If Nordrassil didn't block power of the Well of Eternity, Archimonde could use its powers during his invasion on Hyjal without removing the tree.
Are high elves weaker than night elves? I don't think so. Night elves were powerful only because of blessing of Nordrassil. When it was destroyed, night elves became as weak as high elves.Semantics. Some evolutions are devolutions and others are more accurately described as mutations - depends on what these words mean to you. I refer to it as devolution as others I'm sure do, because they lost stuff. Vrykul to human is an evolution that is a devolution, they become less than what they were before, more handicapped, more fragile, weaker, less capable - not tot he point that they're cavemen or anything like that, but it is a weakening.
Yes. For a moment. It hasn't taken them a lot of time. Just a couple of years to reach Eastern Kingdoms and go north."Weaker for a moment" where do you get "for a moment".. and similar to the Nightborne? Where do you make that comparison? It's not similar at all to the Nightborne. The Nightborne get that way because they've heavily abused the magic of the Nightwell, taking it far beyond what a biological lifeform is to do with it - which is obvious considering they were INGESTING the thing for nutrition when they went low - the arcane energy amongst the night elves enhances naturally life, but it isn't meant as a replacement, the use was an abuse...so chronic was their dependency, that kicked out of Suramar they devolved completely.
As for nightborne, I still think it is similar. Two races highly reliant on arcane magic that were cut from it. Without arcane suffusion they fall into illnesses comparable to famine. It is not a deevolution. It is a sickness that can be cured.
It is hard to tell, as Blizzard hasn't mentioned new capabilities of nightborne. It is possible that they have enhanced intelligence or something like that. We only know that it increases dependence on magic.Now their experience is a complete devolution, notice how they don't become trolls or anything like that, , it's new state. It can be called an evolution, but it is a devolution. Now the change to Nightborne is an evolution, but more of the mutated variety - changed by the Nightwell is not considered to have caused any enhancements at all.. perhaps because it was due to abuse of magic, whereas the original formation of the night elves happened in a natural way (even if Elune actually guided it).
Their connection is different because high elves are connected to Sunwell, while night elves are not connected to any well. High elves get addicted to any magic because they have always been, since becoming elves in the first place.Not sure where you got weaker for a moment... the way the high elves connect to the Sunwell is different, it's not a natural genetic connection the original night elf has, I suspect that because they are elves, there is a higher affinity for connecting to magical sources, and this wasn't altered in the exile process, however it is obviously not the same because they are able to get addicted by being suffused with a lesser magical source, which tells me that the devolution their bodies incurred reduced their capacity to handle magic - because they get addicted with a less powerful source, it may also be another proof/indication that the connection to the Sunwell is artificial, and because it is the effects aren't like what they would be when they were night elven.
Night elves do not feel effects of their addiction because of them evolving lack of addiction over 10000 years. During Long Vigil, Nordrassil made them immune to every disease. After third war, they either lost any connection to arcane by that time or they could sate their low arcane dependence by their weak moonwells. However, moonwells are comparable to these little tricks of Silver Covenant high elves.It would be one of those "impossible to foresee" things - you have no idea how much you are affected by an event like the exile and what the druids did - this explains why the dislike or even hatred for the Darnassians may run deep in Thalassians. It could be that also because the connection to the sunwell isn't natural, it's loss won't change them physically, but it would affect them physically because they'd grown dependent on it an din this case acting more like a drug - which is why night elves don't naturally have that reaction when they stop to use arcane magic, and I addiction withdrawal is only apparent in those who had grossly been overusing the arcane to irresponsible levels they develop an addiction. But their addiction threshold would by logic be higher also -or at least it would make sense to me that it was higher.
