Thrall was my first Warchief.
When WoW first started, the relationship between the Alliance and Horde was complex. Having fought brutally against one another in the First and Second War, the Third War not only saw the two cooperating against the common foes of the Burning Legion and the Scourge (which, at the time, were one unified enemy) but also saw both factions transform, diversifying and really gaining a new identity that way.
The Alliance incorporated the Night Elves and later, the Draenei, while the Horde brought in former Alliance races in the Forsaken (well, maybe not a former Alliance race, but people who were once Alliance when they were a different race) and the Blood Elves.
Tensions certainly remained, but Thrall's view was very clearly that he had no problem with the Alliance existing as long as there was peace between the factions. If Orgrimmar were permitted to survive, he saw no problem with Stormwind standing as well.
It is, after all, the very first step in establishing peace to simply tolerate another person's existence.
Thrall's focus was on forging new values for the Horde. He looked to the pre-Horde past of the Orcs and linked it with the spiritual traditions of the Tauren and the Trolls. The Horde would not be bent on conquest and warfare, but rather seek to find harmony with the land, to balance the elements and the honor of the ancestors. Thrall did not seek to make the Horde weak, but instead to discover different kinds of strength than simple military might. He wanted to see the Horde have a home where children could be safe and where its people could focus their attention on issues that didn't simply revolve around fighting some enemy.
His tenure was a mixture of success and failure.
Really, one can look to the existence of Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff as a testament to his successes. Mulgore, apart from a few stray dwarves and treacherous Grimtotem, is mostly a safe place for the Tauren people. Durotar may be rough and not exactly the most fertile land, but it's a true territory that the Orcs can claim as theirs without any real rivals who would want to take it from them.
The Horde has gone from invaders to residents of Azeroth, and their superpower-like status has, for the most part, lent a sense of security to its people such that people can, to a large extent, enjoy a normal life.
But the world hasn't cooperated very much with his vision. Between demons, insane dragons, and the undead, Azeroth is under constant threat. The Horde as Thrall built it has managed to resist these great evils. But Thrall was unable to completely shift its culture either. Indeed, he seemed to misunderstand his own culture (which makes sense, given that he was raised among humans) in appointing Garrosh as his successor, thinking only of the older, wiser Orgrim Doomhammer he had known in his youth as what the Old Horde had been, and not the brutal, fascistic warmongers they really had been, and how Garrosh chose to run things.
He also never quite managed to export his philosophy of reconciliation to the Forsaken. He treated Sylvanas with respect, even aiding her in taking back her city from Varimathras. But while he was espousing his progressive vision for the Horde, Sylvanas chose instead to build her society into a lockstep cult of personality. He sent the Kor'kron to monitor Undercity following the attempted coup, but once leadership of the Horde transferred to Garrosh, and once Garrosh and the Kor'kron fell, that oversight disappeared.
Garrosh is Thrall's biggest mistake, and it's one that the Horde can never really forgive. Even as Sylvanas has led the Horde into another era of aggression and warmongering, Thrall still bears that mark. And for that, even if he is popular with the majority of the Horde, he's not going to be Warchief again.
Indeed, one of the big questions about BFA's plot has been what happens if Sylvanas is removed from power. While Vol'jin made a ton of sense as Garrosh's replacement (and seemed to do well until his all-too-brief tenure ended,) there's less of an obvious choice now. Saurfang could do it, but he's a soldier, not a politician. Baine might get rescued in 8.2, but at this point the biggest thing he's known for is defying Sylvanas and arguably betraying the Horde to the Alliance.
Lor'themar so far seems too afraid of Sylvanas to stand up to her. And the rest of the Horde's leadership is too new, really (except Gallywix, I guess, though who the hell would want him in charge?)
Thrall taking up the Warchief job once again might be appealing, but I don't think it's what will happen. Thrall's done with it, and frankly, the Horde probably prefers him as Warchief Emeritus. But given that Sylvanas either needs to go or we need to find out that the real Sylvanas has been locked up in a dungeon all this time and the one we think is in charge is actually an imposter (which I think has about a 0% likelihood of happening,) it makes one wonder if the Horde should even have a Warchief anymore.
Frankly, you look at it, and Warchiefs seem to have a Targaryen-level probability of good and bad. Blackhand, Garrosh, and Sylvanas have all been brutes and monsters. Thrall and Vol'jin were good. Doomhammer was... a mixed bag. So at best, you've got half the Horde's Warchiefs being evil.
And let's remember that the whole structure of the Horde was created by Gul'dan. Sure, the Shadow Council isn't part of it anymore (we assume!) but maybe there needs to be a major reformation of just how the Horde works.
Would Thrall be a good person to help forge that new Horde? Like a James Madison type, writing a new constitution? Maybe. I doubt that Blizzard is going to get into the nitty-gritty of legal reformation.
Alternatively - do we think Thrall is going to die?
Right now, the Horde is fractured, unsure of what exactly they want to do regarding Sylvanas. But if she kills Thrall - as she seems to have just tried to do - would that be enough to convince an overwhelming majority of the Horde that she just has to go?
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