War of the Ancients ( WoW account ) The War of the Ancients was first referred to in the story of Warcraft III , where it depicts the first titanic battle between the Burning Legion and the night elves , also known as the " First Burning Legion Invasion " . Below is the account of the War of the Ancients , as given on the Official Site as part of its History of Warcraft , and scattered throughout the World of Warcraft as in - game books . See , The War of the Ancients , The Waking World and the Well of Eternity and The Sundering of the World . It expanded on the War of the Ancients ( WC3 account ) , although the wording was altered in a few places . Events leading up to the war . As the seemingly endless ages passed , the night elves ' civilization expanded both territorially and culturally . Their temples , roads , and dwelling places stretched across the breadth of the dark continent . Azshara , the night elves ' beautiful and gifted queen , built an immense , wondrous palace on the Well ' s shore that housed her favored servitors within its bejeweled halls . Her servitors , whom she called the quel ' dorei or " Highborne " , doted on her every command and believed themselves to be greater than the rest of their brethren . Though Queen Azshara was loved equally by all of her people , the Highborne were secretly envied and disliked by the rest of the night elves . Sharing the priests ' curiosity towards the Well of Eternity , Azshara ordered the Highborne to plumb its secrets and reveal its true purpose in the world . The Highborne buried themselves in their work and studied the Well ceaselessly . In time they developed the ability to manipulate and control the Well ' s cosmic energies . As their experiments progressed , the Highborne found that they could use their newfound powers to either create or destroy at their leisure . The heedless Highborne had stumbled upon primitive magic and were now resolved to devote themselves to its mastery . Although they agreed that magic was inherently dangerous if handled irresponsibly , Azshara and her Highborne began to practice their spellcraft with reckless abandon . Cenarius and many wizened night elf scholars warned that only calamity would result from toying with the clearly volatile arts of magic . Even so , Azshara and her followers stubbornly continued to expand their burgeoning powers . As their powers grew , a distinct change came over Azshara and the Highborne . The haughty , aloof upper class became increasingly callous and cruel towards their fellow night elves . A dark , brooding pall veiled Azshara ' s once - entrancing beauty . She began to withdraw from her loving subjects and refused to interact with any but her trusted Highborne priests . A young scholar named Malfurion Stormrage , who had spent much of his time studying the primitive arts of druidism , began to suspect that a terrible power was corrupting the Highborne and his beloved queen . Though he could not conceive of the evil that was to come , he knew that the night elves ' lives would soon be changed forever . . . The War of the Ancients . The Highborne ' s reckless use of magic sent ripples of energy spiraling out from the Well of Eternity and into the Great Dark Beyond . The streaming ripples of energy were felt by terrible alien minds . Sargeras - the Great Enemy of all life , the Destroyer of Worlds - felt the potent ripples and was drawn to their distant point of origin . Spying the primordial world of Azeroth and sensing the limitless energies of the Well of Eternity , Sargeras was consumed by an insatiable hunger . The great dark god of the Nameless Void resolved to destroy the fledgling world and claim its energies as his own . Sargeras gathered his vast Burning Legion and made his way towards the unsuspecting world of Azeroth . The Legion was comprised of a million screaming demons , all ripped from the far corners of the universe , and the demons hungered for conquest . Sargeras ' lieutenants , Archimonde the Defiler and Mannoroth the Destructor , prepared their infernal minions to strike . Queen Azshara , overwhelmed by the terrible ecstasy of her magic , fell victim to Sargeras ' undeniable power and agreed to grant him entrance to her world . Even her Highborne servitors gave themselves over to magic ' s inevitable corruption and began to worship Sargeras as their god . To show their allegiance to the Legion , the Highborne aided their queen in opening a vast , swirling portal within the depths of the Well of Eternity . Once all his preparations had been made , Sargeras began his catastrophic invasion of Azeroth . The warrior - demons of the Burning Legion stormed into the world through the Well of Eternity and laid siege to the night elves ' sleeping cities . Led by Archimonde and Mannoroth , the Legion swarmed over the lands of Kalimdor , leaving only ash and sorrow in its wake . The demon warlocks called down searing infernal s that crashed like hellish meteors into the graceful spires of Kalimdor ' s temples . A band of burning , bloodletting killers known as the Doomguard marched across Kalimdor ' s fields , slaughtering everyone in their path . Packs of wild , demonic felhounds ravaged the countryside unopposed . Though the brave Kaldorei warriors rushed to defend their ancient homeland , they were forced to give ground , inch by inch , before the fury of the Legion ' s onslaught . It fell to Malfurion Stormrage to find help for his beleaguered people . Stormrage , whose own brother , Illidan , practiced the Highborne ' s magics , was incensed by the growing corruption amongst the upper class . Convincing Illidan to forsake his dangerous obsession , Malfurion set out to find Cenarius and muster a resistance force . The beautiful young priestess , Tyrande , agreed to accompany the brothers in the name of Elune . Though Malfurion and Illidan shared a love for the idealistic priestess , Tyrande ' s heart belonged to Malfurion alone . Illidan resented his brother ' s budding romance with Tyrande , but knew that his heartache was nothing compared to the pain of his magical addiction . Illidan , who had grown dependent on magic ' s empowering energies , struggled to keep control