Originally Posted by
Saichou
Even though I am not especially passionate about playable Blood Elf Druids, after having played the Eversong Woods and Ghostlands starting zone, I do think this is a reasonable proposition from a lore standpoint – at the beginning of TBC anyway. And although most of what I'm about to present to you is backed by the existing lore, a good part of it is speculation, but it also doesn't contradict the lore (at least to my knowledge). Be warned, this is a very long post.
1. Introduction
What I intend to do in this post is give a brief description of the already established playable classes and an idea how druids might be introduced in this model. I should note that my only sources are the quest and other texts encountered in the levels 1-20 Blood Elf starting experience, as I haven't quested through Outland in a while and couldn't think of any other radiant Sin'dorei quests that would be relevant to this discussion. I would also like to remind everyone that „classes“ are just a game mechanic and therefore inherently flawed and limited representations of characters in a fantasy setting, just look at Tauren Paladins and Troll Hunters. This is by no means a justification for Belves to hijack the Nelf/Cenarius identity of what a druid should be, but is rather a suggestion on how an identity/social role that can best be described as „druid“might exist in the Belf society at the time of TBC. Similar to how Kul Tiran and Darkspear/Zandalari Trolls exist in their respective societies.
2. Existing Blood Elf classes/organizations
To start, the Belves are a very advanced and highly civilized society and the hero classes the players choose can be attributed to several organisations (unlike, for example, Goblins and Tauren, which lack such well defined structures). Before the Scourge invasion there were 3 important organisations, two of which are recognized and represented in game and one is highly probable. The first two are the Magisters (mages in the traditional sense – frost, fire and arcane – but probably also other types of magic users, but more on that later) and the Farstriders (the main and only military - hunters, rogues and warriors). At this point I would like to justify why I consider (or speculate that) warriors and rogues to be under the jurisdiction of the Farstriders, who are generally mostly rangers.
Rogues: Judging from the rogue intro quests we can conclude two things: first, that the rogue organisation the player characters are apart of is pro-government (unlike the Hidden Circle in Ironforge which is rebellious) and secondly that it is not an independent (unlike the SI:7 in Stormwind which is well established) and are therefore probably part of a much larger organisation. And since they mostly do espionage (and probably assassination) they are probably part of the military – the Farstriders.
Warriors: This is a very broad term, but warriors are most definitely part of the military. And since there is only one military faction, it is reasonable to assume that they are also members of the Farstriders.
And the third organisation, which isn't directly named in the game, is the Church of the Holy Light (whose members are, of course, priests). We know that there were priest characters before the third war (Liadrin was a priest) and that there was a high priest, so it is very probable that religion in Quel'thalas was institutionalized and functioned as an organization, just like the Magisters and Farstriders.
Now, the scourge invasion brought a great change: 90% of the population was killed (I don't know if this is canon, but it is the most often cited ratio) and most of the survivors lost their fate in the Holy Light. Not only that, but their source of power, the Sunwell was destroyed and left them with an insatiable hunger for magic. To solve this problem, Kael'thas Sunstrider joined the Illidari, the Belves started extracting magic from other beings and using Fel magic (which prompted the Magisters to accept Warlocks in their ranks). The Magisters also captured a Naaru and started extracting power from it too – and they gathered a group of former priests and made a new organization: the Blood Knights (Paladins). So now there's a new, fourth organization, which is controlled by the Magisters.
3. Internal conflict
But I believe that the Church also still functions separately from the Blood Knights, although very weak and mostly abandoned. In game, there is no representation of churches or temples, but there are priests, and unlike every other race that has priests and paladins, they do not share a headquarters with the paladins. In fact, it seems that the Church is only given a small study in the Sunfury Spire, while the Blood Knights have their own building. When talking to a priest trainer as a non-priest, it can also be noted that they are quite grumpy, probably because they are a dying faction. And unlike all the other Belves, it seems that they do not extract power from the Naaru, but still use the Holy Light. In a class quests for priests, the trainer notes „Now you can see how the Light serves us“, but I would personally consider that to just be arrogance, which is typical for Belves. Because a paladin quest actually sends you to extract the power from the Naaru. For these reasons I think that Blood Knights and the Church are two separate and existing factions and are ideological enemies.
Now that we have established what the four Belf organisations at the start of TBC are, let's take a look at their relations. It is stated several times that there is a distinct rivarly between the Magisters and the Farstriders. While the Church was still relevant, they probably disliked the two other organizations as well, but since they are a dying faction, only the Magisters and Farstriders remain. But the Magisters have gained a crucial advantage: they fathered the Blood Knights and are probably now also the religious leaders of the Belves. And now that we have established that the Magisters and Farstriders dislike each other and that the Church and the Blood Knights dislike each other, I think it's reasonable for the Farstriders and the Church to form an opposition to counter the Magisters. And their idea is to form a new organisation to counter the Blood Knights, to weaken the Magisters and also to offer an alternative for using fel magic and forced Naaru labour, and perhaps to also humiliate the Magisters a little bit. So what do they do?
