Recaps

Nobundo and Muen Earthfury found Durotan and Draka, who revealed that Orgrim Doomhammer had betrayed them after their son was born with powerful Fel. They learned Thrall had been kidnapped and asked his parents to give their blood for a spell, though it could cost them both their lives.

• Durotan insulted Nobundo and the Draenei, then mistook his visit for a revenge attempt until Muen explained they needed a favor.
• Draka revealed that a trusted friend had betrayed them and forced them to fake their deaths and live in seclusion.
• Durotan recounted that Thrall was born green-skinned and shrouded in Fel, and that Orgrim had sent a Stormreaver Clan assassin to kill the family.
• Muen explained that Thrall had abandoned Fel and become a benevolent Shaman, but Durotan and Draka doubted that an Orc chieftain could be kind.
• Nobundo told Durotan and Draka that Thrall had been kidnapped and that Bloodline Connection Magic required their blood, which would kill them.

Griftah told Anachronos, Imperator Mar'gok, Durotan, and Velen that Saurfang sought the Heart of Zangar, a Titan relic that could transform Zangarmarsh into a giant plant and destroy Outland. As the four planned to locate Durotan through blood magic, Durotan and his wife sprang a trap on Muen and Nobundo.

• Griftah revealed that Saurfang was hunting for the Heart of Zangar and warned that it could turn Zangarmarsh into a monstrous plant life-form.
• Griftah explained that Durotan had found and hidden the relic, and Anachronos proposed using the connection between versions of the same person to find him.
• Velen offered to use forbidden blood magic that tracked someone through a relative, and Anachronos welcomed the plan.
• In Nagrand, Durotan refused to sacrifice himself and his wife to help Muen and Nobundo obtain blood, then asked to bury his dead frostwolf.
• Durotan and his wife dug a large pit, revealed that it was meant for their enemies, and unleashed black vines from the frostwolf's body at Muen and Nobundo.

Nobundo and Miu'en pursued Durotan and his wife after they escaped, while Anachronos and his companions retrieved the Heart of Zangar. Jaina stole the Titan relic and vanished, and Miu'en caught up with Durotan and his wife.

• Nobundo and Miu'en escaped the poisoned vines, revealing that both secretly wielded forbidden powers: Fel and Blood Magic from G'huun.
• Durotan and his wife fled toward the Burning Legion camp as Nobundo transformed into a Ghost Wolf to chase them and Miu'en took flight as a vampire bat.
• Anachronos, Mar'gok, and Prophet Velen emerged and recovered the Heart of Zangar, sealing the seed inside a stone.
• Jaina transformed the four companions into sheep, took the Heart of Zangar, and said she intended to use it to revive Zangar and become a planet-like being.
• After the four returned to normal, Anachronos suggested checking on Durotan and his wife, while Miu'en descended before the fugitives and confronted them.

Miu'en and Nobundo used Blood Bond to confirm Thrall was Durotan and Draka’s son, then prepared to teleport him from the Slave Pens. Leotheras recognized that Thrall’s inner demon controlled his body, while the rescue message reached Gudan, Thrall’s disfigured double.

• Miu'en subdued Durotan and Draka, and the Earthen Ring brought them to Bloodmaul Outpost to perform the blood ritual.
• Miu'en and Nobundo cast Blood Bond and traced a bloodline to Coilfang Reservoir, confirming Thrall’s parentage.
• Thrall continued abusing Orc prisoners in the Slave Pens, earning a fearsome reputation as Gudan while failing to find Eitrigg, Vol'jin, and the others.
• Leotheras questioned Thrall about his cruelty and revealed that Thrall was not Gudan but that his inner demon controlled his body.
• The Earthen Ring’s blood qi reached Gudan, who heard that they had come to rescue Thrall and was told not to resist.

Gudan was mistaken for Thrall after Blood Magic teleported him from the Slave Pens, and the Earthen Ring tried to rally support for his return. Medivh exposed the deception but spared Gudan, who revealed that he was Durotan’s son and Thrall’s double.

