Thrall

We've got things that were, like, maybe left up to secrets or lots of stories where they were kind of hinted at but never really fleshed out in the quest lines of Classic WoW that we are apparently going to start, like, digging into.

So we're not going to follow the stories of like the big main characters like Thrall as the Warchief of the Horde and then like Jaina and, you know, like Varian Wrynn and these big characters in the classic world and following these basically like superhero stories.

Like their design philosophy now is much more about Taking these little different facets of the world that maybe went a little bit understated on our first pass through back in 2004 and just really running with them and seeing how much more Densely we can pack this world with stuff So in that way They right off the rip at BlizzCon this year, they showed off a bunch of stuff and people had been speculating that there was going to be this like classic plus is what everyone was calling it for a very long time.

And everyone's speculating on what they'd love to see and what changes and blah, blah, blah.

Wherever they are, they're just al- they're just right off camera.

Like, you've got Thrall and Vol'jin and Ba- or, uh, C- Cairne all standing there, and then like, oh, like, there's the Skyborn character just right cut off.

You know, they were just right outside where the picture could get them.

Right.

And that scene, as far as I'm aware, has is not a thing that is in it.

More importantly, Thrall and Anduin are barely featured in the story at the moment.

And like everyone's like, what was that scene? What does that have to do with anything? Why is it? Wait,

so that's what happened

And Warcraft was a game where it was an RTS about armies going to battle and there were heroes and then there were lots of normal guys.

And you are supposed to be a normal guy in the world of Warcraft.

So you're like, I'm one of the grunts that shows up to fight rather than I'm Thrall or I'm Karen Bloodhoof or whatever.

Yeah.

The other one I thought about, and actually I don't feel there's any way for him to come back, and I'm very pleased about that because it would be terrible if they tried his garage.

Oh, God, no. Yeah, you see, that was where the... humble origins and the like understandable story kind of went a bit wrong um like it was easy to see how Garrosh had ended up as Garrosh um and like maybe Thrall should have taken some fucking like um responsibility over that one um because like you fucked that up dude uh maybe you shouldn't have done that like that but then he sort of became such kind of moustache twirling like villain that it was just a bit like oh you've got a bit far now um And it didn't help that we got stuck in Siege of Ogrimmar for like 12 months.

That was, you know, that was unfortunate.

That is not Garrosh's fault.

I think I blame Garrosh for that.

I

mean, this is one of those ways it's like, is Thrall really our friend? Is Thrall actually a villain?

I mean, that's a really good point.

the kind of Cold War detente state between the Horde and the Alliance at the time.

I am struck that, as the repeated cycle of war wasn't truly inevitable, I am fascinated by things like Thrall sending the Horde on a misguided mission to rescue Moira from Tharissian as a gesture of goodwill to Magni, and wonder about the ways the Alliance and Horde regarded and interacted each other back in those days.

We've talked about this before, but WoW takes place right after the events of the Third War, and... huge cataclysmic events across the board, the shaking of the foundation of an entire civilization of people and the sacrificing of the World Tree in order to defeat a large existential threat, the banding together of folks who were already reeling before the Third War started here with the Horde trying to reestablish themselves and make sure that they had a permanent home.

Because don't forget, world of warcraft takes place i think four years and even after warcraft

A year after that, Alliance heroes Khadgar and Alleria wind up opening the Dark Portal back up, or at least rekindling what was there, traveling through with an expedition to Draenor, and then subsequently that is also when Ner'zhul tears the world apart, creating Outland.

Between years 18, the Orc camps are placed in internment reservations.

Thrall grows up under, I think it's Blackmoor, Or was it as a gladiator? Adelis Blackmore, yes.

Thank you.

So skin wrapped.

Basically, it was Thrall to Norman, did these five animations.

And the optional, they had, it was like a run, a death, an idle, an attack, and then an optional, whatever you want optional animation.

And my optional animation was the ogre drinking out of a stein, like choosing and drinking and then slamming it on the table.

Um, [laughs] The Ragefire Chasm had once belonged to the Searing Blade, a branch of Burning Blade cult operating from the volcanic tunnels beneath the Horde capital.

Its leaders plotted against Thrall while Ner'zhul Fireblade quietly sent loyal Horde members into their reach, hoping the cult would kill its enemies while proving which of its followers were actually useful.

Those leaders had been destroyed, but their removal did not make that cavern safe.

After the shattering, dark shaman occupied the tunnels, clearing away the remaining cultists and enslaved creatures brought from the Firelands.