Battle for Quel'Danas
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This article's name is unofficial.
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| Battle for Quel'Danas | |||||||||||
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| Part of | Invasion of Outland | ||||||||||
| Date | 26 ADP[1] | ||||||||||
| Location | Isle of Quel'Danas | ||||||||||
| Result |
Decisive Burning Legion defeat
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| Major Battles | Battle for Sun's Reach | ||||||||||
| Previous | Scourge Invasion | ||||||||||
| Concurrent | Invasion of Mardum | ||||||||||
| Next | War against the Lich King | ||||||||||
“But...all is not lost. The Sunwell's essence endured, kept hidden by those who sought to protect it. Now, I have returned with the knowledge that sacrifices must be made before we can reclaim our birthright. I have forged a new alliance. Soon, the blessed rays of the Sunwell will shine once again, and usher into this world the one...who will deliver us all.”
The battle for Quel'Danas was a major battle between the unified Shattered Sun Offensive and the demonic Burning Legion and its allies, over control of the Isle of Quel'Danas in the Eastern Kingdoms. The battle served as the final conflict of the larger invasion of Outland and saw the Legion attempt to secure control of the blood elven Sunwell in order to usher forth the demon lord Kil'jaeden into Azeroth.
The Shattered Sun Offensive consisted of a coalition between the Aldor and Scryers of Shattrath City, supplemented by elements from both the Horde and Alliance. The battle saw the mortal coalition gradually gain ground against the demons, who were greatly aided by the Sunfury forces of the fallen Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider. As further bases were established on the isle proper, the Shattered Sun forces began to target the nearby Magisters' Terrace and even the Sunwell Plateau itself, where the minions of Kil'jaeden worked furiously to summon their master through the power of the Sunwell.
The campaign ended with the defeat of Kil'jaeden and the halt of the Legion's invasion, followed by a monumental event when the once-corrupted naaru M'uru allowed its own heart to be used to reignite the Sunwell. With this sacrifice, the ancient font of power was restored to its full glory, signaling a new future for the blood elf race and a victory for all followers of the Light. A decisive victory for the mortal races of Azeroth, the Burning Legion would not return in such force until the advent of their third invasion, several years later.
History
The Sun King returns
The defeat of Kael'thas Sunstrider at Tempest Keep dealt a severe blow to the Burning Legion's plans, with whom the Sun King had made an alliance before his demise. The demon lord Kil'jaeden, however, soon dispatched the shivarra Priestess Delrissa to the Netherstorm, where she successfully revived the dead blood elf prince.[3] Filled with a new determination, Kael'thas returned to the Isle of Quel'Danas through a portal at the Throne of Kil'jaeden[4] with the objective of reinvigorating the Sunwell; not for the sake of his people, but instead as a means to summon his demonic master on Azeroth.
With the aid of his demon allies, as well as his Sunfury, Kael'thas kidnapped Anveena Teague, the mortal embodiment of the Sunwell's energies, who was being kept in Quel'Thalas for protection. In addition, he also personally led an attack on Silvermoon City itself with felblood elves, seizing the naaru M'uru for their interests. At the Sunwell Plateau, the prince leeched away their power to re-form the ruined Sunwell, causing a brilliant explosion of energy to erupt from the fount, and then fortified his ritual to create the gateway with energy from the mana cells he had gathered in the Netherstorm.[5]
Having witnessed this assault herself, Lady Liadrin of the Blood Knights was outraged, and immediately renounced all her allegiance to the House of Sunstrider. She later traveled to Outland to warn the Sha'tar of Kael'thas's plot, and pledged herself and her paladins to the cause of the naaru. When news of these events reached those in Shattrath, the city's two principal factions—the Aldor and Scryers—chose to put aside their differences and unite together to form the Shattered Sun Offensive. The principal aim of the new faction became the defeat of Prince Kael'thas and ending the threat posed by the Burning Legion.[6]
Battle for Sun's Reach
- Main article: Battle for Sun's Reach
The newly-formed Shattered Sun Offensive quickly mobilized its troops, landing a large force via boat onto the Isle of Quel'Danas, where they established a staging area to immediately engage the Burning Legion. The demons had already entrenched themselves at several key parts of the isle, and the Shattered Sun worked tirelessly to reclaim these sections. In particular, the offensive's efforts were focused on the large village of Sun's Reach, which could act as a springboard for further assaults.
