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This article is about the lore of the Emerald Dream. For realms, see Emerald Dream (US RPPvP server) and Emerald Dream (EU PvE server).
Emeralddream

Emerald Dream

The Emerald Dream (also known as the Dream of Creation,[1] Green Dream[2] or simply the Dream[3]) is a vast, ever-changing spirit world, that exists outside the boundaries of the physical world,[1] and is the verdant realm of the Dragon Aspect Ysera.

The Emerald Dream is basically how the world would have been, if intelligent beings had not altered its surface.[4]

History

The benevolent titans created the Emerald Dream to serve as the underlying blueprint for the planet Azeroth. After the titans had shaped Azeroth, they sent Ysera into an eternal trance and charged her with watching over all of Azeroth from the Dream. As a result, green dragons guard every portal into the Dream, and they always see both the landscape of Azeroth and the corresponding dreamscape. This enchanted vision, known as dreamsight, allows green dragons to perceive their surroundings with perfect clarity despite the dragons' closed eyes.[5]

During the War of the Ancients, the druid Malfurion Stormrage made use of the Emerald Dream to enter into the palace of Queen Azshara and thwart the plans of Lord Xavius.[6]

As part of an ancient pact made between Ysera and Malfurion Stormrage, the druids are required to spend long periods of time sleeping in the Emerald Dream in exchange for their powers over the forces of nature, presumably so that they will better appreciate that which they have pledged themselves to preserve. Recently, strange events have been transpiring within the Emerald Dream and it appears that Malfurion himself may be trapped within its confines.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Bc icon This section concerns content related to The Burning Crusade.

The Swift Flight Form quest chain describes how the Emerald Dream is under assault from outside forces as well, lead by an ancient arakkoa spirit called Anzu.

EmeraldDream-InGame

One of the Emerald Dream's two in-game appearance so far.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Wrath-Logo-Small This section concerns content related to Wrath of the Lich King.

So far, the Emerald Dream can only be visited twice:

Geography

Description

It appears to those who travel within it as how Azeroth would have been if intelligent beings had not altered its surface,[4] such as humans or elves,[7] with the cut forests, farmed prairies, diverted rivers or built cities. It is a vision of the world as a verdant natural paradise. Tranquil forests stretch away in every direction, and rolling hills and majestic mountains mimic Azeroth's landscape.[2]

Azeroth and the Emerald Dream are quasi-duplicates of each other — the Emerald Dream is Azeroth as seen through a magic lens, untouched by the hands of mortals. The mountains are in the same places in both worlds, but where a human metropolis stands in Azeroth, a lush field, vacant of artifice, grows in the Emereald Dream.[2]

The Emerald Dream is the Azeroth that would not have been split by magic into the three landmasses of today — within it is the original greater landmass of Kalimdor, covered in the hazy emerald green forests of aeons past.[citation needed] 

The Emerald Dream was originally described as a "a vast, ever-changing spirit world, existed outside the boundaries of the physical world. From the Dream, Ysera regulated the ebb and flow of nature and the evolutionary path of the world itself."[8] This implies less stagnation than the Emerald Dream described in other sources.

Zones

Emerald-Paradise

Art of the "Emerald Paradise".

The plane is an exact twin of the world it echoes, save for the lushness of vegetation and the lack of corruption by intelligent creatures. However, there are several places of interest in the Dream not found in Azeroth:[9]

Layers

The Emerald Dream also has multiple layers, described by Cenarius as different testing versions of Azeroth.[10] These layers were created because the titans invested a great deal of work in perfecting their design of Azeroth, so, the finished design of the planet was the product of many previous flawed or unfinished models.[5] Each layer represents an abandoned segment or idea that the titans tried and ultimately discarded. Malfurion observed that it looks like neither the mortal plane nor the Emerald Dream. He saw that one mountain peak lacked its northern face, while another peak looked as if someone had started molding it like clay but had lost interest. These older layers were normally uninhabited, invisible[10] and incomplete, therefore limited in scope, relative to the finalized Dream.[5] But they could be accessed by any who knew how to navigate them.[10]

Traits

The Dream can be affected by all dreamers to a minor and temporary extent. However, no living creature except the titans has ever been able to permanently change the Dream. Ysera herself cannot control or shape the Dream, which has its own ecology and a variety of inhabitants, both sentient and non-sentient.[5]

Time is meaningless inside the Dream. As a result, the green dragonflight, which spends the majority of its time in the Dream, is extremely long-lived. Ysera's consorts in particular almost never emerge from the Dream and are effectively immortal, as are all other permanent denizens in the Dream.

Access

The Emerald Dream can be visited in dreams of in the flesh.[7] Although the druids enter the plane through their connection with nature, accessing the Emerald Dream via more conventional magic is possible, but the plane's natives do not look kindly on intruders.[2]

Some creatures cannot help but dream of the plane and find themselves there without any preparation or conscious intent;[7] these dreaming creatures arrive in the Emerald Dream and often have prophetic and helpful visions.[2] Other creatures intentionally use dreams to reach the Emerald Dream, such as the druids.[7]

When an individual's spirit visits the Dream, leaving the body behind, that individual will manifest his or her dream form, which normally looks and behaves much as that individual's physical body might. Hence, for most creatures, moving through the Dream is achieved in the normal fashion, despite the realm's chiefly spiritual character. These rules do not apply to druids of sufficient skill or experience, who are trained to see beyond physical reality. These druids might be capable of abnormal movement in the Dream (e.g., a night elf who can sprint at a greatly accelerated rate, walk through solid objects, or fly). It is quite rare to see such unusual capabilities in non-druids, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility.[5]

Threats

For all its wonder, the Emerald Dream is not without its dangers. Those who visit via their dreams are welcomed and enfolded within the natural balance, but those who bring their physical selves face suspicion and hostility.

