Were the night elves right to outlaw magic, and was Illidan right to create the Well?

[OwenBurton]

The night elves outlawed all arcane magic after the War of the Ancients -- they argued that it had drawn the Legion to their world, and would inevitably do so again. This of course eventually led to the exile of the Highborne to the Eastern Kingdoms and the establishment of Quel'Thalas.

Would it have made any difference though? I mean, if the Legion already knew Azeroth's location and existence -- no amount of magic used would have changed that reality, as their forces began to slowly rebuild. In fact, arcane magic did indeed play a significant role in destroying the Legion invaders -- as can be seen from Illidan's past visions. What would have happened had they allowed the Highborne to practice their arts unhindered? Perhaps giving them a section of Ashenvale? Dath'Remar could have used the Runestones to mask any use of magical activity from outside threats as well, I'm not sure why he and Malfurion never tried to reach a compromise agreement. The Well of Eternity would have made the Highborne incredibly powerful, and they could have united with the priestesses and the druids to bolster kaldorei society and the military to heights nearly unimagined.

Which brings us to Illidan's creating the Well of Eternity -- he argued that had he not done so, the night elves would have no way to fight back when the Legion eventually returned. Whether this is accurate or not is debatable. The Well created the moonwells -- and possibly permeates Kalimdor with its ambient energies, strengthening the kaldorei. But did it really make a major difference, when the Legion did return, during the Third War and their last failed invasion?

[MikeBogina]

I voted both were were wrong. Illidan immediately after the sundering goes and creates a new well of eternity, without discussing this with others. He also lashed out and either killed someone or almost killed fatso(which is why Maiev hates him). He was rightfully imprisoned because he wasn't justified in his actions throughout the WotA, just a power hungry warlock.

The outlawing of magic as a whole was an act of ignorance and tyrannical from the new Hippy in charge. It has been magical users(I play a warrior and Demon Hunter so no bias here) who have time and again saved the world from great evil threats. The druids are no stranger to messing up aswell, with the world tree in Northrend breaching the prison of YoggSaron and how often their members are easily corrupted. The High Elves bringing magic to the Eastern Kingdoms has led to the protection of the world now that it's in the hand's of the main race, the humans. They did create a Sunwell, but it was the will of every member of their group to do and was needed to help them thrive.

With what Illidan had hoped, the Well of Eternity ended up just becoming some prize of Archimonde to go after. According to the Warcraft 3 manual, basically the entire point of the invasion was so that he could "become the next Sargeras". The Night Elves never utilized it like Illidan had intended, so he messed up there. It was the Highborne who he should have spoken with and worked with them, joining them to Eastern Kingdoms and being their leader or whatever.

[sillag]

this is an entirely pointless question because the night elves outlawed magic based on canon that was later retconned. at the time it was written the night elves were right to outlaw magic because arcane magic literally led directly to fel magic and would definitely lead to summoning the legion.

however what the night elves couldn't have predicted was alex afrasiabi and steve danuser would somehow defy their destiny to become wendy's janitors and join the wow writing staff. they then introduced their god awful "cosmic map" plot where actually arcane and fel are 2 different and actually opposite things. in modern wow the night elves are clearly wrong to have outlawed arcane because the universe no longer has the same rules it did when they outlawed it.

there cant be a coherent argument about this because the 2 viewpoints are literally being made from 2 different continuities. the fact is like so many instances of weird shit in wow its just down to bad writing, inconsistent world building, and considering continuity to be a completely optional element to storytelling.

[enigma77]

Illidan did nothing wrong

[Flatspriest]

The Night Elves were wrong as they had inaccurate information thinking that Arcane Magic was what drew the Legion to Azeroth in the first place, when it was the retconned titan soul of Azeroth herself that drew them there. As for Illidan, he was right to try and help the Night Elves have a way to fight back when the legion returned...though they did not use it as it was intended to be used. Again, that was on the Night Elves and not Illidan's fault. At least, that's my opinion on the matter.

