Lore of Hearthstone, Episode #16 - Mean Streets of Gadgetzan

Mean Streets of Gadgetzan

Mean Streets of Gadgetzan is nearly all-original to Hearthstone. The expansion is set in the neutral goblin town of Gadgetzan, which is... exactly just that. It's a small trading post in the Tanaris desert, and when I was writing the lore for Gadgetzan Auctioneer I really can't find much about it. Mean Streets of Gadgetzan takes place in a 'what if' scenario where three powerful gangs rise up and fight over the streets of Gadgetzan, gangster-style. There is the Jade Lotus, a very oriental-inspired (well, Pandaria-inspired) shadow organization of kung fu masters, ninjas and samurai. There is the Grimy Goons, a group of tough mafioso carrying big chunky guns and presumably eating pasta and chopping off horses' heads. There is the Kabal, a psychotic cult of drug-dealing (potion dealing, since WoW) maniacs. Almost the entirety of the set revolves around the theme, and so we'll try to split up every single card into the three factions, talk about the neutral gangsters at the end, then top it off with abilities and weapons. 

Moreso than any other expansion before it, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan features almost entirely-original content, so much that only four of the legendary cards are pre-existing NPCs in WoW, and only one of them (Wrathion, the one most removed from the gangster-war plot) has any relevance at all to the main WoW plot. 

(This article was heavily modified a couple of months after its release to tidy up and summarize a lot of the "original to Hearthstone" entries)

The Jade Lotus [also: the races of Pandaria]

Aya Blackpaw:

So, again, a lot of the legendaries are all original to Hearthstone, and Aya Blackpaw is no exception. What Aya is, though, is a Pandaren. The Pandaren and a lot of the races introduced in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria are seldom seen in Hearthstone, and while not entirely nonexistent, it was Mean Streets of Gadgetzan that really gave us an influx of these Pandarian races. We've talked about the Pandaren before, of course, so I won't repeat myself. The thing with Mean Streets of Gadgetzan is that Blizzard actually released a fair amount of lore behind their original characters this time around in blog posts and these 'Gadgetzan Gazette' articles which filled in a lot of the backstory behind these original characters.

So Aya Blackpaw is the real leader behind the mysterious and shady organization known as the Jade Lotus. Aya is the last living heir of the Blackpaw family, and founded the Gadgetzan Museum of Ancient Artifacts, ran by her ally Madam Goya, as the headquarters for the Jade Lotus. While acting as a generous philanthropist for archaeological purposes, Aya is actually controlling the shadowy organization of druids, rogues and shamans to gather jade for her sinister purposes. To most who see the Jade Lotus, it is the mighty pandaren White Eyes that seems to be the leader, but he's merely Aya's decoy, bodyguard and mouthpiece rolled into one. Beneath Aya Blackpaw's youth and energy, belies a cunning and ruthless soul. Aya accumulates jade artifacts, and only she alone has the ability to create mysterious jade golems that the members of the Lotus carry. She apparently draws upon the spirit of a dead Mogu king, Kun, to empower her magics. Her plans with the jade golems will start first with the conquest of Gadgetzan, and then the world. Jade itself, being pretty important to real-life China, is also a pretty valued commodity in Pandaria. One of the August Celestials -- wild gods worshiped by the pandaren -- is called the Jade Serpent, after all.

White Eyes/The Storm Guardian:

White Eyes is original to Hearthstone. From the lore given from the Gadgetzan Gazette, White Eyes is a particularly enormous Pandaren clad with a jade mask similar to the jade idols utilized by the organization. A particularly fierce warrior, White Eyes acts like the decoy leader of the Jade Lotus, a figurehead that is actually Aya Blackpaw's fierce bodyguard. He's utterly devoted to protecting his mistress. White Eyes' design uses a Pandarian bell as shoulderpads, and brewmater kegs as arm-guards.

Kun, the Forbidden King:

Kun is a member of the Mogu race, which is a race represented in the Classic set by the Mogu'shan Warden. We've talked about the Mogu a bit there, but not quite enough, so I'll be covering the Mogu later down here. Kun himself is the ghost of a Mogu king, who has, for some reason, deigned to work with Aya, who is a pandaren -- the hatred enemies and former slaves of the mogu race. The 'Hundred Kings' mentioned by Kun in his summoning quote refers to the dynasty of mogu kings that came after their greatest ruler, Lei Shen, the Thunder King. It's mentioned that Kun was brought back into the living with the shamanistic arts of communing with the ancestors.

The Mogu were created by the Titans, beings of stone and metal that were tasked to watch over what would become the continent of Pandaria. In the ancient past, however, the Titans left Azeroth and were silent to their creations, while the firstborn of the Titans, the Keepers, were either sealed away due to infighting or dead. Without any direction, the mogu would grew proud, hateful and powerful, and would enslave the organic races that lived in Pandaria -- particularly the Pandaren, the Hozen and the Jinyu. Their pride would swell even more when Lei Shen, greatest of their emperors, would find one of the Keepers, Ra, slay him and claim his power. They would cruelly subjugate the pandaren race, forbidding them from learning language or bearing arms.

However, a combination of their hubris in attempting to wrest a powerful Titanic weapon from the hands of other titanforged -- the tol'vir and the anubisath living in what is now called Uldum -- Lei Shen and many of their lieutenants were wiped out from the activation of said weapon. While mogu kings would still reign in Pandaria from then on, the Pandaren would revolt with the aid of monk arts, which allowed them to fight bare-handed. They were sealed for several thousand years, until the recent events of Mists of Pandaria and the resurrection of Lei Shen would bring them back. The Jade Golems are also all based off the image of a mogu.

