Warning: Spoilers for this week’s Midnight story ahead!
The newest Midnight max level campaign storyline released this week, finally making good on a promise we were given back during Blizzcon – that we would see all the elves of Azeroth united. The chapter’s name is Gathering of the elves – and that’s what we do. We help gather all of Azeroth’s elves into one unified army that is preparing to march on the Darkwell and take it back from Xal’atath. But where is the rest of the Horde?
This is obviously no small feat. There are many factions of Elves, and they’re not all at peace – the Sin’dorei, or Blood Elves, and the Kaldorei, or Nightborne, are members of the Horde. The Quel’dorei, High Elves that splintered away from the faction before the rest of the Elves of Quel’Thalas became the Blood Elves; the Void Elves – Blood Elves who were exiled from Silvermoon after refusing to renounce the Void; and the Shal’dorei – or Night Elves, are, of course, members of the Alliance. While these factions have united over Elven causes before – such as the Nightborne’s liberation and the protection of Amirdrassil, there have also been many serious conflicts between them – the Purging of Dalaran and the Burning of Teldrassil were especially horrific. A lot of blood has been shed, and a lot of lives lost, but in the end, the threat of the Darkwell is too great, and it is this that makes the Elves of Azeroth agree to stand united as one.
But where exactly is the Horde in all of this? The Blood Elves are, after all, members of the Horde. The reason why they joined the Horde in the first place is because they needed allies – to help in situations exactly like this one. During the questline, Grand Magister Rommath even tells players, “I never thought I would see the day when I wish we could just throw orcs at a problem.” Leaving a lot of players wondering – why can’t we just throw orcs at this problem? Or, if the orcs are too far away, then why not the undead, who are just a short march away?
One possibility is that the elves are uniquely suited to deal with the Sunwell/Darkwell. Long ago, a group of “Dark Trolls” (who we can’t help but suspect may have been those Haranir who didn’t decide to journey to Harandar) settled by the Well of Eternity, and it was the magic from that well that changed them into the Elves. We now know that the Well of Eternity is a mixture of Azeroth’s own power – it is her lifeblood – and the power of the Cosmological force of Order – or Arcane. The Sunwell was created from a vial of the Well of Eternity – it was corrupted during the Scourge, but restored again with the heart of a Naaru – which means it’s influenced by the cosmological force of Light as well as Order now. Either way, all Elves have this inherent link to the Sunwell because of the same magic that makes them Elves to begin with. It’s understandable that they would want to defend it.
Another possibility is that many of the races of the Horde are already too busy with other duties, or have to keep away for some other reason. We have already seen that not all who follow the Light have been called to the Sunwell. For example, while Aponi Brightmane was called to join the Vanguard of the Light, many other tauren Sunwalkers, including Sunwalker Dezco, are instead in Hammerfall, helping to deal with the aftermath of the Red Dawn attacks – which also badly affected the Mag’har orcs. The Mag’har also don’t have a particularly good history with the Light – it was Light zealots who forced them to flee their own home world in the first place – so it’s possible they’re simply not interested in helping. The rest of the Horde’s orcs, not to mention trolls and tauren, are mostly in Kalimdor, so perhaps they’re considered too far away to call on in a hurry. As for the Forsaken – it’s possible it would be dangerous for them to venture too close to the Sunwell. The Light burns the undead, and the reason why they prefer to live in cold, dark places is because heat speeds up the process of decay on their bodies. Even Archmage Alonsus Faol, who is helping to protect the Sunwell, has admitted he can’t get too close to it because of how it burns him. An Undead army might just be too vulnerable in this fight.
However, there is one more group who you would think could have been called on to help: The Dragonflights. They’re pretty close, they can fly, they’ve recently been re-empowered, and they owe the mortal races of Azeroth a pretty big favor. The Blue Dragonflight is especially attuned to the Sunwell – its current leader, Kalecgos, even dated the Sunwell back when she was given a human form. (If you don’t already know that particular bit of lore – yeah you read that right, a dragon dated a magic well. It was all quite strange, if we’re being honest.) The Blue Dragonflight are also the sworn guardians of magic – an attack on something as magically powerful as the Sunwell should concern them greatly. So where are they, and why has no one apparently thought to call on them for help?
Hopefully, we’ll learn why some of these other groups seem to be missing from the current story pretty soon. Midnight’s story is far from over – we still have two more chapters of Midnight’s initial Max Level storyline to go, as well as a third and final raid, which is only opening up next week. So for now, we’ll have to wait and see.
