Warcraft: The Last Guardian

Warcraft: The Last Guardian is a novel by Jeff Grubb set in the Warcraft Universe. It is the fourth book and the third paper book released in the Warcraft Universe.

The Last Guardian

First edition cover
Author	Jeff Grubb
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Warcraft Universe
Genre	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Pocket Books
Publication date	December, 2002
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	320 pp
ISBN	0-671-04151-7
OCLC	51072474
LC Class	CPB Box no. 2274 vol. 1

The story of Warcraft: The Last Guardian is about Medivh, the last guardian of Azeroth, his new apprentice Khadgar, and Medivh's fall from grace during the events of the First War.

Main protagonists

Khadgar

The story follows Khadgar, as he lives in Karazhan. The ruling council of Dalaran has sent Khadgar there to gather information regarding Medivh and his secrets. It is regarded by him as one of the best times of his life, until he learned of Medivh's corruption.

Medivh

The Last Guardian himself, Medivh is a reclusive but powerful mage, empowered by the secretive Council of Tirisfal to safeguard Azeroth. Medivh was a childhood friend of King Llane and Lord Lothar. Despite all this, Medivh has some dark secrets to hide.

Garona Halforcen

Garona is an emissary sent by the Orc Warlock Gul'dan to learn more about Medivh. Half-orc and half-human, she is considered an outcast by the orcish clans. Garona's allegiances quickly shift to the humans she meets. She befriends Khadgar and with him uncovers Medivh's secret, where she is shown her own traitorous future.

Anduin Lothar

Lothar is a general of the Stormwind army, and an armsman of the Brotherhood of the Horse. He was a childhood friend of King Llane and Medivh, and lead the war party to Karazhan to kill Medivh. He went on to lead the exodus from Stormwind after King Llane was assassinated by Garona, and the keep was destroyed by the Orcs.

King Llane Wrynn

Llane was the last of King of Stormwind before it was rebuilt and taken by his son Varian Wrynn. He is assassinated by a reluctant Garona, who struggles under Gul'dan's manipulations.

Plot summary

The main human kingdom of the early era of Warcraft was Stormwind, it was the only human kingdom explored in Warcraft I, and its lands are the main focus of this story. It is ruled by King Llane Wrynn, and its military led by his childhood friend, Anduin Lothar. The two spent much of their childhood with Medivh Aran, who was the most powerful of the trio, and a potent magician. As he aged, Medivh fell into a coma for the majority of his youth, and when he awoke, left the protected regions of the kingdom for the abandoned tower, Karazhan.

The book begins with an apprentice mage, Khadgar, arriving at Karazhan. He had been dispatched from the mage-ruled city of Dalaran to become the magus's personal apprentice, and to discover more about the mysterious mage. During the first month following his arrival, Medivh explains to him that the fabric of reality in Karazhan is weak, and that “While with a clock, each tick comes in succession of another, Karazhan is like an hourglass, where all the grains of sand fall into the bottom, but not always in the same order,” and as such, there are visions from the future and the past.

Khadgar works hard to earn the status of apprentice, mostly by organizing Medivh's chaotic library. This was a feat none of the other aspirants achieved; most left after being unsettled by the tower's prophetic visions or Medivh's erratic behaviour. During this time, Medivh makes several long trips outside the tower.

Upon earning the right to being Medivh's apprentice, the two mount atop a gryphon and fly to a swampy region of the kingdom, the Black Morass. While in the Black Morass, there are several war parties of green-skinned savages known as Orcs, one of which shoots Khadgar down. Khadgar dispatches of a few grunts, but eventually his magical ability is exhausted, just as he is cornered by an Orc warlock. Fortunately, Medivh swoops in to slay the remainder of the party. The two then make their way back from the heavier concentrations and rendezvous with Anduin Lothar and his troops.

