Chapter Summaries

Medivh neutralized the Nexus-Prince’s energy storm, bound Aluneth into a staff, and left the Nexus vault with Azuregos. Meanwhile, Arthas sent the Order of the Silver Hand through a portal to Northrend to claim land for Lordaeron, only for Rowan’s fleet to arrive after the castle’s construction had begun.

• Medivh broke the Nexus-Prince’s arcane storm into small explosions, with Azuregos shielding them until the danger passed.
• The Nexus-Prince opened a Voidway to escape, but Aluneth took over his failing body and Medivh bound Aluneth into an arcane staff.
• Medivh departed the Nexus vault with Azuregos after making Aluneth his new companion.
• Delandon’s portal carried the Order of the Silver Hand to the Borean Tundra, where Arthas ordered a castle built for Lordaeron.
• Three days after the paladins arrived, Rowan’s Combined Fleet reached the shore, while Arthas resolved to outshine Rowan and rally the Alliance behind him.

Arthas tried to claim an advantage over Rowan in Borean Tundra, but Rowan’s enormous, fast-moving construction project dwarfed Dawn Stronghold. Meanwhile, Sylvanas’s Decapitation Squad reached Icecrown Citadel and found its entrance guarded by two unfamiliar giants.

• Arthas established Dawn Stronghold and taunted Rowan when he arrived, but Rowan revealed that his own development site was a hundred times larger.
• Jaina criticized Arthas’s pettiness, while Rowan flattered her and acknowledged her arrangement with Valeera.
• Arthas saw Rowan’s workers rapidly building across the tundra and called an Allied Forces military conference to make battle plans.
• Sylvanas’s squad left the Nexus for Sholazar Basin, and Tarecgosa flew separately toward Borean Tundra to deliver reconnaissance maps to Rowan.
• Sakia attempted to anchor the squad near the Frozen Throne, but found the route blocked and brought them to Icecrown Citadel’s gates.
• Medivh’s squad found no undead outside the citadel and faced two giant guards capable of casting a Feedback Barrier.

Rowan learned that the Kalu'ak Tuskarr would join his side and had plans drawn up to exploit newly discovered oil sites before attending Arthas's late-night war council. He rejected Arthas's plan to concentrate the Allied Forces at the Wrathgate while the Order of the Silver Hand attacked Icecrown Citadel, then left the meeting without securing agreement.

• Bjarngrim and Volkhan guarded the Scourge's citadel under Lord Loken's orders, and Bjarngrim attacked the Decapitation Squad when they refused to leave.
• Jaina told Rowan that Lucille had persuaded the Kalu'ak Tuskarr to accept housing and jobs, and that Chieftain Kunani had shown her four crude oil sites.
• Rowan began planning oil-well drilling, then left Jaina to attend Arthas's meeting; he approved Lucille lending food to Captain Faria and assigned Ellen responsibility for Kul Tiras's herbalism and alchemy operations.
• At the council, Prince Galin and Bolvar Fordragon criticized Marshal Valentin for serving Rowan, but Valentin defended Rowan's reforms and sacrifices.
• Arthas proposed drawing the Scourge's forces to the Wrathgate while the Order of the Silver Hand used the Book of Medivh to attack Icecrown Citadel directly.
• Rowan challenged Arthas's strategy, objected that it left the other Allied Forces little room to maneuver, and left the meeting after Arthas dismissed his concerns.

Rowan’s forces advanced toward the Wrathgate while Tarecgosa delivered Sylvanas’s map and accused Katrana of being an evil black dragon; Rowan defended Katrana and promised to protect her. Meanwhile, Medivh confronted Loken as the battle continued, and Loken insisted that both sides were fighting for survival.

• Rowan accepted the Alliance’s plan to attack the Wrathgate and watched the Allied Forces march north, with Kul Tiras hauling the artillery.
• Tarecgosa arrived at the Kul Tiras camp, gave Katrana Sylvanas’s map, and discovered that Katrana was a black dragon.
• Rowan told Tarecgosa that Katrana had not taken part in the Blue Dragonflight’s conflicts, and Katrana asked Rowan to promise he would protect her.
• Bjarngrim and Volkhan fought Sakia and the others until Loken ordered them to withdraw.
• Medivh confronted Loken, condemned him for opposing surface life, and heard Loken say that neither side had a choice.

