A Peek Behind the Ahn’Qiraj Wall in Southern Silithus – An Unfinished Zone Coming to Classic+?

For the first 11 months of World of Warcraft’s existence, the zone of Silithus was not how most players remembered. Mobs did not drop loot, no quests existed, and even the town of Cenarion Hold had not been built! From patch 1.0 to 1.9, players would slowly see the development of this zone. However, what was most interesting was that the original map showed an undiscoverable southern portion beyond the gates of Ahn’Qiraj, often referred to as “Southern Silithus“.

The Silithid, Qiraji, & War of the Shifting Sands

The original map of Silithus, showing an enormous, inaccessible portion of the zone.

But what was the purpose of this mysterious zone? Was it intended to be a unique area? An outdoor dungeon similar to Jintha ‘Alor in the Hinterlands? Or something else entirely?

What was Behind the Gate?

From Patch 1.0 to 1.8 of World of Warcraft, there was an entire section beyond the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj to explore in Silithus. Thanks to Youtubers like Turbotarzan and Jediwarlock, we learned that this section didn’t just have your typical out-of-bounds features, like holes in the environment, unfinished textures, or green/blue placeholder spots, but actual architecture, roads, and designs that made it look like something was actually meant to be here!

Was this southern portion of the zone intended to have more for players to discover? Maybe this was meant to be a zone players could explore after going through an “exit portal” from the Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj or Temple of Ahn’Qiraj raids, leading to more lore, quests, and rewards on the journey. After Patch 1.8, much of the zone looks like what you would see when going out of bounds, with unfinished textures, holes, and flat, unused spaces.

Why Did This Area Exist?

One possibility is that this was simply a testing ground for design, architecture, and ideas for the 20-player raid Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj and the 40-player raid Temple of Ahn’Qiraj. As you can see below, this section of Southern Silithus, which was removed after patch 1.8, resembles the Watchers’ Terrace, where Ossirian the Unscarred resides.

Columns that were in Southern Silithus before Patch 1.8

A similar design in the Watchers Terrace in the Ahn’Qiraj Ruins

This seems to be the original intention for this mysterious section of Silithus during the first developments of World of Warcraft. The creator of the Ahn’qiraj raids, and author of The World of Warcraft Diary, John Staats, also stated in his book that both Silithus and the Plaguelands were the last two zones in development for World of Warcraft, which shows why the former, especially, was extremely barren even at WoW’s launch.

Potential Use in Classic+

Even though it seems that this unused southern portion of Silithus was just for testing purposes, could we see this being used as new content for the inevitable Classic+ in the future?

Since this did exist at one point in time, it seems to be an easy addition of new content for Classic zones, similar to how Season of Discovery players got New Avalon added into Classic Azeroth, a part of Eastern Plaguelands that already existed in the game files.

What do you think of the mysterious missing half of Silithus? Could Blizzard use this space in a future version of Classic WoW? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!