Recaps

Aegwynn rejected the blood clansman’s offer and killed him, while Gul'dan manipulated Cairne Bloodhoof into murdering Saurfang the Great and framing the curator. Cairne then led Garrosh into battle against the curator, where Garrosh was suddenly impaled by a runed spear.

• Aegwynn refused to free the blood clansman and obliterated him with Arcane energy.
• The Forsaken retreated to Karazhan’s library, where constructs temporarily held back their advance.
• Cairne Bloodhoof ambushed and killed Saurfang the Great, following Gul'dan’s instructions to hide the true cause of death.
• Cairne blamed the curator for Saurfang’s death and persuaded Garrosh to fight beside him.
• Cairne fought the curator first, then Garrosh took his place and was pierced through the chest by a runed spear.

Cairne Bloodhoof broke free of Sylvanas’s control, accepted Gul’dan’s Fel power, and helped turn the battle at Karazhan against the Forsaken. Meanwhile, Vanessa and Robbie investigated whether the Well of Eternity’s destruction had caused Mana Addiction, and Robbie recalled a girl in Silvermoon City who had none despite lacking golden eyes.

• Gul’dan freed Cairne Bloodhoof from Sylvanas’s control and persuaded him to accept Fel power to regain a strong body.
• Cairne attacked Warchief Blackhand and kept him occupied, allowing Karazhan to launch a counterattack.
• Sylvanas lost contact with Cairne and learned from Blackhand that he had joined Gul’dan; after losing several key generals, she ordered a retreat while keeping her mysterious coffins in reserve.
• Vanessa and Robbie discussed evidence that Mana Addiction began when the Well of Eternity exploded and considered whether historical accounts had been altered.
• Robbie remembered a girl in Silvermoon City who had no Mana Addiction despite not having golden eyes.

Robbie and Vanessa found the Book of Medivh in Karazhan, but the housekeeper who gave it to them asked Robbie to rescue the Ethereals imprisoned below. As Robbie reached the prison, Gul'dan resurrected Karazhan's dead with Fel and Sylvanas brought a coffin before him.

• Robbie and Vanessa found Medivh's bedroom, where the Book of Medivh was trapped inside a mirror and guarded by an alarm bell.
• The housekeeper revealed the mirror's password, gave Robbie the Book of Medivh, and asked him to rescue the Ethereals imprisoned in Karazhan.
• The housekeeper told Robbie that Aegwynn had built Karazhan as a city and sacrificed its people in an attempt to summon and imprison an evil god.
• Robbie defeated the two prison guards and found the Ethereals locked in a huge cage.
• Gul'dan used Karazhan's Fel reserves to resurrect its fallen servants, stunning Sylvanas and Antonidas.
• Sylvanas warned Gul'dan about the evil once committed on the land and had a coffin carried before him.

Sylvanas possessed a corpse containing much of the Frozen Throne’s Power of the Dead and used it to unleash an expanding Undead Domain across Karazhan. As Gul’dan’s forces struggled to stop her, he decided to summon Tirion Fordring with Ashbringer to fight her.

• Sylvanas demanded the Book of Medivh and revealed a corpse she had found beneath the Frozen Throne, wearing the Lich King’s armor.
• Sylvanas possessed the corpse, invoked Scourge, and absorbed countless Restless Souls, declaring herself the Lich King.
• Sylvanas shattered Karazhan’s Magic Shield and gates, while her Undead Domain spread through the halls and raised new Scourge soldiers.
• Gul’dan’s allies admitted they could not defeat Sylvanas, and Duke Alpha explained how Tirion Fordring and the Alliance had once brought down Arthas.
• Gul’dan proposed using Karazhan’s weak fabric of space to summon Tirion Fordring and force him to help fight Sylvanas.

Gul'dan forcibly summoned Tirion Fordring to Karazhan, where the commanders tried to make him fight Sylvanas, while Robbie helped the surviving Ethereals escape through a portal. The chapter left Tirion frozen in an ice block and revealed that Medivh had written a message to Lisa from Lakeshire in the Book of Medivh.

• Duke Alpha persuaded Gul'dan to summon Tirion Fordring by invoking Lisa from Lakeshire, and Tirion stopped resisting when he believed she was calling him.
• Tirion arrived in Karazhan without his Hearthstone, and Gul'dan and Duke Alpha demanded his help against Sylvanas, who possessed a young man's corpse.
• Tirion confronted Sylvanas, but after he called for the champions to attack, she encased him in an indestructible block of ice.
• Robbie and Medivh's steward freed the surviving Ethereals and led them to a portal home as Karazhan trembled.
• The steward gave Robbie the Book of Medivh's passphrase, and the opened book revealed Medivh's message asking Lisa to wait for him.

