Recaps

Rhonin resisted Loken’s threat by surrendering to his darkest impulses in an illusion, and Loken revealed that Rhonin had failed his test. Sylvanas then used Sif’s soul orb to draw Thorim to Dalaran, where he confronted Loken.

• Loken showed Rhonin an illusion of Thrall tormenting and devouring Rhonin’s sons, but Rhonin refused to abandon Dalaran and unleashed powerful mana.
• The illusion ended, and Loken told Rhonin that he had released the devil within himself and that his maid could have been bewitched to make the threat real.
• As Dalaran’s defenses weakened, Sylvanas told Thrall to use Sif’s soul orb to show Thorim that Loken was attacking the city.
• Thorim saw Loken assaulting Dalaran, decided that saving Thrall might earn Elune’s favor, and flew to the city.
• Thorim confronted Loken above Dalaran and demanded to know why he was trying to kill Thrall; Loken asked Thorim what he was fighting for.

Thorim fought Loken, but Loken defeated him and revealed that Old God corruption had increased his own strength. The other three Keepers joined them, refused to save Sif, and surrounded Loken as Thorim called for his destruction.

• Thorim denied Loken's suggestion that he had fought for Sif and attacked him in Dalaran.
• Loken defeated Thorim and explained that Thorim's Mortal Desires weakened him while Loken's corruption had made him stronger.
• Loken used Thorim to strike Dalaran's Magic Shield and taunted him about the fate of Sif's soul.
• Thorim called Hodir, Freya, and Mimiron under the ancient pact, and they arrived as Loken released him.
• Loken asked the Keepers to save Sif and punish her murderer, but Freya falsely accused Loken of killing her.
• The four Keepers surrounded Loken, and Thorim accused him of plotting Sif's murder and framing Angrim and Thrall.

Loken battled the four Keepers with Arcane magic before using Yogg-Saron’s power to bind them and put their lives in Thrall’s hands. As Loken escaped with Sif’s soul, Thrall faced the choice of what to do with the terrified Keepers.

• Loken split into four incarnations and fought the four Keepers, while Rhonin watched and studied his magic.
• Thorim shattered one incarnation, forcing Loken to destroy his remaining copies and pause the battle.
• Loken revealed Yogg-Saron’s power and warned the Keepers and Rhonin against continuing the fight.
• Yogg-Saron took control of the tentacle, bound the four Keepers, and placed their fate before Thrall as Sif’s soul flew back to Loken.
• Loken rescued Sif’s soul and flew toward the Storm Peaks, while the Keepers pleaded with Thrall for their lives.
• Thrall mocked the Keepers and asked Vol'jin what he should choose.

Thrall angered Yogg-Saron by trying to command him, and the Old God destroyed Thrall’s body before the Emissary restored him. Back in Dalaran, Thrall demanded revenge and began planning with Rhonin to exploit the threat of Ulduar for donations.

• Vol'jin avoided choosing sides as Thrall ordered Yogg-Saron to torture the four Guardians, but Yogg-Saron examined their hearts and spared their souls.
• Yogg-Saron rebuked Thrall for looking directly at an Old God and exploded his body, leaving only his head behind.
• The Emissary took Thrall’s head away, and Thrall returned to Dalaran whole the next day.
• Thrall ate several of Rhonin’s disciples and demanded revenge against Yogg-Saron and the four Guardians.
• Rhonin proposed raising money by warning that Ulduar’s seal was unstable, but Thrall said the plan needed to be more thorough.

Thrall and Rhonin planned to lure adventurers into Ulduar so the Horde could use them as military rations, while Thrall assembled an Alliance-Horde army to attack the Fordragon Legion and the Scourge. The chapter ended with Orc factions dividing fifty thousand soldiers and Varian conscripting farmers and women to raise an army for Northrend.

