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Born from the cosmic power of Life and manifested thanks to the efforts of the Titan keeper Freya, the Wild Gods are demigods that represent Azeroth's nature, appearing as giant, and sometimes humanoid sapient animals. Most animal-like races of Azeroth appear to descend from them: furbolg come from the Wild God Ursoc, for example, and the worgen were created by harnessing the power of the Wild God Goldrinn.
Revered by many races throughout the world, the Wild Gods all have similar powers, and are mostly separated by the culture which worships them. Those Wild Gods mostly worshipped by the night elves are called Ancient Guardians or Ancients, those worshipped by the trolls are called Loa, and the four worshipped by the pandaren are called August Celestials.
Ancient Guardians
A group of Wild Gods who made their homes in northern Kalimdor, mostly associated with the night elves. Each of them is spiritually linked to the realm of the Emerald Dream, allowing their powerful souls to survive physical death. They were each called upon to defend Azeroth in the War of the Ancients, and though they fought bravely and with incredible power most of them were slain by the demons. After the battles ended the druids would continue to interact with their spirits in the Dream, and learn to take on their aspects and shapeshift.
The metaphysical upheaval of the Cataclysm weakened the barriers of the Emerald Dream, allowing some of the fallen Ancient Guardians to be ushered back into life earlier than expected. The revived Guardians were then instrumental in protecting Mount Hyjal from the forces of Ragnaros the Firelord.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In addition to the more familiar Ancient Guardians who primarily look like giant animals, War of the Ancients describes a number of other Ancient Guardians with very different forms. Some of them include a winged panther with humanoid hands, a group of tiny winged people called pixies, a race of humanoid stick bugs, and a dwarf-like warrior who rode into battle standing on two wolves and wielded a bladed Precision-Guided Boomerang. After that early appearance, they and anything like them were quickly dropped and never mentioned again, and from then on Ancient Guardians and Wild Gods are consistently shown to be superpowered animals with a few specific exceptions.
- Nature Hero: Each of them.
- Nature Spirit: Serve as embodiments and protectors of nature.
- Resurrective Immortality: When an Ancient dies, their spirit is sent to Ardenweald in the Shadowlands. There, they go into a deep sleep within a wildseed, tended to by Ardenweald's grove keepers. Once they've rested for long enough, their souls return to the Emerald Dream. From there, they can find a way back into the physical world.
- When Trees Attack: The Warcraft 3 manual classes the tree Ancients associated with Night Elves as members of this group of Demigods. The ones on Draenor are members of the Primals.
Agamaggan
An ancient boar spirit of rage, and progenitor of the Quilboar race, he fought ferociously during the War of the Ancients, but fell in battle against them. It's said that everywhere you see the large, distinctive thorny vines that mark the Quilboar's homes, are where Agamaggan's blood was shed during the War. His spirit lives on as a questgiver in Razorfen Kraul.
- Blood Knight: The novel, War of the Ancients Archive, paints him as one. He seemed to enjoy killing demons a lot more than any of the other Ancients.
- Full-Boar Action: Probably the biggest example in the series.
- Unstoppable Rage: Said to be his trait.
- You Don't Look Like You: He's brown in all artwork and his appearance as a spirit in Cataclysm, but in Malorne's nightmare in Legion he's white.
Aessina
Aessina is one of the greater wilderness spirits who lurks in dense untamed woods. She is the soul of the forest, its beating heart, the source of life energy that breaks down stone, devours ancient ruins, and fills dense thickets with mystery and fear. Aessina is the center of the web of life. The night elves have built shrines to her throughout Kalimdor, most notably the Shrine of Aessina in the midst of a forest glade in Ashenvale's heart and the Grove of Aessina located in Mount Hyjal.
- Shrug of God: In-universe example: Brann asks Aessina if she's responsible for the creation of the Grell, and gets back a 'maybe.'
Aviana, the Lady Raven
Spirit of the sky and patron of all avian life (Excluding bats). She is the one worshiped by the Druids of the Talon, and gives them the power to transform into avian forms (Except trolls, who turn into bats). She died during the War of the Ancients, however her egg which served to rebirth her was rescued from the clutches of the Twilight's Hammer before they could corrupt her. She since fought to rid Hyjal of the Hammer, and the influence of the Firelands.
- Back from the Dead: She's revived in Cataclysm.
- Barrier Maiden: At some point, her spirit became intertwined with G'Hanir, the Mother Tree. As such, her death during the War of the Ancients causes the tree to die as well.
