Chapter Summaries

Varian was sent to Silvermoon City for a political marriage with Sylvanas, where he discovered that the captive Thrall was an undead carrying a message from Arthas. Meanwhile, Elune revealed that the Scourge had begun interfering with parallel worlds, and a shadow-wreathed star fell near Sindragosa's Fall.

• King Llane arranged Varian's marriage to Sylvanas and sent him to Silvermoon City under Sir Lothar's escort.
• Varian and Sylvanas entered a distant marriage, while Varian spent his time socializing with Kael'thas.
• Varian recognized the strange captive Thrall and learned that he remembered Varian's time as king and served the Lich King Arthas.
• Elune told the Emissary that the Scourge was attacking parallel worlds and that Tirion Fordring might become the new Lich King.
• After the Horde retook Undercity, Robbie felt a tremor as a shadow-wreathed star fell near Sindragosa's Fall.

The Argent Crusade and Horde built the Trial of the Crusader under Elune’s orders while Robbie watched from the shadows. Eitrigg demanded powerful beasts, a complex magic circle, and a warehouse for the eliminated, as the purpose of Elune’s plan remained unknown.

• Robbie’s Ghouls recovered a piece of the shadowy Giant Star, and he ordered them to hide when the Argent Crusade arrived.
• Tirion Fordring established the Crusade’s camp and arena north of Sindragosa’s Fall with help from Thrall’s Orcs.
• Eitrigg told Tirion to capture the strongest Northrend beasts for the Trial and preserve those eliminated as provisions.
• Eitrigg threatened Rhonin over the arena’s magic circle, and Rhonin said he had asked Medivh for help.
• Robbie continued observing the Crusade without interference so he could discover Elune’s intentions.

Medivh took control of the Trial of the Crusader’s selection process while the Scourge secretly obtained Elune’s formation plans. Robbie and Kel'Thuzad discovered the formation could unleash catastrophic elemental chaos, but suspected Elune had another purpose for placing the trap beneath Icecrown Glacier.

• Medivh claimed Elune’s formation would gather souls and declared that he alone would choose the fifty victors who would serve him.
• Dalaran’s effort to build the formation drained its magic-gem reserves, and Varian raised taxes, throwing the kingdom into turmoil.
• Robbie obtained the formation diagram and Medivh’s technical solutions from Archmage Wilfred Fizzlebang, who asked the Scourge to protect his family from Rhonin.
• Robbie and Kel'Thuzad tested a miniature formation with swarms of insects and found that the meteorite fragments beneath it sprouted tentacles and eyes before the room collapsed.
• Robbie identified the meteorite as part of Y'Shaarj and said the formation would destabilize Azeroth’s elements, but he and Kel'Thuzad wondered whether Elune had deliberately placed the trap beneath Icecrown to lure the Scourge.

Gazlowe proposed making the Argent Crusade's doomed soldiers mine and build for the Horde, but Thrall allowed only limited labor that would not diminish their value as food. As the Trial of the Champion began, Robbie prepared to use Ner'zhul's imprisoned son to probe Elune, while Thrall questioned the loyalty of a Forsaken contestant.

• Gazlowe pitched Thrall on using Argent Crusade soldiers as unpaid miners and builders before turning them into rations, but Thrall rejected the plan because it would make them less appetizing.
• Thrall ordered the soldiers to gather herbs, mine, and do similar work under the name “tempering the mind,” as long as their quality as ingredients was unaffected.
• The Argent Tournament's first Trial of the Champion teams were selected after more than five hundred Argent Crusade soldiers had been eliminated.
• Robbie visited Icecrown Citadel's prison and decided to use Ner'zhul's failed dark knight son to probe Elune.
• Tirion Fordring presented the five Horde representatives for the Trial of the Champion, and Thrall asked about the Forsaken contestant's background.

