Between the Wars #3: Young Thrall

September 1, 2026•Lore•Brendo Arruda

"Between the Wars" series — Between the Wars #3. The years between the end of Draenor and Warcraft III, from the internment camps to the rebirth of the Horde. The episodes are listed in order at the end of the post.

Before he was Warchief, Thrall was a slave. The novel Lord of the Clans, by Christie Golden, tells the childhood of young Thrall inside Durnholde: an orc raised by humans, trained to kill in the arena and surrounded by very few people who treated him as someone, not as a thing.

The son of Durotan

Thrall was born with the name Go'el. His parents were Durotan, chieftain of the Frostwolf clan, and Draka.

Durotan had stood up to Gul'dan, and the clan ended up exiled to the Alterac Mountains. Shortly after his son was born, Durotan went to meet Orgrim Doomhammer to warn him about the Shadow Council and plan a move against Gul'dan.

On the way back, the family was betrayed. According to the Warcraft Chronicle, the guards Orgrim had lent them were loyal to the Shadow Council. They attacked the Frostwolves, killed Durotan and Draka and left the baby to die.

Found by Blackmoore

The baby was found by the human officer Aedelas Blackmoore. At his side was Tammis Foxton, his servant and secretary.

Blackmoore took the orc home and named him Thrall, a word that means "slave". The name already said what he expected from that child.

All his life, Thrall kept a piece of the torn cloth he had been found in. That cloth will matter in the next episode.

The Foxton family

Tammis forced his wife, Clannia Foxton, to nurse the orc baby. In return, the family got a better place in Blackmoore's household.

The Foxtons' daughter, Taretha, called Tari, grew attached to the baby from the start. She was the one who noticed he didn't have teeth yet, and that's why Thrall got milk instead of meat.

Taretha became the closest thing to a sister Thrall ever had. She was one of the few humans who taught him about honor and decency. The Foxtons also had a son, Faralyn, but almost nothing is known about him.

Reading for war

Blackmoore had a plan. He wanted to turn Thrall into a loyal general, able to lead an army of orcs against the Alliance itself. Then the kingdom would be handed to Blackmoore.

For that, Thrall needed to understand strategy. Blackmoore hired a tutor, Jaramin Skisson, a careful and kind man. Skisson taught Thrall to read and was impressed by how smart his student was.

When Blackmoore dismissed the tutor, Skisson complained that Thrall barely knew any history or art. Blackmoore didn't care. To him, reading was only useful for making a better strategist.

Letters hidden in books

While still a girl, Taretha was put in charge of bringing Thrall books on military strategy. She started hiding notes between the pages.

That's how the two began talking in secret for years. Taretha also hid her own intelligence from Blackmoore, who didn't see servants as people who think.

Later, she gave Thrall a necklace with a crescent moon. If he ever needed help, all he had to do was send the necklace.

The gladiator of Durnholde

The other part of the plan was the arena. Thrall grew up fighting as a gladiator for Blackmoore, in front of human crowds. He became big, strong and highly skilled.

But that was all his life was: train, fight and go back to his cell. He knew nothing about his own people. He only knew orcs as the monsters in human books.

Blackmoore was both Thrall's owner and his twisted father figure. When he was drunk, he turned violent. And he was cruel to Taretha too: about ten years before Thrall's escape, he forced her to become his mistress. She hated it and stayed for her family's sake.

Read more: History of Warcraft #3: a new enemy, which sums up Thrall's life until Kalimdor.

What this changes in the story

His childhood in Durnholde explains almost everything about the adult Thrall. He learned to read and to think like a human strategist. He learned to fight like few others. And he learned, from Taretha, that not every human was an enemy.

That's why the Thrall of Warcraft 3 can do what no other orc would: trust Jaina and fight beside the Alliance at Mount Hyjal. The seed of that trust is the girl who hid notes in books.

Without meaning to, Blackmoore created exactly the leader who would destroy his camps.

Episode timeline

Thrall is born as Go'el, son of Durotan and Draka.
Durotan and Draka are murdered by agents of the Shadow Council.
Blackmoore and Tammis Foxton find the baby.
Clannia nurses Thrall, and Taretha becomes his friend.
Jaramin Skisson teaches Thrall to read.
Thrall grows up as a gladiator in Durnholde.

Who's who in this episode

| Name | Who they are | |------|--------| | Thrall (Go'el) | Durotan's son, raised as a slave and gladiator. | | Durotan and Draka | Thrall's parents, of the Frostwolf clan. | | Aedelas Blackmoore | The lord of Durnholde, Thrall's owner. | | Tammis Foxton | Blackmoore's servant and secretary. | | Clannia Foxton | Tammis's wife, who nursed Thrall. | | Taretha Foxton | Thrall's childhood friend, almost a sister. | | Jaramin Skisson | The tutor who taught Thrall to read. |

Where to see it in WotLK

Caverns of Time (Tanaris): in Old Hillsbrad Foothills you see Thrall imprisoned in Durnholde and meet Taretha in Tarren Mill.
Hillsbrad Foothills: the ruins of Durnholde Keep, where Thrall grew up.
Orgrimmar: Thrall, now an adult, receives players in Grommash Hold.
Durotar: the region is named after Thrall's father, Durotan.