WoW History: Legion, the Full Expansion

September 27, 2026•Lore•Brendo Arruda

"The History of the Expansions" series — Episode 7. The story of World of Warcraft told expansion by expansion, with the patches that changed it. The episodes are listed in order at the end of the post.

The story of Legion is the third and largest invasion of the Burning Legion. Gul'dan opens the Tomb of Sargeras, the demons land on the Broken Isles and the first battle kills a king and a Warchief. To win, the heroes need legendary weapons, five titan artifacts, an elven city that had been hidden for ten thousand years and a prisoner everyone would rather forget: Illidan.

Gul'dan opens the Tomb of Sargeras

At the end of Warlords of Draenor, Gul'dan reached the players' Azeroth. He went straight to the Broken Isles, home of the Tomb of Sargeras, the sunken temple where Aegwynn had sealed the body of Sargeras's avatar. Gul'dan opened the tomb and, with it, a huge portal for the Legion.

The battle of the Broken Shore

Horde and Alliance attacked the Broken Shore together to close the portal. Everything went wrong. The Horde fell back when it was surrounded, and the Alliance believed it had been abandoned. King Varian Wrynn stayed behind to cover his soldiers' retreat and died fighting Gul'dan.

On the Horde side, Warchief Vol'jin was wounded by a fel blade. Before he died, he named Sylvanas Windrunner the new Warchief, saying the loa had shown him that path. Anduin Wrynn became king of Stormwind.

The Pillars of Creation

Khadgar moved Dalaran, the flying city, to the Broken Isles. His strategy was to find the Pillars of Creation, five artifacts the titans used to shape Azeroth. Together, they could seal the Tomb of Sargeras for good.

The heroes searched for them across the five zones of the Isles: the Aegis of Aggramar in Stormheim, the Hammer of Khaz'goroth in Highmountain, the Tears of Elune in Val'sharah, the Eye of Aman'Thul in Suramar and the Tidestone of Golganneth in Azsuna. Each zone had its own story: the vrykul of Odyn and Helya, the tauren of Highmountain, the green dragons of the Emerald Dream and the naga of Azshara.

Classes, artifacts and class halls

Legion also changed the way each class saw itself. Every class got a class hall and a legendary artifact weapon, such as the Ashbringer for paladins or the Warglaives of Azzinoth for demon hunters. The classes organized themselves as orders, each one fighting the war in its own way.

Suramar and the Nighthold

The hardest piece was in Suramar, a night elf city that had survived the Great Sundering hidden under a magical dome. The Nightborne depended on a source of energy, the Nightwell, and Grand Magistrix Elisande had made a pact with the Legion to protect the city.

The heroes helped a rebellion inside Suramar and stormed the Nighthold. Elisande fell, and Gul'dan, who led the Legion there, was killed. In that same place, Khadgar and the heroes brought Illidan back to life, whose body had been held since TBC.

The Tomb of Sargeras and Kil'jaeden

With the Pillars gathered, the Alliance and the Horde attacked the Broken Shore again and entered the Tomb of Sargeras. Inside, they defeated the Fallen Avatar of Sargeras and Kil'jaeden himself, the demon who had corrupted the orcs, deceived Ner'zhul and created the Lich King. The tomb was sealed.

This chapter is patch 7.2 and has its own episode in this series.

Argus and the imprisonment of Sargeras

When Kil'jaeden fell, the Legion's homeworld appeared in Azeroth's sky: Argus, the planet of the eredar. The heroes boarded the draenei ship, the Vindicaar, and took the war there, with Illidan, Velen, Alleria and Turalyon's Army of the Light.

In Antorus, the Burning Throne, the heroes freed the souls of the titans of the Pantheon, and they imprisoned Sargeras. But before he was imprisoned, the titan drove a giant sword into Azeroth, in the desert of Silithus. The wound made the planet bleed Azerite, and that is where the next expansion begins.

Where to see it in WotLK

Legion comes after WotLK, but its central characters are in your game:

Black Temple, in Shadowmoon Valley: this is where Illidan falls at the end of TBC, before returning in Legion.
Dalaran, in Crystalsong Forest: the same city Khadgar takes to the Broken Isles.
Sunwell Plateau: Kil'jaeden appears as the final boss of the raid, years before Legion.
The Exodar, on Azuremyst Isle: the ship in which Velen and the draenei fled from Outland to Azeroth.