[Maljinwo]

Magic users did cause their issues. Illidan was dumb

[Ardenaso]

The Night Elves were wrong as they had inaccurate information thinking that Arcane Magic was what drew the Legion to Azeroth in the first place, when it was the retconned titan soul of Azeroth herself that drew them there. As for Illidan, he was right to try and help the Night Elves have a way to fight back when the legion returned...though they did not use it as it was intended to be used. Again, that was on the Night Elves and not Illidan's fault. At least, that's my opinion on the matter.

isn't the well of eternity basically the lifeblood and soul of Azeroth?

[Razion]

Considering the Runestones of Quel'thalas fucked with the Troll's voodoo/shamanism, that would present a large problem with the Orcs trying to keep territory. Shamanism is basically all that protects Orcs from gigantic Human Mage firestorm fuckery from happening like it did to the Trolls in the Troll Wars. Before the Well comes into the picture, hundreds of elf mages may be equal to orc shaman, hard to say, so I think ultimately it would probably be a stalemate until the Well comes into the picture with Orcs pushed up to the runestone territories and unable to advance any further while the elves slowly over millennia try to advance their magecraft. But, as we've seen with orc shamanism already, Dark Shamanism is already a thing - so I think if given enough time the Orcs would actually research at a better rate their shamanism than elves would their magecraft, unless someone like Azshara came to them to help or something. Considering the rate of Shaman advancement, that's the kind of situation that would probably compel the elves to actually make more Wells -- which would probably just result in more catastrophe all over again. But, the Well isn't exactly a one-way street. If the Orcs ever got their hands on Well water with rogues or something, suddenly Orc and Troll magic-users would be even more powerful potentially than the elves'. We'd probably just see another world situation like WoD all over again where the Orcs conquer all and the Elves are left to wonder how they messed up so bad, having the Well be the result of their destruction yet again.

Ultimately I think Illidan comes out "being right," due to how events have turned out and the outlaw of magic in hindsight due to these events seems pretty stupid -- but I guess it's pretty easy to say that in a world where the Orcs and Trolls haven't stolen Well water and have conquered the planet. It would be a pretty nightmarish situation if everyone just suddenly had access to Well magic... which I guess is what Azerite is. Oops.

[Imperator4321]

Before retcons: The Night Elves were right to outlaw Arcane magic since Arcane magic was inherently corruptive and was more or less a gateway drug to Fel magic and the Highborne's reckless use of Arcane magic is what drew the Legion to Azeroth in the first place.

After retcons: Night Elves were wrong to outlaw Arcane magic since Arcane and Fel are literally opposing cosmic forces and theres no indication one leads to another, Highborne were asshats but they didn't need Arcane magic to be that, Legion/Sargeras want to invade Azeroth is because he wants to corrupt the nascent titan.

Illidan is a selfish asshat with a messiah and martydom complex regardless of retcons, thats something thats universal regardless of continuity.

[jpch]

The world sinks into a nuclear winter because of ignorance and hubris, and then Illidan goes and creates a Nuclear powerplant right after the explosion that ruined the planet!

iLliDan dID nOtHiNg wRoNg ������
mALfUriOn dUmB

[Arikara]

Many of the issues permeating Warcraft history stem either directly or indirectly from Arcane magic and those who practice it. For starters, the Legion wouldn't even have been able to invade a second time if not for Kel'thuzad, who was an arcane practioner taught in Dalaran, who in turn were taught by Quel'thalas. Kel'thuzad later went on to be reborn in the Sunwell itself before later laying siege to Dalaran. Both the arcane-practicing high elves and the mages of the Kirin Tor were powerless to stop him and Arthas.

There are also the notable cases of Malygos and Azshara, and if the Guardians of Tirisfal hadn't been formed, Aegwynn wouldn't have been tricked into believing she had defeated Sargeras, and the Dark Portal would never have been opened in the first place.