A darker force has found its way into the Emerald Dream as well. Called the Nightmare, this mobile area of corruption stems from the twisted thoughts and fears of sleeping beings’ subconscious minds. The Nightmare travels slowly through the Emerald Dream, leaving corrupted, vicious animals and Unwaking travelers in its path. None, not even Ysera, knows why the Nightmare exists — nor why its boundaries grow.[2]

Inhabitants

Rulers

The entire plane is the dominion of Ysera, the mighty green dragon Aspect, and she and her brood ensure that none despoil this paradise.[2]

Races and ceatures

Icon-RPG This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.
Emeralddreamcreatures

Creatures of the Emerald Dream.

Nature is in a perfect balance in the Emerald Dream. Animals of all types inhabit the world, including some that are extinct on Azeroth and subspecies that never got the chance to evolve. Many fey creatures, such as sprites, dryads and keepers of the grove, also roam the Dream. However, it is not only the inhabitant creatures that roam the Dream. Creatures from Azeroth constantly visit, though they may or may not know it.[2]

List of races:[11]

In World of Warcraft

WoW Icon update This section concerns content related to the original World of Warcraft.

Rumors dating back to the early development phase of World of Warcraft in 2003 suggest that the Emerald Dream would have been added in an 'at that time' future patch or expansion pack as an endgame zone or as a new continent. Newer speculation suggests that the Emerald Dream was originally intended to be an endgame instance, but got scrapped because Blizzard wanted it to be the main theme of an expansion. Tigole stated in late May 2007 that Blizzard had "actually done a lot of work on the Emerald Dream but we scrapped what we had for bigger, grander plans."[12]

Blizzard quotes

Back before WoW's closed beta phase, Tigole mentioned interesting details about the Emerald Dream, that seem to support the idea that it will be released.

Tigole on Sat, 06 Dec 2003 06:01:04 PST[citation needed] 

Actually, we have some pretty cool stuff planned for druids. They will definitely have a link to the Emerald Dream. There's also a zone on the way to the peak of Mount Hyjal called Moonglade that will be very core to druid characters. Our *master of Warcraft lore*, Chris Metzen, is never short on ideas when it comes to the druid class. I was running around the Emerald Dream last Thursday... you guys are in for a treat. The level designers are doing a killer job.

Tigole on Sat, 06 Dec 2003 22:01:05 PST[citation needed] 

The Emerald Dream is shaping up to be extremely cool. We don't want to preview any of that content yet as it is *endgame* and we want some surprises for players. [...] The zone is massive and beautiful. And once the content team is done with it, it will be exceedingly challenging >=]

Nethaera on Wed, 06 Sep 2006 08:19:20[citation needed] 

As for the Emerald Dream, there are no plans for anything as of yet but it is a consideration for the future. The Emerald Dream opens up a lot of different opportunities and the Burning Crusade is definitely not going to be the last of the expansion packs. There are many different places and storylines that can be pursued. The story is going to keep growing and as it does so, people will get to experience it.

Speculation

Questionmark-medium
This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.
See also Emerald Dream Expansion Ideas.

Currently the Emerald Dream is only explorable two times in-game. The Emerald Dream will likely have more in-depth appearances in WoW at some point in the future, but it's still unclear if it will be a new zone, a world spanning several new zones (Emerald Paradise, etc.), an instance, an expansion pack, or anything else. It is a fact that five Great Trees already exist in Azeroth, with swirling green portals in front which are believed to be entrances to the Emerald Dream. These portals are in Duskwood (Twilight Grove), Feralas (Dream Bough), Hinterlands (Seradane), Ashenvale (Bough Shadow) and Crystalsong Forest (The Great Tree) in Northrend. Currently none of these portals do anything if a player steps through them. Crystalsong's tree does not even have a portal. However the portals in Ashenvale, Feralas, Duskwood, and the Hinterlands are protected by high level elite dragonkin. Also, since patch 1.8.0, the Four Dragons, who normally live in the Emerald Dream, have begun emerging from the portals at regular intervals.

In the War of the Ancients Trilogy, the Emerald Dream is accessed by Malfurion and Cenarius by achieving a deep meditative state. Therefore, it's unclear if it will be accessible to non-druids, or if it will indeed be something that can be entered via the aforementioned portals at all. It is possible Blizzard could even add a new high level druid spell to port them directly to the Dream itself from anywhere.

The plot of Stormrage seems to resolve any plots related to the Emerald Dream, decreasing the likelihood of its inclusion in World of Warcraft.

Inspiration

Questionmark-medium
This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.
  • The Emerald Dream may have been influenced by H. P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands. The Dreamlands is a vast, alternate dimension that can be entered through dreams, similar to astral projection or lucid dreaming. Experienced dreamers are among the most powerful inhabitants of the Dreamlands and may become its permanent residents after their physical deaths.
  • The Emerald Dream is also very similar to the "Feywild" in Dungeons & Dragons. There, the Feywild is described as a parallel plane, containing an "echo" of the "real world", or what the "real world" would look like if civilized races had never occupied it.

References

External links

Template:Welink


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