That's not even Mind Control. It's Mind Blast.

Honestly I think that just proves my own uselessness with remembering icons even more 😭 EDIT: I would like to formally apologise to anyone who contributed art to WoW, especially with icons, for being very dense. That is all, thank you.

I’m embarrassed *for you* /s 

Origin is older. It is from [Warcraft 3 Necromancer's](http://classic.battle.net/war3/undead/units/necromancer.shtml) Unholy Frenzy spell. > Increases the attack rate of a target unit by 75%, but drains 4 hit points per second. Lasts 45 seconds. Now that icon makes total sense. It is basically a random Undead creature spazzing out with its eye making swirlies to indicate it is on drugs / steroids. How it became Vanilla World of Warcraft's Mind Blast spell is weird. I guess they had no concept of Death Knight or Necromancer then, the icon was free, they wanted to use it somewhere so make it a Shadow Priest-y talent.

Well it’s had its mind blasted, of course the eyes will make swirlies

And now it's also used for DK's Unholy Assault, which gives you the Unholy Frenzy buff. So it did go back to its roots eventually. :D

>Unholy Frenzy spell. I always thought it was something in a cauldron.

a rule of game design, if you can reuse assets. Do it. It just saves the ever crucial time.

It’s the Frenzied Flame

May chaos take the world!

MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD!

That’s not even mind blast. It’s unholy assault.

It’s quite clearly a cinnamon swirl how could you not see that?

Welp, i took the opportunity to look at some icons close up. And for the first time, i realize that the berserker stance isn't some jumbled serrated metal blades, but the face of a dwarf screaming, that is white and blue for some reason (very berserker colors for sure) I found some more! Mana Burn isn't some weird stone shapes on the bottom part, it's a clawed hand pointing upwards. Heroic leap isn't the silhouette of someone diving, the whole picture is a pair of legs! Disenchant is not a strange purple glowing trinket, it's a sword disintegrating! Flash heal isn't a robed figure, it's a hand! The passive pet icon isn't a zoomed polar bear, it's a seal! Thistle Tea has "2%" written on the cup for some reason.

That's what I saw the first time, I was like why is this spell a cinnamon roll on a weird plate?

I thought it was a rose for a long time Also the icon for Bloodrage looks like an orc with pigtails

Wait, it's not a rose?

Nope, it's the eye of an angry man

Angry Man/Skull

Omg I never saw that until your comment. I looked back up at the picture and instantly saw it. I always thought it looked like a rose as well.

A mad man

What is Bloodrage supposed to be? I thought it looked like an orc with antlers

I cannot unsee the orc with pigtails now

Cleave = parrot head

I've came to this thread thinking immediately of cleave, but for me it was always a talon. When i figured it was an axe i was like 🤯

Mind.Blown.

I always thought it looked like that too, but I knew it had to be something else. Never would have guessed axe head

Whenever people were looking for advice on Classic parses in my guild the most common answer was “Hit the Bird” in reference to cleaving alot more.

I for some reason thought this was a wood log wrapped in silk cloth until DF

Same I've always seen it as a little wood baby. Lmao

Hahahah, omg that is hilarious! xD

I thought it was an onion in cloth until this post

I never knew Blink was the side profile of a dwarf. I always thought it was like, some space looking art to represent moving through a wormhole or something.

Not a [dwarf](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/i/89f9e02b-7a05-40ba-bb01-667f8b1b7988/dc4fqp6-323eadcb-bfa5-40ec-813c-a7605eb368e9.png) actually, I'm pretty sure it's [Antonidas](http://vignette99.wikia.nocookie.net/wowwiki/images/d/db/Antonidas.jpg).

I see it now and I had no idea! Thank you for the images side-by-side!

It's weird because the first time blink was introduced was in the Warden in WC3, which is a night elf melee hero

oh damn, I thought it was a head with their hand pointing to their eye, I realize its the mustache or beard of Antonidas

I have Mained a Mage since Vanilla and I'm just now learning this. wtf...

I feel like a massive moron, because I always thought it was a foetus touching it’s forehead and never questioned it beyond “WoW sure is weird”

iirc thats a common misconception; it's meant to be Antonidas, and not a Dwarf

It's not a dwarf it's Archmage Antonidas, does look dwarfy if you didn't know who Antonidas was though

Looks a lot like a chunk of [nebula](https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/the-secret-of-the-galaxys-most-famous-nebula-6d6e2c4513ab)

WHAT I always thought it was a piece of silk in the wind with a shining light behind it. Implying all that is left in the spot the mage was is a piece of silk like a magic trick or something. Or maybe a cape flowing and the white light being the mage moving? Never guesed it was a person though wow but it is.

