Chapter Summaries

Garrosh submitted to Grimak, who made Grom Hellscream chieftain of the Warsong Clan and revealed plans to recruit more Orcs. At the Temple of the White Tiger, the leaders discussed Garrosh’s escape and how to pursue him before a mysterious figure fell from a vortex in the sky.

• Garrosh recognized that Grimak controlled the Gronn heart keeping him alive, knelt, and accepted Grimak’s orders.
• Grimak named Grom Hellscream chieftain of the Warsong Clan and told Garrosh they needed more Orcs for their plan.
• After the Dragonmaw Clan’s attack, Zaela surrendered while Garrosh escaped, and Vol’jin threatened her with torture.
• Zaela reminded Thrall that she had been in his bed, so he persuaded Vol’jin to end his threats against her.
• Chromie blamed the leaders for Garrosh’s escape, and Sylvanas proposed using the Ley Line to find him, but Chromie said Kalecgos would refuse.
• A mysterious vortex appeared above the Temple of the White Tiger, and a figure fell from it.

Velen revealed that Garrosh had escaped to Draenor thirty-five years in the past and warned that Kairoz planned to build an Iron Horde to invade Azeroth. Though Chromie said the army could not return without cooperation from someone in Azeroth, the Horde leaders secretly gathered that night and feared the Devil-in-a-Bottle Riddle made betrayal inevitable.

• Velen landed at the Temple of the White Tiger, denied responsibility for Garrosh's escape, and blamed the Alliance and Horde leaders for failing to pursue him.
• Velen told the leaders that Kairoz had taken Garrosh to a parallel Draenor thirty-five years in the past, where he planned to unite the Orcs and build an Iron Horde.
• Chromie explained that Garrosh could invade only if someone in Azeroth helped Kairoz recalibrate a Dark Portal, so the leaders assumed they could prevent his return by refusing to cooperate.
• That night, Baine met secretly with Sylvanas and found the Horde leaders discussing the Devil-in-a-Bottle Riddle and the risk that someone would help Garrosh to protect themselves.
• Thrall, Vol'jin, and Sylvanas warned that no one could safely trust others to refuse Garrosh's offer, leaving the Horde leaders worried about a future betrayal.

Vol'jin maneuvered Thrall into returning to service and assigned him to secure Alliance support and lead the Horde army against Garrosh's Iron Horde. Varian dismissed warnings that the Horde might help Garrosh, even after Genn Greymane reported that its leaders were plotting.

• Vol'jin turned Baine's objection into a supposed suggestion to open the Dark Portal, while Lor'themar Theron and Sylvanas supported the plan and Trade Prince Gallywix objected over its cost.
• Thrall offered to return to service, and Vol'jin welcomed him while asking him to persuade the Alliance to share the costs of opening the Dark Portal.
• Vol'jin also tasked Thrall with leading the Horde army against Garrosh's Iron Horde, and Thrall agreed to charge into battle and kill Garrosh.
• Malfurion and Tyrande warned Varian that the Horde might help Garrosh open the Dark Portal, but Varian dismissed their concerns and sent them away.
• Genn Greymane told Varian that the Horde leaders were still gathered at the Temple of the White Tiger, but Varian doubted they planned to cooperate with Garrosh.

Anduin was captured by Varian and traded intelligence about Garrosh and Draenor for a temporary reprieve. Thrall told Medivh about Garrosh’s plans, and Medivh mentioned his disciple Khadgar.

• Varian ordered his guards to seize Anduin and brought him to the docks’ dungeon for questioning.
• Varian threatened to kill Anduin, who revealed that a Magic Beacon found on Gremi the Escape Expert came from Dalaran.
• Anduin claimed he could help Varian against Garrosh’s Iron Horde, and Varian decided not to execute him for the time being.
• Thrall visited Medivh at Karazhan and explained how Garrosh had traveled to Draenor thirty-five years in the past to create the Iron Horde.
• Medivh listened to Thrall’s account and said that he had a disciple named Khadgar.

Thrall tasked Velen with persuading Varian to help attack Garrosh's Iron Horde, then Velen passed the dangerous assignment to Maraad. Maraad suspected the request was a Horde scheme to weaken the Alliance, and explained how the Horde might exploit an Iron Horde invasion.

• Thrall met Velen in Booty Bay and threatened him with punishment unless he persuaded Varian to join Medivh's campaign against Garrosh.
• Velen waited until Maraad arrived in Ratchet, then falsely claimed A'dal would punish him unless he convinced Varian to fight the Iron Horde.
• Maraad questioned whether the impossible assignment was a Horde trick.
• Maraad warned Velen that the Horde could let the Iron Horde invade the Blasted Lands, then exploit the Alliance's fight against Garrosh to destroy Stormwind and Ironforge.

