Azshara's Palace

This article is about Azshara's palace in pre-Sundering Zin-Azshari. For the raid in Nazjatar, see Eternal Palace.

The palace as depicted in the Well of Eternity dungeon.

Azshara's Palace was the palace of Queen Azshara. Azshara, the night elves' beautiful and gifted queen, built an immense, wondrous palace on the Well of Eternity's shore that housed her favored servitors within its bejeweled halls.

The palace was located in the capital of the Kaldorei Empire, Zin-Azshari, and was built on the very shore of the Well of Eternity itself, the source of power and efficacy for the Kaldorei race. The palace served as the residence for both the queen and her closest followers - the Highborne - who collectively presided over and ruled the empire. During the later years of the empire, just before and during the infamous War of the Ancients, the palace became home to a large host of demonic invaders as powerful spell-work was conducted within its walls to summon the demon lord Sargeras and his legion to Azeroth. At the war's violent conclusion, the palace, the city, and the entire continent, were torn apart by the Great Sundering, with the palace itself sinking beneath the waves.

Description

The palace rested on a cliff overlooking the Well of Eternity. When first the vast, walled edifice had been constructed, using magic that melded both stone and forest into a single, cohesive form, it had been a wonder to touch the heart of any who saw it. Its towers were trees strengthened by rock, with jutting spires and high, open windows. The walls were volcanic stone raised up, then bound tightly by draping vines and giant roots. The main palace at the center had originally by the mystical binding of more than a hundred giant, ancient trees. Bent in together, they had formed the skeleton of the rounded center, over which the stone and vines had been set.

In the highest tower, Xavius and the other Highborne studied the powers of the Well of Eternity. That tower was destroyed by Malfurion, temporarily closing the Burning Legion's portal.

World of Warcraft

The tower that Malfurion destroyed.

This section concerns content related to Cataclysm.

Azshara's Palace features prominently in the Well of Eternity instance. The Courtyard of Lights surrounds it. Its design somewhat resembles the Temple of the Moon in Darnassus. A glass walkway goes around it towards a platform where Queen Azshara, and the highborne who are casting the spell to summon Sargeras, can be fought. It contains several inaccessible sections, both inside and out.

Notes

This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

• It was destroyed in the Great Sundering, but Queen Azshara ordered a palace built in Nazjatar to rival her old home.
• Though it had a prominent role in the War of the Ancients Trilogy, the palace was never given a proper name. Instead, it was usually just called "the palace", or the like. Shadows & Light calls it the "Eternal Palace".
  • While not directly referenced in the Caverns of Time version, Eternal Champions guard the palace, and Azshara refers to the "Eternal Court" in her boss fight, possibly referencing the RPG name. "Eternal" is obviously derived from the Well of Eternity.
  • The name would later be used for her new palace in Nazjatar, the Eternal Palace.
• While the War of the Ancients Trilogy described the palace as being in Zin-Azshari, Shadows & Light describes it as being in Suramar. This point is an error, but the cities (or their outskirts) may have connected, as the cities shared the Temple of Elune and Zin-Azshari reached to Azshara.
• Both the History of Warcraft (found in the Warcraft III manual, in-game, and on the official site), and Shadows & Light also call the palace the alternate name of Azshara's temple/the Eternal Temple. The reasoning for the shift in the name in both sources from palace to temple is unknown. The War of the Ancients Trilogy does not appear to use this name.

Patch changes

• Patch 4.3.0 (2011-11-29): Added.
  

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB