Also included with this review and originally posted as part of the "Taverns of Time" Lore of Hearthstone article are Icicle, Tome of Intellect, Pilfer and Call of the Void, other cards that are retroactively added into the Classic set earlier during Rastakhan's Rumble. Expect any subsequent card introduced into the Classic (or Basic) set afterwards to be retroactively added into this article, so I don't clog up expansion lore segments with random Classic cards. This is basically a huge segment for miscellaneous cards not found as collectible cards initially, added later on, or are in non-adventure modes.
I tried to keep up with Tavern Brawl, Battlegrounds and Duels, but since I don't really play any of the modes in any capacity I find it really hard to keep up. Basically only Battlegrounds is being updated, and that's because it's got some really cool card art every update.
Last edited:March of 2020, to add the six new Priest cards added for the Year of the Phoenix's huge Priest base kit revamp. June of 2020, for general tidying up and adding the Pirate-themed Battlegrounds cards. October 2020, for the elemental Battlegrounds cards. December 2020, for Duels and the Old Gods Battlegrounds cards. January 2021, for the Darkmoon Races additions to Duels and Battlegrounds. March 2021 for Core set cards. June 2021 for Quilboars in Battlegrounds. September 2021 for Ve'nari, Galewing and a bunch of new cards.
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I. Core Set
After several years of swapping cards in and out of the Classic set and the Hall of Fame, finally all the Basic, Classic and Hall of Fame cards are lumped together into 'Legacy' and shunted off to the wild, with each year giving us a brand-new Core Set. The Core set's mostly comprised of older cards (some with buffs), but as always, we're interested in just the new cards and their lore!
Aegwynn, the Guardian
Aegwynn, the woman that would become the penultimate Guardian of Tirisfal and the mother of Medivh, was born in Lordaeron and trained in magic by the Guardian before her, Magna Scavell. Despite being the only girl among Magna's apprentices, Aegwynn proved herself to be far more talented than any of her fellow apprentices, mastering even spells that high elves would find challenging. As the Guardian, Aegwynn was supplied with the power of the council of mages and sorcerers known as the Tirisfalen, and went about wiping out any demons that would enter the world. During her studies, Aegwynn was lulled by power, finding out of an arcane being named Aluneth. She summoned Aluneth, and after a fierce battle, bound the being into a greatstaff she wields as her weapon.
832 years before the First War, Aegwynn traveled to Northrend to battle a group of demons that were hunting dragons, draining magic from the elusive creatures. This action drew the ire of the great demon-king and lord of the Burning Legion, Sargeras the Fallen Titan. The two powerful beings clashed, and after a fierce battle, Aegwynn was apparently successful in killing the physical shell of Sargeras's avatar. Fearing that Sargeras's spirit would liner, Aegwynn locked the corpse of Sargeras within the ancient ruins of Kalimdor (now known as the Tomb of Sargeras).
However, what Aegwynn didn't know is that the spirit-essence of Sargeras went into Medivh, too, and would also influence the boy as he grew up. This would lead Medivh to create the Dark Portal and bring the orcs of Draenor into Azeroth, starting the First War. Aegwynn, having lived as a hermit but still sensing the fel magic, went to Karazhan with her blue dragon ally Arcanagos, confronting Medivh about it. Medivh's full corruption was revealed to Aegwynn at that point, revealing that Sargeras had been controlling him all this time. During the resulting battle, Arcanagos was killed and burned alive. Aegwynn's centuries of experience gave her the upper hand, forcing Medivh to banish her (apparently into another plane), and is also known to have stripped her of her magic. Unable to intervene, Aegwynn watched from the sidelines as her mad son was killed by the heroes of the Alliance, and as the Alliance ultimately proved victorious in the First and Second War.
Aegwynn undid her anti-aging spells and used the magic that remained to teleport herself to Barrens in Kalimdor, living in solitude. It was here that she was apparently able to bring back Medivh as a ghost. She would also later on meet Jaina Proudmoore, a young human mage, and would give her part of her life energy during a battle against one of her old demonic foes. During the events of World of Warcraft: The Comic, Aegwynn aided Jaina as an advisor, later on finding out that Medivh had a son with the half-orc assassin Garona Halforfcen, Med'an. Aegwynn would aid Med'an in harnessing his own Guardian powers, seeing Med'an as a way to atone for her failings in raising Medivh. Aegwynn would give her life to save Med'an from the Twilight's Hammer cultist Cho'Gall. (The stories regarding Med'an have since seemingly been rendered non-canon after many revelations in Legion.)
In Legion, an Echo of Aegwynn was placed in the Tomb of Sargeras, explaining to Illidan Stormrage, Maiev Shadowsong and adventurers about the Pillars of Creation and the Eye of Aman'thul. Aegwynn's echo would guide adventurers through the Tomb of Sargeras as they go off to place the Pillars of Creation there, fighting against Aegwynn's old foe Sargeras.
Vanessa VanCleef
Vanessa VanCleef is the daughter of the notorious leader of the Defias Brotherhood, Edwin VanCleef. Her childbirth was kept a secret from most of the world, and when adventurers of the Alliance slew her father in the Deadmines during the events of World of Warcraft, no one suspected that Edwin would leave an heir. Masquerading as an amnesiac girl called 'Hope', Vanessa began gathering allies while arranging for the deaths of the Furlbrow family, who were the only ones who knew that Edwin had a daughter. Among her staunch allies were the ogre Glubtok and the mercantile goblin Helix Gearbreaker. During the events of Cataclysm, she arranged for gnoll attacks on the town of Sentinel Hill, allowing her resurrected Defias Brotherhood to rescue one of her father's allies, the worgen Admiral Ripsnarl.
Alliance Adventurers aiding Lt. Horatio Laine ended up finding clues of Vanessa's organization, finding not only a string of murders, but many anti-Stormwind propaganda. Her Defias forces burned Sentinel Hill to the ground, before returning back to the Deadmines. There she served as the final boss of the Cataclysm revamp for the Deadmines, where adventurers would fight through her forces and face her, killing her at the end.
Or so it seems, because in Legion, it's revealed that Vanessa VanCleef had faked her death, beguiling heroes with a neurotoxin, and became aware of the enigmatic rogue organization, the Uncrowned. When an adventurer (your Rogue character) is about to be given the final spot on the Uncrowned council, she attacks the Uncrowned with poisoned brew, challenging the adventurer. Vanessa lost the battle, and is given the chance to either serve as an agent of the Uncrowned or to die. She chooses to serve, and would be a member of the Uncrowned, fighting against High General Rakeesh during the eventual battles against the Burning Legion.
Taelan Fordring
Taelan Fordring was born to the paladin Tirion Fordring and his wife, Karandra Fordring. When Taelan was young, a disagreement between Tirion and Karandra regarding a wounded orc, Eitrigg, broke the family apart. Karandra viewed that all orcs should be killed, like most humans during the Second War, while Tirion found that Eitrigg had honour like any warrior. When Tirion was excommunicated from the Alliance, Karandra refused to go with him, and told Taelan that Tirion had died. Taelan grew to become a Paladin during the Third War. When the Order of the Silver Hand was destroyed in the Third War, Taelan joined the Scarlet Crusade.
Blind to the atrocities that the Scarlet Crusade commited, Taelan Fordring rose quickly through its ranks, and was appointed commander at the Scarlet Monastery. In World of Warcraft, he was a level 63 paladin, and was part of a quest chain as Tirion attempted to get Taelan to see the misdeeds of the Crusade. Finally convinced, Taelan defected from the Scarlet Crusade, but while escaping Hearthglen, he was killed by Grand Inquisitor Isillien. Tirion Fordring killed Isillien in retaliation, but was too late to save Taelan. The death of his son did end up reinvigorate Taelan, and would lead to the creation of the Argent Crusade later in his father's life. Tirion renamed the tower where his son died Taelan's Tower in his memory.
Overlord Runthak
Overlord Runthak was a level 62 orc leatherworker trainer that was found in the Valley of Strength in Orgrimmar since the original World of Warcraft, giving minor quests to warriors of the Horde. In Wrath of the Lich King, Runthak would be responsible going around calming Orgrimmar's citizens and Forsaken refugees in Orgrimmar after the Undercity was taken over by the treacherous Varimathras. Overlord Runthak would throw his lot in with Garrosh's "True Horde", and would be found in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid as a level 92 enemy, leading multiple Hellscream Demolishers. He was killed by Alliance and Horde warriors during this raid, and his duties in Orgrimmar was replaced by the troll Natoj.
Kor'vas Bloodthorn
Kor'vas Bloodthorn is the female novice Demon Hunter seen in this video. As a young girl, Kor'vas watched her family die at the hands of the demons of the Burning Legion, and joined Illidan Stormrage's Illidari Demon Hunters, dedicating herself to the destruction of the Legion. Harbouring doubts about the cause, Kor'vas had questioned Illidan what made them different from the monsters they fought. Illidan gave a rousing speech about how they will not sit idly against the Burning Legion. As they strode into the domain of the Pit Lord Azgoth, and Kor'vas, reinvigorated by Illidan's earlier answer, would aid in slaying the Pit Lord.
In Legion, Kor'vas would be among the Illidari unleashed from Mardrum, aiding the Demon Hunter player in fighting against the demons of the Burning Legion and she, alongside the player, would have to choose between siding with Altruis and Kayn, both of whom had differing views on the Demon Hunter cause. Kor'vas would continue appearing as an ally of the Demon Hunter player throughout the events of Legion, often working as his/her companion in battle. She witnessed some of her allies brutalized or turned into legion pawns, among them Cyana Nightglaive, who she had to participate in putting down. She would become one of the first champions of the Demon Hunter as he/she rose through the ranks of the Illidari, and would otherwise represent the Illidari organization if the player was not a Demon Hunter. She would battle various high-ranking warriors of the Legion, among them being involved in the fall of Highlord Kruul.
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, Malygos the Spellweaver, Nozdormu the Eternal, Ysera the Dreamer, Deathwing the Destroyer and Onyxia the Broodmother are all re-imagined versions of the Five Dragon Aspects, as well as Onyxia -- all of them being legendary-rarity dragons from Classic. We covered them here!
Fogsail Freebooter: The Fogsail Freebooters are a group of pirates that are active during the events of Battle for Azeroth. The leader of the Fogsail Freebooters, Captain Rhenik, attempted to sell the services of the Fogsail Freebooters to the Ashvane Trading Company, causing a massive schism among the Freebooters. This led to First Mate Owings into making deals with the Horde, allowing the Horde usage of Plunder Harbor if the Horde would aid Owings in overthrowing Rhenik. Thanks to the aid of a Horde adventurer, the overthrowing of Rhenik was successful, and the Horde is allowed usage of Plunder Harbor. While still technically independent, the Fogsail Freebooters have aided their Horde allies in attacking Alliance warriors during the events of the war, especially when the forces of Kul Tiras attacked Plunder Harbor. 
Shadowed Spirit: Shadowed Spirits were level 60 wraiths that attacked adventurers during their journey through the original version of Scholomance, where they became visible to adventurers after they activated the Great Ossuary. They were removed when Scholomance was revamped in Cataclysm. While WoW's Shadowed Spirit used the Wraith model, Hearthstone's art uses a Shade.
Felsoul Jailer: Felsoul Jailer is the name of two different mobs in Legion, both of whom were Jailer-type demons. The first was a servant of Caria and Varedis Felsoul, while the other was a mob in Niskara.
Nordrassil Druid: Nordrassil Druids are the name of generic night elven and tauren druids that reside around Nordrassil during the Cataclysm. Nordrassil, of course, is the name of the original World Tree atop Mt. Hyjal.
Bloodsail Deckhand: Bloodsail Deckhands are level 10-30 mobs found various Bloodsail Pirate ships, working for the Bloodsail Buccaneers. During Pirate's Day events, they can be found having a party in the Cape of Stranglethorn.
Emerald Skytalon: Skytalons are a type of emerald birds resembling owls that reside in the Emerald Dream. Due to a misunderstanding between Ysera and her green dragons, the Skytalons ended up attacking every creature that's not a green dragon that trespasses into the Emerald Dream. Emerald Skytalons are level 73-74 Skytalons found in the Emerald Dragonshrine, and when they die, they are quickly reborn as Reincarnated Skytalons.
