Lore of Hearthstone, Episode #12 - League of Explorers

LEAGUE OF EXPLORERS

For the League of Explorers expansion, we're going to do things a little differently. The Adventure Mode is comprised of wings that are based off on completely different dungeons all over Azeroth, to represent the League going throughout Azeroth, so as a result the cards are based on multiple locales. We'll be grouping all the cards, legendaries involved, based on the locales -- first the League of Explorers, then the three main wings, and then abilities.

The League of Explorers:

The Explorer's League, the star of the expansion, is a league of explorers (shocking!) based on Hall of Explorers, located in the dwarven capital in Ironforge. While Warcraft III's game manual made a throwaway line about how Muradin Bronzebeard is a member of the 'Explorer's Guild', actual lore for the League wouldn't come until World of Warcraft. There, it's revealed that all three Bronzebeard brothers are members of the League, and that they want to recover the artifacts all over the world to help better learn their heritage -- a fair amount of the Titan-related lore was told to us via Explorer's League missions in the older WoW content.

The league's frontman is Brann Bronzebeard, younger brother to King Magni Bronzebeard of the dwarves. In WoW, other than player characters, the Explorer's League is almost entirely made up of dwarves, although with subsequent expansions, other Alliance races would be inducted as members of the League. The Explorer's League was founded upon the discovery of a set of ruins that held the key to discovering dwarven heritage, causing the dwarves to shift their attention from mining and engineering to archaeology. They have a presence in numerous dig sites relevant to archaeology both within Khaz Modan and without. Members of the Explorer's League would later establish an outpost in Northrend to assist in uncovering the Titan facility Ulduar, and uncovering their Titan ancestry... but wisely sought the aid of the Alliance and Horde when they came into contact with a far bigger threat within Ulduar than they bargained for.

In Cataclysm, the Explorer's League was particularly more expanded than before, going into far more areas beyond just dig sites, putting them into some conflict with their Horde counterpart, the Reliquary. Brann would head an expedition to the titan ruins in Uldum as well. In Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor and Legion, members of the League would be seen in the three continents visited in those expansions -- Pandaria, alternate Draenor and Broken Isles.

Among the four main explorers featured in League of Explorers, only Brann Bronzebeard comes from WoW, with the other three, as well as adventure villain Rafaam, being completely original to Hearthstone. In Legion, Sir Finley has since made an appearance in WoW, being one of the first Hearthstone-original characters to make the jump from card game to MMORPG.

Brann Bronzebeard

Brann Bronzebeard is the youngest of the three Bronzebeard brothers, with King Magni Bronzebeard and the renowned warrior Muradin Bronzebeard being his elder brothers. He was first mentioned in Warcraft III, among Muradin's possible lines, mentioning that his younger brother Brann was a renowned explorer. Brann was known to participate in the Third War, and was particularly excited when his brother Magni ordered the establishment of the Explorer's League prior to the Third War. Brann in particular spent most of the earlier days in the League mapping out the maps of Azeroth. While Brann was briefly missing during his adventures during vanilla World of Warcraft, with only his journal being found, he would show up fine, apparently having been mapping out Zul'Gurub. Brann would next appear in the mysterious desert of Silithus to investigate about the strange insectoid race of the qiraji, previously sealed within the fortress of Ahn'Qiraj as well as the ancient, vile Old God C'Thun (more on him in the next expansion). Brann would discover a tunnel that led into Ahn'Qiraj, but his expedition into said tunnel was disastrous, leaving Brann the only survivor. Brann would disappear again after this, and would next appear in Northrend in Wrath of the Lich King. He would be a quest giver for Alliances to get them to investigate the frost dwarves, unwittingly setting off a chain of events that would reunite him with his presumed-dead brother Muradin.

Brann Bronzebeard

The Explorer's League and Brann would investigate the titan facility in Ulduar. Titans are known to be the creators of every living creature on Azeroth, and the dwarves in particular had an affinity of being close to the titans, which was why they had such a stock on trying to decipher what it all meant. Brann would barely survive from the malfunctioning Titanforged Kologarn within Ulduar, with all the titan machinery and titanforged beings within having been corrupted by the evil Old God imprisoned deep within Ulduar, Yogg-Saron. Brann would seek out heroes of the Alliance and Horde, noting that while Yogg-Saron is the prisoner of Ulduar at the moment, if left unchecked everyone else will be the prisoners. He would be assist adventurers of both Alliance and Horde in entering Ulduar for a second time, communicating to them over radio, and is involved in the boss fight against the Tribunal of Ages, with the adventurers escorting him through the hall.

