Old alliances: Jalinde Summerdrake

The elves of Quel'Thalas are a divided people, shattered by tragedy, pain and death. With the Scourge ravaging their once-proud kingdom, they have become a shadow of their former power. While most of them have become the Blood Elves and allies of the Horde, a small number maintain their old ways and the name of "High Elves". Many also maintain their ties with the Alliance, while some are more neutral. Today we shall visit one such colony of High Elves.

And the subject of our entry is Jalinde Summerdrake.



Finding a ranger

Jalinde Summerdrake is a rare mob high elf found in the Quel'Danil Lodge in the Hinterlands, in the Eastern Kingdoms.



She can be found in several locations inside and outside the Quel'Danil lodge, where she will walk around her spawn point. She does not look terribly different than the other female high elves in the area, and thus is easiest to find using tracking or targetting her.



Physically, Jalinde is dressed in a comfortable and practical ranger outfit just like the other elves. She has the telltale blue eyes instead of green, showing that her magic addiction is under control. This may of course not be an issue after the restoration of the Sunwell, but still it is worth noting.

(As a curiosity, before the release of the Burning Crusade expansion, all high elves used a different, much rougher model. While I have found no image of Jalinde's original mode, some of her fellow Highvale elves can be seen here. Doubtless her model was similar. And I'm very happy they were changed!)

Bow and blade

Jalinde Summedrake is one of several rarespawns in World of Warcraft who is friendly to the Alliance and hostile towards the Horde. As she does not belong to any form of lesser faction, it is normally impossible for an Alliance player to fight her. Thus, only Horde players will ever see her in combat, which is quite likely since there are a few Horde quests in and around the Lodge.



Jalinde mainly attacks with her bow, having both poisoned shots (which leave a DoT on the target) and explosive shots (which do AoE damage). She is overall a weak combatant who can rather easily be defeated by even enemies around her level or weaker with no trouble. This is fortunate, as she is will almost certainly be drawn into combat if she is up and someone visits the area for the quests. Jalinde Summerdrake has no unique drops, which always made me sad. She should have a bow all her own, at least.

What's her story?

The Quel'Danil Lodge lies between Quel'Thalas and the lands of the ancient allies of the high elves, the dwarves and humans. As such, the outpost served as an important meeting ground and a place to monitor the dangerous forest trolls of the Hinterlands. The Highvale Rangers, part of the famed High Elf rangers, patrol the dales and mountains of the land searching for danger. Indeed, the name "Quel'Danil" itself means "High Peak" in Thalassian.



As the only named elf in the Lodge, it stands to reason that Jalinde is a commander or leader of the rangers. In the roleplaying game the Quel'Danil Lodge was said to be under the leadership of an old elf named Saldor Shallowbrook. If this is still considered canon, then it is possible Jalinde succeeded him as leader after his death or retirement, or is merely serving as a more day-to-day commander of operations.



Regardless of this, Jalinde is doubtless a staunch member of the Alliance, and holds by the old ideals of the High Elves. He future, and that of the other remaining High Elf remnants, may be explored further in the Cataclysm expansion. I rather like rarespawns like this, which make me think about the lore of a specific place, and which themselves fit a nice (if very minor) position in the overall World of Warcraft universe. Plus, Jalinde Summerdrake is a lovely name. All this combined make this a notable and fun rarespawn for me.

Until next time, watch out for forest trolls.
~Dragonshade