• Gudan was teleported from the Slave Pens to Bloodmaul Outpost, while Saurfang sealed the entrance to Blade’s Edge Mountains and ordered suspected impostors executed.
• Nobundo and Miu'en mistook the unconscious Gudan for Thrall and hid Durotan and his wife; Gudan played along after waking.
• Miu'en announced that Thrall had been rescued, and Nobundo urged the adventurers to support his return and seek Medivh’s help.
• Medivh arrived and declared that Gudan was not Thrall, explaining that Thrall’s parentage had been fabricated, but ordered the Earthen Ring to spare Gudan.
• Miu'en and Nobundo confronted Gudan, who admitted that he was Durotan’s son, named Gudan by Orgrim, and later became Thrall’s double.

Gudan confronted Durotan and Draka over the abuse and betrayal he had suffered, revealing that Durotan had knowingly handed him to Orgrim to protect his own power. Durotan then disclosed that Gudan had an ordinary twin who was lost during the Orcs’ retreat and sent as a captive to Karazhan.

• Gudan accused Durotan of giving him to Orgrim to destroy his talent and protect his position as chief.
• Gudan revealed that he had overheard Durotan tell Orgrim he feared Gudan would become the Orcs’ leader, and explained that Gul'dan later rescued him and sought a cure for him.
• Durotan admitted that he and Draka had regarded Gudan as a monster and never felt familial affection for him.
• Gudan declared that he would someday refuse to save the Orcs when they begged him for help, while Nobundo and Miu'en discussed his limited usefulness as a substitute for Thrall.
• Durotan revealed that Draka had given birth to twins and that the ordinary child had been lost during the retreat through the Dark Portal.
• Durotan told Nobundo and Miu'en that the Kingdom of Stormwind had sent some captured spoils to Karazhan, where the lost child might have been taken.

Saurfang the Great arranged for an Orc to impersonate Thrall, easing tensions with the adventurers and directing them against Vashj's forces. More than a hundred thousand adventurers assembled at the Coilfang Reservoir, where Vashj and Fathom-Lord Karathress readied their Naga for battle.

• Nobundo and Miu'en used Durotan and his wife's bloodline connection to successfully lock onto Thrall, but extra guards made it difficult to reach him.
• As adventurers and Naga disrupted Orc supply lines, Saurfang the Great rejected publicizing Thrall's past actions and accepted an adviser's plan to install a fake Thrall.
• Saurfang the Great presented the imposter as the returning Savior, claiming he had defeated Gruul and declaring his friendship with Saurfang.
• The fake Thrall urged adventurers to attack the Coilfang Reservoir, and more than a hundred thousand gathered there.
• Vashj and Fathom-Lord Karathress prepared to feed the Naga with the adventurers, and Karathress awakened the Naga hidden beneath the reservoir.

Horde adventurers attacked Coilfang Reservoir, but its magical shield stopped their advance while Orc forces destroyed their camp and blocked their escape. Trapped at Serpent Lake, they faced executions for questioning Thrall and were ordered by an image of "Thrall" to continue fighting underwater.

• Guild leaders planned to destroy Coilfang Reservoir's exposed apparatus and worried that earlier battles had left their companions missing.
• The adventurers sailed crude rafts toward the apparatus, but its Magic Shield vaporized those who approached and forced the survivors to retreat.
• High Overlord Saurfang watched the retreat and ordered the Orcs to fight, while the adventurers discovered that Orcs had burned their camp and cut off their way back.
• Horde wolf riders drove the adventurers away from shore, and adventurers who accused Thrall of betrayal were executed.
• An image of "Thrall" appeared above Serpent Lake and ordered the trapped adventurers to fight Vashj underwater rather than retreat.

The adventurers were lured into Serpent Lake and slaughtered by its freezing, high-pressure defenses and the Naga. Thrall, disguised as Gudan, led Orcs and Vol'jin's Trolls against them, while Vashj offered survivors a chance to surrender; the battle ended with the adventurers hearing another command from the false image of Thrall.

