Recaps

Tirion sought help from his old friend Dathrohan to rescue Eitrigg from Barthilas and protect his family. Dathrohan revealed that the Orcs had slaughtered his family and people, and that Balnazzar planned to turn him into a vessel for a Dreadlord.

• Tirion avoided asking Uther or Thrall for help and went to find Dathrohan in the Silver Hand barracks.
• Dathrohan welcomed Tirion and offered to take him to Thrall, believing Tirion wanted forgiveness for fighting Eitrigg.
• Tirion explained that Barthilas had abducted Eitrigg and asked Dathrohan to help, while pleading for Hearthglen and his family to be spared.
• Dathrohan declared Hearthglen deserved punishment and told Tirion that sacrificing his family was necessary for the greater good.
• Dathrohan revealed that Orcs had killed his wife, children, parents, and people, and that he had willingly offered them as rations.
• Dathrohan showed Tirion a letter in which Balnazzar ordered him to learn Fel magic so his body could become a Dreadlord's vessel.

Tirion Fordring embraced madness and offered to sacrifice his family to beg Thrall’s forgiveness, so Uther exiled him. At Hearthglen, Uther let the Orcs slaughter his Paladins and promised Thrall that he would hunt down the survivors before Thrall ordered the town razed.

• Dathrohan lamented his losses, and Tirion concluded that Lordaeron’s failures came from collective cowardice and abandoning conscience and faith.
• Tirion told Uther about the kidnapping in Hearthglen and offered to kill Kalendra and Taelan as an apology to Thrall; Uther stripped him of the Holy Light and exiled him.
• Uther led 1,500 Paladins and 600 Orcs to Hearthglen to rescue Eitrigg, while Thrall watched from the rear.
• When the Orcs killed a female knight, Uther called her death a necessary sacrifice, and the Orcs attacked the Paladins.
• Thrall struck Uther after most of the Paladins were killed, and Uther promised to capture the survivors as Orc rations.
• Thrall announced that the Orcs would raze Hearthglen.

Thrall led the Orcs to attack Hearthglen and ordered them to kill Barthilas instead of accepting his challenge to a duel. Barthilas effortlessly killed Orcs and ate their hearts, leaving Thrall and his army frightened as Thrall tried using Rage Potions to overwhelm him.

• Thrall boasted to Uther and Tirion Fordring about Orc superiority, then sent Saurfang to handle Barthilas with sneak attacks.
• Thrall found Barthilas alone at Hearthglen's open gate, with the wounded Eitrigg hanging behind him, and refused Barthilas's challenge to a duel.
• Thrall ordered Orcs to charge Barthilas, who vanished and tore out an attacker’s heart before eating it.
• Barthilas killed two more Orcs in successive attacks, frightening the six hundred Orcs and leaving Thrall shaken.
• Thrall threw Rage Potions at the Orcs to send them into a frenzy, but Barthilas killed them and remarked that frenzied Orc hearts tasted better.
• Thrall threw dozens more Rage Potions at Barthilas, but they no longer seemed to work well.

Barthilas slaughtered the Orcs at Hearthglen despite Thrall’s attempts to surrender, while Uther’s Aura of Courage only made the Orcs charge into further danger. Barthilas knocked Thrall down and wondered whether Guardian Medivh would appear to save him.

• Thrall learned that Saurfang had supposedly left to attend his seventh concubine’s labor, then watched the terrified Orcs refuse to face Barthilas.
• Thrall tried to placate Barthilas by claiming the Orcs had come for a picnic, but Barthilas rejected the appeal and killed four Orcs.
• Uther activated his Aura of Courage, restoring the Orcs’ resolve, and Barthilas used the renewed advance to kill hundreds of them.
• Thrall struck Uther and ordered him to end the aura; the Orcs regained their fear and turned on Uther, who begged for mercy.
• Barthilas confronted Thrall, who first denied being the Savior and then claimed the title again; Barthilas knocked him down and wondered if Guardian Medivh would come to his aid.

