Chapter Summaries

A Night Elf messenger brought Tyrande’s letter to the Alliance, but the news that demons had landed early changed the allied forces’ plans. Aaron urged Uther to send troops to stop the demons from corrupting the Quilboar near Ratchet, leaving the Alliance to decide whether to divide its forces.

• A Night Elf storm Druid arrived at the Alliance camp with Tyrande’s letter, and Sylvanas helped translate its invitation to meet in Ashenvale.
• Uther questioned why the Night Elves had changed their plans, and Sylvanas learned that the demons had landed ahead of schedule.
• Aaron entered headquarters with Vereesa, Onyxia, and Chromie and warned that the Burning Legion had sent an advance force to Kalimdor.
• Aaron explained that the demons near Ratchet were heading to corrupt the Quilboar and argued that the Alliance should intervene before they became a threat.

Aaron led a small Alliance force south through the Barrens to support the Quilboar and find the demons. He found Ratchet burning after a demon raid, and Gazlowe revealed that goblins to the east had helped the demons before agreeing to support Aaron.

• Uther assigned Aaron three hundred paladins and fifty mages, and Aaron chose the southern route through the valley where Orgrimmar would later stand.
• Chromie left before telling Aaron where the demons had landed, so his force searched the Barrens without finding their trail.
• Vereesa spotted smoke near Ratchet, and Aaron diverted his force to investigate the burning city.
• Gazlowe told Aaron that demons had returned to Ratchet, stolen supplies, and set the city on fire after goblins to the east had helped them.
• Aaron pressed Gazlowe to prove his innocence, and Gazlowe agreed to send his people and surrender the cargo he had saved.

Aaron learned that demons had stolen Ratchet’s tar to burn Razorfen Downs and found them preparing to set the Quilboar refuge ablaze. With the Quilboar and Night Elves still resisting, Aaron considered a risky plan with Onyxia to stop the demons before they could advance toward Mount Hyjal.

• Gazlowe agreed to lead his men into battle alongside the Alliance and give them Ratchet’s remaining supplies, hoping to secure the Alliance’s favor.
• Aaron learned the demons had taken all of Ratchet’s tar and realized they were likely targeting Razorfen Downs.
• Gazlowe warned that the demons were probably already near Razorfen Downs, but Aaron refused to abandon the Quilboar and fly straight to Mount Hyjal.
• Aaron flew ahead with Onyxia and found demons pouring tar over Razorfen Downs while preparing fel rune circles near its entrance.
• Aaron saw Quilboar and Night Elves resisting the demons, then considered using Onyxia’s dragon breath as part of a plan to save them.

Aaron disrupted the demons’ attempt to burn Razorfen Downs, helping the Quilboar and Shandris’s forces defeat them. With the maze’s entrance destroyed, Shandris said the Quilboar would relocate near Mount Hyjal and join the war against the Burning Legion.

• Aaron sent Onyxia flying away to draw the demons’ attention, then ignited their tar barrels and spread the blaze.
• Aaron froze the thorns at Razorfen Downs and broke them apart to create a firebreak against the demons’ fire spells.
• The Quilboar, Night Elf sentinels, and Onyxia charged out amid the chaos and drove the demons back.
• Onyxia returned and told Aaron that her reins had shocked her when she flew too far away from him.
• Shandris told Aaron that Agamaggan had regained his senses and that the Quilboar would move near Mount Hyjal and join the war against the Burning Legion.

Aaron’s growing allied army prepared to march against the Burning Legion, then gained powerful reinforcements when Odyn brought the Halls of Valor to Kalimdor. Delayed by a storm at sea, the Legion gave the allies several more days to gather their strength.

• Agamaggan explained his desire to reform the Quilboar, who rallied to fight demons and prepared to leave Razorfen at his command.
• Aaron’s main force arrived, joined by Tauren sent to help at the Night Elves’ request, bringing the allied army to nearly twenty thousand.
• The Halls of Valor appeared above the sea and flew toward the army, startling the assembled races before Aaron identified it as Odyn’s palace.
• Highmountain Tauren riding giant eagles emerged from the Halls of Valor, and Aaron realized Archaedas had found them while seeking the Hammer of Khaz’goroth.
• Archaedas said the hammer gave him confidence to challenge Archimonde, while new intelligence revealed that a storm had delayed the Legion’s fleet by five or six days.

