There are some races in World of Warcraft that have had to endure more than others. The most prominent example is currently the Night Elves, who had to suffer quite a bit with Battle for Azeroth and never really got their revenge. Some leaks from the alpha of the next expansion Dragonflight now suggest that fate continues to not be so kind to the Kaldorei – and fans implore: “Don’t be so mean to the night elves anymore, Blizzard!”

What about the night elves in Dragonflight? Even though much of Dragonflight’s story is still unknown and presumably entire quest lines will remain more or less hidden until release, there’s already a lot of datamining going on. The dialog text of an in-game cinematic reveals that the Night Elves will probably lose their druidic leader Malfurion Stormrage – whether temporarily or permanently, that’s not quite clear yet. In order for the green dragon aspect Ysera to be brought back from the Shadowlands, Malfurion will have to stay behind and, it is presumed, work alongside the Winter Queen to restore the Ardenwald. We have broken down the entire dialogue in this article.

What bothers fans about it? Many longtime Night Elf fans are longing for things to pick up for their beloved elves. After the Teldrassil was destroyed and nearly 90% of the Kaldorei people were killed, large parts of the night elf community want some peace, time for recreation and good news again. It bothers them that Malfurion and Tyrande are torn apart again, and one piece of news is apparently followed by another piece of bad news.

Community shows how much it loves night elves: The whole issue has led to many Night Elf fans posting numerous fan art and cosplay images on Twitter under the hashtag #MightOfNightElves (“Power of the Night Elves”). For many players, Night Elves, their history, and the whole mystique of the race were why they found World of Warcraft in the first place. For example, cosplayer Narga wrote on Twitter, “Night elves are the reason I started World of Warcraft in the first place.” She then later added in a second tweet, “And I think it’s pretty obvious why I don’t play now.”

In an interview with Polygon magazine, artist Lemongrace reveals:

Shadowlands ended with a sense of renewal, and I expected the story to move towards that – a time for peace and recovery for the night elves. Instead, we are almost taunted with more casualties. Legion was when the Night Elf content peaked for me and while some of the decisions there were discussed at length in the Night Elf community, I still think it was pretty cool to play that as a Night Elf. To say that it was all downhill from there is an understatement.

Is there any good news then? Basically, yes. After all, at the end of Shadowlands, Tyrande received a special seed from the Winter Queen, which will most likely grow into a new world tree, which in turn could become a new home for the Kaldorei. A suitable place for this tree already exists in Dragonflight’s alpha, because a bit off the main island there is a rather large, round recess with smaller islands around it – very similar to the original Teldrassil.

Ultimately, though, Night Elf fans will just have to be patient and wait for the full story of Dragonflight to be revealed. Only then should it be clear whether Blizzard is really so “mean” to their people.