Archimonde Archimonde ( pronounced " Ark - i - mond " ) was the left hand of the fallen titan Sargeras . Archimonde was one of the greatest and darkest of the eredar . His ruthless and cunning personality quickly earned him station and power within the eredar ranks , until finally he was one of the first among them . He is described as one of the lieutenants and generals of Sargeras . He is voiced by David Lodge in " " , " " and " " . Biography . Twenty - five thousand years ago , Archimonde was one of the three leaders ( the others being Kil ' jaeden and Velen ) of the eredar homeworld of Argus . The three rulers were contacted by Sargeras and offered immense power in exchange for their loyalty . Archimonde and Kil ' jaeden readily accepted the offer , though Velen not only rejected it , but rebelled and fled Argus with his followers to become the Draenei . Archimonde was appointed as the field commander of the Legion ' s forces , directing troop movements and overseeing military invasions . Kil ' jaeden was charged with more covert operations and recruiting new races and minions into the Legion . Due to their positions , Kil ' jaeden and Archimonde each built their own hierarchy of demons that acted as if competitors . Pit lords , doomguard s , and eminences served under Archimonde and the dreadlords , while risen terror s and shadow priest s followed Kil ' jaeden . The War of the Ancients . Some fifteen thousand years later , when Queen Azshara ' s reckless magics began to attract the attention of Sargeras , Archimonde , Mannoroth , and Hakkar the Houndmaster led the catastrophic , destructive invasion . With thousands of demonic servants in their wake , they poured through the portal beneath the Well of Eternity , and were let loose upon the ancient land of Kalimdor — razing every structure and spilling the blood of every creature they came across . However , a Priestess - Tyrande Whisperwind together with a Druid — Malfurion Stormrage and his twin brother — Illidan Stormrage - gathered a small band of night elves , such as the Shadowleaves , and with the help of Cenarius ' woodland allies combined with Alexstrasza ' s mighty dragon flights , managed to beat back the demonic hordes . In the titanic battle , the portal became unstable and collapsed — sundering the world . This event banished Archimonde and his minions back into the burning pits of the Twisting Nether . The Second Invasion . Preparations . Archimonde brooded for ten thousand years in the dark recesses of the Twisting Nether as they planned for a new invasion . His colleague , Kil ' jaeden , found the means through Ner ' zhul and , eventually , Gul ' dan , on the world of Draenor . With Mannoroth ' s sinister help , the chieftains of the orc ish Hordes were corrupted , and a bloodlust came over them that swept them into a tumultuous frenzy that engulfed their world . The orcs were to be the harbinger of the Legion ' s return , destroying all they beheld so that none could oppose the Legion . However , after the exodus into Azeroth and Draenor ' s eventual destruction , the Horde was defeated by the human s of former Arathor and their allies , and the orcs failed in their unholy mission . However , an old tool was found that could once again be put to use . Ner ' zhul , the dark shaman of the Shadowmoon Clan , was sent spiraling with his most faithful disciples into the Twisting Nether after attempting to find new worlds to control , and he was found by Kil ' jaeden and the Burning Legion . Over time , he was transformed into the Lich King , an ethereal spirit that controlled the undead Scourge , a force so mighty , that it was expected to succeed where the Horde had failed . They exceeded expectations . Archimonde was to command the Legion ' s invasion , but he needed the means of getting to Azeroth . Due to his monumental power much more magic was needed to summon him , and he waited until finally he was contacted by Kel ' Thuzad the Summoner , who , after stealing the Book of Medivh from Dalaran , began the lengthy summoning process . As he proceeded , the skies were split asunder , and mighty infernal s and felhound s were brought to aid the Scourge . Finally , it was completed , and Archimonde was brought into the world of Azeroth . Invasion in Lordaeron and Kalimdor . Archimonde first placed Tichondrius in charge of the Scourge , saying that there was no longer any need of the Lich King . Unknown to him , the Lich King had been well prepared for this in his greater plan . Then , Archimonde proceeded to single - handedly destroy the city of Dalaran . The invasion of Lordaeron continued unabated , the magics of Archimonde summoned hordes of demonic followers , including the diabolical Pit Lord , Mannoroth . Together , they plowed through the nations of Lordaeron , devastating all they beheld . However , Tichondrius soon found that the orcs were missing . The Legion followed them across the sea , where they found not only the orcs but also , the vile night elves who had banished them millennia before . Archimonde , Mannoroth , and Tichondrius came up with a plot to