The (almost) Complete History of World of Warcraft

[00:00] So you're new to WoW and want to know what's going on.

[00:01] Or you're just trying to figure out which Horde you're a part of.

[00:03] Here's the entire history of Azeroth in 23 minutes.

[00:06] Way back at the start of the universe there were Titans

[00:08] Which are gods born out of planets (kind of). The titans formed of Pantheon,

[00:11] which went around looking for more, baby Titan-planets called World Souls.

[00:14] One of these planets was named Azeroth, currently inhabited by a bunch of elementals.

[00:17] A mysterious group of beings who wanted to kill the Pantheon named the Void Lords were also looking for world souls

[00:21] and sent their servants the Old Gods to go find and corrupt them.

[00:24] Some Old Gods found Azeroth off and started bleeding bugs on everything.

[00:27] The Pantheon eventually finds Azeroth too and they start fighting

[00:30] everyone first the elementals, then the Old Gods. The Titans win, but they can't can kill the Old Gods without killing Azeroth

[00:34] so they build prisons instead.

[00:35] They leave behind a bunch of metal guys and also some dragons to look after Azeroth and guard the prison in their absence.

[00:40] Off in another section of the universe the Titan Sargeras learned to be old gods could corrupt Titan planets and decides the only reasonable solutions is to

[00:46] kill all life in the universe. So he starts building a massive army called the Burning Legion by corrupting inhabitants of Titan planets.

[00:51] The Pantheon isn't happy that all their plants are being corrupted

[00:53] so they try to calm Sargeras down, telling him that the army is pointless because they found a world soul strong enough to defeat the Void Lords.

[00:58] Sargeras responds by killing the pantheon and imprisoning their spirits and sets out to find and destroy Azeroth, fearing what would happen if a Titan

[01:04] that powerful was corrupted. Unfortunately Sargeras forgot to ask where Azeroth was first so he has to start looking for it.

[01:09] Another powerful World Soul is Argus, a planet inhabited by the Eredar who are led by Archimonde, Kil'Jaeden

[01:14] and Velen. Sargeras wants to corrupt Argus and approaches the three rulers in disguise. Offering them immense power with no strings attached

[01:20] Archimonde and Kil'Jaeden accept the power like suckers and most of the Eredar get corrupted, but Velan realizes it's a trick and refuses.

[01:26] Velen prays for guidance and a race of sentient

[01:28] Chandeliers called the Naaru hear him and send a spaceship which Velen and the remaining uncorrupted Eredar use to flee Argus.

[01:33] The uncorrupted group changes their name to the Draenei which means "the exiled ones".

[01:37] Kil'Jaeden is angry about their escape and vows to hunt them down.

[01:39] Sargeras corrupts the world soul of Argus and uses it to build a machine that lets him regenerate anyone in his army, making them effectively immortal.

[01:46] Meanwhile back on Azeroth the imprisoned Old Gods drive their guards crazy and make a curse that turns stuff into meat meaning these guys turn

[01:52] into these guys. A big magic pool called the Well of Eternity that was left behind by the Titans starts hyperevolving deer and squirrels into

[01:57] a race called Trolls. The Trolls dub themselves the Zandalari and form the Zandalari empire, which has a strict caste system.

[02:03] The lowest caste decides that being in the lowest caste sucks and leaves to form their own empires

[02:07] One of these Empire settles by the Well of Eternity and evolves even further, transforming into Elves.

[02:11] These newly formed Elves create the Kaldorei Empire. Led by Queen Azshara

[02:14] They use the Well of Eternity to gain magical and technological superiority,

[02:17] allowing them to swiftly defeat the Zandalari and take over Kalimdor.

[02:20] The Kaldorei's excessive use of the Well of Eternity

[02:22] lets Sargeras magically access Azeroth, but he still has no idea where it is in physical space

[02:26] so he needs to rely on opening portals to invade.

[02:28] Since he needs a powerful mage to open the portal Sargeras reaches out to

[02:31] Azshara and offers her a place at his side. Azshara agrees and uses the Well of Eternity to summon to Burning Legion into Azeroth.

[02:36] The dragons and an elf rebellion led by Tyrande Whisperwind and brothers Illidan and Malfurion Stormrage

[02:40] fight to stop Azshara in the War of the Ancients.

[02:42] Attempting to gain power against the Legion Illidan pretends to join Azshara's forces.

[02:46] Sargeras is so grateful he stabs out Illidan's eyes and gives him cool demon vision.

[02:49] This allows Illidan to see the true power of the Burning Legion and he begins to fear that their defeat on Azeroth will ultimately be pointless.

[02:54] One of the five aspects named Neltharion is driven mad by the Old Gods,

[02:57] who convinced him to steal the other Aspects' powers by making a weapon called the Dragon Soul

[03:00] under the guise of fighting the Legion. Once the weapon is built Neltharion blows everyone up with it.

