I feel like you're mashing together the two competing aspects of orcishness; there's the Warsong mold, which you're talking about, but there are a lot of orcs that have gotten sick of the smash-kill-destroy thing and want to be more like the Frostwolves. And, while Ner'zhul failed, orcs like Oronok prove that the spirits are open to redemption.

And when did Thrall become Warcraft's Wesley ?!

They're still from another world, but Azeroth just shrugged and went with it.


Pet theory of mine, after some thought. He's apparently the greatest Shaman who ever lived, characters who have never met him talk about how "cool" he is (Anduin Wrynn), characters who have met him think he's AWESOME. Garrosh and Varian are the only characters who don't agree with Thrall, and as such we're meant to hate them both.

He'd be a God-Mode Sue, except he has some flaws. Plus, Rhonin has that job taken.

True, they did just shrug and go with it. But is that necessarily a bad/strange thing? The orcs did show up on Azeroth as the puppets of the Burning Legion, but like I said, they've changed. The elements are also fairly universal, so I don't think they'd care who they're helping as long as the shaman is actually working for the good of the world.

I would never call Thrall a God-Mode Sue; his powers are well defined, Azeroth doesn't revolve around him; put simple, he's not invinsible. Remember, he got his ass kicked by Mannoroth, and for all his abilities he still has to struggle to reach his goals. He's popular with the Horde because he led the orcs to their freedom, and the orcs in turn saved both the tauren and the trolls from complete genocide. Also, I think people are reacting to what Thrall represents as much as who he is; redemption for the orcs, an end to destructive rivalries, a voice of honor and reason in an age of war. Likewise, we hate Garrosh and Varian not because they oppose Thrall, but because they come off as a bunch of idiots who want to plunge everyone back into the traditional, violent relationship between the Horde and the Alliance.

They didn't just "go with it", it clearly says in Lord of the Clans that Thrall was re-connecting his people with the Elements, as in not starting a brand new connection but reattaching a link that had been lost. Also Drek'thar refers to the elemental spirits of Azeroth as being the same as those he had lost his connection to before.

All elemental spirits of all worlds are the same, in fact spirits may not be the best term for them, because they seem to be more like primal forces of existence.

On a sidenote, I believe Rossi is wrong when he says that the Wilds may be the force that connects the world's elements across space. The Wilds is literally the fifth element, no greater or different in its function to others, it just represents something different.