Zul'jin

Zul'jin (also spelled Zuljin ) was the Warlord of the Amani forest trolls and chieftain of the Amani tribe since before the Second War. Zul'jin was a fierce enemy of the high elves, with whom he shared many years of conflict. Zul'jin and the Amani tribe were allied with the orcish Horde for the duration of the Second War, but Zul'jin himself was captured near its end by Halduron Brightwing, in whose custody he lost an eye and an arm, which he never regenerated. Upon gaining his freedom, he went into hiding to rebuild his army and plan an attack on the remnants of the high elves, now known as blood elves, only to find them allied with the reformed Horde. He was killed by Azerothian adventurers who raided Zul'Aman during the invasion of Outland.

Zul'jin - styled as "Warlord Zul'jin" - used to be found as the final boss encounter of Zul'Aman in Ghostlands, the capital of the Amani tribe.

After his death, his soul was sent to Revendreth.

Blood of the Highborne
Zul'jin of the Amani tribe was known as a fearsome troll leader by the high elves. He was infamous for his daring raids on the outskirts and villages of Quel'Thalas, known to swiftly strike at high elven settlements and then to disappear before the elves could marshal a counter-attack. The Farstriders in particular considered Zul'jin their most hated enemy, as his raids had frequently cost the lives of their comrades. His ruthlessness and cunning were feared by the high elves.

Zul'jin's hatred for the high elves was as fierce as his reputation. He considered them invaders and usurpers, responsible for stealing Amani land and spilling Amani blood. He claimed that like the aqir and the night elves years before, the high elves had failed to wipe out the Amani, and that the trolls would never truly go away.

Zul'jin had long sought a way to dismantle the high elves' magical defenses, and believed the runestones may have held the key to their subversion. He believed the Sunwell to be the ultimate source of the elves' power. To this end, he captured a number of elves over the years, and attempted to torture them into revealing their secrets. He once had the ranger Lor'themar Theron in his grasp, who did have this information, but Zul'jin conceded that the elf rangers were a tough breed and did not truly expect his prisoner to talk. Instead, he hoped that the gruesome death he would give Theron would compel the other captured elves - the priestess Liadrin, her apprentice Galell, and the magister Dar'Khan Drathir - to tell him what he needed. Zul'jin offered them one chance to spare themselves this fate; silence was his answer. The warlord reflected that the elves were too proud, that perhaps they enjoyed the slaughter. He promised them that the Amani would fight to the last. Zul'jin then began his torture of Lor'themar, and painted his own face with the ranger's blood. The elves hurried to free themselves, and in the ensuing struggle, Liadrin attacked Zul'jin with a mental assault that left him reeling in pain. By the time the furious Amani warlord had recovered, Dar'Khan's power had replenished, and the mage teleported the group to safety. Zul'jin's brutal torture of Lor'themar would not be forgotten by the elves.

Zul'jin was the first forest troll since those terrible wars to reunite the tribes of Zul'Aman and beyond. One by one he had challenged the other tribe leaders and defeated them, whether at combat or at racing or at some other task. And all had bowed before him, pledging themselves and their tribes to his rule. The forest trolls were a single people once more. He believed that with the Horde's help they would wipe the world clean of humans and elves alike, rule the forests once more, and avenge the ancient Amani Empire.

Second War
During the First War, the orcish Warchief Blackhand sent Orgrim Doomhammer to approach the troll leader, Zul'jin, and asked him to join the Horde. Zul'jin initially refused, believing the trolls capable of handling the elves themselves and not seeing any benefit to joining wars against others. Months later, he was captured by humans, held in a prison camp near Durnholde Keep and freed by Orgrim himself. Impressed, he agreed to join the Horde and assisted it throughout the Second War.

Zul'jin's goal was not hindered by this alliance, and he believed that the Horde would have no use for the lands the Amani would take over. On the other hand, Zul'jin himself had no desire to extend his conquest beyond Quel'Thalas, and thus was confident in his new allies and the honorable Doomhammer.

Ultimately, Zul'jin was most eager to utterly conquer his mortal enemies, the high elves of Quel'Thalas with the Horde's help, and claiming King Anasterian Sunstrider's head (and forcing it to watch Quel'Thalas burn) was his primary goal during this time. He assisted the Horde in reaching Quel'Thalas, and went on ahead to claim his vengeance upon the elves for the fateful Troll Wars so many years ago.

