Robin Williams will appear in World of Warcraft as an NPC

As you probably know already, Robin Williams, one of the greatest actors of our time has sadly passed away recently. Aside from being an incredible actor and comedian, Robin was also a fellow gamer who enjoyed playing The Legend of Zelda, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft among others. He reportedly spent quite a bit of time playing on the Mannaroth server in WoW and he took his characters very seriously. To show his appreciation for being a part of the community, a World of Warcraft player wrote a petition asking Blizzard to create an NPC based on Robin Williams in order to memorialize him within the game. The petition gathered almost eleven thousand signatures in less than 24 hours, which drew the attention of the company who agreed to create the NPC.

“It is with a growing sense of pride for the World of Warcraft community that I declare victory for this petition.” said Jacob Holgate, the petition’s author. “In less than twenty four hours we’ve earned eleven thousand signatures, a huge amount of traction on many gaming and news outlets, as well as assurance from Blizzard employees that our desire for a Robin Williams tribute and or NPC will be handled with great care. Robin Williams death continues to shock and sadden millions of people around the world, and while a single non-player character in a video game is only a small good thing to come out of a largely negative situation — many cannot help but feel that they’ve preserved a tiny spark of who Mr. Williams was: a gamer, and a character. Many heartfelt thanks are offered to those who embraced the idea behind this petition in the face of so many negative comments and outright bullying by other players. Without you I’m positive that our goal would of never been met. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I will see you in game.”

Blizzard didn’t say when we should expect Robin Williams to grace the lands of Azeroth, but we’ll be keeping our ears peeled for any announcements regarding the matter. There is also an ongoing petition to Nintendo asking them to name an NPC in the new Legend of Zelda game after him. His love for the game is well-known as he even named his daughter Zelda after the titular princess so let’s hope that Nintendo listens, just like Blizzard did. Stay tuned for more news and updates.

.@robinwilliams Thank you. You gave us so much joy in our lives, and we hope you enjoyed your time in our world. We’ll see you in-game.

— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) August 13, 2014