The following minions are original to Hearthstone: Strength Totem (though there is a similar totem in WoW called 'Strength of the Earth Totem'), Crimson Clergy (clearly a Scarlet Crusade member), Gan'arg Glaivesmith (we talked about the Gan'arg here), Enslaved Fel Lord (Fel Lords here), Illidari Inquisitor (Inquisitors here), Redgill Razorjaw (the Redgill Scavenger is a deep sea murloc mob in Vashj'ir), Novice Zapper and Selective Breeder.
Spells:
Reckoning: Reckoning is a Protection Paladin talent introduced in the original World of Warcraft, giving the Paladin a chance to gain an extra attack after being hit with a critical strike. In Hearthstone, Reckoning does punish a particularly strong minion that attacks the Paladin. This talent was removed in Mists of Pandaria.
Pursuit of Justice: Pursuit of Justice is a Paladin talent available in level 15, which increases the Paladin's movement speed. You're pursuing evildoers! It was removed in Legion.
Thrive in the Shadows: Thrive in the Shadows is an artifact trait in Legion for the Shadow Priest artifact weapon Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire, which increases the effect of the Shadow Priest's Dispersion ability.
Ritual of Doom: Ritual of Doom is a Warlock spell that replaces the old 'Bane of Doom' spell (which, perhaps appropriately, rotated out of Standard when Ritual of Doom arrives), where the Warlock will sacrifice a party member's life in order to summon a Doomguard. Just like how the Hearthstone card requires five minions on the field, WoW's Ritual of Doom also requires four party members participate in the summoning.
Which makes War Cache the only Hearthstone-original spell among the new additions from the Core set.
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II. Cards Retroactively Added to the Basic/Classic Sets
Over the years, and prior to 2021, many cards were moved out of the Classic set into the Wild set (or have their card art and name just changed entirely) as part of balancing act. This is all their lore, and this article has been updated over the years as we get more and more of these.
High Inquisitor Whitemane
We've actually talked about Inquisitor Whitemane at full length here during Knights of the Frozen Throne, where she was featured as one of the Death Knight horsemen summoned by the Uther of the Ebon Blade hero card. Basically, the collectible card for Inquisitor Whitemane card features the character back when she's alive and a super-fanatic racist raid boss in the Scarlet Monastery; while the Knights of the Frozen Throne token features her after her death and resurrection into an undead death knight. Her effect, as well as her summoning line (Arise, my champion!) is a reference to her original Scarlet Monastery fight, where she says that line as she resurrects one of her fallen compatriots, Commander Durand, which the adventurers doing the raid would've slain before facing against her.
BrightwingBrightwing was one of the new characters introduced with the Heroes of the Storm MOBA game, representing the Faerie Dragon race. Like Lunara, she was retroactively added into World of Warcraft during the Legion expansion. She's found in the Emerald Dreamway, and is part of a druid class quest where the player character, at that point the Archdruid of the Cenarion Circle, encountered Brightwing. To earn her trust and recruit her as a champion, the archdruid had to plant dream seeds, collect refined water and recover a pendant, in order to make her happy. In Heroes of the Storm, Brightwing is characterized as a surprisingly chipper and happy little fairy dragon... with a surprisingly sadistic streak, as seen in many of her voice lines and her character trailer. She alternates between being happy to make friends and noting about how friendship is 'delicious', and is easily one of the best-written characters in Heroes of the Storm. Her two voice lines in Hearthstone is taken from Heroes of the Storm, namely when you view her in the shop ("We are friends now! Hello, friend!") and one of her possible attack lines ("ouchie time!").
Natalie Seline
Natalie Seline is a shadow-priest that debuted in Legion. She was a bishop from Stormwind that, after the First War, participated in the study of the shadow magic utilized by the orcish necrolytes of the original Horde. While this was originally done to provide Azeroth with knowledge to fight against this darkness should the orcs ever return, Natalie became increasingly obsessed with finding out the reason and origin of such dark magics, and eventually ended up hunting down and coming into the possession of Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire -- a cursed blade steeped in Old God influence and shadow magic, once used by the orcs in bloody rituals. Upon contact with Xal'atath, Natalie's mind was touched and the dagger whispered to her secrets about the dark powers she was researching, and Natalie Seline became truly obsessed with the shadow and the Void. By the time of the Second War, Natalie was ready, having trained a small group of Shadow Priests, waging their war in secret to take out orcs with this power that the Church of Light frowned upon. Despite her best efforts, Xal'atath corrupted the minds of Natalie and her followers. Natalie's followers believed that her attempts at restraint were holding back the true potential of shadow magic, and Natalie's followers killed her in the night and absconded with Xal'atath. Upon her death, the Kirin Tor sought to seal or destroy all of her writings from history.
During the events of Legion, it's revealed that Natalie sent her spirit into the Void at the moment of her death, but the spells required to resurrect her was lost due to the efforts of both the Kirin Tor and her rebellious cultists. In the present day, however, a small cult, the Cult of Forgotten Shadows, kept watch over her grave in Duskwood, hopeful that her spirit would return. A mighty shadow priest (a.k.a. a priest player character) member of the Conclave ended up claiming Xal'atath during the third invasion of the Burning Legion, and learned about Natalie. Obtaining journals from the Kirin Tor, slain members of the Twilight's Hammer cult as well as from the Cult of Forgotten Shadows itself, the shadow priest ended up retrieving Natalie's spirit, who had a newfound knowledge about the true nature of the Void, as well as its true masters. Natalie and the Cult of Forgotten Shadows would join the Conclave in wielding shadow magic against the Legion afterwards.
Xavius, the Nightmare Lord
Replacing classic legendary card Illidan Stormrage when he 'graduated' into a playable hero, Lord Xavius is another long-running night elven antagonist. One of the most powerful sorcerers and trusted advisors to the night elves' ancient ruler, Queen Azshara, Lord Xavius is considered her right-hand man among the Highborne. For a long time, Xavius was a major character exclusvie to the novels, one of the main characters in the War of the Ancients saga. He is one of the night elves that is the most responsible for the Burning Legion's initial interest in Azeroth, and he initially became convinced that Sargeras, ruler of the Burning Legion, was actually a god sent to deliver Azeroth. Xavius convinced Queen Azshara and the rest of the Highborne to create a portal to summon Sargeras, and succeeded in summoning multiple high-ranking members of the Burning Legion. Xavius, under Azshara's orders, also attempted to channel all the power of the Well of Eternity into the portal. Xavius's plot was defeated when the then-young druid Malfurion Stormrage entered the Emerald Dream and destroy the spell array holding the portal together, destroying Xavius and causing his tower to explode.
Sargeras, unhappy with Xavius's failure, tortured the night elf's spirit for a time, but eventually decided that he could still be of use... but not as what he once was. In order to brand Xavius forever as an ally and a servant of the Burning Legion, Xavius was resurrected as a disfigured night elf, a demonic creature known as a Satyr. Thusly, Xavius became the first Satyr to ever exist. Xavius began to transform his Highborne allies into Satyrs, promising them power and a place at the side of Sargeras, but also to seek vengeance upon Malfurion. During the many battles that took place over the War of the Ancients, however, Malfurion killed Xavius once more, turning him into a tree, which was subsequently sent to the bottom of the sea alongside most of the Highborne during the events of the Great Sundering.Despite this, Xavius survived, presumably rescued by the same Old Gods that intervened for the rest of Azshara and the Highborne. During the ten thousand years of his transformation into a tree, Xavius orchestrated one of the longest-running plots known to Azeroth -- the corruption of the Emerald Dream itself, the parallel plane of nature that druids commune with. Xavius, with the aid of the Old God N'Zoth, turned parts of the Emerald Dream into the Emerald Nightmare, and claimed the title 'Nightmare Lord'. Among Xavius's machinations was the corruption of Fandral Staghelm and convincing him to corrupt Teldrassil with a fel-tainted branch during its initial planting, being the cause of much of the corruption that plagued Teldrassil afterwards, and trapping Malfurion in an unending nightmare during the period of time between World of Warcraft and Cataclysm, and the transformation of several green dragons into dragons of nightmare. During the events of the novel Stormrage (taking place prior to Cataclysm), Xavius was revealed to be the mastermind behind a huge attempt to fold the Nightmare into the physical realm, siezing control of Azeroth by bringing the sleeping mortals' nightmares to life. But Xavius was ultimately stopped and seemingly killed by Malfurion, Tyrande, Ysera and a host of other druids and green dragons.
Xavius would finally return in person during the events of Legion, where the return of the Burning Legion gave Xavius another chance at vengenace. He leads the conquest of Val'sharah, where the tained World Tree Shaladrassil spreads the Emerald Nightmare's corruption. Despite this, Xavius's true masters are the Old Gods, specifically N'Zoth. Xavius makes his first appearance within the Emerald Dream's counterpart of Ursoc's Den, where Xavius sends his satyr armies to attack Ursoc, the Bear Ancient, and succeeds in capturing him. Xavius would also corrupt the arch-druid Thaon Moonclaw, showing his mastery over his new nightmare powers, forcing adventurers to slay the corrupted archdruid. Xavius also steals the artifact known as the Tears of Elune, preventing Malfurion from curing Cenarius from Emerald Nightmare corruption, and this would lead to both Cenarius and Ysera being corrupted by the Emerald Nightmare. With the aid of the corrupted Ysera, Xavius holds Malfurion captive, and gives his wife Tyrande an ultimatum -- either pursue Xavius and spend her husband's last moments at his side, or return to the Temple of Elune to protect it from the corrupted Ysera. Mournful but resolute, Tyrande chooses duty to her goddess over her love. After putting down the corrupted Ysera, Tyrande sends adventurers after Xavius and Malfurion, and they face off against the 'Shade of Xavius' in the Darkheart Thicket. Malfurion is freed, but Xavius's true form still lurks within the Emerald Nightmare. Adventurers would head off into the Rift of Aln, and Xavius would be the final boss of the Emerald Nightmare raid, where he takes the form of a bloated, grotesque monstrosity, commanding satyrs, corrupted elementals and scions of the Old Gods, but ultimately the adventurers are able to slay him, and as he dies, he reverts back into a night elf and the Nightmare vanishes at last.
Non-Legendary Minions:
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| SI:7 Infiltrator |
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| Arcane Devourer (WoW) |
Arcane Devourer: Arcane Devourer is the name of a arcane elemental mob introduced in Burning Crusade, spawning around the Sanctum of the Moon in the Ghostlands. The Sanctum of the Moon was once a High Elven arcane sanctum, but during the course of the Third War, like most of the facilities in the Ghostlands, was destroyed by the Undead Scourge's advance. By the time of Burning Crusade, the Sanctum of the Moon was overrun by arcane elementals and mana wyrms, and Horde adventurers are recruited to help clear out the location, with one of the blood elven NPC's tasking adventurers to gather the essence of these arcane devourers.
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| Fel Stalker (WC3) |
Queen of Pain: Formerly the Mistress of Pain and a Succubus, the Queen of Pain is not the name of any actual mob in Warcraft III or World of Warcraft. We've got Mistresses of Pain, Queen of Suffering, Maiden of Pain and a whole load of variations of the name, but the only creature called "Queen of Pain" that's connected to Warcraft at all... isn't actually a Blizzard IP, but part of the Defense of the Ancients fan-made MOBA map (and eventually spun off by Valve into its own game, DOTA 2), where the Succubus model is used to represent one of their characters, Akasha, the "Queen of Pain". The Queen of Pain, judging by the shape of her wings and her attire, is based on the "Dreadlord Jaina" skin form Heroes of the Storm, which represents an alternate universe where Jaina Proudmoore was transformed into a female Dreadlord/Nathrezim demon. Female Dreadlords have never actually been seen in World of Warcraft proper, but Hearthstone has had a history of showing off female versions of races like kobolds, ethereals and the like that didn't have female models in WoW.