Robbie and Vanessa escaped Karazhan and examined Medivh's Journal, which revealed how the Burning Legion shaped Medivh's beliefs and ambitions. The journal ended with Medivh grieving that Aixisi had accepted his proposal, but something had gone wrong.

• Robbie and Vanessa fled Karazhan as its structure groaned under the growing number of Restless Souls.
• Vanessa sorted through a trove of treasures she had collected, while Robbie had only found the Book of Medivh.
• Robbie and Vanessa read Medivh's Journal, which described his education at Sargeras Void Academy and the Legion's teachings about magic, Fel, and the Old Gods.
• Medivh wrote that he planned to guide Dalaran toward Fel magic and gather powerful humans to challenge the Night Elves.
• Medivh confessed his love for Aixisi and revealed that she accepted his proposal, but the entry ended with him calling it the darkest day of his life.

Robbie and Vanessa learned from Medivh’s diary why he had abandoned hope of saving Azeroth, while Sylvanas’s attack on Karazhan triggered the release of Experiment Subject No. 001, who trapped the tower in a repeating time vortex. Sylvanas escaped through a pillar of moonlight, but Karazhan fell into eternal stillness as a mysterious Ghoul emerged nearby.

• Medivh’s diary revealed that he had rejected Aixisi because the Witch Clan changed sex with each tide and had come to believe Azeroth’s people were too ignorant to save.
• Robbie and Vanessa left the banquet hall and saw Sylvanas’s ghostly Scourge destroy Karazhan’s art and buildings.
• A gray mist spread across Karazhan, and Experiment Subject No. 001 reversed time, restoring the tower and trapping everyone inside a sealed time vortex.
• Antonidas failed to break the spatial seal, but a beam of moonlight let Sylvanas escape Karazhan at the cost of her body and much of her power.
• Karazhan became frozen in eternal stillness, while an inconspicuous Ghoul crawled from a refuse dump nearby and watched it with a smug smile.

After escaping Karazhan as a Ghoul, Gul'dan encountered his younger self, who tried to absorb his soul. The two Gul'dans fought over the younger one's body and merged, but Robbie trapped the resulting Gul'dan in Holy Light.

• Gul'dan escaped Karazhan as a Restless Soul, took a skeleton as a body, and crawled through Deadwind Pass as a Ghoul.
• Med'an arrived through a portal and revealed that he served a new master: a younger Gul'dan from Draenor.
• The younger Gul'dan used Fel to destroy the Ghoul Gul'dan and draw out his soul, but the older Gul'dan invaded his body and fought for control.
• The two Gul'dans struggled within one body until the survivor declared that he was both Gul'dans and vowed to rule Azeroth.
• Robbie appeared with the Book of Medivh and trapped Gul'dan in a cage of Holy Light while Med'an tried to flee.

Robbie captured Gul'dan and spared him after Gul'dan offered insight into the forces manipulating Azeroth. While Robbie, Vanessa, and Kel'Thuzad studied Medivh's journal, they uncovered Medivh's role in Azeroth's chaos and learned that Illidan Stormrage had been imprisoned for ten thousand years.

• Robbie used the Holy Light Cage to restrain Gul'dan and destroy his Fel power, then questioned him about his fate and the Book of Medivh.
• Gul'dan warned Robbie about elites pretending to sleep and hinted at hidden forces controlling events, persuading Robbie to keep him alive.
• Robbie and Vanessa brought Gul'dan and Med'an to Lunarfall, where Vanessa handed Gul'dan over to Kel'Thuzad for interrogation and experiments.
• Robbie, Vanessa, and Kel'Thuzad studied Medivh's journal and linked his travels and secret arrangements to upheavals across Azeroth.
• The journal revealed that Illidan Stormrage had been imprisoned for ten thousand years by rulers pretending to sleep, despite being a potential savior of Azeroth.

Robbie investigated Medivh’s coded warnings about those pretending to be asleep, then learned that Gul’dan expected Tyrande and Malfurion to rescue him. Tyrande prepared to intervene in Stormwind without awakening Malfurion, while a messenger told Oriana that Moonbrook no longer needed to maintain its false appearance.

• Robbie had Gul’dan tortured with Lala’s singing, and Gul’dan shouted that Tyrande and Malfurion would save him.
• Tyrande received word that Varian was imprisoned and the Defias Brotherhood controlled Stormwind, so she summoned a sentinel to invite Genn Greymane to Teldrassil.
• Tyrande refused to awaken Malfurion after recalling a golden-haired woman.
• A messenger arrived at Moonbrook and told Oriana that the town no longer needed to put on a different face.

