After piecing together Hearthstone teasers and leaked information on Reddit, it looks like the theme of the next Hearthstone set, due to be officially announced tomorrow, is Academy of Scholomance.

What is Scholomance?

Scholomance was a school of necromancy founded by [Hearthstone Card (Kel’Thuzad) Not Found] to train prospective necromancers for the Scourge. From this secret base, the first plague of undeath was created and unleashed on the human kingdoms to weaken it for the Scourge invasion and transform the fallen into new undead soldiers. Scholomance is also where the first abominations were created.

 

 

Even after the defeat of Kel’Thuzad, the Lich King, and the rest of the Scourge, Scholomance persisted under necromancers and liches who served as the headmasters and teachers.

 

The school itself is inspired by a Romanian legend about a place called Scholomance (meaning ‘school of magic’) existing in the middle of a lake that teaches black magic and is run by the devil. The famous Count Dracula novel claims that the Count spent several years training in Scholomance.

Given Hearthstone’s lighter tone, it is highly possible that the more gruesome and terrifying aspects of this school will be sidelined by a potentially more Hogwarts-like atmosphere with a fun and goofy school theme.

 

Here's the description of Scholomance from World of Warcraft.

Quote From Blizzard

The Scholomance is housed within a series of crypts that lie beneath the ruined keep of Caer Darrow. Once owned by the noble Barov family, Caer Darrow fell into ruin following the Second War. As the wizard Kel'thuzad enlisted followers for his Cult of the Damned, he would often promise immortality in exchange for serving the Lich King. The Barov family fell to Kel'thuzad's charismatic influence and donated the keep and its crypts to the Scourge. The cultists then killed the Barovs and turned the ancient crypts into a school for necromancy known as the Scholomance. Though Kel'thuzad no longer resides in the crypts, devoted cultists and instructors still remain. The powerful lich, Ras Frostwhisper, rules over the site and guards it in the Scourge's name — while the mortal necromancer, Darkmaster Gandling, serves as the school's insidious headmaster.

Individuals seeking to master the powers of undeath know well of Scholomance, the infamous school of necromancy located in the dark and foreboding crypts beneath Caer Darrow. In recent years, several of the instructors have changed, but the institution remains under the control of Darkmaster Gandling, a particularly sadistic and insidious practitioner of necromantic magic.