Cho'gall

Cho'gall
Title	First of the Ogre-Magi
Gender	Male
Race(s)	Ogre mage (Mutated)
Class	Mage, Warlock
Affiliation(s)	Twilight's Hammer clan, Old Gods; formerly Old Horde, Shadow Council
Occupation	Chieftain of the Twilight's Hammer Clan, Initiate of the Fifth Circle of the Shadow Council
Location	Bastion of Twilight, Twilight Highlands
Status	Alive
Mentor(s)	Gul'dan
Bastion of Twilight
Halfus Wyrmbreaker; Valiona and Theralion; Ascendant Council; Cho'gall; Sinestra (heroic)	(lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore)
	Loot

Template:Warcraft II Hero

For strategy on the Bastion of Twilight encounter, see Cho'gall (tactics).

Cho'gall, Initiate of the Fifth Circle of the Shadow Council and Chieftain of the Twilight's Hammer clan, is a two-headed ogre and the first of the ogre magi. He was an apprentice of Gul'dan. Cho'gall, as with a number of ogres of his type, actually has two names, one for each head — Cho and Gall.^[2]

Biography

Cho'gall in Warcraft II

Cho'gall is a two-headed ogre - alongside Blackheart, one of the first seen in many generations - and was trained in the arts of the arcane by the warlock Gul'dan, who aided the struggling ogre in mastering the powers of the Twisting Nether. In time, Cho'gall became one of the most feared and venerated members of the Old Horde during the First and Second Wars against the humans. Alongside Kilrogg Deadeye, Cho'gall led the failed first siege of Stormwind Keep.

Cho'gall became the Chieftain of an orc clan after the previous one was executed for disobeying the Shadow Council. Cho'gall renamed the clan as the Twilight's Hammer, while all records of both the clan's old name and the chieftain's one were destroyed.^[3]

Though Cho'gall was extremely powerful, he was also dangerously insane. The clan, less of a tribe and more of a religious cult, was devoted to bringing about the apocalypse. In his capacity as a chieftain and as the right hand of Gul'dan, Cho'gall aided his master in the creation of the death knights and the Altars of Storms, and in the transformation of normal ogres into ogre magi.

Cho'gall and the Twilight's Hammer followed Gul'dan and the Stormreaver Clan when the warlock went to discover the Tomb of Sargeras. Though he did not enter the tomb himself, Cho'gall was assaulted while defending Gul'dan from the Black Tooth Grin led by Rend and Maim, the sons of Blackhand, who had been sent by Orgrim Doomhammer to destroy the traitor clans that had abandoned the war on the Alliance just before the final push on Capital City. While many perished on the Broken Isles, some members of the Twilight's Hammer clan were able to survive, including Cho'gall, who had long been presumed dead at the hands of the sons of Blackhand and their Black Tooth Grin clan.^[4]

Ahn'Qiraj

This section concerns content related to the Warcraft manga or comics.

After the battle at the Broken Isles, Cho'gall escaped to southern Kalimdor, where he took shelter with his Twilight cult within the chamber of C'Thun deep inside the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. Stasia brought Garona back to meet her master, Cho'gall. Garona was the half-orc assassin who murdered King Llane Wrynn, Varian's father. Garona was a tool of Gul'dan back then, kept firmly under his control with control words he'd programmed into her when she was a child - he'd basically ensorcelled her into doing whatever he commanded. Garona hadn't defeated the attackers; they'd captured her and taken her back to Ahn'Qiraj, the stronghold of the Old God C'thun. Cho'gall was terribly pleased to see Garona, and even more pleased to see that the control words Gul'dan used on her were still effective. Garona would be a useful tool for him and make it that much easier to get to her son Med'an, the subject of a prophecy.

Cho'gall had also caught wind of the peace summit to be held in Theramore and came up with a plan that would use Garona to her full potential. Using the control words to bend her to his will, he ordered her to seek out and murder King Varian Wrynn, followed by his son Anduin and then the Warchief Thrall. If Garona failed to kill Varian, each side would still be more likely to blame the other, declaring open war on the spot and completely ignoring the Twilight's Hammer and whatever they happened to be up to in the south. And if for some reason Garona failed and got herself killed, it'd be that much easier to get her son, Med'an. He then ordered Garona to forget all about both him and Ahn'Qiraj the moment she stepped out of the city - to her, it would be as if she were working under her own volition.