In Cataclysm, Brann would appear in the region of Uldum, another area related to the mysterious Titans. He would compete against Harrison Jones in reaching and discovering the secrets of Uldum. In Mists of Pandaria, Brann would appear in the Seat of Knowledge, base of the Lorewalkers, learning from them and acting as an archaeology trainer. Brann would also lead an expedition to the ruins of Mogujia, but his attempt at studying a Sha-infected claw caused the Sha to instead spread throughout the Alliance footmen. This crisis was thankfully stopped by prince Anduin Wrynn and several brave adventurers. Brann would also be involved in several other meetings of Alliance leadership. In Legion, Brann would assist adventurers in saving his brother Magni from Legion demons trying to probe his mind, and would learn the fact that Azeroth was in fact a slumbering Titan, who has chosen Magni as her speaker. Brann would accompany and send out adventurers in investigating more of the facilities and would find seekers -- creatures infused with the light that were assigned to guard the planet. Afterwards, Brann continue giving out archaeology quests in the Broken Isles.

(Brann is also the narrator and the information-giver of many, many parts of the Warcraft and World of Warcraft RPG sourcebooks, although those have been rendered non-canon.) In Hearthstone, Brann would serve as your guide in the second dungeon, Uldaman, and would participate in the final battle against Rafaam. Brann and the rest of the League of Explorers would eventually make their return in Hearthstone in the 2019 expansion Saviors of Uldum, with Brann showing up as the Hunter legendary "Dinotamer Brann".

Reno Jackson

Reno Jackson is a completely original character to Hearthstone, a human explorer with some problems controlling his impulse to get rich real fast. He has only appeared in Hearthstone, mostly in the League of Explorers adventure where he helps you navigate through the Temple of the Sun and later fighting off Rafaam, although he's made some extra cameos, notably in the trailers for One Night in Karazhan and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan.

I'm making a couple of edits after a while in July 2019. Being pretty fan-favourite characters, the Hearthstone League of Explorers team was eventually added into World of Warcraft after initially only Sir Finley making the jump. Reno could be found in Mechagon Island, as an NPC among the Explorer's League. Sadly, his character model doesn't quite have the massive chin of his card art. Reno Jackson and the rest of the League of Explorers would eventually make their return in Hearthstone in the 2019 expansion Saviors of Uldum. As collectible cards, Reno would show up as "Reno the Relicologist" in Saviors of Uldum and the hero card "The Amazing Reno" in Descent of Dragons. 

Elise Starseeker

Elise Starseeker is also original to Hearthstone, a night elven member of the League. She's the super-serious cartographer of the group, and her card effect symbolizes the journey that explorers make to get to a treasure. The cartographer makes the map, which then leads you to the treasure. She leads you to the temple of the Golden Monkey, which, while not appearing in the League of Explorers adventure per se (the main plot device is the Staff of Origination), the Golden Monkey does appear in some other card art within the adventure. Elise acts as the overall narrator of the entire adventure.

Elise would make a cameo in the Whispers of the Old Gods trailer. Elise would return in Hearthstone as a new card in Journey to Un'Goro as "Elise the Trailblazer", as well as narrating the trailer. She would show up the rest of the League in Saviors of Uldum; represented as the collectible legendary druid minion "Elise the Enlightened", and receiving the druid hero skin "Elise Starseeker". 

In World of Warcraft, Elise would be added into the game as a quest-giver for the Explorer's League in Mechagon Island during the Battle for Azeroth expansion, although her appearance differs slightly from how she is portrayed in Hearthstone -- particularly the specific tone of her skin. She's a quest-giver that sends adventurers to help investigate the ruins and figure out who lived there before King Mechagon.

Sir Finley Mrrgglton

Sir Finley (Legion) 

Sir Finley Mrrgglton is original to Hearthstone, and a gentlemanly murloc who can speak in the common tongue. Some supplementary material gave him the backstory of how he was found as an egg by Elise, joined the League and got a knighthood. Presumably his upright posture and his "I must say!" speaking style is because of his upbringing. He's involved in the Stranglethorn Vale portions of the League of Explorers adventure, and you have to rescue him from becoming naga lunch.

He would next have cameos in the One Night in Karazhan trailer, as well as being mentioned in various flavour texts. As with the rest of the League, Sir Finley reappears in Saviors of Uldum, represented by the legendary paladin minion "Sir Finley of the Sands". 

