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Orgrim Doomhammer, also known as the Backstabber, was the Warchief of the Horde during the end of the First War and the entirety of the Second War. The city, Orgrimmar is named after him.
Biography
Rise of the Horde
- See also: Rise of the Horde
Orgrim of the Blackrocks and Durotan of the Frostwolves originally met whilst secreting away as children from the sleeping tent during the Kosh'harg festival in Nagrand. The two troublesome youths escaped past their sleep time to spy on the clansmen's talking, only to be severely disappointed. Deciding instead to spend the rest of the night challenging each other, they soon formed a bond that was considered against tradition by the Blackrock and Frostwolf clans that they belonged to, but technically not forbidden. During a race through Terokkar Forest, they accidentally stumbled upon a raging ogre, and in a last bout of speed, ran for their lives. Out of nowhere, a brigade of draenei came and saved them, and they spent the rest of the day with Restalaan, and conferencing with Velen. The two friends did not separate, even after Orgrim's father passed away and he claimed his position as owner of the Doomhammer and second-in-command to the witty Blackhand, and Durotan became chieftain himself when his father was killed by the Gronn.
Though Orgrim was internally opposed to the war against the draenei, he followed Blackhand's orders, and even gave in to the bloodlust Gul'dan had cultivated. But, like Durotan, he began to wonder if the orcs had been deceived. He was one of the few orcs that didn't drink the blood of Mannoroth, claiming to be unworthy to drink from the same vessel as the Warchief and chieftains. Though Blackhand was gullible enough to believe this excuse, Gul'dan was not, and would remain wary of Orgrim from that point on.
The manual for Beyond the Dark Portal suggests that Orgrim rose to power through the Thunderlord Clan, but this appears to have been retconned, as he is described as a Blackrock all through Rise of the Horde.
The First and Second Wars
Doomhammer was one of Blackhand's most trusted lieutenants, commanding a number of battles against the forces of the Kingdom of Azeroth, but when Gul'dan fell into a coma, trying to pry the secrets from the head of the dying Medivh, Orgrim took this chance to seize power by killing the Warchief, and as many necrolytes and warlocks as he could manage. Doomhammer also captured Garona and tortured her into revealing the location of the Shadow Council.
Gul'dan "submitting" to Doomhammer.
Unlike Blackhand, Doomhammer would not be a puppet to Gul'dan and his Shadow Council. When Gul'dan awoke, he found that the new Warchief had destroyed the Shadow Council - branding the Warlock caste as traitors and executing many of them - and intended to slay him as well. Begging at Doomhammer's feet, Gul'dan reminded him that with the Shadow Council gone he was the last true sorcerer within the Horde. The warlock promised that he would create an army of all-powerful necromancers, loyal to the Warchief: the death knights. Doomhammer readily agreed, despite suspecting Gul'dan of treachery. He was correct in this; when the Horde was ready to launch a massive attack on Lordaeron, Gul'dan's Stormreaver Clan and Cho'gall's Twilight's Hammer, and all others loyal to the warlock, abandoned the Horde and set sail to the south. Chasing him to the Tomb of Sargeras, Orgrim and his Blackrock Clan engaged both the Stormreaver and Twilight's Hammer forces. Gul'dan and his warlocks entered the Tomb of Sargeras but were slain by the demons within.
Weakened by losses caused by Gul'dan's treachery, Doomhammer was forced to fall back from the human capital of Lordaeron to his fortress at Blackrock Spire. There he fought the final battle of the Second War against the Alliance of Lordaeron, leading a charge from Blackrock Spire to clash with Anduin Lothar and his paladin guard. Human and orc battled one another in a titanic battle that left both warriors drained, but the Warchief was able to vanquish the Regent of Azeroth. However, Lothar's death did not have the effect that Doomhammer intended. Rather than being demoralized, the Alliance - led by Lothar's lieutenant, Turalyon - rallied and all but destroyed Doomhammer's forces.
Meeting with Thrall
After the defeat at Blackrock Spire, Doomhammer was captured and held as an oddity (his own words) in the palace of King Terenas of Lordaeron. However, Doomhammer was able to escape easily from Lordaeron City and made his way to an internment camp, where he saw what had become of his people. Rather than the bloodthirsty warriors he had led in battle, Doomhammer found only lethargic, wasted souls. Despairing, Doomhammer very nearly fell victim to the lethargy himself, but managed to retain enough of himself to escape from the internment camp. He lived as a hermit in the less-travelled areas of Lordaeron, until one day, he was contacted by Drek'thar of the Frostwolf Clan.
The elder shaman informed Doomhammer that there was a young orc staying with the Frostwolves high in the mountains of Alterac. This orc had been discovered to be the long-lost son of Durotan, who had escaped after being raised a slave by humans and had begun searching for his people. Durotan's son, Thrall, was determined to find a way to free the captive orcs and restore them to their former glory. Orgrim had heard of this Thrall before from Grom Hellscream, whom Thrall had met before he began searching for his clan. Hellscream had nothing but good things to say about the youth.
Intrigued, Doomhammer paid a visit to the Frostwolves to see Thrall for himself, but made it clear beforehand that he didn't want Thrall to know who he was. When Doomhammer arrived nobody referred to him by name or told Thrall about him. So when Thrall saw Doomhammer that night he did not realize he was dealing with the former leader of the Horde of whom he had heard so many great things; he only saw a strange orc warming himself by the fire. As the night wore on Thrall became increasingly annoyed by the secretiveness of the stranger, and his talk of how there was no point in trying to fight the humans. When Thrall insisted that the freedom of the orcs was worth fighting for, the stranger asked him what he was doing hiding in the mountains with the other Frostwolves if he really believed that. Becoming more angry, Thrall argued that he would travel south in the spring to join Grom Hellscream and the Warsong Clan, that together they would storm the camps and liberate all of the orcish prisoners. The stranger scoffed at the notion and contemptuously dismissed Hellscream as a "demon-ridden dreamer." Thrall had heard enough and challenged this stranger who had repaid the hospitality of the Frostwolves with insults to single battle. This was precisely what Doomhammer had hoped would happen. He had implied the Frostwolves were cowards and that the orcs as a race could not defeat the humans in order to see whether Thrall would stand up for his clan and people, and Thrall had not disappointed him. Now Doomhammer would see whether Thrall's fighting skill was equally impressive.
Liberation of the orcs
Losing to the young shaman, and being shown mercy, he revealed himself as the Warchief. At first Thrall was aghast at how he had treated such an important person as Orgrim Doomhammer and began to apologize profusely, but Orgrim stopped him and told him it was not necessary, explaining his reasons for staying anonymous. He went on to explain that he had a plan to break free the imprisoned orcs, and Thrall and Drek'thar agreed to help. Along with Hellscream and the Warsongs, they stormed four internment camps, freeing the orcs inside with ease. At the fifth, however, the Alliance was prepared. They ambushed the orcs, and Orgrim was mortally wounded by a cowardly strike to the back - impaled by a guard's spear with enough force to completely pierce the back plate of his armor and through his body, denting the breastplate from the inside. With his last breaths, Orgrim gave the title of Warchief, along with his great warhammer and black armor, to Thrall. The former internment camp is now the Horde base of Hammerfall, in the Arathi Highlands.
Going with him in many battles, the hammer and armor has served Thrall well, and now sits with him atop his throne in Orgrimmar, capital of the Horde, named after the great Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer. His hammer and armor, upon the new leader of the Horde, await the next time they are called to battle in defense of the Horde.
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