Grom Hellscream
| “ | War... it is the lifeblood of this world. We are its children. Soon, its masters. Ours is a legacy of conquest! A rising tide of blood and iron that will wash over this world, and all others! Our bond is iron. Our will unbreakable. Who will stand against us? | „ |
| ~ Grommash Hellscream in the Warlords of Draenor trailer |
Grommash Hellscream (better known as Grom Hellscream or simply Grom) is a central character in the Warcraft universe. He was the founder and longtime chieftain of the Warsong clan, was a big brother figure to Warchief Thrall, and the father of Garrosh Hellscream, the last orc Warchief of the Horde. Due to Garrosh's meddling with time and forming the Iron Horde, Grom became the warchief of the Iron Horde and the main antagonist turned anti-hero of World Of Warcraft : Warlords Of Draenor.
Biography
One of the orc chieftains of legend prior to the creation of the Dark Portal, Grom Hellscream was the uncontested leader of the Warsong clan, marked by his slim build and black-tattooed lower jaw. Suspicions floated away the previous chieftain's death, giving rise to the notion that Grom usurped the position, rather than gain it though heredity like Durotan. Though he was stubborn, he was the first to give heed to the prospect of war when Ner'zhul warned the other clans of a "new old enemy", the draenei. He invaded Shattrath City against the draenei; he was described as being a tattooed, fiery-eyed massive orc carrying a wicked two-handed axe, with raven-hued hair, and his lower jaw had been colored as black as pitch. He fought against Nobundo and succeeded in taking the city.
His clan was spared the defeats of the Second Great War, Gul'dan having manipulated Grom into staying behind on Draenor. The Horde was defeated by the Alliance of Lordaeron with Grom and his clan never having faced the humans in battle.
He was used with effectiveness by Ner'zhul in the aftermath of the second war. His forces, combined with that of the Bleeding Hollow clan led by Kilrogg Deadeye, were used in strategic hit-and-run raids designed to retrieve some of Azeroth's most powerful magical artifacts.
Revitalization of the Horde
With the destruction of their only passage home and the successful vanquishing of the orcish strike forces, Grom and the Warsong clan were forced into hiding in the wilds of Lordaeron. They eked out an existence on the edge of human civilization for nearly 15 years. All of this time, Grom was forced to fight the demonic curse that had left him weakened and listless. Where other orcs gave into this malaise, Grom fought it to the end of his days. As the number of free orcs was diminished by conflict and old age, their situation looked more and more hopeless. The young and weak were unable to thrive in this harsh environment and the day of reckoning looked to be closing in on the Warsong clan.
Then Grom had a young orc named Thrall seek him out. Inspired by Thrall's courage, strength and mercy, he accepted the young outcast and taught Thrall more of the ways of the orc nations. When the humans searching for Thrall got too close, Thrall left his side. He was given Grom's necklace as a symbol of the trust placed in Thrall by Grom. The Warsong clan led by Grom was reunited with Orgrim Doomhammer and Thrall's lost clan, the Frostwolf Clan. Battling against the human internment camps surrounding the stronghold of Durnholde, the two clans set about freeing and reinvigorating the orcish nations.
While the orcish horde was looking for land to settle on in Lordaeron, they were instructed by the new Warchief Thrall to journey across the seas to the strange new continent of Kalimdor.
Invasion of Kalimdor
When Grom began to again feel the twinge of the demonic curse, he proved unable to resist the sweet nectar it promised him. After attacking a human settlement at Stonetalon Mountain, disobeying direct orders from Thrall, he was given what was presumed to be an easy, out of the way mission to clear land and gather lumber for the new Horde's settlement. However, the night elves were angered when Grom's orcs began to cut down the trees in Ashenvale Forest and attacked without explanation. He received help from the goblin Neeloc Greedyfingers who gave him goblin shredders for killing a furbolg. The Warsongs under Grom managed to successfully defend themselves and kill their attackers, but by doing so they caught the attention of the demigod Cenarius. Determined to avenge the deaths of the night elves who had fallen against the Warsong Clan and protect the forest from what he saw as further desecration, Cenarius attempted to slaughter the orcs. Cenarius appeared to know something of the history of the orcs and was convinced they were "demon-spawned wretches" who deserved only death. In an exchange with the demigod during one skirmish Grom vehemently told him that the orcs no longer served any demons, but Cenarius didn't believe him and continued his attempts to kill them all. The orcs quickly discovered that Cenarius was invulnerable to conventional attacks. Death at Cenarius' hands seemed inevitable.
One of the troll witch doctors accompanying the Warsong Clan told Grom he sensed strange energies nearby which might be able to aid them in defeating Cenarius. When Grom investigated he discovered a fountain of blood. This was the doing of the pit lord Mannoroth, who had originally enslaved the orcs after Gul'dan convinced them to drink his blood with promises of power. Mannoroth saw Cenarius as a formidable obstacle standing in the way of the Burning Legion, as he had been during the War of the Ancients. The demon poured more of his blood into the fountain on a suggestion from Tichondrius, hoping that the orcs would once again drink it and become sufficiently re-energized with demonic power to kill Cenarius. There was also another reason Mannoroth hoped they would partake of his blood...
