Garrosh Hellscream

"You will serve the Horde... or be crushed beneath it!"

- Garrosh Hellscream

Garrosh Hellscream was one of the most controversial "heroes" of the Horde in the MMORPG World Of Warcraft. Although he has yet to openly turn against his own people he has committed a number of acts in his lengthy career that have arguably pushed him very near the category of a tyrant. He is the supporting character in Burning Crusade, Wraith Of The Lich King, and Cataclysm. He then becomes the main antagonist in Mists Of Pandaria and the tertiary antagonist in Warlords Of Draenor.

Garrosh was the acting Warchief of the entire Horde following the events of Cataclysm and his rule has already been tainted with great conflict and death. Garrosh is a very different ruler from Thrall - while Thrall has always been compassionate and well-liked by his allies Garrosh has always been a brutal orc who values the old orc value of "death before dishonor".

Garrosh is quick to assert his power in ways that have seen him accused of being a warmonger by many of the Horde, foremost amongst them the troll leader Vol'jin - who blasted Garrosh with a hateful speech on how Garrosh had only earned his place as new warchief due to his status as the son of the legendary Grom Hellscream and that Garrosh was a danger to the new Horde.

Garrosh responded by banishing Vol'jin and the trolls from Orgrimmar (although he did not go as far as removing them entirely from the Horde: Garrosh may be a harsh leader but he is not by any means a mindless brute).

Garrosh was also challenged by the Tauren Chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof to a duel after the tauren chief began to believe Garrosh had deliberately prevented a peaceful means to obtain resources from Ashenvale - during this duel Garrosh had his axe "blessed" by Magatha Grimtotem, however she had poisoned the axe and thus Garrosh killed Cairne (this, arguably was not entirely Garrosh's fault however as he was not aware of this).

Garrosh's hatred of the Alliance however is extremely evident and he shows almost xenophobic hatred for the Alliance and their allies as well as those he judges as weak or disloyal: under Garrosh's new rule the Horde has become much more warlike and the motto of "death before dishonor" is now quickly becoming a way of life as Garrosh and his loyalists are prone to "dismissing" those that displease them via instant execution.

The only race Garrosh loves is his own race, the orcs. When he rose to power however he began limiting the rights of the other races, forcing them to live in segregated neighborhoods in Orgrimmar and stealing their valuables. Garrosh's goals seems to point to eradicating the Alliance and all other enemies of the Horde, so that he can become the undisputed and unquestioned ruler of Azeroth.

Even though in his long career he has done many heroic deeds and Thrall at least seems to believe that there is still good left in Garrosh, in the novel Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War, his hatred for the Alliance leads him to completely destroy Theramore, killing almost everyone in the city. Jainna survives but is traumatized and mentally warped by the residual mana. Garrosh then announces a genocidal campaign against the Alliance and orders every man woman and child to help in the war against the Alliance, and those that shirked their duties would face the Kor'kron guards. By the end of Mists of Pandaria, Garrosh revived the Heart of Y'Shaarj and was the last boss in the expansion, forcing both the Alliance and the Horde to attack Orgrimmar to remove him as Warchief.

Mists of Pandaria
Garrosh has also established himself as an antagonist at the end of Cataclysm but is noticeably more monstrous in Mists of Pandaria, as is noted by his treatment of the Pandarens who ally with the Horde - ordering them to address him as "Warchief" and cruelly telling them any Pandaren who join with the Alliance are now enemies (regardless of if they were former friends or family) as well as reminding them of his power. It should noted that King Varian Wrynn of the Alliance tells the same thing about the Horde-Pandarens to the ones who joined the Alliance, however unlike Hellscream, Varian did see the tragedy in this and did sympathize with them, while Garrosh just threatened their lives.

The Pandaren are disturbed by Garrosh's vicious nature and his segregation of Orgrimmar, he then forces them to do battle in an Arena against powerful foes as a "gift" before allowing them to go free - this is amongst the most brutal of "welcomes" any Horde leader has given to a new ally and shows that Garrosh has begun to deeply stray from the path of heroism, even by orc standards.

It is also revealed forces loyal to Garrosh are invading Pandaria and go as far as kidnapping children as a way of forcing the neutral Pandaren to "ally" with his cause - keeping the cubs captive with the aid of evil warlocks.

Garrosh is also rapidly devolving into a barbaric stereotype of what orcs used to be in Warcraft, arguably more so than before - this puts him at odds with the new Horde as well as the Alliance, since the former Warchief (Thrall) was a more honorable being and by extension most modern-day orcs are honor-bond warriors, thus atrocities such as those committed by Garrosh are frowned upon and a cause of concern.