Aaron and the coalition leaders organized defenses for the coming Burning Legion invasion, dividing the forces among Mount Hyjal’s defensive lines because the coalition’s many races could not communicate effectively. Just after the plan was agreed upon, Shandris learned that demons had already infiltrated Mount Hyjal and were attacking its temples.

• Tyrande warned that the coalition’s language barriers prevented its soldiers from coordinating, and Shandris proposed separating the different contingents.
• Uther volunteered the Alliance to defend Mount Hyjal’s gateway, the line expected to face the heaviest attack.
• The leaders assigned the Kalimdor races and Northrend natives to the third line, the Titan-forged to the final line beneath Nordrassil, and Night Elf Sentinels to scouting and messenger duties.
• After the meeting, a wounded Sentinel reported to Shandris that demons had infiltrated Mount Hyjal and were attacking the temples.
• Shandris sought a way to respond without deploying enough troops to disrupt the coalition’s defense plans.

Shandris sent a force of dragons, Aaron, and Onyxia to retake the Wild Gods’ shrines before the demons could establish strongholds and corrupt the demigods. At Goldrinn’s shrine, the group found the wolf god under attack, but Onyxia’s collision with the ruins revealed a hidden force of demons, leaving the battle far from over.

• Shandris asked the dragons to help clear demons from the Wild Gods’ shrines, and Krasus divided the dragons into groups to rescue several sites.
• Krasus assigned Aaron and Onyxia’s group to Goldrinn’s shrine, where demons were killing giant wolves and corrupting others with Fel.
• Itharius led the dragons in an attack, and Goldrinn warned them that demon reinforcements were on their way.
• Aaron urged Onyxia to help Goldrinn, and she crashed into the shrine, collapsing much of its outer structure.
• A fel lord and dozens of other demons emerged from the rubble, and Goldrinn rebuked Aaron for bringing them out only after they had been summoned.

Aaron and the dragons struggled to stop demons pouring through a still-functioning Demon Gate, so Kalecgos attempted to cut off its ley line power. Banshees interrupted the spell and injured the blue dragons, while Aaron recognized faces resembling Vereesa and Sylvanas among their leaders.

• The dragons attacked from the air, but the demons endured their breath and kept replenishing their ranks through the Demon Gate.
• Goldrinn explained that the temple had been built on a ley line node, and Kalecgos proposed detonating its energy to disrupt the gate and demons.
• Itharius approved the plan, and Kalecgos and several blue dragons began cutting off the Demon Gate's energy supply.
• Banshees with High Elf faces rushed from the demon horde and shrieked, interrupting the blue dragons' spell and badly injuring Kalecgos.
• Aaron noticed that the banshee leaders resembled Vereesa and Sylvanas and wondered whether they were related.

Aaron pursued the banshee leader into Mount Hyjal’s forest and discovered she was Lireesa Windrunner, Sylvanas and Vereesa’s mother. Lireesa escaped after concluding that Aaron could not kill her, leaving him to face the question of whether to tell Vereesa the truth.

• The dragons pursued the banshees and demons, while Aaron followed their leader into the forest and sent Onyxia to wait outside.
• Lireesa Windrunner attacked Aaron with arrows from the trees, forcing him to evade her strikes and use Divine Shield.
• Aaron recognized Lireesa from her reference to Thas'dorah and realized Sylvanas had likely known their mother was a banshee.
• Aaron resolved to kill Lireesa before Vereesa could discover the truth, but he could not locate her hidden presence or draw her close.
• Lireesa told Aaron that he was strong but could not kill her, then drifted away.

Aaron searched for Lireesa Windrunner while demons threatened the woods, then encountered Illidan fighting a Doomguard with Maiev’s help. Illidan explained that Tyrande’s request and an old agreement had freed him to fight the invasion, and he set off with Aaron as Maiev warned she could now kill him.

• Aaron pursued Lireesa Windrunner but lost her trail and worried that she might find Vereesa.
• Aaron hid from a Doomguard, but Illidan attacked the demon with Fel before Aaron could intervene.
• Maiev struck the Doomguard with a poisoned throwing knife, and Illidan killed it and absorbed its Fel.
• Illidan noticed Aaron, translated for him, and said he had escaped after Tyrande requested help against the demons under an old agreement.
• Maiev emerged and traded threats with Illidan, who left with Aaron to face the main force of demons.

