The Story of Jaina Proudmoore: The Missing Pages of Book of Heroes

Hearthstone’s “Book of Heroes” sets out to tell the backstories of the basic class heroes, following them through their lives as they grow and change to become the version of themselves that we see depicted in their character art. However, many of these characters have stories that have been evolving for years at this point, and summarizing such a lengthy tale in the format of a series of Hearthstone encounters necessitates that many details either being left out or drastically oversimplified. Here then, to fill in the blanks, are the Missing Pages from Jaina Proudmoore’s story in the Book of Heroes.

Chapter 1: Requesting Instruction

Jaina Proudmoore was the daughter of the Grand Admiral of the seafaring island nation of Kul Tiras, Daelin Proudmoore. Her mother’s name was Katherine, and she had two brothers named Derek and Tandred. From an early age, she was fascinated with books and tales of magic. Her older brother, Derek, died while she was still young, killed by orcs in the Second War. When she was eleven years old, her magical talent was discovered, and her mother advocated for her to go to Dalaran—the city of mages—to study. On her way to Dalaran, she and her party stayed as guests in the capital city of the kingdom of Lordaeron— ironically just named “Capital City”—and met the young children of King Terenas Menethil II. The older sister was named Calia, and she and Jaina became great friends. The younger twelve-year-old brother was named Arthas, and he developed an instant crush on Jaina when he realized that she was a girl who knew how to have fun in the outdoors and wouldn’t mind having a snowball fight. He volunteered to help escort her the rest of the way to Dalaran as an excuse to spend time with her. On the way, she saw the internment camps that the orcs were kept in after they had lost the Second War and developed a strange lethargy. In spite of the fact that orcs had killed her brother, she felt pity for them when Arthas did not. At last reaching Dalaran, she stayed and studied for six years before pestering Archmage Antonidas to take her on as his personal apprentice. She ended up developing a reputation as his star pupil, specializing in magical research in the library, and Antonidas believed she had the potential to become the greatest sorceress in human history.

Young Jaina as a student in Dalaran

Chapter 2: The Visitor from Quel’Thalas

As the years passed, and Jaina grew in her power and studies, she attracted the attention of [Hearthstone Card (Kael’thas Sunstrider) Not Found], crown prince of the high elven kingdom of Quel’Thalas. He was approachable and friendly in spite of his high status, and attempted to garner Jaina’s affections. While she was very impressed with his charm and “perfectly handsome features”, she rejected his advances for a few reasons. The first was his regality, which, in spite of his friendliness, was still a bit intimidating. Secondly, she wanted to make sure that if she advanced in Dalaran, it was because she had really earned it through her studies and dedication, not because she had the favor of an elven prince. Thirdly, she had started to develop feelings of her own for Arthas Menethil, who had since grown up and kept finding reasons to travel to Dalaran for diplomatic purposes and history studies in order to see her. The two of them began a secret relationship to avoid fueling court gossip, but were caught by a jealous Kael’thas. He kept their secret, out of respect for Jaina, but had harsh words for Arthas, accusing him of being ashamed of Jaina to keep their relationship so hidden.

Jaina and Arthas courting in Dalaran

Chapter 3: The Edge of Loss

Jaina and Arthas eventually made their interest in each other more public, but Arthas got spooked by the responsibility he would have to bear as both a king and a potential father if he married Jaina. While she was staying with his family in Capital City for the holiday of Winter Veil, he broke off the relationship, telling Jaina that she should focus on her studies for now, just like he had to prepare for that day he would have to bear the mantle of king. She was very hurt by his sudden rejection of her, but didn’t fight him on it and returned to Dalaran. There, she was instrumental in helping the mages exile the rogue mage Kel'Thuzad’s forbidden necromantic experiments. Kel'Thuzad would go on to serve a powerful necromantic being called The Lich King, who had been created by the demons of the Burning Legion with the intention of raising a powerful undead army that would weaken Azeroth before their own invasion began. Under the orders of his new master, Kel'Thuzad formed the Cult of the Damned and secretly worked to spread a mysterious plague throughout the kingdoms. Jaina and Arthas teamed up to track down who was responsible and put of stop to the plague. They rekindled some spark of their old romance, but Arthas’ fear of failing the responsibilities placed on him drove him to obsession in his hunt. Through the eyes of the undead, the Lich King noticed Arthas’ unraveling sanity, and determined to completely corrupt the prince into his own undead champion. When Arthas and Jaina tracked down Kel'Thuzad, he revealed that there was another above him, the dreadlord Mal'Ganis. Arthas killed the necromancer and went with Jaina to the city of Stratholme to face Mal'Ganis, only to find that the people were already infected by the plague. Knowing they would eventually turn into undead, Arthas decided that the only choice was to kill all the innocent people in the city before they could be turned. This was the point where Jaina had to leave Arthas for good, as she couldn’t allow herself to be a part of such a horrific slaughter.