- Bloody Murder: After being run through on the lances of multiple demons in the War of the Ancients, her blood travels down the weapons she's been impaled on down to the demons who are using them. Her blood essentially poisons them due to her divine nature and causes them to tear their own throats out.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: She appears like a harpy with angelic wings for arms.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How she died in the War of the Ancients.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Besides Cenarius, she is the only major Wild God to have the appearance of a clearly humanoid being rather than an animal (though in the novels she could take the shape of a large bird, she is consistently shown in her harpy form otherwise). This was reflected in her first stated backstory, which had her being deliberately transformed from a normal raven, but that is now Canon Discontinuity and her appearance now has no specific explanation.
- Species-Specific Afterlife: G'hanir serves as an afterlife for all winged creatures, birds especially. The tree is filled with nests of all sizes, each one for a future resident when they die. Aviana promises to have a nest ready for Krasus when he finally dies.
- Verbal Tic: She frequently repeats the last thing she said in the War of the Ancients books.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Aviana can alter her form between a giant bird of prey to a smaller, harpy-like woman to interact with others.
Cenarius, Lord of the Forest
Guardian of Ashenvale and Hyjal and the person who taught the first Druid, Malfurion Stormrage. He lived through the War of the Ancients, but died at the hands of Grom Hellscream. He was later resurrected in Hyjal to assist in fighting the Twilight's Hammer, and later helps the players personally in fighting Ragnaros in the Firelands. He's the child of Elune and Malorne, and his offspring gave rise to the centaur, dryads, and magnataur.
- Apologetic Attacker: He genuinely thinks you and Malfurion have been corrupted through no fault of your own in the Emerald Nightmare raid due to Xavius manipulating his mind. He is really not happy about fighting you and if you wipe he will take some time out to mourn you.
- Back from the Dead: He's revived in Cataclysm.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's actually a really nice guy... so long as you don't harm nature or are not an enemy in general.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Xavius figures out the true way to control Cenarius through the Emerald Nightmare is to make him think everyone else is corrupted by it. Snapping him out of it is the focus of his boss fight in the raid.
- Cernunnos: He's based mainly on the modern fantasy version of the stag-horned god — besides his name, he has the antlers and a strong thematic association with forests and nature.
- Cynicism Catalyst: His death marked the beginning of the end for the Night Elves.
- Friend to All Living Things: Unless you're an orc, which leads to his death.
- Green Thumb: Cenarius reversed the Warsong clan's deforestation of Ashenvale in moments.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: When he witnesses the orcs cutting down trees and senses the demonic taint they carry, Cenarius attacks them without explanation, assuming them servants of the Legion. When Grom yells at him that they've reformed, Cenarius refuses to accept it. He only ends up pissing Grom off, though...Cenarius: The demons did their job well. You creatures are as reckless and bloodthirsty as ever!
Grom: We orcs are free, demigod!
Cenarius: Is that what you tell yourself? Despite what you may believe, you are no better than the malignant bile that flows through your veins!
Grom: Damn you! RAGH! - Hoist by His Own Petard: This stubbornness and Cenarius' protection forces Grom to drink from a fountain tainted with demon blood to defeat him. In the end, his refusal to accept the orcs were anything less than "demon-spawned wretches" forced the orcs to become that, and got him killed.
- "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: His fight as a raid boss in the Emerald Nightmare consists of Malfurion calling out to him and little by little breaking away at Xavius's influence on Cenarius's mind. Notably one of the few cases in the series where this actually works and doesn't result in the character dying.
- Large Ham: Most visible in Warcraft III. Granted, he was pissed at the moment.
- Non-Standard Character Design: He stands out from the rest of the Wild Gods, whose true forms are grand-looking animals, by being a stag-elf-centaur with one arm made of wood. That's probably because he's no normal Wild God.
- Physical God: He was pretty much invincible and worshipped as a deity in his own right.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: He takes on this color scheme after he's corrupted by the Emerald Nightmare in Legion.
- Unwitting Pawn: Together with Grom and his Warsong clan as pawns of the Burning Legion. The demons Mannoroth and Tichondrius planned this scenario to dispose of Cenarius and reclaim the orcs as an army before they launched their invasion.
- Weather Manipulation: He can conjure whirlwinds and lightning storms, and turn the air ice cold.
- We Hardly Knew You: In Warcraft III, he only appears for one mission fighting the Warsong, before being killed off by Grom Hellscream. Some books serve to provide more information about him.
- When Trees Attack: The first thing he does in his introduction is create treants from normal trees, allowing the forest to fight back against the Warsong.
Goldrinn
Worshipped by the Night Elves, Orcs, Worgen, and Tauren, Goldrinn (Also called "Lo'Gosh" by the Horde's races) is the ancient wolf spirit of ferocity. He fought savagely in the War of the Ancients, and like others, died in combat after slaying thousands of demons. Unlike the other Ancients, he looks upon the Night Elven goddess Elune with anger rather than in a positive light, because she disapproved of his unwillingness to tame his feral and savage nature. One of his fangs was used to create the Scythe of Elune, which gave rise to the first Druids of the Pack, which became the Worgen. Today, he's chosen the Human King, Varian Wrynn, as his mortal champion.
