Dark Portal



The Dark Portal, also known as the Great Portal, is one of the two gateways between the worlds of Azeroth and Draenor (now Outland). The Azeroth side portal is located in what is now known as the Blasted Lands in southern Eastern Kingdoms, while its counterpart is in Hellfire Peninsula on Outland, on the Stair of Destiny. Before the destruction of Draenor, it was located in the eastern section of Tanaan Jungle.

Originally created in a joint effort between Gul'dan and the demonically possessed Medivh, the Dark Portal served as the Old Horde's method of reaching Azeroth and beginning the First War, as a way to weaken it for the Burning Legion's eventual invasion. It since served as a link between worlds during the Alliance's Invasion of Draenor, the united Invasion of Outland, and the war in the alternate universe Draenor. The portal appears to be functionally indestructible, as the Alliance under Khadgar were only able to destroy the structure, not the portal itself.

Since making its debut in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, the Dark Portal remains one of the Warcraft universe's most recognizable and iconic structures.

The first opening
The Dark Portal was created through a joint effort between the human mage Medivh, possessed by the Dark Titan Sargeras, and the warlocks of the orcish Shadow Council led by Gul'dan as a means to allow the Old Horde, under the demonic influence of the Burning Legion, to invade the world of Azeroth. Following Medivh's instructions, Gul'dan and Warchief Blackhand had the Horde construct the Draenor side of the gateway on a convergence of ley lines on the eastern edge of Hellfire Peninsula. Once the structure was complete, Gul'dan and Medivh worked together to tear a rift in the fabric of reality. On Draenor, nearly all of the Horde's draenei prisoners that still lived were brought to the base of the portal. The moment the ritual began, Gul'dan instantly drained all of their life essences, creating the massive spike of power needed to bridge the distance between the two worlds. Meanwhile, Medivh called on his powers as a Guardian of Tirisfal to rip open the Azerothian side of the rift in the Black Morass. Due to the amount of magical power involved, almost every creature attuned to magic on Azeroth felt ripples from the portal's opening, though most couldn't detect where the disturbance came from. Blackhand immediately sent scouts from the Bleeding Hollow and Black Tooth Grin clans, along with warlock overseers, to establish a camp and build a stone frame around the Azerothian side of the rift in order to stabilize it. The armies of the orcs subsequently began pouring through it into the unsuspecting Kingdom of Stormwind, beginning the First War.

During the Second War, it served as a passage to untold numbers of orc and ogre warriors, reinforcing the Horde's already overflowing ranks. The lands around the Portal that were once dead swamps were being transformed into barren soil the color of blood, which was now teeming with strange, demonic beasts. These blasted lands were the domain of the Black Tooth Grin clan, who were entrusted with the keeping of the Portal.

At the end of the Second War, following their defeat at the Siege of Blackrock Spire, some Horde forces escaped through the portal back to Draenor before it was secured by the forces of the Alliance of Lordaeron. To prevent the orcs from returning, the archmage Khadgar and his fellow magi cast a great spell that destroyed the gateway on Azeroth. The resultant blast of arcane energy also caused the Draenor side of the portal to explode. Khadgar then convinced the Alliance High Command to construct Nethergarde Keep to keep watch over its ruins. Unbeknownst to the archmage and the people of Azeroth, however, the link between the worlds remained as an unseen tear in the fabric of reality.

The second opening
On the Draenor side of the Portal, the elder shaman Ner'zhul, Chieftain of the Shadowmoon clan, planned to open multiple portals that would lead the Horde to new, unspoiled worlds to conquer. Powering these portals, however, would require several mystical artifacts from Azeroth: the Book of Medivh, Jeweled Scepter of Sargeras, and Eye of Dalaran. To procure them, the elder shaman reopened the Dark Portal using the Skull of Gul'dan and sent his forces through, who struck quickly and retreated to Draenor with the enchanted objects in tow. King Terenas of Lordaeron, convinced that the orcs were preparing a new invasion of Azeroth, assembled his most trusted lieutenants, including Khadgar and the paladin Turalyon, to form an expedition through the Portal to put an end to the orcish threat once and for all.