Thrall transformed into an Infernal but was swiftly defeated by Barthilas, who tortured and ate pieces of him while Tirion Fordring watched from hiding. As the Orcs fled, Barthilas confronted the unmoving Uther, who listened to whispers from the Naaru.

• Tirion Fordring escaped custody with Dathrohan's help and promised to reveal the truth about the Orcs and the Silver Hand's betrayal.
• Thrall transformed into a Fel-burning Infernal, but Barthilas struck him down with a massive Holy Light sword.
• Tirion Fordring witnessed Barthilas's power and began to value wielding the Holy Light above rescuing his wife and child.
• Barthilas cut pieces from Thrall and ate them, then hung him beside Eitrigg as the remaining Orcs fled.
• Barthilas questioned why Uther had not run, while Uther stood listening to the Naaru's whispers.

Uther chose the Naaru’s Deity Descension and fought Barthilas, believing the Holy Light would ensure his victory. Barthilas revealed that the Naaru had manipulated Uther with a false choice, then vanished to seek another weapon.

• The Naaru offered Uther a choice between temporary power to fight Barthilas and permanent power to ally with him against Thrall, and Uther chose Deity Descension despite his resentment toward Thrall.
• The Naaru empowered Uther with golden wings and the Deity power Demon of Light, while Barthilas revealed that he had also received two choices from them.
• Uther and Barthilas clashed with colossal Holy Light swords, and Uther gained the advantage as the Naaru replenished his strength.
• Tirion Fordring watched from a mountain and feared that Uther’s seemingly inexhaustible power meant Barthilas would lose and Hearthglen would fall.
• Barthilas claimed the Naaru had never offered a real second choice and said his Deity was Hope of Victory before disappearing to find a new weapon.

Barthilas defeated Uther with a scaffold empowered by the Holy Light, while Medivh studied Barthilas’s Deity Descension and tried to learn its source. Barthilas began describing the kind people who had helped him in Hearthglen, leaving Medivh confused about how their stories explained his power.

• Barthilas used Thrall and Eitrigg as hostages while fighting Uther with the Holy Light-bound scaffold, eventually striking Uther down and leaving him at his mercy.
• Medivh watched from a hidden Void force field and searched Karazhan’s books, finding similarities between Barthilas’s Deity Descension and the Dwarves’ Avatar ability.
• Medivh emerged and offered Barthilas one condition in exchange for learning the source of his power, though he had no intention of honoring his promise.
• Barthilas told Medivh how Uncle Andre, a blacksmith in Hearthglen, had fed him when he was a child, but clarified that he had not said Andre taught him Deity Descension.
• Barthilas recalled Aunt Jones’s steamed buns and the 3,624 buns she had given him, leaving Medivh baffled about the connection to his power.

Barthilas convinced Medivh that the kindness of Hearthglen’s people had given him his power, and warned that harming the town would destroy the chance to uncover its secrets. When Medivh tried to seize him, Barthilas turned to crystal and died, leaving Hearthglen safe; he then walked toward the World of the Dead, believing the battle was not over.

• Barthilas told Medivh that Hearthglen’s blacksmith, baker, townspeople, and Tirion Fordring’s wife had helped make him strong.
• Jaina urged Medivh to capture and interrogate the people Barthilas had named, while Barthilas warned that they were ordinary and that harming them would ruin everything.
• Medivh asked Uther how Barthilas had gained his power, but Uther insisted that humans could not comprehend Deity Descension.
• Barthilas declared that Hearthglen itself held unknown power and warned Medivh to leave the town untouched.
• Medivh tried to capture Barthilas, but Barthilas transformed into crystal and died, while Tirion Fordring mourned and understood that Hearthglen was saved.
• Barthilas awoke on the road to the World of the Dead, where people praised him as a hero, and continued forward believing the battle was not over.

Robbie and Arthas arrived at Stratholme as its defenders prepared for war and accepted a Plague Potion that would slowly turn them into Undead. Uther’s youngest daughter drank it alongside the loyal Paladins and took the name Lady Deathwhisper.

