Can someone explain Netherstorm?

[Psychotrip]

I feel like this entire zone makes zero sense in the current lore.

Wowpedia claims that the zone has been ravaged by arcane magic from the nether, and that the manaforges use arcane magic as fuel. They're also described as harvesting, "the chaotic magics of the Twisting Nether" . This is also how it was described in the old TBC web page according to the wayback machine: as a region destroyed by chaotic arcane magic from the nether. I'm sure the quests describe it this way too.

Arcane mage mobs in the tempest keep dungeons (cant remember which one) are referred to as nethermancers. There's also "arcane vortices" that appear in the zone, described as wormholes where "the Twisting Nether's very essence appears because of the magical tears in the broken world of Draenor." What does the arcane have to do with the nether in the current lore? Shouldnt this all be fel stuff? Wowpedia claims the nether formed from a clash of light and shadow, and I suppose that clash creates fel magic? so why is this zone so heavily arcane-themed?

Furthermore, the arcane is a force of order, so why is Netherstorm the way it is? Shouldnt exposure to arcane energy make the area more orderly? How did it go from a peaceful forest to such a chaotic mess?

Look, I know the simple answer is "retcon" but where does this leave us in-universe? Is this entire zone non-canon as its currently presented? What is "actually" going on in this place according to the current lore? Should we just pretend it doesnt exist and move on?

[Resheph]

Should we just pretend it doesnt exist and move on?

Not very satisfying, but yes. This is hardly the only zone in old content that makes no sense a decade later. You need a big portion of suspension of disbelief to deal with it.

[Jastall]

Raw, unchecked Arcane power being destructive is still a thing, I think, even after the whole cosmology associated it with Order. Much life the Everbloom is Life going haywire, Netherstorm could be unstable Arcane energies causing wanton destruction. I'm pretty sure the Arcane artifact Aluneth was explicitly said to require a strong Mage to keep it under control lets its powers lash out and start frying everything nearby.

Now, associating the Twisting Nether with Arcane, that's 100% been retconned away.

[Uriel]

Arcane magic is not order, but its polar opposite.

Arcane is all form of magic combined, unfiltered, wild. A Mage orders arcane magic so it produces fire or frost, wich are both are aspects of Arcane.

Arcane =all of it ans frost fire are more streamlined fractions of Arcane

[Powerogue]

Too much of a good thing, I suppose. You can harness a lot of a useful energy source to power your homes, or to build a bomb. Netherstorm was bombed. We even see the shell of one of them in the ghostly wizard town.

A reminder of what said bombs can do:

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Arcane

What happens in the real world when we take a form of energy fundamental to the functioning of everything on an atomic level and weaponize it?

[Kralljin]

Eh, early days it wasn't exactly settled what the Twisting Nether was supposed to be, you also have some Npc's referring to the Twisting Nether as some kind of "Afterlife".
I think Netherstorm was basically intended as the "Arcane" pendant to the utterly fel corrupted Shadowmoon valley.

Imagine that the Twisting Nether was basically filled with raw / unstable Arcane Magic and it actually makes a bit more sense, Malygos even used to blast Arcane energy into space / Twisting Nether because he deemed magic users as evil.

It's just that the Twisting Nether later on was turned into the "realm" of fel and demons, rather some unspecified bland of outer space and source of arcane magic.

[Psychotrip]

Arcane magic is not order, but its polar opposite.

Arcane is all form of magic combined, unfiltered, wild. A Mage orders arcane magic so it produces fire or frost, wich are both are aspects of Arcane.

Arcane =all of it ans frost fire are more streamlined fractions of Arcane

I think this is the old lore? Its the force of order now, like fel is the force of disorder. I dont know how that fits in with the old lore of arcand being "pure magic" either. What even is magic at this point?

[Aucald]

I don't think the forces or essences of the WoW cosmos are quite as stratified as the cosmological chart in Chronicle Vol. 1 posits. The Twisting Nether isn't 100% pure Fel, but it does contain a high concentration of Fel energy that touches on everything else that constitutes the plane of the Nether. Its essence is chaotic and destructive, and that includes warping or twisting the Arcane energies that are present as well. I'm of a mind that Arcane energy is pretty much everywhere in the metacosm, and while its underlying nature is connected to the pillar of Order, it can be tainted or twisted by other forces. The same would be true for other energies as well, even perhaps Fel if there was a case where it was influenced by other fundamental forces.

