Quick Overview
Modgud led the Dark Iron assault upon the Wildhammer stronghold of Grim Batol during the War of the Three Hammers. Khardros Wildhammer killed her, but the victory did not restore the mountain home to its former condition. The lingering curse associated with the attack eventually drove the Wildhammers toward the Hinterlands.
Full History
The War of the Three Hammers began when the great dwarven clans, formerly united beneath Anvilmar's kingdom, contested political power and their territories. The Bronzebeards held Ironforge, the Wildhammers defended Grim Batol, and the Dark Irons established new strongholds under Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan. The campaign against Grim Batol became one of the conflict's most damaging episodes.
Modgud, Thaurissan's wife, led Dark Iron forces against the Wildhammers and used dark magic in the assault. Her power brought terrible danger upon the defenders, but Khardros Wildhammer eventually killed her. In ordinary military terms this removed an important commander and repelled the attack. Yet Grim Batol had been changed by the sorcery deployed against it.
The curse lingered after the battle, making the stronghold a dangerous place for the dwarves who had held it. Khardros and much of his people abandoned their home and traveled north toward the Hinterlands, establishing a new base in the mountains around Aerie Peak. Their exile was an enduring consequence of Modgud's attack, independent of the fighting's immediate outcome.
The episode belongs beside Thaurissan's later catastrophe at Blackrock Mountain. The Dark Irons' desperate struggle ended with the summoning of Ragnaros, while the Wildhammers lost the home for which they had fought. Modgud's death thus marks a victory inseparable from the loss of a kingdom's former center.
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