Lore of Hearthstone, Episode #17 - Journey to Un'Goro

UN'GORO CRATER
Journey to Un'Goro is an expansion based on an area in World of Warcraft introduced all the way back in vanilla, the Un'Goro Crater. Un'Goro Crater (sometimes parsed as Un'goro) is a wild, isolated crater teeming with dense jungles, and the location of the most prehistoric creatures -- i.e. dinosaurs -- in all of Azeroth. It's filled with primal energies and elementals, as well as hints towards a Titanic presence that seems to be the ancient origins of the crater. In the past, Un'Goro crater is also known for a large amount of quests that reference other games, like a questline that references the Legend of Zelda. Un'Goro Crater sits geographically between Tanaris desert (where Gadgetzan, which coincidentally is the site of the previous expansion) and Silithus, another desert that is wholly occupied by the Silithids and Qiraji as well as being the site of imprisonment of the Old God C'Thun. While bordered by deserts, Un'Goro Crater itself continues to be a lush jungle of life, with a gigantic volcano called Fire Plume Ridge on its center, and multiple tar pits and hot springs that dot its landscape.

WoW map of Un'Goro Crater

More recent material have given more backstory behind Un'Goro crater, where the Titan Keeper Freya, designed Un'Goro Crater as an area of experimentation to create life -- other locations used by Freya for this purpose would become the modern-day vale of Eternal Blossoms and Sholazar Basin. These three 'cradles of life' were where the power of the Well of Eternity had coalesced, and where the Wild Gods reportedly emerged from. Other lesser Titanforged like Nablya (who's involved in many questlines in WoW's Un'Goro crater) mention that Un'Goro Crater is analogous to the Titans' petri dish. After Freya left, the titanic watcher Nablya ended up being in charge of Un'Goro crater, observing the evolution of life within it. Un'Goro crater has huge crystal pylons crafted by the Titans, that help to keep out danger from the land and presumably kept the crater from being transformed into the desert regions around it. In Wrath of the Lich King, a questline ended up revealing the Shaper's Terrace, a previously-hidden facility on Un'Goro's eastern point that houses the Titan watcher Nablya, and reveals much of the backstory behind Un'Goro Crater.

It was mentioned by night elven veterans who fought in the War of the Shifting Sands against the Silithid and Qiraji of Ahn'Qiraj that they were forced to retreat through the crater, and something within the crater prevented the Qiraji from being able to enter the lands. Prior to WoW, the pylon on the Southern side of the crater has collapsed, allowing the Silithid to enter and swarm the Southern parts of Un'Goro crater in the sub-zone known as the Slithering Scar. There are also a lot of mysterious crystals within the crater that interact with these pylons.

Un'Goro Crater was one of the areas that was relatively significantly shaken up after Deathwing's reawakening during the Cataclysm expansion, transforming the area. In addition to destroying some of the pylons and completely destroying the cloaking devices that hid Shaper's Terrace, it also transformed the delicate ecological balance in the crater, where the bloodpetal population has increased wildly and increasing the amount of flora in the area. During the Legion expansion, an event called 'Un'Goro Madness' was released as a micro-holiday event, featuring a large amount of Journey to Un'Goro legendaries that would appear several weeks later when Journey to Un'Goro debuted. Considering how closely the Legion expansion has worked with the Hearthstone team, as well as how long prior to the Un'Goro Madness event that the expansion has been in the works, it's more of a tie-in that makes a lot of the Hearthstone legendaries canon-in-WoW. Many of these bosses also have an 'adaptation' mechanic of their own, drawing on one of several possible random buffs, to represent the adapt mechanic seen in the Hearthstone Un'Goro cards.

DINOSAURS

In Hearthstone, in addition to exploring the crapton of dinosaurs and elementals within Un'Goro crater, we also follow Elise Starseeker, a original Hearthstone character introduced in League of Explorers, in investigating the crater and its wildlife with a small group of junior explorers. In addition to that, Hearthstone's YouTube channel and blogs released a series of shorts and journals that follow the explorers Professor George Herbert Doyle IV, and his assistant Eddie Malone, as they travel through Un'Goro and discover the strange creatures that live there, and seem to be involved in some time-travel shenanigans as they travel into the ancient past, and meet with the various tribes that live in Un'Goro -- the turtle-people known as the Tortollans, the Primalfin tribe of murlocs, a group of saurok, a group of tol'vir, and a whole lot of dinosaurs and elementals. The wiki has a transcript of all the blog posts and videos, but basically they travel through the past, meet a lot of the Hearthstone-original characters (which we'll cover below) and return back into the present day to meet back with Elise.

Journey to Un'Goro also features the debut of Hearthstone's first-ever original race, the Tortollans, which we'll cover later in the non-legendary section.

DINOSAURS!

Tyrantus:

Tyrantus (WoW)

Tyrantus is the name of not one, but two named Devilsaurs in World of Warcraft. We've briefly talked about Devilsaurs in the past during the Classic set, but they're basically Azeroth's version of the real-life Tyrannosaurus rex, initially limited to just appearing in Un'Goro Crater, but have been spotted in other places of Azeroth after original vanilla WoW.

The first Tyrantus was introduced in Burning Crusade, and is the only devilsaur to be found in the planet of Outland, the shattered remains of what used to be the orcish/draenei homeland of Draenor. Tyrantus is found in the location called Eco-Dome Farfield, a dome of lush vegetation surrounded by a purple forcefield situated on the chaotic lands of Netherstorm, seemingly constructed by the goblins that operate there. While the Eco-Dome mostly contains a raptor population, The mighty black-coloured devilsaur Tyrantus wanders around it as well.

During the Un'Goro Madness micro-holiday in Legion, which introduced many Hearthstone legendaries as elite mobs in Un'Goro Crater, one of these bosses is another devilsaur called Tyrantus, who wanders around the Slithering Scar and had the ability of Adaptation (based on Hearthstone's own Adapt mechanic), which allows Tyrantus to obtain one of several buffs -- Adrenaline, which increases damage; Caustic Blood, which creates pools of blood that damages whoever stands in them; Heavy Footed, which flings adventurers away if the mob moves; Poisonous Skin, a AoE blast; and Spores, which launches blasts of spores randomly. It's unclear if this Tyrantus is the same Tyrantus as the one that's found on Outland, and there's honestly little evidence to support either theory. Worth noting that Un'Goro's Tyrantus is black-and-yellow and Outland's Tyrantus is black-and-blue... whereas Hearthstone's Tyrantus is completely blue and lacks the WoW Devilsaur model's distinctive spine-spikes.

Barnabus the Stomper/Jungle Giants:

I'll talk about quests here as well, because this is the first quest we'll be talking about in this article. So quests are first introduced in the early Warcraft RTS games, where they are objectives that were part of the campaign for you to complete to finish said campaign. Warcraft III would come up with the now-iconic golden question mark hovering over a character's head to show when an NPC has a quest for you, which would be incorporated heavily when World of Warcraft was created with a far more distinctive emphasis on questing. Quest cards are created to reflect this aspect of World of Warcraft, although the individual quests are all original to Hearthstone.

Barnabus the Stomper himself is also original to Hearthstone, although he is clearly a Longneck (alternately, a Megasaur) -- a dinosaur model original to Hearthstone that is based on real-life sauropods like the apatosaurus or brachiosaurus. During the time that Journey to Un'Goro was released, there was no long-necked dinosaur in WoW, but the (as of the time of writing this review) brand-new expansion Battle for Azeroth shows that the Zandalari trolls do have long-necked dinosaurs in their employ, though they have noticeably different models compared to Hearthstone's Longnecks and are called Saurids. Barnabus himself is, obviously, original to Hearthstone, and he's apparently got a small forest on his back. There is an NPC called Barnabus in WoW, but he's a wolf and not a dinosaur.