Sir Finley would be added into World of Warcraft with the Legion expansion, where he can be found in Dreyrgrot in Stormheim, where he recruits adventurers to assist him in dealing with the Red Blade pirates that are hounding the nearby ruins, eventually discovering the first-ever vrykul vampyr and asking the player to dispose of it. In Battle for Azeroth, Sir Finley hangs out with the rest of the Hearthstone League of Explorer's Team on Mechagon Island.

Rafaam, the Supreme Archaeologist:

Arch-Thief Rafaam (or, as he would have it, Rafaam the Supreme Archaeologist) is an evil Ethereal that has been shadowing the League of Explorers as they hunt down the Staff of Origination, and eventually stealing it once the League has done all the hard work -- which is basically the modus operandi of every Indiana Jones villain ever. Rafaam would act as the final two bosses of the adventure, first fighting with your stolen deck and then using the Staff of Origination to summon allies to help him. Rafaam has a distinctly mummy-esque look to him, and one of his discover choices, the Mirror of Doom, summons "Mummy Zombies"... but mummies are, surprisingly, a very rare thing in WoW. There's only one example of mummy zombies, the Atal'ai trolls in Ghostlands.

Rafaam would apparently survive this adventure, and go on to cameo in the One Night in Karazhan trailer. Rafaam would be revealed as the primary character in Rise of Shadows, recruiting the other villains of Hearthstone, and be majorly featured in the Rise of Shadows/Saviors of Uldum/Descent of Dragons trilogy. He gets a new card in "Arch-Villain Rafaam", a Warlock legendary card, in Rise of Shadows.

Speaking of the Staff of Origination, it's also original to Hearthstone. It's name is presumably based on the Forge of Origination, a Titan-created superweapon created by the titan keepers Mimiron and Archaedas, and buried deep within the facility of Uldum, guarded by tol'vir and anubisath. It would be the site of a fight between Emperor Lei Shen of the mogu and the guardians within, and the resulting activation of the Forge of Origination turned the once-lush jungles of Uldum into the barren desert it is now.
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Animated Armor: Animated objects (like the Dancing Swords from Naxxramas) are around in World of Warcraft, although tend to be animated weapons. The Animated Armor's more or less original to Hearthstone, where it acts as one of the exhibits brought to life by Rafaam in the final wing, the Steel Sentinel. There are several pieces of armour on display on WoW's version of the Hall of Explorers, although none corresponds to the Animated Armor's appearance. Within Hearthstone, when fighting the Steel Sentinel, Brann mentions that the armour belonged to Anduin Lothar, a hero of Stormwind from Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. Anduin Lothar fought against the orcs bravely and is one of the heroes who attacked and killed the maddened magus Medivh.

Fossilized Devilsaur: Fossilized Devilsaur (a.k.a. Skelesaurus Hex) is the reanimated skeleton of a devilsaur (which we talked about in the Classics set era and we'll talk about again in Un'goro), specifically the one that apparently stood in the center of the Hall of Explorers, but it otherwise has no lore behind it. While skeleton versions of many other non-humanoid creatures have been seen in WoW, no skeleton versions of devilsaurs exist.

Skeletal Raptor

Unearthed Raptor: No mob in WoW is called the Unearthed Raptor, but skeletal raptors are added into World of Warcraft in the Cataclysm expansion. Through the archaeology profession (with League of Explorers is sort of based on), characters in WoW are able to access the mount called Fossilized Raptor. Considering the adventure involves Stranglethorn Vale, Unearthed Raptor might also be based on the little skeletal raptor pet that WoW players can get after a quest chain.

Reliquary Seeker: The Reliquary is an organization allied to the Horde, with a mainly blood elven membership since it's based in Silvermoon City The Reliquary's mission statement is acquiring powerful magical artifacts and studying the past, similar to the Explorer's League but allied with the Horde. There isn't an NPC called Reliquary Seeker in WoW, however.

Summoning Stone (WoW)

Summoning Stone: The Summoning Stone, also known as a Meeting Stone in WoW, are large stones with a single rune that is located outside every single instanced dungeon or raid. Players can thus summon their party members in front of the dungeon, although WoW has since introduced the far more convenient dungeon finder system, making the Summoning Stones relatively obsolete although they still remain in place.