Kael'thas' thirst for magic eventually had him abandoning the arcane (and general sanity, because BC writing woo) in favor of the fel, directly leading to yet another invasion.

also, before Chronicle retconned how the whole world works, fel was really just a spicier offshoot of arcane, which adds a whole slew of other minor characters responsible for a variety of atrocities

The mistake that the Sentinels made was really that they utterly failed to police their ban on Arcane magic outside of their own society. They allowed the Highborne to leave and go practice magic on the other side of the world, which eventually propagated the practice and led to disaster. None of it would have happened if they just sort of hadn't allowed that; but at the end of the day, Warcraft is a dramatized story, and conflict has to come from somewhere, so whatever.

[Combatbutler]

Arcane is the very nature of the world, its very core even, banning it was downright retarded, not mention there were arcane practitioners all over the world aside from the night elves at any given time, the vrykul, the Pandaren, the mogu, the zandalari, the mantid, the nerubians, the dragons. Pretty much every major civilization has always used arcane magic.

Even in the original lore arcane wasn't corrupting, the well of eternity used to be a creation to sustain the lush life on the planet.

[Myradin]

Honestly I wish blizz didn't always write from an ominipotent, word of god standpoint.

If the night elves merely "believed" the arcane magic was the issue, them turning out to be wrong could be interesting, and even a cultural turning point.

Instead its just a clear retcon because the magical all knowing WC3 manual said so. Night elves look dumb because everyone is expected to just know things in this universe.

[Matt0193]

It depends of whether you take an in-universe view of Night Elven society at the time vs taking the omniscient view of what we know following retcons, reveals and developments.

At the time, no one knew about Azeroth the the World Soul. All the Night Elves knew was that the Legion had been attracted to their world and were primarily focused on the Well of Eternity, perhaps the single most powerful point that's ever existed on Azeroth other than maybe Karazhan before and after the Nexus War, depending on how well the Mages repaired the leylines following Malygos' defeat. In their eyes, it would make sense that Arcane Magic would attract the Demonic Fel, especially when they see Mages turning to Fel and becoming increasingly powerful and watching it corrupt them entirely.

So following Azshara and the Legion's defeat, it's understandable they'd outlaw Magic for fear it would attract another Legion invasion. Now, we know it was because Sargeras needed the Well to be summoned so he could claim and/or destroy Azeroth's World Soul, but it wasn't the use of Magic or the well that attracted them, and as a result, to the Night Elves. Again, they wouldn't know that. So yes, they were right in their contemporary view to isolate and prevent the use of Magic. The only way that someone could prove that Magic wasn't what attracted the Legion would be to use it, but that would be tempting fate so why not outlaw it?

So that leads to the second question. In hindsight, Illidan was right to do so. As a result of the creation of the Well under Nordrassil, the Night Elves were granted Immortality and immunity to plague, disease and infection. They became even closer to the spirits of the Forest and would enjoy thousands of years of peace wherein they greatly benefitted from the World Tree. The Tree itself would go on to play an integral part in providing the combined forces of Orcs, Night Elves and Humans a means to defeat what would have, again in their eyes, been an unstoppable Archimonde. To add conjecture, if Illidan hadn't created a second Well then what would have become of the Night Elves?

They rebuilt their civilisation around the tree that both protected and was empowered by the Well, while the entire land (possibly beyond Kalimdor) benefitted from Nordrassil's roots. With no centre to their civilisation, other than their reverence for Elune and a small sect of Druids dedicating their time to Nature and the Dream (Which was also difficult to enter prior to Ysera blessing Nordrassil), would they have devolved into actual savage elves with little more than religious fervour, territorial instincts and an instilled fearful hatred of Magic?

Taking personal control of several vials would be a point of contention, but again had he not then what would have become of the exiled Quel'dorei in a few hundred year's time? With no powerful font of Magic to turn to (The Sunwell was built upon a large converging of Leylines, but no where was stronger than beneath Karazahn), as they landed in the North of the Eastern Kingdoms and not the South nearer to Karazahn where they likely would've been able to devise a means of siphoning power there, much as Prince Tothreldrin and the Shen'dralar survived in secret by siphoning the fel energy of Immolthar for thousands of years or the Nightborne survived by cultivating their own Leylines, then Humans would never have been taught Magic and likely would've been destroyed by the Amani trolls and pushed down south long before the tribes branched out and settled there naturally. There would be no Guardians of Tirisfal, which is a danger of it's own. No Dalaran, no First and Second Wars with no possessed Medivh. No Kel'thuzad as he wouldn't have been taught in Dalaran and rebirthed in the Sunwell, no Arthas, no incursion on Draenor, Yogg-saron left unchecked in Northrend, no Night Elves presence in Silithus during the First War of the Sands. And most importantly, with never creating the Sunwell then the War of the Ancients would never happen as it did.