Shaku, the Collector:

Humanoid Sha 

Shaku is a Sha, a being of pure malevolent negative emotions manifested as a living thing. Born of the dying breaths of the dead Old God Y'Shaarj, the Sha were sealed deep within the land of Pandaria, and the pandaren were had to practice a culture of peace and understanding in order to not allow the Sha to be able to manifest in their true, terrible form. Of course, the arrival of the Alliance/Horde conflict into the shores of Pandaria ended up unleashing the Sha (among other threats). There were many forms of Sha -- the strongest of them all were the Prime Sha, which numbered seven (anger, despair, doubt, fear, hatred, pride and violence), and looked like gigantic... insectoid shadow monsters that seemed to take upon the form of great Y'Shaarj himself. Weakest among the Sha were globs of malformed tentacles that sprout from a central mouth (the Shadowbeast token from Whispers of the Old Gods is one). Shaku belongs to a variant that is more humanoid-looking, although even then Shaku's design is far more intricate, with fully-formed legs and jade armour.

Beyond that... there's actually not much lore given behind Shaku, other than his allegiance with the Jade Lotus.

Madam Goya:

Madam Goya is not original to Hearthstone, one of the few legendaries in this set (alongside Hobart, Wrathion, Noggenfogger and Beardo) to be a pre-existing WoW NPC. Holding the title of "Leader of the Black Market", Madam Goya was introduced in the Mists of Pandaria expansion as the leader of the Black Market, an auction house of relatively rare items where the items are supplied by the game instead of other players. The Black Market is located in the Veiled Stairs in Pandaria. After the events of Mists of Pandaria, Madam Goya would move her operations to various locations -- the Ring of Blood during the events of Warlords of Draenor, and the Underbelly of Dalaran during Legion. She continues to provide the same services of running the black market auction house, and is almost always accompanied by his bodyguard, Mr. Chu.

Within Hearthstone lore, particularly those given via the Gadgetzan Gazette pieces, Madam Goya apparently arrives to serve as the curator of the Gadgetzan Museum of Ancient Artifacts, a location where the Jade Lotus uses as a front. Her flavour text also makes note that she has moved her Black Market into Gadgetzan during the events of Mean Streets of Gadgetzan.

Finja, the Flying Star:

Finja, and the murloc ninja art of finjutsu, is, of course, completely original to Hearthstone. He uses swordfish blades and starfish shuriken! While he's a neutral card in the game, Finja's explicitly identified with the Jade Lotus from the promotional material. Apparently he's the deadliest assassin in Gadgetzan, and will accept fish as payment. According to game designers, his ability represents him calling forth two murloc he deems worthy of studying the art of finjutsu.


Jade Spirit: For the non-legendaries, we're going to be fast-paced, especially after we actually get out of the Jade Lotus faction, where the bulk of our lore piece is going to be. So in Mists of Pandaria, we are introduced to the Pandaren Spirits, and it's revealed that instead of taking the form of hulking genies that we're more familiar with, elementals in Pandaria take the form of the surrounding Pandaren architecture, and manifest as these far more adorable-looking sprites. The Jade Spirit seems to be based, design-wise, on the earth spirit design (second from the left in the picture). While there have been WoW mobs with the 'jade' name somewhere in its name, none correspond to the Jade Spirit.

Lotus Agent, Lotus Assassin, Lotus Illusionist: No real lore behind any of these. The Agent and Assassin are just Pandaren minions of the Jade Lotus, the Illusionist is a Night Elf.

Blowgill Sniper: Blowgill Sniper is original to Hearthstone, and according to the game designers, came from a clan of 'urban murloc mercenaries' found only in Gadgetzan. The 'Blowgill' is obviously a riff on the Bluegill tribe of Murlocs, which is featured in the Basic card Bluegill Warrior.

Jade Chieftain: Jade Chieftain is original to Hearthstone, and he's, well, a mogu warrior. Again, there's not really that much to say about a lot of these cards, which are just faction-themed minions. There is a mogu villain in WoW called the Jade Warlord, though.

Jade Behemoth: The Jade Behemoth is a living elekk statue created out of jade. It's original to Hearthstone.

Virmen (WoW)

Virmen Sensei: Now we'll be talking about more races of Pandaria that make their Hearthstone debuts in this expansion. First up, the Virmen. The Virmen in Hearthstone are adapted to look more humanoid and athletic (also see the Hearthstone cards for Freezing Potion, Finders Keepers and the MSoG trailer in general), but in WoW, the Virmen are a horrid-looking race of rabbit-men that are treated mostly as pests by all inhabitants of Pandaria. Acting more like rats than rabbits, the Virmen are a blight upon the farmlands of Pandaria, and many pandaren NPCs would give quests to eliminate the Virmen that plague their fields. They live in warrens, and despite attacking and stealing every single type of vegetable or meat, they are deathly afraid of turnips. And they will sometimes beat up turnips. Like actual rabbits, Virmen breed very quickly, and are often compared to kobolds from the mainland (Virmen in WoW actually say "you no take carrot!", a reference to the kobolds' memetic "you no take candle!" line). Hearthstone is the first depiction of a Virmen druid, or a Virmen with spellcasting abilities at all.

Hozen Healer/Grook-Fu Master: The Hozen (sometimes Hozu) are a race of monkey-men that live in Pandaria, and are a race of maniacal pranksters that are a wild, independent race that, while having past alliances with the pandaren, tend to be hostile to anyone who trespass in their lands. They are a race driven by passion and emotion, and are highly territorial and prone to waging battles against other races for small slights. During the past age of the hundred kings, where the mogue reigned supreme upon the continent of Pandaria, led by the trickster called the Monkey King. The hozen were once allies with the jinyu, but would betray them, taking their territory and would betray the fish-like jinyu race to the mogu after entering a pact of alliance to resist the mogu. However, instead of being rewarded, the hozen were enslaved alongside the jinyu, and this treachery earned the hozen the jinyu's eternal hatred. While the jinyu and hozen would both join the pandaren-led revolt to overthrow the mogu empire, the bonds between the jinyu and hozen would never be repaired, and the two races would do battle against each other throughout Pandaria. Their battles tend to be at a stalemate, with the hozen having the advantage on the jungles and forests, and the jinyu being undefeatable near water sources. When the Alliance and the Horde came to Pandaria, a tribe of forest hozen would join the Horde, enticed by promises of superior weaponry. The Hozen Healer in Hearthstone is the first hozen seen with healing abilities. The Hozen are a race that relies on fisticuffs to do battle. The art of 'Grook Fu' is original to Hearthstone, but it takes its name from the verb 'grook', a hozen word meaning to hit or kill.