Although your theory is plausible and interesting gameplay-wise, we have some trails that could lead us to my alternative conclusion.- Wait what? How can we even remotely deduce this? All we know is that the night elves in the pre-sundering era because of how they handled and used arcane magic were immortal and likely didn't suffer maladies, this is not necessary because of natural infusion/connection to the well, but a result of working spells, handling arcane magic for spell and able to use it to further extend life, extra intelligence boost on top of what you get from proximity (remember the animals?). You are boosted by being in proximity to a well source right? The effect of that well source can be optimised also (this is what is happening in moonwells) to affect the land and the creatures in ti even more) - however you are not immortal, and you're not immune to sicknesses. When you start handling the arcane using magic (i.e. spell work) the night elf can further enhance those qualities, further boost the intelligence, further boost longevity, further boost resistance to sicknesses etc, this is done magically (who knows, this might have been one of the things the Order of elune did in the pre-sundering era - we know they aren't mages, but we know they handle the arcane too, it is likely an easily done thing, since little children are also affected, so it may not necessarily be the priesthood but anyone with a simple basic knowledge of elven spellwork because it's taught or it's an attributed conferred organically - we aren't told)
First of all, we have arcane races. Titans, constellar, uncorrupted titanforged are all immortal and immune to diseases. Arcane is the essence of order and perfection. As opposed to chaos, arcane forms are eternal and static. Only curse of flesh destroyed the eternal order an immortality of titanforged, making them weak. On Draenor, it was sporemounds that corrupted the colossal descendants, giving them the same weakness.
We also know that eredar are naturally immortal too, likely because of living on a titan world and mining argunite. Velen left Argus but we know that naaru can grant immortality to their followers, as shown with Turalyon. However, these Draenei are not immune to diseases.
On favour of your opinion comes Aegwynn who uses spells to extend her life. However, Tirisgarde stated that this spell is difficult and unstable. If it was so easy that any elf could use it, it means that human magi should be able to copy(you may say that elves would not want to share it with humans but think of all human-elf marriages. An elf would likely want to save their husband or wife from death.) it too. However, only Aegwynn did that. And Blizzard stated that elf lifespan is longer than human one.
Yes. This is why I want to say that long vigil has no connection to the arcane well.Long and short is you need to spell work for such things. When the Well implodes, and the new well created, there is a connection, but because of the ban, the Well isn't used for ANY spell work at all... immortality and diseases immunity is conferred to the Hyjal group when the dragons link them to Nordrassil and bless Nordrassil - it is not gained by arcane handling.
Shen'dralar have Immol'thar. Nightborne of Suramar have Nightwell. Moonguard wasn't explained but it is likely that they had something similar to high elf arcane sancta, as they had similar machinery in their stronghold.Meanwhile the Shen'dralar in Dire Maul, the Night elves in Suramar and The Moonguard - however all continue to live immortal lives , also free of disease, this they do because they are actually handling the arcane like before.
They were suspectible to diseases only before creation of the Sunwell. As for their immortality, it is possible. The oldest high elf, Anasterian Sunstrider, died in battle. We also know that Vereesa is very old and currently she doesn't seem to be dying soon. Her older sisters should rather be ignored, of course.However we notice the Thalassians, despite handling the arcane also, are not immortal, are not immune to disease either, unlike their elven progenitors. The reasonable deduction there is this is a biological trait unique to night elven kind (therefore night elves and Nightborne would have it), when they were severed and devolved they lost the bodies extra magical capacity, DNA etc which is why they get more easily addicted and handling magic doesn't grant them immortality or immunity to disease. The elf is a magic created being, so in the exile the Thalassians have lost some of that capacity, and as such are closer t humans . it's not much, because sickness is rare amongst the Thalassians and they live much longer than humans, but it's less than it is in night elves and Nightborne.
Why do the nightborne remain night elves while high elves do not? Is that because of this sexy purple hue that high elves sadly lost?Yes I include Nightborne because they didn't lose any attributes of their initial night elven selves, this is why their situation is so different from the High elves, who lose a measure of what makes them night elves through the exile. The Nightborne, are a night elf sub-group, a new kind of night elf, the Nightwell changes them, but it isn't taking away original stuff from them, it's rather warping it, they are been altered by continuous and greater abuse of arcane magic, and this time it's a unique one utilising the magic of the Eye of Aman'thul that greatly expands the small font of power that was in Suramar palace.
