Gadgetzan Times/A Magical History of Azeroth

This article is a copy of "A Magical History of Azeroth", an official article by Blizzard Entertainment located in the "Gadgetzan Times" of the old website.

Take a moment to learn a bit more about the often mysterious, disaster-riddled history of magic in Azeroth.

A Magical History of Azeroth

Gadgetzan Times' own reporter Fara Boltbreaker goes out and gets the scoop on the history of magic and magi in Azeroth. Sitting in on a meeting in the library in Ironforge, she reports back to us the lessons learned from the magi.

Ironforge – This week, gnomish and human magi researching the history of the arcane presented their findings to a special mage-only conference held in the library in Ironforge. The Gadgetzan Times' Fara Boltbreaker was invited to cover the event. Below is her report from this event.

Magic has a long history in our world. However, as many magi remind us, the practice of magic comes with a heavy responsibility. Irresponsible use of magic led to the War of the Ancients and the Sundering. The historical records of the kaldorei, or night elves as they are more commonly known, are quite clear on this.

The War of Ancients

Magic began with the night elves living near the Well of Eternity. Their queen, Azshara, ordered her special servitors, the quel'dorei, meaning 'Highborne,' to join the night elf priests in trying to uncover the secrets of the Well. In their quest to learn its secrets, the night elves discovered that they could manipulate the cosmic energies flowing from the Well. Even though they knew that this power, to create or destroy, should be handled with care, the quel'dorei and Azshara practiced magic with little forethought. The night elves' use of magic was like a clarion call to Sargeras, the dark titan. He gathered his Burning Legion and followed the call to Azeroth. Azshara, swayed by Sargeras' power, agreed to work with the quel'dorei to open a portal in the Well of Eternity so that he could enter the world from the Great Beyond. Thus, it was through the heedless use of magic that the Burning Legion first came to our world. The invasion was ended only when the portal that Azshara and the quel'dorei had opened collapsed, causing the Sundering.

Magic, at first, was practiced only by the night elves. However, after the Sundering, the night elf magi were exiled by the others after the magi refused to give up their spellcraft. The night elf magi set sail for the distant horizon and landed in Lordaeron. Forsaking their nocturnal culture, they turned from worship of Elune, the moon goddess, to veneration of the sun. From this point forward, they called themselves the 'high elves.' In Lordaeron, the exiles set up their kingdom called "Quel'Thalas." For long centuries, the high elves lived in Quel'Thalas and used their magic to keep the trolls at bay. It was not until after the humans had united under the Arathi nation and the trolls had all but destroyed the high elf kingdom that magic spread to the humans. The high elves agreed to teach magic to the humans in exchange for help against the trolls. The united human and high elf effort pushed the trolls back.

Recent History

With the troll threat contained, the human empire of Arathi began to expand. The second city-state of the empire, Dalaran, was founded and became a haven for human magi. Dalaran's reckless use of magic drew demons back into the world, albeit not in the numbers that had flooded through during the War of Ancients. The high elves then warned the humans about the Burning Legion and the disaster that could arise from the uncontrolled use of magic.

Given its history as a destructive force, practitioners of magic are often held in awe and suspicion. With such great power comes great responsibility, and magi will generally only teach their art to those who are willing to take up the burdens that magic entails. However, with the destruction of Dalaran and magic's own disaster-strewn history, many wonder if the world would be better off without magi altogether.

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