Gorloc

Gorlocs
A Gorloc Ravager in Hearthstone.
Faction/Affiliation	Oracles, Independent
Character classes	Warrior, Shaman, Oracle
Racial leader(s)	Tribal chieftains
Area(s)	Northrend, Great Sea, Dragon Isles, Khaz Algar
Language(s)	Nerglish

Gorlocs are humanoid frog-like creatures. They live in tribes scattered all around Azeroth from Northrend, and the Dragon Isles, in the north to various islands in the Great Sea and all the way down to the Isle of Dorn in the south. They are generally a primitive and hostile race, with the exception of the tribes that live in Sholazar Basin, known collectively as the Oracles, who are more intelligent due to the titan artifacts found in the region.

History

Rainspeaker Canopy in Sholazar Basin.

Gorlocs are distant cousins to murlocs. Though according to Brann Bronzebeard they are the progenitors of murlocs. Furthermore, he has theorized that the gorlocs themselves might have been created by a frog Wild God. The gorlocs that inhabit the Borean Tundra, the Dragon Isles and the Isle of Dorn act similar to murlocs: hostile and primitive. Those that inhabit Sholazar Basin, also known as the Oracles, have become more intelligent due to the effect of the titan artifacts in the basin. The Oracles are the sworn enemies of the Frenzyheart Tribe of wolvar that also inhabit Sholazar Basin. According to the gorlocs, they were there long before the wolvar came. The Oracles have tried to be nice and make peace with the Frenzyheart but to no avail.

In the Borean Tundra, the taunka tell the legends of Stormhoof and his battle with the North Wind on his journey to acquire the Horn of Elemental Fury. According to the legend, Stormhoof eventually succumbed to the North Wind, and the elemental broke the horn into two pieces, encased them in shiny baubles, and gave them to two powerful gorloc chieftains as tokens of their authority. As they were instructed by the North Wind, the gorloc chieftains passed down these precious relics to their sons and grandsons. To this day, the horn's pieces remain with Chieftain Burblegobble and Chieftain Gurgleboggle.

At some point, the Drakkari trolls experimented on gorlocs seeking to weaponize them. After multiple failed attempts, these gorlocs were sealed away in Gundrak. When the Scourge invaded Zul'Drak, Eck the Ferocious and his minions took the opportunity to liberate themselves.

Wrath of the Lich King

This section concerns content related to Wrath of the Lich King.

Mistwhisper Refuge in Sholazar Basin.

During the war against the Lich King, the Mistwhisper tribe of gorlocs, part of the Oracles, came under attack by Zepik the Gorloc Hunter, a wolvar of the Frenzyheart Tribe, and adventurers that had been accompanying him. Zepik had adventurers smash the skyreach crystal clusters in front of the Mistwhisper "weather shrine," causing it to run amok and create a thunderstorm to rain destruction upon the gorlocs. They also slew many Mistwhisper gorlocs while they were at it.

Later, the Rainspeaker tribe came in contact with adventurers after they rescued an injured gorloc, causing the wolvar to turn on them, seeing the act as treason. The grateful gorloc, on the other hand, offered to bring adventurers back to Rainspeaker Canopy, where they met with High-Oracle Soo-say, the leader of the Rainspeaker tribe and the Oracles. To prove themselves, Soo-say tasked adventurers with slaying Venomtip and a group of Emperor Cobras nearby, which kept trying to eat their hatchlings. Adventurers were accompanied by Lafoo, who requested their aid in collecting offerings for the Great Rain Stone. Afterwards, the High-Oracle had the idea to send the adventurers to the Frenzyheart with an offering of peace, hoping the wolvar would listen to the adventurers due to their past friendly relations. However, the wolvar were not interested in peace and threw the adventurers out.

When Mistwhisper Refuge was once again attacked by the Frenzyheart tribe, Soo-say sent Jaloot and adventurers to Mistcaller Soo-gan and asked them to do whatever Soo-gan asked of them. Soo-gan directed them to slay the invading wolvar and the one leading them, Warlord Tartek who had stolen the Mistwhisper treasure from the Great Mist Stone. Adventurers were to retrieve the treasure and return back to the shrine.

