Recaps

Eitrigg accepted Garrosh's order to attack Exodar with five hundred Orcs and used a public announcement to spread panic among the Draenei. Velen prayed for guidance and saw Garrosh ordering a Goblin to bring him a message, leaving the Draenei hoping they could negotiate.

• Garrosh assigned Eitrigg five hundred Orcs to attack Exodar and threatened to kill him if he failed.
• Eitrigg gathered five hundred wounded and disabled soldiers, transported them to Sun Rock Retreat, and announced a campaign against Exodar.
• The announcement terrified the Draenei, and more than one-fifth of them killed themselves in despair.
• A young Draenei told Velen that the Orcs were coming, and Velen panicked after the Alliance refused to intervene.
• Velen prayed to the Holy Light and saw Garrosh ordering a Goblin to go to Stormwind City and speak to him.

Sovik beat Velen on Garrosh's orders, prompting Velen to manipulate Anduin into supporting Garrosh and waging war on Thrall. Stormwind's secret weapon was revealed as the Blackrock Three Brothers, who chased Velen and Anduin from the city and left them fleeing by ship.

• Sovik arrived at Stormwind Harbor, knocked Velen down, beat him, and delivered Garrosh's demand that Velen kill Thrall to seek forgiveness.
• Velen decided to avoid openly opposing Thrall and used his powers to make Anduin believe he was loyal to Garrosh and should destroy Thrall.
• Anduin emerged from prison with Velen's support, and Stormwind's ministers and generals began siding with him as King Varian remained out of sight.
• A young guard brought Mathias Shaw a handwritten order from King Varian, and Shaw agreed to activate Stormwind's secret weapon.
• Velen and Anduin entered Stormwind Keep and were caught in nets by the Blackrock Three Brothers, who tried to eat them.
• Velen blasted the brothers away, then fled with Anduin to the harbor and escaped aboard Velen's ship as the brothers shouted after them.

Thrall plotted to undermine Garrosh by manipulating the Alliance and targeting Garrosh’s allies, while Baine struggled to supply the Orcs with Meat Cattle. The chapter left Baine returning from another humiliating delivery as Vol’jin’s spies watched him.

• Thrall told Vol’jin that he planned to use an impostor Jaina to draw the Alliance into the conflict and destroy Pandaria’s allied races.
• Thrall ordered Vol’jin to go to Thunder Bluff and stop Baine’s Meat Cattle shipments, saying Garrosh’s suspicion was a weakness to exploit.
• Baine learned that many Meat Cattle could no longer stand, then beat the breeding-base official responsible and departed for Orgrimmar with five thousand Tauren.
• Baine waited five days at Orgrimmar’s logistics office before an Orc official beat him for supposedly causing a loss.
• Baine left the logistics office bloodied and ingratiating, while Vol’jin’s spies observed the encounter.

Vol'jin tricked Baine with a supposedly deadly plague, but Baine destroyed it rather than betray Garrosh. Garrosh nevertheless attacked Thunder Bluff over rumors that Baine had the plague, and Baine urged him to consult Sylvanas.

• Vol'jin confronted Baine in Thunder Bluff and offered him a plague to infect cattle and kill Orcs, claiming it could end Garrosh's suspicions.
• Baine rejected the plan and ordered the plague destroyed, while Vol'jin revealed to a subordinate that the plague had been a ruse intended to make Garrosh distrust Baine.
• Baine's spies learned that Garrosh had heard Baine possessed a plague capable of destroying Orgrimmar and was leading Kor'kron troops to attack Thunder Bluff.
• Garrosh's forces slaughtered Tauren in Thunder Bluff and surrounded Baine's tent, where Garrosh accused Baine of poisoning the cattle.
• Baine denied the accusation and said Vol'jin's plague had been destroyed, prompting Garrosh to conclude that the plague was real.
• Baine stopped defending himself and told Garrosh to discuss the matter with Sylvanas before arresting him.

Garrosh discovered that Baine had escaped using a Burning Legion teleport and that Baine had destroyed the Tauren research on beef cattle. Baine arrived at Northwatch Hold, where a female Orc claiming to be Jaina enlisted him to manage the base while she sought allies against Garrosh.

