Forsaken The Forsaken are a race and faction of undead who broke away from the Scourge and took control of much of the kingdom of Lordaeron , destroyed during the Third War by the death knight Arthas . They are currently allied with the Horde . The Forsaken are led by their Banshee Queen , Lady Sylvanas Windrunner , the former Ranger - General of Quel ' Thalas . Their capital is the Undercity , in the royal catacombs beneath the ruins of the City of Lordaeron . Introduction . Undead humans and elves freed from the Lich King ' s control , the Forsaken are a strange and dark force . Hailing from the twisted , skittering darkness of Undercity , the Forsaken are nominally allied with the Horde , but serve only themselves . Their objectives are twofold : eliminate the Scourge and establish a place for themselves on Azeroth . Four years ago , the high elven Ranger General Sylvanas Windrunner fell in combat against the Scourge . Prince Arthas raised her as a banshee and compelled her to follow his command . When the Lich King ' s power waned in the incidents surrounding the Frozen Throne , Sylvanas harnessed her fury and tore herself free from his skeletal grasp . She freed many other undead as well , and recruited powerful allies from the Burning Legion and the surrounding ogre clan s . Sylvanas dubbed her new force the " Forsaken " , and these liberated undead established their capital in the labyrinthine crypts beneath Lordaeron ' s former capital city . Their sprawling , subterranean realm is called the " Undercity " . The Forsaken originally made allies of the Horde out of necessity and convenience . They have no love for orc s , tauren , or any other living creature , but they need time to strike against the Scourge and allies to help them do it . The Forsaken claim that they joined the Horde to prove their desire to leave their evil ways behind , but no one really believes this . The Horde accepts the Forsaken ' s help , as they do indeed have a common enemy : the Scourge . The Horde is leery of the Forsaken ' s tactics , however , and keeps watchful eyes on them . This caution is justified . Forsaken culture is strange , a perverse combination of the lives they once knew as mortals and the mindless slavery they experienced in the Scourge , colored by white - hot rage toward the Lich King and an almost equally intense devotion to their queen . Never sleeping , eating or falling ill , abandoned by those they once loved , the Forsaken have a brutal set of priorities . A great portion of their efforts focus on dark alchemy , and the Royal Apothecary Society commands great power in Undercity ' s oily tunnels . The apothecaries constantly send Forsaken on missions to gather odd materials for their twisted experiments . Rumors tell that the undead creatures are working to create a plague that will exterminate the Scourge and every living being on Azeroth . Are the Forsaken evil ? At times it can be difficult to tell . Some Forsaken attempt to reclaim their humanity by acting in kind and helpful ways . Others allow hatred to fester into cruelty and rage . All that can be said is that the Forsaken follow their own agendas , and the rest of the world be damned ; and if they have their way , it will be . Not all Forsaken are evil , but many are , and other races definitely view them as such . A non - evil Forsaken must work hard to prove his or her neutral ( or perhaps , good ) intentions . Few good Forsaken exist , but many evil ones do , and their leadership is definitely up to nefarious ends . The Forsaken are humanoid s transformed into the undead , with all the powers associated with the Scourge . They serve the Banshee Queen , Sylvanas , looking to her as their savior for delivering them from the Lich King ' s mental dominance . From within the bowels of the Undercity , they are dedicated to seek vengeance upon the Scourge for damning them to their condition , they strive to undermine the Scourge ' s control of Lordaeron . The Forsaken have been limited in their ability to reinforce their numbers , having few necromancer s among their kind . Instead , these fearless undead fighters are comprised mostly of warrior s and warlock s dedicated to building a culture of their own amidst a world that hates and fears them . Only recently has Sylvanas recruited and trained necromancers into the Forsaken ranks . History . In the wake of Illidan ' s failed attempt to melt the icy continent of Northrend , the powerful energies possessed by the Lich King inside his Frozen Throne slowly began to decay . Inexorably this resulted in a partial loss of control of the more distant Scourge forces . The result was that many undead under the Lich King ' s mental domination had their conscious will restored . Their spirits and memories were somehow returned to their undead bodies . Even the Lich King ' s champion , Arthas , began to weaken as the Lich King ' s power waned . Arthas the death knight and his lieutenant Kel ' Thuzad the lich were suddenly thrust into an undead civil war . Still fanatically loyal to the Lich King , Arthas heeded the call of his master and returned to Northrend as Illidan launched his second attempt to destroy the Lich King directly . Arthas left Kel ' Thuzad in command of his forces when he departed . With Arthas ' departure from Lordaeron , the three Dreadlords Balnazzar , Varimathras , and Detheroc attempted to regain control over the undead forces in Lordaeron using their formidable mental powers . The former high elf Sylvanas Windrunner rallied many of the newly freed undead to counter the Dreadlords ' efforts . Sylvanas was amazingly successful and not only crushed the Dreadlords ' forces , but also utterly destroyed the last major contingent of human forces in Lordaeron . She forced Varimathras into her service in exchange for sparing his life and took control of the ruined capital of Lordaeron as her own . Within the sewer system of the ruined city Arthas had constructed his throne room ; but with Arthas now gone , Sylvanas claimed this Undercity as her capital and set out to expand her ranks by freeing even more undead . Dubbing her band of free - willed undead the Forsaken , Sylvanas worked to ensure that the damned such