Fans react to early The War Within footage starring Thrall

Thrall has a long and storied history in Warcraft, beginning as a lowly slave and gladiator, rising to become Warchief of the Horde, and eventually using his shamanic powers to defeat Deathwing alongside the Dragon Aspects. He is one of the main characters in the franchise, as well as one of the most popular, plus he is voiced by Blizzard veteran Chris Metzen. As The War Within expansion enters beta, Thrall is one of the main characters stepping up to save Azeroth – but fans are worried he's just spinning the same old story.

As a character, Thrall united the modern Horde under one banner, founded the city of Orgrimmar, conducted diplomacy with factions such as the Forsaken and Blood Elves, and helped lead the war against the Lich King. It was during the Cataclysm expansion that things got weird; the arrival of Deathwing threw the world into chaos, and as a shaman, Thrall felt compelled to help. It's hard to moonlight as the head of a large political coalition and save the world from a dragon, so Thrall retired and put Garrosh Hellscream in his place.

Garrosh was a poor choice, and ended up serving as the final boss of the Mists of Pandaria expansion. Both factions had to storm Orgrimmar and stop Garrosh, putting him on trial for all sorts of war crimes. Unfortunately, Garrosh fled to an alternate universe to create more chaos – that's how the Warlords of Draenor expansion came about. Thrall put Vol'jin in charge of the Horde, headed to Draenor, pursued Garrosh and murdered him. But it was not as beneficial as he might have hoped, as Garrosh picked up on Thrall's negligence in appointing him to such a high position and promptly left him alone to fail. Thrall was so upset by it all that he lost his connection to the elements and eventually retreated to a farm on Outland.