Lore of Hearthstone, Episode #9: Blackrock Mountain

BLACKROCK MOUNTAIN

Blackrock Mountain is the second adventure to be released in Hearthstone, and unlike Naxxramas, which faithfully replicates a single raid dungeon in World of Warcraft, Blackrock Mountain is a bit different. Blackrock Mountain in WoW is a huge, HUGE volcano, and it is the location of seven (!) raids/dungeons/instances: Blackrock Depths, Lower Blackrock Spire, Upper Blackrock Spire, Molten Core, Blackrock Caverns, Blackwing Descent and Blackwing Lair. All seven dungeons are, in one way or another, part of an overarching storyline that Hearthstone adapts cheekily.

The lore of Blackrock Mountain itself, I feel, could be told in a fair bit. So the creation of Blackrock Mountain itself happened a long time before the human/orc wars. It happened during the dwarven civil War of the Three Hammers (here), and in desperation, the evil dark iron Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan (ancestor to Emperor Thaurissan, the character on the card we'll be discussing below) summoned an ancient evil, the Elemental Lord of Fire, Ragnaros. Ragnaros's explosive return to the mortal realm carved the gigantic volcano that is the Blackrock Mountain itself, and shattered a large section of the Redridge Mountains, forming the Burning Steppes and Searing Gorge in modern-day Azeroth.

During the First War, the orcs invaded Azeroth, and the Blackrock clan, finding that the volcano had the same name with their clan name, would take over the upper parts of the mountain (while Ragnaros, his fire elementals and the enslaved dark iron dwarves dwelt deep within) and use it as the headquarters of the Old Horde during the First and Second War, and a particularly fierce battle took place, and would be one of the largest defeats which would lead to the shattering of the Old Horde. Rend and Maim Blackhand, the children of the former warchief Blackhand the Destroyer, managed to escape with their Blackrock orcs into Blackrock Mountain, forming what would be called the Dark Horde. The black dragon Nefarian, son of the black dragon patriarch Deathwing, would arrive on the mountain and enslave the Dark Horde, using the upper parts of the mountain as his base, experimenting on making his black dragons more powerful.

Nefarian and Ragnaros's forces waged a battle for supremacy of the mountain, while adventurers seeking sweet sweet loot defending the realm would take the challenge to both villains, slaying them and putting their plans on hold. In vanilla World of Warcraft, adventurers would go into Blackrock Depths, the Dark Iron capital, and do battle against the Dark Iron dwarves and the fire elementals Ragnaros assigns to keep an eye on his minions. In Lower Blackrock Spire, adventurers would do battle against Nefarian's army of orcs, ogres and black dragonspawn. The Upper Blackrock Spire also housed more of Nefarian's Dark Horde, including its chieftain Rend Blackhand.

Molten Core was the pinnacle of the original release of WoW, being the final end-game dungeon (before Blackwing Lair, Naxxramas and others were added). Residing deep within the heart of Blackrock Mountain itself, adventurers would slay Ragnaros's top lieutenants, summon the Firelord and slay him. Blackwing Lair was implemented a bit later, where adventurers can journey to the peak of the mountain, slaying Nefarian's main minions and experiments, and finally downing the black dragon.

In Cataclysm, Deathwing would return to Azeroth. He would revive his son Nefarian, while Ragnaros would swear fealty to Deathwing, essentially ending the hostilities between the two forces fighting for Blackrock Mountain. Ragnaros would leave the mountain lead assaults the sacred Mt. Hyjal, before being beaten back to his realm of the Firelands, while Nefarian would retreat deeper into the mountain and continue experimenting. Two new dungeons would be added in Cataclysm: Blackrock Caverns, which was taken over by the Twilight's Hammer cult (and completely not adapted in Hearthstone) and Blackwing Descent, where Nefarian has buried himself deep within in order to further his experiments, and adventurers can go down and end him once and for all.

In Warlords of Draenor, Upper Blackrock Spire would be revamped as it is taken over by members of Garrosh Hellscream's Iron Horde, replacing Nefarian's minions that traditionally stayed there.

