Chapter Summaries

Tirion Fordring drank Anachronos's Plague and became the Lich King, then contaminated Brill's water in hopes of building an undead army. Robbie and Kel'Thuzad's advanced Plague transformed Brill's people into intelligent Undead, who rejected Tirion, beat him to death, and chose Northrend as their home.

• As Uther and Sylvanas's forces approached Brill, Tirion Fordring drank Anachronos's Plague and received a Rune sword from Velen, gaining the powers of death and the Holy Light.
• Tirion Fordring poured Plague into Brill's water supply, while Robbie and Kel'Thuzad secretly added the Scourge's advanced Plague to it.
• The Plague transformed Brill's residents into intelligent Undead, and Uther and Sylvanas sensed the deathly power and retreated with their armies.
• Tirion Fordring addressed Brill's Undead and urged them to fight for the Orcs, but they mocked his beliefs and refused to follow him.
• The Undead swarmed Tirion Fordring, crushed his body, and took his Rune sword, whose magic spread among them.
• Brill's Undead decided to send Tirion Fordring's head to Terenas and establish their kingdom in Northrend.

Uther and Terenas fled Lordaeron as panic spread, then returned after Brill was found deserted and credited the Holy Light and Orcs with defeating the Scourge. Uther later hesitated to send troops against Blackmoore until Anachronos proposed that Antonidas negotiate with the Orcs on his behalf.

• Uther and Terenas fled Lordaeron while the Peace Dove urged the people to stay calm and spread false reassurances as nobles escaped.
• Uther called on citizens to die rather than become undead, while Terenas told them to burn everything and leave the Scourge scorched earth.
• Uther and Terenas returned after Brill was found deserted, each claiming that the Holy Light or the Orcs had destroyed the Scourge there.
• Tirion Fordring's head bit Terenas, and Uther burned it to ash, then noticed a momentary ferocity in the king's gaze.
• After Blackmoore captured several Internment Camps and marched toward The Sepulcher, Uther delayed sending his five thousand troops because he feared the Orcs.
• Anachronos urged Uther to negotiate with the Orcs and named High Archmage Antonidas as a possible intermediary.

Uther’s expedition was stripped of its supplies by Orcs, while Blackmoore captured The Sepulcher Internment Camp and gained human soldiers from starving refugees. Anachronos proposed that Terenas help a respected Orc unite the Orcs as a way to deal with Blackmoore.

• Uther took Antonidas and five thousand soldiers toward Silverpine Forest, where Orcs repeatedly demanded supplies until only two hundred naked guards remained.
• Antonidas opened a Portal for Uther to return to Lordaeron, and Uther blamed the Holy Light for the failed expedition.
• Blackmoore broke through The Sepulcher Internment Camp’s defenses, turned twelve thousand Orcs into Tough Jerky, and withdrew to the Hillsbrad Foothills.
• The Peace Dove urged people to fight Blackmoore, but wandering Orcs ambushed the poorly equipped volunteers, killing more than half.
• Anachronos told Terenas that Blackmoore had armed more than three thousand human soldiers with equipment lost by Tirion Fordring and Uther.
• Anachronos proposed helping a respected Orc unite the Orcs, and Terenas said he would not allow the Orcs to be harmed.

Anachronos persuaded King Terenas to appoint Saurfang the Great as leader of Lordaeron’s wandering Orcs, revealing that the Agamand Family had sheltered him. Deverin Agamand’s ruthless efforts to gain Saurfang’s favor ended with his brother Salman dead, and Deverin celebrated the appointment as a step toward the family’s rise.