Despite the Alliance counterattack, Ner'zhul finally opened his portals to other worlds, but he did not foresee the terrible price he would pay. The portals' tremendous energies tore Draenor apart. The orc chieftains Grommash Hellscream and Kilrogg Deadeye—who saw that Ner'zhul's portals would destroy their world, and his insanity would destroy their people—led their clans through the Dark Portal back to the relative safety of Azeroth. The Alliance expeditionary forces, meanwhile, remained on Draenor, agreeing to make the ultimate sacrifice by destroying the Dark Portal from their side in order to prevent that world's destruction from destroying Azeroth as well. There were indications they may have taken one of Ner'zhul's portals to another world, but they in fact managed to survive Draenor's destruction, taking refuge near the portal in hopes it may yet be opened again.

The third opening
After Illidan Stormrage and his allies took control of Outland, the blood elf Zerevor placed warding spells over the Portal.

The Dark Portal remained dormant for twenty years until an artifact of incredible power was found by the demon Lord Kazzak, a lieutenant of Kil'jaeden. Though the exact nature of the artifact is unknown, Kazzak used it to reopen the Dark Portal and cross into the shattered remains of Draenor now known as Outland. In his wake, legions of demons came spilling through into Azeroth. The forces of Nethergarde Keep were quickly rallied, and with aid from the Argent Dawn and numerous adventurers the demons were pushed back through the Portal, securing it once more. The adventurers, not satisfied in securing only one side of the Portal, pressed through to Outland after Kazzak, where they went on to reestablish contact with the lost Alliance expeditionary forces and tame the savage world, defeating many of its demonically corrupted inhabitants before they could threaten Azeroth. Despite continued attempts by the Burning Legion to reassert control over the Stair of Destiny—the Outland side of the Dark Portal—the gateway was kept open to allow for the free flow of supplies and reinforcements into Outland.

Some time after the combined forces of the Alliance and Horde had taken control of the Outland-side of the portal, an army of fel orcs and nether dragons led by the death knight Ragnok Bloodreaver attempted to seize the Stair of Destiny. The defenders successfully fought back the assault, but a stray blast from one of the nether dragons resulted in the temporary closing of the gateway. The blue dragon Tyrygosa was, however, able to open a rift to Azeroth, which was stabilized by magicians of the Alliance and Horde after she and a group of nether dragons left through it. These same magicians were presumably able to then use this rift to restore the Portal to proper working order.

With the Dark Portal open but effectively secured on both sides, it would fall from the public consciousness for several years, perceived as nothing more than a historical landmark and arcane curiosity.

Several Broken tried to get to the Portal and escape Outland.

While the Alliance and Horde directed their forces to the Black Temple, Kael'thas Sunstrider and his Legion comrades made his return to Quel'Thalas through the Dark Portal, while his armies took a portal in the Throne of Kil'jaeden to the Sunwell.

During the war against the Lich King, a naga sea witch Zhahara Darksquall created a storm in the crater of the Dark Portal to distract its guardians. Fel orc Rahjak then stepped to Azeroth through the portal and killed some of the guardians.

Since the Cataclysm, a fragile Alliance between Nethergarde Keep and Dreadmaul Hold was forged, even if neither side trusted one another in order to continue guarding the portal. Other than that, both sides would keep fighting against the demons coming through the Dark Portal and those surrounding it.

The Dark Portal valley seemed abandoned when the Cloudkicker arrived with Makasa Flintwill and her companions. Upon landing, they found their allies from Kalimdor in the tents, Woodpaw clan gnolls with Jaggal and Sivet, Feral Scar yetis and their same-named leader, One-Eye and her three cubs, Wuul Breezerider, Elmarine, and Shagtusk. Upon reuniting with everyone and recapitulating the plan, the army entered Outland to attack the Hidden citadel.

The portal preempted
This perception changed dramatically when powerful magic was used to redirect Azeroth's Dark Portal—not to another place, but to another time. The escaped Horde Warchief Garrosh Hellscream, having traveled across space and time to an alternate version of Draenor's past with the aid of the bronze dragon Kairozdormu, changed the parallel universe's course of events to prevent the demonic blood pact that ultimately led to the original opening of the Portal. Manipulating his people to suit his own ends, Garrosh instead orchestrated the creation of the Iron Horde, an uncorrupted—and seemingly unstoppable—orcish war machine under the command of. In Garrosh's, it was this Horde that constructed the Stair of Destiny, enslaving the members of the Shadow Council to power it. Finally, using the Vision of Time, the very artifact with which he and Kairozdormu had arrived in the alternate timeline, Garrosh linked the Stair of Destiny from the past of his parallel universe to the present of ours, turning the Portal a bloody shade of red and initiating the Iron Horde Incursion.

