Gul'dan

Gul'dan was a former orc shaman from Draenor who became the first orcish warlock as well as the de facto founder of the Orcish Horde. Abandoning the ways of shamanism and betraying both his people and his mentor to the demonlord Kil'jaeden for personal gain and power, Gul'dan was directly responsible for the orcs' fall to demonic enslavement as well as for the Horde's invasion of Azeroth. Tutored by the lord of the Burning Legion, he became the founder and master of the Shadow Council as well as the creator of the necromantic terrors known as death knights. Gul'dan is considered by many to have been the most cunning and powerful mortal warlock to ever have existed. He often referred to himself as "Darkness Incarnate" and "The Destroyer Of Dreams".

Early life and tutelage with Ner'zhul
Little is known of Gul'dan's early history except that he was originally a member of the Shadowmoon clan, and showed extraordinary talent with working with the elemental powers of shamanism. Because of this, he was chosen as the honored apprentice to the elder shaman Ner'zhul, chieftain of the Shadowmoon Clan and spiritual leader of the orcs.

As Ner'zhul rallied the orcs for a war against the draenei at the behest of Kil'jaeden (hiding behind the facade of a powerful ancestor referred to as "The Beautiful One"), Gul'dan supported Ner'zhul fully. However, when Ner'zhul began to notice that they could no longer call upon the power of the elements or the ancestors, the shaman began to sense something was amiss. He discovered at Oshu'gun that he had been duped by Kil'jaeden and attempted to back out. To Ner'zhul's horror, he discovered that Gul'dan had seen everything at Oshu'gun and told Kil'jaeden of it all before Ner'zhul returned. Kil'jaeden approached Gul'dan and offered him the chance to become a master of warlock magic, on the condition that he help bring the orcs under his banner. Gul'dan accepted with no qualms whatsoever, and immediately began the work of reshaping the orcs, hitherto a collection of simple shamanistic clans, into an unstoppable and bloodthirsty Horde.

The Horde and the Shadow Council
As a necessity of his bid for power, Gul'dan trained a number of like-minded and powerful orcs, whom he named the Shadow Council. The Council was soon using its power and influence to direct almost every aspect of orc society, so as to distract those few who opposed his dark ideals from their true masters, Gul'dan and Kil'jaeden. He even founded and created his own clan, the Stormreavers, who were loyal only to him. However, this clan wasn't founded until sometime later. To seal the bargain between him and Kil'jaeden, Gul'dan and the Shadow Council offered the clan chieftains the Blood of Mannoroth. The resulting Horde was bloodthirsty, barbaric, and evil, an extension of the demons whom they now worshiped.

As a test of the Horde's strength, Gul'dan and the Shadow Council guided the orcs into murdering every single Draenei they could find on their homeworld. The near-extermination of the Draenei, a race as old as his master Kil'jaeden, proved that the orcs were ready for the next slaughter.

It was at some point during these proceedings that Gul'dan acquired the loyalty of Garona Halforcen.

The First War
Eventually, Gul'dan was contacted by the mad sorcerer Medivh - possessed by the Dark Titan Sargeras - who offered him the promise of godhood, locked away within the Tomb of Sargeras if he would use the Horde to conquer Azeroth (Sargeras' ulterior motive, however, was to regain possession of his body). Gul'dan agreed, and with the assistance of the Shadow Council, he helped Medivh open the Dark Portal between Azeroth and Draenor. Over the next few years, Gul'dan and his ogre-mage apprentice Cho'gall would secretly manipulate the Horde as it rampaged across Azeroth.

Gul'dan manipulated the election of Blackhand as the Horde's new warchief, as he was the perfect pawn for the Shadow Council. Though Blackhand was competent in battle and a relatively sound tactician, he was extremely lustful — and thus easy for Gul'dan to control.

Gul'dan saw the Horde led to supremacy over most of the Kingdom of Azeroth, but on the eve of the final siege of Stormwind, Gul'dan was aware of a raiding party against Medivh's tower of Karazhan. Realizing that the Azerothians intended to slay the Guardian, Gul'dan hastily ransacked Medivh's mind for the Tomb's location. He was still deep within the Guardian's thoughts when Lothar and Khadgar killed him, ending Medivh's treachery and forcing Gul'dan into a coma.

Without the counsel of Gul'dan, Blackhand was easily slain by Orgrim Doomhammer, who, with information acquired from an interrogated and tortured Garona, proceeded to slaughter Gul'dan's warlocks and the majority of the Shadow Council.

The Second War


Gul'dan awoke from the coma with only Cho'gall, the Twilight's Hammer and his necrolytes still loyal to him; Blackhand, the Shadow Council and the warlocks were dead, and Garona and the other clans had betrayed him. Garona's betrayal of course had been forced. Doomhammer was willing to spare Gul'dan's life, despite his gut feeling he would one day regret this, and even let him run Balor and the ruins of Stormwind Castle, in exchange for information in regards to Blackhand's followers. This was simple enough; Rend and Maim hadn't professed continued loyalty to Gul'dan, so the warlock had no qualms about betraying them. Gul'dan informed Doomhammer that the raiders were preparing to join the sons of Blackhand and stage a coup against him, as Blackhand had once been a raider himself. Whether this information was true or not (not even Gul'dan was certain), it was possible, and Doomhammer disbanded the raiders and placed them among the many grunt regiments.

