Recaps

Robbie and Vanessa watched Med'an arrive in Shadowmoon Valley and expose his plans to exploit and exterminate the Draenei. Med'an betrayed the Alliance organizers who had helped him, leaving Juxiong dead and the Alliance forces vulnerable to the Horde.

• Med'an emerged from the portal with his Followers and Cairne's Chair, while Vanessa told Robbie that Ograk had plotted Cairne Bloodhoof's death.
• Med'an complained that his false prophecy was failing, and Ograk praised his deception of the Alliance.
• Med'an and Ograk discussed draining the Draenei's mana and using the Dark Star to wipe them out.
• Med'an ordered a signal that brought the Alliance organizers up the hill, where Orc Warriors disarmed them.
• Med'an served the organizers plague-tainted wine, rejected Juxiong's plea for peace, and killed him.

Med'an's unstable power turned a trap against the beasts into chaos for his own Followers. As the animals swarmed the hill, he transformed everyone nearby into sheep and left his followers helpless against the charge.

• Vanessa explained that Med'an was Experiment 709, an unreliable hybrid whose emotions were difficult to control, while the human mage escaped with Blink.
• The officers of the ten major guilds used their abilities to flee, leaving Gangdun behind; Med'an rejected Gangdun's offer to become Forsaken, and his Followers killed him.
• Ograk activated the crystal to draw beasts toward the camp, while Romuul activated the jammer and altered their course toward Med'an's hill.
• Despite warnings to retreat, Med'an refused and challenged the Alliance adventurers as the beasts surrounded the hill.
• Med'an used Mass Polymorph to turn everyone within five hundred yards, including his own Followers, into sheep.
• The charging beasts stormed the hill, and Ograk wept and begged Med'an to reverse the spell.

Med'an's Followers faced an overwhelming beast attack as Med'an's reckless powers worsened their losses. He summoned a Fel Reaver, while the Fel vortex alarmed Velen and terrified Ner'zhul in Shadowmoon Valley.

• Med'an summoned more than two hundred Mirror Images, but their attacks were too inefficient to stop the beasts, and many of the copies were destroyed.
• Med'an unleashed his Water Elemental Domain, killing beasts and his own Followers, then opened a portal to Ancient Dalaran that killed a Troll who tried to escape.
• Med'an forbade the surviving Followers from retreating and summoned a Fel Reaver with the power of Fel.
• Robbie recognized the Fel energy, while Velen sensed it and Ner'zhul feared it would bring disaster to Shadowmoon Valley.

Med'an’s Fel Reaver malfunctioned and killed nearly all his Followers before turning on him, leaving him wounded and despairing. As Vanessa signaled the appearance of “Fate” and the Alliance fled for shelter, a vast shadow descended and a voice addressed Med’an as his father destroyed the Fel Reaver.

• Med’an ordered the Fel Reaver to attack the beasts, but its faulty systems killed his Followers and then attacked him.
• Vanessa watched Med’an struggle against the Fel Reaver and warned Robbie not to act recklessly, fearing the arrival of “Fate.”
• Med’an was badly wounded, lost a leg, and nearly gave up as the Fel Reaver battered his Ice Block.
• Vanessa fired a flare that displayed the red word “Fate,” prompting Alliance forces across Shadowmoon Valley to flee for shelter.
• A vast shadow covered the moon, and an unseen figure called Med’an a disappointment before turning the Fel Reaver into crystal and ash.
• Med’an called the figure “Father.”

Robbie and Vanessa watched Medivh unleash the Focusing Iris against the Alliance and threaten Embaari Village. Velen linked the Draenei villagers’ lives to defend them, and Medivh turned his attention toward Lunarfall.

• Robbie saw Medivh’s Dominating Gaze, and Vanessa warned him to control his emotions so Medivh would not sense them.
• Medivh lectured Med'an about ruling through power and strategy, then used the Focusing Iris to kill wounded people, healers, and fleeing adventurers with an Arcane wave.
• Robbie grew furious as Vanessa explained that Medivh had gone unchecked since Illidan, the Lich King, and Deathwing fell.
• Medivh attacked Embaari Village, and Velen shielded the Draenei with Holy Light before linking their lives to withstand the assault.
• Medivh spared Velen and the Draenei for the moment, then promised Med'an he would sweep away Lunarfall for the Horde.