• Robbie and Arthas reached Stratholme, and Arthas mourned Barthilas while condemning the treachery among Lordaeron’s leaders.
• Baron Rivendare stopped Uther’s daughter and her armed party outside the city, urging them to leave through the harbor instead of fighting in Stratholme.
• Rivendare explained that the defenders were drinking a Plague Potion that would turn them into Undead and poison Orcs who consumed their corpses.
• More than a dozen Paladins refused the potion and left, while Uther’s daughter realized Thrall had likely planted spies among them.
• Uther’s daughter drank the potion, the remaining Paladins followed, and she declared herself Lady Deathwhisper.

Robbie advised Baron Rivendare on how to defend Stratholme, including using plague to ruin the nearby forest and ambushing enemy supplies. Robbie and Arthas found a Holy Light Rune of evolution, while Thrall, Uther, and Sylvanas marched toward Stratholme and discovered the plague transforming the land into a Plaguelands.

• Robbie proposed disguising a mage as Kel'Thuzad to deter Medivh and using plague to make the nearby forest useless for siege equipment.
• Robbie promised Baron Rivendare that an elite squad could intercept and burn enemy siege supplies, and the baron agreed to give him a chance.
• Robbie and Arthas found a stone tablet bearing the Holy Light Rune of evolution in Stratholme's church and struggled to understand it.
• After failing to take Hearthglen, Thrall summoned Uther and Sylvanas and led their forces toward Stratholme.
• At Corin's Crossing, Thrall, Uther, and Sylvanas saw the plague rapidly wither the fields and forest, and Uther warned that the land was becoming a Plaguelands.

The plague spread across the Plaguelands, forcing the Silver Hand, Orcs, and Elf rangers to halt before joining forces against Stratholme. Their first assault on the city failed disastrously, and Eitrigg told Thrall that they needed siege engines.

• Robbie's plague spread from Stratholme through nearby settlements, and Uther's investigation found it infected plants without killing them or directly infecting people.
• Thrall, Sylvanas, and Uther marched their armies to Stratholme, where Baron Rivendare prepared to defend the city with its local garrison.
• Thrall asked Uther to challenge Baron Rivendare to open battle, but Rivendare refused and called Uther an idiot.
• Thrall ordered an assault, and Uther sent the Silver Hand against the walls, where nearly a thousand Paladins died.
• Thrall turned to Eitrigg for advice, and Eitrigg said they needed siege engines.

Robbie and Arthas planned to exploit divisions within the convoy escort, and Arthas learned that Alexandros Mograine’s son Leo was vulnerable to the Orcs. After Saurfang’s Orcs abducted Leo, Mograine and Fairbanks confronted their grief and anger, leaving Mograine determined to take revenge.

• Robbie rejected Arthas’s plan for a direct attack and urged him to find personal weaknesses among Mograine and Saurfang’s forces.
• Arthas learned from the Restless Souls that Mograine’s adjutant Fairbanks hated the Orcs and that Mograine secretly cared for his illegitimate son, Leo.
• Saurfang’s Orcs abducted Leo during a patrol and told his companions that Saurfang sent regards to Mograine.
• Leo’s commander reported the abduction, and Mograine called Leo’s loss a necessary sacrifice until he learned Leo had been taken.
• Mograine told Fairbanks that Leo was his son, and he vowed revenge for Leo and the Silver Hand members killed by the Orcs.

Mograine and Fairbanks plotted to weaken the Orcs with plague and use victory to rally the Silver Hand Paladins. After the Orc camp fell, Mograine concealed the plague’s role and persuaded the Paladins that the Holy Light had chosen their side.

• Mograine decided to break away from the Order of the Silver Hand and fight the Orcs, despite Fairbanks warning that their forces were divided and outmatched.
• Fairbanks gave Mograine a plague potion, and Mograine arranged for it to contaminate the hard jerky being delivered to the Orcs.
• Mograine led the Silver Hand to surround the Orc camp, but most Paladins hesitated while fewer than a hundred of Mograine’s personal troops charged.
• Saurfang overpowered Mograine in their duel, but Mograine revealed that his guards had killed the weakened Orcs with the plague’s help.
• Saurfang surrendered, and Mograine claimed the victory proved the Holy Light supported them, prompting the Paladins to chant its name.