• Baine used a Legion teleportation scroll to escape Garrosh, and Eitrigg recognized the Fel scent left behind.
• Garrosh found the Tauren researchers dead and the beef cattle research materials gone, then ordered half the Tauren killed and the rest resurrected to serve as food.
• Baine arrived at a seaside cliff and met a female Orc who claimed to be Jaina, explaining that she had sent him the teleportation scroll and letter.
• The female Orc Jaina told Baine that Theramore's destruction had freed her to reveal her identity, and she said she intended to rally the Alliance and Horde against Garrosh.
• Jaina brought Baine to Northwatch Hold and left through a Portal to lobby the races, while Baine agreed to manage the hold.

Female Orc Jaina visited Undercity, where Sylvanas and Antonidas learned that the Burning Legion had sent her to support Thrall against Garrosh. Sylvanas agreed to back Thrall while planning to weaken both the Horde and Alliance, and Jaina set out to persuade Varian with Antonidas's Human Charm spell.

• Sylvanas questioned the female Orc Jaina in Undercity, while Antonidas realized she was not the original Jaina and suspected Fel magic.
• At a welcoming banquet, the drunken Jaina revealed that Kil'jaeden had sent her to support Thrall and defeat Garrosh.
• Sylvanas and Antonidas decided to support Thrall without committing their main forces, weaken the Alliance, and use the conflict to reduce Orc strength.
• Antonidas taught Jaina Human Charm so she could win Varian's wholehearted support for Thrall.
• Varian learned that the female Orc Jaina had come to visit and ordered that she be admitted.

A female Orc Jaina persuaded Varian to support Thrall against Garrosh, and Varian publicly declared her an Orc. Thrall then revealed to Vol’jin that he planned to let the Alliance and Garrosh weaken each other before destroying both factions.

• The female Orc Jaina met Varian in Stormwind Keep, and he accepted her claim that she was an Orc and invited her to dinner.
• Over a feast of roasted Tauren, the female Orc Jaina warned Varian that Garrosh threatened Azeroth and urged the Alliance to join Thrall against him.
• Varian agreed to ally with Thrall and help defeat Garrosh.
• At a Stormwind ball, Varian danced with Jaina, declared her a female Orc, and threatened anyone who questioned her origins; nobles and news outlets supported the claim.
• At Tian Monastery, Thrall told Vol’jin he would wait until the Alliance and Garrosh were badly weakened, then wipe them both out.

Varian led the Alliance fleet toward Orgrimmar, but he trusted Jaina the female Orc’s claim that Thrall had a hidden army despite evidence to the contrary. As the fleet was trapped by magic and Restless Souls, Jaina’s failed Legion teleportation exposed that something had gone wrong.

• Varian assembled an Alliance fleet and set out to coordinate an attack on Orgrimmar with Thrall’s forces in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
• An SI:7 agent reported that Thrall had sent only a tiny force, but Jaina the female Orc claimed a hidden Fel Orc army would attack Garrosh from behind through her Teleportation Array.
• Varian chose to trust Jaina the female Orc, punched the agent, and killed him when he warned that she was a fake and Thrall’s Fel Orcs had not moved.
• Strange waves and cold magic stopped the Alliance fleet, iced over the Skyfire’s propellers, and forced the ship down onto the sea.
• The slain agent rose again as Restless Souls surrounded the fleet and accused Varian of sacrificing humanity for a female Orc.
• Jaina the female Orc rushed from the cabin and cried out that her Legion teleportation had failed.

Robbie’s attempt to prevent Varian from stopping Thrall from killing Garrosh led to a confrontation aboard the Skyfire, where a resurrected spy exposed Varian’s possible fate and defeated the female Orc Jaina. The spy left Varian helpless as the Orc Jaina seized and bit him.

