Recaps

Benedictus advised Kites to pressure the Zul'Drak Empire into internal conflict, while Kites sent an Alliance army to Northrend and declared war without attacking. Robbie traveled as Duke Bolvar’s envoy to persuade Frost King Malakk that surrender could preserve Drakkari control of their land, but Warlord Zol'Maz rejected the idea.

• Benedictus told Kites that the Alliance could weaken the Zul'Drak Empire by surrounding it and spreading rumors about conflict between the Loa and their priests.
• Kites sent fifty thousand Alliance soldiers into Northrend and built a fortress near Drak'Tharon Keep, while some troops marched under the Argent Crusade's banner.
• Duke Bolvar worried that Kites would waste the Alliance army, and Robbie offered to visit Frost King Malakk as an envoy.
• Robbie warned Malakk and the Zul'Drak priests that the Alliance could join forces with the Furbolg and that the Horde would threaten them after any costly victory.
• Robbie proposed that the Zul'Drak Empire surrender to satisfy Kites's need for a victory while keeping its land, but Warlord Zol'Maz furiously refused.

Robbie persuaded Frost King Malakk to surrender to the Alliance, while Warlord Zol'Maz secretly planned to flee with his family and seek greater power. Kites celebrated the bloodless victory, then found that the Alliance could gain little from Zul'Drak beyond cheap ore.

• Robbie left the priests' public declarations and privately told Frost King Malakk that surrender could preserve Zul'Drak from disaster.
• Frost King Malakk agreed to surrender to the Alliance after Robbie promised that the Scourge would not pressure Zul'Drak.
• Warlord Zol'Maz told his wife to flee with their children, then read a letter from Novos describing his newly acquired powers.
• Warlord Zol'Maz decided to seek power himself and told his wife he knew the whereabouts of an important item lost by the Darkspear Horde.
• Kites received Frost King Malakk's surrender and gift, then consulted his advisers about how to profit from Zul'Drak.
• Kites's advisers settled on making Zul'Drak sell ore cheaply, leaving him bored by the easy victory.

Kites prepared to end the war with Frost King Malakk, while Vol'jin devised a scheme to use the Frost Gauntlets to undermine Malakk's rule. Malakk invited Warlord Zol'Maz to the peace talks, where Zol'Maz vowed to attack Kites.

• Vol'jin learned that Malakk had surrendered and told Eitrigg that the Frost Gauntlets symbolized Malakk's royal authority.
• Kites agreed to demand the Frost Gauntlets after his adviser claimed they had belonged to Emperor Thoradin.
• Zol'Maz repeatedly protested Malakk's surrender, leading Malakk to shut the palace doors to visitors.
• After Kites's reply arrived, Malakk invited Zol'Maz to accompany him to the peace talks.
• Zol'Maz accepted the invitation and vowed to tear Kites apart at the talks.

Kites attended Frost King Malakk’s surrender ceremony, where Malakk refused to surrender the Frost Gauntlets and revealed an ambush of Ice Elementals beneath the frozen lake. After suffering devastating losses and retreating, Kites declared total war against the Zul'Drak Empire.

• Kites arranged a surrender ceremony at a frozen lake, where Frost King Marak and Warlord Zol'Maz knelt before him.
• Frost King Malakk refused to hand over the Frost Gauntlets, and Kites demanded he choose between the relic and the Zul'Drak Empire.
• Malakk summoned thousands of Ice Elementals from beneath the lake and challenged Kites, while the elementals attacked the Royal Guards.
• Kites fought Malakk with the power of Goldrinn but retreated through a Portal after the Ice Elementals overwhelmed his forces and killed his advisers.
• At Drak'Tharon Keep, Kites ordered total war against the Zul'Drak Empire after fewer than ten of his two thousand soldiers returned.

Kites's Alliance army conquered Zul'Drak, while Frost King Malakk led the Drakkari Trolls into the snowy mountains and Kites planned to starve them out. Garrosh then advanced on Drak'Tharon Keep with thirty thousand Orcs, leaving Kites trapped between the Orcs ahead and the Drakkari behind.

