Zul'jin

Zul'jin (aka Zuljin) was the Warlord of the Amani forest trolls and chieftain of the Amani tribe since before the Second War. Zul'jin and the Amani tribe were allied with the orcish Horde for the duration of the Second War, but Zul'jin himself was captured near its end by the Alliance. Upon gaining his freedom he went into hiding to rebuild his army and plan an attack on the remnants of the high elves, now known as blood elves, only to find them allied with the Horde. He was killed by Azerothian adventurers, who raided Zul'Aman during the war in Outland.

Background
A fierce forest troll of the Amani tribe, Zul'jin's ability as a warrior and leader meant that he did what no other troll has done since the Troll Wars: unite the warring tribes of Zul'Aman under a single leader. He was infamous for his daring raids on the outskirts of Quel'Thalas, at a time when trolls had been completely beaten into obscurity by the high elves. Some say he planned to unite all trolls, but his plans were quickly put on hold by the events of the Second War.

Second War
At the time of the Second War, the orcish Warchief Blackhand ordered Orgrim Doomhammer to approach Zul'jin, to ask the forest trolls to join the Horde. Zul'jin initially refused, though was later captured by humans and freed by Orgrim's men. Impressed, he agreed to join the Horde (now under Orgrim's leadership,) and assisted the orcish Horde throughout the war.

Zul'jin's goal was not hindered by this alliance, and he believed that the Horde would have no use for the lands the Amani would take over. On the other hand, Zul'jin himself had no desire to extend his conquest beyond Quel'Thalas, and thus was confident in his new allies and the honorable Doomhammer.

Ultimately, Zul'jin was most eager to utterly conquer his mortal enemies, the high elves of Quel'Thalas with the Horde's help, and claiming King Anasterian Sunstrider's head (and forcing it to watch Quel'Thalas burn) was his primary goal during this time. He assisted the Horde in reaching Quel'Thalas, and went on ahead to claim his vengeance upon the elves for the fateful Troll Wars so many years ago.

Zul'jin fought throughout the Second War, and he and Doomhammer developed a mutual respect, however Zul'jin grew furious when Doomhammer not only failed to destroy Quel'Thalas, but also abandoned his siege against the elves in favor of assaulting Lordaeron. Zul'jin and his armies stayed behind, slaughtering thousands of elves. Yet once it became clear the Horde had lost the war, his alliance fell apart, and the forest trolls returned to their savage and undisciplined ways, removing themselves from the Horde as quickly as they had joined. It was during this time that Zul'jin mysteriously "disappeared". Most believed he died under a hail of Alleria Windrunner's arrows. However, Zul'jin had been captured and was tortured for hours on end, eventually losing his right eye. When his tormentors were attacked by a small troll war-band, Zul'jin seized the opportunity and cut off his own arm with a fallen spear to escape.

Zul'jin was unable to regenerate his eye or arm. Trolls are capable of regrowing fingers and toes, but more complex parts like limbs and organs are beyond their abilities.

Post-Third War
A small tribe, the Revantusk, under their old leader, Zul'jin, had rejoined the Horde. He later went missing, the tribe being left to.

World of Warcraft
There's a quote from the quest in which Mystic Yayo'jin of the Revantusk tribe says: "If Zul'jin were here, he would have destroyed the whole lot of them with a flick of his wrist - alas, Zul'jin has not yet returned and we are left to our own devices." The Revantusk tribe hold Zul'jin in high regard (like all trolls do) and that's probably the reason Mystic Yayo'jin wishes he would come back to help his tribe. That the Revantusk still hold Zul'jin's oath to Orgrim Doomhammer in high regard may also be one of the reasons why they agreed to a pact of friendship and mutual assistance with the Horde under Thrall.

Huntsman Markhor of the Revantusk:
 * "Zul'jin shall return one day. Mark my words. Until then, we all hold our positions and do what we can to keep the forest troll population intact."

Zul'jin is also mentioned by the Captured Hakkari Zealot on Yojamba Isle, but only as a passing comment:
 * ''"The young races? The infants? Humans? Orcs? Dwarves? You expect to defeat the Hakkari? To destroy a GOD? It shall NEVER happen. We are legion. We are united. Where are your heroes? Vol'jin sits in sanctuary at the side of the young Warchief, unaware. Zul'jin missing, probably dead."

