The Dark Portal and the First War

Guided by the possessed Medivh, Gul'dan's warlocks and the Guardian opened a rift between Draenor and Azeroth in the Black Morass, the swamp that later withered into the Blasted Lands. Orcs poured through what became known as the Dark Portal, and their scouts soon found the rich fields of the kingdom of Azeroth, today's Stormwind.

King Llane Wrynn and his champion Anduin Lothar fought back for years. Medivh's own apprentice Khadgar discovered his master's betrayal, and with Lothar and the half-orc Garona he confronted the Guardian in Karazhan and killed him. The victory came too late. The Horde's warbands burned their way across the kingdom, and within the Horde the cunning Orgrim Doomhammer struck down Blackhand and became warchief.

Garona, bound by Gul'dan's spells, assassinated King Llane, and Stormwind City fell and burned. Lothar gathered the survivors, among them Llane's young son Varian, and led them across the sea to Lordaeron. Far to the east, in the Riverglades, a region that exists only in Forever, the Horde razed the town of Sunnyglade and carried its survivors off as slaves.