• Warlord Zol'Maz and the Priests blamed Frost King Malakk for the war and refused to ask the Loa to intervene.
• Frost King Malakk led the Drakkari Trolls into the snowy mountains, where many died from the harsh conditions.
• Kites occupied Zul'Drak and decided to keep his army there for three months so the Drakkari would starve.
• Garrosh received thirty thousand veteran Orc reinforcements and marched toward Drak'Tharon Keep, where ten thousand Alliance soldiers were stationed.
• Kites learned that Garrosh was approaching and, after his advisers warned him not to retreat, faced the prospect of having his supply route cut off.

Kites rejected proposals to negotiate with Frost King Malakk or withdraw, then chose to hold position while Garrosh marched on an Alliance fortress near Drak'Tharon Keep. As Garrosh prepared to attack, he found the fortress encased in ice and heard General Xiboli taunt him.

• Kites listened as generals proposed peace with Frost King Malakk or a withdrawal to Drak'Tharon Keep, but Peace Dove advisers opposed both plans.
• After an elderly general warned that Garrosh could not be trusted, Kites left the meeting, and the Alliance decided to hold its position.
• Garrosh brought thirty thousand Orc soldiers to Drak'Tharon Keep, then chose to attack the nearby log-built Alliance fortress rather than the keep.
• General Xiboli mocked Garrosh's judgment and prepared his troops to fight, while worrying that Dalaran might join the battle.
• Garrosh arrived to attack the next morning and found the fortress covered in ice, as Xiboli taunted him through a sound-transmitting magic array.

Garrosh’s assaults on General Xiboli’s keep ended in repeated defeats, and he sought Dalaran’s help after the Horde lost its artillery and siege engineer. Rhonin advised him to wait for the Alliance to run out of supplies, leaving Garrosh to realize the enemy had drawn him into a strategy of attrition.

• Garrosh ordered a full assault on the keep, but General Xiboli defeated him in single combat and drove the Orcs from the walls.
• Garrosh threatened the Goblin engineer into using cannons, but Alliance artillery destroyed more than half the Horde guns, and Garrosh had the engineer fried.
• After more failed attacks against Xiboli, Garrosh went to Dalaran and demanded support from Rhonin.
• Rhonin told Garrosh to wait until the Alliance ran out of provisions and had to leave the keep.
• Garrosh realized he had fallen for the Alliance’s plan to cut off his army’s supplies.

Garrosh held his army behind fortifications while the Alliance forces ran short of food, and Kites ignored General Xiboli’s warning about the crisis. Meanwhile, Robbie and Drakuru began building the Scourge graveyard Voltarus and prepared to use hungry Alliance soldiers for their own plans.

• After Rhonin advised him to hold his ground, Garrosh fortified his position and refused to be drawn into battle by General Xiboli.
• General Xiboli urged Kites to withdraw and fight Garrosh, but Kites trusted his advisers and claimed the army had six months of food.
• Kites’s quartermaster told Xiboli’s messenger that the soldiers had gone without food for three days and that the King’s supplies were the only ones lasting six months.
• Robbie and Drakuru descended near the Storm Peaks, where Scourge mages raised the dead to gather around the Floating City.
• Robbie named the coming graveyard Voltarus and told Drakuru to feed any Alliance soldiers who sought refuge and make them help build it without turning them into Undead.

Xiboli abandoned the starving Alliance fort and entered Drak'Tharon Keep while Garrosh advanced into Zul'Drak, where Kites's starving army deserted him. Kites lost Goldrinn's power and was captured by Garrosh, while a disguised Troll emerged from a tomb intending to save him.

• Xiboli received Duke Bolvar's letter and led his starving army toward Drak'Tharon Keep, leaving Garrosh to find the Alliance fort deserted.
• Kites discovered that his guards, advisers, and soldiers had abandoned him for Garrosh's army or the Scourge's cemetery, leaving only a Veteran with moldy flatbreads.
• The Veteran criticized Kites and revealed that he was destined to remain king; when Kites attacked him, the sword passed through him and Goldrinn's power left Kites.
• Kites fled through the snow toward the Grizzly Hills, but Garrosh found him and demanded to know where the provisions for his fifty thousand troops were hidden.
• A Troll disguised as an Orc emerged from an ancient tomb and decided to save Kites to protect Azeroth and the Horde.

