The second part of the expansions released in the Year of the Dragon is "Saviors of Uldum", whose storyline continued straight from the previous one, Rise of Shadows. Where we last left off in Rise of Shadows, a coalition of past Hearthstone villains led by Rafaam banded together and stole the entire city of Dalaran, strapping rockets to it and bringing it to Uldum for unspecified EEEEVIL-ness. Fortunately, the League of Explorers, a group of heroic archaeologists, ended up arriving in Uldum to oppose the League of EVIL and their nefarious plans.ULDUM:
The area of Uldum itself is an ancient segment of desert located on the southern coast of Kalimdor, most notable for containing a massive Titan facility. It is bordered by a couple of locales familiar to Hearthstone players -- Un'Goro Crater is located North of Uldum, while Tanaris Desert, where the town of Gadgetzan is located, was East of Uldum. South of Uldum was the Silithus Desert, wherein lies the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj and its dread, slumbering master, C'Thun.Long in Azeroth's prehistory and before the modern-day races populated Azeroth, Uldum was the location of significant conflict by the progenitor races first created by the Titans, themselves being the creators of the universe as we know it. Uldum is one of the three Titan facilities accessible by heroes of the Alliance and the Horde, alongside Ulduar and Uldaman. One of the Titan Keepers, Highkeeper Ra, built a facility known as the Forge of Origination in the lush Uldum forest, which would regulate the rhythms of Azeroth and fortify the dormant world-soul within the planet. It is also able to re-originate the planet in case of systemic corruption by the sealed Old Gods. Ra left several of the races created by the Titans -- the Anubisaths and the Tol'vir, races made of stone and marble -- to guard Uldum.
Centuries later (but still way before the modern-day conflicts), Highkeeper Ra was imprisoned, slain and his power stolen by Lei Shen, Thunder King of the Mogu (we covered Lei Shen before). Lei Shen led his mighty Mogu army, bolstered by Zandalari trolls and various slave races, into Uldum to claim the Forge of Origination. The Tol'vir of Uldum, in desperation, activated the Forge of Origination, although changed the setting to only affect the nearby land. This unleashed a wave of death that instantly killed Lei Shen and his invading army, but also wiped out all life around Uldum, turning it into a barren desert. The surviving Tol'vir, ensuring that no one would be able to claim Uldum, shrouded the entire area with powerful magic to shield the eyes from mortals.This remained for thousands of thousands of years, and as the First War, Second War and Third War ravaged Azeroth, Uldum remained secluded and quiet. Throughout the original World of Warcraft and its first two expansions, adventurers and the Explorer's League were able to discern hints that there was something behind the massive sealed walls of Uldum, but the area remained inaccessible until Cataclysm. Deathwing's explosive return to Azeroth shattered the Titanic device that separated Uldum from the neighbouring areas, causing Uldum to be open to all. While this is a boon to the explorers and archaeologists on both the side of the Alliance and the Horde, the presence of an ancient Titanic super-weapon was of interest to everyone around. Deathwing and his lieutenant Al'Akir arrived with a massive army of elementals in order to recruit the Tol'vir to their forces, while heroes of the Alliance and the Horde scramble to foil Deathwing's plans. Al'Akir's mighty wind powers created massive sandstorms that buried a large amount of the Tol'vir's settlements, and the Tol'vir race was split, with a group of them, the Neferset, deciding to bow to Deathwing who promised to rid them of the Curse of Flesh, while the rest -- the Ramkahen tribe -- worked together with the races of the Alliance and the Horde to fight their treacherous brethren.
THE LEAGUE OF EXPLORERS:
We've discussed the history of the League of Explorers (or Explorer's League, as they're called in WoW) in the League of Explorers expansion, and, of course, with Uldum itself being a location of great importance to Azeroth's history. Brann Bronzebeard and Harrison Jones, as mentioned before, were key NPC's in the original Uldum dungeon storyline in World of Warcraft.I am going to be lazy and just link you guys to my original coverage of these four characters in League of Explorers, where they first debuted. While all but Brann were original to Hearthstone, they were steadily added into World of Warcraft as NPC's, with Sir Finley showing up in Legion, while Elise and Reno showed up in Battle for Azeroth. Most of their lore here comes from the story mode.
Elise the Enlightened:
After serving as mission control during the events of League of Explorers and leading a group of younger explorer cadets to explore Un'goro Crater in Journey to Un'Goro, Elise continues a trend of actually joining in on the action here as she embraces her druidic powers to fight, although the adventure mode establishes that Elise is a Druid/Priest. While dual-class characters is a complete impossibility for playable characters in World of Warcraft, we're going to assume that the League of Explorers works on slightly different rules. For what it's worth, the D&D-bases WoW RPG does allow for multi-classing.
She's represented in this expansion both as a Druid legendary and as an alternate hero for druids. Notably, Elise has always been shown without glowing eyes, making her somewhat of an oddity among night elves in WoW, and the druid hero portrait is the first time Elise's shown with glowing eyes.
Dinotamer Brann
Brann Bronzebeard, continuing an illustrious career from being the 'narrator' of the old Warcraft RPG sourcebooks and being a recurring NPC throughout various Titan-related dungeons throughout World of Warcraft, returns now riding a big-ass dinosaur! Brann is a Hunter/Warrior in the adventure mode -- hunter sort of makes sense since I guess he uses ranged weaponry (and has befriended King Krush in Hearthstone canon), and warrior, uh... because... Brann's two brothers are warriors? I guess?
Note that the dinosaur depicted on Dinotamer Brann's artwork actually matches King Krush's appearance in World of Warcraft closer than the actual King Krush artwork in the game does -- King Krush in WoW is actually green, whereas the card in Hearthstone borrows the artwork from another dinosaur in the TCG... which happens to be blue.
Sir Finley of the Sands
Brann's not the only one with a mount, because Sir Finley returns as a paladin minion, apparently riding around on an angry giant scarab friend called Maxwell! Finley is a Paladin/Shaman, the two classes in Hearthstone that are most associated with Murlocs in general. In addition, Finley is a 'Sir' and a knight, making him very Paladin-esque.
Maxwell is a giant jeweled scarab beetle, and is unique to Hearthstone.
Reno the Relicologist:
Apparently all this time, Reno Jackson is a Rogue/Mage? Rogue makes sense, since Reno's a bit of a thief... but Mage is a bit out of the left field, although the adventure mode and flavour text does lampshade this by noting that Reno is an 'amateur mage' who uses that massive crystal-powered gatling gun in lieu of a magical wand.
LEGENDARIES:
The mighty Siamat, Lord of the South Wind, is a member of the Conclave of Wind, four mighty djinn (a powerful variant of air elementals) that serve directly under Al'Akir the Windlord, master of the air elementals. Deathwing and Al'Akir promised the Nerferset faction of the Tol'vir a cure to their flesh forms, and sent Siamat as an ambassador, curing them of the Curse of Flesh. Siamat made good on this promise, using his magics to cure the entire population of the Neferset and turning them back into stony bodies... but Siamat was so weakened by this ordeal that the Neferset were able to subdue and capture him within a tower in the center of the city. As adventurers charged into the Lost City of the Tol'vir, they would accidentally free Siamat from the tower, and face Siamat as the final boss of the dungeon, eventually slaying the Lord of the South Wind. Siamat's dialogue is paraphrased from his dialogue in World of Warcraft, with his summon dialogue in Hearthstone ("winds of the south, come to my aid!") a shortened version of his aggro dialogue in WoW ("winds of the south, rise and come to your master's aid!"); whereas his attack dialogue in Hearthstone ("unleashed!") is a shortened form of his introduction dialogue in WoW ("I am unleashed!")
Siamat's fellow members of the Conclave of the Wind -- Anshal, Nezir and Rohash, each lording over a different direction of wind -- would serve as bosses in the Throne of the Four Winds dungeon. The other three conclave members are apparently happy to leave Siamat to the mercy of the Neferset, and bicker over who gets to fill the power vacuum left by Siamat. In Hearthstone, the League of Explorers accidentally unleash Siamat as they trek through the Lost City to do battle against Vesh, and end up battling him.
King Phaoris
King Phaoris was a member of the Tol'vir race with a unique ram-horned head. He is the king of the Ramkahen Tribe, a group of Tol'vir who chose to remain cursed with the Curse of Flesh rather than allying with Al'Akir and Deathwing. Angered at Al'Akir's attack on the city of Orsis, King Phaoris would seek the aid of traveling heroes and adventurers from the Alliance and Horde to both unite and help solve the problems of Ramkahen City, before eventually taking the fight to do battle against both the Neferset tribe, as well as Al'Akir's lieutenants. In the process, King Phaoris would recapture Neferset City and become the undisputed leader of the Tol'vir of Uldum.
King Phaoris would make an appearance in Legion as part of the Monk class storyline, where he met with Li Li Stormstout and a monk adventurer that had became the Grandmaster of the Order of the Broken Temple, who sought Phaoris's aid to hunt down a mighty artifact known as the Fists of the Heavens, to wield against the invasion of the Burning Legion. Phaoris informs the Grandmaster of the mighty Fists of the Heavens, directing the Grandmaster to obtain a way to re-enter the air elemental plane of Skywall by hunting down the lightning revenant Nader.
High Priest Amet:
High Priest Amet is a Tol'vir allied with the Ramkahen tribe, choosing to keep the Curse of Flesh and retain their organic body and stand in opposition against Al'Akir and the treacherous Neferset tribe. High Priest Amet is the leader of Ramkahen's religious sector, and appears to be responsible for divining the future in the Vir'naal's Lake's waters. Adventurers seeking to seek aid of the Ramkahen Tribe in their fight against Deathwing's forces will have to seek to earn High Priest Amet's favour among the Ramkahen High Council. Amet's visions have apparently been clouded ever since the barriers around Uldum fell, and he would seek the adventurers' aid in purifying the river of the sea serpents polluting it, as well as kill a group of Neferset ritualists, before High Priest Amet would arrive with the other leaders of the high council -- Vizier Tanotep and High Commander Kamses -- to vote on the matter of war with the Neferset. While Amet ultimately abstains from voting, he did note that their nation's chance of victory rests in a decision made not by the Council, but by circumstance. Which would happen immediately afterwards, when Phaoris's brother was mortally wounded when the Neferseti attacked without provocation.
Dark Pharaoh Tekahn, Plague Lord of Flame
Dark Pharaoh Tekahn is the king of the Neferset Tribe, a group of Tol'vir that chose to ally themselves with Al'Akir and Deathwing in exchange of having the Curse of Flesh removed. Tekahn himself is among the many members of the Neferset who was returned back into his original stone-like visage. Dark Pharaoh Tekahn commands the large armies of the Neferset Tribe from Neferset City, a sub-zone in Uldum, and after a quest chain given by King Phaoris, the storyline of Ramkahen City would culminate in Phaoris sending the adventurer to do combat with Dark Pharaoh Tekahn. Slaying Tekahn would cause the Neferset Tribe's greatest asset, an army of giant colossi, to stop working, and would drive the Neferset tribe away -- the remaining Neferset forces would retreat into the Lost City of the Tol'vir, where they make their last stand against Ramkahen and their mortal allies.
In Hearthstone, Tekahn first appeared as the playable warlock lackey hero in the Great Dalaran Heist, the story mode of Rise of Shadows. Interestingly, his appearance in Rise of Shadows had an inaccurate portrayal of how Tekahn looks, giving him a crocodilian face (similar to Amet's model) as opposed to the golden bird-head that Tekahn has in his World of Warcraft appearance. Whether this was intentional or not, he would return back to his golden bird-head in his Saviors of Uldum artwork. Tekahn serves as the absolute final boss of the Tombs of Terror, being granted the power of the Plague of Flames. As the Plague Lord of Flame, Tekahn was aided by fellow E.V.I.L. lackey, the fire elemental Rakanishu, returning from Rise of Shadows. While the League of Explorers were able to defeat the four ancient Plague Lords, Tekahn would bar their way, and while he was ultimately defeated, Tekahn would buy enough time for the rest of E.V.I.L. to escape with Dalaran in tow.
