Gul’dan is killed in the Tomb

Full History

The Tomb of Sargeras promised Gul'dan a prize far greater than the ordinary spoils of the Second War. The warlock had already acquired influence through the Shadow Council and had survived the overthrow of the warchief Blackhand. Yet neither command over other orcs nor the conquest of human lands satisfied his ambition. He turned his attention to the tomb beneath the sea, a site bound to the history of the Legion and the fallen titan.

Reaching the tomb required an extraordinary betrayal of his own side. Gul'dan deserted Orgrim Doomhammer during a critical stage of the Horde's campaign and led a following away from the main army. The choice weakened the orcish war effort while the Alliance continued to resist. It also made explicit what had long been true of Gul'dan's schemes: the Horde was valuable to him primarily when it helped him pursue power.

Inside the tomb his ambitions came to ruin. The ancient site held demonic dangers he could not master, and the expedition was destroyed. Gul'dan was killed by the forces he had disturbed, ending the search that had drawn him from the battlefield. He gained neither the lasting supremacy he sought nor a secure legacy among the clans he had corrupted.

The consequences extended beyond his personal fate. Doomhammer's Horde had lost forces at a decisive time, contributing to the conditions of its defeat. The name of Gul'dan nevertheless remained significant because of the Shadow Council, the Dark Portal, and the suffering caused on Draenor and Azeroth. Long afterward, the Skull of Gul'dan became an object of power encountered by Illidan during the Third War. The warlock's death ended his life but not the influence of the evil he had helped bring into the world.