Gul ' dan Gul ' dan of the Stormreaver Clan was a former orc ish shaman of the Shadowmoon Clan from Draenor , who became the first orcish warlock as well as the founder of the Orcish Horde . Abandoning the ways of shamanism and betraying both his people and his mentor to the demon - lord Kil ' jaeden for personal gain and power , Gul ' dan was directly responsible for the orcs ' fall to demonic enslavement as well as for the Horde ' s invasion of Azeroth . Tutored by the lord of the Burning Legion , he became the founder and master of the Shadow Council as well as the creator of the necromantic terrors known as Death - Knight s . Gul ' dan is considered by many to have been the most cunning and powerful mortal warlock to ever have existed . He often referred to himself as " Darkness Incarnate " and " The Destroyer of Dreams " . In an attempt to resurrect the dark god Sargeras using Illidan Stormrage ' s soul the warlock was finally killed by Illidan after his spell was reversed by adventurers . Biography . Harbingers : Gul ' dan . Little is known of Gul ' dan ' s early history except that he was originally born on Draenor . No one now living has heard of the village where Gul ' dan was born . He was born crippled , weak and deformed , which made him a target for constant mockery and abuse ever since his childhood . He knew that he was meant for more than his clan would ever allow of him , and he hated them for it . One day , the other clan members grew so tired of the runt ' s refusal to accept his place in the clan that they beat him repeatedly in an attempt to rid themselves of him once and for all . As the chieftain was about to beat him again , the elderly shaman of the clan stopped him , saying that he had tried and failed to help Gul ' dan find his place in the clan . Laying a hand on Gul ' dan ' s shoulder , the elder said , not unkindly , that there was nothing more he could do for him , but that he had always believed there was greatness within him . He then advised the runt to seek out the Throne of the Elements , for perhaps there he would find his destiny . In response , Gul ' dan angrily beat his hand away . The chieftain then banished Gul ' dan to the wastes outside the village , saying that there he would come to understand what it meant to have no people . After months of starvation and wandering alone through the wastes , Gul ' dan began to consider that the safety of a clan might be better than endless suffering . The bitterness that had sustained him all his life ate at him until nothing was left . After barely fighting off a group of giant carrion birds , he collapsed onto the ground . When he awoke , he heeded the old shaman ' s words and made his way to the Throne of the Elements , where he offered himself in the service of whatever would end his anguish . In response , the spirits of fire , earth , water and air erupted from the standing stones and began to swirl around him like rays of light . Just as he was about to touch them , the elements mysteriously recoiled from him , and the ray of light twisted into a tendril of shadow before vanishing . The elements had abandoned him , and Gul ' dan was alone once again as rain began to pour . A single drop fell from his forehead into the pool of water in which he was kneeling , and in the absence of the furies , other voices began to whisper . They offered him a gift , and in return , he would become the harbinger of their fury . When Gul ' dan returned to his village , he was draped in tattered robes , the clan elder and the chieftain spotted him , the latter furiously approached him , saying that Gul ' dan was never allowed to return to his people . In reply , Gul ' dan roared that he has no people , before gripping the chieftain ' s face and causing him to erupt with fel energy , instantly killing him . Gul ' dan then went on a rampage , burning down his village and killing all of his former brethren . When Gul ' dan saw the shaman who had saved his life months earlier , he gripped his shoulder and thanked him , saying that he had found his destiny , before killing him as well . He then claimed the shaman ' s staff and left the burning ruins of his birthplace behind forever . Rise of the Horde . A member of the Shadowmoon clan , Gul ' dan showed extraordinary talent with his new found power that he obtained and began to work with the elemental powers of shamanism . Because of this , he was chosen as the honored apprentice to the elder shaman Ner ' zhul , chieftain of the Shadowmoon Clan and spiritual leader of the orcs . As Ner ' zhul rallied the orcs for a war against the draenei at the behest of Kil ' jaeden ( hiding behind the facade of a powerful ancestor referred to as " The Beautiful One " ) , Gul ' dan supported Ner ' zhul fully . However , when Ner ' zhul began to notice that they could no longer call upon the power of the elements or the ancestors , the shaman began to sense something was amiss . He discovered at Oshu ' gun that he had been duped by Kil ' jaeden and attempted to back out . To Ner ' zhul ' s horror , he discovered that Gul ' dan had seen everything at Oshu ' gun and told Kil ' jaeden of it all before Ner ' zhul returned . Kil ' jaeden approached Gul ' dan