[03:04] He changes his name to Deathwing to show off how edgy and cool he is.

[03:06] Malfurion steals the Dragon Soul and hides it.

[03:08] Deathwing is sealed in Deepholm, a big cave at the core of Azeroth.

[03:11] The rebellion shuts down the portal and stops the Legion.

[03:13] But the Well of Eternity is destroyed in the process which causes a big magical explosion called the sundering

[03:16] that breaks Kalimdor into a bunch of little pieces.

[03:18] As the Kaldorei capital sinks into the ocean the Old God N'Zoth turns Azshara and her followers into fish.

[03:23] Obsessed with the power of the Nightwell and fearing another Legion invasion, Illidan uses water he'd stolen from the Well of Eternity to make a new

[03:28] well in Mount Hyjal. The other elves are angered by this and throw Illidan in jail for his actions.

[03:32] The remaining elves fight over wherever to use last of the well and break into two factions.

[03:35] The Night Elves stay on Kalimdor and the Highborn travel to the Eastern Kingdoms and make a new

[03:38] font of magical energy called the Sunwell. They rename themselves to the High Elves.

[03:42] The children of some Vrykul in Northrend are being born mutated.

[03:45] These mutated children are ordered to be killed but some are snuck to the Eastern Kingdoms instead.

[03:49] Here they form tribes and call themselves Humans.

[03:50] One group of humans called the Arathi Tribe begins to unite the other groups under one banner, forming the kingdom of Arathor.

[03:55] Eventually the kingdom of Arathor grows so large that several of its biggest cities declare independence

[03:59] and break off into the kingdoms of Gilneas, Alterac, Dalaran, Kul Tiras, Stormwind, and Lordaeron.

[04:03] The high elves ally themselves with the humans to fight the trolls living in the Eastern Kingdoms

[04:07] while the night elves and dragons fight the Old God bugs and lock them in the Titan prison of Ahn'Qiraj.

[04:11] The high elves teach the humans magic and some of the humans start to accidentally summon demons and elementals.

[04:14] To protect against the threats created by humans having magic the leaders of Dalaran decided to give one human a whole bunch MORE magic.

[04:20] This person is called The Guardian and they pass their power on to the next person the council chooses when they retire.

[04:24] Sargeras, who still has no idea where Azeroth is physically, is currently trying open another portal to invade through.

[04:29] But opening an army-sized portal requires a lot of magic.

[04:31] So Sargeras can only open up small portal and send a less-powerful mini version of himself called an Avatar through.

[04:35] His Avatar then proceeds to start eating dragons in order to gain more magic.

[04:38] The dragons aren't a fan of being eaten so they ask for humans for help

[04:41] and humans send the current Guardian, Aegwynn, who goes to Northrend and kills the avatar,

[04:44] sealing its body in the Tomb of Sargeras so it can't be resurrected.

[04:47] Unbeknownst to Aegwynn the portion of Sargeras' soul powering the avatar jumps into her when she kills it and proceeds to hide there.

[04:52] Aegwynn decides that someone else getting to choose who gets her powers is lame so she goes into hiding.

[04:56] Remember Velen and those goats on the spaceship that weree fleeing the Legion?

[04:58] They just crashed onto a peaceful planet called Draenor and made friends with the Orcs,

[05:01] a race of shaman who are happy to share their planet. Everyone is friendly and these two races are sure to be lifelong pals.

[05:06] Back on Azeroth the dwarves are living inside a mountain when their King dies and suddenly everyone wants to be the new leader. The War of Three Hammers

[05:11] breaks out and the dwarves split into the Bronzebeard, Dark Iron, and Wildhammer clans. The Bronzebeards win and take over Ironforge

[05:16] Angry over losing the war, Dark Irons try to summon elementals to kill the other clans.

[05:20] But they do too good a job and accidentally summon Ragnaros the Firelord,

[05:23] who traps the Dark Iron dwarves inside of Blackrock Mountain and forces them to act as his slaves.

[05:26] Aegwynn is still in hiding and just had a child named Medivh!

[05:29] Unbeknownst to her the latent fragments of Sargeras' soul jump into Medivh and hide inside him.

[05:33] In a stunning display of nepotism Aegwynn gives her infant child the powers of a guardian.

[05:36] The human Kingdom of Stormwind goes to war with the Gurubashi Trolls.

[05:39] During a troll attack on Stormin city the now adult Medivh uses his powers as the guardian to obliterate the trolls and save the city.

[05:44] He's heralded as a hero and welcome as the new Guardian. Sargeras remains undiscovered inside of him.

[05:47] On Draenor Kil'Jaeden has tracked down Velen and the Draenei.

[05:50] He reaches out to an orc shaman named Gul'Dan, offering him power if he helps turn the orcs against them.