The following are all original to Hearthstone: Dark Peddler, Museum Curator, Ethereal Conjurer and Tomb Pillager. 
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Dungeon 1: Temple of Orsis

Uldum

The Temple of Orsis... doesn't actually exist in World of Warcraft! Orsis does, though. It is a city in the desert region of Uldum. Uldum is a city inhabited by the tol'vir (more on that when we get to the bosses and the Obsidian Statue), a species of the titanforged -- the first generation of beings in Azeroth, created from stone and iron by the Titan Keepers. Various titan facilities are around Azeroth, as remnants of the Titan Keepers' work when they first shaped Azeroth. Ulduar in Northrend is one of the most famous, Uldaman in the Eastern kingdoms is another (which will serve as the second dungeon in this adventure), the fortress of Ahn'Qiraj was once a titan facility... but none is as expansive as Uldum. Uldum contained the mighty weapon, the Forge of Origination, created by the Titans, which was a powerful forge able to fill Azeroth with life once more should a calamity happen... but is also completely capably of unleashing said calamity itself. Prior to the Sundering, the Thunder King of the mogu, Lei Shen, killed one of the Titan Keepers, Ra, and stole his power. Using that power, Lei Shen laid siege to Uldum. Knowing that they can never best the power of Lei Shen, the tol'vir within the siege of Uldum instead activated the Forge of Origination, wiping out all life in the area around Uldum, killing both mogu and tol'vir alike, and turning the region of Uldum into a desert. A group of surviving tol'vir would cast powerful magic to seal the land from the eyes of mortals...

Until several thousand years into Cataclysm, where Deathwing's arrival into the mortal realm caused massive earthquakes that broke the titan devices that shrouded Uldum from the nearby deserts of Tanaris. The native Tol'vir lived in the city of Orsis peacefully, up until a lieutenant of Deathwing, Al'Akir the Windlord, arrived and buried Orsis under a sandstorm and also brought a part of his elemental realm, the Skywall, into the skies above Azeroth. There are several dungeons in Uldum, and two -- the Lost City of the Tol'vir and the Halls of Origination -- seem to be what the 'Temple of Orsis' is based upon.

Zinaar

Djinn (WoW)

Zinaar is actually original to Hearthstone, and he's a djinn (or genie, if you will). Djinns are powerful air elementals that are characterized by their, well, genie-esque appearance and mighty power over the air currents. Four djinns serve as lords of the east, west, north and south winds, and together they form the Conclave of Winds, second in hierarchy to Al'Akir himself. The members of the Conclave -- Anshal, Nezir, Rohash and Siamat -- are the bosses of several dungeons. Djinns are first seen in Cataclysm alongside their master, Al'Akir. The djinns have a limited ability to grant wishes, and the tol'vir, creatures of stone cursed to flesh by the corruption of the Old Gods, were given their immortality by these djinn. Zinaar's line, "phenomenal cosmic power", is, of course, a reference to the late Robin Williams' portrayal of Genie in the Disney movie Aladdin.

Sun Raider Phaerix

Hoo boy, the tol'vir. The tol'vir are a race of titanforged, created alongside other races like the Anubisath and mogu during the ordering of Azeroth. The tol'vir are beings of stone with the lower body of a large lion, and the upper body of humanoid, with a head resembling cats. A significant portion of the tol'vir race also have wings. After the Titan Keepers were sealed away due to infighting, the tol'vir would grow into their own race and develop their own (Egyptian-based) culture, with a portion of the tol'vir race living in Northrend, and another living around Uldum. The tribes living in Northrend were enslaved by the nerubians, descendants of the aqir race that the Titans fought against in the past, and the Northrend tol'vir would be so broken by this enslavement that they become corrupted beings known as Obsidian Destroyers. When Ner'zhul took control of Northrend and turned many of the nerubians into undead servants, the obsidian destroyers would be turned into servants of the Scourge -- which is where the tol'vir first appeared in the games, in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

The tol'vir of Uldum, as described above, would go to battle against Lei Shen's army, and in desperation would unleash the Forge of Origination. The surviving tol'vir would live peacefully within the shrouded Uldum for several thousand years, but they have contracted the Curse of Flesh at some point, degenerating into beings of flesh and bone. In Cataclysm, however, the arrival of Al'Akir, servant of Deathwing, caused the tol'vir to degenerate into civil war. Al'Akir and Deathwing offered the tol'vir a chance -- join their forces, and they would return the tol'vir's immortality and stone forms. Refuse, and be destroyed. Al'Akir would make an example of the Orsis tribe, burying their city underneath a great sandstorm. The tol'vir of the Neferset tribe, led by Dark Pharaoh Tekahn, would side with Al'Akir. Adventurers would work with the Ramkahen tribe, now based off of the fallen city of Orsis, to take down both the Neferset and Al'Akir's air elementals, and to keep out the titan machinery deep within Uldum out of their hands. Sun Raider Phaerix, however, is completely original to Hearthstone, although being based on Egyptian culture does mean that several high ranking tol'vir do have "Sun" somewhere in their rank.


