As the Battle of Lordaeron drew to a close, the death of Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer sent the entire Horde army into collapse.
But Orgrim's final order had been for all the Orcs to retreat and stay alive however they could!
The death knights also chose to fall back. When they encountered the pursuing Alliance forces, Talon Bloodmaw volunteered to remain at the rear, using his second life to briefly hold back the Alliance army's advance.
Meanwhile, after leaving the Kingdom of Lordaeron, the remaining death knights split up to retreat.
Gul'dan, Jazba, and several other death knights stayed together. Under cover of night, with Talon Bloodmaw covering their retreat, they escaped Lordaeron.
Fleeing south, they chose to travel at night, concealed by the shadows. Fortunately, they encountered no Alliance armies along the way.
After fleeing to Southshore, before the Alliance had occupied the town, Gul'dan seized a ship. Aboard it, the group fled all the way to the Black Morass.
Finally, before Karin destroyed the Dark Portal, they passed through it and returned to Draenor.
The sight of Draenor shocked the death knights.
The brave warriors of most clans had followed the Warchief to Azeroth, and only a tiny fraction had escaped back.
Those who had stayed behind were mostly the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.
More importantly, with the closing of the Dark Portal, the aftereffects of Demon Blood began to erupt rapidly. The "brave" Orcs grew lethargic and weak...
On top of that, Draenor's natural environment had long since been utterly destroyed by the Horde, leaving supplies desperately scarce.
Every Horde clan lived trembling in hunger and poverty... Orcs died every moment.
This land had become a place of death.
Even Ner'zhul, the former Warchief who had remained on Draenor, had lost his fighting