Chapter Summaries

Baine asked Lama Yunge about his visions of Cairne Bloodhoof, but learned that many Tauren had dreamed of Cairne’s vengeance. As Baine drifted off on his throne, Cairne appeared in another nightmare with Baine’s guards transformed beside him.

• Baine told Lama Yunge that Cairne had appeared in a dream and warned him of danger.
• Lama Yunge claimed that Cairne’s visions were auspicious, though Baine suspected she was hiding the truth about the Tauren’s dreams.
• Lama Yunge left Baine alone after praising the Horde’s leaders and assuring him of Cairne’s support.
• Baine recalled how he had risen from grave robber and butcher to Cairne’s heir, despite having no blood relation to him.
• Baine fell asleep and dreamed that a monstrous Cairne entered his tent with guards whose skin crawled with red worms.

Cairne Bloodhoof killed Baine and rallied the infected Tauren of Thunder Bluff to march on Orgrimmar. Magatha Grimtotem rescued some Tauren from the Bloodline worms and sent the survivors across the Great Sea to escape Cairne’s rule.

• Cairne Bloodhoof attacked Baine in the golden tent, and Baine realized Cairne was real rather than a nightmare.
• Cairne ate Baine alive, and Baine noticed a red worm in his flesh before dying.
• Cairne emerged with Baine’s head, declared himself returned, and led the infected Tauren in a vow to take revenge on the Orcs.
• Cairne ordered the Tauren to take up their weapons and march on Orgrimmar.
• Magatha Grimtotem treated a group of infected Tauren with medicine that killed the worms but killed nearly half of them.
• Magatha told the surviving Tauren to cross the Great Sea to the Eastern Kingdoms and never return.

After Gul'dan's death and Cairne Bloodhoof's return, Vol'jin prepared to defend Orgrimmar and sought Night Elf help. Tyrande received his plea while Elune remained silent, then went to confront the unresponsive Malfurion.

• Vol'jin concluded Cairne Bloodhoof would kill him and devised a plan to have the Night Elves defeat Cairne instead.
• Vol'jin wrote to Tyrande, portraying Cairne Bloodhoof as a threat to all Azeroth, and organized Orgrimmar's forces under Sagulos Saurfang and Gordo Nazgrim.
• Tyrande received Vol'jin's letter while struggling with Elune's silence and her own lack of trusted counsel.
• Tyrande went to Malfurion, who lay motionless in Darnassus, and angrily told him to wake up because Jaina was dead.

Malfurion awoke from the Emerald Dream and learned from Tyrande about the goddess's silence and the upheavals affecting Azeroth. He suspected the goddess might be reconsidering her support for the Orcs, giving the Night Elves a chance to take their place.

• Malfurion complained that Tyrande had woken him from a dream in which he lived happily with his imagined partner, little Nana, and their three children.
• Tyrande told Malfurion that Elune had stopped answering her prayers and described recent events, including Medivh becoming a Flesh-Eternal and Thrall and Saurfang the Great being replaced.
• Malfurion rejoiced at the news of Medivh, Thrall, and Saurfang, then speculated that Illidan was secretly orchestrating events and that Maiev had deceived them.
• Malfurion reasoned that Elune might be disappointed in the Orcs and suggested the Night Elves could seize the opportunity to take their place.

Tyrande and Malfurion plotted to exploit Cairne Bloodhoof’s return to weaken the Horde and make the Night Elves the era’s chosen power, but Tyrande reconsidered the risk and chose to wait. Meanwhile, Robbie urged support for Orgrimmar, and Vol'jin received a secret letter from Prince Anduin Wrynn that persuaded him to trust the Alliance and let the Orcs die.

• Malfurion told Tyrande that killing Cairne Bloodhoof and weakening the Horde could let the Night Elves replace the Orcs as the era’s protagonists.
• Tyrande considered luring Vol'jin into defending Orgrimmar before coordinating attacks by the Centaurs and Quilboar, but realized Malfurion’s plan was only a risky guess about Elune’s will.
• Tyrande decided the Night Elves would wait and see rather than gamble their standing with Elune.
• Robbie told Vanessa, Onyxia, and King Greymane that the Alliance should support Orgrimmar and let the Horde and Tauren exhaust each other.
• Vol'jin received a secret letter from Prince Anduin Wrynn, then decided to trust the Alliance and regard the Orcs as expendable outsiders.

Cairne Bloodhoof’s Tauren army destroyed Camp Taurajo, The Crossroads, and Ratchet before advancing on Orgrimmar. Vol’jin revealed the Horde’s time-wreathed golden token as Cairne sensed its power, and the chapter left Tyrande witnessing the vast Orc army through her owl.

