Characters / Total War: Warhammer - The High Elves

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Main characters index | The Empire of Man | The Kingdom of Bretonnia | The Tzardom of Kislev | The Empire of Grand Cathay | The Dwarfen Kingdoms | The High Elves | The Dark Elves | The Wood Elves | The Lizardmen | The Vampire Counts | The Tomb Kings | The Vampire Coast | The Daemons Of Chaos | The Warriors of Chaos | The Norscan Tribes | The Chaos Dwarfs | The Beastmen | The Greenskins | The Skaven | The Ogre Kingdoms

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"Defenders of Ulthuan!"

"We are the chosen of Asuryan, beloved of the gods and heirs to the world. Our armies are the finest in creation; swift where our foes are lumbering, cultured where they are barbaric. Give no thought to failure, nor defeat – we are the Children of Ulthuan and we shall prevail."

The Asur, or High Elves, as they are known to men, are one of the oldest civilizations of the world. Lithe, tall and beautiful, Elves are extremely long-lived, the lifespans of humans seeming to them as fleeting as those of mayflies, and their longevity often leads them to consider the younger races little more than meddlesome upstarts. Hailing from the mist-shrouded island of Ulthuan, they are renowned as masterful warriors, peerless mages and lords of the sky and sea.

The Elves were instrumental in stopping the first great Chaos invasion millenia ago, their mages creating the Great Vortex at the center of Ulthuan, a massive magical maelstrom that siphons excess magic from the world to banish the Daemons from this plane of existence. The time that came afterwards was the apex of their civilization, a golden age where beautiful, sprawling cities of alabaster and gold were built, colonies spanned every known continent and the Elves were truly the masters of the world. Alas, this glorious era also fostered a growing sense of pride and vanity among the Asur, a blind arrogance about their own superiority that ended up shattering their mighty empire.

First it was the Sundering, a bloody civil war over the throne of Phoenix King that forever fractured their race into the High and Dark Elves, bitter and mortal enemies. Then it was the War of the Beard, a great conflict with the Dwarfs that gravely crippled these two elder races. The aftermath of these events has left the High Elves a waning race, isolated in a world they no longer control and with the grim awareness that their civilization is facing its twilight days.

However, any foe who mistakes the decline of the High Elves for weakness will rue their miscalculation. In their millenia of existence, the white-garbed hosts of Ulthuan have mastered all forms of warfare, from staunch lines of spearmen, to unerring volleys from dead-eyed archers, peerless cavalry maneuvers, or complex spells easily woven by highly accomplished mages. Even the humblest High Elf citizen is a trained soldier, serving in the militia as part of their civic duties, letting the Asur muster much larger forces than their depleted population would otherwise allow.

Though many on Ulthuan feel that the time of the High Elves has passed, their great pride compels them to fight on nonetheless, for they see themselves as the world's true and rightful defenders, and believe that, as long as they persist, it will never completely fall to darkness. If oblivion is indeed to be their fate, they have chosen to face it with arrow nocked and sword held high. As Chaos once again claws at the veil of reality, the High Elves, weary and dwindled as they are, still march to war, reconciled to death in service of a greater cause: the protection of the world.

Introduced in Total War: Warhammer II, the High Elves are playable in the Eye of the Vortex campaign, as well as the Mortal Empires combined campaign for owners of both I and II. In Total War: Warhammer III, they are playable in the Immortal Empires combined mega-campaign for owners of I, II and III.