Kul Tiran Chaplain: The Kul Tiras nation is one that has had a long, storied history in Azeroth's history. One of the many human nations that banded together during the Second War, Kul Tiras was famed for its massive navy and was instrumental in matching the invading Horde's own naval forces. During the end of the Third War,Admiral Daelin Proudmoore of Kul Tiras would lead sabotage efforts to attempt to undermine and destroy the founding of the New Horde's city of Orgrimmar, as shown in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Due to Kul Tiras not having elves as part of their army, the 'Priest' unit is replaced by the 'Chaplain' unit, but beyond being humans instead of elves, they were functionally similar to the Priest unit.The Plaguebringer, Siegebreaker, Scarlet Subjugator and Psychic Conjurer are all original to Hearthstone. 'Plaguebringer' is a common title for many different Forsaken NPC's, and the Sccarlet Subjugator is clearly a member of the Scarlet Crusade.
Spells:
Radiance: The Priest spell Radiance seems to be closely inspired by the WoW Discipline Priest ability, "Power Word: Radiance", introduced in Legion and is an area-of-effect healing ability. A longer-running ability with the similar name, Holy Radiance, also exists in WoW, but it's a Paladin one.
Righteousness: Righteousness in WoW is a Holy Paladin ability introduced in Legion, and is a passive ability that increases the Paladin's maximum health by 15%.
Gift of the Wild: Introduced in original vanilla WoW and eventually removed in Cataclysm, Gift of the Wild is a druid ability that essentially casts Mark of the Wild on all members of a druid's party -- which is mimicked by Hearthstone's version of the spell basically casting its version of Mark of the Wild on your entire board. In Cataclysm, Gift of the Wild was removed and regular ol' Mark of the Wild can affect the entire party instead.
Icicle: Icicle shares its name with the Frost Mage mastery ability, "Mastery: Icicle", introduced in Mists of Pandaria. Mastery: Icicle is a passive ability where as a mage casts Frostbolt spells, it will store up icicles that will increase the damage that water elements unleash, and the stored icicles will be launched whenever the Frost Mage uses the Ice Lance spell which will deal extra damage.
Tome of Intellect: Tome of Intelligence (as well as equivalent items for Strength and Agility) is an item that is dropped by certain monsters in the Warcraft III game that will permanently increase the Intelligence stat of the Hero unit that touched it. Tomes don't exist in World of Warcraft, and the closest item with the name is the Tome of Dalaran Intellect, a cosmetic item that changes the animation of the Mage's Arcane Intellect spell to manifest the symbol of the mage nation Dalaran instead.
Power Infusion: Power Infusion is a Priest talent in World of Warcraft, which, upon activation, will allow the Priest to have a faster haste and decrease the Priest's other spells' mana costs. It was introduced in the original version of WoW, and, like all other abilities and talents, have been changed various times over the years.
The following spells are all original to Hearthstone: Call of the Void; Pilfer and Shadow Word: Ruin. Obviously, though, Shadow Word: Ruin is meant to be another variation of the priest's many Shadow Word spells. League of Explorers member Reno Jackson is featured in the card art for Pilfer.
Click below to see the 'Taverns of Time' event in the Arena, as well as lore for the Battlegrounds-exclusive cards.
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This segment is going to cover the cards added during the Taverns of Time themed arena event, as well as the 9 arena-exclusive cards added during the Kobolds & Catacombs era. I've also been looking through a bunch of older Tavern Brawls, and there are a couple of characters that probably deserve a slot here and I can't really fit them anywhere else. So...
The cheekily-named "Taverns of Time" is, of course, based on the Caverns of Time are from World of Warcraft. Located in the desert region of Tanaris (which also houses the town of Gadgetzan), the Caverns of Time might seem like merely a fancy ruin to observers, but is actually a nexus of time periods. The nesting ground of a large amount of bronze dragons -- the dragons who are charged to guard the time period itself, led by Nozdormu the Timeless One, the bronze dragons have remained vigil over the Caverns for decades.
However, during the events of Burning Crusade,
Nozdormu awakens and realizes that a sinister group is going through
time to sabotage several key historical events -- Thrall's escape from
Durnholde keep; the Battle of Mount Hyjal; Medivh's opening of the Dark
Portal and Arthas's Culling of Stratholme. Nozdormu enlists heroes and
the warchief Thrall himself in order to prevent the fabric of time from
being unraveled by these agents. (From an out-of-universe point of view,
it's a way for the WoW game-makers to insert four of the most pivotal
historical moments from Warcrafts I-III while still seeming like an epic journey). The warchief Thrall, during the events of Cataclysm, would also help to free Nozdormu when he was temporarily trapped within the Caverns of Time.
The Caverns of Time is sort of like a raid hub, allowing players to go into one of several different raids to go into various points in Azeroth's history, overseen by Nozdormu's lieutenant Anachronos. Adventurers would first go to a period of time between the second and third wars, where they have to aid future Horde warchief Thrall to Escape from Durnholde Keep, and this is where the adventurers first met agents of the Infinite Dragonflight, corrupted future members of the bronze dragonflight who are the source of disturbance, intending to twist these historical moments to suit their own strange ambitions.
The second moment in time is the Opening of the Dark Portal which
would lead to the First War between the humans and orcs, where the
possessed magus Medivh opens the portal that bridges the fates of
Azeroth and Draenor in the Black Morass. The time-travelling adventurers
have to defend Medivh from the Infinite dragons Deja, Temporus and
Aeonus. The third spot in time is the climactic battle of the third war,
the Battle for Mt. Hyjal, where the adventurers participated in the huge battle to bring Archimonde and his Burning Legion down. During the events of Wrath of the Lich King, adventurers are enlisted to return to the Culling of Stratholme,
an event that occured during the events of the Third War, and most
people would note is the moment when Prince Arthas Menethil became truly
evil. Adventurers have to face off against the agents of the Infinite
Dragonflight trying to assassinate Arthas. Note that these four raids
are also the titles of the Hearthstone Chromie card's spells.
During the events of Cataclysm, Nozdormu's champions would have to go to a possible, dystopian future known as "End Time" where they have to do battle against the true master of the Infinite Dragonflight -- Murozond. Murozond is, in fact, Nozdormu himself. Or rather, a possible-future version of what Nozdormu would be if he peeked into the future and saw his own death, causing him to become obsessed with preventing it. The adventurers would slay Murozond, allowing Nozdormu to retrieve the artifact known as the Dragon Soul to eventually defeat Deathwing and annul the 'bad future' that the Infinite Dragonflight hail from. The "Dragon Soul" raid from Cataclysm is also now accessible from the Caverns of Time.
Chromie
Chronormu, more commonly known as "Chromie", is a bronze dragon that deals with mortals in the guise of a cheerful female gnome. While bronze dragons favoured the forms of high elves when taking a mortal form, Chromie is one of the odd few to take the form of a gnome. Chromie first appeared in the original World of Warcraft, giving out quests in Andorhal and setting up camp in an inn in order to investigate the Scourge's time-tampering machinations, and aided in the falling of the lich Araj, as well as aid a local human in breaking a curse. During Wrath of the Lich King, Chromie acted as the bronze dragonflight's ambassador at Wyrmrest Temple, and would send adventurers to investigate the mysterious Infinite Dragonflight, stop their machinations during the events of the Culling of Stratholme, and their attempts to wreak havoc across the timeline, and in particular would send the future version of an adventurer to assist their past self.
During the events of Cataclysm,
Chromie appears in the form of a whelp (she previously appeared in the
form of a mature dragon), assisting in the defense of Mt. Hyjal from the
elemental armies of Deathwing. When the adventurers traveled back in
time to obtain the Dragon Soul, Chromie greeted them -- seemingly for
the first time, noting that they are strangers to her. After the events
of Mists of Pandaria, Chromie works with her companion
Kairozdormu in order to facilitate the trial of Garrosh Hellscream to
allow everyone to witness the truth of witness accounts via her
time-manipulating abilities, but Kairozdormu betrays Chromie and
blindsided her. Chromie (as a drake) would later travel to the alternate
Draenor during Warlords of Draenor, feeling guilt over her
carelessness regarding Kairozdormu. She helps Khadgar and some
adventurers track down Kairozdormu, only to find the treacherous bronze
dragon slain. Chromie helps the adventurers slay the spirit of
Kairozdormu.
In Legion, Chromie (again as a whelp) asks the aid of an adventurer to help figure out the circumstances of her death, noting that this isn't how or when she was supposed to die. Not willing to risk tampering with timeline herself, Chromie sends her adventurer ally through time to figure out when the assassination was carried out, and the two of them went on a bit of a detective mission in order to figure out who and how Chromie was killed before she was supposed to die. Traveling through time and battling against various enemies in different parts of the timeline, the adventurer and Chromie also helped to prevent Chromie's deaths in various points of history. While they never found out who the assassin was, the timeways are apparently restored to how she should be.
Like many other more obscure World of Warcraft characters that have gotten a recent surge in popularity, such as Lunara, Chromie is also featured in Blizzard's MOBA game, Heroes of the Storm, as a playable hero.
Murozond
Murozond is the alter-ego of the Nozdormu of a future known as 'End Time', a future where the Cataclysm wrecked Azeroth, leading to a wasteland where all the heroes and villains of Azeroth -- even great Deathwing himself -- are dead. Murozond, driven mad by a combination of the knowledge of his fate and some trickery by the Old Gods, uses a powerful artifact known as the Hourglass of Time and attempted to interfere with the passage of time for his own insane goals. As the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight, Murozond is the true mastermind behind all the chaos in the different Caverns of Time instances, and would shatter all of time itself. Now a being that exists out of normal time, Nozdormu sends his adventurers to 'End Time', and despite Murozond's powerful time-manipulating abilities, the adventurers, aided by Nozdormu (who decides to fight for the present), manages to slay Murozond and restore time back to how it should be.
Non-Legendary Minions:
The following are all dragons or dragonkin (look up my old Blackrock Mountain piece for lore on dragonspawn, dragonkin and the rest of that stuff), but all of them are essentially original to Hearthstone. Worth noting that the Taverns of Time event is the debut of the Infinite Dragonflight in Hearthstone, a couple of years before they formally showed up as collectible cards in Descent of Dragons. A significant amount of them involve either Bronze or Infinite dragon colours, which fit with the whole Taverns of Time theme. These are all original to Hearthstone: Stasis Dragon, Possibility Seeker, Bronze Broodmother, Harbinger of Catastrophe, Rift Warden and Draconic Herald. Worth noting that Stasis Dragon uses Nozdormu's TCG artwork, and while 'Rift [X]' is the name of many mobs in the Caverns of Time dungeons, none are called Rift Warden.
The following are all 'adventurers' that are original to Hearthstone: Master of Realities, Thief of Futures, Wildlands Adventurer, Cavern Dreamer and Timeline Witness. Cavern Dreamer's "work work" dialogue is a clear homage to the most iconic line of dialogue spoken by the Peon units from all three Warcraft games, the most basic worker unit for the Orc race.
The following are from other races -- Stasis Elemental is an elemental Geode; Temporal Anomaly is a mana elemental; Timeway Wanderer is an Ancient of War; Timebound Giant is a Gemstone Colossus (specifically, the TCG artwork depicts Deathwing's minion Morchok); Infinite Wolf and Infinite Murloc are self-explanatory. Again, all of them are original to Hearthstone.
Weapons now... Fatecleaver is the only one, and it's also original to Hearthstone. And spells! Blessing of Aeons, Flash Forward, Reminisce, Ripple in Time, Grasp the Future, Deja Vu and Chronoshot are all original to Hearthstone. Wow, that's fast. Grasp the Future's card art shows the bronze dragon aspect Nozdormu in his high elf form.
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And the following are all cards from the 'extra' cards added to Arena during an event in 2018. During Blizzcon, each class was given three different cards to choose from, and the winner of the vote was incorporated into the arena as part of an event.
