Hakkar the Soulflayer

Hakkar the Soulflayer, Blood God of the Gurubashi trolls, is a malevolent and destructive creature that controls the Gurubashi Empire's fallen capital of Zul'Gurub. He is possibly the only deity that is part of the troll pantheon, the rest of whom are more powerful than elementals but not as powerful as gods. He is the Loa of Blood.

Hakkar the Soulflayer was the final boss of the Zul'Gurub raid until it was removed with patch 4.0.3a and Zul'Gurub was turned into an ordinary subzone of Northern Stranglethorn that is empty except for a few quests that take place there. The fate of the blood god remains a mystery; Hakkar's servants were apparently defeated, however whether they succeeded in summoning him into Azeroth in the lore is unknown. Rumors point out that Hakkar might return one day.

Ancient times
The long centuries following the Great Sundering of the world were difficult ones for the troll race. Famine and terror were commonplace within the broken kingdoms. The Gurubashi trolls, driven to desperate ends, sought aid from ancient, mystical forces. Though both of the troll kingdoms shared a central belief in a great pantheon of primitive gods, the Gurubashi fell under the sway of the darkest one.

Hakkar the Soulflayer, a vile, bloodthirsty spirit, heard the trolls' call and decided to aid them. Hakkar gave his secrets of blood to the Gurubashi and helped them extend their civilization across most of Stranglethorn Vale and certain islands of the South Seas. Though he brought them great power, Hakkar wanted more and more for his efforts. He filled his adherents with murderous rage and reveled in their dark emotions. The carnage that invariably followed Hakkar suited him perfectly, for having consumed blood, he had developed a taste for it. Worse, he became more powerful as he consumed the blood shed in his name, and his tie to the world that was feeding him grew stronger.

The bloodthirsty god demanded souls be sacrificed to him daily. He dreamed of gaining access to the physical world so he could devour the blood of all mortal creatures. In time the Gurubashi realized what kind of creature they had courted with — and turned against him. The strongest tribes rose up against Hakkar and his loyal priests — the Atal'ai.

The terrible war that ensued between Hakkar's followers and the rest of the Gurubashi tribes is spoken of only in whispers. The budding empire was shattered by the magic unleashed between the angry god and his rebel children. Just as the battle seemed most hopeless, the trolls succeeded in destroying Hakkar's avatar and banishing him from the world.

Even his Atal'ai priests were eventually driven from the capital of Zul'Gurub and forced to survive in the uncharted swamplands of the north. Within those shadowy fens they built a great temple to their fallen god — Atal'Hakkar — where they could continue to do their master's work.

Temple of Atal'Hakkar
Though the priests were defeated and ultimately exiled, the great troll empire buckled in upon itself. The exiled priests fled far to the north, into the Swamp of Sorrows. There they erected a great temple to Hakkar — where they could prepare for his arrival into the physical world. The great dragon Aspect, Ysera, learned of the Atal'ai's plans and smashed the temple beneath the marshes. To this day, the temple's drowned ruins are guarded by the green dragons who prevent anyone from getting in or out. However, it is believed that some of the fanatical Atal'ai may have survived Ysera's wrath — and recommitted themselves to the dark service of Hakkar.

Their spiritual leader, Jammal'an, had what he called a prophecy. He believed the summoning of Hakkar will bring the Atal'ai immortality. They even prepared a dark ritual to call the Avatar of Hakkar back into the physical world, but it was finally thwarted by a group of heroic adventurers assaulting the temple.

Zul'Gurub


In time, the Atal'ai priests discovered that Hakkar's physical form could only be summoned within the ancient capital of the Gurubashi Empire, Zul'Gurub. Unfortunately, the priests have met with recent success in their quest to call forth Hakkar — reports confirm the presence of the dreaded Soulflayer in the heart of the Gurubashi ruins.

In order to quell the blood god, the trolls of the land banded together and sent a contingent of High Priests into the ancient city. Each priest was a powerful champion of the Primal Gods — Bat, Panther, Tiger, Spider, and Snake — but despite their best efforts, they fell under the sway of Hakkar. Now the champions and their Primal God aspects feed the awesome power of the Soulflayer. Any adventurers brave enough to venture into the foreboding ruins must overcome the High Priests if they are to have any hope of confronting the mighty blood god.

After the Soulflayer was defeated his cursed heart, the still burning kernel of Hakkar's power, was brought to Molthor in the hope the Zandalarian trolls would know how to destroy it.

Cataclysm
Several years after the defeat of Hakkar in Zul'Gurub, the Atal'ai in the Sanctum of the Fallen God have recovered a significant portion of his skeleton and seek to restore Hakkar back to life. Already his children have begun to show up in the area.

Meanwhile, Jin'do recovered the body of two high priests, High Priest Venoxis and High Priestess Jeklik, and then enlisted the aid of Zanzil the Outcast to resurrect them in the service of Hakkar. Though agents of the Zandalar Tribe attempted to stop both rituals, they only succeeded in destroying Jeklik's body. It's unclear exactly, but Jin'do requires Bloodlord Mandokir to summon Hakkar, while Mandokir requires Ohgan'aka, daughter of Ohgan, he closest and most trusted friend.