as herself would have a home free from threats by the living . To ensure their survival , the Forsaken have forged an alliance of convenience with the Horde , which has some sympathy for the Forsaken ' s condition . The orcs , having been enthralled to demon masters for a generation , felt an obligation to help similarly liberated people . Among the tauren the Forsaken found a champion in Magatha Grimtotem , who argued in favor of the alliance between the two peoples and who continues to work closely with them . Magatha claims she merely wants to aid the Forsaken in their quest to redeem themselves , although there are many who believe her true motives to be something very different and much less innocent . The Darkspear trolls are not particularly fond of the Forsaken because of their shaman istic beliefs , but tolerate them and have learned to trust them in times of war . The blood elves trust them more than the other members of the Horde and the trust is seemingly mutual as Sylvanas was a major component of the elves joining the Horde . While the Horde does not fully trust the Forsaken and vice versa , it is a start . All members of the Forsaken race are either humans or of elven descent ( high elves and half - elves ) . However they also control a few abomination s as well . The Royal Apothecary Society has independently accepted in a few undead dwarves , leper gnome s , even some orcs , and trolls have joined the society , as apothecaries , but these are not considered true Forsaken . In Cataclysm . In Cataclysm , the Forsaken have launched an offensive against Gilneas . They have also employed the Lich King ' s old servants , the Val ' kyr , to resurrect the fallen on the battle - field as their own to solve the issue of their falling numbers , much to the disgust of Garrosh Hellscream , the new Warchief of the Horde . The Forsaken appear to be being increasingly hostile since the death of the Lich King , launching attacks on , Southshore , Quel ' Danil Lodge , their alliance counterparts in Andorhal , humans in Arathi Highlands , and as stated above , Gilneas . Culture . Before the time of the Scourge , many of those that would become Forsaken were devout priests of the Light . It would seem , however , that the Forsaken have abandoned the light . However some are still able to channel it . The figure wore the robes of a priest of the Holy Light - not uncommon among the Forsaken , who mocked the order by wearing their garments and allowing the sacred robes to be soiled and tainted by their bloody work . Somehow , Andarin sensed , this figure was different ; the robes seemed to be in almost tolerable condition , even if the body wearing them was not . " You wear the robes of a priest , Trevor . Why do you not channel the Light in battle , if you seek redemption ? " The priest seemed to wince at that . " While I refuse to wield the shadow , the Light has refused me , or so it seems . And so , I am truly a broken man ; I learned to wield spears of Light like Uther ' s knights did in the Second . Without the Light , I am unarmed and unarmored - - but not entirely helpless , as you see . " Andarin couldn ' t help but feel a little sorry for the fallen priest , if his story was true . Perhaps a man , no matter how virtuous , could not channel holy power while in such a form . " Although most of the race is evil , the Forsaken cannot be thought of in purely dualistic terms entirely . Although undead , the Forsaken are still inherently human , the majority of whom were victims of the plague spread by Kel ' Thuzad . Thus some of the Forsaken are still good beings , if no longer living . As the above suggests , some individuals among them are capable of a tragic form of nobility , in that they do not allow their inability to obtain redemption to prevent them from trying . Those that try often leave the Forsaken , seeing its flaws , and join other causes . These Forsaken rebel against their race , seeking a better way to end the Lich King ' s reign or search for a way to reclaim their lost humanity , while others work to reform it from within , such as Roberick Dartfall . Leonid Barthalomew the Revered of the Argent Dawn is probably the greatest example of this . ( Trevor in fact aspires to leave and join Leonid . ) Others that have left include Kegan Darkmar . It is arguable that such nobility is the only truly genuine form that exists , in that it comes not from duty , religion , or custom , but from a decision born purely of free will . Faith . Even as they believe they have been abandoned by their faith , so have the Forsaken abandoned the faiths of their living days . Some still adhere to their old faiths , such as the Holy Light . Many no longer cling to any religion , placing their faith in their queen and their dark science . Most , however , have embraced new philosophies of their own creation : the Forgotten Shadow , the Echo of Life , or the simple value of knowledge . Some have even turned to the Burning Legion as a source of power , believing that only it is potent enough to defeat the Lich King . The Cult of Forgotten Shadow is largely based out of Deathknell and the warrior quarter in Undercity . Priests of the Forgotten Shadow believe that the faiths they held in life have failed them , and so they instead rely on the power and teachings of the Shadow . The members of the Cult vary between lawful and chaotic , evil and neutral , and are taught to eradicate anything having to do with the Holy Light — and life in general . It is also a philosophy of divine humanism . Priests of the Forgotten Shadow teach that there must be a balance between Light and Shadow , and while they should never forget that they are from the Shadow , members of the cult must learn the Light as well . Being intelligent undead , the Forsaken fully understand the limitations and vulnerabilities associated with unlife . One of these disadvantages is that they can be turned , rebuked or even commanded by powerful positive or negative energy forces . Naturally , the Forsaken are always on the lookout for ways to limit or negate this vulnerability . Some Forsaken priests continue to wield the Light . Recent information provided by the Blizzard Creative