A bit of night elf lore

[Beltharean]

Spoiler:

From MMO-Champion, really old concept art of the night elves. One of the things I think is really neat, is the fact that two of their spirit animals are not the normal totem... Does that mean that they'd still be able to turn into them? Also, the great confirmation on how I've always thought night elf females should be played; Noble savages.

Telepathy is odd, and then the vial seems like a neat addition. Something every night elf should know about!

[Kaghuros]

Telepathy became "All male night elves are trapped in the Emerald Dream because of druids." But more or less, this is what they are.

[Beltharean]

"One of the many female under their care"

Does that mean that they're just taking care of the women, or does that mean the old troll tradition of multiple wives carried over through their transformation?

[Piroska]

When I originally played my first night elf female I drew a lot of inspiration from that sketch. In particular, I found it to be an interesting way to perceive elves, especially given how I had seen them roleplayed up to that point. I was extremely tired of seeing flighty, sweet, dumb, overly sexualized female night elves.

One of the things I think is really neat, is the fact that two of their spirit animals are not the normal totem... Does that mean that they'd still be able to turn into them?

Druids of the talon can supposedly turn into ravens, since it is one of the forms that may be available to them as totemic druids. I've yet to have ever seen any evidence of a wolf, however, or any dog-like creature.

[Kaghuros]

I assume they took away the wolf totem when they added nightsabers as the apex predator of the elven homelands. The nightsaber is roughly equivalent to the wolf spirit in terms of nature and governing attributes. Nightsaber, bear, and raven appear to be the "traditional" forms of totemic druid, with tree of life, stag, serpent, and seal being the outliers (Though supposedly serpent gained popularity among new druids before the Wailing Caverns incident.).

[Beltharean]

Also, any Druid of the Nightmare can turn into a form of vermin. As in, they can turn into massive scorpions, spiders, rats, and insects. Ever since Vanilla WoW, seeing the wolves in Azshara, I've figured there might be a wolf totem or form, but I've thus far been disappointed.

[Nostra]

There's been a lot of talk about the Druids of the Pack and their connection to the Worgen, not sure if there's any pre-Cataclysm lore regarding them though. It does seem like the lore around the Worgen are getting some retcons, which is interesting, the best source of info seems to be this journal.

[Beltharean]

I totally forgot about Druids of the Pack! It says on their wiki page I believe, that all of them have degraded into Wildkin, and lost themselves, so I gave up any thought of it... Is their form purely worgen in nature, or regular wolves as well?

[Rosencrat]

I love the smattering of blood, gristle and filth on the female Night elf's mouth. It is a nice touch that accentuates her outfit of skins, dead enemies and slightly fearsome growths.

A true shame that this concept art didn't carry over into the actual game. It would have made a superb addition to the role-playing experience when your character could be eaten and then worn by a Night Elf.

[Beltharean]

I agree Rosencrat. It makes me want to create a Night Elf Sentinel guild after the restart... :P

[Amerason]

It makes me want to create a Troll centric guild focused on eating Night El- I mean...

But yeah! Most people tend to not realize that Night Elven culture is literally like the exact opposite of Troll culture in the sense that instead of a Patriarchy it is a Matriarchy, are equally xenophobic, just as racist, and just as sexist towards men... save for the men who are druids.

[Bovel]

From MMO-Champion, really OLD concept art of the night elves.

Old is the key here. Kal'dorei are based off ilythiiri or the drow as they are also called. They are essentially über-evil cousins of the normal elf. Night elves are quite far away from original ideas since they aren't really that evil nor matriarchial. The men obviously get to speak now and they are obviously not wandering around with vials of well-water, Illidan does but he is quite unique.

Thought I do wish things were like these pic instead of the current status.

[ThePharaoh]

I agree. Because I was never a High Elf fan. In any fantasy element. Morrwind, DnD anything with elves I always picked Drow because they were bad ass. But with wow, NE's kind of Look like Drow but they're nothing like them. And Blood Elves look like High Elves I hate but they feel more sinister and cold hearted. Especially with the title -Blood- elves. I think they're my drow substitute and they have the plus of Vanity as well. It's an interesting mix. interesting info here though.

[SpiralLateralus]

I think a bit of night elf lore was transferred over to the tauren. Night elves and tauren are very alike in that they are based off of Native Americans and other tribal societies.

[Beltharean]

Thought I do wish things were like these pic instead of the current status.

So do I, it would take a lot of the 'ditzy, stupid elf' stigma away... Although, it might not do much in that sense any way, since it's just the RPers who play that -kind- of elf who create that stereotype, and they won't really be going away any time soon.