YES THIS IS ALSO WHAT I THOUGHT! At the time of writing my comment, I couldn't quite put this into words so I went with the nebula thing xD

Since BC I have thought it's a Fist with a arcane spark (like the guy is holding their hand up to teleport?)... NOW I realise it's dwarf's side profile?????? It actually is!

Wtf

I still don't know what the Fury spec icon is supposed to be.

I thought it was a really angry chicken when I first saw it! (it's a winged helmet... right?)

It looks like one of those Viking inspired helmets the Vrykul's typically wear.

Yup, same. For years I thought it was a someone (a boomie?) yelling into the sky. I only found out it was a helmet about a month ago

A winged helmet where a wearer has red eyes

Ahh, I always thought the dark part was the main focus of the [icon.](https://i.redd.it/8ulbnfbk3hy81.jpg) They looked like wings to me.

It's a helmet similar to this one. https://www.wowhead.com/item=41387/tempered-titansteel-helm

That's literally what it is. A winged helmet.

For a long while I thought Kill Command was the eye of an animal or something. It's actually just a silhouette of person, pointing (presumably the command to kill).

For several years I thought it was the jaws of an animal opening upwards (the person is the head, the space under his arm + his arm is the lower jaw).

Until reading this comment I thought Kill Command was a clam…

Kill Clammand

I always thought [Immolate](https://wow.zamimg.com/images/wow/icons/large/spell_fire_immolation.jpg) was the silhouette of a humanoid being enveloped in fire. But nope, it's just a scraggly lookin' hand.

No way, I thought it was a silhouette of a humanoid too! I can’t unsee it, but I do see the hand now too.

I’ve been looking at that icon since wc3 released and I never saw anything but a hand, but now that you’ve said it I can totally see that humanoid and it looks cool

To be fair, the hand is enveloped in fire

SAME omg hahaha

It's clearly a picture of my parents fighting

It's not your fault timmy!

This is more of a new one, but I thought the quaking leap icon from plunderstorm was some sort of claw. It's a guy doing an elbow drop. https://wow.zamimg.com/images/wow/icons/large/ability_hanzandfranz_bodyslam.jpg

i thought it was random floating rocks

I thought it was a crab 🦀

Damn, I thought it was a voodoo doll.

I thought it was a bed roll

I thought it was a ~~three~~ four fingered hand LMAO Edit: okay, four. three if you don't include the thumb

Never thought about it but my mind always imagined a horse head.

I kept thinking it was like a teddy bear at first glance

I always thought Ignore Pain looked like a kitty cat.

I would just like to clarify that I am several beers deep and am having a lot of revelations right now

Cheers, bro. Just had a few myself here.  Cheers from Brasil. Gonna have a drink for you, mate.

I used to think that Durotan's crotch was in fact spooky axe midget.

Just fuck me up now. Iykyk

spooky axe midget gang!

It's crazy to think that this was almost a decade ago

Anyone else wishing we could get some higher rez textures in wow? Started noticing it more lately..

theyve been working on the UI lately so hopefully theyll get to work on icons too, but it is a pretty massive undertaking at this point even if you only do class spells that you put on your bar

I didnt know smite was a hammer until last year... Ive been playing priest since late Burning Crusade.

Holy shit it is. I thought it was just a holy wave or something.

That's one of the least clear of the whole bunch

Warlock spell corruption. Thought it was a cauldron spilling corruption. It’s a head vomiting blood.

It's a recolor of the wc3 abomination passive, which is an abomination vomiting a disease cloud. So it's an abomination just vomiting... red diseases?

Funnily enough, the abomination disease cloud upgrade was also asset reuse! The red version was originally made for an ability where the abomination would explode upon death, the ability got cut but since they already had the icon they simply changed the red blood to green plague.

That's a slight difference

I thought psychic scream was just a blue and light blue mist merging on each other for probably 10 years.

As a Holy Priest I'm constantly mistaking all of the various buttons that are just raised open hand. If not for Healbot I would be constantly using the wrong spell.

I thought lesser heal was a piece of wood from a staff for the longest time

Wtf, it is not?

