The Black Temple

The Black Temple is the high seat of Illidan Stormrage ^W, the insane half-demonic brother of Malfurion ^AHTW, and one of the most important figures in Warcraft lore. Illidan's temple is a vast structure that can be found at the far eastern end of Shadowmoon Valley ^AHTW.

The questline for attunement to the Temple revolves around the Ashtongue Deathsworn ^HTW faction. These are Broken ^W under the command of Akama ^AHTW, once a loyal lieutenant of Illidan alongside Vashj ^W and Kael'thas ^W, and now secretly working against his old master. Through a long sequence of no less than sixteen quests, you'll slowly be introduced to Akama and build his trust, until you finally gain the Medallion of Karabor ^AHTW, and with it access to the Black Temple.

A Question of Faction

The start of this questline varies slightly depending on whether you're favoured by the Aldor or Scryer faction. The starting details shown here are for the Aldor, but you can see the Scryer version by clicking the button below.

The start of this questline varies slightly depending on whether you're favoured by the Aldor or Scryer faction. The starting details shown here are for the Scryers, but you can see the Aldor version by clicking the button below.

At this point, the Aldor and Scryer strands fuse together, and both follow the same questline. When you reach Sanoru, it turns out that there's no need to to torture him after all: Akama has been following your work, and is ready to recruit you. You just have to prove your allegiance by slaying a nearby demon named Zandras ^AHT, and you'll earn your first faction points with the Ashtongue Deathsworn.

Akama At Last

Now it's time to meet Akama himself. If you're one of those people who doesn't bother to read quest text, be prepared for a fair bit of puzzled wandering at this point. Actually, if you don't read quest text, you probably aren't reading this either, so it won't help to explain that you have dive under the water and swim through a hidden tunnel to reach him.

Now the questline starts in earnest. Akama reveals that he doesn't have the Medallion of Karabor after all, and that he's trying to reassemble it himself. So, your task now is to help him do that. First, you'll need to head to the Arctaraz ^T to track down Seer Udalo ^AHT. You'll find him near the end of the instance. Udalo is dead, but he's scrawled the word Atam'al on the floor, so head back to Akama and report that.

Atam'al is the name of one of the terraces of the Black Temple itself, and so your next quest is to visit The Atam'al Terrace ^W and recover the Heart of Fury ^AHTW that's needed for the medallion. You'll need a group for this one: head up to the top of the terrace, and you'll find three warlocks channelling. Kill them all, and Shadowlord Deathwail ^AHTW will appear in the sky. Once he's dead, grab the Heart of Fury and head back to Akama, who will be happy to receive it.

Now, he'll entrust you with the Medallion and send you to give to A'dal ^AHTW in Shattrath ^AHTW. Hand it over, and you'll receive a nice choice of rewards, and a strange vision of the future. For now, though, it seems your attunement quests are complete.

The Questline Restarted

To restart your attunement adventures, you'll need to kill Fathom-Lord Karathress ^AHTW deep inside Serpentshrine Cavern. If you do, and you've already completed all the quests before this one, you'll find a skulking Broken, Seer Olum ^AHTW, with a quest for you. It seems that Karathress has discovered some part of Akama's subterfuge, and you'll need to head back to the Warden's Cage to warn him.

Super-maxi-important: The quest is available from Seer Olum as soon as Karathress is killed, but he seems to only remain in place while the raiding party is inside the dungeon. If you forget to pick up his quest during the raid that kills Karathress and go back later instead, you'll find that Olum has wandered off. So, don't forget!

Now things start to get a bit tougher. Illidan had demanded the death of Al'ar ^AHTW at the hands of the Ashtongue, and so Akama sends you in their place. He'll give you a magical Ashtongue Cowl ^AHT, so that you'll appear to be one of the his Broken when you do the deed. So, head off to the Eye and slay the phoenix for him.

Also Super-maxi-important: Akama's Al'ar quest only works if you're wearing the Ashtongue Cowl. If you forget to put it on for the fight, you'll have to kill Al'ar again to finish the quest. So, don't forget that, either!

Akama's next quest for you, An Artifact From the Past ^AHTW, must be one of the toughest in the entire game. He needs a phylactery ^AHTW that was destroyed in the Battle of Mount Hyjal ^W, so you'll need to travel back in time to snag it while it still exists. To do this quest, you'll first need to get attuned to The Battle of Mount Hyjal instance, which in turn involves defeating both Kael'thas and Lady Vashj. Once you're attuned, all you need do is enter the Battle instance and defeat the first boss, Rage Winterchill ^AHTW, who has the phylactery.

Now Akama has everything he needs to get into the Black Temple. The next few steps in the quest chain just involve flying back and forth and speaking to various Naaru ^W. Finally, Xi'ri ^AHTW (that's the naaru floating outside the Black Temple) will give you an escort quest: he'll start a battle as a distraction, and your task is to get Akama safely inside (this is the vision that A'dal reported way back when you finished the first half of the line.)

If you succeed, return to Xi'ri, and he'll grant you your own Medallion of Karabor. There are three further quests you can do in this quest line, culminating in a battle with Illidan himself inside the Temple. They're not essential to the attunement: once you have the Medallion, you can enter the Black Temple any time you like. However, it's well worth finishing off the questline, because completing the final quest, The Fall of the Betrayer ^AHTW will turn your ordinary old Medallion into a Blessed Medallion of Karabor ^AHTW, which has the power to teleport you directly to the Black Temple.

External Links

• Allakhazam: Black Temple
• Thottbot: Black Temple
• WoWWiki: Black Temple