Zul'jin fought throughout the Second War, and he and Doomhammer developed a mutual respect, however, Zul'jin grew furious when Doomhammer not only failed to destroy Quel'Thalas, but also abandoned his siege against the elves in favor of assaulting Lordaeron. Zul'jin and his armies stayed behind, continuing to fight on, yet the high elven king seized the chance to upset the balance of power between them for good, and sent out spellcasters and priests to help the rangers and warriors crush the Amani. Zul'jin was cornered near Darrowmere Lake, unable to reach the water due to the walls of rampant dragon fire scorching the area. He put up a fierce fight, but his entourage was cut down and Zul'jin was taken into the custody of the elf Halduron Brightwing, who set up camp and waited for the fire to subside. Chaining Zul'jin to a stone pillar, Halduron's men brutally tortured Zul'jin for hours on end, even gouging his eye out. Halduron was a close friend and comrade of Lor'themar Theron, and still remembered his friend's ordeal at Zul'jin's hands years before. He declined counsel to simply execute Zul'jin, hoping to drag his prisoner to Silvermoon alive so that Lor'themar could decide his fate. Yet this decision to keep the chieftain alive for punishment and revenge rather than execute him on the spot - many more of the rangers had lost friends and family to Zul'jin's constant campaigns - would prove short-sighted: in a daring rescue attempt, Amani raiders wounded Brightwing and caused enough havoc for Zul'jin to escape, the chieftain cutting off his own arm with a discarded spear to do so.

Zul'jin's escape forever solidified his legendary reputation among trolls of all kinds. Denouncing the Horde, the Amani went back into their seclusion, watching and waiting for the right time to strike out against the elves once more.

Blood of the Highborne
Zul'jin's chance came at last following the Scourge invasion of Quel'Thalas, in which roughly ninety percent of the kingdom's elven population was slain. The trolls readied an armada of destroyers to attack the Isle of Quel'Danas, now undefended with the elves' great shield dispelled, and to secure the Sunwell as a weapon against them. While this particular endeavor ended in failure, Zul'jin nonetheless seized the chance to attack the elves' tenuously-held settlements in both Eversong Woods and the Ghostlands, though again, these attacks were met with only short-term victories. The elves - now calling themselves "blood elves" - proved more resilient than the trolls had expected.

Zul'jin's re-emergence became apparent after a raid of Alliance treasure hunters attempted to plunder Zul'Aman. The sole survivor of this attempt informed the blood elves of Zul'jin's return.

The Gods of Zul'Aman
Zul'jin retired to the city of Zul'Aman, capital of the Amani trolls, where he called upon mysterious dark powers to rebuild his army. While the eyes of Azeroth focused on the fight against the Burning Legion and the expedition to Outland, treasure-seekers invaded Zul'Aman, rekindling Zul'jin's hatred of the outside world - particularly the high elves of Quel'Thalas. Upon hearing that these newly christened blood elves had become part of the Horde in his absence, the infuriated Zul'jin declared war on both Horde and Alliance. Reaffirming his hatred for the outside world, Zul'jin resolved to take down all of his enemies with this dark new power. After that the witch doctor Malacrass suggested a way for the Amani to get great power through dark ways, with which Zul'jin in his anger agreed.

Having survived his ordeal with the high elves, and indeed the entire Scourge invasion that had crippled much of Quel'Thalas, Zul'jin and the Amani persisted in their goal to wipe the elves out. The high elves, having renamed "blood elves" in honor of their fallen brethren, began to take back much of Quel'Thalas themselves - Zul'jin, seeing this as an opportunity, coordinated a number of attacks on the reforming elves from Tor'Watha and Zeb'Watha, the Amani's holdings in Eversong, and directly out of Zul'Aman in the Ghostlands. Despite being able to draw upon the ghostly spirits of each of the four liberated animal gods from Zul'Aman (and being able to change his own shape to assume their powers), Zul'jin was slain by adventurers.

Cataclysm
After Zul'jin's death, Zul'Aman became quiet, as a new warlord named Daakara rose to power. Under Daakara's leadership, the Amani have received the aid of the Zandalari in rebuilding, and are pledged to their progenitors in creating a vast troll empire in response to the turmoil of the Cataclysm.

