All Rise of Shadow cards have finally been revealed! The League of E.V.I.L. and the Defenders of Dalaran will clash and fight to either loot or save the floating city.

The set will introduce numerous lore characters of the Warcraft franchise as well as Hearthstone-exclusive newcomers. In this summary we feature every single legendary and their personal story within the Warcraft universe!

Druid

Keeper Stalladris

Keeper Stalladris is a Hearthstone-exclusive defender of Dalaran, which he defends as we can see from the card’s background art. His general appearance is typical for a Keeper of the Grove, a faction that descends from the demigod Cenarius.

Half night elf, half stag, they call Ashenvale their home. They also are known for defending the lands against Azeroth’s most threatening enemies like the Burning Legion in the Third War. However, Stalladris’ skin tone and texture look very outlandish. We asked Peter Whalen where the keeper is from, and he stated that Stalladris calls Crystalsong Forest his home.

Crystalsong Forest lies beneath the floating city of Dalaran and is home to all sorts of magical creatures. Once home to blue dragons, it features a very unique art theme and will be used with many different cards of Rise of Shadows.

Lucentbark

Similar to Stalladris, Lucentbark seems to be a Hearthstone-exclusive creature of the Crystalsong Forest as well. He looks fairly similar to other Druid ancients like Ancient of War or Ancient of Lore.

His beard features magic-infused blue crystals, and he holds one of these crystals in his wooden hands as well. As already mentioned, Crystalsong Forest is a place of pure magic, but Lucentbark’s weaponized facial hair could very well be enchanted by the Kirin Tor defending Dalaran.

Hunter

Oblivitron

Oblivitron is a mechanical minion that is unique to Hearthstone.

We know that the Hunter class belongs to the Defenders of Dalaran, so this mech is definitely not one of Boom’s inventions. The mech fantasy behind Hunter has been pushed since Boomsday with Boommaster Flark the Goblin Hunter being a protagonist.

And while goblin engineering doesn’t really fit the general Hunter theme of Warcraft, it will have its place in Hearthstone. And in Dalaran as well! The purple details show that is was made for defending the mage city.

Vereesa Windrunner

As much as Obilivtron doesn’t blend in with the Hunter theme, Vereesa picks up all the slack. Vereesa Windrunner is the Ranger-General of the Silver Covenant, a military group of elitist high elves that guard the Alliance part of Dalaran. In addition to that, almost her whole family has been part of Hearthstone: She is Rhonin’s wife, and Alleria and Sylvanas are her older sisters.

The Windrunners play a starring role in the history of Warcraft. To put things in perspective, Vereesa and her husband Rhonin rescued Alexstrasza from getting killed by the orcish Dragonmaw clan under Deathwing. Similar to most high elves, she despises the presence of blood elves on Azeroth. Why that is important, you ask? Because of her bow, Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury!

This bow once belonged to Halduron Brightwing, Commander of the blood elf forces and Ranger-General of Silvermoon. Vereesa and him cultivated a close friendship over the years, and it looks like he gifted her his bow as a sign of appreciation.

Several points in current Warcraft lore hint at the fact that Vereesa changed her mind regarding the blood elves over time; although they are ultimately responsible for her husband’s death, she states in the Warcraft comic “Three Sisters” that her hopes are high for the blood elves to rejoin the Alliance.

It’s great to see Team 5 include such a heavy lore character and reunite the Windrunner sisters in Hearthstone as well. Let’s hope we will see special voicelines between her and Sylvanas in Wild!

Mage

Kalecgos

Mage will receive two legendary lore heavy-hitters, the first one being Kalecgos.

Kalecgos once was the Aspect of Magic, the leader of the blue dragonflight, and belongs to the Council of Six, the group that leads the Kirin Tor and Dalaran, today.

Some time ago, he served under the blue Aspect Malygos; but after he had turned mad (maybe because of Deathwing who destroyed his whole kin, maybe because of the Old Gods themselves) he wanted to purge the lands of every magic user that was not a dragon. Kalecgos stood against his leader’s plans to commit genocide and allied with Alexstrasza and the other aspects.

During a series of event called the Nexus Wars, Malygos had been defeated and Kalecgos was announced new Aspect.

From there on, Kalecgos was in charge to guard Azeroth together with the other Dragon Aspects. The world’s biggest threat to this date, Deathwing, terrorized the lands. With the help of Azeroth’s greatest adventurers, the Aspects managed to bring Deathwing down with all their power, but were left in their mortal forms as a result.

Some time later, Kalec, as Kalecgos’ mortal form is called, decided to stay in Dalaran, mostly because he fell in love with Jaina Proudmoore. But his beloved one had to leave the city because of another attack by the Burning Legion, and Kalec took her place in the Council of Six.