Another take is that while Arcane is the essence of Order, a high concentration of it could also essentially be disassembling/reassembling the region now known as Netherstorm on a fundamental level. Basically what we're seeing is slow-motion terraforming of Farahlon/Netherstorm, and it only appears chaotic and destructive because it is rendering Farahlon into something altogether else, inadvertently making it inhospitable to the original lifeforms that once occupied it.

[Psychotrip]

Eh, early days it wasn't exactly settled what the Twisting Nether was supposed to be, you also have some Npc's referring to the Twisting Nether as some kind of "Afterlife".
I think Netherstorm was basically intended as the "Arcane" pendant to the utterly fel corrupted Shadowmoon valley.

Imagine that the Twisting Nether was basically filled with raw / unstable Arcane Magic and it actually makes a bit more sense, Malygos even used to blast Arcane energy into space / Twisting Nether because he deemed magic users as evil.

It's just that the Twisting Nether later on was turned into the "realm" of fel and demons, rather some unspecified bland of outer space and source of arcane magic.

From wc3 to about Legion, the nether was basically just the warp from 40k: the realm of thought and emotion where all magic originates, the home of demons (who were portrayed as beings that feed on magic), and a sort of hyperspace. Like the warp or the fade from dragon age, it may also be where souls go "by default" if not claimed by a god or the light or whatever. I think the void was also leaking into the nether in the VERY old lore, in a region called "The dark below". This was likely why warlocks could summon voidwalkers and how sargeras learned of the void.

It may seem convoluted, but it can be explained in a single paragraph. Not sure how to explain any of this now.

[Darkimpact]

I always thought of arcane magic as the magic that is so wild and uncontrollable that only a being of order can wield it. Like only the most disciplined have the control required. Otherwise it seems like arcane is the ideal magic for rampant runaway power effects, hence why mana bombs are arcane magic. Arcane mage spells echo this. Each use of Arcane Blast makes the next more and more powerful while ramping the cost until you expend all your mana. If you control your spell casting you can sort of ramp up and down on the power scale without burning out right?

[Garymorilix]

You are, again, complaining about the same thing again.

Here, I just did a google:
Ley lines (or leylines) are channels of immense power that course through the earth of planets[1][2] like blood vessels carrying arcane magic[3] instead of scarlet fluid.

So let's just say Nerzhul blew Draenor the fuck up and Farahlon happened to have a massive ley line hotspot.
Boom, arcane energy.
Solved it for ya, thank me later.

[Psychotrip]

Too much of a good thing, I suppose. You can harness a lot of a useful energy source to power your homes, or to build a bomb. Netherstorm was bombed. We even see the shell of one of them in the ghostly wizard town.

A reminder of what said bombs can do:

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Arcane

What happens in the real world when we take a form of energy fundamental to the functioning of everything on an atomic level and weaponize it?

I think this is a decent way of retconning it.

So, if we allow ourselves to ignore some of the details as presented in TBC, we can re-explain netherstorm as a result of the manaforges being unstable perhaps, causing an effect similar to a nuclear meltdown.

Now the question that remains is why does there seem to be such a strong relationship between the arcane and the nether? In fact, it seems like almost everything in TBC that relates to the nether utililizes the arcane. Netherdrakes and nethermancers being two examples off the top of my head. It seems like all over outland, the arcane has a stronger association with the nether than anything else, with fel being a close second .

[Powerogue]

I think this is a decent way of retconning it.

So, if we allow ourselves to ignore some of the details as presented in TBC, we can re-explain netherstorm as a result of the manaforges being unstable perhaps, causing an effect similar to a nuclear meltdown.

Now the question that remains is why does there seem to be such a strong relationship between the arcane and the nether? In fact, it seems like almost everything in TBC that relates to the nether utililizes the arcane. Netherdrakes and nethermancers being two examples off the top of my head. It seems like all over outland, the arcane has a stronger association with the nether than anything else, with fel being a close second .

Well the planet's destruction itself was due to a warlock, but they were opening portals, which both warlocks and mages can do. The Twisting Nether is the magical sort of in-between between planets and is very arcane, but a lot of fel magic is involved because the planet is infested with demons and demonic magic was involved in destroying it.

So really it boils down to what makes more sense in the given scenario honestly.

