Third War #6: the Horde in Kalimdor

September 8, 2026•Lore•Brendo Arruda

"Third War" series — Third War #6. The story of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, from Medivh's prophecy to the Battle of Mount Hyjal. The episodes are listed in order at the end of the post.

Thrall's exodus to Kalimdor opens the orc campaign of Warcraft III, called The Invasion of Kalimdor. Following the instructions of a mysterious Prophet, Thrall crossed the Great Sea with the Horde. The voyage ended in a shipwreck, in a land no orc knew. This chapter of the campaign tells how the Horde survived there, made friends among the tauren and reached the Oracle, where it found the people it least expected: the humans.

The shipwreck on the coast

The Horde's ships had been stolen from the humans. After weeks at sea, they passed through a giant maelstrom and reached the coast of Kalimdor in pieces. Thrall's ship was beyond repair.

Worse: the fleet had split up in the storm. Thrall did not know where Grom Hellscream and the other ships were. He followed the coast gathering what was left: supply crates, another wrecked orc ship and a group of troll Headhunters, whom he rescued.

The mission takes place on the coast of the Barrens, the dry savanna in the middle of Kalimdor.

Cairne and the tauren

In the Barrens, Thrall saw centaurs attacking large creatures that looked like bulls. They were the tauren, and their leader was Cairne Bloodhoof, chief of the Bloodhoof tribe.

Cairne's village was in danger. Thrall sent the Horde to protect the tauren and held back the centaur attack. In return, Cairne told him about an Oracle who lived far to the north and who could show the Horde its destiny.

Cairne explained that the centaurs had driven away the game in the region. The tauren had to migrate north, to Mulgore. Thrall offered an escort, and Cairne invited the orcs to travel with them.

The long march across the Barrens

Two days later, the kodo caravan was crossing the Barrens under constant centaur attack. Thrall went ahead looking for safe oases. Cairne held the rear.

On the way, the Horde found Warsong clan warriors who had been lost. Near the pass to Mulgore, Cairne struck the ground hard. The rocks collapsed, killed several centaurs and closed the path for the enemy.

Before parting with Thrall, Cairne gave him his best kodos and explained where the Oracle was: inside Stonetalon Peak, a peak in the Stonetalon Mountains, far to the north, near the shadowy base of Mount Hyjal. According to the tauren, the Oracle could see the threads of fate woven by the Earth Mother.

Grom reappears, and so do the humans

The Horde marched across the desert toward the Oracle. On the way, it found Grom and the Warsong clan fighting a human settlement. The humans were in Kalimdor too.

Grom said that a "frail girl" named Jaina Proudmoore had blocked the pass to Stonetalon Peak. Thrall ordered him to leave the humans alone. He had been raised among humans and did not want another war. The idea was to find another way: buy zeppelins at a nearby goblin laboratory and fly over the pass.

Grom disobeyed and attacked the humans. The answer came fast, and Thrall was forced to fight. In the end, the Horde got the zeppelins, and Thrall scolded Grom. Grom apologized, but Thrall doubted he could control his bloodlust. He sent the Warsong clan north to build a settlement. That decision is the start of the next episode.

Where wyverns dare

High in the Stonetalon Mountains, the humans had fortified the slopes and the top of the peak. Thrall found it strange: the humans had had chances to fight before and had not taken them.

Cairne came back with the tauren to repay an old debt to the orcs. He suggested asking for help from the wyverns that nested nearby. When they arrived, they found that the harpies had caught the wyverns in nets. Thrall freed them with lightning, and the wyverns joined the Horde as an air force.

The Horde took the human camp and used the zeppelins to land on the summit. Jaina and the survivors fled into the mountain. Thrall and Cairne went after them.

The Oracle

The caves under the peak were full of traps and riddles. The Horde split up: Thrall took one path, Cairne another. Both had to gather the pieces that activated a spectral bridge to the Oracle's chamber.

When they arrived, Jaina was already there with the humans. Both sides got ready to fight. A voice stopped them: "Stop! There will be no violence in this place."

Thrall recognized the voice. It was the Prophet, the same one who had sent him across the sea. He admitted he was no oracle at all. He had lured both peoples there on purpose.

The Prophet said that the Burning Legion had returned, that it had already destroyed Lordaeron and that its next target was Kalimdor. He also said that Grom had been corrupted by the demons. And he gave the hardest order of all: humans and orcs had to unite.

Jaina called the idea madness. Thrall swore he would die before leaving Grom in the hands of the demons. The two accepted the alliance.

The player already knows who the Prophet is: Medivh, the mage who opened the Dark Portal and brought the orcs to Azeroth. He only reveals his name to all the leaders together at Mount Hyjal, in episode 9.

What this changes in the story

This chapter creates two friendships that define the Horde side of WoW. The tauren enter the orcs' lives here, and Cairne becomes one of Thrall's most loyal allies. That is why, in WoW, the tauren are part of the Horde from day one.

The meeting with Jaina is also the seed of the relationship between Thrall and Admiral Proudmoore's daughter. After the Third War, she founds Theramore and he founds Durotar, and the two keep a fragile peace between the factions for years.

Episode timeline

The Horde fleet is wrecked on the coast of Kalimdor.
Thrall saves Cairne's tauren from the centaurs.
The Horde escorts the tauren caravan across the Barrens to the Mulgore pass.
Grom attacks Jaina's humans, and Thrall sends him north.
The Horde frees the wyverns and takes Stonetalon Peak.
The Prophet unites orcs and humans in the Oracle's chamber.

Who's who in this episode

| Name | Who they are | |------|--------| | Thrall | The Warchief of the new Horde. | | Cairne Bloodhoof | The chief of the Bloodhoof tauren, the orcs' new ally. | | Grom Hellscream | The chief of the Warsong clan, impulsive and hungry for battle. | | Jaina Proudmoore | The mage who leads the human survivors in Kalimdor. | | The Prophet | The mysterious guide who poses as the Oracle. In truth, Medivh. |

Where to see it in WotLK

Durotar: the land Thrall founds after the war, with Orgrimmar as its capital.
The Barrens: the savanna of the long march. The mission's oases seem to match Stagnant Oasis, Lushwater Oasis and the Forgotten Pools.
Mulgore: the destination of Cairne's caravan, with Thunder Bluff on top of the mesas.
Stonetalon Mountains: Stonetalon Peak, where the Oracle was.