and offered him the chance to become a master of warlocks ' magic , on the condition that he help bring the orcs under his banner . Gul ' dan accepted with no qualms whatsoever , and immediately began the work of reshaping the orcs , hitherto a collection of simple shamanistic clans , into an unstoppable and bloodthirsty Horde . The Horde and the Shadow Council . As a necessity of his bid for power , Gul ' dan trained a number of like - minded and powerful orcs , whom he named the Shadow Council . The Council was soon using its power and influence to direct almost every aspect of orc society , so as to distract those few who opposed the dark ideals of their masters , Gul ' dan and Kil ' jaeden . He even founded and created his own clan , the Stormreavers , who were loyal only to him . However , this clan was not founded until sometime later . To seal the bargain between him and Kil ' jaeden , Gul ' dan and the Shadow Council offered the clan chieftains the Blood of Mannoroth . This corrupted the Horde further , making it all the more bloodthirsty , barbaric , and evil , becoming a veritable extension of the demons whom they now worshiped . As a test of the Horde ' s strength , Gul ' dan and the Shadow Council guided the orcs into murdering every single draenei they could find on their homeworld ; their near - extermination proved to Kil ' jaeden that the orcs were ready for the next slaughter . It was at some point during these proceedings that Gul ' dan acquired the loyalty of Garona Halforcen . The First War . Eventually , Gul ' dan was contacted by the mad sorcerer Medivh - possessed by the Dark Titan Sargeras - who offered him the promise of godhood , locked away within the Tomb of Sargeras , if he would use the Horde to conquer Azeroth ( Sargeras ' ulterior motive , however , was to regain possession of his body ) . Gul ' dan agreed , and , with the assistance of the Shadow Council , he helped Medivh open the Dark Portal between Azeroth and Draenor . Over the next few years , Gul ' dan and his ogre - mage apprentice Cho ' gall would secretly manipulate the Horde as it rampaged across Azeroth . Gul ' dan manipulated the election of Blackhand as the Horde ' s new warchief , as he was the perfect pawn for the Shadow Council . Though Blackhand was competent in battle and a relatively sound tactician , he was extremely lustful — and thus easy for Gul ' dan to control . Gul ' dan saw the Horde led to supremacy over most of the Kingdom of Azeroth , but on the eve of the final siege of Stormwind , Gul ' dan was aware of a raiding party against Medivh ' s tower of Karazhan . Realizing that the Azerothians intended to slay the Guardian , Gul ' dan hastily ransacked Medivh ' s mind for the Tomb ' s location . He was still deep within the Guardian ' s thoughts when Lothar and Khadgar killed him , ending Medivh ' s treachery and forcing Gul ' dan into a coma . Without the counsel of Gul ' dan , Blackhand was easily slain by Orgrim Doomhammer , who , with information acquired from an interrogated and tortured Garona , proceeded to slaughter Gul ' dan ' s warlocks and the majority of the Shadow Council . The Second War . Gul ' dan awoke from the coma with only Cho ' gall , the Twilight ' s Hammer , and his necrolyte s still loyal to him ; Blackhand , the Shadow Council , and the warlocks were dead , and Garona and the other clans had betrayed him . Garona ' s betrayal of course had been forced . Doomhammer was willing to spare Gul ' dan ' s life , despite his gut feeling that he ' d regret his decision , and even let him run Balor and the ruins of Stormwind Castle in exchange for information in regards to Blackhand ' s followers . This was simple enough ; Rend and Maim hadn ' t professed continued loyalty to Gul ' dan , so the warlock had no qualms about betraying them . Gul ' dan informed Doomhammer that the raider s were preparing to join the sons of Blackhand and stage a coup against him , as Blackhand had once been a raider himself . Whether this information was true or not , not even Gul ' dan was certain , but it was possible , and Doomhammer disbanded the raiders and placed them among the many grunt regiments . As a token of his " loyalty " to the new warchief , Gul ' dan promised to create an army of undead riders loyal to him and him alone . Gul ' dan and his necrolytes , led by Rakmar Sharpfang , tried to raise the dead Stormwind knights into the death knights but failed continuously . Gul ' dan became frustrated and found another way : with Cho ' gall ' s help , Gul ' dan joined his necrolytes in a powerful ritual and , at the height of the incantation , slaughtered each and every one . Storing their souls in green , glowing gems and embedding the jewels into truncheons , Gul ' dan then bound them to the slain Knights of Stormwind , creating the dreaded death knights . Though this fulfilled his promise to Doomhammer , the death knights were ultimately loyal to their creator . After , Doomhammer ambivalently left Gul ' dan to his own devices , preoccupied by the war . Betrayal and death . Ultimately , Gul ' dan ' s thirst for power proved to be the Horde ' s undoing . On the eve of Doomhammer ' s attack on Lordaeron ' s capital , Gul ' dan took