As a result, Zul'Aman was retooled as a heroic-only five-man dungeon in patch 4.1.0, and Daakara replaced Zul'jin as its final boss.

Battle for Azeroth
Statues of Zul'jin are present within Tal'aman, the Amani enclave found at the Port of Zandalar in Dazar'alor.

Shadowlands


After his death, Zul'jin's soul was sent to Revendreth. He can be found in the northwestern part of the Halls of Atonement, within a crypt whose entrance is blocked by a carpet that can be accessed either by certain abilities or by clicking the "Flickering Candle" right next to the carpet, as a Wrathful Soul, carrying his sinstone and reminiscing how elves killed him. This room is only accessible when a "Secret Treasure" appears in the northwest of the Halls of Atonement, indicating the switch is able to be used.

As Wrathful Souls are only found otherwise within the Military Ward, and he is hiding, it can be presumed he escaped.

Though it is unknown as to how he ended up in Revendreth, as Bwonsamdi rescues even the souls of all trolls, even those who try to kill him, Bwonsamdi does make mention that he has lost a soul at least once before.

Blood of the Highborne

 * "You been found guilty. Guilty o' makin' us hide like animals. Guilty o' killin' me bruddas and sistas. Guilty o' tinkin' you own everyting around you. Guilty o' bein' foolish enough ta tink you gonna succeed where da others failed. Da aqir tried to make our ancestors go away; da night elves tried to make us go away. Den you try to make us go away, but... we be like a bad dream... dat just won’t go away. And since we won't go away... I tink we should retake our land. Burn your pretty buildings. Send you running back da way you came. But it won't be easy. You be tricky... Your Runestones make our magic weak. Your own magic be protectin' your cities. But I been watchin', and I been tinkin'... I tink you get your power from dat fountain o' light... What you call it, da Sunwell? Yah, I tink it gives you power. And without it, maybe your magic not so great after all."

The Burning Crusade

 * Dialogue

Shadowlands
What ya here for, eh? Can't ya see I got nothin' left?
 * Regular gossip

Da elves stole my people's land. Den dey stole my eye... and my life.

Everybody always wanna take from us. But we never give up! We never forget.

One day soon, ya gonna be da one dat loses... everything!

Ya come here ta gloat, elf?
 * To blood elves and void elves

Your kind stole my people's land. Den dey stole my eye... and my life.

Everybody always wanna take from us. But we never give up! We never forget.

One day soon, ya gonna be da one dat loses... everything!

Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans
In the canceled Warcraft Adventures, Zul'jin appeared as a minor character. Although once "the fiercest troll ever to flay an elf" and mastermind behind the alliance of the orcs and trolls, he now ran a run-down trading post in an orcish reservation after the Horde was defeated. He was fond of collecting the blade hands of Shattered Hand warriors who traded their most prized possessions to him for black ale.

He had items of varied origins, "from the islands of Kul Tiras to the fire-pits of the Hellfire Peninsula". Among the curiosities in his shop were the banner of the Lightning's Blade clan, the saddle of Anduin Lothar, the spell book of Mugg'roth, a cannon from the deck of a juggernaught, a lamp made from the skull of an elven ranger, chalices from a Temple of the Damned, and a black velvet painting of Terenas Menethil II.

In the TCG
Zul'jin appears in the Warcraft TCG. Interestingly his class is listed as a rogue, which would fit the descriptions of Zul'jin using guerilla and stealthy tactics, as well as the Warcraft II's manual description of him as a Rogue Troll.

In the RPG
Zul'jin's name is a title and means a great tribal witch doctor. Zul'jin disappeared after the Second War, and most believed he died under a hail of Alleria Windrunner's arrows.

In Hearthstone
In the Hearthstone expansion Rastakhan's Rumble, Zul'jin serves as the champion of Halazzi's Lynxes, a fast and ferocious team of troll hunters, and appears as HS Zul'jin (a legendary hunter hero card). His flavor text reads: "If you can dodge an axe, you can dodge a ball."