Swamp King Dred:

King Dred (WoW)

King Dred is a gigantic orange devilsaur that was introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, as the penultimate boss for the dungeon Drak'Tharon Keep. King Dred is a legendary beast among the Drakkari Ice Trolls that live in the keep. In the continent of Northrend where the undead Scourge operates out of, and has a grip on the entire continent, King Dred is unique in that he is seemingly immune to the plague of undeath that has gripped much of Northrend's inhabitants, thriving in a land of death. The Drakkari trolls captured and tamed the mighty beast, believing that Dred held the key to creating an antidote against the plague of undeath. This would not come to fruition, however, since heroes of the Alliance and Horde would lay siege to the holdings of the ice trolls, and eventually put them down, and among those who were slain was King Dred. The artwork for Hearthstone's Swamp King Dred shows that he's apparently migrated all the way from Northrend down to Un'Goro Crater, and is ruling over the swamps.

Queen Carnassa/The Marsh Queen:

The quest 'The Marsh Queen' as well as the mighty devilsaur Queen Carnassa herself are both original to Hearthstone. It's worth noting that Queen Carnassa deviates from the normal devilsaur model by having a lot of horn-like spikes on her body, but that might be a, y'know, adaptation. Queen Carnassa appears to be a devilsaur that rules over an army of raptors because... um... reasons? Yeah, no real lore behind this one.

Galvadon/The Last Kaleidosaur

Both the quest and Galvadon himself are original to Hearthstone. The quest for the Last Kaleidosaur is a huge part of E. Malone and Professor Doyle's journey through Un'Goro, where they are attempting to ascertain that the legends of the mysterious Kaleidosaur is, in fact, true. The species of Kaleidosaur is original to Hearthstone, and it appears to be somewhat similar to a stegodon, but with spikes and an ankylosaur-esque club tail made out of Un'Goro's power-filled crystals. In E. Malone's journals, he detailed how the tortollans would lead them towards Galvadon's cave, and Galvadon would aid them in battling the evil saurok and their army of dinosaurs. Galvadon's kaleidoscopic crystals apparently allowed him to transform and adapt to suit his current opponent. The artwork for the Last Kaleidosaur card features Elise the Trailblazer.

King Mosh

King Mosh

The mighty King Mosh is the most powerful creature in Un'Goro Crater, and he wanders around the North-Western part of the crater. Introduced all the way back in the original World of Warcraft, King Mosh has been a staple of Un'Goro Crater, being 5 levels higher than most other mobs in the area. Prior to the Burning Crusade expansion, King Mosh was famous for being the most powerful non-boss mob. There's honestly not much lore behind him other than that, although yet another comparison between Northrend's Sholazar Basin and Un'Goro Crater, both locations with dinosaurs created by the Titans, is the existence of another wandering devilsaur 'King' in Sholazar Basin, King Krush.

ELEMENTALS!

Ozruk:

Ozruk (WoW)

Despite elementals being featured heavily throughout Un'Goro Crater, none of the elementals are actually important lore-wise. Thus, Journey to Un'Goro made up a bunch of elementals original to Hearthstone... all but Ozruk. Ozruk is a mighty earth elemental introduced in Cataclysm, and he is specifically a Gemstone Colossus -- mighty giants of stone with crystals and gemstones and a characteristic beard made up of crystals that are noted as being the most powerful of the earth elementals that serve Therazane the Stone Mother, elemental lord of Earth. Ozruk is a mighty beast that once guarded the Stonecore, a location within the elemental plane of Deepholm that once housed Deathwing as he recovered between Warcraft II and Cataclysm. Ozruk has since became corrupted and allied with Deathwing, betraying Therazane. Ozruk would be the third and second-to-last boss in the Stonecore dungeon, where adventurers are tasked by Therazane to help retake the elemental plane of earth. His line in Hearthstone, "Break yourself upon my body!" is taken from his quote when he casts the spell Spike Shield in WoW.

Pyros:

Phoenixes were first seen in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The human faction's Blood Mage heroes were able to summon a Phoenix as their ultimate ability, creating a powerful bird of fire that burns with such intensity that it actually damages itself over time. The Phoenix is immune to spells, and is able to deal periodic damage to enemies around it in addition to attacking itself. Upon dying, the Phoenix will turn itself into a Phoenix Egg, which, if not destroyed within 10 seconds, will herald the rebirth of the Phoenix. Blood Elves, upon renaming themselves as such, would use the phoenix in their banners and emblems, symbolizing their rising from the ashes of the destroyed high elves (as well as, y'know, their prince being able to summon one). Most famous among the phoenixes is Prince Kael'thas's own phoenix, Al'ar.

Phoenixes were added to WoW in Burning Crusade, particularly associated with the blood elves. It's also established here that phoenixes are actually powerful bird-like fire elementals. Pyros herself is original to Hearthstone, however, and no phoenixes are actually found in WoW's Un'Goro Crater. Her ability here seems to represent the phoenix's continual rebirth.

Kalimos, Primal Lord:

Kalimos is original to Hearthstone, and he seems to be a powerful elemental comprised of all four primary elementals -- fire, wind, earth and water. He appears to be the most powerful elemental in Un'Goro Crater. Kalimos draws his name from 'Kalimag', the language of the elementals. E. Malone and Professor Doyle, in their journey through Un'Goro, would briefly encounter Kalimos and his minions, although they wouldn't interact with the mighty Primal Lord himself.

Old Warcraft RPG sources (which are now non-canon) would describe the existence of 'elemental conglomerates', which are elementals created by combining two or more of the primary four elements, such as dust elementals being a combination of air and earth, and ice elementals being a combination of air and water, although the canonicity of the RPG sources is disputed as far as WoW is concerned. Regardless, they do describe primal elementals as being elementals created from all four elements. While there aren't any elementals that look like Kalimos, there have been two cases of four elementals combining to fuse into a single elemental -- The first is the Elemental Monstrosity (using the elemental ascendant model), the combined form created by the four members of the Twilight's Hammer's Ascendant Council, who is a boss in the Cataclysm Bastion of Twilight dungeon. The second primal elemental is Animus (who uses the arcane elemental model), who is also created by the Twilight's Hamemr cultists, summoning the mighty creature in an attempt to decimate the region of Thousand Needles.

Lyra the Sunshard:

Lyra the Sunshard is original to Hearthstone, as is most Light elementals (though the Lightspawn would be added to WoW in Legion). Some designers describe Lyra as basically being the elemental lord equivalent to light elementals. She appears to be made out of crystals and dust and... well, we don't really know much about her beyond that. She's a lady, though, one of the few elementals outside of the four Elemental Lords to have an assigned gender.

EXPLORERS!

Elise the Trailblazer:

Elise the Trailblazer is, of course, the very same Elise Starseeker from League of Explorers, getting off her more support-oriented role in League of Explorers and leading her own expedition with the League's junior cadets into Un'Goro Crater. Elise narrates the Un'Goro cinematic trailer, and her flavour text notes that it's Reno Jackson who encourages Elise to basically blaze her own trail as opposed to following maps. Her attack quote (aluth'neledar) is spoken in the night elven language of Darnassian, although it doesn't correspond to anything that night elves have said in WoW. The designers commented that it's a druidic chant that allows her to order the Un'Goro plants to attack.

Hemet, Jungle Hunter:

Hemet, Jungle Hunter, depicts Hemet Nesingwary, a recurring character in WoW as well as Hearthstone. We've covered Hemet himself in the GvG, and this card depicts him as he journeys through Un'Goro Crater, something that he's never done in WoW. Apparently he's gotten a dinosaur skull as a hat and has taken to using leaves and coconuts as armour.

OTHER RESIDENTS OF UN'GORO!

Sunkeeper Tarim

Sunkeeper Croesus

Sunkeeper Tarim is unique to Hearthstone, and he is a tol'vir. We talked about the tol'vir back in League of Explorers, and while they're mostly restricted to the region of Uldum, in Journey of Un'Goro apparently a group of tol'vir have migrated from Uldum to Un'Goro, which is relatively close. The tol'vir also appeared within the E. Malone journals as one of the many tribes met by Malone and Professor Doyle.

While Sunkeeper Tarim doesn't appear in WoW, one of the bosses in the Un'Goro Madness event is a tol'vir called Sunkeeper Croesus, the only tol'vir with the title 'Sunkeeper' in WoW. Croesus is the only tol'vir to ever appear in Un'Goro Crater, and as such may be related to Sunkeeper Tarim, or an older working name for Tarim that got used in the WoW event (Megafin/Giantfin is another likely mix-up that happened between the two teams).

