Lore of Hearthstone, Episode #19 - Knights of the Frozen Throne, Part 2

Part 2 of Knights of the Frozen Throne legendaries, this time detailing the death knight hero cards and other legendaries that didn't come from the Icecrown Citadel raid.

LEGENDARIES

Bolvar, Fireblood:

Bolvar Fordragon is a character we talked about back in Goblins vs Gnomes. To recap -- former paladin and regent of Stormwind City, tortured and turned into an undead warrior by the Lich King after the disastrous battle of Wrathgate. During the climactic battle in Icecrown Citadel, a tortured Bolvar, burned to death yet not truly dead due to a combination of the red dragons' life-giving flame and the undead Scourge's plagues, Bolvar was hung above the Lich King's throne, and bore witness to the fall of Arthas Menethil, the Lich King. However, there must always be a Lich King, and as Tirion Fordring was about to take on the mantle to shackle the Scourge to Northrend and prevent it from running amok over Azeroth, the broken Bolvar asked Tirion that "this last act of service" is his. Bolvar sat upon the Frozen Throne, and Tirion placed the Lich King's Helm of Domination upon Bolvar's head, transforming Bolvar into the new Lich King. Bolvar sought to keep the Scourge under control, and all present to tell the world that both the Lich King and Bolvar Fordragon were dead. While several high-ranking members of the Alliance and Horde knew Bolvar's true fate, the majority of Azeroth thought that the great paladin perished in the Wrathgate.

Lich King Bolvar

Bolvar remained frozen atop the Frozen Throne, keeping much of the Scourge at bay, for a long time after Wrath of the Lich King, until Legion. In Legion, when the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth once more, Bolvar finally stirred and made a pact with the Knights of the Ebon Blade. The Knights would serve as the new Lich King's arm of vengeance, in exchange for his aid in locating the powerful artifact weapons Apocalypse, Maw of the Damned and Blades of the Fallen Prince. Bolvar would appoint the bearer of the artifact weapon (a.k.a. a Death Knight player character) as the new Deathlord, and that the other death knights would follow his/her orders. Bolvar would instruct the Deathlord to create a new incarnation of the Four Horsemen to aid in the fight against the Legion, noting that there is a price that 'the living cannot pay'. The Deathlord and Darion Morgraine would go on a quest to resurrect past heroes of Alliance and Horde to create a new version of the Four Horsemen (the Four Horsemen, represented in Hearthstone as the four summoned by the Uther DK hero, will have their own entries below).  The Lich King would also instruct the Deathlord to slay a group of Vrykul, as well as send the Deathlord to collect a particularly powerful frost wyrm to serve as his/her personal mount. Bolvar would also instruct the Deathlord to get information out of several dragons in the Wyrmrest Temple, but when they refused, would instruct the Deathlord to strangulate them. Just how much of Bolvar is left within this new Lich King, and what his plans are with the Deathlord and the Scourge, remains to be seen.

Bolvar Fireblood's appearance is based on his burnt-to-undeath version seen in Wrath of the Lich King before his transformation into the third Lich King. His entrance quote, "this last act of sacrifice is mine" is a variant of his quote "this last act of service is mine", which he spoke when he told Tirion to place the Lich King's helmet upon his head. His attacking quote, "answer for your crimes!" is taken from the iconic Wrathgate cinematic, where a still-living Bolvar challenged Arthas to come out of Icecrown and do battle with him.

Archbishop Benedictus:

Archbishop Benedictus (not to be confused with Benedictus Voss, see below) was introduced in World of Warcraft as head of the Church of Light in Stormwind City. He was a student of the Archbishop Alonsus Faol, a hero of the First and Second War. Benedictus is a kindly soul that served as Stormwind's heart of religion throughout much of WoW. Benedictus is known as a kind and wise leader that is highly respected. He would be found in the Cathedral of Light, and would give certain quests to Alliance heroes, particularly training priests in order to better serve the Holy Light. Benedictus is a calming voice in Varian's ear, telling him about how Anduin's true path is towards the Light. Prior to the Cataclysm, Benedictus also assisted the forces of Stormwind in defending it from invading elementals. Benedictus's more sinister nature is briefly hinted when he appeared shocked that Varian survived an assassination attempt, and when Anduin refused to study his priestly skills under Benedictus, opting to study under Velen, citing that 'it didn't seem right'.

Archbishop Benedictus

This is all a facade, however, as in Cataclysm, when Deathwing returned to the world, Benedictus is revealed to be something quite sinister. The Twilight's Hammer cult was one that served Deathwing and his Old God masters well, a psychotic, fatalistic cult that sought to bring about the apocalypse. With the death of the Twilight's Hammer Cult leader Cho'gall, it was assumed that the Twilight Cult would be shattered, yet they were still operating under a mysterious hooded Twilight Father (sometimes Twilight Prophet).... who, in reality, was Archbishop Benedictus. Benedictus, under Deathwing's command, attempted to shatter the Wyrmrest Accord between the red, blue, bronze and green dragonflights. He kidnapped a blue dragon Kirygosa, and succeeded in corrupting the son of Malygos, Arygos, into attempting to claim leadership of the blue dragonflight. Benedictus also caused the corruption (and eventual explosion) of the many dragon eggs located in the Wyrmrest temple, as well as being indirectly responsible for the death of Alexstrasza's mate, Korialstrasz. Benedictus also sent an alternate-univers version of Aedelas Blackmoore to hunt down Thrall, who was attempting to reunite the four dragonflights under the directions of Ysera. Benedictus attempted to summon a mighty five-headed chromatic dragon Chromatus to do battle against the four dragon aspects, but his plans were foiled when the blue dragon Kalecgos was elected as blue dragon aspect, and Thrall successfully brought the four aspects together to do battle against Chromatus and slay him. Benedictus was nearly killed in the battle, but was spared by Deathwing due to his high position and ability to infiltrate.

Twilight Father Benedictus

In Cataclysm proper, Benedictus would engineer the near-death assassination of Thrall alongside the Archdruid of the Flame, Fandral Staghelm. Archbishop Benedictus would reveal his true colours, acting as the final boss of the Hour of Twilight instance. Adventurers would be informed by Bishop Farthing (a secret member of the Twilight Cult himself) that Benedictus had left Stormwind to help assist the dragon aspects at Wyrmrest Temple. Benedictus would serve as the final boss in the Hour of Twillight, standing in the Chamber of Aspects. Attempting to slay Thrall personally, he initially posed as an ally to the shaman before attempting to wrest the Dragon Soul from him. A shocked Thrall asked Benedictus how he could forsake the Light, Benedictus ranted about how there is no good or evil, only power... and engaged Thrall and his allies. In his first phase, Benedictus uses Light magic, while in his second phase, Benedictus transforms himself into a shadow priest, and it's this appearance that the Hearthstone artwork draws inspiration from. Benedictus would ultimately be slain. However, his involvement as part of the Twilight Cult was dismissed as hearsay by Bishop Farthing -- who himself is revealed later to be Benedictus's successor as Twilight Father.

Lilian Voss:

Lilian Voss was introduced in Cataclysm, as one of the newly-resurrected undead forsaken that newborn forsaken characters would interact with (and I definitely was delighted, considering I was playing through many of the starter experiences of WoW races back when KOTFT was announced). In life, Lilian Voss was raised by her family to be a member of the Scarlet Crusade, forced to study stealth, sorcery and martial arts to become a weapon against the undead. When Forsaken adventurers approached the newly-risen Lilian to recruit her into Sylvanas' Forsaken ranks, Lilian was the only one to refuse, running away in denial of her undead state. The Forsaken adventurer would meet Lilian several more times after this, and each time Lilian ran away in denial of her current state. However, Lilian was captured by the Scarlet Crusade and imprisoned. Her own father, Benedictus Voss (not to be confused with Archbishop Benedictus) has disowned Lilian and ordered her execution. The Forsaken adventurer came to rescue Lilian and attacked the Scarlet Crusade encampment. Lilian herself finally embraced her current form, and in anger, ignited herself in purple flames and killed her former comrade Gebler. Lilian then cut through a swathe of Scarlet Crusade forces, which the Forsaken adventurer discovers when he finds a lot of Scarlet Crusade bodies slain with Lilian's pruple flames. The Forsaken adventurer would come and team up with Lilian to storm a Scarlet Crusade base, where Lilian would strangle her own father and kill him. Lilian would then disappear, with other Forsaken members noting the string of murders with purple flames against the Scarlet Crusaders in Tirisfal Glades.