Adventurers once again stormed the Dark Portal, but not before Nethergarde Keep and its Horde counterpart, Okril'lon Hold, fell to the invading forces. Scrambling to regain lost ground but nevertheless better prepared than their predecessors, these heroes, led by none other than Dark Portal veteran Khadgar, Alliance hero Maraad and the former Warchief Thrall fought the Ironmarch Vanguard back through the gateway and into the alternate Draenor. After confronting the orc leadership—the "Warlords of Draenor"—Khadgar and his companions used the Iron Horde's own advanced weaponry to destroy the Stair of Destiny once again, ending the immediate threat it presented to Azeroth. Unlike the last time, however, an older, wiser Khadgar had not trapped himself in Draenor: The Alliance and Horde quickly established fortified bases on the island of Ashran, where they conjured portals to Azeroth to allow for free passage to and from their homeworld. Meanwhile, skilled mages in Stormwind and Orgrimmar reestablished contact with Outland's Hellfire Peninsula using portals of their own, circumnavigating the newly severed connection between Azeroth and modern Outland.

Azeroth's Dark Portal has currently been redirected to convey troops and supplies to the fortresses of Warspear and Stormshield on Ashran. Given this security, it remains largely unattended, a silent monument to its own violent legacy. The path out of the Portal crater was widened extensively by the invaders, and the ramp of the portal, already grooved from the march of the orcs and their equipment from previous wars, has now borne the full brunt of much larger and heavier war machines in great numbers. The lower portion of the ramp especially has taken extensive damage, appearing battered and frail as if ready to break apart.

World of Warcraft


When World of Warcraft launched, the Dark Portal was a noticeable (but unusable) feature in the Blasted Lands, located southeast of Stormwind in the Eastern Kingdoms. The Portal is located in the southeastern corner of the Blasted Lands and (until patch 2.0.1) was surrounded by elite demons and servants of the named demons, and the glow around the Portal's gateway was blue, indicating its inactivity. When a player walked through the gate they merely passed through to the back of the gate as if nothing was there - the portal was merely for show in game. At the time, the portal was considered to be decorative only, a piece of Warcraft lore to look at. The Portal on the Azeroth side appears to be rather simple - the only decoration on it being the two "guardians" on either side of the gateway and the coiled snake-head above it.

With the announcement of The Burning Crusade, it was revealed that the Dark Portal would be reopened and be the primary means of traveling to Outland. In preparation for the expansion, Blizzard released patch 2.0.1, "Before the Storm", which prepared the original areas of the world for the impending expansion. In addition to the changes to the map, the addition of new NPCs and the new means of transportation to the new races' capitals, the demons and demon-slaves were removed from around the Dark Portal and the crater it rests in and replaced with what appears to be a base camp of both the Horde and the Alliance, either helping those going in, or keeping something from coming out. The glow around the gateway turned green, indicating that the Portal is open.

The usually quiet portal temporarily became a hub of server activity when a quest (Into the Breach (Blasted Lands)) associated with the World Event "The Dark Portal Opens" took place there.

Going through the Portal, like accessing the blood elf and draenei starting areas, once required the The Burning Crusade expansion pack to be installed; since patch 4.2, this content is included with all paid accounts. Prior to this, when a player tried to enter the Dark Portal without having that expansion pack installed, the player would simply pass through to the rear side and get a notification reading "Burning Crusade Expansion Pack Required". A player used to need to have a character of level 58 or higher, but this is no longer a requirement. If the Expansion Pack was installed, but the character is under level 58, the player used to get "Must be Level 58", but now players are able to access the region at any level. The 'Travel hubs' section below includes directions for reaching the Dark Portal before level 58.

See the Stair of Destiny for information about the other side of the portal.

