Chapter Summaries

The divine envoy tried to persuade Tyrande to commit the Night Elves to fighting the Troggs, warning that firearms could eventually threaten their civilization. Garrosh proposed a Tauren charge, but the envoy rejected the plan and offered to temporarily lift the Anti-Magic Array's restrictions instead.

• The divine envoy forced Garrosh to submit, then explained to Vol'jin that Tyrande would need a credible path to victory against the Troggs.
• Garrosh claimed he could persuade Tyrande, and the divine envoy brought Garrosh, Vol'jin, and Robbie to meet her.
• The divine envoy told Tyrande that firearms could advance rapidly and devastate the Night Elves in the future, convincing her that the Troggs had to be stopped.
• Garrosh proposed having armored Tauren charge the Troggs with shields, but the divine envoy blasted him aside.
• The divine envoy dismissed Garrosh's plan and offered to teach the Night Elves a Druid spell that would briefly lift the anti-magic restriction.

Tyrande convened the Night Elves’ commanders to organize a war against the Troggs while tensions over the Orcs complicated the alliance. The council agreed to commit Sentinels, Druids, and Hakkar, and Fandral Staghelm volunteered to command the army.

• Tyrande told the council that Elune had ordered the Night Elves to fight the Troggs, while keeping the divine emissary’s identity secret.
• Shandris Feathermoon and Maiev Shadowsong argued that the Night Elves should also attack the Orcs, but Valstann Fandral Staghelm defended Thrall and the Orcs.
• Tyrande secured Shandris Feathermoon’s agreement to send the Sentinels to Rag City, though the secret mage force would not participate.
• Maiev Shadowsong offered Hakkar, a trained mutated feathered serpent from the Vault of the Wardens, to join the battle.
• When no commander volunteered, Fandral Staghelm offered to lead the Night Elf army.

Tyrande sent the Night Elves to join the campaign against Rag City, while Doras assembled Tauren forces and appointed Garrosh commander of the five-race alliance. As the armies gathered, Thrall learned of Garrosh’s appointment and secretly resolved to ensure the Orcs alone survived the war.

• Tyrande persuaded Fandral Staghelm to let Valstann lead the Night Elves against the Troggs so the younger generation could gain experience.
• Garrosh traveled with Doras and Vol'jin to Thunder Bluff, where he saw the Tauren’s poverty and understood why they could not use his great-shield tactics.
• Doras limited the Tauren contribution to a hundred thousand warriors, rejected Cairne Bloodhoof as their commander, and selected Rhen Bloodhoof to lead them.
• Jaina sent fewer than three thousand poorly equipped forces, and the Night Elves, Tauren, Orcs, and Darkspear Trolls joined the campaign near Rag City under Garrosh’s command.
• Thrall summoned Vol'jin, learned that the divine messenger had influenced Garrosh’s appointment, and plotted to make the Orcs the only survivors of the war.

Test Platform 335 prepared Rag City for an attack by five allied armies, while Garrosh’s forces launched a night assault. The Tauren were slaughtered in a futile charge, Theramore’s troops refused to advance, and the chapter ended with Garrosh and Vol’jin stunned by the Troggs’ orderly northern army.

• Test Platform 335 studied the five armies surrounding Rag City and worried about fighting the powerful Night Elves without closing off the possibility of peace.
• Garrosh and Vol’jin planned a quick night battle, and Garrosh arranged the Tauren as the first attackers.
• Rhen Bloodhoof drove starving Tauren into a charge against the Troggs, and tens of thousands died while exhausting the defenders’ ammunition.
• Theramore’s veterans ignored their officers and retreated whenever the Troggs advanced, leaving the southern front at a stalemate.
• Garrosh and Vol’jin watched twenty thousand Troggs and five thousand Centaurs form a complex northern battle array and marveled at its discipline.

Test Subject 335’s Troggs used tunnels, smoke bombs, and disciplined tactics to defeat the Night Elves and withstand the Tauren assault. Valstann Fandral Staghelm retreated after heavy losses, while Lie'en Bloodhoof believed the Tauren had won glory by holding out until the Troggs ran low on ammunition.

• Valstann Fandral Staghelm led ten thousand Night Elves forward without flank cover or reserves as the Trogg vanguard advanced under orders from its command.
• The Night Elves fired volleys into the smoke, but the Troggs vanished through tunnels and reappeared around the Night Elf formation, killing over a thousand and wounding many more.
• Valstann Fandral Staghelm recognized the Troggs’ tunnel tactic and withdrew his battered force after a Trogg commander urged the Night Elves to return home.
• The Tauren continued attacking in the west until more than thirty thousand had fallen and Trogg gunfire became sporadic as their ammunition ran low.
• Lie'en Bloodhoof took pride in holding out to the end and believed the Tauren had driven back their enemy.

