Ectoplasm
“I consider myself a goop expert and this here goop ain't natural. It's supernatural. This is ghost goop.”
Ectoplasm is the substance of which incorporeal undead (such as ghosts and banshees) are composed. Mux Manascrambler calls it "the very fabric of death"[2] and "the spectral fabric of the dead",[3] while Hornizz Brimbuzzle calls it "ghost energy".[4]
Properties
Different climates lend different consistencies to ectoplasm,[3] and it can therefore range from scorched,[5] frozen,[6] or airy[7] to greasy, phosphorescent,[8] and foul-smelling.[1] Destroying a ghost can cause it to turn into shimmers of ectoplasm.[9] Ectoplasm can animate into oozes called "ectoplasmic creatures".[10] By tapping into the otherworldly energies contained in ectoplasm, it is possible to reach out to souls of the dead that have not yet entirely left the mortal plane.[3] Prospera Cogwail claims that ectoplasm has "incredible rejuvenating powers" for hair and skin.[11]
Ectoplasm exists in both the Great Dark and the Shadowlands.[12] It also has some association with the Emerald Nightmare: the Nightmare-corrupted[13][14] Wailing Caverns are inhabited by ectoplasmic creatures containing wailing essence (a substance believed by Mebok Mizzyrix to be the cause of the corrupted wildlife in the Barrens),[10] and some fleshbeasts in the Nightmare drop ectoplasm.[15][16]
History
In Desolace, Hornizz Brimbuzzle asked adventurers to help him gather "ghost-o-plasm" from Magram ghosts in the Valley of Bones in the hopes of selling the substance to the living Magram centaur.[4]
Mux Manascrambler had adventurers use an ectoplasmic distiller to harvest different types of ectoplasm from undead across Azeroth[3] in order to create an extra-dimensional ghost revealer[2] that would allow them to speak with the dead.[17] To provide energy that would keep the ectoplasm active, Mux used the core of a powerful lava elemental.[18]
During the war against the Lich King, ectoplasmic residue from the ghosts of the Forgotten Shore was used as the reactive agent to activate the Forsaken Blight.[19] During the Cataclysm, the Forsaken deployed ectoplasmic slime creatures[20] to measure the lethality levels of the blight they'd deployed against Southshore.[21]
Custer Clubnik's bulldozer got clogged up with ectoplasm when he tried to drive it through the haunted woods near Lake Mennar in Azshara.[1]
Alhainr, a deepstrider spirit in the Ringing Deeps, brought ectoplasmic excretions with it when it attacked Opportunity Point. After adventurers stopped the attack, Prospera Cogwail planned to start selling bottles of locally-harvested ectoplasm as a hair and skincare product.[11]
In World of Warcraft
Items
[Ancient Ectoplasm] — Quest objective of 
[20-30] Siphoning the Spirits. Drops from Lost Drakkari Spirits. Later used as one of the ingredients in Finklestein's Laboratory.
[Coalesced Extoplasm] — Drops from undead in the Broken Isles.
[Ectoplasmic Residue] — Quest objective of 
[15-30] The Forsaken Blight and You: How Not to Die. Drops from ghosts on the Forgotten Shore.
[Ectosplatter Sample] — Quest objective of [5-30] Gunk in the Trunk. Drops from the Ectoplasmic Exhaust.
[Foul Ectoplasm] — Drops from Mawsworn throughout the Shadowlands.
[Frozen Ectoplasm] — Quest objective of [60] Hunting for Ectoplasm. Dropped from Highborne spirits in Winterspring.- [Ghost-o-Plasm] — Quest objective of [10-30] Ghost-o-plasm Round Up. Drops from Magrami Spectres.
- [Goopy Ectoplasm] — Drops from various fleshbeasts connected to the Emerald Nightmare.
[Scorched Ectoplasm] — Quest objective of [60] Hunting for Ectoplasm. Dropped from night elf ghosts in Silithus.
[Stable Ectoplasm] — Quest objective of [60] Hunting for Ectoplasm. Dropped from Scourge in the Eastern Plaguelands.- [Stringy Ectoplasm] — Drops from various fleshbeasts.
[Tendrils of Ectoplasm] — Drops from spirits and undead throughout the Shadowlands.- [Translucent Ectoplasm] — Drops from Nightmare Terrors.
Ectoplasmic creatures
Angry Blight Slime (Hillsbrad Foothills)[20]
Devouring Ectoplasm (Northern Barrens)
Ectoplasmic Excretion (Ringing Deeps)- Ectoplasmic Exhaust (Azshara)
- Evolving Ectoplasm (Wailing Caverns)
- Growing Ectoplasm (Wailing Critters)
- Nightmare Ectoplasm (Wailing Caverns)
Related
[Articulated Ectoplasmic Specs], 
[Flexible Ectoplasmic Specs], 
[Grounded Ectoplasmic Specs], and 
[Reinforced Ectoplasmic Specs] can be crafted with Shadowlands Engineering.
[Ectoplasm Stained Wristguards] are a quest reward from 
[15-30] Steady as a Rock?.
[Ectoplasmic Distiller] was provided for [60] Hunting for Ectoplasm and used to harvest the aforementioned [Frozen Ectoplasm], [Scorched Ectoplasm], and [Stable Ectoplasm].
[Ectoplasmic Resonator] dropped from Scourge in the Eastern Plaguelands and was used to sabotage a Scourge Cauldron in [58] Gahrron's Withering Cauldron.- Shrakun, an observer summoned during [10-40] Speaker for the Dead, has an ability named "Ectoplasm Spew".
See also
References
- ^ a b c [5-30] Gunk in the Trunk
- ^ a b [60] The Ectoplasmic Distiller
- ^ a b c d [60] Hunting for Ectoplasm
- ^ a b [10-30] Ghost-o-plasm Round Up
- ^ [Scorched Ectoplasm]
- ^ [Frozen Ectoplasm]
- ^ [Ancient Ectoplasm]
- ^ [Ectosplatter Sample]
- ^ Illidan, chapter 26: "[The spirits] fell upon the fel orcs and were cut to shimmers of ectoplasm by runic weapons and powerful spells."
- ^ a b [18D] Smart Drinks
- ^ a b [73-75] Put it Back, Put it Back!
- ^ [Foul Ectoplasm] and [Tendrils of Ectoplasm]
- ^ Naralex quotes
- ^ World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 3, pg. 122
- ^ [Goopy Ectoplasm]
- ^ [Translucent Ectoplasm]
- ^
[60] A Supernatural Device
- ^ [60] A Portable Power Source
- ^ [15-30] The Forsaken Blight and You: How Not to Die
- ^ a b [7-30] Angry Scrubbing Bubbles: "These blight slimes seem to be really angry. They've even got a faint of an angry humanoid face in their ectoplasm."
- ^ [7-30] Studies in Lethality