Vessina
Vessina re-appears in Saviors of Uldum as a collectible card! She previously appeared in Rise of Shadows as a member of League of EVIL, one of the playable Lackeys in the Great Dalaran Heist and apparently a minion of Hagatha. We've covered her and her race, the Sethrak, when we covered Rise of Shadows. Apparently she's gotten a far, far fancier outfit in Uldum, and ends up serving as one of the potential bosses as the League of Explorers make their way through Uldum.
Highkeeper Ra
When the Titans created Azeroth and left it behind, the mightiest of the creations they left were the Titanic Watchers (sometimes also called Keepers, Sentinels, or, mistakenly, Titans). One of these is the Highkeeper Ra (or Ra-Den), who fought in the ancient wars against the ancient servants of the Old Gods rampaging across primordial Azeroth. Ra was specifically empowered by the High-Father of the Pantheon of Titans, Aman'Thul, and wielded the Fist of Ra-Den. Ra used the artifact to bestow life upon the Mogu, and used it to do battle against the elementals and the Black Empire. Ra was one of the Keepers who fought and brought down Al'Akir the Windlord, and was involved in the creation of the elemental planes, where they sealed the Elemental Lords and their minions. After the Old Gods were defeated and imprisoned within various Titan facilities, the Titan-forged races set off to nurture the maturing world-soul of Azeroth. Ra set off to install the Forge of Origination in Uldum, but on his way, he found the remnants of the dead Old God, Y'Shaarj, and tasked his mogu servants to seal these remnants in a subterranean vault underneath what would eventually become Pandaria. Ra would then install the Forge of Origination in Uldum, tasking the Tol'vir and Anubisath to watch over it. Ra would also be responsible for the construction of the fortress of Ahn'Qiraj, serving as a prison for another Old God, C'Thun.
The Titans, meanwhile, have left for centuries, leaving Ra and the other Titan Watchers in charge of this slumbering world. The Titan Watchers would eventually empower five dragons, and Ra granted the bronze dragon Nozdormu the powers of his titan creator, Aman'Thul, transforming Nozdormu into the Aspect of Time.However, eventually, beyond Azeroth, other conflicts were happening, and dissension happened between the Titans of the Pantheon. Ra and the other Watchers felt a surge of power and fragmented memories, and found that they could no longer contact the Pantheon in the stars. Eventually, Ra realized that the Pantheon was dead, and what they felt was their dying cry as the traitor Sargeras slew the other Titans. Highkeeper Ra was driven into absolute despair due to this, extracted whatever lingering power of Aman'Thul was left, and stored it in a mountain vault near the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Ra was dejected and retreated into the catacombs beneath the land in depression, becoming a hermit and leaving his titan-forged servants to continue their work alone.
Ra was silent and ignored the happenings of the surface world, and thus was unaware as his Mogu servants were struck by the Curse of Flesh, turning them into creatures of flesh and blood which then fought for dominance and power. A young warlord, Lei Shen, would approach Ra in his chamber, and demanded answers about the Mogu's purpose. Lei Shen waited for weeks for an answer from Ra, and realized that Ra has abandoned hope. Lei Shen berated Ra, angrily noting that Ra has "abandoned the work of the titans", which caused Ra to awaken from his stupor. Ra revealed the truth about the Pantheon's death to Lei Shen. Instead of causing Lei Shen to fall into despair, however, this caused Lei Shen to declare that he will complete the Pantheon's work himself, attacking and incapacitating Ra, eventually stealing Ra's powers and stealing his artifacts. While Lei Shen was unable to tap into the full potential of Ra's artifacts, it was enough power to allow Lei Shen, the Thunder King, to rule over Pandaria and eventually lead to his death in Uldum. Ra himself was confined in a hidden cell beneath Lei Shen's capital, the Throne of Thunder.
Thousands of years later, during the events of Mists of Pandaria, Lei Shen was resurrected by a group of mogu and Zandalari trolls, and he was intent on reclaiming his old power. Adventurers of the Alliance and Horde stormed the Throne of Thunder, and after defeating Lei Shen, would be able to access the secret chamber where Ra-den, Fallen Keeper of the Storms, was chained up. Broken and wounded by thousands of years of imprisonment, Ra had came to the conclusion that Azeroth was twisted beyond redemption, and decided to destroy all of Azeroth. The fight against the adventurers caused Ra to realize that they are not his enemy, and he decided that there was hope for Azeroth yet. Ra notes that he does not believe the mortals could save Azeroth... but they have earned the right to try. With those words, Ra disappeared in a flash of light.
Colossus of the Moon & Colossus of the Sun
In WoW, the Colossus of the Moon was one of two gigantic Uldum Watchersthat guarded the chamber where the mighty artifact Scepter of Orsis lay. His partner was called the Colossus of the Sun. Initially, the two Colossi were buried in sand within the city of Orsis, but if adventurers attempted to interact with the relics they were guarding, the two massive titans would rise from the ground and do battle with any intruders. Uldum Watchers are giant golem-like statues that are found almost exclusively in Uldum, guarding the ancient Titanic structures. In their quest to assist the Orsis tribe of the Tol'vir, adventurers would have to slay the two Colossi, and bring both the Scepter they guarded and the cores of the two Colossi to General Ammantep of the Orsis.
In Hearthstone, to fit with the whole Reborn/mummy flavour, the Colossus of the Moon has been wrapped up with mummy-style bindings around its chest, arms and lower face. Also in Hearthstone, we have only seen the Uldum Watchers represented exactly once -- the Ancient Watcher all the way back in Classic. The Colossus of the Sun serves as a boss in the Tombs of Terror adventure mode, and it can summon its 'brother', the Colossus of the Moon.
Armagedillo
Surprisingly, Armagedillo is not original to Hearthstone! Armagedillo is a massive level 84 giant armadillo with prominent tusks and a spiked carapace that wanders around Uldum, between the sub-zones Orsis and Mar'at, and is able to breathe fire and unleash hell upon any travelers that would attempt to attack it. The Armagedillo is one of the very few armadillos in World of Warcraft to actually be gigantic, because for the most part, the armadillo model in WoW was restricted as pets. Upon slaying the Armagedillo, adventurers would be able to obtain the unique mace Armagedillo's Tail.
In Hearthstone, the Armagedillo has clearly been subjected to copious amounts of upgrades by Dr. Boom, with goggles, rockets and a giant laser cannon strapped onto the monster's carapace.
Anka, the Buried
Anka the Buried is a female mummy unique to Hearthstone. There's really not much lore about her. In World of Warcraft, mummies are actually almost-exclusively a troll undead variant, whereas none of the actual areas set in the deserts have any sort of mummy-style undead. The only Azerothian non-troll mummy to ever appear outside of Hearthstone is Miimii, a pet companion.
Zephrys the Great
Zephrys the Great is original to Hearthstone, and is meant to be a member of the djinn variant of air elementals like Siamat. He does have a pretty unique face and facial hair, though, compared to the more thickly-set features of World of Warcraft djinns -- all of whom basically look exactly like Siamat. Zephrys isn't the first djinn variant original to Hearthstone, because we've got Benevolent Djinn and Jeeru before.
Octosari
Octosari is a giant octopus unique to Hearthstone. World of Warcraft doesn't actually have an octopus model that looks like Octosari, with the two octopi-variant Kraken models looking far more armoured with chitin-like armour carapace as well as multiple slit-like eyes (compare the Cataclysm/Mists-era model and the Battle for Azeroth-era model). Octosari, meanwhile, looks a lot closer to a real-life, biologically accurate octopus. Octosari serves as one of the potential bosses in the Tombs of Terror adventure.
QUESTS:
Legendary quests return!
Untapped Potential / Ossirian Tear
The term "Untapped Potential" is obviously original to Hearthstone, but "Ossirian Tear" borrows its name from Ossirian the Unscarred, a mighty Anubisath that guards the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. During the War of the Shifting Sands where the Qiraji-allied Anubisath of Ahn'Qiraj fought against the bronze dragonflight, one particular warrior, Ossirian, was able to cripple the mighty dragon Grakkarond, and while Grakkarond was able to maul Ossirian nearly to death, Ossirian was recognized by the leader of the Qiraji, the Twin Emperors, as the only warrior among their ranks to be able to counterattack against the mighty dragons. His role in grounding the dragon caused the near-dead Ossirian to gain favour with the dark force that reigned over the Qiraji -- the slumbering Old God, C'Thun. When Ossirian woke up, he found himself transformed into a unique being called a "Horusath" (thus far, Ossirian was the only known member of this race), with great power and a hawk-like head. Ossirian's essence was thusly bound to several ancient crystals of unknown origin, causing Ossirian to have near-invulnerability... at the cost of having his life bound in proximity to said crystals. Thus Ossirian was known among the Qiraji as the "Unscarred", being revered as an invincible warrior.
Ossirian stood vigil in the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj for years, until adventurers breached the ruins and faced off against him. There, they shattered the crystals that granted Ossirian his invulnerability, and slew the previously-invincible warrior. Notably, these very same crystals are seen in the card art for Untapped Potential, being manipulated by Elise Starseeker.
Hack the System / Anraphet's Core
While "Hack the System" is almost certainly original to Hearthstone, once more, Anraphet's Core borrows its name from Anraphet, a mighty Uldum Watcher with a unique model that serves as the third boss in the Halls of Origination dungeon. The official dungeon adventure guide notes that the Anraphet is a maintenance unit that mans the inner workings of the Halls of Origination... but if it detects an intruder, it will access programs built into the building to get rid of the intruders. This includes activating laser beams, as well as trying to cause the cavern itself to crumble. Unlike the Hearthstone card, Anraphet does not actually have anything to do with stone golems.
Unseal the Vault / Ramkahen Roar
Unseal the Vault is original to Hearthstone, while Ramkahen Roar borrows its name from the Ramkahen tribe, a faction of tol'vir living in the city of Ramkahen, which controlled the territory of North Uldum until Al'Akir arrived and laid siege on several tol'vir cities, causing the Neferset tribe to defect. Ramkahen became the last bastion of the tol'vir in fighting against Al'Akir's forces. Adventurers of the Allaince and Horde will end up allying with the Ramkahen tribe and assist them in beating back both the treacherous Neferset as well as Deathwing's other minions.
Corrupt the Waters / Heart of Vir'naal
Corrupt the Waters is original to Hearthstone, showing Hagatha summoning a bunch of Mucklings -- themselves a creature type unique to Hearthstone, originally seen in the Witchwood expansion. Heart of Vir'naal borrows its name from the Vir'naal River, a river that flows from Vir'naal Dam throughout Uldum before terminating at the sea.
Supreme Archaeology / Tome of Origination
Supreme Archaeology borrows its name from Rafaam's iconic line where he boasts that he is "Rafaam, the Supreme Archaeologist" in the League of Explorers. The reward, Tome of Origination, shares a name with the main super-weapon in Uldum, the Forge of Origination, as well as the artifact that Rafaam tries to steal from the League of Explorers in, well, the League of Explorers expansion, the Staff of Origination.
Activate the Obelisk / Obelisk's Eye / Desert Obelisk
There are multiple obelisks in Uldum -- three, in fact -- the Obelisks of the Moon, the Sun and the Stars, which were once used to mask Uldum from the rest of the world, and activating all three would give players access to the Chamber of the Moon area. Those obelisks, however, are more accurately represented by the neutral Desert Obelisk card, which requires three of to activate its effect. So "Activate the Obelisk" seems to just be original to Hearthstone.
Raid the Sky Temple / Ascendant Scroll
Raid the Sky Temple and Ascendant Scroll are both original to Hearthstone, although there are several Sky Temples featured in Uldum, those being the floating palaces that lead to Skywall, the elemental plane of air that Al'Akir and his lieutenants operate out of. According to the designers, the Sky Temple in this case is specifically meant to be the dungeon Vortex Pinnacle, a dungeon populated with air elementals.
Making Mummies / Emperor Wraps:
As with almost all mentions of mummies in this expansion, this is original to Hearthstone. Anyone else find it weird that Paladins are associated with mummies and the undead? No? Just me?
Bazaar Burglary / Ancient Blades
Original to Hearthstone, this one just shows Togwaggle stealing a bunch of stuff from a bazaar. As far as I can tell, there's no bazaar area in WoW's version of Uldum. The reward, Mirage Blade, is likewise original to Hearthstone.
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Originally published as a separate article, enjoy Tombs of Terror, Saviors of Uldum's adventure mode!