After the allied forces failed to take Rag City, Garrosh held a postwar meeting where Fiona accused Vol'jin of leaking the Night Elves' spell and refused to fight until the traitor was found. Queen Doras revealed that the Troggs were running short on ammunition and ordered Mulgore to send another hundred thousand Tauren, leaving Rhen Bloodhoof terrified.

• Garrosh convened a postwar meeting after the allied forces failed to take Rag City, while the Night Elves sent Fiona in place of Valstann Fandral Staghelm.
• Vol'jin blamed the Night Elves for retreating, and Fiona accused an insider of informing the Troggs about the Druids' spell, pointing to Vol'jin as the likeliest suspect.
• Garrosh defended Vol'jin and urged the allies to remain united, but Fiona declared that the Night Elves would not fight until the traitor was found.
• Badalack redirected the discussion to the Troggs' tunnels, but Garrosh and Fiona could offer no easy way to counter them.
• Queen Doras revealed that Lagrange had ordered one hundred thousand Dwarven muskets and twenty million rounds from Ironforge, and argued that the Troggs could be defeated by overwhelming them with Tauren.
• When Rhen Bloodhoof pleaded for the Tauren's safety, Doras ordered Mulgore to send another hundred thousand Tauren.

Robbie tried to persuade the imprisoned Chen Stormstout to escape and resist Thrall’s demand for five hundred thousand Pandaren, but Chen believed the Pandaren had to fight the Troggs. After Chen agreed to Thrall’s request, manipulated reports stirred Pandaren crowds against the Troggs and blamed Lan Chou and Li Qing for Zhen Yuanzi’s death.

• Doras proposed using Pandaren as the five hundred thousand cannon fodder Garrosh needed, while Chen Stormstout languished in an Orc prison.
• Robbie visited Chen, offered to help him escape, and revealed that his wife and child were still alive, but Chen refused because he believed the Troggs threatened all Azeroth.
• Thrall demanded that Chen provide five hundred thousand Pandaren for the battle at Rag City, and Chen humbly agreed.
• Pandaren gathered around Peace Dove’s notice boards in Halfhill and read reports condemning the Troggs and praising the Orcs.
• Wanted notices accused Lan Chou and Li Qing of fleeing battle and causing Zhen Yuanzi’s death.

Chen Stormstout used wealth and coercion to recruit five hundred thousand Pandaren for the Orc army. The recruits arrived at Rag City hungry and unarmed, where an Orc officer ordered them to charge the city.

• A Peace Dove speaker urged Halfhill's Pandaren to donate to the Orcs and later tried to recruit them, but only a handful volunteered.
• Chen Stormstout secretly negotiated with Halfhill's mayor, using Doras's wealth to influence him.
• The mayor fed the gathered Pandaren a laxative-laced dinner and tricked them into signing enlistment records as they rushed to the outhouse.
• The mayor's recruitment drive reached five hundred thousand Pandaren, while those who refused faced public scorn and some died by suicide.
• The Pandaren traveled by sea turtles to Rag City without weapons, armor, or adequate food.
• An Orc officer pointed out Rag City and ordered the bewildered Pandaren to charge.

Test Platform 335’s Trogg forces were overwhelmed by Orc-directed waves of Pandaren and Tauren, and Rag City fell to the Night Elves. As the last Troggs died, an Orc scout told Thrall that the Night Elves were exhausted.

• Test Platform 335 watched the approaching armies and kept Trogg civilians moving toward safety while preparing Rag City’s remaining forces to fight.
• The Troggs opened fire on the unarmed Pandaren, while Tauren and Orcs forced fleeing survivors back toward the battlefield and killed those who resisted.
• Robbie urged Test Subject 335 not to spare the Pandaren and acknowledged that the Battle of Mount Hyjal could not be changed.
• After a day of fighting, the exhausted Troggs were overwhelmed, and the Night Elf army entered Rag City as Test Subject 335 set the command platform alight.
• Valstann Fandral Staghelm led the slaughter of the remaining Troggs, and an Orc scout reported to Thrall that the Night Elves were exhausted.

Thrall’s Orcs attacked Rag City after its fall, and Valstann Fandral Staghelm’s refusal to believe they were enemies left the Night Elves vulnerable. Fiona escaped with the Druids, but Thrall had Valstann brutally killed and ordered a massacre of the city’s exhausted survivors.

• Thrall ordered his Orcs to attack Rag City and kill everyone there, while Valstann searched in vain for the sealed Trogg tunnels.
• Fiona urged Valstann to prepare for the Orcs, but he rejected her warning and threatened to punish anyone who disobeyed his command.
• After learning the Anti-Magic Array had been destroyed, Fiona led the Druids in retreat, and they escaped by transforming into birds.
• Thrall entered Rag City, bit off Valstann’s arm, and ordered Orcs to tear him apart while a Troll mage recorded the killing.
• Thrall explained to Eitrigg that he intended to frighten the Night Elves through cruelty, as the Orcs had done to the Draenei.
• The Orcs slaughtered the exhausted Night Elves, Tauren, and Pandaren throughout Rag City.

