Quick Overview
When the Second War broke the old Horde, most forest-troll tribes had little reason to remain beside its surviving orcs. For these trolls the fortress was both a shelter and a bargain. Joining Thrall's Horde did not make them kin in allegiance to every troll who once fought beside orcs. In original WoW, Blackrock Spire is a place where the old wars have not ended.
Full History
When the Second War broke the old Horde, most forest-troll tribes had little reason to remain beside its surviving orcs. Zul'jin's bargain with Doomhammer had promised the recovery of Quel'Thalas; the war ended instead with the Horde defeated and the Amani's hopes once more frustrated. Yet not every troll abandoned that alliance. The Firetree and Smolderthorn continued to fight beside orcs gathered in Blackrock Spire, far from the forests they had once hoped to reclaim.
Their decision divided the forest-troll world. The Revantusk would later recognize a loose place beside Thrall's rebuilt Horde. The Firetree and Smolderthorn held to a different successor: the Blackrock faction associated with Rend Blackhand, whose claim to Warchief challenged the new nation's legitimacy.
Blackrock Mountain had been a center of the old orc war machine. After the Second War, its upper reaches became a refuge for armed survivors who refused to accept the Alliance victory or Thrall's new course. Rend Blackhand's followers formed a Dark Horde whose name still invoked the earlier conquests. Their allies included forest trolls from the Firetree and Smolderthorn tribes.
For these trolls the fortress was both a shelter and a bargain. It placed them among hardened orc warriors, but far from any prospect of rebuilding a united forest-troll empire. Remaining there also meant living with rivals and dangers that had nothing to do with Quel'Thalas. The original Troll Compendium describes them as still allied with Rend's Blackrock forces and contrasts their choice with the Revantusk belief that Thrall leads the true Horde.
Other forest tribes did not necessarily admire that persistence. The Firetree regarded those who abandoned the original orc alliance as deserters. The Revantusk regarded the holdouts as people fighting for the wrong Horde. Both sides could honor Zul'jin's memory and still disagree bitterly about how to carry it forward.
This matters for the history of the playable Darkspear. Joining Thrall's Horde did not make them kin in allegiance to every troll who once fought beside orcs. A Darkspear who travels from Durotar to Blackrock Spire is encountering a different political inheritance, not a hidden branch of Vol'jin's people.
In original WoW, Blackrock Spire is a place where the old wars have not ended. The Firetree and Smolderthorn belong to that frozen conflict. Their continuing alliance with Rend shows that the Horde's transformation was never a single decision accepted by all veterans or all allies. The fortress preserves the banners of a past that Thrall means to overcome, and the trolls who guard it embody one of the ways the Second War's grievances survived into the next age.
The Living Archive · Subject Chronicle
Through History
Explore documented turning points and follow their connections. The complete account remains in Full History above.
No additional documented milestones are available yet. The Full History above remains the primary account.