Katrana Prestor revealed herself as Onyxia and returned to Stormwind, intending to reclaim the kingdom after learning that Varian had lost power. There, she encountered a powerful little girl who looked like Jaina and challenged her claim to Stormwind.

• A messenger told Headmistress Oriana that Varian had lost power and that Stormwind’s lords were celebrating, prompting Oriana to reveal herself as Katrana Prestor, the Black Dragon Princess Onyxia.
• Onyxia flew to Stormwind City and saw its people suffering from hunger, poverty, and the scars of war.
• Onyxia blamed Varian for the kingdom’s misery and announced that she had returned to end the people’s suffering.
• Onyxia sensed a powerful mage among the crowd and recognized a little girl who looked like Jaina, though she suspected the girl was a High Elf.
• Onyxia claimed Stormwind as hers, and the little girl replied that the claim was not certain.

Robbie and Kel'Thuzad created a body for Shadow Anduin, but the resurrected prince was left intellectually impaired. Robbie used him as a puppet to take control of Stormwind as regent while leaving Varian recognized as king.

• Gul'dan recounted how he had been manipulated by the Burning Legion and Dark Side of the Moon, while Vanessa warned Robbie and Kel'Thuzad that his apparent madness did not make him less dangerous.
• The Brotherhood assessed the Alliance races' reactions to Varian's removal and feared that Genn Greymane's arrival in Darnassus could lead the Night Elves and Worgen to intervene.
• Kel'Thuzad used materials including C'Thun's tentacles and beef to create a body for Shadow Anduin and transferred Anduin's soul into it.
• Kel'Thuzad discovered the new Anduin was a fool because he had lost memories and lacked Light Anduin's remnant soul, but Robbie decided he could serve as a puppet king.
• Anduin appeared before Stormwind's nobles at the Lion's Pride Inn, denounced Varian for personal offenses, and assumed control of the military and government as regent while Varian remained king.

King Greymane assessed the political upheaval in Stormwind and negotiated with Tyrande over the Night Elves’ campaign against Onyxia. He offered only limited Gilnean support and proposed lobbying Ironforge and Exodar, while Tyrande challenged his claim that the Forsaken threatened his kingdom.

• King Greymane waited for the situation in Stormwind to clarify before agreeing to negotiate with Tyrande.
• At the banquet, Greymane reasoned that Onyxia had regained power and that the Black Dragonflight might still be formidable.
• Tyrande declared that the Night Elves would oppose Onyxia and ordered the Gelkis Kingdom to cooperate fully.
• Greymane cited the Forsaken threat, promised to lead his elite royal guards, and offered to lobby Ironforge and Exodar.
• Tyrande told Greymane she was certain Sylvanas would not attack his kingdom.

King Genn Greymane refused to believe Sylvanas would leave Gilneas alone and rejected Tyrande’s demand that Gilneas fight Stormwind. Tyrande used Elune’s power to force him to submit, then ordered the invasion; as he sailed home, Greymane realized why she had divided the Night Elf forces and feared for the Alliance.

• Greymane told Tyrande he would not send Gilneas to war against Stormwind and suggested negotiating with the Black Dragon Princess.
• Tyrande claimed Elune had revealed that saving King Varian was necessary to protect Azeroth from the Burning Legion, then declared her demand an order.
• Tyrande used her power to choke Greymane and warned that Gilneas’s Worgen would lose control of their madness without Elune.
• Greymane concluded the Night Elves had helped turn Gilneas into Worgen as part of a scheme, then agreed to obey Tyrande.
• Tyrande ordered the Night Elves to attack Stormwind City, Westfall, and Shadowmoon Valley while Gilneas sent its Worgen through Ironforge to Stormwind.
• As he sailed from Rut'theran Village toward Southshore, Greymane understood why Tyrande had divided her forces and feared for the Alliance.

After learning that Tyrande planned to attack on three fronts, Vanessa and Robbie realized the strategy could draw the Brotherhood into a wider war and ultimately destroy it. Robbie turned to Gul'dan for a solution, and Gul'dan pointed out that they had forgotten Sylvanas.

• SI:7 reported that the Night Elves were preparing to attack, and Vanessa called the Brotherhood's officers to plan a defense.
• Beiqing Feathermoon warned that Tyrande planned to attack Stormwind City, Westfall, and Shadowmoon Valley, and described divisions within the Night Elves.
• Vanessa prepared the Brotherhood to mobilize its fleet, while Robbie realized Tyrande wanted them to destroy the Westfall force and trigger a wider war.
• Vanessa proposed assassinating Tyrande and blaming Twilight's Hammer, but Robbie stopped her and promised to find another solution.
• Robbie asked Gul'dan for help, and Gul'dan told him they had overlooked Sylvanas.

