Welcome back to Loremaster Innervate where I go over something lore related in World of Warcraft. This week we continue our Horde Monk's adventure through Azeroth with Ghostlands. Back when Burning Crusade first came out I went and did Ghostlands on a baby Blood Elf which was my first alt and I never got it past level 25 until Wrath of the Lich King but I really loved Ghostlands for some reason and it was the only area I finished to completion and got exalted reputation with. Doing it again in current content however, I have no idea why I thought that!
The High Elves originally made landfall and settled in Tirisfal Glades. However, the High Elves started to slowly go mad and it is theorized that there is something evil underneath the ground of Tirisfal however it has never been proven. Is there a possibility that there might be a chained Old God there? We still have three that are missing. High Elves who escaped the madness moved farther north and eventually settled in Quel'thalas which is a joint area of both Eversong Woods and Ghostlands.
The Ghostlands was originally as beautiful as Eversong Woods. However, it was renamed the Blackened Woods when red dragons first burned it down in the Second War. However, I unfortunately couldn't figure out why as it doesn't say that Orgrim Doomhammer was the one who burned it down and specifically that red dragons did it. There is no zone origin in the questing as well. If we read a little bit into the Second War lore we find that Orgrim Doomhammer burned his way through the elven forests and made it to Eversong Woods before any Alliance Reinforcements (the High Elves of Quel'thalas were allies of the Alliance at this time) could arrive to stop them. So, it's kind of miss leading to say the Red Dragons burned down the forest as it was technically Orgrim Doomhammer controlling the enslaved Red Dragons who burned it down. It was later burned down a second time during the Third War by the Blood Elves themselves to stop the Scourge taint from spreading to neighboring areas.
We are first introduced to Ghostlands when we discover an Undead Apothecary attempting to aid a Blood Elf Outrunner who has been infected with the Ghostlands plague. When we reach the capital city to deliver the Outrunner's message we are instantly recruited to help retake the Ghostlands. Only about halfway through the zone do we learn exactly what we're doing there. The Blood Elves have lost the Ghostlands to the Scourge lead by the traiter Dar'Khan Drathir and are currently fighting a three front war. It is your job, as the hero, to free up the Farstriders who are fighting the Amani Trolls and the invading Night Elves so they can join Tranquillian and you can launch a full on assault on Deatholme to the south.
The first thing we are instructed to do is go to a Spire that has been overtaken by High Elf spirits that have been risen by the Scourge. This shows that the Scourge leaders are smart, when your allies are raised from the dead to fight against you that not only free extra troops that your enemy lost but it also makes it harder for the enemy to fight against you since you are making them fight their friends. I believe this is the only place we have High Elf NPCs in abundance and they have a very interesting look. They have the hair styles, attack animations and eyes of Night Elves but the facial structure, body type and hair color of Blood Elves. All other High Elf NPCs I have found look exactly like Blood Elves except for their eye color.
The land is being covered with undead as the Scourge are still controlling most of the land. We learn a few things about the Scourge and Undead as a whole from this area. First, Murlocs retain their free will when raised from death very similar to some of the Foresaken. It is never fully explained why Murlocs are special exemptions to the rule of undeath but we do also learn that Dark Energy of the Reanimated come from the persons (or Murlocs) spine. Amani Trolls are also being raised from the dead, however, we find out that it is not the Scourge that are doing this it's their own Amani Troll Priests. They know that they are fighting Farstrider forces and do not have enough to fight them but they would if they rose their dead to fight them.
A few other pieces of Blood Elf lore learned in this area as well. Windrunner Spire was the original birthplace of Sylvanas Windrunner and was renamed in her honor. One of the undead is holding a necklace that once belong to Sylvanas that was given to her by her sister. This song is played when you give her the necklace. No further explanation is given inside of the game as to what the meaning of the necklace was, but through outside sources we learn that the necklace was originally meant to be given to Sylvanas by her sister Alleria before she went into the Dark Portal but she never received it. The necklace was split into three separate necklaces each one intending to go to one of the Windrunner sisters.
We also learn a little bit more about how the Blood Elves were able to control the elements around Quel'thalas. The Blood Elves would perform enslavement rituals by summoning an Elemental Lord and binding it to their will every year. However, tragedy struck one year when Aquantion, a water elemental, called upon an army of Murlocs and drowned a town of blood elves that were attempting the ritual so he could be free. The spirits of the blood elves now haunt the lake they died in.
Most of the lore comes from one small but important area in the Ghostlands known as Deatholme. Deatholme is the fortress of Dar'Khan Drathir the Blood Elf traitor that sold out his people to the Scourge. Dar'Khan was a very powerful magistre that used the Sunwell to craft cities for his people. However, he was extremely ego-maniacal and was frustrated with not receiving enough credit for helping build Silvermoon. Dar'Khan became obsessed with the Sunwell and wanted to power for himself so he joined forces with Arthas Menethil who he believed wanted to Sunwell for himself as well. However, after Dar'Khan let the Lich Kings forces into Eversong Woods and fought against the Blood Elves for control of the Sunwell, Arthas used it to raise Kel'thazad which corrupted it beyond use. Infurated by this, Dar'Khan attempted to betray the Lich King but was killed in the battle. After he is revivedby Arthas and tracks down what is left of the Sunwell that was destroyed by Kael'thas Sunstrider he is vaporized to dust but magically appears in Ghostlands as the Scourge offensive leader with no real explination as to how he survived or how he got there. Some believe that he is a Lich and can regenerate any wound as long as his soul remains in tact, however, since we kill him and do nothing special with his soul there's no concrete evidence that this is true.
Once we defeat his Lieutenants, free our scouts and kill Dar'Khan (which by the way, is still a bitch of a fight to solo, in full heirlooms at level 24 it took my Monk about 4-6 deaths to kill him on my own due to his obnoxious fear and four add army he keeps in the room with him) we are asked to meet not only the Regent Lord Lor'themar Theron but also Sylvanas Windrunner and Garrosh Hellscream so the Blood Elves can officially become apart of the Horde. Being able to retake the Ghostlands and defeat Dar'khan without any outside help shows the Horde that we are capable of solving our own problems and that we have assets we can provide.
All in all, I really enjoy Ghostlands as a zone because it is extremely pretty and you get lost in what you're doing. However, as it always seems to be in WoW most of your information comes from outside of the game and not the actual quest text itself. Next week, we will be moving to Tirisfal Glades (and randomly jumping several years into the future) to learn the lore of the Forsaken and Sylvanas Windrunner.
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