Deadeye: While there's no ability called "Deadeye" in WoW, there is a relatively major character, Kilrogg Deadeye, the chieftain of the Bleeding Hollow Clan, one of the major clans that participated as part of the Old Horde during the First and Second Wars. Kilrogg Deadeye was named such because he ripped out his left eye in order to achieve a vision of his death, and thus he became one of the fiercest warriors of the Horde, knowing the exact battle where he would meet his end -- and that all the battles he fought in is not that battle. Kilrogg participated in many battles, and would meet his end in Draenor at the hands of the Alliance commander Danath Trollbane. Various other characters would use the name Deadeye -- among them Kilrogg's son Jorin Deadeye, the alternate-timeline Kilrogg Deadeye during Warlords of Draenor, as well as various sniper enemies that are part of evil versions of the Horde named "Deadeye" presumably in Kilrogg's honour.
Polymorph: ???: Obviously, Polymorph: ??? is a reference to the classic mage spell Polymorph, which we covered waaaaay back in Basic. The colon is a reference to the various cosmetic variants that Mage players in WoW could attain to change the shape of the critter that the Polymorph spell morphed them into. The artwork is a combination of a frog and a sheep, the result of two of the most common transformation spells in Hearthstone -- Hex and Polymorph.
Hand of Salvation: Hand of Salvation was a Paladin skill in WoW, introduced during Wrath of the Lich King and eventually removed in Legion. Hand of Salvation would remove all threat from an ally for a period of time. It would be eventually replaced with Blessing of Salvation, which worked similarly but counted as a 'Blessing' spell instead of a 'Hand' spell.
Smoke Bomb: Smoke Bomb is a Subtlety Rogue honour talent added in the Cataclysm expansion, which, true to its name, creates a cloud of smoke around the Rogue user for a brief period of time, causing the Rogue to essentially become invisible to enemies. However, it does not protect the Rogue from area-of-effect attacks, which can still hit the Rogue. More recently, it is used as one of Valeera Sanguinar's skills when she made the jump as a playable character in Blizzard's MOBA game, Heroes of the Storm.
Blazing Longsword: While it might be a slight coincidence, there is an item in WoW called Teebu's Blazing Longsword, a weapon that dropped off Ahn'Qiraj mobs as well as Baron Rivendare in Naxxramas. It's a weapon that has an extra chance to deal fire damage upon hitting, but is somewhat famous among the community for its similarity to a Sith Lightsaber from Star Wars. The card art used for the Blazing Longsword is actually borrowed from the WoW TCG card for Teebu's Blazing Longsword.
The following spells are all original to Hearthstone: Nature's Champion, Generous Spirit, Crackling Doom and Bottled Madness.
We've got a bunch of 'rejected' cards that we still saw, but they are all also original to Hearthstone: Boom of Elune, Thornstrike, Reload, Volley, Arcane Flux, Power Cosmic, Relic of Hope, Assassin's Training, Mindspike, Magma Shock, Refreshing Jolt, Combust, From Beyond and Training Blade. Out of these, the only ones to have any sort of lore is Retribution (it's the name of a Paladin specialization rather than a spell), Absolution (a Paladin spell in WoW instead of a Priest one), Axe of the Eclipse (an item that drops from Altairus) and Mass Resurrection (the spell's name actually became a real collectible spell later on in Rise of Shadows).
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Ahune, the Frost Lord:
Ahune is a mighty frost elemental serving the elemental aspect of water, Neptulon. Each year, during the Midsummer's Fire Festival, where the elemental plane is somewhat aligned with Azeroth, the Twilight's Hammer cult would summon Ahune in order to pit him against Ragnaros, the Firelord, and start a new elemental war. Adventurers would have to slay Ahune to prevent this war from happening, as well as to get some sweet, sweet loot.
In Hearthstone, a similar conflict happens, but it's instead Ragnaros and Ahune trying to one-up each other with tavern brawls and free arena tickets, with Ahune being the players' guide through the Midsummer Frost Festival.
The Headless Horseman
A subject of a brawl during Halloween, the Headless Horseman is another seasonal boss in World of Warcraft, an undead being riding a horse with a flaming skull that manifests only during Hallow's End, accompanied by his small army of Squashlings. The Horseman was once a knight of the Silver Hand, Sir Thomas Thompson, but due to a curse, he believes that he is alive and the others he is facing are dead. The Headless Horseman is faced upon the Pumpkin Shrine, and the battle against him takes place in three stages -- something that the Hearthstone Tavern Brawl mimics, which involves the Headless Horseman losing his pumpkin head for a phase or two. Hearthstone adds some extra dialogue, but all of the Headless Horseman's extremely hammy dialogue from World of Warcraft is retained.
In Burning Crusade, players would be able to uncover the backstory behind the enigmatic Horseman. Sir Thomas Thompson is a Paladin who had refused the culling of Stratholme during the Third War. Sending his wife to flee to Kalimdor with Jaina's fleet, Sir Thomas remained in Lordaeron to help the Silver Hand Knights destroy the Scourge. As the Silver Hand fragmented, Sir Thomas would join the Scarlet Crusade. The zealous organization managed to fool Sir Thomas, sending him to destroy towns that are supposedly 'infected' with the undead plague. One of these towns is filled with refugees, among them Sir Thomas's own family. A horrified Sir Thomas went mad when he realized what he has done, and began speaking in rhymes. He decided that the entire world has been infected and he alone can cure them. He murdered many of his comrades in Hallow's End, before he was finally subdued and beheaded. However, the dreadlord Balnazzar, disguised as the Scarlet Crusade leader Saidan Dathrohan, used his fel blood to infect Sir Thomas's corpse, cursing him and his madness to return to life every Hallow's End.
Gearmaster Mechazod
Gearmaster Mechazod, one of Hearthstone's first 'boss fight' Tavern Brawls, is an ancient mechagnome that was put together from titan parts found around Fizzcrank Airstrip during Wrath of the Lich King. Upon being awakened, the ancient mechagnome realized that he was surrounded with beings made up of flesh, and thus horrified, proceeded to want to transform all gnomes back to their original, 'natural' state of being made up of metal. Having transformed a group of gnomes into mindless Clockwork Gnomes, and refusing to listen to reason, heroes of the Alliance and Horde woudl journey into the Borean Tundra to put down the maddened mechagnome permanently.
"Captain" Cookie
"Captain" Cookie is one of the Tavern Brawl unique cards featured during the same Hallow's End brawl that featured the Headless horseman boss fight. In World of Warcraft, Cookie the Murloc is a member of the Defias Brotherhood, a level 20 elite Murloc that serves as the penultimate boss of the Deadmines dungeon. Cookie is the cook for the Defias Brotherhood. Adventurers would attack the Deadmines and eventually overthrow the entire Defias Brotherhood, but while the likes of Edwin VanCleef and Captain Greenskin would be permanently dead, Cookie survives.
During Cataclysm, the Deadmines was revamped with a new incarnation of the Defias Brotherhood, put together by Edwin's daughter Vanessa VanCleef, and Cookie, now promoted as "Captain" Cookie, serves as the final boss fight in normal mode, and the second-to-last boss in heroic mode. "Captain" Cookie has proclaimed himself the captain of the Defias Brotherhood's juggernaut, and now wears a pirate captain hat. While he still performs his duties as cook, anyone who questions the murloc's position has often came down with a severe case of food poisoning.
Lucifron
Lucifron is featured as a card in the Ragnaros-vs-Nefarian brawl. While many Blackrock Mountain bosses are adapted into the Blackrock Mountain adventure, either as actual bosses or as legendary cards used by said bosses, there are two who only made it into the Tavern Brawl version. Lucifron is one of the first bosses in the Molten Core raid, and is a high-ranking flamewaker that attempts to gain rank among the elemental plane, having a rivalry with fellow boss Gehennas. Lucifron is stationed as the keeper of the mighty core hound Magmadar, Ragnaros's favoured pet, who is a boss fought after Lucifron.
Golemagg
The mighty molten giant Golemagg the Incinerator is the final encounter before the Executus/Ragnaros boss fight in Molten Core. Mighty amongst Ragnaros's molten giant armies, Golemagg is particularly brutal and efficient, and is unrivaled for his sheer brutality. He has tamed two mighty core ragers to use as personal pets, the offspring of Magmadar, and as a result Golemagg has developed a rivalry with Magmadar. Golemagg guards one of the runes required to access Ragnaros's chamber.
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The
newly-announced Battlegrounds mode takes a bunch of the most popular
heroes and villains that has shown up in Hearthstone over the years. Out
of these, only King Mukla gets any sort of new artwork, at least until they introduced Battlegrounds skins. Not much to say about the skins, honestly -- they're all basically the dragon aspects in human form; or characters in like, beach uniforms or when they were young, or those wearing Shadowlands-themed armour .
This segment was updated in March of 2020 to keep all the Battlegrounds lore in a single page. Battlegrounds has since been updated several times, with heroes and minions being added and removed to the ever-rotating roster. Currently, updated to June 2020.
A vast majority of the cards are ones we've covered before when they first debuted in prior expansions, but there are around less than a dozen cards that are original for this mode. We'll quickly go through them, although there's not much lore to go on most of them, but heroes and legendries first!
Goldrinn, the Great Wolf
The only one to really have any sort of lore in the initial Battlegrounds-exclusive cards is Goldrinn. Also known as "Lo'Gosh", Goldrinn is one of the Wild Gods, demigods that embody nature itself. Other Wild Gods that Hearthstone players would be familiar with include Malorne, Aviana, and some argue, the Loa. Goldrinn embodies ferocity, savagery and willpower, and is worshiped by many cultures -- particularly the night elves and tauren, but trolls, goblins, dwarves and the orcs that come from Draenor all revere Goldrinn to some extent.
In
prehistoric times, Goldrinn was one of the primal wild spirits, and
Goldrinn is known to clash heavily with the moon goddess Elune, who
disapproved of Goldrinn's ferocity. However, when the first invasion of
the Burning Legion happened, Goldrinn participated among the other Wild
Gods in the War of the Ancients, and Goldrinn's savagery and unrelenting
will became legendary. He was ultimately slain after wiping out a vast
amount of the Burning Legion in what is now the Barrens, but while
Goldrinn died, not even death could stop the great wolves, and both the
night elves and tauren have legends of how Goldrinn's spirits would
guide them from the afterlife. Goldrinn's power is also significant in
the creation of the Worgen, where the original sect of Druids of the
Pack attempted to draw upon Goldrinn's power, but were unable to control
the great wolf's ferocity and went feral. While Goldrinn was either
dead or a disembodied spirit throughout most of the time post- War of
the Ancients, it's known that he aided the orcs and inspired them, and
also chose Varian Wrynn as his champion -- leading to Varian's nickname
Lo'gosh, the tauren name for Goldrinn.
In Cataclysm,
adventurers would end up seeking the various Wild Gods to aid them in
the invasion by Deathwing's elemental minions, and Goldrinn's shrine was
purified from a massive pack of corrupted worgen. The Twilight's Hammer
cult summoned the twisted dark ancient Lycanthoth, attempting to
replace Goldrinn with this darker creature. Adventurers slew Lycanthoth
and drove the Twilight's Hammer away, and this is enough to finally
summon the spirit of Goldrinn into the mortal realm once more, where he
participated in the defense of Mt. Hyjal against Deathwing's minions.
In Legion, Goldrinn could be found in Moonglade, reflecting upon his champion Varian Wrynn's death in the Broken Shore. Goldrinn entered a meditative state during this point, but his body was a target by the Burning Legion, who sent out agents to corrupt and twist the wolf ancient. A mighty Archdruid (i.e. a druid player) and the druid of the talon Thisalee Crow arrived and drove away the demonic invasion. Thanking the Archdruid after being awoken, Goldrinn went off to warn the other Wild Gods of the Burning Legion's plot. He would participate in the assaults of the Broken Shore, leading an army of druids in fighting against the Pit Lord Xargraxach.
Goldrinn also had a brief role in the Battle for Azeroth expansion, where the Gilneas princess Tess Greymane attempted to become a worgen to properly know the plight of her people, despite the protests of her parents. Tess Greymane, with the aid of the night elven druid Vassandra Stormclaw, summoned Goldrinn in the Twilight Glade, and Goldrinn gave Tess a vision of an alternate scenario where she was a worgen during the time of the original Forsaken invasion of Gilneas, eventually causing Tess to realize that it's being Gilnean that's important, not worgen.
