Chapter Summaries

Baron Rivendare explained Lordaeron’s resistance against the Orcs and began training Arthas in combat, teaching him to exploit Orc weaknesses. The chapter ended with High Overlord Saurfang secretly meeting Thrall and asking what he needed done.

• Arthas doubted he could protect Lordaeron, while Baron Rivendare told him the kingdom’s hope rested with him.
• Baron Rivendare described how Blackmist Fortress defeated the Orcs using poisoned tobacco and Rage Potions, and said its soldiers had rescued more than a hundred thousand civilians.
• Baron Rivendare began training Arthas by making him fight a chained Orc and teaching him to avoid direct clashes and target Orcs’ weaknesses.
• Robbie knocked down the Orc when Arthas was nearly overwhelmed, then learned to use sharp turns to escape a berserk Orc.
• High Overlord Saurfang secretly met Thrall at the edge of a swamp and asked what he needed him to do.

Thrall coerced High Overlord Saurfang into helping him break Grom Hellscream by threatening Saurfang’s son. Meanwhile, Arthas rapidly defeated Orc veterans, received the warhammer Holy Light's Vengeance, and vowed to make the Orcs pay for the fallen soldiers.

• Thrall ordered High Overlord Saurfang to help him bring Grom Hellscream under control and threatened Saurfang’s son when Saurfang resisted.
• Saurfang swore to serve Thrall and prostrated himself before him.
• Arthas defeated a third Orc veteran using the combat techniques he had learned from Robbie and his training.
• Baron Rivendare presented Arthas with the warhammer Holy Light's Vengeance, which Arthas raised as Holy Light filled the fortress.
• Arthas told Robbie that the dead soldiers taught him the Orcs’ techniques and vowed to make their killers suffer.

Thrall and Sylvanas Windrunner plotted to kill Baron Rivendare and claim Stratholme, but Arthas volunteered to face Saurfang instead. The chapter ended as Arthas emerged from Blackmist Fortress and Thrall recognized him.

• Thrall mocked Blackmist Fortress and ordered Saurfang to lure Baron Rivendare out, while promising Sylvanas Windrunner Stratholme in exchange for her help.
• Sylvanas brought her rangers to ambush Rivendare, but Arthas learned of the trap from the departed souls.
• Arthas insisted on accepting Saurfang's challenge, saying he wanted to prove House Menethil had no cowards and trusted the departed souls to warn him of arrows.
• Arthas, Robbie, and Rivendare left the fortress, and Saurfang taunted the young prince.
• Thrall spotted Arthas and wondered why the prince Lordaeron had banished was there.

Arthas killed High Overlord Saurfang in their first exchange, and Robbie turned the Elven rangers’ arrows back on them. After Thrall sacrificed and devoured two rangers, Sylvanas declared war on Lordaeron, leaving Robbie to warn her she might regret it.

• Thrall urged Sylvanas to kill Arthas and Robbie, and Sylvanas prepared her rangers to attack.
• Arthas struck Saurfang down with a single blow, stunning Thrall and Baron Rivendare.
• Sylvanas’s rangers fired at Arthas and Robbie, but Arthas blocked three arrows and Robbie redirected nine toward the Elves.
• Thrall used two rangers as shields, then devoured them while taunting Sylvanas.
• Sylvanas declared war on Lordaeron, and Robbie warned her not to regret her decision.

Sylvanas explained why she had allied with the Orcs before Guardian Medivh arrived to seize Arthas’s power. Kel'Thuzad forced Medivh to retreat, and Arthas learned that he was expected to succeed the dying archmage.

• Sylvanas recalled her warnings to King Terenas and said she had allied with the Orcs to protect her people.
• Medivh appeared and revealed that he had extracted power from Arthas’s siblings and wanted Arthas’s bloodline for himself.
• Medivh gathered Fel and Arcane power to capture Arthas, while Sylvanas, Thrall, and Baron Rivendare reacted to the threat.
• Kel'Thuzad arrived and challenged Medivh, prompting Medivh to teleport away Thrall, Sylvanas, her subordinates, and the wounded King Saurfang.
• Kel'Thuzad told Arthas he would succeed him and asked him to meet in Andorhal at the next full moon.
• Thrall landed in the Blackmist Wilderness beside Saurfang and angrily berated him.

Medivh returned to Karazhan after ordering Thrall to heal Saurfang, then discovered that Kael'thas’s usual screams had stopped. Moroes explained that the prince enjoyed his peculiar hospitality, and the chapter revealed how Kael'thas’s pursuit of Jaina and theft of his family’s secret art had led him into Medivh’s custody.

