In this very first edition of Lore of Bosses, we take a look at the history of every single boss featured in Rise of Shadow’s single player campaign, The Dalaran Heist! From legends to Azeroth over real world references to Hearthstone’s homegrown heroes: the total of 75 bosses holds a bit of juicy lore for everyone who is interested in the background of the Warcraft franchise!
Since the number of bosses is so high, we’ve decided to split the article into two parts. Roughly half of the bosses’ lore was featured last week, and we’ve got the rest of them today.
Anarii Duskgrove
Anarii Duskgrove is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. She showcases the average Night Elf Druid of the Warcraft universe, summoning treants and therefore strengthening her connection with nature itself.
Archivist Oshi
Archivist Oshi is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. She looks to be a Draenei Priest studying sacred scriptures in the library of Dalaran. Looking at her glowing eyes, it’s almost certain that she has been blessed by the Holy Light provided by the Naaru.
Applebough
Applebough is a fruit vendor doing his business in the heart of Dalaran. In fact, he sells all kinds of fruit-related foods and beverages. By the looks of it, Applebough might be one of the many enchanted treants which have been found all over Crystalsong Forest; but nobody knows how he got himself into the fruit-dealing business in the first place.
Archmage Kalec
Archmage Kalec is a mage of the Kirin Tor, half-human, half-elf, and plays a starring role in the story of the Kirin Tor and Warcraft as a whole.
As of now, Kalec leads the Council of Six, a board of the most powerful mages of the Kirin Tor, and together they rule over Dalaran’s magocracy. The card Kalecgos shows Kalec’s true form: The Aspect of the Blue Dragonflight. If you want to read more about Kalecgos and his ties with Warcraft history, check out our extended lore guide for all legendary cards of Rise of Shadows!
Archmage Khadgar
Archmage Khadgar is a human mage of the Kirin Tor who currently resides in Karazhan.
Khadgar can be described as one of the most powerful mages of all Azeroth, and the most influential member of the Kirin Tor.
Khadgar has turned the tide on countless occasions, both in a good and in a bad way. The fantasy behind him being an expert summoner in Hearthstone not only comes from his expertise inherited by the Kirin Tor. For many historians, Khadgar’s biggest nonachievement was the failed closing of the Dark Portal, which gave the Burning Legion another opportunity to attack and, as a consequence, changed the world of Azeroth as a whole; so in the end it was Khadgar who was responsible for the summoning of millions of demons.
If you want to read more about Khadgar’s legacy, check out our extended lore guide for all legendary cards of Rise of Shadows!
Archmage Vargoth
Archmage Vargoth is a Human mage and former leader of the Kirin Tor who is currently missing. In the World of Warcraft, he perfectly showcases the curiosity behind the magic of Azeroth; while he has playing an integral part of Kirin Tor history as one of their leaders, he also flirted with the dark side of magic at the same time. If you want to know more about Vargoth’s story, check out our extended lore guide for all legendary cards of Rise of Shadows!
Bookmaster Bae Chao
Bookmaster Bae Chao is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. Similar to Dalaran Librarian, she looks to be an archivist in the library of Dalaran. Holding the most precious artifacts of written knowledge known to mankind, this library needs to be defended against the League of E.V.I.L. more than anything, and what could be better for defense than a Pandaren that tells you to shut up?!
Captain Hannigan
Captain Hannigan is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. His card art shows him as a leader of the Kirin Tor guard, which looks more than interesting in terms of class identity. While wearing plate mail, he also features typical mage attire in the form of the Kirin Tor Regalia, one of the Mage tier sets in World of Warcraft, which points towards the fact that the local Dalaran guard consists of some special sort of battle mages.
Commander Bolan
Commander Bolan is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. Besides extraordinary card, this Human Paladin looks like your average quest NPC, and his hero power does exactly that: it gives you a quest!
Cravitz Lorent
Cravitz Lorent is an Undead that can be found in the Dalaran Sewers. His title officially says Shady Book Dealer, and he sells exactly those: shady, shady books. Lorent specializes in romantic prose, as showcased by a series he offers to buyers called A Steamy Romance Novel. These novels contain three or more pages worth of romantic stories and hand-drawn depictions of the starring characters. Everyone’s favorite shady book dealer also belongs to a very small group of WoW NPCs that have a certain spawn timer; that fact led to a lot of frustration among players, as Lorent not only sells cheap novels but also useful items like recipes and toys.
If you don’t do anything for extended period of time when facing him in Dalaran Heist, he will start quoting one of his novels… Something you might or might not want to hear, depending on whether you are alone in the room.
Dazzik “Hellscream”
Dazzik is a Goblin vendor that can be found in Dalaran. Funnily enough, he initially dressed up as Jaina Proudmoore. Why he did that? Nobody really knows. Maybe because he wanted to pay respect to the leader of the Kirin Tor, or maybe because he just wanted to break the ice with his customers! For the Dalaran heist it looks like Dazzik found himself a new icon to represent: the great warchief Garrosh Hellscream and his oversized shoulderpads.
Draemus
Draemus is a Dwarf “pet” vendor in Dalaran. Just like in the real world, the definition of a “pet” may vary from case to case; in Draemus’ case, it’s creatures like a Fel Piglet, a Plump Jelly, or even an Alarm-o-Bot! In the end he just tries to satisfy the exotic needs of his customers.
Erekem
Erekem is an arakkoa, an bird-humanoid race that resides all over Azeroth and beyond; arakkoas already exist in Hearthstone, for example Kabal Talonpriest. Like many other bosses of the Dalaran Heist, he is also held as a prisoner in the Violet Hold, because he once tried to assassinate the Council of Six.
