Recommended Game Story · Warcraft Part 35

Spoiler and the scope of this installment

This installment covers the Undead campaign of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, from the contact with the Blackrock Orcs in Alterac to the battle for Dalaran, the summoning of Archimonde, and the destruction of the city. This narrative commentary is reconstructed from the mission screens and dialogue in Reforged, the official original manual, and the Dalaran destruction cinematic. The atmosphere of the battles is an interpretation and not a direct transcription of official novel text or character dialogue. Since the Human and Orc campaigns show different perspectives of the same Third War, you do not need to read the departure in the previous installment and the Eastern Kingdoms war in this installment as a single linear progression.

Table of contents for this installment

1. The Returned Companion of Death / 2. The War Behind the War / 3. The Different Loyalty of Blackrock / 4. Commands from Beyond the Gate / 5. What the City of Knowledge Must Protect / 6. The Prince Faced by Antonidas / 7. The Living Magical Defense Line / 8. The Final Battle of the Violet Citadel / 9. Medivh's Book and the Twilight Ritual / 10. Discarded Tools, Waiting Lich / 11. Dalaran Crumbled on the Sand / 12. Hope Heading Across the Sea

1. The Returned Companion of Death

Behind the army leaving Quel'Thalas remained the corrupted Sunwell. The power the elves had guarded for long ages was used to bring back one dead mage. Arthas now had Kel'Thuzad by his side. The journey of carrying decaying remains was over, and the Lich, moved by cold bones and magic, knew the path of the new journey. It was the moment when the destruction of one kingdom led to another.

It was Arthas who had struck down Kel'Thuzad when he was alive. At that time, the prince was a paladin tracking the source of the plague, and Kel'Thuzad was the enemy leading the Cult of the Damned. Now, as a Death Knight, Arthas walks alongside the mage he killed. On the surface, the two have met again, but between them, Arthas's purpose and loyalty have both changed. Past victories could not prevent the current companionship.

In the Alterac Mountains scene of the game, Arthas asks about the time he killed Kel'Thuzad. The Lich explains that the Lich King knew the outcome of that encounter. The event that Arthas believed he had sought out and ended by his own will takes on a different meaning within the plans of his new master. In this conversation, the prince hears of the structure of a war he did not know about. The path he thought he had chosen and the plan that awaited him now begin to overlap.

The snowy mountain path connects the tragedies of Lordaeron and the Sunwell. Ahead, one could see Arthas's blade, the plague, and the march of the dead. Kel'Thuzad says there is a greater purpose behind it. The surviving cities do not yet know the full extent of the disaster befalling them. Even the army that had already divided two kingdoms was, to someone, an army that had only just finished its first preparations.

2. The War Behind the War

Arthas asks why the Dreadlords control Ner'zhul even though he is a powerful being. What Kel'Thuzad explains is the Burning Legion. An army of demons that had swallowed countless worlds outside of Azeroth was once again heading toward this world. To the eyes of the people of Lordaeron, the plague was a war that was collapsing their homeland, but from the Legion's perspective, that destruction was the work of creating a path for their arrival.

The role of the Lich King and the Scourge described by the game at this time was the preparation for invasion. It was to weaken the forces capable of resistance first and reduce the strength that would oppose the Legion when it arrived. The armies of Lordaeron had fallen, and the defenses of the High Elves and the Sunwell were destroyed. The tragedies that occurred in each place ended different lives, but within the design of the invasion, they became one connected achievement.

The Dreadlords were beings who watched to ensure that the preparations were completed to the end. While Arthas fought following their demands and Kel'Thuzad prepared the necessary magic, there was another power above Ner'zhul. One must know this relationship to see the weight of the change when the bond between the Legion and the Scourge later falters. Just because they destroyed the living together did not mean all masters wanted the same future.

Now the next stage of the plan begins. After the army that removes opposition arrives, a demon lord who will lead the invasion directly must be summoned. The resurrection of Kel'Thuzad is also connected to the process of bringing back a being capable of that task. The Lich, who survived by stealing the power of the Elven kingdom, finds the necessary knowledge again in the city of human magic. The most precious things of different civilizations became the ingredients for the same invasion.

