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Timeline
c. 20 ADPThe Fall of Quel’Thalas
Sylvanas Windrunner met the Scourge as Ranger-General of Quel’Thalas. Each defensive line bought time, but the enemy could turn the fallen into more soldiers. Barriers that had protected the kingdom before could not stop Arthas’s advance.
He killed Sylvanas and denied her the release of death, raising her as a banshee under his command. The defender of the kingdom was forced into the army destroying it. Her awareness of that destruction made the captivity part of the punishment.
At the Sunwell, Arthas used the elves’ sacred power to raise Kel’Thuzad. The invasion’s immediate objective was fulfilled, but its consequences were only beginning: a ruined kingdom, a corrupted font and a former ranger whose eventual freedom would be inseparable from the desire for revenge.
Sources (4)
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.
Sources (3)
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.
Sources (1)
An Uneasy Place in the Horde
Freedom from the Scourge did not make the Forsaken welcome among the living. They needed allies who could see a reason to deal with them, even when trust was scarce. Tauren support helped open the way to Thrall and the Horde.
The agreement offered protection to Sylvanas’s people and an eastern foothold to their allies. It also brought a community driven by vengeance into a coalition whose members did not share all of its purposes.
Beneath Undercity, the Royal Apothecary Society pursued a plague that could strike the undead. Its experiments showed the dangers beneath that uneasy alliance.
Sources (1)