• Thrall ordered Rhonin to recruit adventurers for a Ulduar deception that would feed the Orcs, while promising the Explorers' League the spoils.
• Thrall told Rhonin that an oracle from Elune called for the destruction of the Scourge and the Fordragon Legion, and said fifty thousand Orcs and twenty thousand Alliance troops would join the campaign.
• Fifty thousand elite Orcs emerged from the Blood of Time, and Garrosh took thirty thousand while Dranosh claimed twenty thousand, leaving Vol'jin and Eitrigg fewer than two hundred.
• Varian ordered twenty thousand troops raised, and the Peace Dove conscripted farmers and women as rebellion spread through Elwynn Forest.
• The Alliance raised fifty thousand soldiers, including the thirty thousand at Valiance Keep, and Varian launched the Northrend War despite the cost to his people.

Thrall’s forces used fabricated battle reports and Horde propaganda to make it appear that Horde generals were destroying the Scourge from afar. After seeing the Wrathgate’s formidable defenses, Varian retreated and asked Big Candle Gagg to write a heroic account of his own deeds.

• Thrall prepared to attack the Scourge under the pretense of targeting the Fordragon Legion, while Robbie hid soldiers in Icecrown Bulwark and Scourge forces disguised themselves as Fordragon Legion troops.
• The Argent Crusade occupied the abandoned Fordragon Fortress, and Varian marched toward the Wrathgate after hearing wildly exaggerated reports of Horde victories.
• Tirion Fordring showed Varian that Big Candle Gagg had invented the Horde’s heroic exploits for publication, but Varian insisted that he wanted real achievements.
• Varian led the Alliance army to the Wrathgate, found its towering defenses impossible to assault, and ordered a retreat.
• Back at Fordragon Fortress, Varian asked Gagg to write a report portraying him as a heroic enemy-slayer, and Gagg agreed.

Varian and Garrosh prepared to attack the Wrathgate, where Dalaran mages secretly aided the Horde with a teleportation array. The first Orc assault was frozen and removed by Bolvar’s defenders, leaving Garrosh furious at Rhonin.

• Varian failed to find a route around the Wrathgate and waited at Fordragon Fortress as Alliance and Horde troops gathered.
• Garrosh mocked Varian and promised the Horde would overcome the Wrathgate with help from Dalaran’s mages.
• Thrall defended Rhonin from Garrosh, then told Vol'jin that the magic near the Wrathgate belonged to the Burning Legion and urged him to prepare to withdraw the Argent Crusade.
• Rhonin’s mages built a teleportation array, and Garrosh sent five hundred elite Orcs onto a weakly defended section of the wall.
• Bolvar’s soldiers froze the newly arrived Orcs with frost weapons and carried them away.
• Garrosh seized Rhonin by the collar and demanded to know what had happened.

Garrosh revealed ten Dragonbone Airships, built from Red Dragon bones and powered by tortured dragon souls, to strengthen his claim to the Horde's leadership. Their first assault on the Wrathgate ended in the slaughter of all ten thousand Orc soldiers, leaving Varian to suspect Duke Bolvar had augmented his forces with the Scourge Army.

• Garrosh unveiled ten Dragonbone Airships and threatened Thrall as he pressed his claim to become Warchief.
• Thrall explained that the airships were made from Red Dragon bones and fueled by captured dragon souls, while Rhonin recalled Dalaran's role in their construction.
• The Red Dragon Queen awoke at Wyrmrest Temple, learned from Krasus that the Horde had turned her kin into Dragon Wraiths, and fell silent in grief.
• Garrosh sent ten thousand Orc soldiers aboard the airships to attack the Wrathgate, where dragonfire and mist concealed their assault.
• The defenders killed all ten thousand Orcs in the fighting, and five hundred human soldiers survived to clear the wall.
• Varian wondered whether Duke Bolvar had expanded his army with help from the Scourge Army.

Garrosh unleashed purified Fel mixed with Dragon blood to create Fel Dragon Orcs and sent them to attack Bolvar’s defenders at the Heavenly Chasm Gate. The Orcs struggled against the defenders’ uncanny discipline, and the chapter ended as ten cannons appeared on the wall and aimed at the approaching dragonbone airships.

