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World of Warcraft's fourth major expansion, Mists of Pandaria, uncovered an entire continent that neither players nor the game's characters even knew existed, along with a host of new lore and story for them to discover, as well as WoW's newest playable race, the pandaren. Back then, the Alliance and Horde were embroiled in a vicious conflict and Warchief Garrosh Hellscream was determined to remake the entire world for the Horde. In time, however, the wisdom and grace of Pandaria's culture (heavily inspired by real-life Taoism) would teach many how to let go of hatred and instead foster peace and understanding.
Eons ago, Pandaria was part of Azeroth's supercontinent of Kalimdor. When the Sundering happened and the land was forever split apart, Pandaria avoided the catastrophic damage. Emperor Shaohao of the pandaren learned valuable lessons from the resident Wild Gods, the August Celestials, looking for a way to stop the prophesied Sundering. Throughout his journey, he realized that although he could not prevent it, he could save his people. He sacrificed himself to enclose WoW's lands of Pandaria in a dense mist, concealing it from the rest of the world and separating from Kalimdor on its own before it could be dragged beneath the ocean. In the millennia since, the pandaren people have emulated the lessons Shaohao learned, that of fortitude, inner strength, hope, and wisdom.
At the time of Mists of Pandaria's release, an Alliance vessel had been driven off course by a Horde warship, seeking shelter in the dense mists that shrouded the southern ocean of Azeroth. The Horde vessel gave chase until both were wrecked off Pandaria's coastline and the survivors washed up on a land they hadn't even known existed. As it happened, that particular Alliance ship happened to be carrying the 15-year-old Prince of Stormwind, Anduin Wrynn (a major character in current WoW lore). His father, King Varian Wrynn, demanded an elite team be sent to retrieve him, while the Horde's motives were to explore this new land and claim it for themselves. Eventually, both factions established a foothold in Pandaria, but the consequences of bringing their war to those mystical shores were dire.
The Horde & Alliance Discover Pandaria & WoW's Pandaren Race
Pandaria was not like the other lands in World of Warcraft's Azeroth. Eons ago, when the Old Gods were defeated by the Titans, the most powerful of these eldritch beings was Y'Shaarj of Seven-Heads. His corruption had spread so deep into the planet that when the Titans ripped him from WoW's planet Azeroth, it created a gaping wound from which Azeroth's life essence, arcane magic, bled out. This wound would become the Well of Eternity, and after the Sundering, it would be known as the Maelstrom. Y'Shaarj was destroyed, but his seven heads were cast upon Pandaria, manifesting as nebulous creatures of darkness known as the Sha. The Sha embodied the negative aspects of mortal minds upon which they fed: despair, anger, doubt and fear to name a few.
When the chaos of war was brought to Pandaria, the Alliance and Horde soon discovered that their collective negative emotions fed the Sha, creating monstrosities that terrorized the land. The pandaren understood the Sha and knew how to combat them, but it would be up to the outsiders to fix the damage they had ultimately caused. Prince Anduin Wrynn of WoW's Alliance faction remained among the pandaren even after he'd been found by his allies, determined to learn all he could about Pandaria and mend the mistakes of his people. Warchief Garrosh, on the other hand, saw the Sha as weapons, and he immediately sought a way to use Y'Shaarj's remnants to destroy his enemies.
Many pandaren had observed the Horde and Alliance and felt drawn to their ideals. Some chose to join the Alliance, called the Tuishi, as they valued compassion, patience and discipline. Those who preferred the Horde joined under the name of Huojin and pursued aspects such as ambition, decisiveness and adventure. Thus, players in Mists of Pandaria could play as pandaren and choose which faction they wanted to fight for based on their personal preference.
WoW's Zandalari Trolls Resurrect The Thunder King
Long before the Sundering, the pandaren were not a free people. They were enslaved by the ancient mogu, a race of brutal warlords who valued only strength and power. The mogu were originally Titan constructs that became mortals due to Yogg-Saron's Curse of Flesh (another Old God in the lore of WoW: Wrath of the Lich King). Unsure where their purpose now lay, Lei Shen beseeched the Titan Keeper Ra for advice. When Ra, the Keeper of Storms, showed weakness instead of strength, Lei Shen dominated the ancient Titan Keeper, stealing his power over storm and sky and becoming the Thunder King. Now imbued with god-like abilities, Lei Shen united the mogu clans and founded the Mogu Empire.
The Zandalari trolls of that time sought to ally with Lei Shen, not wanting to make an enemy of him. The Thunder King accepted their offer, teaching them how to resurrect him if he were ever to fall. Lei Shen lived for centuries, but eventually, he succumbed to his own hubris, killed by the tol'vir of Uldum. Many thousands of years later, the Zandalari sought to reclaim their vast empire by returning to Pandaria and bringing the Thunder King back. They succeeded, and World of Warcraft players had to overcome the Zandalari as well as the mogu and fight their way to the Thunder King himself. There, Lei Shen met his final end, and the remaining mogu clans splintered once more. With Pandaria safe from the mogu, the Zandalari retreated back to their homeland, which would become a major zone in WoW's later expansion, Battle for Azeroth.
Garrosh Hellscream is Overthrown & Tried By WoW's Heroes
At this point in time, Garrosh Hellscream had been consumed with hatred. He tried to assassinate Vol'jin, the leader of the Darkspear trolls, before kicking them out of the Horde entirely along with any other races who had problems with his radical methods. Garrosh scoured Pandaria for ancient artifacts, reckless in his misuse of powers about which so little was understood. The most potent of these weapons was the Heart of Y'Shaarj which had been locked away in a vault for millennia. Hellscream unleashed its terrible might upon the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Pandaria's spiritual centre, where it twisted and scarred the land, flooding it with hordes of Sha. With no other choice, WoW's Alliance faction joined swords with those whom Garrosh deemed unfit to be in his Horde and together they assaulted the city of Orgrimmar.
With most of the Horde and the Alliance working together to bring Garrosh to justice, Hellscream was eventually brought down. Thrall, the former Warchief, was going to execute Garrosh, but the Alliance king, Varian Wrynn, stopped him. Varian insisted that Hellscream receive a proper trial in Pandaria where all could witness true justice be served. After a lengthy trial, the August Celestials, Pandaria's wisest creatures, deemed Hellscream guilty, but would not have condemned him to death. Before a sentence could be decided upon, however, Wrathion (introduced in the lore of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm) rescued Garrosh from imprisonment. Wrathion was determined to make sure Azeroth's Horde and Alliance would fight until only one was left standing, so he intervened and set Hellscream free.
Although Garrosh had escaped retribution for the time being, the Alliance and the Horde had finally struck an uneasy peace. Having destroyed Orgrimmar's defenses, Varian Wrynn decided to leave the Horde to mend their wounds instead of occupying their capital, warning them that although he did not wish to end the Horde, he would without hesitation if they ever committed such atrocities in the name of their Warchief again. Vol'jin of the Darkspear was chosen as the new Warchief, and the Horde could look forward to a new era of harmony. Pandaria and its teachings left a mark on all of World of Warcraft's main characters for better or worse, but Garrosh Hellscream's plans for war had not been thwarted just yet.