Lilian Voss (WoW)

Lilian would appear in Mists of Pandaria, in the revamped Scarlet Monastery dungeon. She initially disguised herself as a hooded crusader, directing adventurers (both of the Horde and Alliance) to take out strategic points in the Monastery. Lilian also tasks adventurers to retrieve the enchanted Blades of the Anointed, a pair of daggers that are the only ones permanently able to slay High Inquisitor Highmane, the current leader of the Scarlet Crusade. After Whitemane was slain, Lilian revealed her true identity, takes the blade and goes off to Scholomance, another revamped dungeon, but in attempting to slay the mighty Darkmaster Gandling, a Scourge necromancer, Lilian would be defeated and enslaved by the mighty necromancer. Lilian would serve as the penultimate boss of the Scholomance dungeon. The tortured Forsaken was defeated by adventurers, and would be freed from Gandling's control. Lilian struck back against Gandling one last time, before collapsing from her wounds, although she survives. The adventurers would go on to slay Gandling afterwards, who is the final boss of the Scholomance dungeon. Her Hearthstone appearance seems to be based on her boss fight appearance.

Lilian would appear in Lunarfall Inn or Frsotwall Tavern in Warlords of Draenor, giving quests to adventurers to obtain a blade that would allow her to sever the undead from their spirits. Lilian Voss would be revealed to be a member of the rogue organization of the Uncrowned in Legion, and would assist the leader of the Uncrowned, the Shadowblade (a Rogue player character), to sneak and sabotage Burning Legion operations and blow up the Lost Temple. Lilian would also reveal the existence of the homunculi demon constructs, and dispatch the Shadowblade to hunt down these homunculi.

Hadronox:

The mighty Hadronox is a gigantic bone spider (a type of spider with legs seemingly made up of bone native to Northrend) that was once kept within the nerubian city of Azjol-Nerub. When the nerubian city fell, the nerubian viziers unleashed a single spider and instilled Hadronox with a desire to avenge the fallen and challenge the undead Scourge, seeking to reclaim Azjol-Nerub from all who would reclaim it. Hadronox would be the second boss of the Azjol-Nerub instance, and as heroes of the Alliance and Horde stormed Azjol-Nerub to reclaim it for the nerubians, Hadronox wass being attacked by the Scrouge's Anub'ar undead nerubians, and the enraged Hadronox attacked the adventurers, and was eventually slain. Early in Wrath of the Lich King, Hadronox had the title 'Spawn of Maexxna', but the title was removed after Wrath came out of Beta.

Moorabi:

Moorabi is an ice troll of the Drakkari tribe that serves as the second boss in the dungeon of Gundrak, one of the instances in Northrend. Moorabi is one of the many ice troll high priests who turned on their loa gods to obtain their powers instead of serving them. Moorabi's title was the High Prophet of Mam'toth, and he had once served the mammoth loa Mam'toth. While Mam'toth destroyed himself to deny the ice trolls the ability to sacrifice him, creating a massive crater that slew a large amount of ice trolls. Moorabi nonetheless drank Mam'toth's blood to gain the loa's powers. Moorabi's battle in WoW is a simple two-stage fight, where he will transform into the Avatar of Mam'toth in the second stage. Beyond being an ice troll, however, in WoW Moorabi has nothing to do with freezing effect, instead being a simple physical fighter. Moorabi's attack quote, "I crush you, cockroach!" is taken from one of the possible quotes in his boss fight, but the other quotes are original to Hearthstone. Moorabi would be slain alongside his other treacherous Drakkari brethren by heroes of the Alliance and Horde.

Arfus:

Arfus is original to Hearthstone, and is a pun on Arthas's name as well the dog's voice of 'arf'. While ghostly dogs have been seen in World of Warcraft in the past (notably the Spirit Wolves), none have been associated with the Lich King or Arthas. Arthas's only 'pet', as it were, is his own steed, named Invincible, which he raised as an undead skeletal horse upon his transformation into a Death Knight. Also noteworthy that Arfus is the only undead beast to have the 'beast' tag, with many other undead animals -- Spectral Spider, Bonemare, Unearthed Raptor, Fossilized Devilsaur -- all not having the beast tag.

Deathlord Nazgrim:

General Nazgrim (alive)

In Legion, the new Lich King, Bolvar would task the Deathlord and Darion Morgraine to resurrect a new version of the Four Horsemen. And, despite knowing how the Alliance and Horde would react, the Lich King tasks the Deathlord to resurrect some of their most revered heroes. First of the Four Horsemen to be raised is Nazgrim.

Nazgrim first appeared in Wrath of the Lich King, as one of the orcish leaders within the Horde campaign to Northrend, with the rank of Sergeant. He was at odds with Krenna, and refused to follow her orders to attack the Alliance, knowing that their orders was to deal with the Scourge first. In Cataclysm, Nazgrim, now a Legionnaire, was tasked by the new warchief of the Horde, Garrosh Hellscream, to gain new territory for the Horde, and was one of the many members of the Horde enamoured by the new warchief's conquest-minded goals. However, Nazgrim's fleet was waylaid by the naga and sunk by the mighty kraken Ozumat. Nazgrim and many other Horde warriors were enslaved, but were freed by a group of adventurers. Nazgrim would successfully lead an escape and rendezvous with other Horde ships, and with goblin technology, would lead a counter-attack to battle the naga's forces beneath the tides. Nazgrim would lead a rescue mission for those left behind, and would lead the force to kill the leader of the naga sea witch leading the assault on the watery realm, Lady Naz'jar.

Death Knight Nazgrim

In Mists of Pandaria, Nazgrim was promoted to General, and would be the one to inform Garrosh of the existence of Pandaria. Nazgrim was among the party dispatched to claim Pandaria for the Horde, and was pleased that the adventurer that aided him in Vashj'ir came alongside him. Nazgrim's gunship was shot out of the sky by the Alliance, and was among the first to encounter the native Pandaren. With the aid of the adventurer, Nazgrim would be able to successfully gain the allegiance of several pandaren, as well as a tribe of forest Hozen, and would continue to be a major quest-giver and leader throughout much of the Pandaria campaign. He was involved in brief internal political squabbles within the Horde. He would ultimately be loyal to Garrosh during the Horde Civil War, although on the eve of the Siege of Orgrimmar, Nazgrim would be approached by Thrall and Varok Saurfang. Nazgrim ordered the Kor'kron to stand down and allowed the two to enter and talk to however many orcs they can... but Nazgrim himself remained loyal. Nazgrim was bound by honour to be loyal to Garrosh, and fought against the combined forces of the Alliance and Horde when they besieged Orgrimmar. He faced off Horde leaders Vol'jin and Baine Bloodhoof, and would serve as the eighth boss of the Siege of Orgrimmar raid, although he held no hatred for the Horde adventurers, noting that they all fought for the Horde. Nazgrim was slain, and despite his death, was still considered a hero by the Horde.

In Legion, the Deathlord would come to Nazgrim's grave in Durotar, and raise the former orc hero from the dead, turning him into first of the Four Horsemen, and would accompany the Deathlord and Darion Morgraine as they revived the other members of the Horsemen. Nazgrim as a death knight had a new love for the strangulation spell, which he abused in numerous points during the death knight storyline. Nazgrim would the participate in battles against the Burning Legion abroad the Exodar as well as the Broken Shore.

Thoras Trollbane:

Thoras Trollbane (WoW0

The second Horsemen to be raised was Thoras Trollbane, the warrior king of one of the seven great human nations that joined together during the Second War, Stromgarde. Thoras was one of the kings that answered the call to form the first Alliance, and led the armies of Stromgarde against the Old Horde in the Second War. However, Stromgarde lost much during the Second War, losing the island citadel of Tol Barad and much of Stromgarde's territory was razed by the Horde when they marched towards Quel'thalas. Trollbane would personally lead his troops to cut off a group of Horde reinforcements in the Alterac Mountains, preventing them from besieging Lordaeron's capital, while he sent his nephew, Danath Trollbane (one of the playable Alliance heroes in Warcraft II) to retake Khaz Modan from the orcs, and later journey into the Dark Portal. However, once the war was over and the Horde was defeated, Thoras was indignant at the Alliance's insistence that the orcs not be executed and instead be imprisoned, and argued with his old friend Terenas Menethil about this matter -- particularly since Stormgarde had suffered much and could not afford the higher taxes needed to maintain the orcs. Thoras Trollbane would be one of the two kings, alongside Genn Greymane of Gilneas, to openly secede from the Alliance. Prior to the Third War, Thoras would be killed by his own son, Galen Trollbane. Stormgarde would eventually crumble. While a chunk of its population followed Jaina to Kalimdor, a combination of the undead Scourge, the human criminal organization known as the Syndicate, the Boulderfist ogres and the Forsaken members of the Horde caused the once-great nation of Stromgarde to splinter and fall, a pale shadow of its former greatness.

