My name is Magna Aegwynn, and for over one thousand years I have wandered the realms of this world and endeavored to safeguard the peoples of its lands against the ethereal powers of the Great Dark Beyond. I have seen mighty kingdoms rise and fall. I have witnessed the deeds of high nobility and the lowliest of rabble both conspire to define the destiny of mankind.

It has been only recently that I have, regrettably, become directly involved in the matters of men. For countless ages it has been the charge of my Order to shelter and protect mortal man from the mysteries of the Great Dark, and the palpable, heinous evils of the realms beyond. To battle these dark forces of the Twisting Nether we were given considerable power, and longevity rivaling that of even the ancient Elves. With this power came one grave burden – the Guardian must not interfere with the affairs of men until the time comes when a successor must be chosen and the mantle of guardianship is passed to another.

Thus did I – Aegwynn, last Guardian of the Order of Tirisfal – judge that my time had come. Forty-two winters had passed since I first came to the Kingdom of Azeroth in search of the Conjurer Nielas Aran. It was he whom I had chosen to sire the heir of my powers. Nielas was exceptionally talented in the simple conjurative magiks of men, and I believed that he would be the perfect mortal father for my child … and so he was …

I gave birth to a son and named him Medivh – or “Keeper of Secrets” in the ancient tongue of the Elves – in the fall of the year 559. I transferred all of my knowledge and power into the infant, locking it deeply within him to manifest itself only when he reached physical maturity. Believing that my work on this world was done and seeing that my son would be cared for by Nielas’ people, I wandered across the fields of time, preparing myself for the passing.

I kept a distant, watchful eye on my son for much of his young life. I was assured that the deep-seeded altruism of Tirisfal would guide him in his trials and temper his heart and mind as to make him worthy of the Guardianship that was, I believed, his destiny.

On the eve of the marking of his thirteenth birthday, the power locked deep inside of my son awakened. Unable to deal with the raw, cosmic energies surging inside him, Medivh suffered a massive psychic trauma. He was pacified by the good Clerics of the Northshire. They removed the youth to their sacred Abbey and for six years tended to his all but comatose body.

Eventually, Medivh awakened from his sleep seemingly in full control of his faculties and powers. Yet, underneath the confident and almost arrogant facade, I somehow knew that my son had become malevolent and corrupt. The wisdom and power that was his birthright had been perverted by distant forces within the Twisting Nether, altering the Human part of his soul and marking him with its evil touch forever. It was not until the first wave of those wretched creatures known as the Orcs thundered through the dark rift that I realized how incredibly dangerous my son had become …

With his mastery over the arcane energies increasing almost by the moment, Medivh had set out to probe the extent of his ability to manipulate the world around him. Delving into the forbidden arts of Necromancy, Medivh began to unravel the mysteries of life and death. He took to consorting with Daemons from the lower planes, using their powers to augment his own. His hunger for power became stronger, and with every minor success Medivh fell ever deeper into the dark abyss of madness. He traveled far throughout the astral plane, exploring the infinite secrets of the Great Dark Beyond. It was then, in the midst of swirling chaotic hallucinations, that Medivh first encountered a world beyond his own and captured a glimpse of the aberrant, murderous denizens of that place.

Here at last, was the tool that Medivh had been searching for …

Desirous of complete dominion over Azeroth, Medivh used the insights gained from the knowledge of Tirisfal to strike a bargain with Gul’dan the Warlock – the mightiest of the rulers of the dark, red world that haunted Medivh’s visions. Communicating through deep trances and astral projection, Medivh told Gul’dan of an ancient tomb lost beneath the north sea that contained power beyond imagination. It was to this tomb that I had banished the ancient Daemonlord Sargeras after a long and exhausting battle eight hundred years before. Even I cannot say whether or not the power of Sargeras remains entombed there. The promise of incredible power tapped from a true monarch of the underworld was enough to make the insatiable Gul’dan agree to do Medivh’s bidding.

Medivh agreed to furnish the location of the Tomb of Sargeras to Gul’dan as well as an entire world to conquer. In exchange for this gift, Medivh required the total destruction of the only force he believed capable of contending his ascendancy to power – the great Kingdom of Azeroth.

