Hozen
| Hozen | |
|---|---|
 A Grook Fu Master in Hearthstone. | |
| Faction/Affiliation | Independent, Hozen tribes, Horde, Black Empire, Bilge Rats, Irontide Raiders, Blackwater Cartel |
| Racial leader(s) |
 The Monkey King  Tribal chieftains |
| Racial mount |
 Goat Tiger Bat |
| Homeworld | Azeroth |
| Area(s) | Pandaria, The Wandering Isle, Un'gol Ruins, Uncharted Island |
| Language(s) | Hozen, Orcish, Mogu[1] |
| Organization(s) | Clans or tribes |
The hozen are a monkey-like race native to Pandaria. They are found all across the continent and also various islands of the Great Sea.[2] Short-lived and immature, they are a passionate and playful race, mischievous pranksters that "act like a group of 14 year old boys running around together in the jungle."[3] During the invasion of Pandaria, some hozen tribes joined the Horde.
History
 |
This section is a lore stub. |
During the Age of a Hundred Kings, several races settled in the land surrounding the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, the hozen among them. The bold and mischievous monkey-men came to inhabit the dense jungles surrounding the vale.[4] They worshipped the August Celestials, and in return, the spirits offered them knowledge and guidance. For a time, there was peace.[5]
The hozen have been at war with the jinyu for a very long time.[3] At some point long ago, the hozen approached them for help; the jinyu felt sorry for them and taught them how to survive. The jinyu gave them their trust, but over time the hozen grew strong and bold and began taking the land for their own.[6] During Lei Shen's conquest of Pandaria, both the hozen and the jinyu agreed to help the other withstand the onslaught of Lei Shen and his mogu armies. However, on the eve of the jinyu's final stand against the mogu, the hozen betrayed them, having secretly made a pact with the Thunder King in exchange for preferential treatment (a promise that was never kept). The hozen's betrayal ensured the defeat of the jinyu and created a bitter rivalry between the two races that would last for centuries.[7]
The hozen took part in the Pandaren Revolution, covertly digging tunnels that would lead them behind the mogu defenses.[8]
A few years before the War of the Ancients, a hozen known only as the Monkey King had become the leader of an ungovernable people. He had risen to power without spilling a single drop of blood and was beloved by every hozen tribe, despite that hozen fought endlessly, constantly, for the simplest reasons. Any disagreement meant physical violence, but the Monkey King knew this. So he told the hozen tribes, "I am the Monkey King. Your tribe supports me with all its heart." When a single hozen would question him, he would tell them that their tribe's leader had already agreed to it. No hozen wanted to challenge their leader on a whim--and be in a fight--so they declared, "You are the Monkey King." When the tribe leaders learned his name, all of their subjects were already calling him the Monkey King. They were confused, but they did not want to fight their people, so they did not challenge him either. The Monkey King's wild claim, his lie, eventually became true because nobody dared to disagree with it. Soon, tribal fighting had ceased. The Monkey King passed judgment on all disputes, and the hozen obeyed.[9]
During the Invasion of Pandaria, some tribes of forest hozen were befriended by the Horde after adventurers earned their grudging respect. Equipped with machine guns and weapons from the Horde, these hozen were trained and recruited to join the battle against the Alliance and their Jinyu allies.
During the Fourth War, some hozen were seen among the ranks of the Horde Vanguard in Dazar'alor.
