A Guide to Roleplaying a Night Elf character

Celegil's Guide to Roleplaying a Night Elf Character

I noticed there have been a few debates about what is seen as the good way to Role-play a Night Elf character. Some people think they are very nice, kind and pacifists while the others think they are rude, racist and warmongers. Due to these debates, I thought it would be handy if there was some kind of general guidance how a Night Elf should be role-played.

'''Disclaimer: I am NOT implying this is the way how you should Role-play a Night Elf. There is always something called creative freedom.'''

Chapter One: Arch-Types
'''Traditional<<>>Adventurous

1---510'''

As with all people, not everyone is the same. The same is with Night Elves and the outlook they have on the world. If we look at the most important groups of Night Elves we can conclude there are three major groups. I have made a scale from Traditional to Adventurous to define how characters act in Role-playing.

Traditional These Night Elves stay very close to their heritage. Their living areas are confined to Ashenvale Forest and live amongst nature. They are racist towards all other races in general, even if these races are trying to show their respect to the Night Elves. Perfect examples are Druids that are sleeping in the Emerald Dream and the Sentinels of Ashenvale.

Traditional Night Elves should be role-played like a Guardian of the Forest. He or she must spend most of their time in Ashenvale Forest, commuting with the forest spirits if he or she is a Druid, or creeping around the forest looking for Orcs if he or she is a Sentinel. Some of these Night Elves can see the New World Tree Teldrassil as a bad act. It depends if your character chooses a chance for Immortality over Nature if he or she agrees with Teldrassil. Most Traditional Night Elves are brutally violent, feral and loyal to their superiors.

Neutral / Identity Crisis These Night Elves are not sure which path they should follow. They were raises amongst a Traditional society but have seen the new world a.k.a The Eastern Kingdoms. They have a feeling they don’t belong to either group but do want to be part of a group. The only problem with that is that the Traditional group will declare them as deserters of the Night Elf culture while the Adventurous group will think they are still to traditional to be part of their group. Perfect examples are the Night Elf emissaries in Stormwind and Ironforge and Night Elves send to the Human or Dwarven lands by Darnassus.

Neutral Night Elves are mainly observers and try to learn more about the new races. They are generally friendly but clumsy in cities like Stormwind and Ironforge. They should be role-played like a farmer that has never seen a city for example. They are undergoing a culture shock that can either cause them to flee back to Ashenvale or totally embrace the new races and their technology.

Adventurous These Night Elves have broken with their traditional heritage. These are the free spirits that act upon their own judgment rather than following the rules set by their old culture. They respect the other races and share their knowledge with anyone that is willing to respect them. These Night Elves are travelers that explore the new world to gain insight about the combined history of both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Perfect examples are Night Elves that work for the Argent Dawn and Sentinels who have gone to work for themselves.

Adventurous Night Elves are a bit trickier to Role-play. It depends on your characters alignment what kind of activities your Night Elf likes to do. If your Night Elf is a chaotic good alignment, he or she will probably be very kind to the other races and will strive for peace and harmony for all the regions in the world. If your characters alignment is chaotic evil however, he or she will probably become a bandit or a Twilight cultist, thirsty for gold and power to afford the new technology they found.

As I said before, these groups work rather like a scale then a sorting table. Most Night Elves are between one of the three groups. It is very rare that a Night Elf is so racist that they are a number 1 kind of Elf. There might be Traditional Night Elves that are not completely sure about their heritage but still considers him or her traditional. These people would fall between the Traditional and Neutral group with numbers 2-4.

True Neutral people are also hard to be found. Most of them hang slightly towards Traditional or Adventurous rather than be completely neutral. The events that follow in their lives will determine if they will take the Traditional path or the Adventurous path. They could have the numbers 4 or 6 with 5 in the transition period.

The same counts for Adventurous Night Elves. There are no Night Elves that have completely broken with their heritage, thus making the number 10 Night Elf non-existent. There are however Night Elves that have accepted Human and Dwarven technology in their way of life and it is not uncommon that Adventurous Night Elves carry Guns instead of Bows. Most of them still worship Elune though, as a ritual that binds all Night Elves together.

How many Night Elves belong to a certain group? This is hard to say since there are no real numbers about how many Night Elves are actually in Azeroth. We can however imagine how many Night Elves belong to a certain group. Most likely, more than 80% is still part of the Traditional group. It has only been a few years that Night Elves have come into contact with the other races and a few years is considered a very short time for the long lived and former Immortal Night Elves. Therefore, most of them probably still serve in the same spot as they did before the Third War. If we look at the other groups it is most likely that less than 20% belong to the Neutral and Adventurous group.

Chapter Two: Culture, Classes and Behavior.
The culture of the Night Elves is one that is probably one of the older if not oldest culture that is known in Azeroth. It was largely redrawn after the War of the Ancients, going from a Humanlike civilization, back to a more Nature like civilization. The Night Elves believe they were created to defend the world from evil spirits by their deity Elune. Probably because their deity is considered a Woman, Night Elf society is mainly matriarchal with High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind leading both the Sisterhood of Elune AND the Night Elven army, the Sentinels. If we look at who has the actual power in Night Elven society, it could be called a dictatorship by Tyrande. However, it is known that she consults with her surrogate daughter, General Shandris Feathermoon of the Sentinels and the other high ranking Sisters.

