by Blizzard
Kil’jaeden found many suitable candidates, but none held as much potential as Gul’dan. He’d been born with physical weaknesses into a small clan at the edge of Gorgrond. The superstitious orcs saw Gul’dan’s twisted form as an ill omen, and they eventually exiled him.
Only the clan’s elder shaman took pity on Gul’dan. He told him to seek out the Throne of the Elements in Nagrand, where he might find his purpose in life from the native spirits.
At first, Gul’dan rejected the shaman’s advice. Years of being treated with disdain had made him bitter and vengeful. But after struggling to survive alone in the wilds, he sought out the Throne of the Elements. Gul’dan reached the holy site a shadow of what he once was—a pitiful orc wasted away by hunger and pushed to the brink of death. He fell to his knees and cried out to the spirits, proclaiming he would serve them if it meant an end to his suffering.
The elements answered, but not in the way Gul’dan had hoped for. The spirits sensed the darkness and fury in the orc’s heart, and they rejected him just as his clan had.
Gul’dan’s sorrow overwhelmed him. Everything in this world had abandoned him. He had nothing. He was nothing.
Kil’jaeden reached out to his desperate prey and whispered in his mind. He promised to make Gul’dan so powerful that no one would ever pity or dominate him again. The orc would become like a god, and he would punish all who had wronged him. In exchange for this power, Gul’dan would help the Burning Legion use the orcs as a weapon to destroy the draenei.
Gul’dan agreed to this shadow pact. He had no love for his own people, only disdain. Their customs and traditions had caused his suffering. If attaining godhood meant manipulating the orc race, he would not hesitate to do so.
Kil’jaeden instructed his new servant in the ways of fel magic. The demon lord knew that these energies would physically change the orc or even draw the draenei’s attention, so he took steps to hide Gul’dan’s new abilities. Kil’jaeden taught the orc how to mask his powers, and he ordered him to use fel magic only when absolutely necessary. Gul’dan took to the volatile power faster than expected. He reveled in the destructive might at his fingertips.
So was born the first orc warlock.
Kil’jaeden had an agent among the orcs to do his bidding, but the conditions were not yet right to turn them against the draenei. He needed the entire orc race to be desperate and plagued by dark emotions, so much so that they would be easy to unite as a single force.
From what Gul’dan told him of Draenor’s past, Kil’jaeden learned of a time when the orcs had joined as one. Long ago, ogres had sought to dominate the Throne of the Elements. Their meddling had thrown the elemental spirits into turmoil, leading to hardship. Fearing calamity, the orcs had banded together to fight the ogres. If Kil’jaeden could re-create that elemental upheaval, perhaps the clans would repeat history.
Kil’jaeden guided Gul’dan, helping the orc inundate the Throne of the Elements with fel magic. Just as planned, the corruptive power began to weaken the world’s native spirits. Draenor’s Elemental Furies—Gordawg, Aborius, Kalandrios, and Incineratus—materialized to stop Gul’dan. Yet they had never faced a warlock before. The orc called on his strange magics to draw the life from the Furies, crippling their strength. He nearly destroyed them before they fled before his wrath.
It was the first time in Gul’dan’s life that he had dominated other living creatures. The victory was intoxicating.
Gul’dan’s fel magic threw the elements into disarray. As the seasons passed, long droughts were followed by heavy rain. Floods devastated arid regions in Gorgrond and parts of Nagrand. Freak snowstorms blanketed portions of Tanaan Jungle and Terokkar Forest in ice. Rivers and streams dried up, which caused game like clefthoof and talbuk to die by the thousands.
Disease, water scarcity, and the loss of food sources led to immense suffering among the orcs. The shaman could offer no relief. The elemental spirits were tormented by fel energy, and they rarely communicated with the orcs anymore.
Gul’dan also used his magic to spread the red pox among the clans. This outbreak was the worst in orcish history. Months passed, and hundreds perished from the virulent plague.
Many of the victims contracted the pox during one of the orcs’ Kosh’harg festivals in Nagrand. Led by Chieftain Ner’zhul, the clans met to discuss the current elemental troubles. As the Kosh’harg ended and the orcs began their journeys home, some displayed signs of the pox. The afflicted included Chieftain Garad of the Frostwolf clan.