Jinyu Waterspeaker/Gadgetzan Ferryman: The jinyus are a race of fish-like humanoids native to Pandaria, and are in stark contrast to the short-lived and impetuous hozen. The Jinyu are evolved from murlocs that live near the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, evolving and uplifting them to their current forms. They were one of the ancient cultures of pandaria, and are attuned to the water. The greatest of the jinyu were able to commune with the waters of the river and listen to the spirits of the water within, which are all given the title 'Waterspeaker' -- which this card represents. The Jinyu were once one of the first kingdoms to rule in Pandaria, due to their culture and their ability to control the water, but were crushed by the mogu, and were enslaved -- in no small part due to the treachery of their supposed hozen allies. The jinyu, as slaves, would join the pandaren in revolting and overthrowing the mogu, but they would remain conflicted against the hozen. During the events of Mists of Pandaria, Alliance adventurers would enlist the aid of the jinyu in rescuing Admiral Taylor, and the Pearlfin tribe in particular would prove steadfast allies to the Alliance, and join them in response to the hozen joining the Horde. A large number of the jinyu were corrupted by the influences of the Sha, and would serve as adversaries to both Alliance and Horde.

Jade Swarmer/Shadow Sensei: We've talked about the mantid race in Whispers of the Old Gods, a race of mantis-people descended from the ancient Aqir race, who reside in a massive swarm in pandaria and would strike the massive Serpent's Wall and do battle with the pandaren very couple thousand years. While Jade Swarmer is original to Hearthstone, the rank of 'swarmer' is held by many mantid mobs.

Ancient of Blossoms: Ancient of Blossoms appear to be original to Hearthstone, a variant of the regular ancients that happens to have... sakura flowers bloom instead of leaves? While different-coloured variations of ancients have appeared in WoW, none have sakura flowers until now.

Grummle (WoW)

Luckydo Buccaneer: Luckydo Buccaneer is original to Hearthstone. It is yet another race that hails from Pandaria, specifically the Grummles. The grummles are a race of diminutive stone-esque humanoids that were ccreated by the mogu race from troggs, creating a race similar to pygmies and gnomes, but with their own unique culture. Having rebelled against the mogu alongside the other races led by the pandaren, the grummles have since wandered around pandaria, walking around with a gigantic backpack many times their own size on their back. The grummles are a happy-go-lucky race people that make a living trading with the pandaren and other races in pandaria, acting as guides, messengers and pack bearers. The grummles are highly supersitious, and have an obsession with their favourite objects, which they call  'luckydos' and carry everywhere they go. No grummle pirate exist in WoW, and the Luckydo Buccaneer is the first representation of one.

Celestial Dreamer: Celestial Dreamer is original to Hearthstone. The artwork depicts a night elven monk -- and like the death knights in Knights of the Frozen Throne, monks aren't actually a class in Hearthstone although elements of them do bleed over to some Jade Lotus cards. The Celestial Dreamer's art seems to feature a great green cloud serpent -- powerful oriental-looking dragons native to Pandaria. The geren serpent might be based upon Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent. Yu'lon is one of the four August Celestials, which are the powerful Wild Gods akin to the loa and ancients that reside in Pandaria, and are worshipped by the Pandaren.

Shadow Rager: Despite being called a 'rager' and clearly inspired by the basic card Magma Rager, the Shadow Rager is a completely different creature, being a Shade (which we covered in Curse of Naxxramas). It does seem to be a strange variation of one, however, where the bottom part of its body, instead of tapering off into a tip, extends in a string of shadowy tentacles. It does explain why the Shadow Rager (and Am'gam Rager, which is also a Shade) isn't given the elemental subtype.
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The Grimy Goons

Don Han'Cho:

So the Grimy Goons are, obviously, based on general mob tropes. Don Han'Cho leads the Goons, and he's got both the muscle and the brain.. they're just stuck in different heads. While most two-headed ogres tend to be mages, Han'Cho is a different breed. He apparently has no aptitude in magic, but has the aptitude in being a gangster. Han, the ogre head on the side with the very fancy suit, is the brains of the outfit. Cho, the ogre head on the side with the simple undershirt, is the literal muscle that enforces his brother's rule over the goons. The Grimy Goons are based off on Grimestreet (which is mentioned in literally half the Goons cards' names) and Han'Cho has recently brought up the First Bank of Gadgetzan, as well as being very resourceful, having stashed weapons and manpower all over the city -- which is explained by having minions buffed even before they hit the battlefield. To this end, Han'Cho has recruited the warriors, hunters, and paladins of Gadgetzan to assemble an army proficient in fisticuffs and weapons, intent on driving back the other two competing gangs.

Knuckles:

Knuckles is original to Hearthstone. He's a big gorilla who's wearing the warrior's Brass Knuckles weapon (and his stats are equal to the total of a Silverback Patriarch added onto Brass Knuckles. He's unique to Hearthstone. The Gadgetzan Gazette pieces released by Blizzard would give Knuckles the backstory as the undefeated champion of Gadgetzan's Thunderdome -- a gladiatorial arena, although the actual Thunderdome in WoW features no gorillas -- although suspicions of using performance-enhancing bananas apparently plague the champion.