Medivh destroyed Lunarfall with a Mana Bomb after Khadgar failed to stop him, while Med'an embraced his father’s belief in Orc supremacy and cruelty. Robbie and Vanessa reached Embaari Village, where the deaths of Sori and Samara left the survivors grieving and Robbie determined to act.

• Medivh questioned whether he was right to attack the Alliance, then told Med'an that Orcs were the only race fit to survive and rule.
• Medivh threw a Mana Bomb at Luobo'an's garrison in Lunarfall, and Khadgar tried unsuccessfully to hold it back.
• The Mana Bomb devastated Lunarfall, turning its garrisons and inhabitants into ruins and statues before Medivh escaped through a portal.
• Robbie and Vanessa found Beiqing Feathermoon mourning Sori Beast Tamer, who had died saving her, and Vanessa led Robbie toward Embaari Village.
• Vanessa explained that the world's balance had shifted since Deathwing's fall, and Robbie said absolute power brought unchecked authority.
• Yrel mourned her sister Samara, who had sacrificed herself through Velen's Life Link to save the wounded, while Velen urged Yrel to forget.

Yrel challenged Velen’s use of the Holy Light Edict after the Draenei massacre, while Robbie and Vanessa witnessed its failure to erase her hatred. Back in Lunarfall, Chen Stormstout urged the survivors to conceal the truth about their defeat and accept Medivh’s rule.

• Velen used the Holy Light Edict to make Yrel believe that her sister had died in an accident, but Yrel retained her hatred and carried her sister’s body away.
• Maldra explained to Robbie that Velen’s Edict spread among the Draenei and turned their hatred toward the Burning Legion, leaving them less inclined to fight back.
• Robbie and Vanessa returned to Lunarfall, where Hogger organized supplies and Luobo'an mourned the death of the night Druid who could turn into a rabbit.
• Chen Stormstout told Robbie that the survivors must blame the defeat on Void mages of the Shadowmoon Clan and keep quiet about what really happened.
• Chen argued that Medivh would destroy any threat to his power, and told Robbie that the weak had to accept their fate.

Chen Stormstout explained to Robbie that Medivh had forced the Pandaren to support the Horde, whose expansion had been sustained by sacrificing Pandaria’s giant turtles and people. He ended by warning that the Alliance would eventually suffer as the Pandaren had.

• Robbie questioned why mortals could kill powerful enemies such as Illidan, Arthas, and Deathwing but could not touch Medivh, and Chen Stormstout said Medivh and Aegwynn controlled events beyond their reach.
• Chen Stormstout revealed that Pandaria had once had twelve giant turtles, and that the Orcs had eaten eleven of them while the Pandaren supplied the Horde.
• Chen Stormstout recounted how Medivh forced the Pandaren to support the Horde, while Jaina’s actions helped bring the Tauren into it.
• The Pandaren planned to resist the Horde and protect Shen-zin Su, but Anduin led the Alliance to Pandaria, where the Alliance and Horde defeated them and the Mantid Empire.
• Chen Stormstout said Pandaren who joined the Horde were forced through deadly trials, with many killed for armor and rations, and warned that the Alliance would suffer the same pains.
• Robbie concluded that Medivh was the key to the whole problem.

Robbie sought Weldon Barov’s account of Medivh’s weakness while Vanessa revealed discoveries that could help the stronghold’s forces grow stronger. Weldon began recounting a battle between Kel’Thuzad and Medivh, leaving the details of their confrontation for the next chapter.

• Robbie recalled Weldon’s claim that Medivh had a weakness and brought him to Vanessa to determine whether he was telling the truth.
• Vanessa told Robbie that White Maggot Meat increased shadow resistance but reduced nature resistance, and that Draenei food infused with Holy Light was a stronger, safer replacement.
• Vanessa admitted she had little hope of defeating Medivh, but Robbie urged her to listen to Weldon’s claim.
• Weldon swore that Kel’Thuzad had defeated Medivh in magical battles in Andorhal and Lordaeron City, though Medivh escaped by teleporting.
• Vanessa asked Weldon to recount the Lordaeron encounter in full, and he began by describing his summons to King Terenas around the nineteenth or twentieth year of the Dark Portal.

Weldon recounted seeing Medivh flee a confrontation with Kel'Thuzad, but Vanessa doubted the details while pursuing the Guardian’s secrets with Robbie. Toki revealed that Medivh’s long comas were not caused by possession by Sargeras, and prepared to share evidence from an Infinite Dragonflight test subject.