With many, many dungeons and many, many bosses, the Blackrock Mountain adventure in Hearthstone chose to only adapt some of the most iconic ones, while telling a mostly original story highlighting the rivalry between Nefarian and Ragnaros (something mostly glossed over in the WoW game).
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THE BOSSES

Nefarian, Eldest Son of Deathwing

Nefarian is the eldest son of the black dragon aspect Deathwing (his story is here), and is also known as Blackwing (which is why all the dragon-serving minions here are called Blackwing after his name) or as Lord Victor Nefarius in his human guise. After Deathwing's slumber at the end of the Second War, Deathwing's children have gone and furthered their father's plans, with Nefarian nestling atop Blackrock Mountain and subjugating the remnants of the old Horde, led by Rend and Maim Blackhand, under his command. Nefarian began to experiment and combine the blood of the five dragonflights, creating a unique breed called the Chromatic Dragonflight that combined the powers of all five dragonflights (you might see some chromatic drakes in the adventure, and Chromaggus is also a chromatic dragonkin). With his own personal army of dragonspawn, Nefarian waged war against the beings that already call Blackrock Mountain home -- the forces of the elemental lord of fire, Ragnaros, and his fire elemental and dark iron dwarf minions. 

Nefarian's machinations has attracted the ire of many concerned parties, among them the red dragonflight, who sent Vaelastrasz to investigate, fearing that under Nefarian and his sister Onyxia the black dragonflight would once more be united under a leader. While warriors of the Alliance and Horde would beat back Nefarian's forces in the Lower and Upper Blackrock Spires, Nefarian himself resided deep within Blackwing Lair, where he would finally be challenged by a large force of adventurers. Despite his army of powerful chromatic dragons and drakonids, Nefarian was felled, and his head was beheaded and displayed on a capital city (depending on which faction the player is playing).

In Cataclysm, Deathwing would once more return to Azeroth, and one of his acts was reanimating Nefarian from the dead, although he is a little worse for wear (his second boss fight in the Adventure mode of Hearthstone represents his Cataclysm appearance). Nefarian was charged to continue his experiments, and thanks to his past defeat, Nefarian became more wary. He has hunkered down in Blackwing Descent, retreating and continuing his experiments and plans, creating more and more hideous creatures and experiments such as Chimaeron and Atramedes. When his creations are slain by adventurers, he would reveal his greatest triumph -- the body of his dead sister Onyxia, reanimated with a combination of necromantic magic and electricity, and the two black dragons would do battle against adventurers until ultimately slain, this time permanently.

The first Nefarian boss fight, as well as the collectible card, mirrors the Nefarian fight in vanilla WoW, where Nefarian would periodically cast a debilitating effect on the raid party that varies depending on the class, such as forcing mages to polymorph their allies. The sequence of the final adventure mode boss fight mirrors his Cataclysm encounter, while Bone Constructs he summons in his second boss fight is based on one of his spells. Tail Lash, the spell Nefarian gives you when facing against an enemy hero without a class, is based on one of his attacks in both fights in WoW. 

Coren Direbrew

The first 'wing' of Hearthstone's Adventure Mode is based on the Blackrock Depths dungeon in WoW, the Dark Iron dwarf city that serves Ragnaros the Firelord. The Grim Guzzler is the fifth sub-zone of Blackrock Depths, and Coren Direbrew, the Dark Iron bartender... only appears during the yearly Brewfest event, added in Burning Crusade. For the rest of the year, the Grim Guzzler is maintained by the barkeeper Plugger Spazzring. Coren Direbrew actually has a fair bit of lore related to Brewfest. During the original Brewfest, it was a contest held between the pandaren brewmaster Chen Stormstout and the dwarf Grimbooze Thunderbrew. Coren, however, forced himself into the competition... and while his brew isn't terrible, he was outclassed by the other two competitors and he only received two votes -- one from himself, and one from Chen out of pity. The enraged Coren attacked, but was knocked down by Chen into a barrel of keg, and thus Coren Direbrew swore vengeance against the Brewfest, attacking every year.

During the adventure mode fight, three of the cards that Coren plays include a Succubus, a War Golem and an Elite Tauren Chieftain, with unique sound clips for each. ETC is a reference to the fact that the Grim Guzzler is one of the few locations in WoW that you can see ETC perform. The Succubus and the War Golem are identified by Coren as 'Mistress Nagmara' and 'Phalanx', respectively, which are (as you guessed), a succubus and a war golem that act as bouncers in Grim Guzzler.

High Justice Grimstone

The Ring of Law is the third boss encounter in Blackrock Depths, where the Dark Irons hold court with gladiatorial combat, to pay the 'blood price', if you will. While in Hearthstone High Justice Grimstone sends you to fight his deck full of legendaries, in World of Warcraft it's a little gauntlet against a selection of several possible creatures that are held within the Ring. High Justice Grimstone is the, well, referee or judge of the whole procedure, and that's all there is to him. In WoW, he's not actually fought, he just presides over the proceedings and lets you pass if you beat his mooks.