When Grom brought his troops to the fountain, the witch doctor told him that he could sense that the fountain contained demonic energy. One of Grom's soldiers told him that if they drank from the fountain they would be going against everything they had been taught by Thrall. But to Grom these things did not matter. Desperate to preserve his clan from this new threat, Grom drank from the fountain and either persuaded or forced those under his command to do likewise. Driven again by the demonic energies, Grom attacked and destroyed the demigod Cenarius' forces. Even the demigod himself was no match for the enraged orc chieftain's demon-enhanced might.
After Cenarius fell, Mannoroth appeared. By drinking the Blood of Mannoroth, the Warsong Clan were once again susceptible to the vile pit lord's control. When Mannoroth told him this Grom was horrified, but that horror was one of his final independent thoughts before Mannoroth exercised control and turned Grom and the rest of the clan into his slaves, causing them to despise Thrall and the rest of the Horde and make war on them and the humans, under Jaina Proudmoore, whom Thrall had since allied with. Determined to save his old friend, Thrall confronted Grom after fighting through the corrupted Warsong clan. When Thrall reached him, Grom told him the horrible truth of the demonic curse. The orc clan chieftains had willingly taken the bloodlust offered by the Burning Legion. They were not so much cursed as doomed by the willing choices made by their power-hungry leaders. Thrall (with the help of Cairne Bloodhoof and his tauren) managed to capture Grom and bring him to Jaina, who worked with other magic-users from both her forces and Thrall's to perform a ritual that would release him from his blood curse.
Redemption and death
Upon learning the truth, Thrall and Grom set out to hunt down Mannoroth and located the vile demon in what is now Demon Fall Canyon in Ashenvale. Bellowing in rage, the Warchief struck out at Mannoroth with the Doomhammer, but the demonic leviathan shrugged off the attack and stunned Thrall with a vicious counterattack. After being taunted by Mannoroth that they were the same, Grom charged him and sank Gorehowl into Mannoroth's chest, shattering the breastplate and slicing through to the infernal heart of the demon. Mortally wounded, Mannoroth exploded in an inferno of flame, and Grom took its full fury alone. In a burst of hellfire, Mannoroth the Destructor was dead...
With nothing remaining of the pit lord but the shattered armor, Thrall made his way to where Hellscream lay in the dust. The crimson glow faded from his eyes; the blood curse which had damned his race for decades was finally over. With his best friend and Warchief at his side, the still-undefeated chieftain died at the site of his greatest triumph, both over the corruption of the Burning Legion and over the whispers of his own soul. With Mannoroth gone, the Legion's hold on the orcish race was forever shattered. Even those who had drank the blood of Mannoroth (willingly or otherwise) found that the curse had lifted, and that their souls were free from the shackles of demonic corruption. With that knowledge, Grom Hellscream left the mortal plane a redeemed spirit.
Warchief of the Iron Horde
Grommash Hellscream in Warlords of Draenor
After the events of Mists of Pandaria, Garrosh Hellscream, son of Grom, was imprisoned in Pandaria for war crimes after being deposed as Warchief of the Horde. With the aid of Kairoz, a well-intentioned bronze dragon who wanted to create an army of Horde from multiple timelines to combat the Burning Legion, Garrosh was able to escape and travel to an alternate timeline 35 years to Draenor before Grom drank Mannoroth's blood. Finding his father, Garrosh told him of Gul'dan's deceit and warned him that drinking the demon blood would only make them slaves, lying to him that they would be enslaved by the races of Azeroth. So warned and armed with advanced Iron Star technology that Garrosh had used in the Siege of Orgrimmar and brought back in time with him, Grom rejected Gul'dan's offer when he presented it at a summit of the orc clans. Mannoroth attempted to kill Grom for his refusal, but Grom used the Iron Star weaponry to slay the pit lord. Gul'dan was taken captive, and Grom announced to the gathered orcs that they would never be slaves. They then used Gul'dan to power the Dark Portal and enter the Azeroth of the present.
Taking Garrosh on as an advisor, Grom organized most of the orc clans into the Iron Horde. Only Gul'dan and Durotan, father of Thrall and chief of the Frostwolf clan, refused to join. Grom began building a new Dark Portal, using the captive Gul'dan to power it, with the aim of invading and conquering the Azeroth of the present-day. Grommash then joined the combined forces of Khadgar, Durotan, Yrel and adventurers from the Alliance and Horde in defeating Archimonde, who had been summoned by Gul'dan, and preventing history from repeating itself.
Warcraft (2016 film)
Grom is set to appear in the upcoming 2016 film, Warcraft.