[05:53] Gul'Dan agrees and proceeds to frame the Draenei for attacks on orc villages.

[05:56] The orcs respond by banding together to stop the Draenei.

[05:59] Gul'Dan forms a cool new group called the Horde! (and the secret ingredient is fel magic)

[06:02] He convinces the Horde to drink the blood of the demon Mannoroth,

[06:04] which has the side effect of turning their skin green and also enslaving them to the Legion.

[06:07] He installs the bloodthirsty Blackhand as a puppet warchief.

[06:09] This new fel-crazed Horde slaughters the Draenei who flee into the forests led by Velen.

[06:13] Under warchief Blackhand the Horde is reckless and destructive.

[06:16] Quickly they eat all the food on Draenor and need a new place to live.

[06:18] Sargeras sees this as an opportunity to have his avatar freed from the tomb

[06:21] and tells Gul'Dan about a lush planet the Horde can invade called Azeroth.

[06:24] Back on Azeroth Sargeras begins to corrupt Medivh from within.

[06:26] Eventually convincing him to help Gul'Dan open the Dark Portal, a massive gate that connects Azeroth to Draenor.

[06:31] The orcs pour through marking the beginning of the First War.

[06:33] The First War rages on for three years between the Horde and the kingdom of Stormwind, led by King Llane Wrynn.

[06:37] The kingdom of Stormwind still believes Medivh is their ally and he continues to act as the Guardian.

[06:41] An orc named Garona meets and befriends Medivh and his apprentice Khadgar. Garona abandons the Horde and sides with the humans

[06:46] Together Khadgar and Garona discover that Medivh is responsible for opening the

[06:49] portal and team up with General Anduin Lothar to kill Medivh.

[06:51] Orgrim Doomhammer is upset by Blackhand's brutality towards his own soldiers

[06:54] and challenges him to a Mak'Gora for leadership of the Horde. Orgrim wins and kills Blackhand.

[06:58] Garona returns to Stormwind to deliver her report of Medivh's death.

[07:01] Well informing King Wrynn of the situation Garona is possessed by Horde warlocks and assassinates the King against her Will.

[07:05] Without its leader Stormwind falls to the Horde, ending the First War.

[07:08] The survivors of Stormwind flee north to the Lordaeron

[07:10] where Anduin Lothar convinces the other kingdoms to assist.

[07:12] Together they begin to plan the Second War against the Horde and unite into the Alliance of Lordaeron.

[07:16] Meanwhile Doomhammer's Horde marches north from Stormwind towards Ironforge to get resources.

[07:20] The Horde fights the dwarves and gnomes, leaving them trapped in their cities.

[07:23] The Horde continues north towards Lordaeron, but it's too well defended so they head past it and poke at the High Elves in Quel'Thalas for a bit before turning around.

[07:29] Gul'dan betrays the Horde and leaves for the Tomb of Sargeras with some soldiers.

[07:32] Then he betrays Sargeras and ignores orders to open a portal, instead planning to steal the power of the tomb for himself.

[07:37] Sargeras doesn't like being betrayed so demons eat Gul'dan.

[07:39] Orgrim Doomhammer is unaware of Gul'dan's desertion and begins a siege of Lordaeron.

[07:42] Originally successful, Doomhammer had been counting on Gul'dan's forces to bolster the assault

[07:46] and when he learns they have abandoned the Horde

[07:47] he's forced to undergo an incredibly costly retreat to Blackrock Mountain.

[07:50] Unaware that Gul'dan is already dead, Doomhammer dispatches the sons of the former warchief Blackhand,

[07:54] Dal'rend and Maim along the contingent of orcs to slay Gul'dan.

[07:57] The pursuing human forces free the besieged dwarves and gnomes who pledged their service to the Alliance.

[08:01] The severely weakened Horde makes their final stand at Blackrock Mountain.

[08:04] Orgrim Doomhammer kills Anduin Lothar to break the human's spirits. Only for him to be replaced by the paladin Turalyon,

[08:09] who captures Doomhammer and rallies the Alliance into pushing the Horde back through the Dark Portal.

[08:13] Khadgar deactivates the portal, closing the gateway between Azeroth and Draenor and ending the Second War.

[08:17] Rend, Maim, and their contingent of orcs arrives at Blackrock Mountain after the Alliance departs and occupy the fortress for themselves.

[08:23] Fortifying the keep from attackers they create the cool new Dark Horde! (and the secret ingredient is dragons)

[08:27] The victorious Alliance rebuild Stormwind, naming the adolescent son of Lane Wrynn, Varian, as king.

[08:32] The Alliance also puts the orcs they captured into internment camps. Orgrim himself is sent to one such camp.

[08:37] The high elves, feeling that the protection of Lordaeron was prioritized over their capital of Quel'thalas, leave the Alliance.