The Moon Goddess's messenger emerged in Mad King Iggli's body and tried to reach Garrosh's camp, but Robbie delayed him until Garrosh had killed Kites. The messenger took Kites's skull and went to Moonglade, seeking Remulos to restore him.

• The messenger read Mad King Iggli's boastful tomb inscription, regained his memories and strength, and set out for Garrosh's camp.
• Robbie intercepted the messenger, who insisted he needed to save Kites and preserve a leader for the Alliance, but Robbie kept him waiting.
• Garrosh tortured Kites for three days, then ordered the Orcs to kill and eat him, keeping his skull as a trophy.
• The messenger reached the camp too late, rebuked Garrosh, and stopped him from demanding Stormwind as a source of Orc supplies by wounding him with a thorny vine.
• The messenger took Kites's skull and summoned his corrupted soul, then teleported to Moonglade and asked to see Remulos.

The Emissary sought Remulos's help to resurrect Kites, but Remulos refused until Elune showed him a possible future in which the Alliance's lack of a king prevented Thrall from stopping the Cataclysm. Elune told Remulos to obtain a dying Varian from another Timeline and place Kites's memories in his soul, while Robbie realized he had been outmaneuvered.

• The Emissary asked Remulos to pray to Elune for Kites's resurrection, but Remulos blamed the Emissary's failures and refused to help.
• The Emissary threatened Remulos, who then agreed to pray to Elune, while Robbie slipped into the temple unseen.
• Elune spoke through the statue, criticized the Emissary's failure, and showed Remulos a Timeline where Varian's death led to Anduin's exile and Deathwing killed Thrall.
• Elune explained that Thrall needed an Alliance king to complete the Cataclysm and agreed to bring a king back by an indirect method.
• Elune instructed Remulos to retrieve a gravely ill Varian from another Timeline, cure him, and infuse Kites's memories into his soul.
• Robbie watched the exchange and realized Elune had outmaneuvered him.

Robbie followed the Emissary and Remulos to the Caverns of Time, where Elune’s scheme to retrieve Varian concealed the destruction of an abandoned Timeline. He discovered that the plot had failed to trap the Veteran and learned from Murozond that the mysterious figure existed outside all Timelines.

• Robbie secretly followed the Emissary and Remulos to the Caverns of Time to watch Elune’s method of creating a new king.
• An elderly bronze dragon explained that the abandoned Timeline differed from theirs and claimed Elune had erased it because Abercrombie’s potion threatened her authority.
• The Emissary and Remulos returned from the Timeline carrying its sickly King Varian, while the bronze dragons let the Timeline collapse into Sands of Time.
• A Veteran in a Stormwind City Uniform revealed footprints on the Oval Platform and smugly believed he had eliminated a threat before leaving the Caverns of Time.
• Murozond arrived too late to find the vanished Timeline, and Robbie told him he had seen through Elune’s deception.
• Murozond explained that the Veteran existed outside every Timeline and warned Robbie that his plan had been sound but he had chosen the wrong person.

Murozond told Robbie that Tirion Fordring was unique across the timelines and suggested targeting him to force Elune to resurrect him, while Robbie planned to use someone else to kill him. Meanwhile, Varian awoke aboard a ship with altered memories and accepted a staff officer’s advice to conceal the loss of fifty thousand troops, yet felt like a stranger in his own world.

• Murozond identified Tirion Fordring as a timeline-unique figure whose death could compel Elune to act, and Robbie said he would arrange the killing through another person.
• Varian awoke from a nightmare and recalled leading an army against the Scourge, being surrounded, and escaping with Garrosh’s help.
• Varian learned from a staff officer that his fifty thousand troops had supposedly been almost entirely wiped out, and he vowed to take responsibility and step down.
• The staff officer described two paths to historical greatness, and Varian chose the demanding path of self-discipline.
• The staff officer offered to silence anyone who knew about the lost troops, and Varian accepted the cover-up before feeling alienated from his surroundings.

