The Tortollans – A Hearthstone Tribe Made it into the World of Warcraft!

As we all know, Hearthstone lore has its fundamental roots in the World of Warcraft. For the longest time, this relationship has been unilateral, mostly because it was labeled as the “Heroes of Warcraft” fan-service game from the very start.

Luckily, Hearthstone developed its own lore and content over the last expansions. Story and fantasy seem to be a much bigger focus nowadays, and the culmination of all that was discovered in last October: For the first time ever, Hearthstone-exclusive content made it to the World of Warcraft! The Tortollans, a card art tribe, got their own quest hubs and story lines within the Battle for Azeroth. How did this event influence the connection between Hearthstone and WoW, why did Team 2 choose the Tortollans, and most importantly: what does all this mean for the future?

The Beginnings – Wowhead Datamining

Almost exactly one year ago, one particular news post by Wowhead caught the attention of both Hearthstone and WoW players: A battle pet called Tottle, which could clearly be identified as a Tortollan, was discovered in the files from the Public Test Realm for WoW’s upcoming expansion. Later on, Tottle turned out to be a part of Battle for Azeroth’s Collector’s Edition. At first this wasn’t big news, because we have seen other Hearthstone-related additions to WoW such as the Hearthstation or the Autographed Hearthstone Card, but these are clearly “flavor” items about the game of Hearthstone itself.

And while it may have been just another cute addition to the pet collection, the sheer existence of Tottle showed one thing: Hearthstone lore finally found its way into the World of Warcraft, and therefore proved that the development between the two games seemed to become somewhat bilateral.

This marked the beginning of Tortollan history in World of Warcraft, and many more additions related to the Hearthstone tribe were bound to happen.

Tortollans in Hearthstone – Who are They?

Before we dive into the new Tortollan faction in WoW, we should take a look back to where they came from in the first place!

With the release of Journey to Un’Goro in April 2017, Blizzard and Team 5 decided to rewrite the storyline of one of the most iconic zones of the Warcraft universe, Un’Goro Crater. As all of us may remember, the Expedition Journal of Eddie Malone, brave assistant of Professor George Herbert Doyle IV, depicted the adventures that set the stage of Hearthstone’s fifth expansion.

After wandering around in the jungles of Un’Goro, Professor Doyle and his assistant get rescued by a weird turtle tribe who call themselves “Tortollans“, led by Spiritsinger Umbra.

Questioning their initial intentions, Doyle decided to trust the advices of the ancient Tortollans in regards to their adventurous plans. Together with the local murlocs, Umbra and the Tortollans even helped Doyle and Eddie to return back to Starseeker’s Camp so that they could report back to Elise the Trailblazer about their scientific observations.

Interestingly enough, Team 5 very well knew that the Tortollans have not been inhabitants of Un’Goro in the original Warcraft lore, which could have been an initial indicator about them appearing in World of Warcraft later. Another hint was that they have also been the first tribe in Hearthstone that wasn’t featured in WoW by the time of release.

Looking at their name, the Tortollans seem to descend from a turtle demigod called Tortolla. Plenty of lore is related to this big old turtle that belongs to the Ancient Guardians. These creatures, who are also called Wild Gods or “Loa” by the trolls, are not new to Hearthstone Creatures like Aviana or Malorne and his son Cenarius have found their way into Blizzard’s card game already.

The Tortollan Seekers – more than just turtles

However, In Battle for Azeroth, the Tortollans, or as their faction is called, “Tortollan Seekers”, revere a demigod called Torga, and that points toward another theory behind the creation of the Tortollans. Nobody less than Brann Bronzebeard himself speculates that the turtle tribe descends from an ancient tortollan, known as “a reptilian warrior with a shell reminiscent of a turtle’s”, who fought in the War of the Ancients

No matter their true origin, the Tortollans play a starring role in Battle for Azeroth. In the everlasting conflict between Horde and Alliance, they portray a neutral and wise race that wants to allude to the real conflict within Azeroth and the Zandalari Troll culture. which they are deeply entwined with.
Besides that, they know how to pack a punch, as well all know from their very aggressive Hearthstone voice lines, and that has definitely got to be an attribute that catered to the Warcraft development team when it came to their initial creation in WoW as a separate faction.

What developers certainly didn’t expect the Tortollans to create is one of the biggest memes of past and present World of Warcraft as we know it. One particular world quest called Beachhead, where players have to save baby tortollans from hungry crabs and greedy seagulls, seemed to be one mini-game too much for the WoW community.

And even worse: The NPC that gives you the quest, an old tortollan lady called Scrollsage Nola, spews out repetitive lines after saving one of the twelve baby tortollans you need for this pesky quest. “A turtle made it to the water!” is one of those one-liners by Nola; but after the story came out that the adorable 93-year old Maryann Strossner did the voice-acting for Scrollsage Nola, this particular line took the player’s and memer’s hearts by storm.² Not at last thanks to Twitch streamers like Asmongold, the Tortollans brought a lot of frustration, fun and memes to World of Warcraft, thanks to Hearthstone lore!

Plans for the future – more than just fun and memes?

All memes aside, the future looks nothing less than golden for the bilateral relation between Hearthstone and World of Warcraft. Both games are at a stage where they can develop content that fits into the general Warcraft universe which Hearthstone is an integral part of. The Tortollans stand for an alternative route in the Warcraft universe which led back to their beginnings, enriching both Blizzard titles.

Expansions like Journey to Un’Goro but also The Witchwood showed only the beginnings of this symbiotic relationship. Looking at content like the Kobolds of Legion, it could very well be that both WoW and Hearthstone designers wrote and will write content storylines to fit into both games.

And this would not only benefit Team 2 and Team 5! Players always welcome cross-game inclusions; Heroes of the Storm is a great example for that. And if it even goes deeper in terms of lore and general story-writing, fans of different franchises can come together to celebrate what they love despite of what game they are currently playing!

Want to stay up to date with the latest news in World of Warcraft and Battle for Azeroth? Check out our sister site Wowhead for everything Warcraft related!