3. The Different Loyalty of Blackrock

The first thing they seek is the encampment of the Blackrock Orcs. There was a functioning demon gate there, and Kel'Thuzad intended to use it to contact a demon lord. The path of the new Horde that left for the sea following Thrall is distinct from the loyalty guarded by this encampment. Even under the same name of Orc, those who serve the demons of the past and those seeking a different future exist together.

The Orcs in this mission accept the army of the dead as a test and reveal their belief that they are true servants of the Legion. However, Kel'Thuzad says that the former role the Orcs held is over. He sees that the Legion's favor has also left them. Forces that were once bound together as enemies of humanity fight over the same gate. The time spent being loyal to the demons did not guarantee the right to survive in the design of the new invasion.

The defense of Blackrock features Orc warriors, shamans, warlocks, and the encampment's armaments and red dragons. Approaching them are the Scourge's ground forces and flying death power. The campaign introduces the Frost Wyrm here. The form of a dragon moving again through bones and cold power shows that the Scourge is not an army that fights only with human corpses. Even the great creatures of the living world could become munitions of death.

The optional objectives of Reforged include several Orc heroes. We do not take all movement paths or kill orders of these objectives as a fixed historical timetable of the world. The core of the story is the process by which the encampment guarding the gate is defeated and Kel'Thuzad becomes able to make contact with the demons. When the tools of war were replaced, the answer that returned to the old servants was not a reward, but an attack from other servants.

4. Commands from Beyond the Gate

Standing before the gate, Kel'Thuzad faces Archimonde. The contact opened here and the summoning to be performed later in Dalaran are different stages. The gate of the encampment allows the Lich to receive orders, but more powerful magic was needed to actually bring the demon lord into this world. Just because one gate was seized did not mean all preparations were finished.

What Archimonde demanded was the spellbook of the Last Guardian, Medivh. He explains that the spells remaining within it could summon him to Azeroth. The place where the book was kept was Dalaran. Thus, the next destination of the invasion is set. The city that had studied and guarded human magic for so long is attacked because of that knowledge. The library behind the high walls becomes the most important location on the war map.

The name Medivh has already left a heavy history in the previous installments. There were the Guardian of Karazhan, the Dark Portal, and the wars that followed. The book that remains now also transcends the meaning of a single person's relic. Depending on whose hands the knowledge falls into and for what purpose it is used, it could change the fate of the world even after that person's death. The text kept in Dalaran was a passage that was not yet closed to the demons.

Kel'Thuzad was a Lich equipped with the ability to open that passage. Arthas had an army to clear the path until he obtained the book. As their roles became clear, the two's march headed south again. Where they had passed, kings died, defense forces collapsed, and sources of power were corrupted. The people of the next city now face those results before their own gates.

5. What the City of Knowledge Must Protect

Dalaran was a city where a long history of human magic had accumulated. The magical traditions gained through the cooperation of humans and elves, and the research and experience gathered by various kingdoms amidst wars, were continued there. While the mages of the Kirin Tor added power to the armies, they managed the knowledge that had to be preserved and the dangers that should not be handled. Medivh's book was within that very accumulation and boundary.

The Archmage who led the city, Antonidas, was an elderly human. The original official manual introduces him as the head of the Kirin Tor and a powerful mage, explaining that it became difficult for him to travel far from the city due to his health. His young apprentice, Jaina Proudmoore, became his eyes and ears in the outside world. The master saw the potential for his apprentice to become a great archmage in the future. What Dalaran guarded included not only the books of the past but also the next generation.

Kel'Thuzad was also once an outstanding mage of this city. In the same official introduction, it is recorded that he was a member of the Kirin Tor and a close friend of Antonidas. His longing for necromancy separated him from his old colleagues and led him to the Lich King in the north. To the Lich returning to Dalaran, the people within the walls were not strangers whose names he did not know. The knowledge and relationships of the past had returned as power serving a different master.

This connection makes the city's defense even more tragic. Outside the gates is a prince who once tried to stop the plague, and beside him is someone who once studied magic together. The enemy threatening the city was not just demons from outside Azeroth. The changes in people they already knew had arrived before the walls. Antonidas and his colleagues were past the point where they could reverse that change with words.

