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A character subpage for the WarCraft universe, including World of Warcraft. For the main character page, see here. For the Alliance character page, see here.
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The night elves (Kaldorei in Darnassian), prior to the Battle of Mount Hyjal, were an immortal race isolated in the forests of the lost continent, Kalimdor. Since that battle, however, they have joined the Alliance.The loss of their immortality drove Fandral Staghelm — Archdruid of the Cenarion Circle following Malfurion Stormrage's descent into the Emerald Nightmare — to attempt to create a new World Tree in place of Nordrassil and restore the elves' immortality. Due to Staghelm's presumptuousness the new tree, Teldrassil, was denied its blessing by the Dragon Aspects until Cataclysm, where it was given the boons of life and nature (not time, which would have returned the elves' immortality).
The night elves made a new capital atop Teldrassil, Darnassus, and joined the Alliance to rid themselves of the deforesting orcs. Led by High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind and, as of Cataclysm, the freed Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, the night elves are the major Alliance presence in Kalimdor, especially now that Theramore has been destroyed.
With the latest expansion Legion taking place in the Broken Isles, which is a remnant of the Night Elves ancient realm, including part of their ancient city of Suramar, the Night Elves played a significant role in the unfolding lore.
During the beginning of Battle for Azeroth, Teldrassil was destroyed by the Horde, reduced to ashes and cinders. The rest of the Night Elf settlements on Kalimdor's mainland are conquered by the Horde...at least, until the Alliance wins them back in the Battle for Darkshore. As of Dragonflight, they've obtained a new captial, Bel'ameth, off the coast of the Dragon Isles, under the new world tree Amirdrassil,
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General Tropes
- Amazon Brigade: The night elves' military force, the Sentinels, is entirely composed of women. Though in Cataclysm they've begun to recruit men due to the losses they have suffered.
- Amazonian Beauty: Female night elves are notably tall and muscular. Lampshaded by Grom and his mook in Reign of Chaos, as the orcs had only fought high elves at that time.Warsong orc mook: Women!? They are women!?
Grom: Yes. They almost look like elves. But they are far too tall, and far too savage. - Carnivorous Healing Factor: In Warcraft III: Night Elf buildings are sentient, semi-mobile treemen called Ancients. When uprooted, they can eat a normal tree to slowly regenerate a lot of health.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Played with; they seem like they fit this trope at first, being a benevolent nocturnal species with the ability to hide in the dark; however, their night theme is primarily focused on moonlight, and it's heavily implied their Moon Goddess Elune might be a Naaru.
- Does Not Like Magic: After all, Empress Azshara's reckless use of arcane magic attracted the attention of the Burning Legion in the first place, which caused the Sundering and the collapse of the empire. That said, it eventually became more of a prejudice since normally arcane magic doesn't work that way, and after years of working alongside other Alliance races with their own Mages (or even Warlocks!) without negative consequences, the Night Elves relaxed their stance and allowed their exiled arcanists to return, so Night Elf players are able to become Mages by the Cataclysm expansion. Of course, some Night Elves, like Maiev, still refuse to accept this.
- Doomed Hometown: In the opening of Battle for Azeroth, Teldrassil is burned to cinders. The rest of the Night Elf settlements on Kalimdor's mainland are conquered by the Horde, with the Night Elves fleeing to the Eastern kingdoms.
- Facial Markings: Many female Night Elves have facial tattoos, which are implied to be (or be part of) a Rite of Passage in lore.
- Glowing Eyes: All of the in-game Night Elves have these, while the art and lore depictions vary.
- Green Aesop: Played with, the night elves have been constantly reminded that their immortality and connection to nature does not necessarily give them the right to judge other races. They are, however, staunch protectors of nature.
- Green Thumb: Their best-known class of spellcasters, the Druids, have a powerset primarily based around using the forces of nature to fight. They also are more comfortable in forests, and two of their major allies, Ancients and Treants, are literally sentient, animated trees.
- Hidden Elf Village: All of their settlements prior to the Third War. Darnassus still qualifies to an extent by being extremely out of the way.
- Innate Night Vision: All Night Elves have this in lore.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: Except that kind of thinking will never get your immortality back. Some Night Elves have come to terms with it, though, as Lorekeeper Vaeldrin did when giving his life to revive his daughter.
- Magic Enhancement: The night elves (and, by extension, all other elves) descend from a dark troll tribe who were transformed by the magic of the Well of Eternity. The Well gave them extremely long lifespans and improved their capabilities for magic use.
- Medieval Stasis: They seemingly made no form of progress in 10,000 years and they prefer to use druidism and traditional weaponry over the more advanced technology of other races.
- This was likely entirely intentional on the part of the Night Elves, as their original Kaldorei Empire was arguably the most technologically and magically sophisticated civilization ever seen on Azeroth and was probably second only to the original Draenei civilization. This power, however, drew the attention of the Burning Legion and led to the shattering of Kalimdor. After the War of the Ancients, the Night Elves contented themselves to a more humble existence as custodians of nature rather than empire builders.
- Noodle Incident: How and why they joined the Alliance is still to this day unexplained. From a Doylist perspective, they were very clearly given to the Alliance as a player race in World Of Warcraft since the Horde was given the Forsaken but no official Watsonian explanation has arisen. The Chronicle lore books covering the period between Warcraft III and World of Warcraft devotes a whole section to Sylvanas sending emissaries to both the Alliance and Horde in an attempt to gain membership, but no mention is made of how the Night Elves gained membership into the Alliance when their only contact with them had been with Jaina's splinter group that founded Theramore.
- Nubile Savage: The extent to which they qualify as "savage" is debatable but for a forest-dwelling race of nature-lovers, their women are decidedly well-groomed. For most game art and lore depictions, this holds true. Lampshaded by Grom and the Warsong clan orcs in Reign of Chaos.
- Our Elves Are Different: A blend of Wood Elves and Drows with several subversions to normal elf traits. They have purple skin (though it comes in various shades) and their hair tend to have unusual colors by human standards, most frequently blue, white or green. They live in forest and are deeply in touch with nature, with various forest creatures being their allies. Unlike their Elfeminate high elven relatives, night elf men usually have a lot of facial hair and are clearly male. Their culture is druid-based, though they used to have a queen before she was corrupted by Sargeras. Finally, they used to be immortal, but became mortal following the events of Warcraft 3 when they sacrificed it to help stop Archimonde.
- Panthera Awesome: Night elves are strongly associated with large cats. They use saber cats (which are basically horse-sized tigers) as their racial mounts and (as of Cataclysm) night elf hunters receive a cat as their starter pet.
- Proud Warrior Race: A less barbarian-like variant than Orcs, but Night Elves are still noted several times to be fierce warriors who can be downright terrifying in battle. They were the first who defeated the Burning Legion, after all.
- Story-Breaker Power: At a faction level. In Warcraft 3, the Night Elves were equal in numbers and power to the Alliance or the Horde by themselves, meaning a likely defeat for the Horde if they made a concentrated effort after joining the Alliance. See the Worf tropes below for more information.
- Useless Useful Stealth: Night elves are harder to detect in stealth and have a racial that allows a night elf of any class to dump aggro and stealth without moving. This is actually extremely useful for Night Elf Druids, who can use this ability to exit combat and immediately enter into flight mode, flying away from danger.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Male Night Elves completely eschew shirts for the most part, or wear chest clothes/armors that are pretty revealing. You'll meet a lot of topless Nelf men on your journeys.
- The Worf Effect: Grom Hellscream, established Horde Badass, made a note of their savagery, called them perfect warriors who's equal he had not seen. But with every expansion, to show how much of a threat a new enemy is or how bad the world is going, the Night Elves take the biggest hits and losses. Even within Warcraft 3, the Night Elves are worfed, taking hits from Grom's orcs, the Scourge and the Burning Legion.