Amara, Warden of Hope/Awaken the Makers:

While Amara is unique to Hearthstone, WoW's Un'Goro Crater does have a quest chain where adventurers would journey to Shaper's Terrace and uncover the titan-forged Nablya, who has been watching over Un'Goro Crater and Sholazar Basin for some time, and would reveal a large amount of lore behind titans and Un'Goro Crater itself. Nablya's existence would be uncovered when her cloaking device was destroyed in Cataclysm.

While Amara is original to Hearthstone, she is clearly meant to represent the titanic influence in Un'Goro Crater. During E. Malone and Doyle's journey throughout the crater, they met the tol'vir tribe that seemingly guarded Amara's temple, and would only 'awaken the maker' if they brought enough crystals. Amara would also briefly appear, and assist E. Malone's group in opening the waygate that would allow them to return to their time.

Clutchmother Zavas:

Zavas (wasp version)

The Silithid have infested a good chunk of Southern Un'Goro Crater in the area known as the Slithering Scar, where the titan pylon has fallen. The Silithid sect that live in the Slithering Scar is called the Gorishi sect, which plan to create a particularly massive Silithid colossus to presumably conquer Un'Goro Crater. The only named member of the Gorishi Silithid is Clutchmother Zavas, who is a particularly powerful Silithid Reaver (pictured here).

Clutchmother Zavas was re-introduced in Legion's Un'Goro Madness as a Silithid Wasp, and the Zavas in Hearthstone represents this. Presumably, Zavas has grown from being a reaver into a wasp. Zavas as a wasp is far more powerful, and like many other Un'Goro Madness bosses, has the adaptation ability. Both versions of Zavas is able to summon lesser Silithid to back her up.

Megafin/Unite the Murlocs:

Unite the Murlocs features Sir Finley Mrrgglton, apparently uniting the various murloc tribes in Un'Goro Crater and resulting in the summoning of Megafin. Megafin is original to Hearthstone (for some reason, it was League of Explorers' Giantfin that appeared in the Un'Goro Madness event in WoW, perhaps due to some mix-up?) and is the gigantic murloc that leads the Primalfin tribe. Megafin is the leader of the murlocs that E. Malone and Professor Doyle met in the journal tie-ins to Journey to Un'Goro, described as being a gigantic murloc that leads around the giant megasaur that the murlocs make their home in around.

Sherazin, Corpse Flower:

Sherazin (WoW)

In Un'Goro Crater, one of the most common enemies are living, ambulatory plants called Lashers -- a type of plant creature that's also found all over Azeroth, introduced in Burning Crusade. The Lashers of Un'Goro Crater are known as 'Bloodpetals', and have a particularly unique life cycle that involves the unique ecology of Un'Goro crater. Sherazin is one of the Hearthstone-original characters that was introduced in the Un'Goro Madness event in WoW as one of the possible bosses, predating her actual Hearthstone debut by a couple of weeks. Sherazin <Corpse Flower> in WoW is depicted as a large orchid-type Lasher, and her boss fight mimics her Hearthstone ability, where Sherazin will sometimes enter a phase of dormancy where she will become immune to all attack and regenerate, sending out pulses of damage that can only be avoided if players stand around crystal spines that are spawned around Sherazin.

The Voraxx:

The Voraxx is a monstrous plant-creature original to Hearthstone, and apparently it was named by the Tortollan people. Like Sherazin, it's meant to represent the dangerous flora within Un'Goro crater. There's... there's no real lore even within Hearthstone's own Un'Goro releases, actually.

Spiritsinger Umbra:

The elderly Spiritsinger Umbra is the leader of the tortollans of Un'Goro Crater. Within the journals of Professor Doyle and Eddie Malone, they encounter the tortollan tribe led by Umbra, who assisted them in journeying to the Waygate and returning to the present day, as well as introducing them to Megafin's tribe of murlocs. Umbra would also assist the two in doing battle with the Sauroks, and her Hearthstone ability apparently represents her summoning ancestral spirits to assist her in battle. The Tortollans, and thus Umbra, are all original to Hearthstone. We'll cover the race in more depth in the non-legendary section.

(Non-Minion) Quests:

Open the Waygate/Time Warp:

Waygates (or Way Gates) were first introduced in Warcraft III, as these mystical gates that allows those who enter it to teleport into a corresponding way gate on another part of the map. The Waygate depicted in 'Open the Waygate' refers to the titan-forged Waygate that was a major part of the titan questline in Un'Goro crater, being a long-deactivated construct that the adventurers must activate by going through a questline to find the relevant control panels. Once activated, the Waygate connects Sholazar Basin and Un'Goro Crater, establishing the connection between the two areas as Titan-related areas.

Un'Goro waygate (WoW)

Time Warp, visually, resembles how some portal animations are depicted in both WoW and WC3, with glowing runes dancing around a circle. It shares its name from a Mage ability introduced in Cataclysm, warps the flow of time and increases the attack speed of the mage and her allies. Time Warp in Hearthstone depicts the activation of the Waygate causing a portal through time (between the Bronze dragons, Rhonin and Warlords of Draenor, time-travelling is a common plot point in WoW), something that E. Malone and Herbert Doyle in their journeys ended up accidentally doing during a huge storm, and they had to open the waygate to return to the present day. Time Warp as a card seems to be based on the Magic: The Gathering card of the same name, right down to the colour of the card and even the mana cost.

The Caverns Below/Crystal Core:

The Crystal Core and the Caverns Below is more or less original to Hearthstone, although it does draw basis from the large amount of power crystals found in Un'Goro Crater, and these crystals are ancient titan energy sources. Apparently the Crystal Core is such a powerful crystal that it infuses all it touches into powerful minions permanently. The artwork features a devilsaur, a Northrend-variant yeti and a mammoth.

Lakkari Sacrifice/Nether Portal:

The Warlock quest, Lakkari Sacrifice, is a reference to the Lakkari Tar Pits, a sub-zone of Un'Goro Crater located on the South-West. In addition to having many bones of dinosaurs and strange flora, it's also home to the hulking tar beasts. There's no real connection between the Lakkari Tar Pits and Warlock demon portals in WoW, though. While the Nether Portal is original to Hearthstone, it's likely to draw its name from the Twisting Nether, the formless dimension that all demons hail from and return to when they die. Many Warlocks summon demons through portals since the conception of Warcraft. Other than that, not much lore.

Sulfuras/Fire Plume's Heart:

DIE, INSECT!

Fire Plume's Heart is a reference to Fire Plume Ridge, the huge honking volcano that sits at the heart of Un'Goro Crater. Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros, is the legendary weapon crafted of pure elementium wielded by Ragnaros the Firelord himself, which explains why it changes your hero power into something similar to Ragnaros's Hearthstone card effect. Ragnaros wielded Sulfuras in battle, and upon his defeat, he was banished back to the Firelands, with Sulfuras falling down onto where he fell. In WoW, blacksmiths with a high enough skill level was able to craft the Sulfuron Hammer, an epic weapon that's a replica of Ragnaros's Sulfuras. Upon defeating Ragnaros in the Molten Core, players can use the 'Eye of Sulfuras' item dropped by him and combine it with the Sulfuron Hammer to create the legendary Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros, a smaller replica of the Firelord's own weapon -- which, at the time of release, is the highest DPS-dealing hammer. In Cataclysm, when Ragnaros's full form was defeated within the Firelands, he will drop Sulfuras the Extinguished Hand, a higher-level version of the previous version of Sulfuras.

DINOSAURS!

Our first sub-heading is dinosaurs, which make up a significant population of Un'Goro's population in WoW, as well as the cards that comprise the Journey to Un'Goro expansion. Being an area that's, well, a huge prehistoric valley will do that to you. We've previously discussed raptors and devilsaurs in the Classic set, so I won't be repeating myself, although there's far, far more dinosaurs in Un'Goro Crater than just those two.

Raptor Hatchling: We've talked about raptors in Classic, so we'll skip most of them -- basically, like real-life velociraptors, but big enough for trolls to ride. The hatchlings, on the other hand, are tiny baby raptors that have just hatched, and in particular are often companion pets that players can loot from raptor nests. In Un'Goro Crater, the Ravasaur Hatchling pet is lootable from the Ravasaur Matriarch nest. The term 'matriarch' is also often used for leaders of specific raptor packs, such as the Ravasaur Matriarch or Razormaw Matriarch.