Vol'jin learned that Zol'Maz knew where the inherited relic Destroyer of Worlds was, but Zol'Maz demanded that Garrosh leave Zul'Drak so he could claim a Loa's power. Vol'jin decided to enlist Sylvanas by telling her the Loa might be able to bring the Undead back to life, and Sylvanas received his letter with interest.

• Vol'jin welcomed Zol'Maz and his starving Drakkari followers, then heard how Frost King Malakk had driven Zol'Maz out of his underground palace.
• Zol'Maz offered to reveal Destroyer of Worlds' location if Vol'jin helped him obtain a Loa's power and forced Garrosh to withdraw from Zul'Drak.
• Vol'jin claimed credit for Novos's transformation and told Zol'Maz a fabricated story about his ancestral right to rule the Gurubashi Empire.
• Zol'Maz warned that threats would not make him reveal the relic's location, and Vol'jin agreed to find a way to make Garrosh leave.
• Vol'jin decided Sylvanas was the only one who could stop Garrosh and sent her a secret letter suggesting the Loa might restore the Undead to life.
• Sylvanas read Vol'jin's letter in Undercity and recognized that he had been behind Prophet Saronite's fall.

Sylvanas traveled secretly to Northrend seeking the power of the Loa and met a blind Tuskarr who offered her a glimpse of the future. The vision showed Tirion Fordring killing Taelan, joining with Ner'zhul, and slaying Sylvanas, leaving her alarmed by the threat ahead.

• Sylvanas accepted Vol'jin's scheme and secretly sailed to Northrend with Blightcaller, High Archmage Antonidas, and elite Forsaken troops.
• Sylvanas landed at an abandoned Tuskarr village, where a blind elder recognized her and named Tirion Fordring as his enemy.
• The Tuskarr elder offered Sylvanas his spiritual power so she could see fragments of the future through his eyes.
• Sylvanas saw Tirion kill Taelan, then discover Ner'zhul hidden inside Taelan's helmet and plan to rule Azeroth with him.
• Sylvanas saw Tirion kill her with Ashbringer and burn her body with Holy Light.

After a vision showed Tirion Fordring killing Sylvanas with the Ashbringer, Sylvanas decided to act against him. Tirion died during a meal in the Argent Crusade camp, and Vol'jin asked Sylvanas to raise him as one of the Forsaken.

• Sylvanas recovered from a vision in the ruins of a Tuskarr village and concluded that Tirion Fordring and the Ashbringer threatened the Forsaken.
• Sylvanas asked Nathanos about his human-targeting poison, then traveled to the Argent Crusade camp in Dragonblight.
• Vol'jin and Eitrigg served Tirion Fordring as a meal, and Vol'jin cut off a piece for himself.
• Tirion Fordring suffered a massive hemorrhage and died, though Vol'jin found no sign of poison.
• Vol'jin asked Sylvanas to turn Tirion Fordring into one of the Forsaken, and he dismissed the need for anyone's approval.

Sylvanas turned Tirion Fordring into one of the Forsaken and raised an army of Tuskarr skeletons to make Garrosh believe the Scourge was attacking him. Garrosh retreated from Zul'Drak toward the Howling Fjord, convinced Arthas had warned him to stay away.

• Vol'jin offered Sylvanas first pick of Zul'Drak's Loa power in exchange for turning Tirion Fordring into one of the Forsaken, and she ordered Antonidas and several necromancers to perform the transformation.
• Tirion Fordring awoke as one of the Forsaken, learned that his Holy Light powers were gone, and regained his resolve to remain the Argent Crusade's leader and fight the Scourge.
• Sylvanas and Antonidas raised Tuskarr skeletons in the Argent Crusade's camp and armed them as Warriors of the Forsaken.
• Tuskarr skeletal soldiers attacked seven of Garrosh's logistical units over three days, killing Orc soldiers and burning supplies while leaving survivors to report the assaults.
• Garrosh mistook the attacks for a warning from the Scourge and led his army out of Zul'Drak toward the Howling Fjord.

