Northern islands

The northern islands.

The northern islands in World of Warcraft World Map poster.

The northern islands are a group of islands north and slightly east of the Maelstrom between the continents. They appeared on most world maps, dating back to the Warcraft III manual, but have yet to have names or significant information. They may have been portrayed on a Warcraft III map slightly north-west of Tirisfal.

The islands do resemble the Broken Isles from Warcraft III, the place where the Tomb of Sargeras and the night elven city of Suramar lay, and both sets of islands are near the Maelstrom. However, they may have been shown as different things on at least one very early concept map.

In Wrath of the Lich King, these isles were removed, as they occupied the same area as Northrend. They may be represented by the battleground Strand of the Ancients, which is south of Northrend, but there is no solid evidence for this. It is possible that they were simply there to help fill an empty map, but their former consistency was notable.

It is extremely likely that these islands were the Dragon Isles, despite originally being far east of Tirisfal Glades and not northwest. The early concept map may show Tirisfal Glades slanted in a way that the two locations are much closer together.

As of Legion, it seems that the Broken Isles indeed match the former location of these islands. However, the northern islands and the islands that the RPG called the Broken Isles have been on the map at the same time since Warcraft III. That island may be Balor or the Darkspear Islands.

Gallery

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  Azeroth as seen in the Warcraft III manual.

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  As seen in Warcraft III.

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  Pre-release map on the official World of Warcraft web site.

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  World of Warcraft World Map poster publication.

• WorldMap-World-Classic.jpg

  In-game world map in the World of Warcraft beta.

• WorldMap-World-TBC.jpg

  In-game map after patch 2.0.3.

• WorldMap-World-2.4.jpg

  In-game map after patch 2.4.0, last time the islands were depicted.