Obsidian Destroyer: We covered Obsidian Destroyers a bit above. In Warcraft III, Obsidian Destroyer (parsed just as 'Destroyer') is the transformed form of the Obsidian Statue unit (Obsidian Statue would show up several expansions down the line in Knights of the Frozen Throne). The Obsidian Statue is a simple unit that just heals the health and mana of those around it, but when transformed into the Destroyer form, it becomes a ravenous being that  devours its own allies' mana, is immune to magic, and will use the Devour Magic spell to consume magic and heal himself. The Destroyer can then use this consumed mana to unleash the Orb of Annihilation attack, dealing damage to a group of enemies at once. Obsidian Statues and Destroyers were in the employ of the Scourge throughout the third war, although they've became far more scarce come WoW, presumably due to how un-replenishable the Lich King's Obsidian Statue supplies are. Instead, in WoW, the Obsidian Destroyers seen are replicas of the Scourge units created by the Qiraji emperor Vek'lor within the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, under the direction of his slumbering Old God master, C'Thun. The Obsidian Destroyers and their ranged magic-draining capabilities would be one of the factors that caused the night elves and bronze dragonflight to have to seal the Qiraji within Ahn'Qiraj and not prolong the battle any further. By the time of WoW, Vek'lor would have created a perfected Obsidian Destroyer called 'Moam'. The specific mob called Obsidian Destroyer is found within Ahn'Qiraj. Outside of Ahn'Qiraj, the only other Obsidian Destroyer mob is, indeed, found in Uldum.

Anubisath Sentinel (WoW)

Anubisath Sentinel: The anubisath, like the tol'vir,  are titanforged giants made out of obsidian. Like the tol'vir, they are assigned to safeguard Uldum. The Anubisath had the additional charge to safeguard Ahn'Qiraj, but when Ahn'Qiraj fell to the swarms of Qiraji, the Anubisath are largely enslaved by them. They resemble giants with the heads of jackals (and, obviously Egyptian aesthetics).  The Anubisaths are used as shock troops by the Qiraji during the War of the Shifting Sands, but a significant number of these colossi were destroyed by the bronze dragonflight. One particularly powerful anubisath known as Ossirian was able to turn the tide back by slaughtering the great bronze dragon Grakkarond, and while Ossirian was heavily wounded, his valour found favour with the Old God C'Thun. He would be transformed into a new (and at the moment, unique) breed of anubisath, the Horusath -- his head transformed into the head of a hawk and his strength very much bolstered. The Anubisath Sentinel is a mob within the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. The effect of the card mimics how the mobs in WoW are able to pass on their abilities (each Anubiath Sentinel has one out of several random abilities) to the next Anubisath Sentinel upon death as well as heal part of their health.

Desert Camel: Camels are beasts based on, well camel mobs introduced in Cataclysm when the region of Uldum was first introduced. No real lore to add beyond that, really. The artwork for Desert Camel came from a TCG card that would allow players to unlock a camel mount in WoW.

Jeweled Scarab: The Jeweled Scarab shares its name with a mob found in the Halls of Origination dungeon in WoW. Scarabs (or beetles) are found in numerous places, with the scarabs in Uldum having a distinctive Egyptian-patterned look to them, whereas the scarabs in everywhere else just look like normal ugly beetles.

Drakkari Golem

Eerie Statue: The Eerie Statue doesn't have any real counterpart in WoW, although it clearly is one of the many, many living statues that populate Uldum. While Uldum mostly features tol'vir, anubisaths and titan-style golems, the Eerie Statue visually resembles the Drakkari-created golems, which are brought to life with shamanistic voodoo spells. You can tell by the tusks, although obviously the Eerie Statue has some Egyptian-style furnishing put into it.

Wobbling Runts: The runts are pygmies, which are small, chittering humans about the height of a goblin. Their origins are unknown, and their relationship to gnomes, if any, are unclear. Pygmies are found on the Lost Isles and Uldum. The Wobbling Runts themselves seem to be based on pygmy thieves in Uldum, who stack themselves in order to steal dates. The Tol'vir Nomarch Teneth would give adventurers a quest to whack them in the head with a hammer.