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General Tropes

Eataine

The Order of Loremasters

Nagarythe

Avelorn

Knights of Caledor

Yvresse

• Achilles' Heel:
  • Though all armies are at a great disadvantage if suffering early losses in a battle, the High Elves are much more affected by this due to their Martial Prowess attribute, which makes them stronger the more units they have in each troop. Should they take too bad of a hit early on, they will have less of an opportunity to turn the tide due to having lost many powerful buffs that they had when they were at full health.
  • High Elves are slow to raise armies or replace losses in the late game, especially if they're far from their main recruiting provinces. They get minimal bonuses to their global recruitment, so an army that gets mauled or wiped out will be out for a long time as they either globally recruit units a few at a time or march out locally-recruited reinforcements from another province. This doesn't become obvious until the late game, when many other factions can recruit entire armies of mid-tier units in 3-4 turns from their global pool but the High Elves still have to recruit locally and walk, which greatly restricts their ability to project force far from their core provinces, requires them to plan their campaigns far in advance, and leaves them in a bad spot if an enemy sneaks into an underdefended part of their territory.
• Adaptational Badass: Though they don't have it quite as bad as the dwarfs, the high elves are a Dying Race. This is reflected in the lore with the bulk of their army being made out of conscripted forces and comparatively few elite troops and beasts such as dragons. This is ignored in Total War where they're fully capable of mustering vast armies of elite units such as the Phoenix Guard and as many dragons as necessary.
• Adaptational Diversity: Asur were definitely the most patriarchal of the elves in the original lore. There were mentions of them seeing the Dark Elves' use of warrior-women as "barbaric", and in general the idea of a woman fighter got no sympathy outside of Avelorn. For example, Princess Eldyra, who merely wanted to serve her king after her father's death (who had only daughters), was openly ridiculed by the (normally polite and reserved) royal court and left it in tears. In Total War continuity they have a Princess as generic lord and female-only mages.
• Adaptational Wimp: The High Elves' greatest asset in the original lore is their navy, which thanks to its widespread use of anti-ship magic is unquestionably the mightiest in the world; only their corrupted kin can even think about contesting them in this area. This let the Asur secure all of the world's trade routes, prevent attacks to the Old World's northern flank during the Storm of Chaos, and render Ulthuan all but untouchable to any invaders over the years aside from teleporting Chaos armies and the Dark Elves. Since these Total War installments (unlike those immediately prior) initially lacked naval battles, instead auto-resolving conflicts at sea by means of comparing the strength of armies, this advantage is not present and as a result Ulthuan is much easier to invade. Even after sea battles were added, the game treats these battles as armies landing on an island to fight it out, which continues to ignore the High Elves' naval might.
• Amazon Brigade: The Maiden Guard of Avelorn are an elite troop of female warriors tasked with protecting those areas of Ulthuan that are most sacred to Isha, the Elven Mother Goddess. Most fight as the Sisters of Averlorn, an all-female band of Asur Maidens who serve as both guardians and servants to the Everqueen, and act as Elite Archers on the battlefield. They wield Magical Bows of pure energy, that fire exploding arrows of white-blue flame that deal both Magic and Flame damage to anything unlucky enough to be hit. They are also keen swordsmen, as such they have the "decent in melee" special rule. They are pure and chaste, sworn to their positions for life, eternally serving their mistress until they wither and die. The same also applies to their senior order, the Handmaidens of the Everqueen.
• Animal Motifs: Birds of prey and dragons are common in their designs, weapons, and architecture, but the biggest one is the Phoenix. Not only can High Elves field them in battle, their monarch is called the Phoenix King, their main god is associated with the Phoenix, and they share its themes of fire, light, and rebirth.
• Arch-Enemy: To the Dark Elves, obviously, though the High Elves have been a thorn in Chaos' side a lot longer.
• The Archmage: A female lord type introduced in The Warden and the Paunch DLC. Aside from leading armies, Archmages wield High Magic or one of the other eight lores, in addition to "Chain Lightning" which they have as a bound spell regardless of what lore they specialize in. These supreme spellcasters also have access to "Greater Arcane Conduit", allowing them to recharge their magic reserves much better than other High Elf Mages. The faction as a whole, alongside the Empire, are the only ones to have access to all eight of the basic Schools of Magic, alongside the Lore of High Magic.
• Artifact of Doom: The Sword of Khaine (otherwise known as the Widowmaker and the Slayer of Gods), doubling as an Evil Weapon. The cursed blade was wielded by the Ax-Crazy Elven God of War Khaine, which he used to fell immeasurable amounts of people. To drive back the first incursion of Chaos, the first Elven king, Anerion, picked up the sword, which granted him power unimaginable... at the cost of turning him into an Ax-Crazy beserker. The May Patch added this in as an in-game mechanic, as it lets Dark Elf, Wood Elf or High Elf players build the Shrine of Khaine. After which, if one's very desperate, incredibly stupid, or just willing to see the world burn, they can have one of their lords draw the sword from the shrine. Wielding the sword turns the lord into an unimaginably powerful One-Man Army...at the cost of driving them insane, with truly horrible effects mounting on the campaign map the longer the wielder holds the weapon. And if one of your enemies manages to take down the Sword's wielder, they can take it and use it on you, or elect to put it back in the Shrine.
• Athens and Sparta: Their relationship with the Dark Elves is a classic example of this trope. The cultured and scholarly Asur are the Athens of the dynamic.
• Atlantis: Their homeland, Ulthuan, is essentially the Warhammer world's equivalent, being an island home to a mysterious and advanced civilization in the middle of the local equivalent of the Atlantic Ocean. The High Elves are even worried that it'll eventually vanish beneath the waves.
• Automatic Crossbows: Though they don't have the Repeating Crossbows of their Dark Elf cousins, the High Elves have access to The Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower, a repeating ballista, which makes it the BFG version of this trope.
• Back from the Dead: Phoenix Reborn allows slain Flamespyre Phoenixes a chance to come back if they are killed.
• Badass Army: The High Elves are well equipped and even their levied citizen-soldiers are very well trained. To reflect their intense discipline and mutual support in formation, High Elf units get a damage bonus when their hitpoint totals are closer to their maximum. Unfortunately this tightly-knit discipline falls apart when they take too many casualties, and below half maximum hitpoints they begin to incur attack penalties. Thus, managing unit health and readiness between battles and pulling units back and forth during combat is necessary to leverage a High Elf army effectively.^note (This can be thought of as a Pragmatic Adaptation of a special rule High Elves have on the tabletop that lets their bow and spear units fight one rank deeper than most other units.)
• The Beautiful Elite: In contrast to The Fair Folk nature of the Wood Elves and Dark Elves, most High Elves are physically very attractive, and are outwardly much more even-tempered than their wayward cousins, although they have proven to be just as capable of callousness and destructiveness as the rest of the Order factions.
• Beauty Is Bad: Downplayed. At best, they're Noble Bigots. At worst, they're racist and arrogant, and they cling to the hopes that their dying empire can be restored again, other races be damned.
• BFS: The chosen weapon of the Swordmasters of Hoeth, an elite State Sec of warriors responsible for guarding the White Tower of Hoeth and rooting out corruption in High Elven society.
• Big Good: Subverted. The High Elves like to think themselves as this. To their credit, they have been the most active against Chaos the longest, but they've been fighting against so many enemies for so long that they're not what they used to be and they're too proud to accept help from anyone else, even when they need it most. On the other hand, there are those who genuinely fit this trope, such as Teclis and the current Everqueen, Alarielle.
  • Still, they are the strongest of the Order nations, the most determined enemy of Chaos and have the most civilized (in the modern sense) society. And without their Vortex the world would be easily swarmed by daemons. If Warhammer can truly be said to have a "Good" race, then the High Elves probably come the closest.
• Bling of War: A faction-wide case. Pretty much all High Elven armor and weaponry is gleaming and ornate. Their army is often referred to as "The Shining Host" as a result. The Skaven Scribe lampshades this in his trailer, wondering if High Elf bones "glitter-shine like their delicate armour?"
• Blue Is Heroic: Zigzagged. Blue is prominent in High Elf clothing, but generally they are arrogant and condescending as a race. Individually, the attitudes vary, with some elves like Teclis being the Big Good while others are Noble Bigots at best.
• Bombardier Mook: Downplayed with Flamespyre Phoenixes. They can drop a barrage of fiery projectiles while flying in a straight line, a technique particularly useful against massed infantry, but are otherwise mainly intended to be mobile melee fighters.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • In the lore, the majority of High Elf armies are composed of citizen levies trained as archers and spearmen, due to no longer having a sufficient population to support a full time standing army. Professional elite troops usually belong to relatively small organizations and are almost always a minority in any given Elven force. In-game, Archers, Spearmen and Rangers are very solid at their job for their cost; between the Spearmen's anti-large bonus and holding power, the Rangers' flanking speed and better performance in forests and the Archers' long-ranged massed bow fire, the player can thus reliably bring a cohort of such units to be the core of their army and choose the rest of their army based on the situation and the enemy they're facing.
  • The Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower is the High Elves' only artillery piece, but it's solid for what it is. It has two modes — single-shot armour-piercing anti-large for monsters and large single unit entities, and en-masse lower-damage shots for dealing with blobs of infantry. Nowhere near as glamorous as the varied artillery options available to other races, but still good at its job.
• Born in the Saddle: The elves of Ellyrion are renowned for their horsemanship, to the point that each child is bonded to a specially selected foal at a very young age. As a result the kingdom produces some of the finest cavalry in the setting.
• Bright Is Not Good: Blue, red, white, and gold are the colors usually associated with High Elves. Played with, as while they're generally arrogant and condescending, some are truly compassionate and heroic.
• Brought Down to Badass: The Dragon Princes must be content with riding warhorses. Originally, Caledor was the most influential kingdom of Ulthuan purely because of their plentiful Dragons which they rode to war. Sadly for the Dragon Princes, the Dragons have now great difficulties waking up so the Princes were downgraded from Dragon Rider to mere heavy cavalry, which is still quite good by anyone's standard.
• Butt-Monkey: In the promotional materials, they took on the role of "faction that gets beat up to show how the others are awesome", much like the Empire before them. Unlike the Empire, their own trailer (which was the launch trailer) is more about Teclis and Tyrion arguing which faction is the greatest threat after Teclis' army gets wiped off the map, with no showing of High Elf power. Adding insult to injury, the one time the trailers praise the Asur as "noble defenders of Ulthuan", it's done with footage from the Dark Elf trailer of them being slaughtered by Malekith. This was lampshaded in the patch notes for the Mortal Empires update, which mentioned that CA had "fixed the cinematic team's obsession with slaying High Elves."
• Can't Argue with Elves: How they like to present themselves to the "lesser" races in a condescending "We are always right" kind of way. The truth is more complicated. On one hand, they're capable of stupidity and arrogance just as much as the Humans and Dwarfs; on the other hand, they have been fighting to save the world almost as long as the Lizardmen and actually know what they're doing, and have often successfully cooperated with the younger races to fight Chaos. In particular, Teclis' Loremasters taught humanity how to use magic, and the Altdorf Colleges of Magic were founded with their help.
• Chariot Pulled by Cats: The War Lion Chariots are elite chariots that are drawn by a mighty pack of War Lions and driven by axe-swinging White Lion elven warriors, making it a rare example of a chariot whose riders and mounts are killers in equal measure. They are some of the most powerful chariots in the game, and are one of the few that don't need to be babysat by the player through cycle-charging; giant war lions are powerful even without the additional force and mass!
• Civil War: What caused the original division of the Elven race. The Elven civil war began when Malekith, the son of the Elven saviour Aenarion, assassinated the Phoenix King and attempted to install himself as the Elven ruler and has continued, on and off, for more than four thousand years. The conflict has caused incalculable suffering, split the Elven race in three distinct parts, began the sinking of the isle of Ulthuan and has weakened some of the defences against the forces of the Dark Gods.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: As of The Warden & The Paunch, the different wizards are colour-coded based on the lore they are associated with.
• A Commander Is You:
  • The High Elves are generally an Elitist/Generalist/Espionage faction. High Elf units are all at least reasonably well armored, well-trained, quick on their feet, and they have a variety of units to provide hard-counters, plus they gain buffs to damage when nearer their maximum hitpoints. But they are expensive and their numbers are generally small, and their units lose their offensive power when they lose half their maximum health, making them unsuited for drawn-out conflict. They make up for this by using their Intrigue system to help secure alliances for themselves and divide their enemies against each other.
  • Alith Anar's sub-faction, Nagarythe, adds a heavy dose of Guerrilla to the mix. Not only do they have several campaign mechanics that heavily encourage stealth, such as their armies being able to ambush in their default stance, and being able to move across the campaign map unseen, they also get access to a unique unit, the Shadow Walkers; even more powerful Shadow Warriors, and a unique hero, the Hand of the Shadow Crown, an assassin that automatically has a one hundred percent chance to kill whoever they're sent to assassinate.
  • Imrik's sub-faction, the Knights of Calaedor, is more Specialist/Elitist. His faction is centered around the recruiting and buffing of Dragon Princes and Dragons, and he has an in-game mechanic to find unique dragons and recruit them after a campaign battle.
• Condescending Compassion: High Elves will often help the younger races if the situation calls for it, but generally treat them like foolish, ignorant children. This plays into the penalty received for enlisting the Wood Elves; the Wood Elves feel they have been abandoned by their Asuryan cousins and see their attempts of diplomacy as patronizing arrogance after centuries of silence.
• Conscription: The High Elves have a long tradition of the Citizen Levy, where all young males are subject to being drafted into Ulthuan's armies on an as-needed basis. Each family is provided with a set containing a spear, bow, and armor, which is passed down from father to son, and each bearer is expected to keep his equipment in fighting condition and be proficient in its use. In this way, the High Elves can field a professional-quality army in larger numbers than their limited population would suggest.
• Cool Crown: Their Vortex campaign involves putting together a shattered magical crown that will aid them in their quest to stabilize the Vortex. There's also the Phoneix Crown, symbol of the Phoenix King's kingship. The first crown is said to have been made of ingots and gems coming from all of Ulthuan, making it a masterpiece of craftsmanship. Alas, the Dwarfs took it and a replacement was forged, which was seemingly so elaborate it took one hundred years to do so.
• Cool Helmet: Ubiquitous in the army. All High Elf helmets have a recognizable long and dome-like (jokingly called the "pin-head" helmets) shape going twice the height of the head, giving the Elves ample space to ornate the helmets with jewels, gravures, feathers, panaches and whatnot
• Cool Gate: As a defense against Druchii invasion, the five mountain passes of northwestern Ulthuan are blocked off by five huge fortress-gateways, separating the inner and outer provinces. The Gates are fortified settlements on the campaign map, and have unique siege battle layouts that do not allow the attacker to construct siege equipment.
• Crutch Character: The game recommends High Elves, specifically Eataine, for first-time players and it's not wrong to do so. With a simple, diverse, and powerful roster without any glaring weaknesses or shortcomings, buildings that favor strong economic growth and public order, and campaign mechanics that are useful but largely unnecessary the High Elves are a simple faction to learn to play acceptably. This is especially true of elven factions that start on Ulthuan, as Ulthuan is easy to secure and difficult to attack.
• Cultural Posturing: The summation of how the High Elves see everyone else, even other Elves, and they're just a little bit justified in viewing themselves superior.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Shadow Warriors of Nagarythe. They're somewhat unpleasant, antisocial individuals, shunned by other High Elves (for the before-mentioned reason, as well as the fact they're considered barely better than the Dark Elves for their Nagarythe blood, and the fact they're Mirroring Factions to their wayward kin), wear pitch black armor, dark hoods and are associated heavily with darkness, but they still wage a shadow war against the Druchii selflessly, and are noted to be usually polite and more respectful of the younger races than the rest of their haughty Asur kin. Not quite evil, but not quite good either, as their methods are...usually quite extreme.
• Decadent Court: Downplayed example. The Asur are renowned for the games at court, where blackmail, rumours and ridicule are favoured weapons in an ever-ongoing war for influence and power amongst its myriad noble houses. Violence is heavily frowned upon, however, and murder is right out — Malekith's murder of Bel-Shanaar (and subsequent murder of the council of princes, and then that whole civil war) is still considered the Darkest Hour of Asur politics and represents the line that will not be crossed again.
• Dissonant Serenity: The Phoenix Guard are often unnerving to their enemies in battle because of this. Their voicelessness makes them eerily quiet in combat (which horrifies the enemy, granting fear), and their knowledge of the moment and manner of their own death makes them completely fearless and perpetually calm.
• Dragon Knight: The Dragon Princes of Caledor, the High Elves' highest tier of cavalry, wear armor fashioned to resemble the dragons of the Caledorian mountains and ride horses decked in similarly themed barding. Their Regiment of Renown variant, The Fireborn, even wield flaming lances.
• Dragon Rider: An iconic aspect of the race and one of their major sources of military strength. Elves and dragons are described as having a very old alliance with each other, which (according to Elven legend) dates all the way back to the friendship between Asuryan and Draugnir, the progenitor of all dragons (this is another point of contention with the Dwarfs, who view dragons as one of their greatest enemies). Of course, due to dragons being just as intelligent as Elves, it's very much an equal partnership, and it's indicated that the dragon is the one who chooses the rider.
  • The generic High Elf lords can be mounted on dragons: the melee-oriented Prince can ride a young, impulsive Sun Dragon, while the ranged combat-oriented Princess can ride an older and wiser Moon Dragon. Both can ride an ancient, immensely powerful Star Dragon.
  • The Warden and the Paunch allows wizards of the Lore of Fire to likewise take Sun Dragons as mounts.
  • Downplayed by the Dragon Princes, the most elite of the High Elves cavalry. While they were literal dragon riders in ages past, the reduced dragon population in the modern era means that they are stuck riding war horses these days. They do model their armor and barding on the dragons of their ancestors though, and carry themselves with extreme pride, even by High Elf standards.
• Dying Race: The High Elves as a race have been slowly degrading over the centuries, from the various global conflicts where they've suffered massive attrition (many of which were their fault), and their once-mighty Colonial Empire has shrunk to Ulthuan and a few scattered colonies. Whilst the Dark Elves and Wood Elves are doing fairly well, the High Elves' pride and refusal to change as the world does has ensured this steady decline. This can, of course, change depending on if you play the Asur or not.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The High Elves were the subject of a random event in the first game when playing as the Wood Elves, where Asur diplomats came to Athel Loren to treat with the Asrai. It still exists in the Mortal Empires campaign, though now with modified effects.
• Elective Monarchy: The Phoenix King, one of the two rulers of the Asur, is elected from among the princes of Ulthuan once his predecessor dies. The other ruler, the Everqueen, is a hereditary position however.
• Elite Army: Despite their decline in population, the Elves have some of the most powerful armies of the world thanks to their sheer excellence in all skills pertaining to war. Every single High Elf is a decent fighter by necessity (see Conscription) and the specialist warriors they field are some of the bravest and most skilled around, their longevity greatly helping in that regard. One rule that is pretty much universal to them is Martial Prowess, their special battlefield mechanic. They have the largest selection of elite options, but all their units come with a price tag.
• Elite Mooks: Every Asur nation other than Cothique^note Lorewise, Cothique primarily provides ships and manpower for the Asur's naval forces that, as previously said, are not exactly represented in the game. offers thematic elite units that can round out the player's army to compliment the core of Spearmen, Rangers, Archers and Silver Helms.
  • The Lothern Sea Guard of Eataine are Spearmen and Archers in a single unit, in the Jack of All Stats kind of way. While not as good at their jobs as their base units, Sea Guard benefit from the versatility. They can be played as Spearmen with a bow weapon to soften charging enemies with before impact, Archers whose better armour and shields let them trade shots with enemy skirmishers better or both as the situation demands.
  • The White Lions of Chrace are a deceptively potent flanking option. Their Woodman and Forest Strider traits allow them to move better and fight harder in forest terrain, and their elegant axes give them an edge against the enemy's Heavily Armored Mooks. They also enjoy a flat 30% resistance to missile damage thanks to their White Lionskin cloaks. They also have a White Lion Chariot that is also effective against heavy infantry.
  • The Silverin Guard of Yvresse can be best summed up as, "Like Spearmen, only moreso." They have similar statlines but better, with the key differences being that their mithral armour grants them a minor Magic Resistance and the Expert Charge Defence trait that lets them nullify any incoming unit's charge bonus if they brace against it.
  • The Shadow Warriors of Nagarythe are Stealth Experts who can move hidden in any terrain and shoot their long-range bows in any direction, even while moving. This makes them excellent for flanking manoeuvres, drawing enemy forces into traps and hitting where they least expect it.
  • The Sisters of Avelorn are master bowyers who use Energy Bows and arrows of magical fire to melt their enemies with rapid-fire, armour-piercing missiles. They are especially potent against enemies with a weakness to fire. They can also do well in melee if supported properly.
  • The Swordmasters of Hoeth are masters of the blade from Saphery with major Weapon Strength that benefits from high armour-piercing damage and a bonus vs. infantry. They also have a bronze shield (i.e. ranged damage reduction) despite using greatswords, which along with their high armour gives them a deceptive endurance factor.
  • The Ellyrian Reavers are very fast cavalry, with the Archers variant being especially useful for their ability to hit enemies in the flanks and draw them out of position.
  • The Tiranoc Chariots are not only effective at hitting enemies from behind in melee but also for their Reaver Bows that let them fire multiple projectiles at enemies while on the move.
  • The Dragon Princes of Caledor are a heavy shock cavalry whose Dragon Armour grants them a massive Fire Resistance.
• Elves vs. Dwarves: The infamous War of Vengeance, an extremely long and bloody conflict that left both the Dwarfs and High Elves greatly weakened. What neither side knew at the time was that the conflict was largely engineered by Malekith and his Dark Elves to estrange the two races and prevent them from uniting against him. Though the Elves have tried a couple attempts to reapproach the Dwarfs, these envoys have been very coldly recieved at best. Infamously, the Elves call this conflict the War of the Beard, referring to an incident just prior to the war where Dwarf ambassadors had their beards forcibly shaved off at the behest of the then-Elf king in a display of grave cultural insensitivity (given the importance Dwarf culture places on one's beard, this was taken as a deeply personal affront); referring to it as such is yet another thing Dwarfs absolutely hate.
• Energy Bow: Sisters of Avelorn do not shoot regular arrows but bolts of flame borne out of Isha’s power shaped like arrows that burn the enemy.
• Expy: They have quite a few similarities with the Melniboneans, being a race of elves with pointy helmets who live isolated on a large island and use dragons (who have the unfortunate tendency of sleeping for many years) as their ultimate fighting units. However, the High Elves are definitely on the side of good while the Melniboneans' cruelty and decadence are taken by the Dark Elves.
• Fantastic Racism: The Asur look down upon most other races as primitive and uncultured. But unlike the Druchii, who view non-Elves as little more than animals to be enslaved or murdered at will, the High Elves have far more time for Imperials, Bretonnians and Dwarfs, even if they view them as foolish and irresponsible children who have to be kept from destroying themselves and the world. Vampires, Chaos worshippers, Beastmen, Skaven and Greenskins, on the other hand...
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: A mix of the Ancient Greeks (more specifically the cultured and educated but still very badass Athenians to the Dark Elves' warlike and positively Darwinian Spartans) and the Byzantines with a little bit of Edo period Japan (foreigners are forbidden to set foot on Ulthuan, except for certain designated ports, and their own scholarly master swordsmen) for flavor. In terms of their role in world politics, they also resemble Victorian Britain. Geographically-speaking, Ulthuan is essentially Warhammer Greenland.
• Fantasy Pantheon: Two of them. The Elven gods are divided into the Cadai the gods of the heavens and the Cytharai the gods of the underworld; the Asur generally favor the former, but will often in private still seek the favor of the Cytharai, if for no other reason than to avoid their wrath. All in all there are fourty four of them. The most important ones include:
  • Asuryan, the Creator: The Top God of the Cadai. The Elves believe that he has been shaping their destiny since the beginning of time. The Phoenix King is considered to be his mortal representative.
  • Isha, the Mother: The Hera to Asuryan's Zeus. It was her who taught the Elves to love and respect nature. The Everqueen is considered to be her mortal representative.
  • Lilieath, the Maiden: Goddess of Divination. Mother of Isha and wife of Asuryan. She's also the Lady of the Lake.
  • Kurnous, the Hunter: God of the hunt and wild beasts. He is the spirit of untamed wilderness, and the husband of Isha. Together, they represent both the feral aggression and the motherly fertility of nature. The Elves of Avelorn and Ellyrion consider him their primary god, rather than Asuryan.
  • Hoeth, the Wise: God of Wisdom and Knowledge. He began the Elves' famous magical tradition. He has no actual priesthood, as the mages of the White Tower are his clergy. Religion is very literally magic.
• Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. The High Elves' sense of pride and superiority has brought them a great deal of grief over the centuries.
• Fate Worse than Death: After death, Elven souls are sent to Mirai (also called the Black Pit) where they become slaves to the Pale Queen, Ereth Khial, though this is still far better than the alternative, which is having their souls devoured Slaanesh. Unfortunately, the latter is far more likely these days, and to avoid this Elves will bind their souls to Waystones to strengthen the magical wardings; though this will technically bind their souls to the mortal world, any Elf would choose this fate over the other options. Because of this, Waystones are deeply precious to High Elves, and damaging or destroying them is an unforgivable offense.
• Foil: The High Elves and Dark Elves contrast each other aesthetically and mechanically. While the High Elves wear primary colors with white highlights, the Dark Elves wear secondary colors with black highlights. The mechanical buffs to the High Elves start out at maximum and degrade as a battle drags on, the mechanical buffs to Dark Elves start out at minimum and get stronger as a battle drags on.
• The Federation: Much like the Empire, the High Elves run on an Elective Monarchy, with each of Ulthuan's ten constituent kingdoms ruled by their various princes, one of whom is chosen by the others to become the Phoenix King. The various kingdoms enjoy a good amount of self-governance, just like the provinces of the Empire.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Aenarion, the First Phoenix King, is credited with establishing the High Elves' civilization.
