Night Elves were immortal until the destruction of the World Tree at the end of WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos. The forces of the Burning Legion had fought their way to the World Tree, which their commander, Archimonde, had set his sights upon. When Archimonde reached the tree, however, he discovered that he had walked into a trap set by Malfurion Stormrage. Thousands of wisps surrounded the Eredar and exploded all at once destroying him and damaging the World Tree. While this prevented Archimonde from destroying the world, it also deprived the Night Elves of the immortality that the tree had granted them. Not all of them adjusted to mortality well and many were terrified by the prospects of illness, aging, and eventual death.

It wasn’t long before some of the druids decided to make a new World Tree and thus regain their immortality; an idea that achieved popularity with many of the Kal’dorei. Malfurion warned them that such a selfish act would never be blessed by nature and forbade the creation of a new tree. After making this proclamation, Malfurion became trapped within the Emerald Dream and not even the green dragons who lived within the Emerald Dream could find him. With Malfurion incapacitated, leadership of the druids fell to Fandral Staghelm who was one of the Night Elves in favor of creating a new World Tree. Under Staghelm, a second tree was brought into existence and named Teldrassil. Unfortunately, Malfurion’s prediction was correct; the new tree was not blessed by nature and the Night Elves did not gain new immortality from its creation as intended. The new World Tree radiated corruption that drove creatures and people inhabiting the area mad and filled them with mindless aggression. This is just one example of the negative effects Teldrassil has had on the world around it. Teldrassil’s one positive effect is the wondrous city of Darnassus that was built upon it.

After the wars played in Warcraft III and Frozen Throne, which caused the destruction of most of the High Elves, the Night Elves are the most numerous Elven race in the world of Azeroth.