Shadowmoon Valley



Shadowmoon Valley is found in southeastern Outland, east of Terokkar Forest. It is the location of the Black Temple (where Illidan Stormrage resides), and also houses a dwarven settlement named after (and led by) Kurdran Wildhammer, as well as the prison where Illidan's former jailor, Maiev Shadowsong, is held captive. It is one of the darkest, bleakest and most fel-affected regions in the Warcraft-universe, second only to Argus. The sky is always black and ghastly yellow, lightened up by the never-ceasing rain of infernals.

History
Shadowmoon Valley was once a lush moor engulfed in eternal night and lit by Draenor's two moons. This gave the entire land a relaxing, bluish hue that was reflected by its plant life. It was home to the Shadowmoon clan of orcs, a Botani village, and of course the draenei's Temple of Karabor; a feature which made the region the spiritual capital of draenei society. Though none of the races had particularly strong relations, they shared the valley peacefully for centuries; the draenei tending the herds of elekk and contemplating the mysteries of the Light, the Botani tending to the natural world, and the orcs charting the stars and practicing their shamanistic and runic magic.

All this changed, of course, when the Burning Legion made contact with Ner'zhul. The orcs became more aggressive, attacking innocent draenei for no apparent reason. When Ner'zhul discovered he was being used, the Legion turned to Gul'dan, who helped them find Ner'zhul in the first place. Under his influence all the orc clans were united as the bloodthirsty Orcish Horde; backed by powerful Void and Fel magic, this Horde assaulted and destroyed the draenei settlements all across Draenor; Shadowmoon included. He also used his mighty warlock magic to raise a fel-tainted volcano in the middle of the valley to sever the orcs' link to the elements. They then converged on the Temple of Karabor. To overcome its defenses, the Shadow Council performed a ritual to summon the power of the dark naaru K'ara. A great column of Void energy crashed down upon the temple, warping its architecture, causing the instant deaths of hundreds of draenei, while driving others to madness as the Void lords' whispers overcame them. When the Void energy dissipated, the Horde easily dispatched most of the stragglers and the site was renamed the Black Temple, and served as the base of the Shadow Council.

The volcano, called the Hand of Gul'dan, and the Black Temple's chain of fel rulers has transformed the lush valley into a blackened wasteland under a perpetual haze of black and green smoke and dotted with flows of green lava and green-tinted water.

Invasion of Draenor
The Alliance Expedition attacked the Valley in order to destroy the fortress of the Shadowmoon clan and its dark order of death knights.

Burning Crusade
Once Draenor was transformed into Outland and the Legion began to see potential in these shattered remnants, Shadowmoon became perpetually bombarded by infernals summoned by the demon lords seeking to scour any remaining life from it. When Illidan defeated Magtheridon, the leader of the Legion's efforts in Outland, and returned from his failure to destroy the Frozen Throne, these demons converged on the Black Temple and began to lay siege to it on orders from Kil'jaeden who wished to see Illidan punished for his failures. Some of these demons turned on the Legion and began serving Illidan, thanks to a mysterious source of magic within the temple and Shadowmoon became the center of a demonic civil war. Ironically, the Burning Legion began making anti-demonic weaponry themselves in order to fight the Illidari.

Even after Illidan's death and the return of the temple to the draenei under Akama, it seems Shadowmoon is unlikely to recover the twilit beauty it once possessed and remains one of the grimmest reminders of what the Burning Legion is capable of. However, the valley still retains some waning lunar energies from before Draenor's destruction.

Geography
Shadowmoon Valley is a barren wasteland of rock and ash, with little vegetation. The Hand of Gul'dan volcano dominates the center, from which green lava erupts.

The Alliance and Horde each have a settlement here, as do the Aldor and Scryers.

The valley contains one raid instance (the Black Temple) and several elite areas.

Maps and subregions




Elite areas

 * Eclipsion Fields
 * Crimson Watch
 * The Path of Conquest
 * Ata'mal Terrace
 * Invasion Point: Cataclysm

Travel hubs

 * Wildhammer Stronghold
 * Shadowmoon Village
 * Altar of Sha'tar
 * Sanctum of the Stars

Notable characters



 * and
 * and
 * and
 * and

Resources
Herbs
 * Felweed
 * Nightmare Vine
 * Dreaming Glory
 * Terocone
 * Mana Thistle

Leather
 * Crystal Infused Leather
 * Fel Scales
 * Knothide Leather
 * Knothide Leather Scraps

Metals
 * Fel Iron Ore
 * Adamantite Ore (both normal and rich veins )
 * Khorium Ore
 * Nethercite Ore
 * Eternium Ore (found when mining the other metals' nodes above, even Nethercite )

Cloth
 * Netherweave Cloth

Dig sites
 * Illidari Point (Trade archaeology draenei artifactfragment.png draenei)
 * Eclipse Point (Trade archaeology draenei artifactfragment.png draenei)
 * Coilskar Point (Trade archaeology draenei artifactfragment.png draenei)
 * Warden's Cage (Trade archaeology orc artifactfragment.png orc)
 * Ruins of Baa'ri (Trade archaeology draenei artifactfragment.png draenei)
 * Dragonmaw Fortress (Trade archaeology orc artifactfragment.png orc)

Other
 * Felmist → Mote of Shadow - Can only be harvested by Engineers with a Zapthrottle Mote Extractor.

Notes and trivia

 * Traditional flying mounts can be purchased at Wildhammer Stronghold for the Alliance and Shadowmoon Village for the Horde. The nether drakes are also purchased here from the Netherwing faction on Netherwing Ledge. Other places to purchase a flying mount include Blackwind Landing in Terokkar Forest from the Sha'tari Skyguard faction or Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh from the Cenarion Expedition faction.
 * The map of Shadowmoon Valley is the only Outland-map in World of Warcraft which doesn't show any stars in the Twisting Nether. It's most likely just a slip overlooked by the game developers.
 * The zone's name comes from the massive moon in the sky. Usually obscured by the clouds, it is clearly visible from the Black Temple.
 * In Hearthstone, the Shadowmoon Valley card back was rewarded for achieving Rank 20 in Ranked Season 26, which took place during May 2016. The flavor text reads: "After Outland became what it is, Shadowmoon Valley has always been full of demonic energy. Gul'dan's favorite spa destination!"