Comprehensive list of references

This is a comprehensive list of all meta references, tributes and in-jokes in the lore. This page might forever be WIP. Also, expect to find ***A LOT*** of cross-links to other wikis on this page.

### Ancient Greek mythology and epics

* Orion and Calliope Andromeda Sootleaf, as well as the latter's husband, Thanatos Brightstar, are all figures from Greek mythology (named after, Orion, a giant huntsman, Calliope, the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry, Andromeda, the daughter of the king of Aethiopia, Cepheus, and his wife, Cassiopeia, and Thanatos, the personification of death, respectively). Calliope's middle name is shared with Zelda Cross.
* The names of the visage forms of Nyxadormi, Alectrodormi and Hekadormi (Nyx, Alectrona and Hekate respectively), are similarly named after Greek mythological figures (Nyx, the goddess of the night, Alectrona, the goddess of the sunrise and Hekate, goddess of boundaries, transitions, crossroads, magic, the New Moon, necromancy, and ghosts, respectively).
* Adrestia Hargreaves-Ambrose is named after Adrasteia, the ancient Greek goddess of divine retribution.
* Exarch Nayuubi's name is a "draenei-ified" homophone of that of Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus in Greek mythology.

### Film and animation

#### Anime

##### Bleach

* Valeriy Chernozyom's last name is a direct translation of that of Mayuri Kurotsuchi. He also shares his knack for body altering surgeries.
* Exarch Neladethaar's nickname, "Lord Nel" comes from that of Nelliel Tu Odelschwank.

#### Cartoons

* William and Amanda Blake's names are references to the Cartoon Network show *The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.* While they are not relatives in the original show, they do share a very sibling-like relationship.
* Exarch Gaantu borrows his name from Captain Gantu, the main antagonist of Lilo & Stitch.

#### Movies

* Exarchs Gaantu and Neladethaar share a dynamic not dissimilar to that of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars.
* High Representative Netiiri's name was inspired by that of Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite from the Avatar movies.
* Blade Runner's Rick Deckard's last name was one half of the inspiration for the character of Enforcer Dehaart.

### History

* Emir Sarrhakeen I Al'Raj'math's name is a reference to the original Akkadian name of Sargon of Akkad, 𒊬𒊒𒄀 "*Šarrugi",* normalised as either *Šarru-ukīn* or *Šarru-kēn* (wikipedia.org).

### In-jokes

* The names "Erhand" and "Pe'phriem" both come from an in-joke about YouTube URLs sometimes reading like the names of Lovecraftian beings.
* "Eserill" and "Anaya" both originate from typoes of the words "eyeroll" and "anyways" respectively.
* While not expressly inspired by him, Warren Miller-Hargreaves bears some resemblance to Guren Ichinose from the manga series Seraph of the End (the raven-black hair, the black and red outfit and sword, the bipolar personality and his chemistry with Alectrodormi being similar to that of Guren's dynamic with Mahiru Hīragi), leading editors who retroactively realised the similarity to call him "WorGuren" as an in-joke. Cicaada even insisted that he should canonically have purple eyes.
* The name "Dragdan" comes from an in-joke about merging two stereotypical Romanian names, Dragoș and Bogdan together.
* Similarly, the name of planet Koshmaar is a mutation of the Romanian word for "nightmare", "coșmar".

### Literature

* Harpagon Valordive is named after Harpagon, the titular miser from the five-act comedy in prose *The Miser* by French playwright Molière. While there is no relation personality-wise, the name (also made up by Molière) was inspired by the play.
* Similarly, the name Mavis - meaning "songbird" - was invented by Marie Corelli for her 1895 book, *The Sorrows of Satan*.
* Abdul Al'ganor's name, along with his posthumous title ("the Mad") given to him by Alteraci survivors, is a reference to Abdul Alhazred, the "Mad Arab", an important character in the novels of H.P. Lovecraft.
* The names Elessar ("Elfstone") Lithlassë ("Ash-Leaf"), Aldaloth ("Tree-Flower") and Mithgond ("Grey Stone") all come from the Quenya language, created by J.R.R. Tolkien. Elessar, specifically, is a name given to Aragorn, a character from Tolkien's Lord of The Rings.
* Samuel Stendhal's name comes from the pen name of Stendhal, a 19th-century French writer, famous for his novel The Red and the Black. The inspiration for him being the Underdogs' designer stems from the title of this exact novel and its connection to the colours of the Underdogs tabard.

