Kil'jaeden

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Kil'jaeden, the Deceiver

Gender	Male
Race	Eredar
Character class	Demon Lord
Affiliation	Burning Legion
Occupation	"Recruiter" of the Burning Legion's minions/Acting Supreme Commander

Kil'jaeden is a Supreme Demon Lord originating from the world of Argus and then the Twisting Nether in the fantasy Warcraft Universe.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Before the Burning Legion
2 Servant of Sargeras
3 Enslaving the Orcs
4 The Great Wars
5 Rise of the Lich King
6 Misc.
7 External links

[edit] Before the Burning Legion

Kil'jaeden, along with fellow leaders Archimonde and Velen, ruled the mortal Eredar on the planet Argus. Since the Eredar were naturally gifted with incredible magical talent, Sargeras wanted them to join the Burning Legion, his massive army of demons, in exchange for eternal life and great power. Kil'jaeden and Archimonde accepted the offer on behalf of their people, but Velen refused and escaped Argus with his followers.

[edit] Servant of Sargeras

Kil'jaeden was chosen by Sargeras as his one of his ultimate and most trusted servants, and became known as Kil'jaeden the Deceiver. He was one of two champions chosen to lead the Burning Legion. Kil'jaeden was specifically charged with the task of finding the darkest races in the Twisting Nether and converting them to his master's cause. He began by enslaving the race of vampiric Dreadlords to do his bidding and placed Tichondrius the Darkener in command of his Nathrezim brethren.

A fiend filled with both guile and bloodlust, Kil'jaeden lives only to carry out his master's plans to unmake all order in the Twisting Nether, and has proven himself worthy of his title at every opportunity.

To supplement the forces of his military counterpart, Archimonde the Defiler, Kil'jaeden and his demons enslaved numerous races and destroyed countless worlds. However, one world in which they found a potential problem was the world of Azeroth. The dominant race in Azeroth, the Night Elves, had been given a gift of the Well of Eternity, a nexus of magical energies which they had begun to control. A group of Night Elves calling themselves the Highborne were so enthralled in the study of the magical well that they had actually begun to worship and make contact with the Legion. Seeing this as a fine opportunity to sunder another world, Kil'jaeden and his armies invaded Azeroth with help from the Highborne, but were fought back by the Night Elves. The ensuing battle ultimately destroyed the Well, the Legion's only means of entering Azeroth on a large scale again. Refusing to let the Night Elves get away with their audacity, Kil'jaeden sat and brooded on any possible way of returning to Azeroth to teach the creatures a lesson. It was not until ten thousands years later when the Humans began to practice magic carelessly that a few weaker demons were granted passage into the world again, but it was nowhere near enough for any sort of invasion.

[edit] Enslaving the Orcs

Kil'jaeden's answer came when he happened upon the peaceful world of Draenor. There he found the Orcs, a peaceful race with a rich history of shamanism. Although the Orcs were primarily peaceful, when they were roused to war, Kil'jaeden witnessed their savage battle skills and realized that, with the right prodding, they could become one of the most vicious and heartless races he had yet encountered. He also discovered another surprise on Draenor: Velen and his followers - now calling themselves the Draenei - had settled on the planet after their exodus from Argus. Kil'jaeden viewed them as traitors, and realized that if he could turn the Orcs to the Burning Legion's control, they would eliminate the Draenei for him.

At first Kil'jaeden tried to strike a deal with the high shaman Ner'zhul, supreme leader of the various Orc tribes. Deceiving Ner'zhul into forming a pact that would provide the Orcs with unimaginable power in exchange for their loyalty to the Legion, Kil'jaeden began to corrupt the Orcs with demonic magic. But Ner'zhul, having a change of heart at the last minute, canceled his deal and tried to leave Kil'jaeden for good, but it was too late. Ner'zhul's disciple, Gul'dan, a power-hungry shaman, finished what his master started and reforged the pact with Kil'jaeden, ultimately damning the Orcs to generations of demonic corruption and turning them into an unstoppable and bloodthirsty Horde. Gul'dan, under Kil'jaeden's instructions, founded the Shadow Council and began to destroy the remnants of the Orcs' proud shamanic roots to embrace the corrupting power of demonic magic. Soon the entire Orc race was corrupted and enslaved save for one tribe, the Frostwolf Clan led by Durotan, father of Thrall. The Orcs, like Kil'jaeden predicted, then attacked the Draenei and ended up killing 80% of them.