• Foreseeing My Death: The Phoenix Guard are shown how they will die, which makes them completely immune to Fear and Terror effects. As they take a magical vow of silence, they cannot reveal this to anyone else.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Even amongst the High Elves, no one really likes the Calaedorians, who are arrogant even by their standards. Most consider them insufferably difficult to work with, but since they have the most immediate access to the few remaining dragons that are considered critical to Ulthuan's defense, they are begrudgingly tolerated.
• The Ghost: Finubar the Seafarer. He's the Phoenix King and therefore the liege lord of every legendary lord on the High Elf roster (except possibly Alarielle, the level of comparative authority there is unclear). Despite this he never appears in person, even in cutscenes. His absence on the battlefield is to be expected, he's a Non-Action Guy, but the lords don't even really check in with him.
• Giant Flyer: Like their Wood Elf cousins, the Asur can field great eagles; in addition, they also have Phoenixes and several variants of Dragon at their disposal.
• Glass Cannon: On a strategic level. High Elven settlements have a lot of income buildings and below-average garrisons, discouraging building the latter in favor of the former, and Ulthuan has a lot of ports that permanently occupy a building slot leaving almost no space for a garrison. This disincentive towards building walls combined with their slow recruitment means even core provinces are typically vulnerable and easily picked off if something manages to take out or outmaneuver their powerful armies.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: High Elves spare no expense on gold plating their armors, helmets, chainmail, weapons and various accessories to flaunt their superiority in the enemy’s face.
• Good is Not Nice: While the High Elves are, for the most part, one of the nobler races of the Warhammer world, the majority of them are also arrogant, condescending, and dismissive of other races and cultures. However, they are still by far the nicest of the three Elven races; in comparison, the Dark Elves are ruthless, sadistic slavers, while the Wood Elves are chaotic isolationists who attack anyone who enters their territory.
• The Good King: The current Phoenix King, Finubar the Seafarer. Unlike many of his haughty and isolationist predecessors, he wishes for the Asur to become closer with the other races of the world and has built a global trade network to that end. It says a lot about how much he believes this, and how successful he is at achieving it, that even the Dwarfs tolerate him.
• Good Wears White: Downplayed. While the High Elves wear white clothing and are indeed on the side of good, they can be quite dismissive and mean towards other races.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: High Elf Princes are their basic melee lord variant, whereas their Princess counterparts specialise in ranged combat.
• Heavily Armored Mook: The aptly named Silverin Guard; elite professional Elf warriors that are chosen for their skill in battle to guard the most prized and dangerous Waystones. Essentially upgraded Spearmen, they have decently increased stats all across the board due to their veteranancy, but their true strength lies in their massive increase in armour, Expert Charge Defense trait, and melee defense, due to their Silverin plate-armour, making them some of the best line defenders in the High Elf roster.
• Horse Archer: The Ellyrian Reavers, powerful mounted skirmishers, which (unlike the tabletop) now come in a variant without bows, and are instead a very light cavalry.
• A House Divided:
  • The three Elven factions belong to the same species, but have split from each other for a wide variety of reasons. Whilst the Dark Elves and the Wood Elves are noted to actually be thriving^note Or are at least doing better than the High Elves, the lore zigzags about exactly how well the other two are doing. But at the least their decline is never emphasized in the way the decline of the High Elves is. The Druchii in particular always seem fairly numerous (a rarity for Elves in Fantasy Fiction), arrogance has caused the High Elves to steadily decline, even if they're still a powerful Empire.
  • More locally, Ulthuan is split into ten largely autonomous kingdoms who, while all loyal to the Phoenix King, are permitted to pursue their own agendas, up to and including full scale war with each other. They are more than happy to slaughter each other despite the imminent failure of the Vortex and the fact that the campaign begins with a pair of Druchii incursions having conquered significant chunks of Ulthuan.
• An Ice Person: The oldest phoenixes known as Cryophoenixes have had their flames cool to such low temperatures that their former fiery power have turned to ice instead.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Swordmasters of Hoeth are known to be able to deflect arrows in flight, cutting them out of the air as they fall into their formation. Of course this does not make them immune to arrows but it does limit the damage they can cause. Their Deflect Shots rules gives them a slight ward save against non magical projectiles.
• Jack of All Stats: To the extreme. The High Elves are the "elite generalist" sub-category of this; like the Empire they have a very balanced style in their units: strong and disciplined infantry, powerful mages, excellent archers, terrifying monsters, assorted cavalry and chariots, and a respectable air-force. The only real stain is their subpar selection of warmachines. Like the Empire, however, they lack the truly amazing specialist units other factions have, as well as their units being on the whole expensive compared to every other faction. On a microscopic scale, many of their units are also capable of filling multiple roles.
  • Lothern Sea Guard are probably the most multirole units in the game. They are archers with good range (better than Empire crossbows), melee stats much better than normal archers, carrying shields (which makes them resistant to other archers), and welding spears that provide an anti-large bonus (nasty for any cavalry that catch them).
  • Loremasters are casters who are also decent melee fighters. Archmages with certain traits can also hold their own in melee, especially when on a dragon.
  • The Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower can switch between precise single shots that do extra damage against large units and a shotgun effect that does extra damage to infantry.
  • Their signature High Magic is the lore equivalent, having heals, buffs and damage spells of three different types that won't outshine a dedicated Life, Light or Fire/Death mage, but can do all of the above decently.
  • Sisters of Avelorn are powerful archers who are also pretty handy in melee, like Lothern Sea Guard without the defensive bonuses. They also deal armor-piercing, fire, and magical damage with their arrows, meaning they're almost guaranteed to hurt whatever they're shooting at.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Their main hat; yes they're pricks (who isn't?), but they have the world's safety in mind. While the High Elves pretty much look down on the lesser races and also mainly fight for themselves, it still doesn't change that the Asur are tireless defenders of the world's stability. The Dragon Princes of Caledor take it even further, being such haughty snotty jerks in general that even the other High Elves are perpetually and deeply annoyed by them. Yet in battle a Dragon Prince won't think twice about risking his life to save the humblest among the foot soldiers.
• Knight In Shining Armour: The Silver Helms, the basic cavalry unit of the Asur, could give the Bretonnians a run for their money in the idealized chivalry department. Then of course there are the Dragon Princes of Caledor, who are among the most elite warriors in all of Ulthuan. The Dragon princes are regarded as arrogant even by elven standards and would likely make Bretonnian knights seem humble by comparison. That being said however, no one can fault their courage and most would be more than willing to give their lives in defense of their fellow elves.
• Lazy Dragon: The Dragons of Ulthuan have been hit by a mysterious stupor which makes them really sleepy and hard to wake. Only weeks of praying and chanting ancient Caledorian songs can wake them up and some Dragons are too deep in their slumber to ever wake again.
• Ley Line: The Hive Elves built many waystones across Ulthuan generations ago during a great surge of magic from the Chaos wastes in the north. This turned Ulthuan into a magical "anchor" around which the Winds of Magic swirl in a controlled manner, adding order to what was otherwise a chaotic source of destructive arcane energy across the world. Disturbing any of these carefully placed stones can have disastrous effects on the Winds of Magic, potentially ripping Ulthuan apart with the unbalanced power.
• Light Is Good: The High Elves are some of the most enthusiastic enemies of Chaos and their armies stroll battlefields in bright white garb for the most part.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: No Elf would be caught having hair that does not reach his shoulder. In fact long hair is also seen as a sign of martial skill, strength and overall nobility.
• Mage Tower: High Elves are fond of their tall, slender towers, and their mages are no exception, having taller and more slender towers than most. The Tower of Hoeth is arguable the greatest example of this in the world.
• Magic Knight: The Loremasters of Hoeth, hero units equally adept as a caster and warrior. Indeed, their pursuit of knowledge in all its forms has led to them mastering both swordsmanship and magic, their intellect being such that they find both easy.
• Manipulative Bastard: In the campaign, the High Elves have a special ability, Intrigue At The Court, that allows them to force any two factions to experience positive or negative diplomacy modifiers towards each other for a few turns. This can be used to make forming alliances and stopping wars easier, or to drag your rivals into wars against one other.
• Master Swordsman: The Swordmasters of Hoeth are some of the greatest martial experts among the Asur, spending decades training with the use of an Elfin greatsword. So skilled are they that they can even deflect arrows and gunshot by literally cutting projectiles out of the air.
• McNinja: The Shadow Warriors, stealth experts from the province of Naggarythe. Living in the province most frequently the target of Dark Elf raids and invasions tends to result in individuals skilled at moving quickly and staying out of sight.
• Medieval Stasis: The Elves do not have much in the way of pure technology despite millennia of existence. Their most complex machine is the Reaper Bolt Thrower in fact, and the Elves have mainly perfected the science behind their existing tools instead of inventing new ones. That said, when magic enables a civilization to create things that even technology wouldn’t be able to reproduce, there is little incentive to go down new and innovative paths. Most notably they still use archers as their main missile troops and ballistae as their main artillery while the humans and dwarfs have largely moved on to muskets and cannons; while that's all well and good for e.g. the Sisters of Avelorn and their enchanted weapons that are more like magical incendiary grenade launchers than bows, the bulk of their missile soldiery are still using regular wooden longbows despite them having had trade links with the Empire and Southern Realms for centuries.
• Merchant City: Lothern, the southernmost city in Ulthuan and the surrounding province which bears its name. It sits at the only strait giving aquatic access between Ulthuan inner sea and the wider ocean. This has turned it into Ulthuan's most major sea port, and most of the goods that flow into and out of Ulthuan go through Lothern. It's also the only city in Ulthuan to have a substantial non-Elf permanent population, as many mercantile interests from other nations keep guild offices and warehouses there along with secondary industries and a transient sailing population. This has turned it into one of the wealthiest cities in the world, and its strategic importance and fortifications against sea invasions make it a bit of a Citadel City as well. In the campaign, Lothern blocks the only way for invaders to bypass the various fortress Gates and utilize the sea behind it to rapidly move around Ulthuan.
• Mithril: Ithilmar, a rare metal, the ore of which is only found in Ulthuan. Its tensile strength is similar to steel, but only weighs a fraction as much, and it is described as a joy to work. Its rarity and lightness means more conventional steel is still commonly employed by the Asur, but for the exquisite lightweight armor used as full-plate by their nobles and heavy cavalry it is unmatched.
• Nature Spirit: Avelorn, unlike other High Elf factions, can recruit palette swapped but otherwise identical versions of the treemen, tree-kin and dryads that the Wood Elves have access to, as the elves of Avelorn, and Alarielle especially, have the closest relationship with nature and its spirits of all the High Elves.
• Nemean Skinning: Initiate White Lions, as a test of skill and admittance into their bodyguard corps, need to personally track and hunt a White Lion, a very ferocious predator that stalks Ulthuan, and which is known to attack and ravage elven villages single-handed! After skinning and presenting them, they're admitted into the order and can wear the Lion's Cloak (which grants them a decent missile resistance bonus) as a symbol of pride.
• Noble Bigot: What these elves are at best. They look down on the younger races, but they're willing to work with them in order to save the world because they just can't let it die. Deconstructed, as their Holier Than Thou attitude often grates with their allies, and resulted in the slow death of their empire despite their good intentions.
• Only the Worthy May Pass: A Phoenix King may be elected by his fellow nobles but he must step into the sacred Flame of Asuryan to be judged for kingship by his god. A worthy king will emerge unscathed but as Malekith's story shows, anyone who does not meet the standards will be burned down to a crisp, suffering untold pain for a lifetime.
• Our Gryphons Are Different: Elven Griffons are smaller and weaker than the Empire equivalent but slightly more agile. They were made a mount option in "Warden and the Paunch".
• Our Elves Are Different: The Asur fit the High Elves archetype just right, with them being an ancient dwindling empire that is better than humans at everything (craftmanship, magic and fighting) except checking their ego when they need to. They downplay the usual elven association with ranged warfare and delicate melee weapons, however, and make considerable use of heavy armor, greatswords, axes and halberds.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The dragons of Ulthuan have dwelt in the mountains of Caledor since time immemorial, and have developed a close affinity with the elves who share their homeland. Appearance wise, they oblige by typical depictions of dragons, and though they are also never seen talking, lore indicates that they are capable. Caledorian dragons largely consider themselves (not unjustifiably) the last "pure blooded" dragons left in the world, and regard the "lesser" dragons of the Old World in much the same way their Elven allies regard humans. The black dragons of Naggaroth, however, they regard with outright hatred and no small amount of pity, and indeed the very existence of these corrupted beasts is something of a Berserk Button among dragonkind. Suffice it to say, they hate the Druchii almost as much as the High Elves themselves do. The dragons will fight alongside their Asur allies in times of war, either permitting worthy elves to ride them into battle or flying to war on their own accord. The power of the dragons has always been a major source of Ulthuan's wartime strength. In the present day, however, the dragons have begun to slumber for ever increasing periods of time and now only the youngest and most restless are easily roused. The High Elves can field three variants of dragons, though these are all simply different life stages of the same species.
  • The Sun Dragons are the youngest^note Youngest being relative, most are still centuries old. and most easily roused of the dragons. Despite not quite possessing the wisdom and power of their elders, they are still extremely formidable beasts. Sun Dragons have red-orange scales and their flames burn in the same hue.
  • Moon Dragons are those of middling age, whose strength and wisdom have been honed by experience and maturity. Their scales are pale gold in colour and their fires follow suit.
  • Star Dragons are the oldest and most powerful of all; truly ancient pinnacles of dragon-kind in possession of immense wisdom and endless strength. Unfortunately, they are also the rarest of dragons and most now sleep beneath the mountains; unable to be roused except in the rarest of circumstances. However, when they are called to war, they are a force of nigh-unparalleled destruction and some of the most powerful units in the game. Star Dragons tend to be blue and white in colour, and breathe an extremely concentrated, bright violet magical flame that can tear through the strongest armour, both natural and artificial, with ease. The oldest are so incomprehensibly ancient that they predate the arrival of the Old Ones, which would make them older than Elvenkind itself, and only rivaled in age by the Dragon Ogre Shaggoths, the Celestial Dragon Emperor, and a few of the oldest Slann.
• Panthera Awesome: The White Lions gets their name from the massive War Lions that roam around the lands of Chrace, animals that they are expected to best and make pelts out of before joining the ranks. However, they also tend to use these very same lions as a very effective breed of Attack Animal; War Lions of Chrace are raised from childhood, and as a result become fiercely loyal to their masters. A very versatile unit, War Lions of Chrace are best described as elite wardogs, being able to act as both a hunter of skirmishers and war machine crews, as well as being perfect for flanking elite infantry, for they are lightning quick and able to mulch heavy-armour with their armour-piercing attacks. Rahagra's Pride, a Regiment of Renown variant, are striped as well as having the "Mighty Roar" ability, which debuffs enemy units in an AOE effect with a hefty decrease to their speed and leadership, making them ideal cavalry hunters.
• The Phoenix: Phoenixes are an important symbol in High Elven culture and are well known as the emblem of the god Asuryan, in addition to being available as units in the High Elf roster. These come in three variants:
  • The Flamespyre Phoenix, the traditional Phoenix, a fiery red-gold creature that gains power from the Winds of Magic — if the winds drop too low due to mages using them up for spells, its effectiveness will start to drop. It can turn itself into a living bomber airplane by dropping fireballs on enemies as it flies over them, and if killed there's an even chance for it to come back with some health restored.
  • The Frostheart Phoenix is an older Phoenix whose flames have cooled with age and whose plumage has taken an icy blue hue, and which is no longer capable of resurrecting itself. To make up for this, it is much tankier than the Flamespyre Phoenix, and emits an aura of cold that slows and debuffs enemies when in melee.
  • The Arcane Phoenix, added in The Warden and the Paunch DLC, is a much rarer and nigh-mythical breed believed to be sent by the Elven creator god Asuryan himself. It has significantly high combat stats, dealing both magical and flaming damage to enemies while in melee, and it also has a powerful 'Emberstorm' vortex spell that can hit multiple units. Much like the Flamespyre Phoenix, the Arcane Phoenix's effectiveness relies on the Winds of Magic and it has a chance to come back to life when killed. There's an even stronger variant; The Omen of Asuryan, which has a reversed color scheme, being primarily dark shades of blue and violet, alongside a special ability that grants all units around it "Immunity to Psychology".
• Planet of Hats: The High Elves are a diverse collection of ten different kingdoms, each with their own distinct culture, identity, history, and way of war. So, in-universe each one has plenty of stereotypes that in-game will show up during intrigue events. Some examples include that all Elves of Eataine are cosmopolitan merchants that bought their way to the Phoenix Throne, all Elves from Caledor are overbearing warriors obsessed with their dying past, Elves from Chrace are dependable and noble but classless hunters, and so on.
• Plenty of Blondes: Overall, High Elves are exceedingly fair with golden hair. For some like Alarielle it can dive into Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold, but for the majority it just gives them another excuse to be overbearingly proud.
• Praetorian Guard: The White Lions of Chrace, axe wielding warriors who serve as the bodyguard of the Phoenix King, also serving as heavy infantry in Ulthuan's armies at his discretion.
  • There's also the Sisters of Averlorn, High Elf Maidens who guard, and serve the Everqueen, powerful archers who wield magical bows to rain down hell on their mistress's foes.
  • Then you have the Handmaidens of the Everqueen. They are her personal honor guard and can go toe-to-toe with some of the worst baddies the world can throw at them. In game they're a hero unit that can specialize in various fields from public order to trade while still being incredibly tough.
• Proud Beauty: While not immortal, the High Elves are longer-lived than most races, and thus stay beautiful longer than anyone else. This is partly why the High Elves are so condescending.
• The Proud Elite: All Asur consider themselves elite and given their great age and magical skill they have every reason to, but the Dragon Princes take it further by calling themselves elites among elites. Notably, they still call themselves Dragon Princes even though they're no longer riding dragons and not all of them are actual princes. Despite this arrogance, they're still respected for their martial skills and bravery.
• Proud Warrior Race: While the Asur tend not to be as boisterous about it as some of the other races, they are unmistakably (and to be fair, justifiably) proud of their military traditions and accomplishments. Nowhere is this more evident than among the elves of Caledor who, after the elves of ancient Nagarythe and their twisted descendants, have always been the most martial of the elven peoples. Nowadays they regard themselves as the greatest warriors in all of Ulthuan.
• Proud Scholar Race: Very proud of their record keeping skills, with much of their history having been recorded. They also have a fair amount of interest in subjects like Astrology and Magical Studies, and produce some of the finest wizards in the entire world. Lastly, Ulthuan is home to the greatest schools of magic in the world, accordingly run by some of the best minds in the world.
• Proud Merchant Race: Thanks to the fact that the High Elves used to colonize much of the world and charted most of its oceans, pretty much every major power trades with Ulthuan with the capital of Lothern serving as the center of global trade, and is one of the few areas where the High Elves haven't declined in, and are in fact thriving as never before thanks to the rise of other major trading partners. Trading is so important to them that it's their main method of espionage, as shown in-game where gaining a trade deal with another nation will not only give you a sizable boost in income, as well as buildings to expand on it, but total view of their movements and units on the campaign-map.
• Rangers: High Elf Rangers were also introduced in The Warden and the Paunch DLC: hunters and foresters that fight as dual sword melee infantry. Though they lack shields, Rangers have relatively high physical resistance for an early-tier unit, as well as the "Forest Strider" trait that buffs their melee stats while fighting in wooded areas. They are in fact from Warhammer Quest, a decades-long Continuity Nod.
• Really 700 Years Old: High Elves live for a very long time, and barely age until their final years of natural life.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Large quantities of influence are needed to field capable generals and agents, which the recruitment pool for those without influence points are filled with unqualified officers with crippling negative traits.
• Shining City: The standard for High Elf urban planning and architecture, though nowhere perhaps so obviously so as the city of Lothern. Located on the southern side of Ulthuan, at the narrow part of the only strait connecting the ocean to Ulthuan's inner sea. It is the primary port city in Ulthuan as it is the only place to get shipping from the Inner Kingdoms to the ocean and the wider world beyond, is a major strategic naval choke-point for the entire continent and is extremely well defended. It is one of the very few places in the Asur kingdoms where foreigners are permitted to land, lending the place a much more cosmopolitan air than other High Elf cities.
• Smug Super: They really are more capable than many other races all round, boasting superior magic to the humans, superior speed and use of Utility Magic to the Dwarfs and low-level troops who can hold their own against all other factions very well. The problem is that their arrogance is often taken too far, and they don't realize that superiority is not an automatic guarantee of victory.
• Stealth Expert: The Shadow Warriors are experts in guerrilla warfare, having been fighting against the Dark Elves in their own shadow war for millennia, which has given them a host of special skills that allow them to remain hidden. They posses Stalk, Vanguard Deployment, Master Ambusher, Snipe and the ability to fire whilst moving, making them a skirmishing nightmare.
  • Then there's the Shadow Walkers, elite Shadow Warriors handpicked by Alith Anar himself, which come In the Hood. Add poison attacks, twin blades for emergency melee, stat boosts, all the above traits, and a heavy anti-infantry bonus, and they're the best of the best when it comes to infiltration. They're only usable by Nagarythe.
• Swirly Energy Thingy: The Great Vortex, which is at the center of every faction's main Vortex campaign in some way, and is at the center of Ulthuan itself. The entire continent is studded with carefully placed waystones to establish Ley Lines that channel the excess magic out of the world, established at the beginning of the Asur empire to starve daemons on the mortal plane of the magical energy that sustains them. Even to this day, daemons struggle to remain manifest in the material realm for long due to this Vortex. Safeguarding the Vortex, and by extension the world, has been at the center of the Asur's imperial responsibilities ever since.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Present in both High Elf characters and their roster. Tyrion is the heavily-armored Sword, while his brother Teclis is the Glass Cannon Sorcerer. It's also the case with the Swordmasters and their charges, the Mages of the White Tower.
• Taking You with Me: The Keepers of The Flame (the Phoenix Guards Regiment of Renown) have the Mark of Asuryan, which makes them explode and deal heavy damage to their enemies when they are killed.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In-universe; their lore states that their various empires had been successful for so long that they let their power and political affluence go to their heads, and lost the heroic compassion they were once known for. It resulted in the fragmenting of their people and their empire becoming a Vestigial Empire from being assailed with powerful threats, among other things.
• Undying Loyalty: The great White Lions of Chrace are unflinchingly loyal to their pride, putting their bonds to their kin above everything else, and will go to immense lengths to bring vengeance to those who harm their pride-mates. This is something a wizard seeking to magically bind them has to keep in mind. Once the magic inevitably wears off, the lions are more than capable of tearing a wizard limb from limb to avenge companions who died in their service, but if the wizard manages to be accepted into the pride, the lions will remain at their side long after the spells fail and fight to the death in their defense.
• Utility Magic: The Asur have been practicing the arcane arts far longer than man, and as a result have grown comfortable employing it doing tasks humans would be unlikely to trust. It is through this use of magic that they build their seemingly impossibly slender soaring towers, and have abundant harvests despite cultivating very little farmland.
• Vestigial Empire: The Asur were once one of, if not the, most powerful nation in the world, ruling not just Ulthuan but vast swathes of the old world and lands even further afield. Nowadays, while still powerful, a long succession of wars, disasters and the slow attrition of time have left them a shadow of their former glory. Some of their old colonies have been abandoned and the ruins settled and built-on by other powers, and a few far flung colonies they still hold onto as strategic waypoints for their navies.
• The Voiceless: Justified with the Phoenix Guard, who all take a magical vow of silence once they're shown a vision of their own deaths. As such, they are completely silent no matter what injuries they suffer. This gives them a "Fear" trait as their foes become unnerved for how silent they are.
• Warrior Monk: The Phoenix Guard, an order of elite holy warriors who guard the Shrine of Asuryan.
• Warrior Prince: Princes and princesses are available as lord choices.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Many of the minor High Elf factions start out close together and with diplomatic penalties towards both the major factions and each other, meaning Ulthuan tends to devolve into a massive multi-party civil war long before the Dark Elves show up. Saphery is usually responsible for this by triggering a war between Eataine and Yvresse.
• Wizarding School: The White Tower of Hoeth, undoubtedly the greatest center of magical learning in the Warhammer world. Also counts as a Mage Tower. In game, building it provides bonuses to your magic users as well as additional ranks for recruited Mages and Loremasters.
• White Magic: High magic or "Qhaysh", the least corrupt or "chaotic" form of magic in the setting. It involves weaving the various winds of magic into a single, harmonious whole, a process so complex that only the most magically attuned beings, such as the Elves and Slann, are capable of accomplishing it.
• The Worf Effect: The High Elves' role in promotional materials is to have their ass kicked in spectacular fashion to show how dangerous the other factions are, even in their own trailer. Those coming to the game from Total War experience rather than Warhammer experience are occasionally unaware that Ulthuan is supposed to be a thriving naval empire and a competent, if somewhat aloof, superpower. Creative Assembly even acknowledged this in Mortal Empires, where the patch notes included a mention of decreasing the Cinematic Department's lust for High Elf blood among other tweaks to units.
• Wreathed in Flames: The Keepers of the Flame, an extraordinarily powerful Regiment of Renown unit of Phoenix Guard who not only wield blessed halberds (that do magic damage), they also bear the cursed mark of Asuryan, causing them to explode in a burst of bright white-blue flame once they're killed, damaging anyone around them unlucky enough to be caught in the blast.