• Garrosh reacted to the loss of his first army, while Thrall taunted him about his claim to the Wrathgate.
• Garrosh revealed barrels of purified Fel mixed with Dragon blood and drank the liquid, transforming and gaining strength.
• Garrosh sent twenty thousand Orcs to receive Fel power, then named them Fel Dragon Orcs.
• Ten dragonbone airships carried ten thousand empowered Orcs toward the Heavenly Chasm Gate, where the defenders calmly evaded Dragon’s Breath.
• The Fel Dragon Orcs fought Bolvar’s disciplined soldiers but were gradually surrounded and pushed into a disadvantage.
• Garrosh committed his remaining ten thousand soldiers to the attack, but ten cannons appeared on the wall and trained their muzzles on the airships.

After Garrosh's army was destroyed at the Wrathgate, Thrall backed Dranosh as his successor, and Dranosh proposed a duel with Bolvar to avoid further losses. Varian asked Bolvar to accept, but Bolvar rejected the appeal and mocked the Orcs' claims of honor.

• Bolvar's cannons destroyed the dragon-bone airships and freed the souls of the Dragons and Dalaran Archmages, while Garrosh fled the battlefield.
• The Red Dragon Queen ordered Krasus to prepare the Red Dragonflight to join the battle, fearing Elune would suspect them of siding against Bolvar.
• Thrall criticized Garrosh and entrusted Dranosh with saving Azeroth, while Dranosh cautiously planned to challenge Bolvar rather than risk his twenty thousand soldiers.
• Dranosh asked Varian to guarantee a fair duel with Bolvar, and Varian agreed to approach the duke.
• Varian asked Bolvar to duel Dranosh, but Bolvar dismissed Varian's honor and challenged him to name an honorable deed by the Orcs.

Duke Bolvar accepted Dranosh’s duel to expose the Orcs’ treachery and teach Varian a lesson, while arranging for the Alliance and Argent Crusade to withdraw from Northrend. The duel became an ambush by twenty thousand Orcs, but Bolvar struck Dranosh down and began incapacitating the charging soldiers.

• Duke Bolvar agreed to enter the Orcs’ camp for a duel on the condition that Varian withdraw the Alliance from Northrend, and Varian accepted.
• Thrall pulled Tirion Fordring’s Argent Northern Army back, while Varian ordered the Alliance’s fifty thousand troops to return to Valiance Keep.
• Robbie gave Duke Bolvar a sword that could trigger the effects of Demon Blood and armor that protected against plague and fire.
• Dranosh declared that twenty thousand Orcs would fight Bolvar alone, and Varian hid rather than face Bolvar’s gaze.
• Dranosh charged Bolvar, but Bolvar sent him flying with one blow and used his sword to make the advancing Orcs collapse.

Varimathras’s plague attack devastated the Horde at the Wrathgate, and Vol’jin saved Dranosh before Thrall seized him and tortured him to win the Legion’s favor. Varimathras claimed Dranosh’s soul and offered to return the Undercity in exchange for one hundred thousand souls.

• Varimathras and the Royal Apothecary Society ambushed the Horde with plague, killing Dranosh’s twenty thousand soldiers and forcing the leaders to flee through Rhonin’s Portal.
• Vol’jin realized Varimathras had targeted Dranosh over Agna, then dragged the barely living commander through the Portal to safety.
• After Varimathras seized the Undercity and Sylvanas fled to Orgrimmar, Vol’jin persuaded Thrall that torturing Dranosh could restore the Burning Legion’s support.
• Thrall tortured Dranosh for thirty days, then sent his remains to Varimathras, who sealed Dranosh’s soul in a soul stone.
• Varimathras offered to return the Undercity to the Horde if it provided him with one hundred thousand souls.