Dranosh provoked Garrosh with news about Sylvanas and Tirion Fordring, but Garrosh chose to pursue his own interests rather than openly clash with Vol'jin. Vol'jin tried to protect Tirion’s role in the northern expedition, then learned that Doras had destroyed Tirion’s reputation through a public opinion campaign.

• Dranosh hosted Garrosh, insulted him, and revealed that Sylvanas had frightened him and turned Tirion Fordring into one of her undead.
• Garrosh confirmed Dranosh’s claims, wrote to Doras, and led his army toward the Zul'Drak Empire while avoiding an open break with Vol'jin.
• Vol'jin negotiated with Frost King Malakk, while Garrosh threatened to expose Tirion Fordring’s undead identity unless Vol'jin gave up his claim to the empire’s benefits.
• Vol'jin told Eitrigg that Balnazzar could use Grand Crusader Dathrohan as a replacement for Tirion Fordring if necessary.
• Argent Crusade soldiers surrounded Tirion Fordring’s tent and demanded that he submit to a test for undeath.
• Eitrigg told Vol'jin that Doras had branded Tirion Fordring a Scourge spy with fabricated evidence, driving recruits away from the Argent Crusade and prompting attacks on Jaina and the Peace Dove.

Vol'jin's attempt to contain the scandal over Tirion Fordring's undead identity was overtaken by a staged miracle that restored the Argent Crusade's faith and teleported Tirion and thousands of soldiers away. The chapter ended with the Emissary ordering Remulos to gather people in Moonglade to prepare for Tirion's resurrection.

• Vol'jin realized Doras's accusations had implicated the Peace Dove and decided to slaughter the unarmed Argent Crusade soldiers to protect Tirion Fordring's secret.
• A mysterious human Veteran tortured Vol'jin, then ordered him and Eitrigg to keep quiet and help stage Tirion's resurrection, warning that the Scourge was behind the plot.
• A radiant display and a voice claiming to be the Holy Light convinced the Argent Crusade soldiers to follow Tirion, while the Veteran selected more than ten thousand of them and teleported them away with Tirion.
• News of the miracle spread across Azeroth, easing doubts about Tirion and prompting Doras to stay silent.
• In Remulos's palace in Moonglade, the Emissary told Remulos that the Moon Goddess had ordered Tirion's resurrection and gave him a list of people to gather without revealing the purpose.

Remulos and the Emissary arranged the Ten Thousand Souls Resurrection Technique, which required five hundred Druids and more than ten thousand Argent Crusade soldiers to willingly sacrifice themselves to resurrect Tirion Fordring. Cairne Bloodhoof’s plan to persuade the soldiers began with bribery and threats, then magical crowd influence as he prepared to speak.

• Remulos learned that five hundred sleeping Druids and thousands of Argent Crusade soldiers were to be sacrificed for Tirion Fordring’s resurrection, and the Emissary explained that every sacrifice had to be willing.
• The Emissary recruited Cairne Bloodhoof to persuade the Argent Crusade, and Cairne proposed using violence, faith, and crowd-following to secure their cooperation.
• After the Emissary offered him a wish, Cairne asked to marry an Orc woman he had fallen in love with.
• Cairne threatened several bribable Argent Crusade officers into helping him, while more than ten thousand soldiers gathered beneath a purple Magic Shield around the altar holding Tirion Fordring.
• As Cairne mounted the platform, magic amplified the crowd’s cheers until even reluctant soldiers shouted his name.

Cairne Bloodhoof manipulated the Argent Crusade into supplying souls and bodies for Tirion Fordring’s resurrection, using Y'Shaarj’s power to inflame their emotions. The Emissary spared the few soldiers who resisted, and Remulos began securing Moonglade for the secret next stage of the resurrection.

• The Emissary mocked the Argent Crusade as Cairne Bloodhoof rallied them with speeches about Thrall, Tirion Fordring, and sacrificing themselves for Azeroth.
• Cairne asked the soldiers to give their lives to heal Tirion, while magically amplified voices made it seem as though the crowd had agreed.
• The Emissary revealed that moonlight and Y'Shaarj’s emotion-manipulating power had opened the soldiers’ minds, driving most of them toward the altar’s blood-red vortex.
• The vortex consumed the Argent Crusade soldiers and formed a vast mass of writhing flesh above the altar.
• Remulos sent the unaffected soldiers out of Moonglade, and the Emissary said the true resurrection procedure had to remain secret from the Scourge.
• Remulos agreed to activate Moonglade’s highest defense system before the resurrection’s crucial stage.

