It must have had its original context given it was given to Thrall with derogatory intent, but after that did it fall into disuse given it was effectively a slur?
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No.
Thrall took it back from humans and made the name that of a hero who stands for and protects the innocent.
Now humies donât use Thrall as anything but Thrallâs name anymore.
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So yes, not no?
No.
It fell into disuse because Thrall made it mean something humies didnât want it to mean.
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I kind of rather liked how Thrall did that, he transformed the meaning and shattered the oppressive precedent & intended purpose of the word â From something subjugating & diminishing, into something tremendous, heroic and outstanding. 
Come to think of it â The OG lore & stories of WoW was a lot more poetic, inspirational and well-put together than it is today 
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Is that in the lore some where?
Just seems odd. Why would humans who call Orcs green skins suddenly get all politically correct about the leader of the Horde?
âthrallâ just seems like a word I must have seen some NPC yell at their hordes of minions as we slay them.
Or at least the use of the term âenthrallâ or âenthralledâ
No real surprise, partly, because of fewer cooks in the kitchen with a little more of a centralized vision on a fairly blank canvas, at least for WC3 and Classic, allowed for it all to be put together with few constraints. Not to mention early Blizzardâs âplayers before profitâ and âItâll be ready when itâs readyâ style of development allowed time, growth, and experimentation.
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The Mamluks were slaves who became leaders of their own state and used the same name as before. Thrall is similar.
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It is not and just Dreadâs headcanon. The reason âthrallâ isnt used more often is because its already a fairly archeic word and most people would probably use slave/servant/captive(which is its synonym)
Just like the term âChristianâ. It was originally used by the Romans to mock those who followed Christ - calling those back in the day âlittle Christsâ, but they failed to realize being like Christ is a good thing⌠thus the religion and we who follow it have that name today.
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You are going to have to provide references to back that up (and Wikipedia isnât sufficient). Best I can find is a kind of ouroboros where people references all came back around to each other or just state it as a fact with no reference. You can find sites and people claiming it. But near as I can tell, none of them back it up in any way.
Nobody actually knows who first coined the term. The first known use of the word was in the book of Acts, and was a positive use. Additionally, the ΧĎΚĎĎΚινĎĎ (christian) literally means âChrist followerâ, derived from ΧĎΚĎĎĎĎ (anointed, ie christ). It was a description word, and a description nobody would have argued.
From what I can find, it looks like this this âused to mockâ is just something some scholars thought might have been the case and people ran with it. It became one of those stories or âfactsâ people pass around without questioning it because it sounds good. Like how people spread the Mr. Rogerâs was a sniper myth. Or how people think rice kills birds.
Back to the OP:
It is likely a combination of two things:
- Like was mentioned, it is probably an archaic term. It is in English, so writers treating it in game the same way makes sense.
- If a word becomes the name of a hugely famous hero it changes the connotation of that word. Calling your slaves the name of a famous, world saving hero would be weird.
The non-Christian Romans certainly did not see Jesus as a world-saving hero, and several of them did refer to following Christ and followers of Christ derisively.
That said, if what you say is true, perhaps Metzen was inspired by that scenario to name his famous Orc âThrallâ.
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As I recall, they tried to rebrand him as Goâel in Twilight of the Aspects, but it didnât jive with players as well as it did with Aggra. For the reasons Dread and Aussie outlined, I like to think, but probably because changing an iconic protagonistâs name in a novel maybe 5% of players read just wasnât a good idea.
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That, and everyone absolutely loathed the Superman parallel (and Cata era Thrall in general, really). Personally, Thrall not being âThrallâ and not having the Doomhammer continues to be a monumental blunder.
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The only things that sucked about Thrall in cataclysm were:
1: the wedding
2: oh no my emotionsss
3: leaving the horde
4: renaming him at all (but especially in a book)
world shaman is fine.
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The emotions were fine, iâm just pissed he left the horde and stayed gone, you donât get to run from the responsibility like that
Same.
Especially when they donât do that to Alliance characters who become Expansion Main Characters.
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Especially especially because he told us âYouâre going to get your Warchief backâ at Blizzcon.
Yâlied tâme.
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Actually didnât thrall get named goâel in tbc?
i swear greatmother geyarah says it.
iâm fine with his having a birth name, but iâd prefer if he stuck with Thrall because he made it so much more.
I think part of it was that Goâel was first coined in TBC but only if you did a very lengthy questline (which is still in the game to this day. The RP where Thrall arrives still happens but it can be easily missed). And that was the only time it was used prior to Cata. Where Aggra uses it to refer to him.
Yeah she does.
Greatmother Geyah says: There is no doubt - you are the heir of Durotan⌠my grandson. Draka told me she was with child before she and your father left our world, but I never dared dream that they would surviveâŚ
Thrall says: They⌠did not, Greatmother. They were killed shortly after I was born. I never knew them. I was raised as a slave. To this day, I carry the name of Thrall.
Greatmother Geyah says: Thrall? Youâve been a slave only to the past, grandson! But no more! When last I saw him, Durotan told me the name he would give his unborn son⌠He was⌠so proudâŚ
Greatmother Geyah says: Goâel. You are Goâel, son of Durotan - rightful chieftain of the Frostwolves. This day, grandson - you are the great joy of my heart.
https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Hero_of_the_Mag%27har
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