Warcraft(2016)

SHORT VERSION:

After Durotan and his Frostwolf clan try to negotiate an alliance with King Llane to stop Gul’dan, Gul’dan has them all imprisoned for their betrayal, having been alerted to the meeting by Durotan’s friend Orgrim, who didn’t like the idea of their kind siding with the humans. However, Orgrim quickly regrets his decision after seeing how bad Gul’dan’s Fel magic really is and then seeing his clan – minus Durotan – get slaughtered by the rest of the Horde on Gul’dan’s orders, so he helps Durotan’s wife Draka escape with their son Go’el, then later frees Durotan and repledges his support to him. Draka is followed by orc scouts to a river, and after sending Go’el down it to save him, she dies fighting one of the scouts that catch up with her.

Khadgar comes to firmly believe that Medivh is corrupted by the Fel, so he pays a visit to the Kirin Tor to get help, and through them, he gets an unprecedented meeting with the mystical Alodi. She confirms his suspicions about Medivh and says that he was the one who helped Gul’dan open the Great Gate’s portal between Draenor and Azeroth the first time, and she warns that Azeroth will burn if he is not stopped. The next day, Khadgar heads to Stormwind, finds Lothar, and teleports them both to Medivh’s tower in Karazhan to stop him just hours after Llane, Garona, and the former’s army have left for the Horde’s encampment to put an end to the Horde and the gate as well as free the human prisoners they plan to sacrifice to open the gate.

Durotan challenges Gul’dan to Mak’gora, hoping to kill him. However, shortly after Medivh starts turning demonic from the Fel’s influence and begins saying the incantation to reopen the portal to Draenor, Gul’dan decides to end the fight quickly so he can do his part in opening it and thus kills Durotan by using the Fel to drain his life away, which earns him the disapproval of the other orcs. Llane and his forces arrive soon after and engage the Horde, and Gul’dan sacrifices the first bunch of human prisoners to open the portal, allowing the rest of the Horde to start crossing over into Azeroth. Lothar and Khadgar battle with Medivh until they mortally injure him, which causes the portal to close and Khadgar uses all of his magical might to cleanse Medivh, his font pool, and his tower of the Fel. Medivh redeems himself by using the gate to open a portal to Stormwind so the remaining human prisoners can escape, but unfortunately, he dies before they can all get through. After he sees that the Horde is overwhelming his army, Llane tells Garona to kill him so the orcs will see her as a hero and follow her as leader one day, which will enable her to broker peace between their races. She reluctantly does as he asks, and the orcs welcome her as one of their own. Lothar then arrives on his griffin, but as he attempts to take Llane’s body back to Stormwind, Blackhand stops him and challenges him to Mak’gora. Lothar easily kills him, avenging the earlier death of his son Callan at his hands. As he makes his way back towards his griffin, Gul’dan orders the other orcs to kill him, but they refuse to break the traditions of Mak’gora and instead salute Lothar. Gul’dan then moves to take out Lothar himself, but Garona stops him, warning him that he will lose all of the Horde’s faith and respect if he does. Lothar then flies off to Stormwind with Llane’s body.

At Llane’s funeral, all the races of Azeroth agree to form an alliance to combat the Horde, with Lothar as their leader. Go’el is found by humans.

LONG VERSION:

One morning, Garona (Paula Patton) leads Lothar (Travis Fimmel), Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer), Varis (Dean Redman), and Karos (Ryan Robbins) to the outskirts of the Horde’s encampment, where she explains how Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) will use his Fel magic to kill the scores of human prisoners they have and use their souls as fuel to open the Great Gate the Horde is constructing to their dead homeworld, Draenor, and once it is opened, the rest of the orcs will cross over to Azeroth. Lothar tells Karos to get Garona and Khadgar back to Stormwind while he and Varis ride ahead to warn King Llane (Dominic Cooper) about this. However, after they go, Durotan (Tony Kebbell) – who had seen Garona lead the humans here – appears and knocks out Karos and seizes Khadgar. He then tells Garona that, while the humans have seen what is being built, only she knows what Gul’dan has planned for their people and that his Fel magic spells death to all things and must be stopped. He then asks her to forward a request to Llane to meet with him at a certain spot in the mountains at noon today. Garona relays this message to Llane, and after discussing it with her and Lothar, he decides to meet Durotan, and he also orders that someone find the Guardian, Medivh (Ben Foster).