Saviors of Uldum: Tombs of Terror Story Mode
I did a couple of brief edits for the League of Explorers, so I don't have to repeat myself.
Basically, the 'story so far' is that after Rafaam's EVIL group stole the city of Dalaran (and a brief mishap where they crashed it into Blackrock mountain), the League of Explorers banded together to fight against EVIL in the deserts of Uldum, a familiar locale both for WoW and Hearthstone players, since we've explored Uldum during the League of Explorers expansion. There's a short Tavern Brawl 'prequel' chapter prior to the Tombs of Terror release. After a brief battle against the EVIL agent Terraviss, Elise Starseeker goes around digging Sir Finley out of where he's buried in the sand, help Brann tame King Krush, help Reno Jackson get a handle on his 'magic wand', and face off against Dark Pharaoh Tekahn before heading into Uldum proper.
Basically, after discovering that the League of EVIL has entered the Titan facility Uldum, the League of Explorers banded together to stop these evildoers from whatever they are planning. EVIL has awakened the mighty Plague Lords, previously sealed within Uldum. These monstrously powerful beings quickly unleash plagues upon the land of Uldum themselves, plunging the region into chaos. (All the Plague Lords are original to Hearthstone.
The League of Explorers first journeyed through the Lost City. Presumably this is the Lost City of the Tol'vir, a dungeon and the former seat of power for the Neferset tribe, who allied themselves with Deathwing and Al'Akir. The Lost City is besieged by a Plague of Murlocs, and at the end of the region is the mighty Vesh, Plague Lord of Murlocs, a swarm of murlocs bound together with arcane wrappings who refers to themselves in plural.
The next area the League journeyed through was the Scorching Dunes, presumably just referring to the desert dunes around Uldum. The plague lord that has afflicted the desert was K'zrath, Plague Lord of Madness. While original to Hearthstone, the art style used for K'zrath, being a mass of purple flesh with yellow eyes, as well as a tentacle-y lower body, is consistent with how Old God corruption is depicted to look like in Whispers of the Old Gods... and Old Gods have a pretty strong 'madness' theme to them too. Are the Plague Lords connected to the Old Gods in some way?
The
third area the League journeyed through was Khartut's Tomb, the tomb of
a long-dead To'vir king, and a location in North-east Uldum that was
involved in a long storyline revolving around Harrison Jones and the
Lost City of Uldum in the Cataclysm expansion. Khartut's Tomb is plagued by Xatma, Plague Lord of Death, who seems to be some sort of Voidwalker-esque creature with an Anubisath's head? Either way, still original to Hearthstone.Eventually, the League makes their way to the Halls of Origination, a five-man dungeon in Uldum, and where, in World of Warcraft, Brann Bronzebeard would be an active NPC helping your party out as you travel through the Halls and investigate the long-buried Titanic secrets within, and eventually face off against the long-buried Titanic Watchers within. The League of Explorers fight against the monstrous entity called Icarax, Plague Lord of Wrath.
Eventually, they reach the Inner Sanctum, where they were faced with the once-ruler of the disgraced Neferset Tribe, Dark Pharaoh Tekahn (whose lore we covered both in Saviors of Uldum and Rise of Shadows). Tekahn has been empowered withe the powers of the Plague of Flames, and has the aid of fellow EVIL lackey Rakanishu, and has vastly more powerful abilities than before. One of Tekahn's most powerful abilities was the power to control the stone guardians of the Halls of Origination, unleash 'the Final Plague', which summoned the Four Old Gods. However, once Tekahn started losing, Rafaam took this as a chance for him and the rest of EVIL to escape, telling Tekahn that their 'deal' was done -- Uldum was Tekahn's, but only if he could keep it. The League of Explorers eventually triumphed against Tekahn, bringing him down. However, while Tekahn and the other Plague Lords were defeated, the battles were enough to delay the League enough for the rest of EVIL to have absconded with Dalaran and whatever they were looking for in Uldum. Where have they gone to? Only the next expansion can tell us... (it's Dragonblight. Dragons, y'all.)
OTHER BOSSES:
Four mighty Titanic Watchers were left by the Titans to slumber deep beneath the Halls of Origination, protecting the mighty device that is capable of wiping out all life on Azeroth. After the faithful battle between the Titan-born Anubisath and Tol'vir of Uldum against Lei Shen's Mogu army in ancient times, the Titanic Watchers slumbered within the Halls of Origination, awakening only during the events of Cataclysm where Uldum became a warzone between the forces of Deathwing's minions and the mortal champions of the Alliance and the Horde. An exploration group led by Brann Bronzebeard would finally unearth these mighty Titanic Watchers to outside influence for the first time in millennia. Unfortunately, the centuries of isolation has driven the Watchers just a little bit crazy... and they were not the type to look kindly to mortal races in the first place.
Isiset, Construct of Magic, was built and tasked to regulate the arcane energies contained within the Halls of Origination, but she has became enraptured with her own arcane mastery and is convinced that it made her perfect. The battle against her involves her summoning mighty mirror images (referenced by the collectible card Conjured Mirage) and summoning the power of the stars in the sky to battle the mortal interlopers. "Gaze to the heavens! What do you see?" is the iconic phrase that she starts out her fight with. Some of her other quotes ("bask in my radiance!", "insignificant!" and "The glimmer of your life, extinguished.") are taken from her boss fight, and generally, Hearthstone's Isiset plays up her insane pride at being the Construct of Magic.
The four Titanic Watchers that serve as the bosses for WoW's Halls of Origination raid (Ammunae, Setesh, Rajh and Isiset), as well as fellow WoW raid boss Earthrager Ptah, are all possible penultimate bosses for the Halls of Origination chapter, referencing where they were drawn from.
Ammunae, Construct of Life, is the next Titanic Watcher that adventurers have to contend with in the Halls of Origination, after the maintenance guardian Anraphet, and the Construct of Magic, Isiset. The ram-headed Titanic watcher regulates the functions of the Halls of Origination that would restore life on Azeroth after the activation of the Halls of Origination. Again, like the other Watchers, Ammunae's gone a bit cuckoo after centuries of isolation.
Ammunae's quotes from WoW, "This chamber will flourish with your life energy!", "(your) life, unleashed!" and "the cycle continues..." are reused in Hearthstone. Like Isiset, Hearthstone's team plays up Ammunae's insanity and obsession with the cycle of life and death, and to prune life so that he can help to regrow life. In particular, it seems like Ammunae is more than happy to allow the Plagues to wipe out all life on Azeroth so that he can help to 're-seed'.
Ammunae's artwork was previously used for the random adventure minion Orsis Guard in Hearthstone.
Setesh, Construct of Destruction, is the next boss that WoW adventurers face when they travel through the Halls of Origination after Isiset. The Titans created Setesh as a regulator of chaos and destruction, although it's noted that "if he ever falls into corruption, the result would be disastrous". It appears, of course, that he's gone a bit insane, just like the other Titanic Watchers. Setesh, like some of the other Uldum Titanic Watchers, have a unique model where they have an animal-like head -- a jackal, in Setesh's case.
Some of Setesh's quotes from World of Warcraft are reused in Hearthstone, among them "do you understand now?", "you fear that which you cannot control, but can you control your fear?" and his death quote, "harness... your... hatred..."
Rajh, Construct of the Sun, was the final boss of the Halls of Origination, being given the power of 'a thousand suns', and the mightiest of his kin. It's noted that Rajh controls energy that can both snuff out life and give it, and he wields mighty energy channeled from the sun itself. Once apparently worshiped by the Ramkahen, Rajh, like his kin, has gone crazy.
His quotes, "Defilers, wretches, fiends! Begone from here!", "blazing rays of light, take me!", and "I send you to your deity." are taken from his WoW boss fight. Again, like his watcher kin, Hearthstone plays up Rajh's insanity and he is all about kicking out every single intruder from the Halls of Origination with the Power of the Sun.
Like Ammunae, Rajh's artwork was used in a League of Explorers boss card, the Anubisath Temple Guard.
Earthrager Ptah is a Bone Wraith, and the most notable Bone Wraith to appear outside of Lord Marrowgar in Icecrown Citadel. Earthrager Ptah is one of the bosses in the Halls of Origination, residing outside the sub-area Tomb of the Earthrager. Ptah is a mighty undead monster who is able to manipulate the piles of corpses left near his lair by the Tol'vir Temple Guardian Anhuur, another boss in the dungeon. Two of his quotes, "dust to dust" and "more carrion for the swarm", are taken from his World of Warcraft boss fight.
Playing a camel card will cause Ptah to note that 'riding camels won't save you this time!', referencing part of WoW Ptah's mechanic where casters are able to ride camels to allow them to cast spells while fighting Ptah.
General Husam is one of Dark Pharaoh Tekahn's most fanatical supporters. One of the many members of the Neferset tribe who have regained their original stone forms after Tekahn's deal with Al'Akir's forces, General Husam serves Tekahn loyally and is the first boss to be engaged by the Alliance and Horde adventurers when they assault the Lost City of the Tol'vir dungeon. Husam is noted to originally be one of Uldum's foremost guardians, appointed personally by the Titans themselves. During the events of Cataclysm, Husam was the one responsible to lead the rebellion to subdue Siamat, double-crossing the air elemental prince and imprisoning him. His relationship with Siamat is referenced if you play Siamat against him.
Husam's Hearthstone quotes, "Invaders, you shall go no further!", "insolent rat!" and "tread lightly!" are all quotes he says in his WoW boss fight. His usage of the Explosive Runes trap card is a reference to how he makes use of detonating mystic traps in his WoW boss fight. His hero power, Shockwave, is the name of one of the attacks he uses in WoW as well.
High Prophet Barim is another Neferset Tol'vir loyal to Dark Pharaoh Tekahn, serving as the third boss in the Lost City of the Tol'vir dungeon. He aided General Husam in rebelling against and subduing Siamat, and serves as the final Neferset warrior that adventurers must defeat before encountering Siamat.
Barim's quotes, "Begone, you are not welcome here!", "kneel before me", "the Heavens will take you!", "may peace find you now" and "Death is only the beginning for me!" are all modified versions of the quotes he says in World of Warcraft.
Mekgineer Twizzleflux the Insane is a crazy gnome riding a massive gnomish steam armor that was once in charge of an expedition to Uldum. However, he and his crew dug too deep into one of the cursed tombs (in the sub-area Cursed Landing), and his team was transformed into cursed gnomes. Twizzleflux was somehow able to contain the curse within his suit of armour, and the crazed gnome is able to curse any healthy gnomes that arrived into more of his ilk. Twizzleflux serves as a minor boss in a questline where a gnomish AI called the AIDA Terminal recruits adventurers to put down the crazed, cursed goblins. While in the WoW storyline Twizzleflux was destroyed alongside the other cursed gnomes, apparently judging by his armour, in Hearthstone canon, he survived and was recruited by EVIL.
The Runaway Ruby is a random misplaced submarine that's out of control, which is a reference to the M.A.C. Diver, a device that is involved in a gnome-centric storyline in Uldum. While investigating the curse unleashed by Twizzleflux, the adventurers would come across the M.A.C. Diver, which caused a massive Trail of Devastation when it moved from the Cursed Landing to the Tomb of the Sun King. Adventurers would follow the M.A.C. Diver and harvest its fusion core to help the AIDA Terminal wipe out the curse.
Belloc Brightblade is an archaeologist and a member of the Horde-aligned Reliquary, the rival organization to the Explorer's League. Belloc is an NPC that Horde players can interact with in both Orgrimmar and Silvermoon City, and is involved in a questline in Uldum where he plotted to have Horde adventurers assassinate the treacherous Deathwing-allied goblin Commander Schnottz. Brightblade's plans were one-upped by Brann, however, who killed Schnottz first. Brightblade would also participate in both Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor, where he would send Horde adventurers to look and investigate both Pandaria and Draenor for powerful ancient artifacts. Belloc is noted by some members of the Horde to be less of an archeologist and more of a looter (even by his own daughter) since he is more interested in gathering artifacts instead of understanding them.
Belloc's name, of course, is a reference to Indiana Jones' enemy, Rene Belloq, from Raiders of the Lost Ark, to keep up with the theme of Harrison Jones being an Indiana Jones pastiche.