• Cairne Bloodhoof’s Tauren army slaughtered the inhabitants of Camp Taurajo and The Crossroads, then burned the settlement.
• The Tauren stormed Ratchet, killed most of its Goblins, seized its supplies and wealth, and left the city in flames.
• Vol’jin rejected the young Orc generals’ plans to meet the Tauren outside Orgrimmar and revealed a golden token wreathed in time’s power.
• Cairne sensed the power of time near Orgrimmar, recalled the Orcs’ seemingly endless reinforcements, and ordered his army to rest before advancing.
• Cairne led the armored Kodo cavalry toward Orgrimmar and saw a vast Orc army ahead.
• Tyrande saw the Orc army through her white owl’s eyes and began to understand Elune’s special attention to the Orcs.

Vol'jin led a force of two hundred thousand Orcs against Cairne Bloodhoof's maddened Tauren, whose sudden charge plunged both armies into a bloody battle. The Orcs surrounded and steadily wore down the Tauren, and Sagulos Saurfang and Geldonazgolin advanced to attack the wounded Cairne.

• The Black Dragon Princess, Vanessa, and Robbie watched the enormous Orc army assemble beneath the Sea's Sovereignty.
• Vol'jin ordered the Orc army forward, while Cairne Bloodhoof led the Tauren in a direct charge at its center.
• The Tauren endured the axe throwers' volley and crashed into the Orc ranks, fighting with strength and seeming insensitivity to pain.
• Vol'jin sent wolf riders to encircle the Tauren and cut off small groups, gradually shrinking their force despite heavy Orc casualties.
• Sagulos Saurfang and Geldonazgolin led their elite troops onto the battlefield to confront the wounded Cairne Bloodhoof.

Gordo Nazgrim led Frostwolf riders against the wounded Cairne Bloodhoof, while Vol'jin's forces steadily overwhelmed the Tauren army. Cairne survived the slaughter and stood victorious atop the corpses, but a sudden flash of a blade appeared behind him as Vol'jin sensed danger.

• Gordo Nazgrim and four guards attacked Cairne, who killed three guards and suffered a deep wound to his neck before Gordo withdrew.
• Gordo ordered the Orcs to overwhelm Cairne with repeated attacks while the wolf riders broke apart the Tauren formation.
• Vol'jin withdrew his heavily depleted spearmen and sent in the sword-and-shield legion as armored wolf riders prepared to charge from both flanks.
• The armored wolf riders crushed the last Tauren forces, but Cairne remained alive atop a mound of corpses while Gordo and most of his elite Frostwolf troops disappeared.
• Vol'jin felt another premonition as Cairne laughed in victory, and a dazzling blade flashed behind the Tauren chieftain.

Sagulos Saurfang wounded Cairne Bloodhoof, but Cairne transformed the fallen Tauren into a monstrous undead army and routed the Horde forces. After pursuing the survivors to Orgrimmar, Cairne besieged the city and undermined Orc morale, leaving Vol'jin surrounded by calls to surrender.

• Sagulos Saurfang ambushed Cairne Bloodhoof, but Cairne revealed that the attack had helped his nematodes multiply.
• Cairne resurrected the fallen Tauren as stronger warriors, transformed into a Pit Lord-like creature, and led them to slaughter the Orc army.
• Cairne killed Vol'jin's decoy after recognizing him, while the real Vol'jin escaped with the routed soldiers.
• Cairne stopped short of attacking Orgrimmar and camped outside its walls, where he built siege engines and displayed rows of Orc skeletons.
• Gordo Nazgrim and Sagulos Saurfang urged surrender, while Vol'jin shut himself in his tent as the remaining Orcs lost hope.

Robbie and Vanessa discovered that fire weakened the blood-colored nematodes empowering the Undead Tauren, while Cairne’s forces prepared to take Orgrimmar. Vol’jin faced a brewing mutiny as Robbie argued that the war needed more casualties on both sides.

• Robbie asked Vanessa why the Horde’s Shamans had not fought, and she explained that they belonged to the Earthen Ring and obeyed Thrall alone.
• Cairne read pledges of allegiance from Barrens races, including fawning offers from Hazzrul Bloodmark and Charlga Razorflank, while preparing to take Orgrimmar.
• Robbie and Vanessa captured a Tauren officer and found that fire killed the blood-colored nematodes sustaining the Undead Tauren, while frost only froze them.
• Doras urged Vol’jin to surrender the Warchief position to Cairne, but Vol’jin dismissed the gathered Orcs and later learned that prominent generals were plotting to overthrow him.
• Vol’jin began considering how to escape, while Robbie told Vanessa, the Black Dragon Princess, and the girl pretending to be Jaina that the war needed more casualties on both sides.