As a token of his "loyalty" to the new warchief, Gul'dan promised to create an army of undead riders loyal to him and him alone. Gul'dan and his necrolytes, led by Rakmar Sharpfang, tried to raise the dead Stormwind knights into the death knights but failed continuously. Gul'dan became frustrated and in the end found another way. With the help of Cho'gall, Gul'dan joined his necrolytes in a powerful ritual and at the height of the incantation slaughtered each and every last one, so that they could nourish his newest creations. He stored their souls in glowing green gems, which stored their powers along with the recently summoned spirits of the slain Shadow Council Warlocks. Finally the jewels were embeded into truncheons, and placed in the hands of the corpses of the Knights of Stormwind and their steeds - to create the dreaded death knights. Of course, at the end of the day, they were still loyal to him, and Doomhammer had no idea that they might not be his warriors. Doomhammer then let Gul'dan to his own devices as he was quite busy with war.

Betrayal and death
Ultimately, Gul'dan's thirst for power proved to be the Horde's undoing. On the eve of Doomhammer's attack on Lordaeron's capital, Gul'dan took the Stormreaver and Twilight's Hammer clans and set out to sea to locate the Tomb of Sargeras. With nearly half of his standing forces suddenly gone, Doomhammer was forced to retreat and hunt down the traitorous warlock. This reprieve would ultimately give the Alliance time to regroup...and retaliate.

Gul'dan did indeed locate the Tomb, and used his power to raise it from the ocean floor. Taking with him his most select followers, Gul'dan cast open the doors and entered. He did not however find the godhood he was hoping for. Instead, he was torn to shreds by a swarm of insane demons that they had unleashed when the tomb was opened. The remainder of his clans were slaughtered by Doomhammer's retaliation. In those last moments, Gul'dan realized he had just been a pawn, that Sargeras had fooled him into doing his dirty work.

Gul'dan's memories survived within the warlock magic of his skull and the runes he painted on the walls of the Tomb. Illidan found the Tomb using Gul'dan's memories from the Skull, and Maiev Shadowsong found the runes. When the tomb caved in, Gul'dan's final testament was buried.

In World of Warcraft
A vision of Gul'dan can be seen at the Altar of Damnation of Shadowmoon Valley in what is now Outland — the remnants of Draenor. The altar lies in front of a massive volcano known as the Hand of Gul'dan. The repeating vision appears to depict an event prior to the opening of the Dark Portal, where according to the Earthen Ring, the volcano was raised from the valley floor by Gul'dan himself when he severed the orcish people's connection to the elemental spirits of Draenor.

The Skull of Gul'dan
After Gul'dan died, his skull was turned into a channeling totem for demonic energy. A small shard of Gul'dan's soul remained within the bleached bone of the skull, where he whispered to whoever held it; the warlock proved to still be dangerous, even in death.

The skull was used by Ner'zhul to open portals to other worlds on Draenor, and later by Khadgar to destroy the Dark Portal. After the destruction of the Dark Portal, Khadgar left the skull behind on Draenor in his haste to escape through one of Ner'zhul's rifts. Years later it would appear again on Azeroth, this time used by the Burning Legion to corrupt the forests of Felwood. After learning of its existence from Arthas the death knight, Illidan Stormrage found and took the skull, absorbing its power, remaining only half night elf and becoming half demon. The skull remained in Illidan's possession until he was slain.

Personality
Gul’dan possesses an unquenchable thirst for power and a ruthless personality. Equally willing to manipulate friend and foe alike, he constantly tries to better his station in life through any means possible. Even though Gul’dan constantly tends to be embroiled in many different plots and schemes, his overarching goal is always to discover the location of the Tomb of Sargeras and to claim the dark titan’s powers for himself. Nothing else matters in comparison to this quest, and Gul’dan is willing to betray his own people and sacrifice his closest friends to achieve it.

Gul’dan can only be trusted to do what is in his own best interests. He often freely offers wealth to people in exchange for clues or information that might be useful, and then has them killed and reclaims his payment. Gul’dan only truly trusts people who are like himself — those who are openly ambitious and who will do anything to improve their lot in life. He feels that those people can be most easily predicted and manipulated through offers of wealth or prestige. It is the people who serve higher moral or religious powers that he fears. They are often resistant to his lures, and in Gul’dan’s eyes can never be completely trusted or relied upon. Because of this, he tends to associate most easily with mages, sorcerers, rogues and scouts and dislikes druids, priests and paladins. His allegiance is with the Horde, and he is openly hostile to members of the Alliance races unless they are key to something Gul’dan desires.

Combat
Gul’dan summons monsters to distract and harass his foes before entering melee with his demon staff against foes that have been isolated by his divide-and-conquer tactics.

Powers and abilities
Gul'dan is widely agreed to be one of the most powerful beings ever encountered. Brann believes that "Gul’dan became the most powerful mortal warlock in history". Medivh acknowledged that Gul'dan was the single most powerful warlock among his people. Both are likely correct; The Skull of Gul'dan remained an incredibly powerful focus of warlock magic for decades after the orc's death. He also was responsible for raising the gigantic fel volcano known as the Hand of Gul'dan after severing the orcs ties to the elemental spirits of Draenor.

Gul'dan was also able to the Sketh'lon arakkoa with a single spell that not only destroyed their camps, but twisted their spirits too.

Memorable quotes

 * "Bear witness to the undeniable power of our dark master!"
 * "Beautiful." (upon receiving the plans for the Dark Portal from Medivh)
 * "For I am Gul'dan… I am darkness incarnate. I will not be denied."
 * ''"Behold those who have power, and who are not afraid to wield it. Behold... the warlocks!"
 * "Myself? No. I have no desire to march through the streets with an axe or a hammer, meeting my foes in the flesh. My path is the far greater one. I shall meet them in spirit and crush them from afar, devouring them by the hundreds and the thousands. Soon, all that was promised me shall be mine, and then Doomhammer will be as nothing against me. Even the might of the Horde will pale before me, and I shall stretch out my hand and wipe  this world clean, to remake it in my own image!" (when asked by Cho'gall about becoming a warchief)

The Altar of Damnation

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