Ebon Hold

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Acherus, The Ebon Hold is the instanced Death Knight starting zone, and later functions as a training area (much like Moonglade for Druids).

It is the first zone in WoW to change for an individual as he/she progresses through its quest content.

The Ebon Hold itself is a necropolis floating above the Eastern Plaguelands, although the starting zone extends down into the Scarlet Crusade towns of New Avalon and Havenshire. Quests here award the young Death Knight with the mount and gear (including a 5-minute PvP trinket and their first Relic) and talent points. Upon completing the quests offered in the zone, the Death Knight receives a spell called "Death Gate", which opens a portal back to Acherus.

In the non-instanced version of the zone, Acherus itself is a Sanctuary zone. Since both factions have to revisit Acherus for training and Runeforging, this allows them to do so in enforced peace.

Acherus has no established place in lore, so all lore assosciated with it is given through the quests themselves. Please note that this page will therefore contain major DK spoilers.

Acherus is only a recent addition in the Plaguelands, arriving from what speculation believes to be Northrend. Its reasons for suddenly appearing are also unknown, but are believed to be in response to the growing number of Crusader's stationed in the region around their bases of New Avalon and Havenshire. Along with it comes a massive number of the famed and feared Death Knights, trained in its halls by some of the most infamous and feared faces of the Scourge. Included amongst there is the son of the fabled Ashbringer, Darion Mograine, leading this dark army in the name of his master Arthas and wielding the corrupted blade of his father. How this weapon came to his hands is currently unknown, as it was last seen in the hands of his father Alexandros Mograine, who is also currently missing. As a once fallen hero, which current speculation leads us to believe that you were once a member of the Argent Dawn, you have been raised into the service of the Lich King, to serve his will and spread the Plague to all corners of the world.

Acherus contains several major Scourge figures - Instructor Razuvious, Noth the Plaguebringer, Darion Mograine and even Arthas himself. As the Death Knight lore opens, he/she is still loyal to the Scourge, so these characters function as questgivers.

The quest chains of Acherus are a series of strikes on the Scarlet Crusade and include such memorable events as plaguing miners deep in the mines of Havenshire, using the cannons of the Crusade's own ships to slay their followers massing on the beaches to board them, and interrogating a servant of the Crusade for information. As you advance through the quest line, the region slowly begins to fall under your control, taken inch by inch from the Crusade. The climax to this epic chain, as you question more and more your service to the Lich King, is a siege of Light's Hope Chapel, the staging ground of the Argent Dawn. A rough description of this event follows:

During the battle, Darion Mograine struggles to control the Corrupted Ashbringer . As Light's Hope is nearly overrun by the Undead, Tirion Fordring appears and turns the tide of the battle. After the Scourge's defeat and Darion Mograine's surrender, the ghost of Alexandros Mograine (aka The Ashbringer) appears and turns his son back to the Light. Arthas appears and taunts Tirion, goading Darion to attack him. Arthas easily repels the attack and continues taunting Fordring, at which point Darion throws the Ashbringer to Tirion, uncorrupting it. Tirion charges and injures Arthas with the newly-cleansed Ashbringer, and Arthas leaves. Fordring calls for an alliance between the Knights of the Silver Hand and the Argent Dawn, and Darion swears the Death Knights to the cause of the newly-formed Argent Crusade.