In Legion, Thoras Trollbane is raised by the deathlord as the second member of the Four Horsemen of the Ebon Blade, and after learning of his kingdom's destruction, Thoras is convinced to fight for the Knights of the Ebon Blade. Prior to resurrecting Thoras, the knights of the Ebon Blade had to deal with Thoras's treacherous son Galen, who had wanted to utilize the knights of the Ebon Blade to help him secure his own territory, but ended up being killed permanently. Thoras would join the Knights of the Ebon Blade in their fights against the Burning Legion.

Inquisitor Whitemane:

Sally Whitemane was a young human who, during the Third War, saw her entire family succumb to the plague of undeath. Forced to destroy the undead bodies of her parents and friends, she was driven with a zeal to fight against the undead, and would study the art of priesthood. She would become one of the central members of the Scarlet Crusade in WoW, a group of fanatical warriors that exists only for the sole eradication of the undead in any way, shape or form. Now known as High Inquisitor Whitemane, she is one of the greatest proponents for extremism in their fight against the Scourge, and she grew even more and more obsessed as time went on, even capturing and torturing the living, and becoming increasingly paranoid towards those who were not part of her crusade. High Inquisitor Whitemane is the final boss of the Scarlet Monastery raid, and was targeted by elimination by both Alliance and Horde -- the Horde wanting to protect their Forsaken members, while the Alliance wants to bring the fanatical Scarlet Crusade back to its original purpose.

Whitemane (undead)

However, so strong was High Inquisitor Whitemane in the force of the Holy Light and Resurrection that her first death was simply temporary (i.e. she can do what all the player characters do), and returned as the final boss of a revamped Scarlet Monastery, becoming the highest-ranking leader now that everyone else was dead. Working with new members of the Scarlet Crusade, adventurers that journey into the Scarlet Crusade, where the Forsaken rogue Lilian Voss would inform adventurers how to permanently slay Whitemane -- by thrusting the enchanted Blades of the Anointed into her corpse. High Inquisitor Whitemane was ultimately slain in this way, permanently killed and unable to resurrect herself...

Until Legion, where, after resurrecting Nazgrim and Thoras Trollbane, the Deathlord and Darion Mograine traveled to the Scarlet Monastery and brought back Sally Whitemane as the third member of the Four Horsemen. Death had gotten rid of her madness, and she would pledge her allegiance to the undead Scourge that she once fought -- finding that the Burning Legion is now the target of her hatred and seeing this as a chance for atonement for the sins she had done in her life.

Darion Mograine:

And we finally return to Darion Mograine. The story of Darion, and indeed the Mograine family, is told initially through the World of Warcraft: Ashbringer comics. Darion was the second son of the paladin Alexandros Mograine, and was brother to Renault. As he grew to adulthood, Darion would join the Order of the Argent Dawn led by Maxwell Tyrosus, one of the many paladin factions created after the fall of the Silver Hand during the Third War. His brother Renault, meanwhile, joined the far more fanatical Scarlet Crusade, and was manipulated by the leader of the Crusade, Saidan Dathoran (in reality, the dreadlord Balnazzar in disguise) to kill his own father, Alexandros. Darion would lead a rescue party to attempt to retrieve the holy blade Ashbringer from the corpse of his father, Alexandros, which had became the leader of the Four Horsemen of Naxxramas, and led a small party into Naxxramas. It ended horribly as he was attacked by the Four Horsemen, Grobbulus and Thaddius, and his entire party was slain. Darion managed to steal the Corrupted Ashbringer, however, and the voice of his father's spirit, trapped within the blade, led him to the Scarlet Monastery. Darion would confront his brother Renault, who had been driven to fanaticism by the Crusade, and Renault attempted to kill Darion and rid himself of the last vestiges of his past, only for the spirit of his father to manifest from within Ashbringer and kill Renault.

Darion Mograine

Darion then traveled through the land to attempt to free his father's spirit from the Corrupted Ashbringer, finding the exiled paladin Tirion Fordring, who noted that only an act of love can purify the blade. Darion returned to Light's Hope Chapel, the base of the Argent Dawn, to find it under siege by a massive army of the dead. Darion cut his way through the undead Scourge to challenge the mighty Kel'Thuzad himself, who was unperturbed by the blade. Darion then realized what Tirion's words meant, and thrust the Ashbringer through his own heart. This noble act vaporized the entire Scourge army, turning everything into ash and purifying his father's soul... but Kel'Thuzad returned with a prize, nonetheless, for Darion Mograine had been turned into an undead death knight in place of his father, still wielding the Corrupted Ashbringer.

In Wrath of the Lich King, Darion was made into Highlord of the Death Knigths of Acherus, an order of death knights made of newly risen warriors (i.e. player characters) that are sent to annihilate the living still remaining within the Eastern Kingdoms. Darion Mograine served alongside many other figureheads of the Scourge as a quest giver to novice death knights, and Darion himself would lead an army of death knights to besiege Light's Hope Chapel once more. However, there the Corrupted Ashbringer refused to strike down any living foe, and the massive powers of the Light wielded by Tirion Fordring and the Argent Dawn forced Darion to surrender. The Lich King (Arthas) then appeared, and ripped the spirit of Alexandros Mograine into Frostmourne once more, and gloated, noting how Darion and the newly-risen death knights were mere fodder just to bring the powerful paladins out of hiding. The Lich King tossed Darion Mograine aside, and in rage, Darion tossed the Corrupted Ashbringer to Tirion Fordring, who, in turn, purified the blade and sanctified the grounds of the Chapel, forcing the Lich King to retreat. The act also freed Darion Mograine and his army of death knights from the Lich King's influence, and thus the Knights of the Ebon Blade is formed, now opposing the Lich King and intent on bringing it down. Darion would strike an unusual friendship with his former comrade Tirion Fordring, and both would lead the Northrend campaigns and be found in numerous bases. Darion would assist adventurers to slay the mighty crypt lord Underking Talonox in Scourgeholme; help slay his 'replacement' within the Scourge, the death knight Orbaz Bloodbane; and assist adventurers alongside a group of Ebon Knights in the Cathedral of Darkness. He would lead the Knights of the Ebon Blade in the final assault into the Icecrown Citadel, and is heavily involved in the creation of the two-haded legendary axe Shadowmourne. Upon the Lich King's death, Darion would be reunited with the spirit of his father Alexandros, who is freed from the Lich King's blade, Frostmourne.

Darion would briefly appear as a questgiver in Warlords of Draenor, before once more being important in Legion. The necropolis of Acherus would move back to Northrend, and he would meet the new Lich King -- the former paladin Bolvar Fordragon. While not bound to this Lich King, Darion and the Knights of the Ebon Blade decided to join forces with him against the Burning Legion. Bolvar would direct a death knight (i.e. player character) to a powerful artifact, and would appoint the death knight as Deathlord of the Ebon Blade. Darion Mograine, more than familiar with the Deathlord from their past adventures together, was happy to secede command, having his fill with holding mighty fateful artifacts. The first task that Bolvar gave to Darion and the Deathlord was to re-create the Four Horsemen, mighty Death Knights that draw their power directly from the Lich King. One by one, the Deathlord and Darion would raise Nazgrim, Thoras Trollbane and Inquisitor Whitemane as the first three Death Knights. However, the fourth candidate for the Horsemen, Tirion Fordring, caused Darion to be angered -- Tirion was too much of a hero to be raised as into undeath. However, he eventually relented, although warned the others that 'there is no redemption for what we are about to do'. The knights of the Ebon Blade assaulted Light's Hope Chapel and fought against the paladins of the Silver Hand. Darion himself did battle with his former leader Maxwell Tyrosus, while the Deathlord fought against the blood knight matriarch Lady Liadrin.

However, as they are about to raise Tirion from his tomb, the Holy Light itself intervenes, and would have killed all the death knight present had Darion not created a portal and used Death Grips to toss the Deathlord through. While the Deathlord and the three other Horsemen survived, Darion himself was struck down by the power of the Holy Light. The other death knights note that Darion's body is too ravaged to be properly raised, but Bolvar, the Lich King, intervenes, noting how much Darion has sacrificed for the Knights of the Ebon Blade, and was raised from the dead... once more... as the fourth and final member of the Four Horsemen. Later, after an audience with the Silver Hand, the two factions uneasily bury the hatchet. Through a questline from the Paladin storyline, Darion would be persuaded by Maxwell Tyrosus to create the Heart of Corruption to allow a paladin player to transform the Ashbringer artifact weapon into having the appearance of the Corrupted Ashbringer. Darion would join the Knights of the Ebon Blade in many clashes against the Burning Legion. Darion Mograine would represent the Knights of the Ebon Blade at Krasus' Landing to discuss the Pillars of Creation with Khadgar and Velen.