Thrall manipulated the Argent Tournament and its opening matches, while the Black Knight attacked and routed the challengers. A human Veteran used the gathered souls to activate a magic array, capture the Black Knight beneath the arena, and spread a gray force across Icecrown Glacier.

• Thrall crossed Nathanos Blightcaller and Eitrigg’s two younger brothers-in-law off the tournament roster, and Tirion Fordring opened the Trial of the Champion with a speech condemning the Scourge.
• Five Argent Crusade soldiers attacked the champion team, killing Nathanos Blightcaller’s uncle and eliminating Eitrigg’s brothers-in-law, so Thrall brought in two Orcs and a Blood Elf woman as replacements.
• The preliminary rounds passed, and as Tirion Fordring began introducing the final match, the Black Knight burst through the arena roof and struck Tirion, sending him crashing into a wall.
• The Black Knight turned the five challengers into Ghouls, sparing only the Blood Elf woman, while Vol’jin and Eitrigg watched in fear.
• A human Veteran activated a magic array with countless souls, and a black tentacle seized the Black Knight and dragged him underground.
• The human Veteran declared that he had caught Arthas as a gray force spread from the Argent Tournament across Icecrown Glacier.

A mysterious plague killed five thousand Orc soldiers at the Argent Tournament, while Thrall and Eitrigg survived, and Robbie and Kel'Thuzad began investigating its source. With the Orcs weakened and Tirion's standing improved, General Tuyang urged him to secretly kill Thrall and Eitrigg and seize power.

• A calamitous ash spread from Icecrown, causing the Orcs at the Argent Tournament to suffer painful green sores while the Scourge remained unharmed.
• Vol'jin struck the injured Tirion after Tirion's attempt to heal Thrall worsened his pain, and the human Veteran used dark magic to restore Thrall and Eitrigg.
• The Orc soldiers endured three days of torment and died, leaving Thrall enraged over the loss of five thousand troops.
• Kel'Thuzad identified the ash as a targeted plague, and Robbie proposed asking Y'Shaarj about the flesh's possible role in producing plagues.
• Vol'jin privately instructed a trusted subordinate, while Tirion noticed Thrall treating him with greater respect after the Orcs' losses.
• General Tuyang sealed Tirion's room and proposed secretly killing Thrall and Eitrigg so Tirion could become the Savior.

Tirion Fordring rejected General Tuyang’s offer to seize power, then hesitated until Thrall made him the scapegoat for the Orcs’ losses at Icecrown Glacier. Thrall put Tirion on trial before the Argent Crusade, where the officers called for his execution.

• General Tuyang urged Tirion Fordring to turn against Thrall, but Tirion refused despite suspecting Thrall might blame him for the disaster.
• Garrosh accused Thrall of colluding with the Scourge, while Saurfang the Great condemned Thrall’s failure to protect the five thousand Orc soldiers.
• Thrall secured Jaina’s support by offering the Argent Crusade’s Northrend gains, then had Orc soldiers capture and mutilate Tirion Fordring.
• Thrall accused Tirion Fordring of secretly aiding the Scourge and betraying Argent Crusade soldiers during a public trial.
• General Tuyang and the Argent Crusade officers demanded that Thrall execute Tirion Fordring, while Thrall and Jaina prepared to flee if the crowd turned against them.

Thrall had Tirion Fordring tortured and nearly killed, but the Emissary intervened and restored both men, leaving Tirion withdrawn from public life. Meanwhile, Robbie explored the Junction of Life and Death and followed an underground river toward the being known as Walking Death.

• Thrall accused Tirion Fordring of poisoning the Argent Crusade’s water and had him fried in boiling oil while the soldiers cheered.
• The Emissary revealed that the human Veteran had secretly protected Tirion Fordring’s head, then punished Thrall by plunging him into the oil as well.
• The Emissary ended the conflict and took Tirion Fordring and Thrall away; the next day, both returned, and Tirion withdrew into drunkenness while General Tuyang arranged for an adventurer to impersonate him at ceremonies.
• Robbie evaded pursuit, entered the underground river at the Junction of Life and Death, and found that the cave’s balance of power had shifted toward life.
• Robbie boarded the gray wooden boat and followed the current to seek Walking Death, the shattered soul of Y'Shaarj.