Kalecgos’ story is full of emotion, compassion, and love. It perfectly showcases how characters in Warcraft lore got out of their way to change the world they built. Once a powerful blue dragon, Kalec grew fond of those Dalaran citizens who wanted to master the mysteries of magic. By the looks of it, he transforms back into his dragon form to save the city once again.

Khadgar

The second Mage legendary is Khadgar. This human mage could be placed in the Top 5 of characters listed by importance in the last years of Warcraft lore.

First and foremost, Khadgar may be the most powerful archmage in Warcraft history. Once apprentice of Medivh, he learned to master magic like no other; without his powerful knowledge, not only the Alliance but all of Azeroth would have been doomed more than once.

However, despite being a human, he worked together with the Horde as well. As a member of the Council of Six and the Kirin Tor, this behaviour was not welcome at all, but Khadgar always tried to act for the greater good.

His first big impact on Warcraft history was when he was trying to close the Dark Portal, a gateway between Draenor and Azeroth, built by Sargeras, Gul’dan and possessed Medivh. After the Horde lost the Second War, the Alliance took control of the portal on the Azeroth side, and Khadgar was ordered to close it. However, the destruction of the portal didn’t really close the gap between the two worlds.

Later on, Khadgar led the Alliance forces against the Iron Horde on Draenor and tried to correct his mistake, while defending the homeland against the most threatening invasion of the Burning Legion.

To summarize Khadgar’s path with all its ups and downs in the world of Warcraft seems impossible. We can only hope that he will play an equally important role in the Rise of Shadows storyline!

Paladin

Commander Rhyssa

Commander Rhyssa may be the most interesting legendary from a lore perspective.

As her card art shows, she is a Gnome Paladin defending the city of Dalaran. She wields a two-handed hammer while riding a mechano-strider. There’s nothing wrong with that, right? WRONG! In World of Warcraft, gnomes can’t choose the Paladin class. And that might change just looking at this card!

Remember Immortal Prelate? This card from Rastakhan’s Rumble showed a Zandalari Troll Paladin for the very first time. In Patch 8.1.5, weeks after Rastakhan’s release, WoW added the Zandalari as an Allied Race and the option for them to be able to choose the Paladin class. While very debatable from a pure lore perspective, this kind of foreshadowing showed how Hearthstone can serve as some form of teaser in terms of new content for World of Warcraft.

The decision to introduce Gnome Paladins would move the community once again, but it may become reality with the gnome-focussed content patch around the mega-dungeon Mechagon that will soon be introduced in World of Warcraft.

Nozari

As Team 5 tries to push the Dragon Paladin archetype, Nozari has been selected to represent the Bronze dragonflight as a Paladin legendary card.

In her normal form as an elf, Nozari’s location in World of Warcraft is in the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. Home to Nozdormu and the Bronze dragonflight, the Caverns of Time serve as a hub to manage travel between different points of time in Azerothian history. The bronze dragons have been instructed to protect this particular point of interest.

But why would a dragon from Tanaris be sent to save Dalaran? The explanation is quite simple! The Caverns of Time hold a portal to Dalaran and vice-versa, so transportation wouldn’t be an issue from a lore perspective. In addition to that, Nozari is a child of Nozdormu, and he could’ve send his daughter to represent the Aspect of Time as a defender of the world.

Priest

Madame Lazul

Lazul serves as one of the protagonists of the upcoming expansion Rise of Shadows. Not much about her is known as the Warcraft world only knows her from the Whispers of the Old Gods trailers; there she plays a fortune-teller that predicts the coming of the Old Gods.

Catrina Muerte

Looking at her card text and art, Catrina Muerte seems to be the Hearthstone version of Catrina, an NPC in World of Warcraft that hosts the Day of the Dead event once a year.

Rogue

Heistbaron Togwaggle

Heistbaron Togwaggle is not only a Hearthstone-exclusive character but also already appeared in game. In fact, he served as the antagonist in Kobolds and Catacombs. As King of the Kobolds, he was after the most precious artifacts, and he continues to do exactly that in Rise of Shadows.

It will be exciting to see how his role will play out in the new expansion. We know that he became King of Kobolds thanks to Rafaam, so his service in the League of E.V.I.L. might be some sort of payback!

Tak Nozwhisker

Tak Nozwhisker is a new character and exclusive to the Hearthstone universe. The named kobold with his unique dagger picking axe will most likely try to assist Togwaggle with his ultimate heist!

Looking at the extended art work by Rafael Zanchetin, Nozwhisker’s speciality could be special operations in Dalaran’s famous sewers.