Ner’zhul feared that these orcs would spread the pox to new victims. He urged Garad and the other plague bearers to remain in Nagrand. They would construct a new village to house the affected and keep them away from greater orc society.
Though the thought of not returning home filled Garad with great sorrow, he saw the wisdom in Ner’zhul’s words. The last thing the Frostwolf chieftain wished for was to spread the pox to his family and clan members. Garad remained in Nagrand, and he took charge over his fellow plague victims.
Durotan volunteered to stay behind with his father, but Garad gave him other orders. The young Frostwolf was the sole remaining heir to the clan. Garad convinced Durotan to return home and look after their people for the time being.
It was the last time Durotan would ever see his father. In a matter of weeks, the red pox consumed Garad. Though he had led the other pox victims for only a short time, he had earned their eternal respect. They named their settlement Garadar in his honor.
Violence and desperation were spreading among the clans. Kil’jaeden sensed that it was almost time to unite the orcs, but he needed a public figure to do so. Gul’dan, for all his talents, could not inspire his people or lead them by example. The demon lord commanded his servant to ally with someone who could. But first, Gul’dan would need to exterminate anyone who knew of his past.
The hooded warlock returned to his old clan. He engulfed the settlement in fel fire, burning every single orc within to ash. When the inferno finally died down, nothing remained. No one would ever know of Gul’dan’s true history.
With his past erased, he set out for the Shadowmoon clan. Its wise shaman commanded respect from all orcs. One of them would serve as the Legion’s perfect pawn.
Gul’dan was careful to hide his fel powers, never revealing that he was a warlock. He told the Shadowmoon that ogres had destroyed his village and killed everyone except him. Though it was uncommon for a clan to bring outsiders into its fold, the Shadowmoon took pity on Gul’dan and accepted him. The newcomer carefully observed the clan’s elder shaman to learn which one would be the easiest to sway. After much consideration, he chose the clan’s charismatic yet troubled chieftain, Ner’zhul.
Ner’zhul was a dedicated and forthright leader. He also had a penchant for dogged persistence. Once he had a goal in mind, he would pursue it obsessively until he succeeded.
This trait would serve Gul’dan and the Legion well. But far more important were Ner’zhul’s inner turmoil and sorrow. Years ago, the shaman’s beloved mate, Rulkan, had passed away. Ner’zhul had come to terms with her death, but the recent elemental troubles that plagued Draenor had awakened old wounds. He had always found peace through communing with the elemental spirits, but now they were silent. Ner’zhul began dwelling on memories of Rulkan, and his grief became just as raw and crushing as it had been when he’d first lost her.
Gul’dan preyed on Ner’zhul’s inner darkness. He told the elder shaman of his own troubles, of the family and friends he had lost at his village. In time, Gul’dan won Ner’zhul’s friendship and trust. He even convinced the elder to accept him as his shamanic apprentice.
Through Gul’dan, Kil’jaeden had access to a public figure whom he could bend to his will. As the demon lord began to twist Ner’zhul’s thoughts, he sent Gul’dan on another task. The orcs were desperate and agitated, and now they needed to see the draenei as their enemies.
Gul’dan would make it so.
To incite conflict between the
orcs and the draenei, Gul’dan turned to the Bladewind clan. Its largest village was at the edge of Terokkar Forest, near the draenei capital, Shattrath. For many decades, tensions had simmered between this community of Bladewinds and its neighbors. The orcs sometimes ransacked draenei caravans and enslaved or killed anyone who could not escape.
When the elemental spirits became erratic, the Bladewinds suffered greatly. Their water sources went dry, and the wild game they hunted died off. The red pox also decimated the clan. Nearly seventy percent of the Bladewinds succumbed to the disease.
The Bladewinds were desperate, and that made them vulnerable.
Gul’dan approached the Bladewind village as a representative of the Shadowmoon. After many long discussions with the orcs, he convinced them that the draenei were responsible for the red pox and the world’s elemental woes. Gul’dan assured the Bladewinds that if they were to spill draenei blood, such an act would appease the elemental spirits.