Darion Mograine's TCG artwork was used in Curse of Naxxramas for the Unrelenting Rider token in the Gothik fight. Despite not wielding the Corrupted Ashbringer as a member of the Four Horsemen (and he really only wielded it through the Death Knight opening quests in WOTLK), Darion's card art in Hearthstone is depicted with it.

For non-legendary cards, click after the break.


The non-legendary cards of Knights of the Frozen Throne. You know we're going to be here a while.

THE UNDEAD SCOURGE!

All sorts of undead! Considering Wrath of the Lich King and its Death Knight class made basically all playable races into death knights of the Scourge, a huge portion of Knights of the Frozen Throne's minion population ends up falling here. This list is going to be very roughly sorted by the type of undead that they are, and believe me... there are a lot of undead types.

Acherus Veteran: We're going to start off with the many, many death knights in the set. Basically, many heroes, upon falling in Northrend, are transformed by the Lich King to transform into death knights (which we covered in the legendaries section), one of the most powerful types of undead. The Death Knights, regardless of race, share the same starting zone experience, which will eventually lead them into Acherus: the Ebon Hold. Acherus is formerly a necropolis under the employ of the Lich King, floating in the Eastern Plaguelands, and the newly-risen Death Knights would serve as the Lich King's minions, unleashing his sinister plans using Acherus as a base. However, when Darion Mograine and a large contingent of death knights broke free of the Lich King's influence and beccame independent, Acherus became a sanctuary for all of these renegade death knights. In Legion, Acherus would serve as the death knight order hall. No mob or NPC is specifically called 'Acherus Veteran', but if you're a death knight player that's progressed somewhat, you are an Acherus Veteran.

Corpsetaker: Corpsetaker is a title original to Hearthstone, although the artwork clearly depicts a blood elven death knight with a runeblade commanding an army of ghouls. The Corpsetaker's summon quote, 'winter is here', is a reference to the Game of Thrones franchise.

Night Howler: The Night Howler appears to be a worgen death knight. While there is a worgen NPC in Shadowmoon Valley called Jephet Nighthowler, he isn't an undead and isn't major enough to be adapted into a card.

Fallen Sun Cleric: Fallen Sun Cleric is original to Hearthstone. She's clearly meant to be an undead-ified version of the Shattered Sun Cleric, a card from the Classic set, one of the few cards in KotFT that is a direct reference to an earlier card.

Doomed Apprentice: The other card that's a direct 'undeadified' version of an older card is, of course, Doomed Apprentice, who shares her statline with the Sorcerer's Apprentice, but reverses both her entrance quote and effects. She's otherwise original to Hearthstone.

Tainted Zealot: From her attire and her title as a 'zealot', the Tainted Zealot appears to be a high-ranking member of either the Scarlet Crusade or Scarlet Onslaught, a group of fanatics who are obsessed with eradicating the undead at any cost.  They have not been successful at all in their war against the dead, and among them several have been turned into undead themselves, famous ones being their leader, Inquisitor Whitemane, as well as Classic Hearthstone legendary Bloodmage Thalnos.

Grim Necromancer: We've talked about necromancers before -- they started out as units in Warcraft III, one of the primary spellcasting units of the undead Scourge. While the card depicts a young female, many high ranking necromancers of the Scourge in both Warcraft III and World of Warcraft use the same model of a heavily bearded man (Evil Heckler, Heigan the Unclean, and Gothik the Harvester, among others), although WoW would include many others that did not use the WC3 appearance. The Grim Necromancer seems to replicate the Warcraft III Necromancer's ability to summon two skeletal warriors from nearby corpses. Her glowing blue eyes indicate that she herself is too an undead.

Deadscale Knight: Deadscale Knight is an undead murloc that has also appeared to have became a Death Knight. While undead murlocs do exist in WoW, I don't think any has successfully became a death knight.

Wretched Tiller: Wretched Tiller just appears to be an undead farmer riding a poor tiny undead horse.

Death Knight (WoW)

Mindbreaker: Mindbreaker is original to Hearthstone, and just appears to be an undead dude. While there have been enemies with the title 'Mind Breaker' in WoW,  they're all Observers or Faceless ones.

Shallow Gravedigger: Shallow Gravedigger is a gnome death knight original to Hearthstone.

Deathaxe Punisher: Deathaxe Punisher is original to Hearthstone, just being an undead dude. His 'deathaxe' is apparently the Arcanite Reaper, or a battleaxe with a similar appearance.

Ghastly Conjurer: Ghastly Conjurer is original to Hearthstone, being an undead elven mage dressed in some fancy Lich-esque clothes, apparently commanding the spirits of the dead to serve as the 'mirror image'.

Howling Commander: Howling Commander is original to Hearthstone, a dwarven death knight. She appears to be using the ability Breath of Sindragosa.

Arrogant Crusader: Arrogant Crusader (kinda-sorta a play on Argent Crusader) is original to Hearthstone, representing a blood elven death knight.

Chillblade Champion: Chillblade Champion is a gnomish death knight original to Hearthstone.

Blackguard: The Blackguard is a draenei death knight. He seems to be somewhat based on the Black Guard, an organization of skeletal warriors that served Baron Rivendare while he was an agent of the Scourge operating in Stratholme... although it could be simply a coincidental reuse of name.

Shadow Ascendant: The Shadow Ascendant is an... interesting case. In the past, I've always given trivia from the Warcraft RPG, a set of books created so you can play D&D in a World of Warcraft setting, but they tend to extrapolate on objects and items within the Warcraft universe itself. Shadow Ascendant shares its name with a specific type of undead found only within the RPG, as Shadow Ascendants are forsaken cultists that have performed a ritual to cast their zombie-like body and transform into a wraith/shade-like creature of pure Shadow (with a capital S). While the Shadow Ascendant card shares a name with that concept... the artwork clearly depicts a clearly-corporeal forsaken/undead soldier. Worth noting that in the 'Freedom' tie-in comic for Knights of the Frozen Throne, Shadowreaper Anduin unleashes a shadowy wraith he calls an 'Ascendant', which would be far more accurate to the non-canonical RPG creature.

Acolyte of Agony: The Acolyte of Agony is a mob seen briefly during a quest where the adventurer would ally themselves with Gymer, King of the Storm Giants, in attacking a Scourge encampment. We've talked about Acolytes of the Scourge in general in the Classic section, so I won't repeat myself. 

Bone Golem (WoW)

Skelemancer: Skelemancer seems to be an undead necromancer, and the minion he summons upon dying, the Skeletal Flayer, is a bone golem, a type of powerful skeleton variant with a distinctive monstrous skull, scythes for arms, a necklace of skulls and disjointed legs. The bone golems were first seen in Nefarian's Lair as undead types summoned by him and his minions, but have also been seen in various places as well.

Happy Ghoul: We've talked about Ghouls in previous sections, notably the Classic and Naxxramas card sets. The Happy Ghoul is original to Hearthstone, however. He's making an adorable snow angel. Ghouls are particularly significant to Death Knights (as you can see by the sheer amount of cards that create ghoul tokens) in World of Warcraft, due to the fact that Death Knights in WoW often summon ghoul minions as part of their spells.

Ticking Abomination: We've also covered Abominations in the Classic set. The Ticking Abomination is original to Hearthstone, however, being an abomination with a bunch of bombs stuffed inside his open stomach. The Ticking Abomination seems to be based partially on the Reanimated Abomination quest line in Wrath of the Lich King, where adventurers would rebuild an abomination from spare parts, sending them to waddle into Scourge forces and explode, killing many minions under Scourge control.

Abominable Bowman: Abominable Bowman is a pun on 'abominable snowman', and is original to Hearthstone, as is the whole idea of abominations being able to use bows and arrows. I really like the fact that the Abomination's two tiny hands allows him to shoot and reload at the same time.

Keening Banshee: The Keening Banshee is original to Hearthstone, although Banshees certainly aren't. Banshees, introduced in Warcraft III, are the vengeful spirits of elves slain by the undead Scourge and forcibly turned into screaming, screeching ghostly spirits, forced to obey the call of the Lich King. Many banshees were apparently gathered together from the spirits of night elves by Ner'zhul, but the first appearance of a banshee in the Warcraft III storyline was when Arthas cut his way through the high elven kingdom of Quel'thalas, putting much of its population to the sword. One of those he slew was ranger-general Sylvanas Windrunner, who Arthas turned into a subservient, powerful banshee forced to slaughter her own people. (Sylvanas would apparently later find out a way to repossess her old corporeal body). Banshees are well known for their ability to screech and unleash blasts of sonic energy, and are powerful, vengeful spellcasters that want others to suffer as they did, able to curse enemies and cast an anti-magic shell on allies. Banshees in Warcraft III are also able to possess lesser units, essentially putting the possessed unit permanently in the undead player's control at the cost of losing the banshee. Banshees would continue to appear in World of Warcraft, both under the Scourge and the Forsaken banner. The Keening Banshee's quotes ("you brought me BACK?" and "if I must") are both possible quotes by the Banshee unit in Warcraft III.

