How does the Maelstrom work?

[Highlord Hanibuhl]

So we know that Deathwing burst through the Maelstrom from Deepholm to Azeroth's physical plain, and we know that travelling directly into the eye of the Maelstrom, results in travelling to Deepholm.



But how does that work..?
The Maelstrom is located in the Great Sea and is technically water churning in an endless vortex...
So is there a portal in the center?

Or is there a hole?

Howcome Deepholm's 'roof' is almost like a galaxy that seems to go on endlessly...

How does this all work logistically?

I'm fine with portals and magic, but we don't see a portal, which we see pretty much all the time.

[Progenitor Aquarius]

There is a hole if you look at the second picture where the skies are shattered. The water somehow doesn’t come to this place. Maybe because there is some powerful spell that holds it.

[Highlord Hanibuhl]

There is a hole if you look at the second picture where the skies are shattered. The water somehow doesn’t come to this place. Maybe because there is some powerful spell that holds it.

Well yeah but that hole was the galaxy-sky I was talking about..
I see nothing that indicates a 'doorway'

[PsychoSe7eN]

I think you are reading too much into it. Might be a simple as a portal.

[Kathranis]

The Maelstrom is a magical storm that was created when the Well of Eternity was destroyed.

Deepholm is one of the Elemental Planes. When Deathwing caused the Cataclysm it weakened the boundaries between the Elemental Planes and the mortal plane, making it possible for mortals to reach them from certain areas. The veil between the mortal plane and Deepholm can be passed through at the Maelstrom.

[AcidicSyn]

It's sort of like a portal.

Deepholm is the elemental plane of earth, like the firelands are to..well..fire.

So there is essentially both a hole and a portal. If you're a Doctor Who fan, think of the rift in Cardiff. It's kind of like that. So when Deathwing broke through he basically ripped through one plane of existence into another, creating a rift between whatever the "normal" plane is called and the elemental plane of earth. When you pass through the rift he created you travel to/from each. (Note the post above mine too, he didn't create the maelstrom, just the rift at the bottom of it)

The firelands portal in hyjal is stabilized, so its a normal magical gateway/portal. The one in the mealstrom is the same, its just more like an unstable rip than a stabalized gateway. (Did you ever play WC2 and Beyond the dark portal? Remember how when the dark portal was destroyed there was an unstable rift still there? Kind of like that)

[Progenitor Aquarius]

Well yeah but that hole was the galaxy-sky I was talking about..
I see nothing that indicates a 'doorway'

This looks like an old god with his little tentacles. He is there just to scare us.

[Combatbutler]

It is powered by the rule of cool, it is unlikely more to it than that.

[Valhalladin]

Isn't the Firelands the same? You go into a tower and end up in some Wasteland.

[aceperson]

if you need logic to explain a fantasy world then here you go.

the layers of a planet get hotter the deeper in you go as rock is grinding (quit it you perverts...) against rock which creates magma. so water would likely evaporate and rise from the hole before it ever reached deepholme. as for why the hole goes to deepholme, the titans created the elemental planes to banish each of the elemental lords from azeroths surface. the plane of waters entrance can be found via a similar vortex in vash'ir and the elemental plane of airs entrance is in the sky around uldum. so it would make sense that the plane of fire is the planets core, the plane of earth is in the mantle (the middle layer of a planets rock), the plane of water is near the surface, and the plane of air is above the surface.

edit: the firelands only becomes accessible after a tower is made connecting the surface to it so it could be a long tunnel or a portal. who knows.

[Powerogue]

The same way my mage can open a portal at the bottom of Vash'jir and it doesn't cause a giant vortex that drains the ocean and floods Stormwind.

[Combatbutler]

The same way my mage can open a portal at the bottom of Vash'jir and it doesn't cause a giant vortex that drains the ocean and floods Stormwind.

Wouldn't it be fun if mages could actually use the ocean pressure, they would literally be walking artillery units, capable of annihilating everything in a straight line in front of them.

[Nymrohd]

Wouldn't it be fun if mages could actually use the ocean pressure, they would literally be walking artillery units, capable of annihilating everything in a straight line in front of them.

Goblin Slayer needs a new season indeed.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

When you fly into the Maelstorm, you fly through a portal that takes you to the elemental plane of Earth, Deepholm. It's as simple as that.

For whatever reason, the artists decided not to overtly depict a portal in the sky of Deepholm. I don't consider that a problem since it's still abundantly clear that you passed through one. If Deepholm was created today then we could have gotten a sweet flight path transition like the hyperspace flightpaths in the Shadowlands.

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The same way my mage can open a portal at the bottom of Vash'jir and it doesn't cause a giant vortex that drains the ocean and floods Stormwind.

IIRC one of the Dalaran pamphlets in Legion straight up said this:

Rule #5: Do not remove the liquid filter from a portal spell. Portals innately prevent large amounts of flowing water through them so that they can be cast underwater. To allow for water elementals to use a portal, this filter can be omitted when casting. Do not omit this when underwater! We feel obligated to mention Moderately Severe Claims Disaster Case 34-zz: "The Great Lakeshire Drought & The Great Ironforge Flood of 24 A.D."

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Wouldn't it be fun if mages could actually use the ocean pressure, they would literally be walking artillery units, capable of annihilating everything in a straight line in front of them.

Don't bother trying to rationalize the power and technology of the Warcraft setting. This is a setting where the Alliance's formost enemy are thousand pounder brutes, and the Alliance's strategy is to send armies of 250 pound humans against them in conventional medieval warfare... even though the Alliance has access to airships, bombs, poison gas, machineguns, rayguns, and so on.





At the very least, the Alliance should be fielding thousands of mages who are polymorphing their enemies, but they aren't.

[Iain]

Would love to see more elemental panes though. Think of what the 'life' elemental pane could look like. Like a giant waterfall ravine jungle.