Tyrande Whisperwind
Tyrande Whisperwind
Class: Priestess of the Moon
Voiced by: Elisa Gabrielli (English), Elena Solovyova (Russian/Warcraft III), Olga Zubkova (Russian/World of Warcraft)
"Elune give me strength."
Tyrande is the passionate and occasionally rash leader of the night elf Sentinels, High Priestess of Elune and official head of the Night Elf government. A friend of Malfurion and Illidan since childhood, both brothers loved her, but it was Malfurion's affections that she reciprocated. During the reign of Queen Azshara, Tyrande became a novice priestess in the order of the Sisters of Elune. During the battles against the Burning Legion, it became apparent that Tyrande was far more adept at channeling the power of Elune than any other member of her order, to the point that the former High Priestess Dejahna named Tyrande as her successor.After the Sundering, following the druids entering the Emerald Dream (along with Malfurion, despite Tyrande begging him to stay), Tyrande and the remaining night elven women reformed the Sentinels and kept peace throughout much of Kalimdor. They did so alongside Cenarius' sons and daughters, the Keepers of the Grove and the dryads, and the many creatures who knew and loved the Moon Goddess.
Millennia later, after being alerted to the presence of outsiders, including the Orcs who had killed Cenarius, Tyrande gathered her Sentinels to drive them out. After barely surviving an encounter with Archimonde, Tyrande moved to mobilize her people against the Burning Legion’s return. During this time, she freed Illidan against the wishes of his gaolers, seeing him as a valuable ally. She then went on to lead the Night Elf reinforcements fighting alongside the Alliance and Horde forces in the Battle of Mount Hyjal.
When Malfurion became trapped in the Emerald Dream, Tyrande put aside her disappointment and again became the sole ruler of her people, with Fandral Staghelm leading the druids in Malfurion’s absence. During this time she became aware of the corruption eating away at the Emerald Dream and sought to deal with it. When Eranikus assaulted Moonglade, the High Priestess led a half-dozen of her fellows to aid the defenders and defeated him. She also played a crucial role in bringing the Draenei into the Alliance, defeating Xavius and freeing Malfurion from the Emerald Nightmare.
Following Garrosh's fall and subsequent imprisonment, Tyrande is appointed as the Accuser in the Shado-Pan's trial for the disgraced former Warchief. Consumed by her long-held anger and rage over the murder of Cenarius and the desecration of Kalimdor's forests, Tyrande attempts to convince both the court and her less hardline Alliance brethren that the Orcs, under Garrosh in particular, have done more harm than good, citing the near genocide of the Draenei, the enslavement of the Red Dragonflight, and the destruction of Theramore. While these attempts are thwarted by the testimonies of witnesses of all three events, even Malfurion notes that by the end, Tyrande has become a far darker, bitter and vengeful figure than she ever was before.
In Legion, Tyrande focuses on the fight against the Legion as she and her people are more familiar with the evils of the Legion than any other except the Draenei. Working alongside heroes of both the Alliance and the Horde, she combats Xavius and his Emerald Nightmare in Val'Sharah. She later leads the Alliance forces sent to aide the Nightfallen in Suramar. Having never forgotten how the Nightborne betrayed and abandoned the Kaldorei during the War of the Ancients, Tyrande still harbors a deep distrust of them.
- Action Girl: As a Lady of War, in fact.
- Action Mom: By adoption, actually. Shandris is her surrogate daughter.
- And This Is for...: In the Shadowlands prepatch, after Tyrande kills Nathanos, she quietly says "for Teldrassil" before vanishing into the night.
- Apologetic Attacker: After she deals the fatal blow to Ysera, Tyrande shares some soothing words, and deeply regrets killing Ysera, appearing on the verge of tears in the following cinematic.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: Whatever her other virtues and strengths may be, good temper and a polite demeanor are not among them. When Thalyssra came to her seeking for the Nightborne to rejoin the Alliance, Tyrande openly said she'd easily become another Azshara or Elisande. Given that she and her whole people rejected the former long ago for being crazy and she personally just led an uprising to overthrow the latter for treachery, an offended Thalyssra immediately leaves and seeks out the Blood Elves instead, who the Nightborne already had a lot in common with anyway.
- Badass in Distress: At the end of the Night Elf campaign of The Frozen Throne. In the Warcraft novels Stormrage Tyrande remained within the Nightmare until being rescued by Malfurion, and in Wolfheart she was struck down and wounded by orc archers. As of World of Warcraft: Legion, she was temporarily trapped in a time stasis bubble Elisande created during Insurrection campaign.
- Battle Couple: With Malfurion.
- Big Damn Heroes: Tyrande has a knack for dramatic timing and turning the tide.
- Arriving to defeat Ekranius in the Shifting Sands questline.
- Also in Warcraft 3 when her forces rescue Shandris' from the Burning Legion's attacks.
- Her forces are the ones who break through the gates in Siege of Orgrimmar, and she leads an attack on a large group of Kor'kron reinforcements, enabling Vol'jin and the players to get into Orgrimmar after the Iron Juggernaut's destruction.
- In Battle for Azeroth she arrives just before Saurfang would've had the chance to deal a deathblow to Malfurion after axing him in the back. However, this time, Saurfang had no plans to kill Malfurion.
- Black Eyes of Evil: After becoming the Night Warrior, Tyrande's eyes turned from glowing silver to black pits that draw in the light. She's also become the chief War Hawk of the Alliance, outright refusing to accept peace with the Horde until she's taken revenge on Sylvanas Windrunner.
- Bling of War: The costume of Tyrande's model from Cataclysm is very ornate and bejeweled.
- Chainmail Bikini: Finally receiving a new model after seven years of a flimsy gown, Tyrande now has a Chainmail Bikini. She really only wears a few pieces of ornate armor, her best-protected regions being her midriff and shins. She receives a new suit of white and silver plate armour after completing the ritual to become a Night Warrior of Elune.
- Character Development: Tyrande seems to have finally gotten over her racism, as she works with members of the Horde as readily as the Alliance and clearly sees the Burning Legion and the Old Gods as the bigger threats. Even develop a sense of respect for Horde adventurer. This is in contrast to Genn Greymane and Jaina Proudmoore who maintain a vendetta against the Horde. Then again, she still has some trust issues, especially towards the Nightborne, so there's still room for improvement.
- Chickification: Occasionally suffers this as the only female racial leader on the Alliance's side. note
- Combat Stilettos: After her new model upgrade.
- Cruel Mercy: After everything Sylvanas has been through, including being suddenly and traumatically reunited with her own ability to feel guilt after all of the atrocities she'd committed, Tyrande is the one who gets to sentence her for her crimes. And that sentence is to help every single soul in the Maw, including the ones who deserved to be there, as the beginning of her penance. It's very clear from Tyrande's tone of voice when making this judgment that she very much considers that just executing her would have been far more merciful.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The escalating Horde/Alliance war in Battle For Azeroth drives her to invoke the ritual of the Night Warrior, which has killed any who attempted it since its inception. However, she succeeds.
- Defiant to the End: Invoked but subverted. When cornered by undead in Frozen Throne, Tyrande rallies her forces and puts up a fierce fight, though Illidan rescues her from death.Tyrande: "Come forth you mindless wretches and taste the wrath of the Sentinels. Elune's light shall never falter!"
- Defrosting Ice Queen: In Reign of Chaos, was somewhat cold and distrustful of others, which Malfurion notes was different than how he remembers her.