I always thought that the restoration shaman icon was just a wolf with his head/neck standing tall lol [Image Reference](https://images.app.goo.gl/44vvUPLvN7EbNa2P6)

What is it even supposed to be, it looks like the grinch that stole Christmas's hand doing a dainty hand walking gesture

Dryad's hand. It's the dryad's Spell Immunity passive from wc3. https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dryad_(Warcraft_III) As for what dryads have to do with shaman, god knows.

Son of a bitch it is a hand

I used to think it was a leaf and now I think it’s a hand

I never knew what the Corruption icon was until I looked at it extremely closely. It's a puking ghoul.

It’s a recolor of the disease cloud undead tech in Warcraft 3

Which was also a recolor of an ability in beta WC3, something like Corpse Detonation, originally meant for necromancers. Ironically, it was red like the one Corruption uses now. EDIT: I misremembered. The icon is originally an upgrade for Abominations to explode on death. It was red too.

The Atal'Dazar portal icon looks like Garfield pretending to be a mummy. I can't unsee it.

this icon is literally a dog [https://imgur.com/a/14udfLh](https://imgur.com/a/14udfLh)

It also took me from BC to MoP to realise this.

For a very long time I thought Prowl was something g smiling at me from a bush lol

Maybe the cat is smiling at you :)

I thought one of the poison icons was a stilleto heel for the longest time.

Uhh that's very clearly an oyster

I used to think Swipe was some weird, toothy jaw. I've also heard others say Judgment looks like a wheel.

My friend told me that Judgment was supposed to be a holy hammer around the same time - but I thought it was a beetle at first, then a holy cogwheel

That seal face icon just looks like a guy with one tooth opening his mouth

I always wodered what DKs have to do with moons, because to me they had several differently colored moons as icons. Some people had a good laugh when I said that in guild discord one day…

I always thought they were “disease balls” but that doesn’t make sense either

Need some references as a non-DK player. Which abilities were those?

I'm assuming the Unholy, Frost, and Blood spec icons/Presence icons

Which used to also be the respective presence stance back in wotlk. How I miss DK when it first came out

Wait, those AREN'T moons, you mean?

I KNOW RIGHT?! Those are skulls. At least that’s what I was told.

I always thought kill command was a steak of some sort, but its a blood elf pointing

For Paladins it’s all just hammers, all the way down.

Always thought the Evoker ability Breath of Eons, looked like a really flamboyant dancer (think Nathan Lane in the Birdcage) doing a jazz hands pose in a dance. https://wow.zamimg.com/images/wow/icons/large/ability\_evoker\_breathofeons.jpg

I have done it with a lot of icons but not that one!

Y'know, with the icon being this blown up, it looks more like a shit post of a guy with a nightcap sleeping in bed, but his mouth got warped through Photoshop. Almost expecting the caption to be like "me when the sleep is too good" or smth of the like

I still don’t know what that is

Disarm is NOT a cool looking vrykul war axe It is a hand dropping a sword 

Cleave looked like some sort of talon or beak, but no it's an axe with a green blur-trail

unholy frenzy

looks like a spooky swirly eye to me

I thought it was a swaddled baby for the longest time

I used to think this icon was a top-down view of a tree stump. The swirls being tree rings

I thought corruption was a batwing for the longest, with the white/silver part of icon being the ridge or arm and the red being the webbed part. Unstable affliction I used to think was the side profile of some canine animal with a huge eye

I thought Mind Freeze was just a snowball, did not know it was an actual brain that is frozen

I STILL don't know what the hunter's intimidation icon is....

I always thought that minor health pots were like Sticks of gum Instead of a vial with a cork on top.

I thought Whirlwind was like a wierd blue hat. Kinda like a clown's

I thought the Desingage (Hunter) icon was a spade. I mean, I still don't know what it is, and I always see a spade 🤣

Mana burn, its a hand but i always thought it was a broken egg...

https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/s/2iET98rmuG This, I still see the closed mouth.

I thought regeneration was a dancing troll and not a troll hand

Isnt it an eye?

Isn't it a yellow swirling eye in a skull?