Khadgar unexpectedly finds Medivh in his quarters checking out his research on the Great Gate, but when he tries to show Medivh what he had learned about it, Medivh strangely gets furious and burns all of his research, then tells him to deal with protecting Llane while he deals with the Fel. After he departs, Khadgar finds Lothar and first tells him about what Medivh just did before showing him an illustration of the Great Gate that he managed to save thanks to it being hidden in his robe, which shows that the orcs were actually summoned here from this side of the gate. Lothar tells Khadgar that Medivh probably burned his research to protect him, but after he has Khadgar go away, we see that he has now become suspicious of Medivh.

Lothar, Garona, Khadgar, Callan (Burkely Duffield), Llane, and his soldiers meet with Durotan and his Frostwolf clan at the canyon Durotan specified, but Durotan’s friend Orgrim (Robert Kazinsky) excuses himself beforehand to check for a potential ambush. We also see that Medivh is watching the meeting from the top of one of the nearby cliffs. With Garona acting as translator, Durotan tells Llane of his desire to destroy Gul’dan and the reasons why, and he also explains that, in two days, the orcs’ human captives will be used to fuel the portal to Draenor. He suggests that, if Llane and his men attack the orc camp and draw Gul’dan’s loyalists away, it will give his clan a chance to kill him. Suddenly, Gul’dan’s loyalists launch an ambush on the Frostwolf orcs, and Llane and company try to retreat, but more of Gul’dan’s orcs surprise them and engage them in combat. Garona sees Orgrim up on a cliff alongside the Horde’s warchief and Gul’dan supporter Blackhand (Clancy Brown), and she realizes that Orgrim has sold out his own clan. Medivh spots an even larger band of orcs coming down the canyon and uses his magic to generate an impenetrable wall of energy to aid Llane and his party in getting away, but Lothar notices that Callan is among the soldiers stuck on the other side of the wall. Blackhand proceeds to get revenge on Lothar for earlier blowing off his left hand with a boomstick by killing Callan right in front of him with his new metal prosthesis.

Llane, Khadgar, and Garona find Medivh lying on the ground unconscious from using all of that power, and Garona and Khadgar fly him by griffin back to his tower in Karazhan, where he is placed in the font (his magical pool of energy) with help from his assistant Moroes (Callum Keith Rennie). However, Khadgar notices Medivh’s eyes briefly turn green, and quietly realizing that the Fel has corrupted him and he was the one who invited the orcs into Azeroth, Khadgar tells Garona and Moroes that he has to go and get help from the Kirin Tor. Later, Medivh recovers and finds Garona next to him, who tells him that Llane is safe and Lothar’s son is dead, and she feels guilty over the latter because she argued for the meeting with Durotan and Lothar will hate her now, which upsets her because she respects him. Medivh soon teleports her to Lothar’s location, where she finds him drunk and grieving, and she tries to comfort him. Back at the Horde’s camp, Blackhand confronts Durotan in his tent as he is telling his wife Draka (Anna Galvin) to flee with their infant son, and he brands Durotan a traitor. Durotan tells him that he will submit himself for punishment if the rest of his clan is spared, and after he gives his son the name Go’el, he leaves his tent. Later, Orgrim speaks with Gul’dan and finds out that, when the rest of the Horde comes through, Gul’dan will be giving them all the Fel, which Orgrim protests because Durotan did not agree to it. Gul’dan refuses to hear this and suggests that he take over as leader of the Frostwolves, and then offers to grant him the Fel. Orgrim excuses himself, saying that, because Durotan poisoned the clan against the Fel, he wants to bring them all here so they can watch him get infused with the Fel and see how much stronger he becomes. However, while on his way to meet his clan, he sees Gul’dan’s loyalists killing them all, and he finds Draka and offers to give her and Go’el a chance to escape. Despite being angry with him for not trusting in his chieftain, Draka takes him up on his offer and slips away, but she gets spotted and followed by orc scouts.

