Quick Overview
Blackrock Spire remained an orcish stronghold even after the Old Horde lost the Second War. Rend Blackhand used it to assert a rival claim to the Horde’s legacy, while the Dark Iron dwarves contested the mountain. Nefarian then bent the surviving orcs toward his own designs, binding an old military defeat to the schemes of the black dragonflight.
Full History
Blackrock Spire became a seat of orcish power during the wars that followed the opening of the Dark Portal. The Old Horde had seized Blackrock Mountain as a strategic stronghold, and its leaders used the fortress to threaten the human kingdoms. When the Horde lost the Second War, the spire did not simply return to peace. Orcs who rejected surrender remained in its halls, clinging to the authority their armies had once claimed.
Rend Blackhand, son of the former warchief Blackhand, became a leader among these remnants. He asserted his own claim to the Horde's legacy even as Thrall began forging a very different union of orcs and allies across the sea. Blackrock's warriors also faced the Dark Iron dwarves in the volcanic depths, continuing a struggle for the mountain's passages and strongholds.
A further power moved into the upper reaches: Nefarian, son of Deathwing. The black dragon placed the remaining orcish force within the reach of his designs, using the mountain to build strength while pursuing dangerous experiments. The spire consequently became more than a refuge of defeated soldiers. It joined the unresolved political ambitions of the Old Horde to the secret plans of the black dragonflight, making the legacy of earlier wars useful to a new master.
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