Gorebite is a crocolisk that is summoned by the villainous Tol'vir Caimas the Pit Master, who unleashes three crocolisks to attack an adventurer who attempts to rescue the Ramkahen Tol'vir Tahet during a quest chain where the adventurer attempts to earn the loyalty of King Phaoris's viziers. The first crocolisk to attack the adventurer is Gorebite, unique for being one of the few purple crocolisks in World of Warcraft for a long time.
The Winged Guardian is a bearded, winged lion creature introduced in Cataclysm as a collectible flying mount. The Winged Guardian is a unique creature that's apparently a Titan creation that once served the Tol'vir, and is one of the first mounts to be made purchasible for actual money in Blizzard's shop. There's not much lore behind it other than that, and is essentially a unique creature.
Ol' Barkeye, Squeamlish, Mr. Chu: These are all characters original to Hearthstone, and are respectively the playable lackeys for the hunter, druid and warrior class during the Rise of Shadows expansion. Like Vessina and Tekahn, they've apparently gotten a neat desert-themed makeover! And poor Squeamlish still thinks she's fighting for the good guys! Not much actual lore is added here, but I am so happy to see these dumb lackeys show up again in this expansion.
Ol' Toomba returns! First appearing as a washed-out ex-pirate and treasure hunter in Dalaran, Ol' Toomba appears in Rise of Shadows as one of the possible bosses in the Dalaran Heist, where some EVIL lackeys sort of encounter him and beat him up for his treasure. Apparently, he's also made his way to Uldum, in search for completely different treasure.
Miscellaneous E.V.I.L. Members:
As usual, Hearthstone's adventure mode has a lot of characters original to Hearthstone. Among them are these, who are just minor members of the League of EVIL. We've got Lt. Herring, the para-trooping Murloc. Armadillobot is presumably a smaller version of the Armagedillo, only it's an armadillo piloting a mech. Taskmaster Maru is another Vulpera member of EVIL.
Terraviss is a Sethrak member of the League of EVIL who was involved in the Tombs of Terror preview Tavern Brawl as an assassin sent by Vessina to defeat Elise Starseeker, and the two will reference their previous encounter if Elise meets Terraviss in the Tombs of Terror adventure. Sword Dancer Sirinell is another Sethrak EVIL minion. Snakeflinger Scalesnout is a gnoll who shoots snakes at you with a catapult. How evil!
Dark Ritualist Zafarr is a Tol'vir spellcaster, and presumably one that's associated with Tekahn and the Neferset tribe considering his skin is all stony. I'm assuming they're members of EVIL, though. Tarkus, meanwhile, explicitly serves Tekahn, a noble Tol'vir paladin who does not compromise in serving his master. Tarkus also has a very cool artwork.
Ermavar is a female Tol'vir serving Tekahn, and is known as the 'waker of flame'. I'm also pretty sure this is another one of those cases where Hearthstone introduces artwork for a female member of an exclusively-male race in WoW.
Waste Wanderer Cardish is yet another member of the League of EVIL, and so is Vera Ridley. They're both humans. Janak is a Hozen member of EVIL. Not much to say about them.
Thrud (who uses the same artwork as Bazaar Mugger) is an ogre thug. Battrund is an ogre mummy! The R.O.B.O.L.D. is a giant mechanical kobold, presumably created by Dr. Boom, like all other robotic creatures associated with the League of EVIL.
The Demolisher 3V-11 is an upgraded version of the regular Horde Demolishers, persumably upgraded by Dr. Boom to be an actual tank as opposed to a catapult. Dovo Fastfuse is a goblin member of the League of EVIL, and according to dialogue with the explorers, apparently a wash-out that failed to enter the League of Explorers.
Miscellaneous Uldum Residents:
And some bosses aren't even explicitly EVIL's minions, just a bunch of people who happen to get in the League of Explorers' way! Some of them could be members of EVIL, but they don't dress the part. Beetle Herder Zenda is a sand troll who really loves scarab beetles. Sandshaper Rhogi is also a sand troll, but he makes sand minions instead.
Kasa Softspeaker is a random Tauren who just got caught up in the Plague of Madness, and isn't even aware of what she's doing until the League of Explorers literally knocked some sense back into her.
Jythiros of Questions, seems to be a much more benign Tol'vir, who is guarding the tomb like a sphinx, asking the League of Explorers to answer riddles. He's also got fleshy tiger-flesh! Avozu the Hunter, meanwhile, is kind of ambiguous. Sure, he's got the Neferset stone-skin, but all he's doing is 'hunting the big game'.
Jolene Knottley is a writer that's chronicling the 'fall of Azeroth', but appears to be influenced by a Shade of some sort that's floating behind her.
Illidara Sunsdawn is identified as a member of the Reliquary, the League of Explorer's Horde counterpart that is comprised mostly of blood elf archaeologists.
Lich Baz'hial is a female lich, and is apparently, uh... just hanging out in Khartut's Tomb? She even lampshades that she has no idea what she's doing here. Later on, when she became a playable hero in Battlegrounds, her flavour text indicates that she serves the plague lords and she decorates Khartut's Tomb with the bodies of the adventurers that go there to slay her. The "Margrave Baz'hial" skins depict that later on, Baz'hial would torment Plaguefall, a location in Mardraxxus.
Edra is a dryad who mistakes the League of Explorers for the cause of the plagues, and attacks them thanks to this mistake. Ilza Grimdrum is just some random Draenor orc who shows up and really wants to fight.
Alda Petrik isn't affiliated with the League of EVIL, but this female worgen is apparently looting Khartut's Tomb and that's a big no-no for the League of Explorers, apparently. Pillager Drasar is a Trogg pillager who also seems to be unrelated to the League of EVIL, taking the chance of the chaos to do some looting. Kham appears to be the same sort of spirit like the Ancestral Guardians, albeit stronger and apparently well-skilled in using spectral blades.
Thudd Lockspring is a female Mechagnome, and, like many other races in WoW, Hearthstone's artwork is the first time we've ever seen a female older-model Mechagnome, since all Mechagnome models look male (with massive mustaches!) Recently, Mechagnomes have became a playable race for the Alliance, but the playable Mechagnomes, at least at the time of writing, seem to be more 'cyborg gnomes' than the traditional completely-robotic mechagnomes.
Ozara is a unique creature to Hearthstone, having a body and design similar to the Earth Elemental Lord, Therazane, albeit made out of sand and with a far, far friendlier face. Presumably, Ozara is a similar sort of powerful earth elemental. She's mostly jovial and treats the encounter with the League of Explorers as some sort of a game more than a hostile confrontation.
Pyramad is just an earth elemental created out of pyramid pieces. He's original to Hearthstone. The Battlegrounds blurb for him notes that he used to be a 'mastermind' of sorts, but was forced to become the muscle of the group because no one cared for his schemes.
Nash, the Greatworm, is a gigantic worm that moves through the desert. Both its name and its boss fight mechanic seems to be a homage to Kobolds & Catacombs boss Gnosh the Greatworm, and the flavour text pokes fun at this by noting that 'rumour has it that Nash is just the back end of Gnosh'. Nash is also prominently featured in the trailer for Saviors of Uldum, where Reno blew him up by flexing his biceps. No, really.
Kyriss is a Storm Dragon, a variation of dragons with whitish-blue colouration that are able to harness the power of lightning, having been sworn to serve the Titanforged. Storm dragons are first seen in the Legion expansion, and the civil war between the Titan-loyal Storm Dragons and a different rebel group led by the renegade dragon Nithogg is a huge part of the Stormheim storyline of that expansion.
Sazin appears to be the same type of elemental as the collectible Cloud Prince, and presumably one of the many air elementals left behind in Uldum after Al'Akir's defeat.
Kasmut is a female Anubisath (and, like the female Tol'vir, the first of her kind to canonically appear anywhere) and is a guardian of Khartut's Tomb who is convinced that the League of Explorers will only make the plagues worse.
Sothis is noted to be a Titanic Watcher, part of the security measures of the Halls of Origination. Brann identifies Sothis as being activated by the League of EVIL to keep out any intruders into the Halls of Origination. Sothis uses the model of the Wrath of the Lich King/Cataclysm era Watcher model.
Zaraam is an Ethereal with some... unconventional head wrappings, apparently corrupted by the Old God C'Thun. He's original to Hearthstone.
The Water-Toting Murlocs are adorable, and presumably are created or drawn to Uldum by the Plague of Murlocs. The Suspicious Palm Tree has been transformed into a monstrous Treant-like creature similar to the art style used for the monster tyrants in Witchwood, so presumably it's Hagatha at work.
The Sand Puffer Frog, Skarik and the Totally Normal Jar are both original to Hearthstone as well, just the wildlife of the area, I suppose. What is it with the Hearthstone team putting octopi in the desert?
Speaking of marine life in the desert, Wildtooth is original to Hearthstone. Presumably it's made in homage of the 'land shark' meme? The Dire Bat is just a giant Azerothian Bat. The only mob in WoW to have the name "Dire Bat" is a Felbat demon in Darkshore. Glack the Scorpid is... well, he's just a giant scorpid living in the desert.
Obviously, the Sinkhole, the Trap Room and A Beautiful Oasis are all original to Hearthstone. A Beautiful Oasis shares its artwork with the collectible druid card Hidden Oasis.
Other bosses we have covered before include Dark Pharaoh Tekahn, Siamat, Vessina, Colossus of the Sun, Octosari and the Weaponized Wasp.
Karl the Lost is a Paladin minion you can recruit if you pick Sir Finley, and the saga of George and Karl begun in the flavour text of Journey to Un'Goro cards, where they were the two Silver Hand Recruits featured in the cards Lost in the Jungle and Vinecleaver. The two eventually got so lost until they battled adventurers as a boss in Kobolds & Catacombs' dungeon run, and were separated after that, with George calling himself George the Fallen, going insane, and joining E.V.I.L., assuming his best buddy Karl is dead. Turns out Karl's not dead, he's joined up with the League of Explorers!
Addarah is a Priest minion available for Elise to recruit, and she's a member of the Explorer's League in World of Warcraft (as "Adarrah"), first appearing as a minor NPC in Burning Crusade. In Wrath of the Lich King, Addarah was captured by Drakkari trolls and were held in a cage, awaiting some sort of hideous ritual, but Harrison Jones and an adventurer companion freed her from the cage. In Cataclysm, Addarah was on board a ship that was assaulted by kraken-like creatures, and she would become a quest-giver in the Kelp'thar Forest region, and later on appear alongside Harrison Jones and other memebrs of the Explorer's League in Uldum, where they helped out the investigation in the area.
While it's most likely just a coincidence, Crusty the Crustacean shares its name with a level 32 rare mob found in the Sar'theris Strand, the coast of Desolace zone, a location that's pretty far off from Uldum. Crusty doesn't have any sort of quest or NPC tied to him. He's just there, doing crab stuff.
The Crawling Claw minion is a vanity pet in World of Warcraft, itself borrowing its name from a classic Dungeons & Dragons monster. In the description of the spell, apparently the Crawling Claw is created when an evil djinn fought against the Ramkahen Tol'vir tribe, and in desperation, the djinn attempted to do a ritual to transfer his soul into the body of a monkey. The Ramkahen slew him mid-ritual, causing only part of his essence to be transferred through and possess the monkey's paw.
The Runaway Gyrocopter is a Gyrocopter, a gnomish-created helicopter flying machine that made its first appearance in Warcraft III, and was eventually upgraded into the Flying Machines during the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne expansion. In World of Warcraft, though, the term "Gyrocopter" and "Flying Machine" has basically became interchangeable. There are two main Gyrocopter models in World of Warcraft, one with a massive helicopter rotor and one without -- the Runaway Gyrocopter is the one without.
The Blade of the Burning Sun is a one-handed blade that drops from Rajh, one of the bosses in the Halls of Origination. Likewise, the Staff of Ammunae is a weapon that is associated with Ammunae, although it's crafted via the archaeology profession instead of dropping from a boss. Not much lore beyond that, though, and it's very likely that the two of these items are picked simply because they already had artwork for them from the WoW TCG.
