Chapter Summaries

Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained to Sylvanas how ancestral names and shared history gave people confidence, and why he had invoked common ancestors to win over the Vilebranch Trolls. Sylvanas warned him that, as a senior official, he could no longer make reckless public statements.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked Sylvanas why ancestors mattered, prompting her to reflect on the Windrunner name.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained that ancestral legacies gave individuals and nations pride, confidence, and a shared bond.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk justified fabricated ancestry as a way for the robbers and a former vassal state to bolster their people's standing.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk said he had claimed humans and Vilebranch Trolls shared ancestors to build an alliance necessary for the Hinterlands' development.
• Sylvanas warned Yu Lin Bloodhawk that his claim about humanity's origins could cause political trouble and told him to speak more carefully as Quel'Danil City's lord and Quel'Thalas's overseas trade district chief executive.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk told Sylvanas about her future as the Banshee Queen and Queen of the Forsaken, warning that her survival could change Quel'Thalas’s fate. Before leaving for Kalimdor, he asked her to protect Quel'Danil City and the Seaside Plain, keep Kael'thas from leading the High Elves astray, and find Well Water.

• Sylvanas said she did not care whether humans had been created by gods, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk urged her not to underestimate them or surrender the High Elves’ fate to gods.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk said he might leave for Kalimdor soon and asked Sylvanas to watch for sailors and people with seafaring experience.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk revealed that Sylvanas would become the Ranger-General, be killed and raised as the Banshee Queen, then break free and rule the Forsaken.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk told Sylvanas that she would later join the Horde, bring the Blood Elves into it, and eventually become its Warchief.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk urged Sylvanas to survive the Undead invasion, take control of Quel'Danil City and the Seaside Plain, prevent Kael'thas from leading the High Elves away, and find Well Water.
• Sylvanas felt overwhelmed by Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s expectations and clutched her head, saying it hurt.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk used a story about a madman to explain the danger facing Quel'Thalas and urged Sylvanas to stay alive and help change history. After she promised, he transferred the lordship of Quel'Danil City to her and explained that only the Windrunner family's standing could challenge the Sunstrider royal legacy.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk told Sylvanas a riddle-like story in which a madman killed three people regardless of their answers, and they compared its characters to himself, Quel'Thalas, and the Lich King.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk said the Sunwell was Quel'Thalas's heart and that the King, Council, and other leaders would have to suffer losses, but Sylvanas must survive.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk warned Sylvanas that the clever third man might defeat the madman, while the first man and the fool had to avoid drawing attention and play dead.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked Sylvanas to promise she would live and change history, and she agreed because she wanted to see how events would unfold.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk gave Sylvanas a document transferring the lordship of Quel'Danil City to her and explained that the Windrunner family was the only power with a legacy comparable to the Sunstriders.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk returned to the Hinterlands harbor and turned a huge Goblin tank into the basis for a farmland tractor. After more than ten days of work, the first gang plow was ready to be attached to the modified vehicle.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk left the stalled troop negotiations in Southshore and returned to the Hinterlands harbor, with Yiluo Chenfeng following him.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk found Fourteen and the Goblins with a massive tank, then tested it on an open plain and learned it was slow, difficult to steer, and prone to overheating.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk persuaded the Goblins to remove the cannon and help design a gang plow for use as a farmland tractor.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk and the Goblins completed the gang plow design, then had refugee blacksmiths forge its large parts while the Goblins made its precision components.
• More than ten days later, the first gang plow was completed, and the Wildhammer Dwarves produced plans for three nearby village sites.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk used the goblins’ vehicle to plow fields rapidly, then returned to the Harbor to organize settlements and crop planting for the growing refugee population. He assigned Sixteen to plan the first thousand-person village and prepare for more arrivals.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk watched the vehicle plow a five-kilometer strip in an hour and learned it could till more than twenty mu.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk arranged for the goblins to operate the vehicle in shifts, sent workers to clear rocks and roots, and ordered spare plows made.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk returned to the Harbor with Yiluo Chenfeng and asked for Commander Sixteen or Seventeen.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk gave Sixteen the Wildhammer Dwarves’ plans and told him to organize thousand-person villages, plant reliable crops, and prepare for orphaned children.
• Sixteen said he was twenty-one after Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked his age.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk trained under Yiluo Chenfeng, whose skill and patience rapidly improved his fighting techniques, while he grew reluctant to let her leave. When Quel'Thalas's expeditionary force prepared to depart under Alleria, Yiluo said she would go only if Yu Lin went too.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk joked with Yiluo Chenfeng about romance and marriage after Sixteen fled in embarrassment.
• Yiluo Chenfeng joined Yu Lin Bloodhawk's early-morning practice and identified flaws in his technique and his mana limitation.
• Yiluo Chenfeng trained Yu Lin Bloodhawk every day and created a detailed program that accelerated his progress.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk delegated Sylvanas's equipment and refugee mission to Fourteen while Quel'Thalas and the Human Alliance finalized their agreement.
• Yiluo Chenfeng told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that Alleria's expedition would depart the next day, and he offered to escort her back.
• Yiluo Chenfeng said she would go with Yu Lin Bloodhawk and remained his guard until her commander gave new orders.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk arranged for the newly arrived trolls, Quel'Thalas squadrons, and naval aviation personnel to join his forces while making the most of ten days of training with Yiluo Chenfeng. When Yiluo revealed the Combined Army's plan to assemble at Menethil Harbor and march against the orcs, Yu Lin questioned whether Stormwind could hold out and asked about the composition of Quel'Thalas's Rangers.

