’d be like “Woah there chief, I like you, but joining you in a war right off the bat against folks who also helped me , that’s a bit too much right now.”
Now other races immedeatly joining made more sense. The Zandalari had their princess and important advisor abducted and imprisoned by the Alliance ( dafaq Anduin) and thus had little reason to like the Alliance. Kul Tiras meanwhile already had a history of battling the Horde, and those relations did -not- get better after Daelin was killed ( regardless of the reasons).
thats why the short quest scenario of alleria going back to quel’thalas always struck me as ham-fisted. convienent thalysra was there to also see alleria’s new voidy-ness react badly to the sunwell. on top of that Lorthemar seemed a bit…too eager to jump on a celebrated hero of quel’thalas who spent the last thousand years fighting for them against the legion? idk the more you look back the more you realise BFA really was kinda tacked together to justify the faction war angle
nightborne going from isolation for 10k directly into their chosen faction committing genocide against their own race that weren’t isolated was hilariously wild writing
In a more realistic scenario , perhaps Tyrande would’ve still had reservations, but would not have said such outright dumb things that would’ve pushed them to the Horde. Thalyssra , had I been writing her, would have probably been more like “Okay, I get where you’re coming from, but we’re not that anymore, after all, we fought -against- the demons and Elisande.”
After which they’d probably focus on repairing the damage that the demons caused, and then reach out towards the rest of the Broken Isles, aswell as bring back as many Withered as possible by letting them eat from the arcan’dor fruit. By this time the Fourth War would be raging ( I still maintain it should be the -Fifth- War, given the Fourth War should’ve been during Cata), where the Nightborne would probably be like “Woah jesus, nobody’s qualified to deal with -that- hot mess.”
This is, as it always is, a simplification. Tyrande didn’t help herself - both with her direct harsh words and her implied ghosting of any further correspondence with the Nightborne.
But also Liadrin was basically there early on as a friendly face who said “hey, the blood elves also had issues with a magical well and magic dependency, we’re just like you!” Turns out when you’re nice to people, they want to hang out with you.
Like, just look at the comparative difference in how Tyrande’s words:-
The Nightfallen insisted on being a part in this conflict. There is more work to be done than people we have.
vs. Liadrin’s
I can relate to Thalyssra’s frustration.
I remember when I launched my first offensive. I swear I didn’t eat or sleep for a week.
They wrote Tyrande consistently as hostile and not extending any sort of olive branches. Whether right or wrong characterisation for her, the Nightborne shacking up with the Horde does follow with the setup. Alliances have been made over less (Night Elves in the Alliance).
just checking that this applies to the lightforged and the void elves as well
Lightforged: “Uh, High Exarch…?”
Turalyon: “Well, it’s Orcs. They’re demon-blooded monsters that ravaged an entire continent, were servants of Mannaroth and Kil-Jaeden, and destroyed Draenor through fel rituals. Oh, and there’s undead as well, and trolls used to work with the Orcs before, so-”
Lightforged, used to thousands of years of demon-stomping: “Say no more.”
Well I mean, the Horde helped the Army of the Light out on Antorus an equal amount to the Alliance, right? And the lightforged have been away from their other people for thousands+thousands of years, just like the Nightborne and Highmountain were.
Plus, remember how Illidan - a Night Elf! - blew up Xe’ra? Pretty messed up, I think we can all agree! And then Alleria - an Alliance hero - ate another naaru. Sounds like the High Exarch and his void infested wife might not be so trustworthy after all. Maybe the Lightforged should stay neutral for a few expansions before making any big decisions on where they sit.
I’m sure you are (that sounds sarcastic, it’s not meant to be), but my point is rarely are people who go “nooo Nightborne joining the Horde makes no sense!” so eager to turn that same criticism on any Alliance allied race.
Hell even the mechagnomes got equal help from the Horde with Mechagon, and unlike the highmountain/nightborne/lightforged/void elves, the Alliance was already in the middle of a total war with the Horde.
I expect the reason no one complains about that is because neither side really wants the diaper gnomes though.
HM Tauren and LF Draenei fall into the ‘This could have been a customisation option’ and/or a “Thanks, but most of us will stay Neutral, actually.”
Dark Iron and Mag’har also kinda do, BUT also have much stronger faction-ties that make and have made consistent sense, so they get a pass.
Zandalari and Kul Tirans, in the context we got, make the most sense for being firmly in one camp or the other. One side had years of fairly valid reasons to hate the Horde, then got some more, and the other had a royal abduction for ‘reasons’ AND then a full blown Regicide. Ooft.
Nightborne shoulda been Neutral. Avoids so much back and forth.
Vulpera… honestly could have been Neutral? The writing in BFA was so ham-fisted as a justification, frankly. But what else is new. No strong feelings, they coulda worked but I’m ok where they are.
Void Elves should have been Broken Draenei/Krokuul or High Elves. I will die on this hill. Absolutely stupid - pull decision lmao.
And that’s everything and everyone. Yup. All explained and accounted for.
Nothing of any value forgotten, no sirree.
Could never stay neutral, they’ve been part of the Alliance (and Ironforge) since Cataclysm, the fact they only “joined” recently is just criminal mishandling of their lore.
Not the mag’har we got, only the Outlands mag’har made sense, but again they’ve been part of the Horde since TBC anyway.
Nah, even if the Alliance never saw it, the burning of their caravans did happen and the vulpera are firmly anti-Alliance because of it.
And yeah, nobody likes the void elves, thats why everyone that plays them makes them look like high elves, and also why Blizzard added normal options to them so quickly, lol.
They wanted to give high elves to the Alliance, but not-high elves so they went with void elves.
And yeah, void broken would’ve been cool af too!
At this point, yeah. The Zandalari Empire should’ve made the vulpera and sethrak citizens of the Empire. Why do Tortollans get a seat, but they don’t? Makes no sense!
Jokes on you, Elenthas, but I think LFD should never have been added in the first place, let alone to a faction.
We were building up to this grand Army of the Light, instead we got this dumb Lightier Draenei army with a enslaved Light-Demon, a Human as its leader, a single High Elf who is in her Goth-phase and thats about it. Its a disgrace. Its a spit in the face of years upon years of build up and they never should’ve been added.
Instead we should’ve gotten a Light-infusion questline for normal draenei and unlock that customisation for them.
- pull decision lmao.