6. The Prince Faced by Antonidas

Arthas approaches the gates of Dalaran, reveals himself as a Death Knight of the Lich King, and demands surrender. Now, the Prince of Lordaeron speaks more with the power of his new master than the name of his own kingdom. Antonidas recognizes him and mentions Terenas. The relationships of king and son, alliance and magic, gather in a single encounter. The name of the already murdered father reminds the prince of the old order that has vanished from him.

The Archmage shows that the city had not been waiting without preparation. The magical defenses he and his colleagues had set up could destroy passing undead. The power laid out on the violet streets, the people guarding the gates, and those maintaining the magic become a single defensive line. Dalaran tries to protect its own life with its own knowledge before the invaders.

Arthas's army advances nonetheless. The knight with a pale face under long white hair, armor adorned with skulls, and Frostmourne was the person who had previously chased the plague with Jaina. The same individual now attacks the city guarded by Jaina's master. The cruelty of the Third War is revealed not only in the number of enemies but in such reversals of relationships. The path to destroying the world he had once tried to save became his march.

This defense battle illustration is a newly created scene referencing the elderly appearance of Antonidas actually seen on the Reforged screen, his blue and white robes, gray horse, water elemental, and violet defensive magic. The city of magic is still on the ground. By distinguishing the appearance of Dalaran that flies in the sky later from the walls of this period, the reader can feel more clearly the distance of the destruction and reconstruction this city will experience in the future.

7. The Living Magical Defense Line

The defense of Dalaran was not made of stone and wood alone. The magic covering the city's districts continuously dealt damage to the undead. Unlike the living army, the Scourge used bodies of death as their power, but here, that very state becomes a weakness. As they enter the walls, the troops are exposed to the pressure of magic. The advancing army had to deal with defeating the enemy and the time their own bodies were crumbling simultaneously.

Kel'Thuzad senses the mages who maintain that power. The battle in Reforged proceeds in a structure of opening a path into the city by eliminating the archmages who support the three defensive spells. When one dies, the defense of the zone he guarded is lifted, and more undead enter the next path. Even if the magic itself cannot be broken at once, killing the person who sustains the magic cuts off the city's protection.

On the path they cross are soldiers, priests, elven mages, and dwarven forces. The city of the Kirin Tor was a place guarded by various people and technologies together. The attacking force gaining one district does not stop the remaining resistance. The barriers maintained by mages and the soldiers in the alleys buy time for each other. When those connections are broken one by one, the city loses the space to block the attackers.

The names of some archmages on the game screen come from a list of names placed in the mission, not from a fixed biography of heroes. In this story, we do not expand all those names into separate canonical characters. Also, optional objectives and item retrieval vary depending on the path of play. The center of the event is the flow where the people supporting the defensive magic die and the enemy reaches the citadel guarded by Antonidas.

8. The Final Battle of the Violet Citadel

The enemy that crossed the magical defense line heads for the Violet Citadel. Antonidas leads the resistance there until the end. The final battle in Reforged shows its power with golems, water elementals, and the magic of an archmage who shifts space. Even after giving the enemy a path, he uses all his knowledge and skills to try to protect the city and the book. Long-term research has now become the most desperate defense.

Arthas breaks through the defense and kills the archmage. The life of the master whom Jaina had hoped to succeed one day, and a person who had been part of the history of the alliance with the voice of the Kirin Tor, ends here. His death exceeds the calculation of the attacking force that they had eliminated one powerful enemy. The command and memory the city relied on, and the experience he intended to pass on to the next generation, disappeared at the same time.

Kel'Thuzad finally obtains Medivh's book. The protection of the city he belonged to when he was alive collapses, and after his old colleague dies, the desired knowledge falls into his hands. The archives and research of the past were moved from the hands that protected the city to the hands that open the invasion. It is the point where Dalaran's defeat becomes the preparation for the next disaster.

However, the battle of the remaining mages does not stop here. The final scene of the mission shows the attacking force taking the book, and the living gathering again to attack. Even after losing their commander, the remaining warriors and mages gathered to fight again. They still had things they could do before the demons actually crossed over. It was to block the ritual at the last moment.

9. Medivh's Book and the Twilight Ritual

On a hill overlooking Dalaran, a magic circle for the summoning is prepared. Kel'Thuzad reads Medivh's book and says the knowledge about demons within it is immense. The prophet who warned to cross the sea in the previous installment and the name of Medivh remaining on the book that will open the demon's path overlap. The knowledge left by one person's past and the disaster he tries to reverse were moving in different places.