Wickerflame Burnbristle:

Wickerflame Burnbristle is original to Hearthstone. He's a crazy dwarf with a cannon strapped onto his chest, keeping his beard on fire to more easily light the fuse to his cannon. We... don't actually have much else to go on for him. Why is he able to heal your hero? Why is he a paladin? Why isn't he a pirate, with that insane Blackbeard-esque beard?

Hobart Grapplehammer:

Hobart Grapplehammer is the only class legendary to actually be a pre-existing World of Warcraft character. While not a particularly major character, Hobart Grapplehammer has been a recurring character throughout a large chunk of the Cataclysm expansion, and again during the Legion expansion. He is among the many goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel in Kezan, as a quest giver in the KTC Headquarters where he's experimenting with the Micro-Mechanochicken (an invention referenced in his Hearthstone summoning line) alongside his assistant Greely. Hobart would escape with the rest of the goblins and end up in the Lost Isles, and would be a quest giver throughout much of the goblin starting zone. He's responsible for inventing and deploying the Town-in-a-Box, which the goblins would use as a base in the Lost Isles before their eventual acceptance into the Horde.

Hobart (WoW)

After being accepted into the Horde, Hobart Grapplehammer would be a quest giver in Azshara, a territory now taken over by the goblins. He would give quests for Horde players to help secure the location for the Horde from the Southern Rocketway Terminus. Among many other inventions, Hobart is also responsible for creating the gilgoblins. In Legion, Hobart Grapplehammer would be found on Dalaran, which has became a staging ground for both Alliance and Horde members for the battle against the Burning Legion, and would become an engineering merchant there.
Hobart's appearance in Hearthstone is somewhat... strange. In addition to looking slightly different compared to his WoW counterpart (he's missing his nose ring, has white hair and wears different armour, though the goggles are still there), Hobart in WoW is very much associated with the Horde as opposed to the neutral goblins in Gadgetzan. The supplementary material provided by Hearthstone note that Hobart is the Grimy Goons' top engineer, and among his many inventions is the Piranha Launcher, a Hunter weapon introduced in this expansion. The artwork seems to be featuring the Cogmaster's Wrench, a weapon from the GvG expansion.

Grimestreet Informant, Grimestreet Smugler, Grimestreet Outfitter, Grimestreet Enforcer, Grimestreet Protector, Grimy Gadgeteer, Grimestreet Pawnbroker, Worgen Greaser, Backroom Bruiser, Bomb Squad, Hired Gun, Dirty Rat, Second-Rate Bruiser, Burgly Bully, Big-Time Racketeer, Fight Promoter, Shaky Zipgunner, Trogg Beastrager, Public Defender, Alley Armorsmith: All of these are just original to Hearthstone, just various different races of Azeroth dressed up as mob goons. The artwork's great, but unlike the Jade Lotus folks I really can't say much about most of these. I've also lumped a bunch of the obviously mob-aligned neutral cards here. My favourite out of all these has to be the Hired Gun and Grimy Gadgeteer, with their insane wacky weaponry.

Doppelgangster: Doppelgangster is original to Hearthstone. He's apparently a faceless one (multiple faceless ones?) posing as a dwarf, and I really do love how the artwork makes his beard look like tentacles, in addition to having this weird shotgun with a bomb-catapult latched onto its top. That's probably one of the more bizarre weapons that the MSoG team came up with.

Alleycat: Alleycat and Tabbycat are baby nightsabers! Nightsabers are the racial mount of the night elven race. You can get baby nightsabers as pets in WoW. Also, the reason that I'm sure that these kitties are part of the Goons because of their adorable tooth accessories.

Defias Cleaner: We've talked about the Defias Brotherhood before in the Classic set. Defias Cleaner, while clearly associated with the Defias Brotherhood and wearing the organization's distinctive red scarf-bandana, is original to Hearthstone. The Defias's ties with Gadgetzan is also original to Hearthstone, since they are almost exclusively associated with Elwynn and Westfall in WoW.

Rat Pack: Rat Pack's original to Hearthstone, although packs of rats do appear in World of Warcraft. Rats themselves tend to show up mostly as harmless critters, or as low-level mobs. I'm not 100% sure what the gigantic rat creature that towers over the rats in Rat Pack's art is supposed to be, though. Is it just a particularly large rat? Or is it an oddly-drawn Kobold or Virmen? Eh.

Grimscale Chum: Grimscale Chum, a murloc with a dart machinegun, a bowler hat, a vest and a mustache, is clearly original to Hearthstone. The Grimscale tribe isn't, though, being a tribe located in Eversong Woods (and previously represnted in Hearthstone by the Grimscale Oracle), but the name's clearly just selected because of its closeness to 'Grime'.

Dispatch Kodo: Presumably just a huge, huge Kodo Beast working for either the Grimy Goons, or the corrupt police that are allied with the Goons.

Meanstreet Marshal: Meanstreet Marshal is a tuskarr that's clearly a corrupt cop working for the Goons. Since the tuskarr are never seen outside of Northrend in WoW, it's pretty safe to say this dude is original to Hearthstone.

Blubber Baron: Blubber Baron, like the Meanstreet Marshal, is a tuskarr. And like him, he's original to Hearthstonei.
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The Kabal

Kazakus:

The enigmatic Kazakus leads the Kabal (not to be confused with the Cabal, a completely different organization from WoW), a cult of insane mages, warlocks and priests that make a living by selling magical potions and magical tattoos. The Kabal is swirled with mystery, with many rumours stating that they dabble in strange red mana, as well as the fact that the mysterious Kazakus is a dragon in disguise (both were actually planned to be in the game, and dragon!Kazakus was part of the game late enough that his dragon form made it into the trailers). Whatever the case may be about Kazakus, whether he's a demon, a dragon, or all of the above, he takes the form of a mighty Zandalari troll -- the master race among the trolls that stood upright with a far more athletic pose.