For all the death that came as a result of it, Azeroth would look like a very different world had he not have created the second Well and preserved enough to create the Sunwell. But was he right? Well, yes, but that's entirely down to hindsight and omniscient knowledge. When looked at through the view of the Night Elves at the time then no it was absolutely anathema and if they could've found a way to destroy or render the well inert they likely would have. They would, however, go on to benefit from it's creation and would spend ten thousand years guarding it as a result.

[Moonrage]

The mistake that the Sentinels made was really that they utterly failed to police their ban on Arcane magic outside of their own society. They allowed the Highborne to leave and go practice magic on the other side of the world, which eventually propagated the practice and led to disaster. None of it would have happened if they just sort of hadn't allowed that; but at the end of the day, Warcraft is a dramatized story, and conflict has to come from somewhere, so whatever.

Ultimately, it was an act of mercy. After the Sundering, practicing arcane magic was punishable by death, yet the Night Elves couldn't bring themselves to kill so many of their own. A mistake maybe, but expecting these characters to be all knowing is a bit silly.

- - - Updated - - -

Arcane is the very nature of the world, its very core even, banning it was downright retarded, not mention there were arcane practitioners all over the world aside from the night elves at any given time, the vrykul, the Pandaren, the mogu, the zandalari, the mantid, the nerubians, the dragons. Pretty much every major civilization has always used arcane magic.

At that point in time, the Night Elves were the only ones that used arcane magic so extensively. Other civilzations probably had a few mages here and there, but magic wasn't the core of their society. It was thanks to their magic that the Night Elves were able to practically conquer the entire continent.

I don't know if it's still the case, but back then, the canon stated that arcane magic is extremely corrupting and that frequent usage leads to the desire to wield fel magic.

[Tanaria]

It was a mercifully, idiotic move by all accounts, since the other races across Azeroth were also Arcane weavers. The Zandalari being one of the most prominent ones, after the Highborne.
Zandalari Arcanists were the ones that protected their lands during the Sundering, which suggests that those Magi were not to be trifled with.

The Night Elves wanted to forcibly push their new views onto the Highborne - this is why the exiles' patience waned thin and the Ashenvale Arcane storm happened.
However, without the exile, Quel'Thalas and Silvermoon wouldn't have been established, so their was some good to come out of the exile...but that good was mainly for the Highborne. The majority of the night elf towns and villages were all in ruins, barring the odd few that were sacred to the Druids, but if it was "Highborne" by origin, it was left destroyed which was very foolish. It hasn't been until BFA did we see an old Highborne town, get a make-over (Bashal'Aran.)

[Combatbutler]

At that point in time, the Night Elves were the only ones that used arcane magic so extensively. Other civilzations probably had a few mages here and there, but magic wasn't the core of their society. It was thanks to their magic that the Night Elves were able to practically conquer the entire continent.

Magic being widespread can be a problem, but s single mage would have been enough to cause the same calamity, the real problem was letting the legion in. It was never arcane that was the problem but some of its wielders.

I don't know if it's still the case, but back then, the canon stated that arcane magic is extremely corrupting and that frequent usage leads to the desire to wield fel magic.

It wasn't really corrupting, one of the very first descriptions of the well of eternity was as a font of arcane power created by the titans to sustain the lush life on the planet.

Heck Night elves drank it

Using the concentrated waters of the Well of Eternity, Moon Wells can replenish both the mana and health of friendly forces that drink from it.
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Warcraft_I...nual#Moon_Well