Dracula Shredwheel sold Vol'jin a way to escape Orgrimmar and a method for killing the Undead Tauren, restoring his confidence. Vol'jin demonstrated that enchanted fire could stop the Tauren from regenerating, while Cairne Bloodhoof prepared to attack the city.

• Dracula Shredwheel contracted with Vol'jin to provide teleportation services for five thousand gold coins.
• Dracula offered Vol'jin a method to kill the Undead Tauren for fifty million gold coins and supplied a formula and an officer for testing.
• Vol'jin returned to the throne room and announced that Cairne Bloodhoof and the Tauren could be defeated.
• Vol'jin used the Hotwind Scimitar to wound and decapitate the Undead Tauren officer, whose wounds did not heal and who did not resurrect.
• Sagulos Saurfang recognized that the enchanted scimitar's flames had killed the officer's blood-red worms and concluded that fire could kill the Undead Tauren.
• Cairne Bloodhoof grew impatient with the Orcs' refusal to surrender and decided to attack.

Vol'jin’s Orcs repelled Cairne Bloodhoof’s attacks on Orgrimmar by using fire to kill the undead Tauren, but both leaders suffered heavy losses and began considering peace. Vol'jin sent Trade Prince Gallywix to negotiate with Cairne, and Gallywix opened by flattering the Tauren chieftain.

• Vol'jin armed five thousand elite Orcs with fire-enchanted weapons and the Orcs prepared heated weapons to fight the undead Tauren.
• Cairne Bloodhoof attacked Orgrimmar, but the Orcs held the walls and used fire to prevent fallen Tauren from rising again.
• After several failed attacks and heavy losses on both sides, Cairne withdrew and Vol'jin recognized that the war was draining Orgrimmar.
• Cairne and Vol'jin decided negotiations could avert mutual destruction, and Vol'jin sent Trade Prince Gallywix to the undead Tauren camp.
• Gallywix praised Cairne and offered negotiations, claiming Vol'jin believed the Tauren should receive the same treatment as the Forsaken.

Cairne demanded that Vol'jin make him Warchief of the Horde, threatening war if the Orcs refused. As Vol'jin searched for a weakness in the undead Tauren, Robbie decided to help Cairne, and a Kobold named Lok'De offered a plan to conquer Orgrimmar.

• Gallywix described Vol'jin's generous promises to Cairne, but Cairne insisted on becoming Warchief immediately and gave Vol'jin three days to open Orgrimmar's gates.
• Gallywix returned to Orgrimmar, where Vol'jin continued secretly studying captured undead Tauren to discover their weakness and buy time.
• Vol'jin struggled to resist pressure from the Orcs and feared losing his position, while Cairne's threat of raising undead Quilboar and Centaurs alarmed him.
• Robbie monitored the negotiations and decided to secretly support the undead Tauren to keep the war going.
• A guard told Cairne that Lok'De, a Kobold mercenary, had a way to conquer Orgrimmar, and Cairne agreed to meet him.

Lok'De pointed out that Orgrimmar’s low-lying position made it vulnerable to flooding, inspiring Cairne to use magic and a dam to threaten the city. After the Orcs celebrated Cairne’s secret withdrawal, Vol'jin learned that a reservoir was being built above Orgrimmar and realized the danger.

• Lok'De warned Cairne that Orgrimmar’s valley location could let attackers flood the city, and Cairne imagined diverting the Southfury River with Water Elementals and a dam.
• Cairne abandoned thoughts of negotiating peace and decided to demand harsher terms from the Orcs after the Undead Tauren’s heavy losses.
• Vol'jin heard that the Undead Tauren had withdrawn and, believing the Horde had won, felt relieved as Gordo Nazgrim and Sagulos Saurfang argued over who deserved credit.
• Scouts reported that Cairne had built a dam in a high valley and used tens of thousands of Water Elementals to fill a reservoir above Orgrimmar.
• Vol'jin received the news that the reservoir could unleash a catastrophic flood on Orgrimmar and was left reeling.

As the Undead Tauren’s war pushed Orgrimmar toward destruction, Vol'jin sought help from the Alliance, Night Elves, and Sylvanas. Sylvanas weighed whether to intervene when Gagg arrived in the Undercity bearing the secret phrase “Dark Side of the Moon.”

• Cairne's forces ambushed Gordo Nazgrim's army, and the Orcs suffered a crushing defeat.
• Vol'jin's wolf riders raided Tauren supply lines and settlements, but Cairne's army countered their attacks as casualties mounted.
• Vol'jin appealed to Prince Anduin and Tyrande for aid, but Anduin refused and Tyrande raged at being called Granny Whisperwind.
• Vol'jin eventually asked Sylvanas and the Blood Elves for reinforcements, while Robbie realized Sylvanas had been overlooked.
• Sylvanas considered using her forces and plague to gain power as Warchief, then received Gagg after he sent her the phrase “Dark Side of the Moon.”
• Sylvanas questioned Gagg about whom he represented.