Maraad warned Varian that the Horde might help Garrosh’s Iron Horde open a route to Azeroth, and persuaded him to consider cooperating with the Horde under Medivh’s oversight. Varian wavered after Shanmiusen, a Faceless One serving as his guard, urged him to attack the vulnerable Horde instead.

• Velen dismissed the risk of Thrall allying with Garrosh, while Maraad argued that Varian would not trust the Horde’s mercy.
• Maraad warned Varian that the Horde might join the Iron Horde and use the weak point near Theramore to reach Azeroth.
• Varian accepted Maraad’s proposal to cooperate with the Horde against Garrosh, with Medivh restraining both sides.
• Shanmiusen revealed his Faceless One corruption and challenged Maraad’s plan, warning that the Horde might betray the Alliance once the Dark Portal opened.
• Maraad suggested Khadgar and Medivh could oversee the alliance, but Shanmiusen urged Varian to attack the vulnerable Horde instead.

Maraad used Velen’s prophecy about House Wrynn’s downfall to persuade Varian to abandon plans to destroy the Horde and reconsider how to deal with the Orcs. Varian rejected Shanmiusen’s proposal after Bolvar condemned it, and Maraad began advising him about the Orcs’ weaknesses.

• Varian considered Shanmiusen’s plan to destroy the weakened Horde and win Sylvanas’s allegiance with the Scourge’s support.
• Maraad warned Varian that the prophecy predicted House Wrynn would lose the throne and flee to Silvermoon after peace came.
• Varian dismissed Shanmiusen and sent him to capture Gryphons in the Hinterlands.
• Varian told Maraad that Bolvar had rebuked him for betraying the Alliance, leaving him to consider cooperation with the Horde.
• Maraad struck the Draenor terrain model with the Hammer of the Naaru and urged Varian to learn from his past encounters with Orcs.

Maraad told Varian how Kargath became the Shattered Hand Clan’s hero, while Grimak revealed that this history was a fabrication and began shaping Kargath into a leader who would drive the orcs to their deaths. Grimak offered Kargath the power to rule the gladiators, and Kargath agreed to pay any price.

• Maraad recounted how Kargath escaped slavery by shattering his own hand and slaughtering ogres, and told Varian that the Shattered Hand Clan’s brutality was its weakness.
• Grimak brought Garrosh to Highmaul and explained that he wanted to create a controllable arena hero to inspire the orcs.
• The slave master described Kargath as a cowardly, servile gladiator who had surrendered his hand to earn comfort and favor.
• Kargath told Grimak that he hated the orcs who had tormented him and believed they would submit to anyone stronger than themselves.
• Grimak offered to make Kargath powerful enough to rule the gladiators and send them to their deaths, and Kargath agreed to anything.

Garrosh watched Grimak turn Kargath into a celebrated Arena champion by arranging his slaughter of a hundred Orcs, then grant him the name Bladefist. The chapter ended in Stormwind City, where Maraad began telling a shaken King Varian about the Iron Horde’s leader.

• Grimak explained that he planned to create an Orc hero and use wandering Orcs as fighters, while Garrosh watched uneasily from the Ogre stands.
• Kargath entered the Arena, where a hundred Orc gladiators taunted him, and fought with a magically empowered blade fist.
• Kargath slaughtered the Orcs as his blade fist fueled his frenzy, until the survivors fled and he stood alone in the Arena.
• Grimak named Kargath Bladefist and outlined his plan for Kargath to escape, gather followers, and form a new clan.
• Maraad addressed a shaken King Varian in Stormwind City and began to tell him about the Iron Horde’s leader.

Maraad frightened Varian with an account of Grom Hellscream’s supposed survival after a hundred days of torture, making Varian reconsider crossing the Dark Portal. On Draenor, Grimak revealed that Grom’s legendary ordeal had been staged and photographed to inspire the Orcs.

• Maraad described the Warsong Clan’s brutality and claimed Grom had survived a hundred days hanging from a tree before killing an Ogre warlord.
• Varian panicked, overturned the sand table, and questioned whether Maraad or Prophet Velen could defeat Grom.
• Maraad sensed magic was influencing his emotions as Varian considered abandoning the crossing of the Dark Portal and dismissed him.
• Grimak showed Garrosh photographs of Grom hanging from a tree beside dead Warsong Orcs and explained that the scene was fabricated to create a legend.
• Grom climbed down, accepted a replica Ogre head, and Grimak said the photographs would spread across Draenor.
• Garrosh questioned the Orc chieftains’ reliance on false legends, and Grimak said some chieftains had real ability.