After the fall of Rag City, Garrosh and Doras claimed the victory before Archimonde, leaving Thrall stripped of credit and under pressure to obey the Burning Legion. Thrall left plotting against Garrosh, while Vol'jin offered to prove his loyalty by helping kill Grom Hellscream.

• The Orcs massacred the Tauren and Pandaren at Rag City, and the battle shifted Azeroth's races toward the Horde while devastating Pandaria.
• Thrall went to Dalaran to claim credit, but found Garrosh and Doras seated beside Archimonde, with Vol'jin nearby.
• Archimonde credited Garrosh and Doras for the victory, warned Thrall to respect them, and revealed that he had marked their souls for resurrection.
• Archimonde ordered Thrall to kill ten Ancient Divine Turtles and told him to use an emissary of the Moon Goddess against the Night Elves.
• Thrall left Archimonde's tent hating Garrosh, and Vol'jin followed him and offered to help kill Grom Hellscream.

Vol'jin persuaded Garrosh to agree to sacrifice Grom Hellscream to regain Thrall's trust, while the Horde conquered the Scarlet Lands and expanded into Durotar. In Darnassus, Fandral Staghelm's grief and anger stirred the sleeping Druids toward revenge, and Tyrande was told to seek Cenarius's help.

• Vol'jin proposed that Thrall sacrifice Grom Hellscream to win the Night Elves' trust, and Thrall approved the plan.
• Vol'jin and Doras persuaded Garrosh that Grom's death was necessary for Garrosh to become Warchief, and Garrosh reluctantly agreed.
• Thrall's Horde slaughtered the inhabitants of the Scarlet Lands, renamed the region Durotar, built Orgrimmar, and prepared to attack the Barrens and Ashenvale.
• Fandral Staghelm mourned his murdered son Valstann and spread his fury among the Druids sleeping in the Emerald Dream.
• Tyrande defended Fandral to the Moon Goddess's disguised messenger, who directed her to ask Cenarius to persuade him.

Cenarius denounced Fandral Staghelm and persuaded most Night Elves to accept his version of events, while the Druids who returned from Rag City were imprisoned. Grommash Hellscream recovered his senses, beat Garrosh, and set out to rally his followers and seek the Burning Legion’s support against Thrall.

• Cenarius told Fandral that Valstann had betrayed Azeroth and deserved to die, then accused the slain sentinels and civilians of corruption.
• Cenarius presented Valstann as a servant of C’Thun who had plotted to kill Thrall, and most Night Elves believed him.
• Cenarius’s followers imprisoned Fiona and the other Druids who had returned from Rag City, then directed the Night Elves to help the Orcs.
• Grommash Hellscream recovered his memories and learned that Garrosh had defeated Thrall and secured his treatment from the Burning Legion.
• Grommash beat Garrosh, declared that he would take back what Thrall owed him, and went to seek Archimonde’s support.
• After Garrosh woke, Vol’jin told him that the struggle for the chieftainship had begun.

Garrosh’s injury ruined his plan to use Grom Hellscream’s influence, and Doras and Vol’jin advised him to hide. Archimonde gave Grom control of the Warsong Clan and Ashenvale, while Thrall was ordered to negotiate with the Night Elves as Mannoroth prepared to support the invasion.

• After Grom Hellscream beat him, Garrosh realized his father had broken with him, and Doras told him to stay hidden with her.
• Archimonde praised Grom, separated the Warsong Clan from the other Orcs, and gave Grom sole command of it.
• Grom told Archimonde that he knew the identity of Elune’s divine envoy, and Archimonde assigned Ashenvale to the Warsong Clan.
• Thrall learned that the Warsong Clan had split away and was ordered by Archimonde to negotiate with the Night Elves and seek a meeting with the envoy.
• Archimonde ordered Mannoroth to secretly help Grom take Ashenvale and revealed that the Consortium would bring a Fel Reaver production line to Azeroth to fight the Scourge.

Robbie warned the unprepared Night Elves of Ashenvale about the Orc threat and used a display of moonlight to convince Alaina Starshine that he was an envoy of the Moon Goddess. As the Night Elves began preparing for war, Eitrigg found Cenarius eager to ally with the Orcs, while Grom Hellscream launched an attack on Ashenvale.

• Robbie saw that the Night Elves of Ashenvale were unprepared for war because Cenarius had convinced them that the Orcs were friendly.
• Robbie visited Alaina Starshine in Astranaar and claimed that the Moon Goddess had sent him to save the Night Elves.
• Alaina believed Robbie and began preparing Ashenvale’s Night Elves to defend their home.
• Eitrigg arrived in Darnassus and found Cenarius welcoming the Orcs and urging an alliance.
• Grom Hellscream led the Warsong Clan in an attack on Ashenvale while Eitrigg and Cenarius negotiated.