The Burning Crusade
Zul'jin himself had fled to Zul'Aman and began to rebuild his once mighty troll army. After that the witch doctor Malacrass suggested a way for the Amani to get great power through dark ways, with which Zul'jin in his anger agreed. Now Zul'jin seems intent on destroying the elves. Having survived his ordeal with the high elves, and indeed the entire Scourge invasion that had crippled much of Quel'Thalas, Zul'jin and the Amani persisted in their goal to wipe the elves out. The high elves, having renamed "blood elves" in honor of their fallen brethren, began to take back much of Quel'Thalas themselves - Zul'jin, seeing this as an opportunity, coordinated a number of attacks on the reforming elves from Tor'Watha and Zeb'Watha, the Amani's holdings in Eversong, and directly out of Zul'Aman in the Ghostlands.

However, Zul'jin's ruthless crusade against Quel'Thalas would be halted by an unexpected development - the blood elves officially joining the New Horde.

Reaffirming his hatred for the outside world, Zul'jin resolved to take down all of his enemies with this dark new power.

The Gods of Zul'Aman
Zul'jin - styled as "Warlord Zul'jin" - can be found as the final boss encounter of Zul'Aman, the capital of the Amani tribe. Zul'Aman can be found in the Ghostlands, and is a 10-player dungeon like Karazhan. Zul'jin will be the third playable character from Warcraft II to be an instance boss in World of Warcraft (after Kargath Bladefist and Teron Gorefiend), and the second to be a final boss (after Kargath).

Despite being able to draw upon the ghostly spirits of each of the four liberated animal gods from Zul'Aman and being able to change his own shape to assume their powers Zul'jin was slain by adventures.

The plight of the Amani
This is Zul'jin's tale as told in the trailer to Patch 2.3:


 * Dis... was our land. TROLL land. We Amani was here before anyone! Da' elves and dere Alliance came to drive us out. But we never give up. We never forget...


 * Da' elves took my eye. I cut off my own arm to escape 'dem... and now, 'de fight alongside da' HORDE?! I SPIT on da' Horde! I hate you, I hate you all... But I got a surprise for ya' now, so come on in...


 * De' Amani never give up! We never forget. We never die. 'Dis is our land: you wanna stay, you stay here forever! We gonna bury you here.

Cataclysm
After Zul'jin's death, Zul'Aman became quiet, as a new warlord named Daakara rose to power. Under Daakara's leadership, the Amani have received the aid of the Zandalari in rebuilding, and are pledged to their progenitors in creating a vast troll empire in response to the turmoil of the Cataclysm.

As a result, Zul'Aman is being retooled as a heroic five-man dungeon in patch 4.1.0, and Daakara will replace Zul'jin as its final boss.

Warcraft Adventures
Zul'jin was also a character in the cancelled Warcraft Adventures. He was once a notorious bandit, but later sold junk goods in a run-down trading post.

Name/Title
According to the World of Warcraft RPG troll names look simple but are surprisingly complex. It states that their language is largely syllabic, and various syllables can be added to the beginning or end of a troll's name to denote status and ability. Additionally the book explains that troll given names are usually one syllable, and that they may take on two syllable names or add a syllable to their name later on, when they take a position or status. Some trolls drop their given names altogether and are known purely by their titles; Zul'jin for example might be used for a great tribal witch doctor. The book does not discuss a specific "Zul'jin", but discusses the name as a title that can become a troll's new name. In the novel Tides of Darkness, Zul'jin is shown to be used as a name as well.

The WoWRPG talks of Zul'jin as a name/title in jungle troll culture, rather than about the person. This leaves implication that there may be other Zul'jins. Blizzard has only talked about prefix "zul'" in the context of when it is used in the name of a person. No source has given the definition and syntax when the prefix is used for major troll cities.

It should also be noted that the playable Troll Headhunters of the Horde in Warcraft III are from the Darkspear tribe of the Jungle troll race, but they say "Vengeance for Zul'jin" when they spawn from the Barracks. However, they may be referring to the title rather than the character.

Revantusk relation?
Another issue is that Revantusk quest lines in World of Warcraft and Horde Player's Guide imply that Zul'jin had still been around at the time they made their pact with Thrall, and went missing, again, after that, contradicting that was angry with the Horde after the Second War? The Horde Player's Guide is set prior to the blood elves' allegiance with the Horde, perhaps the quests are as well. Possibly the Revantusk were unaware of the recent developments. Though it's possible that Revantusk quests and other lore has simply been victims of retroactive continuity.