The Horde - Part I

Lets take a brief look at the Horde shall we?

Races of the Horde

The orcs of Durotar, led by Warchief Garrosh Hellscream

The trolls of the Darkspear tribe, led by Shadowhunter Vol'jin

The tauren of Mulgore, led by High Chieftain Baine Bloodhoof

The undead of Lordaeron, led by Lady Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen

The blood elves of Quel'Thalas, led by Lor'themar Theron (as of the Burning Crusade)

The goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel, led by Trade Prince Gallywix (as of Cataclysm)

The Huojin pandaren, led by Ji Firepaw (as of Mists of Pandaria)

The Birth of the Horde

The history of the horde begins on Draenor. Draenor is the original home of the orcs and draenei. Ner'zhul, an orc shaman, was approached by an extraplanar being named Kil'jaeden. Kil'jaeden tricked Ner'zhul into thinking he was a spirit. Kil'jaeden managed to convince Ner'zhul to abandon his shaman teachings, and become a warlock, a being utilising the powers of the demons. Consequentially, Ner'zhul became famous among the orcs, and many others followed in his footsteps, abandoning their shamanistic teachings in favour of the demonic arts of the warlock.

Gul'dan

Years later, Ner'zhul realised the error of his ways. By this point though, he had turned so many of his fellow orcs to the dark arts that he could not reverse what had been done. The demon-influenced orcs waged war on the humble draenei. At first, Ner'zhul assisted in attempts to unify the orcish Horde into one unit, but after realising what had become of his race - and what it was still turning into - he denied Kil'Jaeden. In his fury, Kil'jaeden found a new instrument in the form of Ner'zhul's apprentice, Gul'dan. Gul'dan was greedy and ambitious, allowing him to become much more powerful and cruel than Ner'zhul was. He led the Horde to a new level of brutality, a level which would not have been conceived by the orcs of old. He convinced his fellow orcs to drink the blood of Mannoroth the Destructor, the demonic pit lord, which tainted them.

The new, demon-tainted, aggresive orcs easily overpowered the draenei. Their slaughter of the draenei united the orcs for the first time in history, marking the birth of the Horde. Gul'dan continued to lead and influence the Horde, but in his desire for even more power, he and Kil'jaeden founded the Shadow Council. The council consisted of the most powerful warlocks of the Horde, who could easily bend the will of the other orcs. The Shadow Council existed in secret, and was unknown to the majority of the Horde. Kil'jaeden was satisfied with the orcs, and turned his back on them. Without others to fight, the orcs turned on each other, leading Gul'dan to realise that without a sufficient enemy to fight, the Horde would consume itself.

Medivh, the human mage

Gul'dan was soon contacted by a possessed human mage named Medivh, who offered the Horde the planet of Azeroth. Medivh created a dark portal to connect the two worlds, and the mass armies of the Horde crossed the portal into Azeroth. It is known that an orc named Blackhand was the Warchief of the Horde at this time, but the true power of the Horde still lied with Gul'dan and his Shadow Council.






At this time, Azeroth was a very different planet. The forsaken did not exist, and half-ogres were so rare they could be considered a myth. Prior to the orc invasion, the tauren and the night elves roamed the world, preserving and respecting nature. They were aware of each others existences, but kept their distances, avoiding war and trade with each other. The trolls however, were very hostile towards the night elves. The forest trolls that resided in the north, spent their time at war with the high elves of Quel'thas (soon to be known as the blood elves). The Darkspear tribe however, was a fairly isolated group of trolls, who had little enemies and spent their time studying voodoo magics and corrupted shamanism.

The First War

By the time of the First War, most of the orc population had been tainted by the demon's blood, and was completely under the control of Kil'jaeden. The orcs began by attacking human farms and villages. Believing that all human settlements would be armed, the orcs fell into a false sense of superiority. Predicting an easy victory, Gul'dan led his orc army to the human city of Stormwind, believing that if he was victorious, Medivh would lead him to the tomb of Sargeras, the master of the demons and of Kil'jaeden. 

Stormwind overwhelmed the Horde, and was a huge shock to the orcs. The orcs struggled to get through the gates, as the guards put up the first real fight the orcs had encountered on Azeroth. They soon realised that a trap was awaiting them within the city. The orcs were ambushed by armored, mounted knights, and were soon overwhelmed. The orcs retreated in shame. Gul'dan cast a spell, summoning a wall of fog, which allowed the Horde to escape from the horsemen. 

The furiousn warchiefs of the Horde blamed each other for their failure, which threatened to rip the Horde apart. Gul'dan knew he needed to act in order to quell the chaos overtaking the Horde. He named Blackhand the Destroyer as Warchief of the Horde, giving him all of the responsibilities concerning leading the orcs. Garona Halforcen, a lowly servant of Gul'dan, was charged to record the events of the war in writing, which was not very highly valued by fellow orcs. 

The humans proved to be a more formidable foe than the orcs first thought. They were bolstered by the magical powers of the Kirin Tor and the priests of Northshire. The failed siege of Stormwind seemed to have cost the orcs too much, However, Anduin Lothar had disappeared during the battles, leaving the humans with infereior leadership. This forced the humans to retreat to Stormwind. Lothar returned for a brief battle with the orcs, before disappearing again. It was revealed that in his initial disappearance, he had sought the Tome of Lost Divinity in the Deadmines. However, his second disappearance is that of significance. 

Lothar, accompanied by Garona and Khadgar, an apprentice mage, traveled to Karazhan, and slayed Medivh, the traitor mage. Gul'dan attempted to rip the secret of Sargeras' tomb from the mind of the dying Medivh, but suffered froma  huge psychic backlash. 

Orgrim Doomhammer, the New Warchief

Meanwhile, Garona, a skilled assassin as well as bookkeeper for the Horde, managed to infiltrate Stormwind, assassinating King Llane Wrynn before Lothar could return. With their king dead, the humans' morale fell, and their city with it. Lothar arrived in time to gather forces and retreat to the north. The orcs were victorious in the first war against the humans of Azeroth. However, the orcs sacrificed much for their victory. As Gul'dan lay comatose, Orgrim Doomhammer assassinated Blackhand, earning himself the title "Backstabber". Doomhammer took the mantle of the warchief, and uncovered the Shadow Council's manipulation of Blackhand. Doomhammer led an assault on the Shadow Council, slaying almost every warlock. Gul'dan awoke to Doomhammer's blade at his throat, and was forced to pledge his fealty to the new warchief. Gul'dan did however, promise that he would have vengeance.