Reopening
The final patch before the release of The Burning Crusade (2.0.3) included a world event surrounding the reopening of the Dark Portal. Invading Felguards and invading Voidwalkers began to pour through the dark portal, and the camps in front of the portal were manned by Argent Dawn defenders. The leader of these forces offered the quest Into the Breach. This quest simply involved killing six of the invading Felguards (due to number of people fighting for these kills.) Completing the quest earned you the, a special version of the. When used, the Tabard produced a visual effect similar to Holy Nova, and the wearer would flex.

Lord Kazzak also vanished from his former place in the Blasted Lands to take up his new residence in Outland. His vacated office was taken up by Highlord Kruul. Not content to sit in a hole in the Tainted Scar, Highlord Kruul would periodically lay siege to major cities and other areas, summoning demon minions and killing everybody in sight until driven off.

Travel hubs
To reach the Dark Portal, Alliance players can fly or ride to Nethergarde Keep, while Horde players can travel to Dreadmaul Hold. From either base, players may then ride down the main road down to the Portal crater.

With patch 3.2.0, there are portals to the Dark Portal from near the portal trainers in major cities (e.g.: the Mage Tower in Stormwind, the mage trainer area in Silvermoon, the Pools of Vision in Thunder Bluff). These portals require level 58 to use and will deposit the player into a crack in the crater in front of the portal. Alliance and Horde portals all drop players in the same location; though players will be Honorless Targets for thirty seconds following their arrival in the Blasted Lands, players on PvP servers will not be completely safe from combat until they reach the Stair of Destiny on the Outland side of the portal.

Closest flight path in Azeroth

 * Nethergarde Keep, Blasted Lands
 * Dreadmaul Hold, Blasted Lands

NPCs
  Alliance:  Horde:  
 * Watch Commander Relthorn Netherwane
 * Advisor Sevel
 * Watcher Grimeo
 * Quartermaster Apone
 * Alliance Portal-Sentry
 * Warlord Dar'toon
 * Watcher Wazzik
 * Quartermaster Dekrok
 * Horde Portal-Sentry

Physical appearance
Every time the rift between Azeroth and Draenor has been widened, it has been seen to have a large, stone-carved facade that lends it a well-defined rectangular shape. This frame serves to stabilize the rift, allowing it to stay open for extended periods. On both ends of the connection, destruction of the Portal's frame has proven to render it impassable until it can be reopened by a being of suitable magical ability.

The first portal
When Medivh first opened the original Dark Portal, it consisted only of a magical rift. The stone frame was built by the first orcs who came through it from Draenor. By the Second War, it was described as a fifty-foot tall portal encircled by a ring of towering obsidian stones. The first portal's frame was set atop a small flight of steps and featured large, curved horns as well as carvings of curved runes and rather angry-looking skulls. It was destroyed at the conclusion of the Second War by archmage Khadgar of the Alliance of Lordaeron.

The Last Guardian flashback cutscene in Warcraft III, the Opening the Dark Portal dungeon in The Burning Crusade, and card artwork in the Trading Card Game depict the portal as having already had a stone framework around it when first opened by Medivh. However, as of the release of Chronicle Volume 2 and its account of the portal's creation, these depictions are canonically inaccurate.

The second portal
The Portal was later reconstructed when the orc chieftain Ner'zhul, in search of powerful enchanted artifacts with which to open yet more portals, reopened the rift from Draenor and sent his forces back to Azeroth. As had been done with the first portal, the Horde built a physical frame around the rift, creating a new Dark Portal that could remain open permanently without needing a constant influx of power. This second version, flanked by carvings of large, hooded figures wielding swords and crowned with a stone serpent baring its fangs as if petrified mid-strike, is the one known to most modern adventurers; it stands to this day within the Blasted Lands of the Eastern Kingdoms.

Though the second Portal's frame has changed little in the years since it appeared, the rift it contains has changed color multiple times. Both before and after the Destruction of Draenor, during which Khadgar severed the connection between Azeroth's Dark Portal and its sibling on the Draenor side, the rift appeared blue. Many years later, its hue shifted to a green color when the demon Lord Kazzak used an unknown artifact to restore this connection and pass through to Outland. Finally, it took on a shade of crimson red when its connection to modern Outland was preempted by powerful magic that instead linked it to a past, alternate version of Draenor.

