Grom Hellscream

Grommash "Grom" Hellscream is a key character in the fictional Warcraft universe. He was the Chieftain of the Warsong Clan during most of the in-game history of the franchise.

Biography

Grom Hellscream was born on Draenor some time before Warcraft II. He was a fierce and skilled warrior, destined to rise to the leadership of the powerful Warsong clan of orcs. He was among those orcish chieftains who willingly sacrificed their people to servitude in the Burning Legion by drinking the blood of Mannoroth the Destructor.

Warcraft II
Hellscream debuted as the leader of the Orcish Warsong Clan in Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, where he was a skilled Orc Grunt. While his clan was spared the defeats of the Second Great War, 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 Killrogg Deadeye were used in strategic hit and run raids designed to retrieve some of Azeroth's most powerful magical artifacts.

However, when he and Kilrogg discovered Ner'Zhul's gateways caused Draenor to explode, the Warsong Clan and the Bleeding Hollow Clan joined forces one last time to fight their way through the Alliance defenders of the Dark Portal. On reaching Azeroth, both clans split up to increase their chances of evading the human forces. Alas, Kilrogg's clan was first to be found and placed in internment camps, while Grom and his Warsong clan hid in the forests.

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.

During all 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.

Role in the New Horde

One day, Grom was introduced to a young Orc named Thrall. 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 with 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 a land of their own to settle in Lordaeron, they were instructed by the new Warchief Thrall, under the command of the Prophet and Last Guardian Medivh (now free from the taint of Sargeras and known as The Oracle), to journey across the seas to the forgotten continent of Kalimdor.

When Grom began to again feel the twinge of the demonic curse, he proved to be unable to resist it. After disobeying orders from his Warchief to not engage a human army near Stonetalon Peak, he was sent north to Ashenvale Forest for what was presumed to be an easy, out-of-the-way mission: to clear land and gather lumber for the new Horde for the construction of a new settlement. Instead, he angered the resident Night Elves and their demigod, Cenarius, for defiling their sacred forestlands.

His forces under siege by the Night Elves on all sides, Grom was forced to retreat into his fortress to defend himself against Cenarius's attacks. However, a Troll Witch Doctor sensed a nexus of powerful ley-energies nearby, which might be harnessed to defeat Cenarius and his warrior women. After tracking the source, Grom discovered that the ley-energies emanated from the demon Mannoroth's blood, which had been spilled in a defiled spring. Instructing his warriors to drink the dark waters, Grom and the Warsong Orcs gave into his bloodlust and became more powerful than ever. Driven again by the demonic energies, Grom attacked and destroyed the demigod Cenarius's forces; even the demi-god himself was no match for the enraged Orc chieftain's might. Soon afterward, Mannoroth revealed himself to the corrupted Orcs to accept them back into the fold. An incredulous Grom protested with the last iota of his sanity, claiming that he and his clan were free, but the blood pact was binding. If nothing was done soon, the Orcs would once again be damned to demonic enslavement.

Totally taken now with the demonic power, Grom turned against everything he knew from Thrall's reinvigoration of the Horde. The Troll warriors and spellcasters under his command were imprisoned and their ranks were filled by demons. He constructed a new citadel on the borderlands of the Barrens and surrounded himself with warlocks and agents of the Burning Legion. Only a joint rescue effort by Thrall, the Tauren under Cairne Bloodhoof, and the Alliance forces under Jaina Proudmoore could save him from the demonic blood that corrupted his thoughts and actions. Amid the commencement of the Burning Legion's invasion, the Alliance and Horde forces were able to hold off attacking Infernals raining from the sky, pacify the chaotic Warsong Clan, and defeat Grom's Doom Guard. Finally, using a Soul Gem crafted by Jaina, Thrall managed to imprison Grom and return him to Jaina's stronghold. There, human and high elven priests working alongside Orcish shamans were able to purge the demonic corruption from Grom under Jaina and Thrall's guidance.

Redemption of the Orcish race
Before being freed from the demonic corruption, Grom told Thrall the horrible truth of the Demonic curse. The Orc Clan Chieftains had willingly taken the bloodlust offered by the Burning Legion. They were not as much cursed as doomed by the willing choices made by their power hungry leaders. Thrall still freed Grom, but was furious with him.

The redemption of Grom Hellscream was close at hand however, as depicted in Warcraft III, in the Orc's Epilogue cutscene. Enraged by the awful secret of the Orc's spiral into bloodlust and hate, Grom led Thrall into a tainted canyon blasted into existence by the falling Infernals to confront the Pit Lord Mannoroth and end the corruption that was once again visited on them. A mighty blow from Thrall was shrugged aside by the massive demon, whose counterattack left the young Warchief stunned and unconscious. Driven by sheer force of will, desperation, and desire to end his suffering, Grom Hellscream made his last charge, screaming bloody murder to the mighty demon. His axe struck Mannoroth directly in the chest and the resulting destruction of the demon lord caused a massive explosion.

In a fitting display of symbolism, the death of Mannoroth resulted too in the death of Hellscream, who sacrificed himself to purge the demon blood from the Orc race. His head held in his friend Thrall's hands, the burning flames of the demonic corruption that whirled in Grom's eyes were finally quenched. Grom turned to Thrall and told him he had freed himself from the corruption that had stalked him. As Grom died quietly in Thrall's arms, the warchief corrected his old friend, telling him that he had freed them all.

World of Warcraft
There is a monument to Grom Hellscream outside the Warsong encampment in Demon Fall Canyon, near the south-eastern corner of the region of Ashenvale, on the continent of Kalimdor. Grommash Hold, the great fortress of the Warchief in Orgrimmar, is named for him.

Outside Grommash Hold, Mannoroth's armor and skull are mounted as a display, with a small plaque commemorating his defeat at the hands of Hellscream.

During October 3-9, Horde players can honor Grom Hellscream during the Harvest Festival Event held outside of Orgrimmar.

The Warsong Clan remain as a Horde faction tied to the Warsong Gulch PvP battleground.

His son Garrosh Hellscream was recently discovered in Outland. He turns out to be the military leader for the Mag'har, a group of orcs that escaped the corruption of other Orcs that remained in Outland.

Prince Malchezaar in Karazhan drops a two handed axe named Gorehowl that bears the note "The axe of Grom Hellscream has sown terror across hundreds of battlefields". How this axe came to be possessed by Malchezaar is unknown, as Shadows & Light, a tabletop RPG book published by White Wolf for use in a Warcraft setting, states that the axe was Grom's.
Further proof of this connection is indicated in the Warcraft 3 animated movie clip where Grom, Thrall and Mannoroth fight, as Gorehowl is an exact replica of the weapon Grom carries. Further to this, in World of Warcraft when Thrall comes in Outland to visit the Mag'har and portays a visual reinactment of the epic battle between himself, Grom and Mannoroth, the axe Grom carries is again, the exact model of Gorehowl.

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