• Varian saw restless spirits with his own face and heard the spy warn that his actions would doom Alliance soldiers and make him Garrosh’s prisoner.
• The spy revealed a ghostly Jaina, while Robbie’s memories and Murozond’s explanation showed that stopping Varian from sparing Garrosh could prevent a catastrophic timeline.
• Ghost Jaina and the female Orc Jaina fought across the frozen sea, using Water Elementals, Fel Fire, an Infernal, and Finger of Death.
• The spy seized the female Orc Jaina, exposed her transplanted greater Demon’s heart, and swallowed it, leaving her unable to use magic.
• The wounded female Orc Jaina grabbed Varian and threatened to eat him unless the Alliance fleet set sail, then bit his shoulder.

Female Orcs Jaina was killed after Kalecgos discovered she had lost her magic, while Garrosh waited in Orgrimmar for an Alliance fleet that never appeared. Thrall then appointed an Ogre Mage as the new Jaina Proudmoore and publicly declared that she would join him against Garrosh.

• Female Orcs Jaina fled with Kalecgos after Varian collapsed, but Kalecgos realized she had lost her magic and devoured her on an island.
• Garrosh waited for Varian’s Alliance fleet near Orgrimmar, but it never arrived, so he kept his troops stationed in the city despite his generals’ objections.
• Thrall learned that Female Orcs Jaina was dead and told Vol’jin that he would use Jaina’s name again.
• Thrall declared that an Ogre Mage was Jaina Proudmoore, and the Ogre reluctantly accepted the identity.
• Thrall announced that he had joined forces with Lady Jaina against Garrosh, and Big Candle Gagg’s article helped silence public doubts about her identity.

Thrall and Ogre Jaina negotiated an alliance before attacking Garrosh's Kor'kron camp in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. After the camp fell, they discovered an active Portal in the Mogu underground palace, and Thrall sent Vol'jin to investigate with Ogre Jaina.

• Thrall approached Garrosh's camp with elite Fel Orcs and agreed to give Ogre Jaina control of the Dark Portal and ten thousand Fel Orcs in exchange for her help.
• Ogre Jaina disabled the camp's Portals and opened a Portal that brought five thousand Fel Orcs and siege engines from the Tian Monastery.
• Thrall ordered the attack, and Ogre Jaina blasted open the gate as the Fel Orcs stormed the camp and slaughtered the surrendering Kor'kron Orcs.
• Ogre Jaina found a Portal in the Mogu underground palace that she could only disable temporarily because of mysterious Mogu magic.
• Thrall sent Vol'jin to explore the underground palace, and Ogre Jaina insisted on accompanying him and promised to ensure his safe return.

Vol'jin fled Thrall's expedition after deciding to pursue his own ambition of becoming Warchief. Thrall continued into the underground palace, where Norushen barred the corrupted party from the central hall and began purifying a Fel Orc.

• Vol'jin recalled his mistreatment by Thrall, resolved to think of himself, and saw the weakened Horde as a chance to become Warchief.
• Vol'jin used a teleportation item to escape the underground palace, while Ogre Jaina revealed that he had intended to eat him and then led the group back to Thrall.
• Thrall condemned Vol'jin for running away, retrieved a black bundle from his tent, and vowed to punish him if they met again.
• Thrall's party explored the murals and found Norushen, who awoke and warned them that they were too corrupted to enter the central hall.
• Norushen explained that pride had corrupted the party, and Thrall ordered a Fel Orc to undergo purification.
• Norushen called down a beam of light that made the Fel Orc kneel in pain as a dark aura rose from his back.

Thrall’s attempt to escape Norushen’s cleansing led him to summon Magtheridon, who battled Norushen until the Sha of Pride emerged and overwhelmed him. The Ogre Jaina escaped to Tian Monastery, where the Sha’s influence stirred his pride and led him to transform into Thrall.

• Norushen began cleansing the Fel Orcs, so Thrall summoned Magtheridon through a Legion Portal and fled to seek reinforcements.
• Magtheridon fought Norushen in the collapsing underground complex and gained the advantage with Flame Nova.
• The Sha of Pride emerged and used Magtheridon’s pride and resentment to corrupt him.
• Magtheridon exploded, then escaped in a smaller form through the Legion Portal as the Ogre Jaina fled to Tian Monastery.
• The Ogre Jaina recalled his hardships, embraced his pride, and transformed into Thrall under the Sha of Pride’s influence.

