Who gave the Lil Wrathion pet this little hat? An investigation

While there were many major announcements at BlizzCon this past weekend, some matter more than others. Three new expansions for retail World of Warcraft? Boring. A new cinematic? I'm here for real games, not Pixar cartoons. A Diablo IV expansion reveal that was nothing but a bunch of trees? Close, but no cigar. No, there's only one thing that matters: The Lil' Wrathion pet for retail players has a tiny hat and I must know more.

Am I going to pre-order World of Warcraft Cataclysm Classic? Absolutely not. Do I know why this dragon whelpling has a hat? Also, no. Will this stop me from launching a full-on investigation into the rogue tailor who slapped this head covering on Lil Wrathion and forever endeared him to my heart?

Oh, absolutely not.

First, how does one go about obtaining this scaley cherub? The Lil Wrathion pet is obtainable by pre-ordering the Cataclysm Classic upgrade head of the game's launch on Aug. 31, 2024. The pet comes in two separate packs: The $29.99 Blazing Heroic pack and the $79.99 Blazing Epic Upgrade. Both bundles come with the Lil Wrathion pet, Avatar of Flame flying mount, the Runebound Firelord flying mount (also for modern WoW), a Twilight's Hammer transmog set, and the Town-in-A-Box toy.

However, the more expensive bundle also includes a level 80 boost and game time. And now that we've gotten the SEO out of the way, our real work can begin. So, let us go on a journey to answer one of the most important questions in World of Warcraft lore:

Who put that tiny, adorable hat on that equally tiny dragon boi?

For the origins of Lil Wrathion as a character before he was a pet, we must go way back. All the way to *checks notes* Oh, Cataclysm. Ironic. I wonder if that was on purpose? It's here, out in the Badlands that players stumble across an unhatched Black Dragonflight egg. What kicks off is a lengthy, yet rewarding series of quests to cleanse the egg of it's maddening corruption and an attempt at giving this lil guy a fresh start at life.

But what about the hat? That tiny turban must have come from somewhere? Was it left on the egg for safe keeping? Did someone lose a bet, much in the way that Jason Alexander's iconic character from The Hunchback of Notre Dame failed to defeat an aviary foe?

First, we must know why it is a turban that sits atop this fancy prince's noggin.

If you didn't know, just about all the known Black Dragonflight members are minority-coded. Which is to say that their design aesthetic is that of Middle Eastern, as well as Black culture. We see this in each dragon's human visages. In the case of Wrathion, his design leans into his role as a supposed heir to Deathwing, taking on the self-bestowed title of 'Prince.'

In this way, we see Wrathion take on an Arabic-esque design tone, with a turban sporting his dragon scales. This also comes in the form of his weapon, a scimitar named Succession.

Or it could be that the developers slapped a little turban on Lil Wrathion because you found him in a desert. Who knows! The world is a rich tapestry.

But this is only the tip of this hat-based iceberg. We have to go deeper.

You came here looking for answers about hats, and while I apparently cannot do that I can do something else. Provide you a series of pictures of what the Lil Wrathion pet would look like in different hats! Decide which one is your favorite and if a 30 dollar pre-order is worth getting a tiny dragon with big attitude but an equally tiny hat.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for esports news and hat-based information.