Meat Wagon: The rackety contraptions that are made up of a bunch of meat-grinder rollers, spikes, a crude catapult and a bunch of corpses and coffins stashed together known as Meat Wagons serve as the siege engines of the undead Scourge in Warcraft III. In addition to serving as horrifying-looking siege engines, Meat Wagons are also able to store up corpses for later usage -- either for death knights or necromancers to use as summoning fodder, or for ghouls and abominations to cannibalize. Meat Wagons can also upgraded to emit a disease cloud that damages living units wherever their projectiles land. Meat Wagons continue to appear in World of Warcraft as both part of the Scourge and the Forsaken forces, although some have been repurposed as cargo haulers.

Bone Baron: No real lore behind Bone Baron, but he seems to be a death knight riding a meat wagon into battle.

Geist (WoW)

Skulking Geist: The Geist is a type of undead introduced in Wrath of the Lich King that appear to be stronger vesrions of ghouls. They have a single eye poking out of a burlap-sack head and a noose hanging from their neck, and some of the backstory given for the geist paint them as hanged criminals that were reborn as undead. The geists are far more agile and nimble, leaping and crawling far more quickly than the shambling ghouls, zombies and skeletons, and are perhaps one of the most dangerous among the lesser undead. They seem to have taken over the ghouls' role in Warcraft III as the undead variant that does manual labour, since WoW Ghouls are pretty much shambling brutes. Skulking Geist doesn't share a name with any mob in WoW.

Necrotic Geist: Likewise, the Necrotic Geist doesn't share any name with a WoW mob.

Tomb Lurker: Tomb Lurker is a geist, but doesn't share a name with a WoW mob.

Runeforge Haunter: Runeforge Haunter is also a geist original to Hearthstone. A Runeforge is a magical forge used by Death Knights to forge, um, well, their signature runeblade weapon.

Obsidian Statue: We've talked about Obsidian Statues a bit back when we talked about Obsidian Destroyers in League of Explorers. The Obsidian Statue were first introduced in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne as one of the few new units the undead race got in the expansion. While they were simply introduced as magical powerful figureheads given to Arthas by Ner'zhul, powerful units that can transform into a powerful Destroyer form. It would be revealed in WoW that these are actually a race of titanforged known as the tol'vir, enslaved by the undead Scourge. The Obsidian Statue in Warcraft III is a support unit with near-negligible attack that can auto-cast health and mana healing. However, if more offensive capabilities are required, the Obsidian Statue can be commanded to shatter itself and turn into a Destroyer, one of the most devastating -- if complex -- units that can devour mana, unleash powerful blasts of annihilation and dispell all buffs in an area. However, once an Obsidian Statue is transformed into a Destroyer, it cannot be returned into its original form. Presumably the Hearthstone Obsidian Statue's lifesteal effect depicts its healing abilities in Warcraft III. In WoW, while the destroyers and tol'vir would get more attention, Obsidian Statues make brief cameos as immobile, well, statues in Ahn'Qiraj.

Frost Drake (WoW)

Bone Drake: The Bone Drake is a Frost Wyrm, powerful undead dragons that breathe ice that serve as some of the Lich King's most powerful minions -- most famous among these frost wyrms are Sapphiron and Sindragosa. The Bone Drake shares its name not with a frost wyrm of the Scourge, however, but with a mob in Legion that's an undead storm dragon (a race of dragons born of thunder, apparently forged by the titans separately with the five primary dragonflights) found in Broken Shore. Hearthstone's Bone Drake is pretty clearly meant to depict a frost wyrm, however.

Brrrloc: Brrrloc is an undead murloc (or, properly, mur'ghoul), several of which are found in Northrend. While the Hearthstone card gives the Brrrloc a more distinct walking-dead look with frozen icicles and bones sticking out of flesh, mur'ghouls use generic murloc models in WoW. None are called Brrrloc either.

Flesh Giant (WoW)

Furnacefire Colossus: The Furnacefire Colossus is a Northrend flesh giant. While the original prototype of a more advanced version of an Abomination was seen in Naxxramas in the form of Grobbulus, by the time of Wrath of the Lich King, the term 'flesh giant' would refer to a new innovation of the Lich King -- stitched-together corpses of the dead frost giant and storm giant corpses that litter Northrend, quite literally creating undead giants. These flesh giant would serve as a more advanced version of the Abomination, acting as siege engines and tanks for the Scourge forces. No mob with the name 'Furnacefire Colossus' exists in WoW, though.

Sanguine Reveler: We've talked about the San'layn/Darkfallen in the legendaries section with the three princes and Blood-Queen Lana'thel, The Sanguine Reveler represents a mere Darkfallen minion, and no mob shares his name in WoW.

Gnomeferatu: Gnomeferatu is original to Hearthstone, being so far the only recorded case of a non-elven San'layn vampyr.

Plague Scientist (WoW)

Phantom Freebooter: The Phantom Freebooter is original to Hearthstone, being an undead pirate. Not really much beyond that.

Plague Scientist: Plague Scientists... actually do have lore! They are undead gnomes equipped with a mask (why would they need one? They're undead) and mechanical contraptions to spread blasts of corrosive plague. Plague Scientists are found in the Plagueworks section of Icecrown Citadel, being one of Professor Putricide's many minions and presumed scientists.

Stitched Tracker: Stitched Tracker is original to Hearthstone, and appears to be a creature frankensteined from both orc and beast parts, likely a reference to the ability of Deathstalker Rexxar. While many other types of undead, like the Abomination, are created from stitching multiple corpses together, the appearance of Stitched Tracker is unique.

Coldwraith: The Coldwraiths are skeletal mages introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, which serve the Knights of the Ebon Blade as guards. The Coldwraiths would become targets for the teachings of the lich Amal'thazad as he teaches novice frost death knights how to use their skills. The term 'cold wraith' is apparently something that Blizzard really likes, because it's been used a couple of times in the past -- first as a rejected Warcraft III unit that looks like a grim reaper, and later in vanilla WoW as background wraiths in a flashback showing Kel'Thuzad's past in Andorhal.

Rattling Rascal: Rattling Rascal is clearly the skeleton of a small child, which is original to Hearthstone.

Wicked Skeleton: Wicked Skeleton appears to be unique to Hearthstone. Many different variants of skeletons (normal skeleton warriors, skeleton mages, skeletal flayers, bone golems, liches) exist in WoW, but none really match the Wicked Skeleton -- she appears to have the strange skull-jaw-horns that the Liches have, but have additional larger deer-like horns, plus skeletons of bat-like wings... so yeah. Likely original to Hearthstone.

Spectral Pillager:

No real lore behind Spectral Pillager, she's just an elven ghost with greedy fingers.

Bonemare: The mighty Bonemare is a skeletal horse original to Hearthstone. The skeletal horses first appeared as part of the Death Knight model in Warcraft III, most iconic among these skeletal horses being Prince Arthas's own horse, Invincible, who he rose from its grave upon his return to Lordaeron as a death knight. In World of Warcraft, most death knights and high-ranking undead warriors would ride on the horned horses. The Forsaken would also ride on skeletal horses, and two types are commonly used -- a more generic looking skeletal horse, and the more ornate horned variant with robes around it.

Animated Berserker: Animated Berserker is original to Hearthstone, seemingly a suit of armour animated by a blood death knight's powers.

Mountainfire Armor: Mountainfire Armour is original to Hearthstone, similar to Animated Berserker, a suit of armour animated by a death knight's powers.

Death Revenant: Hoo boy, the Revenants. So the Revenants have a bit of a... strange history. They first appeared as neutral creeps in Warcraft III, as these phantom creatures wielding a huge mace and shield, seemingly being either undead or elemental, for other than the Death Revenant, various other types like revenants of fire or water also exist. Come World of Warcraft, the Revenants are retconned into being a higher-ranking group of elementals, with revenants of all four main elemental factions appearing heavily and inequivocably as elementals. However, the Warcraft III Death Revenant is a creature that's very much associated with the undead, being powerful undead creatures that barred Arthas Menethil when he was about to recover Frostmourne back when he was a human. Death Revenants are able to cast spells associated with the undead race, such as Death Coil, Raise Dead and Animate Dead. Throughout the events of Warcraft III, Malfurion and Tyrande would also face off against a different Death Revenant in Winterspring Valley to cleanse the corruption of the treants he was causing. Due to the limited information surrounding the Death Revenant (the Death Revenant's cameo in Wrath of the Lich King uses the air revenant model), it's unclear as its true nature, though it's far likelier that he's an undead spirit as opposed to being an elemental.