[edit] The Great Wars

Deciding to test his new war machines on the arrogant citizens of Azeroth, Kil'jaeden released the bloodthirsty Orcs upon the Humans. After two lengthy and costly wars, the Orcish Invasion failed and Gul'dan was killed, leaving Kil'jaeden in a tough spot. Not wanting to lose control of his savage pets, Kil'jaeden found Ner'zhul, once again leader of the Orcs, trying to escape from the demon's wrath by opening dimensional gateways to new worlds. Kil'jaeden found him and tortured him into making a new pact, ultimately damning the shaman for his initial lust for power. Ner'zhul was transformed into the undead Lich King, as Kil'jaeden planned to use him to initiate the Legion's true Second Invasion. Trapping Ner'zhul in a frozen block of ice, Kil'jaeden left him orders to create an army of the living dead, whose ultimate goal was to decimate as much of the Human and Orcish civilizations as possible and to open new gateways through which the Burning Legion could pass. This new army of death and destruction would be known as the Scourge.

[edit] Rise of the Lich King

Ner'zhul ultimately succeeded in bringing the full force of the Legion to Azeroth, but it was for naught. Not only did the Second Invasion end in utter failure which resulted in the death of Kil'jaeden's counterpart Archimonde, he also lost his grasp on Ner'zhul as the Lich King increased in powers dramatically. Losing control of the Scourge to his puppet does not bode well with Kil'jaeden, and he vowed that his life's work would be revenge for his repeated humiliation. Seeking to eliminate Ner'zhul first for his arrogance, Kil'jaeden enlisted the aid of the transformed Demon Hunter Illidan Stormrage, a Night Elf so addicted to magic that he transformed himself into a demi-demon to obtain it. Kil'jaeden initially ordered Illidan, now in control of a group of former Night Elves called the Naga, to use the Eye of Sargeras, an artifact of unimaginable power and the only remnant of Kil'jaeden's former master, to utterly destroy the Lich King's throne, but Illidan's plans were inadvertently thwarted by the Night Elf Warden, Maiev Shadowsong and his brother Malfurion Stormrage, and Illidan fled for fear of Kil'jaeden's wrath. Enlisting the help of the Blood Elves in addition to the Naga, Illidan fled to what remained of the planet Draenor, a floating mass of magically enhanced rock known as the Outland. But Illidan could not hide from his master; Kil'jaeden found him easily, however he was impressed by the potential power of Illidan's new "recruits", therefore granted Illidan one more chance to destroy the Frozen Throne. Illidan though failed to do so, being struck down by Arthas who tried to save the Lich King. Most thought him to be dead, but recent discussions with writers have proved that he was not killed, only "defeated."

Kil'jaeden's response to this failure and further details are unknown. More will eventually be revealed in the MMORPG World of Warcraft, but not until later expansions, as Kil'jaeden is among the highest-ranking and most powerful antagonists in the Warcraft universe. He was also recently established to have an important place in the Draenei backstory, as the nemesis of their founder, Velen.

[edit] Misc.

Kil'jaeden's exact abilities and overall powers are a subject of debate, as little information is available. Because of this, there is a current controversy over whether Kil'jaeden or his dead counterpart, Archimonde is more powerful. While the answer has never been explicitly stated in the games, facts seem to gear towards Kil'jaeden being the stronger of the two (him having a higher rank in the legion and higher stats in Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game).
Kil'jaeden originally appeared as a Daemon, a demonic creature featured in pre-WarCraft III games and books (see above image). When the Daemon design was discarded for the Burning Legion hierarchy, it was established that Kil'jaeden was an Eredar. The explanation was that unlike Archimonde, Kil'jaeden can completly change his form, appearing as a Daemon to the horde for their loyalty and worship and as a giant to scare Illidan, following his treachery. Kil'jaeden was not encountered by any Azerothians during the War of the Ancients. Kil'jaeden's true form is probably similar to the one he wore around Illidan, though much shorter.