Chapter 4: Dispelling a Demon

After Jaina left Arthas, he continued down his path of ruin, becoming the champion of the Lich King and leading the undead army of the Scourge on a path of destruction in the very kingdom he had once sought to protect. Meanwhile, the former Guardian, Medivh, had been resurrected and saw the plans the demons of the Burning Legion had for Azeroth. He set about trying to warn the leaders of the kingdoms that doom was near and that they should evacuate to the western continent of Kalimdor. Most of them blew him off as a raving madman, but two key people listened. One of them was Thrall, the new young leader of the orcish Horde. The other was Jaina, whom Antonidas tasked with protecting the survivors when he sensed that Arthas and the Scourge were on their way to Dalaran. This was very fortunate for Jaina, as Dalaran would soon be destroyed by the summoned demon lord, Archimonde.

Upon arriving in Kalimdor, Jaina’s forces clashed with Grommash Hellscream’s band of “Chaos Orcs”. Years ago, the orcs had been enslaved by the Burning Legion when they were tricked into drinking demon blood, which shackled their will and drove them into a constant berserk rage and blood frenzy. While the worst effects hadn’t shown themselves in past years without demons to direct them, Grom and his troops had been tricked into drinking even more demon blood, which gave them a double dose of out of control, demon-fueled rage. Jaina eventually met Thrall and Cairne Bloodhoof. Thinking they were enemies like Grom, she prepared to fight them, only for Medivh to appear and convince the two armies that they needed to work together. Reluctantly, they agreed and Jaina used a soul gem to capture Grom’s essence and help Thrall purge him of his curse.

Chapter 5: Eternity’s End

The ultimate plan of the Burning Legion’s invasion was to assault the World Tree on Mt. Hyjal. This tree, known as Nordrassil, served as a cap over the Well of Eternity, a lake of powerful magical water that had been created by Illidan Stormrage ten thousand years before. With the power of the well, the Legion would be able to make a portal powerful enough to allow more of their army to enter and completely destroy Azeroth.

Guided by Medivh, Jaina and Thrall’s forces eventually met and teamed up with the immortal night elves, led by Malfurion Stormrage and Tyrande Whisperwind. These elves lived in the world tree and had been tasked by the Dragon Aspects to ensure the power of the well wasn’t misused. The Aspects had blessed and enchanted the tree to protect it from corruption and give the elves their immortality, and those enchantments were what Malfurion planned to use to destroy the legion forces and their leader, Archimonde. Working with Jaina and Thrall, he planned to detonate the enchantments placed within Nordrassil by the Dragon Aspects. This spell required time to prepare, and the faction armies would have to delay the Legion's advance in order for the plan to work. The Horde, Alliance, and night elves quickly built up defensive bases along the path leading to the World Tree. One by one the bases fell before Archimonde, who mocked the defenses of the mortals of Azeroth and remained unaware of their true plan.

As Archimonde approached the tree, he didn’t notice the Wisps that Malfurion has gathered. These wisps were disembodied spirits of deceased night elves who have become one with the forest, and answered the call to protect their home. At Malfurion’s command with the Horn of Cenarius, the giant mass of wisps channeled their energy into Nordrassil as one, igniting the ancient enchantments and causing devastating explosion that instantly vaporized Archimonde and the majority of his forces. With the Battle of Mt. Hyjal won, the Third War and the Legion’s invasion were over.

After the end of the Third War, Jaina Proudmoore led her band of refugees south to Dustwallow Marsh where they established the port city of Theramore, which quickly became a major influence on the continent of Kalimdor. In light of what they had achieved together, Jaina and Thrall signed a non-aggression pact between the Horde and Alliance on Kalimdor. The two leaders considered each other friends and allies, although much hatred remained between the two factions as a whole. Jaina was so determined to the idea of peace that she did nothing to stop Rexxar from killing her father when he refused to listen to her and launched an assault on the Horde.

Chapter 6: Theramore’s Fall

Peace lasted between Jaina’s city of Theramore and Thrall’s Horde, but everything changed when Deathwing brought about the Cataclysm. As a gifted shaman, Thrall felt obligated to step down from his position as warchief in order to focus on healing the world and stopping the corrupted dragon aspect. In his place, he hastily appointed Garrosh Hellscream, the son of Grommash Hellscream who Thrall had taken under his wing. Garrosh was an orc who embraced conquest and what he saw as the true orc way. After the Cataclysm ended and Deathwing was defeated, Garrosh completely forsook the ways of peace that Thrall had overseen and launched an unprovoked attack on Theramore with the intention of making the entire continent of Kailmdor Horde land and ushering in an era of Horde domination.