Cho'gall's plan succeeded in making all hell break loose as Garona and the Twilight's Hammer began their attack. Med'an managed to show up in time to save Anduin and try to rescue his mother - and for his efforts, Stasia caught him, knocking him unconscious and carrying him away. Med'an woke up in Ahn'Qiraj to the dulcet tones of Cho'gall, who was berating Stasia for her failure in bringing Garona back, to Stasia's protests. After Stasia admitted she was just trying to get Garona killed, Med'an tried to attack them both and got himself flung across the room for his troubles - landing right on top of the corpse of C'thun. Despite being a corpse, the thing immediately starting whispering sweet nothings of chaos and destruction in Med'an's horrified ears. Meryl teleported himself and Valeera into Ahn'Qiraj right into the middle of a very surprised and very angry group of Twilight's Hammer, who were none too happy to see the two of them. After a long battle in which Med'an was rescued they got out.

Meanwhile Garona decided to kill Cho'gall. After she reached Ahn'Qiraj Garona witnessed the terrifying transformation of Cho'gall as he was twisted into a monstrous mockery of the ogre he'd once been by his "master." Said master demanded Med'an's immediate recapture and gave Cho'gall the power to summon something to help him - a Faceless One. Everyone in Theramore tried to fight the Faceless One back, but it was Med'an who managed to kill it with an impressive blast of arcane and shamanic magic woven together. In Ahn'Qiraj, Chogall's "master" showed his displeasure at Cho'gall's failure by warping his body even further. Cho'gall decided since the boy couldn't be captured and bent, he would simply have to be sacrificed - and with proper engineering, his death would accomplish what Cho'gall had wanted all along. The energy discharged upon Med'an's death would break the bonds that imprisoned his master and free him to unleash chaos onto Azeroth. Cho'gall's plan all along was to release the Old God.

Cho'gall sought to bring forth the chaos foretold in a prophecy, to weaken the barrier between Azeroth and the elemental plane and allow his master to reclaim its former elemental servants and send them to rampage across the world. Cho'gall unleashed four elementals to attack Theramore, to bring Med'an to him. However Med'an gained enough power to cast a blast that weakened the elements considerably. Later the Council of Tirisfal gave their powers to Med'an, and he teleported to Ahn'Qiraj, to defeat Cho'gall once and for all.

Garona found the [Base of Atiesh] within the corpse of C'thun and brought it back to the surface. While Med'an's powers were truly phenomenal, it looked as though they would not be enough to defeat Cho'gall - now a horrifyingly deformed avatar for the Old God - and desperation set in. Cho'gall began the spell that would summon the Old God to Azeroth and signal the world's destruction. In a desperate gambit, Meryl channeled the fel energy that tainted Atiesh's base to Med'an, who used his powers to cleanse it and strengthened himself further. Furthermore Aegwynns power fueled Med'an even further, and when he touched the base of Atiesh, it reformed. With the combined powers of the Council, Meryl, Aegwynn and the staff of Atiesh, Med'an destroyed Cho'gall, burying him beneath the rubble of Ahn'Qiraj.

Cataclysm

This section concerns content related to Cataclysm.

Cho'gall apparently survived his encounter with Med'an and reappeared around the time of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. He plays roles in numerous questlines, notably in Dire Maul and Twilight Highlands. His image appears around Azeroth speaking with cultists.

During the fourth phase of pre-Cataclysm Elemental Unrest event, he commanded four of his elemental lieutenants to attack Horde and Alliance capital cities. In addition players witnessed his personal conversation with Crown Princess Theradras, who was put in charge of Earth Elementals assigned to invade Orgrimmar and Ironforge. He also praised Hydromancer Kulratha of the Sandfury Tribe, sister to the late Hydromancer Velratha, for strenghtening Gahz'rilla, a favored pet of the Old Gods.

In Dire Maul he gave the Gordunni Ogres power as a reward for their loyalty and work for the Twilight's Hammer clan. Despite his attempts though, Cho'gall was pushed out of Dire Maul by adventures of the Horde and Alliance.

After his retreat, Cho'gall and the Twilight's Hammer took over much of the Twilight Highlands. Leading the clan, Cho'gall also had its members attack various people including King Varian Wrynn to buy time for the clan.

As the forces of the Horde and Alliance attacked the Twilight's base in the Twilight Highlands, Cho'gall personally attack assassins before leaving them. Later on, when the player tries to take the Hammer of Twilight, Cho'gall personally arrives and knocks the player off the platform, revealing it to be a trap.

After several encounters, Cho'gall has his final showdown with players in the Bastion of Twilight raid instance in the Twilight Highlands.^[5] He is the final boss on normal mode, and the penultimate boss on heroic.

Quotes

When the child of the three realms becomes as light, the ancient power will be released. The earth will tremble. The seas will rise up in answer, and all will be madness. A new day will dawn, bringing with it chaos or peace. Our master is a god of chaos! Pandemonium will aid the old one's release! To this end, we will weaken the barrier between Azeroth and the Elemental Plane. This will allow our great master to reclaim its former elemental servants and send them to rampage throughout our world.