Aside from their shadowy origins, there is no doubt that the night elves came to power soon after their discovery of the Well of Eternity. The troll empires attempted to halt their expansions, but the night elves built up a mighty empire that expanded across primordial Kalimdor. The night elves wielded fierce magics bestowed upon them by the Well of Eternity, the power of which was never before imagined by the trolls. The night elves soon accomplished what the Aqir could not do: topple the two greatest empires in the ancient world.

The trolls buckled under the onslaught, unable to counter the elves’ destructive magic. The night elves proved to be every bit as cunning and bloodthirsty as the savage trolls — incurring the latter race’s eternal hatred and disdain. The Gurubashi and Amani empires fragmented within only a few short years.

The night elves’ use of arcane magics did more than defeat the troll empires, however. They also lured the demons of the Burning Legion from across the Twisting Nether, and the demons demolished much of the night elves’ civilization. Though there are no records to indicate that the Legion attacked either troll civilization, it is likely that battles took place across the breadth of the continent.

The terrible conflict — known as the War of the Ancients — ended when the Well of Eternity imploded. The shockwave that followed shattered the greater landmass of Kalimdor in an event that came to be known as the Great Sundering of the world. The center of the continent was blasted beneath the sea, leaving only a small group of broken, single continents.

Great chunks of the Amani and Gurubashi empires still exist in the present day lands of Quel’Thalas and Stranglethorn (respectively). Both civilizations recoiled from the vast destruction of the primordial world they had known; the dauntless trolls rebuilt their ravaged cities and set about reclaiming some of their former power.