Robbie visited Y'Shaarj at the Junction of Life and Death to warn him that Elune had sent a piece of his body to the surface, but the Human Veteran followed and attacked. Y'Shaarj revealed himself as N'Zoth, defeated the Veteran, and exposed the Emissary's original form as an Orc.

• Robbie told Y'Shaarj about Elune's Life Plague and the piece of Y'Shaarj's body she had sent to the surface.
• Y'Shaarj realized Elune had used the flesh as bait to locate and enslave his soul, but the Human Veteran appeared despite Robbie's barrier.
• Robbie trapped the Human Veteran's body in a Puppet Orb, but the Veteran escaped as a shadow and summoned Elune's Runes to attack Y'Shaarj.
• Y'Shaarj revealed his intact body, shattered the shadow vortex, and identified the Veteran as a true Servant of the Moon Goddess.
• N'Zoth revealed that he was an avatar of Y'Shaarj and transformed the Human Veteran until his original form appeared as an Orc.

N'Zoth and Robbie concluded that Elune might be restoring her damaged soul by consuming Orc souls, and N'Zoth planned to track them through a slaughter at Icecrown Citadel. By probing the Primordial Emissary's memories, they saw how Elune had formed from the remains of a gigantic Orc and divided its faint soul into the Emissary and a white stag.

• N'Zoth argued that Orcs had been created from Ogres and that the Titans had transformed humans from other worlds into Vrykul.
• Robbie suggested that Elune had revived the Orc race to regain her strength, and N'Zoth proposed that she was feeding on Orc souls to heal her own.
• N'Zoth planned to turn Icecrown Citadel into a battlefield, use the Primordial Emissary to mark the dead, and monitor their souls in the Shadowlands.
• N'Zoth invaded the Primordial Emissary's memories and showed Robbie a planet-sized Orc corpse with a faint soul and a green light growing over its heart.
• The green light formed a newborn planet, which drew the Orc's shattered soul into two parts: the Primordial Emissary and a white stag.

The Moon Goddess Elune ordered the Emissary to unite the Alliance and Horde to rescue Lorne from Icecrown Citadel before the Scourge completed a prison for his soul. Thrall avoided leading the attack himself and, with Vol'jin, planned to send Jaina and Sylvanas as representatives.

• N'Zoth learned that the Primordial Emissary had once been powerful enough for a fragment of his soul to become Malorne, and Elune had used his body to resurrect herself.
• Elune told the Emissary that the Scourge was mining the Pit of Saron and ordered an assault on Icecrown Citadel to rescue Lorne, warning that Thrall would lose the Warchief position to Garrosh if he failed.
• The Emissary told Thrall about Elune's order, and Thrall protested before deciding to seek help from Vol'jin.
• Vol'jin advised Thrall to show sincerity without risking himself, then proposed sending Sylvanas and Jaina as Horde and Alliance representatives.
• Vol'jin suggested forcing Jaina to comply through Aegwynn and persuading or threatening Sylvanas, including a threat to destroy Undercity and a claim that Arthas had left Frostmourne behind.

Vol'jin manipulated Thrall, Aegwynn, Jaina, and Sylvanas as he carried Thrall's demand to recruit them for the mission to rescue Emissary Lorne. Jaina set out to gather more allies, while the chapter ended with her arriving in Stormwind, where King Varian reflected on his strange new life and the kingdom's collapse.

