
Originally Posted by
Vaedan
Well, for a person who claims to love blood elves and their lore, that should be obvious.
Blood Elves:
- Chose to respect their past, but forge new future
- They decided to use any means necessary to ensure their survival
- They decided it's easier to exile all elves who disagree with a general trend then to find a common ground
- They never forget what they had to endure and what path they had to take, even though they now admit they did many things wrong and try to redeem themselves
- They are now Light worshippers, which was never before an important thing in thalassian society.
High Elves:
- They chose to respect their past in trying to preserve the image of what high elves used to be, on the contrary of blood elves who willingly redefined themselves
- They chose to not take extreme measures in order to survive
- They find it easier to leave their kin and stay with old Alliance allies in order to stay true to their believes
- They didn't forget or forgive blood elves what they put them through with the exile
- Belief in the Light is not crucial for them. Sure, there are Light users/worshippers amongs high elves, but nowhere near the practice sin'dorei has chosen.
With blood elves being on the same faction, I guess both groups could start unification, but it would not be an instant process. You can see that with void elves... there were no unification of Alliance high elves and void elves, so there is no reason to believe high elves would merge with blood elves immediately if they happen to be on the same faction. The fact they were separated in the time of greatest crisis of the nation, it forged them into different groups. Mistakes were made on both teams and right now, either group does not seem to be interested in a friendship.
I think both blood elves and modern high elves (well, this alliance elf group should find their own name) were both trying to preserve an image of their kingdom as it used to be before Third War. Blood elves at first did not really felt it important, since they had to deal with threats encroaching on their lands, so they did what they thought was important for their survival. We've seen they are interested in returning to some of their traditions lately, but their heritage armor quest pretty much shows us that they will never forget what they went through. It changed them, so they no longer can be that same elves. They even don't want to be. High elves, on the other hand, had other problems. They had to cope with their addiction in their own way, with a help from the Alliance or without it. The fact that some of them resided in relative safety of Alliance cities, Dalaran or their remote lodges, gave them more space to actually uphold their old traditions and keep them. Given their low numbers, an absent leader and exposure to the human way of life eventually led to a degree of assimilation.
It is interesting that even though both groups tried to preserve themselves, both have changed fundamentally from their original forms. Both groups took something from the original high elves and had to change the rest. Perhaps, if they ever unite, they could together make Quel'thalas society similar to what it has been before, but we know it most likely won't happen.