The Fall of Lordaeron Briefing . " The alabaster parapets of Lordaeron ' s capital loom before you in the distance . The proud , defiant armies of the Alliance stand resolute in their final , fleeting moments . " " All that remains is the shrill , clarion call to battle and the fulfillment of our destiny . The tides of darkness are now at hand ! " Battle . Background . In preparation for the impending attack , King Terenas ordered his guards to try to get all the people , and their belongings behind city walls . Many had abandoned their homes with little but the clothes on their back and tools and other professions they had on them when they fled . They knew their homes would be destroyed , and would have to be rebuilt later . He had few men to defend the city walls , as most had left with Lothar , as the king had not expected the Horde to attack the city . The Horde offensive . Urok Scratcher and his commander were among the forces sent to destroy Capital City . Urok ' s unit chose to again rely on dragons to sack most of the capital . The most suitable site for the roosts was on the island where their troops had already made a successful landing . Though they already had a base started , the encampment soon fell to a constant stream of raiders . So new construction began near the mine on the island . This was far enough inland that only gryphon s could harass the base , and those were taken care of by numerous guard tower s and troll s . All the structures necessary to develop dragon roost s were built first . Four roosts were launching the terrible beasts into the air . Once they had eight of them flying , their first targets were the numerous enemy troops stationed near the center of the island . For some odd reason the Alliance forces never organized a land attack . Next came their navy , which never stood a chance , it was destroyed by so many firebreathers flying together . Though the Alliance destroyer s managed to bring down a few , these were replaced quickly . The assault continued with the removal of their shipyard s . A protective circle of guard towers made the attacks on the center of the capital prohibitely expensive , but little was left to hinder an amphibious landing . While the dragons incinerated towers and cleared a wide section of the coastline for landing , the rest of the forces constructed a shipyard and accompanying structures to produce two transport s . These made a standard assault on the mainland with four catapult s , seven ogre s and a single peon to raise a barracks . The dragons then concentrated on mobile units , while the catapults methodically removed stationary targets near shore and later focused on the guard towers so the reptiles could focus on the interior . Urok was sure it would be an easy victory , and that it was the Horde ' s destiny to devour the world . King Terenas witnessed the Horde swarm across the lake . Some had crossed over by use of rough bridges . From his vantage point he couldn ' t see any siege weapons other than a log to be used as a battering ram . As the orcs reached the walls , Terenas ordered the soldiers to drop hot oil on the orcs . The remaining soldiers tipped large cauldrons over the ramparts letting the boiling oil pour down the side of the walls . The oil spilled across the leading orcs , drenching them completely . They screamed in pain as it burned away their flesh . The entire front rank crumpled , writhing and twitching . A few staggered away but most were dead . The Alliance forces prepared more oil to drop on the heads of the Horde . While the oil would run after a few more attempts by the horde , they knew they had plenty of food and supplies and would be able hold out during a long siege if need be . The Alliance forces under Turalyon reached the valley leading to Lordaeron . They had ridden hard , with Khadgar and cavalry , with the infantry marching behind them . They had traveled west through the foothills of Hearthglen and emerged north of Capital City , so they could swing back down and come at the city from the wide plain behind it , where the main gates were located . The Alliance forces clashed with the besieging Horde forces , the horsemen scattering the front line while the Lordaeron defenders rained arrow and fire down on the orcs . The success lasted for sometime until the overwhelming might of the Horde forced them back . The knights were forced back by the sheer number of the Horde for every orc they kill , another would appear with three more beside him . The Horde managed to push them across the river and left a portion to hold them while the rest turned to pound the city walls . Slowly the orcs started to climb up the walls and bring down the defenders one by one with ammunition started to run dangerously low . Meanwhile , Thoras Trollbane who led his surviving warriors to aid his old friend arrived in the mountains . Knowing that he needed to do something quick to prevent the whole Horde from arriving into Lordaeron , the Stromgarde king personally led his soldiers to attack and block the passes . Though the Horde already had the strength enough to storm the city , this small action would prove to be deadly later . At Lordaeron , the battle raged even fiercer and the gates were starting to crack . Terenas ordered the gates to be blocked with everything they had , knowing that they were not going to hold for long . Alliance victory . Just as the gates were about to fall , Doomhammer received news that Gul ' dan had taken the rest of Horde across the sea . The warchief saw that despite the fact that the city was about to fall , he had already lost a large number of his standing troops . Desperate , he quickly ordered his reserves to the field only to find them already slaughtered by Stromgardian knights and warriors . Though knowing that they did not have the numbers to stand against the Alliance , Doomhammer nevertheless ordered the Blacktooth Grin , which provided a bulk of the standing troops to track down Gul ' dan , hoping that he had done the right thing . This action was all the Alliance needed and the human knights and elven rangers crossed the bridge clashing with the surviving orcs . With no sign of reinforcement and cornered by the Alliance and Lordaeron forces on one side and Stromgarde troops on the other , the standing orc forces retreated . The Alliance had won . Horde victory ( original ending ) . Orcs and trolls entered the Capital City , they killed every human , proceeded to the Throne Room and assassinated King Terenas , then red dragons burned down the keep .