History Monster / WarCraft

* [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Azshara]], the [[LightIsNotGood Light of Lights]], is the former ancient queen of the Night Elves who, in her endless goal to obtain power and perfection, nearly led all of Azeroth to total ruin. 10,000 years ago, Azshara used her magic to enthrall her people to love her without question while also seeking to purify the world of any she deemed imperfect, who included all but herself and her Highborne servants. While attempting to enact this purification with the power of the Well of Eternity, she caught the attention of [[GreaterScopeVillain Sargeras]], creator of the omnicidal Burning Legion. When he offered to aid in her goal in exchange for allowing his armies to rampage over Azeroth, Azshara agreed without question. Her actions to satisfy her own limitless vanity led to the War of the Ancients, the deaths of countless innocents, and the breaking of the entire world. Azshara then makes a deal with [[Characters/WarcraftTheOldGods the Old Gods]], who turn her and her servants into the first [[SnakePeople naga]]. As their Empress, Azshara can be held directly responsible for every atrocity committed by the naga throughout the franchise.

%% NOTE 2: A CompleteMonster is an individual character, not a collective. Therefore a faction cannot be listed as one. %% A faction can attract Complete Monsters and can have them among its members, but cannot be one in and of itself.

[[caption-width-right:350: "The sun has set on this mortal world, fools. Make peace with your end, for the Hour of Twilight falls!"]]
%%

-->--'''Gul'Dan''' to '''Cho'Gall''', ''Literature/TidesOfDarkness''

* Across three different timelines, [[EvilSorcerer Gul'dan]] has proved that he will always be a heartless, ambitious, and power-hungry monster.
** The first BigBad, Gul'dan is a power-hungry [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orc]] who voluntarily corrupted his people into a [[Characters/WarcraftTheHordeOldHorde bloodthirsty horde]] which he secretly controls, planned the Draenei Genocide and brought the orcs into Azeroth so they could trigger two wars. He also created Garona as a "breeding experiment" between an orc soldier and a female Draenei prisoner, after which she was magically aged, tortured and mind controlled into becoming his personal assassin. Finally, he betrayed the Horde to follow his own goals, which caused the defeat of the orcs. Even after his death his evil lingered around his skull, corrupting everything around it.
** Gul'dan from the alternate universe Draenor matches his main timeline counterpart for wickedness. While he initially fails to get his fellow orcs to drink the demon blood, Gul'dan quickly makes up for failure by serving as the Burning Legion's vanguard. He sends Cho'gall to Oshu'gun to subjugate the Naaru there, sends Teron'gor to Auchindoun to empower the Shadow Council by [[SoulEating devouring the souls]] of dead Draenei, and tries himself to cause a volcano to erupt in Shadowmoon Valley. As the Iron Horde falls apart, he takes advantage by [[TheCorrupter finally corrupting his people]] like his prime counterpart. Victorious at last, Gul'dan tries to deliver the deathblow to Draenor by destroying its elements with the Cipher of Damnation and siphons the world's ley lines--like power lines, only with magical energy instead of electricity--to power a new portal to allow the Legion to arrive in all its might. After the Legion's invasion of Draenor fails, Gul'dan is forcibly sent to Azeroth, whereupon he opens a portal in the tomb of Sargeras and causes a massive invasion by the Legion which claims the lives of many innocent people, some of whom die directly at Gul'dan's hands. Finally, after blackmailing the Nightborne into joining the Legion, Gul'dan tries to summon Sargeras into the world using the combined powers of the Nightwell and Illidan Stormrage's body before finally dying at the hands of a revived Illidan. Regardless of the circumstances provided by a new timeline, Gul'dan proves that he will always be a heartless monster willing to sacrifice everything to gain power.
** In the [[Film/WarCraft2016 2016 live-action film]], [[EvilOldFolks Gul'dan]] is a ruthless orc [[EvilSorcerer warlock]] who [[BigBad reigns over the Horde]] with an iron fist. Addicted to dark fel magic, Gul'dan seeks to expand the Horde into the world of Azeroth to conquer. Opening a portal by [[PoweredByAForsakenChild draining the lives of hundreds of innocent Draenei prisoners]], he sends the Horde out to conquer and destroy all in its path. Eventually it is revealed that Draenor was rendered a dying world by Gul'dan's own abuse of the fel, and Gul'dan has zero compunction about doing the same to Azeroth. Rounding up human captives to empower his magic, Gul'dan tortures one by [[LifeDrain slowly draining his life]], plotting to use the rest to open up the portal for the rest of the Horde. When the honorable chieftain Durotan tries to stand against Gul'dan, Gul'dan orders his clan slaughtered, including [[WouldHurtAChild Durotan's baby son]]. When Durotan challenges Gul'dan to a duel, Gul'dan cheats to win by using his magic to drain Durotan's life after he finds himself without the advantage and promptly murders several orcs when they turn from him in disgust. Even at the end, Gul'dan demonstrates he has no loyalty to his people or their traditions when he orders the heroic Anduin Lothar killed after Lothar defeats Gul'dan right-hand orc Blackhand in fair combat. Greedy, power-hungry, and insatiable in his desires, Gul'dan will happily condemn any world to destruction as long as he can fuel his addiction to the fel.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1471695050056702700
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_deathwing.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "The sun has set on this mortal world, fools. Make peace with your end, for the Hour of Twilight falls!"]]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion here:
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