Thrall struggled to meet Varimathras’s demand for ten thousand souls to return the Undercity, so Sylvanas proposed persuading Varian to send troops and supply them. Thrall and Jaina failed to move the king, who received an invitation from Grand Duke Alpha to a grand ball.

• Thrall consulted Sylvanas about Varimathras’s demand for ten thousand souls, and Sylvanas proposed having the Alliance retake the Undercity and provide them.
• Sylvanas said she would personally charm Varian into helping, while Thrall agreed to cooperate with her plan.
• Varian ignored Thrall’s letter claiming that Varimathras threatened Azeroth and continued preparing to attack Horde forces in the Eastern Kingdoms.
• Jaina went to Stormwind City to urge Varian to act, but he dismissed her appeal and she threatened him.
• Varian received an invitation from Grand Duke Alpha to attend a grand ball.

At a victory ball in Stormwind, Varian met a mysterious High Elf princess whose music and account of Silvermoon City's plight stirred his sympathy and ambition. He promised to lead an army to free the High Elves and reclaim their homeland.

• At Grand Duke Alpha's estate, Varian noticed magical gemstones in the villa walls before becoming entranced by a High Elf woman's music.
• The garden steward told Varian that the musician was Kael'thas's younger sister, a princess worried about Silvermoon City.
• Speaking from behind a gauze curtain, the woman accused Regent Lor'themar and Thrall of oppressing the High Elves and said she wanted them to return to the Alliance.
• Varian condemned the Orcs and bonded with the woman over their grievances against Thrall and the Horde.
• The woman said she wanted a hero to lead a hundred thousand soldiers to free the High Elves and reclaim their land, and Varian promised to fulfill her wish.

Sylvanas manipulated Varian into pursuing a war against the Undercity, and he fabricated a heroic legacy for Bolvar to justify the invasion. As Stormwind descended into famine and mass slaughter to feed its army, Benedictus confronted Varian but failed to dissuade him from risking the kingdom for conquest and glory.

• Sylvanas used music and persuasive words to lure Varian into her plans, and Varian resolved to find a pretext for war against the Undercity.
• Varian recast Bolvar as a hero killed by the Royal Apothecary Society, while Stormwind punished people who had opposed or exploited the earlier version of Bolvar's story.
• Varian and Peace Dove imposed heavy levies to provision a hundred thousand soldiers, driving Stormwind into famine, chaos, and mass suicides.
• With Varian's tacit approval, Peace Dove slaughtered villagers and turned their corpses into dried meat for army rations.
• Benedictus learned of the devastation and urged Varian to abandon the invasion, warning that the Undercity might be a trap and Stormwind could not sustain a war.
• Varian rejected Benedictus's pleas, insisting he would conquer the Undercity and build a lasting empire regardless of the people's suffering.

Benedictus sought help from the Black Dragonflight to save the hundred thousand soldiers, while Varian led his army toward Undercity despite Robbie warning him that Sylvanas and Thrall had laid a trap. Varian chose to turn the trap against his enemies and continued his march.

• Benedictus summoned the Black Dragonflight through an orb and asked for help protecting the soldiers.
• Varian led fifty thousand troops from Stormwind to Southshore, where they joined fifty thousand exiled soldiers.
• At Thoradin's Wall, Varian swore to restore humanity's dominion over the land.
• Robbie warned Varian that Sylvanas had manipulated him into reclaiming Undercity and that the city was a trap.
• Varian dismissed Robbie's warning and marched the hundred-thousand-strong army toward Undercity.

Varian led the Alliance army to Undercity and agreed with Thrall to attack it together, but the assault met almost no resistance. In the Royal Quarter, Varimathras revealed his scheme, and Varian and his soldiers suddenly collapsed, unable to fight.