Sometime after wanting to stop Jin'do from summoning Hakkar, the Zandalar trolls unite most of the tribes and aid in restoring Zul'Gurub to its former glory. They hope to use Hakkar in order to wage war of the other races of Azeroth, to save their kind from destruction.

Adventures in Zul'Gurub can witness Jin'do, now going by name "the Godbreaker," holding Hakkar in submission and stripping out his power to infuse into himself. To stop the invincible Jin'do, adventures will have to release the captive upon the captor.

Quests
Currently the following quests involve Hakkar:


 * Quest:The Blood God Hakkar

Before patch 4.0.3a the following quests dealt with the attempts to resurrect or defeat him:


 * Quest:Screecher Spirits
 * Quest:The Prophecy of Mosh'aru
 * Quest:The Ancient Egg
 * Quest:The God Hakkar
 * Quest:The Lost Tablets of Mosh'aru
 * Quest:The Final Tablets
 * Quest:Confront Yeh'kinya
 * Quest:The Hand of Rastakhan
 * Quest:The Heart of Hakkar

Quotes

 * Aggro
 * yell

Dialogue in the Jin'do the Godbreaker encounter

 * yell
 * yell
 * yell

Trivia

 * The Vale Screechers are called the cousins of Hakkar, and their spirits seem to be linked to him.
 * Hakkar the Soulflayer is known only as "Hakkar" in his appearance as a boss in Zul'Gurub.

The Corrupted Blood Incident
Shortly after Zul'Gurub's original release several players across many servers found that his debuff, Corrupted Blood (which takes away health and is highly contagious, yet can't leave the instance on players) could be carried out on warlock minions or hunter pets. When they did this they unleashed a massive, in-game epidemic that killed low level players in seconds and allowed higher levels enough time to corrupt others. Blizzard, who didn't see it coming at first, eventually reset all the servers and made it impossible to carry it out on a pet.

Houndmaster and Soulflayer
According to an interview, Hakkar the Houndmaster and Hakkar the Soulflayer are two different entities:


 * Richard A. Knaak:


 * "Hakkar first existed in WELL OF ETERNITY, as Hakkar the Houndmaster, my creation. Blizzard must have liked the name, because they accidentally took the name afterward for the troll god. Chris Metzen apologized for the mix-up at the L.A. Festival of Books."

Myth
Physically, Hakkar seems to resemble the Mesoamerican deity "Quetzalcoatl" or "Kukulkan," both of which can be translated "Feathered Serpent". This fits in with certain aspects from troll architecture and culture, which resemble those of the Aztec and Maya, both of whom revered the Feathered Serpent.

Faceless one
According to the Zandalar troll Molthor, one of his titles is "The faceless one". Primal Torntusk calls him "the faceless blood God" in a quest. Also, Hakkar drops a piece of loot called. Though this in-game text specifically uses the words "The faceless one" for Hakkar the Soulflayer, it not known if he has any connection with the creatures encountered beneath Northrend, but he may.

Old God Speculation
There is a possibility that Hakkar is actually an Old God. Lands of Mystery says that long ago, at the Temple of Atal'Hakkar, the trolls attempted to summon and control Hakkar, an old god of theirs. Brann Bronzebeard believes that perhaps Hakkar is the child of an Old God (due to his seeming connection to the Emerald Dream). Yeh'kinya calls Hakkar "an old, old god" and "the old god of which I spoke" in a quest. It is also possible that Hakkar is just a god that is old.

Note that Hakkar is significantly weaker then the two other Old Gods that have currently been portrayed, and is neither chained up in a titan prison nor dead. It is possible that he is a minion of the Old Gods, or some kind of avatar of an Old God. He may be a Loa that is in league with the Old Gods.

Al'Akir has been said to take the form of a "winged serpent" (implied to be a wind serpent). As Al'Akir and Hakkar both have a connection to wind serpents, and Al'Akir has a connection to the Old Gods, Hakkar may be connected to the Old gods as well. However, this is not necessarily the case.

Trolls worshiping the Old Gods is not unknown. The forest trolls of Zul'Aman worship Ula-Tek, the serpent goddess. Ula-Tek is perhaps an Old God. The Dark Iron clan seems to think so.

This theory may be supported by the "faceless one" theory above.

Connection to the Emerald Nightmare
It is implied by Itharius that Eranikus falling to the Emerald Nightmare was caused by Hakkar. Malfurion Stormrage claims that the Old Gods are behind the Nightmare. Eranikus himself does not clearly comment on this issue. This may mean that Hakkar is at least partially behind the Emerald Nightmare, and thus in league with the Old Gods in some form (or is one himself), or that Hakkar merely weakened Eranikus enough for the Nightmare to take hold.

The Wailing Caverns, a location corrupted by the Nightmare, is similarly snake-themed, implying a possible connection.

This connection is not mentioned in quests surrounding Zul'Gurub, or in quests surrounding Eranikus' redemption. It is also not touched upon in Stormrage.

It is also stated by Itharius that the Atal'ai at the Temple of Atal'Hakkar are using Hakkar's blood to make green dragons fall to the Emerald Nightmare, so that Hakkar can feed off of the evil produced by this. This may mean that he just corrupts the dragons, and is not related to the Nightmare itself.