The Deadmines is a location set in Blizzard Entertainments video game and book series, Warcraft. In the MMORPG World of Warcraft it acts as an instance dungeon in the virtual world.

Background

The Deadmines is located in Westfall within Azeroth. Due to the perils within the Deadmines, it has always acted as refuge for bandits such as the Brigand before the First Great War, and then as a dwelling for the Ogres when they came through the Dark Portal. Over the years, many treasures have been hidden within its tunnels. During the First Great War, Lord Anduin Lothar (then only a Knight), led an expedition to collect the Lost Tome of Divinity within the mine. However, after 20 months with no word and a vision had by the Abbot of Northshire Abbey King Llane sent in a rescue team to bring out the badly wounded Lothar and his unit.

After the events of the Third Great War with the majority of the Horde united under Thrall's leadership, the Deadmines became under the control of the rogue Defias Brotherhood, led by Edwin VanCleef, an architect for the newly rebuilt Stormwind who had grown disillusioned with the Alliance after not being paid. The Defias Brotherhood have dug a tunnel from within the mine to the cellar of a barn within the Southern Village of Westfall, Moonbrook.

Nomenclature

While geographical short forms are highly varied in any MMORPG, the most common shortforms referring to the Deadmines are "DM" and "VC" (which refers to Edwin VanCleef, the final boss of the Deadmines). It should be noted, however, that "VC" is arguably a more proper shortform for the Deadmines due to the potential confusion of the short form "DM", which could also refer to the instance Dire Maul.

Instance zone

The Deadmines are a series of tunnels that eventually lead to a bay with a pirate ship. In total there are seven boss encounters in the Deadmines, almost all are highly scripted, and are an alliance player's first encounter to such scripted content. Many upper level characters still enter the Deadmines to farm for loot to sell, or simply for fun.

The Deadmines also contains many of the first set items with the Defias Leather Set(a good set for melee classes)[677], and many of the first rare items that a player may encounter. Van Cleef also drops the Cloak of the Brotherhood, a must have for low level Hunters.
The Deadmines is rated for level 17-26 characters to get the most experience and appropriate loot out of the instance.

Other Info

The Deadmines are regarded by the Blizzard development team as being some of their best work, and the point at which World of Warcraft really started to come together. For first-time players, the instance is incredibly long, and for their level, very rewarding and "epic." The whole Defias storyline leading up to the fight with Van Cleef is one of the deepest and most cohesive stories in the game.

The Defias pirate ship docked inside the Deadmines is actually a Juggernaut which was the Orc battleship in Warcraft II. These ships were designed by goblin engineers who sold technology to both the Horde and Alliance. Also of interesting note, the gigantic doors of the cave lead to the Vile Reef of Stranglethorn Vale. These doors can be seen from the opposite side in Stranglethorn, with some swimming.

See also

Warcraft Universe

Locations in the Warcraft Universe

Organizations in the Warcraft universe