[08:42] Back on Draenor the orc shaman Ner'zhul finds himself leading the remnants of the Horde on a still dying world.

[08:47] He plans to open portals to other planets to plunder their resources (because it worked so well last time).

[08:52] But to do this he needs to steal magical artifacts from Azeroth.

[08:54] So he reopens the Dark Portal (great work Khadgar) and sends a small group of soldiers through to retrieve the artifacts.

[08:59] They succeed! But the Alliance decides to go on the offensive,

[09:02] electing to send a group of soldiers led by Turalyon, Khadgar, and some other people

[09:05] into the dark Portal in order to end the Horde once and for all.

[09:08] Corrupted by the power of the artifacts Ner'zhul opens a massive number of portals at once, tearing apart the fabric of Draenor and abandoning the Horde.

[09:14] The planet is destroyed and pulled into the twisting nether, forming a floating landmass called the Outlands.

[09:18] In order to save Azeroth from the might of the now-stranded Horde

[09:21] Khadgar collapses the dark portal, trapping himself and the Alliance Expedition in the Outlands.

[09:25] Presumed dead, statues of the leaders of the expedition are erected in the newly rebuilt Stormwind.

[09:29] Angered by Ner'zhul's betrayal of the Horde Kil'Jaeden turns him into an evil hat and a sword called Frostmourne that have the

[09:34] power to raise the dead. Then he drops him on Azeroth in order to weaken the human kingdoms in preparation for a Legion invasion.

[09:39] He also gives Ner'zhul a few demons called dreadlords to help speed things along.

[09:43] In the orcish internment camps a young orc named Thrall befriends Doomhammer and together they rally the orcs into rebellion and escape the camps.

[09:49] They build a cool new Horde!

[09:51] But Orgrim is killed naming Thrall the new warchief.

[09:53] Thrall leads the orcs to the lost continent of Kalimdor in order to escape the humans.

[09:56] During the voyage they meet with the Darkspear Trolls and the Tauren, both of whom joined the Horde.

[10:00] Ner'zhul (now called The Lich King) has had a few years to get ready and he's starting to build a following.

[10:04] He needs powerful magic bois to open a big portal,

[10:06] So he recruits the wizard Kel'Thuzad and together they make a plague that kills people and turns them into zombies.

[10:10] They release it into the northern cities of Lordaeron via infected grain and the Third War begins!

[10:14] King Terenas Menethil hears rumors of a plague to the north and sends his son Arthas and the mage Jaina Proudmoore to investigate.

[10:20] They find that Kel'Thuzad has poisoned a recent grain delivery to the bustling city of Stratholme with a plague.

[10:24] Arthas kills Kel'thuzad and they head to Stratholme to stop a grain shipment.

[10:27] The duo is too late to stop a town's folk from eating the grain and with no cure for a plague

[10:31] Arthas decides to kill the infected before they're turned into mindless undead.

[10:34] Jaina is aghast and abandons Arthas.

[10:36] Arthas purges of the city and meets the dreadlord Mal'Ganis who taunts the prince, telling him to find him in Northrend.

[10:41] Arthas becomes obsessed with taking revenge on Mal'Ganis and follows him to Northrend, discovering the sword Frostmourne along the way.

[10:46] The sword consumes his soul and Arthas is corrupted by the will of the Lich King. Becoming an undead soldier called a death knight.

[10:51] Now a minion of the Lich King, Arthas returns to Lordaeron and murders his father King Terenas Menethil while his forces destroy the city.

[10:57] The Lich King still needs Kel'thuzad to summon Archimonde so he orders Arthas to stuff the dead wizard chunks in a jar.

[11:02] In order to raise Kel'Thuzad as a lich Arthas needs the power of the Sunwell, so he marches his forces north to Quel'Thalas.

[11:07] Along the way he captures the ranger general of Silvermoon Sylvanas Windrunner who he kills and raises as Banshee.

[11:12] The scourge storm Silvermoon and slaughter the High Elves

[11:14] raising Kel'thuzad as a lich and corrupting the Sunwell in a process.

[11:17] With Kel'thuzad resurrected the scourge return south

[11:19] and raid the city of Dalaran for a magic book. Once they have it Kel'Thuzad summons Archimonde,

[11:23] who builds a sand castle and punches it...

[11:25] Remember that second Well of Eternity Illidan made in Hyjal? Archimonde needs it to someone to Legion.

[11:30] So he and the gang head west to Kalimdor.

[11:31] Also a big tree called the World Tree grew in it and it made the elves immortal.

[11:34] Jaina and Thrall are both met by the ghost of Medivh who says they need to stop Archimonde at Mount Hyjal or Azeroth will be destroyed.

[11:39] Jaina leads the alliance to Kalimdor.

[11:41] On Kalimdor the spooky Medivh ghost meets Jaina and Thrall again and tells them the Alliance and Horde need to work together.