Vol'jin sought Baine's and Sylvanas's support in his bid to become Warchief of the Horde. After winning them over, he left Sylvanas formally involved in the struggle between Thrall and Garrosh.

• Vol'jin met Baine aboard an escape ship at Northwatch Hold and warned that Garrosh might use Sylvanas to turn the Tauren into Forsaken.
• Vol'jin proposed becoming Warchief and promised to improve the Tauren's situation; Baine agreed to support him.
• In Undercity, Vol'jin argued that Sylvanas could not become Warchief without a non-Orc serving as a transition, and promised to pass the position to her.
• Sylvanas rejected Vol'jin's offer, but changed her mind after he claimed he knew what Elune wanted and could do it better than Thrall or Garrosh.
• Sylvanas granted Vol'jin her support on the condition that he follow her lead, and formally joined the struggle between Thrall and Garrosh.

Sylvanas allied with Vol'jin’s supporters and joined forces with Varian’s Alliance fleet against Garrosh, while Garrosh prepared a secret weapon to stop them. As the fleets neared Orgrimmar, a monstrous creature made from the remains of Ancient Divine Turtles rose from the sea.

• Sylvanas secured Lor'themar Theron’s support for Vol'jin, leaving the Orcs as the only Horde faction not backing him.
• After rescuing Jaina and recovering from his wounds, Varian led the starving Alliance fleet toward Orgrimmar, where Sylvanas intercepted him and forced him to accept Forsaken help.
• Sylvanas disguised Forsaken ships as Alliance vessels, supplied Varian’s fleet, and sent their combined forces toward Orgrimmar.
• Garrosh sent Eitrigg out with three thousand soldiers and twenty ships, saying it was time to use a secret weapon.
• A giant sea monster built from the remains of eleven Ancient Divine Turtles rose ahead of the Alliance and Forsaken fleets, and Varian learned that he had fed the intelligence report about it to a female Tauren.

The Alliance fleet survived the Turtlebone Sea Monster when Sylvanas’s Forsaken mages dispelled it, while Eitrigg fled to Dalaran. In Orgrimmar, Garrosh blamed Eitrigg for the failure and prepared to use another secret weapon against the Alliance.

• Varian ordered the Alliance fleet to flee, but Sylvanas reassured him and had nine disguised Forsaken mages cast a spell against the Turtlebone Sea Monster.
• The sea monster fell apart, and Eitrigg realized the Alliance had broken the spell that sustained it.
• Eitrigg lifted the teleportation blockade and escaped through a Portal to Dalaran with a Sunreaver mage.
• Garrosh praised Eitrigg while waiting for news, then killed a scout who reported the sea monster’s destruction and Eitrigg’s flight.
• Garrosh rejected Nazgrim’s suggestion to hold Orgrimmar and agreed with Malkorok that the Alliance had to be defeated in battle.
• Garrosh summoned Gamon, revealing that he intended to use another secret weapon.

Garrosh ordered the execution of everyone who had bullied Gamon and prepared to activate a Secret Weapon, then put Nazgrim in command against the Alliance. During the battle, Sylvanas used magic to disrupt the Horde’s first charge and later ordered an orderly retreat, leaving Varian to wonder whether Nazgrim would recognize the trap.

• Gamon gave Garrosh a list of people who had bullied him, and Garrosh promised to hang them before the decisive battle so the Secret Weapon could be activated.
• Nazgrim learned that Gamon’s influence reached beyond Orgrimmar, and Garrosh chose him to command the Horde against the Alliance.
• At dawn, Sylvanas and Varian saw the corpses hanging from Orgrimmar’s walls and discussed Gamon’s unknown background.
• The Horde charged first, but Sylvanas coordinated Stormwind and Forsaken mages to turn the battlefield into quicksand and halt the wolf riders.
• Nazgrim’s second charge failed to break the Alliance line, so he committed infantry and sent troops to counter the Alliance cavalry.
• Sylvanas ordered the Alliance to retreat in formation, and Varian suspected she was luring Nazgrim into a trap.

