Legacy of the Amani begins with a grand revelation. The trolls and the elves of Azeroth are related. Specifically, they’re related to the Haranir.
Generations upon generations ago, we Haranir stalked the forests of the world above, until we heard the call of our Goddess. Seeking her warmth, some left the forest behind, vanishing deep within the sacred hollows of the world. But many Haranir remained above, and over time, they changed. Splintering apart as millenia passed, giving rise to mighty empires and terrible wars fought by those who had forgotten they had ever been one people at all. But here we are together, Elves, Trolls, and Haranir. We are all the descendants of one lineage. We are – in essence one – people.
What We Knew Already
A lot of this information was already known to us. During the main Harandar campaign, we learned that, many centuries ago, the Haranir used to live on the surface – on Mount Hyjal, where they took care to remain hidden from all, including the Titan Keepers who – back then – walked the earth.
Zur’ashar Kassameh says: Countless generations ago our people walked beneath the trees of the great mountain.
Zur’ashar Kassameh says: None knew of our presence. Not the giant whose steps shook the earth… nor her massive beasts.
In time, the Haranir heard a call from their goddess – Azeroth – and many followed the call to Harandar, while others remained on the surface.
Zur’ashar Kassameh says: Our longing was answered by a song from the depths of the world.
Zur’ashar Kassameh says: Not all heeded the goddess’s call, but the Hara’ti followed the Song.
Zur’ashar Kassameh says: The journey was long and very difficult. We faced many hardships on the way.
The Dark Trolls
The Haranir who stayed above sound very similar to the Dark Trolls, the ancestors of the elves.
According to Chronicles,
Before their war with the aqir, the troll tribes claimed large swaths of Kalimdor. Many of these groups, such as the Gurubashi and the Amani, clashed with each other over hunting grounds and territory. Yet one tribe was unconcerned with these battles for land and power. Known as dark trolls, they lived in a network of deep caverns that stretched beneath Mount Hyjal. They abhorred daylight, only emerging from their underground burrows at night. The dark trolls’ nocturnal habits changed them over time, turning their blue-hued skin into shades of gray.
The dark trolls cherished their independence from greater troll society, and they largely ignored the activities of other tribes. Unlike their Gurubashi and Amani cousins, they longed for a peaceful connection to the natural world. Dark troll mystics often sought ways to commune with the land and live in harmony with it. Many of these trolls gradually migrated toward the center of Kalimdor. They explored the labyrinthine groves at the heart of the continent, crossing paths with the elusive faerie dragons, chimaeras, and dryads. In time, the dark trolls also discovered an enormous lake of scintillating energies, a lake they would later know as the Well of Eternity.
Mesmerized by their discovery, the dark trolls settled along the Well of Eternity’s shores. Over generations, the energies radiating from the lake suffused the trolls’ flesh and bones, elevating their forms to match their graceful spirits. They transformed into highly intelligent and virtually immortal beings. These former trolls gradually abandoned their ancient heritage and traditions. The tribe’s mystics began worshipping the moon goddess, Elune, who they believed was bound to the Well of Eternity itself. They claimed that the deity slumbered within the fount’s depths during daylight hours.
The former trolls also discovered the name “Kalimdor” and other titan-forged words from communing with Elune and investigating strange artifacts scattered around the Well’s periphery. Influenced by this newfound language, they called themselves kaldorei—“children of the stars”—or night elves.
We’ve also encountered Dark Trolls before. They very clearly weren’t Haranir, but they weren’t Night Elves either.
In Warcraft 3, the Night Elves take out small settlements of Dark Trolls in Winterspring Valley during their campaign, but one group of Dark Trolls, the Shadowtooth clan, ended up joining in the last stand against the Burning Legion. By World of Warcraft, Dark Trolls were extremely rare and we only had scattered reported sightings of them at the most – keeping up with that reputation for staying hidden. But a Dark Troll member of the Shadowtooth clan has shown up in Season of Discovery, which Blizzard enjoys littering with little lore hints. In the quest The Wild Gods, a Shadowtooth Emissary is concerned about the loa of Hyjal, who have been disappearing. So back then, at least a few Dark Trolls still lived in Hyjal, and they worshiped the loa there.
