Balaadur

Balaadur, the Hunter of Mages, is a powerful eredar of the Burning Legion who has been using deadly ambushes to kill mortal magic users for untold ages. During the last such ambush, Balaadur and his minions killed the human mage Arrexis and claimed his staff, Ebonchill.

During the War of the Ancients, Balaadur protected a Nihilam portal opened by the Legion at Black Rook Hold. He was killed and sent back to the Twisting Nether by Illidan Stormrage and the Moon Guard.

In the years prior to the First War, several attacks or ambushes were carried out by Balaadur's minions against mages loyal to the Council of Tirisfal. In the case of powerful conjurers or archmages, Balaadur himself entered the fray, somehow creating tears in reality and forcing or convincing said mage to enter it. In the extremely rare cases where someone lived to tell the tale, Balaadur was seen sporting the weapons of his dead targets, flaunting them as trophies. While he was not yet able to enter Azeroth, this also made it nearly impossible for the Council to prevent or prepare for his attacks.

Around the time of the First War, a human named Arrexis and his appprentices conducted experiments around the warding magics surrounding the tower of Karazhan. Heeding the malicious advice of the Guardian Medivh, who at the time was possessed by Sargeras and secretly killing members of the Council of Tirisfal in "accidents", Arrexis and his followers conducted a great ritual they believed would protect the area from demonic incursions. However, the ritual inadvertently opened a path between Azeroth and the Twisting Nether, and Balaadur's minions immediately fell upon the shocked magi and dragged them into the Twisting Nether, where they were slaughtered to the last. Balaadur took Arrexis' staff, Ebonchill, as a trophy of his bloody victory, marking the end of the ancient tradition of passing the greatstaff from master to apprentice. To prevent anyone from repeating Arrexis' mistake, the Council stripped all records and mentions of the mage and his disastrous ritual from their records and exiled Daio from the Kirin Tor for his part in the debacle.

During the Burning Legion's third invasion of Azeroth, Meryl Felstorm, Alodi and a frost mage adventurer begin searching for Ebonchill to use it against the Legion. After the adventurer uncovers evidence of what happened to Arrexis and Ebonchill, Meryl proposes that the three mages recreate Arrexis' ritual in order to attract Balaadur's attention. The adventurer is sent out to retrieve mana gems from Alodi's bank vault in Dalaran, a demon stone from Balaadur's home realm by talking to the now elderly Daio in the Tainted Scar and to investigate the abandoned Kirin Tor camp west of Karazhan where the fateful ritual took place. Once all of these tasks have been completed, the adventurer and Meryl travel to the Azsunian island of Faronaar, a key invasion point for the Legion, where they gradually recreate the great ritual. The plan succeeds, and Balaadur pulls the adventurer into his domain, the Realm of the Mage Hunter. The mage and the mage hunter engage in a battle that ends with the champion killing Balaadur and reclaiming Ebonchill before returning to Azeroth.

• The Mage Hunter

• Ravencrest's Legacy