You know him as a war chieftain, shaman, and diplomat in armor or tunic: Thrall, the orc with the fate hammer and the iconic green skin. But why is Thrall in World of Warcraft actually green – and not brown, like his Frostwolf clan?
Thrall was born as Go’el in the Alterac Valley, far away from the shattered world where the green orcs actually originated. By the time of Battle for Azeroth, every player should know that orcs were originally brown, even if they don’t know the lore.
With Battle for Azeroth, Blizzard introduced the allied race of the Mag’har, the ‘untainted’, original orcs, to which Thrall’s parents also belonged: Draka and Durotan. Nevertheless, Thrall has a different skin color.
To answer the question very briefly: Thrall inherited his skin color from his parents – even though they also were not originally green, but had brown skin. However, there are some rather convoluted connections behind it.
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Here you can find a summary of the entire lore of World of Warcraft to date.
Thrall last appeared as an important mediator for the new expansion The War Within:
Bad Blood: Why Orcs Become Green – Or Red
The first truly green orcs came into being through the blood of the pit lord Mannoroth. Under the guidance of Gul’dan, the famous orc warlock, orcs drank the demon’s blood. The first of them was Gromm Hellscream, the father of Garrosh.
The blood not only made the orcs green, but also clouded their minds. Their bodies became stronger, and the orcs themselves became wilder. Grom directly demanded the flesh and blood of Draenei after his drink to “satisfy” himself.
In the book “The Rise of the Horde” by the well-known author Christie Golden, there is a section about exactly this circumstance. Thrall’s parents, Draka and Durotan, were themselves Mag’har with brown skin.
Durotan notices how a young orc practicing the art of warlocks scrapes off some dry skin. Underneath is new, green skin. Many experts conclude from this: The sheer proximity to demonic magic is enough to color the skin of the orcs.
Since Draka and Durotan were involved both in the construction of the Hellfire Citadel and in the opening of the portal, it is highly likely that a bit of the fel corruption at least touched Draka and possibly her unborn child, without completely transforming them.
But wait: Why are the orcs in Warcraft 3 first green and then red?
The skin color of the orcs is apparently influenced by the concentration of fel corruption that has permeated them. A little
makes them simply green. However, there were orcs who then drank even more demonic blood or were otherwise affected by fel corruption.
The skin of these orcs eventually turned red, their will grew even weaker, their fighting spirit even greater. You can meet these orcs in the game on the Hellfire Peninsula as “Fel Orcs.”
In the cinematic for Warlords of Draenor, you see how an untainted Grom rejects the blood. The expansion explores what would have happened if the orcs had not allowed themselves to be corrupted:
“Back to the Roots” – Orcs Become Mag’har?
For a similar reason, blood elves have green eyes, by the way. The originally mana-blue eye color of the high elves was turned green through the use of fel magic and dependence on it.
With the elves, it’s the case that they can regain their natural eye color if they are “clean” from demonic magic for long enough. According to theories, orcs would also have to stay away from demonic fel magic long enough to regain their natural skin color.
However, whether that actually works has not been officially confirmed yet. At least in WoW, it’s quite simple: You would just need to perform a race change from orc to Mag’har. How lore-accurate that is, is debatable…
There are fans who suspect that the fel corruption causes a genetic change. This means: Orcs who are once green remain green and only have green offspring. Thrall, a green orc, and his partner Aggra, a Mag’har, only have children with brown skin, which would contradict the theory. Then again, it is unclear whether our understanding of biology even works on Azeroth.
Thrall himself is not only known for his deeds, but also for his close friendship with the human mage Jaina Proudmoore. The former mistress of Theramore has her own moving story: WoW: “I always just wanted to study” – The story of Jaina Proudmoore
