Warcraft/Characters/The Burning Legion

The Burning Legion is the name for the demonic forces of the universe. Under the leadership of Sargeras, they move from world to world, seeking to consume them in fire and undo the creation of the Titans. The Legion consists of a number of subgroups, most of whom are classified as demons.

The Eredar, who are represented more or less as "classical" demons, started out as good but were corrupted to evil by Sargeras. They are the leaders of the Legion.
Assorted lesser demons like the Pit Lords, Mo'arg, Gan'arg, Doomguard, etc, form the armies of the Legion.
The Scourge are the Undead forces under the command of the Lich King. Originally subservient to the Legion, Ner'zhul eventually betrayed Kil'jaeden and became independent.
The Shadow Council, an Equal Opportunity Evil group of warlocks originally founded by Orcs on Draenor, works to further the Legion's goals.
There are enclaves of demons, cultists (mostly influenced by the Shadow Council) and satyrs throughout Azeroth that are aligned with the Burning Legion and eagerly await their return.

Tropes associated with the Burning Legion include:

The Corruption: How they "recruit" new species: for example, fel orcs and satyrs were once normal orcs and night elves who were mutated by fel power.
The Dark Side: Fel energy empowers magic users dramatically, at the cost of corrupting their mind and submitting them to the Legion's will. The Light is its complete opposite.
Exclusively Evil: Justified: you have to be evil (or become corrupted) to get into the Legion in the first place.
The Legions of Hell: In addition of having nearly the same name, they are army of demonic beings bent on travelling between worlds to destroy and conquer them, corrupting everything on their way.
Omnicidal Maniac: Pretty much the whole point of their existence.
Our Demons Are Different: More specifically, they are an army of diverse creatures from various worlds who use a form of evil magic known as Fel Power and use The Corruption to assimilate new species in their ranks.
Retcon: See the entry for Sargeras below.

Kil'jaeden the Deceiver

"There are more ways to destroy one's enemy than with an army. Sometimes those ways are better."

Currently the leader of the Legion, Kil'jaeden was one of the three original Eredar lords who were approached by Sargeras and one of the two who joined the fallen titan. While his companion Archimonde tended to preferred brute force, Kil'jaeden went the Magnificent Bastard route, manipulating, tempting and even outright lying to accomplish his goals. After Sargeras was banished with the death of Medivh, Kil'jaeden sought to take over leadership of the Burning Legion and prove his worth by completing the assimilation/destruction of Azeroth. Kael'thas attempted to summon him into Azeroth, but didn't finish the job, leaving half of Kil'jaeden's body sticking out of the Sunwell. Consequently, he was ultimately defeated (but not killed) at the Sunwell by the combined forces of the Blue Dragonflight and a band of heroes.

