The Dark Portal (cinematic)

The Dark Portal is the cinematic intro for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

bossemote bossemote bossemote

• A dust storm sweeps across the Blasted Lands. The blue glow of the Dark Portal can barely be seen in the distance. Illidan Stormrage narrates.
• Much closer now, the Dark Portal reactivates, fading from blue to green.
• Various scenes occur in sequence: A draenei paladin, Vindicator Maraad, flips through a libram and blesses himself. A blood elf priestess caresses a mana wyrm, then drains the mana from it. An orc warrior cuts down a pair of naga. A troll rides a raptor. Maraad fights some fel orcs. The orc warrior is slain by arrows, then resurrected by the blood elf priestess. A human mage casts Polymorph on a tauren. A Forsaken warlock is surrounded by murlocs and kills them with Hellfire. The priestess casts Holy Nova.
• Illidan is shown kneeling on a ruined battlefield, contemplating the Skull of Gul'dan. He drops the skull and leaps into the air, brandishing the Twin Blades of Azzinoth and concluding his narration:

The song "The Dark Portal" was featured as the fourth track on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Soundtrack, and was composed by Neal Acree.

• Directed by Jeff Chamberlain
• Animation Surpervisor: James McCoy
• Animated by Ronny Kim
• Cinematic concept artists: Brian Huang, Bernie Kang

• This cinematic was unofficially on December 6, 2019, by Upscale, using Machine Learning AI.
• The orc warrior, human mage, tauren and undead warlock previously appeared in the World of Warcraft cinematic intro.
• The orc warrior wields Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood, and the undead warlock wields the Headmaster's Charge.
• The Burning Crusade Behind-the-Scenes DVD has content about how different parts of the cinematic were created.
• WowCraft's episode 25 is a parody of this trailer.