Gul'dan

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Gul'dan

Gender	Male
Race	Orc
Character class	Orc Warlock
Affiliation	The Horde
Occupation	Chieftain of the Stormreaver Clan and apprentice of Kil'jaeden, former Head of the Shadow Council, former pupil of Ner'zhul the Shaman

Gul'dan, Warlock of the Inner Circle and Destroyer of Dreams (commonly called simply Gul'dan the Warlock or Gul'dan the Destroyer) is a fictional character in the Warcraft universe — a fictional universe in which a series of games and books are set.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Biography
2 Role in Warcraft II
3 Role in Warcraft III
4 Role in World of Warcraft

[edit] Biography

Gul'dan the Destroyer was only given a brief actual appearance in the Warcraft games (mainly at the Tomb of Sargeras), although he is infamous throughout the Warcraft universe, and his actions had spectacular consequences in perpetuity after his own death. He was first introduced in Warcraft II, however, his history of involvement extends back even before the First War in Warcraft I.

On the Orcish home world of Draenor, Gul'dan the Destroyer was apprentice of the Shaman Ner'zhul of the Shadowmoon Clan. As Ner'zhul's most promising student, however, he soon became more adept than his master, and eventually came to see him as being a foolish and feeble old man. Gul'dan was one of the best-educated orcs on Draenor, eventually becoming the protégé of the Demonlord Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, who completed his training in Warlock magic. Despite his immense intellect, as well as his seemingly boundless knowledge and his wisdom, he was a conniving sociopath obsessed with power, and is widely considered to have been one of the most evil beings in the Warcraft universe, only restrained in his evil by the shackles of his own mortality. He is considered the archetypal Warlock, sinister and brilliant, willing to use and abuse anything or anyone in a mad quest for ever greater power and knowledge.

Gul'dan bowing before Orc chief Orgrim Doomhammer.

Gul'dan was the first Orc to make contact with the people of Azeroth, meeting up and working closely with Medivh (who was under the influence of the evil Sargeras), a human Mage of equal infamy throughout his own home world of Azeroth. Medivh helped him to open the first Dark Portal into Azeroth, through which the Orcish invasions were conducted.

Medivh promised Gul'dan a way to pacify the Orc's corrupt bloodlust by providing them with an enemy to unite against, and in return, Medivh would be rid of a prime and long-standing adversary of his: human civilization (which hated and feared him). To sweeten the deal, Medivh offered Gul'dan the location of a legendary place of power, the Tomb of Sargeras. Gul'dan did not trust Medivh and intended to have him killed once his end of the bargain was fulfilled.

Gul'dan was the master Warlock of the Horde, secretly in control of the Horde via his puppet-leader, Blackhand the Destroyer. In order to create a monopoly on magical power amongst his people, he composed the secretive Shadow Council of the best and brightest warlocks and necromancers of the Horde alive at the time and tricking them with cunning lies and promises of how immense their powers would be when permanently bound together, he psychically enslaved them by creating a powerful artifact known as the Shadow Orb to which they lent their essences. Despite the brilliant power granted to him through them, he did not appreciate any of them and considered them all infantile and inferior to himself. If there was anyone that Gul'dan did not hold in contempt, it was his own apprentice Cho'gall, first of the Ogre-Magi.

Through the Shadow Council, Gul'dan gradually forced control of the Orcish Horde away from the Clan chieftains and into his own hands. With the invasion of Azeroth already underway and Azeroth's King Llane murdered by Garona the Half-Orc, his own personal assassin, Gul'dan decided that Medivh was no longer necessary to his plans, and magically invaded his mind in an attempt to steal the location of the legendary Tomb. While communicating with him through this telepathic link, Medivh was assassinated by the human forces of the Kingdom of Stormwind, led by Khadgar and Sir Anduin Lothar, who were, in fact, unaware that Medivh had had anything to do with the Orcs in the first place. The resulting psychic whiplash to Gul'dan left him in a coma for months.