Jaina was secretly warned of the attack by Baine Bloodhoof, whom she had helped in the past, and so she set about gathering allies from the Alliance and the Kirin Tor to defend the city. These included the archmage of the Kirin Tor, Rhonin, and the former blue Dragon Aspect, Kalecgos. However, these reinforcements were all a part of Garrosh’s plan, as he had stolen a powerful artifact from the Blue Dragonflight known as the Focusing Iris, and turned it into a destructive mana bomb. With the drop of this bomb, he destroyed the entire city and almost all of the powerful Alliance forces and commanders that had come to defend it. Jaina herself was only saved by Rhonin sacrificing himself to portal her to safety against her will.

Although she had survived, the exposure to such raw arcane power had affected Jaina. Her blonde hair had been turned mostly white and her eyes glowed with raw power. Witnessing the needless death and suffering that had been brought on her people by the Horde made her snap. While she had previously been one of the strongest advocates for peace with the Horde in the past, she now longed for their complete destruction.

Jaina's default image in Hearthstone, depicting her after the arcane bomb turned her hair white.

Chapter 7: Broken Bonds

Filled with pure hatred, Jaina killed every Horde looter in the city’s ruins and recovered the Focusing Iris that had been used to make the bomb. Failing to convince the Alliance or the Kirin Tor to launch an immediate retaliation against Orgrimmar, Jaina sneaked into the Dalaran library and researched a way to use the arcane power of the Focusing Iris to enslave an army of water elementals. Traveling to Fray Island off the cost of Kalimdor, Jaina created a massive tidal wave big enough to destroy the entire city of Orgrimmar and every member of the Horde living in it.

Thrall heard the cries of the enslaved elementals and rushed to stop Jaina, barely arriving in time. Although he tried to reason with her to spare the innocent Horde civilians living in the city, Jaina would have none of it and released the tidal wave. Thrall barely managed to hold it back as Jaina attacked him, draining all his strength with the effort. He was only saved when Kalecgos arrived to prevent Jaina from killing him. Together, they convinced Jaina that, if she did this, she would be no better than Arthas, who slaughtered so many doing what he thought was right. In fact, she would be no better than Garrosh as she used the exact same weapon to destroy his city like he had destroyed hers. Realizing the monster she had almost become, Jaina dispelled the tidal wave and vowed to fight Garrosh’s Horde without harming civilians. Only if Garrosh was ever removed could there ever be the chance of peace again, or the chance of her ever considering Thrall a friend again.

As Kalecgos flew Jaina over Orgrimmar, she saw that the Alliance fleet had launched an assault, but was being overwhelmed by the Horde’s enthralled krakens. Realizing that she almost destroyed the fleet with the tidal wave, she used the Focusing Iris to protect them and end Garrosh’s naval blockade of Kalimdor.

Bonding over their shared losses if life, Jaina and Kalec began a romantic relationship and were both inducted into the Kirin Tor, with Jaina being made the Archmage to replace the newly-deceased Rhonin, as determined by a prophecy.

Chapter 8: Jaina’s Resolution

While Jaina attempted to maintain a sense of neutrality as leader of the Kirin Tor— historically a neutral faction for all mages—her hatred for the Horde would be solidified again after the lost continent of Pandaria was rediscovered. At first, Jaina refused the requests of Varian Wrynn to expel the blood elves from Dalaran, even though the Sunreavers claimed fealty to the Horde and were a potential threat to the war the Alliance was fighting against Garrosh’s forces. In spite of her disdain for Garrosh, she thought Dalaran could serve as a beacon of hope for peace by showing the world that both Alliance and Horde could trust and work together.

This mentality stopped when Jaina found evidence that the Sunreavers had betrayed the Kirin Tor by using Dalaran’s portals to infiltrate the night elf city of Darnassus and steal a powerful mogu artifact called the Divine Bell for Garrosh. In reality, the Sunreavers as a whole were not fully to blame. Fanlyr Silverthorn, a blood elf agent of Garrosh, had convinced a Sunreaver to open a portal for him to bypass Darnassus’ magic defenses and steal the bell with the aid of a Horde strike team. Despite Fanlyr's attempts to cover their tracks, Jaina was able to discover evidence linking the theft of the Divine Bell to someone familiar with the Kirin Tor portal network, indicating it to be the work of a Sunreaver.

