Contemplations on Many Worlds

This article contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

Contemplations on Many Worlds was a book written by Khadgar. In the book, he discusses the cosmology of the universe.

Though it sparks a great many debates, the book is the common starting point for many discussions of the interrelationships between the planes.

After he identified the Known Planes, the physical worlds such as Azeroth and Draenor, the untamed realm of the Elemental Plane, the madness of the Twisting Nether, and the nothingness of the Great Dark Beyond — Khadgar spent two chapters speculating about their possible arrangement in "a larger world of worlds, a great cosmos."

At the base of Khadgar’s cosmology lay the Elemental Plane, the "raw stuff of creation." Khadgar explained how he arranged the elements within the plane:

"Let us consider the elements of Fire and Water. A bucket of water will douse a spark, and a raging fire will boil away the water that will fit into a nutshell. On the Elemental Plane, these elements are at their purest and most potent, and in equal, enormous quantity. We must, therefore, assume that the two are separated by the only element with which both will intermingle, Earth. Earth and Air might coexist, but they may never commingle — even when a handful of dust is scattered to the winds, dust and wind never become one. Further considering that Air lies above even the highest mountains, we place it in the highest layer of the Elemental Plane. Fire, Earth, Water and Air in their most primal forms, with only a gossamer veil keeping them from entering the crude mix of our world.

Atop the Elemental Plane sat the mortal, material worlds. Khadgar described them as;

"matter-mounded plates resting on the foundational table of the Elemental Plane"

Azeroth lay on one part of the "table," Draenor a distance away.

With his extensive studies of the planes and planar travel, Khadgar well understood that the various planes were surrounded by another interstitial plane, the Twisting Nether.

"The material worlds are the seat of rational thought, with the tides of madness ceaselessly crashing against them, threatening to tear them apart as the sea shatters the rocks on the shore.

As the guardian of Nethergarde he was particularly attuned to the idea of invasions from the other planes.