Quel'Thalas/Eastern Kingdoms terrain

Quel'thalas is a mostly empty contested closed zone in northern Lordaeron, found between Tirisfal Glades and Lordaeron's northeastern coast. To the south it borders the Western and Eastern Plaguelands, and the area known as "Northern Lordaeron" is found within its limits. It is a leftover from the original planned Quel'Thalas during the development of World of Warcraft, which was postponed, reworked, and later added in The Burning Crusade.
==Description==
In an unmarked area of the map (northwest of Stratholme), a solitary white tower stands on the coast. This tower can be found by swimming around from northern Tirisfal Glades, staying close to the shoreline so as not to induce fatigue. Its purpose is unknown but it has been speculated that it represents an abandoned idea for allowing players to access Quel'Thalas. Another theory is that it is a leftover from before Quel'Thalas's current form was conceived.
If you continue past this tower, you can see that the blood elf starting area is not, in fact, part of the Eastern Kingdoms terrain, neither is located on the Eastern Kingdoms continent server. Instead, Quel'Thalas (like the Azuremyst Isles) is actually located northeast of Outland in its continent server. This can be seen if the character swims to where the Ghostlands are supposed to be, and then seeing that the map shows them in the middle of zone but they are instead on the sea. Players attempting the reverse of this trick (accessing Tirisfal Glades from the Ghostlands) will find invisible walls blocking their path, and if bypassed, Outland itself to the southwest.
With the Cataclysm world revamp and the availability of flying mounts, this zone was blocked off by an invisible wall, but following the Battle for Lordaeron in Battle for Azeroth, the invisible wall is removed, and it can once again be reached from northern Tirisfal or via flying mount. However, there is no reason to visit beyond curiosity as nothing new was added to the area.
==Development==
Originally, Quel'Thalas was intended to be in the game at release and was even worked a little before being eventually postponed. There is a big empty green area and much of the surrounding terrain bears the hallmarks of a "cookie-cutter" terrain editor fill. Moreover, the name "Quel'thalas" will display when entering the zone. It also has its own chat channels, but there is no music in the area.
When the first expansion was made, they decided to cut the Quel'Thalas into two zones, and to place it on the Outland continent server, making it easier to restrict access to those who had not purchased the expansion. The same loading screen exists for both the blood elf and draenei zones, and Outland. This also causes the minimap arrow for party members in the blood elf or draenei zones to appear on your minimap when you are in Outland (or vice versa).
==Notes==
*In the original World of Warcraft as well as in Classic the zone name does not display.
*As of Battle for Azeroth, the zone's upper area is a no-fly zone, and entering it from Tirisfal Glades will automatically dismount you. The area with the night elf building and its coast have flying enabled.
**It is also possible to get to the upper portion of the Thondroril River, and to an uninstanced and unfinished copy of Stratholme. An unfinished necropolis can be seen here with a platform below it. The raid portal to the area is present but is inactive as well. Two portcullises around it and all over Stratholme are openable. Going to the main entrance, it contains King's Square as a subzone of Stratholme. This version of Stratholme is still considered to be part of the Quel'thalas zone by the game, and players in it will be listed as being in Quel'thalas when searched via "/who" or checking their guild roster.
**The area behind the portal to the TBC Quel'Thalas can also be reached. A road, blood elven wagon, Scourge banners, and a submerged slaughterhouse can be seen.
**If you move far enough to the east, the zone will register you as in the Forbidding Sea, or the Great Sea if you go north.
**There's a big invisible wall to the east of the Eastern Plaguelands that prevents you from getting there. However, if you're already inside, you cannot pass the invisible wall to get back to the mainland.
*In the early patch 7.3.5 PTR, the area was initially linked to the playable void elf unlock questline. It was named Shadow of Azeroth, and approaching it caused the sky to turn violet.
**As of Shadowlands, the PTR sky change, unavailable in Battle for Azeroth, is present.
==Gallery==
Whitetower port ruins.jpg|The ruins
Quel'_Thalas-3.jpg|The port and ruins
Northern Lordaeron Lighthouse 01.jpg|The tower
Northern Lordaeron Lighthouse 02.jpg|Above view
;Shadowlands
Quel'thalas Shadowlands 1.png|The ruins
Quel'thalas Shadowlands 2.png|The port and ruins
Quel'thalas Shadowlands 3.png|Above view
Quel'thalas Shadowlands 4.png|From afar
Quel'thalas Shadowlands 5.png|Stratholme
Quel'thalas Shadowlands 6.png|Skybox
Quel'thalas Shadowlands 7.png|Skybox
;Maps
QuelthalasDetail.JPG|The planned shape of the entire old Quel'Thalas zone.
WoWLordaeron.jpg|A rough shape of the zone from World of Warcraft's manual.
Azeroth map concept 2001.jpg|Concept from 2001 with the Quel'Thalas area in yellow.
Dragon Isles map.jpg|An alpha build of the northern part of Lordaeron, including Quel'Thalas and the Dragon Isles raid.
TaxiMap0 Alpha.png|On the alpha Eastern Kingdoms flight map.
==Patch changes==
*
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==External links==
Category:Lordaeron
Category:Blood elf territories
Category:Closed zones