Warcraft/Characters/The Light

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The Light (also known as the Holy Light, Holy Light of Creation and light of Creation) is an endless, shimmering sea of energy situated outside the barriers of reality and one of the two most fundamental forces in the world of Warcraft along with the Void, which was born from the absence of the former. The two cannot exist without the other.

Pure Light cannot exist within the physical universe but shades of it manifest as holy magic, as the Light is the source of all life in the cosmos. Summoned by willpower or faith in one's ability to do so, the powers of the Light can be harnessed to heal, cleanse, protect, or harm. Most of its practitioners are called priests or paladins, devoted to cleansing the universe of darkness. Learning to wield the Light as a healing force takes years of discipline.

General Tropes

• Because Destiny Says So
• Big Good: Given its a higher power that nurtures life and has a single-minded plan, the Light is either this or the closest thing to it in the Warcraft setting.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience
• Good Powers, Bad People
• Healing Factor
• Gold and White Are Divine
• Holy Burns Evil
• Knight Templar
• Light Is Good
• Light Is Not Good
• Retcon: Much of the lore surrounding the Light has been changed across the games, with a unified lore in World of Warcraft: Chronicle, which included revelations/retcons such as:
  • The Light is a shimmering sea of energy with "Light Lords" potentially controlling it where it was a god, maybe even God prior to World of Warcraft.
• Sliding Scale of Fate vs. Free Will: Since the Light sees one path as true and all others as lies, and like the Void lacks full knowledge of the future, if things do not go the way the Light thinks they should go, then the Light will make it happen.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist

The Naaru

The naaru are a race of sentient energy beings made up of shards of fractured Light. They are perhaps the purest expression of the Holy Light that exists in the Great Dark Beyond, and have vowed to bring peace and hope to all mortal civilizations and waylay the forces of the Void. They are known to travel through dimensions, and are the sworn enemies of the Burning Legion.

While they serve the Light, they have their own personalities and may not have the same motives or goals.

• A God I Am Not
• Energy Beings: Explicitly described as such, with crystals of Light giving them physical substance.
• Glass Cannon: Played with. Very powerful, but while they can take a few hits, they're far less durable than their power indicates. The best example is how Illidan dealt a One Hit Kill to the Prime Naaru Xe'ra with his eyebeams (though Illidan is the most powerful Demon Hunter and was exhausted by the effort afterwards). There's also the fact that they cannot be fully killed outside the realm of Light and Naaru (or at least Prime Naaru like Xe'ra) can split their essence core form their main body and survive.
• Light Is Good
• Our Angels Are Different
• Soul Jar
• Starfish Aliens
• Telepathy

Named Naaru

O'ros

• Killed Off For Real
• We Hardly Knew Ye

Xe'ra

• Action Mom
• Arch Angel
• Chooser of the Chosen One
• Fantastic Racism
• The Fundamentalist
• Killed Off For Real
• Mama Bear
• The Needs of the Many
• Not Quite Dead
• Pet the Dog
• Time Abyss
• Well-Intentioned Extremist

Z'rali

• Badass in Distress
• Broken Angel
• Determinator
• You Can't Go Home Again

Forces of the Light

Army of the Light

The Grand Army of the Light, also called the Golden Army, the Army of Light, and the Lightforged, is a faction of enlightened races that follow the Light and are led by the Naaru to combat the ravages of the Burning Legion. Formed after the fall of Argus, the draenei's finest warriors followed the prime naaru Xe'ra across the cosmos in an eternal war to bring about the Legion's end. Since then, other survivors of the Burning Crusade have joined the ranks of the Lightforged.

