I’ve played through the entire new book, I always assumed it was just a meme that he did nothing wrong like in the sense that it was so obvious that he did that it’s funny to say that he didn’t. But no he ACTUALLY did nothing wrong, like at all. What’s going on with that?
I mean, this is Garrosh’s story as told by Garrosh. Of course he’s going to portray himself as having done nothing wrong.
Who did what? I wish there was a skip button. All this slow text jamming my game. Thank eff it was at least heaps better than Rexxar, Rexxar’s deck was just so bad vs last boss
Well Im just gonna assume in my head that this was one of those game of thrones situations where your/our lovable character does something bad and you or we still like him/her.
The story is well rushed and nothing unexpected.
And if you wanna know more just read the wow lore I guess.
What happened in WoW (from my memory) is that he invaded pandaria, started killing the pandas there, tried to have vol’jin assassinated, Bombed Theramore, wanted everyone who didnt agree with his “perfect horde” killed (including other horde members). All of this to conquer Azeroth.
There might be some things missing but this is what i remember
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google “unreliable narrator”
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Because attacking the city of someone you were at peace with and razing it is perfectly normal behaviour.
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Garrosh attacked the Alliance unprovoked and enslaved his own people.
He also almost destroyed an otherwise peaceful land for his own malicious intent (Pandaria)
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I mean… he killed his grandma because she was mad at him. How much more wrong can you get?
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For me personally, book of heroes is a missed opportunity. The story telling is notoriously bad especially with Garrosh one. It also has very little replayability and boring deck which sometimes relies on you drawing well to win. At least the later bosses do not have mana cheating mechanic like in dungeon run
If you want a true reflection of Garrosh story you better read the book or some extensive wiki summary. It is just too much to be included in game, even wow struggles to tell all the details and can even misinterpret a lot of things such as portraying strong characters in a wrong way and make them look weak and useless.
The story in hearthstone can’t explain the rationale, or any leading up events or after math even, that can portray characters personality and reasoning. It’s not too bad, but don’t rely on hearthstone alone if you are interested in lore. There are so many free resources online and even videos!
It will tell you why Garrosh did what he did, why he thought it was the right thing to do, and how he became what he was. To me, the character is very well designed in book storytelling, and one of the few that stays true to his view from beginning to end (even when some of what he did was definitely wrong)
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They skip over some stuff, which is to be expected when you only have 8 bosses worth of Book to summarize a story several WoW expansions long, but which might make it seem like Garrosh wasn’t so bad.
For example: it was Garrosh’s idea to invade Gilneas, and Gilneas had chosen to isolate itself behind a wall. They really weren’t doing anything wrong themselves, and they didn’t join the Alliance until the Horde attacked them. (Gilneas WAS a part of the old Alliance from Warcraft II, but that was back then.)
But, of what is shown in the Book, we have the following. Now, I haven’t quite finished it yet; I just got done with Anduin and listened to Garrosh narrate the intro to the Thrall fight. I think I know enough to comment on the story as shown, though:
-Killing Cairne Bloodhoof:
This happened before Blizzard decided to make Garrosh a straight-up villain, so in this particular case it wasn’t really his fault. Magatha DID poison Gorehowl without Garrosh’s knowledge. Cairne was actually winning the fight until Garrosh managed to cut him once, and then the poison did him in.
Having said that, Mak’gora doesn’t have to be a battle to the death, and usually it hadn’t been before now. (As a matter of fact, Garrosh had previously challenged Thrall to a non-lethal Mak’gora, with the winner getting to be Warchief and the loser being banged up but still alive. There was no winner, if you’re wondering; Orgrimmar got attacked by the Scourge while they were in the middle of their duel, but it looked like Garrosh had Thrall on the ropes.)
The reason this particular Mak’gora was to the death was because after Cairne threw down the challenge, Garrosh insisted that if they were to fight, then they would do it under the old laws. Meaning death for the loser. And Cairne said this:
If you ask me to fight under the old rules, son of Hellscream, then know that you have done nothing but unfetter my hands . I sought only to teach you a lesson. I will regret depriving the Horde of such a fine warrior, but you cannot be allowed to destroy everything Thrall has worked for. To undermine the sacrifices the honored dead have made. All in the name of your own personal glory. I will not have it, do you hear me? I repeat my challenge. The mak’gora - the traditional way. To the death!
To his credit, Garrosh WAS angry at Magatha for what she did, and he sent her this note:
Unto Elder Crone Magatha of the Grimtotem,
Acting Warchief of the Horde, Garrosh Hellscream,
Sends his most sincere wishes for a slow and painful death.
It has come to my attention that you have deprived me of a rightful kill. Cairne Bloodhoof was a hero to the Horde and an honorable member of a usually honorable race. It is with disgust and anger that I discover you have caused me to bring about his death through accidental treachery.
Such tactics may work well for your renegade, honorless tribe and Alliance scum, but I despise them. It was my wish to fight Cairne fairly, and win or lose by my own skill or lack of it. Now I shall never know, and the cry of traitor will dog my steps until such time as I can sport your head on a pike and point to you as the real traitor.