Notes and trivia

 * In Warcraft II, Zul'jin was said to have been imprisoned between Hillsbrad and Durnholde. Chronicle II first says that he was shackled in a prison near the town of Hillsbrad, and then it clarifies that he was imprisoned in a prison camp near Durnholde Keep. Although the name is used for the whole area in the game, the Chronicle mention very likely refers to prison buildings outside the main barracks in the Keep.
 * In Tides of Darkness, a party of trolls landed on an island where Orgrim and Dal'rend happened to be. Zul'jin was then freed from captivity by Dal'rend on Orgrim's order from the mainland, and Zul'jin then met with Orgrim on the island. Later, Zul'jin was present in front of Blackrock Spire with the gathered Horde. The troll had revealed the name spire's name to Doomhammer. The Horde then proceeded to invade Dun Morogh and Lordaeron. Chronicle later changed the chronology and details of Zul'jin's rescue where it happened after the Horde invaded Hillsbrad in Lordaeron, and the effort was done by Orgrim personally.
 * Before his introduction in World of Warcraft in patch 2.3.0, Zul'jin was mentioned several times in the game:
 * Mystic Yayo'jin of the Revantusk tribe said: "If Zul'jin were here, he would have destroyed the whole lot of them with a flick of his wrist - alas, Zul'jin has not yet returned and we are left to our own devices."
 * Huntsman Markhor of the Revantusk said: "Zul'jin shall return one day. Mark my words. Until then, we all hold our positions and do what we can to keep the forest troll population intact."
 * The Captured Hakkari Zealot on Yojamba Isle said: ''"The young races? The infants? Humans? Orcs? Dwarves? You expect to defeat the Hakkari? To destroy a GOD? It shall NEVER happen. We are legion. We are united. Where are your heroes? Vol'jin sits in sanctuary at the side of the young Warchief, unaware. Zul'jin missing, probably dead."
 * According to Micky Neilson, the Blood of the Highborne novella's first chapter was originally meant to take place during the Troll Wars, which would have made Zul'jin around 3,000 years old. This seems dubious as trolls haven't been known to live that long.
 * Zul'jin was the third playable character from Warcraft II to be an instance boss in World of Warcraft (after Kargath Bladefist and Teron Gorefiend), the second to be a final boss (after Kargath), and the only one to be a raid final boss.
 * Zul'jin is voiced by Chris Metzen in World of Warcraft and André Sogluizzo in Heroes of the Storm.
 * The Gods of Zul'Aman trailer somewhat implies that Zul'jin was cornered near Zul'Aman by the humans and elves (he is shown watching the battle unfold from atop a ziggurat, and the next frame covers his torture at the high elves' hands), though Blood of the Highborne depicts his actual capture as taking place near Darrowmere Lake by a platoon of rangers after the Alliance forces had left for Lordaeron. The trailer's vagueness was probably due to the exact circumstances behind Zul'jin's capture having not been devised yet.
 * Troll players in World of Warcraft who use the /charge emote will sometimes proclaim "For Zul'jin!" Similarly, Troll Headhunters and Troll Batriders in Warcraft III yell "Vengeance for Zul'jin" and "Flames for Zul'jin", respectively, despite hailing from the Darkspear tribe. This became ironic in The Burning Crusade, when Zul'jin's most bitter enemies joined the Horde, and is outright bizarre considering the Amani and Darkspear tribes are mortal enemies.
 * Zul'jin is a playable character in Heroes of the Storm.
 * Heroes of the Storm depicts Zul'jin as he appeared during the Second War, before losing his arm and eye. His mane is the same size as it was in the Second War.
 * Zul'jin in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and World of Warcraft was not depicted with visible tusks, though he could possibly have had small tusks behind his omnipresent scarf. Heroes of the Storm and later Hearthstone depicts him with tusks poking out from his scarf.
 * Zul'jin was possibly cursed by the loa, and that would be the reason why his arm and eye never regenerated.
 * However, trolls are also capable of controlling their regeneration. They can make a conscious decision for a wound to not regenerate entirely as evidenced by Vol'jin in Shadows of the Horde, which may be one explanation to why Zul'jin did not regenerate his arm nor eye. Possibly as a reminder of what the elves did to him, a way to show his people what the elves did to their warlord to fuel their hate even more.
 * As Bwonsamdi states to have only ever lost one soul, failing to bring them to the Other Side, this is likely Zul'jin.
 * The Afterlives: Revendreth video shows what appears to be a troll with the same hair and sideburns as Zul'jin being drained in a reliquary of the Halls of Atonement; this is also possibly him.