(As a bit of a meta trivia, the Death Revenant model was initially supposed to be the original model for the Death Knight early on during Warcraft III's development, but when it was decided that the Death Knights would be more anti-paladins riding on undead horses, the model became shifted to the neutral Revenants instead).

Grave Shambler: Grave Shambler is a unique creature to Hearthstone, it appears to be some sort of earth elemental formed out of a literal graveyard. While graveyards have been locations filled with undead (naturally) in WoW, as well as being an undead structure in Warcraft III, elementals created out of the literal earth of the grave is original to Hearthstone.

NERUBIANS

As you can imagine, many nerubians show up here. Nerubians are very much involved in Northrend, be they the native, living nerubian survivors who are trying to regain their culture, crushed by the Scourge invasion, or the large army of crypt fiends and crypt lords that serve the Lich King in death.  Since it's actually pretty hard to tell living and dead nerubians apart, I've lumped them all together here. As  of current WoW, five types of nerubians are known:  the half-humanoid half-spider common nerubian (the undead types of these are called Crypt Fiends), the gigantic beetle-like crypt lords, the upright, almost-humanoid viziers, tiny spider-like spiderlings, and wasp-spider-like nerubian flyers.

Deathspeaker: Deathspeaker, Venomancer and Fatespinner are all part of the 'vizier' subclass of nerubians. Standing upright, instead of a normal lower body the viziers have four spider legs, and they have four arms, a spider-esque face and are often dressed with an ornate headress. Nerubian viziers are introduced with Wrath of the Lich King and serve as seers, sorcerers and advisors to the mighty spider-lords of the nerubian race. The Deathspeaker is based on a mob called Deathspeaker High Priest, undead nerubian viziers who are present as minions of Lady Deathwhisper in her boss fight, and the artwork seems to even mirror the encounter room where Lady Deathwhisper is fought.

Venomancer: The Venomancer is a nerubian vizier presumably with powerful venom magic. The title 'venomancer' is held by many venom-casting mobs in WoW, although the only nerubian mob I could find is the Anub'ar Venomancer, a normal spider-like nerubian (as opposed to a vizier) found in the Azjol-Nerub instance.

Fatespinner: Fatespinner is original to Hearthstone.

Kilix the Unraveler

Nerubian Unraveler: The Nerubian Unraveler is... well, a nerubian! Both his Hearthstone name and the artwork from the TCG card he takes implies that this is meant to represent a living nerubian NPC, Kilix the Unraveler, a leader of a group of still-living nerubians that resist Anub'arak's army of undead nerubians from the Pit of Narjun. Kilix would be responsible for giving adventurers of both Alliance and Horde quests to slaughter the undead Anub'ar nerubians loyal to the traitor king Anub'arak, although as of Cataclysm a large number of his quests (including the one where he orders the death of Anub'arak in Azjol-Nerub) is transferred over to his buddy Seer Ixit. The Nerubian Unraveler card references Anub'arak with his battlecry, "death to the Traitor King", as well as Ahn'kahet in his attack quote -- Ahn'kahet is known to the Nerubians as the Old Kingdom, and one of the sections of the great city of Azjol-Nerub, now fallen to the Scourge.

Crypt Lord: The mighty Crypt Lords are introduced in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, as the new hero given to the undead race. We've talked about Crypt Lords back in Curse of Naxxramas with Anub'Rekhan, and again in The Grant Tournament with Anub'arak the Traitor King, so I won't repeat myself. This is meant to represent, well, a generic unnamed Crypt Lord, one of the many nerubian spiderlords to be converted into part of the undead Scourge by Arthas. The Crypt Lord's two quotes, "the Scourge will devour all" and "by Nerub" are both quotes that the Crypt Lord hero in Warcraft III can say.

Spellweaver: No nerubian is named 'Spellweaver' in WoW for the simple reason that the title Spellweaver (sometimes parsed as Spell-Weaver) is actually the title of the blue dragon aspect of magic, Malygos the Spellweaver. So all mobs with the title 'Spellweaver' in their name are all understandably part of the blue dragonflight. There are many Nerubians called Webweavers or simply Weavers, though. The summon quote "Spider senses tingling", in addition to being an obvious reference to the Marvel superhero Spider-Man, was one of the gag quotes of the Crypt Fiend unit in Warcraft III.

VRYKUL & UNDEAD VRYKUL!

Hyldnir Overseer (WoW)

Hyldnir Frostrider: The Hyldnir is the name of a faction of frost vrykul that live independent of the Lich King's influence, unlike the Ymirjar faction. The Hyldnir is a very matriarchal society, where the females hold  the highest rank and males are relegated to mere manual labour. They wage war with the frost giant faction Sons of Hodir, thanks to a slight caused by Loken's deception in ages past. The Hyldnir frost vrykul worship the Titan keeper Thorim, who was tricked into waging war with the frost giants by his brother Loken, who tricked Thorim into blaming the frost giants for the death of his wife Sif. The Hyldnir would be further divided when a faction among them accepted the rule of the Lich King, leading to a bit of a civil war. Adventurers of the Alliance and Horde would be able to help the Hyldnir awaken the grief-struck Thorim to stop the war between the Hyldnir and the frost giants. The Hyldnir Frostrider is unique to Hearthstone,  although the frost vrykul do ride polar bears into battle.

Vargul (WoW)

Vryghoul: Vryghoul is a name that's original to Hearthstone, though he seems to be a Vargul. The Vrykul of Northrend has worshiped the Lich King as a god, and they go through a trial. The winners will be transformed by the Lich King's Val'kyr to join the ranks of the Ymirjar, an elite group of transformed undead vrykul, while those who are deemed unworthy are transformed into the shambling Vargul. The Vargul, unlike most lesser undead, retain their intelligence and thus resent their fate.

Corpse Raiser: The Corpse Raiser is original to Hearthstone, seemingly being an undead vrykul with necromantic abilities.

Val'kyr Soulclaimer: We've talked a fair bit about Val'kyr with Eydis and Fjola in The Grand Tournament. The Val'kyr Soulclaimer is a mob found in Howling Fjord, being servants of the Lich King seen in a vision to the spirit world during the quest 'the Echo of Ymiron', which explains a good chunk of the Vrykul storyline and establishes their role as humanity's ancestors. The Val'kyr of the Scourge mostly act as agents of the Lich King (and later Sylvanas Windrunner) as ghostly, powerful undead that were once noble vrykul women, who now give their life wholeheartedly in service to the Lich King. However...

"Sunborne" Val'kyr

Sunborne Val'kyr: ...The Legion expansion in particular would expand on the history of the Val'kyr, and apparently the original intent of the creation of the Val'kyr was for the Titan Keeper Odyn, jealous of how the dragon aspects found favour with the Pantheon, decided that the Titans needed a standing force of champions to guard Azeroth. Odyn had wanted to create the Val'kyr, a race of angelic, powerful warrior-women who would ferry the spirits of the mightiest and noblest warriors of the Vrykul race into the majestic Halls of Valor. Small problem, though: people needed to die to become a Val'kyr, and no one wanted to volunteer for Odyn's experiment. Odyn, furious, would kill his own adoptive daughter, Helya, turning her into the first Val'kyr and goddess over all Val'kyr. A vengeful Helya would need little manipulation from the corrupted, renegade Titan-Keeper Loken to rebel against Odyn, sealing her 'father' within the Halls of Valour, and corrupting the Val'kyr into a far more sinister force. While most Val'kyr seen throughout WoW prior to Legion had been the sinister undead allied with Helya, the Lich King or Sylvanas, in Legion the Sunborne Val'kyr -- that is, Val'kyr that are filled with the powers of the Light as opposed to necromantic powers -- would appear within the Halls of Valor. The 'Sunborne Val'kyr' is the name of the companion pet that players are able to obtain in Legion.

(Note that the artwork for Sunborne Val'kyr and Val'kyr Soulclaimer mirrors each other pretty well post-wise, as they're both drawn by the same artist depicting a light-borne Val'kyr doing battle with her undead sister.)

ICE TROLLS!

Ice Troll (WoW)

We talked a bit about the Drakkari tribe of ice trolls in Moorabi's article, but here we'll talk a bit more. Based upon the city of Zul'Drak in Eastern Northrend, the Drakkari tribe is among the large tribes (alongside the Amani and Gurubashi) to be subsumed by the master troll race of Zandalari during the battle of the trolls against the prehistoric Aqir. The Zandalari would send the three largest of their vassal tribes, the Amani, Gurubashi and Drakkari, to establish strongholds all over the world, and the Drakkari were sent north to combat the aqir (which would become the nerubian eventually). In time, they would rebel from the Zandalari people.

