Arathor and the Troll Wars

By the time of the Troll Wars, the human kingdom of Arathor and the high elves of Quel’Thalas faced a common enemy in the Amani. Their alliance joined human military strength to elven arcane knowledge, with the elves teaching selected humans to wield magic in return for aid.

The defeat of the Amani established a relationship that later generations of kings would invoke again. It also carried arcane learning into human society, helping set the stage for the magical traditions and institutions of the Eastern Kingdoms. The alliances of the First and Second Wars had roots much older than the coming of the orcs.

A Prince of Lordaeron

Arthas was born to King Terenas four years before the First War. He grew up as the heir to Lordaeron, learning swordsmanship from Muradin Bronzebeard. His early life also brought him into the company of Jaina Proudmoore, long before the plague would divide them.

The Fall of Stormwind

Stormwind fell after years of war. Survivors fled north, and Lordaeron became a refuge and a center of resistance. The catastrophe turned a southern kingdom’s struggle into a wider human crisis, preparing the ground for the Alliance and another war.

The Voice from Northrend

Kel’Thuzad followed the distant summons of Ner’zhul into Northrend, seeking powers his fellow mages had rejected. What he found was more terrible than a new school of magic. The undead kingdom demonstrated how death itself could become captivity.

His desire for knowledge did not spare him fear when he saw the plague at work. By the time he understood the cost of serving the Lich King, escape was beyond him. Kel’Thuzad pledged himself to his new master and returned south to prepare the way for the Scourge.

The Cult of the Damned gave the invasion willing servants among the living. Recruitment and concealed preparations preceded the open catastrophe in Lordaeron. When Arthas began investigating the plague, he was confronting the result of a campaign already underway.

The Plague of Undeath

A plague spread through Lordaeron, turning its victims into undead. Arthas and Jaina investigated its source and confronted Kel’Thuzad. The crisis was larger than a local outbreak: the Scourge was undermining the kingdom from within, confronting the prince with an enemy that grew with every death.

The Prince Returns

Arthas returned to Lordaeron bearing Frostmourne and murdered his father. The kingdom he had sworn to protect became a target of his undead campaign. Now serving the Scourge, he also killed Uther while seeking the remains needed for Kel’Thuzad’s resurrection.

The Teacher’s Last Stand

The effort to restore Kel’Thuzad brought Arthas back against the paladins of his former order. Gavinrad guarded the necromancer’s remains and fell when the death knight came to recover them. Carrying those remains onward required a suitable vessel.

Uther stood in defense of the urn holding King Terenas’s ashes. The student he had trained now sought to empty it for the enemy who had helped destroy the kingdom. Their confrontation gave the war a terrible intimacy: duty to the dead king placed Uther directly in Arthas’s path.

Arthas killed his teacher with Frostmourne and took the urn. The defense of Lordaeron lost another of its great paladins, while the Scourge gained what it needed for the journey to the Sunwell.

A Way Out of Lordaeron

After leaving Arthas at Stratholme, Jaina faced the collapse of the country around her. Remaining in Lordaeron offered no clear way to protect the people who had survived. The prophet’s warning proposed something the established leaders had refused: cross the sea to Kalimdor.

Jaina gathered survivors and followed that advice. Antonidas did not make the same choice. Their separation marked the end of a relationship in which she could depend on her teacher to determine the course ahead.

The stranger who had urged the journey was Medivh. His guidance would bring the refugees into contact with other peoples resisting the Legion. The departure gave Jaina a responsibility that would outlast the war: finding a future for the people who had followed her.

The Forsaken Break Free

As the Lich King’s power weakened, Sylvanas discovered that his commands no longer held her. Freedom returned inside a body and existence she had never chosen. Arthas was still within reach, and she moved to turn that brief opening into revenge.

Her banshees drew him into an ambush. A poisoned arrow immobilized him, but she wanted him to suffer rather than die quickly. Kel’Thuzad arrived before she could finish him and drove her away.

Arthas escaped toward Northrend. Sylvanas remained in Lordaeron, where the dreadlords also sought control. Recovering her will had begun the struggle; holding a place for the undead who would become the Forsaken required another war.

A Kingdom Beneath the Ruins

Sylvanas refused to trade the Lich King’s control for the dreadlords’ authority. After defeating Varimathras, she accepted his offer to serve her and reveal his brothers’ positions. Survival made him useful, but did not make him trustworthy.

The fall of Detheroc freed Garithos and his human soldiers from demonic control. Sylvanas enlisted their help against Balnazzar by promising the return of their lands. Once the capital was secured, she instead ordered Varimathras to kill Garithos.

The victory gave the Forsaken a stronghold in Undercity. Their independence had been won through alliances they were willing to break. Lordaeron’s former capital now sheltered an undead power pursuing its own future.

A Rescue Before Exile

Tyrande had been swept downriver while protecting refugees from the Scourge. Maiev told Malfurion that she was dead, keeping him focused on capturing Illidan. Kael’thas revealed that her fate was not certain.

Illidan offered to help find her. His naga searched the river and the brothers worked together against the undead to reach her. For a moment, saving someone they both loved mattered more than the judgment waiting between them.

Malfurion allowed Illidan to leave after the rescue, without absolving him of his actions. Illidan opened a portal to Outland to escape Kil’jaeden’s punishment. Maiev followed him through. The separation ended neither her hunt nor the demon lord’s claim on him.