Legendary Lords

Tyrion

Prince Tyrion, Defender of Ulthuan

"Heir of Aenarion!"

"Elves of Ulthuan, to me! The scum of Naggaroth approach. They think to cage us in... but is the lion trapped when cornered by the rat? Do warriors squirm when confronted by weaklings? No is the answer! Gird your souls, let them come!"

Voiced by: Mark Noble

Prince Tyrion is the High Elves’ greatest living warrior. So valiant and skilled is he that the bards of Ulthuan sing that he is nothing less than Aenarion reborn — a tale that is given credence far beyond Ulthuan’s shores. Since Tyrion’s meteoric rise to fame, many have whispered of his destiny to lead the High Elves towards a glorious future and perhaps one day to take the Phoenix Crown. If Tyrion hears such gossip, he pays it no heed, for he is completely loyal to Finubar. Thus does Tyrion concern himself only with the twin duties of protecting Ulthuan and its Everqueen. However, the latter is seen less as a duty than it is a calling of the heart — it is common knowledge that Tyrion is Alarielle’s consort, and has been for many years.

Though Tyrion is a great warrior, he is no politician, and he is much given to speaking his mind or openly seeking truth where others would prefer only silence. But for his lineage and battle record, he would long ago have been ostracised by those nobles who hold themselves to be more intelligent and subtler than he is. As it is, none wish to directly challenge he who banished the Daemon N’kari at the Phoenix Shrine and slew Urian Poisonblade upon the Finuval Plain.

Tyrion leads the Eataine (formerly Lothern) sub-faction. In Eye of the Vortex, he begins the game on the Straits of Lothern in Ulthuan. In Mortal Empires he starts in the same area, but the province has been merged with that of Eataine and uses the latter's name.

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• The Ace: In all matters relating to combat. Tyrion is one of the greatest swordsmen alive, as well as an accomplished commander and strategist.
• Ax-Crazy: If one goes down the Heir of Aenarion chain, the flavor text of his upgrades state Tyrion completely abandons any pretense of honor and civility, instead becoming a whirlwind of death and destruction, at the cost of hefty public order decreases. Even without going down the skill-chain, Tyrion remains noticeably bloodthirsty in his quotes compared to generic High Elven princes.
• Berserk Button: Tyrion, who's already The Berserker has two: the nobles' snobbish attitude and making fun of his brother or friends. You'll live longer if you don't.
• Big Brother Instinct: In the lore he is very protective of his brother Teclis. This is justified as Teclis was sickly growing up, and was bullied and scorned by the other elves for being so frail.
• Blessed with Suck: Being a brilliant tactician and warrior is great, but not if your ancestor's curse is slowly driving you insane. The Heir of Aenarion skillset shows what happens if Tyrion gives in to this madness, becoming someone not unlike a follower of Khorne.
• Bling of War: The Dragon Armour of Aenarion is ornate even by elven standards.
• Blood Knight: A heroic example but one nonetheless. Tyrion loves to fight and largely considers his martial prowess to be his only worthwhile skill, and all in all doesn't feel guilt or dread from killing people; a fact which has caused him no small amount of worry in the past. Taken quite literally in the Blood for the Blood God II Trailer, where he talks almost disturbingly reverently about blood, and spends the majority of the video absolutely soaked in it.
  Tyrion: I lust for battle!
• Bodyguard Crush: Is in one with The Everqueen. Finubar thankfully doesn't seem bothered by it.
• Both Sides Have a Point: While Teclis is right in that the High Elves need to swallow their pride and accept help from the "lesser" races if they are to survive, Tyrion is concerned that his brother is wasting his magic on those that will soon die off, and that his meddling might bring dangers to Ulthuan that even their people can't stop.
• The Champion: His official position is as the champion of Alarielle the Radiant, Everqueen of Ulthuan. From a broader perspective he counts as one for the entire High Elven race. Fittingly, many of his in game quotes reference this.
  Tyrion: Champion of the Everqueen!
• Cool Horse: His steed Malhandir, a mighty stallion said to be descended from Korhandir, the legendary father of horses.
• Cool Sword: His blade, Sunfang, which once belonged to his legendary ancestor Aenarion. For bonus points it doubles as a Flaming Sword.
• Cursed with Awesome: Aenarion's curse manifests in Tyrion in the form of him being an incredibly badass Blood Knight. He has a genuine concern of one day devolving into a murderous psychopath, and a player can do that for him if they take Tyrion down the Heir of Aenarion skill chain.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The deed which cemented his rise to fame was the defeat of the infamous Keeper of Secrets N'kari, mightiest of Slaanesh's daemons, a feat which he and his brother achieved while still underage. The twins have battled N'kari on a least one other occasion since then, and that too ended in defeat for the daemon.
  • You can replay the confrontation again in Immortal Empires, as N'kari starts out on the northern side of Ulthuan.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: He likes to see himself as the Responsible Sibling, with his brother as the Foolish Sibling. Tyrion is dutiful in protecting the well-being of Ulthuan, and is constantly baffled and frustrated with Teclis's desire to help the younger races, which he believes is beneath his brother's magical capabilities and makes him blind to their people's suffering. However, Teclis is actually the Responsible Sibling who believes that the High Elves need to swallow their pride and accept outside help if they're to survive another blow to their kingdom.
• Generation Xerox: Is said to greatly resemble his famed ancestor Aenarion, to the point where some believe him to be Aenarion reborn. But the fact that he has the Heir of Aenarion chain reveals that he has his ancestor's curse as well, being in constant danger of going insane one day.
• Good is Not Nice: While he is on the whole a noble man who seeks above all else to defend his home and people, Tyrion often comes across as callous, arrogant, shortsighted and more than a little bloodthirsty, especially when compared to his more compassionate brother, who seeks to aid the world beyond Ulthuan. In addition, going down the Blood of Anaerion skill tree makes this even worse, turning him into an even more powerful killing machine at the cost of causing unrest whenever in his homeland.
• The Hero: To the High Elves, as evidenced by his title "Defender of Ulthuan". Unlike his brother however, he typically extends his heroism only to Ulthuan and seems little concerned with the fate of the other races.
• Heroic Lineage: As previously stated, he and his brother are direct descendants of the first Phoenix King Aenarion. Unfortunately, they've inherited Aenarion's Curse as well.
• Hot-Blooded: Tyrion has a tendency to be impulsive, passionate and often reckless. Even when he was young, Tyrion got into numerous duels, some of them fatal. Perhaps not coincidentally, he is one of the best Lords in fighting and killing enemy generals and heroes.
• Humble Hero: How he appears to the other High Elves, at least. Despite knowing of his people's high expectations of him, he has no desire to succeed Finubar as the Phoenix King, or lead Ulthuan into a golden age. He only wants to protect both Ulthuan and the Everqueen Alarielle. Outside Ulthuan, he can appear as arrogant and callous to everyone else.
• In the Blood: As direct descendants of Aenarion, the brothers share in 'Aenarion's Curse': manifestations of the first Phoenix King's less-than-pleasant traits from drawing the cursed Widowmaker. Tyrion has a touch of the Phoenix King's madness, which is represented in-game by the Heir of Aenarion chain, which empowers Tyrion in return for making him go a little funny in the head.
• Knight In Shining Armour: Tyrion's Defender of Ulthuan chain (which permanently locks you out of the Heir of Aenarion chain) gives giant factionwide bonuses to diplomacy, recruitment and public order as Tyrion focuses on his role as protector of the Asur.
• Lightning Bruiser: When mounted on Malhandir Tyrion is easily one of the fastest lords in the game; able to reliably outpace even flying units. And of course he is an absolute force of nature in battle.
• Master Swordsman: Unquestionably one of the greatest swordsmen in all of Warhammer Fantasy.
• Noble Bigot: His great deeds and compassion is tempered by his feelings of racial superiority. Unlike Teclis who aims to aid the greater world beyond the elven shores, Tyrion only focuses on protecting his people and doesn't understand why his twin brother wastes his magical talents on the younger races. This is emphasized in their argument in the opening cutscene for Teclis's High Elf campaign, after Teclis announces his intent to go to Lustria:
  Tyrion: Why do you care so much about the greater world?
  Teclis: (angrily) Why do you not?
• No Social Skills: Downplayed. While Tyrion is certainly capable of turning on the charm he is an honest and straightforward elf at heart, and has little patience for the pomp and ceremony most Asur hold as sacred.
• Polar Opposite Twins: He and his brother Teclis are twins, possibly fraternal. Tyrion is a charismatic and powerful warrior-general who's a beloved hero to his people. His brother is a physically frail, sharp-tongued mage who cares about the general well-being about the world beyond Ulthuan.
• Red Is Heroic: His heraldry is bright red and white, which is painted across his armor.
• Red Is Violent: On the other hand, if taken down the Heir of Aenarion path, he'll become an invincible swordsman with deteriorating sanity and utter lack of empathy.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Tyrion very much represents the ideal elven Warrior-Prince, being a masterful swordsman, a charismatic leader and an accomplished tactician. In addition he is also charming, good-looking and physically sound. His brother Teclis by contrast is a sickly cripple who has long endured scorn from his fellow elves, despite being an immensely powerful mage.
• Superpowered Evil Side: If he goes down the Heir of Aenarion skill line, he becomes an absolutely absurd melee combatant, but also gives in completely to his Blood Knight tendencies.
• Sword Beam: A variant. In addition to being a Flaming Sword Sunfang can also project blasts of fire.
• Sword and Sorcerer: With his brother Teclis, Tyrion providing the sword.
• Tsundere: A platonic example for his twin brother Teclis. While it's clear he loves him deeply, Tyrion often finds his younger brother's compassion for the "lesser" races difficult to comprehend, seeing Teclis investing his vast power in those other races as being wasteful and potentially dangerous to Ulthuan, and becomes frustrated with him as a result.
• The Un-Favourite: In marked contrast to how they're received by elven society at large, the twin's father Arathion has always seemed to favor Teclis over Tyrion, mainly due to how alike the two are.
• World's Best Warrior: He is definitely in the running at the very least. His skill with a sword is preternatural, even by elven standards.

Teclis

High Loremaster Teclis, Warden of the White Tower

"Master of the White Tower!"

"I see the Witch King's armies, but not Malekith himself! They say that he is scared of me — that he worries about a prophecy foretelling his doom by a magic-wielder of male aspect. Perhaps he cowers on his Black Ark?"

Voiced by: Jason Canning

Teclis is Tyrion's twin brother, but two more different siblings would be hard to find. Where the curse of Aenarion has yet to leave an obvious mark upon Tyrion, it has made his brother frail and caustic. Indeed, so feeble is Teclis that his body can only be sustained by the consumption of magical potions. Yet no-one, least of all Tyrion, sees Teclis as the weaker twin — his destiny merely lies along another path. Teclis has been blessed with a talent for magic that makes him preeminent, not only amongst the mages of Ulthuan, but in the whole world. Though it is little acknowledged in Naggaroth, the Witch King himself accedes that Teclis is his superior and, since the Battle of Finuval Plain, has taken care not to come into direct conflict with his younger cousin. It is even claimed that Teclis’ power approaches that of the great Necromancer Nagash, so it is fortunate that he has devoted his life to thwarting the powers of Chaos and death.

The twins also differ greatly in their strategic outlook. Where Tyrion sees the protection of Ulthuan as his chief duty, Teclis seeks to safeguard the whole world. Such is the ideology that led him to aid Magnus the Pious during the Great War Against Chaos, and thereafter found the Colleges of Magic in the Empire. Since then, Teclis has walked abroad in many other lands, sharing his wisdom with those who have need of it, and wielding his magics to keep the dark forces of Chaos at bay. Thus will Teclis’ legend endure long after heroes of the sword have been forgotten, for his actions shaped not a battle, nor even a campaign, but the future of the world itself.

