Spoilers: Thorgrim’s background and rise to kingship; no End Times fate or campaign ending.
Before he was Grudgebearer
Before his reign, Thorgrim was known as Thorgrim Ulleksson, a prince and scholar of grudge law. His mother was the High King's sister. When Alrik Alriksson was mortally wounded in the Great War against Chaos and his sons were lost, the thanes undertook deeds to prove their worth as a successor. Thorgrim proved himself and eventually took the crown.
The High King and the Book
The older Thorgrim of Total War: Warhammer rules from Karaz-a-Karak. He keeps the Great Book of Grudges, the record of wrongs done to the Dwarfs, and wants those debts settled. His determination to restore the Karaz Ankor gives the title Grudgebearer its purpose.
He respects Dwarf tradition while accepting necessary alliances and new technology. He goes to battle on the Throne of Power carrying the Axe of Grimnir. The image combines the authority of the king with his willingness to lead the throng into war.
Thorgrim in Immortal Empires
Immortal Empires begins with Thorgrim leading Karaz-a-Karak. His wars and alliances then follow the player's decisions. His duty to the Book provides a reason to fight; the campaign determines which holds he recovers and which grudges he settles.
Karaz-a-Karak on the game map
The June 2022 Immortal Empires list starts Thorgrim at Karaz-a-Karak. Ungrim is at Karak Kadrin, Belegar at Zarakzil, Thorek at Karak Zorn, and Grombrindal at Dracla Spire. Thorgrim's own campaign uses the shared grudge book: wrongs become targets, Ages of Reckoning pay out Grudge Settlers, and the Deeps open under a hold once a Great Gate is built. He rides the Throne of Power. The Axe of Grimnir is already part of his published image here. Total War: Warhammer unlocks him.
Malakai's Spirit of Grungni and Thorek's Anvil are other Dwarf tools. They do not replace the High King's book. A war that recovers a hold is the player's Ages of Reckoning, not a page the Great Book already contains.
The novella and the call from Eight Peaks
David Guymer's novella Thorgrim puts Belegar in the ruins of Karak Eight Peaks, pressed by Queek Headtaker, Skarsnik, and the orc Gorfang Rotgut. Belegar asks the High King for help. The jacket stops at that request. Black Library sets the novella with Headtaker and with Guy Haley's novel Skarsnik, toward the End Times. The 2019 omnibus Warlords of Karak Eight Peaks collects those books and two short stories. Thorgrim is a character in the collection. Queek and Skarsnik are the protagonists of their own novels inside it.
Headtaker's own jacket is Queek against King Kazador at Karak Azul. Belegar's name is in a note on that page, pointing onward to this novella. Kazador is not the High King, and he is not Belegar.
End Times at the capital
Guy Haley's The Rise of the Horned Rat is book 4 of The End Times. The jacket leaves Thorgrim in Karaz-a-Karak, knowing he is watching the end of the dwarf empire, while Queek prepares an assault on Eight Peaks and the jacket calls Skarsnik and Belegar rival kings there. That knowledge is the novel's. It is not the opening state of an Immortal Empires Karaz-a-Karak campaign, which still has grudges to settle and holds to recover.
The listening note's further lines are collapsed on the book page. Alrik Alriksson's mortal wound and Thorgrim Ulleksson's proof of worth belong to the succession before this reign. The Old World almanack still has Alrik as High King in its earlier period. The Total War Thorgrim is the later king.
Thorgrim Grudgebearer: gameplay and availability · More character stories
Sources
- Immortal Empires DLC Ownership Guide — support.sega.com
- Old World Almanack – The Lore of the Dwarfen Mountain Holds — warhammer-community.com
- Immortal Empires starting positions, a prologue — Total War — totalwar.com
- Thorgrim (eBook) — Black Library — blacklibrary.com
- Warlords of Karak Eight Peaks — Black Library — blacklibrary.com
- The Rise of the Horned Rat (MP3) — Black Library — blacklibrary.com
- Update 5.0.0 — community.creative-assembly.com
- Patch 5.2.0 — community.creative-assembly.com