#cathala

Someday I intend to really, really delve deep into the lore, history, and symbolism around them, but until then, I do still have a few thoughts.

Firstly, no, I think the selection in the game is only a small fraction of the variety you’d actually see. The ones in the game are probably the most common, though. They likely have connections to the Wild Gods, important historical figures, or are otherwise considered to have more symbolic power than others. Unfortunately I have yet to really nail down what those are.

They definitely can and do vary between individuals, I mean after all it’s not the same tattoo artist doing all of them. And while it’s not technically law, if you come from an influential family, there's a pressure to get tattoos that look similar to those of your forebears. As generations pass those would change to be more and more unique. There’s probably designs out there which are off-limits for everyone but members of those families.

Though not particularly powerful, Tarinne’s family has a long history of being high-ranking Sentinels. So Tarinne’s tattoo choice was in part motivated by the perceived need to have them resemble her mother’s.

Her mother Alorinde Blackhelm, and herself.

I’ve also been playing with the idea that as a kaldorei ages and achieves milestones in their life, they can add on to their tattoos. For example, the circle in the middle of Alorinde’s forehead undoubtedly has meaning and indicates some specific achievement or status, I just… haven’t decided what yet lol.

That might be something specific to certain subcultures, though, because otherwise you’d expect Tyrande and Shandris (for example) to have CRAZY Dragon Age-type facial tattoos going on. Tarinne’s family comes from Darkshore, so maybe adding details to tattoos over time is more of a Darkshore tradition.

And yeah, they’re definitely a woman’s thing. Kaldorei women get their tattoos on their one hundredth birthday, indicating their “true” entry into adulthood and “proper” society. You can’t become a Sentinel unless you’re tattooed, for example (or at least, that’s how it was before the Third War). However, those who have committed heinous crimes or otherwise demonstrated they’re unfit to be welcomed into proper society can’t get tattooed, at least not until they’ve atoned. A minority also choose to forgo them entirely for a variety of personal reasons.

Cathala, though she didn’t intentionally forgo tattoos (she was still on Pandaria on her 100th), shows what that can mean. She’s often perceived as being younger than she really is by other kaldorei (she’s in her 140s as of BfA) and lacking tattoos also lends her a more masculine appearance. Only women under 100 and men are untattooed. So in other words, though kaldorei standards of femininity are much more flexible than ours (they rarely bat an eye at what we would call "masculine" women), not having tattoos means she still sometimes gets the same "is that a butch lesbian or a twink" treatment irl butches get 😭

(Note: She briefly had the chance to get tattoos between the end of Mists and the Fourth War, but she has her own things going on that make her feel like she “isn’t kaldorei enough” for them)

Also yeah men can get facial tattoos, they just have to be extraordinary individuals first. Exceptional druids, respected philosophers, great heroes or artists. They have to really stand out to even be considered. Malfurion as the Archdruid was a no-brainer.

There's a whole ritual and ceremony associated with getting tattooed, and the belief is that men just don't have what it takes to survive it unless they've earned the gods' favor somehow. Someday I'll figure out the particulars of that ceremony...

In the mean time though, here's some other tattoos I've designed just to show the variety I envision.

(First character is Aeshna, who is the kaldorei equivalent of a paladin, the second is just Some Guy who happens to be a hippogryph racer)

Survivor's Guilt

Blasts you with my yuri beam attack

Cathala has… I suppose you could call them "imposter syndrome" feelings whenever she attends a kaldorei cultural event but she's trying TwT👍 And Tarinne's there to support.

Closeups because I spent a while getting their expressions right: