User:MyMindWontQuiet/Army of the Light Timeline

A short rundown on the Army of the Light aiming at explaining how the Army of the Light came to be and at highlighting the current, many unsanswered questions about the Army, based only on official sources and statements.

Definition
From the in-game description of the Army of the Light reputation in the character tab : "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."

Argus

 * Since, as per the above, they were originally draenei, then it means that they were among the eredar who fled Argus with Velen aboard the Genedar (unless, though it has not been established, there were other groups of eredar who fled Argus their own way and also called themselves draenei).
 * This was confirmed, see below.


 * The naaru L'ura remained behind to give Velen and the fugitives enough time to flee Argus, and ended up imprisoned within the Seat of the Triumvirate in Mac'Aree on order of Kil'jaeden. She would over time turn into a dark naaru (and thus become a dungeon boss).

Beginning of the Army of the Light

 * K'ure, D'ore and K'ara, aboard the Genedar with the rest of the Exiled Ones, tell the latter that one day "the naaru would forge them into a single unstoppable army of the Light".


 * At some point, and somehow, "the finest of the draenei's warriors" ended up following Xe'ra on the Xenedar and became the Army of the Light.


 * In the short story Prophet's Lesson (situated in Year 28 - Cataclysm), Velen has a vision of an army "infused with the essence of the Light", and composed of all the races of the Alliance, the Horde, a multitude of dragons, and "so many naaru that Velen didn't understand how creation could contain them."

Questions left
One can immediately notice how the "What we know" section is dwarfed by the "Questions left" one. Are also presented some potential answers to these questions.

Composition of the Army

 * Xe'ra (and the Army of Light description at the top of this page) says that the Army of the Light is composed of "survivors of worlds ravaged by the Legion" and "other survivors of the Burning Crusade [that] have joined the ranks of the Lightforged". In addition to this, Velen as explained above received a vision of an army "infused with the essence of the Light" composed of all the races of the Alliance, the Horde, a multitude of dragons, and "so many [naaru] that Velen didn't understand how creation could contain them".


 * However when the Army of the Light finally appears in Patch 7.3.0 on Argus, they only have draenei, led by a human (High Exarch Turalyon), a high elf (Alleria Windrunner), and a Light-infused nathrezim (High Commander Lothraxion). Every other member of the Army is draenei. Where are all the rest ?

Timeframe (solved)
The following has been confirmed by A Thousand Years of War, but is kept as archive.


 * Turalyon and Alleria mention multiple times that they have been fighting for a thousand years, and even call it "the thousand years' war". However, Turalyon and Alleria disappeared only 21-22 years ago, in Year 11! So how is this possible?
 * Perhaps some time dilatation is in play since "time deep in the Twisting Nether flows unpredictably" as per the Thas'dorah questline with Vereesa Windrunner.
 * ''It has also been confirmed that in those 1 000 years, the Army's fight on Argus has been during for "centuries" (so it could be that the Army of the Light has not been fighting the Legion solely on Argus but also on other worlds).
 * This is somewhat backed up by the Lightbound Runestone's description : "Legends say these small stones are pieces of pylons used by the Army of the Light to transport their troops to distant worlds."

Creation of the Army (solved)
The first theory was confirmed in an interview with Alex Afrasiabi, but this is kept for archive purposes.

''According to the description of the Army of the Light, the Army is composed of the "draenei's finest warriors". Two theories :''


 * 1) Now remember K'ara, K'ure and D'ore telling the draenei that one day, "the naaru would forge them into a single unstoppable army of the Light". It makes a lot of sense that the 3 naaru and Velen could decide to send their finest warriors along with Xe'ra in their own spaceship, the Xenedar (which may be either a satellite or twin structure of the Genedar) to recruit "other survivors of the Burning Crusade, [that] have joined the ranks of the Lightforged" and wage war against the Burning Legion.
 * 2) Alternatively, Xe'ra could have been following the Genedar's breadcrumbs on her own and rescue the survivors and the draenei left behind with her own spaceship, the Xenedar. Chronicle Volume 2 establishes at the very bottom of page 53 the existence of "other naaru and draenei beyond Draenor". There is even more precedence for such left-behind draenei in the story of Shar'gel, a planet where the draenei had settled but had to leave as the Legion found them. Notably, Askara - and her famous staff T'uure which once belonged to Velen - remained behind to hold the Legion until their death in order to allow the others to board the Genedar and leave. Perhaps some survived or were rescued by Xe'ra and her ship.

Xe'ra and her relationships

 * The naaru told Velen and the draenei that they would be part of the army of the Light, so why aren't they? The Army of the Light does appear on Argus but Velen and the draenei aren't part of it. Where do these draenei come from? Unless, as mentioned above, the draenei of the Army of the Light were indeed originally sent by Velen, K'ara, D'ore and K'ure to Xe'ra, or found by Xe'ra alone as she followed the Genedar's breadcrumbs.
 * Velen knew Xe'ra to some extent as when we bring him Light's Heart, he immediately recognizes it as the core of the prime naaru Xe'ra, and even knows that say (referring to O'ros).


 * What is the relationship between Xe'ra, and literally every single other naaru in existence such as A'dal? Xe'ra is literally the only naaru in the Army of the Light.
 * Xe'ra must have known about A'dal and/or Velen to some extent as Captain Fareeya mentions that Xe'ra had told them about the dimensional fortress Tempest Keep, and that the Vindicaar had a connection to the Tempest Keep (likely because the Vindicaar was made from the scraps of the Exodar which is a satellite structure of Tempest Keep).
 * The first point above shows that at least one descendant of Xe'ra, O'ros, was onboard with Velen and the draenei.


 * Why did A'dal and the Sha'tari go against Xe'ra's prophecy about Illidan, the Child of Light and Shadow supposed to "end the age of demons", and ordered his death?
 * It would be a bit too big to assume that A'dal did not know about either the prophecy - which the entire Army of the Light believes in as Turalyon shows by calling Illidan "the Chosen One" - or Xe'ra, for not only is she the/a prime naaru, but she is the "Mother of Light", and as explained above, Xe'ra knew about the Tempest Keep. However, A'dal may not have believed in her prophecy, or may have had reasons to distrust her.
 * Both Xe'ra's methods and her being the only naaru in the entire Army of the Light has been judged suspicious among the fanbase. It is possible that Xe'ra rebelled or hijacked the Army for herself (though likely for what she believed good reasons), explaining why A'dal and other naaru are (apparently) not part of it. Xe'ra was shown to be quite forceful as mentioned by Alleria, and as shown when she tried to force Illidan's fate by trying to turn him into a being of Light, which ended in him killing her.