One question has been asked in trade chat more than just about any other lately, even with all the radical changes taking place in Azeroth. Where in the World of Warcraft is Thrall? Many players contentiously ask this question yet most really don’t know where he is. Oh, they know he is now in Nagrand and the object of a fluff event quest, but why is he really there? Why is Garrosh Hellscream, son of Grom Hellscream, standing now in the Warchief’s throne? What exactly is going on and why is one of the most hated characters in the lore soon going to be warchief? Let’s explore what events have transpired to allow all of this to happen.

Thrall’s Exodus

You’ll need to have read The Shattering, a book covering the events before the second sundering of Azeroth, in order to understand what’s going on with Thrall. We don’t get a whole lot of explanation in the game, but the entire story is rather simple. When Garrosh returns from the Northrend Campaign Thrall throws a huge party including a feast and lighting bonfires. One of the bonfires catches a few buildings on fire and Thrall attempts to use his Shamanistic powers to calm the fires down. The fire wouldn’t heed and was stopping at nothing to destroy everything. He puts the fire out forcefully and begins to notice that there is something wrong with the elements in Azeroth.

He takes off to Nagrand, leaving Garrosh as acting warchief in his absence, and arrives to speak with his grandmother. There he throws down his warchief clothing and takes on the dress of a Shaman while working with Aggra in an attempt to sort out what is happening on Azeroth. Him and Aggra go through a large number of trials until the Fury of Earth explains that the elements fear the impending shattering, a cataclysm similar to the one that destroy Draenor.

During that entire storyline, before returning to Azeroth, Aggra requests to return back with him and to be his mate, which he accepts. When he arrives back on Azeroth he discovers not only the Cataclysm, but Cairne Bloodhoof is dead and the Grimtotem coup has taken place. He resolves to head out to the Mealstrom to try and calm the elements. On his trip there is where new Goblin players will meet him on the Lost Isles.

Overall it seems that Thrall is transitioning more from the Warchief of the Horde to a position similar to Tirion Fordring where he is an “uber elite” neutral character in the story instead of the biased faction leader. This allows him to be a lot more flexible in dealing with both the Horde and Alliance versus being tied to only the Horde.

Thrall wielding Doomhammer as a Shaman.

Garrosh Hellscream

Of course, we have to ask why is Garrosh Hellscream now the warchief of the Horde? That’s a very excellent question considering the large amount of hate many players have for him. The lore around his appointment is extremely shaky, considering that Garrosh has turned into a blood crazed, insane leader. To answer that question we first have to explore where Garrosh came from and what placed him in his current situation.

It’s difficult to understand Garrosh without first remembering someone who is long forgotten: Grom Hellscream. Grom was the chieftain of the Warsong Clan and he was the first to drink the Blood of Mannoroth, cursing the Orcs to be slaves to their demon masters. He was one of the ones responsible for the First War, involved in the fights in the human internment camps, and by the Third War was the one to slay Cenarius. He finally redeemed himself by slaying Mannoroth and freeing the Orcs from the blood curse, giving his life in the process.

Garrosh was his son and remained on Dreanor, only last seeing his father when he drank from the chalice containing the Blood of Mannoroth. He remained with the uncorrupted orcs, known as the Mag’har, rising to be one of their chiefs. He stood fearing having to take over for their leader, Greatmother Geya, because he feared he’d make the same mistakes his father did. Eventually Thrall returns to Nagrand and shares with Garrosh that his father eventually became the savior of the Orcs, at which time he begins to gain confidence in himself rather rapidly.

Thrall takes Garrosh back to Azeroth with him to be his advisor, but his temper quickly began to heat up. Before the invasion of Northrend, at a strategy meeting, Garrosh disapproved greatly of Thrall’s intent to send a scouting party first before the invasion along with his plans to work alongside the Alliance to take down the Lich King. Garrosh goes so far as to challenge Thrall to a duel which is interrupted by a Scourge invasion into Orgrimmar.

Thrall then agrees with Garrosh to launch an all-out offensive to Northrend. Quickly Garrosh, along with Saurfang, launch an attack on Northrend taking over land in Borean Tundra and building Warsong Hold. There, in Northrend, he focuses more on the war with the Alliance than the war against the Scourge, which over time costs the Horde greatly. Throughout the Northrend campaign we are shown how much Garrosh despises weaker races, like the Humans, and how much he wants to crush them.

By the time Cataclysm comes around, Garrosh is a bloodlusting madman. He kicks most non-orc and non-tauren NPCs from within the center of Orgrimmar, slays Cairne Bloodhoof (although his weapon was poisoned not by him), and nearly declares war on the Darkspear Trolls. As you advance through the quests, you’ll see Garrosh sacrifice an entire Zeppelin armada to kill the Alliance traveling below him.

His character starts off depressed, apathetic, and uncaring about most everything. He acts completely innocent and childlike, worrying more about becoming a crazed insane leader like his father than anything else. As the story advances he gives in more and more to the desire for power and eventually finds himself where he is now: a crazed insane leader much like his father.

Why is he warchief of the Horde now, though? The simplest answer is that his character has been crafted into one that will now spawn conflicts in a world where the only true bad guys left are either Sargreas or the Old Gods. Vol’jin or Cairne would make the best replacements, from a level headed standpoint, but both would work to bring peace with the Alliance and focus entirely on taking down Deathwing over fighting the Alliance here and there.

What are your thoughts on Garrosh? Hate him or love him? Come by our community forums to share your thoughts and opinions today.