War against the Lich King

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The War against the Lich King (also called the "war against the Scourge" and "battle against the Lich King") is an ongoing war that is played out in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. It started when Varian Wrynn prepared to attack the Scourge, but the Lich King had already made his plans and attacked Stormwind before he could send the offensive, at the same time the Scourge invaded Orgrimmar, and so the war began.

Prelude

Main articles: Zombie Infestation, Scourge Invasion

The capitals of Azeroth began receiving mysterious packages with infected grain. As their citizens ate from it, they turned into bloodthirsty ghouls, if they were not treated by the Argent Dawn. With all the major capitals thrown into chaos, necropoleis appeared around the world, triggering a second Scourge war. Adventurers from both the Alliance and the Horde fought back the disease and the advancing Scourge armies. Outraged by this treachery, Warchief Thrall and his fellow Horde leaders, and King Varian Wrynn planned an invasion on Northrend to deal with the Lich King once and for all.

The final straw occurred when the Lich King attacked the capitals of the Horde and the Alliance. Orgrimmar and Stormwind were attacked by a large Scourge army consisting of frost wyrms and abominations. The Battle for Stormwind and Orgrimmar were won by the brave adventurers and their leaders once more, thus creating the Horde Expedition and the Alliance Vanguard.

Invasion of Northrend

The Warsong Offensive fleet, consisting mainly of ships built by goblins from nearby Ratchet, assembled near the Durotar coastline where they sailed off to the Borean Tundra while the Forsaken Hand of Vengeance fleet set off from Tirisfal Glades, heading for the Howling Fjord on other side of the frozen continent. There they stumbled upon the taunka, a long-lost race of tauren who were fighting a losing war against the Scourge. Thanks to adventurers the taunka were saved and gladly joined the Horde to reclaim their homeland.

Meanwhile, the Alliance fleet of the Valiance Expedition set off from Stormwind and Menethil Harbor , making a new camp on the Borean Tundra and meeting their long lost brethren in Valgarde. The dwarven expedition known as the Explorers' League sailed with the Alliance, hoping to find clues of their past and aiding the fight against the Lich King. Like the Horde however, they also met a tribe of dwarves called the Frostborn who not only fought the Scourge, but other threats as well. Although reluctant, they joined the Alliance and swore to aid where they could.

Dalaran, moving their city to Northrend to fight their Nexus War also swore both factions to aid their fights against the Scourge and offer a sanctuary to adventurers in their city. The Sunreavers and the Silver Covenant represent their factions in the Nexus War, but do not aid their factions hugely in the Lich King conflict, though this might change with the ongoing Argent Tournament.

Early Battles

The early battles of the war were mostly defending their newly established bases in Northrend. Both the Scourge and their allies, the Vrykul, attacked the expeditions, causing many casualties. Thanks again to the adventurers the factions were able to hold off the tide and make allies in Northrend. The battle for Icemist Village, the attack on Warsong Hold, the raids on Valgarde and Valiance Keep counts as these battles.

Counter-attack

With their forces firmly established in Northrend, the Horde and the Alliance chose to focus on the Lich King's allies, the vrykul kingdom, seeing them easier to deal with than the Scourge, focusing their efforts on Utgarde Keep and other vrykul villages around Northrend, to both weaken the overall might of the Scourge, and to gain strategic advantage over the other faction.

Moving deeper inland, in the Dragonblight region, the Alliance at Wintergarde Keep were under attack by the Scourge necropolis, Naxxramas, while the Horde at Agmar's Hammer cut off the nerubians of Azjol-Nerub. At this point, the Lich King began to attack the dragon shrines in the region, raising the corpses of dead drakes into the undead. Adventurer's cut off his deadly force before both factions sent their best men and women to Angrathar the Wrathgate.

Angrathar the Wrathgate

thumb|300px|right|In-game cinematic

The Horde and the Alliance teamed up during the siege for Angrathar the Wrathgate similar as to fighting alongside each other for the Dark Portal and the Battle for Mount Hyjal. When the adventurers were able to rally aid from the dragonflights, both factions made a last daring attack on the Gate, seizing control from the Scourge. There Bolvar Fordragon and Saurfang the Younger taunted the Lich King to fight his own battles instead of sending his minions. The Lich King himself entered the battle and quickly killed Saurfang the Younger. Before Bolvar and the Lich King fight however, Grand Apothecary Putress, chief of the Forsaken's Royal Apothecary Society and the creator of the New Plague, betrayed the Horde and unleashed his plague on the combatants below. The plague killed most of the Alliance, Horde, and Scourge forces at the Wrath Gate, including Bolvar Fordragon, and severely injuring the Lich King. This betrayal and the Battle for the Undercity that followed ended upwards of seven years of cold war between the Horde and the Alliance.

Further Battles

Drakuru conflict

With the new war between the Horde and the Alliance, only the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade remained fully dedicated into fighting the Lich King. The Kirin Tor, while dedicated, was still in a two pronged war with the Lich King and Malygos the Spell-Weaver and his Blue dragonflight. The Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade in the meantime managed to deeply entrench themselves into Zul'Drak.

Meanwhile, the Horde and the Alliance began battling each other over the resources of lumber and minerals in the Grizzly Hills. Adventurers for the two factions further escalated the conflicts and even, albeit unintentionally, aided Drakuru into destroying the resisting troll tribes and giving Drak'Tharon Keep to the Scourge. Empowered by the Lich King, Overlord Drakuru used his new powers to conquer the remaining trolls in Zul'Drak, bringing him into direct conflict with the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade. After the Knights of the Ebon Blade sent in spies to disrupt Drakuru's Scourge troll operation, he is later killed by the Lich King after he is defeated by the spies.

Broken Front

With the Drakuru conflict behind them, the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade managed to set up bases within Icecrown itself. The Horde and the Alliance however, using the best minds of the goblins and gnomes had to offer, used gunships to fly into Icecrown Glacier. Just south of the Mord'Rethar: The Death Gate, the Alliance forces assaulted the Scourge defending the Gate, trying to take control of it before the Horde could. However the Horde attacked the Alliance from behind, leaving both sides open to the Scourge. Despite their losses, the Horde saw this as precious time for which they may be able to gain strategic advantage.

The Argent Tournament

With the two major factions at war, the Argent Crusade, in an attempt to unite the two factions against the Lich King, held the Argent Tournament in the northern region of Icecrown. The tournament, while trying to unite Horde and the Alliance, was designed to train their army against the Undead and more importantly find the best warriors of either faction for a small strike force to attack Icecrown Citadel to the south. The method of using such a small number of warriors is because any great loss that they suffer would reinforce the Scourge, and would only leave the whole of Azeroth open to attack.