Teclis leads the Order of Loremasters sub-faction. In The Eye of the Vortex, he begins the game on the Turtle Islands in Lustria. In Mortal Empires, he instead begins on the Volcanic Islands, also in Lustria. In Immortal Empires he has moved to the Southlands.

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• The Ace: In all magical matters. To the point that he's been called "The greatest natural sorcerer of his age". As a youth and with minimal training, he was already able to cast highly advanced spells almost instinctively. He once challenged and singlehandedly destroyed a dreaded coven of ten mighty Tzeentchian sorcerers at the Battle of Hathar Ford. Even Malekith the Witch-King himself is cautious to not be on the receiving end of Teclis' magical prowess, having lost before to the young elf in a Wizard Duel at the Battle of Finuval Plain.
• All of the Other Reindeer: During his youth Teclis often endured the scorn of his fellow elves on account of his physical frailty. While this has left him with some understandable bitterness, it also instilled in him a sense of compassion for those most Asur would consider beneath them. The other elves, such as his own brother Tyrion, also don't understand why he's wasting his magical talents on the "lesser" races when he should be helping his own people.
• Arch-Enemy: To Malekith the Witch-King himself. Out of all the living Warhammer characters it's Teclis who has earned his ire (and grudging respect) the most, after he defeated the dark elf king in a Wizard Duel at The Battle of Finuval Plain.
• The Archmage: One of the greatest sorcerers of his age. In-game he comes equipped with a varied and versatile arsenal of spells from numerous different lores of magic. He can also be given the lore attributes of all eight basic lores, has numerous skills to buff his spellcasting prowess and a number of bound spells. Due to massive bonuses when fully upgraded to his power reserve, power recharge rate and spell cost reduction he is perhaps unmatched in his ability to start casting impactful spells at the beginning of a long battle and still be casting regularly at the end.
• Armor and Magic Don't Mix: Averted. Possibly due to his physical frailness caused by Aenarion's Curse, Teclis wears a helmet and some armor so he wouldn't be killed so easily. He is a Magic Knight on virtue of wielding a sword he made by himself, but his physical frailty prevents him from being an especially effective melee combatant.
• Badass Bookworm: As a High Elven loremaster he is the embodiment of this trope.
• Benevolent Mage Ruler: For his own faction, the Order of Loremasters. In general, he's the only prominent elf mage who actively helps the other races outside Ulthuan, which baffles and frustrates the other high elves.
• Big Good: Teclis is among a small handful of characters in the Warhammer world that has an idea on what's really at stake and how important it is for everyone to work together for the greater good, as opposed to the current status-quo. His heroics in trying to keep Chaos at bay have made him famous and respected all across Ulthuan and the Old World, which is reflected in his boost in diplomacy with High Elven and Human factions.
• Blessed with Suck: Yes, Teclis is an extremely powerful mage, even by High Elven standards; however, he is also a sickly cripple who needs magic potions to function.
• Blue Is Heroic: Dressed in blue robes, and acts as the Big Good for the entire world.
• Both Sides Have a Point: While Tyrion's concerns about his meddling and being blind to his own people's suffering are valid, Teclis believes that the High Elves need to learn to swallow their pride and accept outside help if they are to survive.
• Celebrity Resemblance: Looks like Benedict Cumberbatch. The Skaven Scribe React Trailer even acknowledges this where he mockingly calls Teclis "Benedict Cumberelf".
• Cool Helmet: Wears the War Crown of Saphery, a helm decorated with a distinctive crescent moon.
• Cool Sword: In spite of his frailty he still carries a blade, known only as the Sword of Teclis. He forged the weapon himself in a sort of self enforced Rite of Passage, in order to prove his skills as an enchanter, and rarely actually uses it in combat, being an Emergency Weapon.
• Deadpan Snarker: Renowned for his cutting wit.
  • One of his diplomatic responses to a Lizardmen faction he is at war with:
  Yes, yes, cold order, blah blah, get on with it.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
  • As noted above, Teclis, at that point a fairly young (by elven standards) elf, managed to defeat Malekith himself, a nearly 7000-year-old walking nightmare who can take down greater daemons with ease. Admittedly, Teclis managed to achieve victory via exploiting his enemy's Achilles' Heel (using a spell to ignite the fires of Asuryan which still smouldered within the Witch-King's body), but this does nothing to diminish a remarkable accomplishment, and demonstrates Teclis' razor sharp intellect in the process.
  • In addition he and Tyrion have also defeated the greater daemon N'kari on multiple occasions.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Teclis made a cameo appearance at the end of the tie in novella The Prince of Altdorf, which was released with the Old World Edition, about a month before the announcement of Total War: Warhammer 2.
• Expy: Of Elric of Melnibone, except much nicer with more emphasis on the hero instead of the anti... mostly.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: In the Immortal Empires release trailer, Teclis nearly derails negotiations for The Alliance with some very poor choices of words around the High King of the Dwarfs:
  Teclis: This threat is beyond any of us. With the asur's guidance—
  Thorgrim: This is just another elgi scheme! I see many leaders here, but do you even speak for your people?
  Teclis: High King, this is not the time for short-sightedness—
  Thorgrim: SHORT!? There will be no alliance with elves while I'm High King, only a reckoning!
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Tyrion likes to think of him as the Foolish Sibling, because he's always going off helping the "lesser" races instead of staying loyal to Ulthuan. However, Teclis is the Responsible Sibling, because he understands that acting superior to others isn't going to help in the long run, especially if the world's so close to being destroyed by the Vortex's collapse.
• Freudian Excuse: He used to be scorned by his fellow High Elves for being physically weak, which understandably made him bitter and sharp-tongued. On the other hand, his experiences also made him sympathetic to the plight of the "lesser" races, which is why he often aids them.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In the lore, his frail body makes riding elyrian steeds difficult and something he'd much prefer to avoid (but he will ride a horse if he has to) and after two particularly bad experiences with riding flying creatures (a pegasus that he forgot to protect from a volley of arrows died under him, making him fall into a Dark Elf ambush, and a griffin he tried to ride required multiple binding spells for him to stay on) Teclis vowed to never ride anything flying again (and he's a powerful enough mage that he can fly using his own power if he really needs to be somewhere quickly). In-game, not only can he ride a horse just as well as any other Lord, but The Warden and the Paunch gave him the ability to use a unique Arcane Phoenix mount.
• Genius Cripple: Teclis is so frail that he can't even walk under his own power without magical assistance. Fortunately, he's one of the greatest wizards who's ever lived.
• Glass Cannon: Teclis is a magical powerhouse. Physically however, he is frail even for a mage because of Aenarion's Curse affecting him physically, and will fall apart swiftly under a determined assault.
• Handicapped Badass: As a result of Aenarion's curse, although he is an extraordinarily powerful mage, Teclis is sickly and frail and has to regularly drink special elixirs in order to even stand up.
• Healing Potion: Teclis' sickly body has long required medication in the form of alchemical potions to allow him enough robustness to bring his magical talent to bear. This is reflected mechanically in game by his "Potion of Charoi" ability, which allows him to quaff one during battle to restore his strength, regenerating some of his hitpoints over time. However, this does add thirty seconds to the cool down of all his abilities, without which his utility is extremely limited.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Subverted; he wears a helmet and some armor so he could have some physical protection due to his frailty. He's one of the more heroic High Elves in the lore.
• In the Blood: Teclis shares Aenarion's Curse with his brother. In his case, it's affected his body instead of his mind.
• Irony: Aenarion's Curse normally makes those afflicted insane. But Teclis is actually the Only Sane Man among the Asur, the only one who realizes the full stakes of the war and that the High Elves will need to reach out to other races if they want to save the world. It is speculated that it is the crippling physical aspects of Aenarion's Curse which give Teclis his relative sense of humility compared to his elven peers.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Teclis' sharp tongue is one of his most famous traits, causing him to often be regarded as rude and discourteous. However, he is also one of the few High Elves to genuinely give a damn about races other than his own, even treating humans and dwarfs with a modicum of respect and courtesy. He also taught the men of the Empire how to safely wield magic, founding the Imperial Colleges of Magic in the process.
• Magic Knight: Downplayed. All Loremasters of Hoeth are as much expert swordsmen as they are wizards, and Teclis is the master of their order. However, his physical frailty tends to make him more limited in his capacity for mundane combat than other Loremasters.
• Magic Staff: Wields the Moonstaff of Lilaeth, an ancient artifact gifted to him by Alarielle the Everqueen.
• Mind over Matter: In the announcement trailer for Total War: Warhammer 2, he's shown magically adjusting pieces of an ancient altar, while removing any collected debris from it.
• Mystical High Collar: Sports an impressive high collar as part of his outfit.
• Parental Favoritism: When he and his brother were growing up their father Arathion seemed to favor Teclis over his brother. This was mostly due to the strong resemblance between them, with Arathion being a scholarly mage like Teclis would one day become. Not to mention the fact that the sickly Teclis simply needed more care, whereas Tyrion seemed to have everything come easily to him.
• The Phoenix: Has a unique mount in an arcane phoenix, which gives him very significant boosts to maneuverability, durability, and melee combat, as well as gaining a bound spell that functions by manifesting a phoenix to do a bombing run.
• Polar Opposite Twins: He and his brother Tyrion are twins, possibly fraternal. Tyrion is a charismatic and powerful warrior-general who's a beloved hero to his people. Teclis is a physically frail, sharp-tongued mage who cares about the general well-being about the world beyond Ulthuan.
• Pride: Defied; despite his sharp tongue, he acknowledges that racial and cultural pride is one of his people's biggest faults, and wants them all to stuff it soon if they are to survive. This is likely due to his frailty making him sympathetic for the younger races of the Old World.
• The Red Mage: Teclis possesses a wide and varied array of spells, making him one of the most versatile spellcasters in the game.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: His brother is a powerful and charismatic warrior-general, Teclis is a physically frail, sharp-tongued mage.
• Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: He was sickly, weak, and frail as a child, which earned him the scorn of his peers. He might have died or at least grown up into an invalid of an adult, were it not for his prodigious magical talent and the medicinal potions he consumes daily.
• Spotting the Thread: The High Elf Epilogue to the Vortex Campaign reveals he suspected Galifreius was the victim of a Kill and Replace fairly early in the campaign and that the fake Galifreius was one of Morathi's agents. What thread he spotted isn't mentioned, but Tyrion gets angry at him for not saying anything sooner.
• Squishy Wizard: One of the squishiest, due to Aenarion's Curse affecting him physically. This probably explains why he wears a protective helmet and golden armor with his robes.
• Sword and Sorcerer: The sorcerer to Tyrion's sword.
• Training the Gift of Magic: Something he engaged when he taught men of The Empire the rudiments of magic during The Great War Against Chaos centuries ago. He in fact founded Altdorf's Colleges of Magic so humans could teach other humans how to wield The Winds of Magic safely. This was considered a radically dangerous idea by his fellow High Elves, given human's short life span and unpredictable character, but Teclis considered it necessary that the younger race be trained so they could serve as a secondary bulwark against Chaos.

Alarielle

Alarielle the Radiant, Everqueen of Ulthuan

"I will bring the light that ends your darkness!"

"Silence, my sisters! We work covertly. As Isha looks from upon high so shall we look down on these mortal puppets by taking the higher ground. Then we shall slay them all bar one. I will look in the eye of this last surviving foe and he will not bear falsehood. He will tell me how to life the curse on Avelorn's star. Now, away, my host! Begin the toil!"

Voiced by: Rachael Naylor

Alarielle the Radiant is the current Everqueen of the High Elves and the eleventh to rule since the time of Phoenix King Aenarion many thousands of years ago. Alarielle, like previous Everqueens, represents the mortal embodiment of Isha, Mother-Goddess of the Elven race. She is the spiritual heart of all of Ulthuan, her glowing hair is like a golden cloud, and it is said that so great and timeless is her beauty that it can move even the immortal gods to tears. The Everqueen's power is that of nature itself. Where Alarielle walks, the fields start to blossom and flowers spring forth from the ground.

When she is joyful, the skies above become clear and the land for leagues around blooms with life and light. When she mourns, the skies weep with her, and when her eyes darken with rage, thunder roars across the hills. Since the Golden Age, the Everqueen has served as Isha's chosen priestess in the mortal world. Whilst the tradition of the Phoenix King is relatively new — a mere six and a half thousand years in age — there has always been an Everqueen ruling the enchanted Isles of Ulthuan.

Alarielle is a Legendary Lord available to those who purchase The Queen and the Crone DLC. Alarielle leads her own sub-faction, Avelorn, in the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaign.

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• Action Mom: Alarielle is both a literal mother to her daughter Aliathra ^note (though her paternity is a bit of an open question), and the spiritual mother to the entire High Elven race, and isn't afraid to dash the floor with anyone or anything threatening either one.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: She's both one of the kindest and prettiest people alive.
• Benevolent Mage Ruler: Alarielle is the latest in a long line of queens that are some of the foremost practitioners of white magic in the Warhammer World. In fact, they're the reason why it's always warm and sunny in Avelorn and why Ulthuan has never felt the corruption of Chaos like in the rest of the world.
• Bodyguard Babes: The Handmaidens of the Everqueen, an elite Amazon Brigade of Praetorian Guard who accompany Alarielle everywhere and are sworn to her for life.
• Combat Medic: Her main role; she's quite possibly the strongest healer in the entire game, and her special abilities are solely dedicated to healing her troops.
• Cool Crown: A very ornate, and giant one made from white gold, which holds the Star of Avelorn, a bright red gem of crimson colour in the shape of a heart, and is the symbol of her office. It has the power to close up the most grievous wounds in seconds.
• Fertile Feet: Flowers bloom beneath her feet when she walks.
• Foil:
  • To Hellebron. Both are the highest religious authority in their respective societies, but apart from that the two contrast each other in essentially every way. Whereas Alarielle is a woman of peace, who only fights when necessary in defense of her home, Hellebron is a crazed Blood Knight who lives to wage war in the name of her god. Where Alarielle is a spellcaster who wields magics of life and light, Hellebron is a melee combatant of superlative skill and ferocity. While Alarielle is young and beautiful, Hellebron is old and haggard. And of course, Alarielle is the servant of Isha, and represents life, nature and healing, Hellebron is the world's foremost servant of Khaine, the bloody handed god of war and death.
  • To a somewhat lesser extent, also to Morathi and the Wood Elf queen Ariel. All three of them are the matriarchs of their respective societies as mother figures, religious leaders, and powerful mages, but whereas Morathi is, well, Morathi and Ariel has done some pretty questionable things despite being a force against Chaos herself, Alarielle is adored by her people and is one of the few active agents of goodness and light in the world.
• Friend to All Living Things: As Isha's representative, Alarielle has a close connection to Avelorn's forests as well as Ulthuan itself and the natural world in general. In-game this is reflected by being the only High Elf that can summon forest spirits (who usually only answer to calls from the Wood Elves) to her side and even ride atop a Great Eagle to battle, as well as giving buffs to public order, anti-corruption, and growth just by visiting a province.
• Gaia's Vengeance: Alarielle has the unique ability to recruit dryads and treefolk to her armies, something previously reserved for the Wood Elves, due to her being the living avatar of the elven goddess of life. This makes hers the second playable hybrid army in the game, with Arkhan's mix of Tomb King and Vampire Count units being the first.
• Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: As mentioned in Tyrion's entry, she is in a secret relationship with him despite her marriage to the current Phoenix King.^note (As stated with Tyrion, the marriage of the Everqueen and the Phoenix King is a political tradition that is dissolved after the next Everqueen has been sired. The Phoenix King and Everqueen are not expected to remain together and it is not unusual for them to take other consorts. However, to sire the new Everqueen with someone other than the Phoenix King would be more than scandalous, but the lore zig-zags in some books that Alarielle is actually Finubar's daughter from the previous Everqueen.)
• Good Hurts Evil: Her very presence is anathema to daemons and other corrupted beings. In one story she participated in a battle against a Slaaneshi warhost and was singled out and attacked by the champion in command of the host, only she drained him of all his power with a single touch and in the ensuing tug of war for the champion's soul, he was turned into a pathetic Chaos spawn which was quickly chopped to pieces by Alarielle's honour guard; the Slaaneshi forces were thrown into disarray as their magic was hampered and Teclis led the High Elves into mopping up the forces for good.
  • Allergic to Evil: However, if Chaos gets too powerful and the world becomes too corrupted, Alarielle will grow weaker.
• Good Is Not Soft: She definitely won't hesitate to strike you down should you threaten Ulthuan.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Golden haired, and one of the most benevolent characters in the setting.
• High Priest: Alarielle is this for the High Elves as Isha's mortal embodiment and ruler of Avelorn, the birthplace of the entire Elven race.
• The High Queen: Regal, benevolent, beautiful, and powerful, if anyone exemplifies this trope in Warhammer it's her.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Personal life with her champion aside, Alarielle is one of the straightest examples of this in the Warhammer franchise. Not many people can fight Chaos alone just by sheer willpower and presence.
• Lady of War: Unlike most Everqueens, Alarielle is not afraid to lead matters of war herself, while the current Phoenix King Finubar is a Non-Action Guy.
• Light Is Good: Wears a beautiful gown of pure white, wields White Magic, is lithe and golden, and is possibly one of the kindest souls in the entire World.She likely embodies this trope better than any other character in the franchise.
• Light 'em Up: Her melee attacks manifest as blasts of white light, and she also has access to the banishment vortex from the Lore of Light.
• The Magnificent: Alarielle the Radiant.
• Polyamory: She's "married" to a couple of different elves at the same time. They all mostly get along.
• Nice Girl: Selfless, polite, and very caring, Alarielle is one of the nicest people you can meet in the Crapsack World that is Warhammer.
• The Power of Love: Alarielle's entire purpose for breaking tradition to take the fight to Chaos directly is motivated by this, and much of her power is derived from her love and concern for Ulthuan and her people. There's a reason why the symbol of her faction is a bright red heart.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Unlike her predecessors Alarielle will actually lead armies to war in defense of Ulthuan. Not all elves regard this positively however, with many viewing the Everqueen, traditionally a non military position, marching to war as a terrible omen.
• Semi-Divine: Alarielle is one of two avatars of Isha in the Warhammer World, the other being Ariel of the Wood Elves. Her powers against Chaos and over life are a result of this innate connection to the goddess, and shown in-game by being effective at removing corruption and increasing growth better than any other Legendary Lord.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Isha is supposedly the Mother Goddess and her avatar Alarielle is thus expected to remain in a passive supportive role while others make war. However, Alarielle will walk the battlefield to directly fight the forces of Chaos and heal her subjects where it is needed the most. Beneath the gracious, serene exterior is a formidable foe to any who would bring war to the Asur.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Alarielle wears a large and long ponytail and is not coincidentally a Lady of War who walks the battlefield and fights the enemies of Ulthuan head-on.
• Universally Beloved Leader: If Alarielle has the full support of her people, she and her faction gets some beefy buffs to their economy and battle prowess, but if too much of Ulthuan is taken over by outsiders, confidence in Alarielle falls and she's hampered by debuffs.
• White Mage: Her arsenal of spells is geared primarily towards buffing and healing.
• White Magic: She draws her spells from the lores of Life, Light and High Magic, likely the three least corrupt and malevolent forms of magic in Warhammer lore, thus arguably making her the best healer in the game.
• White Magician Girl: Alarielle is kind, generous, and as noted above, one of the best healers the world has on offer.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Said to be the only one to rival Morathi for the title.

