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Phoenix design
Blood Elven Building
The Blood Elves are a faction of former High Elves that wield arcane magic. They will join the Horde in the Burning Crusade expansion. Their capital will be Silvermoon.
Introduction and History
Prince Kael'Thas Sunstrider
Ten thousand years ago, during the reign of the Night Elf Queen Azshara, there was an elite magic-using sect known as the Highborne, who dabbled in magics that many other Elves considered heretical by drawing upon the power of the Well of Eternity. Several centuries after the Sundering, which destroyed the Well of Eternity, the Highborne left Kalimdor and settled on the Eastern Continent, founding the kingdom of Quel'Thalas. They became known as the High Elves. During this time, they created the Sunwell, and switched to a diurnal waking cycle, instead of the nocturnal cycle they had kept when they were Night Elves. Their purple skin eventually faded to a pale peach color, like that of the Humans and dwarves.
The High Elves assisted the Alliance of Lordaeron in the Second War against the Horde and in the war against the Burning Legion. During that conflict, however, Prince Arthas led his army of the Undead against them, ravaging Quel'Thalas and corrupting the Sunwell. The High Elves were nearly wiped out in the conflict. In rememberance of their fallen brethren, many renamed themselves the Blood Elves, or Sin'Dorei, and swore to avenge their fallen race.
Cut off from their source of power once again, the Elves went into magic withdrawal. Desperate for aid following the Third War, the Blood Elves accepted help from the naga. This was seen as treachery by the Alliance and they were sentenced to death. Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider led his followers to freedom, to the extra dimensional wastes of Outland, the remnants of Draenor, to pledge allegience to Illidan who promised to grant them a new source of magic by siphoning the chaotic energies of demons. Together with their allies the naga, Illidan led the blood elves to conquer Outland, gaining in the process the friendship of the nearly extinct draenei.
The Blood Elves then followed Illidan to the Icecrown Glacier in an attempt to destroy the Lich King, however, their plans were foiled by Arthas who wounded Illidan forcing the allied Blood Elves and naga to retreat, allowing Arthas to ascend the glacier and merge with the Lich King.
Physical Appearance
According to Alliance Player's Guide, Alliance & Horde Compendium, and World of Warcraft RPG, High Elves and Blood Elves essentially look the same, usually having blue or green eyes (though the eyes do not always glow). The only difference between the two races is that Blood Elves tend to have unique hair styles, wear blood red and black clothes, and have runic tattoos painted on their bodies. That being said the differences are enough that before the time of World of Warcraft, Blood Elfs would often disguise themselves as High Elfs when traveling through alliance lands in order avoid harm. Now that they have joined the horde they no longer wear disguises to hide their identities.
In the Road to Damnation short story, taking place before the destruction of Quel'thalas, Prince Kael'thas is seen in a screenshot using the new blood elf model. This likely means that the blood elves have had no physical alteration since the loss of the Sunwell. The changes in physical appearance, such as the green eyes that were rumored to be caused by fel energies, actually have no lore explanation and are simply the new look blizzard has come up with. It is expected that if Kael'thas (who is known as a high elf at the time) is using the new model, that all the other high elves will use it too come expansion.
As the game currently stands, Blizzard chose to seperate Blood elves from High Elves by giving them seperate in-game models. High elves tend to have blue eyes, white to light blond hair, and appear more pale and sickly in nature compared to the models of the Blood Elves. Blood Elves tend to have more reddish-tinged skin, and crimson or violet-colored eyes, as well as usually having more elaborate haircuts.
The Burning Crusade playable race
History
Starting Area: Sunstrider Isle
Female Blood Elf
Not all blood elves currenty reside in Outland, some have remained in Azeroth. Flushed with their new found power born from their ability to tap into demonic energies from the Twisting Nether, the blood elves' have managed to retake their beloved land of Quel'Thalas. Silvermoon has been rebuilt and the resident blood elves there plot to return to Outland, where they can reunite with Kael'thas and achieve the golden destiny he promised them.
