by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Sure, you can play that winning card and step away from your match the glorious victor. But where is the fun unless you can also drop some lore knowledge on your opponent and add insult to injury? In this column, we don’t worry about card values or strategy – all we care about is that sweet, sweet lore. Check back every Wednesday for a new installment of Card Smart!

He is faceless and he manipulates: he’s the Faceless Manipulator.

If you’ve run the Fallen Temple of Ahn’kahet dungeon in Wrath of the Lich King, you know that the final boss is a Faceless One. His mechanic is turning the other players on your team temporarily against you while whispering sweet menacing nothings in your ear. This is beautifully translated with the card’s current battlecry.

The Faceless Manipulator is a fancier Hearthstone card name for the Faceless Ones, or the Faceless as they are known in Azeroth. They are powerful beings in service of the Old Gods. When the Titans banished the Old Gods deep beneath the earth, their faceless servants were banished along with them.

One of those Old Gods, Yogg-Saron, was imprisoned inside the Titan complex Ulduar on the continent of Northrend. When the Scourge invaded Northrend forcing their way through the Nerubian Kingdom of Azjol-Nerub, its denizens attempted to escape by burying deeper and deeper underground – until they dug too deep, exposing parts of Yogg-Saron, and unleashing the reawakened fury of the Faceless Ones.

Ultimately, the Nerubians found themselves caught between the ever advancing forces of the Scourge, and the emerging Faceless Ones led by Herald Volazi from the depths below. The Nerubians lost their home, and the forces of the Scourge barely managed to battle back, only escaping when Yogg-Saron’s tendrils caused a cave collapse.

The Faceless Ones are mysterious and powerful, and a true force barely understood and contained in Azeroth. Their mere presence is enough to drive even the bravest and most hardened warriors insane.