• The adventurers jumped into Serpent Lake, where Vashj's defenses froze, crushed, and exposed them to Naga attacks.
• Thrall, disguised as Gudan, led five hundred Orcs underwater after they took pills that let them breathe but prevented them from surfacing.
• Thrall recognized Vol'jin among the fighters and competed with him to kill adventurers and collect their ears.
• Vashj agreed to accept surrendering adventurers as prisoners, and Karathress opened whirlpools as escape routes.
• Many adventurers jumped into the whirlpools, but the image of "Thrall" called on the rest to keep fighting and warned them not to trust the enemy.

Fathom-Lord Karathress trapped the adventurers at Viper Lake, and those who escaped through the Portals were arrested and executed in Shattrath City. After Saurfang’s forces celebrated a fabricated victory, Akama questioned two Forsaken survivors in the Lower City, where one began to expose Thrall’s deception before being shouted down.

• Fathom-Lord Karathress closed the vortex after fifty thousand adventurers entered, while the fake Thrall mocked those left behind and more than a dozen Portals opened to Shattrath City.
• Saurfang the Great ordered the fake Thrall to keep taunting the survivors, and the adventurers who reached Shattrath City were arrested, paraded through the streets, and executed.
• After the lake’s defenses were deactivated, Zangarmarsh creatures devoured the adventurers’ corpses, while the media falsely reported Saurfang’s overwhelming victory and Shattrath City celebrated.
• Akama gathered powerful figures in a Lower City basement to question two Forsaken survivors who had escaped the lake by freezing in a rocky crevice.
• One Forsaken said Thrall had set a trap, but a scar-faced Fel Orc shouted that the Savior Thrall was merciful, and the other survivor claimed Thrall had saved them.

Akama and the Lower City bosses planned to find the Titan relic called the Node Key in the Mana-Tombs so they could rescue Thrall, whom they suspected was being held at Coilfang Reservoir. Meanwhile, Thrall gained new authority under Vashj, who summoned Blood Troll war matriarch Yierna to track down people using Blood Magic.

• Akama and the Lower City bosses heard adventurers describe an Orc underwater who fought with a hammer, and they concluded he might be the real Thrall.
• The Ethereal revealed that Nexus-Prince Shaffar was excavating the Node Key in the Mana-Tombs and explained that adventurers would have to navigate its dangerous spatial rifts to find it.
• The Lower City bosses agreed to recruit adventurers from Azeroth and Outland to search for the Node Key and rescue Thrall.
• At Coilfang Reservoir, Vashj rewarded Thrall, who was using the name Gudan, by making him chief overseer and patrol captain while keeping him under close surveillance.
• Vashj asked Blood Troll war matriarch Yierna to locate a group of people who used Blood Magic.

Vashj hired Yierna to use a blood spell, while Thrall’s escape attempt accidentally teleported his entire patrol to a cave where his parents awaited him. Thrall rejected Durotan and Draka, had Durotan beaten, and learned from Gudan that the Burning Legion had chosen him as its Orc leader.

• Vashj had Yierna prepare a Blood Altar and brought her a hundred captured adventurers for the blood spell.
• Thrall noticed his watchers had vanished and signaled Miu'en and Nobundo to teleport him from the Slave Pens.
• The blood teleportation carried Thrall and fifty Orcs to the cave, while Miu'en and Nobundo fled after seeing the spell go awry.
• Thrall recognized the blood connection with Durotan and Draka but accused them of pretending to be his parents.
• Thrall ordered ten Orcs to attack Durotan, and Gudan appeared to taunt his parents and reveal that the Burning Legion had chosen Thrall.

Thrall killed Durotan and Gudan, then submitted to Vashj, who sent him to retrieve a Titan artifact from the Mana-Tombs. Meanwhile, Gudan emerged in a new human body and met an envoy of Elune, who questioned his decision to abandon the Orcs.

• Thrall ordered Gudan killed and had Durotan and Draka brought to the altar, then left the cave planning to reclaim the Warchief position.
• Vashj confronted Thrall, made him swallow a Snake Gu, and ordered him to retrieve the Node Key from the Mana-Tombs of Auchindoun in exchange for removing it.
• Thrall asked Vashj to send Vol'jin with him, hoping Vol'jin might know how to remove the Snake Gu.
• Gudan emerged from an Ogre's body in human form and declared he would live for himself rather than serve the Orcs.
• An envoy of Elune told Gudan that Sargeras's Demons had restored his talent and asked whether he was certain he would no longer help the Orcs.