• Weldon told Vanessa and Robbie how he had witnessed Kel'Thuzad and Medivh exchange spells before both disappeared through magic.
• Vanessa judged Weldon unreliable, but Robbie treated his account as an important clue.
• Robbie and Vanessa met Toki at the Infinite Dragonflight Hall, where Toki warned that Medivh’s secrets were protected by a powerful force.
• Toki recalled that test subject 008 had uncovered one of Medivh’s secrets and retrieved a blue gem containing the preserved information.
• Toki revealed that Medivh’s comas in his youth were not caused by possession by Sargeras.

Toki played a recording of Aegwynn forcing Nielas Aran to explain Medivh’s lack of magical talent and their plans for his future. Aegwynn decided to send Medivh to study Fel in the Void and have Aran find a boy to take his place, then discovered someone was listening in.

• Toki placed a sound-recording gem on a stand and played a recording of Aegwynn confronting Aran in his villa.
• Aegwynn learned that Aran had gained his mana through a costly deal involving a member of the Sunstrider family, and realized Medivh had inherited no magical talent from him.
• Aegwynn planned to plant a seed of mana in Medivh and have mages and Priests channel power through him to open a portal to the Void.
• Aegwynn ordered Aran to send Medivh to the Burning Legion Sargeras Void Academy to learn Fel and find a boy to impersonate him while he was away.
• Aegwynn noticed that someone had been eavesdropping and trying to flee, while Aran begged her to catch them.

Robbie agreed to travel to the year the Lich King rose after Toki offered the Infinite Dragonflight’s time machine in exchange for investigating Arthas and Frostmourne. As Robbie prepared to go alone, Vanessa warned him that Experiment 335 was heading to the same time period.

• Vanessa and Toki concluded that the official account of Medivh’s magical eruption concealed important facts, while Toki refused to help investigate the Guardian.
• Toki revealed that the Holy Light Codex could take Robbie to the time and place closest to Arthas during the Lich King’s rise.
• Toki agreed to lend the time machine if Robbie investigated the source of Arthas’s power and saw Frostmourne with his own eyes.
• Vanessa advised Robbie to approach Jaina if Kel'Thuzad proved difficult, noting Jaina’s unusual rise to magical power.
• Vanessa warned Robbie that Experiment 335 was also heading to year twenty of the Dark Portal.

Robbie Capor awoke in a coffin in Deathknell beside a dead woman and met a disheartened young man who slept in a coffin. The young man revealed himself as Baron Arthas Menethil, leaving Robbie face-to-face with the person he had traveled to meet.

• Robbie Capor woke in a coffin beside a dead woman and used the Holy Light to confirm she was a corpse.
• A blond young man opened the coffin and listened as Robbie invented a story about arriving through a magical portal.
• The young man identified the location as Deathknell and explained that dangerous roads and a Silver Hand blockade made returning to Stormwind difficult.
• Robbie questioned why the young man slept in a coffin and realized his words about sharing joys with the people suggested noble status.
• Robbie introduced himself, and the young man revealed that he was Baron Arthas Menethil.

Robbie found Arthas exiled in Deathknell after Thrall’s rise had cost Arthas his title and Holy Light powers. Robbie gave Arthas the Holy Light Codex, and Arthas quickly learned to unleash a powerful Holy Light Burst.

• Robbie confirmed that the baron in Deathknell was Arthas, who explained that Thrall had become his father’s godson and then his sworn brother, leaving Arthas exiled and stripped of his princely title.
• Arthas told Robbie that Uther had taken away his Holy Light powers and denounced him as an unworthy disciple.
• Robbie gave Arthas the Holy Light Codex and encouraged him to learn from the insights it contained.
• Robbie settled into an inn in Deathknell, and the two men gradually became friends.
• A few days later, Arthas demonstrated a Holy Light Burst that blasted a deep crater into the ground.

Arthas mastered the Holy Light and discussed its runes and risks with Robbie, then revealed he planned to abandon his royal life and travel to Stormwind as an adventurer. Robbie accepted Arthas’s decision, relieved that his friend would avoid the fate he feared.

• Arthas celebrated mastering the Holy Light, and he explained to Robbie why Dalaran’s Archmages had rejected Spirit Runes.
• Robbie and Arthas discussed the Holy Light, and Robbie learned that Arthas’s training under Uther and the Silver Hand’s greatest Paladins had helped him progress quickly.
• Robbie showed Arthas the thirty-six hidden golden runes in the Holy Light Codex, but neither of them understood their full meaning.
• Arthas announced that he would leave Lordaeron for the Kingdom of Stormwind and become a carefree adventurer named Roger.
• Robbie worried that Arthas might be heading toward danger, then accepted his choice and felt relieved that his friend could avoid a doomed fate.

