#wow lore

SUGGESTIVE AH!

Mayhaps this is The contract yk?

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So if you were looking for little treats to sprinkle into your next Astalor fic, maybe these can help:

Dislikes: stupid people, the outdoors, people who attack (too many) innocents/acquaintances, Death Knights, when enemies have a seemingly unbeatable power (that's his job), overly gory murder (of elves - memento mori perhaps), unreasonable foes, being hunted by an assassin (alone - he makes you defend him), beings he cannot look in the eye, water, drowning, the Void, curiosity, irredeemable research methods (indiscriminate killing), too many ambitious loners in Quel'thalas (he's the one doing things correctly, obviously).

Likes: when people are gushing with anguish, the city of Silvermoon, elven forces generally, beating enemies who act unstoppable, gardening, Farstriders (he keeps mentioning when they've been killed, and he regrets having to hunt one in particular), you (he warns you to be careful when Farstriders have already been murdered, and when you might get recycled into a pocket watch), ambition, talent, rumors.

Further thoughts:

Is he the one offering Lost Theldrin aid? Or it is just "aid"? Losing himself into an anguish crystal drop by drop might not be preferable to being hunted down and ended. But I bet Astalor doesn't think of it like that.

The Farstriders are getting wrecked by some of these guys. They're specifically named as dying in large numbers to a couple, in horrible ways. Halduron should be recruiting as hard as Rommath is! "Thin their numbers" shouldn't go both ways like this.

Astalor mentions having scouts. Unclear if they're his own dedicated scouts, or if he has lured in spies, perhaps among the Farstriders - which would account for him knowing of so many instances when they've fallen to these enemies. He doesn't like going outside, but these folks work outside all the time and are also dedicated to protecting Quel'thalas and its people. Why not employ them in a more direct manner? There are Farstriders all throughout the city, even when they're off-duty. Maybe some of them swing by the Murder Row Sanctum, or just pass messages. It's simply efficient to employ those comfortable in areas he isn't, after all, if he's going to cover all his bases in the defense of Silvermoon.

I like this headcanon. Seems reasonable.

If I were to expand into pure speculation, I'd be inclined to think that when Astalor called Ranger Swiftglade "one of our own," he meant it in the way that this had been one of his killers, who has lost himself to the hunt and become a danger himself. Much like some of the effects from Astalor's early experimentation with anguish gems and the like, anguish may simply have overtaken this Farstrider in particular, when all he intended to do was help keep Quel'thalas safe. Too bad we can't loot his corpse for anguish gems!

why no parents ☹️☹️

So there I was crying as I always do while watching the video of Elune speaking through Tyrande because it was suggested to me yet again in my YouTube feed and then I noticed something.

It's always been kinda confusing to me why the Tear of Elune is the Pillar of Creation for Eonar when its so heavily Elune themed. However, what I noticed in that scene with the Winter Queen and Elune is that they created the Sister's Tear together. It hit me that this scene could be showing us how a tear artifact like that is made and that it requires another to do so.

We already know that Elune and Eonar have some form of bond (either in friendship or romantic) from the Legend of Elun'ahir, so it's not hard to assume they had some alone time together at some point. Perhaps in that time Elune shed a tear and together they made the Tear of Elune just like the scene of the Winter Queen and Elune. Under what circumstance we don't know yet. What's interesting is that the Tear of Elune does seem to have more green in it as opposed to the Sister's Tear. The green magic could be Eonar's thereby hinting at the two creating the Tear together.

Tear of Elune - Eonar's Pillar of Creation

What's super interesting to me as well is that Elune's tear in the cinematic with the Winter Queen is pure light and it appears their joint actions together transmuted it into the artifact. Both the Winter Queen and Eonar have physical forms and in some theories both have titanic backgrounds [the quick tl;dr for the WQ being tied to the Titans is the robotic like vessel that her spirit is housed in similar to the Titans. there is more, but that's a whole other post. Titanic or not she does have a physical form like Eonar]. Perhaps her tear being pure light also answers questions on why the Tear of Elune was able to unlock Light's Heart. Elune herself could be a being of pure Light that is simply more powerful and older than Xe'ra and therefore able to unlock them. Maybe what Elune and the Winter Queen did was a similar process to how the cores of naaru were created? By willing creatures of Light crossing into reality and Titans forging them vessels. We know that both Tears are vessels for the souls of the fallen and seem to house the light of Elune. So there are similarities there as well.

The need for another to create a Tear artifact like this is could also be a hint that Elune is in another plane that cannot access reality and needs physical gods, avatars, or heavenly bodies for her power to cross over, much like Sargeras in many ways. These Tears and the Trees that can come from them would then act almost like anchor points for Elune in reality while not allowing her to manifest her power entirely. Now I would just like to point out that just because you are being of Light does not mean you wouldn't have a shadow/void side - as we see with the life cycle of naaru and currently with Beledar. We already know that Elune has a darker side shadow/void side with how the power of the Night Warrior manifests, so she may exist at a point between Light, Void, and Life adhering to her more cosmic themes and description as a Life Goddess.

With that in mind we also have one more possible Tear mentioned in the first troll legend.

"And when our brethren pass Into the Mountain's Temple We shall protect their eternal spirit Encased within the holy blue crystal.

And when our brethren pass A Moon over the Vale shines."

The blue crystal housing the souls of the fallen under the Moon seems extremely similar to the visual description of the Tear of Elune and the Sister's Tear. The question then becomes how was this Tear created and with whom. If Elune has created other tears is it possible that this is how Cenarius came to be? I know the joke is usually "lol Elune slept with a deer," but maybe this is how Malorne and Elune came together. In the War of the Ancient books it is hinted that the Kaldorei have some form bloodline connection to Cenarius and perhaps it is because they are both children of the stars. Also another fun idea is there appears to be an antler like tree sprouting from a crescent moon in both Tear artifacts. This could be a little stretch, but when I roleplay my Druid Celiwin Dreamspeaker who has antlers I always describe her head as being "crowned by antlers" and each of the world trees is "The crown of X." Since we know now that the Tears of Elune can become world trees and there appear to be antlers serving as a tree trunk in both tears, in particular the seed of Amirdrassil looks almost identical to the tree it would eventually become, antlers and trees seem to have deeply rooted symbolism.

Right: Creating the Sister's Tear; Left: Seed of Amirdrassil

All of this could be hint to a theory of mine that Elune is the cosmic world tree situated at the forge of creation between Light and Void seeding Life in the universe. Her wispy silver magic and design language her branches and roots extending to all planes of existence. But that is a deep dive for another day.

Video: Creating the Sister's Tear

“I'm usually… better at not acting on my impulses.”

The bruises—dark, fading fingerprints—circled his throat. As a souvenir. A reminder.

“You are fine.”

He tilted his head, tracing the marks with detached curiosity. They were healing. Healed enough, perhaps, that the pain had dulled.

“Quiet.”

He stepped into the shower, the water scalding at first, then soothing. He stood there for a long while, letting it drum against his back. He wasn't quite thinking as, slowly, he lifted his hands to rest them at his neck.

“Stop moving.”

The pressure was light, a test, a memory replayed. His pulse beat steady beneath his fingertips as he tightened his grip.

His breath hitched. For a fleeting moment, the sound of the shower dimmed, replaced by the pounding of his own heart.

Tighter.

His vision faded.

Tighter.

His breathing stopped.

Only then, his grip faltered. Air rushed back in a desperate gasp as he stumbled forward, hitting the tile with his shoulder.

He stayed there, chest heaving, water pouring over him—

“…what did I do?”

Regeneration: The Healing Power of Trolls