Khadgar goes to the floating city of Dalaran and speaks with the Kirin Tor, warning their leader Antonidas (also Tony Kebbell) about the presence of the Fel and how it has poisoned Medivh. Khadgar also asks him what he knows about the Great Gate, then shows him his illustration of the gate and asks about Alodi since the page reads “Ask Alodi”. Antonidas takes him to a big black cube inside the Kirin Tor’s temple, and he tells him that this is Alodi, an entity from a time before the Kirin Tor existed and whom they believe serves a function similar to that of Medivh’s. Suddenly, in an unprecedented occurrence, the cube opens, and Khadgar decides to step inside, where he meets the physical form of Alodi (Glenn Close). He recognizes her as the figure made of black smoke that he saw back when he first visited Medivh’s library earlier in the film, and who directed him to the book that served as the source of his research. She says she used the last of her energies to summon him here, then warns him that Medivh has betrayed them, for he is consumed by the Fel, and this world will burn if he is not stopped. Khadgar tells her that he doesn’t have the power to defeat a Guardian, but Alodi replies that “Guardian” is just a name; the true guardians of this world are the people themselves. She tells Khadgar to trust in his friends, and together, they can save this world.

We then see Moroes help the still-weak Medivh back into the font after he collapses, but then the font turns green, and Medivh shamefully confesses to Moroes that the Fel has twisted him and made him summon the Horde here. He also doesn’t know what else he may have done because he simply can’t remember, and he warns that neither he nor anyone else can control the Fel. His appearance then begins to turn demonic, and he kills Moroes by sucking his soul out. As Llane is going over a plan of action with Lothar, Varis, Karos, and others, Lothar disagrees with Llane’s idea to use his forces to contain the enemy and suggests that they send everything they’ve got at the orcs, destroy the gate, free the people, and end the immediate threat. Medivh then shows up looking normal and claims that he has met with Durotan, and he has learned that the rebellion against Gul’dan is gaining strength, and with their help, they can destroy the gate. As Medivh tries to offer up a plan of his own, Lothar voices his doubts about both Medivh and his powers, calling his powers unreliable at best and himself lost and unstable, and he tells Llane that his plan is suicide. This prompts Medivh to blame his behavior on his grief over Callan and then antagonizes him by claiming that he pushed his son to become a soldier and it wound up costing him his life. Lothar tries to get his hands on Medivh, but Llane’s men restrain him, and Llane soon orders Varis to take Lothar to a cell to calm down. After Lothar is escorted out, Medivh assures Llane that they will protect the kingdom. Garona visits Lothar later on and tells him that Llane has decided to attack the Horde, and with Medivh’s help, Durotan will kill Gul’dan. Lothar warns her not to trust Medivh, and Garona promises to try to protect Llane, but he asks her not to go because he doesn’t want her to get hurt. She gives him her necklace carrying her mother’s tusk, and he tells her to come back alive.

That night, Orgrim frees Durotan from one of the cages he has been put in alongside the sacrificial humans, but Durotan punches him in the stomach for betraying him. Orgrim apologizes, saying that he could not see how their clan could side with the humans against their own kind, but he knows now that he is wrong because Gul’dan’s Fel magic is destroying them. Durotan asks him about Draka, and he tells him that she is safe, but the rest of their clan isn’t. After Orgrim remarks that the other orcs would not follow Gul’dan if they could see what he has become, Durotan vows to show them. At the same time, Llane leads his legions – along with Garona – towards the Horde’s encampment, and Medivh tells Llane that he will be returning to Karazhan to get ready for battle, and he must find him at the portal. The next morning, Khadgar frees Lothar from his cell and gives him his armor and weapons, and he soon tells Lothar that they must stop Medivh to save both Llane and Azeroth before teleporting them both to Karazhan. Meanwhile, Draka reaches a river, and after hearing an orc scout closing in on her, she decides to sacrifice herself so her son can live. She thus sends him downstream in his basket, and seconds later, she has very brief fight with the scout that results in death for them both.

Back at the Horde’s base, Durotan throws his clan’s banner down in front of Gul’dan’s tent and challenges him to Mak’gora (a hand-to-hand duel to the death). Blackhand comes out and rebuffs him, saying that no “ghost” can invoke Mak’gora and his clan is dead, but Orgrim stands with Durotan. Gul’dan then steps out and decides to accept the challenge, thinking that this will be an easy fight, but Durotan proves to be a very formidable warrior. Meanwhile, Lothar and Khadgar arrive at Medivh’s tower to find Moroes dead and Medivh demonized, and he soon begins the incantation to open the portal to Draenor. Gul’dan takes notice of this and tries to get Blackhand to finish the fight for him so he can do his part in opening the portal, but Blackhand refuses to violate the rules of Mak’gora and tells him to keep going. Gul’dan thus ends the fight quickly by using his Fel powers to take Durotan’s life, which constitutes cheating and earns him the disapproval of the other orcs. Orgrim then openly questions the orcs if they will continue to follow someone like Gul’dan, but when they start to turn on him, he drains the life out of three of them to put everyone else back in line. He then infuses Blackhand with Fel magic to increase his strength multiple times over. Llane then appears in the distance with Garona and his army, and even though he recognizes that his army is now outnumbered without the Frostwolf clan’s help, he orders everyone to free the prisoners, then sounds the charge. The orcs, in turn, run to engage them.

