Warcraft Lore Facts - The Ancients

The trees, not the demigods. Also a little bit about treants.


Transcript:
#1:
The ancients were some of the first creatures to arise on Azeroth, most likely after the Titans reshaped the world, and were also the first ones who set out to guard life. Each of the various types seems linked to an aspect of nature, such as ancients of war with the brutality of nature and the cycle of life and death, the ancients of wind with the feral side of the world, and so on. Perhaps the most interesting type of ancient are the Trees of Life, along with the Trees of Ages and the Trees of Eternity, which are the saplings of Nordrassil itself. The reason you don't see many types of ancients anymore in World of Warcraft is that a very large number of them perished during the Third War, and many returned to the forests in order to hopefully replenish their numbers.


#2:
Ancients have also sprouted on Draenor, though many of them have died off since the events of the rise of the Horde and the world's destruction. They seem to be more aggressive and teritorial than Azerothian ancients and were also involved in the conflict between the Breakers and the Primals on Draenor. One particularly interesting incident involved one ancient preparing a hit list with assassination instructions for other ancients. On the other hand, though, Draenor ancients, specifically those in Outland, have cooperated with druids of the Cenarion Expedition, much like their Azerothian counterparts.


#3:
Ancients have a very different way of perceiving time than the other races due to their incredibly long lifespans. Sometimes they may even perceive major threats to the world as being largely beneath their notice, though this is more the case with Draenor ancients rather than Azerothian ones. Just as a sort of amusing example, when the druid Broll Bearmantle met up with the ancient Gnarl, the latter offered his sincere condolences for the death of Broll's daughter which occured about 6-7 years prior. The longest-living ancient was stated by Ysera to be the one named Nordu, who perished, however, during Ragnaros's invasion of Mount Hyjal.


#4:
An interesting type of ancient are the ancients of the Arcane, intelligent ones which resemble ancients of war and are, obviously, connected with arcane magic. Their origin is not entirely known, though they could be artificial creations, since most of them are seen with the blue dragonflight or with magic-wielding elves, or they could be natural creations. Regardless, they do not seem to be discriminated against by the druidic night elf society, and are not seen much differently from other, more "natural" ancients.


#5:
The saplings of the ancients have taken different appearances in lore. Tyrande Whisperwind, for instance, sent a Sapling of Lore to Pandaria, which looks very much like a normal ancient of lore, only smaller. On the other hand, some treants, despite seeming to be their own thing, have been stated to turn into ancient protectors as time passes.


#6:
Before the destruction of Quel'Thalas, some blood elves also cultivated a relationship with local treants, similar to their night elf cousins. Several of them assisted the high elves with gardening on Sunstrider Isle. A community of them on the edge of the Ghostlands, led by the one named Whitebark, also cooperated with the local elves until the latter were forced to burn down the forest to prevent the intrusion of the Scourge. The treants of the Scorched Grove are now hostile to the blood elves and continue trying to bring life back to their land.


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