A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Tortollan fascists ruled supreme. They prided themselves on their superiority, their magical control over the universe, and their long, luxurious locks of golden hair.
Whenever they encountered races of lesser merit, they’d eliminate them.
One day, a great wizard of another race opposed the Tortollan fascists. He gave his life to seal their magic and take away the hair of anything that had a shell.
Unfortunately this resulted in the hair of anyone who wears a helmet disappearing, but the Tortollans, while they remained somewhat racist, had their genocidal ways somewhat tamed. For how could they be first in all the universe without hair?
The interesting thing about hats is that when you use them for some quests or temp buffs… you’re not bald. There’s a pirate hat buff that doesn’t make you bald.
This one is quite simple, actually, when you realise the connection: Shelob, the spider from Lord of the Rings.
Shelob was produced when her mother, an interdimensional being that could be described as being much like an Old God, settled into Middle Earth, took on spider form, and reproduced with a giant spider.
Pandaren are descended from a type of old god that takes a form and then murders everything of that form, save one. It took bear form, devoured all the nearby bears, then reproduced, and boom: Pandaren.
The duck thing is simple: One duck alone walks Azeroth: The one that already did this.
Did you overlook the one duck in Azeroth? It walks unseen (or rather, floats unseen) beneath your very gaze.
And it has nothing to do with sentience and everything to do with how Tame Beast works.
When you start throwing those hearts out, I bare my clean, brushed teeth and they bounce right back. Beings that do not brush their teeth get tamed.
Long since magic left our world, there is a holdover: Animals still bare their teeth today even though there is no Tame Beast spell and they don’t brush anyway.
The meaning is still the same: Don’t tame me.
Goblins like money. A lot.
Whiskers the Rat no longer Feigns Death (so sad!).