* Across three different timelines, [[EvilSorcerer Gul'dan]] has proved that he will always be a heartless, ambitious, and power hungry monster.

** The first BigBad, Gul'dan is a power-hungry [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orc]] who voluntarily corrupted his people into a bloodthirsty horde [[TheManBehindTheMan which he secretly controls]], planned the Draenei Genocide and brought the orcs into Azeroth so they could trigger two wars. He also created Garona as a "breeding experiment" between an orc soldier and a female Draenei prisoner, after which she was magically aged, tortured and mind controlled into becoming his personal assassin. Finally, he betrayed the Horde to follow his own goals, which caused the defeat of the orcs. Even after his death his evil lingered around his skull, corrupting everything around it.

* [[YourSoulIsMine Uuetay no Mueh'zala, Loa of Death]], is a [[AncientEvil cruel and ancient being]] that was worshipped as the god of death by the trolls at the dawn of their civilization. Bloodthirsty to the extreme, the savage rituals and MonstrousCannibalism that define the trolls can all be traced back to Mueh'zala's never-ending demand for sacrifices. Usurped as the Loa of Death and made to be forgotten by his former follower Bwonsamdi, Mueh'zala would turn to Zovaal the Jailer to restore his power and prominence. Mueh'zala [[TheCorrupter corrupted]] the once heroic Helya into a dark goddess to command the Jailer's armies and tricked the troll Vol'jin into naming Sylvanas Windrunner as the Horde Warchief. This led to the genocide of the night elves and the beginning of a devastating world war that fed countless innocent souls into the Maw to be [[AndIMustScream twisted into the Jailer's minions]]. As a last gift to Zovaal, Mueh'zala corrupted the dead wild gods of Ardenweald and tried to consume all the troll souls Bwonsamdi had saved from the Maw.

Whether in the [[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} original games]], ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' ''([=WoW=])'', or the Franchise/WarcraftExpandedUniverse, Azeroth has played host to LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. Here are [[CompleteMonster the most vile]].

* [[AristocratsAreEvil Denathrius]], the master of [[Characters/WarcraftShadowlands Revendreth]], is part of the [[GodOfTheDead Pantheon of Death]] and seeks to free his brother, [[GreaterScopeVillain Zovaal the Jailer]], from his imprisonment in the Maw in exchange for lordship over the Shadowlands. He is the mastermind behind the anima drought that is plaguing all the afterlives by sending the Arbiter into a coma, causing every newly dead soul in existence to plunge into the Maw, and hoards all the anima his people, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent the venthyr]], create and send it directly into the Maw to empower the Jailer. Normally, the venthyr torment evil souls in Revendreth to redeem them, but Denathrius has his loyalists torture them for amusement until completely drained of anima and then they fade into oblivion. His own people not safe from his sadism, as any that anger or even annoy their Sire are banished into the Light-infused Ember Ward, where they are driven to insanity from the intense suffering and eventually reduced to ashes. Equal even to the Jailer in depravity, Denathrius personifies the worst evils of the realm of Death.