When he awoke, Blackhand had been overthrown by his most trusted general, Orgrim Doomhammer. Wise and cunning like himself, and equally distrusting, Doomhammer - known also as the Backstabber for his assassination of Blackhand - had discovered that Blackhand had been the Shadow Council's front man while gutting his government to make way for his own tyrannical autocracy. In a demonstrative act of power and brutality, he had the Shadow Council butchered (literally) in their fortress, and outlawed Diabolic and Necromantic (Warlock) magics. Gul'dan, however, survived this slaughter and submitted himself to the Doomhammer's authority, promising him power beyond all knowledge. He secretly hated Doomhammer, and plotted to have him killed as soon as he could gain the Warchief's friendship. He trained a new generation of Ogres in the ways of Warlock magic; this pleased Doomhammer immensely, as they were more easily controlled than Orcs. Ogres could always be relied on to betray one in a simple and obvious way, lacking any of the cunning in falsehood of Orc warlocks. Later on, Gul'dan again utilized the Shadow Orb, this time to reanimate an army composed by the corpses of the fallen Knights of Stormwind, all possessed by the souls of his dead Shadow Council; still mentally dominated by Gul'dan and under his direct control, he had them pledge allegiance to Doomhammer, who was much pleased with these creations, calling them his Death Knights.

While Doomhammer was occupied with causing terror and mayhem across Azeroth with his Death Knights and his Ogres, he more or less granted Gul'dan free reign to perform any rituals he wished and granted him access to any resources he required. During this Second War, with Doomhammer and the Horde on the verge of triumph over the Alliance, Gul'dan recalled all of his Death Knights and a number of his Ogres and Warlock followers to help him look for the Tomb. Without their crucial supportive role in the Horde armies, the Alliance was able to take the upper hand, eventually defeating the Orc armies and imprisoning most of the survivors. Gul'dan succeeded in finding the Tomb, but was pursued by Doomhammer's navy, hungry for retribution. Without time to put together a proper investigation, Gul'dan and his followers launched a clumsy expedition into the Tomb, but instead of gaining the power he sought, he and his Warlocks were attacked by the demons occupying the Tomb.

Gul'dan himself made it to the inner chamber, either unaware or uncomprehending that most of the power of Sargeras had already passed to Medivh - who had been killed by the knights of Azeroth towards the end of the First War. In the end, he was betrayed by the survivors of his expedition, and despite his great power and absolute resolve, he was unable to continue due to his life-threatening injuries; he met his end in that tomb, though his skull was removed at some point and continued to be a much sought-after magical relic, passing from hand to hand until it's consumption by Illidan during the Third Great War.

The Shadow Orb, which had been shattered into ten fragments in the Tomb, was subsequently recovered and reconstructed by Maiev Shadowsong, though she has since disappeared and is presumed to have been killed by Illidan. When Illidan was defeated by King Arthas, it is presumed that the Orb was lost at that point, if indeed Illidan had it; on the other hand, Arthas may have taken it, in which case it will likely never be recovered for magical study.

[edit] Role in Warcraft II

Gul'dan can be seen in Warcraft II leading an expedition to uncover the Tomb of Sargeras, though not much detail is provided. The player is asked in an orc campaign level to destroy Gul'dan's clan waiting outside the cave. Gul'dan is shown with the appearance of a Death Knight.

Also, in Beyond the Dark Portal, the Warcraft II expansion set, Gul'dan's skull is sought both by Ner'zhul and later Khadgar. Due to inconsistencies in the Warcraft story, Gul'dan was said to have been killed by the player, his head cleaned of flesh and the skull given to Orgrim Doomhammer. The skull itself was clearly seen in the final movie of the Beyond the Dark Portal orc campaign hanging under the neck of Ner'zhul (as it was a crucial part of his spell as well as the book of Medivh). It is also used by Khadgar to seal the portal at the end of the human campaign.

[edit] Role in Warcraft III

Gul'dan's Skull is required in the level where Illidan absorbs its power to defeat Tichondrius the Darkener. Following this, he uses the memories of Gul'dan which he has absorbed to find the Tomb itself, leading to a later level where Maiev explores the Tomb of Sargeras in search of Illidan. From there, player views a flashback of Gul'dan's final moments in the tomb before his death, and his story as told by Orc runes he scrawled on the walls in the moments leading up to his death. This is also the time during which the Shadow Orb was recovered, as Maiev sought its power in order to stand a chance against whatever forces Illidan may have unleashed in the Tomb.

Unfortunately for Maiev, it turns out (too late) that even the immense power of the Shadow Council was inconsequential next to the insignificantly small fraction of Sargeras' power Illidan did manage to acquire in the form of the Eye of Sargeras.

[edit] Role in World of Warcraft

Gul'dan's tortured ghost currently an NPC in Shadowmoon Valley. He's a part of a past vision which concerns about the orcs' severement from the elements and devoting themselves to the Burning Legion and warlock magics.

Warcraft Universe