Orgrim Doomhammer dies

Full History

Orgrim Doomhammer had commanded the Old Horde through the later stages of the First War and much of the Second. He overthrew Blackhand and challenged the hidden authority of Gul'dan, yet his campaigns continued the struggle against the human kingdoms. After defeat and captivity, the old warchief survived into a time when many orcs seemed resigned to confinement. His history embodied both the military greatness claimed by the Horde and the ruin of its earlier ambitions.

Thrall's escape and rediscovery of his heritage offered Orgrim a different future for their people. The young Frostwolf heir possessed knowledge of human society and a commitment to reviving shamanic traditions. Orgrim could bring the experience of command and a reputation that still held weight among former warriors. Together with other allies, they moved to free orcs from the internment camps established after the Second War.

Orgrim was killed during the liberation campaign. The death ended the career of one of the Horde's most consequential commanders, but it did not end the struggle he had joined. His mantle passed to Thrall, who became the leader of a movement still learning how to turn a collection of freed prisoners and surviving clans into a people with a common purpose.

The transfer joined two ages of orcish history. Orgrim had been formed by Draenor's clans and the wars of the Old Horde; Thrall had been raised in human captivity and had chosen to recover the traditions that the Legion had sought to destroy. The new warchief later led the Horde to Kalimdor, where it founded Durotar and formed alliances with the tauren and Darkspear trolls. Orgrim's death marked the passing of an older generation into a new, uncertain order.