Rowan recruited Tarecgosa to help plan ley lines for his railway and ordered Number Zero to prepare to kill Arthas if he took up Frostmourne. At Icecrown Citadel, Loken battled Medivh and the Decapitation Squad, then offered to let them leave after they wounded him and disrupted his magic.

• Rowan shared a meal with Tarecgosa and Katrana, urged them to put aside their dragonflight prejudices, and persuaded Tarecgosa to help Morris Industries plan railway ley lines for a week.
• Rowan instructed Number Zero to watch Arthas and kill him if he ascended the Throne with Frostmourne, and he approved sending the order to the Decapitation Squad.
• Loken unleashed a vast storm of lightning across the fortress plaza, badly injuring Bishop Joseph and forcing Medivh, Sylvanas, Saurfang, and Meryl Winterstorm to defend themselves.
• Sylvanas and Meryl attacked Loken while Saurfang struck through his golden barrier with the Black Dragon Axe, drawing the Keeper's blood and enraging him.
• Medivh pulled Loken's lingering electrical energy into the Astral Realm and broke apart the metal shielding that obstructed his spell, but his arcane reserves dwindled.
• Loken offered to let Medivh and the others leave, hoping to preserve a balance between the surface creatures and the Scourge.

Medivh fought Loken, who drew on the powers of other Guardians, while Kel'Thuzad and Tichondrius brought Dreadlords and subterranean creatures into the battle. Elsewhere, Krasus and Alexstrasza planned to cooperate with the human forces, and Arthas learned that two more Scourge fortifications stood beyond the Wrathgate.

• Medivh refused to retreat, and Loken attacked him with Holy Light flames and powers linked to Odyn and Freya.
• Medivh struck Loken with an Arcane Disintegration Spell, but Loken regenerated, drew on Tyr's power, and shattered Medivh's shield and Aluneth.
• Kel'Thuzad summoned elite Dreadlords, Tichondrius ordered them to attack, and enormous creatures broke through the battlefield's steel plates.
• Krasus told Alexstrasza that the dragons needed to join forces with humans against the Scourge, then set out to speak with a suitable candidate.
• Ysera teased Alexstrasza before the sisters turned their attention to the human forces.
• Arthas sparred with Muradin, then met Uther and Tirion, who warned him that two more Iron Defensive Fortifications lay beyond the Wrathgate.

Arthas, Uther, and Tirion reconsidered the Alliance’s offensive after receiving Rowan’s intelligence, while Rowan’s forces advanced through Dragonblight. Rowan helped Stromgarde’s militia endure the cold, and Xal'atath discovered signs of shadow in Crystalpine Forest before Krasus arrived to discuss a plan against the Scourge, leaving the danger surrounding Arthas and the Lich King unresolved.

• Arthas urged Uther and Tirion to consider a new offensive plan, and Uther called a meeting of the paladin lords near Crystalpine Forest.
• Rowan learned that Stromgarde’s militia lacked warm clothing, so he sent padded coats for the soldiers while Jaina, Xal'atath, and Clark used Thermal Regulation Spells to protect them from the cold.
• Rowan and Xal'atath discussed his ideals, and she found a shadow-contaminated crystal plant that suggested the Old Gods had influence in Northrend and Yogg-Saron had taken over Ulduar.
• Yogg-Saron contacted Xal'atath and tried to recruit her, but she rejected him and blocked their mental link.
• Krasus met Rowan and said he had come as Wyrmrest Temple’s representative to discuss a plan for eradicating the Scourge, while Rowan worried about what might happen if Arthas took up the Lich King’s helm.

Medivh and Loken’s clash left both badly wounded, but Loken’s transformation and Yogg-Saron’s influence drove him from the battlefield while the Dreadlords pursued Medivh. Saurfang and his allies rescued Medivh, and Rowan later ordered more padded coats sent to Stromgarde despite Galin’s interference.

• The energy backlash grievously wounded Medivh and Loken, and Aluneth carried Medivh toward the southern mountains while Tichondrius’s forces pursued them.
• Loken transformed with Yogg-Saron’s power, overwhelmed Tichondrius, then released him and left through a shadow portal after Yogg-Saron urged him to withdraw.
• Detheroc and Varimathras caught Aluneth and Medivh, but Saurfang killed Varimathras while Sylvanas and Meryl Winterstorm defeated Detheroc.
• Bishop Joseph healed Medivh, who thanked Lord Arthur before falling unconscious, while Aluneth reverted to his staff form and rested.
• Rowan learned that Galin had confiscated the militia’s padded coats and that Byron and Leonard had beaten him, then ordered Byron to deliver another batch to Trollbane.

