An Open Letter to Thrall

Dear Thrall
Dear Thrall,

May I call you Go’el? I know few do yet, but I am sure they will adopt your true orcish name in time. Let me congratulate you and your wife on your new child. I am glad you are able to be just like any other orc, have a family, and move on from the stressful jobs of Warchief and World Shaman. Enough of the small talk, sir, there is some important stuff for us to talk about. There have been definite benefits for you of the changes that have happened in your life in recent years, but there have also been many costs to your people.

When you stepped down as Warchief to become the World Shaman, I understood the need. You worked with the Aspects to save the world from the aspect of death, and for that the world is eternally grateful. That move was not one bought cheaply, it cost us Cairne Bloodhoof, the aspects losing their powers, and many lives in the process of taking down Deathwing. When that was the price, though, I could almost accept it. Baine took up the mantle of High Chieftain of the Tauren, and the Horde moved on.

I will not deny that the loss of Cairne hurt. He was a beloved old bull, a wise leader and good advisor to you in matters of the Horde. As a member of the Alliance, I really had respect and admiration of two leaders in the Horde at the time, you and Cairne. The two of you were the level headed, the wise, and the measured of all of the leaders. Sylvanas was untrustworthy, as the events of the Wrath Gate came to show, Lor’themar was too remote to be of any use, and he had no qualms with the Blood Knights feeding off a captive Naaru, and Vol’Jin reminded me too much of all of the trolls I had slain in my adventures. You left, and Cairne fell, and that era of respect was gone. Now, in a truly ironic turn, the only two I trust are Baine and Vol’Jin.

When you were Warchief, Go’el, you had one human you trusted, and who you went to for talks of peace, for advice when you weren’t sure your advisors were wise, and who you confided in: Jaina Proudmoore. The orc you left in charge, Garrosh, did his best to destroy her and all of her people in the most horrific way possible, a mana bomb. For Light’s sake, Go’el! He has stopped caring about honor, and yet you still do nothing, you still do not speak out against him! He led troops through the doors Theramore, a place you once helped Jaina guarantee the safety of, and then proceeded to so utterly destroy it that nothing will live there again.

Jaina, who ever championed the cause of peace between orcs and Humans, Alliance and Horde. Jaina, forever changed, forever embittered. Jaina who, in response, was willing to utterly destroy Orgrimmar in revenge. This is the legacy of your choice, the legacy of your appointment of Garrosh Hellscream as Warchief. You put another Hellscream in charge, and look at the blood, the death, and the horrors that came to pass. There is blood on your hands, Go’el, and that blood is quickly beginning to surpass the events that necessitated your departure from Orgrimmar.

Garrosh has taken on a new advisor, I am sure you have heard, a Black Rock orc named Malkorok, but have you heard of his deeds? He has been the warmongering gnat in Garrosh’s ear. He has murdered and tortured members of the Horde who spoke out against Garrosh. He has murdered allies of the Horde, merely for wondering if the battles Garrosh has commanded were a wise choice. For merely asking a question! Who dares challenge what Garrosh is doing when the result will be a visit in the night from the big grey orc from deep in the mountain, to take you away so you have no more questions to ask?

Like I said, the fact I trust Vol’Jin now over the Warchief he serves is a bit ironic, but he and Cairne were the only two advisors you left behind who dared question if the hot headed new Warchief was right for the job. I will admit, for the first few months after Garrosh took over, I had some spark of hope that he might have become a better person, that he might be worthy of the mantle of Warchief. I found the body of Kromgar, the orc I am told he dropped off a lift for being dishonorable and killing children. The irony of that death, of that entire event, is that Kromgar, the orc Garrosh killed, used a mana bomb for his atrocities, just like Garrosh did at Theramore.

Instead Garrosh has swung wildly in the other direction, using an even more powerful bomb on a town that was originally just as equally populated with children and families as the one Kromgar obliterated. Thank the Light that Jaina had the foresight to get them out when word came to her. Many people died so Garrosh could lay claim to the entirety of Kalimdor. In the events since Deathwing fell, I have lost all sparks of hope I once had that Garrosh could possibly be even a fragment of the Warchief that you were, Go’el. He has proven with his actions that he is a Warchief more akin to Blackhand, puppet of Gul’Dan, than the honorable orc you and Doomhammer were.

There was a time, Go’el, that I could accept the costs of the change in leadership. You helped stop Deathwing. You helped ensure this world had a future. For these, I bow in respect. But the things that have transpired since. Those actions of Garrosh’s that have gone unanswered, and unchecked by your horde, those are unacceptable. Members of the Horde you made, that you founded, live in fear of the cost of speaking out. You, Go’el, were a good leader, one who took the words of your advisors as they were meant, as words of advice, spoken of a true, loyal, and honorable heart. Garrosh means to squash and silence anyone who disagrees with him. If you were such a leader, Garrosh would never had left Northrend alive, with the number of times he questioned your decisions.

While I cannot say all of the problems I have with Garrosh are placed on your shoulders, I do have concern that you never seem to have expressed concern with the Horde that Garrosh has made. This is a Horde that kills its members, uses horrific means to crush their enemy, and seems willing to go to any extreme to defeat the Alliance. Where once the Horde had a leader who wished peace, now it has one willing to destroy every man, woman, and child in the Alliance in order to secure a future of the group which came to Azeroth with violence in its heart. The Horde originally came with conquest in their hearts, willing to slaughter anyone in its path. This is just as bad as the Horde of today, but now they have the benefit of the magic and skills of the ingenious races of Azeroth. You gave the Horde to Garrosh, and now the world must pay that price.

Time will come, Go’el, when the decision you made to turn the Horde over to Garrosh will need to be answered for. Time will come when the actions of Garrosh Hellscream will need to be answered. A time will come, and soon, when the actions of the Horde, and it’s leader, will need to be accounted, and the scales balanced. I tell you this, Go’el, I pity anyone who stands in the way of the reckoning when it comes, for no one will stand against the justice that is owed to the current Warchief and survive. For Theramore!

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