Alith Anar

Alith Anar, the Shadow King

"Fear the shadows... fear my name: Alith Anar!"

"The Druchii scum seek to trap us. They think it is easy to snare the shadows! Disabuse them of this notion."

Voiced by: Dylan Sprouse

Alith Anar, Prince of Nagarythe and the Shadow King, is the current ruler of the Kingdom of Nagarythe and the last member of the noble line of House Anar. Tradition maintains that the Nagarythi chose Alith Anar as ruler after Malekith fled into the west. The lord was the last heir of a great line, his forebears having been slain by the Witch King's minions. In those days there were many Dark Elves still hiding in Ulthuan, and Alith Anar took to their eradication with a bloody vengeance. Those of his foes who were not killed in battle were crucified upon trees, where those who passed could witness their grisly fate, and as he attacked and burned each enemy encampment, his fame grew.

None know Alith Anar's final fate. The Shadow Warriors believe he still walks the world, a restless spirit of vengeance. They tell that on the darkest night of the Season of Frost, a grey-garbed figure can be seen kneeling before Eothlir's tomb, head bowed in silent contemplation of the bloody deeds the coming year will bring. Other High Elves scoff at such tales, but few amongst them would not wish to be proven wrong. For his part, the Witch King has passed beyond the veil of mortal concerns, but if Malekith any longer fears anything, he fears the vengeance of Alith Anar.

Alith Anar is Legendary Lord free to anyone who acquires the FLC Alith Anar. Alith Anar leads his own subfaction, Nagarythe, in the Mortal Empires and Vortex campaign, and, atypically for a High Elf, starts his campaign in Naggarond.

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• Aloof Archer: A cool, cruel, and collected hero that wields the mystical Moonbow of Lileath to snipe his targets from afar before anyone can notice.
• Animal Motifs: He's heavily associated with Creepy Crows.
• Anti-Hero: Type IV, borderline Type V, if not for having genuinely good motives. Alith is so ruthless and brutal he almost rivals the Dark Elves themselves in terms of sheer horror, as he is very fond of skinning his victims alive, stringing them up on trees, crucifying people, and kidnapping Dark Elf children to be raised as Shadow Warriors. That being said, his enemies are so vile it's hard to fault him, and Alith does it so innocent people won't suffer from the Druchii.
• At Least I Admit It: What keeps him from going over the line and becoming a true Druchii instead of a High Elf who happens to be related to them is self-honesty; he knows High Elves are only better than everyone else because their empire lasted longer, and that other races have the potential to be just as grand as they. For this, he's both far more ruthless and way less bigoted than his peers; one could say part of the reason he's so ruthless is that he understands how horrible the Dark Elf slave trade is.
• The Atoner: A more morally grey example than most and Alith's penultimate goal. Beyond the obvious reasons to kill Dark Elves, he wants to stamp out the Witch King and his followers to both redeem himself and his people for the atrocities their former countrymen have committed and to restore the honor of his house and kingdom.
• Blood Knight: A more heroic example than most, but Alith is very bloodthirsty, and certainly enjoys slaughtering Dark Elves.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Whilst Alith Anar excels in ranged combat with his bow, he's also a Master Swordsman who can deal tremendous damage with his blade.
• Cold Sniper: A master archer, Alith Anar also has the "Snipe" trait, which lets him fire shots without revealing where he is. Combined with the "Stalk" trait, Alith is a literal sniper. And he's a very cold blooded individual.
• Cool Crown: He wears the Shadow Crown on his tired brow, the symbol of the true ruler of his home. It's actually quite simple, being a silver circlet with a single diamond etched into its front. It was the Witch King's most precious heirloom, and Alith stole it.
• Cool Old Guy: He's very old, even for a High Elf, and also visibly aged, but Alith is still one of the greatest warriors in Ulthuan.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Oh, sweet, Isha.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He's a grim, shadowy figure to say the very least, and almost as brutal as the Druchii themselves. But if you don't happen to be a Dark Elf he has no quarrel with you, and his followers are noted to be more welcoming and respectful of the younger races than most other High Elves.
• The Dreaded: To an insane degree, as he is this to an entire race of sociopaths. Alith Anar is the boogeyman to Dark Elf Children, and the rest are so afraid of this guy none dare to say his name out loud, for fear of summoning him. The Witch King himself, a powerful Evil Overlord and Magic Knight, is terrified of him. In-game he has the "Terror" trait, which commonly causes entire formations to mass rout, and the special skill "Revenant", which causes the enemy's leadership to drop just because the prospect of fighting Alith Anar is so horrible.
• Expy: His history, design, and psychology take a lot of cues from Shevarash the Black Archer, a minor Forgotten Realms elven deity of vengeance. They're both ancient elves from a Doomed Hometown who pledged eternal vengeance against the Dark Elves/Drow that destroyed their homes and became mythical boogeymen to the entire race as a result. Both are grim, dour, and humorless, are legendary archers, are associated with shadows and darkness, tend to be seen as a Necessary Evil by their High Elven comrades, tend to encourage Pay Evil unto Evil and Terror Hero tactics, and seem to keep popping up long after they should have died. They both even prefer black arrows.
• Fate Worse than Death: Any Druchii captured alive by Alith and his followers is subjected to this. Most would rather take their own life rather than suffer the Shadow Warriors' torture.
• Fighting for a Homeland: Both Alith and his people are essentially vagabonds and nomads after losing their homeland to the Dark Elves. Played with, however, in that while Alith is still technically the ruler of Nagarythe, there's been so much violence over the ages that there isn't much left to rule, and so is more concerned on bringing the fight to the Dark Elves personally than waiting for them to show up.
• Foil:
  • To Malus Darkblade, of all people. Both Elves are motivated by hatred and revenge, both wield awesome weapons of power to their advantage, both are entirely unscrupulous in their methods, both are rather just and noble despite their reputation, and both share the same goal on getting the respect they deserve. Those similarities fall to the wayside in whereas Malus does this all for himself for his own benefit, Alith's drive is about not just personal revenge, but revenge for his entire people and kingdom. He intentionally puts himself in harm's way against the Dark Elves so that the High Elves won't have to.
  • He's also one to, Grombrindal, but in this case they're both nominally heroic characters. Both were very close to Malekith (House Anar were once among Malekith's greatest supporters, Snorri Whitebeard was his best friend), and both cheated death to have their vengeance on him. They're both mysterious wandering warriors that are motivated as much by revenge as by their desire to protect their people. The biggest difference is that Grombrindal appears among armies to aid in their defense, while Alith Anar leads his own personal army into Naggaroth to take the fight to his foes. Also, Alith is a Stealth Expert while Grombrindal, tendency to pop up all over the place not withstanding, is anything but stealthy.
• Good is Not Nice: Embodies this.
• A House Divided: Alith Anar is of the same original people and kingdom that the Dark Elves broke away from: Nagarythe. His war against the Druchii is against his own relatives and countrymen.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Alith Anar hunts the Dark Elves, former Nagarythes like him. He is extremely cruel in his quest for revenge, having for instance nailed down hundred of Dark Elves to a cliff and let them die there.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He has a ridiculous range of 300 (on par with, and even surpassing many artillery pieces), and he's a very deadly shot. All armour piercing too...
• It's Personal: With the Druchii, and Malekith in particular, who Alith once idolised. Not only did the Dark Elves slaughter his entire family, they razed his lands to the ground and ruined the reputation of all of Nagarythe.
• Legendary Weapon: The Moonbow of Lileath, an enchanted weapon given to him by the goddess herself. It allows him to fire off powerful explosive shot.
• Living Legend: Alith is a more literal case of this. He uses the stories of his exploits by the High Elves and Dark Elves to stay hidden from the world to only enforce them with greater acts of revenge and cruelty.
• Me's a Crowd: Alith can create a perfect mirror image of himself to act as an effective distraction. The clone functions on its own, and can actually deal damage (a measly single hit point per shot), drawing attention away from the real Shadow King.
• Mysterious Protector: For the High Elf race. Alith has been working behind the scenes since The Sundering in hampering the Dark Elves by killing off key figures and supply lines, as well as sending his Shadow Warriors whenever another battle between Ulthuan and Naggaroth break out. He's a primary reason why Malekith hasn't been able to completely take over Ulthuan yet.
• No Place for Me There: Nagarythe treats temperate islands (i.e. most of Ulthuan) as Unpleasant instead of Habitable, meaning Alith gains more Habitable territory from conquering and ruling Dark Elf territory than confederating with High Elves. Notably, no other elf faction, including the Dark Elf factions, treats Ulthuan this way.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: There's quite a few implications in the game implying Alith Anar is no longer a living elf, and he's become a phantom of vengeance of sorts, just like the White Dwarf.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: His modus operandi. Alith sees no reason not to do to Dark Elves what they would do to innocents.
• Pet the Dog: He's noted to be far less snobbish towards other races than his contemporaries.
• The Power of Hate: An unusually sympathetic example - the Druchii give everyone plenty of reason to hate them.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Most of the High Elves are above such displays of barbarism and cannot use the raiding stance. Naragythe is the exception.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Alith bears the typical Naggarothi coloration of fair skin and raven hair, highlighting his severe nature.
• Red Baron: The Shadow King.
• Refuge in Audacity: He once attended a Dark Elf ball hosted by Morathi herself, danced with her, then stole the Stone of Midnight and got away clean as he had poisoned her Witch Elves beforehand.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The guy has been on one for more than 5,000 years against the Dark Elves and has a grisly body-count to show for it.
• Shrouded in Myth: Alith Anar hasn't been seen in millennia, but that doesn't stop stories of his kill-count getting higher and his feats growing more and more outlandish as they are terrifying.
• Stealth Expert: Just like his Shadow Warriors, Alith is a master of guerrilla warfare and remaining undetectable. Not only does he have the "Stalk" trait (which allows him to move across the battlefield unseen), Snipe and Master Ambusher, he has several unique campaign mechanics that further add to this, such as his faction's armies being able to ambush enemies in their default stance (like the Beastmen, master ambushers themselves), he also has access to the Shadow Realm, a Plane of Darkness that lets him and his army move across the campaign map invisible to everyone else.
• Straight for the Commander: His faction has a unique quirk in the campaign where they are tasked to slay the faction leaders of whoever they are at war with, granting them powerful rewards and buffs upon each kill.
• Token Heroic Orc: He and the rest of his followers can be described as Dark Elves who remained loyal to Ulthuan during the Sundering.
• Token Evil Teammate: The High Elves would like to think he's this, but in reality he's just a lot more honest about the failings of his race.
• Time Abyss: He was around to see the original Sundering and is still alive and kicking over 5000 years later. No one quite knows how he managed to survive this long as Elves, despite living far longer than humans, aren't immortal.
• Undying Loyalty: Alith was this at first to Malekith, and then The Sundering happened. Ever since he's been an aloof ally at best to every Phoenix King since, but he's still decidedly on the side of the High Elves.
• Unscrupulous Hero: At his core. He's squarely against evil in all its forms, but he's not afraid to delve into certain methods to get the job done.
• You Killed My Father: The Dark Elves butchered his family when they remained loyal to the Phoenix King during the Sundering.
• Warrior Prince: The nominal ruler of Nagarythe, Alith Anar is among the most skilled warriors Ulthuan have ever known.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He and followers' devotion to the people of Ulthuan is always made very apparent... as are their horrifically brutal methods in dealing with threats to said people.

Eltharion

Prince Eltharion the Grim, Warden of Tor Yvresse

"Stand with me! For as long as I still live, Tor Yvresse will never fall!"

"Grom will not stop until Tor Yvresse is left in flames and rubble. But I have defeated his horde before, and will do so again. This time, he will have no escape - I will make sure of it."

Eltharion the Grim, Prince of Yvresse and Warden of Tor Yvresse, is one of the greatest of all Elven lords. Many times has he achieved what would have been thought impossible. It was Eltharion who was the first of Ulthuan's generals to dare an assault on Naggarond itself and live to speak of it, and he who finally brought about the defeat of Waaagh! Grom. For his valour in that battle, Eltharion was elected Warden of Tor Yvresse and, though he is a dour ruler, the people of that fair city love him dearly. Eltharion's early rule was split equally between scouring greenskins from the land, and overseeing repairs to Yvresse's network of waystones.

In the first task, Eltharion was aided by the nobles of his realm, who rallied to his banner with an enthusiasm not seen for many long generations. In the second, he sought the assistance of the Loremaster Belannaer. Though Eltharion had successfully stabilised the waystone of Tor Yvresse, he felt that luck had guided his hand rather more than judgement in that task, and he did not wish to see ill-fortune or rashness on his part destroy Ulthuan. With his realm thus secured, Eltharion took his blade overseas; not to the chill shores of Naggaroth in the west, but east to the lands of the Old World and beyond. Yvresse had but barely endured the onset of one Waaagh!, and Eltharion swore that no other would reach Ulthuan's shores. Atop his Griffon, Stormwing, Eltharion swept through the Badlands like a wind of blades.

He slaughtered Warbosses and ran their armies to ruin. He toppled Orc fortresses that had survived earthquakes, Bretonnian crusades and the vengeance of the Dwarfs. Yet, miraculously, there are always more greenskins for him to fight. Finally, Eltharion learned the truth. His reputation had spread so far and wide that Warbosses were actually seeking his army, knowing that the "pointy-'ead" would "give 'em a proper fight". This revelation ended Eltharion's battles in the Badlands. He now knew that to continue would not abate the greenskin threat. Returning to Yvresse, Eltharion began to train its armies and fortify its cities as never before. The next time a Waaagh! made landfall on the shores of Ulthuan, the folk of Yvresse — and their grim Warden — would be ready for them.