Grommash Hellscream launched a coordinated sneak attack on Ashenvale while Eitrigg distracted Cenarius with a banquet in Darnassus. The attack was exposed as an illusion and the Warsong Clan was defeated, but Cenarius had already agreed to give Ashenvale to the Orcs before the true report arrived.

• Cenarius hosted Eitrigg at a banquet while Grommash Hellscream split the Warsong Clan into squads and led the main force toward Astranaar.
• Grommash Hellscream's Orcs set Astranaar ablaze and attacked its sleeping Night Elf residents.
• A guard tried to warn Cenarius that Ashenvale was under attack, but Cenarius's attendant dismissed him and Cenarius chose to prioritize an alliance with the Orcs.
• Eitrigg learned of the fighting and praised the Orcs' supposed devotion to peace while Grommash Hellscream believed the attack had succeeded.
• Alaina Starshine revealed that the Orcs had been trapped by an illusion, then her Night Elves killed three thousand Orcs and captured Grom Hellscream and more than three thousand others.
• Eitrigg persuaded Cenarius to grant Ashenvale to the Warsong Clan, and the true report of the fighting reached Darnassus as the banquet ended.

Cenarius set out for Astranaar to punish the Night Elves, while Robbie urged Alaina to let the Orcs kill him instead. After escaping captivity, Grommash Hellscream encountered Cenarius in the mist and attacked him.

• Cenarius learned that the Warsong Clan had suffered heavy losses and promised Eitrigg he would bring the Orcs justice.
• Robbie reminded Alaina that Elune had never aided the Night Elves and advised her to let the Orcs kill Cenarius.
• Grommash Hellscream broke his decorative chains, escaped the well, and found Gorehowl.
• Cenarius arrived near Astranaar, fell from his Hippogryphs, and discovered that his Druid magic no longer worked.
• Grommash Hellscream mistook Cenarius for a pursuing enemy and swung his battle axe at him.

After Grom Hellscream’s attack failed to harm Cenarius, Hellscream tricked the demigod into escorting him to Mannoroth, who devoured Cenarius. Mannoroth told Hellscream that Thrall had betrayed his plan to ambush the Night Elves.

• Grom Hellscream struck Cenarius with Gorehowl, but the blow only knocked Hellscream back and cut a few strands of Cenarius’s hair.
• Grom Hellscream pretended to repent, and Cenarius agreed to escort him to meet a friend downstream.
• Grom Hellscream led Cenarius into Mannoroth’s valley and presented him as food for the Pit Lord.
• Mannoroth ate Cenarius, leaving his head for Grom Hellscream, who lamented the Warsong Clan’s defeat.
• Mannoroth reasoned that Thrall had betrayed Hellscream’s secret attack plan, and Hellscream realized he had been right.

Malfurion woke from his long sleep and received Elune’s oracle ordering the Night Elves to free the Orc prisoners and surrender Ashenvale to Hellscream. Robbie challenged Alaina Starshine’s faith in the oracle and urged her to kill the prisoners, leaving her questioning whether Elune was truly a female Orc.

• Mannoroth urged Hellscream to separate the Warsong Clan from Thrall and claim Ashenvale, while tales of Cenarius’s death and Hellscream’s teeth spread across Azeroth.
• Tyrande mocked the sleeping Malfurion until he awoke and told her that Ysera had delivered Elune’s order for them to oversee an alliance with the Orcs.
• Malfurion told Tyrande that Elune’s oracle required the Night Elves to release three thousand Orc prisoners and cede Ashenvale to the Warsong Clan.
• Alaina Starshine questioned the oracle, and Robbie claimed Elune was a female Orc and encouraged Alaina to defy the order.
• Robbie burned the oracle and ordered Alaina to kill the Orc prisoners, but she asked whether Elune was really a female Orc.

After Ashenvale defied the Moon Goddess's oracle, Tyrande and Malfurion realized they lacked the strength to punish its Night Elves. Tyrande sought Illidan's help, but Maiev refused to release him against their own people.

• At Robbie's suggestion, three thousand Warsong Clan prisoners were slaughtered, and their ears were sent to Darnassus, enraging Tyrande.
• Tyrande and Malfurion found that few Night Elves would join them against Ashenvale and decided to turn to Illidan.
• Tyrande visited Maiev at the Vault of the Wardens and learned that Maiev had implanted Illidan with love for Tyrande.
• Maiev showed Tyrande the flower called Tyrande's Memory, which kept Illidan devoted to her, and confirmed he could serve while remaining on Azeroth.
• Tyrande ordered Illidan to fight the Night Elves of Ashenvale, but Maiev refused, calling them her brothers and sisters.