- Also undergoes this in the Horde version of the Val'sharah storyline. At the start, she treats Horde players with barely hidden disdain, constantly doubts their capabilities, and gives them several thinly veiled Implied Death Threats if their efforts to save Malfurion fail. By the end of the storyline, however, she acknowledges their heroics and admits that while the differences between the Horde and the Alliance may be irreconcilable, the Horde player has proven themselves to her as an honorable hero. Later, although still furious at the Horde for Teldrasil she is at least willing to having a meeting with Thrall, even as she is cold and icy towards him.
- Demoted to Extra: In the World of Warcraft expansions. At the end of Cataclysm she makes appearances in the time-traveling adventures leading to Deathwing's demise, as a boss in End Time and as an ally in Well of Eternity. She makes a couple of cameos in Mists of Pandaria and has a role in Legion.
- Didn't Think This Through: During War Crimes Tyrande uses Garrosh's trial to attack Orcs and the Horde as a whole. Velen of all people (who has more reason to despise Orcs than anyone) calls her out for proving the point that the Horde exists mainly because of the Alliance's bigotry and inability to forgive. This doesn't stop her from continuing the behavior.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": Does not like some of the people closest to her, such as Shandris and Jarod Shadowsong, referring to her by her Priestess title. Calling her queen infuriates her, as it reminds her of Azshara.
- Double Weapon: Her transformation into the Night Warrior grants her a large glaive with two curved blades.
- Enemy Mine: Tyrande works with members of the Horde (usually the player character) in Legion on the Broken Isles.
- Fantastic Racism:
- Tyrande was quite a bigot in Warcraft III, with a "shoot first, ask questions later" policy. In War Crimes a decent chunk of her prosecution towards Garrosh was aimed at establishing orcs in general as violent, destructive creatures.
- She calls the Nightborne "mana addicts" and her world quest descriptions are noticeably more hostile to them than her counterpart, Liadrin's. For example, in a quest that sends the player to kill some of Elisande's forces who are attacking fleeing Nightborne refugees, Liadrin stresses that the player protect the refugees by killing their attackers while Tyrande views it as a chance to test Elisande's forces in battle. This is actually brought up in Battle for Azeroth as the main reason why the Nightborne chose to side with the Horde.
- In War Crimes, she is the prosecutor in Garrosh's trial. Everyone, both Alliance and Horde, was working together to formally prosecute him as a sign of faction cooperation. First thing she does, Tyrande uses the trial to put Orcs as a whole on trial using convenient evidence and white lies to paint the entire race as murderous barbarians. She's instantly called out of it by Thrall, Aggra, and Velen. Even later, she attempts to use the still grieving Jaina to put the Horde as a whole on trial for Garrosh's actions, but Jaina shoots her down.
- Fatal Flaw: Pride, but ultimately played with. As her Flanderizations and racism in WoW have gotten worse, she genuinely looked down on all Horde races even after several times where both sides worked together against a bigger threat. She openly expressed her concern that Thalyssra could become another Elisande or Azshara, even though Thalyssra had started and led the rebellion against Elisande, and Tyrande did something to Thalyssra that she despises herself(being compared to Azshara). However, she still worked with them, and their dialogue hints at some past personal issue between them.
- Fire-Forged Friends: While slow to trust, Tyrande will form friendships with people she fights alongside, even if she at times doesn't convey that affection well.
- Fisher King: Becoming the Night Warrior, Tyrande's mood can affect the area around her. When her anger spikes, all the light around her dims away as if she were forcing the night on the world.
- Flanderization: As the game's story progressed, Tyrande's xenophobia and hotheadedness became pretty much the only traits she displays by Mists of Pandaria. Her compassionate side, sense of camaraderie and even her devotion to Elune are increasingly downplayed or completely left out; the latter being egregious as she is still the High Priestess of Elune's religion. Legion seems to at least be trying to fix this; see below. On the other hand, one of the debatable subject come from some fans who weren't too pleased of how she was portrayed in Mists of Pandaria. During A Little Patience scenario where Tyrande is portrayed as impatient, hothead, and somewhat overly aggressive and an incompetent tactician, so Varian could demonstrate his skill as the strategist, and leader. While he would appear as skilled and wiser in contrast to Tyrande, this is despite the fact that she is a competent military leader and has millennia more experience in warfare than Varian.
- Frontline General: In Warcraft III, she rides into battle personally.
- General Failure: The few times she does get shown leading, she's shown more or less charging recklessly in on instinct. However, this has started to change as of Legion and Battle for Azeroth.
- Godzilla Threshold:
- Tyrande freeing Illidan so he could help fight the Burning Legion. It was a controversial decision that at least a few people in-universe, such as Maiev, continue to hold against her.
- In Battle For Azeroth, Tyrande undergoes the ritual to become the Night Warrior, a conduit for Elune's power and the embodiment of her wrath, to take revenge against Sylvanas and the Horde for burning Teldrassil and slaughtering her people. The ritual alone was so dangerous that no one had survived it before Tyrande for over ten thousand years. And while her power continues to grow, it's said more than once by Shandris that the power of the Night Warrior comes with a price that she will pay for soon.
- Happily Married: To Malfurion. In all their millennia together she's always loved him, even before they became a Priestess and a Druid respectively.
- Heel Realization: In the Shadows Rising novel, after being presented a captured Sira Moonwarden, Maiev and Shandris help Tyrande to realize that her new attitude against the Horde and anyone remotely associated with Sylvanas made her no better than the undead Night Elf, filled with nothing but bitterness and hate who only sought her next murder victim.
- High Priest: High Priestess of Elune. It has been her title for at least 10,000 years.
- Holier Than Thou: Played with. Averted to her own race which she is the picture perfect spiritual leader priestess. To any Alliance race, she can be aloof and quite demeaning towards them. To Horde races however, she often rubs her moral high ground in their face. Thalyssra calls her out on this.
- Hopeless Suitor: Illidan is one to her, as she herself is deeply in love with his brother Malfurion. This is expanded when Illidan gives a final message where he makes peace with her rejection of him. Her response, dismiss him wonder aloud if he truly "meant it". He just poured his heart and soul to her and she just dismisses him. OUCH.
- Horse Archer: Rides her wintersaber into battle, atop which she fires her arrows and spells.
- Hot-Blooded: She can be impulsive, as seen in her freeing of Illidan from his imprisonment.
- Hypocrite: Constantly blames entire races for the actions of the few, (lumping all Orcs into Hellscream's demonically manipulated crime of killing Cenarius or all the Nightborne for Elisande's alliance with the Legion for example) however, if the same logic were turned on all Night Elves for the actions of Azshara...
- I Did What I Had to Do: How Tyrande views her decision to kill Ysera, despite being saddened by it.
- Jerkass: In Warcraft III, she's rather cold, unpleasant, and prone to rash decision, such as deciding to free Illidan just because Malfurion told her not to, murdering Maiev's Wardens to do so and attacking the combined Horde and Alliance forces out of the blue for 'trespassing' on their lands when neither party knew these lands were even inhabited. Maiev, Malfurion, and Medivh all call her out on her temper, though Furion is mostly just worried about her and Medivh seems resigned.
- Karma Houdini: Played with. Maiev did berate her for slaughtering her wardens in the Reign of Chaos campaign and freeing Illidan, the prisoner being guarded, but couldn't punish her due to Tyrande's superior ranking. Maiev later leaves Tyrande for dead when a bridge she's standing on collapses and she's swept downriver into enemy territory; leading to Furion and Illidan to join forces and rescue her.
- Lady of War: Graceful in combat, with her magic and bow.
- Leeroy Jenkins:
- Just like Grom Hellscream she did it before the Trope Namer, her reaction to hearing that there's a dangerous criminal imprisoned inside a cave while she and Malfurion were on a mission to save the Druids of the Claw? Charge into the prison with half the forces, kill a massive number of her own people and free the prisoner.