• Anachronos recommended Saurfang the Great to King Terenas as a capable and honorable leader for the wandering Orcs.
• Anachronos revealed that the Agamand Family had hidden Saurfang, and King Terenas recalled the family’s divided loyalties and financial troubles.
• Saurfang the Great beat Deverin Agamand with a bowl of cooked meat and demanded fresh flesh, threatening to eat him if he failed to provide it.
• Salman Agamand urged Deverin to stop serving Saurfang, but Deverin stabbed Salman and declared him food for the Orc.
• King Terenas appointed Saurfang the Great Warchief over Lordaeron’s wandering Orcs, and Deverin celebrated while vowing to prove Kullerman wrong.

Saurfang refused King Terenas’s first offer to lead the Orcs, then negotiated with Antonidas for command of the Tirisfal Glades Internment Camps and land for Orc settlement. After Terenas agreed to meet him, Saurfang praised the king and vowed to kill Blackmoore if given command of the Orcs in the camps.

• Saurfang rejected the messenger’s request to lead the Orcs, insisting he wanted a peaceful life.
• After Anachronos advised sending Antonidas, Antonidas confronted Saurfang, who demanded authority over the Orcs and accepted command of those in the Tirisfal Glades Internment Camps.
• Saurfang also demanded the shores of Lake Darrowmere and the Four Great Farms as land for Orcs to settle, so Antonidas returned to consult King Terenas.
• Anachronos persuaded King Terenas to risk offending the High Elves, and Terenas went to meet Saurfang at the Agamand Family estate.
• Saurfang praised Terenas and promised that Blackmoore was as good as dead if the king gave him command of the Orcs in the camps.

Saurfang swore eternal loyalty to King Terenas before the Orc ancestors, and Emperor Saurfang prophesied that Terenas would rule for ten thousand years. Convinced by the oath and prophecy, Terenas placed Saurfang in charge of the Tirisfal Glades Internment Camp despite Amnennar’s suspicions.

• Saurfang offered King Terenas the Orcs as his private army and swore to prove his loyalty before the ancestors.
• Saurfang summoned the spirits with a skull, and Emperor Saurfang questioned whether Terenas deserved the Orcs’ loyalty.
• Emperor Saurfang praised Terenas’s imperial aura, foretold his immortal ten-thousand-year reign, and asked him to protect the Orcs.
• Emperor Saurfang ordered Varok and his descendants to remain loyal to Terenas, and Terenas promised the Orcs a place in Azeroth.
• Terenas appointed Saurfang to command the Tirisfal Glades Internment Camp and dismissed Amnennar’s warning to keep watch on him.

King Terenas armed fifteen thousand orcs, while Saurfang the Great recruited Eitrigg as an adviser and plotted to take Lordaeron. Saurfang captured Terenas and used a loophole in his oath to justify humiliating him, leaving Medivh unwilling to intervene.

• King Terenas sent weapons, armor, and grain to the internment camp, arming fifteen thousand orcs.
• Eitrigg killed his wife, then told Saurfang the Great a fabricated story blaming Tirion Fordring and the High Elves for her death.
• Saurfang appointed Eitrigg as an adviser after discovering his talent for military strategy.
• Eitrigg urged Saurfang to seize Lordaeron and prevent Terenas from escaping; Saurfang agreed to capture the king and disgrace him.
• Orcs dragged Terenas from his bed to the throne room, where Saurfang claimed his oath only covered a great king and ordered Terenas thrown into a latrine pit.
• Medivh heard of Terenas's humiliation and decided to watch events unfold rather than intervene.

Medivh sensed Shadowlands death magic in Lordaeron and urged Saurfang to eliminate Blackmoore, but a mysterious Black-Robed Man ambushed and gravely wounded Saurfang. Uther used Lay on Hands to heal him, sacrificing ten years of his life and leaving Saurfang fully recovered.

• Medivh sensed death magic in Lordaeron, learned the Undead had gone to Northrend, and ordered Moroes to tell Saurfang to kill Blackmoore.
• Saurfang rallied his officers to prepare to slaughter the humans and other peoples of Lordaeron, but a mysterious Black-Robed Man attacked and severely injured him.
• Uther learned Saurfang was wounded and offered to heal him, but Eitrigg suspected him of plotting to kill the Warchief before Saurfang's guard admitted him.
• Uther cast Lay on Hands, instantly healing Saurfang while aging ten years himself.