Kazakus (the dragon dude on the top-left)

Kazakus sells potions and magical power, but demands a price -- sometimes it's addiction. Sometimes its sanity. Even Kazakus himself isn't safe from the potions he uses, for his tusks have became deformed. It's also rumoured that the large circle on Kazakus's belt is a portal that goes to another dimension. When not dabbling in magic or potions, Kazakus sells the 'Kaza-Kola' (not to be confused with Kaja-Kola, a goblin intellect-boosting drink), a brand of refreshing drinks... that's apparently the Potion of Madness in disguise, slowly eroding the minds of whoever drinks it.

There are also rumours about 'dragon people' secretly living in Gadgetzan. Considering Kazakus's likely true identity (mostly from the expansion trailer and other rumours), as well as drakonids and the dragonfire potion being parts of the Kabal, it's likely that Kazakus is the leader of these dragon people's secret agenda.

The ingredients of Kazakus' potions are all based on crafting ingredients in WoW. Felbloom is a herb that is discovered nearby demonic-corrupted areas. Goldthorn is a herb used in low-level alchemy recipes, found in both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. The Heart of Fire is extracted from slain Fire Elementals and used in blacksmithing. Icecap is a herb found in Winterspring, used as a reagent in Enchanting and Engineering. Ichor of Undeath is a reagent for Enegineering that drops from undead enemies in Dire Maul and Stratholme. Kingsblood is a common reagent in many low-level areas. Netherbloom is a plant (a loose definition of plant) found in Outland, apparently originating from Twisting Nether. Shadow Oil is created from Grave Moss to be applied on weapons. Stonescale Oil is obtained from Stonescale Eels in order to create alchemical potions. Mystic Oil, the polymorph one, is the only one which doesn't share its name with any WoW reagent.

Inkmaster Solia:

Inkmaster Solia is original to Hearthstone, and she's responsible for the tattoos of power that many of the members of the Kabal wears on their body, which MSoG promotional material notes can serve as a source of emergency magical power in a pinch, presumably explaining why she allows a mage player to cast a spell for free. Not really that much about Solia, although you'll find that many of the Kabal minions do have Solia's tattoos marked on them.

Raza the Chained:

Raza is unique to Hearthstone, and he's an ethereal. While most ethereals use cloth wrappings to contain the magical energies within them, Raza uses magical chains instead, being made up almost completely of magical chains and the normal pieces of armour that Ethereal wear with their mummy-cloth wrapping.

Krul the Unshackled:

While there have been many other NPCs called Krul or Kruul in World of Warcraft (perhaps most prominently Highlord Kruul, a recurring high-ranking doomguard in Legion), Krul the Unshackled is original to Hearthstone. Based on his armour, he's a Voidlord, a more powerful version of the common Voidwalker demon. Voidlords in WoW wield heavy plated armour around their shoulders, chest and over their heads, similar to Krul. Instead of being a demon enslaved by a warlock, however, Krul is so powerful that he has enslaved the gnome that summoned him, identified as 'Spicklefizz' by the flavour text. Krul has taken over the warlock with one of the magical chains that Raza uses, and Kazakus apparently saw more value in Krul than his supposed master. Krul's line, "As I command!" (with emphasis on the "I") is an inversion of the Voidwalker's line "As you command."

Arakkoa outcasts

Kabal Talonpriest: The Kabal Talonpriest is an arakkoa, which we briefly covered when discussing Dark Arakkoa in Whispers of the Old Gods. The Arakkoa once ruled over much of primitive draenor until infighting broke their once-splendid empire, and attempts at warring with the ogres and orcs proved disastrous. Thanks to numerous religious differences, the arakkoa has been split into two major sub-races. The winged arakkoa are those who worship the wild god of light, Rukhmar, and are proud isolationists who view every other race to be beneath them -- even their own wingless kin. These wingless arakkoa, the Outcasts, were not born without wings, but were rather thrown into the cursed pools of Sethekk Hollow, a location where the power of the shadow magic is powerful, and were cursed with flightlessness because of it. They were hunchbacked, doomed to worship shadow magic, and now scheme to overthrow their winged counterparts. Talonpriests are a rank among these Outcasts, formerly well-respected shadow priests among the high arakkoa civilization, but were all thrown into the cursed Sethekk Hollow due to a coup. These talonpriests would meet their benefactor -- the other god of the arakkoa, the dark raven Anzu, who would show them untold powers of the Void. In time, these talonpriests would rule over the Outcasts, building the city of Skettis to take in all tho would be banished from the sun-worshipping High Arakkoa. Talonpriests never show their face to the sun, and will wear masks when the venture out... but this one clearly has joined the Kabal.

Kabal Songstealer: The term 'Songstealer' is original to Hearthstone. The Kabal Songstealer is clearly a wingless Arakkoa. No one knows what the deal is with that weird golden frog, though.

Goren (WoW)

Kabal Lackey: Kabal Lackey is original to Hearthstone. He's a member of the Goren race, introduced in Warlords of Draenor as a strange armadillo-esque race that is apparently descended from the Breakers (Ogrons and Gronns, the race that the mighty Gruul belongs to) and feed on ore and rock. The goren scamper after the far larger gronn, following the footsteps of their larger and mightier relatives and scavenging theirs craps. Their size is even smaller than that of goblins and gnomes, although depending on their diet, they may grow to larger sizes. Goren will burrow into mines, and devour all the ore within. These ores and minerals will manifest on their body as growths, and the goren will inherit the power of whatever they eat. The Kabal Lackey is holding a Volcanic Potion. This is the first time a goren has been seen outside of alternate-Draenor.

