What’s the general view on shadow priests among the Night elves? I know some played it as “the dark side of the moon” which would fit quite well imo with the whole night warrior thing, but I have no clue, anyone with experience? thoughts?
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Would probably not be accepted into any night elf cliques/be very frowned upon by other night elves IC, if you are aiming to use actual shadow magic. They still use lunar magic after the vengeance ritual, not shadow/void.
Guess you could spec shadow priest and use it for the visuals, but call it lunar magic (if that is the concept you are going for)?
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True…
I’m not sure I will do anything with it, it’s one of my million ideas but I thought of it and wanted to know how they would be views, but having it be lunar magic instead was a good idea
The Night Warrior isn’t a new concept, and old headcanon has always been that a Kaldorei Shadow Priestess were using the night warriors power, the moons shadow as it were.
I’ve yet to come across another night elf who is reviled by it though. But maybe I’m just lucky in that regard!
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Additionally, if we look at their culture they don’t have much personal reason - setting recent events in WoW aside - to malign shadow magic. If anything, its use largely fits their billing. Even Shadowmeld, an ability ostensibly granted to them by Elune, suggests as much.
It’s fel magic and the Arcane that they are/were rightfully wary of, which is informed by their history. They don’t have the same collective psychological scarring when it comes to shadows.
The only possible exception is the Silithid, and the vast majority of their forces were giant insects who didn’t practice or wield magic.
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Now I’m imagining a yearly night elf ritual that involves gathering thousands of beetles and wasps, before squashing and burning them.
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I don’t know how this suggests they’d have no problem using a highly corruptive magic.
The nightmare originates from the void, and was recently even attacking it in its purest form. Demons also quite often use void magic, satyr even mainly.
I think it‘s odd to argue in hypotheticals like „if we disregard XYZ reasons, then Y makes sense“.
As it stands the kaldorei seem to hate void magic as much as the next race or even more.
So far the shadow the night warrior uses doesn‘t seem to show any taint and seems different in nature. I‘m sure holybones Anduin or Malfurion would have noticed if it is just void, so I‘d personally go with Daleshar‘s suggestion.
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The satyr in Val’sharah are with Xavius, and thus loyal to the Old Gods.
My point didn‘t have to do with their allegiance. Satyr use a lot of void magic. The War of the Satyr happened many millenia ago. It was just to disprove Loras‘ „only recent history“ point. I think he‘s aware there‘s plenty of reasons to dislike the void throughout the last few years.
I think a better angle would be to be a Highborne researcher,: Especially since the Shen’dralar have been known to research into the Void to the point that even Wrathion was interested in their knowledge!
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I did not know that :o
What does the average Night Elf know of the Void? I’m asking here, because I haven’t really come across any instances where it hasn’t been warped into one of the “lesser” brands of affiliated shadow schools.
To someone intimately familiar with the ties to Old Gods, the Emerald Nightmare and the nebulous Void Lords themselves, a strong opinion on such magic would make sense. But none on Azeroth has access to wowpedia.
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You underestimate my powers.
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Agreeing with Stirrer here - I think there’s plenty of reasons for night elves to distrust Void/Shadow magic. The saying that the "dark side of the moon" is Shadow magic is, as you rightfully say, just headcanon.
It is fairly baseless to suggest that the Night Warrior’s blessing is one of Void, when the only similarity between the two is the colour. Whatever it may mean, the night elves are said to “wield vengeance as a weapon”, whatever that may mean. If they wielded Void, why would that not be stated directly? Why would corruption not be felt by the unaffected?
Additionally, a lot of Tyrande’s spells are still about moonlight even after the ritual – if the blessing gave her power through the Void, why would she not use that?
I don’t agree. Shadowmeld, as introduced in WC III, can only be used when one is not attacking or moving. It is the same in Classic – you cannot shadowmeld in combat, and it has a fairly low cooldown. Additionally, it only works during night time, suggesting that it has more to do with shadows of the night than actual Shadow magic.
If they did shadowmeld using Shadow magic, then it would be counter-intuitive to restrict that usage to the night – why not use it during the day as well?
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It has been confirmed in 8.3 that the Shen’dralar delved into Void research as well (which makes sense, considering they’re a really old caste of incredibly well-versed scholars and nobles).
This, in my opinion, would make the most sense. RP a Shen’dralar Void researcher!
Or, go full crazy and embrace the Twilight’s Hammer (sadly I don’t think there’s any dedicated guild for that these days).
Outside of those options, I don’t think there has ever really been a widely accepted Nelf Shadow Priest. Which makes sense, the Sisterhood of Elune is ancient, very hierarchical and revolves all around moon worship which manifests as “Light” or lunar power ingame. Not as Void/Shadow.
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I’m fairly certain that Maiev used Shadowmeld on a ridge in Hellfire, during daylight, in the book Illidan… Atleast the intent was there with her being able to observe every orc and Illidan with Magthiridon, without being seen by any of them!
Or I am misremebering! Which isn’t unlikely either😫
Interesting! thanks 
and thanks to everyone else also that has answered
I would also like to add that “Shadowmeld”, as an ability, was lore-wise only exclusive to female Night Elves (WC3) because it was supposed to be an ability granted by Elune. Of course Blizzard removed the matriarchal system of Night Elf society with the launch of WoW, so it may just be available to any gender by now.
However, it’s still an interesting fact to bear in mind that it is linked to Elune.
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Uhm… the war of the shifting sands, literally against the Void Lords’ minions?
The Emerald Nightmare, which is the work of the Old Gods and their cronies?
I again question how commonly known the ties between Old Gods and the Void really is. We know all there is to know, but that’s a bit of a stretch from an IC point of view.