In the actual WC3 fight Mal'ganis escapes. He only 'dies' proper later in Northrend when Arthas (w/Frostmourne) turns on him at the Lich King's behest.

It wouldn't make sense that you kill him in CoT.

I thought Broll was using her as replacement for his daughter (that he lost or something)?

Yes, so far as I've read the comic, there is nothing there between Broll and Valeera that suggest anything else. Broll blames himself for the loss of his daughter, and has sworn to protect Valeera not only to redeem himself, but because he's grown to care about her.

Aye, Valeera/Broll have a daughter/father type relationship.

Valeera: "Broll has been Father and teacher, brother and friend in one unlikely being."

Personally I've been watching the inner-Orc drama unfold.

Rehgar Earthfury: "I don't like the idea of bringing Garrosh to Theramore Thrall. There is a growing restlessness among the Orcs...!"
Thrall: "Garrosh's father did kill the Pit Lord Mannoroth, thus freeing our people from the Demon's Curse."
Rehgar Earthfury: "Grom was also the first to drink Mannoroth's blood and get us cursed to begin with! Garrosh is no friend to you. He should have stayed on Outland!"
Thrall: "Garrosh thinks you should have remained a Gladiator Master!"
Rehgar Earthfury: "He may be right. I make a poor diplomat. But the Humans have a saying--"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
Thrall: "Garrosh's vision for what is good for our people may differ from yours..."
Rehgar Earthfury: "And yours!"
Thrall: "That doesn't make him my enemy."
Rehgar Earthfury: "Not yet."
*Garrosh strolls up*
Garrosh Hellscream: "Is this the best way to spend your energy, Thrall? Conferring with Stormwind?
Rehgar Earthfury: "But you'll be where with us, Garrosh!
Garrosh Hellscream: "To protect the interests of our people..."
Rehgar Earthfury: "As you see them."
Garrosh Hellscream: "And I'm curious to see this impregnable fortress."
Rehgar Earthfury: "To determine how easy it will be to drive the humans out?"
Garrosh Hellscream: "Kalimdor should be home to the Orcs, Rehgar, all of Kalimdor!"
Thrall: "We destroyed our homeworld. We are guests on Kalimdor...as are the Humans."
Rehgar Earthfury: "How will the sorceress Jaina Proudmore react to having her fortifications surveyed by a potential enemy?
Thrall: "I expect she'll welcome it. The strength of Jaina's ramparts may encourage Garrosh to rethink his attitude. I always enjoy visiting with her, Rehgar. I just wish all humans were as honorable."

Reading that conversation made me recall what Garrosh said in Nagrand during the quest chain: "I will not... I cannot become the second Hellscream to damn the orcs." Yeah, right. Sigh.

Yes, I know. Ideal pointed to the fact that Mal'ganis can die repeatedly in that mission and always come back soon as a possible hint that it doesn't take too much time for the Nathrezim to reappear on Azeroth after dying. In my reply I only meant that Mal'ganis' "death" in that mission (and hero deaths in general) is not really death, just part of gameplay mechanics (which would rather count as "beaten and forced to retreat and recover"), so it's not a hint after all. I think it's safe to assume that it requires quite a bit of time and possibly effort for the Nathrezim to come back. After all, were they really able to return as fast as heroes do in W3, they'd be using it all the time for obvious advantages and we don't see it happening.

Either way, I believe Garrosh and Varian are doing whatever they think is best for their factions. The problem is they both seem to suffer for tunnel vision, and possibly shortsightedness. They believe the best thing is to have the other faction out of the way so they can storm Icecrown by themselves.

Somehow, they both seem to think that the moment Arthas is dead, the world will end or something, and they want the blood feud between the factions to end before that, with complete annihilation of the other side.

This might hold true if he was referring to Ner'zhul/Gul'dan, but not Grom. Grom never lead the orcs to damnation-via-stagnation, he lead them to a damnation-via-second-demonic-corruption. Assuming he has his facts straight, there's no ambiguity here as to what he's referring to.

Are you implying that Garrosh would perhaps make such a mistake? That after the Orcs claim victory in Icecrown, he like a certain other patriot to his people would return to Orgrimmar with the spoils of war in hand like a certain Frosty sword and somehow damn his people once more?!

Why, that's absurd.

Yeah... welcome to Lore of Warcraft... ahem World of Warcraft. The thing is, we know Arthas' corruption was caused in part by Frostmourne. I'm not sure if that's wide-spread knowledge amongs the NPCs, but if it isn't... well, I can see why that would be an easy mistake to make. After all, it seems to be common practice for even the lore heroes to upgrade their gear by looting their fallen foes. See Illidan and his Glaives of Azzinoth.

I think that 4LV means Garrosh thinks stagnation is damnation (refering to Thrall's policies), not that that Garrosh advocates for such.

Mauridan knows at least, now he does. Though how the Horde would discover this? I'm unsure.

Garrosh was certainly referring to his own bloodline: "Maybe then I will be allowed to die when the Greatmother passes. Allowed to finally erase the shame of my family name. I long for such peace."