Jaina returned to Dalaran to confront Aethas Sunreaver, the leader of the blood mages in Dalaran. Aethas claimed he had nothing to do with the theft, which was only partly true. Struggling with his conflicting loyalties between the Kirin Tor and his people, he became aware of the abuse of the portal network only moments after it occurred, but had remained silent about it. Jaina called for the exile of the entire Sunreaver organization, only for Aethas to refuse, stating Dalaran was the Sunreavers' city and had been for generations. In response, Jaina imprisoned Aethas in the Violet Citadel and went about purging Dalaran of any members of the Horde. Those who surrendered were imprisoned, while those who resisted were executed. Jaina then pledged Dalaran to the Alliance, only to learn that Varian had secretly been having talks with the blood elves about them defecting to the Alliance and away from Garrosh’s brutality. Jaina’s own brutality had sent them back to the Horde, but she remained unapologetic, believing the Sunreavers had brought the expulsion on themselves.

The Epilogue Pages

This is the end of Jaina’s section in the Book of Heroes, but not the end of her story. As leader of the Kirin Tor, Jaina fought against the Horde and any other threats posed to the Alliance, struggling with her anger against the Horde. When the Burning Legion launched its third invasion of Azeroth, Khadgar and the Council of Six voted to allow the Horde back into Dalaran in order to have a unified base to fight the demons from. Disgusted at being outvoted on the matter, Jaina ended her relationship with Kalecgos and left the Kirin Tor.

Fighting the demons on her own in various corners of Azeroth, Jaina felt that all she could do was hate and react. She regretted having sided with the Horde and allowing her father’s death, as her own home nation of Kul Tiras hated and blamed her for the loss of their beloved Grand Admiral. When the Fourth War broke out between the Alliance and Horde over the powerful resource Azerite, Jaina volunteered to mend relations with Kul Tiras and the Alliance in order to obtain the use of their navy for the war effort. Upon setting foot on the island nation, she was instantly arrested as a traitor and judged by her own mother, Katherine Proudmoore. Jaina went along willingly, and Katherine, urged by Priscilla Ashvane, had her taken away to face justice for her crimes.

Ashvane exiled Jaina to Fate's End, an island off the coast of Stormsong Valley from which none were said to return. She was captured by Gorak Tul, ancient king of the long-dead drust race, who pulled her into the death realm of Thros. Within Thros, Jaina was haunted by memories of her past mistakes and actions. By this point, Katherine had been convinced to reconcile with her daughter and went to go find her. Seeing Jaina’s visions, she realized what had really happened between Jaina and her father. Daelin had lost himself in hatred for the Horde, and Katherine convinced Jaina to forgive herself for her actions. Newly filled with hope and love from her mother, Jaina slew Gorak Tul and escaped the island.

Upon rescuing her home from Ashvane’s treachery and finding the lost Kul Tiran fleet—which had been trapped in a magical storm caused by the naga queen Aszhara—Jaina was given the rank of Grand Admiral as her mother stepped down, making her the leader of the entire nation of Kul Tiras.

As the war dragged on, Warchief Sylvanas Windrunner hatched a plan to raise Jaina’s brother Derek into undeath and brainwash him into being a secret weapon against his family. Unable to stand by and let such a thing happen, Baine Bloodhoof rescued Derek and returned him to Jaina.

In return, Jaina aided in rescuing Baine when Sylvanas sentenced him to be executed for treason. During the rescue, she encountered Thrall and Varok Saurfang, who were trying to rescue Baine as well, and the estranged friends decided to team up. While trying to free Baine, they were forced to fight and kill Magister Hathorel, a blood elf who wanted revenge against Jaina for the Purge of Dalaran. After teleporting everyone to safety, Jaina and Thrall considered the possibility of the Alliance and Horde working together again to overthrow Sylvanas.

Jaina was instrumental in the final assault to remove Sylvanas Windrunner from power, a fact that put her at the top of Sylvanas’ list of enemies. When the Banshee Queen shattered the veil between Azeroth and the Shadowlands, she arranged for Jaina to be abducted and imprisoned within the Maw, a hellish prison intended for the most vile of souls. Eventually, Jaina was rescued by champions from Azeroth teaming up with Bolvar Fordragon in the Shadowlands, with Bolvar referring to her as one of Azeroth’s “Architects of Peace”. Jaina was not the naïve young woman she had been who sought peace at all costs, nor was she the hate-filled mage who sought nothing but the destruction of her enemies. She had a more balanced perspective now, one that would be needed with her great power to safeguard all of Azeroth.