50 thoughts on “Darnassus is NOT What It Seems! – Lore Theory | World of Warcraft”
Important Clarifications:
1.) Yes, it turns out the most widely-accepted pronunciation is TELL-Dra-Sil, not Tel-DRASS-IL like I was saying it in this video… I honestly use the correct way most of the time but thought it was wrong for some reason XD Will remember for next time!
2.) I probably could have mentioned this or said this better, but yes, the Night Elves were immortal from the time of the Sundering until the end of WC3. As such, there are probably some architects/builders who were still alive and capable of building the old-style temples and monuments. However, with the general trend we see of pretty much every other modern Night Elf building in Classic WoW tending to be the wooden, organic variety, I am theorizing that it makes more sense for the temple to be from an older time. This theory is still just a theory of course, and so this point is pretty much just conjecture for fun. 🙂
Or they brought the stones over like they said. Then placed them. Cause they were building a new home. A tree magical bursting up with ruins on it just where they need to be is silly.
Like the Roman's and Greeks built using ruins. It's a handy bunch of building blocks ready to me moved and assembled where needed. Just look at the ruins along the coast.
I dont think a lot of ppl who play wow know that Darnassus isnt very old its not really shown in game out side of maybe a few mentions in quests or npcs perhaps
Honestly I think it's a split between druidism and priestly structures. Vanilla wow it was just reusing assets because of time and not worrying about it all that much. There was a time before the tree that an island stood there and as the tree grew it consumed the whole of the island. Another thing to consider is that the elves were immortal for a majority of time on Azeroth which means that a lot of the builders of those original sites could still have been alive and easily remade certain structures to reflect their past memories. I hope in the near future there's an elf questline that takes us back into the tree now that it's been turned to a charred ruin and we get to see what remains. We could collect momentos for survivors and help put spirits to rest.
You're bringing some great lore and logistical points. Probably devs at the time didn't give much thought into it but finding a way to make it all click is a great way to revive our collective love for lore and warcraft stories…
Thanks for such a great video, it's great content, keep it up!
Tell druh sill, not tell drassle. They even pronounce it in game. I see your corrections but you might want to pin it to the top of the page so people read it first. Just a suggestion.
I like your videos, it helps me with my English, you pronunciation is clear and calm, I can understand the 99% 😀 Darnassus is my fav city too and I never thought about its age, your theory is good but as always, the scriptwriters of Blizzard would say: "It was magic :D"
night elves who "just so happen to know the ancient building style" … i mean, there are several night elves around that were alive during the sundering. sure, the most well known are their leaders, but it's also possible that every day folk survived the sundering, so it is neither inconceivable nor far out there to think that maybe an architect or two survived the sundering and they would definitely know the ancient styles.
Oh man, I am so thirsty for this type of speculative vanilla content that looks deep into meat of the world and picks apart everything that doesn't make sense in the lore.
I'd imagine that when the world tree grew, it pulled up ruins in much worse shape than we see in game (ie no two stones on top of each other). I imagine they basically used them as lego blocks to build some of the pretty buildings, but since the temple of the moon was so large, they had to import more stone from the mainland to finish it. After all, there's plenty of old ruin blocks on the beaches of Night Elf territories.
I never liked that Darnassus was only supposed to be a few years old, because the whole vibe of the place feels ancient. All the buildings and ruins LOOK like they've been there for thousands of years. But I suppose they could have just been raised with the tree, or moved there.
Darnassus isnt just your personal favorite, it is arguably the most beautiful city in WoW and it's a damn shame they burnt down Teldrassil. Huge L from Blizz.
Yes. It seems that the point is moot, since those structures are probably rubble, or disintegrated from the extreme heat of the burning tree.
However, for the sake of discussion, it can go either way, that its new, however, it has to do with the assets made for reusability, but its newly made in reality. Or they scooped an old ruin from the island or sea as the tree grew.
…my guy… Darnassus (and TELDRASSIL) were created 10,000 years ago, so yeh thats why the marble buildings look ancient instead of brand new, and the rest of the buildings look [somewhat] new too, though im pretty sure they have been very well maintained over the millennia. it even states in the first cinematic for WoW "After *10,000 years*, the drums of war sound once again…" xD
I feel like the devs were just running out of time and reskinned a few ruin models to use as Teldrassil buildings. But it would be nice to get a canon explanation of why the city has two drastically different types of architecture mixed together, and why some of it looks at least a century older than the rest.
Gosh I love and miss Darnassus. I hope the new night elf home will be worthy of it's beautiful, yet doomed, predecessor. I just might visit it again tonight before tomorrow's patch.
The ruins of Isildien have some buildings that are exactly the same like in Darnassus , the Temple of the Moon for example. So I would guess Blizzard just uses the same building models cuz its more practical.
Important Clarifications:
1.) Yes, it turns out the most widely-accepted pronunciation is TELL-Dra-Sil, not Tel-DRASS-IL like I was saying it in this video… I honestly use the correct way most of the time but thought it was wrong for some reason XD Will remember for next time!
2.) I probably could have mentioned this or said this better, but yes, the Night Elves were immortal from the time of the Sundering until the end of WC3. As such, there are probably some architects/builders who were still alive and capable of building the old-style temples and monuments. However, with the general trend we see of pretty much every other modern Night Elf building in Classic WoW tending to be the wooden, organic variety, I am theorizing that it makes more sense for the temple to be from an older time. This theory is still just a theory of course, and so this point is pretty much just conjecture for fun. 🙂
Or they brought the stones over like they said. Then placed them. Cause they were building a new home. A tree magical bursting up with ruins on it just where they need to be is silly.
