Chapter Summaries

Chen Stormstout and his allies formed a coalition against Thrall, but Vanessa and Robbie used the media to make their leaders publicly condemn him and trap them in their pledges. Thrall declared that he was Azeroth, and Illidan answered that he would destroy Azeroth if it was Thrall.

• Chen Stormstout, Khadgar, Anachronos, Mar'gok, Durotan, and Velen agreed to unite against Thrall, and Chen sent a messenger to seek an alliance with Illidan.
• Khadgar helped build permanent portals linking Orgrimmar with the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Winterspring, and Gadgetzan as Thrall's return spread across Azeroth.
• Vanessa and Robbie planned to use media coverage to discourage the uneasy coalition from secretly joining Thrall.
• Thrall recruited forces in Silithus, while Chen Stormstout, Taran Zhu, Mar'gok, Durotan, and Velen were reported as publicly denouncing him, leaving them alarmed and trapped by the reports.
• Velen secretly pledged loyalty to Thrall, but the media reports exposed him and prompted him to panic.
• Thrall declared that he was Azeroth, and Illidan responded that he would destroy Azeroth if it was Thrall.

Chen Stormstout sent Nazgrel and five thousand Lightforging Orcs into Silithus to establish a camp and avoid fighting Thrall, but Nazgrel defeated a night attack and captured over two thousand enemies. When Chen Stormstout and Khadgar arrived weeks later, Khadgar asked to see the prisoners after hearing Nazgrel’s account.

• Chen Stormstout ordered Nazgrel to build a defensible camp in Silithus and avoid engaging Thrall, but Nazgrel insisted he could defeat him.
• Nazgrel led five thousand Lightforging Orcs into Silithus, chose a sheltered campsite, and built a palisade.
• When enemy troops attacked at night, Nazgrel charged out despite his orders, broke through their ranks repeatedly, and captured more than two thousand while about a thousand escaped.
• Nazgrel tied the prisoners together and drove them into a wormhole, then remained in camp until his supplies ran out.
• Chen Stormstout and Khadgar arrived with the main army, and Nazgrel confessed that he had fought the attackers.
• Khadgar expressed surprise that stragglers were in Silithus and asked Nazgrel to take him to the prisoners.

Khadgar’s search through the insect tunnels uncovered Thrall alive and led to his capture. As Thrall was brought back to camp, Magni and Magatha fled the Titan ruins, while SI:7 revealed that it had thwarted the assassination attempt and began pressuring Chen Stormstout over Thrall’s fate.

• Khadgar and Nazgrel found evidence in the tunnels linking the dead prisoners and the recent attack to Thrall’s forces.
• Khadgar discovered that the surviving Orc was Thrall in disguise and placed him in magical shackles.
• Thrall explained that he had attacked after receiving a false signal that his assassins had killed the Lightforged Orcs’ officers.
• Magni Bronzebeard and Magatha Grimtotem prepared to abandon the Titan ruins, while Magni said Thrall’s defeat was only a setback.
• Vanessa sent the Hall of Fame Guild rogues away through a Portal and planned with Robbie to pressure Chen Stormstout, who was troubled by what to do with Thrall.

After Chen Stormstout captured Thrall, envoys across Azeroth pressured him to release the supposed Savior, so Chen set up a cauldron of boiling oil to test their resolve. Kaortes and Malkorok then manipulated a settlement into sending protesters to Orgrimmar, where people began leaping into the cauldron.

• Envoys from many peoples and factions warned Chen Stormstout against holding Thrall, and Khadgar explained their motives and advised him to demand proof of their support.
• Chen Stormstout announced that anyone who truly believed Thrall was Azeroth’s Savior should jump into a cauldron of scalding oil, causing most groups to fall silent.
• Kaortes persuaded Malkorok to exploit a settlement’s belief in Thrall by sending its people to protest in Orgrimmar, hoping they would earn credit if Thrall was rescued.
• Chen Stormstout saw more than a thousand protesters gathered outside Orgrimmar, and a Tauren jumped into the cauldron, followed by others every five minutes.

Chen Stormstout struggled to contain protests demanding Thrall’s release, while Gudan threatened the Highmountain Tauren into joining the demonstrations. Mela Highmountain arrived in Orgrimmar to demand Thrall’s unconditional release and Chen’s resignation, leaving Chen questioning whether he had become like Thrall.

• Chen Stormstout ordered the protesters demanding Thrall’s release to be killed, while Khadgar warned that people were willing to die for Thrall.
• Gudan pressured Mela Highmountain to protest in Orgrimmar and killed a young Highmountain Tauren who spoke against Thrall; Mela refused to contact the Black Dragonflight and chose to comply with Gudan’s demands.
• Mela Highmountain led the Highmountain Tauren to Orgrimmar and demanded Thrall’s release and Chen Stormstout’s resignation, praising Thrall as their savior.
• Chen Stormstout threatened to eat Mela Highmountain, but Khadgar calmed him and let her leave; afterward, Chen wept and said he was beginning to understand Thrall.