- Comes again in Mists of Pandaria where her plan to deal with a Horde unit camped out inside a temple was to storm right in and kill everything.
- Lunacy: As the High Priestess of a religion worshipping a Moon Goddess, Tyrande can call on the power of Elune.
- A Father to His Men: Is supportive and protective of troops under her command.
- Mounted Combat: In Warcraft III, Tyrande as a hero unit fights while riding her night saber.
- Ms. Fanservice: Especially in artwork.
- Never My Fault: Tyrande has a problem of causing a great deal of strife between the Night Elves and anyone she deems an enemy.
- In ''Reign of Chaos" she immediately attacked the Alliance/Horde union without even trying to ascertain why they were there or try to ally herself with them against their common enemy of the Burning Legion. Even when Malfurion agrees she refuses to accept her fault.
- When a furious Maiev eventually finds Tyrande, she bluntly calls her a murderer who helped a criminal go free. Tyrande isn't in the least bit sorry, claiming she did what she had to do. Not a trace of regret or acceptance of any wrong doing.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Downplayed. Her dismissive and hostile attitude towards the Nightborne during the Suramar rebellion came back to haunt her when the Blood Elves extend a hand of friendship to them in Battle for Azeroth. It was the treatment from Tyrande, along with similar treatment from other Night Elves, compared to Liadrin's unquestionable support and kinship (along with their very similar histories) ends up being a factor in having the Nightborne officially ally with the Horde.
- Offhand Backhand: In the Shadowlands prepatch, when she corners Nathanos Blightcaller, his two plaguehounds rush in to attack her. Without any hint of noticing them, the dogs are vaporized by a Pillar of Light each from her terrible power.
- Out of Focus: Compared to other major characters and faction leaders, Tyrande had little role throughout World of Warcraft up to the latest expansion, apart from a few minor quests, helping bring the Draenei into the alliance in Burning Crusade (even this was kept out of focus), helping the Worgen, bringing forces to break down the gate in Siege of Orgrimmar and being the prosecutor at Garrosh's trial in the novel 'War Crimes'. She finally starts taking a bigger role in Legion alongside Malfurion to combat Xavius and the Emerald Nightmare, and looks set for a bigger role in Battle for Azeroth.
- Pet the Dog: Helping rescue the Furbolg tribe and helping them evacuate at the beginning of the Night Elf campaign in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Also letting Saurfang live after the latter had struck Malfurion down with an underhanded blow in Battle for Azeroth.
- Power Degeneration: A mortal cannot hold the power of the Night Warrior indefinitely. Eventually the power becomes too great and will kill its host. While hunting through Torghast, bolts of energy continuously fly out of Tyrande and blast her surroundings indiscriminately. By the time she arrives in Ardenweald to try and kill Sylvanas, the power and her own body are burning out, necessitating the Night Fae covenant to find a means to free her from the Night Warrior.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Even Tyrande's legendary faith and favor with Elune was shaken by the War of Thorns. With Teldrasil burned and her people nearly wiped out, Tyrande accuses Elune of standing idle as Sylvanas and the Horde committed that heinous crime and outright demands that she grant Tyrande the power of the Night Warrior to set things right. At the end of Battle for Azeroth, Tyrande bitterly remarks to Shandris that part of her hunt for Sylvanas is for the answer as to why the Mother Moon abandoned the Night Elves, to Shandris' own horror.
- Religious Bruiser: Again, High Priestess of Elune and has been for 10,000 years. Also a veteran of every war against the Burning Legion on Azeroth and no slouch when it comes to combat.
- Revenge Before Reason: When Anduin didn't offer his support for her campaign to retake Darkshore and get revenge against Sylvanas, Tyrande proceeded to ignore him and refuses to respond to any of his messages. Even the ones when he's calling her to join the assault on Orgrimmar to attack Sylvanas directly.
- Sadistic Choice: Xavius forces Tyrande to make one by choosing between trying to rescue Furion and protecting a temple of Elune; her husband or her goddess. Tyrande chooses to protect the temple then aids the player character in rescuing Furion.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She and Malfurion are one of the better examples in the lore.Tyrande: Raw power is no substitute for true strength, Illidan. That is why I chose your brother over you.
- Stealth Expert: Inferred, as Tyrande was able to sneak past Archimonde's troops in Warcraft III.
- Stripperific: Mostly in her artwork, where she doesn't wear as much as you might expect for a priestess. Even in Heroes of The Storm, she has a Cleavage Window.
- Took a Level in Badass: After the burning of Teldrassil, Tyrande takes part in a ritual that turns her into the Night Warrior, the most warlike aspect of the Goddess Elune. It comes with a power boost that enables her to decimate or paralyze entire armies.
- The Matchmaker: As noted by Malfurion in Wolfheart that she orders Shandris to aid Jarod in his new Watchers task force, in hope that both would grew closer to each other in the future.
- Tranquil Fury: In the Shadowlands prepatch, when she finally corners and mortally wounds Nathanos, her voice is a cold, bitter whisper as she demands to know where Sylvanas is and after taking his life.
- Vocal Evolution: Her accent (it almost sounds troll-like, which is pseudo-Jamaican) became much more pronounced in Cataclysm, though her voice actress hasn't changed according to this post from a Blizzard community mod
. - Well-Intentioned Extremist: At first when she led the Night Elf sentinels to fight the allied Horde and Alliance troops that are otherwise fighting the Scourge and the Burning Legion. She slowly turned away from this after Malfurion was awakened. By the end of Mists of Pandaria, in the tie-in novel War Crimes she appears to be heading back this way. In the Legion beta, before it was changed, in a quest Tyrande used her powers of Elune to heal... and interrogate Satyrs regarding Xavius' plans.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Tyrande holds off an army of Undead to give the rest of the Night Elves and the Blood Elves a chance to escape them in The Frozen Throne. Leads into Badass in Distress.
Malfurion Stormrage
Malfurion Stormrage
Archdruid
Class: Druid
Voiced by: Ed Trotta (English), Pierre Dourlens (French/Warcraft III), Rogvold Suhoverko (Russian/Warcraft III), Radik Mukhametzyanov (Russian/World of Warcraft)
"Our sins have returned... to haunt us."
One of the first Night Elves empowered by Cenarius, Malfurion was is renowned for being the greatest druid in the world. His rise to power in Night Elven society came after helping his people during the War of the Ancients, when the old Highbourne regime lead by Queen Azshara summoned demons into the world. Since the end of the war, the Night Elves chose to forsake the Highbourne practices of arcane magic and instead turned to druidism and the worship of nature under Malfurion and Cenarius' guidance.After the war, Malfurion went into a deep sleep every few hundred years to rejuvenate his druidic powers. He was awoken during one such slumber by Tyrande, when the Burning Legion's invaded of Kalimdor once more during the Third War. With the guidance of the prophet Medivh, Malfurion formed an alliance with the Alliance and Horde to make one last stand against the Legion upon the peak of Mount Hyjal. Summoning the spirits of the ancient Night Elves, Malfurion lured the Legion's general, Archimonde, to the base of the World Tree Nordrassil, and used the spirits' power to destroy him once and for all.
Following the Battle of Mount Hyjal Malfurion once again fell into a deep sleep, but this time was different; he was trapped in the Emerald Dream against his will, and unable to escape. For years, Malfurion was tended to in his comatose state, with no-one able to contact him or find out what was happening. In reality, he was being poisoned by his pupil Fandral Staghelm, who had become leader of the Night Elves since Malfurion's coma. Fandral was stopped, and after fighting the monsters in the Emerald Dream, Malfurion escaped and returned to the waking world.
