Location: The Black Temple, Shadowmoon Valley

Have you ever wondered about the astronomy of the Warcraft universe?  We know a lot more now than we did back when Vanilla WoW first came out.  From Ulduar, we have seen a full rotating globe of Azeroth, and we know exactly where Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms lie, and we know that apparently the Blue Child comes and goes when it pleases.  But what about Draenor?  Granted, the red homeworld of the Orcs is accessible via the Dark Portal at any point, but where is it in terms of its relation to Azeroth?  My original guess would have been that it’s no where near Azeroth.  No closer than say Mars is to Earth.

However, deep within the depths of the Black Temple, you can see Azeroth from Outland. Not just as a twinkling star, but as large as, if not larger, than Outland’s moon.  Which would put Azeroth a little further than the Moon is to Earth.  Moon.  Not Mars.  So apparently Outland is actually pretty close to Azeroth.  Which would give some ground to form all kinds of theories on why the Dark Portal actually works.  What with two close quarters worlds, you could make an argument that it would easier to link them.  Granted, that argument would be founded entirely on nonsense with no actual facts to back up why since the only way the Dark Portal works is “magic” and when dealing with “magic” there’s no reason that proximity should matter at all.

But that’s not the real issue here.  The issue is that if I can see Azeroth from Outland (Granted, it’s only within Shadowmoon Valley, and even then only inside the Black Temple) why can’t I see Outland from Azeroth?  I mean, I know it’s a floating rock and not an entire planet but since it’s supposedly as big as the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor combined and I can see both of those continents from Outland, you think there would be a weird floating shape in the sky or something.  Maybe the Blue Child was  supposed to be Draenor but then it got blown up and became Outland which is why the Blue Child was removed in Burning Crusade, but then why was Blue Child in Vanilla WoW which is after Draenor, which was the ‘red planet’ not blue, was destroyed?  Where is Outland in the Azerothian sky?!

It’s not there.  Do you want to know why?  Because Outland does not exist in the physical plane.  Do you know where it is?  Well, where do things go when there’s no good way to fill in a plot hole?  That’s right! The Twisting Nether.  So apparently, not only was Draenor destroyed at the end of Warcraft II, it was blasted into another dimension as well.  So why can you see Azeroth if Outland is in another dimension?  Well, there’s a theory about that.  You know how the Emerald Dream is kind of a parallel version of Azeroth?  Well, some think that the Twisting Nether is that for the Great Dark Beyond (Outer Space).  That doesn’t really sate me, but it’s better than “No clue, dude.”  Besides, you think if that Draenor was so close to Azeroth that it would be mistaken for a moon someone would have said something about it, the second war wasn’t THAT long ago. Khadgar hasn’t kicked the bucket yet for Pete’s sake.

So, you can’t see Outland because it’s in the Twisting Nether.  It does explain a few things, like netherdrakes, why the big vacuums in Netherstorm can suck magic out of thin air, or how Kael’thas was able to make contact with Kil’Jaeden. But wait!  Then why did Illidan have to close the portals in Outland to lock out the Burning Legion’s reinforcements?  Doesn’t the Burning Legion live in the Twisting Nether?  So that’s kind of like locking a door to a house that’s missing 3 of its 4 walls.  There’s no reason Kil’Jaeden couldn’t have just shown up and kicked Illidan’s butt for failing.  Instead, Kil’jaeden makes a deal with Kael’thas to get summoned to Azeroth to continue the attack from the War of the Ancients…  I think.  I’m not even going into the plot holes that surround the Fury of the Sunwell, that thing deserves it’s own post.

So ultimately I’m left with a planet whose appearance makes no sense, which trying to explain causes the a size-able chunk of The Frozen Throne make no sense, all because the plot device that is the Twisting Nether makes no sense.  Am I making any sense here at all?!