Troll Priest

[Shivali]

I am sort of confused as to the nature of a troll priests magic. I read that thread with the nature of magic in azeroth and it says priests get their magic from their belief in their religions. But the troll Loa gods actually exist in-game. Such as Hakkar and some of the other gods as bosses. I read over the Loa Wowwiki and it gives the impression that they get their power from their gods. So once and for all, do the troll priests really get their power from dealings with their Loa or from their dedication to their gods? Because the whole magic power simply from belief doesn't make sense with the rest of Warcraft magic.

[Delmure]

Just because something might or might not exist does not mean you can't believe in it. You can believe in anything you want to as long as you have the will to. That's a good question though, One I don't have the answer to. I thought I'd just chip in there, in case it actually is the power of belief. The strength drawn from the Light and how paladins use/draw from it, etc.

[Hinbane]

For the Light the Naaru seem to be the closest things to the source of power Paladins and Priests can call upon. I'm not sure though, just a guess. For Warlocks and Shadow Priests you have the Nether or Demons. For Magi you have the Nether and ley-lines in your own world. And for Shaman you have the elements around you.

Im not sure thats if this answers your question, but I thought I'd just lay that out here :P.

[Shivali]

We know that Paladins draw power from the Naaru and Light-Priests draw power from belief. I just want to know if the Loa priests draw power from Loa. Read The nature of Magic in Azeroth and The Loa Wowwiki Article and you might understand what I am confused about.

[Scout]

I always thought that priestly energies came from the spirit of the person using the magic. People use "holy" (healing) magic and stuff like that without drawing energy from the Holy Light, and likewise for shadow and discipline. I don't see them so much like they draw energy from their deity as their magic is influenced by their fundamental beliefs. For instance, Therai's sad and distant persona, combined with her study of the Shadow, drew her into a change from energy of Elune to Shadow energy. I suppose that study of another form of magic could allow you to use that kind of magic, but to me, your base spiritual magic is governed by your personality.

[Shivali]

Yes, bit with every culture other than troll with priests there is no physical evidence of the deity. With troll loa, they are actually there. Some of them have been physically manifested on several occasions during in-game quests and boss encounters. I think you are right with Elune, Shadow, and Light priests. Their power comes from their strong belief and power within themselves, but with the Loa... Much of my research gives the impression that the Loa priests power comes from the actual Loa. The trolls make offerings and the various Loa spirits give them power. At this point I think it depends on whichever the server wants to go with.

[Hinbane]

It seems to me though that Elune does indeed exist.

[Qaza]

I remember distinctly someone who plays night elves a lot (Maeven?) saying there's an Alliance-side quest where you actually hear Elune's voice. That puts her on par with the Toll's Loa, for me.

[MrWeasel]

The way I see it is troll priests draw on their own power like every other priest, from within. Though the Loa are like gods to them. The witch doctors and voodoo users are the ones to channel the Loa in actuality while the priests only believe that they are actually channeling the Loa. The way I understand the relationship between Witch Doctors and Voodoo priest and their Loa is like the relationship between Shaman and the Elemental spirits.

[Grakor456]

I'm not sure Blizzard ever put much thought into this themselves. However, my assumption was always that someone who gets power from the Loa directly would not be a Priest, but rather a Shaman, as most of the Loa are essentially described as being very powerful nature spirits.

[Hinbane]

I remember distinctly someone who plays night elves a lot (Maeven?) saying there's an Alliance-side quest where you actually hear Elune's voice. That puts her on par with the Toll's Loa, for me.

Also the fact that Cenarius was the son of Elune is physical proof of her existence.

[Hawk]

I remember distinctly someone who plays night elves a lot (Maeven?) saying there's an Alliance-side quest where you actually hear Elune's voice. That puts her on par with the Toll's Loa, for me.

Also the fact that Cenarius was the son of Elune is physical proof of her existence.

Wait, say what now? Isn't Elune a spirit...?

[Mikain]

Elune never engages in combat of any kind, nor does she allow it to occur in her presence. Though she never physically manifests in the world of mortals, when she involves herself in a violent situation she arrives invisibly and undetected using her song of peace to calm the combatants until sunrise.


As for trolls, there are many Loa, different ones for each race of trolls, possibly even different ones for each tribe. But so far there seems to be a difference in them, there are the Loa that are the more powerful Loa, the ones that the Shadow Hunters communicate with, and then there are the Primal Loa, which seem to be the ones Priests communicate with, though unlike the shadow hunters, they communicate with only one loa, not all. This is supported by the trolls in Zul'Gurub, Zul'Aman, and Zul'Drak (Possibly, they have the Primal's but they've sacrificed their own gods.); the high priest can actually twist himself into a form somewhat resembling the Primal Loa he worships, and the other priests seem to be their followers.

[Shivali]

I remember distinctly someone who plays night elves a lot (Maeven?) saying there's an Alliance-side quest where you actually hear Elune's voice. That puts her on par with the Toll's Loa, for me.

Also the fact that Cenarius was the son of Elune is physical proof of her existence.

As said in the War of the Ancients Trilogy, Cenarius was the son of Ysera and a certain white stag spirit. That Elune was his mother was just a myth that night elves liked to believe in that time.


As for what Qaza said about the hearing of Elune's voice, I never heard of that quest. I was thinking that Elune priests draw power from within like Grakor's Nature of magic in Azeroth post said, the night elves are pretty magic saturated beings to begin with. They made some pretty outrageous claims such as that their god actually being the moon itself and hiding in the well of eternity during daytime. It would make more sense if they were simply worshipping the moon and their was no other entity about it. Anyway I think I have figured out the troll priest thing from what Mikain said about the Loa. They are just a bunch of assorted spirits that the troll shamans and shadow hunters call their power, while their priests simply get power from strong belief.

Edit: Apparently there is a quote in wowwiki where Richard Knaak states that Cenarius is son of Elune. He is contradicting himself since his book says that Cenarius is son of Ysera. I will have to get my warcraft books together and figure this out...

Edit 2: "...that Cenarius might very well be the son of Ysera, but..." - a quote from Krasus thoughts while he hid some of Malygos eggs in the third war of the ancients trilogy. Ok he said might be Ysera's son. And this was from the thoughts of Krasus. This was only a thought from Krasus point of view, not a fact said by anyone. I was wrong, Richard Knaak and Hindbane were right. Cenarius is Elune's son and therefore Elune must exist as a sentient being somewhere. Which explains why she is called the mother of night elves and why Cenarius has half of a night elf looking body.

[Hinbane]

Also, on an interesting and somewhat off-topic note, I seem to remember reading some sort of speculation that the Lich King wishes and plans to destroy Elune in someway. Though I'm not sure how he'd go about it.