Practice English Speaking&Listening with: The Story of Felwood (Classic to Present) [Lore]

Hello everyone and welcome to the corrupted lands of felwood. Once part of Ashenvale,

this area was transformed when archimonde and the burning legion came to take another

bite out of azeroth during warcraft 3. In the game we saw Kelthuzad take the book

of medivh out of dalaran since it ocntained the incatations he needed to summon Archimonde,

while Tichondrius took another price out of the city; the skull of guldan. This orc

warlock had joined the Horde during their first invasion of Azeroth, but eventually

set his eyes on power hidden away within the tomb of sargeras. His lust and greed would

soon become his demise too which his skull did quite a bit of traveling. Deathwing held

it for a bit, Khadgar used it to shut the dark portal until it ended up in the vaults

of Dalaran and now in the hands of Tichondrius. On archimondes orders, the pitlord mannoroth

and tichondrius traveled to kalimdor to weaken its defenses in preparation for the demons

invasion. Archimonde clearly remembered when the Legion tried to claim Azeroth before.

The war of the ancients they call it, over 10.000 years ago. A war that was won by the

night elves by reversing the portal created and sending the legion back to where they

came from. This did destroy their source of power, the well of eternity, but illidan stormrage

made them a new one. Something that the other night elves could not appreciate. They had

just fought a war because of the original well. Illidan was labeled betrayer and imprisoned

for his crimes. That second well and wiping out their opposition, thats what Archimonde

wants done first. Kalimdor teemed with creatures who were hostile to the legion. The demons

considered most of them harmless, little more than minor annoyances. But cenarius and the

other wild gods were different. During the war of the ancients, they had fiercely resisted

the legion. If the legion had any hopes of reaching that second well of eternity, the

demons would have to get through cenarius and his woodland allies first. To blunt the

might of the wilds, mannoroth and tichondrius had brought the skull of guldan to kalimdor.

The artifact had changed since falling into the legions hands. The demons had infused

it with even more fel magic, making it far more powerful than it had been before. They

could draw out these energies to poison ashenvales woodlands and weaken cenarius. The process

would be slow, but it would be effective. On top of that, Mannoroth also set up a little

trap for the orcs. They had been corrupted with his blood once before and now, as Gromash

lead his forces into a war with none other then cenarius, they would drink again. This

gave them the power to strike down Cenarius, earn a great victory, but also firmly placed

them under Mannoroths control. So despite Cenarius falling to the orcs, the skull of

Guldan was still corrupting the land. The night elves were well aware that Archimonde

had returned, just as Illidan had predicted. So it was that their leader Tyrande Whisperwind,

despite the objections of her beloved Malfurion Stormrage, set out to free the betrayer and

recruit his aid against the Legion. Only for her was he willing to help their people. Freedom

his once more he stormed Hyjals war-torn forest. He had no specific destination in

mind, but he did have a a purpose. To bring the Legion to its knees, he needed even greater

knowledge and power. Illidan sensed both emanating from northern Ashenvale, where immense fel

energies rippled out from the wilds. He followed the magics to their source and he soon found

himself in what we call Felwood. The first creature to bar his way was not a demon. It

was a human who reekend of death.

I am free after ten thousand years, yet still my own brother thinks I am a villaiN!

Ill show him my true power! Ill show him that the demons have no hold over me!

Are you certain of that, demon hunter? Are you certain your will is your own?

You reek of death human. Youll regret approaching me.

Come then. Youll find that were evenly matched.

Despite previously summoning Archimonde into the world, Arthas and his master the Lich

King held no love for the Burning Legion. He sought a way of overthrowing their control

without drawing attention, finding the perfect pawn in Illidan. The dark energies of the

skull were spreading further every day, slowly slowly creeping up Hyjals slopes. If Arthas

could strike down Tichondrius and destroy the Skull of Guldan, it would stop the

spread of fel magic and deal a significant blow to the Legions war effort. Arthas

sensed Illidans insatiable yearning for power. It would be an easy thing to use the

night elfs ambition as a weapon.

We could go on fighting like this forever. What is it you truly want?

The dreadlord who commands this undead army is called Tichondrius. He controls a

powerful warlock artifact called the SKull of Guldan. It is responsible for corrupting

these forests. And you wish for me to steal it? Why?