Biology
The hozen are a short-lived race. Their elders are typically no more than twenty years old,[10] usually fourteen or fifteen,[11] and few hozen survive past their twentieth birthday.[11]
There are jungle hozen and mountain hozen, the heartier kind,[3] and Forest Hozen.[12] According to the Monkey King, there are also sky hozen.[13]
Two hozen with wings, Ginger-Ginger and Flap-Flap, can be found in Zuldazar. When asked how they acquired wings, the Monkey King responds "There are many secrets both mysterious and divine, you have yours and I have mine." They are presumably the sky hozen that the Monkey King mentioned.[13]
Culture
The hozen are uncannily dexterous foragers and hunters who dwell in tribes among treetops and mountains of Pandaria. They are a simple race driven by their passions.[12] As a result of their short life spans, their relative maturity when compared to the other speaking races is quite minimal[10] and their society lacks roots (and rules) as a result. Uncouth and impulsive, hozen nonetheless play, live, and squabble together... at least until their clans grow so large that they collapse into multiple smaller groups.[14]
In contrast to the very reserved and polite jinyu, the hozen are a passionate people that love to love, love to hate, and love to feel any emotion they can feel, as long as they feel it strongly.[10] Initially, the August Celestial Yu'lon considered the hozen to be innately violent, often selfish and shortsighted, and unable to work together long enough to build a proper civilization of their own. However, as time passed, Yu'lon questioned her assumptions and realized that, while it is easy to see the short-lived, short-tempered hozen as troublemakers, they live full, wild lives in the years they have.[9]
The hozen of the Kun-Lai mountains are unusually aggressive, even by hozen standards. Food and supplies are often scarce in this hostile terrain. When times are hard, the hozen leadership may declare a "ravage" on nearby settlements. During a ravage, every hozen strong enough to walk joins in on a massive swarm attack on nearby villages. In this way, they ensure they either acquire enough food to last the winter, or they lose enough of their weakest to ensure their current supplies are enough. For years, the Shado-Pan and grummles have maintained an uneasy peace with the hozen in exchange for food tributes. Fear of the Shado-Pan keeps the local tribes in check... Usually.[15]
Hozen love to hunt and fish, and often will assault anyone and anything in their hunting grounds.[12] The other races of Pandaria are therefore careful to avoid these areas, but this is often not enough to avoid conflict. The hozen's notoriously short tempers grow even shorter when their hunger pushes entire clans, including elderly and young hozen, to ravage food sources outside of their territory, either gathering enough food or seeing enough hozen die in the process to ensure the survivors’ continued health.[14]
While most hozen are hostile, there are some of the less wild forest hozen that have made themselves homes amongst the pandaren, often acting as farmhands, or merchants. A hozen can start their own proper farm in the Heartland if they want to, and even earn a place as a member of the Tillers council. Some have begun training in Tian Monastery in the Jade Forest. Such individuals are accepted on their personal merits, and there is no prejudice placed on them by the pandaren due to the actions of their species as a whole.
Some young and rambunctious hozen are trained from an early age to use boxing gloves so they don't accidentally kill their tribe members, and more importantly, to keep them from picking their noses.[16] The hozen rely on dirty guerrilla tactics. Ambushes and traps. They are able to swing and leap from tree to tree and use thick trees for cover.[17] Hozen sometimes take prisoners, keeping them in bamboo cages.[18]
Hozen have a rite of passage for their people that celebrates martial skill. Most hozen respect good fighters, or good "grookers," as they say. Those who have shown their strength in battle earn their "name name." Instead of being addressed by their name once, they are addressed by their name twice, and this is shown as a title of respect.[19]
Hozen skulls are often found scattered among their huts and campfires. Jinyu collect hozen skulls as prized tokens and use them to perform ceremonial rites; the older the skull, the more potent its magic.[20] Hozen are known to keep and tame tigers,[21][22] although they have also been known to be preyed upon by tigers,[23] as well as by crocolisks.[24] Hozen seem to live on a diet composed mostly of fish, or as they call them, "slickies," and sometimes catch them using bait made from bugs' legs.[25]
The Jade Forest's mountain hozen fear the venomous Grove Vipers and often hunt them out of pure spite.[26]
- Words of wisdom
The following are notes of wisdom proclaimed by the wisest of hozen on the Wandering Isle:
- Wet fur not fun to sleep on.
- Mouth only hole that banana go in.
- Don't pull own tail when there are other tails to pull.
- Poo not good to eat, but very good to throw.
- Firecracker for throwing, banana for eating.
- Peel banana first, eat second.
Hozen 'wisdom' can also be found recorded on scrolls in the form of Hai-pu.