Gudan agreed to help Thrall obtain the Node Key after the Emissary revealed that Gul'dan was alive. Thrall recruited Vol'jin, who devised a plan to secure the key, while Akama sought to enlist the Mag'har Orcs in the Lower City's operation.

• The Emissary pressured Gudan to help Thrall, then won his agreement by claiming Gul'dan was still alive.
• Vashj assigned Vol'jin to Thrall's group of five hundred Orcs, and Thrall revealed his identity as Gudan to him.
• Thrall asked Vol'jin how to break Snake Gu, but Vol'jin had no solution and instead proposed a way to get the Node Key without fighting.
• Golol Anzu told the Lower City's bosses that Vol'jin supported their operation to rescue Thrall, prompting them to pledge their fortunes.
• Akama suggested recruiting the Mag'har Orcs and said their devotion to their ancestors could be used to persuade them.

Akama led the Lower City bosses to Nagrand’s ancestral grounds, where they sacrificed captive peoples and animals to summon the Orc spirits. After the ritual repaired Akama’s damaged soul, an Orc spirit agreed to take them to Greatmother Geyah.

• Akama told the Lower City bosses that Greatmother Geyah was an Ancestral Spirit who possessed elderly Orcs and claimed he knew how to find her.
• The bosses agreed to offer souls to win Greatmother Geyah’s support, and Akama led them to Nagrand’s Spirit Plains three days later.
• Akama used Fel-tainted wood and the souls of their captives and animals to open the ancestral grounds.
• The ritual repaired the damage to Akama’s soul, and the world transformed into a dark realm filled with Orc spirits.
• An Orc spirit accepted their sacrifices and agreed to lead Akama and the bosses to Greatmother Geyah.

Grandmother Geyah enlisted Akama and the other leaders to unleash Gaormash Grommash Hellscream’s spirit against Mag'har Orcs who had allied with the Void or the Burning Legion. The spirit emerged from its coffin, and a lesser Mag'har leader and village Shaman soon dreamed of Gaormash directing them toward a secret in Auchindoun.

• Grandmother Geyah prophesied that Akama’s cause was just and agreed to help him, though she warned that tens of thousands of Mag'har Orcs would die.
• Grandmother Geyah led the group to a coffin bearing the Warsong Clan banner and explained that the Mag'har believed Gaormash Grommash Hellscream would restore their former glory.
• Grandmother Geyah revealed that Mag'har Orcs had colluded with the Void and the Burning Legion, then called Gaormash’s spirit from the coffin to harvest their souls.
• A lesser Mag'har leader and the village Shaman each reported dreaming that Gaormash had revealed a secret in the Mana-Tombs of Auchindoun that could restore the Orcs to glory.
• The lesser leader recalled that the Warsong Clan’s archery had once routed fifty thousand Ogres, but the methods for making its bows and crossbows had been lost.

Mag'har Orcs gathered in Auchindoun to search a spatial node for supposed Warsong Clan relics, while Durotan tried to warn them that their legends were lies. Gorkan Bloodfist rejected his warning, and Durotan claimed he had proof hidden in the Auchenai Crypts.

• Mag'har Orcs followed a dream of Grommash Hellscream to Auchindoun, where Gorkan Bloodfist negotiated with Nexus-Prince Shaffar to enter the spatial node.
• Nexus-Prince Shaffar opened the Mana-Tombs, and more than five thousand Mag'har Orcs disappeared while exploring the spatial rift.
• Anachronos, Durotan, Velen, and Imperator Mar'gok discussed the Warsong Clan's history, and Mar'gok revealed that Grommash had led a small clan that became powerful after enslaved Orcs joined it.
• Durotan confronted Gorkan Bloodfist and warned him that the Warsong Clan's legendary glory was fabricated, but Gorkan accused him of betraying the Orcs.
• Durotan told Gorkan that the Thunderlord Clan's history, confirmed by the living void creature Gromgal, proved the legends false, and he said the evidence was in the Auchenai Crypts.