- Ascended Extra: Originally just mentioned in the comics as the basis for king Varian's nickname "Lo'Gosh", Goldrinn has steadily become more important with the addition of playable worgen and Varian becoming his champion.
- The Berserker: To the point that his followers, the first Worgen, become consumed by bloodlust.
- Blood Knight: Exhibits this, as do his followers.
- Canis Major: Curse of the Worge shows an image of Goldrinn carrying a kodo in his teeth like a regular wolf would a rabbit.
- Heroic BSoD: He took Varian's death pretty hard in Legion.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He died defending Eldre'Thalas (now called Dire Maul) during the War of the Ancients, in what was almost certainly a Bolivian Army Ending.
- Monster Progenitor: Though Alpha Prime was the first proper Worgen who spread it to the others, it's ultimately Goldrinn's blessings and gifting the Druids of the Fang their wolf form that are responsible for the existence of the Worgen as a stable population.
- Rasputinian Death: How he met his end during the War of the Ancients. He was stabbed and slashed so many times that he finally died from the buildup of injuries. The demons didn't even notice that he'd finally died and just kept hacking away at him.
- Savage Wolves/Noble Wolf: As is so often the case with mythological lupine creatures in fantasy, Goldrinn is a little bit of both, although the Night Elves say his savagery outweighs his nobility.
- Unstoppable Rage: Like Agamaggan. Legends say that the two full moons were Elune looking down on him in disapproval, which just made Goldrinn more angry.
Malorne the Waywatcher
Malorne, called Apa'ro by the Tauren, is an enormous white stag that roamed the land as protector of nature. His power lay in nature itself and he is responsible for the creation and nurturing of nature in the world. He is the father of Cenarius, who inherited his dominion over nature. If Tauren legend is to be believed, he was once hunted (In a playful fashion) by the Tauren, in an endless game of cat and mouse across Kalimdor, and to escape them, he leaped to the sky, where his antlers got stuck in the stars. Mu'sha, or Elune, saw him and fell in love with him, offering to help him free himself from the stars if he would return her love for him. He became her consort after.
- Badass in Distress: Captured by the Emerald Nightmare in Legion and relives his battle against Archimonde. The druid player saves him.
- Big Good: Generally considered to be the mightiest and wisest of the Ancients, and powerful enough to warrant Archimonde's direct intervention when he began turning the tide against the Legion.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He jumped in to save his son Cenarius from a horde of demons during the War of the Ancients, which drew Archimonde's attention leading to his death.
- The Marvelous Deer: He's a white stag god, so he qualifies.
- Neck Snap: How Archimonde killed him.
- Suddenly Voiced: He didn't spoke per se until Legion.
Tortolla
Tortolla is the turtle demigod. He is the patron ancient to all creatures who move effortlessly between land and sea. According to Hamuul Runetotem, he is one of the oldest of the Ancients, having been alive since the time of the Titans. Due to that, he speaks in an old language that has been long forgotten, which proves incomprehensible (at least initially) to players.
He was one of the few ancients who didn't die in the War of the Ancients, however his tenacity didn't prevent him from being captured and magically cloned by the Twilight's Hammer. Players free him in a questline, and use his power to fight the Hammer.
- Badass in Distress: Captured by the Twilight Hammer, forcing the players to save him.
- Mighty Glacier: Comes with being a massive turtle.
- The Older Immortal: If what Hamuul says its true, then he's the oldest among the Ancients.
Ursoc the Mighty
Ursoc and his brother Ursol are bear spirits and patrons of those who favor balance of nature and the living beasts of the wild. Among their most loyal followers, the furbolgs, practice their respective customs; those who follow on Ursoc become hunters or warriors and carve wood statues and structures. Timbermaw Hold in northern Felwood is an example, as the stronghold's entrance is a giant wood carved in the shape of a growling bear head — as homage to the twin bears. A group known as the Druids of the Claw also revere the twin bears.
During the War of the Ancients, Ursoc along with his brother Ursol were the first to answer the call of Cenarius to combat the Burning Legion. They clashed with the doomguard, but were eventually overwhelmed by fel stalkers, and died defending the land.
- Bears Are Bad News: For their foes at least.
- Came Back Wrong: The furbolgs of Northrend resurrected him using the failed world tree Vordrassil, but the corruption that seeped into it eventually took over him and the furbolgs, driving them mad. He is eventually cleansed of the corruption.
