Genn Greymane: the King of Gilneas

Genn Greymane is the King of Gilneas who locked his own kingdom behind a wall, hid for years that he had become a worgen and lost his son to Sylvanas's arrow. In WotLK 3.3.5a he is not in the game yet: Gilneas is closed, and what you see is his wall in Silverpine Forest.

Who is Genn Greymane?

Genn is the son of King Archibald Greymane. Archibald led Gilneas into its industrial age and made it a middle power among the human kingdoms.

Genn inherited the throne and one fixed idea: Gilneas needs no one. That idea drives almost every decision he makes, from the good ones to the disastrous ones.

The family is small:

• Mia Greymane, the queen.
• Liam Greymane, the son and heir.
• Tess Greymane, the daughter. As a baby, she almost died and was saved by the Royal Chemist Krennan Aranas.

Genn is gruff with his children and rarely tells them he loves them.

Genn in the Second War: an ally on paper only

Gilneas was one of the founding kingdoms of the Alliance of Lordaeron. Genn voted for the union, even after resisting at first. The vote is in Second War #4: the Alliance of Lordaeron.

But his support was small. Genn sent a token force to the war and kept most of his army at home.

After the victory came the bill. The captured orcs went to internment camps, and Gilnean taxes helped pay for those camps and for Nethergarde Keep. Genn thought that was absurd. He and Thoras Trollbane wanted to execute the orcs, not feed them. The fight is in Between the Wars #1: the internment camps.

His conclusion was simple: the Alliance cost more than it gave. Gilneas left.

Why did Genn build the Greymane Wall?

To cut Gilneas off from the world. The Greymane Wall closes the peninsula from the north and cuts the land link to the rest of Lordaeron.

The project had a political cost. The wall's route left out the lands of Lord Darius Crowley, a noble who supported the Alliance. Villages such as Pyrewood and Ambermill, which belonged to Gilneas, ended up on the Silverpine side. Crowley never forgave it.

The wall was finished before the Third War.

What did Genn do in the Third War?

He closed the gates. When the Scourge ravaged Lordaeron, Gilneas refused refugees. The gates stayed shut for years, and people fleeing the undead camped outside.

Genn also made the worst decision of his life. Archmage Arugal of Dalaran warned him about the worgen, and Genn asked for his help. Using Ur's research, Arugal summoned worgen to attack the undead trying to get past the wall.

The worgen turned on the Gilnean soldiers and spread the curse. Arugal went mad and took Baron Silverlaine's castle, which became Shadowfang Keep. The full origin of the curse is in the Curse of the Worgen and the fall of Gilneas.

The Northgate rebellion

After the Third War, Darius Crowley rebelled. To him, Genn's isolation was tyranny. The last straw was the king refusing to help Lordaeron.

The rebels smuggled cannons into Gilneas City and attacked. It was a bloody civil war, the Northgate rebellion. The rebels lost. Crowley and the other leaders were imprisoned for high treason.

Gilneas returned to Genn's hands, but divided and hurt.

How did Genn become a worgen?

On a hunt. Before the Cataclysm, Gilnean nobles hunted feral worgen in the Blackwald for sport. Genn was bitten on one of those hunts.

He hid the bite, because he knew they would shoot him if anyone found out.

To keep the secret, he relied on two people:

• Krennan Aranas, the Royal Chemist, who was working on an experimental potion.
• Belysra Starbreeze, a night elf priestess, who performed a short version of a night elf ritual on him.

Together they made a serum that helped Genn stay in human form. Even so, when he got angry, he began to transform.

The comic Curse of the Worgen shows this period of fear and denial inside Gilneas very well.

The invasion of Gilneas and the death of Liam

Everything blows up shortly before the Cataclysm, at the start of the playable worgen story.

1. The worgen attack. The Wolf Cult and the worgen Alpha Prime attack Gilneas City. Genn frees Darius Crowley from prison. Crowley stays behind to distract the worgen and buy time for the civilians.
2. The Cataclysm. The earthquake breaks the wall and the reefs. Sylvanas Windrunner's Forsaken land.
3. Godfrey's betrayal. The noble Lord Godfrey finds out the king is a worgen. He kidnaps Genn to hand him over to the Forsaken. The plan fails, and Godfrey jumps off a cliff.
4. The Ritual of Balance. At Tal'doren, the night elves show the worgen the Ritual of Balance. It does not cure the curse, but it calms the fury. Genn reveals to his people that he is a worgen too.
5. The battle for Gilneas City. Liam leads the retaking of the city. At Greymane Court, Sylvanas is cornered. She stuns those nearby and aims a poisoned arrow at Genn. Liam jumps in front of it and dies in his father's arms.