Thus, in the year 583, the first of Medivh’s unnatural Portals was opened between the world of Azeroth and the red world of the Orcs. Although the time of my passing had drawn near, I traveled to Medivh’s mystic tower to reason with him and attempt to dissuade him from a path that would surely lead to his own destruction. The power that was once of Tirisfal had become so twisted inside him that my pleas seemed as nothing. I fought with what energy remained in my weakened body, but having given all of my powers to him so long ago, I was easily defeated and banished from his sight.

The arrival of Gul’dan and the Horde Warchief Blackhand heralded a war that tore the realm of Azeroth asunder for nearly five years. The once rich lands of the kingdom were razed and left fallow by the merciless Orc armies. And yet, for all of his craft and guile, Medivh did not survive to see his plans come to fruition. My son was killed by a bold Azerothien raiding party who broke into his tower and slew him in the very room where he first made contact with the minions of the Horde. Even the great Warchief Blackhand was eventually destroyed as his ultimate victory drew near, betrayed by his servant Orgrim Doomhammer.

The greatest loss to the peoples of Azeroth came when King Llane, their benevolent and just ruler, was killed as Stormwind Keep fell under the siege, and was overthrown by the Orish Hordes. Only the valiant leadership of Anduin Lothar, Knight errant in the Brotherhood of the Horse and a hero in the war, allowed the survivors of Azeroth to escape from their decimated homeland with their lives.

Even with Medivh and his vile magiks gone, the Portal continued to channel hundreds of Orcs into the Human lands every day. With the death of Blackhand, Orgrim Doomhammer was quick to seize control over the Blackrock clan – the most powerful Orcish force on Azeroth. While others still vie for supremacy over the rest of the scattered Orc clans, Gul’dan, the infamous Warlock and chieftain of the Stormreaver clan, is rumored to be amassing a great navy to find the legendary Tomb of Sargeras for himself. Rend and Maim, the barbarous sons of Blackhand, also have secured a strong followinig amongst the Orcs, and hope to wrest ultimate control of the Horde away from the treacherous Doomhammer.

Although other factions grow stronger within the chaotic Horde, it seems certain that all of the clans will follow Doomhammer’s plans to hunt down and destroy the renegade Humans of Azeroth wherever they choose to run …


Note: Believe it or not, Aegwynn is still alive. After her exile, she sensed the death of Medivh. For twenty years, she gathered what little she still had of magic to resurrect Medivh prior to the events of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. This resurrected Medivh contacted Thrall, King Terenas, Prince Arthas, Jaina Proudmoore and Tyrande to set a common front against the Burning Legion. King Terenas and Prince Arthas however dismissed Medivh as a mere mad prophet.You may find Aegwynn and the resurrection of her son Medivh in the pages of World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred — by Keith R.A. DeCandido. The novel is set a year before the MMORPG, serving as prologue leading to the events in the MMORPG. Jaina finds Aegwynn and seeks her help to find out who is setting things in motion to clash Orgrimmar and Theramore into a war.

A demon defeated by Aegwynn centuries ago, Zmoldor, has returned and is rising a new Burning Blade clan composed of Humans and Orcs to infiltrate both cities to instigate hatred from within to lead Orgrimmar and Theramore into war. Aegwynn defeats the demon by opening a gateway that sucks in Zmoldor and his demons back into the Twisting Nether.However, Aegwynn alerts Jaina that the Burning Blade clan may yet resurface. Early quests of Orgrimmar, around level 10-12 sends you to a cave near the Zeppelin tower (outdoor). Thrall sends you to infiltrate their lair to destroy them, and later sends you into Ragefire Chasm to dismantle the Burning Blade’s masters: a satyr, an orc warlock and a felguard. Aegwynn was seen again in issue# 6 and # 11 of Wildstorm’s World of Warcraft Comic Book by writer Walter Simonson.

UPDATE: Aegwynn died in the World of Warcraft comics and her corpse was buried at the closed catacombs south of Karazhan.