[pacotaco]

The way I see it, Arcane magic is just raw potential. You can "order" it, and get pure energy (arcane mages attacks, mana forges, arcane constructs, mana bombs), or "process" it to create fire and frost magic. Fel magic is "unordered" unstable arcane magic (fel fire, mutations).
Like they said before, it somehow parallels atomic energy: controlled you can have energy reactors or bombs, uncontrolled you have a nuclear meltdown (with radioactive fires, cancer and mutation, etc)

[Restors]

Eh, early days it wasn't exactly settled what the Twisting Nether was supposed to be, you also have some Npc's referring to the Twisting Nether as some kind of "Afterlife".

Guess that explains why Shamans ability "Astral Recall" have Twisting Nether in its tooltip.

"Yanks the caster through the twisting nether back to <Home>. Speak to an Innkeeper in a different place to change your home location."

[Psychotrip]

Guess that explains why Shamans ability "Astral Recall" have Twisting Nether in its tooltip.

"Yanks the caster through the twisting nether back to <Home>. Speak to an Innkeeper in a different place to change your home location."

I was just thinking about this, and it has a simple explanation in the old lore.

Its because the nether was the default afterlife and shaman were tied to the afterlife aspects of the nether. Since the nether is used as a means of faster than light travel, it makes sense for shaman to use it to get from point a to b.

Its kind of fascinating how many things big and small tie into the old magic system, and how much we need to bend over backward to make it make sense in the current lore.

[Soon-TM]

@Psychotrip as other posters have already stated, the Twisting Nether was originally a realm of pure, unbridled magic energy in its primordial form i.e. Arcane. Demons were its native denizens, but they weren't necessarily aligned with the BL/Fel. But that was quietly retconned with Chronicles, which introduced the oh-so-vaunted cosmic chart that is in full swing today.

[mickybrighteyes]

From what I understand. The Netherstorm of TBC was formerly the plains of Faralon which would have been an island we could traverse in WoD. But do remember that outland that we see in TBC is a shattered world with the edges drifting off into the cosmos/nether/(look I don't know what the lore team was on for TBC but they haven't been on it since). Anyways, it's a shattered realm drifting in space barely attached to the rest of the planet because... well outland is a shattered world drifting along in space somehow. It has ghosts of the past, settlements that human expeditionary forces created and died in and there's a whole host of weird magic timey wimey shenanigans going along because we all know deep down... a wizard did it... So just enjoy and don't think too hard about why TBC lore is what it is.

[Falkeshall]

Wizards, innit.

[Venziir]

Arcane magic is not order, but its polar opposite.

Arcane is all form of magic combined, unfiltered, wild. A Mage orders arcane magic so it produces fire or frost, wich are both are aspects of Arcane.

Arcane =all of it ans frost fire are more streamlined fractions of Arcane

This is 100% wrong though.

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Arcane "hile arcane represents order, fel is the magic of chaos and disorder,[7] and are considered opposite ends of the same spectrum.[8]" "Order is most commonly perceived in reality as arcane magic."

- - - Updated - - -

I feel like this entire zone makes zero sense in the current lore.

Wowpedia claims that the zone has been ravaged by arcane magic from the nether, and that the manaforges use arcane magic as fuel. They're also described as harvesting, "the chaotic magics of the Twisting Nether" . This is also how it was described in the old TBC web page according to the wayback machine: as a region destroyed by chaotic arcane magic from the nether. I'm sure the quests describe it this way too.

Arcane mage mobs in the tempest keep dungeons (cant remember which one) are referred to as nethermancers. There's also "arcane vortices" that appear in the zone, described as wormholes where "the Twisting Nether's very essence appears because of the magical tears in the broken world of Draenor." What does the arcane have to do with the nether in the current lore? Shouldnt this all be fel stuff? Wowpedia claims the nether formed from a clash of light and shadow, and I suppose that clash creates fel magic? so why is this zone so heavily arcane-themed?

Furthermore, the arcane is a force of order, so why is Netherstorm the way it is? Shouldnt exposure to arcane energy make the area more orderly? How did it go from a peaceful forest to such a chaotic mess?

Look, I know the simple answer is "retcon" but where does this leave us in-universe? Is this entire zone non-canon as its currently presented? What is "actually" going on in this place according to the current lore? Should we just pretend it doesnt exist and move on?

https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Arcane "Though extremely volatile," "Arcane energy is innately volatile, and wielding it requires intense precision and concentration." "Arcane is also largely present in the Twisting Nether.". In other words; arcane goes boom.