Durotan and Mar'gok brought Gorkan Bloodfist to the Auchenai Crypts to uncover the truth about the Draenei plague. Velen revealed that the plague came from the Shadowlands and that the Draenei had died and been resurrected, leaving the group wary of him.

• Gorkan Bloodfist accused Durotan of plotting against him, then promised to stop the Mag'har Orcs from repeating the tragedy when Mar'gok seized him and Durotan offered to show him evidence.
• Durotan, Mar'gok, Gorkan Bloodfist, and Velen went to the Auchenai Crypts, where Anachronos waited outside to watch Velen.
• Velen led the group through a hidden Portal into the crypts and warned them to keep themselves shrouded in the Holy Light.
• Velen explained that the Draenei had once been taken in by the Tatobo people, whose civilization was later devastated by a plague brought by a Dreadlord.
• Velen revealed that the plague killed every Draenei, including himself, and that he resurrected his people before they resurrected him.
• Mar'gok and Durotan recoiled from Velen, who said the Army of the Light had suppressed the plague and that it would not normally spread unless someone ate Draenei flesh and blood.

Velen led Durotan, Mar'gok, and Gorkan through the Auchenai Crypts to prove the Plague had destroyed the Gorian Empire, but the evidence exposed his own involvement in spreading it. Shirrak the Dead Watcher confronted Velen over his betrayal, leaving Velen trapped beneath the creature’s accusing gaze.

• Durotan demanded evidence from Gorkan, and Velen led the group into the Auchenai Crypts to show them Plague victims and the Draenei’s research.
• Velen admitted the Army of the Light had ordered the Draenei to study the Plague and that the Holy Light disliked Ogres.
• Archbishop Maladaar accused Velen of unleashing the Plague on Ogres and revealed that the Tatobo people had infected themselves before dying in a war against the Shadowlands.
• Maladaar led the group to Shirrak, the last surviving Tatobo, who had become Shirrak the Dead Watcher.
• Shirrak restrained Velen and accused him of accepting a Dreadlord’s gift and planning to turn the Draenei into undead creatures.

After Shirrak exposed Velen as a traveler from another era, Gorkan Bloodfist resolved to turn the Mag'har Orcs away from the Mana-Tombs, but Grommash Hellscream's return inspired them to pursue the Node Key. The defense around the relic fell after a hundred thousand Orcs sacrificed themselves, and Grommash urged a warrior to retrieve the staff.

• Shirrak spared Velen after recognizing his connection to space and time, and Gorkan Bloodfist agreed the Mag'har Orcs should not be used as sacrifices.
• Gorkan returned to camp and learned that Grommash Hellscream and other Ancestral Spirits had arrived in Auchindoun.
• Grommash urged the Mag'har Orcs to reclaim their legacy, claiming the Warsong Clan's treasures and weapons were hidden in the Mana-Tombs' spatial node.
• Nexus-Prince Shaffar and the Consortium found that the Node Key's purple-mist defense could only be exhausted through sacrifice, and a hundred thousand Mag'har Orcs willingly gave their lives.
• The mist dispersed to reveal a crystal pyramid topped by the Node Key, and Grommash called for a warrior to retrieve the staff.

Gormash drove the Mag'har Orcs to their deaths trying to reach the Node Key, while Nexus-Prince Shaffar waited for the pyramid's defenses to weaken. A disguised young Orc with Holy Light confronted Shaffar over the Node Key, and their battle began.

• Gormash urged the Mag'har Orcs to climb the pyramid, and thousands died to its defenses as Nexus-Prince Shaffar watched.
• When the surviving Orcs refused to advance, Gormash sent his Law Enforcement Force to drive them forward, costing another ten thousand Orcs their lives.
• A thin Orc shielded himself from the pyramid's light and reached for the Node Key, but the key's blue light reduced his Arcane clone to ashes.
• Nexus-Prince Shaffar moved toward the Node Key, but a purple Mage Hand seized it before Shaffar shattered the hand with Void Beacons.
• The Void Beacons passed Gormash and struck a golden shield behind him, revealing a young Orc who kicked Gormash aside and claimed the Node Key for whoever could take it.
• Shaffar formed a figure from Void Beacons to block the young Orc's Holy Light spear and declared that the figure would defeat him.

