The Trolls and the Horde The Trolls and the Horde are short essays included as part of the Troll Compendium on the old official site . It is reproduced here , in case the archive of the pages disappears . The Trolls and the Horde . Below you can read the story of how the trolls came to join the Horde and of their history within it . Beginning with the Second War , continuing through the enslavement of the orcs and the renaissance of the Horde under Thrall , and up to the death of Sen ' jin and the settling in Durotar , the trolls have played a vital role in the history of the Horde . Forest Trolls and the First Horde . Early in the Second War , the isolationist elves took little interest in the war ' s progress and provided only token support to the Alliance of Lordaeron . Then Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer offered the forest trolls a place in the Horde . If the trolls accepted , Doomhammer promised that the Horde would vanquish the high elves and assist the forest trolls in reestablishing the Amani empire . The forest trolls ' leader , Zul ' jin , declined the tempting offer at first . As a famous hero of the Amani tribe , he had accomplished an amazing feat by uniting all forest trolls under his rule . Still , the forest trolls were primarily interested in fighting the high elves , and Zul ' jin was skeptical about the Horde ' s plans . A short while later , human soldiers captured a war party led by Zul ' jin . When the Horde rescued the trolls , Zul ' jin changed his mind and agreed to an alliance with the Horde . A few tribes of forest trolls joined their new allies on the battlefield . Shortly thereafter , the Horde burned down the borderlands of Quel ’ Thalas and slaughtered many high elf civilians . Furious at this wanton destruction of life , the elves subsequently committed all their resources to the war . By the time the Horde was driven back , however , the orcs and their allies had already achieved their true goal : to steal and desecrate many of the Runestones that powered the elves ’ defensive shield . The warlock Gul ’ dan then used the pilfered stones to power his devious Altars of Storms . Nevertheless , the Alliance ultimately won the Second War , and after a number of additional battles , most of the vanquished orcs on Azeroth were rounded up and placed in internment camps . In the war ' s disastrous aftermath , many forest trolls were furious at the Horde ' s failure to carry out its promise and deserted their former orc allies without a moment ' s hesitation . Today only one tribe of forest trolls - - the Revantusk tribe - - is loosely affiliated with the Horde , much as the Wildhammer clan of dwarves is associated with , and yet not a member of , the Alliance . Although the Second War ended some years ago , the Dragonmaw and Blackrock orc clans and their allies - - among them two tribes of forest trolls - - have not given up trying to defeat humanity . Referred to as the Dark Horde by outsiders , this group is led by the orc Rend Blackhand , who has named himself warchief . A force of approximately five thousand strong , the Dark Horde regards itself as the true Horde , and believes that Thrall and his followers are foolish weaklings . Rend ' s forces reside in Blackrock Spire , and they have allied themselves with the black dragonflight . Rebuilding the Horde . Before the Third War broke out , the courageous orc Thrall escaped his enslavement and began assembling a new Horde . This Horde would make no pacts with demons , nor would Thrall and his orcs seek further conflict with humans . Instead , at the urging of a prophet , Thrall led the revitalized Horde over the sea to Kalimdor . The voyage grew perilous when a violent storm appeared and inflicted heavy damage on the orc fleet . Fearing that the ships would not reach Kalimdor intact , Thrall ordered the Horde to seek shelter in the cove of a nearby island . The elderly leader of the Darkspear trolls , Sen ' jin , greeted the orc newcomers and warned them that a group of humans had established an outpost on the island . Unfortunately the humans were not the only threat on the island . A group of murlocs captured Sen ' jin , Thrall , and several other orcs and trolls . Thrall fought his way out of his prison cell and freed a number of other captives , but by the time he reached Sen ' jin ' s cell , the wise old troll was missing . The murlocs had taken him away in order to sacrifice him to a mysterious sea witch . Despite Thrall ' s best efforts , a murloc sorcerer succeeded in carrying out the sacrifice . Mortally wounded , Sen ' jin revealed that he had seen a vision in which Thrall would lead the Darkspears from the island . The sea witch was furious at the slaughter of her minions and the defilement of her sanctuary . She summoned powerful waves to batter the island . Regardless , Thrall and his forces managed to defeat further murloc attackers , repair the damaged fleet , and retrieve a number of troll survivors . In Sen ’ jin ' s honor , Thrall offered the Darkspears a place in the Horde and sanctuary in the kingdom he planned to establish in Kalimdor . Vol ’ jin , the son of Sen ’ jin , took control of the Darkspear tribe and accepted Thrall ' s offer . After the orcs departed , a large group of Darkspears also sailed for Kalimdor . Vol ' jin and the rest of the tribe weathered the sea witch ' s anger , gathered all the supplies they could take with them , and joined their brethren roughly a year later in the new orc nation , Durotar . They made a home for themselves on the Echo Isles , just off the southeastern coast . Further Turmoil for the Darkspear Tribe . The Darkspears were not to know peace for long . After the Third War , Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore led a large fleet of battleships against Thrall ' s forces on Durotar . Proudmoore could not be convinced that this new Horde was any different from the corrupted Horde of the First War . Under heavy attack , the trolls were forced to evacuate to the mainland of Durotar , but the Horde managed to defeat the misguided admiral . Much relieved , the Darkspear trolls began returning to the Echo Isles , only to be betrayed by one of their own . A witch doctor named Zalazane used dark magic to rob several other trolls of their free will , forcing them to obey him . As his influence spread , his army grew while the number of free Darkspears dwindled . Fearing that all of his people would fall to Zalazane ' s insidious sorcery , Vol ' jin ordered the tribe to abandon the Echo Isles . Thus , the free Darkspear trolls left the islands and created the fishing village of Sen ’ jin on the Durotar coast , just northwest of the Echo Isles . Some Darkspears have remained in the village , and others have ventured farther afield . Vol ' jin himself dwells in Orgrimmar , the capital city of Durotar . Orcs make up the majority of the city ' s inhabitants , but there is a strong troll presence in the Valley of Spirits . Today the Darkspears and their allies frequently strike at Zalazane ' s holdings on the Echo Isles , determined to win back the trolls ' first home on Kalimdor . In the meantime , Zalazane has not given up in his efforts to enslave his entire tribe , and so he continues to send his trolls to the mainland in order to drag further Darkspears under his sway .