Saurfang punished Uther despite his having saved the Warchief’s life, then turned on Lordaeron’s people and nobles while a letter bearing Orgrim Doomhammer and Grom Hellscream’s signatures warned him not to harm commoners. The chapter ended with Saurfang slaughtering Peace Dove officials and renaming their headquarters the Warchief’s Canteen.

• Saurfang woke stronger after Uther treated him with the Holy Light, then had Uther beaten and nailed naked to the city gate as his supposed reward.
• After recovering, Saurfang received Blackmoore’s warning, signed by Orgrim Doomhammer and Grom Hellscream, and ordered his forces to leave the common people of Tirisfal Glades alone.
• Eitrigg suggested targeting nobles instead, so Saurfang led the Orcs to the Agamand estate and had Deverin Agamand’s family tortured and turned into Tough Jerky.
• Eitrigg tortured Deverin for seven days, and the Agamand family’s screams gave Weeping Woods its name.
• As people fled Lordaeron to seek refuge with Blackmoore, Saurfang slaughtered those who still trusted the Orcs and attacked Peace Dove’s headquarters.
• Saurfang devoured three Peace Dove officials in public and renamed the headquarters the Warchief’s Canteen.

Saurfang received Medivh’s demand to deal with Blackmoore but held back while awaiting Eitrigg’s investigation. Blackmoore learned that Lordaeron’s people still revered Terenas and Saurfang, while Terenas’s despair over his imprisonment and Uther’s fate left him vulnerable to a voice urging him to embrace darkness.

• Saurfang read Medivh’s letter about Blackmoore, boasted that he could kill him, but delayed action until Eitrigg’s investigation was complete.
• Blackmoore and the Black-Robed Man questioned people in the Hillsbrad Foothills and found that they praised Terenas and admired the Orcs and Saurfang.
• The Black-Robed Man explained that Terenas used faith in the Holy Light to establish authority, so Blackmoore accepted that it was not yet time to seize Lordaeron.
• A dark voice confronted imprisoned Terenas with the suffering he had caused and revealed that Saurfang had hung Uther at the city gate.
• Terenas broke down after hearing about Uther, and the shadow urged him to embrace darkness and take revenge on everyone.

Terenas’s soul merged with Tirion Fordring’s remnant soul, creating a new Lich King who then subdued Saurfang and recruited Eitrigg. The Lich King left with Eitrigg, while Saurfang became an Undead servant.

• Restless Orc souls tore at Terenas until his soul merged with Tirion Fordring’s remnant soul and dark power transformed him.
• Saurfang woke from a nightmare and heard Eitrigg falsely report that Blackmoore had enslaved Orcs who would rise up when their army arrived.
• Saurfang decided to target the high elves near Lake Darrowmere and planned to capture Stratholme, Zul'Aman, and Silvermoon City.
• A guard alerted Saurfang that something had happened to Terenas, and Saurfang found the newly formed Lich King floating above the latrine.
• Terenas used dark magic to subdue Saurfang, who became an Undead servant and pledged loyalty to the Lich King.
• Eitrigg reminded Terenas of their past connection, and Terenas spared him and ordered him to follow.

King Terenas turned the Orcs into an Undead army and forced Lordaeron’s people to praise him, while Medivh arrived to stop him. Medivh’s attack failed when he discovered Terenas had linked his life to the Undead, leaving the fate of Lordaeron uncertain.

• King Terenas transformed the Orcs into Ghouls and other Undead, and Eitrigg made them swear loyalty to the Lich King.
• Eitrigg threatened Lordaeron’s people into praising Terenas after they condemned him for what he had done to the Orcs.
• Medivh took the Scythe of Elune and teleported above Lordaeron, intending to end the kingdom and make it a breeding ground for Spellstealer Wyrms.
• Medivh struck Terenas with Full Moon, Starfire, but the attack killed more than a hundred Orc Undead instead of harming the Lich King.
• Terenas told Medivh that his life was linked to the Undead army, so any damage to him would be transferred to them.