Mograine’s victory over Saurfang sparked rumors that the Holy Light had chosen him, prompting defections from Uther’s Silver Hand. As Uther prepared to attack Stratholme, Arthas sent Robbie to impersonate him and defend the city, while a voice spoke from the Axe of Tyranny.

• Mograine’s Paladins captured Saurfang and withdrew after destroying their siege equipment and supplies, while Jaina and Medivh later took Saurfang down from the pole where the Undead had begun roasting him.
• At Stratholme, Saurfang told Uther, Thrall, Sylvanas, Jaina, and others that Mograine’s forces had been empowered by the Holy Light, and rumors of the blessing spread through the Silver Hand.
• Paladins deserted Uther in growing numbers, and Uther vowed to prove the Holy Light was still on his side by attacking Stratholme.
• Robbie returned to Stratholme, but an ominous feeling troubled him despite the enemy’s shortages and weakened forces.
• Arthas told Robbie that Uther was coming to attack and gave him his armor and Justice of the Holy Light so Robbie could impersonate the prince and strengthen the city’s morale.
• Robbie left the Axe of Tyranny with Arthas and climbed onto Stratholme’s walls, while a deep voice spoke from within the axe.

Arthas learned that the Axe of Tyranny’s hidden voice feared a mysterious power within Robbie and promised to teach him the Runes of the Dead. At Stratholme, Uther transformed through the Holy Light and attacked the city, but Robbie stopped him and defeated him; as Uther prayed for more power, seven red dots appeared in the clouds.

• A voice inside the Axe of Tyranny warned Arthas to keep their contact secret from Robbie and offered to teach him the Runes of the Dead.
• Uther called down the Holy Light, grew to enormous size, and prepared to attack Stratholme and kill Baron Rivendare.
• Lady Deathwhisper stepped between Uther and Rivendare, but Uther prepared to strike his own daughter.
• Robbie arrived, stopped Uther’s holy sword, and rescued Lady Deathwhisper as the soldiers of Stratholme shouted Arthas’s name.
• Robbie drove Uther back in their clash, causing Uther and the Paladins of the Silver Hand to doubt his power and faith.
• Uther prayed to the Holy Light for greater strength, and seven red dots appeared among the distant clouds.

The Red Dragonflight joined the Orcs in attacking Stratholme, and Yalishandra’s dragons burned much of the city, killing soldiers and civilians. As despair spread, Robbie met Sir Flor, who claimed to possess Foror’s Compendium of Dragon Slaying.

• Baron Rivendare ordered the defenders to flee as seven red dragons approached Stratholme, and he identified their leader as Yalishandra, the Red Dragon Princess.
• Yalishandra deflected Rivendare’s spear, then led the dragons in burning the battlements and setting homes and streets across Stratholme ablaze.
• The seven dragons landed at the Orc camp and took human form; Thrall welcomed them, and Yalishandra declared that it was the red dragons’ last time helping the Orcs.
• Robbie walked through the devastated city as survivors grieved and morale collapsed, then heard a crazed noble declare that he would never compromise with dragons.
• Robbie grabbed the man, who introduced himself as Sir Flor and offered him a copy of Foror’s Compendium of Dragon Slaying.

Robbie bought Flor’s “Flore's Dragon-Slaying Compendium,” which claimed to reveal weaknesses in dragons, and decided to verify its information before relying on it. He asked Arthas to have the Restless Souls observe the Red Dragon Princess and her subordinates around the clock.

• Robbie visited Flor in his basement and offered a thousand gold for his secret method of slaying dragons.
• Flor recounted his family’s history of studying dragons and explained how their research became the compendium.
• Robbie read the book’s claims about dragon flight, the flaws in the five flights, and the Black Dragon Princess’s victory over the Red Dragon Princess.
• Robbie asked Baron Rivendare for a thousand gold and purchased the compendium.
• Robbie found Arthas at Stratholme’s church and asked him to assign the Restless Souls to monitor the Red Dragon Princess and her subordinates so he could check the book’s claims.

