The Wardens

The night elven watchers have been imprisoning demons in their vault for millennia, but just like Tol Barad and Violet hold they’ve broken out again. Why not just kill them?

The watchers were originally a volunteer police force selected from the priesthood of elune to keep the peace and uphold the laws. As their duties expanded under the Elven Empire they expanded to take on warriors and huntresses in their moral crusade.

When the burning legion came to Azeroth, the watchers joined in the resistance. At first they slew the demons with the army, but they noticed some of the big hitters kept coming back. When a demon dies our realm their spirit returns to the twisting nether and the demon reforms. Clearly a solution was needed.

The watchers devised a trap using holy magic to contain the demons in our world. Killing them off may be pointless but keeping them trapped in one place would work for now. The watchers constructed vaults in remote areas of the empire to hold the monsters, and any they deemed as dangerous.

While the watchers had been making prisons, other groups of night elves had had other ideas how to tackle the demons. A group of magi loyal to Illidan Stormrage had been inspired by his great sacrifices to save his people. In an attempt to spy on the burning legion his eyes had been burned out of his head. Making use of the fel magic left in there he had established a form of magic vision. Together with a fighting style based on the warglaives he stole from the demon Azzinoth he had become a new kind of warrior: a demon hunter.

While his followers sought to copy his sacrifices and become hunters; others in society saw Illidan as reckless, amoral and dangerous. The demon hunters were shunned, but continued to fight the legion. As the war came to an end, the high priestess of elune, Tyrande Whisperwind became the de facto leader of the elves. She banned the use of arcane and fel magic in the elven land; making demon hunters very much illegal.

Those who didn’t go into exile were imprisoned along with their leader by the watchers. Illidan had responded to the loss of the well of eternity by trying to make a new one. After the last time the elves didn’t want to risk another well and stopped him. Illidan spent 10’000 years imprisoned in a barrow den.

At the end of the war the warden Maiev Shadowsong was made leader of the watchers. Her skill in combat and leadership made her the clear choice. She watched over the demons and the hunters for millennia. Watcher and watched sat in isolation for thousands of years, neither coming out of it well.

During the scourge war, Tyrande broke Illidan out of the prison, having need of his demonic power again. The watchers refused to release him and many died in the escape, ending the vigil. Their leader Maiev had long since lost her perspective in that cave and tracked Illidan back down with zeal. The remaining watchers suffered heavy losses in the process and the order was scattered.

Tyrande has since reformed the watchers as the wardens, under the command of Jarod Shadowsing. The new and improved order no longer considered the demon hunters inherently evil and released them to aid in the defence of Azeroth as all hell breaks loose again.

The Watchers had successfully contained the demons for thousands of years, but if no-one watches the watchers they can lose their vision.