Emperor Dagran Thaurissan

The final battle battle in the Blackrock Depths dungeon in WoW is against the emperor of the Dark Iron Dwarves, Dagran Thaurissan. Descendant of the Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan that initially summoned Ragnaros back into the mortal plane. While he rules over the Dark Irons, his race by large is still under the thumb of Ragnaros. Prior to World of Warcraft, Thaurissan and the Dark Irons are branded and marked for death for the kidnapping of the daughter of King Magni Bronzebeard, Moira. However, in actuality, Moira and Thaurissan fell in love with each other, and Moira, already chafing under Magni's desire for a male heir, was amazed at how the Dark Irons treated her not only as an equal, but as their rightfully appointed ruler when she married Thaurissan. Their marriage was not known to Magni, however, who had assumed that his daughter was either kidnapped or enthralled with sorcery, and Magni sent a force of adventurers to go and slay Emperor Thaurissan. Adventurers would storm Blackrock Depths, slay a large amount of Thaurissan's retainers and the fire elementals that guarded them, and after fighting the spirits of the seven sorcerers who summoned Ragnaros, would come face to face with Thaurissan in his throne room.

Thaurissan would serve as the final boss in Blackrock Depths, fought (like in Hearthstone) alongside Moira... and it would only be Thaurissan that met his end there. Moira Bronzebeard would bitterly mourn her husband, becoming even more estranged to her father. Thaurissan would be survived by his wife Moira and his son, Dagran Thaurissan II, the rightful heir to both the Dark Iron and Bronzebeard throne.

Moira Thaurissan (nee Bronzebeard)

As mentioned above, Moira Bronzebeard was daughter to King Magni Bronzebeard, the King of Ironforge. While Magni treated Moira well, it's clear that the dwarf king wished his daughter was, instead a son. Magni and Moira butted heads a lot, with Moira scorning the way of the warrior that Magni pushed upon her, and Magni himself clearly having some sexist views regarding Moira's future ability to rule. Moira ended up being ambushed and captured by Dark Iron Dwarves during a journey to Lakeshire. Upon meeting Emperor Dagran Thaurissan, however, the Dark Iron emperor began to find himself surprised by Moira's stance, not intimidated in the slightest by her predicament. Instead, Moira and Thaurissan began to have long discussions about their hopes for the dwarven people as a whole. However, reports to Magni ended up being distorted, leading to the Ironforge dwarves into thinking that Moira was instead ensorcered by the Dark Irons. A group of Alliance adventurers were sent to slay Thaurissan, but this instead caused Moira's anger to increase against her father and her people. Revealing that she is pregnant with Thaurissan's son, Moira would refuse to return, instead choosing to rule the Dark Irons. Throughout the years, Moira would free the Dark Irons from Ragnaros's rule, making deals with water elementals and adventurers to eventually slay Ragnaros and free the Dark Irons from the rule of the fire elementals. She would also spread news regarding the black dragonflight's experiments in Upper Blackrock Spire to agents of the Horde and Alliance. 

Moira would finally return to Ironforge with her infant son, Prince Dagran Thaurissan II as well as members of the Dark Iron clan, in the wake of Magni's sudden petrification during the events of Cataclysm. With no one to challenge her claim to the throne, she ruled Ironforge with an iron fist, holding the people of Ironforge (and a visiting Anduin Wrynn) hostage. The young prince Anduin, however, managed to talk to Moira, making her realize that her own spite against Magni has caused to make her a terrible ruler. King Varian Wrynn would lead a group of SI:7 operatives to assassinate Moira, but while they were successful in their infiltration, Varian had second thoughts about assassinating the rightful heir to Ironforge, and thanks to an earlier conversation with Anduin, liberated Ironforge but left Moira in charge as part of the Council of Three Hammers, giving Moira a proper chance to actually be a leader of her people.

During her rule, Moira tried her best to keep all the dwarf people under her command satisfied with her rule, but ended up having to ask the help of Alliance adventurers to root out a Dark Iron dwarf that's colluding with the Twilight's Hammer. During the events of Mists of Pandaria, despite the suspicions of the Wildhammer and Bronzebeard clans, Moira was the only one to bring her Dark Irons to help the Alliance to fight the Zandalari trolls, bringing shame to the other two clans, who had declined their help for fear of Dark Iron treachery. Her assistance and her team-up with Varian ended up shaming the other two dwarven leaders, and ended up with the three clans vowing to help out the Alliance properly. Moira would participate in the Siege of Orgrimmar, leading dwarven troops to fight against Siegecrafter Blackfuse and his creation, the Ironstar. Prior to the events of Legion, Moira ended up witnessing Magni's awakening from his petrification, witnessing Magni's warning to the people of Azeroth about the Burning Legion's return. Magni also tells Moira about how he has witnessed Moira's growth over the years, telling her how wrong he was for judging her based on her gender. Moira would be involved with many other Alliance leaders in the defense of Azeroth against the Burning Legion.