- ...and then Xavius infuses him with the power of the Emerald Nightmare and he becomes a raid boss, much to his horror.
- Killed Off for Real: As seen in the Ardenweald Afterlives cinematic, his soul is one of the many casualties of the anima drought.
- Power Fist: Given a pair of claw weapons by Freya eons ago, which are used by Guardian druids in Legion.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Wipe against him and he sounds on the verge of tears.
- Tortured Monster: In the Emerald Nightmare raid; tragically, he's retained enough of his free will to occasionally snap out of Xavius' control and beg the raid to flee.
- Yank the Dog's Chain:
- In Legion, Xavius corrupts him all over again, but cruelly leaves enough of his sanity intact to understand what he's doing.
- On dying and being freed from Xavius, his spirit travels to Ardenweald to recover. The anima drought strikes soon after and Ursoc's soul is drained in order to slow the realm's decay.
Ursol the Wise
Ursol and his brother Ursoc are bear spirits and patrons of those who favor balance of nature and the living beasts of the wild. Among their most loyal followers, the furbolgs, practice their respective customs; those who follow Ursol become shamans. A group known as the Druids of the Claw also revere the twin bears.
During the War of the Ancients, Ursol along with his brother Ursol were the first to answer the call of Cenarius to combat the Burning Legion. They clashed with the doomguard, but were eventually overwhelmed by fel stalkers, and died defending the land.
- Back from the Dead: In Legion, where he appears during the Guardian druid artifact questline.
- Bears Are Bad News: For their foes at least.
- Magic Staff: Given one by Freya eons ago.
- You Don't Look Like You: He has bluish-black fur in his official art, but has glowing light blue fur when he appears in Legion.
The Loa
The loa are spirits worshiped by the trolls. The first and most famous loa were Wild Gods, of which many made their home in the mountain range of Zandalar, prompting the ancient trolls to declare the land sacred. However, it is believed that powerful and enlightened individuals can become loa, and indeed even the wisps of the night elves are considered to be loa.
The loa are more morally ambiguous compared to the Ancients and the August Celestials, readily accepting blood sacrifices and encouraging the more barbaric facets of troll culture. That said the two previous groups are also considered Loa by trolls as well.
- Badass in Distress: We often find Loa in this state, as Trolls have old, profane rituals that can bind and drain the powers from Loa. This was exemplified in Zul'Drak, when the Drakkari killed and consumed their Loa. This process, however, corrupts the soul, which is why the Drakkari are extinct today. Happens again in Battle for Azeroth, since Prophet Zul learned the Drakkari's rituals and has his insurgency put them into practice.
- Berserk Button: While the Loa as a whole can be generous to those who have faith in them, they do have lines that you should not cross:
- Do not kill their followers. Loa take those who worship them very seriously, and will seek retribution upon those who slaughter their followers. A more humorous example is Jani turning the player into a Saurid, only allowing them to change back by a task set upon them.
- Do not betray them. While Loa can certainly accept if someone wishes to change their worship to a different Loa (albeit with some difficulty), they do not take betrayal lightly. The insurgency of the Zanchuli Council can attest to this, with all of the captured Loa being less than pleased at what the council attempted to do. Gonk ends up more or less slaughtering the "heretics" when they attempted to capture him, and the trolls consider what Shadra's own priestess {Yazma) did to her as one of the worst things that any troll could do to their Loa.
- Blood Magic: Their worship involves lots of blood and sacrifice.
- Deal with the Devil: Loa deal in bargains. Speak to any, and they will first ask you if you have come to bargain with them. Most bargains are fairly benign; along the lines of, 'bring me a small sacrifice, and I will teach you magic' or 'build a shrine to me, and my children will be your allies.' Some, like Bwonsamdi, can get a bit more sinister and serious in their bargains.
- Deity of Human Origin: It is possible for some mortals to be accepted by and become Loa themselves.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: An aspect of loa worship that separates them from the likes of Ancient Guardians or August Celestials is that devotion and sacrifices will directly empower the loa. A loa will gain more power as they accumulate living followers who do their bidding, and inversely will lose power if their worship is abandoned. But as Kimbul shows, a loa that happens to be a Wild God is still a force to be reckoned with regardless of having no followers.
Hakkar the Soulflayer
Hakkar the Soulflayer, Blood God of the Gurubashi trolls and patron of all Wind Serpents, is a malevolent and destructive creature that controls the Gurubashi Empire's fallen capital of Zul'Gurub. Hakkar the Soulflayer was the final boss of the Zul'Gurub raid until it was removed with patch 4.0.3a and Zul'Gurub was turned into an ordinary subzone of Northern Stranglethorn. Though the world believed Hakkar to be dead, there were rumors that Hakkar might return one day. These ultimately proved true, when the troll Jin'do resurrected his spirit in order to drain the blood god's powers into himself. This caused the Blood God to Heel–Face Turn, free the players, and kill Jin'do. See the Shadowlands page for information on him.