Medivh fled from Terenas after discovering that the newly crowned Lich King could wield death magic, then consulted Meryl Winterstorm about how to defeat him. Meanwhile, Anachronos and his companions decided to rescue the Orcs at Lake Darrowmere and put Thrall in command of them.

• Terenas attacked Medivh with Saurfang the Great’s axe, and Medivh retreated rather than risk killing the Undead Orcs linked to Terenas.
• Medivh rescued Uther from the city gate and took him through a Portal to Winterstorm Academy, where Fel weakened the death magic affecting him.
• Meryl Winterstorm questioned whether Terenas’s supposed Life Link was real and advised Medivh to oppose him indirectly by uniting Azeroth’s forces.
• Medivh and Meryl decided Uther could serve as the spokesperson to rally the Alliance’s races against Terenas.
• Anachronos, Velen, Rend, and Thrall discussed the new Lich King and agreed that he had to be stopped.
• Anachronos led the group toward Lake Darrowmere to rescue the Orcs at a Barov Family internment camp and place Thrall in command.

Anachronos, Velen, and Rend sent Thrall to Caer Darrow Island to unite the starving Orcs, but Thrall tried to escape and was captured by Professor Krastinov and Illucia. Krastinov took the silenced Thrall through a dark Portal in the Barov Family’s ruined castle basement.

• The Barov Family’s history was recounted: King Terenas seized its fiefs to support the Caer Darrow internment camp, and the family declined amid hunger and hardship.
• Anachronos and the others found that only about three thousand of the camp’s original seven thousand Orcs remained, starving and fighting among themselves.
• Rend and Velen urged Thrall to lead the Orcs, and Anachronos hurled him onto Caer Darrow Island.
• Thrall landed safely, transformed into a Ghost Wolf, and tried to sneak back to the shore so he could escape.
• Illucia caught Thrall, and Professor Krastinov gave him a potion that stopped him from speaking or using magic.
• Krastinov carried Thrall into the ruined Barov castle’s basement and approached a dark Portal.

Thrall was tortured and interrogated at Scholomance, where Gandling and Lady Barov chose him to lead the Orcs against Terenas. Gandling brought Thrall to a secret chamber to join the Cult of the Damned and challenged what Thrall believed about its origins.

• Malicia sent Thrall to Professor Krastinov, who tortured him with elemental gems to study his shamanic resistance.
• Lady Barov told Gandling she wanted every Orc dead, and they agreed to use an Orc puppet to make the Orcs fight Terenas.
• Gandling exposed Thrall’s false identity through dark magic, and Thrall admitted his name and said he had escaped Karazhan.
• Lady Barov and Gandling offered Thrall leadership of the Orcs in exchange for joining the Cult of the Damned, and Thrall accepted the terms.
• Gandling led Thrall and Lady Barov into a secret chamber and said the Cult of the Damned was older than Dalaran.

Thrall joined the Cult of the Damned after killing an old Orc named Durotan, then led Orcs off Caer Darrow Island under orders to sabotage any attack on King Terenas. He reached Redpine Valley to recruit more Orcs, where his demand that they prove themselves by killing their neighbors sparked a massacre.

• Dean Gandling and Lady Barov brought Thrall through a Portal to an ice cavern, where the Cult of the Damned's High Elf master invited him to join.
• Thrall accepted membership and beheaded Durotan, whose death released black vapor that entered the ice coffin and strengthened Thrall.
• Dean Gandling ordered Thrall to command the Orcs on Caer Darrow Island, free Orcs from other internment camps, limit his force to two thousand, and sabotage anyone who tried to attack King Terenas.
• Thrall led roughly two thousand Orcs safely off Caer Darrow Island and told Anachronos, Velen, and Rend that he would rescue more Orcs.
• At Redpine Valley, Thrall ordered the starving Orcs to defeat one another and take three heads to qualify as soldiers, triggering a bloody slaughter.

