In the story of WoW, the Emerald Dream is an ever-changing spirit world, tied to the World Tree by Ysera the Dreamer. The Night Elf druids were bound here as part of their pact, and their spirits wandered the dream for centuries while they slept.

Another one of the more unfinished areas, the Emerald Dream is clearly far from complete, but is home to some fascinating models. Jade dream-catcher like artifacts are scattered around the landscape, as well as statue of a not at all jolly looking green giant.

Another part of the zone is home to a forest of floating trees with roots that hang in the air. Strange fountains cascade from some of them into basins at their base.

Tigole: "The Emerald Dream is shaping up to be extremely cool. We don't want to preview any of that content yet as it is *endgame* and we want some surprises for players.

The zone is massive and beautiful. And once the content team is done with it, it will be exceedingly challenging >=] Sat, 06 Dec 2003 22:01:05 PST

Tigole: "Actually, we have some pretty cool stuff planned for druids. They will definitely have a link to the Emerald Dream. There's also a zone on the way to the peak of Mount Hyjal called Moonglade that will be very core to druid characters. Our *master of Warcraft lore*, Chris Metzen, is never short on ideas when it comes to the druid class. I was running around the Emerald Dream last Thursday... you guys are in for a treat. The level designers are doing a killer job."

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 06:01:04 PST

The Emerald Dream will likely appear in WoW at some point in the near future, but it's still unclear if it will be a new zone, a world spanning several new zones (Emerald Paradise, etc.), an instance, an expansion pack, or what. Five Great Trees exist in Azeroth, with swirling green portals in front which are believed to be entrances to the Emerald Dream. (though evidence is circumstantial at best) These portals are in Duskwood, Feralas, The Hinterlands, Ashenvale and Crystalsong Forest. Currently none of these portals do anything if a player steps through them, and Crystalsong Forest will not be implemented until Northrend is released. However the portals in Ashenvale, Feralas and the Hinterlands are protected by high level elite dragonkin. Also, since patch 1.8.0, the Four Dragons, who normally live in the Emerald Dream, have begun emerging from the portals at regular intervals.

In written Warcraft lore (see the War of the Ancients Trilogy), the Emerald Dream is accessed by Malfurion and Cenarius by achieving a deep meditative state. Therefore, it's unclear if it will be accessible to non-druids, or if it will indeed be something that can be entered via the aforementioned portals at all. It is possible Blizzard could even add a new high level Druid spell to port them directly to the Dream itself from anywhere.

The Emerald Dream is an unfinished zone with a surreal landscape. Little is known about this area, although it is speculated to be everything from a new zone, a dream world (Emerald Paradise, etc.) and an instance to something totally unique.