Illidan Stormrage

Illidan the Demon
As is the case with certain demons, Illidan does not consider himself a servant of the Burning Legion. Indeed, Illidan has alternately been the Legion's ally and its enemy at various points in the past. A rarity among demons, he has retained vast tracts of his original personality despite his demonic transformation. As a demon, he is fundamentally evil and often cruel, but he has thus far been able to preserve a few tattered remnants of nobility. Their inevitable conflict with his ambition and his hunger for power makes him a dangerously unpredictable adversary.

The War of the Ancients

Illidan is the fraternal twin of Malfurion Stormrage and, like his brother, grew up as the wow gold of Tyrande Whisperwind millennia before the Great Sundering. Unlike Malfurion, Illidan had no patience for the subtleties of druidism and proved to be a poor student despite their teacher, the demigod Cenarius.

 

Yet Illidan was talented at sorcery, which at the time was a staple of night elf society. His magical abilities were cold comfort, though, for he had been born with golden eyes, which were quite rare in night elves before the Sundering. Golden eyes were thus commonly regarded as a sign of future greatness, but Illidan showed no signs of achieving anything out of the ordinary. Little did Illidan know that his eyes actually indicated strong druidic potential.

 

Fascinated with arcane magic, he learned increasingly difficult spells, but to his discouragement, the Moon Guard did not offer him membership in light of his advanced sorcery. Nevertheless, Illidan remained determined to become the hero his people expected him to be.

 

Soon he found another compelling reason to achieve greatness. One day during a festival, he caught sight of Tyrande dancing in the crowd and realized that he loved her. At some point over the years, he had fallen in love with her kindness, her laughter, her beauty, and her faith.

 

His joy was dimmed only by the fact that Malfurion, too, had feelings for Tyrande, although Malfurion was slower than Illidan to recognize them. Illidan could see that Tyrande would inevitably choose either Malfurion or Illidan as her mate. It was simply a matter of which twin would prove worthy in her eyes.

 

Illidan redoubled his efforts at mastering arcane sorcery and was elated when chance and quick thinking gave him the opportunity to save the life of Lord Kur'talos Ravencrest. The grateful noble made Illidan his personal sorcerer and placed great faith in his young protégé's courage and magic.

 

Unfortunately the demon that had nearly killed Ravencrest was only the first of many to appear all over ancient Kalimdor. The first invasion of the Burning Legion had begun.

Ravencrest organized the night elves into an army to fight the invading demons. When the highest-ranking member of the Moon Guard, Latosius, was slain in combat, Illidan jumped at the opportunity. He took charge of the surviving sorcerers and directed their combined power to noticeable effect, killing many of the Legion's minions. Even so, the war looked increasingly hopeless as further reinforcements arrived from the Twisting Nether.

At a critical point in the war, Malfurion disobeyed Ravencrest's orders and left the night elf army. He had embarked upon a perilous journey: he planned to seek out the dragonflights and appeal to them for help. Impulsively Illidan confronted Tyrande and told her he could no longer remain silent. He confessed his love for her and said that Malfurion had clearly gone mad in his pursuit of druidism.