• Medivh ordered Thrall to place the dying Saurfang on the Fel altar, where Saurfang’s wounds began to heal.
• Medivh completed his rounds of Karazhan and became alarmed when he heard no familiar scream from Kael'thas.
• Moroes told Medivh that Kael'thas seemed to take pleasure in his treatment, and Medivh went to see the captive prince.
• Kael'thas had pursued Jaina, stolen his family’s secret art to impress her, and sought Kel'Thuzad’s help in understanding it.
• After learning that Medivh had defeated Kel'Thuzad, Kael'thas was taken from a noblewoman’s bed in Alterac and brought naked to Dalaran by Medivh.

Medivh sent Kael'thas to deal with the wounded Kel'Thuzad, while Kael'thas warned him about the Orcs. At Blackmist Fortress, Thrall and Grom Hellscream met with their forces, as Arthas and Robbie watched from hiding and anticipated Grom's defeat.

• Medivh ordered Kael'thas to kill Kel'Thuzad and promised he could meet Jaina in Andorhal, and Kael'thas agreed while warning Medivh that the Orcs might betray him.
• Baron Rivendare abandoned Blackmist Fortress and withdrew to Stratholme after learning that the High Elves had joined the battle.
• Thrall's Orcs occupied Blackmist Fortress, and the Warsong Clan arrived the next day to face them outside its walls.
• Thrall confronted Grommash Hellscream, who accused him of hanging Orgrimmar from a flagpole.
• Arthas and Robbie watched the confrontation from an abandoned house, while Arthas noted that Thrall had elven rangers and Silver Hand knights waiting in ambush.

Thrall challenged Grom Hellscream for leadership, revealing his plan to drain Azeroth’s elemental power and restore Draenor. Hellscream broke free of Thrall’s elemental assault and prepared to fight with Gorehowl.

• Thrall and Grom Hellscream argued over whether the Orcs should submit to the Burning Legion, then began a duel for leadership.
• Grom Hellscream drank Demon Blood, stunned Thrall with his battle cry, and bit his shoulder, draining his strength.
• Thrall used wind, lava, and lightning to attack Hellscream, then revealed his plan to channel Azeroth’s elemental power into Draenor.
• Grom Hellscream freed himself from the lava hand and raised Gorehowl to continue the fight.

Thrall defeated Grommash Hellscream with a frenzy potion, but Sylvanas and Saurfang ambushed and apparently killed him. As Robbie watched, Fel power made Thrall’s head glow green.

• Thrall parried Grommash Hellscream’s relentless attacks until he lost his grip on the Doomhammer.
• Thrall used a frenzy potion to drive Grommash Hellscream mad, then wore him down with summoned Earth Elementals.
• Thrall mocked the weakened Grommash Hellscream and threatened to torture his soul, but Grommash warned that the fight was not over.
• Sylvanas shot Thrall in the chest, and Saurfang struck him with a battle axe, killing him.
• Grommash praised Sylvanas and Saurfang and promised them rewards, while Robbie expected history to intervene.
• Thrall’s head began glowing green with Fel power.

A twisted soul inside Thrall’s body revealed itself as Broxigar, seized control of Hellscream, and attacked Sylvanas and her rangers. Before departing, Broxigar instructed Saurfang to guard Thrall and described how a ring could awaken him, while Arthas secretly listened.

• Broxigar’s evil soul emerged from Thrall and revealed that it had served the Burning Legion for ten thousand years while waiting to possess his body.
• Broxigar drained Hellscream’s Fel power and restrained him, then ignored Saurfang and turned toward Sylvanas and her rangers.
• Sylvanas’s arrow passed through Broxigar harmlessly, and he struck her rangers with Fel arrows, killing them and corrupting Sylvanas.
• Broxigar secretly told Saurfang to watch over Thrall, explained how the ring could awaken him, and asked him to wake him if Thrall became engaged to an Orc woman.
• Broxigar said Thrall would be placed on the Burning Legion’s altar, while Arthas silently overheard the exchange and Robbie understood the Orcish slogan about Thrall’s green head.

Thrall unified the Orcs through brutal violence and prepared to invade Lordaeron as King Terenas faced starvation, condemnation, and death in his capital. Meanwhile, Experiment 335 finally reached Lordaeron after a dangerous journey across Kalimdor and began recounting his rise under the identity of Kenan Lieti.

• Thrall resurrected by the Evil Soul slaughtered the Warsong Clan and tortured Grommash Hellscream until he submitted.
• Thrall abolished the Orc clans, centralized power, and declared that the Orcs would take Lordaeron and make King Terenas pay.
• King Terenas read Dalaran’s resolution supporting the Orcs, while Nadori condemned him and jumped from the balcony after taking poison.
• Two starving palace guards asked King Terenas for help as he imagined the souls of the dead surrounding him.
• Experiment 335 arrived near Lordaeron aboard an airship after a dangerous three-year journey and reflected on his preparations and rise as Kenan Lieti.

