Genn Greymane


 * This article is about the character biography. For the boss tactics, see Genn Greymane (tactics).


 * "Damn the orcs, damn the Alliance, and damn you! The last thing Gilneas needs is sponges from other nations drawing from our resources, Dalaran wizards meddling with our affairs, and someone else's enemies killing our soldiers! Gilneas is its own nation and it always will be. This is the last time I'll ever talk to you, Terenas, so I hope you were listening."
 * — Genn Greymane's last known speech, as recorded by Mystrum Runedance.

Lord Genn Greymane (sometimes spelled as "Graymane") was the king of the nation and kingdom of Gilneas. He was a large bearish man, with thick features, and a heavy beard, and black and gray armor. He was a brawny warrior who must have been in his seventies, and ruled Gilneas for decades.

Biography
Genn Greymane was one of the human leaders who met at the council to form the Alliance of Lordaeron. He was hesitant about joining, and was difficult about it, and less sincere when he agreed to it. However, he pulled Gilneas from the Alliance after the Second War. He was also deeply influenced by the House of Prestor, which was actually led (at the time) by Deathwing in human form.

When Alterac's rulership was removed, he had his eye on that land there, even though he had no right to it. He supported Aiden Perenolde's nephew Isiden's claim to the throne. Lord Genn Greymane never supported the Lordaeron Alliance in the Second War. Thus, after the war, he constructed the Greymane Wall: a massive barrier spanning the entire northern border on the edge of Gilneas and Silverpine Forest. He joined the Alliance in the Second War, but offered only token support. Thus Gilneas had essentially remained separate from the Alliance of Lordaeron. As ruler of one of the strongest Human nations, Genn Greymane was convinced that his own armies could deal with any threat, and therefore remained unmoved by Lord Lothar's pleas for unity. Despite his apparent disdain for the Alliance, the denizens of Gilneas harbored no fondness for the Orcs or their allies and were prepared to meet them blade for blade.

Genn was visited by Mortimer and Celia Harlow, who had been sent by Lord Daval Prestor, claimant to the throne of Alterac. The siblings integrated themselves to his court, entering the ranks of courtiers and nobles that advised the king. However, the pair were actually black dragonspawn sent by Deathwing to destabilize and destroy it from within, and they began to use their influence over the king to poison his mind with thoughts of rebellion, leading him to turn against Lord Darius Ravenwood and isolating him from his people and nobles. After the Harlows caused the death of Genn's wife Mia during a public event, he fell into despair and retired entirely from public view, leaving the Harlow siblings to rule Gilneas as Regent-Lords with Genn believed to be dead or incapacitated.

The Alliance had not heard from him since the erection of the Greymane Wall. He was briefly visited by a mysterious prophet that flew over the Greymane Wall, pleading him to flee west to the lands of Kalimdor, but he refused, saying that flight was 'a craven's course'. When word that Stratholme had been put to the torch by Prince Arthas, Genn only tightened his resolve and fully sealed his gates to all outsiders.

A small group of soldiers known as the Gilneas Brigade joined the Human Expedition led by Jaina Proudmoore during the Third War, assembled against Genn's wishes by Crown Prince Liam Greymane, Lord Darius Ravenwood and Lord Gerold of Gelnor. By the time that Genn discovered the plot, the Gilneas Brigade had already departed to join the expedition, though he harshly punished those involved in its formation, namely the Crown Prince and Lords Ravenwood and Gerold.