Shaman

Swampqueen Hagatha

Similar to Togwaggle, Hagatha starred as the main antagonist of an expansion. In The Witchwood, she was in Charge of the spooky forest that spawned numerous horrors and miscreations.

In her artwork she is doing what she does best: Summoning evil creatures! She seems to be fond of a particular type of creatures named Drust, undead vyrkul that haunt the lands as ancient spirits.

Scargil

Amongst old-school WoW players, this fellow should trigger dangerous flashbacks.

Scargil is a rare Murloc located in Hillsbrad Foothills, and for Horde players, Scargil and his minions at the southern shore of Southshore (what a great name for a village) showcased the first contact between them and the Murloc tribe.

Warlock

Arch-Villain Rafaam

Rafaam, one of the most popular figures in Hearthstone-exclusive lore, makes a comeback in the Rise of Shadows. He was the main antagonist in League of Explorers where he tries to steal the Staff of Origination, an incredibly powerful artifact.

In the new expansion he plays his usual role by pursuing “supreme archeology”; he and his gathered League of E.V.I.L. try to find and steal the most precious artifacts within Dalaran’s city limits.

Fel Lord Betrug

Fel Lord Betrug is a demon that has been locked away in the Violet Hold, a jail for only the most dangerous creatures of all Azeroth, built by the Kirin Tor.

In WoW’s Wrath of the Lich King, the Burning Legion tried to free all that is evil from Violet Hold. In the “Assault of Violet Hold” five players had to hold off the invasion while keeping creatures like Fel Lord Betrug within their cells.

In Rise of Shadows, however, it looks that someone somehow found a key to those cells!

Warrior

Blastmaster Boom

Dr. Boom is the last of four five villains reunited in the League of E.V.I.L.. We know that he didn’t have the best intentions developing the Boomsday Project, and Rafaam couldn’t get his hands on a better evil-doer!

Dr. Boom is one of the very few characters in Hearthstone that only played a very small role in Warcraft lore and wrote its own story in Hearthstone over time. This will hopefully continue with Rise of Shadows!

The Boom Reaver

The Boom Reaver is, looking at its name, obviously one of Dr. Boom’s most sinister creations. The mech itself hasn’t been seen in the Warcraft universe yet, but it looks very much like a red-painted version of a Fel Reaver, demonic machines built by the Burning Legion.

Neutral

Chef Nomi

For WoW players, Nomi most definitely holds lots of different emotions and memories. As a cooking apprentice, the pandaren was introduced to WoW as a cooking quest NPC. Turning things around, Nomi is the one that tries to master the art of cooking, and the player has to help him with that.

In his early attempts to learn cooking, Nomi regularly gives the player burnt food in exchange for valuable resources, something which the NPC has become, let’s say, very “known” for.

This is also showcased in the card’s art, and as one of Dalaran most popular NPCs, Nomi is a great addition to lighten up the mood during the defense of Dalaran!

Jepetto Joybuzz

Another known Dalaran NPC is Jepetto Joybuzz.

Down in the Dalaran Sewers, he sells all sorts of toys, including a set of racers or the infamous Soft Foam Sword.

Barista Lynchen

Yet another Dalaran NPC in WoW, there is no deeper story to her. She’s a barista in Legerdemain Lounge, a tavern in Dalaran, and sells a bunch of different coffee roasts. Notably, everything Barista Lynchen sells is really overpriced compared to the drinks you can get from other shops even though they have no extra effects – just like in a real café!  She’s also a small part of a single quest and comments on your shades if you wear them.

Archivist Elysiana

Archivist Elysiana is a member of the Kirin Tor that has been introduced with WoW’s Legion expansion.

Players were able to skip introducing scenarios after talking to her in the Violet Citadel; this made life easier for players who already knew the story and were leveling a second or third character.

Archmage Vargoth

Similar to Khadgar, Archmage Vargoth once was the leader of the Council of Six and the Kirin Tor. Vargoth’s history with Azeroth went weird ways. He was a regular companion for players during the Burning Crusade, Warlords of Draenor and during the Legion expansion.

It is also known that he flirted with an association called the Empyrean Society, a cult that studies and exercises all sorts of evil magic. Other members of the council including Kalec find out that Vargoth has been corrupted by the nathrezim Kathra’natir who wants to abuse an ancient relic called the Nightborne Soulstone.

After a wild turn of events, Vargoth gets freed from the corruption, and the council manages to trap the nathrezim inside the soulstone. This soulstone was then used to fuel the spire of the Violet Citadel, which now serves as a defense mechanism. From there on out, Vargoth becomes an integral part of the Council of Six again.

One could expect that Vargoth would be a prime example for a Mage legendary card; however, his role as an important quest-giver for all players in World of Warcraft translates very well into a powerful neutral card in Hearthstone.