Rom Wildtotem was coerced by Gudan into leading Tauren protests demanding Thrall’s release, but he urged Chen Stormstout to kill the protesters rather than let them return to their former suffering. Meanwhile, Sylvanas and Jaina confronted Taran Zhu after escaping his attempt to enslave Sylvanas, and Sylvanas said they had something to tell him.

• Gudan threatened to replace Rom unless he led the Tauren to protest at Orgrimmar for Thrall’s release and restoration as Warchief.
• Rom led more than a thousand Tauren to Orgrimmar, where they demanded Thrall’s release and prepared to jump into cauldrons of boiling oil.
• Rom begged Chen Stormstout to kill the Tauren protesters and turn them into Tough Jerky rather than send them back to Thunder Bluff.
• Rom told reporters that the Tauren would defend Thrall, praising him for making them food for the Orcs.
• Sylvanas and Jaina appeared in Taran Zhu’s magically sealed bedroom, and Sylvanas said they had been freed and had something to tell him.

Chen Stormstout responded to Taran Zhu’s expulsion order and the Pandaren protest by deciding to learn ruthlessness from Thrall. He took Thrall’s name and identity, declared himself Warchief, and left Azeroth arguing that Thrall was a Pandaren.

• Jaina and Sylvanas ordered Taran Zhu to expel Chen Stormstout and send Pandaren to protest in Orgrimmar within three days.
• After meditating, Chen Stormstout learned from Khadgar that Taran Zhu had denounced him and more than two thousand Pandaren were protesting outside Orgrimmar.
• Chen Stormstout told Khadgar that he would visit Thrall, whom he had kept chained in a water prison and subjected to torture.
• Chen Stormstout promised Thrall comfort if he taught him to be a Warchief, then declared that he was taking Thrall’s name and becoming Chen Thrall Stormstout.
• Big Candle Gagg published an account claiming Thrall had been Chen Stormstout all along, and Chen Stormstout publicly declared that Thrall was a Pandaren.

Chen Stormstout punished Cortes and Malkorok while declaring them enemies of Azeroth, and Mela Highmountain learned that her people faced an invasion after doubting the Savior. With Toff Stomphoof’s support, she prepared an ancestral ritual to summon Huln Highmountain.

• Chen Stormstout had Cortes tortured and condemned Malkorok after the gathered media agreed that the accused Destroyers deserved death.
• Mela Highmountain learned that Thrall the Savior was Chen Stormstout and feared that her people’s protests had condemned them.
• A scout reported that a hundred thousand Lightforging Orcs were marching on Thunder Totem and that wolf riders had attacked the Riverbend Tribe.
• Toff Stomphoof helped Mela Highmountain regain her resolve, and she ordered preparations for a ritual to contact Huln Highmountain.

Mela Highmountain performed a ritual to seek help from Huln Highmountain, but her ancestor confirmed that Thrall and Chen Stormstout were the same person and refused to save the Highmountain Tauren. She awoke from the vision facing Huln's demand that she surrender most of her people, then encountered Blackhorn.

• Mela Highmountain followed the Tears of Mu'sha through a realm of Burning Legion bones to a precipice where she called upon Huln Highmountain.
• Huln Highmountain confirmed that Thrall and Chen Stormstout were the same person and rebuked Mela for doubting him and failing as chieftain.
• Huln refused to intervene, saying it would defy fate, and told Mela to beg the Savior's forgiveness and offer four-fifths of her people as rations for the Lightforging Orcs.
• The Tears of Mu'sha went dark, and Mela awoke before the altar with the vision clear in her memory.
• Mela left the room in tears, and the spiritwalker Blackhorn asked why she looked so terrible.

Blackhorn challenged Mela Highmountain’s beliefs about the ancestor Huln Highmountain and took her through a shadow orb’s rift into Huln’s divine realm. After showing her that its dangers were illusions, Blackhorn offered to bring Huln to her.

• Blackhorn told Mela that Huln had advised surrendering and that generations of chieftains had received no help, angering her.
• Blackhorn opened a Spatial Rift with a shadow orb he said he had made, and Mela followed him into Huln’s divine realm.
• Blackhorn walked through the Burning Legion skeletons, revealing they were shadows, while Mela insisted they might be Huln’s magic.
• Blackhorn stepped off a cliff and climbed back up, showing Mela that it was only slightly taller than a person.
• Mela called Blackhorn a cunning devil and backed away, so Blackhorn said he would bring Huln to see her.