Mosswalker Village in Sholazar Basin.

When adventurers returned to Soo-say after having helped the Mistwhisper tribe, the High-Oracle told them to go with Moodle and check on the Mosswalker tribe, from whom they hadn't heard in a while. Near Mosswalker Village, they met with Moodle, who, unlike other gorlocs, had been out into the world a bit and had learned the adventurers' language and was not easily duped. Moodle knew that the Mosswalkers were dead before they arrived, though they didn't know that it had been because of the Scourge. The Scourge aren't allowed to enter Sholazar Basin normally, but the destruction of the Lifeblood Pillar had changed that. The five pillars scattered around Sholazar are the main reason for the weather in the region and seclusion from the undead. Not long ago, there was a great explosion, and the Lifeblood Pillar fell. The weather changed for the Mosswalkers almost immediately; it began to snow, something they had never seen. The Mosswalkers were able to stop the snow by bringing more lifeblood crystals to the Great Moss Stone for a while. Moodle hoped that by doing the same thing, it could help ward off the undead. They also asked adventurers to rescue any Mosswalker survivors they could find. Finally, adventurers were sent to deal with the leader of the undead there, Artruis the Heartless inside the Sundered Shard, while Moodle placed the shards gathered and brought news back to Soo-say. After defeating the lich, adventurers could choose to rescue Jaloot or Zepik the Gorloc Hunter. If Jaloot was chosen, they could go back to Rainspeaker Canopy and report what happened to the High-Oracle.

Sparktouched Haven in Sholazar Basin.

Later, adventurers were sent by Oracle Soo-dow to help the Sparktouched tribe in Sparktouched Haven, who were locked in battle against the Frenzyheart found in Kartak's Hold. There, on different occasions, adventurers were instructed to retrieve the crystal defenses and use them to kill the nearby Frenzyheart wolvar. Obtain a tainted crystal from the wolvar, bring it to the Great Lightening Stone to call Soo-holu, and with the aid of Soo-holu's shared powers, kill the nearby wolvar. And charge a dormant polished crystal at the exposed Lifeblood Pillar, then travel to Sparktouched Haven and use the power the crystal bestows to slaughter the wolvar. On each occasion they were to report their results to Lightningcaller Soo-met.

Meanwhile, Oracle Soo-nee enlisted adventurers to complete a few quests that were more musical in nature. They were to play the Cleansing Chime at Bittertide Lake, Wintergrasp River, and River's Heart and slay the evil spirits that plagued the waters there. Go to the Stormwright's Shelf, northwest of the Maker's Perch, and play the Horn of Fecundity near piles of Soaked Fertile Dirt. Use the Didgeridoo of Contemplation at the top of the Glimmering Pillar, the Suntouched Pillar, the Mosslight Pillar, and the Skyreach Pillar. And use the Drums of the Tempest at the Stormwright's Shelf to help Haiphoon, the Great Tempest, devour Storm Revenants and Aqueous Spirits.

Oracle Soo-rahm, found near the Bones of Nozronn, helped adventurers who sought to hunt the rhino patriarch Farunn. Soo-rahm made a special incense from cobra fangs collected by adventurers, which allowed them to speak with the spirit of Nozronn, an ancient rhino apparently worshipped by some of the gorlocs in Sholazar, including Soo-rahm, who kept a shrine in his honor. Nozronn, who was displeased with Farunn, told adventurers where they could find him.

Dragonflight

This section concerns content related to Dragonflight.

Soggymaw village in the Waking Shores.

Windyfin village in the Waking Shores.