the Stormreaver and Twilight ' s Hammer clans and set out to sea to locate the Tomb of Sargeras . With nearly half of his standing forces suddenly gone , Doomhammer was forced to retreat and hunt down the traitorous warlock . This reprieve would ultimately give the Alliance time to regroup and retaliate . Gul ' dan did indeed locate the Tomb , and used his power to raise it from the ocean floor . Taking with him his most capable followers , Gul ' dan cast open the doors and entered . He did not , however , find the godhood he was promised . Instead , he was torn to shreds by a swarm of insane demons that the tomb ' s opening had unleashed . The remainder of his clans were slaughtered upon Doomhammer ' s arrival . In those last moments , Gul ' dan realized that he , like his former mentor , had just been Sargeras ' pawn , lured by promises of power to facilitate the Dark Titan ' s agenda . Gul ' dan ' s memories survived within the fel magic of his skull , along with the runes he painted on the walls of the Tomb in his last moments . Illidan found the Tomb using the memories from Gul ' dan ' s skull , while Maiev Shadowsong discovered the runes . When the tomb caved in , Gul ' dan ' s final testament was buried . Possible slayers of Gul ' dan . However , there is also the possibility that the fiends that Gul ' dan encountered in the Tomb of Sargeras were naga . Several pieces of evidence support this theory . At the end of seventeenth chapter in " Tides of Darkness " , a novel by Aaron Rosenberg , there is short description of those fiends as they emerged from the building and attacked orc forces that were sent by Doomhammer to kill Gul ' dan for his betrayal . It describes how one creature had too many limbs and too many joints and altogether too many teeth ; and that it was soon followed by others . In the first part of the twelfth chapter in " Beyond the Dark Portal " , a novel by Aaron Rosenberg & Christie Golden , death knight Ragnok Bloodreaver , Tagar Spinebreaker , chieftain of the Bonechewer Clan , Fenris Wolfbrother , chieftain of the Thunderlord Clan , and other orcs from both clans joined together in a swift assault on the Tomb of Sargeras to claim the Jeweled Scepter of Sargeras . There , they encountered the fiend that was holding the very scepter : " " the creature was so tall that it was forced to hunch within the room beyond . Its skin was scaled and covered in bumps that seemed to ripple , as if somehow its surface were fluid like water . Spikes jutted from the shoulders , the forearms , the chest , and various other places . The over - long arms ended in huge hands with long claws . The face was too narrow at the bottom and too wide at the top , with slanting eyes that glowed a smoky , roiling yellow and a tiny mouth somehow filled with a insane number of razor - sharp teeth . A long tail whipped about behind it " " . That description has very strong similarities with nagas ' appearance , despite the book ' s suggestion that it was a demon from the Nether . During the Sundering , several ancient kal ' dorei capitals were destroyed and Queen Azshara was forced to make a pact with the Old Gods in order to save herself and her people from drowning . The Old Gods used their dark powers on the drowning Highborne and their queen , transforming them into the naga . Since then , the naga have expanded from their sunken empire , and have a wide command of the depths ; because of this , it ' s highly possible that they ' d discovered and dwelt within the Tomb of Sargeras before Gul ' dan and his forces arrived . While this theory has many valid points , it also overlooks quite a few that make it near impossible as well . Later in the same chapter the " demon " is described as have legs with claws on them . Unfortunately , no known naga have legs . Also according to both books , " Beyond the Dark Portal " and " Tides of Darkness " , it clearly states that the Tomb of Sargeras cannot be entered by any creature from Azeroth , one of the main reasons the first creature to enter it had to be Gul ' dan , an orc from a different world , Draenor . The Skull of Gul ' dan . After Gul ' dan died , his skull was turned into a channeling totem for demonic energy . A small shard of Gul ' dan ' s soul remained within the bleached bone of the skull , where he whispered to whomever held it ; the warlock proved to still be dangerous , even in death . The skull was used by Ner ' zhul to open portals to other worlds on Draenor , and later by Khadgar to destroy the Dark Portal . After the destruction of the Dark Portal , Khadgar left the skull behind on Draenor in his haste to escape through one of Ner ' zhul ' s rifts . Years later it would appear again on Azeroth , this time used by the Burning Legion to corrupt the forests of Felwood . After learning of its existence from Arthas the death knight , Illidan Stormrage found and took the skull , absorbing its power , remaining only half night elf and becoming half demon . The skull remained in Illidan ' s possession until he was slain . World of Warcraft . A vision of Gul ' dan can be seen at the Altar of Damnation of Shadowmoon Valley in what is now Outland — the remnants of Draenor . The altar lies in front of