Development team says that , while it is possible for Forsaken with intensely strong willpower to use the Holy Light , it is very painful for them to do so . Holy Light spells can still heal the Forsaken but they must suffer nobly . Relations . Undercity is the home of the Forsaken . They also have control of Tirisfal Glades and have several towns in the region . Forsaken patrols have tried to secure Silverpine Forest for the past couple years , but they are unable to do so . Though the Forsaken do not trust anyone and no one trusts them , they are members of the Horde and , for now , do their best to help their allies and placate their ambassadors . Forsaken have even less love for the Alliance , particularly because they clash constantly with the human organization called the Scarlet Crusade . The only other Horde faction they even have a semblance of trust with is Silvermoon City and the blood elves . This is probably due to the fact that Sylvanas was a high elf ranger in life and finds trust in her former companions . The Forsaken and blood elves even took control of the village of Tranquillien in the Ghostlands to fight the Scourge in the area together . Relations with the Horde . Though initially the Forsaken alliance with the Horde was one of pure convenience , in recent times it appears that their position in the faction has begun to solidify and many , though not all , of the Forsaken appear to be more or less loyal to the Horde now . Though the events at the Battle of Angrathar the Wrathgate may seem to contradict this , in the following quests it is revealed that Grand Apothecary Putress ' s actions were not very well received among most of the city ' s denizens . This seems to suggest that the Forsaken consider themselves part of the Horde now , or are at least upset by the new limitations his failure has placed on them . Languages . Forsaken speak Gutterspeak and Orcish , the common language of the Horde . Forsaken learn the languages of their enemies and their allies ( who may become their enemies ) . According to lore found in the Horde Player ' s Guide , Forsaken have not lost the ability to understand Common , the language spoken when they were alive . However , they never speak it under normal circumstances . They take fierce pride in speaking Gutterspeak instead . Some have forgotten how to understand Common . The Forsaken used to be able to understand Common in - game , but this has since been removed as a result of the excessive amounts of spite and swearing going back and forth between the factions . Names . Like their Dark Lady , Forsaken keep the names they had when they were alive . As most Forsaken are human , these tend to be human names . If a Forsaken cannot remember their name , they may make up a suitable name or read one from a headstone . Some invent surnames that imply their desire to eradicate the Scourge . A cure for undeath ? Many of the other races ( mainly the tauren ) pity the Forsaken and a number of Horde healers all over Azeroth , such as Mani Winterhoof , work tirelessly in the hopes of creating a cure for undeath . Some of the Forsaken feel that their undeath is an illness or curse and long for a cure , but many think it is impossible . There is one case of a sentient undead ( High Inquisitor Fairbanks ) being restored to life , albeit by unrelated reasons . Forsaken with an undead soul can be brought back with raise dead and reincarnate . The spells work normally on them . Resurrection , true resurrection and similar effects restore them to their undead life rather than to the being they were before they became undead . A Forsaken ' s body of this type is undead … and so is its soul , corrupted and changed to such a degree that it belongs to its new body now , rather than its old one . Forsaken priests have the power to restore those foolishly slain in battle , though only to unlife . Nothing short of a miracle can return true life . Notable Forsaken . Present day Forsaken . Reports say Sylvanas moves to and from Northrend ; it ' s unknown if she is scouting for a possible attack on the Lich King , or if she has darker plans . There are rumors that Sylvanas Windrunner is setting up a Forsaken city somewhere in the continent . It seems now with the threat of the Lich King ' s shadow looming greater than ever before , that Sylvanas has built up her forces sufficiently for a direct attack on Northrend . It appears that Sylvanas ' plague is now fully ready for testing on the Scourge . With her navy now apparently on the shores of Northrend , the Forsaken have begun setting up a stronghold from which they can now launch their own unique plague onto the hateful Scourge . In a number of Forsaken under Grand Apothecary Putress broke away from the Horde at the Battle of Angrathar the Wrathgate . While the Horde and Alliance battled the Lich King , Putress triumphantly launched a surprise attack against both factions . At the same time Varimathras successfully pushed the Dark Lady out of the Undercity , however the Horde and Alliance quickly destroyed Varimathras , his demon brothers , and the rebel forsaken in the Battle for the Undercity . New Forsaken . As the Forsaken are undead , that makes it impossible for them to reproduce via biological means . To this extent , the Banshee Queen has employed the val ' kyr after the death of their Lich King , who resurrect enemies who fall in battle to serve the Dark Lady . This makes them different from the first Forsaken , who died by the plague during the Third War or by the Scourge , while these new Forsaken have been risen by the leader of the Forsaken to bolster their numbers . Forsaken speculation . Resurrected forsaken . Beings brought back from death with a prayer , spell , wish or miracle are fully restored to their whole and natural state , usually soon after death . If too much time has passed , it may well be that the difficulty and / or chance of failure of a resurrection spell may increase . The forsaken that are raised to undeath in Deathknell have been dead and rotting for weeks , months , or years . Prayers and spells will restore them to a " living state " , but that state will be the same undeath they have known for so long now .