Chapter Summaries

Old John’s son described how his expelled Third Uncle had become a starving beggar outside The Hinterlands, where refugees struggled to find work and food. The conversation also revealed that The Hinterlands restricted entry and that the City Lord had recently been away rescuing the elven army.

• Old John’s son told him that he had found Third Uncle begging among refugees in Southshore and had given him some money.
• Old John’s son explained that work outside was scarce, paid in meager portions of black bread, and often reserved for strong, healthy workers.
• Old John’s son said that The Hinterlands registered arrivals under an agreement with the Human Alliance and barred people who had previously been expelled.
• Old John’s son secretly reported that the City Lord had been with an elven army surrounded by Orcs when refugees rioted in The Hinterlands.
• Old John scolded his son for eavesdropping and for giving Third Uncle too little money.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk returned to Quel'Danil City and heard from his trusted officers about the city's growth, its expanding arms trade, and the City Guard's new gryphon riders. He celebrated with the officers and officials, then woke with a hangover after everyone had returned to their posts.

• Old John's son explained that food outside The Hinterlands cost many times more and reflected on why his third uncle had joined the riots.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk returned from Elf Village to his Harbor District residence and met trusted officers from the Quel'Danil City Guard.
• The officers reported that Quel'Danil City focused on mining and forging rare-grade equipment, with orders from Quel'Thalas legions supporting its income.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk learned that the Temple District was under construction with funds from his and Alleria's gold mine, and that treants had been brought in to tend the city's saplings.
• The officers told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that fifty City Guard members had completed training and received gryphons, while the Troll Armed Police had taken over the duties once handled by the Evil Spikes Battalion.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk feasted and drank with the officials and officers, then woke the next day with a splitting headache after they had returned to their posts.

The elves of the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion explored The Hinterlands during their leave, while Yu Lin Bloodhawk discovered that people had made him the War God’s Temple Guardian and inscribed a saying beneath the statue. As he tried to leave the harbor square, Zuga, Broken Tooth, Evil Spikes, and Evil Fang stopped him.

• The Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion’s soldiers toured The Hinterlands and marveled at its rapid development and the Goblin Plowing Team.
• The visiting elves spent time in Elf Village, where its residents welcomed them and shared food from Quel'Thalas.
• After three idle days, Yu Lin Bloodhawk went to the harbor square and found holy charlatans preaching about War God Yang Jian.
• Yu Lin learned that he was regarded as the War God Temple’s first Temple Guardian and found a saying signed with his name carved beneath the statue.
• Yu Lin tried to leave, but Zuga, Broken Tooth, Evil Spikes, and Evil Fang held him back.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk persuaded four troll leaders that they could worship War God Yang Jian despite their past allegiance to Hakkar, promising priests would teach them the faith. He then improvised teachings to convince skeptical priests, who asked him to repeat the sayings for the Scripture.

• Zuga asked whether trolls could worship the high elves' War God, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk learned that the trolls feared their oaths to him had made them traitors to Hakkar.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk claimed that serving him as Guardian of the War God's temple meant the trolls were following the War God's will and could become his followers.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk told the four troll leaders that devout trolls could attend an oath-taking ceremony, and they knelt gratefully before him.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk promised to send priests to preach to the trolls and instructed the leaders to gather their followers.
• Priests questioned whether trolls could worship the high elves' supreme deity, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk defended the decision with improvised teachings about tolerance and war.
• A priest searched the War God Scripture for Yu Lin Bloodhawk's sayings, then asked him to repeat them so he could write them down.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained the War God’s sayings to priests and began telling elves a story about the War God testing a kind young man. He left the story unfinished after the young man went to meet the War God at the bridge in the middle of the night.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained the sayings “The sea accepts a hundred rivers; greatness comes from tolerance” and “Use force to end conflict” to the priests.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk began a story about the War God visiting another world and testing a young man by repeatedly dropping his shoe into a river.
• The young man retrieved the War God’s shoe each time and went home after the War God invited him to meet at the bridge at midnight.
• The young man returned to the bridge with a thick coat and found the old beggar waiting for him.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk listened to a story about the War God teaching a patient young man military strategy, then fantasized about becoming powerful enough to lead raids against gods. The elves let him pass, but one called him undefeated in battle, leaving Yu Lin confused and irritated by the compliment.

