I present to you... Zul'arek Hatefowler.
Trolls... trolls everywhere
Zul'arek Hatefowler is a rare mob troll found in the Hinterlands in the Eastern Kingdoms.
Zul'arek can be found in either of two locations. These are the two small areas filled with troll ruins called Zun'watha and Hiriwatha. These are close to the Alliance flight point at Aerie Peak, just a short bit to the east. Hiri'watha is a bit further east, being situated directly south of the Quel'danil Lodge. For Horde players, the trip is much longer, from the opposite side of the zone. Zul'arek is another rare that doesn't move too much, just pacing around a little. He does not look terribly different than the other trolls around him, so careful searching is required if you do not have a means to track him.
Zul'arek took me quite some time to find, probably due to the fact that these areas are so close to the Alliance flight point and since there are quests in this area as well.
Combat and possessions
Zul'arek is a hostile mob to both Horde and Alliance and will thus always be a hostile encounter. Zul'arek is surrounded on all sides by other trolls, and this may thus become a messy fight if you're not careful. Zul'arek is not a very tough mob, but he does have a special ability in the form of a shadow bolt volley which hits every enemy in range. Just make sure nobody is on low health when engaging him and he should be easy to defeat.
When defeated, Zul'arek does not have any unique drops. He will provide the typical universal magic items when defeated. However, in a nice touch, he also drops the troll tribal necklaces required for a quest for the Wildhammer dwarves for the Alliance. Interestingly, this quest was once a repeatable quest which provided reputation with a unique Wildhammer faction. Whatever plans Blizzard may have had for this faction did not pan out and it was eventually completely removed from the game. Today, the quest is a simple one-time thing which provides no unique reputation.
The lore of the forest troll
First off, I just want to repeat how much I love this guy's name. I mean "Zul'arek" is a brilliant troll name to begin with, but "Hatefowler"? That just pushes it over the edge. It always conjures up images of trolls worshipping enraged fowl spirits, trying to channel the power of the savage grouse, the ferocious hen and the bloodthirsty turkey. Either Zul'arek feels a special connection with his fowl totem, or he has successfully slain some kind of vicious poultry of unusual size...
Given where he spawns and that he carries a tribal troll necklace, it would seem rather clear that Zul'arek is part of the Witherbark forest trolls, a tribe who spread over both the Hinterlands and the Arathi Highlands. As usual, Zul'arek is probably a notable troll among them, possibly a subchief under another rare troll, Zalas Witherbark. Interesting that he also possesses shadow magic, something many forest trolls use... (I always see rare mobs as creatures which have distinguished themselves enough that their name is well known to other races, or that those other races create a name for the creature.)
Finally, I have to comment that I really like the design of this guy as well. I really like the looks of World of Warcraft trolls, and the "bulky" forest troll model looks good with all those tattoos, crazy hair and other things trolls have going.
In closing, I really like this guy. His name just makes him a character in his own right, and he fits in neatly with the surrounding area and lore. Zul'arek is a really cool rare.
Until next time, don't get ganked by Wildhammer dwarves!
~Dragonshade
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