The Book of the Dead, while far more likely to just be a homage to the Mummy movies, actually does have a counterpart in World of Warcraft, as an off-hand weapon that has the additional ability to summon skeletons to fight for you. It's an item dropped in pre-Cataclysm Scarlet Bastion by the Dreadlord Balnazzar when he disguised himself as the Scarlet Crusade's leader, Saidan Dathoran, one of the bosses in the dungeon.
The Hearthstone is a reference to the actual Hearthstone item in World of Warcraft (and the item that this game is named after), where it is a stone that teleports an adventurer to the last inn they visited -- something that the Hearthstone treasure actually does, teleporting you back to Bob's Tavern when you cast it. Gnomebliterator is a reference to the final leg of the quest involving Twizzleflux, called 'Gnomebliteration', where the adventurers activate a machine that wipes out the infected, cursed gnomes.
Murky's Battle Horn is a reference to Murky, one of the characters original to Heroes of the Storm similar to Brightwing and Lunara. I'm pretty sure that it's a matter of time until Murky shows up in Hearthstone, though, so I won't go too much into detail about him. The Alchemist's Stone is a minor item in World of Warcraft, a more powerful version of the Philosopher's Stone used in the alchemy profession.
Out of the other signature treasures, Maxwell, Lei Flamepaw, Flo Slatebrand and Amakir the Light are all original to Hearthstone, whereas all the other treasures are essentially accessories to the four main adventurers. Presumably, Lei and Flo are just more members of the League of Explorers, while Amakir is a member of the Ramkahen that shows up to help them. Bob the Bartender from Dalaran also returns as Bazaar Bob, who's escaped the stolen Dalaran and is just going around the Uldum locations in his tent.
COLLECTIBLE MINIONS:
(left to right: a Neferset Tol'vir, a Ramkahen Tol'vir and an Anubisath)
I think there's enough Tol'vir influence and lore here to go a bit deeper into the Tol'vir stuff. Early on in Azeroth's prehistory, the Tol'vir and the Anubisath were two of the many titan-forged race to be created by the Titans. The Tol'vir were had leonine bower bodies, while the Anubisath were bipedal with jackal heads. Many Tol'vir and Anubisath accompanied Highkeeper Ra to install the Forge of Origination in Uldum, and many stayed there to protect over the area. When Ra vanished many years later, the Tol'vir of Uldum began developing their own culture, separate from the Tol'vir that lived in Northrend's Ulduar. There's the whole event with Lei Shen attempting to claim the Forge of Origination for himself, but learning of Lei Shen's murder of Highkeeper Ra, the Tol'vir of Uldum decided to activate the Forge and wipe out Lei Shen's entire army, before using the Titanic devices to seal Uldum from the outer world. At some point in time, the Old Gods' Curse of Flesh spread when agents of the Titan Keeper Loken traveled to Uldum, afflicting the Tol'vir and Anubisath there and turning their bodies of stone into flesh and bone.
In Northrend, the still-obsidian-bodied Tol'vir were eventually overrun and enslaved by the Aqiri (precursor race to the Nerubians), which bound the Tol'vir to their will, terming them "Obsidian Destroyers". These Obsidian Destroyers were treated as slave races and were even often mistaken as mere golems, while the Aqiri, and their Nerubian descendants, would adapt the architecture of the Tol'vir as their own... and, when, in turn, during the time of the Third War, the Undead Scourge spread and turned a vast amount of the Nerubian population into undead, the Obsidian Destroyers too were bound to a new master, and saw much use in the Third War.
Yet another group of enslaved obsidian Tol'vir and Anubisath found their way in Ahn'Qiraj, under the rule of the Qiraji that served the slumbering Old God, C'Thun.
In Cataclysm, the now flesh-and-blood Tol'vir people were once more exposed to the civilization outside their lands when Deathwing's arrival into Azeroth shattered the Titan devices that kept Uldum hidden. Al'Akir unleashed a massive sandstorm that buried the town of Orsis, and a group of Tol'vir, the Neferset, agreed to the bargain, leading to the civil war between the Neferset and the Ramkahen, which, with the aid of adventurers of the Alliance and the Horde, was won by the Ramkahen tribe.
Injured Tol'vir, Phalanx Commander & Ramkahen Wildtamer: These cards are original ranks and types that don't exist in WoW, but represent the flesh-and-bones Tol'vir of Ramkahen, who chose to remain mortal and non-stony. Not much to say here. Ramkahen Wildtamer, most notably, is a rar example of a female Tol'vir, whereas the Tol'vir in World of Warcraft appear to be all male.
Neferset Thrasher & Living Monument: These cards, meanwhile, represent Tol'vir who chose to return back to their original stone form (or were never afflicted with the Curse of Flesh to begin with). None of these have any direct counterparts in World of Warcraft.
Neferset Ritualist: The Neferset Ritualist is a member of the evil Neferset tribe, and in World of Warcraft, they were a specific type of level 84-90 mob found in Neferset City. They were able to cast several spells like Shadow Bolt and Meteor.
Anubisath Defender: Anubisath Defender is a specific level 62 Anubisath mob found in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. After the adventurers slayed the Silithid Princess Huhuran, five Anubisath Defenders would appear and serve as a sort of a mini-boss before the raid can proceed to the next boss, the Twin Emperors Vek'lor and Vek'nilash. The Anubisath Defenders themselves are able to summon lesser Silithid and Qiraji to aid them.
Khartut Defender: Khartut Defender is a mummified Tol'vir unique to Hearthstone, although his name refers to a sub-area in Uldum, Khartut's Tomb, a tomb of a long-dead Tol'vir king. It's in Khartut's Tomb that the adventurer and the Explorer's League representative Harrison Jones would start the encounters that would lead them into investigating the Lost City of the Tol'vir.
Anubisath Warbringer: The Anubisath Warbringer were a specific level 43-49 type of Anubisath that were part of the one-time world event, the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj, and these Anubisath Warbringers accompanied the massive armies of Silithid and Qiraji that poured out of Ahn'Qiraj into the surrounding areas of Tanaris, Feralas and Thousand Needles.
Psychompomp: The Psychopomp is an Anubisath that is original to Hearthstone.
Tomb Warden: Tomb Warden appears to be a mechanized version of the "Horusath" hawk-headed variant of the Anubisath. It's original to Hearthstone.
Conjured Mirage: The Conjured Mirage isn't exactly a Tol'vir or an Anubisath, but is still related to the Titanic races. One of the bosses in the Hall of Origination in Uldum was the mighty Isiset, Construct of Magic, who was a Titanic Watcher that regulates the arcane energies within the Halls of Origination. However, Isiset has became corrupted by her own arcane mastery and the apparent perfection it has granted her. The actual boss fight against Isiset includes her continually summoning several mirror images, each of which allows Isiset access to a certain type of magic. Like many of the other Titanic watchers in the Halls of Origination, Isiset uses a unique model inspired by real-life Egyptian culture compared to other Titanic watchers.
Questing Explorer, Beaming Sidekick, Bug Collector, History Buff, Dwarven Archaeologist: These are all cards original to Hearthstone that are all members of the Explorer's League. They're all original to Hearthstone.
Bazaar Mugger, EVIL Recruiter, Expired Merchant, Frightened Flunky, Armored Goon, Sunstruck Henchman, Kobold Sandtrooper, Infested Goblin, Mischief Maker: These minions are all humanoid races that appear to be loyal to E.V.I.L. to some degree, and are all original to Hearthstone. Mischief Maker in particular is apparently attempting to do the Indiana Jones swap-out-an-item trick with the Golden Monkey from League of Explorers. The artwork for Bazaar Mugger also doubles as the boss Thrud.
Crystal Merchant, Garden Gnome, Dune Sculptor, Arcane Flakmage, Brazen Zealot, Sandhoof Waterbearer, Bloodsworn Mercenary, Whirlkick Master: These are all non-Explorer's-League, non-EVIL allied people that are just random merchants or mages or civilians. All are original to Hearthstone.
Sahket Sapper: Sahket Sapper borrows her name from the Sahket Wastes, a large desert-like wasteland in northern Uldum filled with bandits and wild animals.
Ancestral Guardian: The Ancestral Guardians are ghostly humans with turbans and twin scimitars found within the Chamber of the Moon, apparently guarding the chamber from intruders like the adventurers, as well as the relic-hunting members of the goblin Commander Schnottz.
Mogu Cultist: The Mogu are closely tied to the history of Uldum, although much of this history is not known until the Mists of Pandaria expansion, where the whole history with the ancient Mogu emperor Lei Shen's attempted invasion of Uldum and how the ancient weapon was set off in prehistoric times. The Mogu were powerful Titan-forged who lived in Pandaria, and, while scattered upon Lei Shen's death, they were gathered together with the assistance of their ancient allies, the Zandalari trolls, to attempt and reclaim Pandaria during the events of Mists of Pandaria, even succeeding to go so far as to resurrect their mighty sorcerer-king, Lei Shen. Notably, a vast majority of the Mogu race encountered by the Alliance and Horde is male, and for a while, the only known female Mogu were the Twin Consorts Suen and Lu'lin, a pair of female mogu that served as a dual boss in the Throne of Thunder. The Mogu Cultist (or, well, cultists) are one of the few other examples of these female mogu.
Mogu Fleshshaper: While no specific mob in World of Warcraft is called a "Fleshshaper", the process of Flesh-shaping is an extremely painful, dark art practiced by the Mogu to stretch the flesh of living animals while they are still alive. The Mogu use the mysterious Titan-forged substance Anima, as well as the mysterious titan device Engine of Nalak'sha, to do this modification. Known species in Pandaria that were created by Mogu through flesh-shaping included the Saurok, the Grummle, the Yaungol, as well as two of Lei Shen's personal monstrosities, the giant multi-headed serpent Megaera and the Observer-like abomination Durumu the Forgotten.
Faceless Lurker: The Faceless Lurker is a N'raqi/Faceless One, although the specific mob called "Faceless Lurker" actually appeared in a segment of Icecrown in Wrath of the Lich King called Naz'anak: the Forgotten Depths. The Faceless Lurkers here notably venerate Yogg-Saron, the Old God imprisoned in Icecrown. Notably, the card art of the Faceless Lurker makes use of the newest N'raqi model introduced with Battle for Azeroth.
Naga Sand Witch: The title of "Naga Sand Witch" is original to Hearthstone, although it's obvious that the entire name and flavour of this card is meant to be a riff on Naga Sea Witch, which is a common rank among the female Naga spellcaster enemies.
Fishflinger: Fishflinger is a Murloc variant that's original to Hearthstone.
Wretched Reclaimer: The Wretched Reclaimer is an Ethereal, the race of energy beings wrapped in bandages like Rafaam, Raza and Saraad -- you can tell he's not a mummy because he's got glowing energy and no real face to speak of! He's otherwise original to Hearthstone, though.
Tortollan Pilgrim: Just like most Tortollans (outside of Kul Tiras, at least), the Tortollan Pilgrim is original to Hearthstone. Apparently this one traveled all the way from Un'Goro. This card's flavour text, "A Tortollan made it into the desert", is a reference to "a turtle made it to the water", a meme in the World of Warcraft community based on a quest where adventurers had to protect turtle hatchlings that were attempting to return to the ocean.
Jar Dealer: The Jar Dealer, like Vessina, is a representative of the Sethrak race. In World of Warcraft, the Sethrak race is mostly restricted to Zandalar, so obviously the presence of Sethrak in Uldum are all original to Hearthstone.
Vulpera Scoundrel: Likewise, the Vulpera Scoundrel is a member of the Vulpera race (which we covered with Captain Eudora in Rise of Shadows), restricted to the Zandalari islands in World of Warcraft, so she's original to Hearthstone.
Cloud Prince: The Cloud Prince is a level 82-85 unbound air elemental mob that roam around the Vortex Pinnacle, a location controlled by Al'Akir and his air elemental minions. However, the artwork for Cloud Prince does not match the wispy "unbound air elemental" look of the Cloud Prince mob, but rather matches the Air Revenant model, which features swirls of armour-looking things around a central body of whirling air. There are a couple of air revenant mobs in the Vortex Pinnacle, so I guess the Hearthstone team just went for the cooler sounding "Cloud Prince" name.
Oasis Surger: Oasis Surger is a water elemental original to Hearthstone. It does have some weird catfish-esque beards that WoW elementals don't have, though.