Nadina the Red
Nadina and the Hangry Dragon are both taken from an artwork in the WOW TCG that's a huge homage to former Blizzard community manager Christina Mikkonen, whose WoW character was called Nadina, and she had a little red dragon whelp companion called Hangry. It appears that whoever adapted the card art to Battlegrounds knew of the original intent of the TCG's homage!
Zapp Slywick & King Bagurgle
These two legendary cards are original to hearthstone. Zapp Slywick is a giant, mutated goblin who seems to be vaguely associated with the Boomsday Project? The art's ambiguous enough and he could just be a generic crazy goblin inventor. King Bagurgle is a TCG-original character, debuting in the TCG. Bagurgle's artwork was previously used in Hearthstone as the uncollectible "I Am Murloc" card generated by Elite Tauren Chieftain. On Bagurgle's artwork are a bunch of the pet Murlocs (including 'Murky' and the Space Marine 'Grunty') available as vanity pets in WoW, and look closely at Bagurgle's ornaments and you'll spot a bunch of Spongebob Squarepants Easter Eggs.
Righteousness: Righteousness in WoW is a Holy Paladin ability introduced in Legion, and is a passive ability that increases the Paladin's maximum health by 15%.
Gift of the Wild: Introduced in original vanilla WoW and eventually removed in Cataclysm, Gift of the Wild is a druid ability that essentially casts Mark of the Wild on all members of a druid's party -- which is mimicked by Hearthstone's version of the spell basically casting its version of Mark of the Wild on your entire board. In Cataclysm, Gift of the Wild was removed and regular ol' Mark of the Wild can affect the entire party instead.Icicle: Icicle shares its name with the Frost Mage mastery ability, "Mastery: Icicle", introduced in Mists of Pandaria. Mastery: Icicle is a passive ability where as a mage casts Frostbolt spells, it will store up icicles that will increase the damage that water elements unleash, and the stored icicles will be launched whenever the Frost Mage uses the Ice Lance spell which will deal extra damage.
Tome of Intellect: Tome of Intelligence (as well as equivalent items for Strength and Agility) is an item that is dropped by certain monsters in the Warcraft III game that will permanently increase the Intelligence stat of the Hero unit that touched it. Tomes don't exist in World of Warcraft, and the closest item with the name is the Tome of Dalaran Intellect, a cosmetic item that changes the animation of the Mage's Arcane Intellect spell to manifest the symbol of the mage nation Dalaran instead.
Power Infusion: Power Infusion is a Priest talent in World of Warcraft, which, upon activation, will allow the Priest to have a faster haste and decrease the Priest's other spells' mana costs. It was introduced in the original version of WoW, and, like all other abilities and talents, have been changed various times over the years.
The following spells are all original to Hearthstone: Call of the Void; Pilfer and Shadow Word: Ruin. Obviously, though, Shadow Word: Ruin is meant to be another variation of the priest's many Shadow Word spells. League of Explorers member Reno Jackson is featured in the card art for Pilfer.
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This segment is going to cover the cards added during the Taverns of Time themed arena event, as well as the 9 arena-exclusive cards added during the Kobolds & Catacombs era. I've also been looking through a bunch of older Tavern Brawls, and there are a couple of characters that probably deserve a slot here and I can't really fit them anywhere else. So...
III. Arena Events
Taverns/Caverns of TimeThe cheekily-named "Taverns of Time" is, of course, based on the Caverns of Time are from World of Warcraft. Located in the desert region of Tanaris (which also houses the town of Gadgetzan), the Caverns of Time might seem like merely a fancy ruin to observers, but is actually a nexus of time periods. The nesting ground of a large amount of bronze dragons -- the dragons who are charged to guard the time period itself, led by Nozdormu the Timeless One, the bronze dragons have remained vigil over the Caverns for decades.
However, during the events of Burning Crusade,
Nozdormu awakens and realizes that a sinister group is going through
time to sabotage several key historical events -- Thrall's escape from
Durnholde keep; the Battle of Mount Hyjal; Medivh's opening of the Dark
Portal and Arthas's Culling of Stratholme. Nozdormu enlists heroes and
the warchief Thrall himself in order to prevent the fabric of time from
being unraveled by these agents. (From an out-of-universe point of view,
it's a way for the WoW game-makers to insert four of the most pivotal
historical moments from Warcrafts I-III while still seeming like an epic journey). The warchief Thrall, during the events of Cataclysm, would also help to free Nozdormu when he was temporarily trapped within the Caverns of Time.The Caverns of Time is sort of like a raid hub, allowing players to go into one of several different raids to go into various points in Azeroth's history, overseen by Nozdormu's lieutenant Anachronos. Adventurers would first go to a period of time between the second and third wars, where they have to aid future Horde warchief Thrall to Escape from Durnholde Keep, and this is where the adventurers first met agents of the Infinite Dragonflight, corrupted future members of the bronze dragonflight who are the source of disturbance, intending to twist these historical moments to suit their own strange ambitions.
The second moment in time is the Opening of the Dark Portal which
would lead to the First War between the humans and orcs, where the
possessed magus Medivh opens the portal that bridges the fates of
Azeroth and Draenor in the Black Morass. The time-travelling adventurers
have to defend Medivh from the Infinite dragons Deja, Temporus and
Aeonus. The third spot in time is the climactic battle of the third war,
the Battle for Mt. Hyjal, where the adventurers participated in the huge battle to bring Archimonde and his Burning Legion down. During the events of Wrath of the Lich King, adventurers are enlisted to return to the Culling of Stratholme,
an event that occured during the events of the Third War, and most
people would note is the moment when Prince Arthas Menethil became truly
evil. Adventurers have to face off against the agents of the Infinite
Dragonflight trying to assassinate Arthas. Note that these four raids
are also the titles of the Hearthstone Chromie card's spells.During the events of Cataclysm, Nozdormu's champions would have to go to a possible, dystopian future known as "End Time" where they have to do battle against the true master of the Infinite Dragonflight -- Murozond. Murozond is, in fact, Nozdormu himself. Or rather, a possible-future version of what Nozdormu would be if he peeked into the future and saw his own death, causing him to become obsessed with preventing it. The adventurers would slay Murozond, allowing Nozdormu to retrieve the artifact known as the Dragon Soul to eventually defeat Deathwing and annul the 'bad future' that the Infinite Dragonflight hail from. The "Dragon Soul" raid from Cataclysm is also now accessible from the Caverns of Time.
Chromie
Chronormu, more commonly known as "Chromie", is a bronze dragon that deals with mortals in the guise of a cheerful female gnome. While bronze dragons favoured the forms of high elves when taking a mortal form, Chromie is one of the odd few to take the form of a gnome. Chromie first appeared in the original World of Warcraft, giving out quests in Andorhal and setting up camp in an inn in order to investigate the Scourge's time-tampering machinations, and aided in the falling of the lich Araj, as well as aid a local human in breaking a curse. During Wrath of the Lich King, Chromie acted as the bronze dragonflight's ambassador at Wyrmrest Temple, and would send adventurers to investigate the mysterious Infinite Dragonflight, stop their machinations during the events of the Culling of Stratholme, and their attempts to wreak havoc across the timeline, and in particular would send the future version of an adventurer to assist their past self.
During the events of Cataclysm,
Chromie appears in the form of a whelp (she previously appeared in the
form of a mature dragon), assisting in the defense of Mt. Hyjal from the
elemental armies of Deathwing. When the adventurers traveled back in
time to obtain the Dragon Soul, Chromie greeted them -- seemingly for
the first time, noting that they are strangers to her. After the events
of Mists of Pandaria, Chromie works with her companion
Kairozdormu in order to facilitate the trial of Garrosh Hellscream to
allow everyone to witness the truth of witness accounts via her
time-manipulating abilities, but Kairozdormu betrays Chromie and
blindsided her. Chromie (as a drake) would later travel to the alternate
Draenor during Warlords of Draenor, feeling guilt over her
carelessness regarding Kairozdormu. She helps Khadgar and some
adventurers track down Kairozdormu, only to find the treacherous bronze
dragon slain. Chromie helps the adventurers slay the spirit of
Kairozdormu.In Legion, Chromie (again as a whelp) asks the aid of an adventurer to help figure out the circumstances of her death, noting that this isn't how or when she was supposed to die. Not willing to risk tampering with timeline herself, Chromie sends her adventurer ally through time to figure out when the assassination was carried out, and the two of them went on a bit of a detective mission in order to figure out who and how Chromie was killed before she was supposed to die. Traveling through time and battling against various enemies in different parts of the timeline, the adventurer and Chromie also helped to prevent Chromie's deaths in various points of history. While they never found out who the assassin was, the timeways are apparently restored to how she should be.
Like many other more obscure World of Warcraft characters that have gotten a recent surge in popularity, such as Lunara, Chromie is also featured in Blizzard's MOBA game, Heroes of the Storm, as a playable hero.
Murozond
Murozond is the alter-ego of the Nozdormu of a future known as 'End Time', a future where the Cataclysm wrecked Azeroth, leading to a wasteland where all the heroes and villains of Azeroth -- even great Deathwing himself -- are dead. Murozond, driven mad by a combination of the knowledge of his fate and some trickery by the Old Gods, uses a powerful artifact known as the Hourglass of Time and attempted to interfere with the passage of time for his own insane goals. As the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight, Murozond is the true mastermind behind all the chaos in the different Caverns of Time instances, and would shatter all of time itself. Now a being that exists out of normal time, Nozdormu sends his adventurers to 'End Time', and despite Murozond's powerful time-manipulating abilities, the adventurers, aided by Nozdormu (who decides to fight for the present), manages to slay Murozond and restore time back to how it should be.
Non-Legendary Minions:
The following are all dragons or dragonkin (look up my old Blackrock Mountain piece for lore on dragonspawn, dragonkin and the rest of that stuff), but all of them are essentially original to Hearthstone. Worth noting that the Taverns of Time event is the debut of the Infinite Dragonflight in Hearthstone, a couple of years before they formally showed up as collectible cards in Descent of Dragons. A significant amount of them involve either Bronze or Infinite dragon colours, which fit with the whole Taverns of Time theme. These are all original to Hearthstone: Stasis Dragon, Possibility Seeker, Bronze Broodmother, Harbinger of Catastrophe, Rift Warden and Draconic Herald. Worth noting that Stasis Dragon uses Nozdormu's TCG artwork, and while 'Rift [X]' is the name of many mobs in the Caverns of Time dungeons, none are called Rift Warden.The following are all 'adventurers' that are original to Hearthstone: Master of Realities, Thief of Futures, Wildlands Adventurer, Cavern Dreamer and Timeline Witness. Cavern Dreamer's "work work" dialogue is a clear homage to the most iconic line of dialogue spoken by the Peon units from all three Warcraft games, the most basic worker unit for the Orc race.The following are from other races -- Stasis Elemental is an elemental Geode; Temporal Anomaly is a mana elemental; Timeway Wanderer is an Ancient of War; Timebound Giant is a Gemstone Colossus (specifically, the TCG artwork depicts Deathwing's minion Morchok); Infinite Wolf and Infinite Murloc are self-explanatory. Again, all of them are original to Hearthstone.
Weapons now... Fatecleaver is the only one, and it's also original to Hearthstone. And spells! Blessing of Aeons, Flash Forward, Reminisce, Ripple in Time, Grasp the Future, Deja Vu and Chronoshot are all original to Hearthstone. Wow, that's fast. Grasp the Future's card art shows the bronze dragon aspect Nozdormu in his high elf form.
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And the following are all cards from the 'extra' cards added to Arena during an event in 2018. During Blizzcon, each class was given three different cards to choose from, and the winner of the vote was incorporated into the arena as part of an event.