Garr

The second wing of Hearthstone's Blackrock Mountain is based upon the Molten Core raid. We've talked about Ragnaros and Baron Geddon in a previous entry, so I won't repeat myself here. So let's talk about Garr. Garr is a mighty lava elemental (part-fire, part-earth) that is one of Ragnaros's mightiest lieutenants. Alongside Baron Geddon, Garr is responsible for taking down the mighty air elemental Prince Thunderaan. Garr and Geddon have a rivalry between them thanks to Geddon's paranoia, and the two become relatively strained. Garr is the third encounter in Molten Core, fought before Baron Geddon, and the Hearthstone adventure fight replicates this by having Garr summon many Firesworn, something he also did in WoW. Adventurers that went into the Molten Core would defeat Garr as they made their way to Ragnaros. In Cataclysm, Garr would return alongside his master in besieging Mt. Hyjal, and Garr would be a rare encounter world-boss thing that patrols the area around Mt. Hyjal, accompanied as always by a small group of his Firesworn.

Majordomo Executus

In WoW's Molten Core, Majordomo Executus is the final boss that adventurers have to face before doing battle against Ragnaros himself. Having defeated the Firelord's other minions, the adventurers that laid siege to the Molten Core slew many of Ragnaros's lieutenants, including Garr, Baron Geddon and many others. Majordomo Executus served as Ragnaros's right-hand man, taking orders only from the Firelord himself. Executus is a flamewaker (see below for explanation on the race) that took over leading while Ragnaros slumbered to regain his power. Apparently, rumour has it that Executus supplanted Baron Geddon as Ragnaros's right-hand man. The adventurers that faced off against Executus had to also contend with his small army of powerful flamewakers (similar to his Hearthstone encounter). Upon Executus being brought down low, Executus would submit and admit defeat, taunting the heroes that he now will summon the Firelord.

However, as Executus slithers away to Ragnaros's chamber, and summon the Firelord, introducing him as "he who was ancient when the world was young!" Ragnaros would burst out of the depths of the Molten Core, roaring that it was "TOO SOON!". Ragnaros would personally kill Executus for the dual punishment of awakening him too soon and for failing to stop the adventurers, before battling them himself. Unlike most of other powerful fire elementals that would reappear in Cataclysm, Executus never reappears, so it appears his death is permanent.

Highlord Omokk

The third wing is based on two dungeons, the Upper and Lower Blackrock Spire. Highlord Omokk is the apparent leader of the Spirestone Ogres that are loyal to Nefarian, and one of the earlier bosses fought in Lower Blackrock Spire. He's a blunt instrument, ruling over the ogres with a big, brutish fist. However, the true leader of the ogres is the more sinister Urok Doomhowl, who has charmed Omokk to do his every bidding, and thus with this charade is able to freely rule without any threat to his life from any competing ogres. Not much actual lore behind Omokk beyond that.

General Drakkisath

General Drakkisath is the final encounter of Upper Blackrock Spire, and he is a black dragonspawn (see below for more detail about dragonspawn). Unique among the dragonspawn, Drakkisath has wings jutting out of his back, a model initially unique only to Drakkisath, but has since been used by other powerful Dragonspawn like Razorgore below. Drakkisath is unquestioningly loyal to Nefarian and commands his armies in the battles against Ragnaros, as well as overseeing the operations in the Blackrock Spire. Again, there's not a whole ton of lore about these beyond being minions of Nefarian.