Kabal Courier, Kabal Chemist, Kabal Trafficker, Kabal Crystal Runner, Mistress of Mixtures, Kooky Chemist, Street Trickster, Backstreet Leper, Manic Soulcaster, Drakonid Operative, Unlicensed Apothecary, Seadevil Stinger, Cryomancer: These are all different sort of races that are clearly working for the Kabal, selling potions, drinking potions and trafficking in the red mana crystals (that didn't end up making it into the final release of the expansion)

Kargath Bladefist,
chieftain of the Fel Horde

Fel Orc Soulfiend: While no specific mob is called 'Fel Orc Soulfiend', it's clearly, well, a fel orc. Fel orcs, also known as blood orcs, are orcs that are so corrupted by continuous consumption of demonic blood that they have not simply transformed from brown-skinned to green-skinned like most of the race (who drank Mannoroth's blood once), but bleaching their skin red and turning them far more bloodthirsty than before. Fel orcs were seen in Warcraft III, but not among the orcs that formed Thrall's Horde. Fel orcs were seen among the remnants of the Blackrock Clan and the Old Horde that remained behind in the Eastern Kingdoms, and the few examples, including the Slave Master and the Blademaster Jubei'thos, were killed by Arthas. When Grom Hellscream and the Warsong clan drank from the fountain of Mannoroth's blood in Kalimdor, they were temporarily transformed into red-skinned orcs, but after they were cleansed of corruption they returned to their green skin. Orcs that were explicitly identified as fel orcs were seen serving the pit lord Magtheridon, Lord of Outland, in Frozen Throne, forming a huge part of Magtheridon's force in Hellfire Citadel. When Illidan took over the citdael, these fel orcs would swear loyalty to him. This rechristened 'Fel Horde' would be a major antagonist in World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade, and fel orcs would continue to menace both Alliance and Horde warriors since then.

Red Mana Wyrm/Toxic Sewer Ooze: Some of the monsters are just monsters that are mutated with the red mana crystals, with the Red Mana Wyrm being a mutated mana wyrm and Toxic Sewer Ooze being, well, a mutated ooze.

Mana Geode: Geodes are a type of earth elemental that, while seemingly resembling just a chunk of gemstones, are actually elemental creatures native to the earth elemental plane of Deepholm. They emit musical reverberations, and are often confused for rare gems. They were added to WoW in Cataclysm. The Mana Geode itself seems to just be a geode made up with the red mana crystals the Kabals use.

Abyssal (WoW)

Crystalweaver: The Crystalweaver appears to be a draenei, or a draenei halfway in transformation into an eredar, judging by the armour-plating-esque growths on the head. They're the same race, just mutated, lest we forget. The fact that the Crystalweaver's not classified as a demon yet might imply that this particular draenei hasn't fully transformed yet (draenei are not able to become warlocks in WoW), or maybe it had its demon tag removed somewhere during development.

Abyssal Enforcer: Abyssal Enforcer is original to Hearthstone, although abyssals themselves are a type of demons first introduced in Burning Crusade. Like Infernals, Abyssals are powerful, demonic constructs of hellfire and rock, taking the rough outline of a humanoid. Abyssals are particularly powerful versions of Infernals, dropping down from the sky and impacting onto the land, before rising up and attacking the Burning Legion's enemies. The Abyssals basically offer a brand-new demon type that resembles the Warcraft III Infernal model when WoW's original Infernal model lacks many distinctive features that the Abyssal restores. There's a chicken in Abyssal Enforcer's art. I never noticed that.
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Miscellaneous Gangsters

Wrathion:

I get to talk about Wrathion! Wrathion is one of the most surprising additions to Hearthstone considering just how themed around Gadgetzan and the gangs Mean Streets of Gadgetzan is as a whole. Wrathion is known as the Black Prince, and, after the events of Cataclysm, is one of the very few black dragons still active and alive on Azeroth. More importantly, he is perhaps one of the only black dragons that isn't affected by their patriarch Deathwing's madness or affiliated with Deathwing in any way. Since his birth, Wrathion has been on the shadows of much of the happenings in Azeroth. While in truth he is a young black dragon, Wrathion almost always wears the form of a dark-skinned human with glowing red eyes, a turban and regal clothing. Wrathion is an enigmatic wild card, where he wishes to rescue Azeroth and would empower both Horde and Alliance with powerful items, but at the same time he is ruthless in his goals, and is a firm believer in the whole 'needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few' thing.

Wrathion

The egg that would hatch into Wrathion would become the subject of a quest line in Cataclysm, where the red dragon Rheastrasza, a ruthless extremist, captured the black dragon Nyxondra and forces her to lay eggs for experiments to purify the black dragons of Deathwing's madness and bloodlust. Using an ancient titan device, and other eggs, Rheastrasza manages to create what would become Wrathion. Rheastrasza would move around to escape being captured by other black dragons, although she would eventually be killed by Deathwing himself. The purified egg, however, was hidden away, replaced by Rheastrasza with one of her own, while the purified black dragon egg was taken to a group of red dragons led by Corastrasza.

The egg would be stolen by the Ravenholdt assassins, and Rogue adventurers would track the egg down to the Ravenholdt manor with the aid of the red drake Mostrasz... to find that the egg has hatched into the black dragon whelp Wrathion, who was abnormally intelligent and cunning for his age, and has taken over the entire Ravenholdt corruption. Wrathion would send rogue adventurers to slay some of the remaining black dragons, including Lord Hiram Creed (impersonating a Gilnean noble) as well as Nalice, former ambassador to the Wyrmrest temple. Wrathion would also be forced to put down his ally Fahrad, a black dragon, who was unable to resist the voices of the Old Gods that drove Deathwing to madness. At the end of Cataclysm, Wrathion would go into hiding because the red dragonflight is hunting him.