Deadeye: While there's no ability called "Deadeye" in WoW, there is a relatively major character, Kilrogg Deadeye, the chieftain of the Bleeding Hollow Clan, one of the major clans that participated as part of the Old Horde during the First and Second Wars. Kilrogg Deadeye was named such because he ripped out his left eye in order to achieve a vision of his death, and thus he became one of the fiercest warriors of the Horde, knowing the exact battle where he would meet his end -- and that all the battles he fought in is not that battle. Kilrogg participated in many battles, and would meet his end in Draenor at the hands of the Alliance commander Danath Trollbane. Various other characters would use the name Deadeye -- among them Kilrogg's son Jorin Deadeye, the alternate-timeline Kilrogg Deadeye during Warlords of Draenor, as well as various sniper enemies that are part of evil versions of the Horde named "Deadeye" presumably in Kilrogg's honour.
Polymorph: ???: Obviously, Polymorph: ??? is a reference to the classic mage spell Polymorph, which we covered waaaaay back in Basic. The colon is a reference to the various cosmetic variants that Mage players in WoW could attain to change the shape of the critter that the Polymorph spell morphed them into. The artwork is a combination of a frog and a sheep, the result of two of the most common transformation spells in Hearthstone -- Hex and Polymorph.
Hand of Salvation: Hand of Salvation was a Paladin skill in WoW, introduced during Wrath of the Lich King and eventually removed in Legion. Hand of Salvation would remove all threat from an ally for a period of time. It would be eventually replaced with Blessing of Salvation, which worked similarly but counted as a 'Blessing' spell instead of a 'Hand' spell.
Smoke Bomb: Smoke Bomb is a Subtlety Rogue honour talent added in the Cataclysm expansion, which, true to its name, creates a cloud of smoke around the Rogue user for a brief period of time, causing the Rogue to essentially become invisible to enemies. However, it does not protect the Rogue from area-of-effect attacks, which can still hit the Rogue. More recently, it is used as one of Valeera Sanguinar's skills when she made the jump as a playable character in Blizzard's MOBA game, Heroes of the Storm.
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| Teebu's Blazing Longsword |
Blazing Longsword: While it might be a slight coincidence, there is an item in WoW called Teebu's Blazing Longsword, a weapon that dropped off Ahn'Qiraj mobs as well as Baron Rivendare in Naxxramas. It's a weapon that has an extra chance to deal fire damage upon hitting, but is somewhat famous among the community for its similarity to a Sith Lightsaber from Star Wars. The card art used for the Blazing Longsword is actually borrowed from the WoW TCG card for Teebu's Blazing Longsword.
The following spells are all original to Hearthstone: Nature's Champion, Generous Spirit, Crackling Doom and Bottled Madness.
We've got a bunch of 'rejected' cards that we still saw, but they are all also original to Hearthstone: Boom of Elune, Thornstrike, Reload, Volley, Arcane Flux, Power Cosmic, Relic of Hope, Assassin's Training, Mindspike, Magma Shock, Refreshing Jolt, Combust, From Beyond and Training Blade. Out of these, the only ones to have any sort of lore is Retribution (it's the name of a Paladin specialization rather than a spell), Absolution (a Paladin spell in WoW instead of a Priest one), Axe of the Eclipse (an item that drops from Altairus) and Mass Resurrection (the spell's name actually became a real collectible spell later on in Rise of Shadows).
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IV. Tavern Brawls
Ahune, the Frost Lord:
Ahune is a mighty frost elemental serving the elemental aspect of water, Neptulon. Each year, during the Midsummer's Fire Festival, where the elemental plane is somewhat aligned with Azeroth, the Twilight's Hammer cult would summon Ahune in order to pit him against Ragnaros, the Firelord, and start a new elemental war. Adventurers would have to slay Ahune to prevent this war from happening, as well as to get some sweet, sweet loot.
In Hearthstone, a similar conflict happens, but it's instead Ragnaros and Ahune trying to one-up each other with tavern brawls and free arena tickets, with Ahune being the players' guide through the Midsummer Frost Festival.
The Headless Horseman
A subject of a brawl during Halloween, the Headless Horseman is another seasonal boss in World of Warcraft, an undead being riding a horse with a flaming skull that manifests only during Hallow's End, accompanied by his small army of Squashlings. The Horseman was once a knight of the Silver Hand, Sir Thomas Thompson, but due to a curse, he believes that he is alive and the others he is facing are dead. The Headless Horseman is faced upon the Pumpkin Shrine, and the battle against him takes place in three stages -- something that the Hearthstone Tavern Brawl mimics, which involves the Headless Horseman losing his pumpkin head for a phase or two. Hearthstone adds some extra dialogue, but all of the Headless Horseman's extremely hammy dialogue from World of Warcraft is retained.
In Burning Crusade, players would be able to uncover the backstory behind the enigmatic Horseman. Sir Thomas Thompson is a Paladin who had refused the culling of Stratholme during the Third War. Sending his wife to flee to Kalimdor with Jaina's fleet, Sir Thomas remained in Lordaeron to help the Silver Hand Knights destroy the Scourge. As the Silver Hand fragmented, Sir Thomas would join the Scarlet Crusade. The zealous organization managed to fool Sir Thomas, sending him to destroy towns that are supposedly 'infected' with the undead plague. One of these towns is filled with refugees, among them Sir Thomas's own family. A horrified Sir Thomas went mad when he realized what he has done, and began speaking in rhymes. He decided that the entire world has been infected and he alone can cure them. He murdered many of his comrades in Hallow's End, before he was finally subdued and beheaded. However, the dreadlord Balnazzar, disguised as the Scarlet Crusade leader Saidan Dathrohan, used his fel blood to infect Sir Thomas's corpse, cursing him and his madness to return to life every Hallow's End.
Gearmaster Mechazod
Gearmaster Mechazod, one of Hearthstone's first 'boss fight' Tavern Brawls, is an ancient mechagnome that was put together from titan parts found around Fizzcrank Airstrip during Wrath of the Lich King. Upon being awakened, the ancient mechagnome realized that he was surrounded with beings made up of flesh, and thus horrified, proceeded to want to transform all gnomes back to their original, 'natural' state of being made up of metal. Having transformed a group of gnomes into mindless Clockwork Gnomes, and refusing to listen to reason, heroes of the Alliance and Horde woudl journey into the Borean Tundra to put down the maddened mechagnome permanently.
"Captain" Cookie
"Captain" Cookie is one of the Tavern Brawl unique cards featured during the same Hallow's End brawl that featured the Headless horseman boss fight. In World of Warcraft, Cookie the Murloc is a member of the Defias Brotherhood, a level 20 elite Murloc that serves as the penultimate boss of the Deadmines dungeon. Cookie is the cook for the Defias Brotherhood. Adventurers would attack the Deadmines and eventually overthrow the entire Defias Brotherhood, but while the likes of Edwin VanCleef and Captain Greenskin would be permanently dead, Cookie survives.
During Cataclysm, the Deadmines was revamped with a new incarnation of the Defias Brotherhood, put together by Edwin's daughter Vanessa VanCleef, and Cookie, now promoted as "Captain" Cookie, serves as the final boss fight in normal mode, and the second-to-last boss in heroic mode. "Captain" Cookie has proclaimed himself the captain of the Defias Brotherhood's juggernaut, and now wears a pirate captain hat. While he still performs his duties as cook, anyone who questions the murloc's position has often came down with a severe case of food poisoning.
Lucifron
Lucifron is featured as a card in the Ragnaros-vs-Nefarian brawl. While many Blackrock Mountain bosses are adapted into the Blackrock Mountain adventure, either as actual bosses or as legendary cards used by said bosses, there are two who only made it into the Tavern Brawl version. Lucifron is one of the first bosses in the Molten Core raid, and is a high-ranking flamewaker that attempts to gain rank among the elemental plane, having a rivalry with fellow boss Gehennas. Lucifron is stationed as the keeper of the mighty core hound Magmadar, Ragnaros's favoured pet, who is a boss fought after Lucifron.
Golemagg
The mighty molten giant Golemagg the Incinerator is the final encounter before the Executus/Ragnaros boss fight in Molten Core. Mighty amongst Ragnaros's molten giant armies, Golemagg is particularly brutal and efficient, and is unrivaled for his sheer brutality. He has tamed two mighty core ragers to use as personal pets, the offspring of Magmadar, and as a result Golemagg has developed a rivalry with Magmadar. Golemagg guards one of the runes required to access Ragnaros's chamber.
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V. Battlegrounds
The
newly-announced Battlegrounds mode takes a bunch of the most popular
heroes and villains that has shown up in Hearthstone over the years. Out
of these, only King Mukla gets any sort of new artwork, at least until they introduced Battlegrounds skins. Not much to say about the skins, honestly -- they're all basically the dragon aspects in human form; or characters in like, beach uniforms or when they were young, or those wearing Shadowlands-themed armour .This segment was updated in March of 2020 to keep all the Battlegrounds lore in a single page. Battlegrounds has since been updated several times, with heroes and minions being added and removed to the ever-rotating roster. Currently, updated to June 2020.
A vast majority of the cards are ones we've covered before when they first debuted in prior expansions, but there are around less than a dozen cards that are original for this mode. We'll quickly go through them, although there's not much lore to go on most of them, but heroes and legendries first!
Galewing
Most of the heroes that are playable in Battlegrounds have previously debuted in Hearthstone in one way or another. Galewing is the first real hero who debuted in Battlegrounds first. Galewing is noted to be the personal and faithful companion of the Stormwind City flight master, Dungar Longdrink -- himself getting a legendary card in United in Stormwind.
Ve'nari
Ve'nari and her race, the Brokers, debuted in Shadowlands, where the heroes of Azeroth enter the realm of the dead, Shadowlands, in order to deal with Sylvanas Windrunner's plan to break the borders between the realms of the living and the dead. I have to be honest in that I don't know a whole ton about the lore of this particular expansion. The Brokers are humanoid energy beings whose heads resemble a floating piece of rune above their somewhat robotic bodies. They are independent beings from the factions in the Shadowlands like the Maw or the Covenants, and often act as soul-traders that freely move around the various realms of the Shadowlands. The Brokers operate in cartels, and act as independent vendors throughout the realm of the dead.
Ve'nari is a Broker who's located in the location known as the Maw -- the most hostile location of the Shadowlands that contains the most vile and wretches souls. Ve'nari has managed to survive inside the hostile environments of the Maw for years, away from the sight of the great being that rules over the Maw, Zovaal the Jailer. She trades in Stygia in exchange for useful items. Ve'nari also gives a number of daily quests. While it is currently unknown what her true motivations are, she is cordial to adventurers. Other members of Ve'nari's cartel, Cartel Ve, claim that she is a traitor, and it is later revealed that Ve'nari eliminated the rest of the cartel members assigned to the maw in order to ascertain a monopoly to the location.
Goldrinn, the Great Wolf
The only one to really have any sort of lore in the initial Battlegrounds-exclusive cards is Goldrinn. Also known as "Lo'Gosh", Goldrinn is one of the Wild Gods, demigods that embody nature itself. Other Wild Gods that Hearthstone players would be familiar with include Malorne, Aviana, and some argue, the Loa. Goldrinn embodies ferocity, savagery and willpower, and is worshiped by many cultures -- particularly the night elves and tauren, but trolls, goblins, dwarves and the orcs that come from Draenor all revere Goldrinn to some extent.