Bwonsamdi, Loa of Graves
Rezan, the Loa of Kings
An ancient Loa, Rezan is the embodiment of the Devilsaur and the Loa of Zandalar's Kings and Queens. As do Zandalar's subjects follow the will of their King, so does the King follow the will of the Loa of Kings. His power and strength is great, and he commands pristine, golden magic that vaguely resembles the Holy Light. In addition to the Zandalari King, he is also worshiped by the Prelates, an elite force of Zandalari Paladins who wield his light alongside their arms in battle.
Can be seen in the Horde's introductory cinematic to Zandalar. Spoilers, of course
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- Came Back Wrong: His body is resurrected into undeath, and his spirit is forced to helplessly watch from the Shadowlands.
- Killed Off for Real: By Zul, who leads him into a trap, then even more so in Shadowlands, where during the Night Fey Covenant campaign, the player and Vol'jin's spirit find his spirit fading away in the Maw. He declines Vol'jin's offer to try and save him and instead imbues the last of his essence into Vol'jin, making him the new Loa of Kings and fading permanently.
- Light Is Good: Unlike most Loa, who tend towards darker or more nature-oriented themes, Rezan's magic is golden and brilliant. While not the Holy Light, his magic resembles the Light, and thus the Zandalari Prelates are considered Paladins by the game's thematic.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Quite literally, mind you. When Zul's minion, Vilnok'dor, begins to act in Zul's betrayal, he begins by sacking Rezan's temple and attempting to subdue the Loa. Rezan breaks free, and rampages across his temple, destroying invading blood trolls and Zul's loyalists with his massive feet and magical roars.
- Spirit Advisor: As a Loa, he can fill this role. Talanji communing with him is depicted in this way.
- T. Rexpy: Devilsaur are Warcraft's fantasy-equivalent of a T. rex, and Rezan is the god of them all.
Krag'wa the Huge
The Loa of frogs, who dwells in the swamps of Nazmir. Horde adventurers are tasked by Talanji with securing his aid in defeating the Blood Trolls in the region. When he is finally located, Krag'wa gladly joins the fight to avenge his followers and children, who have all been slaughtered by the Blood Trolls and Naga.
- Amphibian at Large: A giant frog.
- Badass Normal: Kicks a LOT of ass for being a Loa of FROGS, and not even one of the Zandalari's more prominent Loa.
- Big Good: Is fiercely protective towards all within his care, and is one of the loa you recruit to battle the forces of G'huun. He even participates in the defense of Zuldazar during Zul's insurgency.
- In a Single Bound: Can traverse immense distances in a single leap, and will crush enemies beneath his bulk.
- Mighty Glacier: Can defeat whole groups of enemies merely by landing on them, and is quite the powerhouse, but he needs the adventurer's help to regain his strength from power he's stored in scattered totems.
- Multipurpose Tongue: His primary means of attack is whacking enemies with his tongue after landing on them.
- Nature Hero: Is the guardian of the creatures of the swamp, and god help you if you decide to nab an innocent frog for use in a sacrificial ritual.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His main motivation for joining the war against the Blood Trolls is to avenge his followers, who all gave their lives in his defense, as well as his children who were likewise slaughtered.I AM KRAG'WA, AND I AM NO ONE'S FEAST!
Elortha no Shadra, Mother of Venom
Elortha no Shadra, or simply Shadra, is the Mother of Venom, God of Spiders, and Mistress of Spies. An enormous spider loa, she is worshipped by several different troll tribes, including the Witherbark, Gurubashi, Vilebranch, Sandfury, Darkspear, and even the Zandalari. She is repeatedly summoned into the world across Azeroth by the different tribes in order to use her power for different rituals.
- Back for the Dead: Returns in Battle for Azeroth just to be killed by Yazma.
- Badass in Distress: One of the loa captured by the Gurubashi to fuel their ritual to summon Hakkar. Fortunately, they are freed. She isn't so lucky when this happens again in Battle for Azeroth. Then, to make matters worse, her soul ends up in the Maw, where she is trapped and tortured. Fortunately, the player and Vol'jin rescue her and restore her to Ardenweald.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: While most loa tend to be giant animals, she's notably the only one so far that's taken the form of a giant arthropod.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Not Shadra herself, but she sent Vol'jin visions of the Zandalari's activity in Shadows of the Horde to aid him as she was displeased by the alliance with the Mogu.
- Giant Spider: One of, if not the biggest that appears in World of Warcraft.