Galin sought Arthas’s help after Byron and Leonard beat him again, while Arthas trusted Ner’zhul’s story about Frostmourne and the Helm of Domination. At the Wrathgate, Kul Tiras artillery devastated the Vrykul defenses, and Byron’s group halted the bombardment rather than rush into an assault.

• Galin rode to the front in a battered carriage, but Byron struck him again when he encountered him on the road.
• Arthas comforted Galin, promised to settle matters with Rowan after the war, and continued believing Ner’zhul’s account of the two artifacts.
• Ufrang spotted the Allied Forces approaching the Wrathgate and held back his Saronite Cannons while preparing his troops.
• Ufrang fired at Byron and missed, then ducked as Kul Tiras Mage Hunters struck the wall with devastating artillery.
• Ufrang ordered the Saronite Cannons into action as the surviving Vrykul withdrew into the fortifications.
• Byron, Leonard, and David stopped the bombardment and advised Duke Bolvar to cancel the Seventh Army Corps’ probing assault.

The Scourge-Vrykul coalition opened the Wrathgate and launched repeated assaults against the Allied Forces, whose lines held despite heavy pressure. Ingvar then sent Helga and the Kvaldir after Jaina's artillery position while Jaina destroyed the attacking Undead Knights.

• Ufrang, Ingvar, and Ilda planned to open the Gate of Angrathar and attack the Allied Forces, and Ner'zhul gave Ingvar command of the Scourge army at the Wrathgate.
• Ingvar opened the gate and sent the undead army charging into the Allied Forces, where Tirion, the Kul Tiran artillery, and other troops fought off the first wave at heavy cost to the Scourge.
• Ingvar and Ilda led a second attack with Vrykul and Kvaldir fighters, who broke through the Allied Forces' gunfire and forced Byron's soldiers to abandon a trench.
• Xal'atath used shadow magic to destroy undead in the trench before rushing to help Commander William, while Jaina defended the Kul Tiran artillery position from armored Undead Knights.
• Jaina freed her Water Elementals and used Frost Spikes to destroy the Undead Knights, after which Ingvar ordered Helga to attack her.

Rowan discovered a massive Nerubian force emerging from Ahn'kahet and bombarded it to slow its advance toward the Wrathgate. At the Cannon Position, Jaina and her allies fought the empowered Hjergal until Jaina destroyed him with a Glacial Spike.

• Rowan saw thousands of Nerubians emerge from a ravine and ordered the Aircraft Carrier to bombard their march toward the Wrathgate.
• Rhonin went to Wyrmrest Temple to find Archmage Krasus, while Clark returned to camp to relay Rowan's changed bombardment plan.
• Risen's crews fired Mage Hunter S shells, and Elder Nadox ordered Krik'thir and Hadronox to spread the Nerubian troops out under fire.
• Ingvar killed Hjergal with Ilda's runic sword, raising him as an empowered undead warrior who attacked Jaina.
• Eileen, Muradin, and Jaina fought Hjergal as strange soul magic and seawater protected him from their attacks.
• Jaina unleashed a powerful sequence of frost spells and blasted Hjergal apart with a Glacial Spike.

Helya met with the Jailer and Sire Denathrius in Torghast, where the Jailer ordered her to find a way to lure Rowan into the Shadowlands. On the battlefield, Muradin transformed with Avatar and resisted Ingvar’s empowered runeblade attack.

• Helya met Sire Denathrius in Torghast and heard that the Shadowlands’ gates would open in two days for the arrival of the human prince, Arthas.
• The Jailer punished Helya for failing to capture a powerful soul, then empowered her and ordered her to find a way to eliminate Rowan or draw him into the Shadowlands.
• Helya warned the Jailer that Yogg-Saron’s forces were spreading through Ulduar, but he told her to wait and rely on Azeroth’s surface-dwellers for now.
• After hearing about Rowan’s industries and the strong souls reaching Bastion, Helya proposed a plan to lure him into the Shadowlands using the dead Guardians of Tirisfal.
• The Order of the Silver Hand divided the battlefield and disrupted the Vrykul and Scourge reinforcements while Muradin fought Ingvar.
• Ingvar empowered his runeblade with blood and blasted Muradin away, but Muradin activated Avatar, grew into a steel-skinned giant, and resisted Ingvar’s Shadow Impact.

