Burning Legion

The Burning Legion is the demon army of the fallen titan Sargeras, bent on destroying all life in the universe. It has invaded Azeroth three times in the lore: during the War of the Ancients, indirectly through the orcs in the First War and Second War, and openly in the Third War. Classic takes place a few years after its last defeat, and its leftover agents (demon lords, warlock cults, satyrs and corrupted forests) are scattered across both continents.

Origins

Sargeras was once the champion of the Titans. After centuries of fighting demons, he came to believe that the universe was corrupt at its root and that the only answer was to burn it. He freed the demons he had imprisoned and gathered them into the Burning Legion.

He then won over the eredar, a gifted race of sorcerers, by offering them power. Two of their leaders, Kil'jaeden and Archimonde, became the Legion's main commanders. A third leader, Velen, refused and fled with his followers; these exiles became the draenei.

The Legion's ranks include the dreadlords (nathrezim), the pit lords such as Mannoroth, felhounds, infernals, doomguards, succubi and imps. Warlocks in Classic summon several of these, which is why the class has such a close tie to the Legion's story.

The Legion's invasions of Azeroth

• War of the Ancients. About ten thousand years before Classic, the night elf queen Azshara and her Highborne drew the Legion's attention with their use of the Well of Eternity. The resulting war ended with The Sundering.
• The orcish Horde. Kil'jaeden later corrupted the orc shaman Ner'zhul and his student Gul'dan, who formed the Shadow Council and gave the orcs demonic power. The orc chieftains drank the blood of Mannoroth and became a bloodthirsty war machine. This Horde invaded Azeroth through the Dark Portal in the First War.
• The Third War. Kil'jaeden created the Lich King to spread the plague that became The Scourge, and Archimonde himself invaded Kalimdor. He was killed at Mount Hyjal by the night elves and their allies.

The Legion in Classic

Blasted Lands

The Blasted Lands surround the ruined Dark Portal. The demon lord Lord Kazzak commands the Legion's remaining forces at the Tainted Scar and is one of Classic's world bosses, killed by open-world raids. Lord Kazzak has his own article.

The zone also hosts a long level 57-60 chain against Razelikh the Defiler, whose lieutenants Lady Sevine, Archmage Allistarj and Grol the Destroyer must be killed in Uniting the Shattered Amulet. The chain starts with a ghostly orc, the Fallen Hero of the Horde in the Swamp of Sorrows, who in Petty Squabbles tells players that the true enemy is the Legion, not the Horde or Alliance.

Felwood

Felwood was once part of the forest of Ashenvale. In the lore, it was corrupted by the Legion during the Third War. In Ancient Spirit, a trapped spirit blames the Skull of Gul'dan for the corruption. The demon-worshipping Shadow Council still holds Jaedenar (Jaedenar), where players fight their way through barrow dens in Forces of Jaedenar, and the satyr shrine at the Shrine of the Deceiver lies in the north of the zone.

Desolace and the Mannoroc Coven

The Mannoroc Coven in southern Desolace is named for Mannoroth, and demons pour out of portals there. In Portals of the Legion, players use the Hand of Iruxos to close those portals. The orc warlock cult known as the Burning Blade also operates in the zone.

Durotar and the Burning Blade

The Burning Blade is a cult of orcs who kept worshipping demons after Thrall freed the Horde from their influence. New Horde players run into them early:

• The Burning Blade Coven (Burning Blade Coven) in Durotar.
• The Demon Seed on Dreadmist Peak, destroyed in The Demon Seed.
• Ragefire Chasm beneath Orgrimmar, where Jergosh the Invoker, Bazzalan and the demon Taragaman the Hungerer lead the cult.

Eitrigg, Thrall's adviser in the Valley of Trials, explains in The New Horde that he once left the Horde because of the growing influence of "the power-hungry pawns of the Burning Legion."

Ashenvale

Ashenvale holds the place where the Legion's grip on the orcs was finally broken. At Demon Fall Canyon, Grom Hellscream killed Mannoroth during the Third War and died doing it. The armor of the pit lord still lies in the canyon, along with a monument to Grom. Farther east, Xavian (Xavian) and Satyrnaar (Satyrnaar) are held by satyrs, night elves whom the Legion twisted into demons long ago.

Azshara and Dire Maul

Azshara has a demon camp at the Legash Encampment, and the demon hunter Loramus Thalipedes lives on an island off its coast. In Dire Maul, the Highborne of Eldre'Thalas bind the demon Immol'thar, and warlocks summon Lord Hel'nurath there to win their epic Xorothian Dreadsteed mount.

Dreadlords in disguise

Two dreadlords play major roles in Classic's Eastern Kingdoms. Grand Crusader Dathrohan, the leader of the Scarlet Crusade in Stratholme, is really the dreadlord Balnazzar. Varimathras serves Sylvanas Windrunner in the Undercity, though the lore makes his loyalty doubtful.

Later history and retcons

• The Burning Crusade (2007) took players to Outland to fight the Legion's forces directly. It also revised the draenei: in Classic, the "Lost Ones" of the Swamp of Sorrows, such as the Lost One Chieftain, are broken draenei, and TBC recast the draenei as eredar exiles rather than natives of Draenor.
• Legion (2016) brought the Legion's final invasion, a trip to the eredar homeworld Argus, and the imprisonment of Sargeras. It also explained why the Legion could return after defeat: demons killed outside the Twisting Nether reform there.

Sources

• Burning Legion - Warcraft Wiki
• Kazzak - Warcraft Wiki
• Burning Blade clan - Warcraft Wiki
• Demon Fall Canyon - Warcraft Wiki