Thrall (birthname Go'el), son of Durotan and Draka, is the former Warchief of the restored shamanistic Horde, founder of the nation of Durotar in Kalimdor and one of the second wave of shaman.[12] His parents killed by Gul'dan's assassins shortly after his birth in the beginning of the First War, he was found and raised by Aedelas Blackmoore who gave Thrall his name. Raised as a slave and gladiator, he later joined Orgrim Doomhammer in freeing the orcs imprisoned after the Second War, being named Warchief after Doomhammer's death. After leading the Horde away from the Alliance-claimed Eastern Kingdoms, he rescued and made allies of the Darkspear trolls and Bloodhoof tauren. Thrall led the new Horde against their former demonic masters in the Battle of Mount Hyjal. He subsequently led diplomatic efforts at peace between the Horde and Alliance after the end of the Third War.

After the fall of the Lich King and the increasing elemental unrest heralding the Cataclysm, Thrall stepped down as leader of the Horde, appointed Garrosh Hellscream as Warchief, and joined with the shamanistic Earthen Ring to combat the rampaging elements, eventually aiding the Aspects in Deathwing's downfall.

With his victory over the corrupted aspect behind him, Thrall had been forced to deal with the chaos his replacement had sown in his wake. The Pandaria Campaign clearly demonstrated Garrosh's unforeseeable madness and pride, leading to dissension within the Horde itself. Thrall stepped back in to defend the Horde and its allies from their increasingly ruthless dictator. Together with Vol'jin and the other disenfranchised leaders of the Horde, Thrall overthrew his ill-fated successor in the Siege of Orgrimmar. After Garrosh's capture, Thrall personally chose Vol'jin to hold the Horde together and pledged his allegiance to him, along with the remaining leaders of the faction. His mate Aggra also gave birth to a son named Durak.

During the war in Draenor, Thrall was a key member of the Horde expedition to an alternate version of the orcish homeworld Draenor. In addition to aiding in many key battles, he met and befriended his parents of that timeline and made allies of the Frostwolf Orcs. Knowing that Garrosh was responsible for the events in the alternate Draenor, Thrall pursued him and was ultimately successful in killing Garrosh in their final mak'gora.

Eventually, the weight of all the wars he had fought began to weigh more heavily upon the former warchief and Thrall's own abilities and resolve eventually began to waver. During the Burning Legion's latest invasion of Azeroth, he passed both the Doomhammer and the mantle of leader of the Earthen Ring down to a shaman adventurer, knowing the future was now in safer hands. With this, he retired with his family to Nagrand, where he established a small farm. This did not last, as he was called from retirement by Varok Saurfang, who needed his aid in preventing Sylvanas Windrunner, Vol'jin's successor after his death during the Legion's invasion, from tearing the Horde apart. Leading a rebellion alongside Saurfang, Thrall upheld his promise to Saurfang who perished during a mak'gora with Windrunner, who then abandoned the Horde. Taking on a mantle of leadership for his people once again, Thrall became a member of the Horde Council, which replaced the warchief position, as the orcish representative.

Gul'dan was the first orcish warlock as well as the de facto founder of the Horde. He betrayed both his people and his mentor Ner'zhul to the demon lord Kil'jaeden for personal gain and power, and was directly responsible for the orcs' fall to demonic enslavement and their subsequent invasion of Azeroth. Tutored by the leaders of the Burning Legion, he is considered one of the most powerful warlocks to have ever existed.[7] He founded the Shadow Council and created the first death knights.[2] Gul'dan often referred to himself as "Darkness Incarnate" and "The Destroyer of Dreams."[2][8]

Orgrim Doomhammer was the Warchief of the Old Horde and Chieftain of the Blackrock clan during the end of the First War and the entirety of the Second War. The orcish capital of Orgrimmar, the Horde-controlled town of Hammerfall in the Arathi Highlands, and the flying battleship Orgrim's Hammer patrolling the skies of Icecrown, are named in his honor. He was also known as the Backstabber by loyalists of Gul'dan and Blackhand.[2]

Grommash "Grom" Hellscream was the legendary chieftain of the Warsong clan, a powerful warrior, close friend, and chief advisor to Warchief Thrall. He was the first orc who drank the blood of Mannoroth the Destructor,[6][7] thus binding the Horde to the Burning Legion — and he would eventually pay the ultimate price to free himself and his people from the Blood Curse.

