World of Warcraft fans are worried about the game’s saddest shaman

polygon.com:

Thrall has a long and storied history in Warcraft, starting as a humble slave and gladiator, rising to become Warchief of the Horde, and eventually using his shaman power to defeat Deathwing alongside the Dragon Aspects. He’s one of the main characters of the franchise, as well as one of the most popular ones, plus he’s voiced by Blizzard veteran Chris Metzen. With The War Within expansion entering beta, Thrall is one of the protagonists stepping up to save Azeroth — but fans are concerned that he’s just spinning his wheels on the same old narrative.

As a character, Thrall united the modern-day Horde under one banner, founded the city of Orgrimmar, managed diplomacy with factions like the Forsaken and the 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 obligated to help. It’s hard to moonlight as the head of a major political coalition and save the world from a dragon, so Thrall retired and put Garrosh Hellscream in his place.

Garrosh was a bad pick, and he 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 escaped to an alternate universe to cause more chaos — that’s how the Warlords of Draenor expansion came to be. Thrall put Vol’jin in charge of the Horde, headed to Draenor, pursued Garrosh, and murdered him. But that wasn’t as cathartic as he may have hoped, as Garrosh brought up Thrall’s negligence in appointing him to such a high position and promptly leaving him alone to fail. Thrall was so upset about the whole thing that he lost his connection to the elements and ultimately retired to a farm on Outland.

…when all your illusions are burned away, all that is left is your fury…

Play The War Within Beta this week. pic.twitter.com/roZtyyxNOJ

But Thrall is perhaps