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 .