Rend Blackhand (also, Gyth)

Dal'rend Blackhand, mostly just known as Rend, is the son of the warchief of the first Horde, Blackhand the Destroyer. Rend and his brother Maim are magically aged to adulthood by the vile magics of the warlocks, and the Blackhand siblings are particularly vile warriors that happily partook in the brutality of the old Horde in slaughtering the Draenei, and subsequently crossing the Dark Portal and slaughtering the humans during the First War. Both Rend and Maim drank the blood of Mannoroth. Between the First and Second Wars, their father Blackhand was killed and supplanted by the more noble Orgrim Doomhammer. Rend and Maim now led the Black Tooth Grin Clan, and often questioned Doomhammer's orders -- something that Doomhammer tolerated only because the Blackhand siblings do control a large clan that is valuable to him. While in Warcraft II Rend and Maim did not have unique models, they are referred many times in the manual and dialogue. Rend and Maim participated in the Siege of Quel'thalas, and also participated in the capital city of Lordaeron. Doomhammer would send off the Black Tooth Grim clan to hunt down Gul'dan's treacherous clans, chasing them to the Broken Isles and doing battle with Cho'gall's Twilight's Hammer clan, although the Blackhand brothers departed when news of Gul'dan's death reached their ears. At the end of Warcraft II, Rend and Maim did battle with the human paladin Turalyon, but when the Dark Portal was sealed, Rend and Maim escaped with the majority of the Blackrock and Black Tooth Grin clans and hid in Blackrock Moutnain, their old stronghold.
 
During the events of Beyond the Dark Portal, a new expedition of orcs sent by Ner'zhul sought the aid of the Blackrock orcs in assisting their deeds, but Rend and Maim refused to fight for Ner'zhul, who he saw as a coward hiding behind on Draenor while the rest of the Horde bled. Between Warcraft II and World of Warcraft, Nefarian would arrive on Blackrock Mountain and subjugate the orcs. Details are sketchy as to when Maim died, and whether he died resisting Nefarian's subjugation or fighting the Dark Iron Dwarves, but that left Rend Blackhand as the sole leader of what he now called the 'Dark Horde', viewing the current Horde led by Thrall as weak. 

(In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, a pair of fel orc blademasters named 'Rend' and 'Maim' were seen in Outland alllied with Magtheridon, but while probably meant to represent the Blackhand brothers at the time, they were retconned to just be a pair of dudes with similar names by the time of WoW's release).

In World of Warcraft, Rend is one of the final bosses in Upper Blackrock Spire (before the Beast and General Drakkisath), leading the members of the Old Horde loyal to Nefarian. In WoW, the first phase of the battle against Rend involves him summoning a large amount of allies, and later joining the battle riding atop his chromatic drake partner, Gyth. In the Hearthstone encounter, Rend will alternate between summoning orcs, whelps, dragonkin or the mighty chromatic drake Gyth. Chromatic dragons are created by Nefarian's experiments, joining the blood of all five dragonflights to create a new breed of dragons with the powers of all of them. Rend's partnership with Gyth is probably what his 'if you hold a dragon' battlecry effect refers to.

Razorgore the Untamed

The fourth wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure is based exclusively on the Blackwing Lair raid from WoW. Like Drakkisath, Razorgore the Untamed is a black dragonspawn (more on that below) with wings, and acts as the first boss in Blackwing Lair. Razorgore guards the large amount of dragon eggs (black eggs in WoW, chromatic eggs in Hearthstone)  from where he will summon reinforcements during the various phases of his boss fight. 

Vaelastrasz the Corrupt

Vaelastrasz is a member of the red dragonflight, and is known as Vaelan while shapeshifted into his human form. He would aid adventurers heading to the Upper and Lower Blackrock Spires, giving them quests and rewarding them for slaying certain enemies. Charged to hunt and destroy Nefarian by the red dragon aspect Alexstrasza, Vaelastrasz would participate in the battle against Rend Blackhand in WoW, projecting an illusion of himself to assist the players. Prior to the events of Blackwing Lair, however, Vaelastrasz tracks down Nefarian personally to do battle with him, but the red dragon is defeated by Nefarian. Vaelastrasz is wounded and subsequently subjected to torture and corruption by Nefarian, and would serve as the second boss in the Blackrock Spire, forced to battle his mortal allies. Before Nefarian's control fully consumes him, however, as his last independent act Vaelastrasz gives a portion of his power to buff the adventurers coming to slay him so that they will beable to slay Nefarian in his stead. The adventurers are forced to put down Vaelastrasz before progressing any further through Blackrock Spire.

Chromaggus

As in Hearthstone, Chromaggus is the penultimate boss in WoW's Blackrock Spire. After slaying Razorgore, Vaelastrasz and several other lesser black drakes, Nefarian would unleash the mighty Chromaggus, the first and the mightiest of a species called the 'Drakeadon'. Created by Nefarian, these chromatic dragons are strange, four-legged, two-headed creatures that resemble Core Hounds, which hints that Nefarian might have combined his chomatic dragon experiments with that of captured core hounds (we know that he at least captures the Beast) in order to create Chromaggus, although this has never been blatantly confirmed. Chromaggus does have the power of all five dragonflights, just like other chromatic dragons, and his Hearthstone boss battle is based on his WoW one, where Chromaggus would  unleash one out of five possible 'brood afflictions' that will debuff the entire party depending on the colour of the brood affliction. Chromaggus in WoW is also categorized among 'exotic beasts', despite being a dragon (just like how core hounds are also an 'exotic beast' despite being fire elementals).

