Eye of the Storm

Eye of the Storm was the climactic battle of the Great War, fought in the nesting ground of the Overmind on Aiur, in which a combined protoss and terran force destroyed the zerg hive-mind. After Executor Tassadar and the dark templar Zeratul had slain the cerebrates guarding the Overmind, the protoss were free at last to strike the creature itself, aided by Jim Raynor and his Raiders. The battle ended with Tassadar's sacrificial attack, in which he drove the carrier Gantrithor into the Overmind while channeling dark templar energies through its hull, an act that destroyed both himself and the Overmind and, in doing so, set in motion the Brood War.

Background#

The path to the Overmind had been opened by an earlier strike. Tassadar and the dark templar Zeratul led an attack on two cerebrates that controlled the broods defending the Overmind's nesting area on Aiur. The attack succeeded, and Zeratul killed the cerebrates, throwing the Overmind's defenders into disarray and allowing the protoss to plan an assault on the creature itself. Jim Raynor, a terran whom Tassadar had befriended on Char, committed the aid of his men to the attack.

The combined assault#

Tassadar's followers moved in from the south-east, with Tassadar piloting the command ship Gantrithor into the battle, while Raynor's Raiders positioned themselves in the north-west, Raynor commanding from the flagship Hyperion. As they prepared their attack, Judicator Aldaris contacted them on behalf of the Conclave. He told them the Conclave had witnessed their defeat of the cerebrates and now recognized that it had been in error in persecuting Tassadar and his allies. Though Jim Raynor mocked the Conclave's lack of military support, Aldaris told the warriors that the hopes of all the protoss were with them.

After a fierce battle, the terran and protoss forces pierced the Overmind's defenses and dealt the creature heavy damage. The attackers, however, had also sustained severe losses of their own.

Tassadar's sacrifice#

With the Overmind wounded but not yet dead, Tassadar performed a final, sacrificial attack. He piloted the Gantrithor on a collision course with the Overmind while channeling the dark templar's energies into the ship's hull. The attack obliterated the Gantrithor and killed Tassadar, but the resulting blast of energy destroyed the Overmind as well.

The death of the Overmind had dramatic repercussions for the galaxy. Most consequentially, it directly led to the Brood War, the struggle for control of the leaderless zerg Swarm that followed the destruction of its guiding intelligence.