Kaldorei The Kaldorei ; ( from Darnassian or Thalassian : " Kal " - star and " Dorei " - children ) , which means " children of the stars " in their main tongue of Darnassian , were a race of nocturnal , feral nomadic humanoid s that once lived in the jungles of the former continent of Kalimdor , at the time the sole continent of Azeroth . They were considered the greatest tribe in the land . They journeyed around the continent eager to uncover secrets hidden in dark places . At some point , they were drawn to the shimmering power of the Well of Eternity . They named the continent Kalimdor and settled near the vortex of cosmic energy . They adopted the name Kaldorei meaning " children of the stars " in their native tongue . After several ages spent in peace and learning , the Kaldorei grew in power and wisdom so that they soon outstripped the other humanoid races of Azeroth . Their kingdom had now become an empire . After the War of the Ancients and the Great Sundering , those trapped in the Eternal Palace were cursed and transformed into the Naga . Xavius was transformed by Sargeras into a Satyr , and became the progenitor of that race . Most of the remaining Highborne caste of Kaldorei broke off from their surviving brethren and would become to be known as the High Elves . Those Kaldorei ( Night Elves , as they would come to be known as ) who remained would live a much changed life they would dedicate to a 10 , 000 year long vigil , abstaining from the use of arcane magic in an attempt to prevent the return of that war . Unknown to them , at least 2 other groups of Kaldorei endured , the Highborne in the city of Eldre ' thalas ( now Dire Maul ) who would come to be known as the Shen ' drelar and the Highborne led city of Suramar ( the original home city of the Night Elf leadership and many of the survivors ) , who would later come to be known as the Nightborne . Culture . The Kaldorei venerated the moon goddess , Elune , even before they settled around the Well of Eternity . They believed she dwelled within it during the day and would arise from it at night . Terminology . Kaldorei is a Darnassian word meaning " children of the stars " . It can also be interpreted as " people of the stars " . It can refer to the tribe which existed before the night elves , to the night elves themselves , and to the Highborne . The Kaldorei race includes both the night elves as a whole and the Highborne ( quel ' dorei ) upper class . and Nightborne ( shal ' dorei ) further evolved night elves of Suramar City . The Naga are cursed Highborne who were smashed to the bottom of the sea at the end of the War of the Ancients . Unlike most Highborne who aided the Burning Legion simply to gain access to more magic , those who embraced demonic power for its own sake and swore their allegiance to Xavius , became Satyr . Xavius had been corrupted by Sargeras himself and had the power to turn other willing night elves into Satyrs . The Great Sundering blasted most of Suramar to the bottom of the Great Sea , although some of it remained due to the efforts of the resident Highborne , who crafted a magical shield that kept the center of their city together . The Highborne led group believed the world outside of Suramar had been destroyed . Under their shield , they would evolve over millennia through the energies of the Nightwell , becoming the Nightborne ( or shal ' dorei ) also night elves in the sense of " nocturnal elves " , and like their Highborne counterparts , still in the pre - sundering arcane night elf culture , Speculation . It isn ' t known exactly whether it was the humans in the Kalimdor jungles or the high elves who started referring to the Kaldorei as night elves , but it must be noted , that it makes no sense for night elves to have initially referred to themselves as night elves . One does not call yourself a day human to start with . Just human , and if you discover a group of nocturnal humans you might say " night " human . Most of the warcraft story is told from the perspective of the Humans and Eastern Kingdom group , so it stands to reason whiles the Kaldorei are the original group of elves , they are actually the second group of Elves known after the high elves to our human / orc perspective , and therefore were given the tag " night " Elf . It is also worth noting , that night elf therefore is the term commonly used to refer to all nocturnal elves , this includes the Kaldorei , the Highborne groups ( incl the Shen ' drelar and the newly acquainted Nightborne elves ) , all being Elves of the night from that original Kaldorei empire . Whiles Kaldorei , Quel ' dorei and Shal ' dorei are the official names of the ordinary night elves of northwestern Kalimdor , the Highborne and Nightborne respectively , most humans . orcs and races of Azeroth would refer to them all as simply night elves . Either way , to fully appreciate what is going on , language , culture and history must be factored in . What is unknown is what the relation between Quel ' dorei , Shal ' dorei and Kaldorei is . Do the highborne and nightborne still consider themselves Kaldorei ? or no longer children of the stars . I feel that the Quel ' dorei ( high elves and Quel ' dorei ( naga ) do consider themselves something different as they are no longer nocturnal elves , i . e . they are not characterised by the night , naga aren ' t even Elves any longer . However like it was in pre - sundering night elven society , it is likely todays surviving night elven quel ' dorei and shal ' dorei still also consider themselves Kaldorei , afterall both groups were in isolation till recently and likely thought they were all that was left of the Kaldorei race . It could be a language thing , perhaps in Darnassian , Quel replaces Kal if you are of the caste but you are still Kaldorei just now called Quel ' dorei . The same could have been adopted by the Shal ' dorei as a way of distinguishing their new group from Quel or Kal , but still considering themselves Kaldorei , just a new form . The answer may be found in what it means to be a Child of the Stars , this is the name given to all elves of the night who emerged highly intelligent and virtually immortal from the Well of Eternity , it is what marks all of them as who they are . Their focus is star ward bound as was evidenced by their arcane magic focus . In fact this is quite evident amongst the highborne and nightborne in their arcane usage . You could say they are even more Kaldorei than the ordinary night elves . Whatever the conclusion is , it is perhaps safe to say that all of the 3 nocturnal elven groups are viewed as night elves , but for distinctive purposes , the vanilla ones are simply Kaldorei , the highborne are Quel ' dorei and the nightborne are Shal ' dorei . The Kaldorei of Warcraft are roughly analogous to the quendi of Tolkien ' s works ; a progenitor race of the elves . In Tolkien ' s works , the quendi are sundered into the calaquendi ( elves of the light , or those who made the journey to Aman and saw the true light of the silver tree , Telperion , and the golden tree , Laurelin ) , and the moriquendi ( those who didn ' t ) . The analogy breaks down with Warcraft , because the calaquendi cannot be equated to the quel ' dorei ( high elves ) , and the moriquendi are not really the night elves ( who still call themselves Kaldorei ) . In Warcraft , the high elves are ironically considered a lesser type with reduced stature and shorter lifespan . In Tolkien ' s works , the calaquendi have greater stature and are essentially immortal ( like the night elves for most of Warcraft ' s history ) .