of his nearly overwhelming hunger to tap the Well ' s energies once again . However , with Tyrande ' s patient support , he was able to restrain himself and help his brother find the reclusive demigod , Cenarius . Cenarius , who dwelt within the sacred Moonglades of the distant Mount Hyjal , agreed to help the night elves by finding the ancient dragon s and enlisting their aid . The dragons , led by the great red leviathan , Alexstrasza , agreed to send their mighty flights to engage the demons and their infernal masters . Cenarius , calling on the spirits of the enchanted forests , rallied an army of ancient tree - men and led them against the Legion in a daring ground assault . As the night elves ' allies converged upon Azshara ' s temple and the Well of Eternity , all - out warfare erupted . Despite the strength of their newfound allies , Malfurion and his colleagues realized that the Legion could not be defeated by martial strength alone . As the titanic battle raged around Azshara ' s capital city , the delusional queen waited in anticipation for Sargeras ' arrival . The lord of the Legion was preparing to pass through the Well of Eternity and enter the ravaged world . As his impossibly huge shadow drew ever closer to the Well ' s raging surface , Azshara gathered the most powerful of her Highborne followers . Only by linking their magics together in one focused spell would they be able to create a gateway large enough for Sargeras to enter . As the battle raged across the burning fields of Kalimdor , a terrible turn of events unfolded . The details of the event have been lost to time , but it is known that Neltharion , the Dragon Aspect of the Earth , went mad during a critical engagement against the Burning Legion . He began to split apart as flame and rage erupted from his dark hide . Renaming himself Deathwing , the burning dragon turned on his brethren and drove the five dragonflights from the field of battle . Deathwing ' s sudden betrayal was so destructive that the five dragonflights never truly recovered . Wounded and shocked , Alexstrasza and the other noble dragons were forced to abandon their mortal allies . Malfurion and his companions , now hopelessly outnumbered , barely survived the ensuing onslaught . Malfurion , convinced that the Well of Eternity was the demons ' umbilical link to the physical world , insisted that it should be destroyed . His companions , knowing that the Well was the source of their immortality and powers , were horrified by the rash notion . Yet Tyrande saw the wisdom of Malfurion ' s theory , so she convinced Cenarius and their comrades to storm Azshara ' s temple and find a way to shut the Well down for good . The Sundering of the World . Knowing that the Well ' s destruction would prevent him from ever wielding magic again , Illidan selfishly abandoned the group and set out to warn the Highborne of Malfurion ' s plan . Due to the insanity brought on by his addiction and the stinging resentment towards his brother ' s affair with Tyrande , Illidan felt no remorse at betraying Malfurion and siding with Azshara and her ilk . Above all else , Illidan vowed to protect the Well ' s power by any means necessary . Heartbroken by his brother ' s departure , Malfurion led his companions into the heart of Azshara ' s temple . Yet as they stormed into the main audience chamber , they found the Highborne in the midst of their final dark incantation . The communal spell created an unstable vortex of power within the Well ' s turbulent depths . As Sargeras ' ominous shadow drew ever closer to the surface , Malfurion and his allies rushed to attack . Azshara , having received Illidan ' s warning , was more than prepared for them . Nearly all of Malfurion ' s followers fell before the mad queen ' s powers . Tyrande , attempting to attack Azshara from behind , was caught off - guard by the queen ' s Highborne guardsmen . Though she vanquished the guardsmen , Tyrande suffered grievous wounds at their hands . When Malfurion saw his love fall , he went into a murderous rage and resolved to end Azshara ' s life . As the battle raged inside and outside of the temple , Illidan appeared from the shadows near the shores of the great Well . Producing a set of specially crafted vials , Illidan knelt and filled each with the Well ' s shimmering waters . Convinced that the demons would crush the night elves ' civilization , he planned to steal the sacred waters and keep their energies for himself . The ensuing battle between Malfurion and Azshara threw the Highborne ' s carefully crafted spellwork into chaos . The unstable vortex within the Well ' s depths exploded and ignited a catastrophic chain of events that would sunder the world forever . The massive explosion rocked the temple to its foundations and sent massive quakes ripping through the tortured earth . As the horrific battle between the Legion and the night elves ' allies raged around and above the ruined capital city , the surging Well of Eternity buckled in upon itself and collapsed . The resultant catastrophic explosion shattered the earth and blotted out the skies . Other Accounts . A brief account was covered in Warcraft III manual , it can be found War of the Ancients ( WC3 account ) . Two more versions of the war were described in the War of the Ancients Trilogy , the 3 books by Richard A . Knaak . One version told of events that occurred before history was altered . The second version was created by 3 characters from the present time traveling back in time 10 , 000 years ago , and witnessing first hand the events of the war unfolding , and eventually being responsible for changing key aspects of it . " Blizzard appears to consider the War of the Ancients Trilogy as an official , authoritative source of ' true ' history , as most articles currently up on the WarCraft Encyclopedia directly reference events in that version , and characters only found in that version have articles there . " Please see War of the Ancients ( novel account ) for more info . Other sources such as the RPG , and World of Warcraft sometimes expand on the War of the Ancients , as well , by telling stories of lesser known events that occurred during the War .