Ravasaur Runt: The Ravasaur Runt seems to represent the Ravasaur Hatchling, a baby raptor pet that can be looted from the Ravasaur nests in Un'Goro. Ravasaurs are particularly large raptors native to Un'Goro Crater and are often domesticated by trolls. Ravasaurs hatch larger than most raptor infants, and quickly grow into larger, versions compared to their raptor cousins. It's unclear if the Ravasaurs are a separate species that simply share the same appearance, or are a sub-species of the more common raptor.

Crackling Razormaw: In WoW, the Razormaw is a tribe of raptors found in the Wetlands zone, led by the mighty Razormaw Matriarch. This card depicts a Razormaw raptor who has seemingly gone through Journey to Un'Goro's adaptation mechanic, gaining the ability to emit and control electricity.

Volcanosaur (Hearthstone)

Devilsaur Egg: Devilsaurs lay eggs, as do most other dinosaurs. While no questline has apparently involved Devilsaur Eggs as far as I can find, it's, well, extremely logical to assume that Devilsaurs lay nests similar to raptors and other dinosaurs.

Charged Devilsaur: The Charged Devilsaur is a Devilsaur original to Hearthstone that seems to have adapted to have multiple spikes on its back that generate electricity.

Volcanosaur: The Volcanosaur appears to be a devilsaur who has adapted to contain the powers of fire, as it has little volcanoes sprouting on its back and its body seems to be comprised of magma. One of the possible choices for Adapting in Hearthstone is 'volcanic might', after all, seemingly featuring the Volcanosaur itself.


Pterrordax Hatchling: Pterrordaxes (also known as pteradons in older material, as well as Pterrorwings to the Zandalari trols) are carnivorous, flying dinosaurs initially native to Un'Goro Crater, but in subsequent WoW expansions have been found on other places as well. While superficially similar to real-life pterosaurs, the Pterrordaxes have teeth, are savage hunters, and possesses the ability to unleash a sonic screech to deafen its prey. Zandalari trolls use the pterrordaxes (as well as the pterrordaxes' fanged, more bat-like cousins called Skyscreamers) as flying mounts. Pterrordaxes will often incubate their eggs underneath the bones or fossils of their ancestors in order to allow the young to absorb their ancestor's ferocity.

The Pterrordax Hatchling is an artifact that is the subject of an archaeology questline, and upon solving will teach the archaeologist to summon a pterrordax hatchling -- considering that pterrordaxes are unable to be tamed by hunters, this is the only way in WoW currently to have one of these fight on your side. While Hearthstone depicts a young baby Pterrordax, the Pterrordax Hatchling pet in WoW uses a normal adult model.

Ravenous Pterrordax: Ravenous Pterrordax simply depicts a pterrordax that's, well, hungry. While no mob with its specific name exists, it clearly depicts one of the many pterrordaxes found in Un'Goro Crater.

Vicious Fledgling: Vicious Fledgling seems to borrow its name from the Fledgling Pterrordax, a mob found in Un'Goro Crater's Ironstone Plateau, and are the objective of the goblin Shizzle who requests adventurers to obtain pterrordax wings in order to serve as raw materials to repair his flying machine. The Vicious Fledgling is slightly different from most Pterrordaxes in WoW due to having a toothless beak, which while accurate to real-life pterosaurs, isn't true for the pterrordaxes in WoW.


Stegodon: Stegodons are a species of dinosaurs based on the real-life stegosaurus native to Un'Goro Crater in WoW. They are huge, four-legged beasts with distinctive plates running down its spine, with a huge horn on the front of its snout and spikes on its tail. It seems similar to the more common Thunder Lizard species (in gameplay terms, the stegodon use the exact same model) native to Kalimdor, although they tend to be gray-skinned.

The actual mob called the Stegodon in WoW can be found in the Terror Run subzone in Un'Goro Crater. Hearthstone has apparently given the stegodon the characterization of being noble, proud and protective of their young, hence their association with the paladins -- especially tortollan paladins, as it seems. The Stegodon card depicts the aftermath of the Tortollan paladin in Spikeridged Steed.

(In real-life, Stegodon is a genus of ancient elephantine precursors.)

Lightfused Stegodon: The Lightfused Stegodon is original to Hearthstone, and is clearly a variant that has been adapted into having the power of the Holy Light.


Thunder Lizard: The Thunder Lizard is a type of giant dinosaurian lizard that are commonly found on the desert regions of Kalimdor such as Durotar, the Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains and Desolace. They appear to be a distant relative of the more common and domesticated Kodo Beast, although they have green hide, plates running down their spine, and the ability that they borrow their name from -- the ability to generate and shoot lightning out of their mouth, making it distinct from the similarly-looking Stegodon of Un'Goro Crater. The Thunder Lizards were first introduced in Warcraft III, and Thrall and his Horde fought many of these thunder lizards as they settled in Durotar. The Horde champion Rexxar was forced to tame and put down a large number of these lizards when they stampeded at Thunder Ridge. Three variants of the species were known -- the weaker Lightning Lizard (able to cast Purge), the Thunder Lizard (able to slam the ground and slow all around it) and the mighty Storm Wyrm (able to devour units, cast lightning shield and chain lightning).

In World of Warcraft, Thunder Lizards are a common sight in these zones. An actual mob called Thunder Lizard was found in Thunder Ridge, although they are coloured red as opposed to the green shade they had in Warcraft III. During the Cataclysm, Thunder Ridge was largely flooded, and many of the Thunder Lizards (the specific mob, not the species) were killed. Horde adventurers would be tasked to use an enchanted tether to pull out the corpses of these Thunder Lizards, which continue to emit electricity even after death.

Sated Threshadon: Threshadons are a type of aquatic dinosaur based on the real-life plesiosaur that are found in the waters of various regions, among them Darkshore, Dustwallow Marsh, Sholazar Basin and Wetlands. While no specific mob called 'Sated Threshadon' exists, its appearance, right down to the crest on its head, is exactly how threshadons appear in WoW. No Threshadon is found in Un'Goro Crater, however. One notable Threshadon is Old Serra'kis, a hidden boss in the original iteration of Blackfathom Deeps, although it has since been driven out and/or killed by the gigantic crab known as the Guardian of the Deep when Blackfathom Deeps was revamped in Warlords of Draenor.

Fresh from the new expansion!

Gentle Megasaur: Megasaurs are a type of dinosaur based on real-life sauropods that are introduced in Hearthstone (though the upcoming Battle for Azeroth expansion would introduce the Saurids, native to Zandalar). According to Hearthstone's E. Malone journals, a particularly large Megsaur was used by the murlocs of Un'Goro Crater as the location of their home, and is led around by the giant murloc Megafin. It's unclear if the megasaur (and ultrasaur) are members of the Longneck family, but it seems pretty likely.

Ultrasaur: Ultrasaur is a larger megasaur. It still has plants growing on its back! Ultrasaurus is actually a real-life dinosaur, initially used for a supposed 'super-giant' largest dinosaur ever... except there was apparently an error and a mix-up in the bones, causing a mis-estimation of the size of the dinosaur. More on that here.

Baby Direhorn!

Verdant Longneck: Verdant Longneck is original to Hearthstone. There's... not actually much else to talk about, really. The term 'longneck' was used for a giraffe mob in Sholazar Basin.

Elder Longneck: Elder Longneck is original to Hearthstone.

Adult Direhorn (WoW)

Direhorn Hatchling: The Direhorn is a species of dinosaur based on the real-life Ceratopsian dinosaurs, specifically the iconic Triceratops... albeit with more spikes on its ridge and tail, seemingly taking inspiration from the Ankylosaurus. Direhorns were introduced to WoW in Mists of Pandaria, as a mount bred and used as war-mounts by the Zandalari Trolls, it is a ritual for Zandalari trolls as a coming-of-age rite to tame a direhorn or a devilsaur. Baby direhorns exist in WoW, and is an available pet (in three flavours -- the 'Direhorn Runt', 'Pygmy Direhorn' and 'Stunted Direhorn'). No specific mob is called the Direhorn Hatchling or the Direhorn Matriarch, however.