Introduced in The Warden and the Paunch DLC, Eltharion leads the sub-faction of Yvresse on the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns.

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• The Alcatraz: The infamous Warden Tower of Athel Tamarha, a fortified complex that acts as both a prison and a stronghold. Built in a secret cavern high up in the mountains of Tor Yvresse, the Warden Tower is used to store the most dangerous and bloodthirsty of Ulthuan's criminals. Currently, Eltharion is using it as a base of operations in the vein of the Batcave, and it functions as a place in which he can store capture enemy Lords and subject them to all manners of horrible fates as an in-game mechanic. The Tower itself can be upgraded on the campaign map to provide a myriad of useful bonuses to his faction, and unlocks new unique regiments.
• Aloof Ally: Towards other Asur and Order factions. He's not interested in being friendly or being nice, only his duty and how others can help him with it. However, he will still come to their aid if the appropriate bargains are struck and upheld.
• Anti-Hero: He skirts the line between a Pragmatic Hero and Unscrupulous Hero; he's no doubt ruthless towards those who oppose his homeland, but he has a good heart, knows when to draw the line, is entirely in-control of himself unlike Tyrion, and is only that way because he's so dedicated to protecting Ulthuan.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Eltharion hates Grom the Paunch for almost destroying Tor Yvresse and killing his father and brother, and his entire campaign is based around the two having an inevitable and final show-down. Their rivalry is one of the most famous in Warhammer. As for Grom, he didn't particularly care whose city he was burning down, and only captured and killed Eltharion's father because he had a particularly fancy hat and cape, and killed Eltharion's brother because he tried to fight Grom.
  • He has a lesser, but still hateful relationship with Malekith, the Witch-King, having crossed swords with him numerous times, and being one of the very few who has been able to outmatch the overlord in a battle of wits.
• The Artifact: Eltharion's divided starting territories made sense in Mortal Empires, where he started in the Badlands near Grom the Paunch, but no longer makes sense in Immortal Empires since Grom has been moved away from the Badlands and closer to Tor Yvresse itself, putting Eltharion badly out of position.
• Badass Cape: Wears a regal blue one that trails behind him.
• Bling of War: Even by High Elf standards, Eltharion's armor is very ornate; a rich set of white and blue plate adorned with gold, with a giant ruby, and a winged great helm to compliment it all.
• Boring, but Practical: A vast majority of his army bonuses center around buffing militia tier units, archers, and spearmen, which will be the bread and butter of his faction's army for most of the campaign, making up for the lack of flash with startling utility for said bonuses. Eltharion's tactics are noted to be straightforward, but highly effective.
• Brainwashing for the Greater Good: One of the options when capturing someone is to brainwash them to Eltharion's cause before releasing them. It won't prevent them from fighting you again, but at least you will see what they see and recieve part of their treasury.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Necessity has made Eltharion a master of this, and it's actually a game mechanic for his faction. During battles, Eltharion can capture enemy lords with his "Warden Cage" ability and subject them to a variety of different interrogation methods; ranging from simply torturing them to death, to forcibly feeding them magic elixirs and mind-break them into becoming your mole.
• Cool Helmet: Wears the Helm of Yvresse, a truly impressive example with a pair of wings looking like a bird in flight. It is the ceremonial helmet of Tor Yvresse, and has the ability to make any unit under Eltharion's command unbreakable.
• Cool Sword: The Fangsword of Eltharion, a rune-encrusted longsword that has been passed down through Eltharion's family for generations.
• Dark Is Not Evil: For all of his ruthlessness, dour personality traits, and shadowy methods, Eltharion fights to protect the innocent. Though in appearance, he is Light Is Good.
• Determinator: His willpower is unmatched, even compared to the rest of the High Elves. Eltharion will defend his home, no matter how many Greenskins get in his way, and no matter how high the odds are stacked against him. He will fight to the bitter end.
• Dual Wielding: Eltharion dual-wields the Fangsword of Eltharion and a spear in combat to terrifying effect.
• Expy: His depiction in Total War Warhammer takes several cues from Christopher Nolan's Batman.
• Elite Mooks: His legendary Mistwalkers: a select few regiments of the most skilled and veteran Asur warriors in Eltharion's service, and indeed, all of Ulthuan. The Mistwalkers as a whole are Yvresse's special forces; they wear the finest armor and weapons, they hunt down Chaos Daemons lurking in the mists, and guard the world-saving Waystones of Yvresse, lest they plunge Ulthuan into a never ending horde of Daemons. They are similar to Regiments of Renown, but are instead recruited from the Athel Tamarha building chain, and are only available on the campaign. They are:
  • The Skyhawks, a hybrid sword-and-bow infantry unit clad in green colors, trading range for vanguard deployment, amazing melee damage and staying power.
  • The Sentinels of Astaril, former training partners of the Warden himself, they are among his most trusted retainers. They are essentially a more heavily armored version of the Lothern Sea Guard but with the "Shieldbreaker" trait: damage from their arrows reduces an enemy shield's effectiveness.
  • The Athel Tamarha Faithbearers, survivors of Moranion's household guard, they match Eltharion's hatred of Greenskins with their own, and have sworn to serve Moranion's son out of guilt and a desire for atonement. Dedicated heavy infantry, they fight with swords and shields, and have the "Frenzy" special rule.
  • The Spire Guard of Tor Yvresse, Eltharion's personal guard, they are the foremost defenders of the Warden's tower, and will die to the last serving their lord. They wield bows and spears, and have the "Unbreakable" trait.
  • The Knights of Tor Gaval, a unit of special High Elf Griffon Knights. Thanks to the challenges of training in their murky homeland, the Knights of Tor Gaval are rightly said to be amongst the most talented of wingmen in all Ulthuan. They are by far one of the most powerful units the Warden can field, and operate as a squad of highly powerful Monstrous Calvary, with hero-esque stats, and can cause "Fear" and "Terror".
• Fantastic Racism: Eltharion hates all Greenskins with a passion, far beyond the regular elven disdain, and wants nothing more than eradicate the entire Greenskin race. It should be noted however that he's far more respectful of the younger races than most of his kin, and gets along with the Dwarfs, moreso than the rest of his kin, of all people! It's taken to such an extreme that he, much like Alith Anar, has his starting position in The Old World be right off the coast of the Badlands. This of course means he'll be in a unique position to be fighting tons of Greenskins in his Old World campaign.
• Four-Star Badass: Eltharion is extremely respected as a leader, he’s been the mastermind behind the Asur’s first successful raid on Naggarond, he repelled Grom's WAAAGH! and then took the battle to the Badlands to scour it from Greenskins in an invasion of the Greenskins' home territory, something practically unheard of. While Tyrion is rightfully considered the Asur's greatest warrior, Eltharion is viewed by many as their greatest general.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: He is this to almost everyone in the Asur nobility, being so rude and joyless that he's quite often a bummer at parties. He even once attacked a bard during a festival for singing about the "glorious victory" of Yvresse against the Greenskins. Tyrion is the only one who likes him, since they're both blunt, honest, and loathe the political shenanigans of the Asur.
• Genius Bruiser: He's an extremely accomplish tactician (having outmaneuvered Malekith, and wage successful invasions of the Badlands and the Lands of Chill), a talented mage, and one of the best fighters the High Elves have to offer.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: His invasion of the Badlands ended up biting him hard, and is a massive case of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: the aim of the invasion was to break the spirit of the Greenskins, and bloody them so badly they would never set foot on Ulthuan's shores again. Due to a severe miscalculation and lack of understanding of Greenskin culture, all his mass slaughter managed to do was ingrain a belief into Greenskins everywhere that the High Elves were a Worthy Opponent, turned Eltharion into a Living Legend among the tribes that they all want to fight, and it ended up causing what Eltharion wanted to stop, more invasions into the High Elf homeland, and countless devastation.
• Good is Not Nice: As indicated by his title, Eltharion is a dour and somewhat joyless figure who wages a genocidal war of extermination against the Greenskins, is party to torture, and has one hell of a temper. That said, he's also an unflinching warrior who would defend Ulthuan to his last breath, and his ruthlessness is aimed only at evil creatures.
• The Good King: Despite his utter sternness and lack of any social graces, the people of Yvresse love him, and he rules well and justly, balancing the defensive needs of the city with the population's well being to the best of his ability.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's rather infamous for his sheer rudeness, foul temper, and utter dislike of pleasantries. It goes right with his title. At the same time, he's a loyal knight who wants to protect his home above all else, and despite his blunt nature, he's well loved by his people because he is honest and puts their lives first.
• Lightning Bruiser: Eltharion is very quick while mounted on Stormwing; being able to swoop in, devastate a line with magic, and proceed to mop up the survivors with his insane melee stats.
• Living Legend: Greenskins revere Eltharion to this day as someone who will give them a terrific fight due to Eltharion's unprecedented invasion of the Badlands. Eltharion is not happy about this.
• Knight in Sour Armor: He is not a happy man and has a very blunt, standoffish demeanour, but he's also unswervingly committed to the defense of Yvresse and by extension, the rest of Ulthuan.
• Magic Knight: Eltharion is no slouch in melee combat and can cast spells from the lore of High Magic, having trained at the White Tower in his youth.
• Master of None: Compared to the other High Elf Legendary Lords, Eltharion comes up as this, especially outside the Campaign mode. He's a Magic Knight with a decent focus on melee combat, but he's outshined in melee combat by Tyrion, who is one of the best offensive Lords period, and his magical skills are overshadowed by both Teclis and Alarielle who have unique builds to use. In the Campaign, he mostly downplays this thanks to the buffs he can get from his base of Tor Yvresse, he can hold his own very well, especially if mounted.
• Master Swordsman: He was taught swordsmanship from the White Tower, and is a very accomplished warrior, skillfully balancing the swiftness of his blade with his spear's reach.
• My Greatest Failure: Eltharion blames all the devastation of Tor Yvresse and the death of his family on himself, and has sworn to never let it happen again.
• Mysterious Mist: The Mist of Yvresse constantly surrounds Eltharion; he manifests it as a Battle Aura, and during battle a constant barrage of foggy, spectral arrows rain down on enemies around him.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Eltharion slaughtered his way through the Greenskins in an attempt to fill them with so much fear of the High Elves that they would never come back to Ulthuan, but it didn't work at all. While his bodycount was considerable and the invasion was a boon to the Dwarfs in the area, he had fatally misunderstood how Orcs and Goblins think — namely, they love it when other people fight them as hard as they can. So the long-term result was that the Greenskins came to see Ulthuan and the High Elves as Worthy Opponents whom they should fight and raid more often, which was the exact opposite of what Eltharion wanted.
• Our Gryphons Are Different: Eltharion rides the griffon Stormwing into battle, a powerful specimen who is almost the match of Karl Franz's Deathclaw.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Eltharion was a childhood friend of Tyrion, Teclis, and Alarielle, and was known as the class clown of their large friend group. When Tyrion reunited with him decades later, he was shocked to discover how cynical and bitter Eltharion had become towards life.
• Undying Loyalty: He will defend Tor Yvresse and her people to the very last, and would rather die than betray Ulthuan.
• Wardens Are Evil: Eltharion isn't evil, but he's still an incredibly brutal warden to those who have the misfortune of being a prisoner in his tower, freely engaging in Cold-Blooded Torture to get what he wants.
• Warrior Prince: The Kingdom of Yvresse being the most important defensive position in Ulthuan makes its royalty automatically this by necessity, but Eltharion takes this up a notch as Tor Yvresse's greatest warrior.
• Worthy Opponent: Much to his utter horror, the Greenskins practically worship Eltharion as an apex warrior, and they flock to the chance of facing him and his "pointy 'eads" in glorious battle.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: He's one of the very few Elves that's held in a high regard by the Dwarfs, having impressed the High King and the Longbeards by launching an invasion against the Greenskins. While it wasn't his intent, this ended up being a Big Damn Heroes moment for him, as it resulted in the Dwarfs getting some much-needed breathing room, with Eltharion and the Dwarfs briefly joining forces and reclaiming a few of their lost holds as a result.
• You Killed My Father: During the initial landing of WAAAAAGH! Grom, Grom captured Eltharion's father Moranion and strapped him to his chariot as a hood ornament; Moranion would later be killed during a botched escape. Grom later killed Eltharion's brother Argalen who was trying to invoke this trope. Eltharion still carries a bit of a grudge.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: He deeply hates that the Greenskins, the ones he sees only as monsters to be destroyed, regard him as a Worthy Opponent who's a lot of fun to fight.

Imrik

Prince Imrik of Caledor, the Lord of Dragons

"Dragonfire runs through my veins."

"And... what is this? He has brought some Druchii thralls to battle with him! This Vampire certainly knows how to get my attention. This indignity must be met with all the rage of Caledor!"

Voiced by: Kieran Bew

Caledor is now a silent realm. No longer do the skies ring with the cries of dragons and the roar of their fiery breath. No longer do the caves rumble with their sounds nor the earth shake beneath their heavy tread. Instead, there is nothing but the hollow echo of the Elves' footsteps in the ancient halls.

Most noble of these princes of dragons is Imrik, last of the line of the Phoenix King Caledor. It is he who is one of the few who can wake the dragons in times of need, and then only a few. Gone are the days when his followers rode into battle atop mighty fire drakes. Now it is Imrik alone who fights in the traditional manner of his glorious noble house.

And fight he does! In defence of his homeland, and indeed of all Ulthuan, Imrik is a stalwart bastion of strength. Together with Tyrion and Teclis, descendants of the great house of Aenarion, he stands as an unbreakable wall between the many foes of the High Elves and the mystical isle of Ulthuan.

Imrik is FLC released alongside The Warden and the Paunch. He leads the Knights of Caledor sub-faction on the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns, starting in the Shifting Sands and the Plain of Bones, respectively.