• Two ships arrived from Quel'Thalas carrying Zuga's trolls, the Snow Leopard and Dire Wolf Squadrons with their families, and more than a hundred naval aviation personnel.
• Yu Lin assigned Zuga's trolls to Broken Tooth for training, had the naval aviation personnel settled with the Gryphon Riders, and gave the two squadrons harbor security and support duties.
• Yu Lin held a late meeting to assign responsibilities, then continued training with Yiluo until the ten-day deadline arrived.
• Yiluo told Yu Lin that the Combined Army would assemble at Menethil Harbor before fighting the orcs in the north and advancing toward Stormwind and the Blasted Lands.
• Yu Lin questioned the plan's assumption that Stormwind could hold out, learned Quel'Thalas would send a full-strength corps with two thousand Mages and four thousand Rangers, and asked what the Rangers consisted of.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk advised Yiluo Chenfeng on accelerating the Windrunner Burning Legion’s Steel Torrent breeding program, then traveled with her and their Rangers to Menethil Harbor. The chapter ended with them arriving in Proudmoore’s capital and being guided in by Yu Lin’s old acquaintance Mez'dra.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk suggested that Yiluo Chenfeng begin inseminating sows immediately and have Mages and Alchemists research ways to improve the piglets.
• Yiluo Chenfeng changed the staffing arrangements and told Yu Lin Bloodhawk to keep training until the Windrunner Burning Legion had its Steel Torrent.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk and Yiluo Chenfeng set off with Gryphon Riders and Rangers, traveling along the coast and stopping to rest along the way.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s group reached Menethil Harbor, where armies from many nations were gathering for war.
• Mez'dra met Yu Lin Bloodhawk in the air and led the group toward Menethil Harbor.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk visited Mez'dra's Wildhammer Dwarf camp and learned that humans from Dalaran wanted to build a watchtower in the Hinterlands. Mez'dra suspected the plan was meant to constrain the elves, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk realized the proposed site could disrupt contact between the elves and Wildhammer Dwarves.

• Yiluo Chenfeng warned Yu Lin Bloodhawk not to get drunk during his planned celebration with Mez'dra.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk questioned Mez'dra about the Wildhammer camp's many Musketeers, and Mez'dra explained that he had sent most warriors back to guard Eagle Slayer Mountain.
• Mez'dra told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that human refugees in Southshore suffered while human nobles feasted, making him doubt the humans' concern for their allies.
• Mez'dra said Dalaran's people had asked about Yu Lin Bloodhawk and proposed building a watchtower in the Hinterlands, but he had refused.
• Mez'dra suspected the watchtower south of the Concealment Stone would limit High Elf power, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk recognized that it could divide the elves from the Wildhammers.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk and Mez'dra secretly signed an alliance to resist Dalaran's attempts to gain influence in the Hinterlands. Yu Lin Bloodhawk then proposed bringing the green dragons into a three-way defense pact and establishing a neutral free trade city to separate their territories.

• Mez'dra said Dalaran had tried to persuade him to train Gryphon Riders, but he refused to give them gryphons without Yu Lin Bloodhawk's agreement.
• Mez'dra and Yu Lin Bloodhawk agreed that Dalaran might approach the prince in Grim Batol, so they secretly signed an alliance in the command tent.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk studied a map and told Mez'dra and Yiluo Chenfeng that green dragons guarded a World Tree sapling and an entrance to the Emerald Dream in the northern Hinterlands.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk proposed a three-way mutual defense alliance with the green dragons and a neutral trade city near the Concealment Stone to separate the allies' territories and protect the Hinterlands from new powers.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk and Yiluo Chenfeng discussed a pact with Mez'dra that would keep armies from using New City as a route to attack one another and might bring trolls into peaceful trade. After leaving Mez'dra's command tent, Yu Lin teased Yiluo about marriage before she brought their group into the elven encampment, where she went to report in.