Grimak brought Garrosh through the shadow-tainted Arakkoa ruins to the Hall of Revelers, a strange estate where Orcs indulged in an illusory feast. A young Orc named Goudan warned Garrosh that the place was the Realm of the Departed and a holy land for learning the true Shaman path.

• Grimak explained that the Orcs had learned Shaman magic from Draenei exiles and led Garrosh to the Hall of Revelers.
• The guards seized Garrosh at the estate’s entrance, while they ignored Grimak.
• The ancient Orc emperor Draenor welcomed Garrosh and invited him to join the revelry.
• Garrosh saw that the feast was rotten and the dancing Orcs were withered skeletons, though Grimak’s food remained fresh.
• Goudan took Garrosh to bathe and warned him that the estate was the Realm of the Departed, where the true Shaman path could be learned.

Garrosh met a young Orc who sought to master the Shaman path and make the Orcs stronger, but Grimak revealed that the Orc was destined to become Gul'dan. In Stormwind, Khadgar removed the Old Gods' influence from Maraad and proposed persuading Varian to help bring about Stormwind's destruction.

• A young Orc told Garrosh he wanted to learn and freely teach the Shaman path so the Orcs could grow stronger and defeat the Draenei.
• The young Orc revealed his harsh upbringing, his plans to destroy the Draenei before Velen died, and his intention to escape the world of the departed by breaking his legs.
• The young Orc immobilized Garrosh with dark magic and tried to eat him, but Grimak intervened and named him Gul'dan.
• Maraad returned to his guesthouse in Stormwind, regretting that he had frightened Varian by describing the Orcs' strength.
• Khadgar removed the Old Gods' influence from Maraad and asked about the Alliance's chances of winning the war.
• Khadgar said he wanted the Iron Horde to occupy the Eastern Kingdoms and fight the Orcs of Kalimdor, then planned to persuade Varian to help destroy Stormwind.

Khadgar and Maraad warned Varian about Ner'zhul and the Ancient Beast Emperor, while Grimak revealed a different history of the Draenei’s arrival in Draenor. Grimak and Garrosh reached Ner'zhul’s village and heard Rulkan berating him in his cave.

• Maraad told Varian and Khadgar that Ner'zhul had awakened the Dark Star and controlled the Ancient Beast Emperor, whose soul had once devastated the Draenei.
• Maraad said Sargeras had torn apart the Ancient Beast Emperor’s soul, and Varian angrily asked who could face him now.
• Grimak told Garrosh that the Ancient Beast Emperor was a fabricated legend used by Velen to conceal the Draenei fleet’s destruction.
• Grimak and Garrosh entered an Orc village and headed toward Ner'zhul’s cave.
• Rulkan berated Ner'zhul for hiding in the cave, while Ner'zhul said he was close to communicating with the ancestral spirits.

Grimak helped Ner'zhul absorb ancestral spirits and gain the power to challenge Rulkan for leadership of the Shadowmoon Clan. Ner'zhul became Warchief after defeating Rulkan, who was banished instead of killed, changing the history Garrosh remembered.

• Rulkan kicked Ner'zhul out of the cave, and Ner'zhul tried to hide his pain and protect a black animal hide covered in writing.
• Garrosh introduced Ner'zhul to Grimak, who persuaded him to abandon his attempt to summon the Ancient Beast Emperor and devour ancestral spirits instead.
• With Grimak's help, Ner'zhul absorbed the spirits and became stronger, then agreed to challenge the Shadowmoon Clan's chief.
• Ner'zhul defeated his wife Rulkan in public; she left with trusted followers and vowed revenge.
• Garrosh realized that his timeline's story of Rulkan's death was false, while in this timeline she was only banished and Ner'zhul became Warchief.

Khadgar persuaded Varian to open the Dark Portal and lead Stormwind into a final fight against the Iron Horde, despite the threat of Kilrogg Deadeye’s prophecies. The story then shifted to Kilrogg’s childhood as a starving slave, where Nantrog forced him to fulfill his father’s prophecy by killing him.

• Maraad warned Varian and Khadgar that Kilrogg’s prophecies had exposed every escape route during the fall of Shattrath.
• Khadgar insisted that Stormwind open the Dark Portal in accordance with Medivh’s will, and Varian reluctantly agreed to lead the kingdom into battle.
• Young Kilrogg scavenged for food beneath the feast table while his nephew Filtis and cousin Nantrog mocked him.
• Kilrogg recalled how his father sacrificed his left eye to foresee his death, after which Nantrog’s father took the chieftainship and made them both slaves.
• Nantrog dragged Kilrogg from beneath the table, gave him a dagger, and ordered him to kill his dying father to fulfill the prophecy.