[11:46] But one group of orcs under Grommash Hellscream gets tricked by Mannoroth into drinking more demon blood and become servants of at Burning Legion again.

[11:51] Jaina frees Grom who kills Mannoroth. Freeing the orcs but killing himself in the process.

[11:55] The night elves find out that the Legion is invading again and join the fight.

[11:58] Tyrande, now the leader of a night elves, orders Illidan to be released from jail to help fight demons.

[12:02] Illidan promises he's done consuming demonic power to stop the Legion.

[12:04] Illidan then promptly consumes more demonic power to stop the Legion,

[12:07] eating the skull of Gul'dan and using the powers to blow up a dreadlord.

[12:10] Tyrande and Malfurion are furious and banish Illidan, who runs off and sulks.

[12:13] The ghost of medivh tells everyone that he's manifesting because he feels bad for opening the Dark Portal and wants to fix his mistake.

[12:18] The three armies pledge to stop the Legion

[12:19] and build a series of base camps in Mount Hyjal to prevent Archimonde from reaching the well.

[12:23] Archimonde completely bulldoze through these base camps and reaches the well.

[12:26] So the ancient spirits of the night elves (called wisps) turn themselves into a bomb and blow Archimonde and his army up.

[12:30] They also accidentally blow up the World Tree so the night elves stop being immortal,

[12:33] but at least the Third War is over!

[12:34] Thrall heads south into the deserts of Kalimdor and founds the Horde capital of Orgrimmar

[12:37] named after Orgrim Doomhammer.

[12:39] In the ruins of Quel'Thalas Prince Kael'Thas Sunstrider destroys The Sunwell so it doesn't corrupt his people.

[12:43] Without the Sunwell the High Elves go into magic withdrawal and most rename themselves to the Blood Elves.

[12:47] About 10% continue to call themselves High Elves and break off to rejoin the Alliance.

[12:51] This schism becomes a single largest point of contention among the WoW player base.

[12:54] Illidan, still angry about being accused of serving demons, agrees to serve Kil'Jaeden by hunting down and killing the Lich King, who's gone rogue.

[12:59] He teams up with some Naga and Prince Kael'Thas and cast a spell which severely injures the Lich King.

[13:03] Ner'zhul the hat realizes that unless someone puts him on he will die from his injuries,

[13:07] so he recalls Arthas to Northrend.

[13:08] The Alliance rallies under Grand Marshal Garithos to push the undead out of ruins of the kingdom of Lordaeron (now called the Plaguelands).

[13:14] Due to the Lich King being weakened Sylvanas breaks free from his control and works alongside them to retake the capital city.

[13:18] However, once the scourge is defeated she turns on her living allies and slays them.

[13:22] Claiming Lordaeron for herself she unites the undead freed from the Lich King's control into the Forsaken.

[13:26] Arthas leaves Kel'Thuzad to command remaining scourge in the Plaguelands and returns to Northrend.

[13:30] Illidan battles Arthas in a final attempt to prevent him from saving the Lich King

[13:33] but Arthas wins and puts on the hat, merging his soul with Ner'zhul and being frozen in a block of ice.

[13:37] Illidan retreats through a portal to the Outlands with Kael'thas and some of the Naga.

[13:40] Fearing the Alliance will attempt to retake Lordaeron from her

[13:43] Sylvanas and the forsaken join the Horde, hoping their military might will deter the Alliance.

[13:47] The Horde now consists of Orcs, Tauren, Trolls, and Forsaken.

[13:49] With the loss of Lordaeron the recently rebuilt city of Stormwind becomes the new seat of the Alliance.

[13:53] Which consists of Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Night Elves, and a few remaining High Elves.

[13:57] The city of Dalaran gets rebuilt and they put it under a dome.

[13:59] A night elf named Fandral Staghelm decides to grow a new World Tree called Teldrassil so the Night Elves can keep being immortal.

[14:04] It doesn't work but the night elves decide to live on it anyway.

[14:06] While traveling to a diplomatic meeting with the Horde King Varian Wrynn is kidnapped.

[14:09] His ten year old son Anduin is named leader of Stormwind with Bolvar Fordragon acting as Regent Lord.

[14:13] This marks the beginning of World of Warcraft!

[14:15] The armies of a Horde and Alliance have been greatly weakened by the Third War

[14:18] So both factions begin to recruit new soldiers from among their citizens to depopulate the local wildlife.

[14:23] These citizens become known as the Champions of Azeroth and are the player characters in WoW.

[14:27] In Blackrock Mountain Ragnaros starts summoning elementals. So the champions of a Horde and Alliance banish him back to the Firelands.

[14:32] Then they go upstairs and kill Rend Blackhand.

[14:34] On Kalimdor C'Thun and all the bugs break out of jail

[14:36] so the Alliance and Horde build a stick and use it to break INTO bug jail to kill C'Thun.