For some time, Chromaggus was unique and the only one of his kind, but when Nefarian was resurrected in Cataclysm, lesser drakeadons would patrol Nefarian's new lair, the Blackwing Descent. In Wrath of the Lich King, Chromaggus is one of the few 'memories' summoned by Argent Confessor Paletress in the Trial of the Champion encounter.

Omnotron Defense System

The final wing of the Blackrock Mountain adventure is the Hidden Laboratory, which is based on the Blackwing Descent raid introduced in Cataclysm. As with Blackwing Descent, the first boss in this wing is the Omnotron Defense System, a group of four powerful golems created by the Dark Iron dwarves. Golems created by dwarves are often created in their own image.  All four golems -- Arcanatron, Magmatron, Toxitron and Electron -- are fought together, and all four have powerful effects that correspond to their names. When descending deep into Blackrock Moutnain, Nefarian repurposed these powerful golems to guard his new lair.

Magmaw

Also, in both the Omnotron and Atramedes fights in Hearthstone, they sometimes will summon a legendary minion called Magmaw. Magmaw is the second encounter in Blackwing Descent, a mighty lava worm -- a mighty beast that comes from deep within the elemental realm of fire. Magmaw was one of the minions summoned from the Firelands by Dark Iron dwarves ages ago, and while Nefarian considers him a pest, he would soon grow fond of Magmaw and start feeding him failed experiments.

Maloriak

Maloriak was once a bright human alchemist called Malory. Desiring Malory's talents for himself, Nefarian kidnapped Malory and fused the alchemist with the corpse of a dragonspawn. The result created one of the first of the dragonmen. The dragonman race is relatively rare, with other examples being tied to Nefarian or his mother, Sinestra. Maloriak serves as the penultimate boss fight in Blackwing Descent in WoW, and is stated to have been one of Nefarian's biggest assistants in creating the aberrations seen in Blackwing Descent. Unfortunately, the transformation from human to dragonman has shattered Maloriak's mind, leaving him a shell of his former self and turning the poor soul absolutely insane.

During the battle with Maloriak in both WoW and Hearthstone, he would summon Aberrations -- which are hulking, brutish versions of dragonmen. After slaying Maloriak, in both Hearthstone and heroic WoW, Nefarian would dub you 'Slayer of Stupid, Incompetent and Disappointing Minions', a temporary title in both WoW and Hearthstone.

Atramedes

In WoW's Blackwing Descent, Atramedes is fought after Magmaw as the third boss in Blackwing Descent. Atramedes is also known as Experiment 25463-D, and started life as a black dragon whelp that Maloriak experimented upon to give him "sight beyond sight" with a salve created from the blood of other dragonflights. However, Atramedes instead became blinded. Instead of disposing of this failure, Nefarian keeps Atramedes around, and now the mighty black dragon (who has a spiky horned harness on his head) patrols Nefarian's lair, and in both WoW and Hearthstone, he would rely on echolocation, sound and smell to hunt down and murder those who would intrude upon his master's base. In WoW, players would become more detectable to Atramedes the more they take damage, but the dwarven gongs in the room will disorient Atramedes from being able to see the players, resetting his awareness of the enemies in the room. This is represented quite cleverly in Hearthstone by having Atramedes have a weapon that grows stronger the more cards you play (representing Atramedes being more aware of you) and you being given the option to use a 'gong' spell to reset Atramedes's weapon damage counter. Atramedes' boss-specific 'sonic breath' is a reference to a skill he is able to do in his boss fight.

(Atramedes is conceptually my favourite adventure boss and easily one of the best adaptations of a pre-existing WoW gameplay mechanic)

Click below the break for the non-legendary, non-boss cards!
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OTHER MINIONS:

Blackwing Technician: The Blackwing Technician is a mob found in the Blackwing Lair dungeon, in the Crimson Laboratories sub-zone, serving the Master Elemental Shaper Krixix, a goblin in service of Nefarian's Dark Horde. 


