An Easter egg is an undocumented, obscure, or otherwise "hidden" command — usually buried deep within a program's source-code and only triggered by executing a certain series of actions or system commands. Often, an Easter egg will reveal an inside joke, though Easter eggs can also be placed into in-game props and scenery or only in areas visible to those that are actively using "cheat codes" (or otherwise circumventing the "normal" operation of the software).
While Easter eggs were once included in virtually all computer software, software companies such as Microsoft have discontinued the practice, citing security concerns associated with undocumented (and often untested) code.
For more hidden in-jokes and references, see in-jokes and references.
Easter eggs in-game[]
These are mostly Blizzard-related Easter eggs. There is no particular order to the listing of these references.
Platform 9 3/4[]
In the Warlords of Draenor Dungeon Grimrail Depot , there is an invisible wall on the rafters which can be jumped over to cross onto a lower beam. At the end of this beam there is a cart stuck in the wall with a cage, a wizard's hat, and an open trunk. There is also a white owl flying
Platform 9 3/4, including the sign and the snowy owl
around the cart, and in front of the wall is a diagonal beam with a sign affixed to it. This has been confirmed to be a reference to the Harry Potter series, in which wizarding students would approach Platform 9 3/4 through an illusion wall that appeared solid. The owl is a reference to Hedwig , the protagonist's own pet snowy owl. Discovered 19 March 2020 by user FancyTunaJ
Guards[]
Guards of cities will respond to some emotes such as /wave, /rude, /kiss,/chicken,/shy, or /salute. This does not apply to all guards though, most notably Darnassus Sentinels do not reply to emotes and even the same guard will not always respond. However, if you ask a Darnassus Sentinel about the enchanting trainer, she may respond as if you said she was enchanting. Also, if a blood elf paladin /eye a Silvermoon Guard, they will /kneel.
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Goblin Shredder display[]
A hidden image of Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, on the cockpit display of Goblin Shredders.
If you look into the cockpit of a Goblin Shredder, you can see a picture of 
Kerrigan from Starcraft: Brood War on the control panel.
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Michel Koiter[]
At the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior, there is a memorial dedicated to an orc with the initials "M-K". M K was Michel Koiter, one half of Twincruiser, a Blizzard illustrator who passed away during the development of World of Warcraft. If you visit the memorial, you will find a spirit healer named Koiter.
Mountaineer Pebblebitty[]
Players who are fed up with the rude female dwarf who presides over the quest chain to obtain the key to Searing Gorge, Mountaineer Pebblebitty in extreme southern Loch Modan, may feel inclined to use /rude on her after all the trouble she puts them through. Blizzard has anticipated this and provided an appropriate response.
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Deeprun Tram sightings[]
When you are riding on the tram, when in the underwater area, you can sometimes see Nessy, a naga siren, a Deeprun Diver, a Basking Shark, or a Deeprun Chest.
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Vanity pets[]
If you own a non-combat pet and stop moving for a while, it will begin to sleep or do other kinds of emotes.
- The Zergling pet will chomp at air.
- The Murky pet will sing and dance.
- The Mini-Diablo pet spouts out fire when he is idle.
- The Panda Cub and Sleepy Willy lie down and sleep (you see green Z Z Z ...) when idle. The Panda Cub named Meng Meng will give you one Magic Bamboo Stick if you /love it. You can only get one in your bags at a time. It'll turn you into a panda cub for ten minutes!
- The Speedy pet will shout, scaring nearby critters.
- The Peanut pet will occasionally blow his nose, making a noticeable elephant noise.
- The Willy pet will occasionally kill nearby critters with an eye-beam.
- The Egbert pet will run around like a caffeinated two year old.
- The Pandaren Monk pet will respond to /bow and /drink emotes. Also, he will do... kung fu!
- The Core Hound Pup pet will howl, stand on its hind legs and bark, roll around, and dig up a bone.
- The Onyxian Whelpling pet will emote a deep breath, but fail and let out a plume of smoke.
- The Grunty pet will start to shoot his gun. If a Zergling pet is nearby, the two will battle until one pet dies (gets despawned).
- The Tyrael's Hilt summons Tyrael from the Diablo games. He responds to /dance emotes, and will sleep while floating in the air.
- The Perky Pug pet will occasionally drag his rear along the ground.
- The Stinker pet will chase any nearby Bombay Cat, Black Tabby, or Feline Familiar pets and gain a heart above his head, before it breaks. The reference is from Pepé Le Pew.
- The Lil' Phylactery pet will occasionally Frost Block a nearby critter, killing it.
- The Toxic Wasteling pet will occasionally devour critters (and grows in size by doing so) if you bring it close to them.
- The Creepy Crate pet will occasionally deathgrip critters and devour them, burping out a green gas and "licking its lips" afterwards.
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Stratholme Spectral Citizens[]
If you type /dance on the civilian ghosts in Stratholme, they will respond in kind and dance with you. Even if you attack them, subsequently dancing with them will make them dance with you instead of continuing to attack you.
Also, appropriately, they will respond to the /rude emote with a rude action of their own.
Hidden Mickey Mouse[]
Hidden Mickey Mouse in the Valley of Honor; taken with WoWMapViewer.
An exceptionally well hidden Mickey Mouse is located in the Valley of Honor within the Horde city of Orgrimmar, where the Hunter trainers are. It is so large, and so well sculpted into the surroundings, that most people will never know that it is there. The only way to see it is to manually increase the maximum zoom setting of the camera. However, this was supposedly removed with Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Cataclysm.[citation needed]
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Punch cards[]
The punch cards you get in Gnomeregan all have hidden binary messages on them which can be translated easily from screenshots with an online translator.