Arthas and Robbie left Deathknell for Brill, where they found the town deserted and uncovered the bones of its people in a field. Arthas mourned the dead as the cause of the town’s disappearance remained unknown.

• Arthas left Deathknell with Robbie after the mayor revealed that Arthas’s father had secretly checked on him every day.
• As they traveled toward Brill, Arthas struggled to leave home behind, then tried to cheer himself and Robbie with talk of a tavern in town.
• Arthas and Robbie found Brill empty, with their horses too frightened to enter and every house abandoned.
• Robbie sensed that elemental magic had erased traces from the streets, while strange whispers led Arthas to run toward a field outside town.
• Arthas used Holy Light Burst to expose a pit filled with the bones of Brill’s people, then knelt and wept.

Robbie and Arthas discovered that Orcs had slaughtered the people of Brill, and Arthas learned how Lordaeron’s political choices had helped create the crisis. Robbie argued that rulers had to balance competing powers and prevent threats from arising, then invited Arthas to meet real Orcs.

• Robbie examined the human remains in the pit and concluded that Orcs had slaughtered the people of Brill.
• Arthas described the dead townspeople’s visions of the Silver Hand luring them into a trap, and vowed to make the killers pay.
• Arthas blamed Dalaran for blocking Deathwing’s proposal to turn Orcs into Dragon Orcs, while Robbie warned that choosing either side would not have guaranteed safety.
• Robbie argued that Lordaeron should have balanced its rivals and asked Arthas to consider why the kingdom had wanted control of the Orcs.
• Arthas admitted that King Terenas had hoped to use the Orcs’ strength, but Medivh later pushed for their equality and a share of Lordaeron’s land.
• After Arthas healed his eyes with the Holy Light, Robbie laughed at his memory of an Orc mother and suggested they go meet real Orcs.

Robbie and Arthas disguised themselves as Orcs and entered an internment camp, where they discovered harsh training and a staged display meant to sway visiting mages. The chapter ended as they watched Jaina Proudmoore visit the camp alongside Thrall.

• Robbie gave Arthas an Orb of Deception, and they entered the camp posing as the Brutalaxe brothers.
• Robbie and Arthas explored the camp, where Orc guards and instructors enforced brutal rules and training.
• A drumbeat warned the Orcs that Dalaran mages were arriving, so the camp staged weak prisoners and sympathetic families while hiding its warriors.
• Robbie and Arthas watched Thrall guide Jaina Proudmoore through the camp as she criticized King Terenas and promised to report what she had seen.

Jaina visited the Orc internment camp and defended Thrall and the Orcs from a mage apprentice’s questions, overlooking signs that the camp’s residents were hiding something. Arthas and Robbie watched the events from afar, and Robbie saw an opportunity to confront Thrall.

• Jaina praised Thrall’s efforts to help the Orcs and rebuked a mage apprentice for repeating rumors about wandering Orcs.
• Thrall presented himself as a peace-loving leader, while Jaina admired him and comforted a crying Orc child.
• The mage apprentice questioned the female Orc and asked Thrall for a detailed tour, but Jaina angrily stopped him.
• Thrall served Jaina broth, and she politely praised its taste despite finding it bland.
• Arthas told Robbie that he and Jaina had once been engaged and said he could not tolerate the Orcs’ deception.
• Robbie suggested they quietly observe the situation and use it as a chance to give Thrall a thorough beating.

Jaina visited the Orc internment camp and watched Robbie defeat Thrall in a staged duel, then discovered that the apparent contest had concealed a trap. As more than a hundred Orc soldiers surrounded the fighting ground, Arthas escaped unnoticed with horses prepared nearby.

• Jaina ate the Orcs’ food and listened as Thrall explained that dangerous beasts were being kept in a crypt for the people’s protection.
• Robbie, disguised as an Orc named Leonardo Brutalaxe, challenged Thrall to a duel, and Thrall accepted to preserve appearances before Jaina.
• Robbie blinded Thrall with a flash of Holy Light, battered him with powerful kicks, and repeatedly slammed his face into the ground.
• Eitrigg tried to stop Robbie, then insulted Jaina and called the Orc soldiers out of the crypt.
• More than a hundred Orcs surrounded the fighting ground while Arthas slipped away toward horses Robbie had arranged nearby.