Like the Roman's and Greeks built using ruins. It's a handy bunch of building blocks ready to me moved and assembled where needed. Just look at the ruins along the coast.
Love it thank you
I subbed. Had to do it. No other choice. Content too good
Great video. but dam bro you butchering the names of place's
Can druids raising entire city though? I feel like that is more a job designed for a shaman.
never put much thought on that, but this makes me want to dive deep into the lore of Darnassus. Great video!
Great vid! Love the pseudo-history! It’s fun to speculate
AuberdEEn >:(
I dont think a lot of ppl who play wow know that Darnassus isnt very old its not really shown in game out side of maybe a few mentions in quests or npcs perhaps
it doesnt seem like anything anymore
i audibly laughed when he said tell drassle
Love the deep dives! I got really into WoW again this year and these are so interesting
was a beautiful combination…..
Darnassus is my favorite capital. The whole starting area for the night elves (pre-cataclysm) is gorgeous.
you lost me at "tell-drass-ill"
the pronunciation is so bad. please do more research next time.
Earned a new sub, keep this up. Good stuff!
i dont think stoned bearded dudes who built this knew as much as you do
Honestly I think it's a split between druidism and priestly structures. Vanilla wow it was just reusing assets because of time and not worrying about it all that much. There was a time before the tree that an island stood there and as the tree grew it consumed the whole of the island. Another thing to consider is that the elves were immortal for a majority of time on Azeroth which means that a lot of the builders of those original sites could still have been alive and easily remade certain structures to reflect their past memories. I hope in the near future there's an elf questline that takes us back into the tree now that it's been turned to a charred ruin and we get to see what remains. We could collect momentos for survivors and help put spirits to rest.
nice theory man, it does explain the stone
You're bringing some great lore and logistical points. Probably devs at the time didn't give much thought into it but finding a way to make it all click is a great way to revive our collective love for lore and warcraft stories…
Thanks for such a great video, it's great content, keep it up!
Absolutely amazing video. Thank you so much!
Tell druh sill, not tell drassle. They even pronounce it in game. I see your corrections but you might want to pin it to the top of the page so people read it first. Just a suggestion.
Darnassus? Never heard of her.
Americans saying words is funny.
Ooh, it's been so long since I've seen Darnassus…
I am sad that this city is gone. It was beautiful and I loved leveling my night elves there. =(
I like your videos, it helps me with my English, you pronunciation is clear and calm, I can understand the 99% 😀
Darnassus is my fav city too and I never thought about its age, your theory is good but as always, the scriptwriters of Blizzard would say: "It was magic :D"
Darnassus is a pile of ash and rubble. It's exactly what it seems like.
Its Tell-Drass-EEL
Great video, but the mispronounced name bugged me
Oy, it is prononced "Tel Dra Sil", not "Tel Drassel". It is a play on Yggdrasil.
Everything is not what it seems
Very nice 🙂 I played a long time as a night elve, but I never saw this kind of obvious different between buildings
Love these cozy videos
night elves who "just so happen to know the ancient building style" … i mean, there are several night elves around that were alive during the sundering. sure, the most well known are their leaders, but it's also possible that every day folk survived the sundering, so it is neither inconceivable nor far out there to think that maybe an architect or two survived the sundering and they would definitely know the ancient styles.
Oh man, I am so thirsty for this type of speculative vanilla content that looks deep into meat of the world and picks apart everything that doesn't make sense in the lore.
Yes, it turns out it was not a tree but a island sized campfire
The white marble structures look Greek/Roman inspired.
I'd imagine that when the world tree grew, it pulled up ruins in much worse shape than we see in game (ie no two stones on top of each other). I imagine they basically used them as lego blocks to build some of the pretty buildings, but since the temple of the moon was so large, they had to import more stone from the mainland to finish it. After all, there's plenty of old ruin blocks on the beaches of Night Elf territories.
I had a similar theory. But mine centers around growing Teldrasil beneath an island.
I never liked that Darnassus was only supposed to be a few years old, because the whole vibe of the place feels ancient. All the buildings and ruins LOOK like they've been there for thousands of years. But I suppose they could have just been raised with the tree, or moved there.
Darnassus isnt just your personal favorite, it is arguably the most beautiful city in WoW and it's a damn shame they burnt down Teldrassil. Huge L from Blizz.
"That which was sunken shall rise." I think we're going to see the ancient Kaldorei Empire emerge from the sea.
Yes. It seems that the point is moot, since those structures are probably rubble, or disintegrated from the extreme heat of the burning tree.
However, for the sake of discussion, it can go either way, that its new, however, it has to do with the assets made for reusability, but its newly made in reality. Or they scooped an old ruin from the island or sea as the tree grew.
…my guy… Darnassus (and TELDRASSIL) were created 10,000 years ago, so yeh thats why the marble buildings look ancient instead of brand new, and the rest of the buildings look [somewhat] new too, though im pretty sure they have been very well maintained over the millennia. it even states in the first cinematic for WoW "After *10,000 years*, the drums of war sound once again…" xD
Great video and channel but please do say the zone correctly and not NordrAssil… It is Nordrassil
I feel like the devs were just running out of time and reskinned a few ruin models to use as Teldrassil buildings. But it would be nice to get a canon explanation of why the city has two drastically different types of architecture mixed together, and why some of it looks at least a century older than the rest.
Gosh I love and miss Darnassus. I hope the new night elf home will be worthy of it's beautiful, yet doomed, predecessor. I just might visit it again tonight before tomorrow's patch.
The ruins of Isildien have some buildings that are exactly the same like in Darnassus , the Temple of the Moon for example. So I would guess Blizzard just uses the same building models cuz its more practical.