re - enslave the orcs and use them to destroy the night elves ' demigod Cenarius . The plan was partially successful . Mannoroth corrupted Grom Hellscream and the Warsong clan and drove them to slay Cenarius . However , Hellscream later broke free and sacrificed himself to destroy Mannoroth , thus severing the Legion ' s control over the orcs permanently . Despite Mannoroth ' s death , Archimonde had achieved what he wanted - the destruction of Cenarius . He launched the invasion of Kalimdor and openly confronted his night elf enemies . He even met Tyrande , the leader of the Kaldorei people at this point and of the Sentinels , who woke all the ancient druids including Malfurion , and together , they battled the Legion once again . The Defiler continued the invasion of Kalimdor ruthlessly , battling on many fronts , against the combined forces of the Alliance and Horde , as well as the Sentinels . Under Archimonde ' s orders , Tichondrius used The Skull of Gul ' dan to corrupt the forests of Ashenvale , bringing many of the indigenous creatures into the Legion ' s fold . However , the Legion suffered a major setback when the rogue night elf Illidan Stormrage stole the Skull and used its powers to kill Tichondrius . Archimonde seemed to have little concern for this loss , and placed his most loyal Dreadlord , Anetheron in joint command of the Scourge with Rage Winterchill , one of the few trustworthy liches . Defiler ' s End . Archimonde then proceeded with the original objective of the invasion . The demonlord launched a massive attack on the World Tree , Nordrassil . By draining the Tree ' s energies , not only would his demonic Legion be able to drain the night elves of their source of power and immortality , but Archimonde would gain untold powers rivaling those of Sargeras . But Tyrande and Malfurion had allied with Thrall and Jaina Proudmoore , as well as the Shadowtooth Dark Trolls and the Barkskin Furbolgs . Archimonde ' s ascent up Mount Hyjal was agonizingly slow , being forced to destroy every successive base with the help of Azgalor ( Mannoroth ' s successor as leader of the Pit Lords ) Rage Winterchill and Anetheron . The bases , consisting of the humans , orcs and night elves , did slow his ascent — however , his cunning mind and monumental power enabled the Legion to destroy the bases one by one . First he destroyed Jaina Proudmoore ' s base , then Thrall ' s base , and finally he reached the night elves ' base which he destroyed easily with a wave of his hand . Archimonde smashed the magical gates guarding the World Tree and started climbing the Tree . He grew in size as he climbed , determined to destroy the World Tree and consume its energies . The demonlord paid no attention to the seemingly harmless wisps gathering nearby . As Archimonde attempted to drain the World Tree , Malfurion raised the Horn of Cenarius and called out to the ancestral guardians . Thousands of wisps rose from the surrounding forests and amassed around Archimonde , detonating in a massive explosion that destroyed the demon warlock and incinerated the forests around the World Tree ; nature herself would not allow his defilement to occur . While the World Tree would eventually heal itself in time , Archimonde was gone from Azeroth forever . In Burning Crusade . The Burning Crusade expansion opens the Caverns of Time to players , and the crowning event of the instance is the attempt to ensure that the Battle of Mount Hyjal goes as planned . Archimonde is not , as was previously said , an un - killable raid boss , but players fight Archimonde ' s army of undead and demons until the final moments of the battle . See and Battle for Mount Hyjal for more information . In Warlords of Draenor . In the alternate timeline on Draenor , Archimonde cared little for Kil ' jaeden ' s vendetta against Velen and the draenei , he saw in Draenor an opportunity . Believing that the time for subtlety had passed , Archimonde took command of the Burning Legion ' s invasion on the planet . He handled things much more forcefully than Kil ' jaeden . Hellfire Citadel . As the Alliance and Horde forces , along with their allies , laid siege to Hellfire Citadel , Archimonde was summoned by the Warlock Gul ' dan . He was defeated by Khadgar , Yrel , Grommash , and a group of adventurer s . As he collapsed , with his dying breath he yelled to Gul ' dan that " he made a pact " . With the last of his power , Archimonde fired a beam of fel energy at Gul ' dan , lifting him into the air and tossing him through the The Black Gate as the portal crumbled . Personality . Archimonde was extremely brutal , and often killed his underlings when they failed him , or just to alleviate his own frustration . While he seemed to be more forgiving of failures of the underlings that he could not replace , his brutal nature was enough of a motivation not to fail him . Although he was highly intelligent , his arrogance and his inability to keep his anger in check proved a fatal flaw . His inability to keep his ego out of the equation was exploited by Malfurion Stormrage at the Battle of Mount Hyjal .