Varian and Sylvanas watched the Alliance exploit Nazgrim’s costly pursuit at Razor Hill, while Varian belatedly realized Garrosh’s secret weapons could decide the battle. The Iron Battle Scorpion and Galakras entered the fight, leaving Varian terrified.

• Sylvanas explained that Nazgrim pursued because desperate battles and heavy losses had helped him advance, and the Forsaken ambushed the Kor'kron from Razor Hill’s cliffs.
• The Alliance and Orcs fought repeatedly for the high ground as the Forsaken hid in camouflaged pits, and the Orcs gradually tired under their heavy armor.
• Sylvanas reminded Varian that Garrosh had secret weapons for land, sea, and air, and Varian recognized the Iron Battle Scorpion and Proto-Dragon Galakras.
• The Alliance cavalry blocked the Orcs’ retreat, leaving Nazgrim unable to break through as Garrosh watched the battle and vowed to punish him and the Forsaken.
• Garrosh sent the Iron Battle Scorpion toward Razor Hill as Galakras appeared in the sky, and Varian fell backward in fright.

The Alliance and Forsaken defeated Garrosh’s Iron Battle Scorpion and Galakras, then surrounded Orgrimmar. As Varian’s forces breached the city walls, Sylvanas spotted an Orc blind Blademaster waiting for them.

• The Iron Battle Scorpion and Galakras plunged the Alliance and Horde armies into chaos, while Sylvanas’s Forsaken kept their formation.
• Sylvanas’s Fel-powered ballistae pinned Galakras in the sky, and four Golems destroyed the Iron Battle Scorpion.
• Garrosh watched his forces collapse as Nazgrim escaped to Orgrimmar with a handful of soldiers, while the rest fell at Razor Hill.
• Varian surrounded Orgrimmar and ordered siege engines built from timber supplied by the Night Elves, then launched an assault on the main gate.
• Alliance soldiers reached the walls and found a blind Orc beside an enormous black greatsword, whom Sylvanas identified as the Orcs’ blind Blademaster.

A blind Orc Blademaster destroyed the Alliance assault on Orgrimmar, prompting Sylvanas to redirect Varian toward Outland. As Vol'jin moved to end Garrosh's rule, Thrall discovered that Ogre Jaina had impersonated him and was forced to accept Vol'jin as the Emissary's choice for Warchief.

• The blind Blademaster swallowed a pill, unleashed Bladestorm, and slaughtered the Alliance soldiers who had reached Orgrimmar's wall before dying.
• Sylvanas persuaded Varian to stop attacking Orgrimmar and take his army to Outland to strike Magtheridon at Hellfire Citadel.
• At Northwatch Hold, Vol'jin told Baine that Thrall was the remaining obstacle and ordered him to lead the Tauren to join the siege of Orgrimmar.
• Thrall read a newspaper claiming he had endorsed the frenzied breeding of Pandaria's peoples and realized Ogre Jaina had impersonated him.
• The Emissary agreed to deal with Jaina only if Thrall supported Vol'jin as Warchief.

The Emissary told Thrall that Vol'jin would become Warchief and advised Thrall to retire, while Kil'jaeden ordered Magtheridon to abandon Hellfire Citadel and begin the Shadow of Argus Plan. Varian's army occupied the citadel with little resistance, and Sylvanas examined the destroyed Legion cannon.

• Thrall rejected Vol'jin's rise to Warchief, but the Emissary blamed Thrall and Garrosh for their failures and told Thrall to go into seclusion after the Battle of Orgrimmar.
• The Emissary said the Beast Emperor Plan was on hold and offered to help Thrall deal with Ogre Jaina.
• Magtheridon learned that the Alliance had surrounded Hellfire Citadel and hesitated to fire his Legion cannon after spotting Forsaken soldiers among the attackers.
• Kil'jaeden told Magtheridon that their cooperation with Thrall was over and ordered him to return and set the Shadow of Argus Plan in motion.
• Magtheridon escaped through a Legion Portal as the giant cannon self-destructed, killing or injuring many Fel Orcs and damaging Hellfire Citadel.
• Varian led the Alliance into Hellfire Citadel with little resistance, and Sylvanas examined the cannon's remains.