Ornery Direhorn: The Ornery Direhorn is original to Hearthstone, although as mentioned above, the direhorns are seen in WoW pretty often. They're never found in Un'Goro Crater, although the Isle of Giants -- an island of dinosaurs that serve as the Zandalari trolls' staging grounds -- contains a large amount of direhorns.

ELEMENTALS!

We've covered the history of Elementals in the Classic set, when talking about the elementals themselves, and again when I covered the Elemental Lords Ragnaros and Al'Akir. While Un'Goro Crater is more famous for its dinosaurs, the elementals do also make a sizable population of the denizens of Un'Goro, though most of the elementals in WoW are of the fire variant, owing to the gigantic volcano at the center of it.

Fire Fly: Fire Fly (and the Flame Elemental token it creates) are obviously some form of fire elemental, though none with their specific appearance has appeared in WoW, making them original to Hearthstone.

"Unbound" fire elementals

Igneous Elemental: The Igneous Elemental, while clearly a variation of the normal fire elementals found in Azeroth, is a variant original to Hearthstone that has chunks of rock acting as its face-mask, fingers, wrist-bangles and clavicles.

Fire Plume Harbinger: The Fire Plume Harbinger appears to be an artistic rendition of the 'Unbound' variant of fire elementals introduced in Cataclysm, with the armour plates seemingly made out of molten slag and rock and more integrated into its body. Fire Plume Harbinger's name refers to Fire Plume Ridge, the name of the volcano in the middle of Un'Goro Crater. No real mob with the name exists in WoW, though.

Blazecaller: Blazecaller is a normal fire elemental, although his name seems to be based on that of Blazerunner, the named fire elemental that resides at the top of Fire Plume Ridge, leading the fire elementals of Un'Goro Crater.

Fire Plume Phoenix: We talked about Phoenixes in the Pyros entry in the Un'Goro Legendaries section. Phoenixes or other fire elemental birds like the Firehawks aren't present in Un'Goro Crater, however, making this original to Hearthstone.

Steaming Fury (WoW)

Hot Spring Guardian: Hot Spring Guardian is original to Hearthstone, although it is clearly a reference to the Golakka Hot Springs, a subzone within Un'Goro Crater. Hot Spring Guardian is clearly a water elemental, which we've covered in the Classic set. Hot Springs Guardian could be meant to be a representation of the Steaming Fury mob from WoW's Un'Goro Crater.

Steam Surger: Steam Surger is the name of a water elemental mob found in the Steamvault, a subzone of the Coilfang Reservoir, a dungeon hub introduced in Burning Crusade. Its artwork and position as being associated with the hot springs of Un'Goro Crater seems to indicate that it's meant to represent the Steaming Fury, the name of a water elemental mob (which uses a Shade model for some reason) found in Un'Goro Crater and the subject of several quests there. The Steam Surger in Hearthstone is given a far more original-looking appearance more befitting of a steam monster, though.

Frozen Servitor (WoW)

Glacial Shard: Glacial Shard is a form of ice elemental (which, again, we've covered in Classic) that's original to Hearthstone. Glacial Shard, like most Un'Goro elementals, seems to extrapolate a little visually from the WoW model -- which is definitely a good thing. No ice elementals are found in WoW's Un'Goro Crater.

Frozen Crusher: Frozen Crusher is original to Hearthstone, although its one-eyed, multi-clawed form seems to be an extrapolation of the 'unbound elemental' model from WoW, which is used for many ice/frost elementals in WoW -- albeit, again, depicting all the details as being made up of ice instead of partially elementium and partially water/ice, a far cooler look for sure.

Crystalline Oracle: Crystalline Oracle is original to Hearthstone, and appear to be a variant of earth elemental created out of the crystals of Un'Goro.

Stone Sentinel: Stone Sentinel is a type of earth or lava elemental original to Hearthstone, although it does share its name with 'Stone Sentinel Overlook', an area in Blackwing Descent where you fought Omnotron.

Air Elemental: Air Elementals are one of the four primary elemental types, although surprisingly enough there aren't any mobs called 'Air Elemental' in World of Warcraft. There are ones called 'Corrupted Air Elemental', 'Bound Air Elemental', 'Unbound Elemental', etc, but none with the specific name called Air Elemental. To note that, once more, the artists took some cool-looking extrapolation from the WoW model (which is just the Dust Devil card, basically, a walking hurricane with eyes and gauntleted arms).

Volatile Elemental: Volatile Elemental is clearly an air elemental, although it has lightning bolts running across its body. Air elementals are relatively common for their cunning and capricious nature, and elementals in general are often known for their volatility and chaotic nature.

Stormwatcher: There is a mob called Stormwatcher in Sholazar Basin in WoW, but they aren't air elementals, but are titanic war golems. Hearthstone's Stormwatcher is a particularly large air elemental.

Shimmering Tempest: Shimmering Tempest appears to be some form of an arcane elemental, although the title 'Tempest' is used by several air elemental mobs. It's original to Hearthstone.

Tar Creeper (WoW)

Tar Creeper: The tar elementals in World of Warcarft are not actually elementals of tar as seen in Hearthstone, but are gigantic bog beasts (similar to the Fen Creeper) that live in the Lakkari Tar Pits, being partially made out of tar. They are unique to Un'Goro Crater, and are the target of a quest by the goblin Tara to get rich by extracting tar from their bodies. The dubiously-canonical Warcraft RPG identifies the tar beasts as a mud elemental, made of water and earth. They are classified as elementals in WoW, but all plant-creatures are (plants and ancients that are classified as elementals in WoW for simplicity's sake are non-tribed in Hearthstone). In Hearthstone, instead of being a plant creature, the tar elementals are straight-up elementals made up of tar and the bones of dinosaur that has sunk there, giving them a unique appearance. The Tar Creeper sharesits name with the weakest of the tar beasts that live in Un'Goro Crater.

Tar Lurker: The Tar Lurkers are slightly-stronger tar beasts in Un'Goro Crater compared to the Tar Creeper. In Hearthstone, the Tar Lurker is an elemental made out of tar, and has apparently incorporated a dinosaur skull as its own head.

Tar Lord: Tar Lord is the mightiest of the non-named tar beasts in Un'Goro Crater, and he's an elemental in Hearthstone as opposed to a tar beast similar to the Creeper and Lurker. Mightier than the Tar Lord, however, is the great Gormashh the Glutinous, their apparent leader. Another particularly powerful tar beast was Tar Tyrant, a boss in the Un'Goro Madness micro-holiday.

Servant of Kalimos: The Servant of Kalimos is, of course, original to Hearthstone, just as Hearthstone's version of primal elementals are. It appears to be a smaller version of Kalimos himself.

Radiant Elemental: Radiant Elemental appears to be an elemental creature made up of Light similar to the Lightspawn or Lyra the Sunshard, and is naturally original to Hearthstone.

SILITHID!

Emerald Hive Queen: We've mentioned the Gorishi Hive in the legendaries page with Clutchmother Zavas. The term 'Hive Queen' is often used by Silithid Wasps that lead their respective hives. While an equivalent to the Emerald Hive Queen, the Gorishi Hive Queen, exists in WoW (she was killed during the Cataclysm expansion, however), the Emerald Hive Silithid in Hearthstone have unique claws and stingers made up of emerald crystals, which appear to indicate that these represent a different variation of Silithid unique to Hearthstone.

Gorishi Worker (WoW)

Emerald Reaver: Similar to the Emerald Hive Queen, the Emerald Reaver seems to be an equivalent to the Gorishi Reaver, a reaver-type silithid that serves the Gorishi hive.

Giant Wasp: The Giant Wasp is a Silithid wasp, presumably a counterpart to the Gorishi Wasp, although it has more spikes on its claws and abdomen, as well as butterfly-esque wings and moth-esque antennae that are unique to the Giant Wasp.

Chittering Tunneler: The Chittering Tunneler is a silithid worker that is original to Hearthstone, and considering the association with Un'Goro Crater, is probably based on the Gorishi Worker.

TOL'VIR & TITAN STUFF!

