Origin
Garona was long believed to be half orcish and half human however it was eventually discovered that her human side was not human at all but actually draenei. She had purposefully been bred this way by the warlock Gul’dan who had sent one of his orcish warriors to “breed” with her draenei mother – it is implied that she was conceived through rape. Gul’dan used his formidable power to magically and very painfully age her to maturity as well as magically manipulate her mind to ensure her loyalty for the foreseeable future. After that she was sent to stay and be raised in her father’s barracks where she were shunned and hated for being different.
Due to her unusually human looking features as well as an extensive knowledge of orc culture she would eventually be handpicked by Gul’dan to be his personal spy and assassin, a position she remained in for many years although despite that she would never be allowed to officially join his Stormreaver clan or any other clan for that matter.
Garona would eventually be sent on one of the first invasions into Azeroth where she was part of a group confronting Medivh, she got defeated but her life was spared so that she could bring a message back to Gul’dan. These messages would grow more and more frequent until the point where she was made an official emissary. During this time Garona would gain a great respect for Medivh and eventually bear and give birth to their child Med’an.
Creation
Garona was created by Blizzard Entertainment as a major lore character, she was first featured in the strategy game ‘Warcraft: Orcs and Humans’ as part of the story.
Major Story Arcs
The Last Guardian
Garona was sent on one of the first raiding parties into Azeroth, it was there that she would be part of the group that confronted the guardian Medivh. Garona’s life was spared that day so that she could bring back a message to Gul’dan, these messages would grow more and more frequent until the point were she was made a permanent emissary to Azeroth – and Karazhan in particular.
As time moved on Garona would grow to respect Medivh more and more and develop a sort of friendship with him, at this point she started feeling like she couldn’t betray him and would start to bring back limited information to Gul’dan. Garona had also befriended Medivh’s apprentice Khadgar during her time in Kharazhan, and while at first their relationship was strained and tainted by a heavy rivalry and dislike for each other they would eventually start to develop a limited friendship and mutual trust after having fought off a demon together that appeared in Kharazhan’s library.
As more time passed both Garona and Khadgar would notice that Medivh was growing more and more irritable and isolated every day, this lead them to eventually decide on the idea to cast a spell which would bring forth a vision from the past, in doing so they discovered that Medivh was in fact the one who had opened the dark portal to Draenor in the first place with some help from Gul’dan which allowed the orcs into Azeroth, something that lead to many lives lost and would eventually spawn the great wars that would devastate both Azeroth and Kalimdor.
After Medivh discovered that his secret was out he tried to kill both Garona and Khadgar, but Khadgar managed to distract Medivh with a vision of his mother Aegwynn which gave them just enough time to escape, they knew that trying to fight the powerful mage was beyond their abilities.
After escaping Garona and Khadgar managed to make their way to Stormwind city, the capital of the human alliance. It was here that they met Anduin Lothar who was a renowned knight of the alliance. Garona and Khadgar explained everything that had happened to Anduin and the king at the time Llane Wrynn after which it was decided that a raiding party would be lead into Kharazhan to kill Medivh before he could bring more destruction, both Khadgar and Garona joined the raiding party.
Later on in Kharazhan when fighting Medivh, Garona was struck down and incapacited by one of his spells. When Medivh was finally defeated by Khadgar and Anduin they turned to see that Garona was nowhere to be found, and her location would remain unknown for quite some time before she appeared again.
The Assassination of King Llane Wrynn I
As one of the few who accepted Garona for who she really was King Llane Wrynn quickly became one of the few humans who Garona would trust and consider a friend so after the fall of Medivh, Garona took a position by the king’s side as his advisor but unknown at the time she was also a horde spy, in large part due to the magical manipulations Gul’dan had cast on her mind.
Some time later there was an uprising in the orcish hordes, Orgrim Doomhammer had slain Blackhand and claimed the title of Warchief, under his command the orcs marched upon Stormwind. It was during this attack that King Llane realized that he had underestimated the orcs, and as he was watching Stormwind burn all around him he was stabbed in the back and had his heart cut out by Garona in front of his at the time very young son Varian Wrynn. Garona had performed the act with tears streaming down her face much to Varian’s confusion, she had killed one of her closest friends against her will due to the magic spells cast on her mind by Gul’dan and his shadow council.
Garona was later captured by the new warchief Orgrim’s forces and tortured to the brink of death in order to have the location of the shadow council extracted from her, when she eventually gave up their location the council and its warlocks were destroyed. After that Garona went into hiding and wouldn’t resurface again until the birth of her son.
Powers and Abilities
- Enhanced Physical Stats: Garona posses at least peak human strength and superhuman levels of agility, she also has a formidable intellect and finely tuned senses.
- Spy Master and Assassin: As both a spy and an assassin Garona is very well versed in the arts of stealth and assassination.
- Weapons and Martial Arts Master: Garona is a master martial artist as well as a master with several types of weapons, particularly smaller weapons like daggers.
Other Media
Video Games
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans
Garona made her debut in the RTS game Warcraft where she was featured as a unit and part of the story.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Aside from small glimpses Garona does not have a big role in any of the following Warcraft games until the World Of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm where she is a major quest giver and NPC.