a massive volcano known as the Hand of Gul ' dan . The repeating vision appears to depict an event prior to the opening of the Dark Portal , where according to the Earthen Ring , the volcano was raised from the valley floor by Gul ' dan himself when he severed the orcish people ' s connection to the elemental spirits of Draenor . The volcano is the reason the valley , once an idyllic forest shrouded by eternal night , became a barren volcanic wasteland . Warlords of Draenor and escape . Gul ' dan was effectively revived when Garrosh used a time portal to Draenor of the past to give characters of that time access to Azeroth via the Dark Portal . Although the Dark Portal was closed from the Draenor side before Gul ' dan could cross over , he continued to operate in Draenor , eventually taking over the Iron Horde from Garrosh and Grommash . Although he was defeated , he escaped to Azeroth through a Legion Portal , that he created to summon Archimonde from the remains of alternate Draenor ' s Dark Portal . The Broken Isles and return of the Legion and Death . After escaping , he fled to the Broken Isles , found Illidan Stormrage , and presumably freed him from his secret containment in the Vault of the Wardens . Sometime before or after these events , Gul ' dan uses the Tomb of Sargeras to open anew a massive portal above it that allows strange flying demon ships to emerge and the largest force of demons Azeroth has ever seen . The Alliance and Horde hastily assemble their forces to launch a near simultaneous assault on the Broken Shore in an attempt to enter the Tomb of Sargeras and halt the invading Burning Legion . Gul ' dan summons a monstrous demon , Krosus , to apparently kill Tirion Fordring and battle the forces of Azeroth . A confluence of events exacerbated by lack of communications between the two factions leads to their retreat . Both King Varian Wrynn and Vol ' jin are wounded . Sylvanas withdraws the Horde at Vol ' jin ' s implicit request and Varian orders the pullback of the Alliance , thinking the Horde has betrayed them . Gul ' dan personally executes Varian after he is wounded by several Fel Guards , obliterating the King of Stormwind ' s body with a burst of fel magic after hearing his defiant last words . He then attempts to use Illidan ' s body as a vessel for the Dark Titan Sargeras . Due to duping the Grand Magistrix of Suramar , Elisande , by the Legion , he was able to start the incantation in the Nighthold . He is interrupted by Khadgar and a group of heroes . After a long fight , Illidan ' s soul is returned to his body , allowing the demon hunter to end the spell . He then uses fel energy to destroy Gul ' dan and crushes the skull in his hand , ending the warlock ' s reign of terror for good . Personality . Gul ’ dan possesses an unquenchable thirst for power and a ruthless personality . Equally willing to manipulate friend and foe alike , he constantly tries to better his station in life through any means possible . Even though Gul ’ dan constantly tends to be embroiled in many different plots and schemes , his overarching goal is always to discover the location of the Tomb of Sargeras and to claim the dark titan ’ s powers for himself . Nothing else matters in comparison to this quest , and Gul ’ dan is willing to betray his own people and sacrifice his closest friends to achieve it . Gul ’ dan can only be trusted to do what is in his own best interests . He often freely offers wealth to people in exchange for clues or information that might be useful , and then has them killed and reclaims his payment . Gul ’ dan only truly trusts people who are like himself — those who are openly ambitious and who will do anything to improve their lot in life . He feels that those people can be most easily predicted and manipulated through offers of wealth or prestige . It is the people who serve higher moral or religious powers that he fears . They are often resistant to his lures , and in Gul ’ dan ’ s eyes can never be completely trusted or relied upon . Because of this , he tends to associate most easily with mages , sorcerers , rogues and scouts and dislikes druids , priests and paladins . His allegiance is with the Horde , and he is openly hostile to members of the Alliance races unless they are key to something Gul ’ dan desires . Combat . Gul ’ dan summons monsters to distract and harass his foes before entering melee with his demon staff against foes that have been isolated by his divide - and - conquer tactics . Powers and abilities . Gul ' dan is widely agreed to be one of the most powerful mortals who ever existed . Brann believes that " Gul ’ dan became the most powerful mortal warlock in history " . Medivh acknowledged that Gul ' dan was the single most powerful warlock among his people . Both are likely correct ; The Skull of Gul ' dan remained an incredibly powerful focus of warlock magic for decades after the Orc ' s death . He also was responsible for raising the gigantic fel volcano known as the Hand of Gul ' dan after severing the Orcs ' ties to the elemental spirits of Draenor . Gul ' dan was also able to the Sketh ' lon arakkoa with a single spell that not only destroyed their camps , but twisted their spirits too .