Kenan Lieti, also called Experiment 335, traveled to Lordaeron hoping to prevent Arthas from becoming the Lich King. Uther staged a prosperous city and lavish banquet for him, but Kenan began revealing his knowledge of the coming disaster.

• Kenan Lieti recalled how he used the Orb of Deception and compromising photographs of Xiaolan Bloodhoof to marry her and rise to Thunder Bluff's chief high priest.
• Experiment 335 told his attendants that he wanted to change Arthas's fate and believed Lordaeron could be saved if Arthas avoided Frostmourne.
• Experiment 335 saw that Lordaeron appeared deserted, while Undead beneath the airship mistook it for a flying creature.
• Alexandros Mograine detained the Tauren emissaries and alerted Uther, who brought civilians from the Thorium Territory to stage a bustling city for them.
• Uther arranged a lavish banquet with King Terenas, where Kenan Lieti revealed that he could see the future and warned that Lordaeron's doom was near.
• Kenan Lieti told Uther, Mograine, and King Terenas that Arthas would soon kill Kel'Thuzad in Andorhal as part of a conspiracy.

Experiment 335 recounted a prophecy in which Arthas became a Death Knight and destroyed Lordaeron, but Uther, Mograine, and Terenas rejected its implausible details. Medivh used the revelation of Frostmourne’s location to send Thrall to kill Terenas, who refused to lead Lordaeron’s survivors to Kalimdor, and Thrall brought down the Doomhammer.

• Experiment 335 described how Mal'Ganis supposedly manipulated Arthas into purging Stratholme and taking Frostmourne, but Uther and Mograine challenged the story’s details.
• Experiment 335 said Arthas would become the Scourge’s leader and kill Terenas and Uther, while Terenas insisted Arthas could not do it and revealed that his son had been exiled.
• Thrall entered the throne room carrying the Doomhammer and admitted he had been eating people from Uther’s Thorium Territory.
• Medivh appeared through a magic scroll and urged Terenas to lead Lordaeron’s survivors west to Kalimdor, but Terenas refused to risk their deaths among foreign races or in the Barrens.
• Medivh learned from Experiment 335 that Frostmourne was hidden in a cave at the back of Dragonblight, then ordered Thrall to finish Lordaeron.
• Terenas closed his eyes, and Thrall struck him with the Doomhammer.

Thrall slaughtered King Terenas and revealed that he intended to conquer Azeroth, exploit the Tauren, and use Tirion Fordring to control Hearthglen. As Arthas mourned his father and accepted the departed souls’ terms, he chose revenge or redemption.

• Experiment 335 watched Thrall kill King Terenas while Uther protested and Mograine calmly ate.
• Thrall and Eitrigg treated Experiment 335 as food, then discussed forcing the Tauren into an alliance as provisions, soldiers, and supplies for the Orc conquest.
• Thrall ordered Eitrigg to approach Tirion Fordring about surrendering Hearthglen, with destruction as the alternative.
• Arthas fell from his horse after Terenas died, begged the departed souls, and told Robbie that he had accepted their terms.
• Kilwinter reached Razorfen Downs in the Barrens and rejoiced at the sight of charging Quilboar.
• Arthas told Robbie that the terms were revenge or redemption, then wiped away his bloody tears.

Uther mourned Lordaeron’s destruction and regretted helping the Orcs, then sent his son Udir away rather than let him die defending Stratholme. At Karazhan, Medivh resolved to investigate Frostmourne and opened a portal to the Wyrmrest Temple to summon Alexstrasza.

• Uther rode through the ruined streets of Lordaeron, admitted his guilt, and vowed to accept execution if Terenas’s son Sarthas returned with Frostmourne to avenge him.
• Uther learned that his eldest and second sons had died protecting Udir from the Orcs.
• Udir told Uther he planned to join his Fifth Sister and the remaining forces heading to Stratholme, but Uther begged him to hide his identity and survive.
• Udir agreed to leave for the Kingdom of Gilneas, and Uther watched him ride away in tears.
• At Karazhan, Medivh dismissed the prophecy about Frostmourne until a strange voice warned him to fear its unknown power.
• Medivh decided to verify whether Frostmourne existed, opened a portal to the Wyrmrest Temple, and called for Alexstrasza to awaken.

Medivh forced Alexstrasza to search Dragonbone Plain for Frostmourne, then destroyed a secluded basin and its swordlike peak when he suspected the sword might be buried there. News of the eruption reached Muradin Bronzebeard, who saw a chance to find the Eternal Flame and forge a Legendary weapon.