Big Bad: Of The Burning Crusade, though all the advertising was focused on Illidan.
Big No: Upon being defeated at the Sunwell.
Best Served Cold: He took Velen's son, brainwashed him and tortured him into a murderous Eredar named Rakeesh with the intention of having him kill Velen (and/or forcing Velen to kill Rakeesh in self-defense).
The Corrupter: His M.O. One of his most notable machinations led to the orc clans slaughtering the Draenei of Shattrath and drinking demonic blood, turning Ner'zhul into the Lich King, and Kael'thas turning on both Illidan (leading to Illidan's downfall) and his own people (beckoning a new invasion of Azeroth). In Legion, he also takes great interest in bringing the Illidari into the Legion, and it's implied he was responsible for many other races joining the Legion's ranks.
Co-Dragons: To Sargeras; shared with Archimonde. However, Kil'jaeden is the higher-ranked of the two, but Archimonde is able to get away with mouthing off at Kil'jaeden or defying him.
- Dragon Their Feet: Specifically in that Sargeras, the canonical Big Bad, is defeated before Kil'jaeden; however, this is not a case of the latter slacking so much as the former getting careless.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Justified, in the first fight since he was not completely summoned when players fight him. Also justified in Legion as he is fought with the help of Velen (one of the strongest followers of the Light), Khadgar and Illidan (who was a veteran at fighting demons and developed powers and fighting styles specifically to kill them).
Dragon Ascendant: During Burning Crusade with Archimonde and Sargeras out of commission. Fully intended to lead the Burning Legion in his own name instead of in Sargeras' during the Burning Crusade expansion. In contrast to Archimonde who attempted it because he was power hungry, Kil'jaeden did so trying to complete Sargeras' mission and to get his revenge.
Demoted to Dragon: After Burning Crusade and with Sargeras regaining his strength, Kil'jaeden was once again Sargeras' second-in-command.
Evil Sounds Deep: His is not as deep as Archimonde, but it's still a pretty low register.
Final Boss: Of The Burning Crusade expansion.
Gambit Roulette: Kil'jaeden has an extremely long-term mind set, so he naturally does nothing but these. Considering he could empower Ner'zhul with, among other things, limited foreknowledge of future events, it's not completely out-there to consider he might have a bit of prophet in himself as well.
Genre Savvy: Unlike Archimonde, it looks like he has read about half of the Evil Overlord List.
Hot as Hell: Implied to help in drawing his victims to the dark side.
Killed Off For Real: In Legion the boss fight against Kil'jaeden takes place on his warship in the Twisting Nether. Due to being within inside the Twisting Nether itself, freeing Argus' power and Sargeras' imprisonment soon after, this means that Kil'jaeden is gone once and for all.
Man in a Kilt: All he ever dresses in is his skirt, leaving his upper body free, likely due to his wings.
Manipulative Bastard: They don't call him The Deceiver for nothing.
Never Found the Body: Kil'jaeden's defeat at the Sunwell technically banishes him back to the Twisting Nether rather than completely destroying him. His defeat in the Twisting Nether en-route to Antorus meant that was his final death, upon which he exploded so there was nothing left of his body.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Archimonde's red despite their coloring.
Satan: While Sargeras has the backstory, Kil'jaeden is a better allegory in terms of personality and appearance.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Technically: it requires the Sunwell to be reopened for Kil'jaeden to attempt physical entry into Azeroth, which Kael'thas is only too happy to provide.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Presumably he does this because it means his wings are free.
Winged Humanoid: A case of Power Gives You Wings, since most normal eredar don't have them and he can use them to fly. Interestingly, he's the only male eredar who has them, which is likely a reference to the Warcraft 2 artwork, that depicted Kil'jaeden with wings.
You Have Failed Me...: Averted. He's surprisingly forgiving of his underling's mistakes, as long as they don't completely screw up his over-all plan. In other times, it IS actually part of his plan (he expects them to fail), so no real failure there.

Archimonde The Defiler

"Tremble Mortals, and despair! Doom has come to this world!"

The Final Boss of Warcraft III, Archimonde the Defiler was the second of the Eredar lords that took Sargeras' offer of power and became one of his most powerful lieutenants. Unlike Kil'jaeden, Archimonde prefers a much more... direct approach to conquering the universe. He takes battles into his own hands instead of sitting back and plotting. Archimonde participated in the War of the Ancients, where he managed to kill Cenarius' father Malorne. Ten thousand years later, he was brought back into Azeroth by Kel'Thuzad to lead the Legion's army. He promptly began destroying Lordaeron before crossing the sea to destroy Kalimdor. There he was held off by a coalition of Alliance and Horde members while trying to drain the World Tree Nordrassil of its power, before being blown up by thousands of wisps.