The frail Orc and Nexus-Prince Shaffar vanished together while fighting over the Node Key, leaving the Ethereals exposed to an assault by Shattrath City's Lower City powers. As several factions converged on the relic, a masked man intervened, and A'dal arrived with Shattrath City's elites to confront him.

• The frail Orc summoned the Heart of Zangar's thorned vines, then trapped himself and Nexus-Prince Shaffar inside Shaffar's banishment sphere.
• With Shaffar gone, Gorol Anzu, a Tiger Person, a Gronn, a Cyclops, and an Ogre attacked the Ethereals, while Gormash escaped and Akama retreated.
• Gorol Anzu reached for the Node Key, but an Orc wielding Holy Light appeared; a two-headed Ogre and Anachronos also subdued the attackers as Velen approached the relic.
• A masked man arrived, disarmed Durotan, and warned Velen that the Node Key did not belong to him; Velen sensed Fel and accused the man of serving the Burning Legion.
• A'dal confronted the masked man at the glowing spatial node, and Shattrath City's elites appeared below as the man prepared to fight.

Gudan defeated A'dal's forces and let the Lower City bosses keep the Node Key, leaving them to decide whom to give it to. Outside the spatial node, Gormash declared that the Mag'har Orcs had risen, puzzling the bosses who had seen over a hundred thousand of them die for the relic.

• Gudan summoned the Burning Legion and defeated Shattrath City's elite, forcing A'dal to withdraw without the Node Key.
• Gudan left the Node Key to the Lower City bosses and departed with the Legion, telling them to rescue Thrall.
• Gorol Anzu and the other bosses debated whether to give the Node Key to Vol'jin, A'dal, or Illidan.
• At Auchindoun Plaza, Gormash told the gathered Mag'har Orcs that their people had risen, leaving the Lower City bosses confused.

Saurfang and Gormash lured most of the Mag'har Orcs into a deadly selection, while Vol'jin and Thrall betrayed the Lower City bosses after taking the Node Key. The chapter ended with the bosses trapped beneath poisoned arrows and Thrall ordering their deaths and claiming the survivors as food.

• The Lower City bosses left Auchindoun as Saurfang the Great arrived with an Orc army, and Akama departed on his own business.
• Gormash announced that the Mag'har Orcs could join the Horde or return home, promising fertile lands and a simple test for those who joined.
• After seven days of testing, most Mag'har Orcs had been selected for the Horde, while five hundred thousand were sacrificed and the surrounding wilderness became known as the Bone Wastes.
• Vol'jin accepted the Node Key from Gorol Anzu and promised the Lower City bosses the honor of joining Thrall's table.
• Vol'jin vanished as Orc archers ambushed the bosses with poisoned arrows, and Thrall took the Node Key and ordered the bosses killed for A'dal's bounty while claiming the rest as his dinner.

Vashj discovered that the Node Key was fake and imprisoned Thrall and Vol'jin in the Frozen Hell. As Gudan and his allies sought a way to rescue Thrall, Elune rejected Gudan as a substitute and prepared to intervene herself.

• Lurky identified Vashj's Node Key as a recent fake, and Vashj had Karathress send Thrall and Vol'jin to the Frozen Hell beneath three hundred meters of ice.
• Gudan met the Moon Goddess's Emissary and Medivh in Telredor, where they concluded the Node Key might have been fake from the start and learned Thrall was imprisoned.
• Gudan proposed impersonating Thrall, but Elune examined him at her shrine and declared him unqualified to replace Thrall.
• Elune revealed that Illidan Stormrage could rescue Thrall but would not help, so she decided to act personally.
• A beam of moonlight crossed the distance from Azeroth to Outland and shone toward the Coilfang Reservoir.