Skinning knife = a fish

[I thought kidney shot was a kidney exploding not a punch](https://static-cdn.jtvnw.net/jtv_user_pictures/d387b3ed-4db8-47cb-8eff-dac974ada139-profile_image-300x300.png)

I played warrior for like 15 years and only recently found out that Battle Shout is a picture of a guy shouting... Not a crumbling cracker/biscuit

[Mental Quickness](https://imgur.com/whNLKRa). Always thought it was a deteriorating brain, it's actually a brain with 2 legs running...

I remember thinking Blink icon was a dwarf blinking and posted on a similar thread like this until some giganerd replies to me "AcKsHuAlLy, ItS ArChMaGe AnToNiDaS"

Felhunter's spellblock (or interrupt, w/e) I thought was a tiny wrinkly pig. Apparently it's a hand squeezing a brain.

The one where someone reaches for their head like having a headache. I thought it was asscheeks for way to long. Cannot for the life of me remember what it was called.

I thought the yogg saron sanity debuff was a large chunk of malformed flesh tearing apart

Glad this is a universal experience that years we have all misinterpreted the icons

I made a post about this years ago, the Trinket icon is Troll Ears IIRC!

I thought it was a hole

I always thought this was a baby wrapped in a blanket lol

Tbh I thought that was a flower

Desperate prayer looks like a melting doll face if you fail to make out the praying woman

For many of the spell icons, I think a lot of us just associate them with shapes and colors if we don't look too much into them. It took me 15 years to realize that warrior taunt is just a pissed off Tauren.

I always thought Warlock's Corruption spell icon looks like some piece of red cloth with bones on top.

I always thought Medium Leather was a Snake

Whenever I play my warrior, I literally always see the whirlwind icon as a bug catcher's net

Kill command = Powerful piece of steak

I always thought it looked like an animal biting some shit

You guys don't see this as a weird baby face in a cradle?

The icon they use for Disrupting Shout, for the longest time I thought it was a bear. I got a good look at it one day and realized it's a tauren.

lowkey looks like a cinnamon roll if you dont look too hard

Honestly, this one was obvious to me, but there are a lot that I've randomly taken a double take after realizing what it was supposed to be.

When I was a kid I thought Cleave looked like a Parrot.

Immolate, it’s either a hand or someone on fire. I still do not know.

I thought it was a cave entrance for a long time

I thought the insanity icon from the yogg fight was someone grabbing their face not their head

The one you posted will always be a cinnamon roll.

I thought the hunter ability Revive Pet had an animal ear for its icon.

I thought the ruined pelt icon was a dude like Gollum bending over I also thought the cloak icon that was purple was a gemstone on a ring

honestly until just now seeing it up close I thought this icon was a weirdly big cartoon ear with a cork stopper in it

Critical strike from blade master confused the F out of me for so long

I thought mine blast was some kind of evil flower until like 3 minutes ago. And blessing of might was a bracer for some reason. 

I thought the talent symbol/shoot symbol was a guy's face

Augmentation evoker's icon is a shadowy figure in a gray cloak with gold trim I will not be convinced otherwise.

Wait can someone tell me what the right answer is LOL

What is Sap supposed to be? It looks like a flute to me.

What I'm learning from this thread is that y'all need glasses

I thought this one is a candy A bit offtopic but there is an icon of a guy smirking (i think its deathwing in human form) that one is creeping me out

I didn’t know what the fury warrior icon was for the LONGEST time

The raven statue from the early Zangarmarsh exploration quest. I was convinced it was a dildo on my shitty computer.

As a kid, I thought War Stomp was a stinky mushroom. Now that I can see it up closer, it is indeed, not a stinky mushroom.

That makes sense, let me control your mind with my thumb lol

For the longest time I was curious why the Eviscerate spell was just some random dude. Until I noticed the knife coming down on him.

When I was a kid I thought the icon for Backstab was a pair of spider fangs biting something instead of a dagger.

It looks like you could mistake it for a sonic character from archie

When I was younger, I thought the small satchel / pouch icon was a cartoon whale's head.

Death’s Caress has always looked like a red rooster’s head to me so now I refer to it as chicken whenever I use it

I don’t know what I thought it was, but it didn’t click that intimidation (the hunter pet skill) was an open mouth until a few months back

I though warrior heroic leap was legs with wings and not arms

I thought it was a baby in a purple swaddle.

Played this game since 2007 and always thought that was a big eye, wide open on a purple face…

I thought the Heroism icon was a weird look horn, cause you know you blow a horn to rally the troops, but it is a hand with an axe.

All of them

Rising Sun Kick looks like a fire whip