Kilrogg killed his father to preserve the Bleeding Hollow Clan’s faith in the Deadeye prophecies, then discovered there were no visions and learned to invent prophecies to survive. After Kilrogg became the clan’s prophet and told Nantrog a flattering vision of their future, a spiked club smashed Nantrog’s head.

• Kilrogg’s father told him that prophecies were fabricated and that he had predicted Kilrogg would kill him to keep them both alive.
• Kilrogg rejected his father’s confession and stabbed him, then vowed to prove the Deadeye prophecies were real.
• Nantrog had Kilrogg undergo the prophecy ritual, but Kilrogg saw no visions and was threatened into claiming he had seen the clan’s victory over the Arakkoa.
• Kilrogg invented a prophecy in which the Bleeding Hollow Clan expanded beyond Tanaan Jungle and he and Nantrog died fighting Dragon Slayer Gruul.
• As Kilrogg followed Nantrog out of the cave, a spiked wooden club struck and smashed Nantrog’s head.

Kilrogg Deadeye killed Fel'this after Fel'this murdered his father, then used the Deadeye Prophecy to win the Bleeding Hollow berserkers' allegiance and become their new chieftain. Grimak and Garrosh arrived after the succession was settled and prepared to meet Warlord Hannibal.

• Fel'this killed his father, Nantrog, and forced Kilrogg to proclaim him the prophesied successor.
• Kilrogg attacked Fel'this with a club and beat him to death when Fel'this mocked the Deadeye Prophecy.
• Fel'this's berserkers arrived, and Kilrogg dared them to kill him while claiming the prophecy made him invincible.
• The berserkers knelt and pledged allegiance to Kilrogg, who declared himself the Bleeding Hollow Clan's new chieftain.
• Grimak and Garrosh arrived in Tanaan Jungle and learned the chieftainship struggle had ended.
• Grimak told Garrosh that Warlord Hannibal, chieftain of the Blackrock Clan, was the strongest Orc and Samuro's junior fellow disciple.

Maraad described Warlord Hannibal’s power and the brutal rule he imposed on the Blackrock Clan, while Blackhand was chosen to become a furnace soul. Grimak and Garrosh then discovered that Blackrock Foundry was built by the Draenei and that the Orcs had misused its Nebula Engine technology.

• Maraad told Varian and Khadgar that Hannibal had defeated three ancient gods and possessed strength comparable to Deathwing.
• At Blackrock Mine, Hannibal terrorized laborers while Blackhand and Orgrimmar endured the clan’s exhausting work.
• An Orc guard told Blackhand he had been selected to work at Blackrock Foundry, where he would become a furnace soul.
• Grimak showed Garrosh around Blackrock Foundry and explained that the Draenei had built it to construct their warships.
• Grimak revealed that the Orcs were using a rare artificial high-temperature Fire Elemental, meant for a Nebula Engine, as a furnace core.

Blackhand survived the Blackrock Foundry’s furnace after a Fire Elemental recognized him, gaining immense power and destroying the furnace. As unrest spread, Hannibal discovered that Destroyer Dov had withdrawn his support and chosen a new partner.

• Grimak spotted a chance to conceal the special Fire Elemental by using Blackhand’s transformation to create chaos at the foundry.
• Blackhand entered the furnace, endured its flames, and discovered that he had survived with new fire powers.
• Blackhand broke the furnace apart, killing nearby Orcs and triggering a riot at the Blackrock Foundry.
• Garrosh asked whether Blackhand could defeat Hannibal, and Grimak said the outcome depended on neither of them.
• Hannibal prepared to quell the unrest but could not lift his warhammer, and Destroyer Dov told him he had found a better partner.

Blackhand became the new chief of the Blackrock Clan after Hannibal surrendered power and plunged into the mine. Blackhand chose to preserve the clan’s brutal labor system, then received a summons from Destroyer Dov.

• Hannibal reflected on the Blackrock Clan’s future and arranged to pass his will to Blackhand, the Orc recognized by Draenor’s Fire Elementals.
• Blackhand went to the Blackrock Mine, where Hannibal praised his potential and urged him to carry on the clan’s legacy.
• Blackhand knelt and accepted the succession; Hannibal gave him the surname Blackhand, warned him to honor his promise, and jumped into the mine.
• Blackhand lifted Hannibal’s warhammer and ordered the cheering miners back to work.
• Blackhand asked Orgrimmar how to rule, and Orgrimmar advised him to keep the mines and foundry operating; Blackhand agreed that Orcs needed brutal rule.
• An iguana man arrived with Destroyer Dov’s summons, warning Blackhand that he should know who truly ruled Gorgrond.