Sun's Reach Sanctum's occupation was a key objective of the Shattered Sun Offensive, which launched operations to capture the building. Though lacking the numbers to outright seize the sanctum, the Shattered Sun made use of the malfunctioning arcane sentries located in the vicinity.[7] Having fashioned new crystal cores for the golems, they were thus brought under Shattered Sun control and used against foes at the sanctum. Additionally, the dormant wards guarding the sanctum were reactivated when their power source was reclaimed from the nearby wretched.[8] Eventually, Sun's Reach Sanctum was secured by the Shattered Sun, granting the offensive new access to reinforcements directly from Shattrath City through portals.[9]
Their next major target was the Sun's Reach Armory, held by demonic forces who, despite having suffered heavy losses thus far, remained resolute in holding the position, which was largely maintained through fear of the notorious emissaries of hate. Targeting these demons in particular, and sending a message by impaling their bodies with Shattered Sun banners, greatly undermined the Legion's position and crushed the demons' morale.[10] After they eventually claimed the armory, the area remained constantly threatened by the Legion presence at Dawning Square to the south, and to counter them, the Shattered Sun maintained their efforts to crush the demons there and their morale.[11] In the meantime, the Sunfury continued to launch dragonhawk attacks on the Shattered Sun forces.
While much of the Burning Legion's attention was focused on the Shattered Sun advance from the north, the demons also remained preoccupied with the continued presence of the Undead Scourge at the Dead Scar to the south. As such, a great deal of their army had to be focused against the undead, which presented the Shattered Sun Offensive with an advantage. In an attempt to prevent the Legion from annihilating their Scourge adversaries (and thus free up much-needed forces) dragonhawk bombing runs using arcane charges were launched to hit the demonic forces at the Dead Scar.[12]
The Shattered Sun forces then turned their attention towards Sun's Reach Harbor, fully under the control of the Dawnblade blood elves, and clashed until they eventually gained the upper hand.[13] Three Dawnblade destroyers were dispatched to reinforce the harbor, but were soon waylaid by Shattered Sun dragonhawk strikes who ignited the sails.[14] After their success, the allied forces captured the destroyer known as Silvermoon's Pride, while the Sun's Reach Armory was made fully operational to produce armaments.
Meanwhile, the Darkspine naga tribe had enslaved the local Greengill tribe of murlocs, using their slaves to dig up iron ore on the Greengill Coast for the war effort of their Legion allies. Interested in the excavated ore, the Shattered Sun Offensive increased its efforts against the naga and collected their resources for the armory,[15] which led to the establishment of an Alchemy Lab.
Now fully secured on the island, the Shattered Sun Offensive built a Monument to the Fallen using private donations, which offered a testament to all those who gave their lives in Sun's Reach's capture.[16] The naaru K'iru later arrived to offer a song of victory to bolster the troops' resolve and further aid in the battle.[17]
As the Shattered Sun Offensive pressed the attack on Quel'Danas, they discovered that Kael'thas' minions were planning a counterattack. By ordering the Sunfury blood elves, based in the Netherstorm, to attack their operations in Outland, he hoped to draw troops and attention away from the Sunwell.[18]
The Magisters' Terrace
Through their efforts, the Shattered Sun forces had disrupted Kael'thas's spellwork long enough for more help to arrive, allowing the Horde and Alliance to converge on the Sunwell. Under the lead of Lady Liadrin, the Horde's champions hunt down the Sun King in the Magisters' Terrace, where they succeeded in cutting a path through the Sunblade's forces. Both Selin Fireheart and Priestess Delrissa were subsequently defeated by the heroes, who eventually ended the mad prince once and for all.[5] Just before succumbing to death, the prince gave out a final, maniacal rant — reveling in Azeroth's coming destruction at the hands of Kil'jaeden.[19] If he had succeeded, the darkness of the Legion would have spread quickly to all corners of Azeroth, extinguishing everything in its path.[20]
Reclaiming the Sunwell
After the Shattered Sun Offensive established a small foothold within Sunwell Plateau, a strike team of Alliance heroes[5] was deployed to clear the way forward. During their infiltration, they encountered the blue dragon Kalecgos who had fallen under the sway of a powerful dreadlord, Sathrovarr the Corruptor.[21] With their aid, Kalec was able to free himself from the demon's possession, and together, they pressed forward to locate the blue dragon Madrigosa, who was found in the midst of a battle with the annihilan Brutallus.