Blackhorn revealed to Mela Highmountain that Huln Highmountain was an ordinary soul, not a True God, and that the legend had been maintained to unite the Highmountain Tauren. Mela rejected the evidence and shut herself away, while the next morning Thunder Totem's guards surrounded Blackhorn's residence.

• Mela Highmountain mocked Blackhorn's claim that he could bring their True God ancestor to meet them, but Blackhorn returned from the cliff with Huln Highmountain's soul.
• Huln Highmountain and Blackhorn told Mela that later chieftains had exaggerated Huln's deeds, and Huln showed her a hidden message on the last page of the chieftains' tome declaring him a fabrication.
• Mela refused to believe the message, so Blackhorn took her into the cave where Huln's soul lived and showed her treasures that created the giant horns and the apparent Burning Legion skeletons.
• Blackhorn explained that the Huln Highmountain legend had united the Tauren against their enemies, but that the people had survived through their own strength rather than a True God's protection.
• Mela returned to her room and refused to see anyone, and the next morning Thunder Totem's guards surrounded Blackhorn's residence.

Blackhorn warned the Highmountain Tauren to flee into Neltharion's Lair, but Gray Sky Highmountain had him arrested and apparently burned. Mela Highmountain and her followers abandoned their people and fled to the lair, where they found their family vault empty and triggered a mass teleport.

• Gray Sky Highmountain arrested Blackhorn, who warned the guards that Neltharion's Lair was the Highmountain Tauren's only chance of survival.
• Gray Sky Highmountain ordered Blackhorn burned, but a Fireball rose from the flames and Blackhorn vanished.
• Mela Highmountain and several spiritwalkers escaped to Neltharion's Lair, planning to abandon their people and live in luxury in Pandaria.
• Mela Highmountain opened the secret vault and found it empty, while Gray Sky Highmountain demanded an explanation.
• Mela Highmountain blamed the Black Dragonflight after the group found huge claw marks, then pressed a red button and activated a mass teleport.

Mela Highmountain returned to Thunder Totem during the Orc invasion, blamed General Leiti for allegedly coveting her position, and had him beaten to death. With the Highmountain Tauren’s defenses weakened by her actions, she announced their surrender to the great Savior, leaving Gray Sky Highmountain to defend her decision.

• Mela Highmountain and the others were teleported to Thunder Totem, where General Leiti had repelled several Orc attacks and forced Chen Stormstout to withdraw temporarily.
• Mela Highmountain questioned Leiti about the invasion, then falsely accused him of plotting to seize the chieftain’s position and ordered the guards to beat him nearly to death.
• Chen Stormstout learned from Khadgar that Leiti was a skilled strategist, then heard that Leiti’s corpse had been thrown down from Thunder Totem.
• Some soldiers secretly gathered at a Portal to Neltharion's Lair while Mela Highmountain declared that the Highmountain Tauren would surrender to the great Savior.
• Gray Sky Highmountain answered a soldier’s accusation of betrayal by saying that a chieftain’s actions weren’t betrayal.

After Mela Highmountain submitted to Chen Stormstout, the Highmountain Tauren were slaughtered, and the disaster made Tyrande fear that the Night Elves might face the same fate. Illidan appeared at the Temple of the Moon and warned Malfurion and Tyrande that disaster was coming for the Night Elves.

• Mela Highmountain submitted Thunder Totem to Chen Stormstout, and Chen established a slaughterhouse where countless Highmountain Tauren were killed.
• Tyrande sent priests to Orgrimmar to congratulate Chen Stormstout, then discussed his rise and the Night Elves’ vulnerability with Malfurion.
• Malfurion argued that the Night Elves could not depend on Elune for protection and said he was considering the path of the Flame Druid.
• Illidan infiltrated the Temple of the Moon, told Malfurion and Tyrande that power depended on oneself, and warned that disaster was coming for the Night Elves.

Illidan offered to train a small group of Night Elves as Demon Hunters to help resist the Lightforging Orcs, while Malfurion and Tyrande considered the offer. In Orgrimmar, Thrall warned Chen Stormstout against an all-out war with the Alliance, and Chen decided on a compromise instead.

• Illidan argued with Tyrande and Malfurion that the Night Elves needed stronger fighters to face the Lightforging Orcs, and offered to train a hundred recruits as Demon Hunters.
• After Illidan left, Tyrande told Malfurion that his younger brother was powerful, leaving Malfurion troubled by Illidan’s mysterious origins.
• Chen Stormstout showed the house-arrested Thrall the Horde’s expanded territory and asked whether he should attack the Alliance.
• Thrall advised Chen that an all-out war would defy Azeroth’s Dao, while limited conflict was part of its balance.
• Chen dismissed Mela Highmountain’s call for war and decided to avoid an all-out invasion while seeking a compromise beyond minor skirmishes.