Mirage Caller (Hearthstone)

Tol'vir Stoneshaper: We've talked about the tol'vir in League of Explorers with the Obsidian Statue and Sun Raider Phaerix, so I won't repeat myself. In Hearthstone, a group of tol'vir has apparently wandered to Un'Goro Crater and settled there. The title of Stoneshaper is original to Hearthstone, though.

Tol'vir Warden: Tol'vir Warden is also original to Hearthstone, and also represents a wingless tol'vir that has apparently tamed two of the raptors of Un'Goro Crater. Look at him. He's so happy. All the tol'vir art is so happy in this expansion.

Mirage Caller: Mirage Caller, like his peers, is original to Hearthstone.

PLANTS!

Razorpetal Lasher: Lashers are a type of ambulatory plants  with vine-like 'arms' and a main flower 'head' native to Azeroth, and their population apparently blossomed after the Draenei ship Exodar crash-landed and mutated nearby plants. But before the Exodar crash-landed, the lashers already existed in Un'Goro Crater, specifically the Bloodpetal type. ('Razorpetal' is original to Hearthstone. The Bloodpetals have a unique life cycle where the seeds are transported by the water throughout Un'Goro Crater, where after sprouting the juvenile bloodpetals would form into gangs (yes, angry flower gangs... WoW's crazy that way) and travel together to offset their weakness with numbers. Once they mature, they will keep to themselves and relocate to where they will bear seeds at the mouth of the river once more. The night elf druid Ithis Moonwarden would give players a questline to investigate the life cycle of the bloodpetals.

Humongous Razorleaf: Based on real-life venus flytraps, the Humongous Razorleaf, prominently featured in the Journey to Un'Goro cinematic, is actually a type of carnivorous plant original to Hearthstone.

Biteweed: Biteweed, or indeed fanged vine-plants in general, is original to Hearthstone.

Vilespine Slayer: Vilespine Slayer seems to be of the same genus of vined-plants ending in a huge fang similar to the Razorleaf and Biteweed. While many ambulatory plants serve as enemies in WoW, none are similar enough to these three.

Curious Glimmerroot: Curious Glimmerroot is an ambulatory mushroom with vines that is original to Hearthstone.

TORTOLLANS!

Tortollans are all original to Hearthstone, so I'm not going to repeat myself multiple times. The seven Tortollan minions (Eggnapper, Stonehill Defender, Tortollan Primalist, Tortollan Forager, Tortollan Shellraiser and Shellshifter) are all original to Hearthstone. They draw their name from the Wild God Tortolla, the (you guessed it) Turtle god. In the same way that many other 'beast' race worship their patron wild god -- the worgen worship Goldrinn the wolf, the furbolgs worship Ursoc and Ursol the bears, harpies worship Aviana, etc -- it can be assumed from the scant number of voice lines praising Tortolla that the Tortollans worship Tortolla (possibly the Wild God they draw their druidic powers from).

The Tortollans are apparently helpful fellow, as evidenced by them rescuing E. Malone and Professor Doyle from Saurok and dinosaurs, as well as the card art for Lost in the Jungle that depicts the tortollans rescuing a bunch of paladins besieged by a Biteweed. Tortollans also apparently practice druidic magic (though the Shellshifter transforms into dinosaurs instead of bears and cats), priest magic and what appears to be shamanistic magic from how Spiritsinger Umbra's abilities of summoning spirits to aid them sounds like. The tortollans are a group of primitive, shy but ultimately kind-hearted people.

And... there's really not much else to talk about .They worship ancestral spirits. They appear to eat eggs, as evidenced by Eggnapper and Tortollan Forager's artwork. They run the fuck away from dinosaurs. They like omelettes. And they want you "OUT OF MY JUNGLE!"

In Battle for Azeroth, the Tortollans are apparently going to be added into World of Warcraft (!!!!!) as one of the races resident to Zandalar, the continent that the Zandalari trolls hail from. Considering many of the dinosaurs on this list also hail from Zandalar originally, it's bizarrely appropriate. In WoW, the Tortollans are a long-lived community living among the Zandalari trolls, and are quest-givers and an ally race that Horde players may ally with and do quests for.

EXPLORERS!

Bright-Eyed Scout: Bright-Eyed Scout is likely one of the many explorers that travels through Un'Goro Crater alongside Elise Starseeker. Otherwise there's not really

Arcanologist: Arcanologist is also another explorer that travels with Elise into Un'Goro Crater, apparently learning about the mysterious symbols left behind by the native tribes of Un'Goro. Obviously, arcanology is the art of studying the arcane.

Hydrologist: A Hydrologist is someone who studies water (both in fiction and in real life). The Hydrologist appears to be a juvenile murloc that's part of the Explorer's League -- her age can be seen by the presence of her bucktooth, and apparently she's able to form full words, just like the League's more famous murloc member, Sir Finley. Needless to say, Hydrologist is original to Hearthstone.

Cornered Sentry: Poor Cornered Sentry is original to Hearthstone. She's one big reference to Jurassic Park's famous 'clever girl' scene.

MURLOCS!

Rockpool Hunter: Rockpool Hunter borrows his front name with the Rockpool tribe, a group of murlocs that live in the Blasted Lands, in fear of the nearby naga who, after the Cataclysm, killed and enslaved many of their tribe. There is a questline where adventurers can help save the Rockpool Tadpoles. No mob is called Rockpool Hunter, however, and Hearthstone's Rockpool Hunter features a more primitive, caveman-looking murloc (not a gorloc, though. That's completely different).

Primalfin Lookout: The Primalfin tribe is a completely original tribe to Hearthstone meant to represent an earlier evolutionary stage in murlocs, basically what cavemen are to humans. Instead of hind legs, the primalfin lookout has fish tail, and has more primitive-looking tusks and ears, as well as rudimentary versions of the murlocs' distinctive back fin-things. This primitive 'primal' murloc is also seen in the card art for Megafin and Gentle Megasaur, among others. Needless to say, this is original to Hearthstone.

Primalfin Champion: Primalfin Champion is original to Hearthstone, although unlike the Lookout she's a more normal-looking murloc with legs.

Primalfin Totem: Primalfin Totem is original to Hearthstone.

SAUROK!

Saurok

The Saurok are a race of lizard-men introduced in Mists of Pandaria. They were an artificial race created by the powerful mogu empire with flesh-shaping magic from the fauna of the Vale of the Eternal Blossoms, in an attempt to create a race of disposable shock troops that would be loyal to them. This art of flesh-shaping was horrific and would be condemned by future races as an abominable method, but they did produce the saurok -- a race of bipedal lizard-men with a deep-seated savagery and a hatred of weakness. However, as the mogu empire weakened over the years, the Saurok would rebel and pillage their own supposed masters.

The mogu emperor Dojan would rip the soul out of every living Saurok in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, but the rest of the mogu's Saurok minions would rebel, and the Saurok would base themselves from the swamp of Krasarang, where the mogu's unfamiliarity with the swampy terrain gave the Saurok an advantage. This fanatical desire to purge the Saurok despite the mounting casualties would tear Emperor Dojan (and his successor, Dojan II) and his reign apart. And while much of the Saurok were killed, a small group survived, climbing up to Dojan's pavilion and killing him, throwing the empire into disarray. The saurok would then go into deep hiding.

In modern day, the Saurok would grow into one of the many races in Pandaria, mostly keeping to themselves. They would be split into tribes, the mightiest among them the Skumblade. The Saurok would become recurring enemies throughout Mists of Pandaria, although not to the extent of the sha, mantid or mogu. 

Akaridal, Skumblade Dinomancer

While the Saurok has always been limited to Pandaria, in Journey to Un'Goro, Hearthstone's designers decided to 'import' some of the Saurok, and apparently the Saurok of Un'Goro were created by the titan machinery in Un'Goro, leading coincidentally to an identical race to the Pandaren Saurok. In the Un'Goro Madness event in WoW, however, the first Saurok outside of Pandaria appears in Un'Goro Crater, Akaridal the Skumblade Dinomancer, so it might be pretty feasible that the Saurok simply, y'know, hitched a ride out of Pandaria and ended up in Un'Goro Crater.