Compared to the Stair of Destiny
It is interesting to note that as imposing as the Dark Portal is, it is significantly smaller and less ornate than its counterpart, the Stair of Destiny. It's unknown what the potential ramifications of this size discrepancy are, though it might be this way for gameplay reasons as the Azeroth portal was implemented in Vanilla and looks like how it did in Warcraft II, while the Outland one was implemented in The Burning Crusade.

Both versions of the Stair of Destiny featured larger, more detailed versions of the hooded guardians that adorn Azeroth's Dark Portal, and replaced the upper image of a striking serpent with full, intricate carvings of a dragon's head and two claws. They were further embellished with all manner of runes and stonework on the front, side, and even rear faces, in contrast with the relative plainness of the Azeroth Portal. While Outland's version of the Stair is by no means pristine, with large chunks of stone and other features likely knocked off the structure during the cataclysmic events of Draenor's destruction, the alternate Draenor's newly constructed version of the Stair lies in ruins following the counterattack to the Iron Horde Incursion.

Of all the various incarnations of the Dark Portal, whether in Azeroth, Draenor, or Outland, the only one to ever be seen under construction is the alternate Draenor's Stair of Destiny.

Known discrepancies
There are a few instances in which the appearances of the first and second Dark Portals were unintentionally switched:
 * In Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, the second Dark Portal's models (both in-game and cinematic) were represented as visually identical to the first's. When the second Portal's design was later changed to its current version, these models became anachronisms.
 * In Warcraft: The Last Guardian, the cover art used is intended to depict the orc invasion of Azeroth via the first Dark Portal during the First War. Ironically, the cover actually features one of the first illustrations of the redesigned second Dark Portal instead.

Other portals

 * Kael'thas Sunstrider and Lady Vashj escaped with many blood elves from Dalaran through the Portal to Outland when Garithos betrayed them.
 * The Sunhawks created a Sun Gate portal between Tempest Keep in Outland and Azuremyst Isle to help their efforts to retake Exodar.
 * When Rhonin commented on Jaina being such a powerful mage all alone out in Theramore, she mockingly promised not to open any Dark Portals.
 * A Dark Portal in Dustwallow Marsh to Outland Arena.
 * In the RPG, a few whisper that the Dark Portal that first brought the demons to Azeroth (during the War of the Ancients) yet remains and rests under the sea waiting for someone to reopen it.

Notes and trivia

 * Salandria and Dornaa wish to see the Dark Portal during Children's Week.
 * The Warcraft: Orcs & Humans manual originally implied that the Dark Portal was making the land more sick and swamp-like instead of making it burnt and dead.
 * The official website for Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition was called The Dark Portal.
 * In Beyond the Dark Portal, an order of death knights loyal to the Laughing Skull clan were said to have secured the knowledge needed to rebuild the Dark Portal, with the Portal later being reopened by their necromantic magic. That story was eventually retconned to having the Portal reopened by the fel energies of the Skull of Gul'dan instead.
 * The gnome Tyrion "predicted" the Dark Portal's reopening.
 * The Dark Portal did not have a static location in the early development of World of Warcraft despite its major lore relevance. It was constantly being moved around to different locations over the course of the development such as being next to Teldrassil and somewhere underwater of Azshara before finally finding its home in Blasted Lands. This solves the mystery about why there were multiple Dark Portals throughout the world of Warcraft during the alpha and beta. In fact, the Dark Portal was also used as a placeholder for instance portals.
 * The concept of the charred area around the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands was pitched by Johnathan Staats and was inspired by an experience Staats had as a child visiting in Canada. There, he saw rocks discolored black by acid rain damage, which he at the time mistook as being char from meteor impacts.
 * The snake symbol on the Dark Portal is inspired by the real-life symbol, depicting a snake or dragon eating its own tail as a representation of the cycle of life and death.

Speculation
Since lorewise the Dark Portal is no longer connected to the alternate Draenor during the Fourth War, and Varok Saurfang was last seen on Azeroth walking towards the Blasted Lands before appearing in Outland's Nagrand, it is likely that the Dark Portal has been reconnected to the Dark Portal in the Stair of Destiny in Hellfire Peninsula.