In the Waking Shores, at the time of the war against the Primalists, the Soggymaw and Windyfin tribes of gorlocs found in the Restless Wetlands were locked into an elemental war with each other. Their elemental bickering was spilling out over the wetlands, causing water and wind elementals to rampage in the area. The gorlocs were using water-infused and wind-infused magic shells in their magic. When ecologists Tharu and Iskha learned of the situation, they asked adventurers to take the magic shells from the gorlocs and slay their leaders Sogglmoggl and Whirglgurgl, hoping that without anyone to rally the other gorlocs around, the fighting would dissipate and no longer threaten the wetlands.

Elsewhere in the Waking Shores, the Cliffdrip gorlocs in the Cliffdrip Camp were nurturing aggression in their crab pets, leading the crabs to an early demise. Crabtender Kad'irsza, had led the crabs to the area after their previous habitat was ransacked by the Primalists, thinking they would be safe there, only for the gorlocs to invade. In order to save the crabs, Kad'irsza asked adventurers to defeat some of the gorlocs so the crabs could escape. While Ru'kroszk, a drakonid who was also trying to help Kad'irsza, instructed adventurers to take out Gurblbrblr the Invader the leader of the gorlocs who had been instructing them to take crabs prisoner. Some time later, adventurers returned to Cliffdrip Camp at the request of Naleidea Rivergleam, who asked them to recover items the gorlocs had stolen.

Mudfin Village in the Ohn'ahran Plains.

When gorlocs from the Mudfin tribe in the Ohn'ahran Plains stole from Farrier Roscha, adventurers were sent to retrieve the supplies and find Khasar, a Shikaar huntsman who went after them by himself. The gorlocs had captured Khasar and forced his bakar hunting companion, Baba, into a cave on the eastern side of Mudfin Village. They had also captured other bakars from the camp, which Khasar asked adventurers to rescue as well. The Mudfin shamans in the village were particularly vicious and were playing recklessly with storm magic, an act that the Maruuk centaurs find sacrilegious. The Mudfin gorlocs were once simple creatures. The nearby centaurs considered them pests but never raiders, thieves, or dog-eaters. It was their leader, Chief Grrlgllmesh, who led them away from their nature. Under him, they became strong enough to rise up against a mighty civilization like the Maruuk. Thus, in order to end the threat the Mudfin posed, Khasar requested adventurers to kill Grrlgllmesh.

The Mudfin were later attacked by another centaur, Ranger Bolor, whose bakar companion had been killed by the gorlocs, and Hadwin a paladin, who, having heard her story, accompanied Bolor to bring justice to the gorlocs. Bolor wanted to kill every gorloc in the camp, but Hadwin insisted they would only fight the gorloc chieftain and those gorlocs that stood in their way.

In Szar Skeleth, Makko, a magic-using dracthyr from the Sundered Flame, had found the stone of Insight and was using it to control gorlocs. The misuse of the stone drove Makko mad, and they started building an army of gorlocs. As the army grew, the gorlocs were bringing Makko treasures to "honor their majesty." Makko sought to depose Sarkareth and lead the Sundered Flame themselves using their gorloc army, but they were stopped by adventurers sent by the Dragonscale Expedition.

In the Azure Span, a group of Dragonscale Expedition researchers were swarmed by the Brinetooth gorlocs living in the Gorloc Shore. The Brinetooth pilfered parts from their equipment, causing the group to shut down the geological survey they were planning to do. When adventurers came to the researchers' aid, they were beseeched to recover the missing parts from the gorlocs, thin out their numbers, gather salt crystal flakes from the larger gorlocs and collect some saliva samples for further testing.

The War Within

This section concerns content related to The War Within.

The Glimmering Shore on the Isle of Dorn.