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• Adaptational Dye-Job: In most artwork he's shown with brown hair, while in the game, his hair is blonde.
• Ancestral Weapon: His Star Lance has been passed down his family for generations, doubling as a Knightly Lance, a blessed weapon forged from a fallen star.
• Armor of Invincibility: He wears the legendary Armour of Caledor, a set of extraordinarily strong, yet light white/blue plate-mail. Uniquely, it is not a single unit. Rather, it is an amalgam of components gathered across the millennia, each belonging to a Caledorian hero of legend. The gorget, for example, was worn by Caledor the Conqueror during the War of Blood Gorge, whilst the left vambrace belonged to Maldrik Foresworn, Saviour of the Silver Isles. The chestplate still bears the scars earned when it preserved Alkar Dragonhelm from the poisoned daggers of the Khainite Assassin Master, Halkir Venomheart.
• Bash Brothers: Similarly to Kroq-Gar and Grymloq, Imrik and his dragon Minaithnir have fought together for a long time and are inseparable partners more than master and mount. Minaithnir is quite possibly the only being Imrik feels is equal to himself.
• Bling of War: His armor is even more flamboyant and impressive than standard Dragon-Plate, which is no easy feat onto itself, containing massive ridgeways of gold mail.
• Blood Knight: He craves battle, and is disgusted by anything less than a desire to spill blood from his fellow High Elves.
• Blow That Horn: His Dragon Horn, an ageless war horn that is made from the horn of an ancient dragon, gifted to Imrik's distant ancestors in elder days. The dying fire drake summoned all his remaining power to enchant his remaining unbroken horn as he lay bleeding in the aftermath of the Battle of the Glade of Tear. In-game when activating it, it gives an army-wide buff to both attack and leadership, and even has a unique animation in which Imrik blows into it.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: During negative diplomatic negotiations, he tells the other faction of its perceived insignificance to him while making it sound like a Badass Boast.
  Imrik: Know this: I will not remember you once I have slain you.
• Cool Crown: He wears the Crown of Caledor, an ornate war tiara made from gold, and adorned with a red gem.
• Cool Horse: Imrik begins his campaign riding Mautererius, a fine Elven steed clad in dragon-esque Ithilmar armor as befitting a Dragon Prince's warhorse.
• Death from Above: His specialty is raining fire down upon the enemies of the Phoenix King, followed by lighting quick charges from the sky.
• Do Not Go Gentle: He made a promise to Minaithnir that this will be their final fate, facing the dark with bloody lance and claws in hand.
• Dragon Knight: He's a Dragon Prince, so it's given, but unlike his comrades in the order he actually has a Dragon mount! Regardless, he's a dragon-riding, lance-wielding knight clad in dragon iconography and dragon-shaped plate armor, devoted to honor and glory in battle, and in campaign he focuses on buffing Dragon Princes and Dragon units.
• Dragon Rider: The dragon rider of the High Elves, and indeed of Warhammer, riding the dragon Minaithnir into battle. Imrik is so attuned to dragons that lorewise other dragons, even enemy ones, will not attack him unless he strikes them first.
• Elephant Graveyard: Imrik can construct a unique building in Darkhold: the Grave of the Dragons, a terrifying Dragon graveyard in which elder dragons travel to die, and has accumulated the skeletons of thousands of Dragons over the years. As such it's considered sacred ground by the High Elves. When built it provides huge upkeep buffs to all Dragon Units (including Dragon Princes), a powerful garrison, and the ability to recruit Dragon Princes early on.
• Fatal Flaw: He is infamous for his Pride, even by the already prideful standards of his haughty people, and he exemplifies the High Elves' hubris more than any other character.
• Heroic Lineage: Imrik's bloodline is one of the most distinguished in Ulthuan, with him claiming descent from some of the greatest heroes the Asur have ever produced, including Caledor Dragontamer and Caledor the Conqueror, quite possibly their greatest mage and greatest king respectively. Unfortunately the family member he most resembles is Caledor II the Warrior, his distant uncle, who was both one of the best warriors and possibly the biggest egomaniac the elven race has ever produced, directly responsible for causing the War of Vengeance (derisively referred to as the War of the Beard by the High Elves) and the permanent fracturing between the Dwarfs and the High Elves.
• Honor Before Reason: Imrik has sworn an oath never to break his word to a friend, and has kept that promise for his entire life.
• Jerkass: Imrik is extremely condescending to everyone who isn't a dragon, and even by the standards of the Dragon Princes (whose order is infamous for this kind of behavior), he's said to be insufferable due to his ego the size of Ulthuan itself. To that end, virtually all of his in-game quotes are oozing with condescension.
  Imrik: (to a neutral faction) I was born to commune with dragons, not lesser creatures!
  Imrik: (to a friendly High Elf faction) I am your brother, but do not forget I am also your better.
• Knight Errant: His faction, the Knights of Caledor, are this, being a group of Dragon Princes who fight in foreign lands to bring glory to Caledor and Ulthuan as a whole. His starting locations are suitably varied and are all far from home, ranging from the Plain of Bones to the Shifting Sands.
• Last of His Kind: Imrik is the last of the line of Phoenix King Caledor the Conqueror.
• Lightning Bruiser: On top of Minaithnir, Imrik combines truly terrifying melee stats with blistering speed, being able to fly across the battlefield in mere moments. He's even faster mounted on horseback.
• Named After Somebody Famous: He's named in honour of his ancestor, Caledor the Conqueror, whose birth name was Imrik.
• Pet the Dog: His infamous ego is toned down considerably when interacting with Minaithnir, whom he treats like a true friend and battlefield comrade.
• Pride: Like all Caledorians and Dragon Princes, Imrik carries himself with enormous pride, moreso than other High Elves. He resents the achievements of Tyrion and Teclis, which he feels eclipses his own.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Like most High Elf special characters, Imrik is both royalty and very very active on the battlefield. He dislikes the narrow-mindedness and caution of his fellow High Elves and leads his armies from anywhere between Lustria to Cathay to bring glory to Ulthuan and Caledor.
• Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: Imrik possesses a deep bond with dragon-kind from all factions, and this is represented by his in-game mechanic to recruit (through campaign battles) unique dragons. This includes a normally vicious and animalistic Black Dragon, and an aloof (even for a dragon) and capricious Forest Dragon.
• Smug Super: Yes, he's a borderline narcissist. Do you see anyone arguing with the fact he hasn't earned a little of that?
• Time Abyss: Not so much Imrik himself (though he's hardly young) but Minaithnir. As one the oldest dragons he was alive before the Old Ones arrived, predating most of the world's species in their current forms, to say nothing of their societies. When it comes to mortal beings only the Celestial Dragon Emperor of Cathay, the Dragon Ogre Shaggoths and maybe the oldest of the Slann match him for age.
• Undying Loyalty: Minaithnir and Imrik are fantastically loyal to each other. The two will fight tooth and nail to protect the other.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: In the Immortal Empires campaign, for all Imrik's ego and starting off at war with a dwarf clan, Imrik tends to end up a close ally of the dwarfs if he does well due to starting off surrounded by greenskins, skaven, and chaos dwarfs.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: If approached by a friendly Bretonnian faction in diplomacy, he'll call them "more tolerable than other humans".

Others

Talarian

Loremaster Talarian

"It may provide us with the answer."

A Loremaster of Hoeth who aids the twins in their efforts to stabilise the Great Vortex and leads the effort.

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• The Archmage: He's a High Elven loremaster, being one of these is in the job description.
• Canon Foreigner: He's an original character created for the game.
• In the Hood: He wears a hood.
• Mission Control: He often sends Tyrion and Teclis missions, usually regarding broad scope matters similar to those of previous Total War games.

Galifreius

Squire Galifreius

"..."

Tyrion's squire, who is sent to aid and protect Talarian as well as to be Tyrion's eyes and ears in the quest. As squire to the greatest living Elven warrior, you can bet she's a badass. She kills an ancient dragon with Talarian in the third ritual's cutscene.

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• Action Girl: Obviously, since she's Tyrion's squire, but she's able to fight a dragon.
• Character Death: TWICE! First she is unceremoniously killed by a bunch of rats at the halfway point of the final ritual. Then to rub liquid warpstone into the wound the epilogue not only reveals that Talarian left her to rot, but that she was victim of a Kill and Replace and the Galifreius we saw in-game was nothing more than a Druchii sleeper agent.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Tyrion doesn't even mention her death if in command of the final battle, and her corpse was left to rot until some time after the campaign was over.
• Mission Control: Same as Talarian, but hers tend to be about taking ritual sites.
• The Mole: The epilogue reveals the Galifreus you see in-game is a Dark Elf agent and that the real Galifreus died prior to the events of the game.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the canon character Eldyra of Tiranonc, another squire of Tyrion.
• The Voiceless: She never actually speaks — the closest to such is her sending missions.

Finubar

Phoenix King Finubar, the Seafarer

The current Phoenix King of the High Elves, who rules from his palace in Lothern. While not playable, a High Elf player regularly receives choices about his current problems at court that can increase or decrease your influence in his court.

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• Bold Explorer: Before being elected Phoenix King, Finubar was renown as an explorer who had traveled the world and was well-versed in its people and cultures.
• The Good King: A reasonable and well tempered Elf, Finubar truly cares for his subjects, and is generally a very good ruler, commanding the respect of all Princes underneath him.
• The Ghost: Much like in the tabletop, Finubar doesn't have an in-game presence.
• Minor Major Character: As king of Ulthuan, he's a major player in the game of world politics. Despite this he never actually appears in game, and throughout the lore generally plays second fiddle to characters like Tyrion and Teclis.
• Non-Action Guy: Relatively speaking. Like all High Elves he served in the levies (and the Sea Guard as a native of Lothern), but Finubar is no great warrior-king and doesn't fight on the front lines. Contrast this with the Everqueen, Alarielle, who bucks tradition by personally commanding armies in Ulthuan's defense.
• Power at a Price: This is the essence of the Phoenix King dilemmas. The Phoenix King's decisions can greatly boost Influence, but it inevitably means taking a short-term debuff or paying for it with gold. Spending Influence can meanwhile give factionwide buffs or followers for your lords.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Finubar the Seafarer is an ardent believer in the cooperation between the various Forces of Order, both militarily and with trade; he lacks almost all of the arrogance that has plagued the Elven race for so long, and treats the other races with surprising respect — he even made a decree allowing humans and dwarf's entrance into Lothern, something previously unheard of. As he is an excellent administrator and diplomat, yet poor at military matters, he's more than glad to defer such things to Tyrion, and always accepts advice from Teclis.

Caledor

Caledor Dragontamer, Master of the Vortex

"Millennia ago, besieged by a Chaos invasion, a conclave of High Elf mages forged a vast, arcane vortex..."

The creator and maintainer of the Great Vortex. Caledor Dragontamer was one of the greatest archmages of his age and the closest friend to Phoenix King Aenarion during the time of the First Great Chaos Invasion. He and the rest of the archmages sacrificed themselves to banish the Chaos energies from the Old World, and are currently trapped in the magical Great Vortex that keeps the energies at bay on the Isle of the Dead, unable to die, unable to free themselves without undoing the work they wrought.

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• And I Must Scream: He and his cabal of arch-mages have been stuck on the Isle of the Dead for seven-thousand years, unable to die, because the work they're doing is simply too important.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: At the end of the High Elf campaign, he becomes one with the Great Vortex itself, finally free of his pain and burden.
• The Archmage: He was the greatest Elven mage of his time, and is possibly still the greatest Elven mage who ever lived.
• Barrier Maiden: The Great Vortex is responsible for keeping the Daemons of Chaos at bay, and the game stresses how Caledor has had to constantly work to maintain it for approximately seven thousand years.
• Dragon Rider: He was the very first Dragon Prince, and is the one who battered the alliance with Dragonkind in the first place. There's a reason Caledor still has the most dragons in all of Ulthuan.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After spending thousands of years in eternal pain and torment for the good of the world, he's allowed to rest and Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence in the High Elf ending.
• Egopolis: His descendants renamed their kingdom Caledor after the war against Chaos, which still stands as one of the mightiest Kingdoms on Ulthuan to this day.
• Heroic Willpower: The only reason the Vortex hasn't collapsed, is Caledor's will.
• Single Tear: At the end of each High Elf ritual.
• Time Abyss: He's at least seven thousand years old.

Alastar the White Lion

Prince Alastar the White Lion

"Ready and eager!"

A Prince of Ulthuan and a White Lion of Chrace. Alastar can always be hired in a High Elf campaign for 60 Influence. Despite having a unique appearance and talent tree, Alastar doesn't appear in any Warhammer lore or promotional material for the game. He was added at the request of a fan who visited CA through the Make a Wish Foundation.

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• Ascended Extra: He has, little by little, been given increased emphasis due to his surprising popularity. He featured in the Mortal Empire's trailer, unlocked the "Immortal" skill by default, eventually was updated to have a fully unique skill-tree section buffing White Lion units, and was given his own unique weapon and mount, making him arguably a Legendary Lord in all but name.
• Badass Army: Most High Elf lords gradually buff their armies, and can provide a small cut to their upkeep. Alastar slashes the recruitment and upkeep of White Lions by a third right out the gate, allowing the player to make a core army of anti-infantry wrecking balls early in the game.
• Badass Normal: Unlike most of the High Elves unique Lords, he has no access to magic, but is still one hell of a fighter.
• Bling of War: His armor is even more ornate than the regular White Lion set.
• Canon Foreigner: An original character created entirely for the game, with no basis in Warhammer lore.
• Chariot Pulled by Cats: He has access to his own unique mount a White Lion Chariot, an armored silver chariot pulled by the monstrous felines, which makes Alastar a terrible foe to be reckoned with and a venerable Lightning Bruiser in his own right.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Most High Elf Lords and Princesses are based off the standard Archer and Spearmen models. Alastar is a White Lion.
• Mauve Shirt: Despite Alastar being unique, he used to still count as a standard Lord; unless you ground him up to unlock the Immortality skill, he could be Killed Off for Real. A later patch, however, made him Immortal by default.
• Mr. Fanservice: Let's just say female Total War fans have already taken a liking to his rugged handsomeness.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He comes across as very similar to Korhil, the current Captain of the White Lions. Alastar's appearance is very similar to Korhil's, down to the hairstyle, although the latter wields two axes instead of one.
• Took a Level in Badass: He became completely Immortal in one of the recent patches, while he previously could be killed off like any generic Lord.

Amanar

Amanar, Lord of the Tides

"The great merwyrm stirs..."

In the murky deeps far below Lothern's Emerald Gate slumbers Amanar, ancient protector of the city. Only in hours of greatest need does the merwyrm rouse and rise to the surface to consume those who would bring about Lothern's ruin. The records kept in the Glittering Tower tell that Amanar has manifested but three times in recorded history. The first was during the Daemon invasion, where he swallowed a whole legion that laid siege to the city. The second came during the Sundering, where his broad back held Lothern high above the tidal waves that swamped Ulthuan. The third, and to date final, appearance of Amanar came during the Great Incursion. With a great sweep of his tail, he scattered much of the Dark Elf army; then, ignoring the pinpricks of their blades, he turned and bore the Black Ark Intolerable Delight beneath the waves, never to sail again.

Amanar is the main objective of the Vampire Coast campaign, with the Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast seeking to slay the Great Merwyrm and enslave its undead corpse for their own ends. Driven made by the awakening of the Great Vortex, he is a campaign hazard, occasionally rising from the depths to destroy certain ports.

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• Back from the Dead: He's slain at the end of the Vampire Coast campaign... only to be brought back as a massive, horrifying, undead thrall.
• Big Bad: Of the Vampire Coast DLC, with the main objective of the DLC being to hunt it down and kill it.
• Creepy Good: It's a giant, horrifying leviathan, but one of the High Elves' oldest allies and something they considered a Guardian Entity of sorts.
• Hero Killer: It killed Jacob Wulfhart, one of the greatest monster hunters of his time.
• Kraken and Leviathan: A massive marine predator that is responsible for sinking thousands of ships and laying waste to entire fleets.
• Monstrous Scenery: During the final quest battle for the Vampire Coast, fought in a submarine cavern surrounded by a veil of water, he lurks and prowls around the map edges, emerging occasionally to roar in fury or casting his shadow over the entire battlefield as he swims overhead.
• Raising the Steaks: The end of the Vampire Coast campaign sees it resurrected as an undead sea monster.
• Rent-a-Zilla: Amanar is absolutely colossal, quite possibly being one of the single biggest beings in the entire setting. He's depicted on a map in the intro as coiling around an entire sizable island, and when you see him in cutscenes, you can tell that that's a very accurate depiction of him. On the campaign map, he dwarfs Dwarf ironclads. His in-battle model is so big, you can't even properly see all of him during the Battle of the Eternal Tides.
• Sea Monster: Specifically a Merwyrm, a species of primeval nightmares from the Elder Age, distantly related to dragons, that haunt the deepest depths of the ocean as underwater apex predator not even sea dragons would dare attack. The Lord of the Tides is the most ancient, and largest of its kind. Amanar is an unusual example of this trope, as it's normally benevolent (for the setting), as it's considered Lothern's protector and has saved the High Elves from complete defeat on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, it's gone mad due to the instability of the Vortex, and fits this trope much more, attacking any coastal settlement in its reach.

Imrik's Dragons

Bruwor, Gordinar, Lamoureux, Shackolot, and Ymwrath

Behind Imrik, from left to right (click to enlarge): Bruwor, Shackolot, Ymwrath, Gordinar, and Lamoureux

Over the course of his campaign, Imrik comes across five unique dragons that he can consult with for campaign bonuses or challenge in battle, alongside their allies, for a chance to recruit them.

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• The Beastmaster: In addition to his undead, Shackolot commands a large number of Dark Elf monsters such as harpies, manticores, medusae and a hydra.
• Defeat Means Friendship: In order to recruit them, Imrik will need to defeat each of them — which, since they're all unbreakable in their quest battles, means actually killing them in combat — and vanquish their allied armies. Once he does that, the dragon will become willing to join his forces.
• Elite Mooks: They're stronger, unique versions of each type of dragon accessible to the elven factions.
• Gotta Catch Them All: Their campaign role focuses on Imrik successfully defeating them all and incorporating them in his army.
• Healing Factor: Gordinar has a chance to regain a chunk of health when he dips below 10% of his base health.
• An Ice Person: Lamoureux the Frozen Breath is a moon dragon with a freezing, rather than fiery, breath weapon and a chilling aura. He lives in the far north of the world and fights alongside creatures of ice and cold such as ice trolls, ice wolves, a frost wyrm and a frostheart phoenix.
• The Magnificent: They're all known by grandiose titles appended to their personal names — Gordinar, Champion of the Flame; Bruwor, Protector of Life; Lamoureux the Frozen Breath; Shackolot the Calamity; and Ymwrath the Eternal.
• Necromancer: Shackolot has a particular affinity for necromantic magic, and leads an army of undead creatures bound to his will.
• Victor Gains Loser's Powers: Defeating these unique dragons will also grant Imrik special traits related to their powers:
  • Nature's Blessing (Bruwor) gives him additional armor and melee defence.
  • Shining Light (Gordinar) increases his speed and grants the "Perfect Vigour" attribute.
  • Essence of the Eclipse (Lamoureux) increases his melee attack and weapon strength.
  • Breath of the Black Dragon (Shackolot) grants immunity to psychology, plus an additional use for dragon breath attacks in his armies.
  • Celestial Strength (Ymwrath) grants him more health and the "Regeneration" attribute.

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