• Yiluo Chenfeng proposed barring armies of hostile pact members from crossing New City, and Mez'dra and Yu Lin Bloodhawk supported discussing the pact further with the green dragons.
• Yu Lin suggested inviting the Witherbark Trolls and Vilebranch Trolls into the pact and offering the Vilebranch Trolls help to rebuild a city at the Ruins of the Ancient City of Shalvalsa.
• Yiluo Chenfeng used urgent military intelligence as an excuse to leave Mez'dra's command tent, and Yu Lin reluctantly went with her.
• Mez'dra remarked that Yu Lin was strictly controlled by his wife and called it an illness needing treatment, prompting Yiluo to ask Yu Lin how to treat it.
• Yiluo Chenfeng led Yu Lin, their hundred-odd people, and their gryphons into the elven encampment, then left to report in while an officer took the group to its quarters.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk visited Sylvanas's camp hoping to see Alleria and learned that an Orc victory had triggered an urgent Expeditionary Army meeting. Sylvanas was summoned to attend, and she pointed out that Yu Lin Bloodhawk had been invited too.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk found Sylvanas feeding Lupos and asked to see Alleria, while Sylvanas teased him about his feelings for her sister.
• Sylvanas went to look for Alleria, leaving Yu Lin Bloodhawk to discover that Lupos and Frostwolf no longer recognized him.
• Sylvanas returned and said Alleria and Yiluo had gone to headquarters for an urgent meeting after Orcs defeated the Bronzebeard Dwarves and Gnomes in the Badlands.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk joked with Sylvanas about finding a wife and holding a contest to select thousands of beauties.
• A soldier summoned Sylvanas to an emergency meeting, and she asked Yu Lin Bloodhawk why he was still waiting instead of coming along.

Alleria convened the Expeditionary Army’s meeting, defended Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s right to attend, and announced the Alliance’s urgent march toward Loch Danmor. The elves questioned High Command’s deployment plan, which left their mage-and-ranger legion on the left flank while transferring half its mages to the center.

• Sylvanas brought Yu Lin Bloodhawk to the command tent, where Archmage Dagar objected to the exiled lord attending the meeting.
• Alleria declared that Yu Lin Bloodhawk was an invited ally and ordered Dagar to leave when he refused to sit with him; two other mages departed with Dagar.
• Alleria reported that the orcs had defeated the Bronzebeard Dwarves and gnomes in the Badlands and were advancing toward Loch Danmor.
• Alleria announced that the allied army would march the next day, with Lordaeron cavalry in the vanguard, the elves on the left flank, and half the elven mages transferred to the center.
• An officer criticized High Command’s deployment, arguing that the elves’ ranged-focused legion should be in the center rather than holding the left flank.

Alleria discussed the allied command’s decision to weaken the elven left wing by transferring mages to the center and the risks if the front collapsed. Yu Lin Bloodhawk was pressed to speak and asked what allied high command thought of the war.

• An elven officer challenged the decision to move mages from the left wing, and Alleria explained that high command wanted to bolster the center’s combat magic.
• Alleria said the humans were angry about Quel'Thalas’s conditions for sending troops and had outvoted the elves and Wildhammer Dwarves.
• Alleria proposed sending at least 800 mages and 400 support personnel instead of the full 1,200, while high command expected the left wing to face less pressure than the center and right wing.
• An officer warned that the elves could be trapped against the sea if the center collapsed, and Alleria explained that Admiral Daelin Proudmoore’s fleet might also be diverted to Stormwind City.
• Alleria called on Yu Lin Bloodhawk to comment, and after Sylvanas nudged him, he asked what allied high command thought of the war.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk persuaded Alleria and the officers to prepare a secret sea evacuation route instead of relying on Allied Command’s confidence in victory. The officers selected possible landing sites along Loch Danmor, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s gryphon riders prepared to scout them with bombs and support troops.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk compared Allied Command’s optimism to a risky business deal and urged the group to arrange its own escape route, while Sylvanas teased him about taking twenty percent from Stormwind City.
• Alleria asked the officers for their opinions, and they agreed to secretly request a transport fleet and choose several possible waiting locations along Loch Danmor.
• The officers selected more than a dozen possible sites from the map and assigned Yu Lin Bloodhawk and his gryphon riders to reconnoiter them.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk prepared the gryphon riders with borrowed bombs and land mines, while Mez'dra supplied a hundred crates and Alleria secured more than two hundred crates from Allied Command.
• The Golden Mist Burning Legion was assigned to transport the explosives and guard the gryphon riders’ camp, and the chapter outlined the expeditionary army’s varied units and limited battle-pet forces.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk learned that the Golden Mist Burning Legion lacked transport and drivers because the human allies were making things difficult for them. He decided they would find their own route and asked Sana for a Wetlands map and details about forming Soul Links with battle pets.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk learned from Sana that the Golden Mist Burning Legion was celebrated as a model unit and that the legion backed the Democratic Faction.
• Sana explained that the legion had to carry its bombs and supplies on foot because its soldiers lacked mounts, wagons, and drivers.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk realized the human allies were deliberately withholding support and angrily decided to take the matter to Alleria.
• After Sana explained that Alleria had already failed to recruit drivers, Yu Lin Bloodhawk chose to find their own way and asked for two copies of a Wetlands map.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked how quickly soldiers could form Soul Links with battle pets, and Sana said it took as little as three days, usually about a week.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk planned to capture raptors in the Wetlands and use them to carry military supplies, despite their poor qualities as combat pets. Alleria approved the plan with adjustments to how the ranger units would be divided, while Gryphon Riders scouted the suspected raptor locations.