- Secret-Keeper: Is the patron of spies, and her high priestess in Zandalar is even referred to as the king's 'spider,' responsible for watching the web of rumors and information between the trolls and to keep plots from reaching the king.
- Spiders Are Scary: To quote a Zandalari poem...Betray her and ya soon will find,Her venom is strong and most unkind.
Torga
Torga is the Turtle Loa, one of the most wise, benevolent and ancient of them all. Worshipped by both Zandalari and Tortollan alike, the latter frequently made privileges to his dwelling within Nazmir to hear and record the many stories of the ancient turtle.
- Ancient Keeper: Knows countless stories, and his followers, the Tortollans, have tasked themselves with recording them.
- Badass Normal: Despite being, well, a big sea turtle, he IS still a Loa. Even his corpse contains enough power to fuel the rituals of numerous Blood Trolls. It's also implied he put up quite a fight when the Blood Trolls first came for him, as the surrounding area is trashed.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: In his reincarnated form.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His death prompts one from his followers, the normally peaceful Tortollans, who agree to join the fight against the Blood Trolls in his name.
- Turtle Island: His dead body alone is big enough to cover a good portion of a subzone.
Gonk, the Great Hunter
Gonk is the Raptor Loa, also called Packstrider, Master of Shapes, Lord of the Hunt, and the Great Hunter. He is a cunning and enigmatic loa who lives the primal life of a hunter, stalking the wilderness while advising hunters, warriors, and druids who come to him. He has a progressive mindset, and while he still asks to be the primary loa of his followers, he encourages them to learn and follow other loa as well, which gave him the title 'Master of Shapes' when his Druidic followers adopted many shapeshift forms to reflect his encouragement to learn from other loa.
Gonk is one of the few Zandalari Loa known outside of the Zandalari Empire, perhaps because of his progressive mindset. When Zalazane took the Echo Isles from the Darkspear Tribe, it was Gonk who helped bridge the connection between the disparate Priests and Witch Doctors, and the Loa Zalazane had cut them off from, and taught them how to be Druids.
- Badass Normal: Now, he is a giant, fast, and ferocious raptor. That being said, compared to the other loa, his abilities are fairly limited to him being a giant, fast, and ferocious raptor. While Rezan demonstrates magical powers similar to the Light, and Pa'ku has mastery over the winds, and Hakkar has magic concerning blood and disease, Gonk simply uses his powerful teeth, claws, and blinding speed. This is compounded by the fact that he also seems the most resistant to magic, as he is the only Loa in Zandalar not diminished by Zul's civil war, and we find him not a Badass in Distress like most loa, and instead feasting on the corpses of Zul's lackeys. He still would command some magic, but it would be limited to communing with and blessing his followers, as he mainly relies on his natural body, which is reflected in that many of his followers are Badass Normal Hunters and Warriors.
- Friendly Rivalry: Has one with Pa'ku, Loa of Pterosaurs. His followers tend to get into rivalries with Pa'ku's followers as well.
- Guile Hero: He is very powerful innately, and is able to strong-arm lesser Loa into doing what he wants, but his real strength comes from his cunning and his pack. Raptors are his children, and he shares his den with a plethora of feather-maned ravasaursnote .
- Raptor Attack: His native form is that of a giant, armored raptor.
- Redundant Rescue: In the quest to clear the Garden of the Loa of Zul's traitors, you are supposed to rescue Gonk and Pa'ku. The latter is shackled by four dark priests, but Gonk is surrounded by dead foes and asks if you want to join him in hunting heretics.
Jani, Loa of Scavengers
Jani, Patron of Scavengers, the Lord of Thieves, the God of Garbage, Master of Minions, the Keeper of Secrets, the loa of discarded things, is a seemingly unknown saurid loa within Zandalar. She watches over and collects people and things that would otherwise be discarded and is fiercely protective of her scavengers.
- Actually Pretty Funny: She steals one of Torcali's sacred waystones as a prank, which she admits is pretty funny.
- Butt Biter: To return to your original form after a Karmic Transformation, Jani orders you to bite the person who ordered you to kill her followers. You latch right onto their backside to her amusement.
- Have a Nice Death: She's not overly kind if you get caught in her quest.Jani: Stupid saurid, ya be dead again! Hek hek hek.
- Karmic Transformation: For killing her saurid followers, Jani turns the player into a saurid themselves for a time.
- The Nicknamer: She calls the player "richmon" because they're covered in equipment that would be worth a fortune.
- One Man's Trash Is Another's Treasure: Invokes this trope in her Catchphrase above as well as in a number of minor quests in Zandalar: in some areas enemies will drop a trinket you can offer to her at a nearby shrine, and she'll grant you a treasure chest with some war resources, along with some low-quality trash items...which you can sell to vendors for gold.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's a saurid, which in the Warcraft world is the equivalent of a Compsognathus, in comparison to Rezan, a tyrannosaur, or Gonk, a raptor. That said, she's still a Loa, and she WILL teach you a lesson if you show her disrespect.