Twilight Whelp: Whelps are the youngest stage of a dragon's life after hatching, and whelps of all five dragonflights were seen as early as Warcraft III, where they are the weakest variant of dragons. In many, many portions of the Nefarian-allied dungeons, whelps would spawn out of dragon eggs and attack adventurers. The Twilight Whelp isn't actually from any of the Blackrock Mountain dungeons, but is a relatively weak enemy that is summoned during boss battles against Tenebron in the Obsidian Sanctum and Sinestra in the Bastion of Twilight.

 
Dragon Egg: Dragons begin life as eggs, and in dungeons where dragons reside, their eggs are often numerous. Nefarian has a rookery in the Upper Blackrock Spire, guarded by the dragonspawn Solakar Flamewreath, and if the eggs are touched, they will hatch into Rookery Whelps. The Rookery in the Upper Blackrock Spire are particularly famous because it is the location of the infamous, memetic Leeroy Jenkins video.

Dragonkin Sorcerer: The Dragonkin Sorcerer is a Dragonspawn, while the term 'dragonkin' is a term that refers to all races that are dragons, or are related to dragons. The Dragonspawn were introduced in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The Dragonspawn are lesser servants of the five dragonflights, having a body that looks similar to a centaur but with draconic features (and a head). Their origin has varied, with older material referring to them as being 'ascended' from humanoids that have served the dragonflights and eventually form their own distinct race. The bosses Razorgore and Drakkisath are both black dragonspawn in service to Nefarian, and various dragonspawn serve as mobs in the Nefarian-aligned areas of Blackrock Mountain. While dragonspawn are certainly capable of magic, no specific mob is called a dragonkin sorcerer.

Drakonid Crusher: The Drakonid were first seen in Azeroth when adventurers stormed Blackwing Lair and did battle with Nefarian for the first time. The Drakonid are great bipedal warriors with the heads and claws of dragons, and Drakonids of all five dragonflights were summoned by Nefarian during the first stage of his boss fight, and it could be assumed that they were creations of Nefarian's experiments. However, as time goes on, drakonids in service to other dragonflights would appear, independent from Nefarian, so perhaps Nefarian was just creating a variation of the process that normally creates drakonids. A clue to the drakonid's origin would be seen in Burning Crusade, where the Dragonmaw clan of orcs in Outland are able to transform into Drakonids, calling it a 'gift'. A similar thing would happen to some members of the Twilight's Hammer orcs in Cataclysm.

Grim Patron: We talked a bit about the Dark Iron up above, so I won't be too wordy about the three Dark Iron minions introduced in the Blackrock Mountain expansion. Grim Patrons are, obviously, dark iron dwarves who are hanging around in the Grim Guzzler tavern in Blackrock Depths. Unlike most dark iron dwarves allied with Ragnaros, the Grim Patrons are actually neutral to adventurers... at least until the bartender is killed, upon which they will all descend into angry rioting and become hostile.

Core Rager: The Core Rager is a core hound (which we've covered before), and is a specific mob that is summoned by the boss Golemagg the Incinerator, found in WoW's Molten Core. (Golemagg doesn't show up in Hearthstone's adventure mode, but he does show up in the Nefarian-vs-Ragnaros tavern brawl). The Core Ragers cannot be killed until Golemagg himself is felled. Many core hounds are found in the Blackrock Mountain dungeons, among them the bosses Magmadar and the Beast.

Flamewaker: The Flamewaker is a high-ranking fire elemental that isn't actually made up of fire, but has the flesh-and-blood lower body of snakes and the upper body of a humanoid. The actual mob called Flamewaker is found in the Molten Core, as mobs summoned by the boss Gehennas (himself also a flamewaker). The Flamewakers initially are found only in the Molten Core, as high-ranking members of Ragnaros's army of fire elementals (the bosses Lucifron, Gehennas, Shazzrah, Sulfuron Harbinger and Majordomo Executus in Molten Core are all flamewakers), but in subsequent expansions of WoW as Ragnaros's influence expanded, so do the amount of flamewakers in Azeroth. 


Fireguard Destroyer: Fireguard Destroyers are level 54-56 fire elemental mobs that are found in the Blackrock Depths, a stronger version of the Fireguard mobs found earlier in the dungeon. Not much else beyond that, really. 