By the time we visited Hyjal in Cataclysm, the Shadowtooth Dark Trolls were nowhere to be found, and we heard nothing from them at all until Battle for Azeroth, where we finally met a Dark Troll for ourselves. Speaker Ik’nal of the Shadowtooth Clan can be found in Dazar’alor, and she tells us she’s the last of her clan.
Now, obviously the Shadowtooth Dark Trolls are not the same Dark Trolls who transformed into the Night Elves – those Dark Trolls were the ones who journeyed to the Well of Eternity, while the Shadowtooth were ones who stayed behind in Hyjal. But they were all once Dark Trolls who lived in Hyjal, where they liked to stay hidden – a description which almost perfectly matches the Haranir who stayed behind in Hyjal as well. If all the Elves and Trolls are descended from this original group of Haranir, then the Dark Trolls were likely one of the very earliest groups to form.
Before The Trolls
It’s also really important to note that the idea that there was some race before the trolls – that the trolls came from – is not a new concept. Thank you to Nobbel for pointing this out, but in Vol’jin, Shadow of the Horde, in a conversation that Vol’jin has with the spirit of his father, his father says this,
Do you be knowing what we called ourselves before we called ourselves trolls?
“I never…” Vol’jin frowned. “I don’t know, Father. What?”
“Neither do I, my son.” The troll spirit bobbed his head. “It be certain we were something before we became trolls, and likely gonna be something after. The Zandalari have always tried to shape what we be, and others have used circumstance to be reinforcing those ideas. However, I be not doubting that twenty millennia from now the question will be asked, “Do you know what they called us before we called ourselves Horde?”
While yes, the spirit of Vol’jin’s father is only speculating, the point is that the idea that there was some race before the trolls was already established in the lore.
It’s also important to note that it isn’t meant to erase the Dark Trolls either. Right after the reveal, we speak with Talanji – and she mentions the Dark Trolls specifically.
De Zandalari Empire has de oldest libraries. We knew of de dark trolls, de earliest days of de night elves, and de mogu. How could we not have heard of dis?
To think we would have such a gap in our history. No, we must know more. We must have proof.
Another thing that’s worth noting is, while the Haranir speak as if theirs is the race everyone’s descended from, the truth is probably far more that the Haranir we know today have also changed over time, in the same way that Trolls and Elves have. That everyone shares a common ancestor – who the Haranir would call Haranir – because that’s what they recognize – but the Trolls might just refer to them as Trolls, and wouldn’t even be wrong if that’s the word they chose, because the Haranir are close enough to trolls for that word to work for them fine. In other words, the Haranir’s claim that the original race were Haranir could just be their perspective – their choice of words. After the reveal, Kinduru even says as much.
De haranir say dey were de first to walk amongst de trees of Azeroth. I’m sure every race has an origin myth like dis.
We also already know that Tauren mythology names them as the oldest sentient mortal creatures to walk the earth, but also that they’re actually descended from a similar race known as the yuangol. This knowledge of history also doesn’t seem to get in the way of their mythology – possibly because they understand that yuangol or tauren, the name doesn’t matter so much as the belief that their people were created directly by the Earth Mother.
Orweyna claims she has proof, but the proof she shows us is that the trolls and Haranir are related, something I could have told you after, you know, looking at them. It’s not actually proof that the Haranir – as they are today – were the original race.
It was already clear that the Haranir, Elves, and Trolls are related, but there is some controversy about the idea that the Haranir were the original race, and not the trolls. However, this could just be down to perspective. The Haranir might call the earliest race Haranir, but the Trolls might just as easily call that same race Trolls or even Dark Trolls.