Unfortunately, the blood elves' practice of embracing demonic energies resulted in them being shunned by their former comrades in the Alliance. Thus, the remaining blood elves on Azeroth look desperately to the Horde to help them reach Outland. This is an alliance based mostly on the Blood Elves newly attained power of Paladins. The orcs are wary of accepting them, but the tactical advantage the of Blood Knights is a huge buff for the horde forces. It is unknown what relation Sylvanas Windrunner, leader of the Forsaken, will have to the blood elves. At E3 the blood elves had no Undercity reputation bar on their reputation tab, so blood elves may only tolerate the forsaken and not be able to raise reputation with them. A lot of the forsaken would have been involved in the siege on Quel'thalas, which could explain a possible distrust between the two races.
The blood elf languages will be Sindassi and Orcish, and they will be able to pick the warrior, priest, warlock, rogue, mage and Paladin(Blood Knight) classes, according to an update by Blizzard developer Eyonix on the official WoW General forum. They will also be able to pick the paladin class due to a recent Blizzard update [1]. It should be noted that these things are ALWAYS subject to change, and nothing is set in stone until the actual release of the expansion.
High Elves
The Blood Elves were formerly known as High Elves, before the Undead Scourge's attack on Quel'Thalas. Following the Scourge's invasion, Kael'thas decided to rename his people as Blood Elves, to honor their brethren who had fallen in battle against the Scourge.
Racial Abilities
A Blood Elf Spell Breaker
From Blood Elf and Draenei Racial Abilities (Bluetracker copy), posted by Drysc:
Since our showing at E3, we have seen many threads and articles discussing the Blood Elf and draenei racial abilities, and were happy to see so many players excited about these two new races! In some cases these conversations have included misinterpreted or otherwise incorrect statements of the abilities of these two new races. Below we have listed the abilities that were shown at E3 for both the Blood Elf and Draenei.
Please keep in mind that these abilities may change before the release of The Burning Crusade expansion.
Classes
Blood Elves can be the following classes:
Template:Blood Elf Traits
Magical Addiction
Since the destruction of the Sunwell at the hands of Arthas and the Scourge, the Blood Elves have been forced to deal with the sudden relapse of their addiction to arcane energy. A constant curse since the original Well of Eternity was destroyed, the addiction has become more powerful than ever. Blood Elves spend their waking days struggling with their weakness, seeking either to sate it by siphoning magical energy from their surroundings or to resist the urge to feed.
While the Blood Elves do not abstain from draining arcane power directly, as their more squeamish High Elf cousins do, they are careful to keep their addictions under control, keeping the power their new abilities offer while maintaining self-discipline. Those who lose control over their addiction are known as "the Winnowed," and invariably fall into insanity and corruption.
As Arcanist Helion (a starting zone quest NPC) says, "Control your thirst for magic...It is a thirst unending." [3]
Culture
They wear crimson-colored robes to suggest their fiery affiliation and the blood of the fallen Elves in Quel'thalas. Many Blood Elves concentrate on studying arcane and fire magic, as opposed to the traditional frost and water spells of the high elves.
Blood Elf architecture is breathtaking. It involves pendulous creations of wonderous curves and columns, its designs natural, floral, flowing, animal. Their fountains seem to defy physical boundaries, creating or warping water in impossible ways.
Blood Elves have flags that feature a phoenix. In the Third War, Blood Mages had the ability to call phoenixes from the Elemental Plane of fire. These creatures appear to be deeply connected with the Blood Elves, possibly because they share a destructive nature, or perhaps due to their purely magical composition. This could allow the Blood Elves to have increased control over them. Since the phoenix dies and becomes reborn, it could be a symbol for the Blood Elves - the Blood Elves metaphorically 'died' as High Elves and were reborn as Blood Elves.
Leadership in Quel'Thalas
Lor'themar Theron, Regent of Quel'Thalas: Leader of the Blood Elves on Azeroth in the Prince's absence
Grand Magister Rommath : Leader of all Blood Elf Magi on Azeroth, and a fiercely loyal servant of Kael'thas
Halduron Brightwing : Ranger-General of Silvermoon, the blood elves' military commander on Azeroth
See also
- History of the Blood Elves
- Official page for further information about Blood Elves, which is the new Horde race in The Burning Crusade
- Official History of the Blood Elves
- Rise of the Blood Elves, from the History of Warcraft
- Blood elf units in Warcraft III