* [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Azshara]], the [[LightIsNotGood Light of Lights]], is the former ancient queen of the Night Elves who, in her endless goal to obtain power and perfection, nearly led all of Azeroth to total ruin. 10,000 years ago, Azshara used her magic to enthrall her people to love her without question while also seeking to purify the world of any she deemed imperfect, who included all but herself and her Highborne servants. While attempting to enact this purification with the power of the Well of Eternity, she caught the attention of [[GreaterScopeVillain Sargeras]], creator of the {{Omnicidal|Maniac}} [[TheLegionsOfHell Burning Legion]]. When he offered to aid in her goal in exchange for allowing his armies to rampage over Azeroth, Azshara agreed without question. Her actions to satisfy her own limitless vanity led to the War of the Ancients, the deaths of countless innocents, and the breaking of the entire world. Azshara then makes a deal with the [[EldritchAbomination Old Gods]], who turn her and her servants into the first [[SnakePeople naga]]. As their Empress, Azshara can be held directly responsible for every atrocity committed by the naga throughout the franchise.
* [[OmnicidalManiac Cho'gall]], the mad prophet of the Twilight's Hammer {{cult}}, serves [[Characters/WarcraftTheOldGods the Old Gods]] to bring the Void's apocalyptic designs to fruition. Born in the ogre capitol of Highmaul, Cho'gall's ambition led to his exile where he learned fel magic from Gul'dan and void magic from the pale orcs. Learning of the Hour of Twilight, Cho'gall made fulfilling this apocalyptic prophecy his life's work, and formed the Twilight's Hammer clan to make it a reality. He would go on to raze Highmaul and slaughter its people and aid the Horde in their genocidal conquest in the First and Second Wars. Many years later, he attempted to resurrect the Old God C'thun by sacrificing the young half-orc Med'an, and [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaved]] his mother Garona and used her to reignite full scale war between the Horde and Alliance. His final attempts at fulfilling the Hour of Twilight involved healing a wounded Deathwing and using the fallen Aspect to ignite the Cataclysm, and ultimately [[NearVillainVictory put Azeroth within a inch of annihilation]].
* [[DraconicAbomination Deathwing the Destroyer]] was [[FallenHero once the noble Neltharion]] until he swore allegiance to the Old Gods and developed a genocidal hatred towards all life. One of Azeroth's most ancient villains, Deathwing would taint his own descendants in his [[DarkIsEvil Black Dragonflight]] and felt no pity or remorse as he began to replace his dying kin with his own twisted Twilight Dragonflight. In ancient days, Deathwing masterminded the near-extinction of the other Dragonflights and all but annihilated the Blues when he tricked their Aspects into sealing their power into the Dragon Soul before turning that power against them. Using his monstrous molten body, Deathwing painfully raped all but one of his consorts to death, and later had his enemy Alexstrasza raped to produce children [[AbusiveParents he would corrupt and enslave]]. In modern times, Deathwing plotted to usher in his dark masters by igniting the Cataclysm to cause untold devastation to the world's mortal civilizations until he was ultimately defeated by his fellow Dragon Aspects. In a [[TakingYouWithMe last suicidal charge]], Deathwing traveled to the Maelstrom to usher in a final apocalypse to bring all of Azeroth with him into oblivion.
* [[AristocratsAreEvil Denathrius]], the master of [[Characters/WarcraftShadowlands Revendreth]], is part of the [[GodOfTheDead Pantheon of Death]] and seeks to free his brother [[GreaterScopeVillain Zovaal, the Jailer]], from his imprisonment in the Maw in exchange for lordship over the Shadowlands. He is the mastermind behind the anima drought that is plaguing all the afterlives by sending the Arbiter into a coma, causing every newly dead soul in existence to plunge into the Maw, and hoards all the anima his people, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent the venthyr]], create and send it directly into the Maw to empower the Jailer. Normally, the venthyr torment evil souls in Revendreth to redeem them, but Denathrius has his loyalists torture them for amusement until completely drained of anima and then they fade into oblivion. His own people not safe from his sadism, as any that anger or even annoy their Sire are banished into the Light-infused Ember Ward, where they are driven to insanity from the intense suffering and eventually reduced to ashes. Equal even to the Jailer in depravity, Denathrius personifies the worst evils of the realm of Death.