• Medivh ordered Alexstrasza to take him through Dragonbone Plain to search for Frostmourne, despite her insistence that no such sword was there.
• Alexstrasza flew Medivh over the northern mountains and pointed out local creatures and territories, but Medivh detected no unusual magic.
• Medivh decided Frostmourne might be hidden beneath a special landscape and had Alexstrasza fly to a lush basin surrounded by mountains.
• Medivh unleashed a storm of thunderbolts that split the earth, collapsed the swordlike peak, and triggered the ancient volcano, burying the basin in lava.
• Muradin Bronzebeard heard about the eruption and set out hoping to find the Eternal Flame and forge a Legendary weapon.

Robbie and Arthas taught Lord Marrowgar and the Undead to use Runes, giving them a way to defend themselves as the forces hunting Arthas closed around Andorhal. Marrowgar declared Arthas their king and set out to spread the new knowledge, while Arthas and Robbie considered seeking Jaina to enter the city.

• Robbie lit a fire at an abandoned house near Felstone Field, and he and Arthas shared a meager breakfast with Lord Marrowgar, an Undead visitor.
• Marrowgar explained that the Silver Hand and the Orcs were hunting and slaughtering the Undead, while four forces waited near Andorhal to capture Arthas and Kel'Thuzad.
• Robbie realized the Undead had strong spiritual power and proposed teaching them Rune Casting.
• Robbie and Arthas taught Marrowgar the Blood, Frost, Evil, and Scourge Runes, and Marrowgar quickly learned to use them.
• Marrowgar pledged the Undead's loyalty to Arthas, called him King Arthas Menethil, and left to teach the runes to others.
• Arthas suggested that he and Robbie find Jaina as a way to get into Andorhal.

Arthas confronted Jaina at a manor near Andorhal and revealed that he knew damaging secrets about her, but she dismissed his leverage and let him leave. Robbie noticed that Arthas had not uncovered Jaina’s most dangerous secret and wondered whether she had deliberately sought her father’s death.

• Jaina left the blocked roads near Andorhal and stayed in a comfortable manor while the lords prepared for battle in Stratholme.
• Arthas and Robbie entered the manor, and Robbie held Destiny to Jaina’s neck as she considered using the Evil Eye on her hand to summon Medivh.
• Jaina tried to appeal to Arthas’s old feelings, but he recalled how she had used Charm Magic and a maid to manipulate him on Hallow’s End.
• Arthas revealed that he had investigated Jaina’s past in Kul Tiras, but Jaina said his revelations could not threaten her future as queen.
• Robbie noticed Jaina’s relief and concluded that Arthas’s secret was not the deadly truth she was hiding.
• Robbie questioned whether Jaina’s true goal had been to see her father dead.

Robbie coerced Jaina into opening Andorhal to them on the full moon, but he realized the meeting with Kel'Thuzad was a decoy meant to keep the allies away from Stratholme. At dawn, the group discovered Arthas had never arrived, and a vast Undead army surrounded Andorhal.

• Robbie threatened Jaina with a fabricated secret and secured her promise to alter Andorhal's patrols on the night of the full moon.
• Arthas suspected Jaina's brother Derek's death and his father's near-death in the Second War might have been part of a conspiracy.
• Robbie realized Kel'Thuzad's arranged meeting was a trap to keep the Order of the Silver Hand, Thrall's Orcs, and Sylvanas's rangers in Andorhal while events unfolded in Stratholme.
• Jaina waited for Arthas at Andorhal, but Thrall, Uther, Saurfang, and the others emerged from hiding at dawn without having seen him.
• Uther concluded Kel'Thuzad had used the meeting and a fabricated Frostmourne prophecy to keep them occupied in Andorhal.
• As Lordaeron's battle song sounded, an immense Undead army converged on Andorhal.

The Undead overwhelmed the Alliance forces at Andorhal, forcing Uther, Thrall, Sylvanas, and Jaina to retreat by teleportation. After discussing their losses and plans for Stratholme, Arthas watched the battle and Robbie told him the Undead needed to be forged into a true army.

• Uther led the Silver Hand, Thrall led the Orcs, and Sylvanas led the Elf rangers in a charge against the Undead, but they discovered their foes had become much stronger and fought with relentless numbers.
• The Undead killed many Paladins, Orcs, and Elf rangers, and some slain Paladins rose again as skeletons to attack their former comrades.
• Uther, Thrall, Sylvanas, and Jaina gathered at the center of the battlefield, where Jaina cast Mass Teleport and took them to safety.
• The commanders counted their losses near Chillwind Camp, and Uther warned that Stratholme could not be left alone while Thrall threatened Hearthglen.
• Arthas watched the battle at Andorhal, and Robbie told him that the ordinary people needed to be forged into a true army.