Landfall
During Patch 5.2, Landfall, Garrosh himself arrives on the island and he and Vol'jin have an argument. Garrosh forces Vol'jin on a mission but in actuality, it becomes a trap to have the troll leader murdered but Vol'jin is rescued by Horde adventurers. Vol'jin decides to let Garrosh think he is dead and asks the adventurers to stay by Garrosh's side until he is vulnerable. After Vol'jin's "death," Garrosh has the Darkspear Isles under martial law. Thrall and several other Horde adventurers liberate the isle and Thrall takes temporary leadership.

During this time, Garrosh becomes fascinated by the Mogu's ability to create stone armies and learns of the Divine Bell, a Mogu artifact that could control Sha energies. Garrosh is able to obtain the Bell and transforms several orcs into Sha in an attempt to erase weakness from his army to make a stronger Horde. Anduin is able to use the Harmonic Mallet to turn the Bell's chime into harmony. In anger, Garrosh destroys the Bell, the rubble crushing Anduin. Though Garrosh believes Anduin to be dead, Anduin survives the encounter. Garrosh then allows an Alliance adventurer to tell Varian of his son's fate. Despite the Bell's destruction, Garrosh still hopes to master sha energy.

Escalation
By Patch 5.3, after the final destruction of Lei Shen, the Darkspear Trolls go into open rebellion against Garrosh allowing players to assist them via a questline. By this time, Garrosh has been losing a ton of followers leaving him only the Kor'kron guards as his allies. Because of the open rebellion, Garrosh now wishes for complete genocide against the Darkspear as well as the Alliance. However, this proves difficult as now the Alliance has formed a truce with the Darkspear to bring Garrosh down. During an excavation in the Vale of Eteranal Blossoms however, a team of goblins unearth the Heart of Y'Shaarj, which is taken under Kor'kron protection.

Awakening the Heart of Y'Shaarj
"Anyone who would rise against my new Horde will be impaled upon the spires of Orgimmar!"

- Garrosh Hellscream

Garrosh uses the sacred waters of the Vale and revives the Heart of Y'Shaarj (Luckily the whole Old God was not revived). Taran Zhu tries to stop Garrosh telling Garrosh that while he has fought alongside the Tauren, Trolls and others, Garrosh is nothing like them. Taran Zhu is beaten back while being told the non-orcs are no longer part of Garrosh's Horde. Taran Zhu is impaled on Garrosh's axe but is kept alive to see the Heart of Y'Shaarj corrupt the Vale of Eteranl Blossoms. Taran Zhu warns Garrosh that the world would hear of what Garrosh has done, but this pleases Garrosh as he believes anyone who goes against him will die, and be impaled on the pikes of Orgrimmar. Garrosh then mocks the Pandaren for burying their negative emotions. Taran Zhu, though weak, says that the time will come when Garrosh answers for his crimes. Garrosh says he answers to no one and tosses the Heart into the pools, corrupting the Vale with Sha energy.

The Siege of Orgrimmar
Because of the Vale's corruption, The final Sha Prime, the Sha of Pride is unleashed. Adventurers first stay in the Vale to take down the Sha of Pride. After defeating the Sha of Pride, the Adventurers head to Orgimmar to take down the evil Garrosh once and for all. After fighting all of Garrosh's allies, adventures fight Garrosh and defeat him. Thrall prepares to execute Garrosh, but Varian tells Thrall that Garrosh's fate is not his to decide. Taran Zhu takes Garrosh to Pandaria to stand trial for all his crimes, much to garrosh's dismay. Thrall, after telling Vol'jin that since Vol'jin kept the Horde unified, makes Vol'jin the new Warchief, which was supported by all the Horde leaders.

Warlords of Draenor
Before he can stand trial for his crimes, Garrosh escapes his imprisonment with the help of the bronze dragon Kairoz. Determined to exact vengeance on all the races of Azeroth, Garrosh travels back in time to before his father drank the blood of Mannoroth, which caused the orcs to fall under the control of the Burning Legion. He alters the timeline by presenting them with modern technology, which results in all the Orcish clans uniting under his father Grom, forming the Iron Horde. Garrosh then plans to create a gateway linking Azeroth with the new timeline, allowing the Iron Horde to invade and for him to exact his vengeance.

Death
Finally fed up with Garrosh's war mongering, Thrall faces him in a final mak'gora which ended with Garrosh being bound by the elements while Thrall shot down a lightning bolt, finally killing Garrosh. This however did not stop the Iron Horde. His death was shown to also further alter the timeline, causing Grommash not to drink the blood of Mannoroth at all out of grief surrounding Garrosh's death. Instead Gul'dan gives Kilrogg the drink which he accepts, dispite Grommash's plea.