As the Year of the Phoenix comes to an end, the Darkmoon Faire successfully managed to provide Hearthstone fans with tons of fun around Azeroth’s most popular amusement park.

But what are the stories behind the protagonists of the expansion? We dive deep into the lore of Darkmoon Faire and all legendary cards added with the expansion Madness at the Darkmoon Faire and its mini-set, Darkmoon Races!

Demon Hunter

Il’gynoth

For me personally, Il’gynoth has been one of the most interesting characters in Warcraft lore, and that is why I want to give this fellow a bit more room in this edition of Lore of Legendaries!

Once a boss in the Emerald Nightmare raid during WoW’s Legion expansion, this abomination turned into a mysterious harbinger of Old Gods lore. One expansion later, Il’gynoth reappears as a powerful lieutenant of N’Zoth itself – and that was not a surprise to many lore experts since Il’gynoth’s whispers throughout the fight against it in the Emerald Nightmare hinted towards the return of this particular old god.

Besides that, it foretold many other happenings in Warcraft lore while many of its whispers still remain “unsolved”. One of the most mysterious whispers is:

The boy-king serves at the master’s table. Three lies will he offer you.

It is evident that Il’gynoth is talking about Anduin Wrynn, King of Stormwind and leader of the Alliance. Remember, this quote is more than four years old – and Anduin has evolved quite a lot as a character in the last three expansions. However, this particular whisper still hasn’t been solved just yet. And while we shouldn’t be taking everything the minions of Old Gods say at face value, it could’ve certainly hinted towards a distant dark twist in Anduin’s future character arc, which is something we could be seeing soon in the Shadowlands storyline.

Zai, the Incredible

Zai is a jinyu fighter that can be found in Kun-Lai Summit, a zone of WoW’s Mists of Pandaria expansion. He’s one of the few so-called “pandaren champions”, a group of very powerful rare monsters that dropped equally rare loot.

Druid

Kiri, Chosen of Elune

First things first: There exists a Warcraft lore character called Kiri Starstalker – and it’s a night-elf! In fact, Kiri appears during the Warcraft III as a member of the Wardens, the night-elves’ elite military force. Could it be that she could’ve found her new calling as a loyal servant and druid of Elune?

No matter the Warcraft lore facts, finally seeing some proper Balance Druid – or as the Warcraft community likes to call them – Boomkin presentation just feels great in terms of a complete representation of the Warcraft universe.

Greybough

This character is exclusive to Hearthstone lore.

Hunter

Maxima Blastenheimer

This crazy gnome lady built and maintained one of DMF’s most infamous attractions: The Blastenheimer 5000 Ultra Cannon! In World of Warcraft, players can become living cannonballs and shoot themselves across the faire in return for some of those precious prizes.

Rinling’s Rifle

This weapon most likely belongs to Rinling, the troll carny who owns the shooting gallery of Darkmoon Faire.

Mage

Deck of Lunacy

The Darkmoon Decks are one of the most important elements of WoW’s Darkmoon Faire. For almost every expansion, the Darkmoon Deck trinkets have been very useful for all class archetypes, especially during the first weeks of an expansion.

The whole idea originated in Classic WoW, where several cards dropped all over Azeroth from all kinds of sources. Once you completed a “deck” full of eight cards, you were able to trade it in at the Darkmoon Faire and receive a trinket of the respective deck type. Nowadays, scribes can craft those cards and sell them to players who wish to use a particular trinket.

Sayge, Seer of Darkmoon

Sayge is one of the more popular characters of the Darkmoon Faire. He is most famous for providing players with one of his many 2 hours buffs to statistics, depending on what “fortune” he sees in you (based on how you answer his questions).

Keywarden Ivory

This character is exclusive to Hearthstone lore, and most definitely has an affiliation with Keymaster Alabaster.

Paladin

High Exarch Yrel

Yrel, a Draenei Paladin, is one of the most important characters in Draenei history and took over a leading role in the happenings of Warcraft.

Talking about Yrel’s life from a lore standpoint is not easy, because her storyline is told during the Warlord of Draenor expansion, which deals with multiple parallel timelines of the Warcraft universe. Long story short, adventurers pick her up as a trusty ally in the fight against the Iron Horde, the “original bad orcs” who invaded the homeland of Yrel and her people, Draenor.

Her inclusion during the Darkmoon Faire expansion seems to have no lore-based connection. It is much more likely that Team 5 needed a strong character for a new legendary card – and Yrel is exactly that. Her story as a priest turned paladin, mostly so that she can retaliate upon the orcs for invading her homeland, perfectly fits the Pure Paladin archetype that doesn’t allow “neutrality”.

Lothraxion, the Redeemed

Lothraxion is a nathrezim, a dreadlord, who, after a long history as one of the key figures in WoW’s Legion expansion, switched sides and now serves the Holy Light.

As of now, Lothraxion is the exception to the rule of the nathrezim serving any other cause than the ultimate success of the Burning Legion – and some sources in current World of Warcraft lore hint towards the fact that Lothraxion may not have redeemed himself as much as everyone thinks.