Badass Boast: See above.
Bad Boss: Kills his own men in frustration after Tyrande escapes.
Co-Dragons: To Sargeras. Mannoroth and Tichondrius are his Dragons.
Death of a Thousand Cuts: After ripping through hundreds of mortal forces. Archimonde was finally killed by Wisps, the basic Night-Elf worker unit.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Subverted: you aren't supposed to kill him in the final mission, and doing so is extremely difficult because not only do his bases never run out of resources, and he can build units that normally can't be built in normal games, Archimonde himself is nearly unstoppable in a head on fight. In the Battle for Mount Hyjal instance, you bring him to 10% HP and then the wisps do the rest.
Evil Sounds Deep: Very evil, and has a very deep voice.
Final Boss: Of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.
Finger-Poke of Doom:
- Finger of Death. Heck, the tooltip decribing it is a Large Ham! "Deals 20 000 Shadow damage to you, your children, and your children's children!"
- Taken Up to Eleven with Hand of Death, a Total Party Kill attack he uses if he reaches Nordrassill or his enrage timer runs out.
Foe-Tossing Charge: His march to Mount Hyjal was little more than this.
Hopeless Boss Fight: Subverted in the final mission of Warcraft III. Because it's a Hold the Line mission, the player is not meant to directly face him. But when this is attempted, it cannot even be called a hopeless boss fight, since Archimonde removes any attacking army as if they are flies, and when he actually does attack you, he'll likely show up when there's already an army on your doorstep. Part of the reason for this is because Archimonde is immune to spells and can only be damaged by chaos attacks. The fun is that the player has no units at their disposal that inflict chaos damage.
The Juggernaut: The last level of Warcraft III has Archimonde stomping through the Orc, Humans and Night Elves' defenses effortlessly.
Made of Iron: In Warcraft III, he has an absurd amount of health, and divine type armor which means everything except Chaos damage (which you only get access to through mercenaries in that mission) do a single point of damage to him, he's immune to spells, and he has Ankh of Reincarnation which brings him back to life at full health and mana, meaning you have to kill him twice.
Meaningful Name: Arch is Greek for king and mond is French for world (i.e. "King of the World" (a title traditionally claimed by Satan)).
Neck Snap: Performs this on Malorne in the War of the Ancients.
Person of Mass Destruction: If him casually destroying Dalaran wasn't evidence enough.
Rasputinian Death: The last thing he expect was getting zerg rushed.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Kil'jaeden's blue despite their coloring.
Superpower Meltdown: What the wisps do to him.
Villainous Breakdown: Also his Last Words, though only in the Caverns of Time: Battle of Mount Hyjal instance in The Burning Crusade.

"No! It cannot be! Noooooooooooo oooooooooo!" as he perishes in a Pillar of Light and Earthshattering Kaboom.

You Have Failed Me...: Unlike Kil'Jaeden, Archimonde plays this straight. His policy pretty much boils down to "Succeed or die!".

Sargeras

Sargeras is the Burning One, the master of the Burning Legion. Originally a Titan, he fell from grace and decided to undo all of creation, returning it to the Twisted Nether. To that end, he enlisted the aid of the original Draenei race, promising incredible power to those who would follow him. Sargeras and his Burning Legion moved from world to world, eradicating or corrupting all life thereon, until they were attracted to Azeroth by the wanton use of magic by the Night Elves. They found the planet a tough nut to crack, however, and the Legion tried many ploys ranging from brute force to corruption to infiltration.

Eventually, Sargeras attempted subterfuge. He allowed a young and naive Guardian to discover his "plan" to enter the world in physical form. When she attacked and destroyed him, his spirit entered her body and was later passed on to her offspring Medivh. Under Sargeras' domination, Medivh opened the Dark Portal, allowing the Orcs to enter Azeroth and starting the First War. It was not until the Second War that Medivh's corruption was exposed: his death banished the spirit of Sargeras back to the Twisting Nether. It is not known if he can return.

Ascended Extra: Originally just a fotenote in the Warcraft II manuals.
Badass Beard: Turned fiery when he turned evil.
Big Bad: For the entire Warcraft universe.
Demonic Possession: Did this to Medivh, and later Illidan during the boss fight against Gul'dan.
Enemy to All Living Things: It's one of his titles, and he's said to turn the temperature up by 50 degrees in a thousand mile radius from his location.
Face Heel Turn
Fallen Hero
Freak-Out
If I Can't Have You: Heavily implied to be the reason Sargeras drove his sword into the planet Azeroth, either to ensure the Old Gods wouldn't claim her (note how he stabbed Silithus, where the Old God C'thun was trapped), his outrage over not getting the sleeping titan Azeroth as his consort or both.
Man of Kryptonite: After being innundated with fel energy, Sargeras was this to the other titans, as titans are beings of Arcane and Arcane is weak against fel; apart from Aggramar who he bifurcated, Sargeras defeated the rest of the titan Pantheon by unleashing a massive storm of fel magic against them.
Portal Cut: He's been dead since this happened at the end of The War of the Ancients, although dead doesn't mean he's been gone, having created at least one Avatar and possessing Medivh.
Retcon: Originally, the Eredar were said to have corrupted Sargeras into their ranks. This was changed around the release of The Burning Crusade expansion to have Sargeras be the original evil who corrupted the Eredar and created the Man'ari Eredar, thus allowing the Draenei (the exiled uncorrupted Eredar) to become a separate race and join the Alliance.
Satan: More or less Azeroth's version of him.
Sealed Evil in A Can: Sargeras' ultimate fate. The titans combine their power and the last vestiges of Argus' power to pull Sargeras to the Seat of the Pantheon and trap him there (along with Illidan, who volunteered to stay to act as Sargeras' jailer).
Winged Humanoid: Once he becomes evil, as can be seen in the Warcraft Saga comic, published in the World of Warcraft magazine.
Xanatos Gambit: Several, but most particularly the one with the Guardian. If she destroyed him, then he can reincarnate. If she failed, one less guardian is still a good deal.