However, the rise of Ner'zhul and the undead Scourge in Northrend during the Third War decimated much of the ice troll forces, and even the mighty ice troll fortress of Gundrak fell to the Scourge's hands. Desperate for survival, the ice trolls looked upon their ancient gods, the Loa, and decided that instead of worshipping the Loa, they would enslave or even slay them, and take the Loa's powers for their own. When Alliance and Horde arrived on the shores of Northrend in Wrath of the Lich King, the Drakkari were a group of rogue elements that were so unstable and maddened that they were forced to be put down, thanks to their irresponsible usage of  forced Loa manipulation. The prophets that slew their own gods and took their powers for their own -- Slad'ran, Moorabi and Gal'darah -- holed up in Gundrak, but were eventually slain by adventurers.By the time of Cataclysm, the assaults by Alliance, Horde and Scourge have made the Drakkari Empire all but extinct, and the few survivors ended up rallying under the Zandalari. They would fight alongside an assembled army of trolls led by the Zandalari in Mists of Pandaria, but would eventually be put down as well, with their leader Frost King Malakk being slain alongside other troll leaders in the Council of Elders encounter.

Drakkari Enchanter: Drakkari Enchanter is original to Hearthstone.

Drakkari Defender: Drakkari Defenders are mobs found in the area of Drak'atal Passage, the passageway leading to the ice troll city of Zul'drak.

Voodoo Hexxer: Voodoo Hexxer is a title original to Hearthstone. Voodoo is the form of curse magic practiced by trolls, and hexxer is a type of caster seemingly related to witch doctors, shamans and shadow priests. There is a Drakkari troll called Hexxer Ubungo, though he's a dude, not a lady.

OTHER RESIDENTS OF NORTHREND!

Druid of the Swarm: There are a couple of humanoids that don't appear to be undead, which I'll touch upon here. The Druid of the Swarm follows the naming scheme of the 'druid of the X' sects, but is original to Hearthstone, depicting a follower of Malfurion the Pestilent based on her ability to transform into spiders and scarabs. Her green eyes seem to indicate that she's not undead... yet.

Strongshell Scavenger: The Strongshell Scavenger is a Taunka, an offshoot of tauren that live in northrend, also known as Winter Tauren. Where the tauren are bull-men, the taunka are visibly more inspired by bison. Where the tauren are more peaceful and only fight when necessary, living in harmony with the elements and ancestral spirits, the taunka are more savage, bending the elements to their will. The Taunka were driven out of their lands by the Scourge, and the survivors would be discovered by Garrosh Hellscream's expedition. The Taunka, led by chieftain Roanauk Icemist, would join the Horde as of Wrath of the Lich King, although they aren't a playable race (yet). No taunka has the name 'Strongshell Scavenger', though.

Righteous Protector: Righteous Protector is a blood elven paladin who hasn't succumbed to the cruse of undeath, apparently one of the few humanoids to not have done so in the entire expansion. 'Righteous Protector' isn't the name of an NPC, but rather a passive talent gained by Protection-specialist Paladins, added in Legion that reduces the cooldown of some abilities.

Snowflipper Penguin
(alternate art)

Snowflipper Penguin: The adorable Snowflipper Penguin (voted Hearthstone's cutest card!) is original to Hearthstone, although penguins did appear as critters in Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Arthas would actually encounter a gigantic penguin in Northrend known as the Penguin King and slay him. There have been a couple of rare named penguins that can fight back, but they're mostly harmless critters. (Critters are basically non-hostile animals that can't fight back and will die if you so much as poke it with the tip of your weapon and are just there to add ambience)

Tuskarr Fisherman: We've covered the Tuskarr race in The Grand Tournament. While no NPC or mob is called 'Tuskarr Fisherman' specifically, fishing is an integral part of the Tuskarr culture, being both a source of food and commerce,  and many Tuskarr NPCs hold the rank and job of fisherman, like the Longtusk Fisherman and Moa'ki Fisherman.

Saronite Chain Gang: The Saronite Chain Gang represents a group of draenei that have been enslaved by the Scourge (the actual mob's name is Saronite Mine Slave) and forced to mine the Saronite Mines for the dark substance called Saronite -- as its name might tell you, it's the 'Black Blood of Yogg-Saron', a substance that is immensely tough, yet causes those around it to be driven mad by Yogg-Saron's influence. The undead are pretty much immune to the effects of Saronite... which kind of begs to question why the Lich King doesn't kill his slaves and raise them as undead to properly mine the Saronite, but Arthas's evil that way. The most famous objects that the Scourge use the Saronite to craft is the Icecrown Citadel itself, as well as the armour of the Lich King.

Cobalt Scalebane (WoW)

Cobalt Scalebane: We've talked about Dragonspawn in Blackrock Mountain. The dragonflight that operates the most in Northrend is the blue flight, which appears in both Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. The Cobalt Scalebane is a blue dragonspawn mob that wandered Winterspring, but was removed in the Cataclysm expansion. Many other blue dragonspawn still exist in Northrend, though.

Bearshark: The Bearshark is a stitched-together bear body and a shark head, a reference to the zombeasts created by the Deathstalker Rexxar card. The Bearshark (bizarrely referred to as a 'sharkbear') is seen in the 'Forest for the Weary' tie-in comic as one of Deathstalker Rexxar's most fierce minions.

Bloodworm: Bloodworm is a talent for Blood Death Knights, a passive ability that gives the Death Knight a chance to summon a Bloodworm whenever he does a critical strike. The Bloodworm are little leeches that will deal damage to the enemy for a period of time, before exploding, restoring health to the Death Knight. The artwork for Bloodworm depicts one of the three Blood Princes standing in the background, although I can't find any references to the three Princes summoning bloodworms.

Exploding Bloatbat: Bats are creatures often associated with the undead both Scourge and Forsaken, although the Exploding Bloatbat is a variant original to Hearthstone.

Ravager (WoW)

Corpse Widow: It's a bit hard to see, and Corpse Widow may be a strangely-drawn nerubian based on the 'widow' epithet, but since she has the beast tag, and judging on the shape of the head and limbs, it does seem to be a Ravager -- a species of voracious, strange insect predators introduced in Burning Crusade as a sentient species native to Draenor (and totally not part of the zerg). Ravagers, true to their name, are pretty brutal, voracious and territorial predators. When the Exodar crash-landed on Azeroth, the Ravagers that were carried within their cargo holds were unleashed upon Azeroth as well. It's unclear how one ended up in Northrend, though.

Ice Walker: Ice Walker is original to Hearthstone, and its design is a lot spikier and leaner than the traditional ice elementals seen in Northrend, which use recoloured earth elemental models.

Snowfury Giant: While Frost Giants do exist in WoW (see the Grand Tournament) they resemble giant humans made up partially of ice. Snowfury Giant is an elemental giant made wholly out of snow, and thus original to Hearthstone.

Mal'Ganis

Despicable Dreadlord: We've talked about the lore of the Dreadlords with Mal'Ganis in GvG, so I won't repeat myself either. Out of the important Dreadlords to be involved with the Northrend setting, there is Mal'Ganis, the dreadlord that Arthas traveled to Northrend to slay in Warcraft III, and would also make a surprise appearance in Wrath of the Lich King as a dreadlord impersonating the leader of the Scarlet Onslaught, Barean Westwind.

Howlfiend: Howlfiend is a type of demon dog original to Hearthstone. While the tendril-like hairs running from its back down its spine seems to indicate that it's related to Felhounds or Felstalkers in some way, the rest of his design, from the lack of shoulder-horns and the presence of eyes and saber-teeth indicates that he's a completely different breed. It could be a Darkound... but then Darkounds have the saber-tooth either and don't have the felhound-esque back tendrils on its back.

ABILITIES!

Gnash: Gnash is original to Hearthstone, although some lesser enemies do have the Gnash as a generic attacking skill.

Spreading Plague: Spreading Plague is original to Hearthstone. While plagues and diseases are something used by death knights, warlocks and other unsavoury types, this particular one is original to Hearthstone.

Webweave: While 'Webweaver' is a title held by many Nerubians, the term 'Webweave' as an ability is original to the whole flavour of Malfurion the Pestilent as a spider master dude.

Ultimate Infestation: Ultimate Infestation is original to Hearthstone, although the Lich King boss fight in WoW does have the ability 'Infest'

Play Dead: Play Dead is a hunter ability granted first by a glyph, and later by a tome, which allows the hunter's pet to have the 'play dead' ability that's basically a version of the hunter's own 'feign death', essentially dropping to the ground to fool the enemy into thinking he's dead. Note how much I love that the 'play dead' artwork is just an undead dog doing nothing.

Toxic Arrow: Toxic Arrow is original to Hearthstone.

Venomstrike Trap: Venomstrike Trap is original to Hearthstone. The 'Venomstrike' is the name of a bow dropped by the dungeon boss Lord Serpentis, but that's likely just a coincidence.