4. Possible Druid recruitment: Groundskeepers
Well, let's take a second look at the Magisters: while they mostly study the arcane and enslaving elementals, magic is an everyday occurence in Quel'thalas so some, less talented apprentices probably end up doing much more menial tasks, like enchanting, alchemy or whatever. Magic is so essential to Quel'thalas that they even used it to form the land and vegetation. They live in harmony with treants called tenders that help them take care of the forests and wild life. Now this is just pure speculation, but it wouldn't be that odd if some really bad apprentices are appointed to work with the tenders and/or supervise them, to practically be glorified gardeners – let's call them tenders, like the trees. There's at least one character shown to be tasked with taking care of the vegetation of a certain facility, and that's Groundskeeper Wyllithen (he „maintains the grounds“ as he puts it) and he's very grumpy, probably because all the other Magisters treat him like trash and because he's jealous that he has to use such primitive magic. A possible reason why groundskeepers are looked down upon could be that it reminds them of the Night Elves. Regardless, I believe that it is reasonable to assume that such mages exist and they're probably named Groundskeepers or Tenders. But, undeniably, they do help heal the land and mend plants and they even do it without using harmful magics in the process. So if someone were to suddenly elevate their position, organize them in such a way to counter the Blood Knights, the Magisters would probably be appalled that these lowlives suddenly gained importance. And that's exactly what I propose the now allied Church and Farstriders do.
5. Connection to the Emerald Dream
But the question remains, is nature magic really a viable alternative for for fel and Naarus? Well, maybe not at this stage, but surely the treants can help the Groundskeepers find a connection with the Emerald dream and, while they're not shown in game, there are probably also some pixie dragons flying about, and that's already more than the trolls had. Then there's the Amani Loa. In Zul Aman we learn that the Amani have stolen the essences of their Loa, so I think it wouldn't be that far fetched to assume their Loa abandoned them because of it. Now they too probably need new allies and I think the Belf Groundskeepers would be the ideal candidate (and this is where they would also get their shapeshift forms).
6. Social status
But how would the other Belves accept this new organization? It has already been stated that nature magic is looked down upon, why look past that? While this is true, it is also true that what the Magisters and Blood knights are doing is inherently evil, and most Belves probably just don't wanna be evil (like in our world, some people just prefer to buy eco-friendly products and use green energy because of morals). And besides, High elves are shown to be quite close to nature as they live in a forest and are not heavily industrialized and they even had a big magical tree (Thas'alah) infused with the power of the Sunwell in their forest. Questgiver Larianna Riverwind even says that the people of her village were friends and allies with the treants (it should however be stated that she sends you on a quest to kill treants because regrowing the forest would help the scourge, but maybe if the Groundskeepers had a more prominent role in the story this could have been handled quite differently).
7. Criticism
Now some criticism I have of my own theory. First, yes, I realize it's not very convincing to have only one named representative for Belf Druids, especially if he's named after a character from The Simpsons, but the Worgen also have only one druid, Celestine of the Harvest, and she wasn't even a real druid to begin with. Highmountain Tauren have zero druids, and yet they're playable. What I think is important is that there is a caste of Groundskeepers. Secondly, their status. Groundskeepers probably wouldn't have a lot of prestige, but neither do Kul Tiran Thornspeakers. And there's like six of them. And they don't live in the cities. And finally, how well do they fit in the general, already established druid identity. Here I would again point out Darkspear/Zandalari and Kul Tiran druids. The troll worship Gonk, the raptor Loa of the hunt and are vaguely connected to the Emerald Dream. The Kul Tirans worship... uh... the cycle of life and death? And their connection to the Emerald Dream is... well, it's safe to say that the Thornspeakers were made up on the spot.
8. Conclusion(?)
And lastly, I know that the Belves solved their mana addiction at the end of TBC and so adding this story now would be pointless. But it could still work retroactively. Blizzard could just say „Uh, yeah, there have been Groundskeepers helping to regrow Quel'thalas since the end of the Third War, you just haven't seen them.“ And honestly that wouldn't even be such a huge retcon because there hasn't been any new lore on the Belves since TBC.
So there you have it folks. I think Belf druids would be pretty cool and unique, sort of a contrast to the other more serene and patient druids, they could be grumpy and strict. Also they wouldn't wear robes, but pants, like gardeners. Their cat form would be a lynx (the Loa Halazzi), bear form could come from the bear Loa Nalorakk, there's an eagle Loa for flight form and Jan'alai the dragonhawk Loa could be a base for the Moonkin form.
I would like to hear your suggestions and criticism. Cheers!