Sha of Fear

Here... You'll need this.

[item=62454]

Lore information on the Sha for those of you who haven't been reading the quests :)

The Sha originated from the death of an Old God, Y'Shaarj (who is confirmed to be very very dead - OR MAYBE NOT as Blizz have recently suggested retconning in recent Patch 5.3 interviews). In his dying breath he cursed Pandaria with a strange energy - but a pale shadow of his true self, the source of the Sha, and it lay dormant for thousands of years.

There are only six known 'main' sha, though there were seven heads of Y'Shaarj, and similarly the tale is known as the Seven Burdens of Shaohao. This may mean that there is another Sha somewhere. David Kosak, however, said in a But Wait, There's Lore! interview that the number seven was just something they used as a 'cool storytelling number'. However, it turns out that there is indeed a Seventh Sha, and the reason we haven't heard about it until now is because Shaohao never managed to defeat it! To prevent spoilers for those who go out of the way to avoid them I'll not disclose anymore about this until later.

Pride was the Sha that the last emperor never defeated - "I thought we were better than the rest of the world, that we could solve our own problems." Seems like Shaohao is returning in some way in 5.4 to help remedy this. Who better to help seal away the Sha?

The information about Y'Shaarj is not widely known knowledge as far as we know, lorewise - only Klaxxi have shown they are aware of it. Furthermore, awareness of the Sha's existance isn't known to most of Pandaria's native residents, even the pandaren - who exclaim surprise and confusion at the mention or appearance of the Sha in many many quests. This is probably because the Sha haven't had reason to surface for a long time, as Pandaria has been very peaceful. Now that we're there, though, all havoc is breaking loose!

When Shaohao, the Last Emperor of Pandaria, fought his own fears, anger, hatred, doubts and so on - and defeated each Sha that resulted from each of those emotions (a temple situated at the sight of each battle) and buried the Sha beneath Pandaria, they began feeding off every harsh word, doubtful thought, hateful expression, waiting. This is why some Sha have greater control in different regions of Pandaria. The August Celestials knew the Sha would eventually be released, and that is why they train their monks in a certain style to deal with the specific Sha buried under their temple.

Sha of Anger - Defeated and buried at the sight of the Temple of the White Tiger located in Kun Lai.

[npc=59651] - Defeated and buried at the sight of Temple of the Red Crane located in the Krasarang Wilds.

[npc=56439] - Defeated and buried at the Temple of the Jade Serpent located in the Jade Forest.

Sha of Fear - Defeated and buried at the current sight of the Niuzao Temple located in the Townlong Steppes. This Sha also has corrupted the majority of the Mantid, including Grand Empress Shek'zeer.

Sha of Hatred - Defeated and buried at the sight of the Temple of the White Tiger located in Kun Lai.

Sha of Violence - Defeated and buried at the sight of the Temple of the White Tiger located in Kun Lai. At some point he is imprisoned by the Shado-Pan, he is eventually freed from his cage and defeated.

In Patch 5.4, the [npc=71734] was revealed. Shaohao neglected to defeat his pride by shrouding Pandaria in the mists, thinking they were better than the rest of the world. Ultimately, Shaohao came to realise this mistake and passes on wisdom to the adventurers that proud races must admit they need help and learn to work together. "All that stands in our way.. is Pride."

Garrosh's arrogance was the last straw needed to unleash the Sha of Pride, which is said to be far more dangerous than the others combined - perhaps simply due to it's nature, or because it was undefeated by Shaohao, or both.

Edit: Added more lore on what the Sha of Fear has done.

The pandaren people knew that the Sha thrived on negative emotions and so they developed their culture and society to be more easygoing, joyful ad humble. Though it has been so many years of generation after generation being raised to be happy and forgiving that the reason why was eventually forgotten; it seems many pandaren think the Sha are just bedtime stories for children. This is more noticable in south-eastern Pandaria (as the further north-west you go, the more of an effect the Sha seem to have had on Pandaria.)

With the Alliance and Horde suddenly landing on Pandaria, the Sha have had large amounts of negative energy to feed off. Because the Sha are phyical manifestations of negative emotions, the more emotion there is, the stronger they become. The Sha of Fear is a testament to the fear experienced by every person standing on Pandaria soil; with all the warring the Horde and Alliance have caused and the fear experienced by each side and those caught in the middle, it's no wonder the Sha has has grown to such powerful influence. The Sha has used it's influence to corrupt and warp the mind of the Grand Empress of the Mantid, making her strength his own. Through her, it's will is done. This is the reason behind the mantid raiding the Serpent's Spine a hundred years early (normally it's every thousand years or so). This early invasion is the reason the yaungol have tried fleeing Townlong into Kun Lai. The Sha of Fear is a crafty piece of work. If left unchecked, it could prove infinitely more disastrous than it already is.

It's dangerous to go alone! Take this.