• Expy: Of the faction of the same name from Balylon 5, with the naaru filling the position of the Vorlons.
• Good Is Not Soft: They embody this trope as a faction.
• Good Is Not Nice
• Space Marine
• Neutral No Longer
• Holy Hand Grenade
• The Battlestar
• The Blacksmith
• Holy Halo
• Really 700 Years Old
• Taking You With Me
• Forever War
• Secret Test of Character

Argent Crusade

The Argent Crusade is an order of holy warriors formed from the union of the reformed Order of the Silver Hand and the Argent Dawn. Founded and led by the paladin Tirion Fordring, the Argent Crusade was a major contributor to the successful campaign in Northrend that toppled the Lich King. After helping deal with the Cataclysm, they worked to restore the Plaguelands of northern Lordaeron, but rallying to fight of any threat to their world.

• Arch Enemy
• Defector From Decadence
• Equal Opportunity Evil: Inverted; despite being an unambiguously good faction, they are notably open-minded about who they recruit, and accept both Alliance and Horde species in their ranks.
• Good Counterpart
• Good Is Not Soft
• Jousting Lance
• Light Is Good
• The Order
• Order Reborn
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork
• The Tournament

Church of the Holy Light

The Church of the Holy Light (or simply the Church of Light) is a religious organization affiliated with the Alliance and is dedicated to creating a world of honor and justice in service to the Light. Its members strive to aid others and be good in all actions. By embodying the tenets of their religion, the Church's skilled clergy can use the power of the Light in various ways.

• Saintly Church: The Church of the Holy Light, which most of the human kingdoms and the dwarves of Khaz Modan belong to. It does have its number of corrupt members and offshoots, but remains for the most part a Saintly Church.
• Corrupt Church: A rogue offshoot of the Church of the Holy Light, the Scarlet Crusade, is one of the best examples of this in the franchise.

"Lightbound"

An army of Light extremists consisting of draenei, Mag'har orcs, and ogres from alternate Draenor led by High Exarch Yrel in service of the naaru. They waged war against the unified orc clans known as the Mag'har for the safety of Draenor. The Mag'har who refused to join call them "Lightbound", and what, if any other, name they have for themselves is unknown.

• Appropriated Appellation: At the meta level. "Lightbound" is the Mag'har's name for Orcs who turned against them by joining the Draenei and helping spread the Light. What, if any, name Yrel's faction have for themselves is unknown, but since the units use the nameplate "Lightbound" that's the name they're known by.
• Equal Opportunity Evil: While "evil" is debatable, they are the antagonists of the scenario and will enlist anybody into their ranks.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side: The reason the Ogres joined the Lightbound. While they had beef with both sides, the Ogres respect strength and didn't think the Orcs could fend off the new Draenei offensive.
• Join or Die: The main (perhaps only) reason the Lightbound can be considered antagonists. Everyone they encounter is given three choices; join the Light willingly, be forced to join, or die.
• Kick the Son of a Bitch: Many of the Mag'har they seek to conquer and enslave were once members of the Iron Horde who tried to enslave or genocide the Draenei without provocation. In fact their leader, Yrel, is a former Iron Horde slave who lost her sister Saamara to one of the Iron Horde's leaders, and one of the highest-ranking Mag'har is alternate universe Grom, the former leader of the Iron Horde whose war crimes while leading it went unpunished.
• Knight Templar: They have good goals, but will use horrible means as readily as good ones to accomplish them including at least cultural genocide.
• Shadow Archetype: Serve as this to the Army of the Light, showing what they could be like as antagonists.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Firmly on the side of Lawful with Good being secondary.
• Totalitarian Utilitarian: They want to bring peace and order to alt-Draenor along with spreading the Light. They're the bad guys.
• Villain Has A Point: Despite their villainous status and extremism, they have good reasons and intentions. There's their past history with the Mag'har through the Iron Horde (see Kick the Son of a Bitch above). In addition, there are numerous Orcs who were dangerous even without joining the Iron Horde (the Laughing Skulls clan was violently xenophobic, with even the Frostwolves admitting allying with them against the Iron Horde was a desperate move). A recurring criticism from the Lightbound is that alt-Draenor is dangerously divided... which is absolutely correct as Draenor is something of a Death World (mainly due to the Forever War between the Breakers and the Botani), and that's before factoring in the Ogres' belligerent Gorian Empire and Arrakoa raids.