Almost all females serve either the Sisterhood of Elune or the Sentinels. The Sisterhood mainly serves as some sort of school for Night Elves who wish to serve Elune and the general public. Most doctors and healers are Priestess’s in the Night Elven culture. The Sentinels are mostly woman who defend the Night Elf society and can be considered the Night Elf police. They are a low-tech army if you compare them to the Humans and the Dwarves. This doesn’t make them less deadly though. Most Sentinels rely on the cover of the night and the forest to kill their enemies. They mostly carry a bow and a small kind of weapon. Heavy losses of the Cenarion Circle have also opened the path of Druidic to women. In return, the Sentinels have started to accept Men.

When Role-playing a Female Night Elf character, you have to make a couple of choices. Firstly, you have to make a choice to with organization your character will belong. I will describe the types now individually:

'''Females:

Priestess of Elune:''' A Priestess will probably dedicate her entire life to the service of Elune. Most Priestess’s have a caring soul and try to help all beings in the world with their problems. They possess the power to heal people from injuries that might seem impossible to survive. They think before taking actions and are considered wise by many. Most Priestesses reside in Darnassus these days but there are Women that like to travel to the new world to learn more about other faiths. Most characters that belong to the Adventurous group are Priestess’s since they are willing to help all other beings.

These Women are not to be taken lightly though. Elune is not documented as a pacifist and the Sisters will resort to violence if they cannot find a peaceful way to end a conflict. That is why most Priestess’s can fight with their staffs or Moonglaives. Some Priestess’s also received Sentinel training. As an example, Tyrande Whisperwind is a Priestess, but she can also fight with her bow and her Moonglaive. Most Priestesses will wear a Robe with Moon marks on them.

Sentinel: Most Night Elf women who don’t become a Priestess will become a Sentinel. You could say that the Sentinels are the women that do not show the caring soul that the Priestesses’ posses. Most of them are the complete opposite of the Priestesses’. Rather than debating for hours on end, Sentinels take decisions on the spot. They are not particularly friendly to outsiders and anyone that wants to defile the forests they were ordered to guard, will meet a swift end. Most of them are strong and agile in body and can move unseen through the forest.

Rather than relying on the Light of Elune, Sentinels rely on the forest itself to use its shadow. A Sentinel character should probably be role-played being distrustful towards the ‘lesser races’ and they are not easy to make friends with. They will show a grim determination towards the task that they have been ordered to accomplish. Sentinels are trained to survive and can use almost every weapon known to them. Their clothing depends on their status. Low ranking Sentinels and Huntresses will wear the Sentinel Headdress combined with clothing made of feathers, leather or mail. Higher ranking Sentinels and Huntress’s wear plate armor and posses their own Nightsaber. They are unmatched when it comes to Archery but are weak when it comes to a duel against a heavy armored foe. Almost all Sentinels are traditional but there are some that quitted the army and started for themselves and became Adventurous.

Druids: Female Druids are really rare. There is not much information about them to be found in the Lore. However, when we look ingame we see quite a lot of Female Druids in Nighthaven. It could be that during the forging time of the Cenarion Circle, both genders were recruited feverously. It is a theory however and nothing is sure. Druids are rather more a part of nature rather than guarding it like the Sentinels. They heal wounded lands with their druidic powers and feel it is their duty to ensure forests grow and creatures prosper. They mostly wear leather garments made of animal skins.

Most Druids are traditional like the other classes, but there is an increasing number of Druids that have gone to Outland with the Cenarion Expedition. This shows some Druids are quite adventurous.

Males:

Priest of Elune: Priests of Elune are almost non-existent. It is mainly a Sisterhood and Males in a Sisterhood is quite weird. The doors are open for males to the Sisterhood…but I don’t think any male would like to be part of a Sisterhood. Advice: Avoid being a Male Night Elf priest.

Sentinels: Males are extremely rare in the Sentinels, though they do exist. Jarod Shadowsong for example could have been a Sentinel, if he didn’t went into exile that is. However, I don’t advice you to Role-play a Night Elf Male Sentinel. It can be extremely hard and there is almost no mention of it in the Lore. The Rogue and the Warrior class will probably be most suitable for a Night Elf Male Sentinel. But don’t say I didn’t warn you it would be hard!

Druids: Night Elf males hold a very large majority of the places in the Cenarion Circle. This is the class you should play if you are going to Role-play with a Night Elf Male. Druids come in different personalities. Some are very caring, like Malfurion. But some are horribly arrogant like Fandral Staghelm. It depends on your characters alignment if he is traditional or adventurous. The more traditional types will probably spend a lot of time in the Emerald Dream while the more Adventurous types will help the Cenarion Expedition in Outland.