[14:39] We can kill old gods but the Titans can't because reasons.

[14:42] Off in the Outlands Illidan and Kael'Thas steal a floating chandelier-ship called Tempest Keep.

[14:46] Velen and the surviving Draenei steal a piece of it and fly off into space.

[14:48] Kel'Thuzad builds a big floating box called Naxxramas that he's ruling the Plaguelands from.

[14:52] The champions of Azeroth break in and kill him.

[14:54] The remaining demons in the Outlands reopen the Dark Portal in order to invade Azeroth.

[14:57] They are beaten up immediately and Azeroth decides to invade the Outlands to teach them a lesson.

[15:00] This marks the beginning of the Burning Crusade

[15:02] Kael'Thas discovers that fel energy is a substitute for the Sunwell and joins the Legion.

[15:06] Blood Elves start doing fel magic and their eyes turn green.

[15:08] Some are upset about this and join the Horde. The rest continue to follow Kael'Thas.

[15:11] The Draenei crash land on Azeroth and join the Alliance because it's the side that doesn't have orcs.

[15:15] The Alliance find Khadgar, Kurdan, and Trollbane alive and operating in the Outlands.

[15:19] Alleria Windrunner and General Turalyon are still missing.

[15:21] Thrall meets Garrosh Hellscream, the son who Grommash Hellscream left behind on Draenor.

[15:24] The two become friends and Garrosh joins the Horde.

[15:26] The champions of Azeroth beat up Illidan and send him to jail.

[15:28] Then we beat up Kael'Thas and he gets really big and dies.

[15:30] Kael'Thas gets resurrected with fel magic and decides to use the Sunwell to summon Kil'Jaeden to Azeroth.

[15:34] The Alliance and Horde lay siege to the Sunwell. Kiling Kael'Thas again and stopping Kil'Jaeden before he can enter Azeroth.

[15:39] Velen purifies the Sunwell by throwing a dead chandelier into it so Blood Elves don't die of withdrawal.

[15:43] This marks the end of the Burning Crusade!

[15:44] In Northrend Malygos gets mad about how much magic people are using and decides "no more magic for anyone".

[15:48] He begins to slurp up all the magic on Azeroth,

[15:51] which angers the Kirin Tor of Dalaran since without magic wizards are just frail nerds.

[15:54] They teleport Dalaran to the skies above Northrend and team up will the other dragon aspects in order to fight Malygos.

[15:59] Varian Wrynn is rescued and returns to Stormwind to take his place as high king of the Alliance.

[16:03] The new-and-improved Lich King Arthas wakes up and decides to conquer Azeroth.

[16:06] He sends infected grain to the capital cities of the Alliance and Horde which kills some citizens

[16:09] but mostly just angers for two factions, who team up and send an expedition to Northrend

[16:13] They're joined by the Argent crusade, a group of paladin's devoted to stopping the undead.

[16:16] Some of Arthas' death knights rebel and join the Alliance and Horde.

[16:19] The Lich King resurrects Kel'Thuzad again and moves Naxxramas to Northrend in order to fight the Argent Crusade.

[16:23] Kel'Thuzad is killed almost immediately.

[16:25] Also the dragons kill Malygos so he stops eating all the magic

[16:27] and another dragon named Kalecgos replaces him as the aspect.

[16:29] Some of the forsaken betray everyone and release of plague on a bunch of Alliance and Horde soldiers, including Bolvar Fordragon.

[16:34] Alexstrasza tries to save him by setting him on fire with questionable results.

[16:37] Yogg-Saron wakes up inside of Ulduar so the champions of Azeroth kill him before he drives everyone insane.

[16:42] The Argent Crusade hosts a big joust to decide who gets to kill the Lich King. The winners get to storm Icecrown Citadel!

[16:46] It's discovered of that the charred but still-alive Bolvar is being held by Arthas.

[16:49] Led by the Highlord of the Argent Crusade, Tirion Fordring, the best jousters in Azeroth march on Icecrown Citadel and kill the Lich King,

[16:55] shattering Frostmourne in the process.

[16:56] The spirit of King Terenas Menethil is released from Frostmourne

[16:59] and tells Tirion that someone needs to put on the evil hat or the undead will start killing everyone.

[17:02] The walking charcoal briquette that is Bolvar calls dibs and becomes the new Lich King, getting frozen in a block of ice.

[17:07] The war of the Lich King ends.

[17:08] Remember Deathwing? The Old Gods been whispering to him for 10,000 years

[17:11] so he's even crazier than before and he just woke up on the wrong side of a bed and broke out of Deepholm.

[17:15] Blowing up a lot of Azeroth in the process. Now everything is on fire and fantasy Utah got flooded.