Malfurion has made his first major in-game appearance in Cataclysm, aiding new Night Elf players in stopping the elemental chaos in Darkshore, and most notably being the leader of the Cenarion Circle's defense against the servants of Ragnaros in Mount Hyjal. Though he's technically aligned with the Night Elves, he recruits both Horde and Alliance players to help defend Hyjal.
- Badass in Distress: Gets captured by Xavius in Legion and subjected to torture intended to break his will. He resists and the player characters free him. Also in Battle for Azeroth after he's crippled by Saurfang while fighting Sylvanas, he is left to the non-existent mercy of the latter; fortunately she let Saurfang deliver the deathblow which gave time for Tyrande to free him.
- Berserk Button: He has two; harming Tyrande or harming nature.
- Cain and Abel: Malfurion and his brother Illidan; surprisingly Malfurion comes closer to the Cain when he thinks Tyrande is dead.
- Character Exaggeration: In the books, Malfurion goes from being a Nice Guy who is a bit controlling, to being a pure saint.
- Defiant Captive: Malfurion is one to Xavius when the latter captures him.
- Druid: Archdruid, to be precise. He absolutely curb-stomped Saurfang and Sylvanas in the Battle for Teldrassil; the former only survived because he spared them and the latter because Malfurion was laid low by an underhanded blow from the former.
- Dull Surprise: He sounds awfully bored while experiencing "excruciating pain".
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: His hair started out as blue in Warcraft III, but this was later changed to green.
- Friend to All Living Things: He's the leader of the druids, and thus has a very close connection to nature, as well as considerable respect for all the races, Alliance and Horde. In fact, he isn't even flagged for PvP.
- Green Thumb: Well, he is a druid, so this goes hand-to-hand. In Warcraft III, one of his first spells involved turning trees into a small army of Treant.
- Happily Married: To Tyrande. In all their millennia together he's never been shown having feelings for another like he does her.
- Healing Hands: His final spell in Warcraft III allowed him to heal units en masse.
- Horned Humanoid: Stag-like horns, to be specific. They carry over into his bear form.
- Horse of a Different Colour: Rides a stag in the Frozen Throne.
- I Can't Believe A Girl Like You Would Notice Me: Malfurion evidently still doesn't fully understand why Tyrande chose him over Illidan.
- In the Back: Gets hit in the back with a thrown axe from Varok Saurfang of all people while fighting Sylvanas. However Saurfang regretted his dishonourable blow and allowed Tyrande to take him to safety, not to mention thanks to Tyrande's healing Malfurion survived.
- Mook Horror Show: Inflicts this on a Horde supply caravan, striking from the shadows to take out most of the escorts and using roots to drag one member into the earth to his death.
- Neutral No Longer: After Teldrassil is put to the torch by the Horde, Malfurion dedicates himself to raising all holy hell, including putting a Horde squad through a Mook Horror Show before he and Tyrande arrive with an army at their backs to take Darkshore back.
- Pragmatic Hero: When Saurfang challenged Furion to a Mak'gora, the latter replied by binding Saurfang with vines.
- Shapeshifter: Being a druid, he naturally has this ability.
- Shape Shifter Mashup: In Cataclysm, he has physical traits of all the animals druids can transform into, most prominently antlers, wings, and claws.
- Squishy Wizard: Magically he might be one of the most powerful beings on Azeroth, even counting demigods. But never forget that under that magic is a (really buff, to be fair) mostly normal night elf. While Saurfang stood no chance one-on-one against Stormrage with the druid's full attention on him, later he defeats Malfurion with a sneak attack while he's battling Sylvanas.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: One of the few things he and Illidan share is their tendency to go around wearing no shirt.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Seems willing to give up his immortality after realizing that it may come as a consequence of stopping Archimonde near the end of Warcraft III.Malfurion: If pride gives us pause, my love, then perhaps we have lived long enough already.
Illidan Stormrage
Illidan Stormrage
See Illidan & his followers Maiev Shadowsong
Maiev Shadowsong
Class: Warden
Voiced by: Debi Mae West (English)
"I watched the barrow prisons for over ten thousand years. Yet I'm the one who feels caged."
Appointed the jailor of Illidan during his ten thousand year imprisonment, Maiev later pursued him after his banishment by the Night Elves, seeking to return him to justice or kill him if necessary. She followed Illidan to Outland, where she was seemingly killed, but was actually captured and imprisoned by the Broken (the corrupted remnants of the Draenei in Outland). Akama, the leader of the Broken, was secretly conspiring with Maiev to defeat Illidan. With the aid of a group of heroes, Maiev and Akama broke into the Black Temple and were able to kill the Betrayer once and for all. Or so everyone thought, as Legion revealed, she tricked everyone to think that she killed Illidan, and was finally able to put him on a new stasis prison.Maiev then returned to the Night Elf society, but she grew increasingly paranoid and ended up betraying the whole Night Elves when she heard news about them trying to re-integrate the Highborne, exiling herself to pursue what she thought to be 'true justice'. When the Burning Legion returned in Legion, Maiev's Vault was assaulted by Gul'Dan and the Legion's might. To help save Azeroth, Maiev frees Illidan's Demon Hunters from their prison to fight back. As Gul'Dan makes off with Illidan in tow, Maiev gives chase once again to reclaim her charge.
- Aborted Arc: In the Wolfheart novel, Maiev had a full-blown Face–Heel Turn: she became a Serial Killer, targeting Darnassus' Highborne; she even tried to murder Malfurion and usurp Tyrande, hoping to seize control of the night elf government and pull Darnassus out of the Alliance, which she considered a worthless institution that had failed the night elves. After a prolonged absence from the story, she reappeared in Legion and Battle for Azeroth as if nothing were amiss, still in charge of the night elf Watchers and fighting loyally for Tyrande and the Alliance. Her earlier actions have been given a vague Hand Wave by Tyrande and her brother, and affected the story no further.
- And This Is for...: When fighting against Illidan in the Black Temple, dedicates one of her attacks to Naisha, the closest person she had to a friend, who sacrificed herself to allow her to escape the Tomb of Sargeras.
- Animate Dead: Her Avatar of Vengeance ultimate creates a giant shadowy Warden that creates Spirits of Vengeance from corpses (including enemies).
- Anti-Hero: Type IV, as she's willing to let Tyrande die and manipulate Malfurion into thinking she's dead so that he will be motivated to deal with Illidan.
- Badass Cape: And judging by the dozens of blades on the edges, is a weapon in itself.
- Bad Powers, Good People: Well, "good"... One of her Warcraft III abilities is a poisoned dagger that slows the target and deals continuous damage, while her ultimate turns corpses into avenging spirits.
- Berserk Button: Until she finally let go of it, the mere mention of Illidan filled her with murderous rage. She also retains her fanatical hatred of magic and their mere presence does the same.
- Big Damn Heroes: Shows up during the final phase of the fight with Illidan. The players, however, will have to do most of the work in finishing him off.
- Cain and Abel: Her brother Jarod is far more emotionally stable and reasonable. As of Wolfheart and her Face–Heel Turn, this gets played up, as he is determined to bring her to justice, even if he can't bring himself to kill her. In Legion, they eventually reconcile after he helps save her from Black Rook Hold
- Chainmail Bikini: Subverted. In the original game, she's the only night elf unit to wear fully-enclosing armor.
- Cool Helmet: The face-concealing helmet she wears is quite imposing.
- Does Not Like Magic: To an insane degree, to the point that her hatred of mages and blood elves outweighed her hatred of Illidan and she refused to recruit them to fight him, despite Illidan having no such qualms on top of having a much larger army. It's to the point that when she learned the Night Elves relaxed that stance in her absence during Wolfheart, she flat out tries to murder several of them and betrays her race.
