The Peaceful Warchief

Orphan, slave, gladiator, warrior, Warchief; the story of Thrall, son of Durotan, is a story that should never have been, but now that it has, Azeroth will never be the same.

I personally took part in Thrall's story, though at the time I knew little more than that he was the leader of his people. My plan counted on the Orcs moving west and to do that I needed him to lead them there. I knew he was a powerful Shaman, a wise leader and an advocate for the old ways of the Horde. And of course he knew me, if he didn't recognize me at first. I was the one who helped corrupt his people into demonic magic and brought them to Azeroth. But that was before he was even born.

Thrall's father, Durotan, chieftain of the Frostwolf clan, was one of only a few Orcs who opposed the Orcs' turning to the ways of the warlock after the Shamanistic ancestors cut themselves off from the descending race. Because of this, when the Orcs came to Azeroth, he was exiled to the Alterac Mountains and eventually killed by the forces of Gul'dan. But his newborn Orcling who was to be named Go'el survived the attack.

He was found among the bloodied remains of his parents by Aedelas Blackmoore whose job it was to take the rest of the living Orcs from the Second War and turn them into slaves and gladiators. He named the Orcling Thrall, which was another word for "slave" and trained him as a gladiator with the might of an Orc, but the cunning thought process of a human. Thrall befriended a young woman during his time in the internment camp. After gaining her trust, he expressed his desire to escape. Perhaps she felt sympathy for the Orc, but she provided a distraction while Thrall left Durnholde Keep never to return as a slave again.

He eventually learned of his proud Shamanistic heritage and sought out Grom Hellscream who was considering returning to the ways of the Shaman. Grom taught Thrall the Orcish language and revealed to him his Frostwolf ancestry. Learning this, he traveled to the Alterac Mountains to seek out the Frostwolf clan where he learned that his father had been chieftain. Here he met Drak'thar who taught him Shamanism and initiated him as the first new Shaman after the fall of the Shadow Counsel.

Thrall had now started to become the Orc we know today. He grew in strength with the spirits and the elements and became a living example to the rest of his people that the old ways were once again within their grasp. One day, a stranger came to the Frostwolves and challenged Thrall and his clan for having hidden away in Altrac like cowards. Thrall fought the stranger and bested him, only to find that the stranger revealed himself to be Orgrim Doomhammer, Warchief of the Horde, leader of all Orcs. He had learned of Thrall and wanted to test his strength. Since Thrall had bested him in combat, he made the young Orc his second-in-command.

Orgrim and Thrall then went on to free every Orc that was enslaved in an internment camp. With the spirits on their side and a renewed vigor for the days before the demons' corruption, there was no way the Humans could hold the New Horde. Sadly, as they attacked the last camp, now called Hammerfall, Orgrim Doomhammer fell to a human's blade. This is when Orgrim handed over his armor and his title to Thrall, making Thrall the new Warchief of the Horde. His strategy now was to return to Durnholde Keep, this time as a warrior and a Warchief, dismantle the internment operation from the heart, and kill his former captor with his own hands. Thrall's new army of Orcs took Durnhold and Thrall called upon the spirit of the earth to shake the keep to the ground. It lays to this day as a pile of ruin.

After this victory, it was Thrall's obligation and responsibility to gather the scattered forces of the Horde. This is when I confronted him. Having returned to Azeroth, knowing what would come in its future, I found the Warchief and gave him a vision in his sleep. A vision of a dark future where armies fought and fire rained from the sky. When he awoke, I told him he must leave and find his destiny in Kalimdor.

And so he did. With the help of Jaina Proudmoore and Tyrande Whisperwind, he, the New Horde, the humans under Jaina's command and the Night Elves under Tyrande's command prevented a terrible fate from befalling Azeroth at the battle of Mount Hyjal. Following that battle, Thrall set out to build a new home for the Orcs in the Barrens. He founded a new country named for his father, Durotar, and named its greatest city, Orgrimmar, for the fallen Warchief.

Orgrimmar grew dramatically and since then Thrall has reunited with the native Orcs of his homeland, Draenor, now known as the Outlands. Thrall has done everything in his power to grow the Horde in peace with all his neighboring races, Alliance or otherwise, but old hostilities are not easily forgotten. The Alliance and Horde still war against each other despite Thrall's wishes otherwise.

The peaceful Warchief, the leader with a name that means "slave," the Orc raised by Humans, Thrall is a study in how to rise above arbitrary, unchosen titles to become something more than the sum of the stereotypes against him. He is a quintessential representative of his people who strive to move past the mistakes that lead them to Azeroth and destroyed their home. Thrall's generation has inherited a marked and jaded title, and with his help, they change the world's perspective of an Orc day by day.

Now-a-days, Thrall leads his people wisely, overseeing the movement on Northrend from Orgrimmar and using Twitter to communicate with his followers. I wish the Warchief well and look forward to seeing great victory on the side of the Horde under his command.