- The Rival: To Elortha no Shadra. Jani is the Keeper of Secrets, but Shadra is the Mistress of Spies. The Venom Queen always has her spiders out to kill Jani's scavengers.
- Signature Laugh: "Hek hek hek hek!"
- Troll: Not the Zandalari kind, but is still a MASSIVE one. Notably has the guts to troll someone as incredibly powerful as the player and Torcali, and is easily the most irreverent of all the Loa.
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Has one of the longest lists of titles of all the Loa, despite being one of the least respected.
August Celestials
Powerful Wild Gods that act as guardians and teachers to the pandaren people, the four August Celestials have been a part of all of Pandaria's history, even before the mogu were overthrown. They assisted Emperor Shaohao in ridding himself of his burdens, and continue to teach others in the same fashion at each of their temples. Each one is roughly represented by a different cardinal direction, and are associated with different colors. Each one also represents different feelings, which makes them a sort of counterpart to the sha.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Like the Dragon Aspects, the August Celestials have the ability to take on mortal forms. During War Crimes, Niuzao took on the form of a glowing tauren, Chi-Ji a red-headed blood elf with golden wings like a cape, and Xuen a pale blue human with white and black stripes on his skin and in his hair. Yu'lon has appeared as a pandaren cub named Fei twice, once in Jade Forest and once in War Crimes.
- Expy: to The Four Gods of chinese mythology, with the most notable differences being that the black god is an ox instead of a snake-turtle, and that it switched cardinal directions with the white tiger.
- Foil: To the different varieties of sha.
- Power Glows: Unlike other Wild Gods, the Celestials have brightly colored glowing bodies and visible auras surrounding them.
Chi-Ji, the Red Crane of Hope
The Red Crane of Hope, and southern celestial, foil to the Sha of Despair, makes his temple in the Krasarang Wilds to the south. He is implied to be the weakest of the four Celestials, but in most cases he isn't present for combat prowess or magical empowerment, but for, well, hope.
When Shaohao was struggling the the swamps of the Krasarang Wilds, Chi-Ji appeared to him, asking why he struggled. Shaohao said it was because he lost his friend. Chi-Ji points out that it is not his friend who is lost, it is Shaohao who is lost.
- Angel Unaware: Disguises himself as Fat Long Fat during the storyline of his daily quests.
- Demonic Possession: Gets overtaken by the Sha of Despair, but, as the spirit of hope, he knew the players would rescue him afterwards, and they did.
- Healing Hands: He's typically associated with healing more than combat.
- Kill It with Fire: He uses flame attacks against players when they face him on the Timeless Isle, including one channeled spell that's practically impossible to survive unless you stack on the player with a buff.
- Light Is Good: With Light comes Hope.
- Playing with Fire: Concept art showed some of his followers specializing in fire magic.
- Thanatos Gambit: He's fine with the Sha of Despair consuming him, as he knows Anduin and the player will free him promptly.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: The reason why he is presumably the weakest of the Celestials, although he can still lend his aid in a fight.
Niuzao, the Black Ox
Sometimes referred to as the Black Yak, the western celestial, and the Spirit of Fortitude, and opposite to the Sha of Fear he is the most tenacious of the four celestials, which is why he lives, and has always lived, on the far side of the Serpent's Spine wall in Mantid and Yaungol territory. He isn't known in many large questlines like the other three, only appearing in a few, but when he does appear, whoo boy. The way he stampedes around his temple trampling invading Mantid has almost reached meme status in the Warcraft community.
When Shaohao was too afraid to enter the Dread Wastes to save his friend, the Monkey King, it was Niuzao who told him to simply follow his feet, and that they would show him the way.
- Brutish Bulls: A yak actually, but huge nonetheless
- Dark Is Not Evil: He gives off a lot of light for a Black Ox, though.
- The Determinator: His shtick, his acolytes claim that the only thing that can stop him is himself.
- Hope Bringer: He's not the Celestial of hope, but the defenders of Niuzao Temple find it inspiring to see him charge his way through their enemies.
- Mighty Glacier: He's described as almost impossible to get moving, but once he does, nothing stands in his way.
- Large and in Charge: No pun intended.
- The Quiet One: Chats the least of the four August Celestials.
- The Stoic: Taken up a level in that he's so stoic, he rarely ever speaks. Many people thought he never spoke before actually doing the few, easily missed quests he's involved in.