• The elves heard how the War God tested a young man's patience and offered to teach him either personal combat skills or military strategy.
• The young man chose military strategy, received The Art of War, and later became an undefeated Grand Marshal.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk privately wished he had enough strength to assemble a raid and defeat powerful gods, while lamenting his weakness and blaming the Bronze Dragon for his transmigration.
• Yu Lin asked the elves to clear a path, and they reluctantly moved aside.
• An elf praised Yu Lin as undefeated in battle, and Yu Lin said he had only read a page or two of the strategy book before wondering whether the elf had praised or insulted him.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained how coincidence had let him burn the Orcs, then worried that his growing reputation as a military strategist would expose his lies. His War God stories had spread among the Trolls, however, and he realized their faith might create a stronger bond than their oaths ever had.

• After Stormwind City's fall, the Orcs attacked the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk burned them in the valley as the Elves prepared to withdraw.
• The Elves praised Yu Lin Bloodhawk's military knowledge, and he fled to his quarters, fearing he could not maintain his growing collection of lies.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk considered how little he trusted the Trolls' oaths and concluded that faith in the War God could better unite them with him.
• The War God's slayer legends spread through the Hinterlands and entered the War God Scripture, while Yu Lin Bloodhawk avoided public attention and questions.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk realized that his attempt to inspire the High Elves had instead drawn the Trolls toward the War God.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk spent a sleepless night fishing, then decided to plant breadfruit trees across the southern hills and asked Sylvanas to help obtain saplings. He cooked breakfast for himself and Sylvanas, who arrived at his home as the chapter ended.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk caught a bucketful of fish at the harbor overnight and spotted the recovering tong millet tree on his way home.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk chose the undeveloped southern hills near the boar breeding grounds for a tree-planting project and sent a bodyguard to fetch Sylvanas.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk cooked fish, beef, steamed eggs, pumpkin congee, vegetables, and soup in the kitchen, astonishing the chefs.
• Sylvanas waited at Yu Lin Bloodhawk's elven-style home, where he invited her to eat the breakfast he had made.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk shared a meal with Sylvanas and asked her to arrange the urgent transport of breadfruit saplings to the Hinterlands so the elves could establish future food supplies. Sylvanas agreed and reported that the temple project was progressing under Sorens and the other elders.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk served Sylvanas beef, steamed fish, and egg custard, and she tried eating with chopsticks.
• Sylvanas enjoyed the food and readily ate both bowls of egg custard after Yu Lin Bloodhawk teased her about being polite.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained that the saplings needed to be planted soon to prepare food for the elves before the Second War interrupted their plans.
• Sylvanas agreed to send an owl to Shalandis Isle and have the saplings shipped urgently.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked about the temple, and Sylvanas said Sorens and the other elders were overseeing its remaining work.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk helped organize training for the rangers and learned that his original troops had reached intermediate rank under Sylvanas’s strict training. Alleria tested his newfound precision and identified it as the rare ranger skill Mind Shot, which let him shoot her arrows out of the air.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk suggested sending priests to preach among Quel'Danil City's defense forces, and Sylvanas said priests had already been sent.
• Alleria organized training for the troops at a site between the hills and plains, including specialized mounted archery instruction for the rangers.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk transferred the City Lord's Guard into the training program and saw the Bloodhawk Burning Legion rookies improve.
• Alleria told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that his original hundred troops had reached intermediate rank after more than two years of Sylvanas’s training.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk described his new shooting ability, and Alleria identified it as Mind Shot.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk shot Alleria’s arrows in half during a test, missing only her sixth shot.

Alleria and Yu Lin Bloodhawk discussed plans for the Bloodhawk Burning Legion’s Mountain and Plains Regiments, including how to equip them with hybrid boars. Alleria promised to marry Yu Lin Bloodhawk once Sylvanas was ready to shoulder the responsibilities of a Burning Legion Commander.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk proposed a Mountain Regiment for jungle warfare and a Plains Regiment for coordinated charges, and Alleria questioned his plan for the dire wolves.
• Alleria said the Hinterlands breeding farm had over three thousand first-generation hybrid boars available, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked her to reserve eight hundred for his company.
• Alleria decided to take thirty-three hundred boars for the Windrunner Burning Legion and said the remaining males would not be enough for Yu Lin Bloodhawk’s request.
• Alleria decided to check on the boars in Silvermoon City and send a letter to the Farstriders Commander.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked Alleria about their relationship, and she promised to marry him once Sylvanas could shoulder a Burning Legion Commander’s responsibilities.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk endured six months of demanding training from Sylvanas and Alleria, while the Alliance learned the First War had ended and prepared for the next conflict. After Lord Mez'dra received Yu Lin’s message and returned toward The Hinterlands, Yu Lin arranged the trolls’ oath-taking ceremony and wrote its oath.