In
prehistoric times, Goldrinn was one of the primal wild spirits, and
Goldrinn is known to clash heavily with the moon goddess Elune, who
disapproved of Goldrinn's ferocity. However, when the first invasion of
the Burning Legion happened, Goldrinn participated among the other Wild
Gods in the War of the Ancients, and Goldrinn's savagery and unrelenting
will became legendary. He was ultimately slain after wiping out a vast
amount of the Burning Legion in what is now the Barrens, but while
Goldrinn died, not even death could stop the great wolves, and both the
night elves and tauren have legends of how Goldrinn's spirits would
guide them from the afterlife. Goldrinn's power is also significant in
the creation of the Worgen, where the original sect of Druids of the
Pack attempted to draw upon Goldrinn's power, but were unable to control
the great wolf's ferocity and went feral. While Goldrinn was either
dead or a disembodied spirit throughout most of the time post- War of
the Ancients, it's known that he aided the orcs and inspired them, and
also chose Varian Wrynn as his champion -- leading to Varian's nickname
Lo'gosh, the tauren name for Goldrinn.In Cataclysm,
adventurers would end up seeking the various Wild Gods to aid them in
the invasion by Deathwing's elemental minions, and Goldrinn's shrine was
purified from a massive pack of corrupted worgen. The Twilight's Hammer
cult summoned the twisted dark ancient Lycanthoth, attempting to
replace Goldrinn with this darker creature. Adventurers slew Lycanthoth
and drove the Twilight's Hammer away, and this is enough to finally
summon the spirit of Goldrinn into the mortal realm once more, where he
participated in the defense of Mt. Hyjal against Deathwing's minions.In Legion, Goldrinn could be found in Moonglade, reflecting upon his champion Varian Wrynn's death in the Broken Shore. Goldrinn entered a meditative state during this point, but his body was a target by the Burning Legion, who sent out agents to corrupt and twist the wolf ancient. A mighty Archdruid (i.e. a druid player) and the druid of the talon Thisalee Crow arrived and drove away the demonic invasion. Thanking the Archdruid after being awoken, Goldrinn went off to warn the other Wild Gods of the Burning Legion's plot. He would participate in the assaults of the Broken Shore, leading an army of druids in fighting against the Pit Lord Xargraxach.
Goldrinn also had a brief role in the Battle for Azeroth expansion, where the Gilneas princess Tess Greymane attempted to become a worgen to properly know the plight of her people, despite the protests of her parents. Tess Greymane, with the aid of the night elven druid Vassandra Stormclaw, summoned Goldrinn in the Twilight Glade, and Goldrinn gave Tess a vision of an alternate scenario where she was a worgen during the time of the original Forsaken invasion of Gilneas, eventually causing Tess to realize that it's being Gilnean that's important, not worgen.
Nadina the Red
Nadina and the Hangry Dragon are both taken from an artwork in the WOW TCG that's a huge homage to former Blizzard community manager Christina Mikkonen, whose WoW character was called Nadina, and she had a little red dragon whelp companion called Hangry. It appears that whoever adapted the card art to Battlegrounds knew of the original intent of the TCG's homage!
Zapp Slywick & King Bagurgle
These two legendary cards are original to hearthstone. Zapp Slywick is a giant, mutated goblin who seems to be vaguely associated with the Boomsday Project? The art's ambiguous enough and he could just be a generic crazy goblin inventor. King Bagurgle is a TCG-original character, debuting in the TCG. Bagurgle's artwork was previously used in Hearthstone as the uncollectible "I Am Murloc" card generated by Elite Tauren Chieftain. On Bagurgle's artwork are a bunch of the pet Murlocs (including 'Murky' and the Space Marine 'Grunty') available as vanity pets in WoW, and look closely at Bagurgle's ornaments and you'll spot a bunch of Spongebob Squarepants Easter Eggs.
Nat Pagle, Extreme Angler & Cap'n Hoggarr
We've talked about these guys before! Nat Pagle and Hogger are both Classic legendary cards, both of whom also made a reappearance as Old-God-corrupted versions of themselves in Whispers of the Old Gods. Apparently during the pirate-themed expansion of Battlegrounds, the two of them have also taken up piracy!
Dread Admiral Eliza
The Dread Admiral Eliza Goreblade was introduced in Legion, an undead pirate that once was a member of the Bloodsail Buccaneers in life. Shortly after the Cataclysm, Eliza discovered a pair of ornately-crafted cutlasses in a mysterious wreck near Booty Bay -- the Dreadblades Fate and Fortune. Upon picking up the weapons, Eliza received a vision of her on the helm of a gigantic pirate fleet, conquering all the seas of Azeroth as its mistress. However, what she did not know was that the blades were cursed, as the visions were sent by the eredar demon Talgath. Eliza was quickly corrupted by this vision, and her crew spent many, many years pillaging countless ships in a frenzy. The rest of the Bloodsail pirates attempted to kill her when they realized the depths of her insanity and the sheer amount of blood that the Dreadblades had spilled, but instead Eliza fought off her attackers and took control of their flagship, the Crimson Veil. In time, Eliza and her loyal crew withered away into skeletal undead, but all they cared for was feeding the Dreadblades' thirst of blood.
During the events of Legion, the eredar Talgath revealed himself to Eliza, and the undead pirate pledged herself and her crew to the Burning Legion without hesitation, and was instrumental in attacking a massive convoy of Alliance and Horde ships bringing supplies to the Broken Isles. The Uncrowned, a organization filled with rogues from both the Alliance and Horde, enlisted the aid of Fleet admiral Tethys (of the Bloodsail Buccaneers) and a particularly powerful rogue adventurer (your character, if you play an outlaw rogue) to take down Eliza's dread crew and stop this interference in the war effort. After a series of sabotage, the outlaw rogue pursued Dread Admiral Eliza into the Temple of a Thousand Lights in Azsuna, where she was slain and the Dreadblades claimed by the outlaw rogue as their mighty artifact weapon.
Ripsnarl
Ripsnarl Captain borrows his name and status as a worgen pirate from Admiral Ripsnarl. Admiral Ripsnarl, real name James Harrington, is a worgen employed by the Defias Brotherhood, first appearing in Cataclysm when Vanessa VanCleef resurrected the organization to avenge her father. James Harrigton went mad when he was afflicted with the worgen curse, slaughtering his family and was held in the stockades of Sentinel Hill. Vanessa VanCleef freed him, and recruited him into the Defias Brotherhood, intending to have the former sea captain pilot the Defias Brotherhood's fearsome juggernaut. Ripsnarl is the fourth boss fought in Cataclysm's version of the Deadmines raid.
Mythrax the Unraveler
The Mythrax the Unraveler is a member of the C'Thraxxi race, and a particularly titanic example of his species. Long ago, during the Aqir-Troll war, he assaulted Zandalar, but was defeated with the sacrifice of the snake loa Sethraliss. This clash between the powerful beings transformed the region of Vol'dun into a desert in the process, and Mythrax had been able to destroy one of the three seals keeping the blood god G'huun locked away. Mythrax's body was sealed within the temple of Atul'Aman.
Mythrax was heavily involved in the Zandalari storyline in Battle for Azeroth, and Emperor Korthek of the Sethrak people sought to free Mythrax in order to conquer the Zandalari trolls. With the aid of the treacherous sand troll Jakra'zet, Korthek was able to bring Mythrax back to life, albeit with the sacrifice of both their lives. The ancient C'Thraxxi aligned himself with the evil troll prophet Zul and attacked Dazar'Alor, the location of the final seal of G'huun, intent on reviving his ancient master. However, the arrival of the powerful loa of the Zandalari -- Gonk, Pa'ku and Kimbul -- held Mythrax at bay while the heroes of Zandalar fought off the prophet Zul. While Zul was slain, Mythrax managed to defeat the loa and destroy the final seal, awakening his dread master, G'huun, the 'fifth' Old God of Azeroth.
Mythrax's mission completed, he would return to his master's side in the ancient Titan facility of Uldir. However, adventurers would arrive in an attempt to slay G'huun before he fully awakens and escapes Uldir. Mythrax was the last line of defense in the facility, the penultimate boss of the Uldir raid that adventurers slew before they reached G'huun.
Agamaggan, the Great Boar
Agamaggan the Great Boar is a Wild God and an Ancient Guardian, one of the powerful beings to manifest out of the powerful forces of nature in Azeroth. Alongside many other Wild Gods like Malorne, Aviana and Goldrinn, Agamaggan joined in the fight with Cenarius and the Night Elves against the assault of the Burning Legion during the War of the Ancients. Agamaggan is noted to slaughter thousands of demons with his massive hooves, rains of thorns and acid breath, but was ultimately slain by the Burning Legion.
Agamaggan's remains would become what is known as Razorfen in modern-day Azeroth, and his descendants were the Quilboar race. In Cataclysm, the leader of the Death's Head tribe Charlga Razorflank, attempted to resurrect Agamaggan. The spirit of the Wild God was repulsed by the violent rituals of the Death Head's tribe, and instead asked adventurers to slay Charlga in the hopes that the Quilboar people could be freed from her corruption.
Charlga Razorflank
Charlga Razorflank, the Crone of the Razorfen tribe, is the primary antagonist of both versions of Razorfen Kraul. Leading both the Razorfen and the Death's Head tribe, Charlga is able to mobilize her tribe and drive away the tauren from southern Barrens, setting up shop in Razorfen Kraul. Unknown to most of her tribe, Charlga has made deals with agents of the Scourge, sending her tribe out to attack the Horde in order to gain blood to resurrect the demigod Agamaggan -- something that is in stark contrast to the Wild God's noble demeanour.
Aggem Thorncurse
Aggem Thorncurse, the Death's Head Prophet, was a member of the Death's Head tribe that is found in Razorfen Kraul. Aggem Thorncurse was one of the tribe's greatest shamans, and was able to call upon the power of the quilboar's demigod ancesor in order to summon boar spirits to aid him in battle -- while the Hearthstone card has no such effect, the spirit boars are depicted in Aggem's artwork. In the original version of Razorfen Kraul, Aggem Thorncurse was the second boss to be faced. He was slain at the hands of adventurers, but in Warlords of Draenor, Aggem's spirit is summoned by Warlord Ramtusk, the third boss in the revamped Razorfen Kraul. Warlord Ramtusk would summon the spirit of the fallen members of his clan, Aggem Thorncurse and Death Speaker Jargba, with a Spirit Link Totem, but all of them would be put down once more by adventurers.
Captain Flat Tusk
Captain Flat Tusk is an elite Quilboar found in the Razormane Grounds in Durotar. Known as the 'Captain of the Battleguard', Captain Flat Tusk is a relatively powerful enemy for the level that players are able to access her area. There are no quests associated with her, beyond the fact that she's likely the leader of the Razormane tribe's attempted expansion from the Barrens into Durotar. She essentially served as the equivalent for the notorious Hogger on the Horde side, where many starting orc or troll players are likely to fall to her, not knowing what the 'elite' tag means. Her appearance uses her model in Battle for Azeroth, which was the update that introduced female Quillboar models into the game.
Tarecgosa
The blue dragon Tarecgosa first meets the adventurer in Cataclysm during a questline where the adventurer attempts to use a powerful artifact called the Timeless Eye to figure out of a way to defeat Deathwing. Tarecgosa is one of the many blue dragons who refused to side with the blue dragon Arygos, who had joined up with Deathwing, and instead allied herself with Kalecgos and the adventurers. Tarecgosa escorts the adventurer in the blue dragon's home of the Nexus, aiding in fighting against the evil Twilight's Hammer cultists that has taken over the Nexus. During a confrontation with Deathwing, Tarecgosa is killed when she sacrificed herself to save Kalecgos. Kalecgos manages to use a spell to temporarily bind Tarecgosa's soul to the adventurer. The adventurer would briefly assume Tarecgosa's form to attend the draconic council and would witness the choosing of the new aspect of magic, Kalecgos.
After defeating Ragnaros and procuring his heart, Kalecgos is able to use it as a magical conduit to house Tarecgosa's essence. Thus, Tarecgosa's spirit lives on in the powerful magical staff Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest. While wielding the staff, Tarecgosa will periodically speak to the player.
Tony Two-Tusk
Tony Two-Tusk is a jungle troll pirate found in Northern Barrens' Fray Island, and would be briefly involved in a questline in Ratchet where several factions of pirates are fighting each other. Later on, during a different questline involving the rescue of the gnome Wizzle Brassbolts, the player would be asked to slay Tony Two-Tusk, and would face against him in Thousand Needles. Immediately after being slain, Tony Two-Tusk's spirit would immediately return and haunt the adventurer that kills him, and bugs the adventurer until he/she goes to Tony's eccentric wife Ajamon Ghostcaller, who would resurrect Tony. Later on, he appears in Mt Hyjal, aiding the fight against Ragnaros's forces during the events of Cataclysm.