- Expy: Maiev and other Wardens, in their shared focus, and design, resemble Eldar Exarchs and Dark Eldar Incubi from Warhammer 40,000, especially Swooping Hawk Exarchs in Warcraft III.
- Face–Heel Turn In Wolfheart, she turns against the Night Elves and tries to kill Malfurion, because she is disgusted at what her people have become while she was away in Outland, especially their recent attempts to re-integrate the Highborne. However, her brother Jarod says in Legion that she may have been influenced by outside evil forces, but it's not explained what.
- The Faceless: She's never seen taking off that helmet, which obscures her entire face, though her mouth was at least visible in their Warcraft III design. She's finally seen without her helmet and armor after being taken captive by the Legion.
- Fantastic Racism: She despises magic itself, but has a special hatred for her kin, its Highborne practitioners; she began outright murdering them when they reintegrated into night elf society. She also extends this hatred to their descendants, the high/blood elves, whom she derides as an arcane-cursed race. She also refers to blood elves and naga as "bastard races".
- For Great Justice: A dark version. Her battle cries are often this, with one even being "For justice!" Though as time goes on and her Knight Templar behavior becomes more apparent she's clearly warped justice into personal vengeance.
- Godzilla Threshold: The Burning Legion's invasion of Azeroth ends up having her free the Demon Hunter player characters in hope of having them aid against the Legion:Maiev: "Illidari.... I've spent my entire life as keeper of the wicked. Thousands of years, my only solace, knowing the world has kept safe from your kind. But I would do anything to save Azeroth." — shatters the prison containing the Demon Hunter — "Even if it means releasing you. Will you help us, Demon Hunter?"
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Challenge her on what she thinks is right, and watch how quickly she stops being so civil. Luckily, she can usually keep it hidden under a frosty exterior, but her annoyance often leaches out in the form of snark.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: After her murders in Wolfheart, she seems to have turned over a new leaf again in Legion, making up with her brother Jarod, who also suggests she was under an outside influence during Wolfheart.
- I Am the Noun: Her revival quote is "I am the hand of justice!"
- Improbable Weapon User: Her Umbra Crescent is a large ring glaive.
- Inspector Javert: She was this to Illidan when he was first released, devoting a massive amount of time and energy to recapturing him...but as time went on, it became less about justice and more about vengeance for the Wardens who died guarding or trying to recapture him (some under her watch). Fully threw it out the window when she chased after him after he was officially exiled and finally killed him for vengeance's sake cloaked in "justice".
- It's Personal: Recapturing Illidan was initially a part of her duty as his jailer, but after Illidan became responsible for Naisha's death? It became personal.
- Karma Houdini: Legion shows that Maiev has not suffered many consequences for her murderous actions during the Wolfheart novel. Despite the fact that she and her followers should be fugitives, they apparently just moved back into the prison that they were occupying at the time and are seemingly are on good enough grounds with the Alliance that Khadgar can come to them for aid. Her brother Jarod does give an explanation that she was possibly under an outside influence in Wolfheart, though it's not explained what or how.
- Knight Templar: She's ruthlessly devoted to her justice and will do whatever she can to enforce it, no matter the costs. Even when it ultimately becomes nothing but vengeance.
- Magic Knight: She is fast, strong and proficient with short distance teleportation for ambush and escape.
- Mirror Character: To Illidan. Akama highlighted it best in the Illidan novel.Akama: You are more like him than you can possibly know. You are just as ruthless and just as obsessed. You sacrificed your friends without a second thought when it suited your purpose.
- A Mother to Her Men: She greatly cares for her fellow Watchers. She was angry at Tyrande not only for releasing Illidan, but for killing some of her watchers, and she is consumed by revenge after Illidan buries some alive, including her lieutenant Naisha. During the fight against Illidan, she dedicates one of the attacks to Naisha.
- Never My Fault: Because of how often she sees herself as being in the right, Maiev has a bad habit of placing blame on others for her own mistakes either through not adequately supporting her or questioning her methods; when she traveled across Outland recruiting against Illidan, she was turned away by several Draenei villages and even the naaru, upon whom she at least partially blamed for her eventual loss against Illidan despite her refusing to get out once it was obvious it was a trap. It's only in extreme circumstances that she finally admits fault, such as when all of her comrades were slaughtered and she was captured.
- Not Quite Dead: Between the end of The Frozen Throne and Burning Crusade, Maiev's fate was officially unknown, though the (now non-canon) Warcraft RPG stated she died alone in Outland.
- Revenge: Sought it against Illidan, seeing him as responsible for Naisha's death.
- Rings of Death: Wields a large ring glaive as her primary weapon.
- Satellite Character: The bulk of her character revolves around her charge of being Illidan's warden, and her obsessive hatred of him. While Wolfheart does give her some standalone character development outside of this — showing her disdain of all arcane wielders — most of her in-game appearances are related to Illidan's presence in some way.
- She Who Fights Monsters: With a dash of Jumping Off the Slippery Slope. Maiev's so obsessed with capturing Illidan that she tries to convince Malfurion that Tyrande (who released Illidan to begin with) has died so that he will not delay the search or hold back against Illidan, aware that she's really Not Quite Dead. The Wolfheart novel is a Wham Episode set years after her subtle betrayal, and Illidan shows her in the midst of said breakdown during the hunt.Malfurion: Who is the betrayer now, Maiev?
- So What Do We Do Now?: After Illidan's death, Maiev realizes that her life has become meaningless, with Illidan's dying words saying that The Huntress is nothing without The Hunted.
- Trap Master: During the fight with Illidan, it is possible to place him within one of her traps in order to render him vulnerable.
- Unscrupulous Hero: She's dedicated to bringing a dangerous fugitive to justice, but her methods are extreme enough that Malfurion, who might otherwise sympathize with her goal, refuses to condone them. And then she threw being a hero out the window once said fugitive was finally dead. Ultimately, however, as of Legion, it's revealed that in spite all those, she's still willing to fight for Azeroth's sake against the Burning Legion, reclaiming a bit parts of the hero she was, but she's still not a nice person.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Downplayed. Maiev's white hair is visible even with all the armors covering her. She's not a nice person and once committed a great crime once she was driven to Black-and-White Insanity in Wolfheart, but she's not pure evil.
Jarod Shadowsong
Jarod Shadowsong
Class: Warrior
Voiced by: Greg Chun (English)
"I'm no hero, Master Malfurion. You and the others slay demons with barely the wave of a hand. I just try to preserve your heads so that you can continue to do it."
Maiev's younger brother, Jarod was a captain of the Kaldorei Resistance during the War of the Ancients. When the leader of the resistance, Lord Ravencrest, was assassinated on the orders of Queen Azshara, command passed to the incompetent Desdel Stareye. When Stareye himself was killed in a disastrous battle, Jarod took over command and led the resistance against the Burning Legion until the Well of Eternity was destroyed and the world was sundered.Following the War of the Ancients, he led the night elves alongside Tyrande and Malfurion, but eventually decided to leave with a priestess named Shalasyr whom he had fallen in love with. He was not seen for thousands of years until Cataclysm, when he suddenly returned and took command against Raganaros' fire elementals in Hyjal. He later appears in Legion on the Broken Isles, looking for his sister Maiev in Black Rook Hold.
- Badass Normal: Jarod has no magic of any sort but is surrounded by a variety of spellcasters during the War of the Ancients. Despite this, he's a capable warrior and strategist and manages to hold his own.
- The Bus Came Back: He was gone for almost 10,000 before he suddenly came back in Cataclysm. The novel Wolfheart explains his absence and return as having gone to live in seclusion with a priestess named Shalasyr, only returning to let her die among her people again.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: He is covered from neck to toe in plate armor, but doesn't wear a helmet, unlike his sister.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Despite his competence, Jarod really doesn't want to be a hero and leader. He'd rather live a quiet and comfortable life in seclusion.