Pit Snake: Snakes are an enemy that can be found in WoW, and Pit Snake seems to be based on the Pit Viper, a mob found in the Halls of Origination in the Uldum region.

Rumbling Elemental: While earth elementals do show up in desert regions, the specific mob called 'Rumbling Elemental' appeared during the pre-release events in Cataclysm as generic earth elementals, instead of the more unique appearance that this card has which has actual legs as opposed to a whirling mass of rock.

The Ancient Shade, Djinni of Zephyrs and Tomb Spider are original to Hearthstone, although we have covered their species before.
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Dungeon 2: Uldaman

When the Titan Pantheon arrived on Azeroth, they would create a race called the titanic keepers, powerful beings who would, in turn, create the titanforged -- beings like troggs, mechagnomes, earthen, vrykul, tol'vir, anubisath, mogu, and giants. These titanforged were created within facilities that were designed for two purposes -- imprisoning the dreaded Old Gods (what Ulduar and Ahn'Qiraj were built to do), or to simply create more titanforged. Uldaman was one of the latter. Uldaman was located deep within the Badlands, near the Khaz mountain range, the territory of the dwarves. It was excavated by the dwarves, but has since fallen into the hangs of the savage troggs and the greedy dark iron dwarves, who aimed to steal a powerful artifact known as the Discs of Norgannon for their master, Ragnaros.

Uldaman

It is thought that the first incursion of troggs into modern-day Azeroth came from Uldaman, where the Keepers first created the troggs, and, seeing them as imperfect, sealed them within Uldaman. The Keepers would the create the Earthen (a couple of whom you fight in the adventure mode) who, in turn, would evolve into dwarves when afflicted with the Curse of Flesh. The main contents of Uldaman would therefore be troggs, dark irons, titan-crafted golems, the earthen, and the titanforged themselves, including one of the mightiest Titan Keepers, Arcahedas.

Chieftain Scarvash

Chieftain Scarvash is a trogg leader original to Hearthstone. While numerous trogg bosses exist in WoW's version of Uldaman (among them Revelosh and Grimlok), none are named Scarvash. Although Brann did lampshade this, noting how Scarvash was "just a wee trogg" when he was last there.

Archaedas

Archaedas is the final boss in the Uldaman dungeon (in both WoW and Hearthstone), and he's actually relatively important to the backstory of Azeroth. When the Titan Pantheon first came upon Azeroth and found the world infested by vile, powerful beings called the Old Gods, they created the race known as the Titan Keepers/Watchers out of stone and metal to combat them. Mightiest among them are nine, who each held a portion of the power of a member of the Pantheon. These nine Keepers are Odyn, Loken, Mimiron, Thorim, Tyr, Ra, Freya, Hodir and Archaedas. Archaedas would fight against the forces of the Old Gods, imbued with the power of the Titan Khaz'goroth. Archaedas and Freya are noted to be the ones responsible for felling and sealing Therazane the Stonemother, as well as collapsing the burrows of the aqiri race, slaughtering large numbers of them.

Archaedas (WoW)

However, as thousands and thousands of years passed, the titan Loken would be corrupted by the whispers of the Old God he was supposed to be imprisoning, Yogg-Saron. Yogg-Saron's whispers would drive Loken mad and consumed with jealousy and anger, eventually sparking a war between the most powerful keepers. Most of the other Keepers ended up being enthralled or sealed away by Loken's machinations. Archaedas and Tyr are the only ones to succeed and escape (alongside the lesser keeper Ironaya, who we'll cover below), managing to abscond with the powerful artifacts known as the Discs of Norgannon. Loken would send two of the mightiest servants of Yogg-Saron, the C'Thraxxi, to kill his once-brothers, but Tyr would hold them off at the cost of his life. Archaedas, Ironaya and a group of earthen would arrive to the titan fortress of Uldaman, hiding the Discs of Norgannon. Swearing to protect the discs, Archaedas, Ironaya and the rest of the earthen entered a period of hibernation. They are awakened as the final boss of Uldaman by a group of adventurers, and in his frenzy, he attacked them, causing the adventurers to destroy him.