### Music

* William Blake's name, and him dealing with demons was inspired by the song Devil's Night by the Canadian band Johnny Hollow.
* Arthur Sootleaf's epitaph reads "In loving memory of Arthur Sootleaf (-24 - 30) »Confusion.«", which is a reference to the song Epitaph by the English band King Crimson.
* Mariana Cross' name is a reference to the (misheard) lyrics of the song "Mary On A Cross" by the Swedish band Ghost.
* Uriel Derrich's byname, "Tacks", when read alongside his surname (if pronounced incorrectly) reads as "tax the rich", a line from the song "I'd Love To Change The World" by the English band Ten Years After. His name was inspired by this song.
* Mhéarai Copperlocks' name and her being a sailor comes from the Celtic Woman version of the Irish folk song Téir Abhaile Riú.
* The Thievery Corporation song, "The Heart's a Lonely Hunter", was one half of the inspiration for the character of Enforcer Dehaart and it inspired his title, "The Lonely Hunter".
* The name High Vindicator Naraya's ship, the *Western Sun* (along with her name) were inspired by the song "Narayan" by English band The Prodigy.

### Real life

* The Ironbrew family of dwarves, along with their brewery is an homage to the Scottish drink Irn-Bru. The founder of the house (and the brewery), Barr Ironbrew is named after A.G. Barr plc, the company manufacturing Irn-Bru.
* The flag of the Order of the Smouldering Maple slightly resembles that of Canada.
* The coat of arms of House Ambrose slightly resembles the flag of Székely Land. However, it is actually meant to be a representation of the origin of Luciel and Nyxadormi's names (Lucifer, "the Lightbringer" and Nyx, the goddess of night respectively, hence the sun and moon motif).
* High Vindicator Omid's name comes from the Farsi word "Omid", meaning "hope".
* Similarly, "Beatha" means "life" in Gaelic.

### References to religious texts and related media

* Every single member of house Derrich is named after a biblical figure. Elohim is the Hebrew name for God, Magdalene alludes to Mary Magdalene, and almost every single one of their sons is named after an angel (Azrael is the Angel of Death, Raziel is the Angel of Secrets, Selaphiel (Wikipedia link to his namesake), Gabriel (Wikipedia link to his namesake), Barachiel (Wikipedia link to his namesake) and Uriel (Wikipedia link to his namesake) are all archangels, with the exception of the name of their eldest son, Abimael, which is a non-angel name but morphologically similar to one, actually borrowed from Genesis 10:28, where he is the ninth of the thirteen sons of Joktan, the name itself meaning "God is a father.")
* Erhand's human and elven aliases are named after powerful demon lords, demon princes and alternate names of the Devil in Christian demonology (Asmodeus, Satan, Beelzebub, Belphegor, Leviathan, Mammon and Lucifer, in this chronological order). Similarly, Pe'phriem's elven alias is named after Mephistopheles.
* Undead members of the Watch represent the seven deadly sins, either in the reason they died or their baseline personality (Ash Bridle is greed, Baldr Ironbrew is gluttony, Hekadormi is lust, Naana Wildcloud is envy, Talrios Moondew is sloth, Thrunna Heartripper is wrath, and Uriel Derrich is pride).
* Jude Miller's name and role alludes to Judas Iscariot.
* Emir Mahammud I Al'Naara's name is a reference to the prophet Muhammad, and his title of emir was historically given to male descendants of Muhammad.
* High VIndicator Naraya is (indirectly) named after Narayana, one of the forms and epithets of Vishnu.

### Video games

#### Undertale

* The name of "Echoflower", Eseridormi's pandaren alias comes from the name of a plant in Undertale.
* Caregiver Torilaar's name, appearance and personality were all inspired by those of Toriel, with her husand, Nayuubi, bearing a slight resemblance to Asgore. Torilaar being the leader of Medical Squadron Delta is a reference to the Delta Rune, the emblem representing the Kingdom of Monsters in Undertale.

#### Other

* Murtaugh Butcher is named after the enigmatic Murtaugh from the Submachine series of point-and-click escape games, created by Polish game developer, artist, novelist and graphic designer Mateusz Skutnik. While Butcher himself is based on the "mad scientist" archetype, the character his name is borrowed from has nothing to do with this.
* Valeriy Chernozyom's hairstyle and moustache bear a slight resemblance to those of Doctor Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. He also shares his knack for robotics.
* Chernozyom's invention, Adjustable Weaponry, is a reference to Bloodborne's Trick Weapons.
* The names of Dahlia Trueshot, Toluca Silenthoof and Valtiel Brightstar are all references to the cult classic Japanese psychological horror anthology media franchise Silent Hill, being references to Dahlia Gillespie, Toluca Lake and Valtiel, respectively.

### Wordplays

* The name of Exarch Vicaaryna and her first ship, the *Perenaar* are "draenei-ified" mutations of the words "vicar" (a clergy title) and "perennial" (eternal) respectively. "Vicaaryna" was also proposed as a "draenei-ified" version of the name Victoria.