Aaron, Illidan, and Maiev found Mannoroth fighting several dragons on Mount Hyjal, and Illidan joined the battle. As Aaron and the dragons moved to help, an unknown source struck Mannoroth with blinding Holy Light, leaving the attacker unidentified.

• Illidan told Aaron and Maiev that he was going to confront Mannoroth, the Pit Lord he had failed to kill ten thousand years earlier.
• Illidan learned from Aaron that the dragons were allies and charged at Mannoroth without attacking them.
• Illidan wounded Mannoroth and fought him while the dragons watched in astonishment.
• Aaron urged the dragons to help and charged Mannoroth with his warhammer.
• An unknown source engulfed Mannoroth in Holy Light, and the demon roared for the attacker to reveal themselves.

Malygos arrived in a golden, Lightforged form and battled Mannoroth, overwhelming the Pit Lord with holy light and binding him in golden chains. Mannoroth was defeated and returned to the Twisting Nether, while Malygos learned his name and remained in the mountain forest.

• Aaron recognized the golden dragon as Malygos, and explained to Illidan that he had been Lightforged.
• Mannoroth attacked Malygos with fel spells, but Malygos evaded them and scorched him with holy-light breath.
• Malygos dodged Mannoroth’s fel strike with an illusion, then severed one of his wings and restrained him with golden chains.
• Malygos engulfed Mannoroth in golden flames, and Mannoroth swore revenge before his soul returned to the Twisting Nether.
• Malygos introduced himself as the Spellweaver and learned Mannoroth’s name as the demon’s body burned to bones.

After Malygos killed Mannoroth, Aaron returned to the Alliance’s defenses and found the forces preparing for the Burning Legion’s invasion. Medivh joined the allied forces in secret, and the chapter ended as the Legion’s vanguard appeared and the Battle of Mount Hyjal began.

• Malygos killed Mannoroth, and the Dragonflights arrived at Mount Hyjal to celebrate their victory.
• Aaron left to warn the front line, while Illidan departed gloomily after losing the chance to claim Mannoroth’s fel energy.
• Onyxia joined Aaron as he traveled to the Alliance’s defensive line, where soldiers and engineers prepared walls, weapons, and steam-powered tanks.
• Aaron spoke with Medivh, who rejected Xal'atath’s offer and chose to fight alongside the allied forces while keeping his identity concealed.
• The Alliance completed its defenses, and the Burning Legion’s vanguard appeared the day after the Kul Tirans arrived with supplies, beginning the Battle of Mount Hyjal.

The demons advanced on the Alliance defenses at Mount Hyjal, where elven ambushes and the Alliance’s artillery halted their first assault. The Burning Legion then sent Ner'zhul’s undead army forward, and Aaron called on Kel'Thuzad to confront them.

• Halduron’s High Elf rangers ambushed the demons, but retreated after the demons retaliated and burned the roadside forest to clear their path.
• Shandris watched the demons’ advance with Aaron as Alliance cannons and firearms opened fire on the approaching enemy.
• Gnomish rotary machine guns and further artillery volleys crushed the demons’ first assault, though Mekkatorque warned that ammunition was limited.
• The Burning Legion sent Ner'zhul’s depleted undead army to attack the Alliance defenses, and the undead pressed through the gunfire and rocket flames.
• Aaron asked Kel'Thuzad to take the field against the undead, and Kel'Thuzad began casting.

Kel'Thuzad unleashed his long-developed spell, Kel'Thuzad's Requiem, with Medivh's help, stripping the undead army of the power that sustained it. Most of the undead were destroyed and their souls guided away, but a few escaped into the surrounding woods and behind Alliance lines.

• Kel'Thuzad began casting his spell as Dalaran's mages struggled against the advancing undead and their weapons ran low.
• Medivh recognized that Kel'Thuzad was overextending himself and poured mana into him to help sustain the spell.
• Kel'Thuzad cast Kel'Thuzad's Requiem, severing the necromancers' control and stripping the undead of the power of death.
• The undead army collapsed across the battlefield, and Odyn's Val'kyr gathered the released souls as soldiers and demons watched in shock.
• Some undead escaped the spell's area and fled into the wooded mountains or behind Alliance positions, prompting the Alliance command to send troops after them.