• Varian marched through the ruined Dalaran Kingdom and reached Tirisfal Glades with a hundred thousand Alliance troops.
• Thrall arrived with a small Horde force, and the two sides agreed to attack Undercity three days later, with the Horde entering through the main gate and the Alliance through the sewers.
• Varian led the Alliance through the sewers, where his troops encountered only a few weak undead and suffered almost no losses.
• In the Royal Quarter, Varian found Thrall, Jaina, Varimathras, and the Royal Apothecary Society waiting for him.
• Varimathras spoke of claiming the Alliance soldiers as spoils, and Varian ordered an attack before suddenly becoming too weak to hold his sword as his soldiers fell around him.

Varian surrendered to Varimathras after the plague left his army helpless, but the Black Dragonflight rescued the Alliance troops and forced the Legion, Horde, and Jaina to flee Undercity. Back in Elwynn Forest, Varian found the people impoverished by Peace Dove’s exactions and was surrounded by starving villagers.

• Varimathras used a plague to disable the Alliance army, and Varian knelt and agreed to cooperate with him.
• Varimathras sent Varian back to Stormwind with thirty Royal Guards, while Sylvanas reported that Black Dragons had teleported away the Alliance troops.
• Varimathras fled through a Legion Portal, and Jaina and Thrall led their forces away from Undercity.
• Varian met the Moon Goddess's Emissary in Elwynn Forest, who told him to return to Stormwind and await the Moon Goddess's will.
• Varian saw how Peace Dove’s exactions had emptied a village, then found himself surrounded by starving, ragged people.

King Varian struggled to survive a famine-stricken Kingdom of Stormwind, escaping starving crowds and two women who planned to eat him before finally reaching Stormwind City. After General Marcus verified his seal and ushered him into the guardhouse, guards knocked Varian unconscious and surrounded him hungrily.

• Starving people rejected Varian’s claim to be King and attacked his party, killing his guards as he fought his way free.
• Varian sought shelter with Helenni and Adler, but they drugged and bound him, intending to butcher him for food.
• Varian used a Blink ring to escape, cut his bonds, and fled without taking revenge on Helenni and Adler.
• Varian reached Stormwind City and showed his seal to General Jonathan Marcus, who confirmed it was genuine.
• Marcus led Varian into the guardhouse, where Stormwind City guards knocked him unconscious and gathered around him hungrily.

Varian was mistaken for an impostor, mutilated by General Marcus, and nearly killed before discovering that another Varian had returned as king. He woke in a peaceful parallel world as King Llane’s sixth son and, after recovering, was summoned by King Llane.

• General Marcus had Varian’s tongue cut out and fed his arms to starving soldiers, then told him his suffering had only begun.
• Varian escaped the basement and saw a lookalike celebrated as the returning King Varian; memories revealed that both were impostors and the real Varian had died long ago.
• The Emissary argued with an unfamiliar figure, who ordered Varian healed and sent back to repair the damage caused by interference with the parallel world.
• Varian woke unharmed in a peaceful world where he was King Llane’s sixth son and had recovered from a serious illness.
• After several days of recovery, Varian walked in the garden and was summoned by King Llane.

Varian was sent to Silvermoon City for a political marriage with Sylvanas, where he discovered that the captive Thrall was an undead carrying a message from Arthas. Meanwhile, Elune revealed that the Scourge had begun interfering with parallel worlds, and a shadow-wreathed star fell near Sindragosa's Fall.

• King Llane arranged Varian's marriage to Sylvanas and sent him to Silvermoon City under Sir Lothar's escort.
• Varian and Sylvanas entered a distant marriage, while Varian spent his time socializing with Kael'thas.
• Varian recognized the strange captive Thrall and learned that he remembered Varian's time as king and served the Lich King Arthas.
• Elune told the Emissary that the Scourge was attacking parallel worlds and that Tirion Fordring might become the new Lich King.
• After the Horde retook Undercity, Robbie felt a tremor as a shadow-wreathed star fell near Sindragosa's Fall.

The Argent Crusade and Horde built the Trial of the Crusader under Elune’s orders while Robbie watched from the shadows. Eitrigg demanded powerful beasts, a complex magic circle, and a warehouse for the eliminated, as the purpose of Elune’s plan remained unknown.