• Thrall ordered Vol'jin to pressure Aegwynn and visit Sylvanas, hoping to secure help while weakening Theramore and the Undercity.
• Vol'jin convinced Aegwynn that Thrall had insulted her and Medivh, and Aegwynn ordered Jaina to rescue Emissary Lorne.
• Vol'jin asked Sylvanas to commit the Forsaken to the rescue, and she agreed while privately planning a countermeasure.
• Jaina went to Stormwind City to persuade King Varian to send troops.
• Varian recalled awakening in this world as Stormwind's king and realizing that famine, displacement, and political turmoil had devastated the kingdom.

Jaina struggled to assemble an Alliance force against the Scourge, finding Stormwind depleted and Theramore’s veterans unwilling to fight. After meeting Sylvanas at the Dark Cathedral, Jaina agreed to infect the five thousand troops with a slow-acting plague before they attacked the Pit of Saron.

• Varian signed an order for one hundred thousand soldiers, but Jaina found fewer than two thousand unfit recruits in Stormwind and learned that the city and surrounding lands had been devastated.
• Jaina recruited three thousand veterans in Theramore, but their ships were sabotaged and the soldiers made themselves sick to avoid the expedition.
• Jaina gathered three thousand Argent Crusade candidates to bring her force to five thousand and used Dalaran to transport them to the Dark Cathedral.
• Jaina met Sylvanas, who had brought fewer than a hundred Royal Dreadguards, and agreed to mix plague into the troops’ food and drink so they would rise as Forsaken after being killed.
• Jaina and Sylvanas led the Alliance and Horde forces in their first attack on the Pit of Saron.

Jaina and Sylvanas staged a victory at the Pit of Saron to build their reputations while secretly planning to enter the Forge of Souls and steal Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination. With Taelan’s help, they slipped into the pit disguised in a mine cart, but an imposing voice stopped them in its depths.

• Jaina led five thousand Alliance soldiers in a staged assault on the Pit of Saron, defeating the disguised low-level undead at the cost of around a thousand casualties.
• Sylvanas had Goblin photographers record the battle and arranged for Jaina to pose for additional photographs, planning to publicize their victory.
• Sylvanas told Jaina they would use the staged battle to lower the Scourge’s guard, then enter the Forge of Souls and take Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination.
• Sylvanas revealed that Tirion Fordring had traded her information about the pit, and that his son Taelan could help them infiltrate it.
• Jaina and Sylvanas disguised themselves and hid beneath ore in a mine cart, which Taelan guided through the Pit of Saron’s defenses.
• A voice suddenly ordered them to stop as they reached the depths of the pit, and Jaina heard Sylvanas’s heartbeat.

Jaina and Sylvanas infiltrated the Halls of Reflection, where they found Frostmourne and Emissary Lorne trapped in a mirror. They were shocked when an elderly Arthas entered the halls.

• Jaina disguised herself and Sylvanas as Ghouls, and Taelan smuggled them past Garfrost and into the Forge of Souls.
• Jaina and Sylvanas used magic to evade Scourge patrols and entered the Halls of Reflection.
• Sylvanas moved to take Frostmourne, but Jaina confronted her after learning the Helm of Domination was not there.
• Emissary Lorne warned them that Frostmourne would reap the soul of anyone who picked it up and said they needed courage and sacrifice to rescue him.
• Lorne warned them to hide, and Jaina and Sylvanas saw an elderly Arthas enter the halls.

Arthas used Orc Soul Essence to temporarily restore his strength and tortured the captive Human Veteran while insisting he would not surrender the Lich King’s position. After Kel'Thuzad warned that the Scourge was near collapse, Arthas considered abdication, and Jaina and Sylvanas realized they had to act before he decided.

• Arthas fed ground Soul Essence from the Forge of Souls to Frostmourne and vowed to kill Thrall, Jaina, and Sylvanas once his strength returned.
• The Human Veteran told Arthas that Orc Soul Essence could only ease his aging temporarily and that the Alliance and Horde could defeat him if they united.
• Arthas tortured the Human Veteran with black flames and the souls from Frostmourne, demanding a cure for his aging.
• Kel'Thuzad warned Arthas that his aging had reduced the Scourge to less than one percent of its former strength and urged him to yield to a new Lich King.
• Arthas refused to give up control of the Scourge, but later admitted he might abdicate if Robbie's experiment failed.
• Jaina and Sylvanas feared the Scourge would regain its strength if Arthas abdicated and resolved to act before he made his decision.