Gul'dan proposed tricking Sylvanas into attacking Gilneas with a fake oracle, forcing the Alliance to unite against the Forsaken and abandon its internal conflict. Robbie secured Naaru Lala's help with a method for delivering the oracle, then traveled to Scholomance to prepare it.

• Gul'dan explained that a Forsaken attack on Gilneas would force the Alliance to withdraw its troops and unite against Sylvanas.
• Gul'dan revealed his plan to impersonate Dark Side of the Moon and deliver a false oracle to Sylvanas.
• Naaru Lala initially refused to impersonate another god but offered to teach Robbie how to deliver an oracle for five hundred thousand gold coins.
• Naaru Lala taught Robbie a method that used a magic circle, and Robbie learned Dark Side of the Moon's voice and intonation from Gul'dan.
• Robbie entered Scholomance through a Portal while Tyrande's fleet was still at sea.

Sylvanas received Dark Side of the Moon’s order to attack Gilneas and force Greymane to return, while secretly considering how to use Tyrande’s ambitions for her own gain. Greymane turned his army back toward Gilneas, but Tyrande continued advancing toward Stormwind City despite Sylvanas’s betrayal.

• Sylvanas planned to bargain with Tyrande for Gilneas territory and offer information about Vol'jin, then received Dark Side of the Moon’s command to attack Gilneas without trying to conquer it.
• Greymane learned that Sylvanas’s Forsaken army was moving toward Silverpine Forest and ordered most of his Worgen forces to return to Gilneas.
• Tyrande received word of Sylvanas’s attack and cursed her betrayal.
• Tyrande refused to recall the Night Elf troops and ordered them to continue toward Stormwind City until Elune gave a new decree.

Gandling revealed Scholomance’s history and its research into sustaining Undead bodies as he guided Robbie through the Ghost Realm. After Robbie consulted the Ghost Advisors about recent events and Tyrande’s refusal to withdraw her troops, their leader offered a principle for uncovering the truth.

• Gandling explained how Scholomance began, how it used the Barov Family and agents such as Kel'Thuzad to test its Arcane Theory, and how it developed Undead bodies.
• Gandling showed Robbie a vast chamber where Undead stayed whole beside magical green flames, then described Scholomance’s efforts to reproduce.
• Gandling introduced Robbie to Archmage Arugal, who said his research into the Worgen curse was nearly complete.
• Gandling brought Robbie to the Ghost Advisors, and Robbie recounted the recent events involving Medivh, Thrall, Varian, the Forsaken, and Karazhan.
• The leader of the Ghost Advisors told Robbie that after every possibility had been eliminated, whatever remained would be the truth, however horrifying or unbelievable.

Robbie learned from the Wraith sage that Tyrande’s army was headed to Shadowmoon Valley to save Gul’dan, and he sent her Gul’dan’s head. Tyrande ordered her troops to retreat and sent Greymane to negotiate with Stormwind, while Cairne Bloodhoof awoke chained in a dungeon.

• The Wraith sage told Robbie that Tyrande’s true objective was to rescue Gul’dan in Shadowmoon Valley and explained how the Burning Legion’s wars had weakened Azeroth.
• Robbie decided Gul’dan was as good as dead and described the vampire research in the Book of Medivh to the Wraiths.
• Tyrande sought guidance from Elune, but the goddess’s light shattered and left Tyrande shaken.
• A sentinel delivered Gul’dan’s head to Tyrande, and she ordered her forces to retreat and Greymane to negotiate with Stormwind.
• Cairne Bloodhoof awoke in a dark dungeon in chains as someone told him to drink.

A mysterious man transformed Cairne Bloodhoof into a monstrous, rage-filled champion and sent him back to take revenge. Meanwhile, Baine Bloodhoof remained oblivious to the danger spreading through Mulgore as strange red worms appeared in the water.

• Cairne Bloodhoof recognized that the man disguised as Gul'dan was not truly evil and learned that he had been given a Fel body.
• The mysterious man chose Cairne to replace Gul'dan as the Burning Legion's spokesman and said he needed a mad bull to lead the Horde.
• The man fed Cairne a writhing mass of worms, transforming him into a towering beast who broke his chains.
• Cairne vowed that the Tauren would eat meat and prepared to seek vengeance on those who had humiliated him.
• Baine Bloodhoof dismissed recent upheavals in the Horde and mused about supplying its leaders with Tauren, milk, and young cows.
• Baine remained unaware that red worms had appeared in Mulgore's water sources, while his troubling nightmares continued.