Terrorscale Stalker: Terrorscale Stalker is original to Hearthstone, though many Saurok tribes contain the word 'scale' in its names, like Bloodscale, Slitherscale, Wildscale, Hatescale, Muckscale and Deepscale, among others. 

Cruel Dinomancer: Cruel Dinomancer is original to Hearthstone, although a Saurok Dinomancer is similar to the Un'Goro Madness boss Akaridal, the Skumblade Dinomancer. The art of Dinomancy, controlling dinosaurs, is previously unique to the Zandalari trolls, and Akaridal is the first non-troll to be identified as a dinomancer.

OTHER MINIONS!

Snail (WoW)

Stubborn Gastropod: Stubborn Gastropod is kinda-unique to Hearthstone, although it appears to be based on a snail mob called 'Gastropod' (basically a fancy latin name for snails) which has gained a reputation of infamy. The Gastropod mob is found in the Throne of Thunder raid, and is particularly deadly for inexperienced raiders, able to instantly kill any player standing in front of it despite being trash mobs and not bosses. Most other snails in WoW (none appear in Un'Goro Crater) are tiny like real-life snails, but some have grown to monstrous sizes.

Emberwing

Nesting Roc: The Nesting Roc is a roc, which is a type of large bird found in numerous regions in Azeroth, such as Sholazar Basin, the Tanaris desert, Mt. Hyjal, Broken Isles and Feralas. Not Un'Goro Crater, though. Most Rocs tend to re-use the eagle or carrion bird models, however, as opposed to having a unique model of their own. The rocs of Broken Isles were eagles corrupted further into creatures resembling the dread ravens of Outland by harpies, giving them a far more monstrous and unique appearance. The only record of rocs with two heads are rocs found in Tanaris, specifically the Searing Roc and their leader, Emberwing. It's a bit of a stretch, certainly, considering that 'roc' itself isn't a properly well-defined species, but Emberwing is clearly defined as a roc, and she has two heads. So.

Golakka Crawler: Golakka Crawler is original to Hearthstone, as a sand crab that is apparently native to the Golakka Hot Springs in Un'Goro Crater. No crabs exist in Un'Goro Crater in WoW, and no crabs certainly eat pirates.

Draenor Hydra

Gluttonous Ooze: Gluttonous Ooze is based on the Glutinous Ooze, an ooze enemy found in Un'Goro Crater's western areas. WoW's Glutinous Ooze uses the normal ooze model with a humanoid skull, though, whereas Hearthstone puts a far more appropriate (and awesome) dinosaur skull as the Gluttonous Ooze's head.

Bittertide Hydra: Bittertide Hydra is a mob found in Bittertide Lake of Sholazar Basin (we've talked about hydras in GvG). Bittertide Hydras are the target of a quest given by Colvin Norrington, a member of Hemet Nesingwary's hunting party, who tasks adventurers to collect the caustic sputum from the bittertide hydras to sell to a Dalaran archmage. Notably, being located in Sholazar Basin, WoW's Bittertide Hydra uses the normal more snake-like two-headed Azerothian hydra model, whereas the Hearthstone artwork depicts the four legged, more dragon-esque hydra from alternate Draenor seen in Warlords of Draenor.

Dreadsaber

Sabretooth Stalker: From its artwork, the Sabretooth Stalker seems to be based on the Dreadsaber, a variant of the nightsaber found in Sholazar Basin, an area with prehistoric creatures and strong ties to Un'Goro Crater (which itself has no cats of any kind). The Dreadsaber have a notably distinct spotted mane, and is one of the hunting targets of the great hunter Hemet Nesingwary. Since the Sabretooth Stalker has a distinctive leopard-esque spotted pattern, it's likely that it's based on the Dreadsaber.

Giant Mastodon: Mammoths were introduced in Warcraft III: the Frozen Throne as creatures that live in Northrend, and would be introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, again as beasts that roam Northrend. Unlike the Elekk, the mammoths more properly resemble their real-life counterparts. The mammoths were once used by giants as war mounts and pack mules, although they have been few and far within. Hemet Nesingwary, being the big game hunter that he is, would hunt these beasts while he's in Northrend. The mastodon is a real-life prehistoric animal related to mammoths, being a smaller species with various differences to the more famous mammoth. It is the first time that a creature in Azeroth is identified as a 'mastodon', and it appears just so that they can make a 'Year of the Mastodon' joke in the flavour text.

Giant Anaconda: Giant Anaconda is a snake, which is a common beast seen in Azeroth, although no snake in WoW has ever been identified as an anaconda. Snake mobs do show up in Un'Goro Crater, though.

Time-Lost Proto Drake

Primordial Drake: The Primordial Drake is a proto-drake (also known as a proto-dragon. The hyphen is optional) which is, well, the predecessors of the dragon race as we know it today. Far more primitive than dragons, proto-drakes are also smaller, have less-developed forepaws, no affinity for magic and have an armoured growth around their head. The five dragon aspects Alexstrasza, Ysera, Malygos, Nozdormu and Neltharion were once proto-drakes, but they and their respective broods were enlightened by the titan Keepers and granted great power and intelligence, evolving them into dragons.

Proto-drakes still remain, although they are noticeably rare. First seen in Wrath of the Lich King, the proto-drakes are used by the Vrykul race as mounts, and unlike the proud dragons, they are little more than beasts. The proto-drakes would also be used by the Argent Crusade, and later on the Dragonmaw Clan of orcs loyal to Garrosh would breed the proto-drakes en masse as beasts of war for Garrosh's Iron Horde. A particularly infamous proto-drake is the Time-Lost Proto Drake, a rare spawn that dropped the reins to a proto-drake mount... which was infamous among the WoW fandom for being hard to catch. The Primordial Drake is stated to be designed as a visual homage to the Time-Lost Proto Drake by the Hearthstone art team. As you can probably gather by the previous few entries, Journey to Un'Goro takes a fair bit of inspiration from the Sholazar Basin area, and the proto-drakes are found there. One of them, Slivina, was the target of (who else?) Hemet Nesingwary.

Jeweled Macaw: Parrots are birds commonly found in tropical areas of Azeroth. Just like, y'know, real-life parrots. Parrots are found in Un'Goro Crater, although the specific mob called Jeweled Macaw is found in the Jade Forest, located in the continent of Pandaria.

Lakkari Felhound: No felhounds are found in Un'Goro Crater, making Lakkari Felhound original to Hearthstone. Felhounds (because of inconsistency, they also known especially in earlier material as felstalkers, manastalkers, felhunters, felbeasts and hellhounds, although 'hellhound' and 'felstalker' would be used for different kinds of bestial demons in WoW) are a race of bestial, four-legged demons first seen in Warcraft III. Resembling a hound only superficially, the Felhound has no eyes, and while it has a gigantic fang with teeth its upper 'face' is nothing but bone. It has two prominent tusks jutting out of its shoulders, and its back is a nest of spines. In Warcraft III, the felhounds are well known for their ability to devour and burn an enemy's magic. Felhounds would, alongside the undead Scourge, act as the Burning Legion's shock troops, and would be involved working alongside agents of the Legion -- Kel'Thuzad as he is summoning Archimonde, a corrupted Grom Hellscream, Tichondrius and Archimonde himself. During the War of the Ancients, the feral felhounds would bow to the will of the mighty Hakkar the Houndmaster, one of the mightiest commanders of the Burning Legion. The felhounds appear to be completely feral and not sentient like most other demons.

The WoW model would give Felhounds an additional pair of tentacles that extend in a flower-like pair of mouths, and would be the fourth type of demon that Warlocks could summon (the term felhound and felhunter seem to be interchangeable, while 'felstalker' would be given to a leaner, more wolf-like model introduced in Legion). Felhounds would thus become more commonplace as Warlocks themselves become more commonplace in WoW.

Abilities: 

Earthen Scales: Earthen Scales is original to Hearthstone, presumably representing one version of the adaptation mechanic.

Evolving Spores: Evolving Spores is original to Hearthstone.

Living Mana: Living Mana is original to Hearthstone, representing the mana crystals being transformed into a new variation of treants.

Stampede!