The leaders of the Eastern Kingdoms gathered in Ironforge to discuss an allied army against the Lich King and argued over who should command it. After Uther proved unwilling to fight Undead Orcs, Kael'thas nominated Sylvanas, but Magni Bronzebeard hinted that he had another candidate in mind.

• Uther urged the gathered leaders to oppose the Lich King, while Kael'thas mocked his earlier defeat by Saurfang and Lady Ashvane demanded evidence of the Lich King's threat.
• Mekkatorque proposed forming an allied army, and the leaders debated who should lead it.
• Kael'thas challenged Uther on how he would fight Undead Orcs, and Uther admitted that he would refuse to attack them.
• Magni asked Bolvar Fordragon to lead, but Bolvar declined because Varian needed his help.
• The Black-Robed Man proposed Lord Blackmoore, but Uther and the other leaders rejected the suggestion.
• Kael'thas nominated Ranger-General Sylvanas, and Magni said someone else was better suited.

Meryl Winterstorm took command of a weak allied army that was meant to bait Terenas, while Uther learned that Medivh wanted Thrall eliminated. Thrall bypassed their fortress and established a camp behind it, cutting off the allied army’s supplies.

• The leaders accepted Meryl Winterstorm as commander of the allied army, with Uther as his assistant, despite doubts about Meryl’s experience and the army’s poor quality.
• Meryl told Uther that the allied army was bait intended to provoke Terenas into showing his strength, and revealed Medivh’s order to eliminate Thrall.
• Uther offered to kill Thrall, but a scout reported that Thrall’s Orc army was approaching the fortress.
• Thrall rode past the fortress and entered Silverpine Forest, leading Uther and Meryl to believe he was targeting Blackmoore.
• Thrall set up camp behind the allied army, and his two thousand Orcs built a fortress that cut off its supply line.

Uther met with Thrall, who demanded command of the allied forces so he could destroy the Lich King Terenas and Blackmoore. After Mal'Ganis manipulated events to make the allied camp vanish, Meryl Winterstorm predicted that Thrall would turn against the Kingdom of Gilneas.

• Meryl Winterstorm sent Uther to negotiate with Thrall, while Mal'Ganis revealed his plan to use the Helm of Domination.
• Uther recognized Thrall as Anachronos, drank a cup of orc blood, and heard Thrall demand leadership of the allied forces.
• Uther returned to the fortress and reported Thrall's demands as Meryl Winterstorm questioned Thrall's connection to Blackmoore and the Cult of the Damned.
• Mal'Ganis caused the allied camp to become deserted, and Thrall angrily confronted Uther about the missing forces.
• Mal'Ganis watched Thrall through the Legion Orb, and Meryl Winterstorm predicted that Thrall would target the Kingdom of Gilneas.

King Greymane drank the Blood of Goldrinn to gain Worgen troops after a mysterious priest warned him that Thrall would invade Gilneas with help from treacherous lords. Thrall's Orc army met the Gilnean elite, who transformed into Worgen, leaving him shocked.

• A mysterious priest warned King Greymane that Thrall might attack Gilneas and that lords within the kingdom could help him.
• Greymane visited Arugal, learned the Worgen Potion could turn humans into powerful fighters but had failed on Orcs, and drank the Blood of Goldrinn.
• Thrall used newspaper reports to build his heroic public image while secretly arranging with Gilneas's lords to invade the kingdom and kill its royal family.
• Thrall led the Orcs toward Gilneas and ordered them to attack an equal-sized Gilnean force.
• The Gilnean soldiers transformed into Worgen just before the armies clashed, shocking Thrall.