Sandstorm Elemental: Sandstorm Elemental is a design original to Hearthstone. There are specific elementals in Vol'dun, introduced in Battle for Azeroth, that are classified as Sandstorm Elementals (the Siroccan, the Sirocite, et cetera), who have bodies made up of sand, a rocky set of claws and head with a single eye, and able to control electricity. None are actually called "Sandstorm Elemental" specifically, though. In the now-mostly-decanonized World of Warcraft RPG, "Sandstorm Elementals" are noted to be a combination of the earth, water and air elements.
Quicksand Elemental: Quicksand Elemental is a design original to Hearthstone.
Vilefiend: The Vilefiend (or just Fiend) are a type of demons that are native to Argus. Looking like some sort of cross between hounds and humans, they run on all four, with blades jutting out of both the top and bottom of their heads. Their bodies have plates of armour seemingly grafted to them, and they apparently have acidic blood infused through their body through some sort of hideous ritual. They first appeared in the Legion expansion as one of the many new types of demons that the Burning Legion bring with them. A specific Vilefiend mob called "Vilefiend" is a level 110 mob that spawns in Darkfall Ridge.
Riftcleaver: Riftcleaver is a Pit Lord, but the title "Riftcleaver" is otherwise original to Hearthstone.
Bone Wraith: Bone Wraiths are a unique sort of undead creature that was originally thought to be unique with Lord Marrowgar in Icecrown Citadel. Since Wrath of the Lich King, however, more Bone Wraiths (or creatures that look similar to it) have shown up in different places, notably Earthrager Ptah, the second boss in Uldum's Halls of Origination dungeon, and Ptah uses the large amount of corpses laid before him to aid him in repelling these intruders that attempt to enter the Halls of Origination.
Mummies:
So, as mentioned above, the only mummies to show up in World of Warcraft are mummified trolls, found in various troll-themed catacombs. As well as Crypt Fiends and Crypt Lords, which tend to have burial wrappings trailing from their legs. Playing with the quasi-Egyptian theme, however, Hearthstone has basically inserted mummies into some card artwork in League of Explorers, notably Entomb, as well as the "Mummy Zombie" token summoned by one of Arch-Thief Rafaam's treasures. Saviors of Uldum go all-in, though, introducing various different sorts of mummies of many different races.
In quick succession to those that really doesn't have much lore: Generous Mummy is an elf mummy. Murmy is a murloc mummy. Candletaker is a female kobold mummy. Micro Mummy is a clockwork gnome mummy (how do you even mummify a robot?). Temple Berserker is a troll mummy. Restless Mummy, Wasteland Assassin and Grandmummy are generic humanoid mummies that could be human or anything vaguely humanoid. Wrapped Golem is kinda implied, by the name, to be a Titan-style golem wrapped up in magic bandages.
Mortuary Machine is a design original to Hearthstone, seemingly depicting a Mech modeled after the Anubisath body shape. It's making mummies!
Pit Crocolisk: The Pit Crocolisk is a specific reference to a mini-area in Uldum, namely the Pit of Scales. A Neferset tol'vir called Caimas the Pit Master held a wounded Ramkahen Tol'vir called Tahet hostage, and when adventurers arrived to rescue him, Caimas would unleash his three pet crocolisks -- Gorebite, Khamen and Thartep, and the adventurer would have to face against all of them together.
Golden Scarab: Scarab Beetle enemies are a common sight in desert areas like Uldum, although none are specifically called "Golden Scarab". Both the Golden Scarab and the Scarab token created by Infested Goblin use the newer scarab/beetle model introduced in Battle for Azeroth, as opposed to older cards like Jeweled Scarab or Obsidian Statue's Scarab token, which used the older model.
Desert Hare: Rabbits have been critters that showed up in Warcraft III and later World of Warcraft, none of which really ever being hostile. There are several mobs also called "Hares", although they obviously share the same model as rabbits. None live in the desert or are called Desert Hares, and no rabbits actually live in Uldum, though.
Serpent Egg: Sea Serpents are nasty, poisonous serpents that live in the waters of Azeroth, first introduced in Cataclysm. The Serpent Egg likely specifically represents the quest that we covered while talking about High Priest Amet, where the High Priest would ask adventurers to go and help clear an infestation of sea serpents known as Stillwater Slitherers, as well as crush their eggs as well as the Neferset ritualist Zakahn that is behind the introduction of the sea serpents into Vir'naal Lake. Eventually, the adventurer would have to face of against the sea serpents' matriarch, Scalemother Hevna.
Diseased Vulture: Diseased Vultures are level 83 vultures that fly around the Cradle of the Ancients in Uldum, and are always hostile to players. Hearthstone's version of the Diseased Vulture show them being straight-up undead vultures, though, whereas WoW just uses a regular vulture model for them.
Hyena Alpha: There are several hyena mobs in Uldum, like the Bloodsnarl Hyena in Sunwatcher's Ridge, but none with the rank of "Alpha".
Salhet's Pride: Salhet's Pride refers to Salhet, a friendly Tol'vir and a member of the Ramkahen army. He is considered to be the 'weakest link' among the Sword of Ramkahen unit, being a particularly poor swordsman and often sent off to do trivial tasks like killing hyenas by High Commander Kamses, who doesn't think much of him. He would confide with an adventurer that he has no confidence in any of his actual swordfighting skills, but his time of slaying hyenas have caused Salhet to befriend a group of lions that he could command to slay the hyenas for him. With this talent in mind, the adventurer is able to recommend Salhet for a leadership position, and he would later lead the defense of the town of Nahom from Neferset. This card represents one of Salhet's three lions.
Scarlet Webweaver: It's clearly a spider, but it's a type that's specific to Hearthstone, and there aren't any spider mobs in Uldum.
Wasteland Scorpid & Wild Bloodstinger: Is this seriously our first Scorpid card in Hearthstone? Scorpids are giant scorpions native to Azeroth, particularly living in desert-like areas. No scorpid with the specific names "Wasteland Scorpid" or "Wild Bloodstinger" exist in WoW. Three variants exist in WoW's Uldum: Sand Scorpid, Venomblood Scorpid and Venomscale Spitter. The Wasteland Scorpid represents specifically the giant named Scorpid called Madexx, which has a slightly modified model and coloration. Madexx is unique in that it can spawn in one out of five different colours.
Weaponized Wasp: While clearly a Silithid wasp (which wouldn't be far-fetched to say that it wandered into Uldum from either Un'goro or Ahn'Qiraj), the fact that it's got a cannon strapped to it is a clear indication that this is a creature modified by EVIL, probably by Dr. Boom. The Weaponized Wasp is one of the many minions of E.V.I.L. that serves as a boss in the Tombs of Terror story mode.
Spitting Camel: Camels roam around Uldum (and we've covered camels in League of Explorers). None are as rude as to spit at people, though.
Pharaoh Cat: Cats exist in Azeroth... but none are mummies, and none in Uldum. Other than the Tol'vir, which are pretty catty.
Blatant Decoy: Blatant Decoy is original to Hearthstone, showing a bunch of EVIL-allied Kobolds pushing a giant rickety Trojan horse style decoy to fool someone dumb.
EVIL Totem: Apparently EVIL has their own customized version of the basic Tauren Totem. This design, as well as the EVIL brand, is original to Hearthstone.
BEEES!!!: There sadly isn't a druid spell (yet, although some tie-in novels have shown druids that do so) that summons bees or allows druids to transform into bees, but actual bees are introduced with Battle for Azeroth. While there were bee critters previously, they re-used the model for either fireflies or wasp-type ravagers. Giant bees populate Kul Tiras and Zandalar, and of particular note are the Barbthorn hive and the amazingly named massive bee called "Beehemoth".
Overflow: Overflow's artwork depicts the Vir'naal Dam, an important part of Ramkahen City's infrastructure, apparently being destroyed by an overflow of water. Overflow is not a druid spell in World of Warcraft, but rather a Brewmaster-specialist Monk artifact trait that increases healing for periods of time. Like all artifact traits, it was removed in Battle for Azeroth.
Hidden Oasis: There are a couple of sub-zones in Uldum specifically termed as oases, but judging by the fact that the token summoned by this spell is called the Vir'naal Ancient, the Hidden Oasis most likely refers to the Vir'naal Oasis, which are a series of oases found along the Vir'naal river, and one of them contains the sea serpent Scalemother Hevna, the target of High Priest Amet's quest chain.
Swarm of Locusts: While not exactly the same name, the ability "Locust Swarm" is used by the Naxxramas boss Anub'rekhan in World of Warcraft, as well as the final skill for Crypt Lord heroes in Warcraft III, which, you guessed it, summoned a massive swarm of locusts. Locusts appear in Uldum as battle pets, but are represented with the cockroach model.
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron: Named after the mighty Old God of Death, Yogg-Saron, the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron is a rare archaeology artifact that is treated as a 'toy' in your inventory. Its description notes that "the box cannot be opened, but it is aware of your efforts". Every time the player attempts to open the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, one of Yogg-Saron's quotes will appear, many of which reference the Lovecraft mythos. "At the bottom of the ocean even light must die." "It is behind you. Do not move. Do not breathe." "The fish know all the secrets. They know the cold. They know the dark." "In the land of Ny'alotha there is only sleep." "Have you had the dream again? A black goat with seven eyes that watches from the outside."
Penance: Penance in World of Warcraft is a Discipline Priest ability, added in Wrath of the Lich King, which is immediately granted to the Priest at level 10 upon choosing the Discipline specialization. It's an ability that launches a volley of holy light at a target, either dealing direct damage or healing a friendly ally. Penance is apparently one of the only few ways a Discipline Priest is able to deal direct damage. A card also called Penance, with basically the same effect (sans keyword) and costing one mana less, was actually a Priest spell card in Alpha builds of Hearthstone, but was removed and replaced with Temple Enforcer.
Earthquake: Earthquake was the final ability of the Far Seer hero (including Thrall!) in Warcraft III, where the Far Seer causes an area before him to tremble and break, dealing damage to everything -- including buildings -- and slows enemy units in the area. Shaman characters in WoW would gain access to a similar ability in Cataclysm, causing an area before the Shaman to tremble and break, dealing damage and causing knockdown effects.
Into the Fray: Into the Fray is a Protection Warrior talent introduced in Legion which allows the Warrior to gain extra haste with each enemy that's near it.
Plague of Death, Plague of Madness, Plague of Murlocs, Plague of Flames, Plague of Wrath: All of the EVIL-aligned classes receive a "Plague" card that apparently symbolizes the evil plans and the corruption that they are spreading throughout the poor citizens of Uldum. While only a set of thematic cards in the collectible game, they are each represented by a mighty Plague Lord in the Tombs of Terror adventure mode, with Vesh, K'zarth, Xatma, Icarax and Tekahn each representing one of the five primary plagues, unleashing the plague around Uldum and corrupting the land around them.
Pressure Plate, Hunter's Pack, Ancient Mysteries, Flame Ward, Subdue, Pharaoh's Blessing, Tip the Scales, Embalming Ritual, Holy Ripple, Clever Disguise, Shadow of Death, Totemic Surge, Sinister Deal & Impbalming: These are Uldum-flavoured spells and mechanics that have no equivalent in World of Warcraft and are original to Hearthstone. Mage did used to have a spell called "Fire Ward", but that's a ward against fire, as opposed to a trap that wards people off with fire. Rogues' Shadow of Death also shares its name with an Unholy Death Knight talent that stuck around briefly before being removed in the same expansion it debuted in.
Alda Petrik isn't affiliated with the League of EVIL, but this female worgen is apparently looting Khartut's Tomb and that's a big no-no for the League of Explorers, apparently. Pillager Drasar is a Trogg pillager who also seems to be unrelated to the League of EVIL, taking the chance of the chaos to do some looting. Kham appears to be the same sort of spirit like the Ancestral Guardians, albeit stronger and apparently well-skilled in using spectral blades.
Thudd Lockspring is a female Mechagnome, and, like many other races in WoW, Hearthstone's artwork is the first time we've ever seen a female older-model Mechagnome, since all Mechagnome models look male (with massive mustaches!) Recently, Mechagnomes have became a playable race for the Alliance, but the playable Mechagnomes, at least at the time of writing, seem to be more 'cyborg gnomes' than the traditional completely-robotic mechagnomes.