The Emissary helped Thrall reclaim his public image by killing Ogre Jaina and forcing a massacre at Tian Monastery, after which Thrall denied ever calling Jaina an Orc or Ogre. In Orgrimmar, besieged and starving, Garrosh sacrificed Gamon to restore morale and received assurances from a mysterious being that a greater path still awaited him.

• The Emissary told the dispirited Thrall that Ogre Jaina had claimed Thrall and Jaina were originally one person, and proposed killing the Ogre so Thrall could correct the story.
• At Tian Monastery, the Emissary slaughtered the gathered spectators, killed Ogre Jaina, and ordered Thrall to perform for the public.
• Thrall used Big Candle Gagg to spread a statement insisting Jaina was human and denouncing anyone who called her an Orc or Ogre.
• With Orgrimmar besieged, starving, and suffering from poisoned water, Gamon suggested blaming the Pandaren, then volunteered to be punished instead.
• Garrosh hung Gamon at the entrance to the Drag, then prayed for guidance and was told that his defeat was temporary and a greater road to the heavens lay ahead.

Garrosh learned that he would lead the Orcs on another planet, while a Pandaren group sabotaged Orgrimmar’s gates and helped the Alliance breach the city. As the leaders advanced to confront Garrosh, the Emissary offered Thrall a chance to take Garrosh’s place after an even-matched duel.

• A mysterious being promised Garrosh that he would lead the Orcs on another planet after his defeat in Azeroth, and Garrosh gratefully accepted.
• A female Pandaren led the Peace Dove in poisoning and killing the Blind Swordsman guarding Orgrimmar’s gates, then set the gates ablaze with liquor.
• The Alliance used a Battering Ram to break through the weakened gates, and Garrosh ordered his remaining soldiers to resist as he fled toward The Drag.
• Varian, Sylvanas, Vol’jin, Baine, Lor’themar, Gallywix, and the Alliance leaders prepared to advance and end Garrosh’s reign.
• The Emissary promised Thrall a chance to fight Garrosh and take command of a much larger Orc force, then said Elemental Power would make the two combatants evenly matched.

Thrall and Garrosh negotiated to survive rather than fight to the death as the Alliance and Horde advanced through Garrosh's fortress. When Thrall's elemental power faded, Garrosh used Ra-den's heart to teleport away, emerging in the ruined Temple of the Jade Serpent.

• The Emissary brought Thrall before Garrosh and declared that only one Orc would ascend to the throne, while Thrall vowed to defeat Garrosh.
• Thrall and Garrosh watched the invasion and Nazgrim's death, then discussed their duel and agreed that both could live by cooperating.
• The Alliance and Horde fought through the fortress's defenses and defeated the Klaxxi Paragons before reaching the Throne Room.
• Thrall revealed that Garrosh's crystal held Ra-den's heart, but Garrosh used its power to vanish before the invading forces arrived.
• Garrosh found himself in the ruined Temple of the Jade Serpent in Pandaria, where he heard footsteps approaching.

Garrosh was repeatedly teleported away by Ra-den's Heart as the Horde leaders tried to kill him and Thrall. At the ruined Vermilion Bird Temple, Jiyun Ailuan declared it the site of Jiyun Tafeng's coming-of-age trial.

• Garrosh was overwhelmed and nearly eaten by starving refugees at the ruined Temple of the Jade Serpent, but Ra-den's Heart teleported him away and healed him.
• In Orgrimmar, Sylvanas decided the Horde would make Thrall pay for Garrosh's escape, and Baine knocked Thrall to the ground.
• Gallywix bombed Garrosh when he reappeared, but Ra-den's Heart healed him and teleported him away again as Thrall approached with Doomhammer.
• At the ruins of the Vermilion Bird Temple, Jiyun Ailuan condemned Chen Stormstout and the temple's past alliance with the Orcs, then named the site of Jiyun Tafeng's coming-of-age trial.