So, recently I have caught myself thinking about WoW lore for a while and remembered this place and I said to myself “why not make a thread, nothing’s happening on the forums anyway.” This will be more of a fun “what if” thread filled with speculation, since we don’t really have anything concrete concerning this place.
Considering most people probably forgot or never even heard about Balor in the first place, let me make a short introduction first. It is an island that exists in the Great Sea, somewhere near the Eastern Kingdoms. Now why am I saying “somewhere”? Well, in WarCraft 2 and WoW concept maps, it was located near Stormwind - see link 1 - but when you check the chronicle map, it’s nowhere to be seen. Apparently the reason for that is Blizzard didn’t want to nail down it’s location - see link 2 for source - so while it still should exist, it might not necessarily be in Stormwind’s bay anymore. And on that note:
BALOR, THE LAND OF (ALMOST) INFINITE POTENTIAL
…well not really, but it sounds nice and catches the eye, eh? But there’s still a lot you could do with this place. I’m gonna share some of my ideas, in the first scenario, Balor is still in Stormwind’s bay, in the second one, it’s somewhere else, to the north-west of the fair lion city.
BALOR, THE TREASURE COVE OF STORMWIND’S LORE
If we presume it’s still in its original place, then it would be well suited for this. Stormwind’s lore for the past 10 years has just been about Wrynns. The original organizations like Brotherhood of the Horse and Conjurers of Stormwind - link 3 for WarCraft 1 concept - have pretty much been forgotten and gone without a mention for years. And other orders, like Stormwind chapter of the Silver Hand and Clerics/Brotherhood of Northshire, while existing in game, did nothing of note yet. I’m not saying all four should appear there, but showing some of them defending their kingdom from a grave threat would certainly be a welcome sight. Now what would this grave threat be? Well…
BALOR, ISLAND OF REAVERS AND STORMS
…orcs of course! In WarCraft 2 manual, which is still the best place to go for Balor lore, it is mentioned that Stormreaver orcs held it since the fall of Stormwind in the first war. Should this still be true and they lurk around, it would be bad news indeed. The clans I could see showing up are the Stormreavers, as the ruling warlock caste, with servants from Black Tooth Grin clan. This would be a great point for creating content for both faction if it was so desired, with Horde helping the Black Tooth Grin rebels against Stormreaver tyranny. Would also be an opportunity to see something about post-Sargeras demon/Burning Legion influence. But I promised to talk about Balor with changed location you say? Well…
BALOR, THE HIDDEN ANCHORAGE
…this idea is a little more far-fetched. It’s based around the fact that Lordaeron’s fleet - see link 4 for awesome art - dissappeared without a clue. Yeah, Arthas brought a big part of it to Northrend, but I doubt he took all the ships. And if we look at the forsaken, they are by no means a naval power and they seem to have no former Lordaeronian ships, even in lore it’s mentioned that their ships are made out of the wrecks pulled from the bottom of the sea. So what if Balor was the place where the remaining part of the fleet dissappeared to? Oh, now you are saying it’s just Kul Tiras 2.0 and it wouldn’t make sense no one noticed the ships sailing out of Balor? Well…
BALOR, THE WRECKAGE SHROUDED IN SCARLET MIST
I’m not saying the fleet has to be still intact! Let’s say the fleet and the refugees on it were led there by people who had mindset similar to Scarlet Crusade. Immediately after all the ships landed, they got set on fire and sunk to the bottom of the sea. Leaders of this group, believing the world is damned because of the scourge, have isolated everyone on the island, trying to “protect” them. I think this would make a nice Alliance location we could stumble on by mistake, while gaining some interesting allies, helping them against their former leaders who have apparently gone mad - maybe even tying into “the naaru are evil” plot everyone loves. I finally summarized my better ideas about this place, so…
BALOR, WHEN CAN WE VISIT YOU???
…let’s now talk about when it should appear. If it still is near Stormwind, then the best way for it to appear, in my opinion of course, would be in “old world revamp” aka Cata 2.0 expansion. Let it be the final lore zone of the remade Stormwind subcontinent, where you help a different order in different zones and then lead them on a final charge at Balor. If it’s somewhere in the Great Sea, led by a mad paladin, then it would be best suited as the Alliance intro zone for an expansion themed around Dragon Isles, should we ever get them. Horde could get Zul’Dare in such a scenario, which is also lost without a trace.
Well, that’s it for me. The thread grew a little longer than I originally wanted but eh. Like it, hate it, comment on it, share your own ideas and concepts or ignore it, do as you please.
Links:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/635470372183080981/710559334899384350/1.jpg (1)
https://twitter.com/Burnzerker/status/841693456573464577 (2)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/635470372183080981/710559341522059314/2.jpg (3)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/635470372183080981/710559354385858600/3.jpg (4)