• Sylvanas and Alleria put Yu Lin through three months of punishing training, and he gradually regained his sense of his body while growing much stronger and more confident.
• Over half a year, Alleria and Sylvanas took over much of Yu Lin’s work as his abilities improved, while the priests spread their faith more successfully among trolls than among elves.
• The Alliance learned from captured orcs that heavy losses in a forest fire had weakened the orc offensive, confirming that the First War had ended and both sides needed to prepare for the Second War.
• After secretly receiving word from Yu Lin, Lord Mez'dra left his troops with his adjutant and returned to The Hinterlands with a small escort to pursue the plan involving the green dragons.
• Yu Lin chose to hold the trolls’ oath-taking ceremony before the harbor god statue and quickly wrote an oath based on lyrics he remembered, which the priests approved.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk presided over an elaborate oath-taking ceremony as fifteen hundred trolls pledged themselves to the War God’s faith. After they recited the oath, a mysterious red glow enveloped them, leaving Yu Lin Bloodhawk puzzled as it slowly faded.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk regretted giving the old men a Taiji Diagram after it consumed their attention and led them to pester him even more.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk, Alleria, and Sylvanas joined the solemn ceremony, which Old Sorens presided over as Temple High Priest.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk led fifteen hundred Troll Soldiers and members of the Troll Armed Police through the final oath, and the trolls repeated his pledge with fervent devotion.
• A red glow appeared around the kneeling trolls, who trembled as Yu Lin Bloodhawk and the onlookers watched in confusion and excitement.
• The glow faded from the trolls over about forty minutes, leaving them weak but visibly excited and devout.

After the Trolls completed their oath-taking ceremony, a mysterious red light granted them a powerful ability called War God's Will. Yu Lin Bloodhawk remained unaware of its true source as the others left to investigate, while they began planning a sacred site for future ceremonies.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk led the Trolls through the closing rites and declared them warriors serving the War God.
• After the harbor reopened, Sylvanas, Alleria, Sorens, and two elders questioned Yu Lin Bloodhawk about the red light, but he denied knowing what caused it.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk proposed building a large ceremonial site in a southern valley, and Sorens and Alleria agreed it should become the War God's sacred ground.
• Sorens told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that the red light was War God's Will, which removed negative conditions, granted immunity to harmful magic and restraints, and increased the Trolls' capabilities by ten percent.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk begged to receive the power, then decided the others were teasing him; they called him names and left.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk continued training his troops while dismissing the rumors about the War God's Will, then met Mez'dra to review an alliance agreement. Sylvanas interrupted their plans to visit the green dragons and insisted on joining them to see the World Tree sapling.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk trained the Bloodhawk Burning Legion and the City Lord's Guard alongside the elves, while privately scoffing at the rumors about the War God's Will.
• Alleria told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that Mez'dra had arrived at the harbor, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk went there to meet him.
• Mez'dra mistook Alleria for Yu Lin Bloodhawk's wife, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk clarified that she was his fiancée and asked about Yiluo's secret mission.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk and Alleria approved the alliance agreement and planned to consult the green dragons about it.
• Sylvanas arrived, greeted Mez'dra, then seized the agreement and demanded to join the visit to the green dragons and see the World Tree sapling.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk assigned Sylvanas and Alleria to negotiate with the green dragons while he planned troll territories, an alliance, and a railway. After the Windrunner Sisters described the Burning Legion’s disastrous retreat, Mez'dra learned why the Lordaeron commander had returned with so few troops.

