But since we have that topic when does a race starts to be different enough to be considered something else?
Like blood elves are undeniable high elves.
But all elves come from a common ancestry.
We don’t consider night elves to be high elvescause they are pretty different but they are still very elve and it feels like night elves are just a different skin colour of sorts.
And then comes the question are night born closer to high elves or to night elves or are they there own thing completely.
Or what’s with the arathi?
They are half breeds but somehow most people consider them human or more human then elve.
Or what about the high mountain tauren the tauren and the taunka?
Are they all equally the same race?
And the hardest question that I can’t really answer for myself since I started.
Are forsaken still human?
They have human body’s thstbare decaying but they are also filled with death magic as an essential part of there being.
It would really depend on how you and the land you’re in would accept you, but some places would absolutely give you a new identity. Besides, one might say cultural identity is just as important, if not more so than, ethnicity to many people. That’s why there’s an ideology known as “civic nationalism”
Blood Elves and High Elves are biologically the same, but calling the latter the former is incredibly offensive and ignores all the nuance. Just ask one of the High elves at the allerian stronghold.
Yes, the Sin’dorei are pre-existing Quel’dorei who have embraced a new identity, one based on doing anything to survive, but because of that, the Quel’dorei have an identity of their own, based on friendship and loyalty, and to say that they’re the same is to ignore all of that.
But this begs the question. Using the logic of this statement:
Same with the elves: the Sin’dorei didn’t stop being Quel’dorei by blood; they simply embraced a new national identity.
Quel’dorei is actually a Darnassian term that originally referred to the nobleborne elves, specifically those living in cities who had access to ancient arcane magics. They were considered “higher” than the common lowborn Night Elves.
The modern High Elves, also called Quel’dorei, are descendants of those Highborne who were exiled by Malfurion after the War of the Ancients.
The Nightborne still see themselves as Highborne. This is reflected not just in their culture and architecture, but also in their attitude toward others, they often refer to other races as “lowborn scum,” showing that they maintain the same sense of superiority that the original Highborne once held.
What does this even supposed to mean?
The Highmountain tribes and the Kalimdor Tauren tribes are the same race. Huln of Highmountain was blessed by Malorne for his bravery, and as a result, his people grew antlers reflecting the mark of Malorne.
The Taunka, on the other hand, represent a biological adaptation to their environment, not a shift in identity, they are still fundamentally Tauren.
How is this even contected to the identitification change of the Quel’dorei?
As I said, just because I moved to Europe and got a passport, I don’t magically change from an East Asian phenotype to a European one.
TNot for now, though we have yet to see how much the Void will enhance them, just as the Nightborne and Night Elves became biologically distinguishable over time.
Oh sorry it wasn’t really supposed to be connected to the elves directly.
It was more that the topic sparked those somewhat related questions in me on when does a race just gets identified with a different name and cultural changes but keeps being that race like the blood elves and when does athey start to be an New thing we view as something diffrent
I tend to stray from the topic sometimes I apologise
Humans are also in the game and have been for years and yet Blizzard in BfA introduced humans.
Orcs are also in the game and have been for years and yet Blizzard in BfA introduced orcs.
Funny how that works, huh?
I see Anti-Helfers have now devolved into just single-mindedly spamming one joke forever. Kind of sad if you ask me, they’d use to be way more entertaining and creative in the past.
Yeah, but the Thallasian elves had identiy changes, not the biological ones YET. I say yet, because the Ren’dorei did not really have biological changes like it with the Nightborne and the Nightelvesm or the Naga and Satyrs for istance.
Just like Kul Tirans are playable on the sole basis of “national identity” (your own word), so should High Elves.
And before you play dumb, you know we’re talking about the High Elves who have identified with the Alliance more than Quel’Thalas since Vanilla.
No, I wouldn’t, I would be enjoying that I can finally play a High Elf after 20 years.
And the Horde would just be dead without their welfare system.
No, I don’t, because I don’t care about Blood Elves.
I care about the High Elves I’ve seen in multiple Alliance hubs since Vanilla - YEARS BEFORE THE HORDE GOT THEIR WELFARE SYSTEM -, and who have fought for the Alliance in the past 20 years.
Just stop making assumptions, you are terrible at reading people.
Playable High Elves can still happen and they can happen, regardless of Blood Elves, Void Elves and Humans
But, they can’t come at the expense of Blood Elves.
They need to come, in a way where players can feel proud of the race…not just leeching/taking everything from Blood Elves and with Silvermoon City’s reveal - I can say I am so happy that the city is just “Blood Elf” from start to finish.
It guarantees that playable High Elves can still come and they come in their own independent form which is EXACTLY what we need.
You can always roll Horde if you want, no need to torture yourself kicking a dead horse. I actually liked the Kul Tirans; I rolled one even though I was a die-hard Horde player.
???
Did you not just say that you would be enjoying playing a High elf after 20 years if the Blood evles were in the Alliance?
Peasants playing at nobility, all just to mingle with lower races, those who put lowborn races above their own are unworthy of the name High Elves, let alone of setting foot in Quel’Thalas.
I think part of the issue is that we’ve got an “us vs them” mentality and I know, that as a High Elf supporter, I’m in the minority of people who absolutely love the stories for both Blood Elves and High Elves
I don’t view this as an “us vs them.” I embrace both sects of Thalassian Elves and appreciate what both stories tell.
It’s why I support playable High Elves as their own independent - not at the expense of Blood Elves because anyone who appreciates the High Elf and Blood Elf lore knows that you can’t have one leech or steal from the other.
I know that…which is why I believe playable High Elves can happen, completely void of anything related to Quel’Thalas.
In the Northrend revamp, they could easily claim the ruins of Shandaral and Crystalsong Forest. Remove the Satyr and Blood Elf presence and lay claim to the ancient city.
This does 2 things:
Grants players the ability to make a playable High Elf
The ancient Highborne buildings that we saw in Azsuna…they can now be claimed by the Alliance + combine it with High Elf Arcane Sanctums and you’ve got a Quel’dorei paradise for the Alliance.
The Kaldorei dismissed nearly everything that tied them to the imperial Kaldorei culture. They barely accepted a handful of surviving Highborne from the house of Shandralar under the ultimatum that they would mentor and teach the young Nightelves the ways of the arcane. Even the Highborne mage trainers themselves admit that the true depths of arcane power are known only to the Highborne, which means that Tyrande deliberately limits what they can actually teach.
Had the modern Kaldorei Empire truly sought to reclaim its past glory, they would have welcomed Thalysrra’s offer instead of banishing her, dismissing her with the claim that she might one day become “another Azshara.” This demonstrates that even after ten thousand years, the Kaldorei still do not trust the Highborne. One should also remember that the Nightelves currently available to play are of the lowborn type, not of the noble “Highborne” lineage.
I’m not talking about the Night Elves being involved with this.
I’m talking about intertwining the new high elf city of Shandaral with modern High Elf buildings, with blue, gold and white and make them work with the ancient Highborne buildings, being restored to some former beauty and make the Highborne+High Elf thing a true feature on the Alliance
I’m playing a Blood Elf Hunter on the Horde.
I want to also play a High Elf Hunter on the Alliance.