Remulos and the Emissary activated Moonglade’s defenses and used Elune’s power to expose hidden intruders, while Robbie remained disguised among Cairne Bloodhoof’s guards. Elune began the Ten Thousand Souls Resurrection Technique with five hundred Druids, and Robbie tried to observe the secret ritual.

• Remulos activated the Titans Shield, and Elune’s power swept through Moonglade, revealing and destroying hidden Faceless Ones and other enemies.
• Remulos and the Emissary concluded that Moonglade was secure, unaware that Robbie had infiltrated the altar disguised as one of Cairne Bloodhoof’s Tauren guards.
• The Emissary brought five hundred Night Elf Druids to the Temple of Remulos, where they swore secrecy and memorized divided, partly false incantations.
• Elune directed the Druids into assigned positions around the mass of flesh on the altar, and Robbie tried to spy on the resurrection ritual.

Robbie watched Elune resurrect Tirion Fordring through a ritual that created and destroyed an Old God embryo, then recorded the process for the Scourge to study. As the Scourge scholars analyzed the ritual, Arthas told Robbie that a new Lich King would be needed after the Scourge withdrew from the world.

• Robbie observed the Druids' spells and saw Elune use more than ten thousand Argent Crusade souls to form an Old God embryo, destroy it, and create a new Tirion Fordring.
• The Undead Tirion Fordring devoured the newly formed body, restoring his flesh and repairing his soul, while the Old God's heart drained the Power of the Dead from him.
• Elune ended the ritual, and the resurrected Tirion Fordring took up the Ashbringer and declared that the Lich King's end had come, but then collapsed.
• The human Veteran explained that Tirion had to take the black heart to a place corrupted by the Old Gods and destroy it to complete his resurrection.
• Robbie returned to Icecrown Citadel, where Scourge scholars studied his recording of the ritual, and Arthas said the Scourge would need a new Lich King after withdrawing from the world.

Arthas asked Robbie to ensure Bolvar would be stopped if he became corrupt, while Tirion Fordring and the Emissary prepared a staged attempt to redeem Arthas’s black heart at the Dark Cathedral. As reporters gathered to witness the planned showdown, Garrosh summoned the Emissary, who went to meet him.

• Arthas told Robbie that he feared whoever inherited the Scourge’s power would be consumed by ambition, and Robbie vowed to kill Bolvar if he broke his oath.
• Tirion Fordring threw Arthas’s black heart into the Forgotten Abyss under the Emissary’s influence, then discussed using the nearby cathedral to restore his reputation.
• Jaina and Vol'jin invited media figures to Icecrown, where Big Candle Gagg described a planned story about Tirion Fordring attempting to redeem Arthas and falling into a trap.
• Tirion Fordring prepared to enter the Dark Cathedral with Ashbringer as the Emissary watched.
• An Orc scout told the Emissary that Garrosh wanted to see him, and the Emissary agreed to go.

Tirion Fordring’s staged performance at the Dark Cathedral was disrupted when Blightcaller Jim attacked and nearly killed him, while the Emissary was lured away. After the story was covered up and Garrosh was confronted, the Emissary realized Garrosh had not hired Jim and wondered who was behind the attack.

• Blightcaller Jim interrupted Tirion Fordring’s performance, drained his Holy Light, and overpowered him while the Emissary was away.
• The Emissary returned, drove Blightcaller Jim off, and helped Tirion Fordring recover; the media destroyed their photographs and Taelan was found unconscious but unharmed.
• Tirion Fordring and Taelan ended the staged performance with a few pictures before Tirion Fordring destroyed the black heart.
• Garrosh read a report claiming Tirion Fordring had defeated Arthas, then wrote to Doras for answers.
• The Emissary seized Garrosh and accused him of causing the attack, but magic confirmed Garrosh was telling the truth.