Like all orcs, the Bladewinds held the Shadowmoon shaman in high regard. They had no reason to question Gul’dan. They embraced his advice, eager to change their fortunes.
Lightly armed Bladewind raiding parties soon gathered and assaulted draenei caravans in greater numbers than ever before. The orcs murdered dozens of innocents and took just as many prisoners. One of these captives was Leran, the sister of a Vindicator named Maraad.
When Maraad learned that his sister had gone missing, he urged the draenei leadership to take action. Many other Vindicators also called for something to be done. The Bladewinds had preyed on their traders for too long. It was time to eliminate the threat once and for all.
Velen appealed for calm. Something did not sit right with the Prophet. In the long years since the Genedar’s crash, he had slowly regained his ability to see the future, but his visions remained unreliable. Strange images bombarded his thoughts, many of them indecipherable.
Yet there were a few that concerned him. Around the time of the Bladewind attacks, he saw visions of an immense shadow looming over the orcs, guiding their actions.
Velen and the exarchs sent the Rangari to report on the Bladewinds’ activities and discern whether some unseen power was at work behind their violent outburst. The draenei scouts found no evidence that the orcs were being manipulated, but they did return with horrific stories. The Bladewinds were slaughtering their prisoners in gruesome rituals to appease the elements. Only a few captives had not yet suffered this grim fate, and Leran was among them.
Maraad could stand by no longer, not when there was still a chance to save his sister. He made an impassioned plea to Velen and the exarchs to launch an offensive against the orcs. Reluctantly, the draenei leadership agreed.
Led by Maraad, a small force of Vindicators and Rangari stormed the Bladewind village. By the time they reached the settlement, Leran and the other captives were dead. The sight of his sister’s mutilated body enraged Maraad, and he rampaged through the village.
From a distance, Gul’dan watched as violence engulfed the Bladewind settlement. The orcs were so desperate to appease the elements that they fought until nearly every single one was dead. A few survivors fled east toward Shadowmoon Valley, but they never reached their destination.
Gul’dan murdered the survivors so that they could never tell of what had truly happened in Terokkar Forest. Only the warlock’s version of events would survive.
MARAAD DISCOVERS HIS SISTER IN THE BLADEWIND VILLAGE
After returning to the Shadowmoon clan, Gul’dan recounted the atrocity as he saw it. The draenei had launched an unprovoked slaughter against the Bladewinds. They had murdered male and female, young and old. Word of the bloodshed spread throughout the clans.
The seeds of hatred and suspicion toward the draenei took root.
As Gul’dan was orchestrating the attack against the Bladewinds, Kil’jaeden preyed on Ner’zhul’s emotions. He appeared in the orc’s dreams as the spirit of his beloved mate, Rulkan. This false apparition told Ner’zhul that the recent flare of red pox and the elemental turmoil were all the work of the draenei. The reclusive race sought to eradicate the orcs.
Ner’zhul was initially wary of Rulkan’s dire proclamation. Conflicts between orcs and draenei were not unheard of, but they were rare. Ner’zhul had never known the creatures to be warlike. When Gul’dan arrived with news of the Bladewind atrocity, Ner’zhul changed his mind.
Rulkan had been right. The draenei were not what they seemed.
Rulkan’s spirit pressed Ner’zhul. She told the orc that the only way to save his people was to make war on the draenei. Yet the clans could never accomplish such a feat in their current state. They needed to unite as a single army as they had centuries ago, when the Gorian Empire had threatened their existence. Rulkan convinced Ner’zhul that he was destined to be the savior of the orcs. No one else had the wisdom to lead the clans as one.
Ner’zhul revealed to his clan what he had learned from Rulkan. The superstitious orcs rarely went against the advice of important ancestral spirits. Rulkan’s warning was taken as truth. The Shadowmoon lent their support to Ner’zhul, Gul’dan the most vocal among them.
Ner’zhul sent an urgent summons to the other clans. They were to meet at Oshu’gun, where the shaman would reveal ill omens he had received from the ancestors.
