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The last 224 Revealed Cards Includes no Charge Minions.
Hello, again! It's been very recent since I made my last post for lore, but I came across a particularly interesting fact in a conversation well, just now.
There are no minions in One Night in Karazhan, Whispers of the Old Gods or the League of Explorers that have Charge. Not a one. Woah, man. I didn't realise it's been so scarce in recent expansions!
Well, because of that, I decided to tackle the lore behind the 5 Charge minions present in The Grand Tournament: Druid of the Saber, Alexstrasza's Champion, Argent Horserider, Armoured Warhorse and the Neutral Legendary Icehowl. This should be a good deal shorter than the last post, which included Tirion Fordring and Bolvar Fordragon. Seriously, I spent a couple hours on that.
Anyhow! Let's do this.
The Druid of the Saber is apparently of a faction not yet revealed in your standard canonical lore. There are many Druidic organisations, including the Druids of the Fang, Claw, and Flame that we have seen in Hearthstone as well. Now, as it has been indicated in Hearthstone gameplay, the name of each organisation represents the traditional forms that they take. Whilst a Druid player in World of Warcraft can turn into a cat, bear, tree, Moonkin and more, it is understandable if many Druids in the lore commit to one, two or even three specific forms. After all, even Druid players can choose to specialise as Guardians (Bears), Ferals (Cats), Balance (Moonkin) or Restoration (Tree, or at least it used to be).
So, the Druid of the Saber utilises Saberteeth, the Claw utilises... you get the idea. Let's talk about one specific organisation, then: the Druids of the Pack. Why Druids of the Pack?
Well, I assume many of you are aware of the current OTK deck that Warriors are using, yes? Well, the Raging Worgen has ties with the Druids of the Pack in the lore, and seeing as it requires Charge) to be cast on it for its use in the deck to have meaning, why not discuss this group?
The Druids of the Pack originated approximately 700 years after the War of the Ancients (so around 9,300 years ago) during what is known as the War of the Satyr. A Satyr is a formerly Night Elven Demon, warped by demonic energies, and there used to be one in Hearthstone.
Scornful of their kin and intending to decimate -- no, annihilate -- all Night Elves, the Satyr began war with the Night Elves. Malfurion Stormrage and his wife and co-ruler Tyrande Whisperwind led the defence and their forces during the war. During this war, Malfurion discovered a new shapeshifting form known as the Pack Form. Embodying the relentless fury of Goldrinn, a Wild God, Malfurion struggled to control this form, going so far as to attack his mentor Cenarius, another Wild God. Knowing of its volatility, Malfurion prohibited the use of this form. However, as has been common in Night Elven history, not everyone listened.
Two Druids began to work with the Pack Form, leading others to use it and trying to focus their ferocity against the Satyr alone. The legendary weapon of the Scythe of Elune is said to contain the spirit of Goldrinn, and Druids attempting to control their Pack Form would submit their energies to this staff. The power was overwhelming, and these Druids were then transformed into Worgen. In their vicious attacks, they afflicted the Curse of the Worgen upon their victims, including Night Elves, who then transformed into Worgen among them.
Being put to sleep within another realm by Malfurion, to contain their rage, many Worgen would sleep for millennia.
There is more to this story, including how many humans became infected, but this is the origin of the Raging Worgen -- the embodiment of the ferocity of nature.
More information on the Raging Worgen can be found in this Lore of the Cards video, which is 15 minutes long.
Alexstrasza's Champion appears to be a horse-riding combatant of The Grand Tournament. Clearly representing the Dragon Queen herself, Alextrasza's Champion is again designed for Hearthstone specifically. With this in mind, however, we can talk about the War against the Scourge.