Language
- Main article: Hozen (language)
Tribes
| Name | Leader | Primary location | Affiliation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Broketooth tribe |
The Ook of Dook |
Camp Broketooth, Kun-Lai Summit | Independent | Active |
| Fe-Feng tribe |
Chief Ruk-Ruk |
Fe-Feng Village, Wandering Isle | Independent | Active |
 Grookin tribe |
Chief Kah Kah |
Grookin Hill, Jade Forest | Horde | Active |
| Knucklethump tribe |
The Ook of Dook |
Knucklethump Hole, Kun-Lai Summit | Independent | Active |
| Kunzen tribe |
Chief Yip-Yip |
Kunzen Village, Valley of the Four Winds | Independent | Active |
| Ookin tribe |
The Ook of Dook |
Dooker Dome, Kun-Lai Summit | Independent | Active |
| Oona tribe |
Lord Oona |
Oona Kagu, Jade Forest | Independent | Active |
| Saltfur tribe |
Unknown | Un'gol Ruins | Independent | Active |
| Silverback tribe |
The Ook of Dook |
Kun-Lai Summit | Independent | Active |
| Slingtail tribe |
Chief Gukgut |
Slingtail Pits, Jade Forest | Horde | Active |
| Squidtail tribe |
Chief Mek-mek |
Vale of Eternal Blossoms | Black Empire | Unknown |
| Unga tribe |
Chief Ingoo Ingoo XVII |
Unga Ingoo, Krasarang Wilds | Independent | Active |
Notable
Notes and trivia
- Hozen lore can be discovered through the following lore objects, hidden throughout Pandaria: Hozen Speech, Hozen Maturity, Embracing the Passions, and The Hozen Ravage. Discovering these objects awards the achievement
[Hozen in the Mist], and initiates the 
[30-35] Hozen in the Mist quest, inviting adventurers to visit Lorewalker Cho, who will tell them a short story about the hozen. 
[Bonkers] is a possible reward from the Timeless Chests of Master Kukuru in Kukuru's Grotto on the Timeless Isle.- To the inhabitants of Pandaria, a "double hozen dare" is a challenge of epic proportion which someone can't get out of,[27] akin to a double dog dare.
- Although almost all hozen seen in World of Warcraft appear to be male, females do exist, as evidenced by Ken-Ken's unnamed grandmother[28] and Ooka Dooker. In addition, Yu'lon once disguised herself as a female hozen in order to approach the Monkey King.[9]
- Hozen were originally known as hozu, which is how they were presented during BlizzCon 2011. The name is shown in pieces of concept art as well as in the game files. A couple of references to the term still made it in-game.[29][30]
- Hozu (猴族, hóuzú) is Chinese for "monkey clan."
- While normal hozen have unique animations, winged hozen use felbat animations.
Gallery
- World of Warcraft
Early hozen model.
A typical hozen
The Monkey King
Ookbeard, a hozen pirate.
Renfield in the 100 or Bust! trailer.
- World of Warcraft art
"Hozu" concepts art.
Hozen concept art.
A hozen pirate in the Unga Ingoo loading screen.
Mung-Mung in The Untamed Valley cover art.
Battle for Azeroth map sketch featuring a hozen.
Lotus Bruiser, a hozen in an upright posture.
Monkey King's Flying Monkey Kick
References
- ^ Unity at a Price
- ^ Blizzcon 2011: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Revealed
- ^ a b c Mists of Pandaria Press Tour. MMO-Champion (2012-03-19). Retrieved on 2012-03-19.
- ^ World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1, pg. 78
- ^ The Chronicle of Ages#Sheilun, Staff of the Mists
- ^ Pearlfin Aqualyte
- ^ World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 1, pg. 82
- ^ The Mogu and the Trogg
- ^ a b c The Chronicle of Ages
- ^ a b c Hozen Maturity
- ^ a b [30-35] Hozen in the Mist
- ^ a b c Embracing the Passions
- ^ a b
[15-35] The Monkey King
- ^ a b Mists of Pandaria Expansion Features/Bestiary#Hozen, Furious hunter-gatherers
- ^ The Hozen Ravage
- ^ [Bonkers]
- ^ [10-35] The Pearlfin Situation
- ^ [10-35] The Missing Admiral
- ^ [10-35] What's in a Name Name?
- ^ [10-35] Ancient Power
- ^ Beast-Haver Chi Chi
- ^ [10-35] Kung Din
- ^ [10-35] Kill Kher Shan
- ^ [10-35] Swallowed Whole
- ^ [10-35] The Bees' Knees
- ^ Grove Viper
- ^ An Windfur#Quotes
- ^ [15-35] Materia Medica
- ^ Hozu Ambusher
- ^ [10-35] Quill of Stingers
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