- In the Hood: Wears a hood over his head in all his appearances in Legion.
- Shoulders of Doom: Wears a massive pair of pauldrons as part of his armor.
- You Are in Command Now: He became leader of the Kaldorei Resistance after Ravencrest was assassinated and Stareye died in battle.
Fandral Staghelm
Fandral Staghelm
Class: Druid
Voiced by: Cam Clarke (English), Valery Storozhik (Russian)
"Speak quickly, young one. I have urgent matters to attend to."
Leader of druids and the Cenarion Circle while Malfurion was trapped in the Emerald Dream, and the one responsible for planting Teldrassil, the second World Tree (against Malfurion's advice) after Nordrassil fell in the war. During his reign as head of the druids, he was in a constant power-struggle with Tyrande over the question of who should be ruling the night elves. Fandral was the leader in the war of Shifting Sands that prevented the silithid taking over Kalimdor, at the cost of his son, Valstann, who was brutally executed right in front of him. Since his son's death, he has sworn to bring him back in any way possible.In the events of the Stormrage novel, it was revealed that Fandral was, in fact, responsible for poisoning Malfurion and trapping him in the Emerald Dream. He was being manipulated by a conjured image of his son; it was at the image's behest to poison Malfurion and grow Teldrassil in the first place. After the vision was broken, Fandral fell into madness and lost his mind. He was then put under the care of the Wardens in Mount Hyjal, but was broken out by the forces of the Firelands, becoming leader of the newly established Druids of the Flame.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Used to be Malfurion's student.
- Cynicism Catalyst: The death of his son, after which point he makes the decision to shatter the Scepter of the Sands he was entrusted with by the dragonflights.
- Despair Event Horizon: The death of his son, which led to him taking a level in jerkass.
- Face–Heel Turn: He might have been crazy at the end of Stormrage and during the events of the Hyjal quest chain, but he's gone completely off the wagon in the Firelands by allying himself with Ragnaros against Malfurion.
- Fallen Hero: Once was a noble hero for the Night Elf people, but over time his grief and racism caused him to fall into madness. By the time of Cataclysm, he joins the Druids of Fire and becomes The Dragon for Ragnaros.
- Fantastic Racism: Believes that only night elves are only true druids and superior to other races, even after they lost their immortality.
- Freudian Excuse: The Silithus quest chain sure show how he Took a Level in Jerkass.
- Generation Xerox: His daughter-in-law Leyara turns evil after Garrosh's Ashenvale invasion results in her daughter's death.
- Jerkass: He's cold and arrogant to everyone and his hot-blooded temper has caused him to get into lots of conflicts with both Malfurion and Tyrande.
- Killed Off for Real: Ultimately killed by the end of The Fireland's raid.
- Love Makes You Evil: He joins up with Xavius in the belief that his son can be resurrected, and after this turns out to be false, joins Ragnaros because he doesn't want to live in a world without his son.
- The Man Behind the Man: Is implied to be the one behind the Night Elves' actions against the Blood Elves in the Ghostlands, as Tyrande, at the time, had no reason to actively antagonize the Blood Elves before they had officially joined the Horde.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When saronite began to pour from the earth across the planet, he decided to repeat the elves' strategy of containing it with a tree, planting World Tree saplings in each site. This resulted in the World Tree Andrassil and the five Great Trees that dot Azeroth's continents. Though the World Tree breached Yogg-Saron's prison and was corrupted, forcing the elves to kill it, the saronite containment was a success and the Great Trees were left alive. Little did they know that those trees gave the corruption of Yogg-Saron a connection to the Emerald Dream, and that through that connection he would allow his brethren to warp the Dream into a Nightmare...
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Fandral's first act upon joining Ragnaros is to attack Thrall, splitting him into four pieces to agitate the elements; but in splitting him apart, it exposed Thrall's personal weaknesses, and Aggra forced him to confront them. When Aggra and a legion of Horde and Alliance players manage to put him back together, instead of a conflicted Thrall, Ragnaros and Fandral will have a rejuvenated Go'el after them.
- Playing with Fire: Fandral is a boss in the Firelands raid, as the leader of the "Druids of the Flame," who can use fire-based powers and transform into new animal forms, including a fire cat and scorpion.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Due to the death of his son.
- Unwitting Pawn: The whole disaster around Teldrassil's creation is because Xavius impersonated his son's spirit in order to convince Fandral to create World Tree Mk. II... not knowing that Xavius had planted a demonic trace in it from the beginning.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: He only wears a skirt in Silithus flashbacks. Just take a look.◊
Shandris Feathermoon
Shandris Feathermoon
Class: Hunter
Voiced by: Courtenay Taylor (English)
- Action Girl: Despite starting off as The Load in the War of the Ancients, she trained and became the best Archer in the world.
- Big Damn Heroes: Shows up with a group of sentinels to save the player from Cho'gall in Dire Maul, forcing him to give up his efforts of recruiting the ogres there.
- Child Soldier: Played with. She wasn't a full adult by Night Elf standards when she chose to take up arms against the Burning Legion, but she may have been the Night Elf equivalent of a young teenager.
- Four-Star Badass: General of the Sentinels and a highly adept fighter in her own right.
- Happily Adopted: By Tyrande, who took her under her wing after the War of the Ancients, in which Shandris' parents were killed.
- Hero-Worshipper: Towards Tyrande in the War of the Ancients trilogy, even though Tyrande tells her not to.
- Mage Marksman: As mentioned, she is a very skilled archer, but she also has a beefed up Moonfire spell (called Prayer of the Moon Goddess), which deals tons of damage.
- Master Archer: Considered to be the best archer in Azeroth, (maybe) even surpassing the Windrunner sisters (Sylvanas "I-can-shoot-a-flying-bird-in-the-eye", Alleria and Vereesa).
- Number Two: As the General of the Sentinels, she's the second-highest in command of the night elf military under Tyrande.
- Only Sane Woman: She takes this role for the night elven leadership following the burning of Teldrassil, being the one to see cooperation with the rest of the Alliance as the best path to avenging Teldrassil rather than holding their allies at arms length. In Shadows Rising she's the one to suggest that they don't need to forgive the Horde to be able to collaborate with them to stop a greater threat.
- Out of Focus: Suffered from this for a long time from Cataclysm until Battle for Azeroth has her joined the Alliance War Campaign.
- Precocious Crush: To Jarod Shadowsong in the War of the Ancients.
- Ship Tease: With Jarod Shadowsong in Wolfheart, implying that something may happen after Jarod has enough time to properly mourn his wife.
Broll Bearmantle
Broll Bearmantle
Class: Druid
Voiced by: Alan Shearman (English), Boris Bystrov (Russian)
- Alliterative Name: Broll Bearmantle
- Bears Are Bad News: As his name suggests, his preferred animal form is the bear. Unfortunately, it also became the only form he could change into.
- The Berserker: His anger issues and his use of the bear form causes him to literally behave like a raging animal in battle.
- Druid: Broll is one of the more notable night elf druids in the story.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: The loss of his daughter left him with a barely contained temper. It is only later that he manages to calm his mind.
- Horned Humanoid: Broll was born with antlers, a rare gift and a sign he would go on to do great things.
- Like a Son to Me: Broll sees some of his daughter Anessa in Valeera.
- Magic Staff: His druid staff is adorned with a wooden stag head.
- Odd Friendship:
- With Valeera Sanguinar, a blood elf rogue of all things (though she's not allied with the Horde). Broll treats her almost like a daughter.
