#and about tyrande and why i think this isn't unlike her

[goddessfavored]

“You are the Night Warrior herself, in fact,” Illidan continued smoothly. “I hear you’ve been put in charge of a band of your sisters.”

Well now she will be the Night Warrior herself indeed and I find this amusing

but anyways I intend this to be a rant about the Night Warrior, as it was presented in the War of the Ancients trilogy and why I actually love that Tyrande is going to represent this darker side of the moon in a time of war.

(Ayy this got super long, so it’s under the cut.)

To Malfurion, she looked more like the priestess of a war god and evidently Tyrande could read such in his expression. With a bit of defensiveness, she admonished him, “You may excel at your new calling, Malfurion, but you seem to have forgotten the elements of Mother Moon! Do you not recall her aspect as the Night Warrior, she who takes the courageous dead from the field and sets them riding across the evening sky as stars for their reward?”

The first time the Night Warrior is mentioned in the trilogy is this one. It doesn’t tell us much about it but, to me, it presented some interesting points: 

1. Elune isn’t a peaceful goddess, in the sense that her philosophy isn’t one of being dedicated solely to peace and healing. She has a warrior facet, that might not be her most known face, is a part of the goddess nonetheless. The fact Tyrande points this out to Malfurion as something he may have forgotten indicates that this part of Elune wasn’t something only those devout to the goddess and dedicating their lives to her would know, so I’d say that while not primary, it would still be one important aspect of Elune.

2. The idea that Elune “takes the courageous dead from the field and sets them riding across the evening sky as stars for their reward” is indicative that this aspect of the goddess glorifies war, even rewarding those that show bravery in the field of battle. It reminded me of the concept of warriors being rewarded with Valhalla for glorious deaths in battle, to some extent. If Elune has a face to her that is devout to war and that rewards warriors, this only reinforces the idea of her not being a goddess of peace, the way I see it.

Malfurion gaped at them, only belatedly realizing that they were not the soldiers of Jarod Shadowsong. Their armor was more silver and—he looked twice—shaped for more feminine figures. The song he heard was in praise of the Night Warrior, the fearsome battle incarnation of the Mother Moon. 

The Sisterhood of Elune had come to their rescue. 

For the first time, Malfurion saw the quiet, gentle priestesses in their wartime roles. Many carried long, curved swords, while others wielded short lances with points on both ends. A few even had bows no longer than their forearms, from which they swiftly shot dart after dart. 

 The effect on the demons was immediate. Felbeasts dropped, riddled. A priestess swung her blade with the ease of a soldier, decapitating a horned warrior. Two night sabers dropped upon another hound, slashing it repeatedly from both sides until all that remained was a bloody carcass.

1. Let’s ignore Malfurion’s perception that the priestesses can’t be awesome warriors because they should be “quiet and gentle”. 

2. In spite of the character’s biased views, I think this passage makes it quite clear that martial aspects are important to Elune --- the priestesses are trained, they don’t just fight “with the ease of a soldier” they are soldiers too. The Legion is attacking and while it is part of their duty to heal and help those in need, they actively participate in the fight, and are a considerable force on their own. 

3. Malfurion now refers to the Night Warrior as “the fearsome battle incarnation of the Mother Moon”. I find this interesting because it is one more quality we now learn about the Night Warrior -- when Tyrande talks about it, she mentions only courage, and when Illidan mentions the Night Warrior, it is as a compliment towards Tyrande. Malfurion, however, brings up “fearsome” and I think that it can add to this form of Elune not being solely that of a warrior connected to bravery and the usual ideals of “nobility” but of an aspect that is also imposing, powerful, and even scary to some extent.

Direct mentions of the Night Warrior end there, so there isn’t much. Let’s see what we have about her on patch 8.1 now.

There are mentions of a ritual, but the first time someone talks about the Night Warrior is Maiev, and she’s explaining why the ritual Tyrande intends on doing is dangerous.

What ritual do you speak of, Maiev? Who is the Night Warrior? She is the incarnation of Elune's wrath. Even witnessing the ritual to become her would put our lives at risk.

Maiev doesn’t talk of the Night Warrior as a warrior aspect of Elune, but rather as an embodiment of her wrath. Of course, wrath is suitable both to the current situation of the story (as it makes all sense that Tyrande, in her own wrath, would seek to become an embodiment of her goddess’ rage) and as important part of a warrior aspect in general. 