Ironaya

Keeper of Uldaman: The Keeper of Uldaman is a female member of the titanic watcher/titanic keeper race, and one of the first few examples of a female titan watcher. The Keeper of Uldaman's artwork and title depicts the mighty Ironaya, the only female titan keeper in Uldaman. Ironaya is the third boss within the dungeon, but her backstory is relatively rich. When Ulduar and the most powerful Titan Keeper there, Loken, fell to the corruption of Yogg-Saron, the survivors Archaedas and Tyr would escape. Their friend, Ironaya, a lesser titanic watcher, would assist them, gathering a group of mechagnomes, earthen and vrykul to steal the Discs of Norgannon from Ulduar. Archaedas and Ironaya would hide the discs within Uldaman. Ironaya was tasked with overseeing the construction and maintenance of Uldaman, and would fight adventurers, wanting to protect the secrets of Uldaman from the intruders.

The Tunnel Trogg, representing a minion of Scarvash, is original to Hearthstone. 
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Dungeon 3: Stranglethorn Vale

Stranglethorn Vale

Stranglethorn Vale is one of the more iconic 'classic' WoW areas, and is a wild land filled with numerous beasts (notably, King Mukla makes his home there, as does renowned big game hunter Hemet Nesingwary), as well as the once-great troll empire of the Gurubashi. While the Gurubashi has fallen from grace, they still maintain a stronghold within the Vale in their capital city of Zul'Gurub. Nowadays, Stranglethorn Vale is populated by numerous beings, and the goblin settlement of Booty Bay has sprung up there. Over the years, the naga, the Bloodsail pirates, the Venture Company and Zandalari trolls have all established outposts in Stranglethorn vale. In Cataclysm, Stranglethorn Vale is split by a huge sinkhole that created a large whirlpool on its center, splitting the Vale into two areas -- Northern Stranglethorn (also known as Stranglethorn Jungle) and Cape of Stranglethorn. It is in Cataclysm that the Explorers' League would make an establishment and a dig site, being a small quest hub for Alliance players.

Lord Slitherspear

Lord Slitherspear is a male naga (we covered naga before, but a quick primer -- night elves dragged down into the bottom of the ocean during the Sundering and transformed into eel-people due to either an Old God or the sheer amount of demonic and/or arcane magic they are abusing), which, unlike the female naga, have a far more mutated face that look more fish than night elf. They also only have two arms instead of four, and rely more on brute strength than the disabling water and frost magic that the female naga use. Lord Slitherspear is completely original to Hearthstone, however.

Giantfin

Giantfin is, like many other bosses in League of Explorers, original to Hearthstone, a big-ass murloc that lived in Stranglethorn Vale.  We have had several giant murlocs before (like Mutanus the Devourer, a dungeon boss, who I think isn't technically a murloc, just looks like one) but none that are as massive as Giantfin. There is a significant murloc presence in Stranglethorn Vale (what WoW area doesn't?), of course.

Giantfin, despite being a pretty one-note boss, is one of the few Hearthstone-original charcters to make it into World of Warcraft, surprisingly enough, being one of the few uncollectible cards to actually show up. Giantfin shows up not in Stranglethorn Vale, however, but in the Slithering Scar area in Un'Goro Crater, as a mini-boss in the Un'Goro Madness micro-holiday during the Legion expansion (itself an event that introduced many of the Un'Goro legendaries as mini-bosses, predating the launch of Journey to Un'Goro by a couple of weeks). Giantfin in WoW is a simple huge murloc that casts lightning spells and create bubbles -- the bubbles are places that adventurers can hide in, but some bubbles contain Giantfin's murloc minions.

Lady Naz'jar

Lady Naz'jar (WoW)

Lady Naz'jar is a more powerful version of naga known as a naga sea witch. We'll cover the sea witch more below in the Naga Sea Witch entry, but they're basically the leaders of the race and the most powerful spellcasters among them. Unlike most of the bosses in League of Explorers other than Archaedas, Lady Naz'jar is actually a character from World of Warcraft, an antagonist throughout the Abyssal Maw and Vashj'ir areas. Lady Naz'jar would first seen in a vision from a naga battlemaiden's memory, commanding the naga in an assault against the kvaldir and retaking Vashj'ir from them. For her merits in this battle, Naz'jar gained favour of the mighty Queen Azshara.

