Nordrassil prior to Archimonde's ascent
World Tree refers to one of the great trees in Azeroth:
- Nordrassil (Crown of the Heavens), the original World Tree blessed by the dragon aspects.
- Teldrassil (Crown of the Earth), the tree created by the night elves in a failed attempt to restore their immortality.
- Vordrassil, failed World Tree located in Northrend. The Old God, Yogg-Saron, sleeps beneath it.
Another possible World Tree shown in a piece of concept art titled Idrassil and is found in The Art of World of Warcraft. However, it is probably just an early version of Teldrassil. The World Tree known as the "Great Tree of Life" appeared in the official Azure Tower Defense map for the Frozen Throne.
In the Grizzly Hills in Northrend, there exists a city of Furbolgs called Grizzlemaw which is built in a tree stump called Vordrassil. This could be a failed attempt at a World Tree.[1]
Mythology
The idea of a World Tree is almost certainly a reference to the World Tree of Norse mythology, Yggdrasil. Their names are similar, they both have wells underneath them: the Well of Eternity beneath Nordrassil, and the Well of Urd beneath one of the roots of Yggdrasil. Also, a dragon, Nidhoggr gnawed at the roots of Yggdrasil, which could reference back to either Deathwing or Archimonde. These parallels only apply to Nordrassil, the "true" World Tree, and not Teldrassil, the "false" one.