While the war against the Harbinger was going on, gorloc raiders from the Pearlfin tribe on the Isle of Dorn had been slaughtering earthen farmers in the Glimmering Shore and stealing their pearls. The farmers sought out Aggartha, a former Peacekeeper commander who had left Dornogal to protect the people outside its walls. Aggartha couldn't battle an entire tribe of gorlocs on her own, especially one as organized as the Pearlfin, so she enlisted adventurers to help her out by recruiting other earthen nearby, while she trained the farmers in combat. By the time adventurers arrived with help, most of the farmers were already in the field defending their positions against the gorlocs. Aggartha ordered them to distribute weapons to the farmers and retrieve the pearls the gorlocs had been pilfering at every opportunity. The Pearlfin, meanwhile, were bolstering their forces with summoned elementals, which is how they had been able to overrun the farmers so easily in the first place. Aggartha sent adventurers to eliminate the powerful gorloc shamans Burgle-gurgle, Purgle-lurgle, and Murgle-whurgle, who were summoning these elementals, hoping that would end the threat the gorlocs posed to the farmers. While adventurers were carrying out this task, the Pearlfin attempted to flank the earthen. With no one available, Aggartha split off alone to intercept them. Though vastly outnumbered, Aggartha held the line and defeated her foes. But her injuries were too grave, and she succumbed to her wounds. The Pearlfin were ultimately beaten back, for the time being, and the pearl farmers, having realized the tribe was a greater danger than they had thought, vowed to uphold Aggartha's legacy by defending themselves using what she had taught them.

In the Three Shields region of the isle, meanwhile, the Shimmerfin gorlocs were digging up still-functioning titan artifacts and using the heat they were emitting to warm their fins. When a small Algari Expedition team led by Rannan Korren seeking to research the artifacts discovered what the gorlocs were doing, he asked adventurers to deal with them so they could study in safety. Adventurers were also asked to slay, Gramwharl, a huge gorloc that had killed others of its kind to obtain one of the artifacts and who might have posed a danger to the researchers.

Culture

Gorlocs live in primitive, shamanistic societies. They are divided into tribes, led by chieftains who are usually powerful shamans. They live in small huts made out of pieces of wood and leaves, usually built near the coastline or some body of water, and are often known to raid and steal supplies and various items from nearby settlements. Gorlocs eat fish such as Fatty Bluefins, among other things, and prepare their foods with noxious spices that would sicken any other creature.

Excluding the Oracles, gorlocs are generally hostile to outsiders; they are even known to go to war against other gorloc tribes, such as in the case of the Soggymaw and Windyfin. However, there are rare cases, such as that of the earthen Hagenbran where gorlocs have come together with an outsider for mutual benefit. They had trained crabs together to catch fish, dig up oysters, and even drag back a lobster every now and again. The gorlocs were keeping the meat, and Hagenbran was taking the shells and bones for other uses. They got along just fine, though the gorlocs would sometimes revert back to their feral ways.

Oracles

An Oracle burial site.

The Oracles, despite their more advanced intellect, still retain a very similar social system. Grunt work is done by the warriors, but their cultural leaders are nearly always great shamanic practitioners. They worship the titan watchers and the artifacts that granted them intelligence, though they don't really have an understanding of what they are guarding. These magical artifacts protect Sholazar Basin from both ill weather and foul creatures like the Scourge. The Oracles call these artifacts the "Great Stones" and believe the titan watchers, or the "Great Ones," as they call them, created the gorlocs. The Oracles use crystals to power the shrines. If the wrong crystals are used, the shrines go haywire, creating chaotic weather effects. The gorlocs will often go out looking for "shiny treasures," which they use as offerings to the Great Stones. Some of the gorlocs in Sholazar Basin, such as Oracle Soo-rahm, also worship the ancient rhino spirit Nozronn.

Oracle leaders have the word "Soo" in their name, which appears to be an honorary title. They call the wolvar "puppy-men" and are in turn referred to as "big-tongues" by the wolvar. People from other races, meanwhile, are usually referred to as "dryskins".

The Oracles are also fond of animal parts. Twisted claws from the goretalon rocs are among their favorites. The gorlocs have a saying that the more gnarled a roc's talon, the more power it holds. Furthermore, the rare albino tickbird is revered amongst the Oracles. It is seen as a sign of heavy rainstorms, good grub harvests, and hibernating wolvar.

Tribes

Burblegobble's tribe in the Flood Plains.