The Lich King's necromantic powers allows him to bring back his victims and his enemies after death to serve him. Some would be mindless, Flesheating Ghouls and others would be intelligent, skilled, powerful combatants. Because of this, the leader of the Argent Crusade, Tirion Fordring, hosted the Argent Tournament to test the mettle of the warriors of Azeroth. To use a small elite force would mean that the soldiers who would die more easily would not have the chance to, and they would not have the chance to be brought back under the Lich King's diabolical will. For this, soldiers from every faction and race contested.
According to Ben Brode, after the campaign in Northrend was over with the defeat of the Lich King, it was decided that the Argent Tournament would stay. Not to ensure that there are elite fighting forces, but for fun, of course! Alexstrasza's Champion was not present during the Argent Tournament, but it appears that even the Life-binder wants to take part in the Grand Tournament fun and she can't really joust without incinerating the coliseum, so she seems to have recruited a mortal to fight in her stead.
More information on Anub'arak can be found here: Lore of the Cards: Anub'arak. It's 40 minutes, but it's well worth the watch if you have the time.
I'll also note Kel'Thuzad as an exceptional agent of the Lich King. His lore video is 34 minutes long.
Argent Horserider and Armoured Warhorse:
Both the Argent Horserider and the Armoured Warhorse are constituents of the Argent Tournament. Jousting was not just a form of practice, but a legitimate tactic this war. Armoured Warhorses with Argent Crusade horseriders would be able to trample and crush the skeletal legions under the Lich King's command, in order to make way for the most powerful champions of the Crusade to infiltrate the Icecrown Citadel, the Lich King's bastion of power.
Icehowl is a gigantic, threatening Yeti who was captured by the Argent Crusade for use in the Crusader's Coliseum. Icehowl would be used as a Trial against Heroes of the Alliance or Horde to gauge their power and know whether or not they were worthy of taking the fight to the Lich King. His in-game mechanic of looking into a direction and charging until he hit a wall is well-presented by his ability to attack the turn he is played with great prowess (9 Mana 10/10?!), but his lack of intelligence and direction stops him from going face.
More information regarding the Beasts of Northrend fought in the Argent Tournament may be found here. The video is 13 minutes long.
Well, this was longer than I'd expected it to be. It's still shorter than the last one, though!
Thank you very much for reading and I hope you found this somewhat entertaining. If you have any questions regarding the lore, feel free to ask. If you have any suggestions regarding my presentation, the depth I go into, etc., then go right ahead!
Take care everyone and may you draw well. See ya!
Edit: Looks like I charrrrrged in a little too hastily with this post. I missed out Skycap'n Kragg! Silly me. Here he is, me hearties:
Sky Captain Kragg has exceptionally little known about him. He wasn't present during the already-mentioned Argent Tournament, but clearly rides in style amongst the participants of the Grand Tournament. It is unknown whether he is or may be Kragg or War Master Kragg. It is possible that if the Alliance version of events holds true, where War Master Kragg is frozen by Gnomish technology, that he ended up living the life of an outlaw afterwards, joining the Grand Tournament in Northrend away from the forces and retribution of the Alliance and Horde. However, if the Horde version holds true, Kragg is already dead. Maybe he's a zombie pirate! If the three characters are all the same then he is a special character indeed, rising through the ranks to become a respected (or at least feared) leader of Garrosh's Horde with, as he says, a limitless supply of Kor'kron at his command. Being defeated and having exiled or escaped from the grasp of his opponents, he set out to live... somewhere, somehow.
The pirates life was for him, it seems, until he heard word of the Grand Tournament. Garrosh's leadership of the forces in Northrend made him a war hero, which is why he became Warchief of the Horde to begin with. Now that Garrosh was in chains, maybe Kragg thought to fight just for honour and himself rather than for someone else and their cause.
Skycap'n Kragg isn't just a powerful warrior and a survivor. This is his redemption story. /s?
Cheers to /u/VikingFlamingo (amazing username by the way) and /u/AwesomeElephant8 for reminding me about Kragg.
Iksar
Looks like I charrrrrged in a little too hastily with this post.
I laughed.