Ozara is a unique creature to Hearthstone, having a body and design similar to the Earth Elemental Lord, Therazane, albeit made out of sand and with a far, far friendlier face. Presumably, Ozara is a similar sort of powerful earth elemental. She's mostly jovial and treats the encounter with the League of Explorers as some sort of a game more than a hostile confrontation.
Pyramad is just an earth elemental created out of pyramid pieces. He's original to Hearthstone. The Battlegrounds blurb for him notes that he used to be a 'mastermind' of sorts, but was forced to become the muscle of the group because no one cared for his schemes.
Nash, the Greatworm, is a gigantic worm that moves through the desert. Both its name and its boss fight mechanic seems to be a homage to Kobolds & Catacombs boss Gnosh the Greatworm, and the flavour text pokes fun at this by noting that 'rumour has it that Nash is just the back end of Gnosh'. Nash is also prominently featured in the trailer for Saviors of Uldum, where Reno blew him up by flexing his biceps. No, really.
Kyriss is a Storm Dragon, a variation of dragons with whitish-blue colouration that are able to harness the power of lightning, having been sworn to serve the Titanforged. Storm dragons are first seen in the Legion expansion, and the civil war between the Titan-loyal Storm Dragons and a different rebel group led by the renegade dragon Nithogg is a huge part of the Stormheim storyline of that expansion.
Sazin appears to be the same type of elemental as the collectible Cloud Prince, and presumably one of the many air elementals left behind in Uldum after Al'Akir's defeat.
Kasmut is a female Anubisath (and, like the female Tol'vir, the first of her kind to canonically appear anywhere) and is a guardian of Khartut's Tomb who is convinced that the League of Explorers will only make the plagues worse.
Sothis is noted to be a Titanic Watcher, part of the security measures of the Halls of Origination. Brann identifies Sothis as being activated by the League of EVIL to keep out any intruders into the Halls of Origination. Sothis uses the model of the Wrath of the Lich King/Cataclysm era Watcher model.
Zaraam is an Ethereal with some... unconventional head wrappings, apparently corrupted by the Old God C'Thun. He's original to Hearthstone.
The Water-Toting Murlocs are adorable, and presumably are created or drawn to Uldum by the Plague of Murlocs. The Suspicious Palm Tree has been transformed into a monstrous Treant-like creature similar to the art style used for the monster tyrants in Witchwood, so presumably it's Hagatha at work.
The Sand Puffer Frog, Skarik and the Totally Normal Jar are both original to Hearthstone as well, just the wildlife of the area, I suppose. What is it with the Hearthstone team putting octopi in the desert?
Speaking of marine life in the desert, Wildtooth is original to Hearthstone. Presumably it's made in homage of the 'land shark' meme? The Dire Bat is just a giant Azerothian Bat. The only mob in WoW to have the name "Dire Bat" is a Felbat demon in Darkshore. Glack the Scorpid is... well, he's just a giant scorpid living in the desert.
Obviously, the Sinkhole, the Trap Room and A Beautiful Oasis are all original to Hearthstone. A Beautiful Oasis shares its artwork with the collectible druid card Hidden Oasis.
Other bosses we have covered before include Dark Pharaoh Tekahn, Siamat, Vessina, Colossus of the Sun, Octosari and the Weaponized Wasp.
Tombs of Terror Allied Minions & Items:
Karl the Lost is a Paladin minion you can recruit if you pick Sir Finley, and the saga of George and Karl begun in the flavour text of Journey to Un'Goro cards, where they were the two Silver Hand Recruits featured in the cards Lost in the Jungle and Vinecleaver. The two eventually got so lost until they battled adventurers as a boss in Kobolds & Catacombs' dungeon run, and were separated after that, with George calling himself George the Fallen, going insane, and joining E.V.I.L., assuming his best buddy Karl is dead. Turns out Karl's not dead, he's joined up with the League of Explorers!
Addarah is a Priest minion available for Elise to recruit, and she's a member of the Explorer's League in World of Warcraft (as "Adarrah"), first appearing as a minor NPC in Burning Crusade. In Wrath of the Lich King, Addarah was captured by Drakkari trolls and were held in a cage, awaiting some sort of hideous ritual, but Harrison Jones and an adventurer companion freed her from the cage. In Cataclysm, Addarah was on board a ship that was assaulted by kraken-like creatures, and she would become a quest-giver in the Kelp'thar Forest region, and later on appear alongside Harrison Jones and other memebrs of the Explorer's League in Uldum, where they helped out the investigation in the area.
While it's most likely just a coincidence, Crusty the Crustacean shares its name with a level 32 rare mob found in the Sar'theris Strand, the coast of Desolace zone, a location that's pretty far off from Uldum. Crusty doesn't have any sort of quest or NPC tied to him. He's just there, doing crab stuff.
The Crawling Claw minion is a vanity pet in World of Warcraft, itself borrowing its name from a classic Dungeons & Dragons monster. In the description of the spell, apparently the Crawling Claw is created when an evil djinn fought against the Ramkahen Tol'vir tribe, and in desperation, the djinn attempted to do a ritual to transfer his soul into the body of a monkey. The Ramkahen slew him mid-ritual, causing only part of his essence to be transferred through and possess the monkey's paw.
The Runaway Gyrocopter is a Gyrocopter, a gnomish-created helicopter flying machine that made its first appearance in Warcraft III, and was eventually upgraded into the Flying Machines during the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne expansion. In World of Warcraft, though, the term "Gyrocopter" and "Flying Machine" has basically became interchangeable. There are two main Gyrocopter models in World of Warcraft, one with a massive helicopter rotor and one without -- the Runaway Gyrocopter is the one without.
The Blade of the Burning Sun is a one-handed blade that drops from Rajh, one of the bosses in the Halls of Origination. Likewise, the Staff of Ammunae is a weapon that is associated with Ammunae, although it's crafted via the archaeology profession instead of dropping from a boss. Not much lore beyond that, though, and it's very likely that the two of these items are picked simply because they already had artwork for them from the WoW TCG.
The Book of the Dead, while far more likely to just be a homage to the Mummy movies, actually does have a counterpart in World of Warcraft, as an off-hand weapon that has the additional ability to summon skeletons to fight for you. It's an item dropped in pre-Cataclysm Scarlet Bastion by the Dreadlord Balnazzar when he disguised himself as the Scarlet Crusade's leader, Saidan Dathoran, one of the bosses in the dungeon.
The Hearthstone is a reference to the actual Hearthstone item in World of Warcraft (and the item that this game is named after), where it is a stone that teleports an adventurer to the last inn they visited -- something that the Hearthstone treasure actually does, teleporting you back to Bob's Tavern when you cast it. Gnomebliterator is a reference to the final leg of the quest involving Twizzleflux, called 'Gnomebliteration', where the adventurers activate a machine that wipes out the infected, cursed gnomes.
Murky's Battle Horn is a reference to Murky, one of the characters original to Heroes of the Storm similar to Brightwing and Lunara. I'm pretty sure that it's a matter of time until Murky shows up in Hearthstone, though, so I won't go too much into detail about him. The Alchemist's Stone is a minor item in World of Warcraft, a more powerful version of the Philosopher's Stone used in the alchemy profession.
Out of the other signature treasures, Maxwell, Lei Flamepaw, Flo Slatebrand and Amakir the Light are all original to Hearthstone, whereas all the other treasures are essentially accessories to the four main adventurers. Presumably, Lei and Flo are just more members of the League of Explorers, while Amakir is a member of the Ramkahen that shows up to help them. Bob the Bartender from Dalaran also returns as Bazaar Bob, who's escaped the stolen Dalaran and is just going around the Uldum locations in his tent.
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COLLECTIBLE MINIONS:
THE TOL'VIR & ANUBISATH
(left to right: a Neferset Tol'vir, a Ramkahen Tol'vir and an Anubisath)
I think there's enough Tol'vir influence and lore here to go a bit deeper into the Tol'vir stuff. Early on in Azeroth's prehistory, the Tol'vir and the Anubisath were two of the many titan-forged race to be created by the Titans. The Tol'vir were had leonine bower bodies, while the Anubisath were bipedal with jackal heads. Many Tol'vir and Anubisath accompanied Highkeeper Ra to install the Forge of Origination in Uldum, and many stayed there to protect over the area. When Ra vanished many years later, the Tol'vir of Uldum began developing their own culture, separate from the Tol'vir that lived in Northrend's Ulduar. There's the whole event with Lei Shen attempting to claim the Forge of Origination for himself, but learning of Lei Shen's murder of Highkeeper Ra, the Tol'vir of Uldum decided to activate the Forge and wipe out Lei Shen's entire army, before using the Titanic devices to seal Uldum from the outer world. At some point in time, the Old Gods' Curse of Flesh spread when agents of the Titan Keeper Loken traveled to Uldum, afflicting the Tol'vir and Anubisath there and turning their bodies of stone into flesh and bone.
In Northrend, the still-obsidian-bodied Tol'vir were eventually overrun and enslaved by the Aqiri (precursor race to the Nerubians), which bound the Tol'vir to their will, terming them "Obsidian Destroyers". These Obsidian Destroyers were treated as slave races and were even often mistaken as mere golems, while the Aqiri, and their Nerubian descendants, would adapt the architecture of the Tol'vir as their own... and, when, in turn, during the time of the Third War, the Undead Scourge spread and turned a vast amount of the Nerubian population into undead, the Obsidian Destroyers too were bound to a new master, and saw much use in the Third War.
Yet another group of enslaved obsidian Tol'vir and Anubisath found their way in Ahn'Qiraj, under the rule of the Qiraji that served the slumbering Old God, C'Thun.
In Cataclysm, the now flesh-and-blood Tol'vir people were once more exposed to the civilization outside their lands when Deathwing's arrival into Azeroth shattered the Titan devices that kept Uldum hidden. Al'Akir unleashed a massive sandstorm that buried the town of Orsis, and a group of Tol'vir, the Neferset, agreed to the bargain, leading to the civil war between the Neferset and the Ramkahen, which, with the aid of adventurers of the Alliance and the Horde, was won by the Ramkahen tribe.
Injured Tol'vir, Phalanx Commander & Ramkahen Wildtamer: These cards are original ranks and types that don't exist in WoW, but represent the flesh-and-bones Tol'vir of Ramkahen, who chose to remain mortal and non-stony. Not much to say here. Ramkahen Wildtamer, most notably, is a rar example of a female Tol'vir, whereas the Tol'vir in World of Warcraft appear to be all male.
Neferset Thrasher & Living Monument: These cards, meanwhile, represent Tol'vir who chose to return back to their original stone form (or were never afflicted with the Curse of Flesh to begin with). None of these have any direct counterparts in World of Warcraft.
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| Ritualist |
Anubisath Defender: Anubisath Defender is a specific level 62 Anubisath mob found in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. After the adventurers slayed the Silithid Princess Huhuran, five Anubisath Defenders would appear and serve as a sort of a mini-boss before the raid can proceed to the next boss, the Twin Emperors Vek'lor and Vek'nilash. The Anubisath Defenders themselves are able to summon lesser Silithid and Qiraji to aid them.
Khartut Defender: Khartut Defender is a mummified Tol'vir unique to Hearthstone, although his name refers to a sub-area in Uldum, Khartut's Tomb, a tomb of a long-dead Tol'vir king. It's in Khartut's Tomb that the adventurer and the Explorer's League representative Harrison Jones would start the encounters that would lead them into investigating the Lost City of the Tol'vir.
Anubisath Warbringer: The Anubisath Warbringer were a specific level 43-49 type of Anubisath that were part of the one-time world event, the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj, and these Anubisath Warbringers accompanied the massive armies of Silithid and Qiraji that poured out of Ahn'Qiraj into the surrounding areas of Tanaris, Feralas and Thousand Needles.
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| Isiset |
Tomb Warden: Tomb Warden appears to be a mechanized version of the "Horusath" hawk-headed variant of the Anubisath. It's original to Hearthstone.
Conjured Mirage: The Conjured Mirage isn't exactly a Tol'vir or an Anubisath, but is still related to the Titanic races. One of the bosses in the Hall of Origination in Uldum was the mighty Isiset, Construct of Magic, who was a Titanic Watcher that regulates the arcane energies within the Halls of Origination. However, Isiset has became corrupted by her own arcane mastery and the apparent perfection it has granted her. The actual boss fight against Isiset includes her continually summoning several mirror images, each of which allows Isiset access to a certain type of magic. Like many of the other Titanic watchers in the Halls of Origination, Isiset uses a unique model inspired by real-life Egyptian culture compared to other Titanic watchers.