Druid of the Flame: The Druids of the Flame is an organization established in Cataclysm, when a sect of druids disillusioned with the leadership of the archdruid Malfurion defected and began serving Ragnaros the Firelord, led by the renegade night elf Fandral Staghelm (Fandral's story is long and complex, and we'll cover it when we get to his card in Whispers of the Old Gods), who would replace Executus as Ragnaros's Majordomo in Cataclysm. Instead of drawing power from nature and the Emerald Dream, druids of the flame channel the power of the Firelord, and are twisted beings that now serve to guard Ragnaros's citadel in the Firelands, the elemental plane of fire. A specific mob called 'Druid of the Flame' can be found in the Sulfuron Keep Courtyard in the Firelands dungeon. The druids of the flame are referred to as being part of the Twilight's Hammer Cult at some points. As with the Hearthstone card, the druids of the flame, instead of transforming into natural beasts, will turn into burning fire-cats, fire-hawks and fire-scorpions.

The following minions are original to Hearthstone, and otherwise just basically depict the armies of dragons, dark iron dwarves and assorted minions of Nefarian: Hungry Dragon, Volcanic Drake, Dragon Consort, Dark Iron Skulker, Axe Flinger, Blackwing Corruptor, Volcanic Lumberer and Imp Gang Boss. There is a mob called Burning Treant found in the Firelands, though, which might be what Volcanic Lumberer is based on.


The Firesworn tokens summoned by Garr are based on the eight Firesworn mobs that surround Garr in the boss fight against him in the Molten Core, notable for the fact that they will explode upon death and cause damage.


Chromatic Dragonkin, summoned by Chromaggus in his boss fight, is based on the Chromatic Drakonid, level 60 mobs that will spawn inside Nefarian's Lair in Blackwing Lair.


The Aberrations are based on enemies of the same name spawned during the Maloriak boss fight.
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ABILITIES:

Dragon's Breath: Dragon's Breath is an ability for fire-speciality mages in WoW, unleashing an area-of-effect spell by creating flames in the shape of a dragon's head that will, well, breathe fire towards where you command it. All dragons also have a specific breath weapon that corresponds to their dragonflight. 

Resurrect: Resurrect is based on the Priest spell Resurrection from WoW, which, as its name implies, allows you to resurrect a dead player and bringing him back to life without him having to run all the way from the graveyard to his body. It takes a fair amount of time to cast, however, and cannot be cast in combat. 

Revenge: Revenge is one of WoW's Warrior's original abilities that has stuck around, dealing huge damage to enemies in front of the warrior. In WoW, Revenge can be casted for free if the warrior successfully dodges or parries an attack.

Demonwrath: Demonwrath isn't a spell in WoW... until the recent Legion expansion, when Demonwrath was among the few Hearthstone-original spells that were adapted into WoW. Demonwrath in WoW is an ability by Demonology Warlocks that causes your pet demons to emit shadow damage to all enemies around it. The artwork for Demonwrath depicts an Abyssal, a stronger, spikier version of the Infernal demon.

The following spells are all original to Hearthstone: Quick Shot, Lava Shock, Gang Up and Solemn Vigil. 
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Hearthstone and the WoW TCG

As usual, a lot of card art from the WoW TCG have been repurposed as Hearthstone cards, although in this case, a lot of the card art that were reused were similarly ones taken from generic dragons. As such, we only have one such entry:


Dragon Consort uses card art for Anachronos. Anachronos the Ancient is the son of Nozdormu, the Timeless One, and one of the primary leaders of the bronze dragonflight after Nozdormu. Various members of the bronze dragonflight also call Anachronos as Nozdormu's heir. Anachronos was involved in the War of the Shifting Sands, representing the bronze dragonflight in the fight against the Qiraji of Ahn'Qiraj several hundred years prior to the events of World of Warcraft. While the forces of the dragons and night elves were victorious, they suffered great losses. Anachronos himself was responsible for creating the massive shield over Ahn'Qiraj that sealed it from mortals. Anachronos split the scepter into four parts, trusting a member of each dragonflight with a shard. During the events of World of Warcraft, Anachornos continued to guard the Caverns of Time in Tanaris, and with the aid of mortal adventurers, ended up recreating the scepter, and opening the gateway to Ahn'Qiraj, whereupon mortal adventurers would free the dragons trapped within and slay the Qiraji's dread master, the slumbering Old God C'Thun. Throughout Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm, Anachronos would represent the bronze dragonflight until his master Nozdormu was returned, and would task adventurers to help investigate the enigmatic Infinite Dragonflight. Anachronos would later be involved in defending Tanaris against the invasion of the Burning Legion during the events of Legion. 

(In addition, multiple boss-exclusive cards like Dragonteeth, Onyxiclaw, Tail Swipe and Nefarian Strikes all use artwork that are meant to represent Onyxia, taken from the Onyxia's Lair raid deck)