Project Lore

Its been an unsolved mystery for years. Who are the Pandaren, where is Pandaria, and when is Chen Stormstout going to arrive and bring Pandamonium? We've seen references to the Pandaren through the life of Warcraft and WoW, most recently in the form of the in-game pet. Samwise, one of the most illustrious Warcraft artists throughout the years, shed some light on the current state of the Pandaren in an interview on the official World of Warcraft site. Here are some highlights:

A lot of people may not know the illustrious history of the pandaren race and their introduction in the Warcraft III expansion. Can you give a brief recap of how you got the idea for an anthropomorphic panda race and how they eventually came to be included in the expansion?

I might never have had the idea if it weren't for my brother's fantastic skill at mangling up words and phrases. "A flash in the pants" or "at the end of my wit" are some of the classics in my brother's repertoire of manglings and mash-ups.

We were all off on a weekend desert trip and come evening everyone was grouped up around the fire. I was off doing something and my bro, who already had a few Stormstouts in him, said something like "Dude, you're like one of those panda bears -- you're never cold." I said "Do you mean a polar bear?" He muttered something like "I said polar bear" or whatever, but from that moment on, I was judged and labeled as: The Panda.

Some years later I did a Christmas picture for my family of a panda bear with a cub sitting on his shoulder in tribute to the new daughter who had joined our clan. That was the first panda picture I did.  For some reason, one of our webmasters asked if it could be made into a Blizzard wallpaper. People seemed to like it well enough so that when April Fools came around we announced that the pandaren were going to be the fifth race for Warcraft III. People got excited by the announcement, and seemed to be let down when they found out it was just a joke.

...

The sculpting of Chen is special to me as the Pandaren was originally just created for my family and friends. It was done just for fun, as a joke. To have this personal piece of art become a page or two in the massive volumes of Blizzard Entertainment lore is an honor. And to have it embraced by so much of our community is a really great feeling. Some still think of the Pandaren as the Aprils Fools gag, while others think they should be the next race for World of Warcraft (Horde, naturally :)). But whatever your views, just remember this... if my brother was a better speaker then the pandaren race might never have been born. Cheers to you brother!

The Pandaren are sprinkled throughout Warcraft history, but with a non-combat pet, several TCG cards, and of course the new exclusive pandaren figure all releasing within a short time, are we getting close to something bigger?

You mean like car seat covers?

Thank you Sammy!

For Pandaria!

(read the full interview at worldofwarcraft.com) Samwise and a lot of the Blizzard "visionaries" have been going more and more public with their ideas and though processes, especially with WoW's fifth year anniversary just passed, and its nice for Blizzard to be dropping these bits of information now and then.

Pandaren model, left is beta, right is release

For those of you not in the know, Pandaren were first introduced around the time of Warcraft III. A lot of the concept art had hidden pandas in them, and various missions in the Reign of Chaos Campaign allowed you to unlock easter eggs with things like a hidden Pandaren image. Most notably, Illidan's blades had a panda face on them, which turned from happy to angry when he shifted into demon form (his blades were later changed to be the Blades of Azzinoth in WoW). When Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was in beta testing, the Pandaren Brewmaster was revealed as a neutral hero. Its model changed significantly before release, from a Japanese samurai look to a more Chinese appearance. Chen Stormstout played a crucial role in the Frozen Throne campaign "The Founding of Durotar." Chen is referenced by a quest in the Barrens in WoW, and a child in Stormwind telling stories insists they are real. There is a persistent rumor that there is a law in China that prevents depictions of violence against pandas, preventing Blizzard from adding the Pandaren into WoW. This is just a rumor; there is no such law, and I have heard that there is another MMO popular in China that features playable panda people in a PvP environment. The takeaway lesson is that the Pandaren are just a running joke. As much as we love them, they are not consistently in the lore and only make cameos once in a great while.