Adventurers of the Alliance or the Horde would later see Lady Naz'jar spearheaded the invasion by the forces of the Old Gods against the elemental lord of water, Neptulon the Tidehunter. She would act as the first boss in the Throne of the Tides raid, succeeding in breaching the elemental plane of water and cornering Neptulon himself in the throne room. Naz'jar managed to exchange spells with the mighty Tidehunter even as her minions fall around her, but she would unleash the kraken patriarch Ozumat to attack Neptulon. Adventurers would face her, and eventually slay her in battle, leaving the leaders of the Faceless Ones to take over the operation. (We're not exactly sure why she's in Stranglethorn Vale in Hearthstone, but hey)

Murky

Murloc Tinyfin: The title of Murloc Tinyfin is original to Hearthstone, but baby murlocs have been seen since around Burning Crusade, although baby murlocs tended to be either novelty pets or quest NPCs. Murloc young have a large buck tooth and have a small tail, both of which disappear in adulthood. One of the more famous murloc young is Murky, who began as a recurring pet in WoW, and later became a playable hero in Blizzard's other game, Heroes of the Storm, upon which he gets immense popularity that transferred back into WoW, where in Legion he becomes a fully fledged NPC and quest giver.

Huge Toad: The Huge Toad is a tameable battle pet (which means it's only usable in the battle pets minigame as opposed to actually fighting like the beasts that hunters tame) that can be found in Zul'drak, Hillsbrad Foothills, Twilight Highlands and the Swamp of Sorrows. Despite being a 'huge' toad, the actual Huge Toad in WoW are far smaller than the players, unlike the truly gigantic specimen that's big enough to eat a gnome depicted here. There are recently giant frogs and toads added into the game, although they're very rare.


Naga Sea Witch: The Naga Sea Witch is the hero unit of the naga, introduced in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. While most other female naga have fins and scales on their head, the naga sea witch instead has snakes for hair. They are particularly powerful spellcasters and archers, and in Warcraft III custom maps are one of the few neutral heroes that can be recruited at a tavern. In addition to their powerful marksmanship skills,  with which they can imbue the power of frost into their arrows, in WC3 naga sea witches are also able to unleashed forked lightning, use their own mana to create a shield that absorbs damage, and even summon a mighty tornado to damage buildings and toss enemies into the air. Most famous among these naga sea witches is Lady Vashj, handmaiden to Queen Azshara and the leader of the naga that are allied to Illidan Stormrage. Other notable naga sea witches in WoW are Zar'jira,  Lady Naz'jar and Mistress Sassz'ine. The Naga Sea Witch's quotes, "I will not be trifled with" and "for the empress" are both taken from the Warcraft III units. Despite being titled a 'naga sea witch', the artwork actually depicts a normal female naga (referred to as a 'siren' in Warcraft III) which you can tell by her having fins on her head as opposed to snake-hair and a headress like Lady Naz'jar.

Gorillabot A-3: While the Gorillabot A-3 is original to Hearthstone, in WoW's Un'goro Crater there is a quest chain involving a robotic gorilla created by dwarves called A-Me 01 that ended up being sentient and kind of intergrated itself into the gorilla population of Un'Goro. (Un'Goro isn't exactly Stranglethorn Vale, but considering they used Ahn'Qiraj elements in the Uldum stuff...)


Jungle Moonkin: The Moonkin, also known as the wildkin (and sometimes owlbears or owlkin) are seren creaturse that are, well, half fat bear, half owl, with deer stags. First introduced in Warcraft III, they are creatures that are blessed by Elune, both wise and fierce in equal measure. The wildkin are particularly adept in casting druid spells, and are staunch allies of the night elves, with many friendly wildkin in night elven controlled areas. However, over time some wildkin has grown feral, and in Warcraft III feral Wildkin and Wildkin allied with night elves are both seen. In WoW, many feral and berserking wildkin can be found throughout Azeroth, although some quests in night elven areas have characters reforging alliances with them. Notably, druids of the Balance specialization are able to transform into a Moonkin form, which increases damage dealt by the druid's the arcane and nature spells. The art for Jungle Moonkin seems to depict a night elven shapeshifted into moonkin form based on the ears and fur coloration.

The Mounted Raptor and Fierce Monkey are original to Hearthstone.
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Abilities & Weapons:

Raven Idol: While the Raven Idol seems to be original to Hearthstone and represent a generic idol in an archaeologic ruin, there used to be a druid-specific item introduced in Wrath of the Lich King called the Idol of the Raven Goddess, which was an idol -- an item slot that increased a certain stat, which ended up being removed in Mists of Pandaria. To obtain the Idol of the Raven Goddess, druid players had to complete an epic quest chain 'Swift Flight Form', which culminated by the druid being sent into the dungeon Sethekk Halls and slaying the mighty raven god Anzu.

The following are all original to Hearthstone: Dart Trap, Explorer's Hat, Forgotten Torch, Sacred Trial, Anyfin can Happen, Everyfin is Awesome, Entomb, Excavated Evil, Curse of Rafaam and Cursed Blade.