Northrend

Name	Leader(s)	Location	Affiliation
Mistwhisper tribe	Mistcaller Soo-gan	Mistwhisper Refuge, Sholazar Basin	Oracles
Mosswalker tribe	Unknown	Formerly Mosswalker Village, Sholazar Basin	Oracles
Gurgleboggle's tribe	Chieftain Gurgleboggle	Flood Plains, Borean Tundra	Independent
Rainspeaker tribe	High-Oracle Soo-say	Rainspeaker Canopy, Sholazar Basin	Oracles
Burblegobble's tribe	Chieftain Burblegobble	Flood Plains, Borean Tundra	Independent
Sparktouched tribe	Lightningcaller Soo-met	Sparktouched Haven, Sholazar Basin	Oracles

Brinetooth tribe in the Gorloc Shore.

Dragon Isles

Name	Leader(s)	Location	Affiliation
Brinetooth tribe	Unknown	Gorloc Shore, Azure Span	Independent
Cliffdrip tribe	Gurblbrblr the Invader	Cliffdrip Camp, Waking Shores	Independent
Mudfin tribe	Chief Grrlgllmesh	Mudfin Village, Ohn'ahran Plains	Independent
Soggymaw tribe	Sogglmoggl	Restless Wetlands, Waking Shores	Independent
Windyfin tribe	Whirglgurgl	Restless Wetlands, Waking Shores	Independent

Shimmerfin tribe in the Three Shields.

Khaz Algar

Name	Leader(s)	Location	Affiliation
Pearlfin tribe	Gar'loc	Glimmering Shore, Isle of Dorn	Independent
Shimmerfin tribe	Unknown	Three Shields, Isle of Dorn	Independent

Other

Name	Leader(s)	Location	Affiliation
Dampscale tribe	Morgok	Various islands in the Great Sea	Independent

Notable gorlocs

High-Oracle Soo-say, leader of the Oracles.

Chief Grrlgllmesh of the Mudfin tribe.

•  Chieftain Burblegobble
•  Eck the Ferocious
•  Geen <Oracles Quartermaster>
•  Chieftain Gurgleboggle
•  Jaloot
•  Lafoo
•  Loomee <Shinies Collector>
•  Moodle
•  Roo
•  Oracle Soo-dow
•  Mistcaller Soo-gan
•  Soo-jam <Reagents & Poisons>
•  Lightningcaller Soo-met
•  Oracle Soo-nee
•  Oracle Soo-rahm
•  High-Oracle Soo-say
•  Soo-yum <Food & Drink>

•  Shaman Garmr
•  Gibberfin
•  Wavebinder Gorgl
•  Seer Grglok
•  Many-Teeth
•  Morgok <Dampscale Chieftain>
•  Sharkslayer Mugluk
•  Orgl the Totemic

•  Brackle
•  King Drippy <Wielder of the Hydrosphere>
•  Enok the Stinky
•  Gorjo the Crab Shackler
•  Chief Grrlgllmesh <Mudfin Chieftain>
•  Gurblbrblr the Invader
•  Sogglmoggl <King of the Soggymaw>
•  Whirglgurgl <King of the Windyfin>

•  Burgle-gurgle
•  Gar'loc <High Sea Shaman>
•  Gramwharl
•  Murgle-whurgle
•  Purgle-lurgle

As a companion pet

•  [Curious Oracle Hatchling] is rewarded from completing  [10-80] Back To The Orphanage.

Notes and trivia

• They have green colored blood.
• Gorloc mucus has some properties that can be beneficial for certain elixirs.
• Some gorlocs are part of the Blindlight tribe found in Blackfathom Deeps.
• They are called "gurlocs" in the  [Curious Oracle Hatchling] description.
• Gorloc Fin Soup is sold by innkeepers and food vendors throughout the Dragon Isles.
• They were jokingly called 'Murlocs on Crack' in World of Warcraft: Magazine.

Gallery

• 

  Gorloc concept art.
• 

  Bait and Switch in Hearthstone.