In preparation for this event, Kil’jaeden exerted his power over Oshu’gun, preventing any orcs from communing with the real ancestral spirits within the crystal mountain. He also reached out to the minds of elder shaman across Draenor. Just as he had done with Ner’zhul, he took on the guise of trusted ancestral spirits and warned the orcs of the draenei’s violent intentions.
Over a number of weeks, the orc chieftains gradually arrived at Oshu’gun. Grommash Hellscream, Kilrogg Deadeye, Kargath Bladefist, Blackhand, Fenris, and other famed leaders took their places in the crystal mountain’s shadow.
The Frostwolf chieftain, Durotan, was there as well. He had come with his mate, Draka, and his clan’s elder shaman, Drek’Thar. For Durotan, the meeting at Oshu’gun was a rare opportunity to speak with his old friend Orgrim Doomhammer, who had become Chieftain Blackhand’s second-in-command. In recent years, clan responsibilities had prevented them from meeting regularly.
As Durotan and Orgrim rekindled their bond, the elder shaman Ner’zhul finally appeared to address the assembled orcs. He told them of Rulkan’s prophetic warning about the future and of other unsettling things he had learned. The draenei were responsible for the elemental unease and the red pox outbreak. Their slaughter of the Bladewind clan’s main settlement was only a precursor, a sign of more death to come. The draenei sought to annihilate all orcs.
Yet there was still hope to avert doom. If the clans put aside their differences and joined forces, they could destroy the draenei and save the world.
Ner’zhul knew this was much to ask of the orcs, a race unaccustomed to unification. He gave the chieftains a full day and night to consider his words.
The orcs debated the elder shaman’s proposal deep into the night. Warmongering chieftains like Grommash, Blackhand, and Kargath supported unification. Ever since news of the Bladewind massacre had reached them, they had become wary of the draenei.
Yet others were not so eager for bloodshed. One of the most outspoken critics of war was Chieftain Zagrel of the Whiteclaw clan. He did not believe slaughtering the draenei would make life better. On the contrary, it might anger the elements even more.
Durotan was of a similar opinion. Years ago, he and Orgrim had crossed paths with the draenei and taken shelter in one of their cities. The orcs had even met and spoken with their mysterious leader, Velen.
Would those same peaceful creatures make war on the orcs? What did they hope to gain by doing so? Had their earlier hospitality merely been a ruse to learn more about his race?
Though he felt conflicted, Durotan was in no position to question the ancestral spirits’ wisdom. If they saw the draenei as a threat, so it was. Other shaman, including Drek’
Thar, revealed that they, too, had received visions from the ancestors that confirmed Ner’zhul’s claims.
As discussion continued, Gul’dan stalked among the clan leaders. He knew that the other orcs considered him a weakling due to his physical ailments, and he used that to his advantage. He openly championed Ner’zhul’s cause, and he welcomed the prospect of war. In doing so, Gul’dan made the choice of uniting a matter of honor. If even a wretch like him was willing to fight and die for the clans, then anyone who rejected unity would be seen as a coward.
Gul’dan’s manipulations won many of the orcs to Ner’zhul’s side, but not everyone. He took note of Zagrel and others who stubbornly opposed unity. He would not forget their names.
At dawn, the orcs came together to cast their votes. Nearly every chieftain agreed to unite.
From that day forward, they would be known as the Horde.
THE DOOMHAMMER PROPHECY
Orgrim bore a weapon known as the Doomhammer, which had been passed down through his family for generations. An ancient prophecy was associated with this legendary artifact. It was said that the last of the Doomhammer line would use it to bring salvation and then doom to the orcs. Afterward, the weapon would pass into the hands of an orc not of the Blackrock clan. This new wielder would then use the Doomhammer for a cause of justice.
In the months after the Horde’s formation, the clans rallied their warriors and began sporadic attacks against draenei hunting parties. News of these battles quickly reached Velen and the Council of Exarchs. The draenei leadership was puzzled by the sudden flare of bloodshed, but it did not come as a complete surprise.
Velen and his followers assumed that the elemental turmoil was agitating the orcs, driving them to violence. After all, that was what had happened with the Bladewind clan. The misguided orcs had sacrificed draenei captives in the hopes of appeasing the elements.