Thrall and the New Horde

In the internment camps the orcs sank into a strange lethargy as the demonic fury drained out of them. Lord Aedelas Blackmoore of Durnholde Keep, in the Hillsbrad Foothills, had found an orphaned orc infant years before and raised him as a gladiator and a future weapon. He named the boy Thrall, a word for slave. Only Taretha Foxton, a servant girl, treated him with kindness, and with her help Thrall finally escaped.

Free for the first time, Thrall sought out the legends of his own people. Grom Hellscream showed him what an orc could be, the aged Orgrim Doomhammer made him his second, and among the Frostwolf clan in the Alterac Mountains the shaman Drek'Thar taught him to speak with the elements. There he learned that he was the son of Durotan, the Frostwolf chieftain.

Thrall, Grom and Doomhammer freed camp after camp. Doomhammer fell in battle and passed his black armor and hammer to Thrall, who became warchief of a new Horde built on honor and shamanism rather than demon blood. At Durnholde he defeated Blackmoore, though Taretha did not survive. Now Thrall wanted only a homeland where his people could live in peace.