Tichondrius

"Calm yourself, Prince Arthas. I am Tichondrius. Like Mal'Ganis, I am a dreadlord, but I am not your enemy. In truth, I've come to congratulate you.."

Leader of the Dreadlords, and one of the top ranking commanders of the Burning Legion.

Affably Evil: Very polite and soft spoken. You'll never seen him losing his temper, although sometimes he has to get serious when some of his subordinates talk him back.
Co-Dragons: Along with Mannoroth, to Archimonde.
Deadpan Snarker
Evil Genius: He does very little fight of his own, instead coming up with the plans and informing the Scourge about them.
Finger-Poke of Doom: Like Archimonde, he also knows the powerful spell Death Finger.
Hoist by His Own Petard: He owned the Skull of Gul'dan, and used it to corrupt the forests. Illidan stole the Skull, absorbed its power and killed Tichondrius.
Tempting Fate:

Tichondrius: Believe me, brother. Neither the Lich King nor his undead lackeys will jeopardize the Legion's return!

Winged Humanoid: Like all the Dreadlords, he has quite impressive bat-like wings.

Mannoroth

"Stupid, pitiful creature. I am the rage in your heart. I am the fury of your thoughts. I alone empowered you to bring chaos to this world, and by the endless void, you shall!"

Leader of the Pit Lords, and the one originally responsible for the corruption of the Orcs. He's quite committed to either bringing them back into the service of the Legion, or killing every last one of them.

The Brute: He is Archimonde's field general.
Co-Dragons: Along with Tichondrius, to Archimonde.
The Corrupter: Responsible of the orcs going evil in the first two games.
Double Weapon: His weapon is a huge spear with blades on each end.
Evil Laugh: Has an impressively intimidating cackle, as displayed in the Warlords of Draenor cinematic.
Guttural Growler: Mannoroth has a throaty voice.
Flunky Boss: In the Well of Eternity instance, although he arguably starts out as a Dual Boss, since much of the early fight has you facing Varo'then.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Killed by the very first orc that drank his blood.
Kill It with Fire: Explodes in flames when killed, through which he takes down Grom Hellscream with him.
Large Ham: Very prone to grandstanding and boasting, and is surprisingly eloquent for a demonic Blood Knight.

Balnazzar

"This land is ours. The Scourge belongs to the Legion!"

A Dreadlord left behind by Archimonde in Lordaeron along with Detheroc and Varimathras. Thought to have been killed by Varimathras as a prove of loyalty, and later by adventurers who ventured into the Scarlet Bastion. For most part, he was manipulating the Scarlet Crusade to do his bidding by posing as Grand Crusader Dathrohan. He later completely shed his disguised and turned the remaining Scarlet Crusade members into the Risen.

Karmic Transformation: He did this to the Scarlet Crusade members in Stratholme and Tyr's Hand.
Manipulative Bastard:
- He's a good enough one that in his disguise as Grand Crusader Dathrohan he's able to give convincing reasons for all the villages he's destroyed in the name of ending the Scourge (namely that the villages couldn't possibly protect themselves and that the only reason they survived was someone else secretly protected them so that they could reach critical mass for Scourge plaguing which is a convincing excuse).
- Of course, in reality, the unseen protector a.k.a. Balnazzar himself was merely gathering the people into those "havens" so that he could deprive the Scourge of corpses to reanimate. The fact he came up with that plan and came up with a reasonable excuse to convince those with moral objections to such methods of destroying the Scourge shows that Balnazzar is in fact the sanest of the Scarlet Crusade to the point that he's a villainous Reasonable Authority Figure.
My Name Is Not Durwood: Brann misspelled his name as "Balzannar".
Not Quite Dead: Twice even.
One-Winged Angel: During his encounter when he shed his disguise.