So…no. I will not be sending any truehearted orcs to fight alongside your treacherous, belly-crawling tribe. Your victory or your defeat is in the hands of your Earth Mother now. Either way, I look forward to hearing of your demise.
You are on your own, Magatha, as friendless and disliked as you have ever been. Perhaps more. Enjoy your loneliness.
-Blowing up Theramore with the Mana Bomb.
You can actually argue that this one was sort of justified; although the Book doesn’t mention it, the Alliance did attack and raze the Horde settlement of Camp Taurajo before this. So Garrosh might have thought “Okay, if they’re gonna destroy one of our towns, and if they got their forces to that town by having them go through Theramore, then it makes sense to attack Theramore. Both to prevent anything like that from happening again, and also as revenge.”
Nevertheless, you could also argue that Theramore was worse, because the Mana Bomb killed more civilians than the attack on Taurajo; while civilians did die at Taurajo, the Alliance commander made sure to leave everybody an escape route. It turned out that there were other things dangerous to the tauren along that escape route that killed more of them, but he didn’t know that at the time.
-Fighting Anduin over the Divine Bell:
There’s a LOT to get into here, what with Pandaria being the home of these dangerous spirits called the Sha (which are mentioned in the fight), and Garrosh trying to harness them as a weapon, and before the end of the expansion destroying an entire zone and killing many of the people inside it in order to get the Heart of Y’shaarj (which was the source of the Sha).
But here’s what Garrosh did wrong there, and while these aren’t really war crimes they at least make him a jerk. In WoW, Garrosh had a blademaster with him named Ishi, and he used the Divine Bell to infuse Ishi with Sha energy to make him stronger.
Problem: this caused Ishi to go crazy and attack the player, regardless of whether that player was Alliance (understandable, and Garrosh approved) or Horde (NOT what Garrosh wanted, as you can guess). Either way, through the whole fight Garrosh is urging Ishi to try and regain control of himself, without any success.
Obviously you win the fight and Ishi is killed. Ishi just wanted to serve his Warchief well, and with his dying breath:
Ishi says: Warchief! I… I have failed you.
Garrosh walks away from the bell and stands in the center of the platform.
Garrosh Hellscream says: Yes, Ishi. You have.
So, that was kind of dickish of him.
Right after that is when Anduin uses the Mallet of Harmony to make the Divine Bell useless, and Garrosh tries to kill him. He misses Anduin with his swing but does hit the bell, which is very big and which collapses and appears to crush Anduin to death. Garrosh is satisfied and walks away, so basically he tried to kill one of the nicest and most peace-loving characters in the game. And it wasn’t self-defense; Anduin wasn’t trying to kill Garrosh, it was more like he was trying to make sure that more people didn’t wind up like Ishi.
-The Siege Of Orgrimmar:
Ho boy, SO much happened before this. For one thing, Garrosh was becoming racist against non-orcs. So there were a lot of disgruntled tauren, trolls, blood elves, Forsaken, goblins, and Pandaren in the Horde, being treated like second-class citizens as they were.
On top of that, when Vol’jin was telling Garrosh that he was going too far, Garrosh tried to have him assassinated. The attempt failed, but Vol’jin was out of action for a while healing up.
And before the Horde and Alliance were done fighting each other in Pandaria…well, I can’t include a link to the video, but go to YouTube and search for “Siege Of Orgrimmar.” Watch the trailer to see Garrosh fight Taran Zhu and see what happens afterwards.
You see people impaled in the video near the end, btw, and here’s who they are:
When entering the Valley of Strength, there are two Theramore Citizens strung up on poles and impaled with several arrows. They appear to be Bartender Lillian and Helenia Olden from before Theramore was destroyed. Also, there are several Theramore Citizens lying dead in cages. One of these appears to be Paymaster Lendry.
So, yeah, that was something else Garrosh did wrong. He captured people who survived Theramore’s destruction by fleeing, and did that to them.
After Vol’jin got better, he contacted Thrall and they decided to lead a rebellion against Garrosh. The Alliance was happy to help them against their common enemy. All Pandaren, including the ones who had decided to swear allegiance to the Horde, were angry at Garrosh for destroying that zone (the Vale of Eternal Blossoms) as you saw in the video and as you see more of the results in-game.
Which leads to the end of the Book’s story, with Garrosh being overthrown.
He survives, though, and he escapes, and goes on to do more horrible stuff, before Thrall finally kills him.
I don’t want you to get the idea that Garrosh was pure evil. For a while he was written like he wasn’t. When you first meet him in Outland, he’s depressed and doesn’t want to do anything because of what happened with his father. As you see in the Book, Thrall comes along and tells him that Grommash Hellscream died heroically, and that cheers him up and makes him want to go to Azeroth and follow in his father’s footsteps.
Then he goes to Northrend to fight the Scourge (after they attacked Orgrimmar in the middle of his first duel with Thrall, as mentioned above), and while he does do a good job there, he spends a lot of time talking about how they should be killing all the Alliance people in Northrend, even though they’re also there mainly to fight the Scourge. He also fights Varian at least once, although since Varian was being written as bitterly anti-Horde back then there was blame to go around as far as that goes.