Robbie held Thrall hostage and forced Eitrigg to admit that the Savior prophecies were fabricated, while Jaina struggled to accept the revelations. As Eitrigg distracted Robbie, Medivh appeared through a portal and attacked him from behind.

• Robbie defeated Thrall, took him hostage, and threatened to kill him while confronting Eitrigg.
• Jaina tried to intervene, and Eitrigg admitted that Thrall's prophecies were fabricated by the Guardian.
• Eitrigg revealed that Orcs had slaughtered the humans of Brill and served their flesh in Jaina's broth, making her vomit.
• Eitrigg pleaded with Robbie to spare Thrall, arguing that Thrall was the Orcs' only hope in the coming war.
• Medivh emerged from a portal and fired a Magic Spear of arcane and Fel at Robbie's back.

Robbie escaped Medivh’s camp after using Thrall as a hostage and forcing Medivh to agree to delay pursuit. Arthas uncovered a tracking mark on Robbie’s disguise, but a fawn carried the beacon away, leading a black-armored Orc and Tirion Fordring to it.

• Medivh attacked Robbie with a magic spear, but Robbie blocked it with Thrall and his Holy Light shields.
• Robbie wounded Thrall and ate a piece of meat in front of the Orcs, frightening them and forcing Medivh to accept his terms.
• Robbie set an hourglass and left with Thrall, while Medivh and the camp waited for the sand to run out.
• Arthas found a magical tracking mark hidden in Robbie’s Orc disguise and said dead souls had told him about it.
• Robbie and Arthas rode away, but a fawn picked up the tracking beacon before a black-armored Orc killed it and spoke to Tirion Fordring.

Over venison and wine, Orgrimmar told Tirion Fordring how he had secured the Orcs’ survival by persuading Guardian Medivh. He ended by revealing that he had told Medivh the truth about the forces stirring beneath the accepted history.

• Orgrimmar and Tirion Fordring discussed the Orcs’ campaign against Lordaeron and argued over honor in wartime.
• Tirion explained that he had sided with the Orcs to protect his family, territory, and people from the Guardian’s power.
• Orgrimmar promised that Hearthglen would remain under Orc protection while he was Warchief.
• Orgrimmar recounted how, during his imprisonment, he tried to persuade Medivh to spare the Orcs by offering submission and then appealing to Orcish honor.
• Orgrimmar said he finally told Medivh the truth about the undercurrents behind the false history.

Orgrimmar told Tirion Fordring how the Orcs had spent centuries plotting to destroy the Draenei, then revealed that Medivh had promised Lordaeron a chance to survive. As an Orc scout reported Orgrimmar and Tirion’s meeting to Medivh, Medivh invited Jaina and two mage apprentices to play a game of hunters and sheep.

• Orgrimmar described the Orcs’ violent history on Draenor and their longstanding plan to exterminate the Draenei.
• Orgrimmar explained that he and Durotan had learned about the Draenei as children, leading the Orc chieftains to contact Fel and eventually defeat them.
• Orgrimmar said Medivh had offered Lordaeron a chance to survive if King Terenas chose to slaughter the Orcs, but Terenas had shown mercy.
• Orgrimmar threatened to hang King Terenas when the Orcs conquered Lordaeron City, unaware that Medivh’s tracking beacon had rubbed off on him.
• Thrall was carried back to the Orc camp, and an Orc scout spotted Orgrimmar with Tirion and hurried to tell Medivh.
• Medivh heard the scout’s report and invited Jaina and two mage apprentices to play a game of hunters and sheep.

Medivh exposed Jaina’s ambition and forced her to watch two mage apprentices run from Orc hunters. The apprentices survived when an unknown power diverted the arrows, and Arthas sensed the departed souls leaving for the world of the dead.

• Medivh accused Jaina of using the Orcs to pursue power, and Jaina denied that she would harm her family.
• Medivh told Eitrigg that Jaina had only used the Orcs, then arranged a hunt in which two mage apprentices would run from Orc archers.
• Jaina demanded noble treatment, so Medivh made her watch the hunt rather than become its target.
• Eitrigg counted to three, and the apprentices used Blink to flee while the Orcs shot at them.
• The arrows struck the dirt, and Medivh sensed that a mysterious power had interfered and ordered the Orcs to let the apprentices go.
• At a remote farm, Arthas told Robbie that the departed souls were leaving for the world of the dead.