- Has one with Hamuul Runetotem, the Horde's archdruid in Stormrage. Broll even consider him one of his closest friends.
- Parental Substitute: Slightly with Valeera, but he sees her as his daughter more than she sees him as her father.
- Shapeshifter: He's a powerful druid with the ability to shapeshift into a bear.
- The Bus Came Back: After Stormrage (shortly before Cataclysm) Broll all but vanished, except for a minor cameo helping plan an attack on Kalimdor in Tides of War. In Legion, he's back as one of the champions in the Druid Class Hall and can even join the player out in the field as a bodyguard.
- True Companions: Even after the trio broke up when the comics shifted focus to Med'an, Varian, Broll, and Valeera remain friends.
Cordana Felsong
Cordana Felsong
Class: Warden
A Warden that serves as the Archmage Khadgar's bodyguard in Warlords of Draenor.- Brainwashed and Crazy: After Khadgar and the player character free Garona from Gul'dan's control, Cordana becomes his new right-hand woman. Her treachery is revealed when she tries to steal the ring the player character and Khadgar forged and empowered. It's heavily implied this began as soon as Cordana touched Gul'dan's Shadow Orb when she said she would destroy it.
- However, if Xal'atath's whisper is to be believed (which, as with anything to do with an old god, is a grain of salt) Cordana had turned coat centuries ago and was biding her time until the right power came along to justify openly turning traitor, opening up the possibility she was Not Brainwashed.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Her charge is one of the most powerful mages in Azeroth.
- Cool Helmet: Wears a warden's helm just like Maiev's. It becomes even more bladed and gains a fel magic glow when she comes under Gul'dan's control.
- Genre Blind: Though she's usually quite smart she should've been careful when holding a warlock's magical mind control artifact in her hands.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Develops green ones once she comes under Gul'dan's control.
- Servile Snarker: Though she's Khadgar's bodyguard, she's not afraid to call him out when she thinks his plans are crazy.
- Ship Tease: With Khadgar in Warlords of Draenor, as some of her lines came across as doting or even flirtatious.
- Spikes of Villainy: Initially subverted. Cordana's armor and weapons are covered in spikes and blades but she is a good and rational character. This is also standard equipment for most Night Elf Wardens and her model is actually an exact copy of Maiev's. Played straight after Gul'dan brainwashes her and her armor gains more blades and spikes.
- Tragic Villain: Cordana was brainwashed by Gul'dan and became his Brainwashed and Crazy puppet, so she is not at fault for all the horrible things she has done. Sadly, very few people are aware of this and Cordana will be remembered in history as a traitor that helped the Burning Legion. This is a a whole new level of tragic because unlike most of previous tragic villains, Cordana never had any control over her actions.
Ralaar Fangfire/Alpha Prime
Ralaar Fangfire/Alpha Prime
Class: Druid
Ralaar was a Night Elf whom, during the War of the Satyr, practiced the Pack Form alongside his friend Arvell. Because of the dangers in using its power, it was forbidden by Malfurion. After Arvell's death, Ralaar delved further into the use of the Pact Form's power. Leading other druids into using its power, he convinced the priestess Belysra to create the Scythe of Elune to further enhance the Pact Form's power, creating what we know today as Worgen. Renaming himself Alpha Prime, the Druids of the Scythe laid waste to Satyr and Night Elves both in their primal fury. Eventually, Malfurion used the Scythe to banish Alpha Prime and his Worgen to the Emerald Dream, until the Archmage Arugal summoned them into Silverpine Forest.Once freed, Alpha Prime began to convert humans into Worgen, created a "Wolf Cult" within Gilneas, and eventually lead the Sacking of Gilneas City.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Raraal was one of the students under Malfurion, but came to curse Malfurion's name in his new form.
- Cult of Personality: Alpha Prime's Wolf Cult within Gilneas was made to indoctrinate its citizens into his "purity of essence".
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Alpha Prime has claw marks running over his muzzle, a sign of his savagery.
- Manipulative Bastard: Alpha Prime presents himself as a friend to Halford Ramsey, trying to talk him into accepting his existence as a worgen and to side with him. In reality, Alpha Prime feared Ramsey would uncover enough of his plot to undermine it, and so converted him to keep him out of the way.
- Pure Is Not Good: Alpha Prime believes it is the purity of his worgen that will prevail. That is, the purity of their rage and ferocity.
- Revenge: Alpha Prime's goals within Gilneas and all he does are in the name of revenge against Malfurion Stormrage. He plans to build an army of Worgen to march on Darnassus.
- Savage Wolves: The Pack Form drew on the fury of Goldrinn to transform Druids into wolves themselves. With the Scythe of Elune, the wolf Druids permanently became worgen.
- That Man Is Dead: Alpha Prime routinely denounces his former name as Raraal after his transformation.
- Unstoppable Rage: Alpha Prime and the Druids of the Scythe are controlled by their primal rage and bloodlust.
Kur'talos Ravencrest
Lord Kur'talos Ravencrest
Class: Warrior
Lord Ravencrest was the master of Black Rook Hold and leader of the Kaldorei Resistance during the War of the Ancients. While not part of the Highborne, Ravencrest was still considered one of the most powerful nobles of the Kaldorei Empire. When the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth 10,000 years ago, he organised the resistance against them. He was eventually assassinated by one of Varo'then's assassins on Azshara's order. Command first passed to the incompetent Desdel Stareye until he was killed, after which command was given to his protege Jarod Shadowsong who led the resistance for the rest of the war.In World of Warcraft: Legion, he is raised as an undead to serve the Burning Legion. From his castle of Black Rook Hold in Val'sharah, he organises his now-undead troops against the defenders of Azeroth, in the belief that the War of the Ancients is still happening and that he is fighting against the demon invaders.
- Big Fancy Castle: Black Rook Hold is a huge black castle apparently carved out of a mountain in Val'sharah.
- Bling of War: Wears a distinct set of green and silver plate armor, decorated with raven heads and feathers. Legion has it turned black and grey instead, but a painting in Black Rook Hold still shows it in green and silver.
- Came Back Wrong: Raised to serve the demons in Legion, he is still reliving the War of the Ancients and leads his army against the mortal defenders of Azeroth as he sees them as the invading demons. His mind is cleared once he is beaten in Black Rook Hold.
- Cool Helmet: Along with his armor, he wears a distinct open-faced green and silver helmet, decorated with a raven's head and a raven-feather plume.
- Cool Sword: Wields a sword with a large curved blade and a golden dragon's head for a guard. After being raised as undead, the sword is turned black.
- Four-Star Badass: An accomplished general and a great warrior.
- Haunted Castle: Black Rook Hold has been abandoned since the War of the Ancients, with only ghosts wandering its halls. Come Legion it becomes the garrison of an army of undead elves.
- In the Back: During the War of the Ancients, Lord Ravencrest was murdered by a Night Elf assassin loyal to Azshara and the Highborne who stabbed the commander in the back of the neck with a knife while he was busy on the front lines.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Jarod Shadowsong regarded him as his mentor, and his death leads to Jarod himself stepping up to a leadership role.
- Noble Bigot with a Badge: He genuinely cares about his people and was a good leader, but he was somewhat disdainful of non-night elves. Even his own racist second in command only accepted them because Rhonin, Brox and Krasus threatened to leave, which would kill morale.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In a flashback quest to Illidan's past in Legion, he calls out Illidan for sacrificing and draining the lives of his fellow Moon Guard mages to fuel his magic and destroy the demon threat invading Black Rook Hold.
- Worf Had the Flu: When he is easily beaten in Black Rook Hold, his advisor reveals himself as a dreadlord and angrily notes that being dead for 10,000 years has not been kind to him, implying he was much stronger when he was alive.
Sira Moonwarden