Genn lets Sylvanas escape. He chooses to save the civilians first. Later, Sylvanas uses the Blight on Gilneas, and the survivors leave through Keel Harbor with help from Belysra's night elves.

Liam is buried at Aderic's Repose. And Genn gains an enemy for life.

Genn after WotLK

None of this exists in 3.3.5a, but it is what makes Genn a central character.

• Cataclysm: the Gilneans take refuge in Darnassus. Gilneas rejoins the Alliance with Varian Wrynn's support. Genn leads Varian himself through the Ritual of Balance. See Varian Wrynn, the lost king.
• Legion: Genn chases Sylvanas to Stormheim. She wanted to enslave the val'kyr Eyir. Genn steals her magic lantern and smashes it on the ground. Eyir is free.
• Battle for Azeroth: before the war, Anduin asks Genn to be regent of Stormwind while he is away. That is in Before the Storm. Then come the burning of Teldrassil, where the Gilneans lived, and the Battle for Lordaeron. More in Teldrassil and Lordaeron.
• Dragonflight: the Scarlet Crusade takes Gilneas City. Tess leads the Reclamation of Gilneas. After that, Genn abdicates, and Tess becomes queen.

It is a complete arc. The king who shut his doors to the world ends up handing the crown to the daughter who lived outside them.

Who's who

| Name | Who they are | | --- | --- | | Genn Greymane | King of Gilneas, secretly a worgen | | Archibald Greymane | Genn's father, the previous king | | Mia Greymane | Queen, Genn's wife | | Liam Greymane | Son and heir, killed by Sylvanas | | Tess Greymane | Daughter, queen after the Reclamation of Gilneas | | Darius Crowley | Noble who led the Northgate rebellion | | Krennan Aranas | Royal Chemist, created the worgen potion | | Belysra Starbreeze | Night elf priestess who helped Genn | | Lord Godfrey | Noble who betrayed Genn during the invasion | | Arugal | Archmage who brought the worgen at Genn's request |

Is Genn a hero or a villain?

Both, and that is why he works. He is stubborn, proud and isolationist. He let refugees die outside his walls. He asked for the worgen that destroyed his own kingdom.

But he is also the father who lost his son, the king who held back his fury to save civilians and, later, one of the Alliance's most loyal allies. His hatred of Sylvanas is personal, and the game treats it as a wound, not as decoration.

Where to see it in WotLK

Genn and the playable worgen only arrive with patch 4.0.3a. In 3.3.5a, the story of Gilneas shows up around the edges:

• Greymane Wall, in Silverpine Forest: it sits at the southern edge of the zone, with the entrance near Pyrewood Village. In WotLK, the model was still a copy of Thoradin's Wall. The gates are closed and you cannot get in.
• Pyrewood Village: the villagers were cursed by Arugal. By day they are human; at night (around 9 PM server time) they turn into Moonrage worgen. The Horde does the quest Pyrewood Ambush there, from Deathstalker Faerleia, and the Arugal's Folly chain.
• Shadowfang Keep: Arugal's dungeon, in southern Silverpine, on a cliff above Pyrewood. It is the direct legacy of Genn's decision.
• Grizzly Hills: Arugal returns as the Shade of Arugal and leads the Wolfcult. It all ends in the quest Hour of the Worg. See the lore of Grizzly Hills.

Silverpine is a low-level Horde zone. To pick your route, see the 5 best zones for a level rush. Worgen are not a playable race in WotLK; the options are in which race to choose for each class.

Frequently asked questions

Who killed Genn Greymane's son?

Sylvanas Windrunner. In the battle for Gilneas City, she aimed a poisoned arrow at Genn, and Prince Liam threw himself in front of it to save his father.

How did Genn Greymane become a worgen?

He was bitten during a worgen hunt in the Blackwald. He hid the bite for a long time, with help from Krennan Aranas's serum and Belysra Starbreeze.

Why did Genn build the Greymane Wall?

To isolate Gilneas after leaving the Alliance. He thought paying for the orc internment camps and Nethergarde Keep only hurt the kingdom.

Does Genn Greymane appear in WotLK?

No. He only enters the game in patch 4.0.3a, with the worgen starting zone. In WotLK, you see the closed Greymane Wall in Silverpine and Arugal's curse in Pyrewood, Shadowfang Keep and Grizzly Hills.

Who rules Gilneas today?

Tess Greymane. Genn abdicated after the Reclamation of Gilneas, in Dragonflight.

Read more: the Curse of the Worgen and the fall of Gilneas, the fall of Lordaeron and the birth of the Forsaken and Cataclysm and the return of Deathwing.