Lore Series 1: Demon Lore - Felhunter

So you're a warlock. You know the spells, you know the talents, the rotations, the stats. But how much do you really know? How much do you really want to know? The World of Warcraft has a body of lore worthy of most major works of fantasy, potentially more than you'll ever want to know.

Today I'm doing something a little different, the first in my warlock lore series. This series will cover famous warlocks, famous demons, famous artifacts, and just generally lore-steeped aspects of a lore-heavy class. The first entry is on the familiar but surprisingly complex Felhunter minion.


Fel Stalkers born of a deep void in the Twisting Nether, a realm devoid of both substance and magic. They were adopted by the Annihilan pit lords as hunting dogs and beasts of war.


You'll be pleased to note that, while decidedly beast-like, Fel Stalker reproduction is very insectile. Their maggots embed in planar surfaces where they mature and hunt for blood and magic. Some breeds are supposedly able to reproduce asexually by duplicating themselves using consumed magic energy. The most familiar versions of the species are quadrupeds, however breeds have been described with as few as two and as many as six legs.


The Annihilan use their demon dogs to sniff out sources of magic and magically empowered beings. The two tentacle like antennae extending above the tusks on the fel stalker's back are used to both track and consume magical energy, but the beasts also feed on flesh and blood using their more traditional mouth.


Fel hounds were the second demons to set foot in Azeroth. The first to come out of the Well of Eternity was the skeletal knight Hakkar the Houndmaster (not to be confused with Hakkar the Soulflayer), whose whip summoned an endless horde of them. He was slain by Malfurion after killing High Priestess Suramar, but was succeeded by Baelmon the Houndmaster, who control's Death's Door, one of the last portals that connected Outland to other Legion controlled worlds during the world's conquest.


The Fel Hunters that most warlocks enslave are distinct from Fel Stalkers. While the same species, Fel Hunters are specially trained. They're the most intelligent of the beasts, though not the largest. The Annihilan mark hunters with a gold band on one horn. They're more heavily trained to hunt magically empowered beings like spellcasters, and manifest demonic magic not found in their lower kin.


One famously unorthodox use of Felhunters is credited to Foreman Razelcraz of the Thrallmar mine in Hellfire Peninsula, who used one to "process" hellboar bodies to find which one swallowed the key to his shredder machine. Apparently sifting through felhunter feces is less unpleasant than hellboar stomach contents. I remain... unconvinced.