The next few months involve Khadgar doing work about the castle while receiving some training from Medivh. Ultimately, Medivh takes an extended leave from Karazhan in which he lets Khadgar freely study. Khadgar spend most of this time trying to control and command the visions of Karazhan, and invokes one of Medivh's mother, Aegwynn, battling a horde of demons, and Sargeras, a fallen Titan, (creators of Azeroth, Draenor, and the rest of the universe), also known as the Destroyer of Worlds.

Upon Medivh's arrival, he is immediately summoned to Stormwind, where he brings along Khadgar. When they enter the great city, they are greeted by Lothar who reveals that two of the court conjurers summoned a demon, which killed them both. Medivh asks Lothar to leave the room while he speaks with Khadgar privately, where he explains the history of the magic, and many events thousands of years in the world's past. He comes to explain, that after a catastrophe that nearly destroyed the world, there was a council of powerful magi who elected to grant their powers to a single entity responsible for guarding the world against demonic threats. After they had aged considerably, the Council of Tirisfal would retake the power and search for a new Guardian. After thousands of years, and dozens of Guardians, Medivh's mother, Aegwynn was chosen as a Guardian. She saw how politically involved many of the council members had become, and decided it was time to take away their power to choose the next Guardian. She took it upon herself to use magic to extend her lifespan, and through fighting more demons than any others, discovered that there was a large force in the icy continent of Northrend, hunting the green dragons. She sought to end their hunt, and freed the dragons, destroying them, and Sargeras (the vision Khadgar had). After many battles with the Burning Legion, she fathered herself a child from the Stormwind court conjurer, and member of the Council of Tirisfal, Nielas Aran, and bore Medivh.

After hunting down the demon loose in the city of Stormwind, Medivh returned to Karazhan with Khadgar, where he fell into a second (but much shorter) coma, this one lasting only a few weeks. During this time, Khadgar once saw to the Magus's quarters to see how he fared, and during this time, he saw the image of Sargeras watching over Medivh as well.

Shortly after he awoke, an emissary arrived at the tower and spent much time with Medivh, which made Khadgar slightly jealous. One day he decided to attempt his vision summoning spell, and he spotted the emissary observing him. He raced after the emissary, angered that it was spying on him, and chased it down the tower, where he pulled off its hood to reveal it was a female Orc. After a short brawl, the orc the winner, Khadgar retreated to the Magus's observatory where they spoke about the Orc, who was, in truth, a half-orc.

Khadgar and the half-orc, Garona, spent many hours studying together in the library, she trying to learn more about the human kingdoms, claiming they were for peace talks, and Khadgar so he could better understand the orcs. Garona claimed that, being half-orc, all the Orcs saw her whiter skin, shorter tusks, and softer complex. All the humans, like Khadgar, saw her green skin, her tusks, and her savagery, and that none would take have her be a part of their society.

Khadgar and Garona eventually happened upon a conversation about the Orcs' entry into Azeroth; the Dark Portal. Eventually Garona coaxed Khadgar into using his vision spell to show them both how it was opened. It revealed the Orc Arch-warlock Gul'dan, awaking from a dream to a vision of a hooded figure who promised the Orcs a new world to conquer, his last comment being, “Do not worry, I have everything under control, for I am the Guardian,” with a toss back of his hood, revealing it was Medivh.

Shortly following this vision, Medivh arrived in the library and confronted them, a ward that would protect from demons, holding him off. During this time, Khadgar was able to conjure another vision, this one of Aegwynn confronting Medivh on his catastrophic actions. During this vision, Medivh breaks down and begins to cry out towards the vision, and Garona and Khadgar escape to Stormwind on a gryphon. They are forced off their gryphon when Medivh called it back to Karazhan, and hiked the rest of the way to Stormwind after a confrontation with both an orcish raiding party, and a human regiment. Once in Stormwind, Khadgar speaks with Lothar and Llane about the Magus's betrayal, and that there is more inhabiting his body than Medivh and the Guardian's powers. They go on to Karazhan together, to do battle with the Magus. Afterwards it is revealed that Medivh was being possessed by Sargeras.

External links

• The Last Guardian on Wowpedia, a Warcraft wiki