The Burdens of Shaohao
- Not to be confused with
[The Seven Burdens of Shaohao].
The Burdens of Shaohao is a series of six animated shorts depicting the trials of Emperor Shaohao in the days before the Great Sundering. The series is narrated by Lorewalker Cho. It is also featured in the official sites as part of the Destination: Pandaria literature.[1]
Contents
The Burdens of Shaohao
Part One: Doubt
Part Two: Despair
Part Three: Fear
Part Four: Anger
Part Five: The Sundering
Description
Ten thousand years ago in the ancient empire of Pandaria, Emperor Shaohao asked the Great Waterspeaker to peer into his future. He was eager to hear of the happiness and prosperity his rule would bring. What did the rippling waters foretell?
Characters
| Major | Supporting | Minor |
|---|---|---|
Locations
Development
The Burdens of Shaohao art was done by Laurel Austin.[2] Some elements were altered in the transition from the in-game book The Emperor's Burden to the animated piece - the masks like the 
[Mask of Doubt] were considered, but ultimately left out.[3] From a lore perspective, the in-game books and the mini-series are different interpretations of the same legend.[4] The animated series is Lorewalker Cho's interpretation.[5]
While all animated shorts that would come out after The Burdens of Shaohao were part of prerelease material to introduce their respective expansions, The Burdens of Shaohao came out well into the Mists of Pandaria patch cycle, shortly before patch 5.4.0.
References
- ^ The Burdens of Shaohao on the Official page
- ^ Twitter: @MickyNeilson That is absolutely gorgeous - who did the art for it?
- ^ Twitter: @MickyNeilson Though, what happened to the masks the monkey king made?
- ^ Twitter: @MickyNeilson So are the masks no longer canon, or is this an "abridged version" of Shaohao's tale, or something else along those lines?
- ^ Dave Kosak on Twitter
External links
World of Warcraft Community Site The Burdens of Shaohao