- Binary translations
- [White Punch Card]
- Thrall and Jaina sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G
- [Yellow Punch Card]
- If you can read this, you're standing too close
- [Blue Punch Card]
- The gnome king wears night elf underwear
- [Red Punch Card]
- Help! I'm trapped in a binary punch card factory!
- [Prismatic Punch Card]
- Message to Castpipe: your laundry's ready for pickup.
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Bambi[]
Bambina (Bambi), Mother of Bambina (Bambi's Unnamed Mother), Flora (Flower), and Thudder (Thumper) will all be walking in close proximity to the Westfall Brigade Encampment where the ground is yellow (You will know what I mean when you get there). Also, there is a mob named "Westfall Brigade Hunter" who will occasionally spawn and shoot Mother of Bambina and do a /cheer, causing Bambina to become enraged, get renamed to "Vengeful Bambina", and start attacking the Hunter.
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The Lost Vikings[]
In Uldaman, a trio of dwarfs can be found: Olaf, Eric "the Swift," and Baelog. These three function as a reference to a video game called The Lost Vikings. [The Shaft of Tsol] and [Gni'kiv Medallion] are also references; Tsol and Gni'kiv are "lost" and "viking" backwards.
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Fun graphics[]
Along the Webwinder Path, there are some fallen trees. One end of these trees are adorned with smiley faces. There is also a large smiley face underneath Karazhan. You can see it if you log out near Karazhan. Once you log back in, before the doodads and NPCs load up, you can see the smiley face. Humans can get under Karazhan to the smiley face by jumping to a certain ditch in the corner of the rubble in the back side of Karazhan (facing the crypt/graveyard). You can also find 2 skeletons in a bed in the Guest Quarters, specifically the door opposite of the entrance. One skeleton is holding a vial while the other has a knife in the lower rib cage, this is a reference to "Romeo and Juliet" in which Romeo drank poison and Juliet stabbed herself in the stomach. There is also a small bouquet of roses above their bodies.
In Searing Gorge, if you head just a little north of Blackchar Cave and zoom your mini-compass all the way out, you can see a smiley face in it.
When floating underwater, one of the motes that float by will very occasionally be a tiny smiley face.
In Stranglethorn Vale, the vines on trees look like orc faces, or possibly, the Great Deku Tree from the Legend of Zelda series.
If one zooms in to the top of a Restoration Druid in Tree of Life form, he can see a hidden smiley face on the bark.
In the Allen Farmstead in Gilneas there is a painting of a girl. Look closely and you'll notice she opens and closes her eyes. Other paintings across the world share this odd attribute; there is no known lore-related explanation.
On any Icebreaker ship, there is a smiley face inside at the front.
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Jason[]
In Elwynn Forest "Crystal Lake" is a reference to "Friday the 13th". You can also find "Jason Mathers" at the dock next to the fishing trainer.
Jason Mathers at Crystal lake.
Lost[]
The "Lost" island
There is a small island in the Bittertide Lake in Sholazar Basin with a door and a handle, on which there is a plaque that reads "5 9 16 17 24 43". It's a reference to the sequence of numbers "4 8 15 16 23 42" from the show Lost. There is also a Darkmoon Fortune Card with the sequence numbers from Lost.
Help[]
HELP
Northeast of Thunder Bluff, on top of a mountain is a line of text that reads "HELP" backwards.
LOL[]
LOL
Just Southeast of Hammerfall at the right angle, you can clearly see "LOL" carved into the mountain-side.
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Blind Guardian[]
In the Quest "Blindeye the Guardian", you kill an ettin of the same name. This could easily be referring to the band Blind Guardian. Interestingly, the building he is in looks similar to a guitar from the air.
BioShock[]
Big Papa and Alice
At Windshear Hold in the Stonetalon Mountains, there is an elite gnome mech called Big Papa. Around the massive machine wanders a strange young girl who occasionally speaks up, saying "Wake up Mr. P" or "Wake up Mr. P! You've gotta save the spirits." These two are a reference to the Big Daddy and Little Sister duos who move around the city of Rapture in the critical darling BioShock by 2K games.
In the same area, a man named Anderov Ryan paces around. He is another reference to BioShock, specifically referring to the first game's antagonist, Andrew Ryan.
- BioShock Infinite
In Stormwind City, a young woman in a familiar blue dress strolls through the streets by the name of Elizabeth Birdsong. She is a reference to the third BioShock game, BioShock Infinite, a fact referenced by her dialogue: "The possibilities are infinite." Her last name is also a nod to the character of the Songbird, the guardian of Elizabeth in Infinite.
Pilgrim Squash[]
At the Imperial Granary in the Valley of the Four Winds, a structure plagued by Sprites, a squash wearing a pilgrim hat can be found. This may be a reference to the American holiday of Thanksgiving, and its inception in particular, when colonists were all but forced to drink alcohol due to the poor quality of the drinking water.
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Gravis Slipknot[]
In Hillsbrad Foothills, there is a rare mob named Gravis Slipknot. This NPC is named after the band Slipknot, a reference confirmed by the character's quip when combat is initiated: "Greetings, hapless adventurer, I ask only that you wait a moment...and BLEED!" Slipknot has a song called "Wait and Bleed."
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Red vs Blue[]
In the Twilight Highlands, the Horde hold an outpost called Blood Gulch, a reference to the most famous map from the multiplayer segment of the quintessential first person shooter game Halo: Combat Evolved. The franchise that followed this game spawned many 'machinimas' (fan-made productions within the games), the most famous of these being Red vs Blue. Among the leading cast of characters in this long-running machinima series is a SPARTAN-II named Grif, and an identically-named NPC appears in the Blood Gulch outpost.