Lets just say that I have no love for Tichondrius, and the lord I serve would...benefit

from the Legions downfall.

Illidan was deeply suspicious of Arthas, but he had already sensed the great power emanating

from within Felwood. It was too enticing to ignore. Illidan went in search of it and left

arthas behind. It would not be the last time they would meet. A trail of fallen demons

stretched behind illidan by the time he found the skull of guldan. He was pleased to

discover that the artifact was filled with not only energy but knowledge. The skull contained

the memories of the orc warlock. Rather than simply draw power from the relic, Illidan

consumed its energies entirely.

Now at least the demons will no longer corrupt the forests. But, if I claim this

power as my own, I will become stronger than any

of Archimondes lieutenants. Yes...the power should be mine!

NOW I AM COMPLeTE!

Fel magic surged through his flesh and blood. Massive horns sprouted from illidans skull,

while leathery wings unfurled from his back. Illidan transformed from a night elf into

a demon, similar to how his brothers druidic journey transformed him from a night elf into

a more animalistic creature. As power flooded into illidan, so did guldans memories.

He learned of the creatures homeworld draenor, and of the mysteries and ancient artifacts

locked within the tomb of sargeras. Imbued with this new power, illidan hunted down tichondrius.

What? WHo are....you? Lets see how confident you are against

one of your own kind, dreadlord. Foul demon! What have you done with my

brother? It is I malfurion. This is what ive

become. No! Illidan, how could you?

The leader of the undead has been destroyed, and the forests will heal in time.

At the cost of your soul? You are no brother of mine! Begone from this place, and never

set foot in our lands again! So be it...brother...

Despite the fact that he had helped the night elves war effort, despite doing what she released

him for, illidan faced scorn from his brother and even from tyrande. In their mind, he had

gone too far in consuming the skull of guldan. He had become a demon one of the very

creatures that the night elves weres struggling to defeat. Illidan obeyed his banishment,

but only because he knew that staying in the area was meaningless. If the night elves thwarted

the legions invasion it would not matter. A single defeat would not stop the legion

from just coming back again, Illidan had his own war to fight...the only war that mattered...

Do you see now? For doing what was needed to drive the demons from these lands, my master

was banished, Feronas Sindweller tells us. Hes a demon hunter in the area that were

asked to kill since hes been killing druids of the Emerald Circle, instead he opens our

eyes to the truth. The Emerald Circle is a branch of the Cenarion Circle, an order of

mostly druids that are working very hard on cleansing the land of felwood. We help them

out a lot with that task, yet the druids that Feronas has been killing at jadefire run are

no druids at all. Theyre actually demons in disguise going as high up as the leader

of the circle, Arch Druid Navarax himself. Feronas cant get to him, the other members

would unknowingly defend the demon with their lives, but we have their trust. Navarax is

revealed to be the satyr Xaravan, a demon we put down. The order is shocked by the revelation,

will investigate the druids of jadefire run and make sure their higher ups know that Feronas

should be left alone.

So thats how the land of Felwood came to be as we know it today, a land named after

the very thing corrupted it. While the circle might have been infiltrated, that doesnt

mean theyre not trying to do what is best for the land. Even back in classic most quests

had to do with trying to heal nature or kick out the remaining forces left behind by the

Legion. Like the satyrs, minions of the burning legion whos origin goes back to the war

of the ancients. When Queen Azshara, her advisor Xavius and the Highborne made contact with

Sargeras and the Legion, they worked very hard on bringing the dark titan into the world.

In turn, the resistance did their very best to stop this from happening. Malfurion even

destroyed the first portal they created as well as taking out Xavius. But Sargeras wasnt

quite done yet with the elf. He took those parts that used to please him. Reshaped the

body and brought him back to Azeroth as the first of the Satyr. He then went on corrupting

more of his kind to be like him and while Xavius would eventually be turned into a tree

by Malfurion, his corrupted kin is still out there. We kill them at jadefire Glenn, but

getting to their corrupted moonwell is a little bit tricky as they have a barrier of demonic

fire protecting it. Were going to need the claw of Tichondrius, information we learn

from an imp that might sound familiar to you classic warlocks out there..Impsy! More on

him later, but with the unwilling aid of the imp we learn how to obtain the claw, dispell

the barrier and take on one of their leaders, Xavathras. While we were doing that, impsy

talked some more and specificly about what imps fear most. Arcanist Delaris used that

information to conjure up a prism which will project an image of what was described. Terrifying

the jadefire imps and rewarding us with the rainbow generator toy, beautiful rainbows

brightening up the world while the claw is given to people responsible enough to contain

such things...assuming it cant be destroyed.

