Felwood

Felwood is a contested zone located north of Ashenvale, east of Darkshore, and west of Hyjal and Winterspring. It is a corrupted forest filled with tainted creatures of the woods, demonic satyr and infernals, and rotting treants and ancients.

Corrupted by the Dreadlord Tichondrius and the Skull of Gul'dan during the Third War, the forest's healing has been very slow over the years. The Emerald Circle, a sub-section of the Cenarion Circle druids, have been working to heal the land and defeat the remaining evils that corrupt it, specifically the remaining Shadow Council forces led by Lord Banehollow. It is also home to one of the two tribes of pure furbolgs left in the world — the Timbermaw. Ironwood trees are located here.

The Third War
This section concerns content exclusive to Warcraft III.

As the Burning Legion continued it's advance toward Mount Hyjal, Lord Archimonde commanded the corruption of the surrounding forest to weaken the defenses of the protecting night elves. The Dreadlord Tichondrius used a powerful warlock artifact called the Skull of Gul'dan to desecrate the surrounding forests, resulting in mutated wildlife, corrupted ancients and a polluted environment, creating Felwood.

The recently freed Illidan Stormrage, tasked by his beloved Tyrande to hunt down the invading demons, was told by Arthas Menethil that he could use the skull to not only halt the advancing corruption, but increase his own power as well. His desire for magic driving him, Illidan braved the dangers of Felwood and took the skull, stopping the corruption from spreading. Illidan then defeated Tichondrius, but was banished by his brother Malfurion for using demonic power.

World of Warcraft
This section concerns content exclusive to World of Warcraft.

During vanilla, the Timbermaw tribe started out hostile and required quite a bit of grinding on the local corrupted Furbolgs to become friendly. Bloodvenom Post served as the only Horde settlement in the zone, and Talonbranch Glade was the same for the Alliance.

Felwood Forest[1][2][3] is lush and vibrant land of woods and meadows was tended by the kaldorei and protected by Cenarius. Bubbling streams ran through quiet, grassy meadows, and the summer sun was tempered by the whispering breeze and the cooling rain. The leafy corridors of the forest rang out with the music of songbirds. It was as close to a paradise as the world has ever known. Then the Burning Legion befouled the land. Any trees and creatures that escaped the outright destruction became forever cursed in the demons' rampage. Having felt the cursed touch of the Burning Legion, Felwood is an eerie, dark, and haunted region of scattered gloomy woodlands and tainted vales, all of it teeming with evil. The meadows of Felwood retain the sickly, charred look they took on when the demons cursed the land during the third war. Nothing grows there. The mighty ancients that once guarded the land now roam blindly, their limbs twisted and their bark hides bleeding fel poisons. The once tranquil rivers and streams now boil with poison and noxious gases.

Felwood is a dismal and dangerous land to all who enter. Most cross into Felwood only out of necessity, for it lies directly along the road to Hyjal Summit. Armed travelers are usually safe if they pass along the main road by day, but they have no guarantee of safety if they leave the trail or if they venture into Felwood after nightfall. The night elves feel constant shame that they failed to protect this noble land. All their efforts to restore health to the woods and meadows through divine magic have failed. Despite the lingering curse of 10,000 years, the night elves refuse to cease their efforts to lift it. Some think that the key to healing the blighted land lies with Illidan, brother to the night elf hero Malfurion Stormrage. Illidan was known to have consumed the The Skull of Gul'dan, which also blighted the forest. Only powerful divine magic can likely save the land, however.[4]

Geography
Felwood has no villages or people of its own. It is home to no cities to speak of; the night elves fled the area thousands of years ago, and no one had found the ambition to settle in the cursed forest since. The land is a cursed relic, a danger to all within its bounds. Even creatures united in evil are not safe from the depredations of one another. Explosions and flashes of arcane brilliance erupt throughout Felwood as druids clash with the warlocks. Felwood is home to many beasts, with bears and wolves the most numerous. As herbivores refuse to eat the cursed vegetation, the carnivores have turned to feeding on each other. As the new beasts immigrate fromAshenvale, only the toughest survive for longer feeding on others. At the end, the overall numbers stays more or less constant. Combined with the great curse, this development has created in each creature a brutal rage, one that causes the beasts turn on one another and any who dare to enter their territory. Cursed furbolgs roam the forest, looking for an end to their torment. They are hardy enough to survive drinking the cursed waters of Bloodvenom Falls, but the water only increases their madness.

Cursed ancients lurk near night elf ruins and will attack anyone they see. They are stronger than their healthy counterparts, empowered by evil. The ancients hold a special grudge against the night elves who abandoned them and will unleash special savagery upon anyone remotely resembling an elf. Satyrs dwell by tainted moon wells, their dark magics twisting Felwood’s curse ever deeper into the land. Rumors circulate that the shadowy satyrs work as scouts and assassins for the Shadow Council in Jaedenar. The undead Scourge and what demons survived the Third War have also made a home in Felwood. These recent arrivals have stirred the other residents into turmoil, making the region even more violent than before. Druids of the wild make forays into Felwood with the aid of elven rangers, hunting down the greatest evil they can find and attempting healing magic upon the land. High elves and paladin warriors have likewise come to Felwood to cleanse it of undead and root out the reclusive Shadow Council.[5]