Priest

G’huun the Blood God

G’huun is a creature that was introduced during WoW’s last expansion Battle for Azeroth. Called “the fifth of the Old Gods” by many lore experts, G’huun is an abomination between worlds. We know that it is worshipped as a loa by a group of blood trolls living in Nazmir. Originally, however, it has been created by the titans themselves while experimenting with the original four Old Gods. G’huun posed as a major threat in the first stage of the expansion and the final boss of BfA’s first raid, Uldir.

The Nameless One

The Nameless One is a character exclusive to Hearthstone. We normally try to not cover these characters anymore (since it would all be based on our guesswork), with the exception if they could connect the Hearthstone and Warcraft universe. In this case, I strongly believe that this character supports the very popular Warcraft lore theory that Silas and his Darkmoon Faire allied with the Old Gods. 

Many alternative names for the Old Gods as we know them exist: For example, Y’Shaarj is often called “The Old One”, while N’Zoth’s is regularly referred to as “The Deep One”. For me personally, The Nameless One is a nod towards said theory, and could confirm the connection between Azeroth’s most popular faire and the Old Gods themselves.

Dark Inquisitor Xanesh

Xanesh is a raid boss in Battle for Azeroth’s final raid, Ny’alotha. She directly serves N’Zoth as a mind-flayer who is ordered to take care of Wrathion, the Black Prince. By the looks of it, she seems to ride the Black Serpent of N’Zoth, a particularly gruesome and rare mount of Azeroth, to partake in the Darkmoon Races.

Rogue

Tenwu of the Red Smoke 

Tenwu is a member of the Shado-Pan, a ninja-like secret clan of elite pandaren fighters that have been introduced during WoW’s Mists of Pandaria expansion. He most likely found his way to the Darkmoon Faire to duel its most brave visitors!

Grand Empress Shek’zara

Another character that plays with the connection between Old Gods and the Darkmoon Faire is Grand Empress Shek’zara.

Introduced with Patch 8.3 during WoW’s last expansion Battle for Azeroth, Shek’zara posed a global threat as one of two world bosses present during so-called invasions all over Uldum and the Vale of the Eternal Blossoms, caused by N’Zoth’s evil meddlings with the ancient titan machines located there that control the fate of Azeroth.

Shaman

Inara Stormcrash

Inara Stormcrash is exclusive to Hearthstone lore, and it is one of my favorite characters of this expansion. She depicts a Wildhammer dwarf, the tattoos and the tabard perfectly represent her tribe. Shamans are not well known for weaponless melee combat, but it is a very common thing in dwarven combat culture – and that is why this art just spot-on transports the very exotic Dwarf Shaman race-class combination.

Grand Totem Eys’or

This totem is exclusive to Hearthstone lore.

Warlock

Tickatus

This creature is exclusive to Hearthstone lore. There is no connection between the Old Gods and the Abyssals, the group of creatures Tickatus belongs to. However, this abomination very well could be a result of Silas’ warlocky efforts fueled by Old Gods corruption!

Deck of Chaos

See our summary about Deck of Lunacy!

Envoy Rustwix

Rustwix is exclusive to Hearthstone lore, so we don’t know anything about him.

Warrior

E.T.C., God of Metal 

E.T.C., short for ELITE TAUREN CHIEFTAIN, was the original name of a rock band founded by Blizzard members. The band has been virtualized in World of Warcraft, and the band’s frontman, Elite Tauren Chieftain, became a fan favorite. That is why the card also made it into vanilla Hearthstone, providing a crazy Battlecry effect that would give you one of three possible spells, each featuring the song name of Blizzard’s band. The new version’s mechanics are less related to music unless they refer to the rock band Rush – who knows?

Ringmaster Whatley

Ringmaster Whatley is exclusive to Hearthstone lore, but almost certainly refers to WoW’s Darkmoon Faire achievement “Ringmaster”. 

Neutral

Silas Darkmoon

Silas Darkmoon is, as his name surely tells, the leader and original founder of the Darkmoon Faire. Over the course of many years, Silas successfully managed to keep his past and present life a secret. What we do know about him is that his illustrious faire family means everything to him, and that is shown in the only real source of lore about Silas, a short story called “Blood Runs Thicker”. Published in the Warcraft Legends manga graphic novel series, the dark tale written by Tim Beedle tells the story of a mysterious murder case that Silas and his Darkmoon family have to investigate. At the end of the story, Silas not only proves the innocence of Kerri Hicks, a fellow Darkmoon carny but also buries Cedrick Fallrook alive right beside his brother, the victim of the story, Erik Fallrook.

Other than that, not much is known about Silas. Rumors say that he has allied with the Old Gods – we’re not exactly sure why, but Hearthstone’s current expansion surely draws a great picture of corrupted fun.

C’Thun/N’Zoth/Yogg’Saron/Y’Shaarj

Much has been said about the Old Gods, the unmakers, the bane of Azeroth’s existence, the ever-looming threat. I remember writing an extensive lore guide on HearthHead, long before we merged with Hearthstone Top Decks, over four years ago. Sadly, that article is gone for good, so I’ll leave you with an old but gold Old Gods lore summary by the great Perculia, admin of Wowhead and arguably one of the greatest experts of Warcraft lore as a whole. Enjoy! 

Moonfang

Moonfang is one of many rare monsters of Darkmoon Faire Island. The scary wolf drops all sorts of exclusive loot including toys and pets.