At the ruins of constellas we murder some more satyr while running into members of the

shadow council. This used to be guldans special secret club, but with the orc warlock

dead, the council has accepted members from all kinds of races seemingly doing the bidding

of the burning legion. Foul warlocks behind nearly every attempt to bring demons into

Azeroth. At jaedenar, named in worship of Kiljaeden himself, a former barrow den

has been taken over, turned into the shadow councils own stronghold on Azeroth. Corruption

that must be removed. Their satyrs are working directly with the shadow council and answer

to the ancient and powerful Prince Xavalis. Some say hes the son of Xavius, the first

Satyr, but I dont recall any mention of Xavius having a child. Who knows how these

rumors start. We kill him of course, then take on the succubi Moora and Salia, fighting

our way to the orc Feldan. Not the most original name you can think of, more demon

than orc. With feldans death, there is only one left to kill. The dreadlord Lord

Banehollow, the one that the shadow council serves. The cleansing of shadow hold will

take much time and effort, but without our defeat of the shadow council, it would not

be possible at all. In time, it may even be used as the barrow den it once was.

At whisperwind grove theyre well aware that trying bring nature back to a land corrupted

by fel is no easy task, but theyre trying all the same. Some progress is even made as

we discovered from the newly sprouting plants and the diminishing fel energies in the entropic

horrors at shatter scar vale. This is the area where the first demons set foot in this

land. Infernals that crashed down from the sky creating massive craters in the earth.

The most fearsome demon in the vale that would have to be Kroshius. Though many have hunted

him over the years, destruction has only made him stronger. Time after time, warlocks came

to this forest and reanimated kroshius. That was because in classic, in order to learn

how to summon an infernal, warlocks had to follow a questline that took them into felwood.

Together with Impsy, that same imp we interogated, they got the materials necessary to reanimate

Kroshius, slay the demon and bring back its infernal core. Part of the warlocks mount

quest also played out here and there was another...one of the quests that stuck in my mind as one

of the best quests Ive ever played through...the hunter epic bow quest.

In Ragnaros fiery lair of moltencore we found an ancient petrified leaf. The epidermis

of the leaf glows a bright green. The surface is extremely rugose, exposing several veins

and wrinkles. If you had to take a guess, you would say this leaf came from something

ancient and powerful. Maybe you should find the original owner of this leaf?

And that owner is right here in Felwood, Vartrus the Ancient. Together with Hastat and Stoma,

these ancients did not have the greatest time when the legion came and corrupted the land.

Theyre not too happy with the Legion and decide to recruit hunters to enact some vengeance

for them, take out 4 of their mightiest agents still hiding on the world and as a reward,

you would get Rokdelar Longbow of the Ancient Keepers as well the staff and quiver once

the entire quest was complete. The ancient protectors of irontree woods are dead for

years now, their bodies a grim symbol of the damage to these lands. Every season the elves

take the water from their moonwell, and pour it on the ground before them, hoping it will

nurture new life. We get to follow their tradition and wouldnt you know it, a little sprout

pops up right before our eyes. Nature still has a chance to grow here. We take it to some

rich soil, feed it some bugs, let it dance in the sunbeams and absorb the spirits of

other corrupted stompers. Bigger and bigger it becomes with room for each friend. Others

have tried so many times to grow in this forest, without success. The withered protector that

lurks in the north is the only acnient to have grown to maturity since the ruining of

the forest, but his body is sick and his mind is mad.Well save him as well by putting

him out of his missery and adding his spirit to our sprout. In the shadow of the ancients,

it takes root to grow further. . Someday it will spread its branches across a renewed

forest, full of life and hope. Maybe one day well actually see eachother again.

Of course theres also the alliance and horde specific questing experience. Back in

classic, the Horde had an outpost of their own called Bloodvenom post where they used

to help Winna Hazzard with finding some kind of advantage against the Alliance. Her newest

interest was in a moonwell at the Ruins of Constellas tended by the jadefire satyrs.