• Sana brought Yu Lin Bloodhawk a map of the Wetlands, and he marked two possible raptor locations before sending Gryphon Riders to scout them.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk invited Alleria to discuss the possible raptor captures, and she arrived with Sylvanas and their bodyguards but without Yiluo.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk proposed sending ranger units and Gryphon Riders to capture raptors and use them to transport supplies for the legion.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained that raptors ate too much meat and lacked combat advantages, but their strength and powerful hind legs made them useful for carrying supplies.
• Alleria approved the plan and ordered half of each ranger unit to go in each direction, with one unit leaving to join the legion once it had its full allotment of raptors.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk arranged for Gryphon Riders to scout ahead while the other riders helped capture raptors, then learned that Sylvanas would guide his training when Alleria was busy. Alleria and Sylvanas joked about Yu Lin’s marriage plans and his threat to seek a thousand human wives, leaving Alleria laughing at her sister’s matchmaking.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk agreed with Alleria to send six Gryphon Riders scouting ahead and use the others to capture raptors, while existing ranger units covered the area.
• Alleria told Yu Lin Bloodhawk to report to Sylvanas’s regiment for training when she could not guide him herself, delighting him.
• Sylvanas teased Yu Lin Bloodhawk for grinning after Alleria and Sylvanas left, while Sana nudged him back to attention.
• Alleria and Sylvanas joked about finding husbands and wives, and Sylvanas said Yu Lin planned to choose a thousand human women if Alleria refused him.
• Sylvanas shared the mock epitaph she had imagined for Yu Lin, and Alleria laughed that he was unlucky to have her as a business partner.

Alleria asked Sylvanas to explain Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s metaphors about the stages of love and his categories of madmen, fools, and clever people. Sylvanas left Alleria puzzling over the question of who first decided that 1+1=2.

• Alleria asked Sylvanas what sunset and dusk meant in the context of relationships, and Sylvanas explained her metaphor for love before and after marriage.
• Alleria asked about madmen, fools, and clever people, and Sylvanas defined them through their answers to 1+1.
• Sylvanas said clever people could make 1+1 equal three or more by having children, leaving Alleria stunned.
• Sylvanas argued that combining two piles of sand could make 1+1 equal one, then said 1+1=2 was a truth first declared by a genius madman.
• Alleria could not answer Sylvanas’s question about who first knew that 1+1=2.

Alleria confronted Sylvanas over her mocking, unruly behavior and learned that she had been discussing the many threats to Quel'Thalas with Yu Lin Bloodhawk. After Sylvanas ran off, Alleria accused Yu Lin Bloodhawk of teaching her nonsense, leaving him baffled.

• Sylvanas teased Alleria by pretending to be a philosopher, and Alleria rapped her on the head when she would not stop.
• Alleria questioned Sylvanas about her talk of madmen, fools, and clever men, so Sylvanas explained that Yu Lin Bloodhawk had warned her about future threats to Quel'Thalas, including the Lich King, Archimonde, Kil'jaeden, Sargeras, the Old Gods, and Deathwing.
• Sylvanas mocked Alleria for neglecting Yu Lin Bloodhawk and ran from the tent after warning her not to expect help if she later complained.
• Alleria went to the command tent, called Yu Lin Bloodhawk outside, and angrily demanded to know what nonsense he had taught Sylvanas.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk denied teaching Sylvanas anything and returned to the command tent confused after Alleria stormed away.