[17:19] The king of the dwarves, Magni Bronzebeard, tries to research how to stop Deathwing from blowing up Azeroth and accidentally turns himself into a giant diamond.

[17:24] Now Ironforge doesn't have a king and the three dwarf clans fight over who should lead.

[17:27] They wind up deciding to just make a council.

[17:29] Gilneas gets overrun by a furry convention and the forsaken invade and try to plague them.

[17:32] The Alliance shows up to help but Sylvanas destroys Gilneas anyway.

[17:35] The wolves want revenge so they rejoin the Alliance.

[17:37] A bunch of goblins that live on an island almost die in a storm but Thrall saves them so they join the Horde.

[17:41] The dragon aspects team up to stop Deathwing, but they can't form Captain Planet without the aspect of rocks.

[17:45] So they recruit Thrall because he's good at talking to rocks.

[17:47] This means Thrall has to retire from the Horde. So he appoints Garrosh the new warchief.

[17:50] Deathwing decides he isn't burning things fast enough so he summons Ragnaros (who has legs now).

[17:54] The druids storm into the Firelands to keep Ragnaros from burning down their trees and kill him for real this time!

[17:57] The aspects realize they can't stop Deathwing without using the Dragon Soul.

[18:00] So Nozdormu goes back in time and steals it.

[18:02] Then Thrall blows him up.

[18:03] Using with Dragon Soul to blow up Deathwing used up all the dragon aspects' power so they aren't as powerful anymore.

[18:08] The Cataclysm ends.

[18:09] Garrosh likes war so he decides to start one by blowing up the Alliance city of Theramore.

[18:12] Jaina goes crazy and most of her hair turns white.

[18:14] Anduin is on a boat that gets chased by the Horde and crash lands on an uncharted island called Pandaria,

[18:18] a mystical land inhabited by talking pandas.

[18:20] The Pandaren tell the Alliance and Horde they need to stop fighting or they'll wake up the angry old gods spirit that haunts their land.

[18:24] The two factions proceed to fighting even harder and the old gods start corrupting everything.

[18:28] Anduin asks Garrosh to help him save Pandaria. Garrosh responds by dropping a bell on him.

[18:31] Some of the Horde leaders get upset with Garrosh for declaring war on literally everything

[18:35] so Garrosh declares war on them and forms a cool new Horde! (and the secret ingredient is racism)

[18:39] The rest of the Horde splits off under the troll Vol'jin.

[18:41] Garrosh sees how powerful the Old God spirits are and decides he wants to eat one.

[18:44] He starts researching how and learns that the heart of an Old God is buried in a sacred Pandaren mountain.

[18:48] He digs up the heart and throws it in a lake. Corrupting all of Pandaria.

[18:51] At this point Garrosh has declared war on literally every major faction, all of whom team up and storm Orgrimmar to kill him.

[18:56] Garrosh's Horde is defeated and Garrosh is captured and put on trial for setting the world record for most war crimes,

[19:00] ending Mists of Pandaria.

[19:01] While on trial Garrosh escapes with the help of an evil bronze dragon and goes back in time to Draenor before the first Horde drinks the blood of Mannoroth.

[19:07] Luckily for this video, going back in time creates a little pocket dimension instead of rewriting the entire history of WoW.

[19:12] In this pocket dimension Garrosh tells his dad that drinking the blood will enslave the Horde to the Legion.

[19:16] So they kill Mannoroth, capture Gul'dan, and form a cool new Iron Horde!

[19:20] They still decide to invade Azeroth, though. So they build a new Dark Portal and plug Gul'dan into it

[19:25] Somehow this allows their portal to hijack into our portal and suddenly the Iron Horde is pouring into present-day Azeroth.

[19:30] The Alliance and Horde team up with Khadgar, the resident expert at closing the Dark Portal and send a strike force called the Iron Vanguard through the portal to turn it off.

[19:36] They do this by unplugging Gul'dan and...

[19:40] Then since people keep reopening these things we blow up the portal with a cannon.

[19:43] The iron vanguard goes around killing the various warlords of clans.

[19:46] Thrall challenges Garrosh to an honorable orc duel, but then he loses so he just kills him with lightning instead.

[19:50] Without 90% of its leadership the Iron Horde gets absolutely bulldozed,

[19:53] at which point Gul'dan shows up with a cooler of that tasty demon blood

[19:56] and the Iron Horde orcs all join the Legion anyway.

[19:58] Gul'dan summons Archimonde, who's still alive because it turns out that the demons that have been getting killed

[20:01] have to be killed in the twisting nether or their souls just go back to Argus and reform.

[20:05] Also this is the same Archimonde who fought in the Third War because despite this being a pocket dimension, there's only one burning legion somehow.

[20:10] Look WoD is a REALLY confusing expansion.