Its corrupted waters could be used to our advange. With just a small amoung of it, her

kitten doubled in size and seems to be stronger. Her experiments pleased her at first, but

got out of control real quick. Its now overrun with awful slime thingies. Only Altsoba

Ragetotem was able to make it out alive. The poor tauren is very ill but the driad Kelnir

is taking real good care of him. We gather some emerald shimercaps so that he can barf

out the corruption and then we clean up the mess at the camp. Winna is pretty far gone,

but whats left of her is contieuly making new slime. Weve got to stop the production,

we have to reach her somehow. Perhaps the kitten that she used to have will help us

get through to her. The same kitten she fed corrupted slime water now prowls the forest,

large and dangerous. We slay it, a kindness really and its eartag reminds Willa of what

she has done long enough for us to slay her.

Then further to the north we discover that the worgen and the goblins are duking it out.

Some of these worgen have lived in this land since the scythe of elune first passed through

it, meaning that they are the original worgen, night elves taking their pack form too far

and losing themselves to the beast. Most of them suffered through the fall of gilneas

so the playable human kind of worgen, but all of them have gathered here to learn the

ways of nature and uphold its balance. In this cursed land, their cursed people have

found a new way of life. Now theyve tried everything in their power to warn the goblins

to leave the irontree clearing before they resorted the violence. As the goblins turned

a blind ear to them, they struck and now rather than spare the forest, the goblins would lay

down their lives for greed. They will soon know the full extent of their fury as heroes

slay their irontree choppers and stop the goblins from stealing the wisps. In turn the

goblins are increasing their production as much as they can. If they dont, the horde

might lose this war. If the horde loses the war, theyre out on their butts at best

and dead at worst. Heroes help the goblins by oiling up their shredders, slaying the

hidden worgen and stealing some of the wisps. While the alliance sabotages their main pump

which causes pipes to break all over camp, the goblins are in a panick. The horde tries

to clean up the mess as best as they can, but with the goblins scattered and their equipment

desrtoyed, theyll either get the message and leave the area or be easy picking if they

choose to stay. The worgen believe theyve won here so they ask the alliance heroes to

check in with the local furbolg, while the horde does the same. While they deal with

the fallout of all the ridiciulous nonsense that just went on here in camp, they need

someone to give the furbolg the idea that the horde isnt all that bad.

The origin of the furbolg goes back to a fierce race of bear-man called the jalgar as described

in the chronicles while brann bronzebeard suggests that theyre actually descendants

from the wildgod Ursoc. Both might be true, these Jalgar might have come from Ursoc, pushed

into kalimdors lush central forests by king Ymiron and his forces to then become

the furbolg as we know them today. They were a fierce ally during the war of

the ancients, not always hostile to outsiders, but over time corruption from different sources

pushed them into outright hostility or warryness of outsiders.

The fel corruption of felwood has hit the furbolgs hard, The timbermaw being the last

known tribe of uncorrupted furbolg in the area. You used to spend quite a bit of time

proving yourself to them. Grinding reputation by either killing the corrupted furbolg or

turning in spirits beads and deadwood headress feathers. The rewards were definatly worth

it though. Not only did it mean safe passage to Winterspring, some of their patterns were

simply amazing. These days proving yourself is still part of the journey but it has become

quite a bit easier. Starting as soon as we enter the zone, Ruumbo, great god of the timbermaw

tribe speaks to us through his totem. We get the honor of being its champion by slaying

the corrupted deadwood furbolg, get him some honey and do a little dance. Yeah oddly enough

this great god wants to see us dance. Turns out it was just 2 furbolg cubs, Drizle and

Ferli, playing a little prank. Further up north we run into Feril again. Drizle was

dumb enough to go into felpaw village to steal some honey himself. It was a dumb idea and

he got caught, in need of a rescue. We also slay the corrupted furbolg at felpaw village

and while were at it, we might as well prevent some bloodshed in the future by stealing

their weapons. Its going to take some time before the timbermaw furbolgs trust us completely,

but its a good start. Just as long as we dont kill them, we should be able to find

some common ground.

And thats the story of Felwood, once part of Ashenvale then corrupted by fel, dealing

with the aftermath of the legion invasion. By all means let me know which zone youd

like me to cover next in the comments down below and as always, thank you very much for

watching everyone! Subscribe if you like my videos, leave a like if you enjoyed this one

....aaaaand until next time guys! SEE YA!