Stampede: Ah, Stampede! Stampede began life in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, as the ultimate ability of the Beastmaster neutral hero. Most famous among the Beastmasters is Rexxar, who was the main character for the orc campaign in Frozen Throne. Upon casting Stampede, Rexxar will summon a gigantic horde of thunder lizards down to charge upon an area, an all the thunder lizards explode on impact. It's a channeled spell, so Rexxar can't move while the spell is active. It was added briefly during Cataclysm as a druid spell that increases the druid's haste, before being removed in Mists of Pandaria, and a more Warcraft III-accurate Stampede is added for Beast Mastery Hunters, summoning a herd of local animals to charge onto an area and deal damage to the enemy.

Dinomancy: The art of dinomancy as its name implies, is the art of controlling dinosaurs. In WoW, it's an art that was formerly exclusive to the Zandalari Trolls, a group of 'master race' trolls that stood upright and had superior technology and magic compared to every other troll race in Azeroth. The Zandalari Dinomancers are particularly important during the Isle of Thunder campaign, empowering the direhorns and raptors with magics to increase their strength and force obedience. We've talked about the Saurok dinomancer Akaridal above in the Cruel Dinomancer entry, although it's to note that the Saurok depicted on the artwork for Dinomancy more closely resembles Akaridal.

Grievous Bite: Grievous Bite isn't an ability available to hunters, but it is one of the ability of the King Dred boss in WoW, dealing a huge chunk of damage and physical damage over time to a target.

Flame Geyser: The Flame Geyser is original to Hearthstone, although it seems based on the many geysers found in the Lakkari tar pits subzone of Un'Goro Crater.

Meteor: While there's the obvious meteor/dinosaur connection, and meteors feature greatly in the E. Malone/Herbert Doyle stories as the huge calamity that the residents of the crater were trying to escape, the Meteor is also a Fire Mage talent added in Warlords of Draenor which, y'know, calls down a meteor to fall down upon all enemies in an area. While never outright called 'meteor', many warlock and mage abilities do involve calling down fiery balls of burning rock from the sky.

Primordial Glyph: Primordial Glyph is original to Hearthstone, but is based on the glyphs added in Wrath of the Lich King, which are enhancements that add cosmetic effects or minor differences, such as changing the target of polymorph/hex spells or the shape of your totems, or teaching other 'flavour' spells that don't actually affect gameplay.

Mana Bind: Mana Bind is original to Hearthstone. Its artwork seems to depict an arcane elemental with the Un'Goro crystals jutting out of its back, a creature type that's original to Hearthstone.

Molten Reflection: No real lore behind Molten Reflection, presumably it's just the elemental powers of the Un'Goro volcano manifesting as a copy of a creature.

Molten Skin

Adaptation: Adaptation is, of course, a reference to the main keyword of the expansion, Adapt. The concept of Adapt as a mechanic is that the dinosaurs of Un'Goro have been so transformed by the primal energies of Un'Goro crater that they're starting to gain powerful transformation like, well, the flaming claws or volcanic skin or shrouding mists that they obtain while adapting.It's definitely common in WoW to find a fel-version or ice-version or volanic-version flavour of common mobs seen elsewhere. 'Adaptation' itself is used in the Un'Goro Madness micro-holiday event as a shared ability among many of the event bosses, allowing them to gain a temporary buff from a list of available buffs. Among players, Adaptation used to be a Windwalker Monk ability that increases dodge in Mists of Pandaria, before being removed and the name used for a Beast Mastery hunter talent in Warlords of Draenor that empowers their pet... before being removed once more and the name used for an honour talent for all classes in Legion.

Lost in the Jungle: Lost in the Jungle is original to Hearthstone, representing a Silver Hand Recruit being rescued from a pair of Biteweeds (or plants similar enough to it) by Tortollans.

Spikeridged Steed: Spikeridged Steed is original to Hearthstone, meant to depict a Tortollan riding a Stegodon into battle, and after the Tortollan is knocked off, the lone, riderless Stegodon fights in its stead (note the fallen Tortollan in the background for the artwork for the Stegodon).

Dinosize: Dinosize, depicting a murloc growing to dinosaurian size after exposure to one of Un'Goro's many crystals, is original to Hearthstone.

Binding Heal: Binding Heal is a Holy Priest talent that was first seen in Burning Crusade, an ability learned at level 75 and heals the priest caster as well as two nearby friendly targets. It's a particularly fast area healing spell, although heals relatively inefficiently compared to other healing spells available to the Priest.

Shadow Visions: Shadow Visions is original to Hearthstone. The artwork depicts a glyph.

Free From Amber: While the Mantids in Pandaria do preserve their most powerful warriors (known as the Klaxxi Paragons) in amber, no cases of dinosaurs being preserved in amber exists in WoW. The card's more of a reference to the ever-popular movie Jurassic Park more than anything else.

Hallucination: No real lore behind Hallucination. It appears to be the side effect of one of the plants in Un'Goro, something that doesn't exist in WoW's version of Un'Goro crater. Some WoW enemies use hallucinations to attack adventurers, though.

Envenom Weapon: Envenom Weapon seems to be based on 'Envenom', an Assassination Rogue ability used as a finishing move, dealing instant nature damage and afflicting the enemy with a poison damage-over-time. It was added in Burning Crusade, and has gone through several changes over the years, just as most WoW abilities. The art depicts a Saurok.

Razorpetal Volley: No real lore behind Razorpetal Volley, beyond it being obviously a volley of petals done by a Razorpetal Lasher.

Mimic Pod: Mimic Pod is original to Hearthstone, but the artwork seems to imply that the plant that's wrapping around the two purple dinosaurs in the background is giving birth to a plant-based copy with glowing green eyes. To my knowledge, no plant monster is able to do this in WoW.

Spirit Echo: Spirit Echo appears to be original to Hearthstone, although it does appear similar to other Shaman abilities like Ancestral Spirit and the like .

Tidal Surge: Tidal Surge isn't a Shaman ability in WoW, but it does share its name with an ability that Neptulon has in WoW, which heals and increases the damage of adventurers around it. Some other aquatic-themed enemies also have abilities with the name Tidal Surge. Having the Tidal Surge buff active while defeating some enemies is necessary to get a particular achievement.

Volcano: In addition to being a reference to the huge volcano, Fire Plume Ridge, that sits at the center of Un'Goro Crater. While Shamans don't have an ability equivalent to Volcano (they do have lava-controlling abilities, though), in Warcraft III: the Frozen Throne the neutral hero Firelord, representing a high-ranking member of Ragnaros's fire elementals, has the ability Volcano as its ultimate ability, and it's... well, a devastating blast worthy of being called a volcano.

Bloodbloom: Bloodbloom shares its name with a plant from the Mists of Pandaria expansion, described as a plant that leeches minerals, which in turn turns its petals dark crimson. It's otherwise not a particularly a plant with much lore behind it.

Feeding Time: Feeding Time is original to Hearthstone, representing a bunch of pterrordaxes attacking a longneck. There is a quest called 'Feeding Time' in WoW, but it has nothing to do with dinosaurs.

Corrupting Mist: Corrupting Mists, based on Hearthstone's own Corruption, is original to the game.

Iron Hide: Iron Hide is an original ability to Hearthstone, but seems to borrow its name from Ironhide Devilsaur, a mob in Un'Goro Crater. Various other creatures in WoW have also been given the adjective 'Ironhide' as well.

Explore Un'Goro: Explore Un'Goro is meant to represent the League of Explorers, well, exploring the Un'Goro Crater and how everything is a mystery to them.

Sudden Genesis: No real lore behind Sudden Genesis, presumably it's a reference to how the Titans created the wildlife within Un'Goro Crater.

Weapons:

Vinecleaver: Vinecleaver is original to Hearthstone. The flavour text implies that the Vinecleaver freed George and Karl, two Silver Hand Recruits that were lost in the 'Lost in the Jungle' flavour text. George and Karl would reappear a couple expansions down the line as Dungeon Run bosses in the Kobolds & Catacombs expansion.

Obsidian Shard: Obsidian Shard as a weapon is original to Hearthstone, though there is an obsidian war golem mob with the same name in Uldaman. Obsidian is one of the materials that the titanforged, most evidently the Tol'vir (who are initially called Obsidian Destroyers prior to WoW, after all), are made out of.

Molten Blade: Molten Blade is original to Hearthstone.