Tichondrius watches the start of the ritual. Arthas must protect the Lich. The campaign expresses that tension as a defense mission where one must keep Kel'Thuzad alive for a certain amount of time. We do not take the timer on the screen and the player's specific construction order as an exact minute-by-minute record of all canonical events. The meaning of the story lies in the fact that the summoning required time, and the living mages tried to cut that time short.

The remaining forces of the Kirin Tor attack the hill. Even if kingdoms and cities fall, human resistance does not disappear entirely at once. If they could strike down the Lich, they could prevent Archimonde's arrival. The Scourge defends to block that possibility, and the Legion sends demonic support while the ritual is in progress. Beings from outside the world enter more directly into the war that started with the plague.

As Kel'Thuzad continues the summoning, the barrier between worlds weakens. The march of the dead, the final attack of the humans, and the magic continuing on the hill gather into a single gate. The grain of the plague scattered in Lordaeron was connected to this moment. The world that did not understand that first disaster could now not stop the demon lord leading the invasion from crossing over directly.

10. Discarded Tools, Waiting Lich

Archimonde appears on Azeroth. It is the return of the lord who attacked this world in the ancient war. Before the Lich and the Death Knight who followed the preparations from beginning to end, stands the power they opened the way for. The demon confirms the success and immediately sets the next command. A declaration is made that the role of preparation held by the Lich King is now over.

He hands over command of the Scourge to the Dreadlords. Even though Arthas had brought down kingdoms with the power of his own army, in the Legion's design, he was a tool that made their arrival possible. The highest seat of the new invasion does not return to him. It is revealed that what he gained after countless deaths was a role for as long as he was needed by his new master.

Arthas asks what will happen to him and Kel'Thuzad. The Lich replies to wait, explaining that the Lich King had foreseen this situation as well and that there might still be a role for him. This scene is a connection where the tension between Ner'zhul and the Legion grows larger. Even at the moment the Legion considers their role finished, the Lich conveys that not all paths are closed just by the new master's design. The Death Knight listens to those words and waits for his next role.

Archimonde intends to make an example of Dalaran first. He will not allow the survival of the city to the mages who hindered his arrival. The invasion does not end with the battle that stole the book and killed the commander. The return of the demons leads to a scene showing the people of the world remaining behind the scale of destruction they have not yet experienced.

11. Dalaran Crumbled on the Sand

On the ground outside the city, Archimonde draws traces of magic. In the cinematic scene, the lines become a place to create a small model. Sand rises to form the appearance of towers and buildings, and the shape of Dalaran is placed before the demon's hand. In the distance, the real city stands under the same sky. One is the life of a magical civilization accumulated over a long time, and the other is the shape of a spell aimed at it.

His hand clutches the sand effigy. It is not just the small figure in his hand that is being destroyed. The real tower standing far away experiences the same destruction. The sand falling between his fingers and the collapsing city are connected. After the war where the army crossed the gates and eliminated the defenses one zone at a time, one demon reveals the power to collapse the entire city.

In this scene, one can see what the summoning allowed. Dalaran could have stopped the ritual until Medivh's book was stolen, and even after losing the book, they could have attacked the Lich. After those two opportunities passed, a completely different power had entered the world directly. The danger of the knowledge the mages tried to protect becomes reality as the towers before their eyes crumble.

Archimonde in the official cinematic appears as a giant being with gray-blue skin, protrusions on his long chin, green eyes, and bronze and gold armor. This new illustration was created by confirming the actual screen and expressing the sand model and the destruction of the distant city in a single composition. The posture and architectural details are a reconstruction. The atmosphere of an old city scattering like sand in a hand is the center of this scene.

12. Hope Heading Across the Sea

Dalaran was not the final destination of the invasion. The official history manual explains that the Legion headed for Kalimdor and the World Tree, Nordrassil. The land and power that survived for a long time after the ancient war become the target again. The tragedy of the Eastern Kingdoms was the process by which that massive invasion gained a foothold. Even after one city fell, the destruction the Legion desired continued further.