After Madrigosa briefly gained the upper hand, she was suddenly overwhelmed and killed by the demon, who turned his attention on the champions. After Brutallus was vanquished, his fel blood seeped into the corpse of the now-deceased dragon, which was subsequently revived in a corrupted, skeletal form, before being killed for a second time. After overcoming several of Kil'jaeden's key lieutenants, the heroes were confronted by a corrupted M'uru who completed its transformation, turning into a void god known as Entropius.
The final confrontation began when the Deceiver emerged from the Sunwell portal, pulling himself partially through it to personally attack Azeroth's champions, who had to fully engage the demon lord with the aid of Kalecgos. While they desperately fought, Anveena Teague was suspended above the Sunwell to power the portal until she intentionally sacrificed her own life to weaken her jailor. Thanks to her help, the mortal champions were able to successfully banish Kil'jaeden back through the portal and into the Twisting Nether; thus shutting close the Legion's gateway into Azeroth.[22]
Following their victory, the corruptive energies once more fouled the Sunwell's waters; the tainted well threatened to spread through Quel'Thalas and engulf the blood elves. The kingdom's regent, Lor'themar Theron, considered destroying the fount to avert this catastrophe, but another solution presented itself: accompanying a repentant Lady Liadrin to the plateau was the draenei Prophet Velen, who had come to pay his respects to M'uru. The prophet recovered the naaru's heart alone, unblemished through his fall to darkness, and used it to purify the Sunwell.[5] Cleansed of its corruption, the Sunwell's energies were now made of both arcane and Light energy.[23] The Prophet then departed, leaving the Blood Knight to bask in the Sunwell's renewed radiance.
Aftermath
The battle for the Isle of Quel'Danas marked the decisive conclusion to the invasion of Outland and led to the complete failure of the Burning Legion's plans for conquering Azeroth in the near future. It would not be until the third invasion of the Burning Legion that the demons would again assault the world in such force.
Freed from the influence of the insane Kael'thas Sunstrider, and with the soul of their nation restored in the form of the Sunwell, the blood elf turned their attention to freeing themselves of their magic addiction and restoring their civilization to its former greatness. The Monument to the Fallen would remain in Sun's Reach as a testament to all those who gave their lives to defeat the Legion and save Azeroth from certain destruction. In time, their forces occupied once more Quel'Danas, protecting the Sunwell Plateau and their newly-restored source of power.[24]
Forces
- Numerous draenei vindicators and anchorites
- Various types of blood elf mages
- Large amounts of Shattered Sun warriors and marksmen
- Many arcane golem sentries
- Several darnassian and blood elven warships
- At least one naaru
- Vast armies of demons of varied races
- Large force of blood elves loyal to Prince Kael'thas
- Various types of mages and marksmen
- Many Blood Knights
- Many airborne sunhawk riders
- Numerous fel-powered arcane golems
- Several destroyers
- Many Darkspine naga and enslaved murlocs
Videos
References
- ^ World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 3, pg. 151
- ^ Fury of the Sunwell trailer
- ^ Priestess Delrissa dungeon journal notes
- ^ Magistrix Seyla#Quotes
- ^ a b c d World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 3, pg. 159
- ^ Shattered Sun Offensive faction description
- ^
[70 Daily] Erratic Behavior
- ^ [70 Daily] The Sanctum Wards
- ^ [25-30 Daily] Maintaining the Sunwell Portal
- ^ [70 Daily] The Battle for the Sun's Reach Armory
- ^ [25-30 Daily] The Battle Must Go On
- ^ [70 Daily] Distraction at the Dead Scar
- ^ [70 Daily] Taking the Harbor
- ^ [70 Daily] Intercept the Reinforcements
- ^ [70 Daily] Making Ready
- ^ [25-30] A Magnanimous Benefactor
- ^ K'iru
- ^ [25-30 Daily] Sunfury Attack Plans
- ^ Kael'thas Sunstrider (tactics)
- ^ Magister's Terrace (archived page)
- ^ Kalecgos (tactics)
- ^ Kil'jaeden (tactics)
- ^ Ask CDev - Round 1
- ^
[25-30] The Purification of Quel'Delar
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