Chapter Three: Age
The Night Elf aging has always been a bit of a debated topic. Night Elves were once immortal but since five years, they are mortal like all the other races. However, Night Elves still age very, very slowly and it is said that most Night Elves tend to reach over 1500 years if we count out the immortality. However, since Night Elves were immortal, most of them are probably over 10000 years old if they didn’t die of fighting. Since Night Elves have now lost their immortality, they will probably start to age but not insanely quick. According to lore, they will age normally now and might very well still live to see the next 1000 years.

Now there is another question remaining. How fast do Night Elf children mature? This is something that is very hard to describe since there is almost no information on it. What we do know is the story of Shandris Feathermoon and her ‘presumed’ relation with Jarod Shadowsong. Shandris was 16 at the time of that according to Lore. This probably is the evidence that Night Elves mature and grow much quicker than some people are claiming. It could be however, that Night Elves might mature physically at a ‘humanlike’ rate, but not mentally.

About how quickly Night Elves mature mentally there is also a bit of debate. There is a Lore claim that Night Elves mature at 300. But another Lore claim says its 110. Since Shandris was 16 at the time that is claimed she has a love affair I personally would choose 110 as the age of where Night Elves mature mentally. About the other age groups there isn’t much discussion. Night Elves reach middle age at 400-500, and reach the old age at 600. After that they become venerable but can live to see two millennia.

Chapter Four: Relations
Night Elves mostly think they are superior to the other races. The most traditional characters (I know it’s cruel) should be racist towards the other races. The more adventurous types should treat the other races with more respect. They have seen that they are capable of doing things Night Elves can and some races can even do some things better. Between the other races, there is some difference how Night Elves treat them. I am going to pin them out step by step now:

Humans: The Night Elves think the Humans are a very promising race but at the same time are very careful with them. The Night Elves have seen what destruction one human can do to an entire kingdom. Furthermore, some Humans are very racist towards the Night Elves themselves calling them ‘Freaky Purple Elves’ as quoted from Honor Hold. Some Night Elves do treat them as equals though. Most of the Night Elves who treat Humans as their equals should be the Adventurous types. The Neutral types should treat Humans distrusting and the Traditional types should treat Humans like cattle.

Dwarves: Night Elves have a bit of a weird relation with the Dwarves. Night Elves do respect the Dwarves a whole lot for the fact they are the only other non Elven race that can reach quite an old age. They also investigate a lot about their past which the Night Elves like because they do it themselves. But on the other side, the Night Elves don’t like the fact Dwarves aren’t sober 90% of the time. Traditional Types will rarely get in contact with Dwarves though, since the traditional types hate all the other races. The adventurous type and the neutral type will treat them with respect…when they aren’t drunk that is.

Gnomes: Night Elves generally don’t like Gnomes. Only the most adventurous type will appreciate some of their technology. The other types will generally find the equipment Gnomes are using destructive.

Draenei: Of all the races, Night Elves appreciate the Draenei the most. Though the information Night Elves have about the Draenei is scarce, they do know they can age to very old ages. The Night Elves also like the fact they are a peaceful race that doesn’t look for trouble most of the times. Only the most traditional types will hate the Draenei simply due to the fact they are not Night Elves.

Other Elves: Night Elves generally hate the other kind of Elves. Especially the High Elves and Blood Elves. The Night Elves were looked down upon during the time of Queen Aszhara because the Quel’Dorei were supposed to be the better race. The High Elves and Blood Elves are descendants of the Quel’Dorei, thus explaining their hatred.

Chapter Five: Love Relation between Night Elves:
I saved the most controversial bit for the last: Role-playing a love relation between two Night Elves. We are entering a grey area with this chapter. Most of the things I am going to suggest are only theories and are not supported by lore. However, we can always imagine some things with the information we got, the culture for example. Here we go!

As we know, Night Elves are a breed that lives for a very long time. That’s why I think they are very careful in who to choose as their partner. Next to that, most Males are Druids in Night Elf society and because they are Druids, they tend to spend a lot of time in the Emerald Dream. Therefore I think most Night Elves tend to have a ‘Living Apart Together’ relation. A couple only meets each other once in a few days or months.

Of course...in every relation there is a point that the couple wants to have a very good time and make love. This is where the controversial bit comes in. Do Night Elves consider making love a ritual? Do Night Elves make love to have fun or is it a very serious business. To the first answer I think we can answer yes. Night Elves consider it a blessing of Elune to become pregnant since their virginity appears to be quite low according to the lore. Perhaps that is also an answer to the second question. Yes...Night Elves do consider making love entertainment...but perhaps also a very intimate moment between two persons. I think making love is a way for Night Elves to show the mutual love a couple has to Elune so she might bless the couple with a pregnancy.

If that wasn’t controversial enough...here is another theory to think about and experiment with in Role-playing. Because the male partners are away in the Emerald Dream for most of the time, it might be possible that some female Night Elves have a love for their own side. It is only logical if they cannot be with their male partner they are going to see a female partner. Personally I think it is possible, although the love between the two females will be more spiritual then physical. It is generally for the two to have a person they can talk to and they can trust.

Closing Comments: I hope this guide helped a few people if they wanted to know how certain types of Night Elves should be role-played. Again, I don’t say you HAVE to follow this guide. It is merely a step in the right direction.

Celegil