Quick Overview
Orgrim Doomhammer seized command of a Horde whose victories concealed the influence of Gul'dan's Shadow Council. The Shadow Council had helped create the invading army by corrupting the clans and manipulating Blackhand. Its defeat also grew from the ambitions of leaders who could not serve a common cause.
Full History
Orgrim Doomhammer seized command of a Horde whose victories concealed the influence of Gul'dan's Shadow Council. He attacked the warlocks' power and forced Gul'dan into a subordinate position, but could not make the sorcerer's ambitions disappear. The Stormreaver clan emerged as a means of protecting Gul'dan and continuing his search for forbidden strength. Rivalry within the Horde weakened the unity needed to fight the Alliance.
The Shadow Council had helped create the invading army by corrupting the clans and manipulating Blackhand. Orgrim's overthrow of the warchief threatened those covert masters. Gul'dan's own account describes violent retaliation against the Council and his survival through accommodation. Yet his outward service to the Horde did not resolve the conflict between a military commander focused on conquest and a warlock seeking personal access to Sargeras's power.
That contradiction would have consequences when Gul'dan abandoned the northern campaign in pursuit of the Tomb of Sargeras. The Horde's history is therefore not simply a contest against human and elven armies. Its defeat also grew from the ambitions of leaders who could not serve a common cause. The early account's claims about Gul'dan's motives must remain attributed where they derive from his own narrative.
The Living Archive · Subject Chronicle
Through History
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