These highborne either use old artifacts that they took from Eldre'thalas or they have tricks similar to ones of Moonguard. Now, with the Legion gone, I can imagine them just removing Nordrassil because it is useless. Even more, I think any reasonable person would burn Nordrassil.So Night elves of the long vigil group do not get disease immunity from being connected to the Well of Eternity, they got it during the long vigil from the blessing of the dragon flights, which is why when it goes, they lose it, and still refuse to use the Well. Now the Highborne who use arcane energy who knows, I suspect they would have near immortal lives. Do they need a powerful enough source to make the life in use perpetual, who knows, but they're still connected to the well anyway, and they use the magic, so it's likely that unlike the priests and druids, they are.
It was disabled by planting Nordrassil.Disabled by Cenarius? That never happened, not read about that once. The WotA tells us they are connected to the Well of eternity, they feel the new Well the moment Illidan restores it, it then tells us their connection is a mystery, however at this point we haven't been told they are made from the Well of Eternity, this comes much later, I can only deduce that was the mystery spoken of in WotA trilogy.
They aren't genetically linked to Azeroth. they only felt creation of new well because they can sense arcane, as long time addicts. The exiled high elves suffer because they lose proximity of Nordrassil. Shen'dralar do not have problems like that because they simply summoned Immol'thar and drained it.As explained above, they are genetically linked to the titan's blood, it makes sense and it explains this, and this is because it's how they are made. Which is why it also makes sense that as punishment for breaking the ban, Cenarius does something magically that alters the biology of those who break the ban. This while mentioned in the rpg books, explains why the exile was so hard on the high elves, and why it changes them, when others like the Shen'dralar aren't changed despite not being in proximity or able to utilise the magic of the Well of Eternity directly. The official lore only says they were changed during the exile. It is logical to assume that if they were going to exile them instead of kill them for breaking the ban, they would have figured out a way to ensure that wherever they went they would not be able to use the arcane magic of the Well like they had done to create that storm.
Wells aren't necessary to use magic. After all, goblins use magic too. So do trolls.Nordrassil blocks remote use of the well, it isn't disabled at all, but night elves have a natural connection to it, it is possible that in proximity to it they could utilise it with Nordrassil atop it, however blizzard hasn't explore this. The fact the Darth'remar Highborne could make a storm means that they figured out a way to utilise the magic of the well despite Nordrassil being there, it
The problem about making own models of the story is that they are not single true models. It is like science. There are multiple hypotheses that contradict eachother before the real one is proven.I'm not creating lore, I'm merely explaining it. I have been careful to outline the thought process by pointing out what is directly stated in lore, and how we get some of the results the lore gives us. the lore doesn't spend much time explaining, but it gives you the information so you can figure out a working model yourself. If you actually think about why things in a video game lore is actually working. If you have that time on your hands or care enough about it, you can.
Don't worry. I have fun responding to you. However, I would be happy if you used that Discord link that I sent you so you could talk with me and my friends in real time.Hopefully by reading what I've just replied above you now realise I'm not trying to do that at all. If anything causes you trouble o r you want to offer more points on anything said so far, please don't hesitate to write it, I will do my best to explain, but I tend to get carried away explaining night elf stuff, because I've spent SOOOO much time on it, reading it, researching it, thinking about it, roleplaying it, and this is one of the few places outside my group of friends I can actually talk about my findings. Its pointless to "publish" them in a blog or something - but if someone asks about or conversation generally leads to it, I am happy to share, but be warned, this is why I have so much to say.
I think eredar are even more mysterious on that matter.I've had to figure out a lot of things about the night elves. I remember the warning clearly in classic, that the night elves were enigmatic. There is mystery and more than meets the eyes. I noticed this immediately I started playing them, he questions started popping into my head, their behaviour, attitude blied the appearance of what I saw, and my conventional assumptions about people - for example, because you live in a forest, you're uncivilized and savage, yet these people seemed the exact opposite. Why? I saw many contrasting themes and opposites, like dualities in them often juxtaposed on each other. It piqued my interest and here we are.