Getting to Know Hearthstone’s Alternate Heroes: Lunara
Well, it’s about time. We finally have a new Druid hero. As many of you know, Druid was the very last class to receive any alternate heroes (with some heroes getting more than one, even) so this feels like a long time coming. Now that she has arrived and is available in-game, let’s a look at the newest hero to Hearthstone: Lunara!
Lunara in Hearthstone
Lunara arrived in Hearthstone with the start of the Year of the Raven. Like Maeiv Shadowsong (who you can read about more here), she is unlocked by completing a special quest. Players must win 10 games in Standard play (casual or ranked) and are then rewarded with Lunara.
Like other alternate heroes, Lunara comes with a new portrait, new voice lines, and a unique animation when using her hero power.
Who Is Lunara?
Lunara is a dryad and the first-born daughter of Cenarius. For those of you unfamiliar with Cenarius outside of Hearthstone, he is a pretty important guy in the Warcraft universe. His parents are the goddess Elune and the wise ancient guardian, Malorne. Cenarius is worshiped by the Night Elves and is the patron of all druids. Yep, Lunara has some pretty powerful beings in her family tree, doesn’t she?
Like her sisters, the dryads, she is dedicated to protecting nature and the wilderness. That is where their similarities end, however. Her sisters favor peace and serenity and Lunara (taking after her father) is a fierce defender of all that they hold dear and is not afraid to use the spear she carries.
Unusual Beginnings - Heroes of the Storm
Unlike most of the heroes in Hearthstone, Lunara doesn’t have a deep background in the lore of the Warcraft universe. That’s because she made her first appearance not in World of Warcraft, but in Blizzard's Hero Brawler, Heroes of the Storm, where she is classified as a ranged assassin. She was later introduced into World of Warcraft with the Legion expansion where she could be found within Val'sharah's Dreamgrove, a link between Azeroth and The Emerald Dream. Now, this fresh Druid has arrived into the final Warcraft lore-infused Blizzard title, Hearthstone.
No doubt Lunara will have roles to play in future World of Warcraft expansions, but for now, thanks to her Heroes of the Storm origins, her lore page is still a little bare.
But that might be changing soon. Blizzard recently announced that they are making a narrative push in Heroes of the Storm, with plans to build out the lore of the game as well as how it relates to the rest of the Blizzard video game universes.
So far, we know that characters from all of Blizzard’s universes (including a lot of faces familiar to us Hearthstone players) were pulled out of their worlds into the Nexus, where Heroes of the Storm takes place. The Nexus is the center of a powerful cosmic storm that pulls these characters in from their universes and generally makes things weird. Alexxstraza fighting on the same battlefield as Kerrigan? Sylvanas and Hanzo? The Nexus makes these pairings possible in Heroes of the Storm, but until now how it happens or what effect it has on the rest of these characters universe has been unknown.
Heroes of the Storm has always taken a “just go with it” approach for why these characters from different properties are suddenly thrust together. With Blizzard's new lore push, we will finally learn a bit more about the Nexus. There's even potential for the various Blizzard characters who find themselves there, like Lunara, to become involved in stories far removed from their usual universes.
Although we don’t have a lot of background on Lunara yet, we do know that she is a ferocious warrior and will do anything she can to protect her sisters and the wild. Hopefully, we will get some more information about Lunara and her background with the new narrative push Blizzard is making in Heroes of the Storm.
What do you guys think of her? Are you happy with Blizzard’s choice for the first alternate Druid hero? How do you guys feel about characters created in Heroes of the Storm and being put in Hearthstone and World of Warcraft after the fact? Let us know in the comments!
And if you just came here to lament they didn't choose Hamuul Runetotem instead of Lunara, feel free to make your sorrows known in the comments below, and keep your chin up! Mage and Paladin both have three heroes already, so there's always next time.
I can agree with couple of comments, they could use a lot better Druid-themed alternative hero
let's all complain about the female character's appearance. women only exist to appease men, amirite?
"The forest FIGHTS BLACK"
The artwork is terrible. She looks like a deranged clown on crack. She's seriously creepy and I'll never use her.
I actually enjoy playing WoW mailny because of reason i can meet Hearthstone "cards" there (it was really funny moment when I came to Booty Bay for a first time and heard Patches' intro in the background music, it only missed someone yelling "I'm in charge now!"), so yeah I would be more happy with "more" original character.
However it would be really a big challange to make me stop using Malfurion who is arguably the most powerful creature of all original and alternate heroes in HS. I used Lunara for couple of days, but I am already back to elfish archdruid.
Honestly, the only Blizzard game I play is in Hearthstone. I feel like designing games around a pre-existing game is strange. I mean, take Rexxar, for example. I really enjoy playing Hunter class, and I was curious to know more about him. A little bio, a link - some sort of something to give a general idea of the heroes origins.
The Lich King for example. Is Arthas the Lich King? I don't know. As far as the Death Knights are concerned, they're cool cards, but where did they come from? By playing HS, I think The Lich King was essentially a necromancer?
If you want to create games based off another game, that is cool. However, at least have a source for all the general background information that would add depth to these characters.
As far as Lunara is concerned, yeah, she's cool. Comes from gods or something, I guess. Although, from the comments here, I'm assuming there were much better candidates, and all the heroes were pulled into a giant arena to fight each other in this HOTS game?
I don't understand what's happening...
Everything you need to know about the Lich King :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCr7y4SLhck
I'm frankly SUPER disappointed by this artwork. It lacks the level of polish we see with the new cards. I mean, just look at the HUGE quality of new Heroes and Bosses in the Monster hunt, and compare them to this version of Lunara... ergh.
The HOTS version looks 1000x better.
I agree with you. Lunara doesn't even exist in the original lore since all daughters of Cenarius are equal and never appeared under any particular name but "Daughter of Cenarius" in vanilla wow. Blizzard even said (according to a post from Heroes of the Storm in Facebook) that Lunara appeared in Warcraft III for the first time, which isn't true. They "forced" her appearance in Legion after HotS, and now in Hearthstone. Blizzard trying to fill plot holes, as always.
women are bitches! what a great comment.
Still wish we got Hamuul Runetotem as the Druid. Need some non elven characters (Dryads are night elf centaurs)
Lunara is hot :P. Just saying
A LOT better than Nemsy, but not as interesting as Maiev or Arthas. About on par with Liadrin, just OK.
Would have been nice to have a "cooler" alternate as opposed to "cuter", but I do like That was Wild! and This'll be Good! Nice to have a unique intro with her counterpart Malfurion as well, that's a nice touch. Does she have anything with Cenarius? I know some minions have different sounds entering the battlefield, like Brann against Magni.
I am using Lunara currently, but not sure if it will stay that way. It really feels weird playing Lunara and then transforming into Malfurion again with the DK.
Straight up cropped a portion from the ugliest artwork of lunara. Nowhere in HOTS does she look like this. She doesn't even look at the battlefield like the other heroes. Whatever.
Apart from looking washed out, what stuck me on first viewing is that her head somehow seems tiny. A lot of negative space in the original and the hero portrait as well.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, though.
The only real answer to "Who is Lunara?" is NOT A DRUID.
Honestly, I like her as a portrait.