The orcish Horde came through the Dark Portal into the Swamp of Sorrows and destroyed the Kingdom of Stormwind.
What Happened
- Medivh, possessed by Sargeras, opens the Dark Portal in collaboration with the warlock Gul'dan.
- The orcs — already corrupted by Mannoroth's blood and dying of it on Draenor — invade a world they were promised.
- King Llane Wrynn is assassinated by Garona Halforcen under Gul'dan's compulsion.
- Stormwind Keep falls. Anduin Lothar leads the human refugees by sea north to Lordaeron.
Why It Still Matters
The orcs' arrival was never their own idea — they were a weapon, aimed by a demon-possessed human wizard. This is the single most important fact in Alliance–Horde relations and almost nobody on the Alliance side believes it. Stormwind City was rebuilt after this war, and that reconstruction creates the Defias Brotherhood.