[20:12] Anyway, the Iron Vanguard teams up with the remains of the uncorrupted Iron Horde

[20:15] because apparently war crimes are okay if other people commit MORE war crimes.

[20:18] They kill Archimonde for real this time, but not before he picks up Gul'dan and throws him into space.

[20:22] The Iron Vanguard declares victory and goes home. Ending the Warlords of Draenor.

[20:25] The Burning Legion sends alternate universe Gul'dan to Azeroth in order to open the Tomb of Sargeras and let the Legion invade, and this time he actually does it!

[20:31] He also steals Illidan's unconscious body from jail to use as a vessel for Sargeras.

[20:35] The Alliance and Horde and team up to stop the Burning Legion once and for all on the Broken Shore and they get absolutely obliterated.

[20:39] Tirion gets melted, Vol'jin is mirked by a random demon, and Varian gets disenchanted by Gul'dan.

[20:44] For reasons unclear to everyone including Vol'jin he decides Sylvanas should be the next warchief and then promptly dies.

[20:48] Anduin is now high king of the Alliance and also kind of hot.

[20:50] Remember at dwarf king who got turned into a rock? He woke up and he can talk to Azeroth now!

[20:54] Also a fat goat turns Ysera crazy so the Champions of Azeroth kill her.

[20:57] Lich King Bolvar wakes up and he starts making death Knights to fight the Legion also he's on our side now!

[21:01] The Legion is still primarily located on the Broken Isles so Khadgar teleports Dalaran there to fight them.

[21:05] The Alliance and Horde free Illidan, who disenchants Gul'dan.

[21:08] The Burning Legion is starting to lose so Kil'Jaeden plans to use the Tomb of Sargeras

[21:11] to make an even bigger portal so the Legion can bring more troops from Argus.

[21:14] But we storm the tomb and kill him first, for real this time!

[21:16] Illidan then opens the portal anyway because he wants to fight more demons.

[21:19] The armies of Azeroth all pile into a spaceship and fly to the planet Argus to kill the Titan Argus.

[21:23] They find Alleria and Turalyon, who are on a space crusade.

[21:25] The gang finds out Sargeras is holding the souls of the Titan Pantheon prisoner and free them.

[21:28] Then they kill Argus which means the demons can't respawn anymore.

[21:30] Meanwhile Sargeras finally has a portal big enough to pass through so he heads to Azeroth to destroy it.

[21:34] The Pantheon stops him and puts him in bad-titan jail, but not before Sargeras impales his sword into Azeroth in a last-ditch effort to kill the world soul.

[21:40] The Legion is defeated and Illidan stays behind to bully Sargeras.

[21:43] Back on Azeroth the Titan world soul is bleeding to death because it has a big sword stuck in it.

[21:47] The blood is good at making bombs so everybody wants it.

[21:49] Sylvanas is angry that an elf was mean to her so she burns down Teldrassil.

[21:52] The Alliance retaliates by storming Lordaeron so Sylvanas blows it up.

[21:55] Anduin captures High Overlord Saurfang, Who feels bad about burning down a tree full of defenseless civilians.

[21:59] The Champions of Azeroth get a fantasy phone call from Magni.

[22:01] Azeroth is going to die unless they cram a lot of her blood into a magic necklace so they started doing that.

[22:05] The Alliance and Horde go to Kul Tiras and Zandalar because they need boats.

[22:08] Saurfang still feels bad about committing genocide so Anduin lets him go.

[22:11] Saurfang rallies the rest of a Horde behind him because they also feel bad about committing genocide.

[22:15] Saurfang and his no-genocide Horde team up with the Alliance and go to Orgrimmar to stop Sylvanas and her pro-genocide Horde.

[22:20] Saurfang decides at the last minute to challenge Sylvanas to an honorable orc-duel instead and Sylvanas agrees.

[22:25] Saurfang is about to win so Sylvanas just insta-kills him, tells the Horde she never liked them anyway, and flies off.

[22:29] Everyone feels bad that the pro-genocide Horde's mom just left so they forgive them for all the genocide immediately and the Fourth War ends.

[22:34] Things are starting to wind down when the Champions of Azeroth accidentally set N'Zoth free because a knife tells them to.

[22:39] Then they kill him with a magic necklace and nothing of consequence changes.

[22:42] Sylvanas flies to Icecrown Citadel, beats up Lich King Bolvar, and steals his hat.

[22:45] Then she breaks it which makes the sky explode and also probably kills Ner'zhul?

[22:48] Now the afterlife is connected to regular-life,

[22:51] So everyone is about to kill themselves in order to beat up the grim reaper.

[22:53] And that's the history a WoW.

[22:56] Thanks for watching!

[22:58] I hope you liked the episode, and I'm glad you're using closed captions on this video because otherwise I spent four hours typing them out for nothing.

[23:06] Also, fun fact, before I went through and fixed the subtitles YouTube's auto detector