Sentient Races:
Questing Explorer, Beaming Sidekick, Bug Collector, History Buff, Dwarven Archaeologist: These are all cards original to Hearthstone that are all members of the Explorer's League. They're all original to Hearthstone.Bazaar Mugger, EVIL Recruiter, Expired Merchant, Frightened Flunky, Armored Goon, Sunstruck Henchman, Kobold Sandtrooper, Infested Goblin, Mischief Maker: These minions are all humanoid races that appear to be loyal to E.V.I.L. to some degree, and are all original to Hearthstone. Mischief Maker in particular is apparently attempting to do the Indiana Jones swap-out-an-item trick with the Golden Monkey from League of Explorers. The artwork for Bazaar Mugger also doubles as the boss Thrud.
Crystal Merchant, Garden Gnome, Dune Sculptor, Arcane Flakmage, Brazen Zealot, Sandhoof Waterbearer, Bloodsworn Mercenary, Whirlkick Master: These are all non-Explorer's-League, non-EVIL allied people that are just random merchants or mages or civilians. All are original to Hearthstone.
Sahket Sapper: Sahket Sapper borrows her name from the Sahket Wastes, a large desert-like wasteland in northern Uldum filled with bandits and wild animals.
Ancestral Guardian: The Ancestral Guardians are ghostly humans with turbans and twin scimitars found within the Chamber of the Moon, apparently guarding the chamber from intruders like the adventurers, as well as the relic-hunting members of the goblin Commander Schnottz.
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| Lu'lin |
Mogu Fleshshaper: While no specific mob in World of Warcraft is called a "Fleshshaper", the process of Flesh-shaping is an extremely painful, dark art practiced by the Mogu to stretch the flesh of living animals while they are still alive. The Mogu use the mysterious Titan-forged substance Anima, as well as the mysterious titan device Engine of Nalak'sha, to do this modification. Known species in Pandaria that were created by Mogu through flesh-shaping included the Saurok, the Grummle, the Yaungol, as well as two of Lei Shen's personal monstrosities, the giant multi-headed serpent Megaera and the Observer-like abomination Durumu the Forgotten.
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| Faceless Lurker (WoW) |
Naga Sand Witch: The title of "Naga Sand Witch" is original to Hearthstone, although it's obvious that the entire name and flavour of this card is meant to be a riff on Naga Sea Witch, which is a common rank among the female Naga spellcaster enemies.
Fishflinger: Fishflinger is a Murloc variant that's original to Hearthstone.
Wretched Reclaimer: The Wretched Reclaimer is an Ethereal, the race of energy beings wrapped in bandages like Rafaam, Raza and Saraad -- you can tell he's not a mummy because he's got glowing energy and no real face to speak of! He's otherwise original to Hearthstone, though.
Tortollan Pilgrim: Just like most Tortollans (outside of Kul Tiras, at least), the Tortollan Pilgrim is original to Hearthstone. Apparently this one traveled all the way from Un'Goro. This card's flavour text, "A Tortollan made it into the desert", is a reference to "a turtle made it to the water", a meme in the World of Warcraft community based on a quest where adventurers had to protect turtle hatchlings that were attempting to return to the ocean.Jar Dealer: The Jar Dealer, like Vessina, is a representative of the Sethrak race. In World of Warcraft, the Sethrak race is mostly restricted to Zandalar, so obviously the presence of Sethrak in Uldum are all original to Hearthstone.
Vulpera Scoundrel: Likewise, the Vulpera Scoundrel is a member of the Vulpera race (which we covered with Captain Eudora in Rise of Shadows), restricted to the Zandalari islands in World of Warcraft, so she's original to Hearthstone.
Elementals, Demons & Miscellaneous:
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| Armored Mistral |
Oasis Surger: Oasis Surger is a water elemental original to Hearthstone. It does have some weird catfish-esque beards that WoW elementals don't have, though.Sandstorm Elemental: Sandstorm Elemental is a design original to Hearthstone. There are specific elementals in Vol'dun, introduced in Battle for Azeroth, that are classified as Sandstorm Elementals (the Siroccan, the Sirocite, et cetera), who have bodies made up of sand, a rocky set of claws and head with a single eye, and able to control electricity. None are actually called "Sandstorm Elemental" specifically, though. In the now-mostly-decanonized World of Warcraft RPG, "Sandstorm Elementals" are noted to be a combination of the earth, water and air elements.
Quicksand Elemental: Quicksand Elemental is a design original to Hearthstone.
Vilefiend: The Vilefiend (or just Fiend) are a type of demons that are native to Argus. Looking like some sort of cross between hounds and humans, they run on all four, with blades jutting out of both the top and bottom of their heads. Their bodies have plates of armour seemingly grafted to them, and they apparently have acidic blood infused through their body through some sort of hideous ritual. They first appeared in the Legion expansion as one of the many new types of demons that the Burning Legion bring with them. A specific Vilefiend mob called "Vilefiend" is a level 110 mob that spawns in Darkfall Ridge.Riftcleaver: Riftcleaver is a Pit Lord, but the title "Riftcleaver" is otherwise original to Hearthstone.
Bone Wraith: Bone Wraiths are a unique sort of undead creature that was originally thought to be unique with Lord Marrowgar in Icecrown Citadel. Since Wrath of the Lich King, however, more Bone Wraiths (or creatures that look similar to it) have shown up in different places, notably Earthrager Ptah, the second boss in Uldum's Halls of Origination dungeon, and Ptah uses the large amount of corpses laid before him to aid him in repelling these intruders that attempt to enter the Halls of Origination.
Mummies:
So, as mentioned above, the only mummies to show up in World of Warcraft are mummified trolls, found in various troll-themed catacombs. As well as Crypt Fiends and Crypt Lords, which tend to have burial wrappings trailing from their legs. Playing with the quasi-Egyptian theme, however, Hearthstone has basically inserted mummies into some card artwork in League of Explorers, notably Entomb, as well as the "Mummy Zombie" token summoned by one of Arch-Thief Rafaam's treasures. Saviors of Uldum go all-in, though, introducing various different sorts of mummies of many different races.In quick succession to those that really doesn't have much lore: Generous Mummy is an elf mummy. Murmy is a murloc mummy. Candletaker is a female kobold mummy. Micro Mummy is a clockwork gnome mummy (how do you even mummify a robot?). Temple Berserker is a troll mummy. Restless Mummy, Wasteland Assassin and Grandmummy are generic humanoid mummies that could be human or anything vaguely humanoid. Wrapped Golem is kinda implied, by the name, to be a Titan-style golem wrapped up in magic bandages.Mortuary Machine is a design original to Hearthstone, seemingly depicting a Mech modeled after the Anubisath body shape. It's making mummies!
Beasts & Others:
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| Gorebite |
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| Battle for Azeroth beetle |
Desert Hare: Rabbits have been critters that showed up in Warcraft III and later World of Warcraft, none of which really ever being hostile. There are several mobs also called "Hares", although they obviously share the same model as rabbits. None live in the desert or are called Desert Hares, and no rabbits actually live in Uldum, though. |
| Hevna |
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| Diseased Vulture |
Hyena Alpha: There are several hyena mobs in Uldum, like the Bloodsnarl Hyena in Sunwatcher's Ridge, but none with the rank of "Alpha".
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| Salhet |
Scarlet Webweaver: It's clearly a spider, but it's a type that's specific to Hearthstone, and there aren't any spider mobs in Uldum.
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| Madexx |
Weaponized Wasp: While clearly a Silithid wasp (which wouldn't be far-fetched to say that it wandered into Uldum from either Un'goro or Ahn'Qiraj), the fact that it's got a cannon strapped to it is a clear indication that this is a creature modified by EVIL, probably by Dr. Boom. The Weaponized Wasp is one of the many minions of E.V.I.L. that serves as a boss in the Tombs of Terror story mode.Spitting Camel: Camels roam around Uldum (and we've covered camels in League of Explorers). None are as rude as to spit at people, though.
Pharaoh Cat: Cats exist in Azeroth... but none are mummies, and none in Uldum. Other than the Tol'vir, which are pretty catty.
Blatant Decoy: Blatant Decoy is original to Hearthstone, showing a bunch of EVIL-allied Kobolds pushing a giant rickety Trojan horse style decoy to fool someone dumb.
EVIL Totem: Apparently EVIL has their own customized version of the basic Tauren Totem. This design, as well as the EVIL brand, is original to Hearthstone.
SPELLS:
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| BEEEE! |
Overflow: Overflow's artwork depicts the Vir'naal Dam, an important part of Ramkahen City's infrastructure, apparently being destroyed by an overflow of water. Overflow is not a druid spell in World of Warcraft, but rather a Brewmaster-specialist Monk artifact trait that increases healing for periods of time. Like all artifact traits, it was removed in Battle for Azeroth.
Hidden Oasis: There are a couple of sub-zones in Uldum specifically termed as oases, but judging by the fact that the token summoned by this spell is called the Vir'naal Ancient, the Hidden Oasis most likely refers to the Vir'naal Oasis, which are a series of oases found along the Vir'naal river, and one of them contains the sea serpent Scalemother Hevna, the target of High Priest Amet's quest chain.
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| Puzzle Box (TCG) |
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron: Named after the mighty Old God of Death, Yogg-Saron, the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron is a rare archaeology artifact that is treated as a 'toy' in your inventory. Its description notes that "the box cannot be opened, but it is aware of your efforts". Every time the player attempts to open the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, one of Yogg-Saron's quotes will appear, many of which reference the Lovecraft mythos. "At the bottom of the ocean even light must die." "It is behind you. Do not move. Do not breathe." "The fish know all the secrets. They know the cold. They know the dark." "In the land of Ny'alotha there is only sleep." "Have you had the dream again? A black goat with seven eyes that watches from the outside."
Penance: Penance in World of Warcraft is a Discipline Priest ability, added in Wrath of the Lich King, which is immediately granted to the Priest at level 10 upon choosing the Discipline specialization. It's an ability that launches a volley of holy light at a target, either dealing direct damage or healing a friendly ally. Penance is apparently one of the only few ways a Discipline Priest is able to deal direct damage. A card also called Penance, with basically the same effect (sans keyword) and costing one mana less, was actually a Priest spell card in Alpha builds of Hearthstone, but was removed and replaced with Temple Enforcer.Earthquake: Earthquake was the final ability of the Far Seer hero (including Thrall!) in Warcraft III, where the Far Seer causes an area before him to tremble and break, dealing damage to everything -- including buildings -- and slows enemy units in the area. Shaman characters in WoW would gain access to a similar ability in Cataclysm, causing an area before the Shaman to tremble and break, dealing damage and causing knockdown effects.Into the Fray: Into the Fray is a Protection Warrior talent introduced in Legion which allows the Warrior to gain extra haste with each enemy that's near it.
Plague of Death, Plague of Madness, Plague of Murlocs, Plague of Flames, Plague of Wrath: All of the EVIL-aligned classes receive a "Plague" card that apparently symbolizes the evil plans and the corruption that they are spreading throughout the poor citizens of Uldum. While only a set of thematic cards in the collectible game, they are each represented by a mighty Plague Lord in the Tombs of Terror adventure mode, with Vesh, K'zarth, Xatma, Icarax and Tekahn each representing one of the five primary plagues, unleashing the plague around Uldum and corrupting the land around them.
Pressure Plate, Hunter's Pack, Ancient Mysteries, Flame Ward, Subdue, Pharaoh's Blessing, Tip the Scales, Embalming Ritual, Holy Ripple, Clever Disguise, Shadow of Death, Totemic Surge, Sinister Deal & Impbalming: These are Uldum-flavoured spells and mechanics that have no equivalent in World of Warcraft and are original to Hearthstone. Mage did used to have a spell called "Fire Ward", but that's a ward against fire, as opposed to a trap that wards people off with fire. Rogues' Shadow of Death also shares its name with an Unholy Death Knight talent that stuck around briefly before being removed in the same expansion it debuted in.
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