“…Iunno, I forgor.”
-The story and ‘worldbuilding’ devs, probably.
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For sure. It wasn’t until I listened to that remark that I decided to go back to look at the wall in-game and realised that the wall appears to be trying to keep Stromgarde out rather than in.
I’d say the wall might well have been rebuilt in the later ages by the Lordaeron when it became a kingdom in its own right. Stromgarde was the first major human city in the territory almost entirely settled by the Amani trolls, so it made all the sense to build the wall at the only major passage into their territory, dwarven tonnels aside. It’s actually a relic of times long past, same as the legendary Strom’kar (which shape and size indicate it being an ancient troll greatsword, reforged and re-enchanted without losing its original shape), and I’m not surprised Danath refers to it as the symbol of separation and war, which it was. What I am surprised with is that the leader of the Trollbane dynasty, a veteran of the Second War, somehow thinks that the symbol of the human ingenuity, the one that served them well against an enemy superior in numbers and, at earlier points, quality, is somehow a thing to be forgotten and foregone. Where is your well-deserved pride, man?
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My headcanon is they reversed the accessible side during the first/second war to keep the horde out. When it was first built, it was to keep the Amani trolls out so it was facing the right direction but the horde was coming from the opposite direction so they demolished the access ways and rebuilt them on the other side.
What if Thoradin was just kind of stupid
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That’s unlikely. In the Second War the Horde’s main forces initially made landfall in Hillsbrad, so it’s the Arathi that would have to build such reinforcements, while the Forsaken during the five years between Warcraft 3 and Vanilla might well have given it a go to prepare for the Defilers’ incursion.
I mentioned it before, but the weirder part of the story is how the wall is now supposed to be some sort of symbol of humanity’s best ideals.
Still trying to figure that one out.
Because it’s the symbol of unrelenting conquest, the ability to stand up against any odds, reason, sense and emerge victorious. Even though the rest of the world might not thank them for it. The wall is the epitome of the human spirit.
I mean it’s not that unrelenting. The wall is around 1 mile from Stromgarde according to Before the Storm. S’like a 15 minute walk. Barely a pop to the shops innit.
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I swear, some authors just can’t comprehend the difference between the in-game distances and the realistic ones…
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You are not allowed to have pride in your (fictional) history anymore, you did not get the memo?
On a side note, I can’t really figure out why you would be proud about a wall, though? I mean, sure its a masterpiece of human inguinity, but its hardly top tier construction on Azeroth?
Isn’t that a Christie Golden Book, though? Which means you could traverse Azeroth in 2 hours max lmao
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I feel like the sentiment of unrelenting conquest et al could apply to any building in Strom. It feels more like a “oh god what do we have, the wall, sure whatever” writing moment considering we have never heard of this notion before. The most important building in the Highlands to inspire a sense of connection to humanity’s unbreakable spirit would arguably be the Trollbane family crypts that the Seventh Legion helpfully bulldozed to make room for a siege workshop.
(I know it’s still there according to external sources but in-game it’s very funny visually).
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Some nice headcanon, I had thought of similar things. Ultimately I landed on it being too complicated to reverse. It got me thinking about the original design intentions, and if Thoradin at one point had been some Lordaeron king.
Looking through early WoW development shows lots of examples like this. Such as Deadmines dungeon being reversed later, and they didn’t bother to move the door outside as a result.
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The Child of Light and Shadow as foretold in prophecy. 
Drums hands on knees
So… How long until we get to see the 11.2 PTR stuff and the dataminers go at it? A week after 11.1.7? There’s usually not much gap between a patch dropping, and the next one going up on the PTR.
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There’s already an encrypted 11.2.5 PTR on the go, so it seems they’re going pedal-to-the-metal in terms of speed.
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GOLDEN!!!
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It’s worth noting that originally, Thoradin’s Wall -was- going to be a series of rock pillars, like the Giants’ Causeway of County Antrim.
Specifically inspired by the cover of Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin.
It was only ever going to be an Old Rock Wall. They probably worked out the story later.
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Very cool. They probably didn’t go forward with the causeway due to the nature of Arathi being largely landlocked as the world took shape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CE8zcDHcMA
11.2 is the Ghosts of K’aresh, featuring K’aresh as the open world zone, Tazavesh as a hub, and Dimensius as the final raid boss of the expansion.
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