Thrall launched his plan to seize Stratholme with the red dragons, while Arthas and Robbie prepared a counterattack. The assault began under a citywide blanket of black smoke, and Uther discovered that the Arthas he faced seemed different from the one he had fought before.

• Thrall presented a dragon-assisted plan to attack Stratholme, and the red dragon princess agreed to carry the Orcs only after they were bound into bundles.
• Arthas explained Thrall's plan to his allies, and Robbie proposed using a method from his homeland to deal with the dragons.
• Thrall led the assault from the red dragon princess's back, but black smoke suddenly spread across Stratholme and disrupted the dragons' attack.
• Robbie hid in the smoke and nearly ambushed the red dragon princess, but her instincts warned her away.
• Uther challenged Arthas on the walls and realized his opponent fought with a different style than the Arthas he had faced before.
• The six other dragons carrying bundled Orcs plunged into the smoke above the walls.

Robbie’s ambush killed a red dragon and drove the attackers from Stratholme, forcing Thrall’s allied army to retreat. With the Red Dragonflight refusing further help, Thrall began considering a dangerous way to provoke Alexstrasza into destroying the city.

• Robbie killed one of the red dragons from within the black smoke, and the surviving dragons fled while the red dragon princess vowed revenge.
• Saurfang escaped Baron Rivendare by setting berserk Grommash Hellscream against him, while Uther and the Orcs retreated from Stratholme.
• The siege ended in victory for Stratholme, but Thrall’s allies lost most of their Paladins and could no longer rely on dragon support.
• Thrall sent Jaina to seek Medivh’s help, but she returned without assistance, so Thrall decided he would have to take a dangerous gamble.
• The red dragon princess sent Alexstrasza an account of the dragon deaths and told Thrall that the Red Dragonflight would no longer help the Orcs.
• Thrall hinted that the princess’s death in Stratholme could make Alexstrasza destroy the city.

Experiment 335 gained power from Nefarian and infiltrated Thrall’s personal guard, where he witnessed Thrall poison and capture the red dragon princess Yalishandra and her companions. As the dragons were tortured and skinned in the orc camp, Arthas and Robbie worried that Stratholme would be blamed and face Alexstrasza’s wrath.

• Experiment 335, an orc with poor fighting skills, surrendered to Nefarian during an undead attack and agreed to serve as his eyes in exchange for power.
• Nefarian replaced Experiment 335’s right eye, enabling him to win duels and join Thrall’s personal guard.
• Experiment 335 accompanied Thrall when he confronted Yalishandra and her five companions, and Thrall revealed his plan to kill them and bind their souls for power.
• Thrall’s black magic potion weakened the dragons and forced them into their dragon forms, after which Eitrigg’s craftsmen began skinning them alive.
• Arthas said the dragons’ suffering repaid their slaughter of Stratholme’s innocents, while Robbie feared Alexstrasza would blame Stratholme.

Thrall mutilated and corrupted the red dragon princess Yalishandra, then sent Jaina to provoke the red dragon queen into attacking Stratholme. Convinced by Jaina’s fabricated account, the queen set out to fetch a long-sealed weapon before going to Stratholme.

• Thrall removed Yalishandra’s heart, ordered her dragon essences made into prayer beads, and had her body corrupted while Jaina watched.
• Thrall told Jaina to use Yalishandra’s scale to incite the red dragon queen, while Experiment 335 heard the Black Dragon Prince sigh beside him.
• The red dragon queen woke from a vision of Yalishandra’s suffering and sensed that something was wrong to the south.
• Jaina arrived at Wyrmrest Temple, presented Yalishandra’s scale, and falsely blamed Prince Arthas and Frostmourne for the princess’s death.
• Jaina claimed Thrall and Azeroth were in danger and that Kel'Thuzad had occupied Medivh, persuading the queen to go to Stratholme.
• The red dragon queen said she would first retrieve a weapon that had been sealed away for a long time.

