Sign inIllidan Stormrage
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Illidan Stormrage, called the Betrayer, is a night elf sorcerer, the twin brother of Malfurion Stormrage and the first demon hunter. He sided with the Burning Legion during the War of the Ancients, spent ten thousand years imprisoned beneath Mount Hyjal for making a second Well of Eternity, and took the demonic Skull of Gul'dan into himself during the Third War. He does not appear in the original World of Warcraft, but his story shaped the night elves players meet in Classic, and he became the final boss of The Burning Crusade.
Biography
War of the Ancients
Illidan and Malfurion grew up in the ancient night elf empire. Malfurion became the first druid under the demigod Cenarius, while Illidan, impatient and jealous, turned to arcane sorcery drawn from the Well of Eternity. Both brothers loved the priestess Tyrande Whisperwind, and she chose Malfurion.
When Queen Azshara's Highborne summoned the Burning Legion into the world, Illidan went over to the demons. Their master Sargeras took his eyes and gave him demonic sight, and Illidan always claimed he joined them only to fight them from within. He did return to his people's side before the end of the war, but after the Well imploded in The Sundering, he poured vials of its water into a lake on the peak of Mount Hyjal and created a second Well of Eternity. To the night elves who had just lost their homeland to magic, that was the final betrayal. Malfurion had him chained in the Barrow Deeps under Hyjal, guarded by the warden Maiev Shadowsong.
The Third War
During the Legion's second invasion, Tyrande freed Illidan to help against the undead and the demons. He went into Felwood, met the death knight Arthas Menethil, and learned of the Skull of Gul'dan. Illidan absorbed the skull's power, took on a demon's form, and killed the dreadlord Tichondrius. Malfurion banished him for it.
Illidan then bargained with the demon lord Kil'jaeden, who promised him power if he would destroy the Lich King. He gathered the naga under Lady Vashj, was driven off by Malfurion and Maiev, and fled to Outland with blood elves under Prince Kael'thas and the Broken draenei under Akama. After failing to stop Arthas at Icecrown, he retreated to the Black Temple as self-proclaimed Lord of Outland.
In World of Warcraft
Illidan has no presence as an NPC in Classic. He appears only in the history the night elves tell.
- Felwood (Felwood) is where he consumed the Skull of Gul'dan. Its corruption in Classic is the work of the demons and the Shadow Council who stayed behind, not of Illidan, but the zone is the scar left by that part of the Third War.
- Mount Hyjal (Hyjal), where he was imprisoned for ten thousand years, exists on the map of Kalimdor in Classic but is closed to players.
- The night elves' distrust of arcane magic, which runs through Teldrassil and Darnassus, comes from the war in which Illidan and the Highborne nearly destroyed the world.
Later history
Illidan was the face of The Burning Crusade (2007). Patch 2.1 opened the Black Temple, where players fought through his fortress, and Illidan was the final boss of that raid. His twin warglaives, the Warglaives of Azzinoth, were among the most famous drops of the expansion.
He was killed in the Black Temple, his body taken by Maiev to the Vault of the Wardens. In Legion, he was resurrected, revealed that he had been fighting the Legion all along, and helped carry the war to the Legion's homeworld of Argus. Demon hunters became a playable class in that expansion, built in his image.
In World of Warcraft: Forever, Blizzard's launch roadmap lists a raid called the Barrow Deeps among the first raids to unlock on December 9, 2026. The Barrow Deeps is the name of Illidan's ancient prison, but Blizzard has not detailed the raid's content beyond its name.
Trivia
- Illidan's name is pronounced "ILL-ih-dən".
- His line "You are not prepared!" from the Black Temple encounter became one of the best-known quotes in the game.
- Illidan was the original Demon Hunter hero unit in Warcraft III, and the playable class added in Legion was built around his style of fighting.
Sources
Categories: Characters