Ingvar was killed and raised as an undead Vrykul as the Scourge counterattack pushed the Allies back, but the Silver Hand then launched a powerful counterattack and withdrew to prepare a surprise attack on Icecrown Citadel. Marshal Valentin tried to persuade Uther to seize the Wrathgate while the Allies had the advantage, but Uther kept the approved plan to support Arthas as his successor.

• Muradin overwhelmed Ingvar with his Thunder Warhammer, and a Val'kyr killed Ingvar before raising him as an undead warrior bent on revenge.
• The Scourge's undead Vrykul and Crypt Fiends forced the Seventh Army Corps to retreat, and Arthas told Tirion that the Silver Hand should launch its counterattack.
• Tirion and the Paladin lords led their forces in a storm of Divine Storms that devastated the Scourge, while Arthas fought through the battlefield and taunted Jaina by smiling at her.
• Faria reported that the portal and Book of Medivh were ready, and Arthas ordered the Silver Hand to withdraw toward Crystalpine Forest for a surprise attack on Icecrown Citadel.
• Byron and Moss protested the withdrawal, while Leonard tried to find Marshal Valentin, who had gone to challenge the Silver Hand's decision.
• Uther met Valentin and admitted that taking the Wrathgate was the better opportunity, but he refused to change the plan because he wanted to preserve Arthas's standing as his successor.

With the Aircraft Carrier out of shells, Rowan rushed toward the Wrathgate and gained temporary support from the Wyrmrest Accord, including green dragons. He reached the gate to find the Allied Forces’ positions still intact and prepared to organize defenses and an assault.

• Rowan ordered the Aircraft Carrier to fly at full speed toward the Wrathgate, planning to breach its defenses and switch to a defensive strategy if the Order of the Silver Hand had withdrawn.
• Rhonin arrived with the Wyrmrest Accord, and Alexstrasza led more than a thousand dragons in a two-hour attack that disrupted the nerubian army’s advance.
• Alexstrasza agreed to let Ysera and the green dragons temporarily support Rowan’s forces in exchange for food.
• Rowan negotiated with Ysera about having green dragons grow crops in the Emerald Dream, and she told him to win her over.
• Rowan reached the Wrathgate, saw that the Allied Forces’ positions remained in place, and asked Rhonin to take him down to organize defenses and an assault.

Rowan learned that the Silver Hand had abandoned the Allied Forces and a Nerub army was approaching, forcing the commanders to plan an assault on the Wrathgate before they were trapped between enemies. After Prince Galin undermined the war council, Byron and Leonard beat him; the chapter ended with the Allied Forces preparing to attack at eight that night.

• Rowan reunited with Jaina, then learned that the Silver Hand had gone to Icecrown Citadel and more than a hundred thousand Nerub crypt fiends were advancing toward the Allied Forces.
• At the emergency war council, Galin blamed Rowan and questioned how the Allies could breach the Wrathgate without the Silver Hand, while Byron and Bolvar rebuked him.
• Byron punched Galin during the council, and Rowan ordered Byron to submit to discipline and Galin to leave.
• Galin ordered Lem to seek permission to withdraw the Stromgarde troops, then returned to camp, where Byron and Leonard beat him and left him in his bathtub.
• Rowan’s commanders assigned the Seventh Army Corps and Kul Tiras’s Third, Fourth, and Fifth Army Corps to assault the Wrathgate, while other forces guarded the position.
• Rowan ordered the Allied Forces to rest and be ready to attack at eight that night, with only two chances to breach the gate.

Ingvar prepared the Scourge defenses as the human Allied Forces advanced on the Wrathgate, while Rowan moved aboard the Aircraft Carrier to attack the gate. Ufrang fired his Saronite Cannons at the Allied Forces, but Ilda urged him to flee just before Rowan’s Arcane beam pierced the Wrathgate.

• Ingvar ordered the Scourge troops to prepare for battle and forced the Dragonflayer Tribe Warriors to obey by killing two of them and raising them as undead.
• Ingvar used incendiary flares to reveal the Allied Forces’ positions, and both sides opened fire as Kul Tiras’s artillery covered the advance.
• After five minutes of bombardment, the Allied Forces reached the Wrathgate, and Rowan boarded the Aircraft Carrier to make a final attack.
• Ufrang fired Saronite Cannon shells at Moss’s Third Army Corps, while David ordered Smoke Bombs to conceal the Allied Forces.
• Ufrang ordered his gunners to fire every remaining shell as a roar sounded overhead, but Ilda told him to run.
• Rowan’s Arcane beam descended from the sky and pierced the Wrathgate.

