The Forsaken

The Forsaken are undead who broke free of the Lich King's control and now rule the ruins of Lordaeron from the Undercity, a fortress city under the old capital. Led by the banshee queen Sylvanas Windrunner, they joined the Horde as an alliance of convenience, and in Classic they are the playable Undead race. Their story of survival, distrust and secret plague research runs through the Horde side of the northern Eastern Kingdoms, from Tirisfal Glades to the Plaguelands.

History

Freedom from the Lich King

During the Third War, The Scourge swept over Lordaeron and turned most of its people into mindless undead servants. Among the victims was Sylvanas Windrunner, the ranger-general of Silvermoon, whom Arthas Menethil killed and raised as a banshee to punish her for resisting him.

After the war, the Lich King's power weakened for a time, and thousands of undead in Lordaeron found their own minds again. Sylvanas was among them. She gathered the free undead, took the name the Forsaken for them, and fought both Arthas and the three dreadlords who were trying to take Lordaeron for themselves. She killed one of the dreadlords and forced another, Varimathras, to serve her. With the ruins of the capital in her hands, she made the old royal crypts and sewers beneath it into the Undercity.

Joining the Horde

Surrounded by enemies, the Forsaken needed allies. Thrall and the Horde accepted them, partly out of need for a foothold in the north and partly because the tauren argued that the Forsaken deserved a chance at redemption. Many members of the Horde do not trust them, and the Forsaken give them good reasons. Their Royal Apothecary Society is quietly working on a new plague, which they claim is meant for the Scourge.

The Forsaken are not undead in the Scourge's sense. They remember their former lives, many of them in painful detail, and they despise both the Lich King who enslaved them and the living kingdoms that now want them destroyed.

In World of Warcraft

Tirisfal Glades and Brill

Undead characters begin in Deathknell, climbing out of a crypt. The first quest, Rude Awakening from Undertaker Mordo, introduces Shadow Priest Sarvis, who sends new players to put down the mindless dead in The Mindless Ones. The nearby Scarlet Crusade is the zone's other enemy.

In Brill, Apothecary Johaan of the Royal Apothecary Society starts the A New Plague chain, the first sign of the plague research. Executor Zygand and Magistrate Sevren run the town's other quests.

The Undercity

Undercity is the Forsaken capital, built in the old sewers and crypts under the Ruins of Lordaeron. Players enter through the ruined throne room. The Royal Quarter holds Lady Sylvanas Windrunner and Varimathras, and the Apothecarium is run by Master Apothecary Faranell. Orphans of the Horde visit the throne room during Children's Week (Lordaeron Throne Room).

Silverpine Forest and Hillsbrad

Silverpine Forest is the next stop for Forsaken players. Its base, The Sepulcher, sends players against the worgen that roam out of Shadowfang Keep and the Dalaran mages holed up at Ambermill. The Deathstalkers, the Forsaken's scouts and assassins, appear in Lost Deathstalkers. Farther south, the Forsaken town of Tarren Mill in Hillsbrad Foothills is the Horde's base in the long struggle over Hillsbrad and Alterac, led by High Executor Darthalia.

The Plaguelands

At higher levels, The Bulwark guards the border with the Western Plaguelands against the Scourge. In the Eastern Plaguelands, the dark ranger Nathanos Blightcaller, Sylvanas's champion, gives Horde players quests against the Scarlet Crusade and the Scourge, and Alliance players can hunt him down in The Blightcaller Cometh.

Notable characters

Later history

In Wrath of the Lich King, the Royal Apothecary Society unleashed its new plague on Horde and Alliance forces alike at the Wrathgate, and Varimathras seized the Undercity until Thrall and Sylvanas took it back. In Cataclysm, the Forsaken conquered Gilneas, and later expansions saw Sylvanas become Warchief of the Horde, start the burning of Teldrassil and finally abandon the Horde altogether. After that, the Forsaken were led by a council, and Calia Menethil emerged as a new figure among them.

Sources

• Forsaken (Warcraft Wiki)
• Undercity (Warcraft Wiki)
• Royal Apothecary Society (Warcraft Wiki)