Lothar and Khadgar end up doing battle with Medivh and a huge clay golem that he uses his Fel magic to animate, and Gul’dan sacrifices the first cageful of prisoners to get the portal activated, allowing the orcs in Draenor to start coming through and join the battle. Lothar and Khadgar work out a plan to distract Medivh and get him into the font, so Lothar confronts Medivh and appeals to his true self, begging him to not kill Llane. Medivh ceases with the incantation, but he quickly comes back under the Fel’s influence and enters the pool, transforming into a full demon. Before he can harm Lothar, Khadgar draws a teleportation symbol on the ground and lures the golem into it, which teleports the golem above Medivh and crushes him. The portal is closed, and Khadgar then enters the font and shows how he is more powerful than Medivh by using all of his magical might to purge the Fel from both Medivh and the whole tower. After checking to see that Khadgar is alright, Lothar hears his griffin outside and tells him that he must go, but lets him know that he is proud of him. After Lothar flies away, the dying Medivh recites a spell that opens the Great Gate to Stormwind, and Llane and Garona ride together up to the portal with Varis and Karos. Llane orders Varis to set the men in a perimeter around the gate and then orders Garona and Karos to take whatever men they can spare, free the prisoners, and send them through to Stormwind. The plan goes off without a hitch, but Medivh unfortunately dies before all of the prisoners can make it through.

After Llane sees his soldiers – including Varis and Karos – getting slaughtered by the orcs and he gets warned by Garona that Blackhand is working his way up to him in order to have the honor of killing him, Llane tells Garona that no good will come from them both dying, so it would be best for her to slay him here and now. He explains that the other orcs will view her as a hero if she does, which will put her in a favorable position among them and one day enable her to broker peace between their races. Despite her reluctance, Garona stabs and kills Llane just after Blackhand reaches him, and as predicted, Gul’dan and the Horde welcome her as one of their own. Moments later, Lothar arrives, and he and his griffin fight a bunch of orcs before he gets a hold of Llane’s body and drapes it over his griffin’s saddle. However, as he tries to fly off, Blackhand grabs the griffin’s right hind leg and slams them both on the ground. After Lothar regains consciousness, he gets challenged to Mak’gora by Blackhand, and he kills Blackhand with little effort. As Lothar walks back towards his griffin so he can leave, Gul’dan orders the other orcs to kill him, but Garona tries to remind him that the Mak’gora is sacred, and all of the orcs salute Lothar as he walks past them. Gul’dan decides to kill Lothar himself, but Garona intervenes once again, warning him that the orcs will lose all faith and respect in him if he does. Lothar flies off with Llane’s body back to Stormwind, and at the same time, Orgrim breaks off one of Durotan’s tusks to give to Go’el in the future so Durotan’s spirit can teach him.

At Llane’s funeral, an alliance is formed between all the humans, dwarves, and high elves of Azeroth to wage war against the orcs, and Lothar becomes the leader of this new alliance with their unanimous support. Around the same time, Go’el is found by humans.
ld of Azeroth and forms the Horde with members of the Orc clans. He also captures many prisoners to keep the portal open. The king of Azeroth, Llane Wrynn and his brother-in-law, Anduin Lothar are informed by the apprentice of magician Khadgar that he has found fel magic in dead bodies and the king decides to summon the Guardian of Tirisfal, Medivh, to protect his kingdom. Lothar and Khadgar head to Kharazhan to meet Medivh and an ominous shadow points a book out to Khadgar, who takes it and hides. Anduin, Khadgar and Medivh and a group of soldiers are attacked by Orcs and they capture the slave Garona, who is released by King Llane, and she shows them the location of the portal. Garona is contacted by the Orc chief of a clan Durotan that wants to meet King Llane to stop the fel magic. Meanwhile Khadgar learns that the gate was opened with the help of someone in Azeroth. Shall King Llane trust Garona and Durotan, who might be the traitor?