Xuen, the White Tiger
The Pandaren Spirit of Strength, and the northern celestial. He exemplifies prowess in battle and honor in combat. The way he speaks of strength is not how we would view it, beyond just physical strength. He seems to enjoy watching others fight, and he teaches his followers why they fight. He is the opposite to the Shas of Anger, Hatred, and Violence (Ironically).
Long ago, during the Mogu's reign, he fought the Thunder King, Lei Shen, in one on one, honorable combat in an attempt to keep the Pandaren who followed him free. But he lost, and what is currently his Temple, was once his prison where he was tortured and tormented.
Later on, he trained one hundred of Pandaria's finest warriors, warriors that Emperor Shaohao wanted to build an army out of to crush the Burning Legion. Xuen tells Shaohao that the desire to crush one's enemies is no reason to fight, and issues Shaohao a challenge, giving him a staff, and saying if he could strike any one of the one hundred, they all would be his to command. Shaohao failed this challenge, and in his rage, created the three Sha. When one of the one hundred sacrificed himself to save Shaohao, he understands the real reason why you fight, and Xuen approves.
- Blood Knight: He seems to love a good scrap, and holds tournaments at his temple (Which looks like a giant arena) every few days, when it's his turn to have August Celestials dailies.
- Contemplate Our Navels: Often launches into discussions about the nature of strength and how it should be used.
- The Comically Serious: He's a philosophical Physical God, who teaches about the purpose and value of strength from a massive temple. All that only makes it funnier when he admits to making two people who hate each other fight together because it would be funny, or advocating Groin Attacks while discussing surgical strikes.
- Cool vs. Awesome: His fight with Lei Shen.
- Expy: May not be intentional, but he's very similar to Mufasa from the Lion King with his strength and wisdom, and his ability to lead.
- Panthera Awesome: He's a giant, white, ghostly tiger.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Issues one to Shaohao to help relieve him of Anger, Hatred, and Violence.Xuen:' Now do you see why you are not ready to lead? Your anger does not empower you, it makes you weak.
- Shock and Awe: Typically associated with lightning or electricity.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: "You are strong, stronger even than you realize. Carry this thought with you into the darkness ahead. Let it shield you."
Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent
The Pandaren spirit of wisdom, and the eastern celestial, foil to the Sha of Doubt, she watches over the Pandaren people from the sky, and is the presumed leader of the Order of the Cloud Serpent, an Order which trains aspiring riders to tame and ride Cloud Serpents (For the record, in Warcraft, Cloud Serpents are not dragons, only to differentiate them from Warcraft's other, more western dragons). She is different from the others in that she seems to have a cycle of death and rebirth, where her followers build a giant statue out of jade for her to breathe her essence into and live on through. The last Destination: Pandaria short story reveals that she was forced into the cycle when Emperor Lei Shen killed her, forcing her to spiritbind her soul to a Jade Statue which like the metal body of Emperor Lei Shen(the inventor of Mogu spiritbinding) was mortal.
She was the first Celestial that Shaohao sought out in his quest to save Pandaria, telling him to seek out the Heart of Pandaria and look to the land for answers. Shaohao uses this advice when dealing with the first three Sha, looking to the land for ways to overcome them.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: She first appears as a young Pandaren girl named Fei.
- Breath Weapon / Playing with Fire: Hers is jade green fire. Most Cloud Serpents have a blue, lightning variety.
- Queen Incognito: She disguises herself as a young girl named Fei, who is a low-ranking member in the temple of the Jade Serpent.
- Reincarnation: Unlike the other celestials, Yu'lon ages and dies in a cycle due to her original body's death at the hands of Lei Shen during his conquest of Pandaria. Because of this, when her current body begins to grow too old to function, the Pandaren build a statue of her that she breathes her life and essence into, being reborn from the new statue while her old body dies.
- Mama Bear:
- Cares greatly for the pandaren, and though she rarely shows her temper, when she does during the Twin Consorts fight, (after having just saved her and the others) of the four of them, Yu'lon seems to be the most enraged by the Mogu, to the point where she sounds flat out hateful.
- Of course that's because the Mogu's leader Lei Shen killed her, forcing her into the cycle of rebirth from jade statues.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Not technically a dragon in Warcraft canon, but fits the trope nonetheless.
- The Smart Guy: Embodiment of wisdom.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- She was supposed to fuse with the Jade Statue to pass on her powers, and mentioned feeling incredibly tired while awaiting this. The Horde-Alliance war wrecked the statue, and this is never touched on again, apart from her mentioning that it will be some time before she can pass on her powers.
- It's implied that Yu'lon died at some point offscreen after the statue's destruction, and that when Lui Flameheart manifests herself as the jade serpent and is subsequently killed, Yu'lon is reborn from that at full power.
