Genn Greymane

**Genn Greymane** appeared in the 1994 videogame called *WarCraft*. Genn Greymane (sometimes spelled as "**Graymane**") is the current King of Gilneas, and one of the original founders of the Alliance of Lordaeron. He is a large bearish man, a brawny warrior with thick features, a heavy beard, and black and gray armor. Greymane has also been noted for being stubborn, proud, strong-willed, cunning, and arrogant.

During the Second War, Greymane met with the other human leaders at Capital City to hear of Stormwind's fall at the hands of the orcish Horde. Greymane joined the other human leaders in forming the Alliance of Lordaeron to counter the Horde threat, but due to his pride, he offered only token support. After the conclusion of the Second War, Greymane chafed at using Gilnean taxes to help pay for the orc internment camps and Nethergarde Keep. Following the liberation of the orcs from internment camps by the New Horde, Greymane decided that Gilneas could not and would not pay for the wars of other nations, so he withdrew Gilneas from the Alliance, ordered the construction of the Greymane Wall and isolated Gilneas from the rest of the world.

Around the time of the Third War, Greymane instructed Archmage Arugal, a Dalaran wizard loyal to Gilneas, to summon feral worgen to protect Gilneas from the Scourge threat. The plan backfired, and the worgen curse would eventually run rampant among the Gilnean population. In the time between the Third War and the War against the Lich King, the number of those afflicted with the Worgen curse had grown and were now attacking Gilneas City. To counter the threat, Greymane helped to defend the city and aided in the evacuation of citizens to Duskhaven. In the aftermath, Greymane faced the dual threats of the Cataclysm and the Forsaken invasion, culminating in the battle to retake Gilneas City, where he witnessed the death of his son and heir, Liam, at the hands of Sylvanas Windrunner.

Humbled by his son's death and the devastation of his kingdom, Greymane accepted the aid of the night elves, who had offered to relocate Gilnean survivors to Darnassus. In a fit of stubbornness, Greymane was against formally rejoining the Alliance until he had almost lost his wife and daughter during the crossing. Following the formal establishment of diplomatic ties with King Varian Wrynn, Greymane became a staunch supporter of the Alliance, adding the ferocity of the Gilneans to the considerable might of the Alliance, and intending one day to reclaim his lost kingdom.

While Greymane himself became a close friend of Varian, his death during the assault on the Broken Shore, partly a consequence of the actions of Sylvanas, only intensified Greymane's burning hate for the new Warchief of the Horde. Their rivalry would come to define the brewing animosity between the Alliance and the Horde during the Broken Isles campaign and the third invasion of the Burning Legion. During the Fourth War, Greymane became an advisor to King Anduin Wrynn and assisted him in leading Alliance forces to the liberation of Lordaeron, as well as rallying his people to a new strength, going on the offensive to reclaim their homeland from their perennial foes.