History of Warcraft #8: ancient threats

September 23, 2026•Lore•Brendo Arruda

"The History of Warcraft" series — Episode 8 of 8. In the previous episode, we saw the conflicts players meet while leveling up. Now come the threats that need forty heroes at once: the WoW Classic raids.

The WoW Classic raids tell the same story in different ways: ancient threats, imprisoned or asleep for centuries, come back at the same time. An elemental lord under the mountain, the children of a traitor dragon, a bloodthirsty troll god, an Old God in the desert and a flying necropolis over Lordaeron. This episode closes the series with each of them and with the moment the Dark Portal opens again.

Ragnaros and the Molten Core

More than two hundred years ago, the Dark Iron dwarves lost the War of the Three Hammers against the Bronzebeard and Wildhammer clans. In desperation, the Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan tried to summon an ancient power to win. He brought forth Ragnaros the Firelord, one of the elemental lords the titans had imprisoned.

Ragnaros's arrival destroyed the dwarves' city and created the Burning Steppes and the Searing Gorge. The Dark Iron became his slaves. Since then, Ragnaros has lived deep inside Blackrock Mountain, in the Molten Core, protected by Majordomo Executus.

Onyxia and Nefarian, the children of Deathwing

At the top of the same mountain lives Nefarian, son of the black dragon Deathwing. In Blackwing Lair, he experiments with the blood of every dragonflight to create the chromatic dragons, an army that would combine the power of all of them. Rend Blackhand's orcs work for him, and the war against the Dark Iron is, in practice, a war between Nefarian and Ragnaros.

His sister, Onyxia, is the Lady Katrana Prestor of episode 6. A long quest chain reveals her disguise in Stormwind's throne room, and she flees to her lair in Dustwallow Marsh, near Theramore. Her head, hung at the gate of Stormwind or Orgrimmar, became one of the most famous trophies in the game.

Hakkar and Zul'Gurub

In the jungles of Stranglethorn lie the ruins of Zul'Gurub, the capital of the ancient Gurubashi troll empire. Centuries ago, the Gurubashi priests summoned the blood god Hakkar the Soulflayer, who nearly destroyed the empire itself.

In Classic, the priests bring Hakkar back into the world, and the trolls of the Zandalar tribe, the oldest of them all, ask heroes of the Horde and the Alliance for help to stop him.

C'Thun and Ahn'Qiraj

In the south of Kalimdor, in Silithus, stands the Scarab Wall. A thousand years ago, the night elves and the bronze, green, red and blue dragonflights sealed the qiraji and the silithid, an army of insects, behind it in the War of the Shifting Sands.

The one commanding the insects was C'Thun, one of the Old Gods the titans had imprisoned at the beginning of everything. In Classic, the insect army gets ready to return. Horde and Alliance pool resources in a war effort, a hero rings the gong, the wall opens and players enter the temple to face the first Old God you can fight in the game.

Naxxramas over the Plaguelands

The last Classic raid is a flying fortress. Naxxramas hovers over the Plaguelands, and inside is Kel'Thuzad, the lich Arthas brought back at the Sunwell. The Argent Dawn organizes the attack, and players defeat Kel'Thuzad at the top of the necropolis.

But the victory is not complete. Kel'Thuzad's phylactery, the object that holds a lich's soul, is taken back to Northrend. Kel'Thuzad will return, with Naxxramas, in Wrath of the Lich King.

Read more: The Cult of the Damned and, for the level 80 version, Naxxramas for beginners.

The hook: the Dark Portal opens again

While Azeroth fought these threats, Outland was stirring. At the end of Classic, the Dark Portal, which had been dormant since the destruction of Draenor, starts glowing again in the Blasted Lands. Armies of the Burning Legion pour through, and Horde and Alliance send troops to the other side.

On the other side are the characters this series left open: Illidan in the Black Temple, Kael'thas and the blood elves, Lady Vashj and the naga, and the remains of Draenor. It is the beginning of The Burning Crusade.

The story continues

This series ends here, at the end of WoW Classic. The story continues in the series The History of the Expansions, one episode per expansion. Until it arrives, the summaries already published carry the story on:

Where to see it in WotLK

Molten Core and Blackwing Lair, in Blackrock Mountain: Ragnaros and Nefarian, as they were in Classic.
Onyxia's Lair, in Dustwallow Marsh: in WotLK, Onyxia's raid was remade for level 80. See the Onyxia guide for WotLK.
Zul'Gurub, in Stranglethorn Vale: Hakkar's temple.
Ruins and Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, in Silithus: C'Thun's raid.
Naxxramas, in Dragonblight: in WotLK, the necropolis moved to Northrend and became the expansion's first raid.