Wrathion's true form

During Mists of Pandaria, Wrathion would travel to Pandaria and hang out in the Tavern in the Mists. Having seen a vision of Azeroth burning as the Legion invades, he believes that the Alliance and Horde must end their war so  that Azeroth would have a chance to battle the Legion. Wrathion would ask adventurers of both Alliance and Horde to defeat the Sha of Fear, as well as imbue their weapons with power. He would see through both Alliance and Horde eyes. Wrathion would befriend Prince Anduin Wrynn of Stormwind, who was wounded and recovering in Pandaria, and over games of Jihui, would discuss the Thunder King. Wrathion would claim that Anduin is too soft, while Anduin would bemoan Wrathion's extremism, yet the two became unlikely friends. Wrathion would send adventurers to battle against the forces of the Thunder King and his mogu, assisting them in obtaining legendary items. Wrathion and Lorewalker Cho would also disagree on how to paint the adventurer in the annals of history. Wrathion would be incensed, however, when the Siege of Orgrimmar was done and the Alliance did not take the chance to dismantle the Horde, believing that the only way for them to stand against the Burning Legion was for one faction to triumph. He would leave the tavern in disgust after some pandaren waiter would tell him that he had missed all the lessons that Pandaria has had to offer. Wrathion's bodyguards, Right and Left (a human and an orc) would accompany Wrathion throughout a majority of these events.

Wrathion would be present in the trial of Garrosh Hellscream, frequently talking with Anduin during intermissions. He would apparently assist the rogue bronze dragon Kairozdormu in releasing Garrosh into the past, incapacitating Anduin, noting that what he did was for the betterment of Azeroth. Wrathion would later travel to the alternate-timeline Draenor during Warlords of Draenor, and while Alliance troops had wanted to arrest him for his roles in releasing Garrosh Hellscream, Wrathion was allowed to stay at Admiral Taylor's garrison as a guest. Wrathion would outwit Taylor's spies, and head off with several of Taylor's best men apparently now allied with him. Despite his role in prophesying the arrival of the Burning Legion, Wrathion is absent during the events of Legion. He would appear briefly when the bronze dragon Chromie was looking and travelling through time for whoever was planning her assassination, but after a brief talk on how Wrathion isn't responsible simply for being a black dragon, he parted ways with the adventurers.

Wrathion is a dragon... but both the flavour text and designers made note that since Wrathion is in his disguised human form, he doesn't have the dragon tribal tag. This seems to be consistent with the Hearthstone-original character Kazakus, who is portrayed in various promotional material for the expansion as a dragon, but his actual card, depicting his troll form, doesn't have the dragon tag. Wrathion's summon line, "I must remain hidden to remain free", is one of the possible quotes he can say when talking to him.

Mayor Noggenfogger:

Baron Noggenfogger (WoW)

Marin Noggenfogger helds the title of 'Baron of Gadgetzan' (mayor, baron, ehhh), introduced from way back in vanilla World of Warcraft. In addition to ruling the town of Gadgetzan, Noggenfogger is also a very talented alchemist. Noggenfogger used to be involved with a brief quest chain alongside a female goblin called Sprinkle which would lead to him selling the famous Noggenfogger Elixir, a potion that produces a random status effect -- transform players into a skeleton, shrink them into a tiny version of yourself, and buffing yourself with the slow-fall buff which prevents fall damage. It's likely this effect was what was represented in the Hearthstone card. Alongside many other goblin NPCs, Noggenfogger got a model upgrade in Cataclysm, although Noggenfogger's was a bit more extensive, featuring clothing overhaul which gave him his current white clothes and a monocle. He would also marry his friend Sprinkle somewhere along the line. Noggenfogger would remain neutral despite some attempts from the Horde-allied Bilgewater cartel goblins to get him to join the Horde.

Unexpectedly, Noggenfogger got a far more prominent role in the newest Legion expansion. Noggenfogger would lead the defense of Gadgetzan during the invasions of the Burning Legion, piloting a gigantic shredder with twin flamethrowers (Soot Spower?) and fight demons, and would offer discounted Noggenfogger Potions after defending Gadgetzan from the demons. He would also be inducted into the Rogue organization, the Uncrowned, and after a Rogue player enters the organization, Noggenfogger would assist them in empowering their artifact weapon with potent poisons, and would butt heads with Valeera Sanguinar over the acquisition of certain items. Noggenfogger would also send rogue heroes to steal a love potion from Trade Prince Gallywix's pleasure palace for great profit. Noggenfogger is one of the available Champions for Rogue characters who have done enough quests within the rogue class hall.

Auctionmaster Beardo:

Auctionmaster Beardo, in WoW, is known as Auctioneer Beardo, and sadly his WoW counterpart is lacking his Hearthstone card art's fancy-ass monocle. Beardo is the auctioneer located at Gadgetzan's Auction House,  and in earlier World of Warcraft iterations, this means that Beardo holds reign over one of the few neutral auction houses. And... there's honestly not much else to Beardo beyond that. He is a pre-existing character, however, and that's actually a huge rarity in Mean Streets of Gadgetzan.

Patches, the Pirate:

Patches is an original character to Hearthstone, and he's, well an Observer/Beholder demon, which we last saw in Hearthstone with Floating Watcher. Obviously, since he has multiple eyes, he also has multiple pirate eye-patches. Technically Patches should also be a demon in addition to being a pirate, but the dude's powerful enough of a card as he is.

In 2018, three years after Patches' release (and, ironically, not too long after his nerf), Patches was added into World of Warcraft with the Battle for Azeroth expansion as an easter egg. Placing a Hearthstone Board item on the pirate dungeon of Freehold (where Skycap'n Kragg, another Hearthstone-original character, is a boss) would summon Patches the Observer as a mini-boss. Defeating Patches would earn players the "I'm In Charge Now" achievement, a reference to Patches' original and memetic summon voice line.