Meanwhile, the prophet Medivh was leading the living races on a different path. He warned the Horde and the Alliance of the danger and had them head toward Kalimdor. It is not that the long-fighting humans and orcs immediately trusted each other. There were their own wounds and hostilities, and he had to guide them across the sea to the battlefield in different ways. If they repeated the wars of the past in front of the new invasion, the strength to survive would diminish.

Jaina's choice shows that the next generation that Antonidas's city lost has not all disappeared. The young mage her master hoped for stands with the human survivors and connects to the future in the west. The new Horde led by Thrall also headed for that land. For a path to oppose the same demons to open, they had to overcome the fact that they were enemies known from the past. That change is tested in the war of Kalimdor that will follow.

In this installment, Dalaran fell. However, the history of this city does not close completely with the death of Antonidas. The memories of the remaining mages, apprentices, and survivors continue into the later era. Now is not the time to cover the wounds by advancing future reconstruction in an instant. One must look across the sea while remembering the crumbled towers, the fleeing people, and the place of the master who does not return.

The next main installment follows the path of Kalimdor. Thrall's Horde, Grom's Warsong clan, the Tauren and Night Elves, and the blood pact the Legion left on the Orcs are intertwined. The question shown by Dalaran's final resistance also moves there. How can the tools the demons held in the past make different choices? What kind of world must people who have killed each other protect together? One had to find that answer beyond the crumbled cities of the East.

Reading names and concepts together

Dalaran: The city of human magic led by the Kirin Tor. We distinguish the ground city at the time of this Third War from the future floating city.

Kirin Tor: The mage organization of Dalaran. It is the center for understanding the past relationship between Antonidas and Kel'Thuzad, the city's defense, and the remaining resistance.

Antonidas: The elderly head of the Kirin Tor, Jaina's master. He dies at the hands of Arthas while protecting Medivh's book and the city.

Kel'Thuzad: A former mage of Dalaran and leader of the Cult of the Damned. After being revived as a Lich at the Sunwell, he summons Archimonde.

Archimonde: A powerful demon lord of the Burning Legion. After the summoning, he hands over the command of the Scourge to the Dreadlords and destroys Dalaran.

Tichondrius: A Dreadlord who supervised the invasion preparations. He is connected to the summoning in Dalaran and the new command structure.

Book of Medivh: The spell knowledge of the Last Guardian kept in Dalaran. This time, it is used in the ritual to summon Archimonde to Azeroth.

Demon Gate: The passage to contact demons at the Blackrock Orc encampment. We distinguish its purpose and stage from the later Dalaran summoning ritual.

Frost Wyrm: A dragon moving again as undead. It appears as the Scourge's air power in this campaign.

Nordrassil: The World Tree of Hyjal in Kalimdor. It is the target of the Legion invasion that continues beyond Dalaran.

Previously released connection installments

Warcraft Part 21 — The Guardians of Tirisfal and the Long Shadow of Medivh: /en/community/tm-warcraft-saga-part021-20261008

Warcraft Part 31 — Thrall and the Departure of the New Horde: /en/community/tm-warcraft-saga-part031-20261008

Warcraft Part 32 — The Plague and Stratholme, the Path Jaina Took: /en/community/tm-warcraft-saga-part032-20261008

Warcraft Part 34 — The Fall of Quel'Thalas and the Resurrection of Kel'Thuzad: /en/community/tm-warcraft-saga-part034-20261008

Meeting this story in the game

This is an official Warcraft III: Reforged purchase and game guide. This article covers the development of the Reign of Chaos Undead campaign, and you can watch the battles and cinematics in the actual missions. The expansion pack campaigns of the next era will be covered in the installments for that era.

Warcraft III — current official product and campaign inclusion

Official materials and verification scope

Verification date: October 8, 2026 (UTC). This was written based on settings and events confirmed in the official public materials below. We only checked the scope of the public samples and setting introductions and do not indicate that we have read the entire books. The illustrations are AI reconstructions, not official images.

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos — Blackrock, Dalaran, Summoning and City Destruction

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos — official 2002 manual

World of Warcraft — Arthas and Lich King history from early official manuals

Tales from the Smithy: Reforging the Humans — official model reference

Tales from the Smithy: Reforging the Undead — Arthas and Kel’Thuzad design

Warcraft III — current official product and campaign inclusion