Azog was an orc of the Third Age who commanded the tribes of Moria from TA 2790 until his death in TA 2799. He was responsible for the death of King Thrór and for King Thráin's madness.

Grishnákh was an Orc captain of Mordor who led a host of Orcs to join the Uruk-hai who were taking Merry and Pippin across Rohan to Isengard.

Uglúk was the leader of the Uruk-hai who were sent from Isengard to pursue the Fellowship of the Ring in TA 3019.

Shagrat was a large, dimwitted and arrogant long-armed Black Uruk, Captain of the Tower of Cirith Ungol. He commanded one of two orc patrols that found Frodo Baggins after he had been poisoned by Shelob.

Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka (usually shortened to Ghazghkull Thraka) is an Ork Warlord of the Goff klan and a mighty prophet of the WAAAGH!. He is the single most influential Ork in the galaxy in the late 41st Millennium, and billions of greenskins march to war in his name.

Since Ghazghkull's rise to power, he has led countless campaigns of destruction. He has crushed Aeldari war hosts, banished tides of daemons, and smashed phalanxes of Necrons to so much sparking scrap.

Yet his greatest battles have always been fought against the servants of the Emperor of Mankind. Ghazghkull's sheer, unstoppable brutality has left countless worlds of the Imperium blazing in his wake and reduced the mighty Hive World of Armageddon, during the Second and Third War for Armageddon, to a never-ending cauldron of bloody battle.

Yet Ghazghkull is not satisfied. Gork and Mork have greater plans for their prophet, plans they see fit to deliver amid agonising visions of a galaxy ablaze with green fire. At their behest, Ghazghkull is beginning his greatest work.

He will travel the galaxy, subjugating every Warlord and gathering every Ork to his banner until the stars themselves shudder to the thundering footfalls of his horde. Ghazghkull is gathering the Great WAAAGH! of Gork and Mork themselves, a WAAAGH! that will drown the galaxy in a war so great that the gods themselves will tear their way out of the Warp to join the fight.

Ghazghkull's greatest nemesis in this fight is the Imperial Commissar Yarrick.

Orkamungus dominated several large Ork clans, and unleashed his WAAAAGH! upon the planet of Tartarus, quickly isolating the major Imperial cities and overrunning the defenders with an unstoppable tide of Ork Boyz. Orkamungus led the assault in person on a vitally important spaceport that the 37th Tartarus Planetary Defense Force Regiment was using in an attempt to evacuate civilians from the doomed world. The tidings of battle soon turned, however, as the Blood Ravens Space Marines arrived on the battlefield by Drop Pod and held back the green tide of Orks.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Orkamungus had been bribed and armed by Bale and Sindri Myr, two Chaos Lords of the Alpha Legion, to mount the invasion that would distract the Imperials from their search for the Maledictum. His strategy of mostly attacking cities was both satisfying to the Orks' lust for war, and pinned down the Imperial Guard and Space Marines in defensive positions, allowing the servants of the Ruinous Powers to remain hidden. Orkamungus ultimately attracted the attention of the Blood Ravens' 3rd Company, and was killed when the Blood Ravens fell upon his base in force.

Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter is an Ork Warlord, originally a Warboss of the Evil Sunz Clan, who was involved in three major campaigns against the military forces of the Imperium of Man and most of the other major intelligent species of the galaxy during the final century of the 41st Millennium. WAAAGH! Gorgutz eventually included elements from the Ork clans known as the Head Crushaz, the Foot Stompaz, the Rokkit Rangerz, the Burna Boyz, the Kwikmeks and the Rok Clawz. Gorgutz first came to prominence during the battle for Lorn V, where he temporarily allied with (and then took the head of) Lord Crull, a World Eaters Traitor Legion Champion of Chaos who had contested the Orks and the Imperial Guard for control of a deactivated Imperator-class Emperor Titan that lay partially buried on that world. After being defeated on Lorn V by the victorious Imperial Guard, he fled in an Ork Rok to the world of Kronus and built up his WAAAGH! once more, only to - once again - be defeated, this time by the forces of the Blood Ravens Space Marine Chapter. Finding that retreat was the better part of valour once more, Gorgutz and the remains of his WAAAGH! arrived in the Kaurava System, settling his forces on the world of Kaurava II.

As his name implies, Gorgutz has a penchant for taking the heads of his enemies, for as he pointed out to one particularly unobservant Ork Nob, it would make no sense to put someone's foot on his "pointy stikk".