Baine asked Lama Yunge about his visions of Cairne Bloodhoof, but learned that many Tauren had dreamed of Cairne’s vengeance. As Baine drifted off on his throne, Cairne appeared in another nightmare with Baine’s guards transformed beside him.

• Baine told Lama Yunge that Cairne had appeared in a dream and warned him of danger.
• Lama Yunge claimed that Cairne’s visions were auspicious, though Baine suspected she was hiding the truth about the Tauren’s dreams.
• Lama Yunge left Baine alone after praising the Horde’s leaders and assuring him of Cairne’s support.
• Baine recalled how he had risen from grave robber and butcher to Cairne’s heir, despite having no blood relation to him.
• Baine fell asleep and dreamed that a monstrous Cairne entered his tent with guards whose skin crawled with red worms.

Cairne Bloodhoof killed Baine and rallied the infected Tauren of Thunder Bluff to march on Orgrimmar. Magatha Grimtotem rescued some Tauren from the Bloodline worms and sent the survivors across the Great Sea to escape Cairne’s rule.

• Cairne Bloodhoof attacked Baine in the golden tent, and Baine realized Cairne was real rather than a nightmare.
• Cairne ate Baine alive, and Baine noticed a red worm in his flesh before dying.
• Cairne emerged with Baine’s head, declared himself returned, and led the infected Tauren in a vow to take revenge on the Orcs.
• Cairne ordered the Tauren to take up their weapons and march on Orgrimmar.
• Magatha Grimtotem treated a group of infected Tauren with medicine that killed the worms but killed nearly half of them.
• Magatha told the surviving Tauren to cross the Great Sea to the Eastern Kingdoms and never return.

After Gul'dan's death and Cairne Bloodhoof's return, Vol'jin prepared to defend Orgrimmar and sought Night Elf help. Tyrande received his plea while Elune remained silent, then went to confront the unresponsive Malfurion.

• Vol'jin concluded Cairne Bloodhoof would kill him and devised a plan to have the Night Elves defeat Cairne instead.
• Vol'jin wrote to Tyrande, portraying Cairne Bloodhoof as a threat to all Azeroth, and organized Orgrimmar's forces under Sagulos Saurfang and Gordo Nazgrim.
• Tyrande received Vol'jin's letter while struggling with Elune's silence and her own lack of trusted counsel.
• Tyrande went to Malfurion, who lay motionless in Darnassus, and angrily told him to wake up because Jaina was dead.

Malfurion awoke from the Emerald Dream and learned from Tyrande about the goddess's silence and the upheavals affecting Azeroth. He suspected the goddess might be reconsidering her support for the Orcs, giving the Night Elves a chance to take their place.

• Malfurion complained that Tyrande had woken him from a dream in which he lived happily with his imagined partner, little Nana, and their three children.
• Tyrande told Malfurion that Elune had stopped answering her prayers and described recent events, including Medivh becoming a Flesh-Eternal and Thrall and Saurfang the Great being replaced.
• Malfurion rejoiced at the news of Medivh, Thrall, and Saurfang, then speculated that Illidan was secretly orchestrating events and that Maiev had deceived them.
• Malfurion reasoned that Elune might be disappointed in the Orcs and suggested the Night Elves could seize the opportunity to take their place.

Tyrande and Malfurion plotted to exploit Cairne Bloodhoof’s return to weaken the Horde and make the Night Elves the era’s chosen power, but Tyrande reconsidered the risk and chose to wait. Meanwhile, Robbie urged support for Orgrimmar, and Vol'jin received a secret letter from Prince Anduin Wrynn that persuaded him to trust the Alliance and let the Orcs die.

• Malfurion told Tyrande that killing Cairne Bloodhoof and weakening the Horde could let the Night Elves replace the Orcs as the era’s protagonists.
• Tyrande considered luring Vol'jin into defending Orgrimmar before coordinating attacks by the Centaurs and Quilboar, but realized Malfurion’s plan was only a risky guess about Elune’s will.
• Tyrande decided the Night Elves would wait and see rather than gamble their standing with Elune.
• Robbie told Vanessa, Onyxia, and King Greymane that the Alliance should support Orgrimmar and let the Horde and Tauren exhaust each other.
• Vol'jin received a secret letter from Prince Anduin Wrynn, then decided to trust the Alliance and regard the Orcs as expendable outsiders.