In Cataclysm after he’s first named Warchief, he has what might be his best moment in WoW: a Horde commander orders that a settlement of druids be bombed and everybody in it killed. He says that it’s because there must be weapons of mass destruction there. (Remind you of anything?) Anyway, Garrosh shows up, and he is NOT happy:
Overlord Krom’gar says: Watch now, Cliffwalker, as this battle comes to its glorious conclusion.
High Chieftain Cliffwalker says: You are about to cross a terrible threshold, Krom’gar. May the Earth Mother have mercy on your soul.
Krom’gar releases the balloon holding the goblin bomb and sends it towards Thal’darah Grove. On arrival, the balloon drops the bomb directly on it, obliterating the entire area, leaving a large crater behind.
Overlord Krom’gar says: Look upon the world, Cliffwalker, and see the might of the Horde!
A portal from Orgrimmar suddenly forms nearby. Garrosh Hellscream and his guards emerge from the portal.
Garrosh Hellscream says: What have you done, Krom’gar?
Krom’gar bows before Garrosh.
Overlord Krom’gar says: Warchief! I… I was carrying out your command!
Garrosh Hellscream says: My command?
Garrosh Hellscream says: Was my command to murder innocents, Krom’gar?
Overlord Krom’gar says: Warchief… Sir… I…
Garrosh Hellscream says: Am I a murderer, Krom’gar?
Overlord Krom’gar says: No, Warchief!
Garrosh Hellscream says: Then I ask you again: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!
Krom’gar begins to cower before Garrosh.
Garrosh Hellscream says: I sent you into Stonetalon Mountains with an army. Your orders were to secure this land for the Horde.
Garrosh Hellscream says: Instead, you laid waste to the land. Murdered innocents. Children even…
Garrosh Hellscream says: I spent a very long time in Northrend, Krom’gar. I learned much about the Horde in that time.
Garrosh Hellscream says: While there, a wise old war hero told me something that I would carry with me forever…
Garrosh Hellscream says: “Honor,” Krom’gar, “No matter how dire the battle… never forsake it.”
Garrosh Hellscream says: Overlord Krom’gar, you have disgraced the Horde.
Garrosh Hellscream says: You have brought shame to us as a people.
Garrosh Hellscream says: By my right as Warchief, I hereby relieve you of your duty.
Garrosh picks up Krom’gar by the throat and lifts him over the edge of the lift bridge.
Garrosh Hellscream says: YOU ARE DISMISSED.
Garrosh drops Krom’gar off the edge, sending him to his death. He then turns toward the hero.
Garrosh Hellscream says: And you, !
High Chieftain Cliffwalker says: Wait, Warchief! Please! was the hero responsible for uncovering this corruption. <He/She> tried to stop Krom’gar!
High Chieftain Cliffwalker says: Have mercy, Warchief.
Garrosh Hellscream says: Mercy… Your wife and child were murdered. Your kin wiped out. Your home burned to the ground.
Garrosh Hellscream says: Mercy… Chieftain, on this day I learn from you.
Garrosh Hellscream says: , Krom’gar’s army is no more. Your rank no longer has meaning. If you wish to truly help the Horde, your considerable power could be used in Desolace or in the Southern Barrens.
Garrosh Hellscream says: The choice is yours to make.
Garrosh Hellscream says: Let honor guide you, . Do not forget that Hellscream’s eyes are always upon you.
Unfortunately, when Mists Of Pandaria rolls around, that Garrosh is gone. He doesn’t care so much about honor any more. He just wants to utterly destroy the Alliance and give the “True Horde” (i.e. orcs only) control of the world. And it’s all downhill from there… 
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Garrosh was a leader of a race that likes to fight. He definitely killed people and destroyed stuff. Now if you want to really see an evil one, just wait until Gul’dan’s book. I don’t think he’ll claim to be a good guy.
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Of all the vanilla heroes, Gul’dan is definitely the most evil. (Of the alternate heroes, I’d say that N’Zoth is probably worse. Kel’thuzad and Sylvanas are about the same. Deathwing is probably less evil due to getting driven insane by the Old Gods and thus not being entirely responsible for his actions.)
I don’t think Gul’dan thinks he’s a good guy, but I can imagine him telling us that he was justified, and maybe he thinks he is.
For example, in the origin story which came out around the time of WoD, he was a weak orc getting picked on by strong orcs, and he was sent out into the wilderness to try and learn to control the elements as a shaman.
If you’ve seen the video, then you know that the elements were considering whether or not to answer his call, he got angry that they were taking so long to make up their mind, and the elements sensed his anger and it scared them away from him. That made him even more frustrated and full of despair…and then Kil’jaeden or some demon started speaking to him and offering him power.
Gul’dan might describe what happened next as “Of course I took the power, and I went back to that village and gave everybody who crossed me what they deserved. From then on I understood that I had to be merciless, that the only way to avoid being a slave is to become the master of everything and everyone. Don’t pretend you would have done any differently in my place; everybody wants to rule.”
Haven’t you ever questioned the methods he used or the quotes of the characters who are facing him? Theremaro was actually justified because it turned into a military base back in Cata.