Wouldn't this be cool? Garrosh and the Shadow Council
Wouldn't this be cool? With the most recent lore news from Blizzard that the Siege of Orgrimmar will result in Garrosh's removal as Warchief of the Horde at the end of the campaign portion of Mists of Pandaria, speculation has run rampant as to how or why both factions would want to end Hellscream's reign. The Alliance has plenty of reasons to storm the gates of the Horde capital and remove Garrosh, given his numerous victories at any cost. The Horde, while upset at Garrosh and the wedges he's placed between the many Horde factions, does not yet have the impetus to assassinate its leader Julius Caesar-style.
What could send the Horde -- the very same Horde that drank the blood of Mannoroth and marched through the Dark Portal -- into such a fear and concern over their leader? The very same threat that the orcs succumbed to on Draenor, that's what.
Putting the pieces together
One of the fun games that I've been playing over the course of the week was seeing how much interesting information could I pick up from the many fan site interviews to see if anything was revealed through chance. I wanted to get to the bottom of Garrosh's story arc, so I started digging. Oh, how I wish for more transcriptions of interviews ...
MMO-Champion boiled down the extra Garrosh information, snippets gleaned from the off-handed comments by Blizzard devs and story folk, to essentially this: Garrosh has become corrupted and has been doing some really nasty things beneath Orgrimmar. I know, I know, "corrupted." It can mean a lot of things -- and in this case, I think Blizzard very carefully chose the word because it knows the connotation it has with the community and that our expectations will be deceived. Garrosh's corruption will not be external -- it will come from within.
So we know that Garrosh turns into an even more murderous machine and loses more and more of his filter and control as time goes on. We can surmise, anyway. That is how orcs begin their downfall, and it is a classic tale in orcish culture. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Neeru Fireblade and the Shadow Council
A loose story thread from way back in the Warcraft III days is how exactly Thrall integrated the Shadow Council into the new Horde. The Shadow Council are dastardly at best and pure evil at worst. Residing the the Cleft of Shadow beneath Orgrimmar, these orcs still openly practice demonic magics and spend energy and resources holding back out of control demons in the Ragefire Chasm.
Thrall was reluctant to ever do business with Neeru Fireblade and his sect of warlocks that belonged to the Burning Blade. These warlocks, paired with the Searing Blade cultists who eventually took over Ragefire, pose a still-looming threat from within Orgrimmar itself.
Neeru is not a good guy. His story has progressed since Garrosh became warchief, his model was changed in Cataclysm, and he says that his use of demonic magic is purely for the defense of Orgrimmar. Well, isn't that convenient?
Margoz, a shaman in Durotar, speaks of Neeru:
Although he is a skilled warlock, he professes to use his powers to thwart demons, and claims his research in the occult is benign. Be that true or false, we may need his aid against the demonic cult in Durotar.
We needed Neeru's aid at level 10. Garrosh may need it at level 90. Neeru even speaks highly of Garrosh, stating that he would do anything he can to put himself into the good graces of the Warchief and to prove that not all warlocks want to destroy the Horde from within. Remember, not all of them.
A legacy of demons
What if Garrosh enlists the aid of the former Shadow Council to unleash a terrible, demonic power against the Alliance on Pandaria? Garrosh, thinking he is stronger than his father, believes that he can control the power his father succumbed to. Arrogant to the last, the once-great veteran goes the way of the most power-hungry orcs, thinking yourself two orcs too tall.
The orcs remember this. They won't let Garrosh hand them into slavery again -- not even to win this war.
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