• Sylvanas persuaded Yu Lin Bloodhawk to let her and Alleria negotiate with the green dragons while he managed the troops.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk proposed dividing territory between the Vilebranch Trolls and Witherbark Trolls, building a Vilebranch city, and forming an alliance against outside threats.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk suggested a railway between Aerie Peak and Quel'Danil and proposed using trolls to build its sections.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk said the elves had been abandoned during the retreat from the orcs, and the Windrunner Sisters recounted what had happened.
• Mez'dra condemned the failure to order a retreat and recognized that the Lordaeron Burning Legion commander had returned with only a dozen or so cavalrymen.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk learned that Allied Command had exposed the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion to danger and had also plotted to seize his territory through a refugee riot. After drinking with Mez'dra, he offered grain and refugee labor in exchange for Dwarven smiths, leaving Mez'dra with a possible way to build Aerie Peak quickly.

• Mez'dra told Yu Lin Bloodhawk that most Orc Wolf Riders had been sent to surround the Elven Expeditionary Burning Legion, and Yu Lin accused Allied Command of sacrificing his troops.
• Yu Lin asked about the Elves who had stayed with the Allied Army Main Force and learned that their casualties were severe, while the Dalaran Mage Corps had lost fewer people.
• Yu Lin told Mez'dra that people had stirred up a refugee riot in his territory, and he said his forces had crushed it to protect his land.
• Yu Lin challenged Mez'dra to a drinking contest and lost again.
• Yu Lin offered Mez'dra as much grain as he needed and proposed feeding ten refugee laborers for each Dwarven blacksmith sent to forge weapons and armor, so they could build Aerie Peak.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk persuaded the drunken Mez'dra to bring the Wildhammer Dwarves to Quel'Danil, where their blacksmiths could support its military production. After Yu Lin was carried to bed, Alleria and Sylvanas convened the Council, which approved a profit-sharing deal and a plan to recognize the Trolls as a buffer power in the Hinterlands.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk warned Mez'dra that the Orcs threatened Grim Batol and the Twilight Highlands, convincing him to move his people to Quel'Danil City.
• Mez'dra drank himself unconscious, and Alleria and Sylvanas discussed how to arrange the Dwarves' food supplies and share profits from their military equipment.
• Alleria and Sylvanas convened the Council, which agreed that the City Lord would receive sixty percent of the profits from the Dwarven smiths' work.
• Alleria explained that human powers might expand into the Hinterlands, and the Council agreed to recognize the Trolls as a buffer for Quel'Danil's territory.
• The City Lord's faction and the turncoats defeated the King and Silvermoon Council's agents, who opposed a peaceful agreement with the Trolls.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk reviewed how the Hinterlands’ refugees, labor, and grain supported Quel'Danil’s rapid growth, then prepared to pressure the Vilebranch Trolls into submission. He planned to capture battle pets in Stranglethorn Vale to equip the Expeditionary Army Corps, though the number of animals needed remained uncertain.

• The chapter described how dwarves, humans, and goblins built Quel'Danil while refugees cultivated grain and completed required labor service in the Hinterlands.
• Sylvanas and Alleria left for Aerie Peak, and Yu Lin Bloodhawk woke with a plan to negotiate with the Vilebranch Troll leaders or replace them.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk considered using the Expeditionary Army Corps and his available forces to subdue the Vilebranch Trolls, but worried that his troops were too few to protect the city and campaign.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk decided to seek battle pets in Stranglethorn Vale, prioritizing the Expeditionary Army Corps’ rangers and estimating that they needed hundreds of animals.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk planned to capture beasts for his troops and learned more about the dangers and factions in Stranglethorn Vale. He decided to seize Bloodsail Buccaneer ships under pirate flags, though the attack's tactics remained undecided.

• Yu Lin Bloodhawk remembered the Orc Wolf Riders' netting technique and asked Thirteen to bring their leader while calling Fourteen to discuss Stranglethorn Vale.
• Thirteen explained that the captured orcs were guarded at a quarry by the Evil Spikes Battalion, where they had been sent to work.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk questioned Fourteen about the pirate hideouts, Booty Bay, and the troll tribes in Stranglethorn Vale.
• Yu Lin Bloodhawk revealed that he planned to steal Bloodsail Buccaneer ships after the war disrupted his plan to obtain gunships and aircraft carriers.
• Fourteen advised attacking under pirate flags because pirates commonly robbed and fought one another, and he said human nobles backed many pirate crews.