Aaron pursued Vereesa through the mountain forest and warned her that the former Ranger-General, Lireesa Windrunner, might have been raised by the Scourge. Vereesa reunited with her undead mother, but Lireesa fled after struggling against her hatred for her daughter, leaving Vereesa grieving and uncertain.

• Aaron chased after Vereesa as she joined the rangers and hurried through the forest to catch up with her.
• An unseen archer attacked Aaron, and Vereesa knocked him down to protect him.
• Aaron told Vereesa that he believed her mother, Lireesa Windrunner, had been raised by the Scourge.
• Lireesa emerged from hiding, and Vereesa tearfully told her mother about her sisters and how much she had missed her.
• Lireesa warned Vereesa to stay away, threatened to kill her, and fled into the forest.
• Vereesa asked Aaron what she should do, and he clasped her trembling hand to comfort her.

Vereesa confronted her undead mother, Lireesa Windrunner, and awakened the full power of Titans' Strike to stop her. After Vereesa's arrow weakened Lireesa, the two shared a final moment before Lireesa died in her daughter's arms.

• Aaron left the choice of Lireesa's fate to Vereesa, then the pair found a wounded High Elf ranger whom Vereesa treated.
• Vereesa took Titans' Strike and followed Lireesa's trail, while Aaron healed and rescued the wounded rangers along the way.
• Vereesa fought Lireesa but was outmatched by her mother's experience and death-powered arrows.
• Titans' Strike empowered Vereesa with thunder, and she shot Lireesa, driving out the death energy and weakening her.
• Vereesa embraced Lireesa as her mother expressed remorse and relief, stroked her hair, and died.

After Vereesa killed her mother, Aaron blamed himself for letting her face Lireesa Windrunner alone and learned that death magic had corrupted Lireesa’s soul beyond recovery. Vereesa later sought comfort in Aaron’s tent, where Xal'atath explained that the death power had intensified her grief but would soon fade.

• Vereesa wept over Lireesa Windrunner’s remains, and Aaron helped her return to the Alliance camp before Sylvanas took her away.
• Aaron asked Xal'atath why Lireesa’s soul could not be sent to the Halls of Valor, and Xal'atath explained that death magic made it incompatible with the Holy Light.
• Xal'atath explained that death magic had intensified Lireesa’s hostility toward the living and corrupted her soul when Vereesa appeared.
• Aaron withdrew to his tent as night fell, and Vereesa came to him after waking from a nightmare and fearing he would leave her.
• Vereesa fell asleep clinging to Aaron, and Xal'atath told him that the death magic affecting her emotions would dissipate by the next day.

Aaron saw the Alliance’s soldiers nearing exhaustion after three days of fighting and expected them to retreat within two days. As he prepared for Shandris’s ambush plan, he learned that Kul Tiran archers had inherited Night Elf techniques and that Shandris had once taught their ancestors.

• Vereesa gradually recovered with Aaron’s care, while Sylvanas continued to glare at him.
• Aaron judged that the Alliance could not hold the defensive line much longer and would need to retreat before exhaustion left its army unable to maneuver.
• Shandris told Aaron she planned an ambush along the Alliance’s retreat route, and he worried about whether her plan would succeed.
• Shandris pointed out that Kul Tiran archers used Night Elf techniques, and she revealed that she had taught their ancestors in the Eastern Kingdoms thousands of years earlier.
• After Shandris left to prepare the ambush, Vereesa reminded Aaron that he had promised not to leave her, and he agreed.

The Alliance’s retreat came under heavy attack from the Burning Legion, but the Night Elves’ ambush let Uther and the Knights of the Silver Hand turn and fight back. When the demons summoned a fel-corrupted Ragnaros, Odyn appeared with Sulfuras to face him, leaving the wider battle unresolved.

• Uther organized the Alliance’s withdrawal in groups and stayed with the Knights of the Silver Hand to protect the rear as the demons pursued them.
• Aaron joined Uther and the knights, helping them endure half a day of pursuit until they reached the Night Elves’ ambush.
• The Night Elves trapped and swiftly killed the demons caught in their ambush, while Uther ordered the Knights of the Silver Hand to counterattack.
• The demons brought a rune-covered boulder that released fel flames and formed a corrupted Firelord resembling Ragnaros.
• Odyn arrived carrying Sulfuras, challenged Ragnaros, and began fighting him.