Genzo the Shark:

Genzo the Shark is another original character to Hearthstone, but unlike every other original character in Mean Streets of Gadgetzan there is scant little information about him. Genzo's just a forsaken dude that plays Hearthstone in the world of Azeroth (the game Hearthstone also exists as collectible items in World of Warcraft), and presumably cheats. Genzo's artwork has him holding the card backs of Highmaul, Ragnaros and Ninjas. When he is summoned, the animation features several copies of the Legend and Fireside card backs.

Sergeant Sally:

Sergeant Sally is original to Hearthstone, as a loose-cannon cop that is on a one-woman crusade to take on the three huge criminal gangs in Gadgetzan. The backstory given by Blizzard to her is that she's just so reckless and determined to get all the bad guys that she ignores anything in her way, and the lack of respect for any deals that the criminal gangs makes with the government makes her a particularly dangerous foe for the Kabal, the Goons and the Lotus. Her artwork has wanted posters of Deathwing, the Burgle dude, a murloc, Ben Brode, Annoy-o-Tron, Edwin VanCleef, a Boom Bot and a Possessed Villager.

Small-Time Buccaneer: The Southsea Freebooters is an organization of pirates that often menaces Gadgetzan in World of Warcraft, and many quests have you deal with said organization, explaining their inclusion in this Gadgetzan-themed expansion. While Small-Time Buccaneer isn't particularly based on any specific mob in WoW, he's likely a member of the Southsea pirates.

Naga Corsair: The Naga Corsair is a siren-type naga that's apparently joined the pirates. Typically that doesn't happen all that much. Naga Corsair is original to Hearthstone, but can I just say how fucking awesome the artwork is, and how sad I am that the card actually crops out a good chunk of it?

Weasel Tunneler: Weasels actually don't exist in World of Warcraft, either as mobs or as critters. So technically original to Hearthstone?

Friendly Bartender: The Friendly Bartender is original to Hearthstone. The promotional stuff for Mean Streets of Gadgetzan did feature a bartender very heavily... except the bartender in the promotional stuff was a goblin named Talan. I guess this tauren is just filling in for him? WoW's Gadgetzan has no bar, or any taurens manning it.

Daring Reporter: The Daring Reporter is original to Hearthstone, but her artwork is used for the suicidally-daring reporter that wrote many of the Gadgetzan Gazette pieces, credited as 'Dora R', and she's quite daring in asking and quoting everyone else in Gadgetzan about their comments of the gang war between the Kabal, Lotus and Goons.

Streetwise Investigator: Streetwise Investigator, perhaps one of the few forces of good in Gadgetzan alongside Sgt. Sally and Daring Reporter, is completely original to Hearthstone. I love his little gun.

Gadgetzan Socialite: Gadgetzan Socialite is original to Hearthstone. There are gnomes living in Gadgetzan in WoW, but they're all acting as members of the Alliance.

Wind-Up Burglebot: (The winner of this expansion's "wow, this card exists" award). Completely original to Hearthstone.

Tanaris Hogchopper, Spiked Hogrider & Leatherclad Hogleader: I'll lump these three together. They're completely original to Hearthstone, something that even the game itself lampshades relentlessly by noting that the Hogchopper gang is "well-known for being a real, actual group". The three appear to be Quillboars, a race of primitive, barbaric pig-men that are native to the harsh lands of Durotar, and a common enemy for Horde races in Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. However, the Hogchoppers don't actually have much in common with normal Quillboars, who are a shamanistic and relatively unintelligent race that tends to be hulking and brutish. The three displayed here are far more athletic, musclebound and feminine respectively, and are riding motorbikes, whereas the actual quillboars in WoW are just a primitive, shamanistic race. Two of the three Hogchoppers also have Horde insignias, while quillboars are pretty antagonistic towards Horde races. (Note that the Spiked Hogrider has a bacon gun. That's like a human holding a gun that shoots decapitated baby fingers or something).

Abilities & Weapons:

Jade Idol/Mark of the Lotus/Jade Blossom/Pilfered Power/Lunar Visions/Counterfeit Coin/Jade Shuriken/Finders Keepers: All Pandaren/Jade spells that are all original to Hearthstone.

Smuggler's Crate/Hidden Cache/Getaway Kodo/Smuggler's Run/Small-Time Recruits/I Know A Guy/Sleep With The Fishes/Stolen Goods: All goon-related abilities original to Hearthstone.

Freezing Potion/Potion of Polymorph/Volcanic Potion/Pint-Size Potion/Potion of Madness/Dragonfire Potion/Bloodfury Potion/Felfire Potion/Blastcrystal Potion: All original to Hearthstone, although potions of various types are, of course, a huge part of World of Warcraft, allowing near-instant recovery of health and other resources.

Greater Healing Potion: Greater Healing Potion is a potion that restores health, found in various places in WoW.

Greater Arcane Missiles: While Greater Arcane Missiles is original to Hearthstone, spells with the adjective 'Greater' do exist in WoW (such as Greater Invisibiliy), usually, well, as spells with a greater effect compared to their normal counterparts.

Devolve: Devolve is original to Hearthstone as a riff on Evolve. Note that the artwork shows the three faction leaders Don Han'Cho, Aya Blackpaw and Kazakus turned into murlocs.

Call in the Finishers: Call in the Finishers is original to Hearthstone. "Razorgill" is the name of a Frenzy mob in Mists of Pandaria, but is most likely just a coincidental naming.

Jade Lightning: Jade Lightning is based on Crackling Jade Lightning, a monk ability that shoots a blast of nature lightning to the enemy and has a chance to knock them backwards.

Piranha Launcher: Piranha Launcher is original to Hearthstone, although piranhas (usually using the Frenzy fish model) are around in the seas and lakes of Azeroth.

Brass Knuckles/Jade Claws: Jade Claws are both weapons original to Hearthstone