Pandaren: White Tiger Watch Over You

Hello readers!  I hope you all had a lovely weekend, and a fantastic Father's Day.

Today we're taking a look at one of my favorite races in World of Warcraft: the pandaren.  While often accused of being blatant rip-offs of Kung Fu Panda, the pandaren have actually been around for longer than that animated film has.  They are adorable yet fierce, with a rich and honorable culture.  Their mythology is the same.  Though I haven't talked about Chinese mythology yet, the pandaren religion has a lot in common with it.  In addition to four fascinating deities, the pandaren culture also has a sort of spirit/ancestor worship which revolves around the last emperor of the pandaren, Shaohao. Shall we take a look?

Like several other races in Azeroth (including the trolls and the night elves), the pandaren worship the Wild Gods. However, the pandaren religion is built around only four of these mighty beings, for it was these four who walked in the lands that would come to be called Pandaria. They know them by the collective name of “The August Celestials”, and consider them to be benevolent deities.

Xuen, the White Tiger, represents strength – both physical and that of the heart.

Yu'lon, the Jade Serpent, symbolizes the importance of wisdom.

Chi-Ji, the Red Crane, is the embodiment of hope.

Niuzao, the Black Ox, personifies fortitude.

 

While there were several races that dwelled in the lands of Pandaria (the mantid, the jinyu, the hozen, the mogu, and the pandaren), it was the pandaren to whom the August Celestials became especially close. This was largely due to the pandaren's peaceful nature. The pandaren were fascinated with the August Celestials and built a system of worship around them. In return for their interest and devotion, the August Celestials taught the pandaren more of philosophy, and sought to aid them in developing a culture that craved peace and harmony with the natural world.
 

Unfortunately, not all of the races of Pandaria shared in the pandaren's desire for peace. The mogu in particular were an exceptionally violent species. Under the reign of a ruler named Lei Shen, the mogu would conquer and enslave the pandaren people. This tyrant mogu is known to history as “The Thunder King.”
 

Lei Shen's rise to power was unforeseen by even his own people, but when it came it was absolute. This was largely because Lei Shen had managed, through meticulous research and searching, to find one of the titans – ancient beings in part responsible for the creation of the mogu. In essence, Lei Shen found a being who was pretty much a god to his people. The being was so shocked by Lei Shen's onslaught that it was defeated, its power drained by the mogu. Lei Shen returned to his people more powerful than they could have imagined, and he rapidly brought them under his control. Still fueled by his stolen god-like power, Lei Shen then turned his attentions towards the other races in the land.

These races did their best to resist Lei Shen's attempts to enslave them, but the mogu was too powerful. Many of the pandaren ran to the August Celestials for help. Lei Shen pursued a group of them to the mountain of Kun-Lai, where Xuen the White Tiger made his home. Xuen, attempting to protecting the pandaren who had sought his aid, challenged Lei Shen to a duel.

 

 

The battle raged for many days and nights, but in the end Xuen was defeated. The mighty Celestial was shackled and imprisoned atop the heights of Kun-Lai Mountain. The other three Celestials attempted to aid the pandaren, but they too were defeated and imprisoned. Lei Shen stood victorious.  To further dishearten his slaves, he forbade worship of the August Celestials on pain of death.

Despite this, some small number of pandaren continued to practice their religion in secret, passing on knowledge of their gods to their descendants.

Lei Shen was eventually defeated during his quest to expand mogu territory into the lands outside of Pandaria. However, mogu supremacy continued without him through an ever-continuing span of emperors. The last in this long line of emperors was named Lao-Fe, and it was under his rule that a pandaren named Kang sparked a rebellion.

The pandaren had long ago been forbidden to learn to fight, and so Kang taught himself a graceful form of weaponless combat that could be disguised as a dance. This master of unarmed combat would become the first of the pandaren monks. He gathered students who also wished to end the mogu reign and trained them, always in secret far from the watching eyes of their masters.

In his efforts to hide his training from the mogu, Kang was forced to teach his pupils in hidden places. One day, his search for secret locales brought Kang to Kun-Lai Summit. It was near the top of this mighty mountain that he discovered something long since faded into the memories of his people – the prison of Xuen. The White Tiger was only too happy to offer his wisdom to Kang, and he tutored him often on the strength that lay within the pandaren's heart.

Eventually Kang was ready, and he led the pandaren in an uprising against the mogu empire. Though Kang fell in combat, he took Lao-Fe with him, ending the rule of the final emperor of the mogu. The pandaren drove the mogu back and reclaimed lands that had once been theirs. Worship of the August Celestials once more flourished as the powerful beings were freed from their prisons. A period of peace and prosperity began for the pandaren.

I want to talk about one last important part of the pandaren history and religion: the role of their final emperor. Shaohao was a good pandaren, one who came to power just in time to see the threat to his people and act to protect them.

As was customary, when he rose to the throne Shaohao consulted a seer of another race, a group of fish people called the jinyu. The future the seer told him was a frightening one indeed. It spoke of a demonic invasion, fires ravaging the lands of Azeroth, and a great rupturing of the earth itself.

What the seer saw would come to pass in the form of the Burning Legion, an invasion of demonic forces who sought to destroy Azeroth. The Burning Legion was stopped in other parts of Azeroth, thanks in large part to the efforts of the dragons and the night elves, but the cost was great. Countless beings perished at the hands of the demons. Lands burned, just as the jinyu had seen. Worse, the cost to close off the portal allowing the demons to invade Azeroth damaged the land almost as badly as the demons themselves had. Known as “The Sundering”, the event would rip apart the lands of Azeroth in a great calamity, tearing the massive land mass into smaller continents and killing untold numbers in the process.

(Azeroth before the Sundering)

(Azeroth after the Sundering)

Knowing that this was coming, Shaohao was able to take steps to protect his people. Under the tutelage of the August Celestials, the emperor made peace with himself. He meditated, and then removed all of his negative emotions from his heart – doubt, fear, violence, and many others. These emotions manifested into physical entities dubbed the “sha”, and one by one Shaohao battled them. Each was defeated in its turn, and imprisoned within the lands of Pandaria. At last freed from their corrupting influence, Shaohao began his final task under the guidance of Yu'lon, the Jade Dragon. He sacrificed himself, merging his very spirit and essence with the land of Pandaria. In doing so, Shaohao created a thick mist around the lands he called home. This mist was enough to shelter the land from the horrors of the Burning Legion, and the cataclysm of the Sundering. In fact, Shaohao's sacrifice kept Pandaria hidden from all outsiders for the next ten thousand years, until another Cataclysm disturbed the mists.

To this day, Pandaren honor the sacrifice of their last emperor. It is not uncommon to be greeted or bidden farewell by the phrase “May the mists protect you.” Despite the fading of the mists, the emperor's protection is still present in the lands of Pandaria – his legend continues to be told; his spirit occasionally offers advice; and, upon occasion, Shaohao can be seen communing with the August Celestials themselves.

What did you guys think of the pandaren? The August Celestials are some of my favorite characters in the game. I absolutely love the look of the models.  The artwork for them outside of the game is likewise gorgeous - I actually had a really hard time picking what images I wanted to use for this post!

I'll see you guys next week with a post about the night elves!