Breath of Sindragosa: Breath of Sindragosa, named after the queen of the frost wyrms herself, is a Frost Death Knight talent, first added in Warlords of Draenor. It's a channeled spell that continuously deal shadow-frost damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster, rapidly draining their rune power resource. Again, note that while Knights of the Frozen Throne doesn't actually add a full Death Knight class, some Death Knight abilities do get adapted as spells in classes that could feasibly use them.

Frozen Clone: Frozen Clone is original to Hearthstone and a pretty weak pun of the Frozen Throne.

Simulacrum: Simulacrum likely borrows its name from the Death Knight honor talent 'Dark Simulacrum', which allows the Death Knight to basically unleash an exact duplicate of a spell that the mob that the death knight marks with Dark Simulacrum.

Glacial Mysteries: Glacial Mysteries appear to be original to Hearthstone, though it might be a reference to a questline I'm not aware of.

Dark Conviction: Dark Conviction is a death knight passive talent that increases the chance to get a critical strike with a melee weapon, although it has been removed in Cataclysm.

Desperate Stand: Desperate Stand is original to Hearthstone, although it does conceptually act similarly to many other previous Paladin abilities.

Spirit Lash: Spirit Lash is original to Hearthstone.

Eternal Servitude: Eternal Servitude is original to Hearthstone.

Devour Mind: Devour Mind is original to Hearthstone. While there have been abilities called 'Devour' in the past, those tend to refer to literal devouring of enemies, not their mind or cards.

Embrace Darkness: Embrace Darkness is original to Hearthstone. There is a Rogue ability called 'Embrace of Darkness', but it's highly unlikely the two are related.

Shadow Essence: Shadow Essence is original to Hearthstone.

Roll the Bones: Roll the Bones is an Outlaw Rogue ability added in Legion that acts as a finishing move, consuming all available combo points to also buff the rogue with one of several random buffs, hence the whole 'roll the bones' luck-based mission. Roll the Bones is interpreted in Hearthstone as a more literal rolling of bones.

Leeching Poison: Leeching Poison is a rogue talent added in Mists of Pandaria that basically, y'know, coats your weapon with a poison that allows you to leech health, which is basically Lifesteal.

Doomerang: Doomerang, as awesome as it is, is original to Hearthstone.

Cryostasis: Cryostasis is naturally original to Hearthstone.

Ice Fishing: Ice Fishing is original to Hearthstone.

Avalanche: Avalanche, in addition to being the name of a bow, a subzone of Sholazar Basin and an earth elemental, is most likely based on a Frost Death Knight talent added in Legion, which is a passive talent that grants additional icicle shards to be formed and strike the enemy whenever the ability Pillar of Frost is active.

Defile: Defile is an iconic ability of the Lich King's final boss battle in Wrath of the Lich King, creating a 'defiled' zone in an area. Anyone who enters the defile zone will take damage, and cause the defiled zone to grow. In Warlords of Draenor, high-ranking Unholy Death Knights will be able to learn Defile as a talent, replacing the similar AoE damage Death and Decay.

Drain Soul: Drain Soul is an ability by Affliction Warlocks that has gone through many iterations over the years, but essentially boils down to draining health from an enemy and restoring the Warlock's own health.

Treachery: Treachery is original to Hearthstone.

Unwilling Sacrifice: Unwilling Sacrifice is original to Hearthstone.

Bring it On!: Bring It On is original to Hearthstone.

Dead Man's Hand: Dead Man's Hand is original to Hearthstone. Its name is, of course, a reference to a poker term.

Forge of Souls: The Forge of Souls draws its name from the name of one of the three smaller five-man dungeons in Icecrown Citadel, where heroes of the Alliance and Horde will seek to destroy the Soul Grinder engines located within the Forge. Within the Forge, the heroes would have to bring down the mighty necromancer Bronjahm, and the hideous... three-faced floating thing called Devourer of Souls. The Forge of Soul's artwork doesn't actually depict the dungeon, however, and depicts a Runeforge, a magical forge where death knights forge their mighty Runeblades.

Obliterate: Death Knight cards now! Obliterate is one of the original Death Knight abilities, and is an ability that has been changed many times throughout the course of the game. It's now a Frost-only ability that allows the Death Knight to deal high damage, using both weapons to deal up to nine times the normal damage that would've been dealt by the weapon.

Death Grip: Death Grip is a Death Knight ability that will basically force-pull the target towards the Death Knight, and for Blood-specialty Death Knights, will also taunt the target.

Death Coil: Death Coil is the iconic Death Knight ability. In Warcraft II, Death Coil is a blast of attack that also heals back the caster, usable by the death knight unit. In Warcraft III, Death Coil is the bread-and-butter of the Death Knight hero, which manifests as a blast of green floating skull that, when launched at a living enemy, damages it significantly, but when launched at one of the Death Knight's undead allies, heals it, making the Death Knight hero particularly versatile in being able to heal and damage at the same time. In World of Warcraft, Death Coil was initially introduced as a Warlock ability, which seems to adapt the Warcraft II version -- dealing damage and healing the warlock afterwards. It has since been removed in Mists of Pandaria and renamed 'Mortal Coil'. Death Coil is also an Unholy Death Knight ability, this time around being an adaptation of the Warcraft III ability, which uses some of the Death Knight's runic power to deal damage to an enemy target and restore health to their ghoul minion.

Death and Decay: Death and Decay began life in Warcraft II as one of the spells of the death knights of the Horde, a ranged AoE spell that causes all it touch to rot and decompose. In Warcraft III, Death and Decay is the ultimate ability of the undead's Lich hero unit (and the campaign-unique dreadlord Detheroc), a channeled ability that damages everything from units to buildings in a set area. In World of Warcraft, Death and Decay is a Death Knight ability that has gone through many revisions, currently being an ability for Blood and Unholy Death Knights that's, well, also a huge AoE spell.

Anti-Magic Shell: Anti-Magic Shell began life in Warcraft III as the ability of the undead faction's Banshee unit. After the first 'adept' training, Banshees will be able to cast Anti-Magic Shell on allies, which would absorb 300 points of spell damage from affecting the target that the shell is casted upon. It made several appearances in World of Warcraft as mob abilities, before finally being added in Wrath of the Lich King as a far more powerful ability for the playable death knights, absorbing all magic damage for 5 seconds, and renders the death knight immune to all harmful magic effects for the duration of the shell.

Army of the Dead (WoW)

Doom Pact: Doom Pact is original to Hearthstone.

Army of the Dead: Army of the Dead is another one of the original Death Knight abilities. It's exclusive to Unholy-specialization Death Knights, and essentially summons an army of ghouls that will run around and attack any of the death knight's enemies at random. It seems to be an adaptation of the Warcraft III Death Knight unit's 'Animate Dead' (which is absent in WoW), except while Animate Dead reanimates every slain opponent as invulnerable copies of what they are in life, Army of the Dead restricts it to just producing Ghouls.

WEAPONS!

Shadowmourne

Shadowmourne: The mighty two-handed battleaxe Shadowmourne is a legendary weapon in WoW, obtained by warriors, paladins and death knight player characters after a particularly long quest chain. Shadowmourne was envisioned by Highlord Darion Mograine in order to challenge the Lich King's own runeblade, Frostmourne. Players who seek to help Mograine to craft the mighty weapon would need to gather the ingredients. First, Saronite, the blood of the Old God Yogg-Saron was gathered. Then, the holy hammer that Arthas once wielded in his life as a paladin, Light's Vengeance, was brought to serve as foundation for Shadowmourne. The incomplete weapon would then have to 'feed' on the souls of the Lich King's minions, and later be adorned with fragments of the Frozen Throne itself. As a weapon, Shadowmourne has the unique effect to have a chance to drain the soul from its enemy, gaining the Strength stat for each soul fragment you do. Once you drain 10 soul fragments, Shadowmourne will unleash a massive AoE effect on all around the wielder.

Grave Vengeance: Grave Vengeance, the warhammer of Uther of the Ebon Blade, is original to Hearthstone. (Uther's actual hammer in WoW is called 'Hammer of the Lightbringer')

Light's Sorrow: Light's Sorrow, winner of this expansion's "wow this card exists!" award, is original to Hearthstone. 

Shadowblade: The Shadowblade is the name of a one-handed epic dagger that has a chance to unleash a shadow bolt onto the enemy when it strikes.

Ice Breaker: Ice Breaker is original to Hearthstone.

Blood Razor: Blood Razor seems to be based on Bloodrazor, a one-handed world drop sword that has the chance to bleed a target over time. Its name might simply be a coincidence, though, since Hearthstone's Blood Razor is a Death Knight runeblade and WoW's Bloodrazor is a square-tipped sword.