Medivh recovered with Aluneth’s help, detected Arthas’s teleportation to Icecrown Citadel, and decided the Decapitation Squad should target him. Arthas shattered Ner’zhul’s ice coffin and took the Helm of Domination, but Number Zero attacked as the dreadlords revealed themselves to protect Arthas.

• Aluneth shared arcane energy with Medivh and repaired his damaged pathways, then collapsed from mana deprivation.
• Medivh detected the Book of Medivh’s teleportation signature, gathered the Decapitation Squad, and went to Icecrown Citadel to watch Arthas.
• Arthas led more than ten thousand soldiers through a teleportation circle and attacked Icecrown Citadel, where Kel’Thuzad and the undead mages confronted him.
• Arthas defeated the defenders, reached the Frozen Throne, shattered Ner’zhul’s ice coffin, and took the Helm of Domination.
• Number Zero attacked Arthas, but dreadlords disguised among the paladin lords revealed themselves and helped him fight off the attacker.

Moss blew open the Wrathgate and survived the blast after using Rowan’s magical potion, while the Allied Forces fought to seize the gate against a massive Scourge counterattack. As the battle bogged down, Rowan waited for his air force, and Galin ordered Lem to prepare a retreat when a huge Nerubian army approached.

• Moss charged into the Wrathgate with a High-Energy Explosive, endured North’s Frost Nova, and detonated the device, destroying the steel barrier and spilling plague across the entrance.
• North left Moss for dead, but Moss used the magical liquid Rowan had given him and began recovering as a dragon roared nearby.
• Rowan had Ysera clear the plague mist, then ordered the vanguard into the Wrathgate; Captain Wright reported that Moss had opened the breach, and Rowan sent Ellen’s assassin squad to find him.
• Ingvar summoned more than two hundred thousand undead to defend the Wrathgate, turning the battle into a grinding struggle as Rowan chose to keep his air force flying.
• Byron, Liam, and Leonard faced a vast Nerubian force advancing toward the Allied defensive line, while Galin ordered Trollbane to hold the position and told Lem to organize a retreat southeast.

Danath defied Prince Galin to demand a fair role for Stromgarde’s militia, while General Halliwell adapted the allied defense against the Aqir assault. The Aqir encircled and pushed the allied forces without attacking, and dozens of iron birds arrived over the Wrathgate.

• Danath refused Galin’s order to leave the militia defending alone and kicked the messenger who warned him about insubordination.
• Captain Lem urged Galin to cooperate with Kul Tiras and Lord Rowan, but Galin denounced him and ordered him to organize a joint defense.
• The Nerubian Crypt Fiend Vanguard smashed into the allied line, and the Aqir troops tore through it in fifteen minutes.
• Halliwell ordered the allied columns to alternate between fighting and withdrawing, creating a mobile defense that slowed the Aqir advance.
• Elder Nadox sent Krik'thir and Hadronox to encircle the allied troops, then pushed them forward without attacking as Halliwell’s counterattacks failed.
• Dozens of iron birds flew through the gloomy sky toward the Wrathgate.

Arthas accepted Ner'zhul's offer and became the Lich King, prompting the Burning Legion and Rowan's forces to turn against him as Helya opened a passage to the Shadowlands. As anima empowered Arthas and his Cruel Winter trapped the Frozen Throne, Medivh fought Helya while the remaining defenders struggled to stop the Lich King.

• Tirion, Mograine, Dathrohan, Uther, and the Kul Tiras attackers fought to stop Arthas from putting on the Helm of Domination, but Arthas chose the helm and became the Lich King.
• Helya emerged from a rift on the Frozen Throne, and Tichondrius joined Medivh's forces against Ner'zhul and Arthas.
• Arthas absorbed anima, defeated Number Zero and Number Seven, and drove Tichondrius back when the demon tried to attack him.
• Sylvanas opened a path through Helya's tentacles, allowing Saurfang to confront Arthas before the Lich King unleashed Cruel Winter across the Frozen Throne.
• Uther ordered ordinary soldiers and Paladins to withdraw, then advanced toward Arthas while Medivh teleported through the storm.
• Helya blocked Medivh with a Titan barrier and summoned Gargantuan Maw Creatures, then intensified her attacks as Medivh began to tire.