Back in the level 60 era, I started out playing a Paladin on a PvE server and leveled into the forties.
I remembered killing gorillas in Booty Bay, with a Troll skinning them behind me.
I was basically playing without a clue. Dungeon runs were a mess, with two Paladins and three random classes, but we still had a blast.
I didn't remember Blizzard's setting for the Holy Light in the level 60 era very clearly, and I couldn't find any information on it either.
I vaguely remembered it being a kind of life energy, something like battle qi.
Then the level 70 era came along, adding the Naaru and Blood Elves stealing the Holy Light.
Later, Tauren gained the Holy Light by worshiping the sun.
All right.
At this point, the Holy Light couldn't be explained anymore.
Daddy Blizzard didn't say.
The Holy Light became a forbidden topic because no discussion ever reached a conclusion.
Everyone had their own arguments.
According to the traditional explanation, the Holy Light should have been connected to faith: the more devout the faith, the greater the power gained.
In Of Blood and Honor, old Tirion Fordring would pray even when nothing was going on.
(Old Tirion Fordring was over fifty, yet he had a young, beautiful wife. Was that the benefit of believing in the Holy Light?
What was even more outrageous, old Tirion Fordring actually abandoned his wife and child for his Orc bro.
Tell me, what reason was there not to trash you?)
But the Blood Elves stealing the Holy Light clearly went against the idea of faith.
If it could be stolen, who would bother with all the trouble of faith?
With the addition of the Naaru, beings of Holy Light, and their counterpart, shadow, we found that the Holy Light was simply a kind of energy.
Energy didn't have thoughts.
Just like electricity.
You couldn't say that a light bulb wouldn't turn on because someone had a wicked heart.
So what was the deal with faith before that?
Why could someone be deprived of the power of the Holy Light?
Why did old Tirion Fordring regain the Holy Light after losing it?
It made no sense!
The setting added in this book, leaving aside whether it was right or wrong since there wasn't a standard answer anyway,
Could at least explain the questions above.
The Holy Light was energy, and the Naaru were its administrators. (How many Naaru were there?)
The Holy Light had no personality, but the Naaru did.
The Holy Light had nothing to do with faith, but the Naaru needed faith.
(Let me tell you a secret: the Naaru needed to consume souls to restore their power.)
The Holy Light could be stolen, and it could also be obtained by bypassing the Naaru.
(For example, Tyr, who wielded the Holy Light.)
As for the Tauren gaining the Holy Light by worshiping the sun, that was a headache.
The sun could be considered a Naaru,
After all, the sun could also collapse into a black hole,
Wasn't that a lot like a Naaru transforming into a dark form?
Or was there a Naaru impersonating the sun?
All right, I admitted it: these were all made-up explanations. Daddy Blizzard didn't have an answer anyway.
A thousand people had a thousand Hamlets.
Once the Holy Light became a philosophical question, I didn't think it mattered how it was explained.
As long as it solved some problems.