And in his conversation with Thrall during the Nagrand event:

So it seems to be a bit like: "dad was a bloodthirsty monster, I'm afraid I'll be one too. Oh wait, dad being a bloodthirsty monster worked out well in the end, so it's ok if I'm a bloodthirsty monster too!" It's obviously not that simple, but his personality shift is so extreme between BC and LK that it becomes the only plausible (and forced, in storywriting terms) explanation.

Regarding whether the Horde knows about Frostmourne... wouldn't Sylvanas at least know it? In any case, when Muradin was looking for it he didn't know it was a cursed sword - but it became clear to him when he found it. I suppose anyone with half a brain would also feel that the sword is a bad thing even after defeating Arthas. Still, I really don't think Blizzard will let players (or NPCs) loot Frostmourne, because I'm convinced part of the Arthas fight will be to either destroy or neutralize the sword (maybe we'll be able to loot, say, a shard of Frostmourne as a dagger or something).

And now to a possibly very silly unrelated question, although it's one I can't answer: how come there is a Dragonmaw orc clan if there are no dragons native to Draenor?

Orcish clans used to occasionally change names, sometimes on the chieftain's whim, sometimes to mark out a change in their structure or habits; I think the Bleeding Hollow got that name after Kilrogg Deadye lost his eye, and the Black Tooth Grin clan was what Maim and Rend renamed the Blackrock clan after their father, Blackhand senior kicked the bucket. So, the Dragonmaw might be a name they chose for themselves (or that perhaps they were given) after their successful operations in Grim Batol. I mean, logic says you don't send a clan to hunt dragons just because they're called Dragonmaw; you call the clan that way because they hunt dragons.

For clarification, this is correct. I am sorry for being vague.

The Dragonmaw clan is already mentioned in Rise of the Horde, before the orcs had contact with Azeroth... that's why I can't explain it

Does anyone else get the idea it would have been better if Garrosh and Saurfang Jr. had switched places?

At the end of Nagrand, Garrosh has slowly gotten over his whiney emoboy lifestyle, and is starting to embrace Orcish culture.

Saurfang is slowly starting to get the bloodlust upon him:

What if in Lich King it had been Garrosh who fell at Wrate Gate and Saurfang Jr. the one who leads the bloodthirsty Horde?

It would have made the Wrath Gate more affecting for Horde since we'd spent a bunch of time with Garrosh already, and seing him regain his Orcish spirit only to have it brutally shattered would add some pathos, and give it as much of an impact as seeing Bolvar fall would be for Alliance.

Plus the conflict between Saurfang and Saurfang Jr. would have some added depth, because it's son against father for the two directions of the Horde.

That's just always something that struck me ever since I saw the Wrathgate movie.

Also, random thought: How many of the Orcish commanders are Mag'har (i.e. brown)? Obviously Garrosh and Surfang Jr., and I thought I saw a couple others, although all the ones I can remember on wowhead are green. Seems slightly odd that they'd rise so high so quickly in the Horde. You don't see any Broken in the Alliance ranks . . .

Maybe Draenor had dragons (or proto-drakes, whatever) long, long ago and the Dragonmaw were responsible for genocide. Ivory from Elephant tusks, why not a market for Dragon teeth, hence Dragonmaw?

Or, alternatively, they had some small fuzzy creature like a squirrel that in Orcish sounded like the word "Dragon." In Azeroth they chose the closest fit (and stole unearned honor - Bunnykillers to Dragonkillers).

They can explain it if they want.

About Frostmourne; would it not be safe to use after the Lich King has been killed (doubt we would settle with just defeating him)? Frostmourne itself is not corruptive, as far as I understand, without it's master, the Lich King.

You might be right on that one. The thing is, its master is Ner'zhul, who's a disembodied spirit right now. Who's to say he won't give us the slip when we take down Arthas? And then there's the little detail of it being imbued with part of NZ' essence. It might just as well allow him to come back and claim a body even if we defeat him. Time will tell...

True enough, but this situation hasn't really come up before. Until now, I don't recall that the Lich King has ever been defeated in any capacity. Ner'zhul spent his reign subject to the will of the Burning Legion. The closest he came to being "defeated" was his combination with Arthas, but that only yielded a joint being more powerful that Ner'zhul alone.

Now, just about every force of good in the world is assisting in the push toward Icecrown, from Tirion's Argent Crusade to Mograine's turncoat Scourge, Alexstrasza's Red Dragonflight, and even the Naaru. If foreshadowing means anything, Tirion Fordring and Darion Mograine are definitely going to play a major part in the events leading to the downfall of the Lich King, and I wouldn't put it past Tirion to deliver the final blow himself with Ashbringer to nicely bring that story full circle. Considering that Tirion managed to instantly cleanse the Ashbringer just by his pure awesomeness, I wouldn't call it unlikely that some crazy metamorphosis would happen to Frostmourne upon its master being defeated in such a way (possibly including explosions, fireworks, and/or huge beams of light).

In any case, there's a lot of possibilities, and you are very correct in that only time will tell.

Let's keep in mind that right now, the connection between Yogg Saron and Ner'zhul/Arthas is pretty tenuous. We know they are somehow connected but don't have a good idea of how/where/when. Whatever 3.2 brings is sure to include the "second chapter" of the WLK storyline, definitively link the two threats, and provide an introduction to a reinvigorated campaign against the Frozen Throne that will conclude the expansion.