Deathwing confronted Alexstrasza with his plan to transform into a new life-form and showed her evidence that Thrall had killed her daughter. Alexstrasza refused to seek revenge, and Deathwing demanded to know why she protected the Orcs; she said they shared the goal of preventing End Time.

• Deathwing projected an image of his hoped-for new form and asked Alexstrasza to join his transformation, but she refused.
• Deathwing showed Alexstrasza Thrall killing the red dragon princess and imprisoning her soul, but Alexstrasza decided not to pursue revenge.
• Deathwing offered to kill Thrall or wipe out the Orcs, and Alexstrasza warned him he would pay the price.
• Deathwing questioned why Alexstrasza had raised Orcs and blamed them for destroying Northrend and nearly wiping out the Blue Dragonflight.
• Alexstrasza told Deathwing that they shared the goal of preventing End Time.

The Red Dragon Queen explained to Deathwing that the dragons had chosen the Orcs to disrupt Azeroth and delay its World Soul from hatching, while Deathwing warned that their decision could bring End Time. Thrall’s plan to take Stratholme stalled when the Red Dragon Queen failed to appear, but Archmage Antonidas arrived with a vast supply of weapons and mages to aid the Orcs.

• The Red Dragon Queen told Deathwing that the dragons had first approached the Draenei, but Velen had refused their plan, so they had turned to the Orcs.
• Deathwing argued that End Time might be a mistaken vision and warned that the Orcs could cause the catastrophe, while the Red Dragon Queen insisted the dragons had to prepare for survival.
• The Red Dragon Queen returned to Wyrmrest Temple, leaving Deathwing’s warning unanswered.
• Thrall blamed Jaina for the Red Dragon Queen’s absence, while Experiment 335 secretly enjoyed Jaina’s trouble.
• An Orc sentry reported that food, siege engines, war golems, and airships had arrived, and Thrall found the supplies piled up at the camp.
• Archmage Antonidas introduced himself to Thrall and announced that his mages had come to help slaughter the people of Stratholme.

As the allied forces prepared to attack Stratholme, Archmage Antonidas arrived with Dalaran’s mages and demanded taxes, territory, and access to Orc children in exchange for support. He revealed that Dalaran had planted Magic Beacons inside the city and offered to teleport the Silver Hand onto its walls, while Thrall remained wary of his intentions.

• Baron Rivendare announced that Archmage Antonidas and Dalaran’s mages had arrived outside Stratholme.
• At the allied forces’ meeting, Antonidas presented Thrall with Dalaran’s demands for Orc tax revenue, fertile land in Tirisfal Glades, and Orc nobles’ children to study magic.
• Thrall accepted the demands in exchange for a decisive victory, and Antonidas claimed Dalaran had prepared for one by planting fifteen Magic Beacons in Stratholme.
• Thrall distrusted Antonidas and proposed that the Order of the Silver Hand handle the teleportation mission, and Uther agreed.
• Antonidas promised to use magic to send the Orcs onto Stratholme’s walls without needing Magic Beacons for teleportation within visual range.

Dathrohan and Mal'Ganis joined the assault on Stratholme, where Arthas's forces ambushed the teleporting Silver Hand Paladins while Baron Rivendare's defenders traded lives with waves of Orcs at the wall. The battle continued with Arthas preparing to face Mal'Ganis and Thrall struggling to understand the defenders' effective resistance.

• Dathrohan advanced with the Silver Hand Paladins as Uther and Robbie began fighting in the air above Stratholme.
• Arthas's forces used the teleportation points to prepare ambushes, and the Restless Souls revealed that Antonidas had hidden three additional beacons.
• Dathrohan arrived in a square under attack, and Arthas struck him down before he could fight back.
• Baron Rivendare sent units to the wall in a repeating cycle, trading human lives for each group of Orcs that teleported in.
• Thrall watched more than a thousand Orcs die without gaining a foothold, while Sylvanas mocked the Orcs for losing control of their mouths in a frenzy.