• Robbie’s Ghouls recovered a piece of the shadowy Giant Star, and he ordered them to hide when the Argent Crusade arrived.
• Tirion Fordring established the Crusade’s camp and arena north of Sindragosa’s Fall with help from Thrall’s Orcs.
• Eitrigg told Tirion to capture the strongest Northrend beasts for the Trial and preserve those eliminated as provisions.
• Eitrigg threatened Rhonin over the arena’s magic circle, and Rhonin said he had asked Medivh for help.
• Robbie continued observing the Crusade without interference so he could discover Elune’s intentions.

Medivh took control of the Trial of the Crusader’s selection process while the Scourge secretly obtained Elune’s formation plans. Robbie and Kel'Thuzad discovered the formation could unleash catastrophic elemental chaos, but suspected Elune had another purpose for placing the trap beneath Icecrown Glacier.

• Medivh claimed Elune’s formation would gather souls and declared that he alone would choose the fifty victors who would serve him.
• Dalaran’s effort to build the formation drained its magic-gem reserves, and Varian raised taxes, throwing the kingdom into turmoil.
• Robbie obtained the formation diagram and Medivh’s technical solutions from Archmage Wilfred Fizzlebang, who asked the Scourge to protect his family from Rhonin.
• Robbie and Kel'Thuzad tested a miniature formation with swarms of insects and found that the meteorite fragments beneath it sprouted tentacles and eyes before the room collapsed.
• Robbie identified the meteorite as part of Y'Shaarj and said the formation would destabilize Azeroth’s elements, but he and Kel'Thuzad wondered whether Elune had deliberately placed the trap beneath Icecrown to lure the Scourge.

Gazlowe proposed making the Argent Crusade's doomed soldiers mine and build for the Horde, but Thrall allowed only limited labor that would not diminish their value as food. As the Trial of the Champion began, Robbie prepared to use Ner'zhul's imprisoned son to probe Elune, while Thrall questioned the loyalty of a Forsaken contestant.

• Gazlowe pitched Thrall on using Argent Crusade soldiers as unpaid miners and builders before turning them into rations, but Thrall rejected the plan because it would make them less appetizing.
• Thrall ordered the soldiers to gather herbs, mine, and do similar work under the name “tempering the mind,” as long as their quality as ingredients was unaffected.
• The Argent Tournament's first Trial of the Champion teams were selected after more than five hundred Argent Crusade soldiers had been eliminated.
• Robbie visited Icecrown Citadel's prison and decided to use Ner'zhul's failed dark knight son to probe Elune.
• Tirion Fordring presented the five Horde representatives for the Trial of the Champion, and Thrall asked about the Forsaken contestant's background.

Thrall manipulated the Argent Tournament and its opening matches, while the Black Knight attacked and routed the challengers. A human Veteran used the gathered souls to activate a magic array, capture the Black Knight beneath the arena, and spread a gray force across Icecrown Glacier.

• Thrall crossed Nathanos Blightcaller and Eitrigg’s two younger brothers-in-law off the tournament roster, and Tirion Fordring opened the Trial of the Champion with a speech condemning the Scourge.
• Five Argent Crusade soldiers attacked the champion team, killing Nathanos Blightcaller’s uncle and eliminating Eitrigg’s brothers-in-law, so Thrall brought in two Orcs and a Blood Elf woman as replacements.
• The preliminary rounds passed, and as Tirion Fordring began introducing the final match, the Black Knight burst through the arena roof and struck Tirion, sending him crashing into a wall.
• The Black Knight turned the five challengers into Ghouls, sparing only the Blood Elf woman, while Vol’jin and Eitrigg watched in fear.
• A human Veteran activated a magic array with countless souls, and a black tentacle seized the Black Knight and dragged him underground.
• The human Veteran declared that he had caught Arthas as a gray force spread from the Argent Tournament across Icecrown Glacier.