Rise of the Horde

Rise of the Horde is a novel by Christie Golden, set in the Warcraft Expanded Universe. It tells of the events that happened on Draenor before Warcraft: Orc and Humans, focusing mainly on the orcs, though the draenei show up quite a bit. It details how the orcs went from Proud Warrior Race Guys to The Horde. The main characters are Orgrim Doomhammer and Durotan, but Thrall provides the Framing Device.

Tropes used in Rise of the Horde include:
  • Alien Blood: Draenei have blue blood. Demons have greenish-yellow blood. Even orcs fit this trope to some degree, as they have blood of so dark a red that it's nearly black.
  • Ancestral Weapon: The Doomhammer.
  • Black Magic: The fel magic that the warlocks start using.
  • Continuity Cameo: Medivh shows up a couple times.
  • Deceptive Disciple: Gul'dan. When he spies on Ner'zhul as the latter finds out Kil'jaeden deceived them all, he rats out his (horrified) master to the demon lord for power.
  • Drop the Hammer: Orgrim Doomhammer, naturally.
  • Empathic Environment: Averted, which is lampshaded in Durotan's thoughts. He thought the weather was way too cheery for what was happening.
  • Evil Makeover: The orcs' skin turns greenish when they start using demonic magic, whether that specific orc actually used it or not. Orcs who drank Mannoroth's blood turn really green, their eyes turn red, and they become much more muscular.
  • First Girl Wins: The first girl in Orgrim's and Durotan's age group we are introduced to, Draka, becomes Durotan's mate.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: What happens to the orcs who drink demon blood.
  • I Am X, Son of Y: This is the naming convention of the orcs.
  • Oh Crap: Thrall's reaction in the epilogue when he finds out that the Draenei have crashed on Azeroth, and have allied with the Alliance. The second half of the book is basically about the orcs massacring the draenei. This new development crushes Thrall's hopes for peace fairly effectively.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Shadow Council sacrifices a little draenei boy to open the Dark Portal.
  • Start of Darkness: For the orcs.
  • The Power of Blood: Mannoroth uses this to turn the orcs into Exclusively Evil berserkers.
  • Weapon of Choice: Hammers for the Blackrock Clan. Axes for the Frostwolves. Orgrim has the Doomhammer.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Ner'zhul falls for Kil'jaeden's lies. All of the orc shaman fall for it, and the orcs trust their spiritual leaders. [1]
  1. ↑ There are also willing collaborators like Gul'dan.
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