WoW's official website has a new short story up titled Hellscream, and boy howdy does it clear some ambiguities up nicely. Honestly I suspect that it may have been written specifically for that purpose, but it's actually pretty entertaining, and lets you get into the heads of the two Hellscreams.
But many of the lingering questions about Warlords of Draenor are now clarified decisively. Spoilers to follow!
Hellscream begins with Garrosh and Kairoz on a hill in eastern Nagrand. Off the bat, we get the biggest confirmation - Kairoz has explained to Garrosh that this is "the ideal timeway," and not the Nagrand that he was born in. Kairoz warns Garrosh not to "count the blades of grass," because there are going to be differences. They'll be subtle, Kairoz warns, but they're key.
So there we have it: this is not, and was never, our Draenor. This is a full-on parallel universe that simply is not the same as Outland. They truly are separate worlds, and separate universes, which - good news - means that we are 100% paradox free!
Now Kairoz' intentions may not be entirely clear, but it's very strongly hinted what his aim is. This is the first of many Draenors that he intends to form a Horde with. He eagerly anticipates an ever-expanding army. He uses the word "Infinite" a whole lot, which should be the hint. Then again, we've never been entirely clear on the Infinites' motivations, so perhaps he believes he will be protecting Azeroth. The point is, in his mind, this alternate Horde will be under his control, and that Garrosh will be working for him.
He has with him a glass shard from the Vision of Time - call it the Glimpse of Time. Garrosh, of course, is not happy about the idea of serving Kairoz - or anyone, for that matter - so he takes the shard and slashes into Kairoz' chest, cutting him from neck to navel. Kairoz, and whatever plans he had, is dead. Super dead. Dead and in a parallel universe. And stuck in an illusory Orc form.
Meanwhile, the Chieftain of the Warsong Clan, Grommash Hellscream, is haunted by the final words of Golka, the love of his life. While his clan thirsts for combat, challenging each other to violent (but not deadly) duels more to pass the time than for anything else, he is visited by a stranger.
It's Garrosh, of course, and after Garrosh proves himself in the Mak'rogahn, he earns the right to talk to Grommash. The "stranger" warns that listening to Gul'dan will make the Orcs weak, and offers instead to show Grommash how to build powerful weapons to use in the place of Gul'dan's Warlock magic.
Garrosh asks about Golka, though Grommash does not wish to speak about her. Garrosh pokes further, asking why Grommash would be so upset about her if she died in glorious combat and gave him a son to boot.
But Grommash does not have a son.
Parallel universes. There is no Garrosh in this Draenor except ours.
Not entirely convinced about Garrosh's dire warnings, the "stranger" brings Grommash to the Stones of Prophecy (which in our universe is where Thrall showed him the vision of his father's death and redemption.) Grommash goes to the stones and uses the Glimpse of Time to see the future - or rather, the past, as it is our universe's history that he watches. He sees Draenor ruined by the Warlocks and sees himself leading the charge into corruption, even recognizing that Garrosh had been wrong - assuming that Grommash had been the first to drink the Blood of Mannoroth in order to make sure it was safe for his brethren, when in fact he had done it out of a selfish desire to be the first to take that power. The visions continue, showing the history of the Horde all the way up through the Second War.
But a shaman - the old orc who guards the stones of prophecy - knows that Garrosh is an interloper, and that he is attempting to change fate. The shaman can see the prophecies, or rather the history, more clearly, and he knows that while the corruption of the Orcs was tragic, it was a sacrifice for a stronger Azeroth. Ultimately Draenor paid the price so that Azeroth could be protected by both the Alliance and the Horde.
Garrosh suffocates the shaman, killing him before he can tell Grommash what he sees.
But Garrosh begins to run out of time. Grommash begins to see past the Second War, and sees in his visions a young Orc called Thrall, who is free of corruption and begins to lead his people...
And so Garrosh smashes the Glimpse of Time, ending the vision. Grommash asks about the Orc named Thrall, but Garrosh merely maintains that the Orcs would remain slaves thereafter.
There are three major, huge, game-changing takeaways from this:
First: The Infinite Dragonflight is still around, or may indeed be just forming, but their plans are pretty much torpedoed in Draenor B.
Second: This is not the past. This is a totally different universe. Rulkan is alive, Akama's a paladin, and Garrosh was never born.
Third: Grommash Hellscream is doing what he can to save his people. From his perspective, he is the good guy. And not in a pigheaded, ignoring common sense way that Garrosh thought during Mists of Pandaria, but in a legitimate, "I have seen the future, and I will do whatever I can to save my people from that fate." way. Honestly, Grommash Hellscream isn't just not evil. He's basically a hero. Just one who has been utterly deceived and is operating under false information.
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