Jaina and Sylvanas escaped through the Halls of Reflection while Arthas pursued them, using adventurers as expendable cover. Arthas caught up with them at the balcony, where he revealed that Sylvanas had escaped through a double and Jaina was a mechanical decoy.

• The Human Veteran rejected Sylvanas’s hopes of becoming Warchief and said he would recommend Garrosh if Garrosh rescued him.
• Arthas found Jaina and Sylvanas in the Halls of Reflection, forcing Jaina to blast an exit through a weak spot in the wall.
• Jaina and Sylvanas used adventurers to hold back the Scourge while they broke through Arthas’s ice walls and fled toward the waiting ships.
• Arthas recovered his strength and struck down Sylvanas, but Jaina realized the woman was a High Elf double possessed by Sylvanas’s consciousness.
• Arthas cut Jaina in half, revealing mechanical parts instead of blood.

Jaina learned that Arthas had lured the Horde toward Icecrown Citadel, where a new Magic Circle awaited the souls of those killed in battle. Aegwynn advised her to use Thrall to force the Alliance into the conflict, and Jaina urged him to seize Stormwind City.

• Sylvanas and Jaina returned to their ships after Sylvanas's double and Jaina's Titan-forged construct were destroyed at Icecrown Citadel, while Robbie revealed himself as the disguised Arthas.
• Jaina reported what she had learned to Aegwynn, who reasoned that Taelan was reliable and Arthas had sought to silence Jaina before the information spread.
• Aegwynn told Jaina to keep the Alliance and Horde as the main forces, avoid fighting the Lich King herself, and enlist Thrall to pressure the Alliance into sending troops.
• Jaina confronted Thrall in Orgrimmar, and he resisted until she warned that Garrosh could replace him as Warchief.
• Jaina told Thrall that Stormwind was weak and proposed that two thousand Orcs take the city and force Varian to submit.

Sylvanas recruited Garrosh to pursue the Lich King’s power while seeking Alliance cooperation. In Stormwind City, Thrall and Tirion Fordring forced Varian to approve a decree imposing a Flesh Tax on his people.

• Doras restored Garrosh’s confidence after his defeat, and he accepted Sylvanas’s proposal to become the Lich King.
• Sylvanas said the Horde needed Alliance cooperation and hoped Tirion Fordring would persuade Varian.
• Tirion arrived in Stormwind City with a thousand Argent Crusade soldiers and threatened Varian with the Ashbringer.
• Thrall appeared and demanded that Stormwind provide people under a decree imposing the Flesh Tax.
• Varian, terrified and confused, stamped and signed the decree, and Thrall ordered the tax’s collection to begin.

Varian secretly issued a decree calling on Major Garrick to raise an army against Thrall, but Anduin betrayed the plan. Thrall handed the decree to the stable hand and let him leave, while Varian was left facing an ominous farewell.

• Varian learned from a stable hand that Major Garrick could gather forces in Elwynn Forest and that other regions might join if the King issued a decree.
• Varian drafted a decree appointing Major Garrick Beast-Slaying Grand Marshal and First-Class Duke of Stormwind City and ordering him to drive out the Orcs and the Argent Crusade.
• Thrall confronted Varian with the decree after the stable hand was captured, and revealed that Anduin had informed on them in exchange for a roast chicken.
• Anduin told Thrall he expected to become King of Stormwind City, but Thrall brutally beat and wounded him, blaming him for ruining his plans.
• Thrall gave the decree to the stable hand and allowed him to leave, then told Varian that it had been a pleasure working with him.