Legend says that long ago, Elune bestowed her fury upon our greatest warriors to secure Kalimdor.

Maiev continues to explain the Night Warrior, saying that they came to be through Elune’s fury, which furthers the notion that Elune’s warrior aspect is more tied with anger and even vengeance than with the more noble aspects such as bravery.

Now, I will serve you only if you grant me justice! With ancient words, I invoke your most ruthless phase. With this offering, I demand to wear your darkest face.

Elune! Make me the instrument of your vengeance! Now, we shall have justice.

I am no queen. I am the kaldorei's vengeance.

When Tyrande calls to Elune to ask for the Night Warrior’s powers, the Night Warrior is connected to justice, but also to ruthlessness and vengeance. She even says it is the goddess’ “darkest face”, which is completely coherent with the “dark side of the moon” theme, and with everything Maiev said, too. In the end, she does demands to be made an instrument of the goddess’ vengeance, and later, when she talks to Nathanos, this is what she claims to have become. 

It is time we reclaim our home. You, Maiev, must command our forces. Me? What will you do? I have known these woods all my life. The Night Warrior's wrath must be sated.

By the end of it, Tyrande passes on the command of the kaldorei forces to Maiev. The very last sentence indicates that being the embodiment of Elune’s fury comes with consequences, and that the Night Warrior demands the blood of her enemies to be spilled. This, of course, is just speculation, and there are many blanks to be filled (such as why Maiev cares if she lived or died in the ritual, or why they are even working together without any apparent distrust? idk).

Anyways. When it comes to the Night Warrior itself, the content we seem to be getting in game seems to be quite different from that of the books. Here, this face of Elune isn’t connected to simply being a warrior aspect of the goddess, or to courage; it is only tied with wrath, fury, vengeance. I don’t think the two representations are incompatible, though. When Tyrande links the Night Warrior to courage in WotA, she does so immediately after Malfurion seems judgmental about her war outfit -- she’s defensive, and would of course not talk about Elune’s warrior facet in any way that would further his apparently bad impression of it. The other “positive” mention of the Night Warrior comes in Illidan using it to compliment Tyrande, and is actually quite simply explained: she’s a priestess of Elune, and it is a logical conclusion that she would feel flattered to be compared to an aspect of the goddess she’s devout to. Not only that, as he is portrayed in the books, and in a time of war, I don’t see a reason why he would find Elune’s warrior aspect to be a bad thing.Praising bravery isn’t mutually exclusive with ruthlessness or wrath, either; and it is very likely that the Night Warrior was both of those things at once. 

I’m genuinely looking forward for Tyrande to assume this role; first, because the lack of Night Elf response to the burning of Teldrassil has been bothering me ever since it happened, second because I find this to be a very in character response from her. I like Elune not being a goddess of pure good, and I love that her followers not only are aware of that but would benefit from this side of her as well. I love that all that happened would make Tyrande question her goddess --- and that it isn’t quite her faith that is in question, but Elune’s actions as their goddess. Tyrande didn’t stop believing in her, but got angry that she would have allowed this to happen to her people.

Tyrande isn’t the sort of character to await permissions, and she often acts accordingly to what she feels is right, even when others disagree or try to stop her. It is through disobedience and following her convictions that she “adopted” Shandris, but also that she freed Illidan from his prison when she thought he could help them fight the Legion*. That she sought the Alliance’s support and chose to act even when denied is very much a Tyrande thing to do. That she sought Elune as a source of power, too. In Seeds of Faith, she recalls her superior questioning why she chose to join the Sisterhood of Elune, to which Tyrande replies she wanted to protect others, specially the ones she loved; her desire to protect others was extended to protecting her people once she became their leader, and she failed to do so. Now, she comes to Elune not seeking power to protect, but to bring justice to those who harmed them. I really like that they are giving the Night Elves a chance to answer to what the Horde did to them, and that it comes through Tyrande. This entire scenario feels much more like that character from Warcraft 3 than that questline about saving Malfurion in Legion. 

(*not that she owed obedience in this case, but Malfurion did try to forbid her and was awarded with a fuck you husband I’m doing this with or without you)