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Here are the other unique-to-Battlegrounds minions:
The following are original to Hearthstone, although there are hints and tie-ins to some Hearthstone expansions: Wrath Weaver; Nathrezim Overseer; Annihilan Battlemaster; Pack Leader; Soul Juggler; Kangor's Apprentice; Lightfang Enforcer; Mama Bear; Dragonspawn Lieutenant; Draconic Enforcer; Bronze Warden; Twilight Emissary; Holy Mackarel; Deflect-o-Bot; Deck Swabbie; Scallywag; Arcane Cannon; Freedealing Gambler; Yo-Ho-Ogre; Bloodsail Cannoneer; Goldgrubber; Amalgadon; Sellemental; Arcane Assistant; Crackling Cyclone; Deadly Spore; Wildfire Elemental; Tavern Tempest; Gentle Djinni; Refreshing Anomaly; Faceless Partygoer; Champion of Y'Shaarj; Qiraji Harbinger; Bigfernal; Arm of the Empire; Tormented Ritualist; Acolyte of C'Thun; Warden of Old; Sun-Bacon Relaxer; Prophet of the Boar; Roadboar; Tough Tusk; Bannerboar; Bristleback Brute; Bonker; Dynamic Duo; Bristleback Knight; Bird Buddy; Reanimating Rattler; Palescale Crocolisk; Leapfrogger; Impulsive Trickster; Impatient Doomsayer; Insatiable Ur'zul; Famished Felbat; Pupbot; Mechano-Tank; Grease Bot; Holy Mecherel; Omega Buster; Saltscale Honcho; Swolefin; SI:Sefin; Seafood Slinger; Evolving Chromawing; Whelp Smuggler; Prized Proto-Drake; Prestor's Pyrospawn; Defiant Shipwright; Briny Bootlegger; Peggy Brittlebone; Nosy Looter; Smogger; Dazzling Lightspawn; Recycling Wraith; Gemsplitter; Budding Greenthumb; Witchwing Nestmattron
'Nathrezim' and 'Annihilan' are the real names of the Dreadlord and Pit Lord demon races respectively. Kangor's Apprentice obviously references the Boomsday Project character Kangor. Bristleback Brute and Bristleback Knight are original titles, but borrows their clan name from a Quilboar tribe in the Barrens. The Saltscale Tribe of Murlocs originate from mobs in Stranglethorn Vale. The Witchwing is a faction of harpies in Northern Barrens.
Reanimating Rattler borrows its card art from Skarik from Saviors of Uldum's single player mode. Evolving Chromawing borrows its card art from Chromatic Drake from Blackrock Mountain's single player mode. Recycling Wraith recycles (heh) its card art from Arcane Wraith from Valeera's Book of Heroes.
Red Whelp is a red dragon whelp, obviously --
whelps show up a lot in WoW as lesser dragon enemies. The
specific mob called 'Red Whelp' is a level 23-24 enemy in the Wetlands
area.
The Steward of Time is a bronze dragon, sharing its title with a level 70 quest-giver in front of the Caverns of Time in WoW. The artwork for the Steward of Time was previously used for Stasis Dragon in the Chromie arena event.
The Imprisoner is a Jailer -- Jailers are a race of demons introduced in the Legion expansion
that float around with fel-cages on their backs, which they use to
capture both the soul and the body of their enemies, sending the souls
to the Twisting Nether for eventual torture. There's not much lore
beyond that, though.
The Imp Mama is an Imp Mother,which are large, corpulent demons that debuted in Legion,
and while there aren't much lore about them, they are termed so due to
their power to transform their bellies into portals with which to summon
Imps from the Twisting Nether. They tend to float in pools of lava, but
they can fly around with the wings on their back. Imp Mothers have been
seen to occupy positions of relatively high rank among the Burning
Legion, with various Imp Mothers serving as bosses in various questlines
in Legion.
The Monstrous Macaw are level 41-43 giant parrots that fly around the Southsea Holdfast, an outpost of the Southsea pirates, in the Thousand Needles, and apparently are all tamed and kept by the Southsea Pirates that live there.
The Southsea Strongarm borrows its name and title from level 46 human enemies that are part of the Southsea Pirates, found in the Lost Rigger Cove of Tanaris. The Southsea Pirates of Lost Rigger Cove are building a new pirate vessel, while representatives of the Alliance and Horde are clamoring to attempt to curry favour with the neutral-aligned Baron Noggenfogger of Gadgetzan by ridding him of a pirate threat.
The Tide Razor is a boat belonging to the Southsea Freebooters, originally located and docked alongside the south-eastern coast of Kalimdor. A notable quest involves Horde Rogues having to enter the ship and slay a particularly fierce parrot. The Tide Razor has apparently been sunk prior to the Cataclysm, because the ship disappeared and was replaced by the Alliance ship The Bellipotent, although whether it was the Alliance forces or natural disaster that sunk the Tide Razor isn't clear.
The Steward of Time is a bronze dragon, sharing its title with a level 70 quest-giver in front of the Caverns of Time in WoW. The artwork for the Steward of Time was previously used for Stasis Dragon in the Chromie arena event.
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| Jailer (WoW) |
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| Imp Mother (WoW) |
The Monstrous Macaw are level 41-43 giant parrots that fly around the Southsea Holdfast, an outpost of the Southsea pirates, in the Thousand Needles, and apparently are all tamed and kept by the Southsea Pirates that live there.
The Southsea Strongarm borrows its name and title from level 46 human enemies that are part of the Southsea Pirates, found in the Lost Rigger Cove of Tanaris. The Southsea Pirates of Lost Rigger Cove are building a new pirate vessel, while representatives of the Alliance and Horde are clamoring to attempt to curry favour with the neutral-aligned Baron Noggenfogger of Gadgetzan by ridding him of a pirate threat.
The Tide Razor is a boat belonging to the Southsea Freebooters, originally located and docked alongside the south-eastern coast of Kalimdor. A notable quest involves Horde Rogues having to enter the ship and slay a particularly fierce parrot. The Tide Razor has apparently been sunk prior to the Cataclysm, because the ship disappeared and was replaced by the Alliance ship The Bellipotent, although whether it was the Alliance forces or natural disaster that sunk the Tide Razor isn't clear.Lil' Rag borrows his name and concept from a World of Warcraft vanity pet that, of course, is a chibi version of the iconic boss Ragnaros. Lil' Rag is also a skin in Heroes of the Storm for Ragnaros.
Fish of N'Zoth depicts the form that N'Zoth took when he offered Queen Azshara a deal to serve him, depicted in one of the trailers for Battle for Azeroth.
Razorfen Geomancer: Razorfen Geomancers are level 33 Quilboars aligned with the Razorfen tribe found in the original version of Razorfen Kraul. The Geomancers are able to cast Lightning Bolt and summon minor earth elementals called Stone Rumblers. The Razorfen Geomancers were removed when Razorfen Kraul were reworked in Warlords of Draenor.
Groundshaker: Groundshakers are based on Razorfen Groundshakers, whcich are level 33-34 Quilboar mobs in the original Razorfen Kraul. As their name implies, they are able to cast several spells that are related to the earth, like Ground Tremor and Earth Shock.
Necrolyte: The term 'Necrolyte' was first used in Warcraft I as one of the Horde units, specifically ones that are able to summon the undead from corpses in the battlefield. By the time of the Second War, however, the Necrolytes were all wiped out by the new warchief Orgrim Doomhammer. By the time of Warcraft III and World of Warcraft various other necromancy-related beings are given the title 'Necrolyte'. This specific card is likely to be based on Death's Head Necrolyte, a level 44 elite mob aligned with the Death Head's Tribe that reside in the Razorfen Downs raid. In addition to being able to cast the spells Cripple and Shadow Bolt, the Death's Head Necrolytes are able to summon three variants of skeletal minions.
Thorncaller: The term 'Thorncaller' has been used a couple of times for various Quilboars that are able to summon giant thorny vines, but since this is a Barrens-based expansion, the Thorncaller most likely borrows its name from Bristleback Thorncaller, a level 1-30 mob that is found in the Thornsnarl on the Red Cloud Mesa during Cataclysm. The Bristleback tribe are attempting to expand into tauren territory, and the tauren Adana Thunderhorn would task tauren adventurers to take out the Bristleback Thorncallers responsible for choking the life out of Mulgore's land.
Sewer Rat: Sewer Rats are critters found in the Black Temple raid, which are just there for flavour and are not capable of attacking adventurers. The card art for Sewer Rat is reused from the 'Giant Rat' token from Kobolds & Catacombs.
Ghastcoiler, Glyph Guardian, Herald of Flame, Rabid Saurolisk and Salty Looter return from the Rumble Run adventure mode. Seabreaker Goliath return from the Monster Hunt adventure mode. Elistra the Immortal is a treasure card from the Dalaran Heist single-player mode. Waxrider Togwaggle reuses the title and artwork from the Galakrond's Awakening adventure mode. Muruzond, Master of Realities and Stasis Elemental debuted in the Taverns of Time arena event, and shares its artwork with the one used there. Party Elemental and Molten Rock have showed up in Tavern Brawls before. Razorgore the Untamed and Garr are Adventure Mode bosses from Blackrock Mountain, and have shown up multiple times in miscellaneous Tavern Brawls. Icky Imp is a boss minion from One Night in Karazhan. We covered Kathra'natir in Book of Heroes.
Returning characters with new art! Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect, uses his WOW-TCG card art, but we've covered him when he debuted in Rise of Shadows. Likewise, Majordomo Executus debuted in Blackrock Mountain but receives new artwork. Nomi, Kitchen Nightmare is a new-artwork version of Chef Nomi from Rise of Shadows.
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VI. Duels
Interestingly, most of the card art for the treasures in Duels are borrowed from the WoW TCG, or, in the case of Impish Aid and Mindrender Illucia's hero powers, cropped from Willow and Illucia's respective card arts.
Summoning Ritual: Obviously, warlocks and demon hunters do a lot of demon-summoning, but the spell with a similar name -- 'Ritual of Summoning' -- is a Warlock spell that summons other players for a raid.
Moonbeast: no specific Moonkin/Owlkin has the title 'Moonbeast', but there is a glyph for druids called Glyph of the Moonbeast, which allows the druid player to cast certain spells without having to cancel out of their Moonkin form.
Royal Greatsword: While it could just be a coincidence, the Royal Greatsword's artwork and name bears a huge resemblance to the Great Royal Sword, also known as the Blade of Stormwind, a massive two-handed runeblade that was famously wielded by First War hero Anduin Lothar. Lothar wielded the sword throughout the First and Second War, but the blade was shattered in combat against the Horde Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer, in the fateful clash that claimed Lothar's life. The shattered blade was famously picked up by Turalyon, who defeated Orgrim with the shattered blade and rallied the crucial battle that caused the Alliance to gain an advantage that won them the Second War.
Shadow Word: Void is a talent for Shadow Priests added in Legion, and in Battle for Azeroth, it becomes an upgraded version of the Mind Blast ability, dealing Shadow damage.
The following dual-class Darkmoon racers -- Traktamer Aelessa, Joras Thuldoom, Zukara the Wild, Britz Blazebucket and Su Leadfoot -- are original to the Battlegrounds.
The following minions -- Mo'arg Outcast, Bonecrusher, Drocomurchanicas, Droplet of Insanity, Scion of the Deep, Nerubian Peddler, Fluctuating Totem, Impish Aid, Killmox the Banished One, Brewster the Brutal, Auto-Armaments, Deathstrider, Embercaster, Favored Racer, Herald of the Sealed Ones, Payload Totem Specialist, Demonizer, Scrapmetal Demolitionist, Voidfiend -- are original to Battlegrounds. Bonecrusher is notably very similar to a pink vanity pet in WoW that ties to the Noblegarden event.
The following spells and weapons -- Gift of the Legion, Warden's Insight, Herding Horn, Slate's Syringe, Stalking Pride, Wand of Dueling, Elemental Learning, Infinite Arcane, Men at Arms, Fractured Spirits, Deadly Weapons 101, Acquired Allies, Tempest's Fury, Invoke the Void, Gift of the Old Gods, Collector's Ire, Binding Chains, Marvelous Mycelium, Bow of the Beast, Yogg-Tastic Tasties, Humble Blessings, Ace in the Hole, Green Tortollan Shell, Chaos Storm, Demonology 101, Spiked Arms -- are original to Battlegrounds.
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