Chen Stormstout sent a Horde army led by Mela Highmountain to seize Val’sharah, while Malfurion struggled to rally the Night Elves against them. The Night Elves abandoned the Temple of the Moon, and Tyrande discovered the Horde had surrounded it.

• Chen Stormstout sent Mela Highmountain and a Horde army toward Val’sharah while he went to Pandaria to avoid the conflict.
• Malfurion tried to rally the Druids, but they refused to oppose the Horde because they revered Thrall as Azeroth’s Savior.
• Malfurion learned Tyrande had sent a hundred Night Elves toward Light’s Hope Chapel only two days earlier, then confronted her as she prepared to pray to Elune.
• Malfurion told the Night Elves they could wait for Elune to destroy the Horde, then left without organizing the Sentinels.
• The Night Elves doubted Elune would protect them and scattered, leaving Tyrande alone in the Temple of the Moon.
• Tyrande finished praying, found the temple empty, and realized the Horde had surrounded it as the ground shook beneath their approach.

Tyrande and Malfurion hid in the Temple of the Moon as Mela Highmountain’s forces ransacked it and destroyed Elune’s statue. Chen Stormstout’s order led the attackers to burn their loot, which transformed into a golden statue of Chen, and the Lightforging Orcs declared him to be Elune.

• Tyrande found her secret passage blocked, and Malfurion revealed that he had come to help her hide from the Horde.
• Malfurion and Tyrande watched from a beam as Mela Highmountain’s forces searched the Temple of the Moon and uncovered their hidden treasures.
• Mela Highmountain ordered the statue of Elune destroyed, and the Lightforging Orcs smashed it while the Tauren hesitated.
• A Lightforging Orc general relayed Chen Thrall Stormstout’s order to burn the seized valuables before the shattered statue.
• The burning treasure transformed into a golden statue resembling Chen Stormstout, and Mela Highmountain and the Orcs proclaimed him Elune.

Chen Stormstout dismissed Khadgar’s concerns about a conspiracy elevating him as Elune and ordered Mela Highmountain to intensify the worship, insulting the Moon Goddess in the process. Thrall learned that his plan to provoke Elune had produced an even more outrageous result and wondered whether Chen had gone mad.

• Malfurion and Tyrande watched the Night Elves accept Chen Stormstout as Elune, and Tyrande chose not to oppose him because history showed that blasphemers could prosper.
• Mela Highmountain presided over a ceremony honoring Chen Elune Thrall Stormstout while Chen relaxed on a beach in the Krasarang Wilds.
• Khadgar warned Chen that someone was raising his reputation to provoke Elune, but Chen rejected Khadgar’s cautious plan and ordered Mela to do more and the Dalaran lead to be pursued.
• Thrall learned from an ally using a Dalaran magic book that Chen had called Elune an inconspicuous maidservant at his side.
• Thrall dropped the book and wondered whether Chen Stormstout had gone mad.

Chen Stormstout summoned the August Celestials to answer for Xuen's role in damaging his martial arts foundation, while the Moon Goddess's Emissary revealed that powerful factions saw him as a tool for harvesting souls. As the Celestials argued over who should face Chen Stormstout's wrath, Illidan appeared and offered them a way to survive.

• Chen Stormstout visited the rebuilding Vermilion Bird Temple and ordered the August Celestials to pay their respects or face the consequences.
• At Mistveil Trestle, the Moon Goddess's Emissary told Medivh that powerful forces intended to use Chen Stormstout to provoke devastating conflict and gather souls.
• On the Timeless Isle, Yu'lon, Chi-Ji, and Niuzao urged Xuen to take the blame for the Celestials' decision to seal Chen Stormstout's strength and damage his foundation.
• Illidan appeared in Demon form, overwhelmed the August Celestials, and warned that Chen Stormstout would be even more brutal than Thrall.
• Illidan told the frightened August Celestials that he had a way to save them.

Chen Stormstout staged a lavish ascension ceremony at the half-finished Vermilion Bird Temple, using a fake Dharma Body and a fabricated expert to convince the crowd that he surpassed the universe’s mightiest beings. The August Celestials arrived to bow before him, but Khadgar realized the spectacle might be falling apart.

• Pandaren and other Azeroth peoples gathered for Chen Stormstout’s ascension ceremony, where Orc beauties’ dance left most spectators and guards unconscious.
• Chen Stormstout ordered Khadgar to record those who left and prepared to boil the kneeling August Celestials into soup.
• Chen Stormstout rose above the platform as a magical Dharma Body appeared, while a fake Zhu Tianjiao and staged questions exaggerated his power.
• The August Celestials entered and prostrated themselves before Chen Stormstout as the Orc beauties removed their makeup nearby.
• Khadgar saw the unconscious guards and the Orc beauties without makeup, then realized something was wrong.