Sergeant (character)

Sergeant was the warrior trainer of Durnholde Keep at the time of Thrall's imprisonment there. The real name of "Sergeant" is unknown, but he is described as "huge by human standards", easily over six feet tall. He had red hair, with a long beard, a barrel-chest and wore a black scarf and an earring in his left ear. Although a tough seasoned fighter, he let his recruits know who was in charge, but also kept a sense of compassion for them.

Early training with Thrall
Sergeant came to the attention of one Aedelas Blackmoore after the lieutenant had found the orcling Thrall next to his murdered father (Durotan) and mother (Draka), along with one of Orgrim Doomhammer's traitorous guards. On the first day of training with Thrall and his other recruits, Sergeant said that the earring he wore had not been removed for thirteen years, and that with each group of recruits he issued a challenge to rip the ring out of his ear. If a recruit were to do so, he would allow them to beat him to a pulp. Thrall knocked Sergeant to the ground and in his bloodlust nearly snapped his neck in a duel. He said that was the closest any of his recruits ever came to removing the earring. This incident also introduced the young orc to the concepts of mercy and honor. After this incident, Sergeant suggested to Blackmoore that Thrall be given military history books to read, to better understand tactics and strategy.

Years later, Sergeant and his trainees were conducting a drill where twelve of his men — armored and armed — would take on a "wild orc" (Thrall playing the part of the orc, naturally) when several orcs being transported to the camps broke loose. One of them, thinking that the men were actually attacking the young orc, shouted in Orcish for Thrall to flee, that he would protect him; Thrall did not understand much Orcish, and thus misinterpreted the orc's actions as an attack. Sergeant and his men attacked and killed the orc, but the warning he had tried to give burned into Thrall's brain.

The defense of Durnholde
When Thrall became Warchief and led the new Horde to the gates of Durnholde, Sergeant believed that, in accordance with etiquette, they should parley with the Warchief — at least long enough for the reinforcements called in by Blackmoore to arrive. However, Blackmoore sealed Durnholde's doom by throwing the head of his mistress, Thrall's friend Taretha Foxton, to the ground at the Warchief's feet. With Blackmoore incapacitated by his drunkenness, and his lieutenant, Karramyn Langston, a weakling and a coward, Sergeant conducted the defense of Durnholde himself. In the end, the numerical superiority and brute strength of the Horde won the day; by the battle's end, Blackmoore was dead and the fortress in the hands of the Horde.

After the battle ended, Thrall approached Sergeant's group of survivors, and quickly grasped the earring in Sergeant's left ear... then left it in place. In exchange for Thrall's promise that they would be spared, Sergeant and his men disarmed and were allowed to go free.

Sergeant's fate after the fall of Durnholde is unknown.