Big Candle Gagg told Sylvanas that a mysterious figure wanted her to become Warchief and seize control of the Iron Horde, then gave her Fel Essence that restored her body. After awakening reborn in Fel, Sylvanas traveled to Farahlon Island to meet a powerful ally, where she encountered the enormous Arakkoa leader.

• Big Candle Gagg told Sylvanas that Cairne was a decoy and that she was meant to become Warchief, control the Iron Horde, and rule Draenor.
• Big Candle Gagg gave Sylvanas Fel Essence, and she swore to become Warlord of Draenor and queen of Azeroth.
• Seven days later, Sylvanas awoke from the Fel pool with a powerful, beautiful Fel body and resolved to challenge Grommash Hellscream for control of the Iron Horde.
• Sylvanas summoned Grand Magister Antonidas and followed Big Candle Gagg through a portal to Farahlon Island.
• Big Candle Gagg led Sylvanas to the mysterious Arakkoa leader, a terrifying creature of enormous size.

Sylvanas learned that Mannoroth believed demon blood could protect the Orcs from an Old God’s influence, and that he planned to use a Fel-modified Earth Giant arm to force the Iron Horde to drink blood. As the Undead Tauren weakened and Grom Hellscream faced Mannoroth, Antonidas, and Sylvanas at Hellfire Citadel, Sylvanas stepped forward to confront him.

• Mannoroth told Sylvanas that the Burning Legion wanted the Iron Horde tainted with demon blood, partly to guard against a possible Old God’s influence over the Orcs.
• Mannoroth showed Sylvanas a giant Earth Giant arm that he was modifying with Fel so he could force the Iron Horde to drink blood.
• Cairne Bloodhoof saw the Undead Tauren weaken after they routed the Orcs, while Robbie observed that the decline could eventually let the Orcs win.
• Mannoroth, High Archmage Antonidas, and Sylvanas arrived at Hellfire Citadel beneath the looming stone hand.
• Grom Hellscream came out with Kilrogg Deadeye to meet the visitors, and Sylvanas stepped forward to face him.

Sylvanas used the threat of undeath and her power over Fel to force the Iron Horde to submit. Grommash Hellscream and Kilrogg Deadeye drank the Blood of Mannoroth and pledged themselves to her.

• Sylvanas tried to intimidate Grommash Hellscream with an illusion of an Earth Giant, but he saw through the trick and mocked her.
• Antonidas summoned a future Forsaken version of Grommash, who knelt before Sylvanas and licked her toes, horrifying the living Grommash.
• Blackhand confronted Sylvanas, but she overwhelmed him with Fel, killed him, and raised him as a Forsaken servant.
• Grommash Hellscream drank the Blood of Mannoroth rather than risk the fate Sylvanas had shown him.
• Kilrogg Deadeye also drank the Blood of Mannoroth, and Sylvanas declared the Iron Horde submitted.

Sylvanas took control of the Iron Horde and chose to bring the Blood Elves of Silvermoon under her command before pursuing her revenge. After hearing of her rise, Lor'themar Theron confided his fears to Halduron and Rommath, who urged him to consider returning the Blood Elves to the Alliance.

• Sylvanas ordered Mannoroth to transform the Iron Horde and decided to target Silvermoon City to secure the Blood Elves' loyalty.
• Mannoroth suggested making the Blood Elves drink his Fel blood or Sylvanas's blood, and Sylvanas agreed to the plan.
• News of Sylvanas's control of the Iron Horde spread to Azeroth, alarming Lor'themar Theron, who expected her to move against the Blood Elves.
• Lor'themar told Halduron and Rommath that Sylvanas would use force to ensure their loyalty and asked them for advice.
• Halduron rejected submission to Sylvanas, while Rommath suggested that Lor'themar consider returning the Blood Elves to the Alliance.

Lor'themar prepared to leave the Horde while pretending to remain loyal to Sylvanas, and secretly sought support from the Alliance. At Light's Hope Chapel, Sylvanas met a strange Troll who offered advice for securing her supremacy.

• Lor'themar, Halduron, and Rommath discussed leaving the Horde and agreed to stall Sylvanas while waiting for the Alliance to unite against her.
• Lor'themar sent Sylvanas a letter pledging loyalty and secretly contacted Alliance leaders and Dalaran.
• Sylvanas arranged to meet Lor'themar at Light's Hope Chapel, where she arrived with High Archmage Antonidas, but Lor'themar did not appear by the appointed time.
• A Troll stranger approached Sylvanas, praised her prospects for supremacy, and urged her to abandon the Undercity and attack Darnassus.