Grim Batol

Full History

When the dwarven kingdom centered on Ironforge fractured, the Wildhammers sought a home of their own. Under Khardros Wildhammer they established Grim Batol in the mountains east of their former homeland. The separation did not bring peace. Rivalries among the Bronzebeard, Wildhammer and Dark Iron clans grew into the War of the Three Hammers, and Modgud, wife of the Dark Iron sorcerer-thane Thaurissan, marched against the Wildhammer stronghold.

Modgud's assault brought shadow and terror into Grim Batol. Khardros defeated and killed her, but the victory carried a lasting cost: dark magic had fouled the halls and made the ancestral capital impossible for its people to inhabit safely. The Wildhammers abandoned the place they had defended and traveled north to the Hinterlands, where Aerie Peak eventually became their home. Grim Batol endured as a monument to a kingdom that had won its battle and lost its dwelling.

During the Second War, the fortress gained a darker purpose. The Dragonmaw clan held the red Dragonqueen Alexstrasza captive there. Through the Demon Soul, the orcs compelled her to breed dragons that could be trained as mounts for the Horde. The military advantage came from the imprisonment of a living guardian of Azeroth, not from any willing alliance between the red dragonflight and the orcs.

Rhonin and his companions later worked to break the Dragonmaw's hold. The Demon Soul was destroyed and Alexstrasza freed, ending the weapon's power over the Dragon Aspects. Grim Batol's two great tragedies belonged to different wars, yet each grew from the attempt to master a power whose consequences its captors could not contain.