Gold Elemental
Gold elementals have been introduced with WoW’s most recent expansion Battle for Azeroth. In the raid Battle for Dazar’alor, this very special kind of elemental is featured: In order to continue your way through the capital of Zandalar you have to defeat Opulence, a powerful gold elemental.
Jepetto Joybuzz
Jepetto Joybuzz is a Gnome vendor in Dalaran. As we know from his card Jepetto Joybuzz, he specializes in selling toys. His name is a reference to Gepetto, the woodcarver and human father of the children novel Pinocchio, who happened to be a toy. Fun fact: His hero power shows a toy Sylvanas Windrunner! We hope that the real Banshee Queen will never see that though …
Kara Stamper
Kara Stamper is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. Kara and her hero power Soul Weave double-down on the very common Warlock theme of sacrificing basically everything to become stronger every turn.
Magistrix Norroa
Magistrix Norroa is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. It’s not exactly safe to say what race she belongs to, but she could very well be a High Elf mage. Her hero power Kaironomaly points towards this guess, because it most definitely is a reference to Kairozdormu, a powerful dragon of the Bronze Dragonflight. Just like Nozdormu, Kairoz, as his high elf form is called, possesses the power to alter time.
Mama Diggs
Mama Diggs is a female Dwarf located in Dalaran. She is the main Mining trainer in the city. During the Legion expansion, she provided fellow miners with quests regarding the new materials that they could find all over the newly released zones.
Marei Loom
Marei Loom is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. Her job seems to involve financial control, which is quite uncommon for a Forsaken, especially for such a bored-looking one.
Mo Eniwhiskers
Mo Eniwhiskers is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. The card art shows a laughing Kobold holding a big sack of gold coins, which indicates that Mo is one of Togwaggle’s lackeys who carry their loot through the sewers of Dalaran.
Moragg
Moragg is one of the bosses of the Violet Hold dungeon. The many-eyed demons like Moragg have all kinds of different names: Beholders, watchers, observers. They have been created by the Burning Legion, and we have seen many of them across the Outlands and as bosses in dungeons or raids.
Nozari
Nozari is a dragon of the Bronze Dragonflight. She is also rumored to be the daughter of Nozdormu, the Aspect of Time. As most of the bronze dragons, Nozari is able to alter time on a dimensional level; that is why she can been found twice at the same time in the World of Warcraft – once as a kid, once as an adult.
Oxana Demonslay
Oxana Demonslay is a Night Elf demon hunter who resides in the Underbelly of Dalaran. Despite her militant looks, she seems to be invested into the arts of jewelcrafting and inscription as she sells several recipes for those professions.
Ranger Ar’ha
Ranger Ar’ha is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. Ar’ha looks like the average Orc hunter, and her hero power shows that she’s a true expert in battlecrying her minions to victory.
Rasil Fireborne
Rasil Fireborne is a vendor that can be found in the city of Dalaran. He specializes in selling rare art in his shop called Photonic Playground, which is a reference to an art gallery with the same name, founded by Blizzard employees.
Sael’orn
Sael’orn is one of the possible bosses of the Violet Hold. Sael’orn uses the same art as Aranasi Broodmother, which shows an aranasi, the arachnid demon-hybrids that serve the Burning Legion, in battle action.
Sharky McFin
Sharky McFin is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. It may very well be the most generic shark that has ever lived, at least his name tells us that. There are several notable sharks in Warcraft history, but not one tried to assassinate the whole Kirin Tor race.
Sky Captain Smiggs
Sky Captain Smiggs is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. His title indicates that Smiggs has some sort of command over an airship, vehicles of war that have been used very commonly in the history of Azeroth. Dalaran is a floating city, after all, and the Kirin Tor might have hired parts of the Alliance air force to help against the intruders of E.V.I.L..
The Amazing “Bonepaw”
The Amazing “Bonepaw” is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. On first sight, Bonepaw looks like the most generic gnome mage in his Tempest Regalia, one of the most popular mage sets in all of WoW. But he’s also wearing a very special staff. It’s Archmage Vargoth’s Staff, better known as the Grand Scepter of the Nexus-Kings! In World of Warcraft, this staff is used to summon Archmage Vargoth as an interactable quest NPC. It seems that this little gnome not only knows how to steal spells, but also famous archmage attire.
The Rat King
The Rat King is a hearthstone-exclusive character. While there are NPCs in World of Warcraft called Rat King, it’s pretty obvious that this fellow is the king of all Dalaran Sewers rats!
Tierra Blythe
Tierra Blythe is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. On her card art she poses as the head waitress. Maybe she works in one of Bartender Bob’s taverns?
Timothy Jones
Timothy Jones is a vendor that can be found in Dalaran. He is the main jewelcrafting trainer of the city and teaches fellow jewelcrafters the most precious recipes. He has been famous for his questionable attire which clearly transports a feeling of “I have more money than you!”, and Hearthstone’s card art only supports this claim.
Ungan Oddkind
Ungan Oddkind is a Hearthstone-exclusive character. Him and his shotgun couldn’t showcase the average Dwarf hunter more, and his hero power summoning multiple Animal Companions is a clear indicator that he is indeed a true beastmaster.
Xur’ios
Xur’ios is a mystical vendor in Dalaran. He sells the most precious recipes and artifacts in exchange for Curious Coins, a currency used during WoW’s Legion expansion. Back then, his name was rumored to be a reference to a vendor named Xûr who appeared in the multiplayer game Destiny. Months later, Destiny 2 and its inclusion on the Battle.net launcher was announced.
Zuramat the Obliterator
Zuramat the Obliterator is a voidlord who has been imprisoned within the Violet Hold. Being one of Malygos’ most dangerous lackeys to overcome Dalaran’s defense, it took hundreds of Kirin Tor mages to put him behind bars. As a voidlord, Zuramat’s thirst for destruction is only surpassed by his never-ceasing appetite for anything magic.
