Fandral Staghelm

Fandral Staghelm is the Arch Druid of Darnassus and the leader of the night elf druids while Malfurion Stormrage is lost in the Emerald Dream. He planned and planted Teldrassil, the new World Tree that the night elves live on in Classic. His backstory as the general who lost his son in the War of the Shifting Sands, and who then broke the Scepter of the Shifting Sands, is the emotional core of the quest line that opens Ahn'Qiraj.

Biography

About a thousand years before the First War, the insect empire of the qiraji came boiling out of Silithus. Fandral led the night elf armies against them, and he was so effective that the qiraji gave him a name of their own, Kar'sis. His only son, Valstann, fought beside him.

The qiraji general Rajaxx lured Valstann into a trap at Southwind Village and killed him in front of his father. Fandral lost the will to fight and the night elves were pushed back across Un'Goro Crater into Tanaris. Only when the qiraji attacked the Caverns of Time did the dragonflights join the war. The bronze dragon Anachronos, with Merithra, Arygos and Caelestrasz, children of the Dragon Aspects, sealed the qiraji behind the Scarab Wall and created the Scepter of the Shifting Sands as the key to it. Fandral, his son dead, struck the scepter against the wall, shattered it and walked away.

After the Third War, the night elves lost their immortality along with Nordrassil, the old World Tree. Malfurion opposed growing a new one without the blessing of the Dragon Aspects. With Malfurion gone into the Dream, Fandral persuaded the other druids and planted Teldrassil off the coast of Darkshore anyway.

In World of Warcraft

Arch Druid Fandral Staghelm stands in the Cenarion Enclave of Darnassus. He is a level 63 boss with 799,500 health. Players meet him early and often:

Fandral comes across as proud and touchy. In The New Frontier he warns players that it was he, not the Cenarion Circle in Moonglade, who led the night elves out of darkness, and that Teldrassil gives them new life. The Morrowgrain quests that start with him lead to repeatable turn-ins such as Morrowgrain to Darnassus, and many players farmed [Morrowgrain] for Darnassus reputation without asking what Fandral wanted it for. Horde players grew it too, for the tauren druids of Thunder Bluff.

In Alterac Valley, a night elf at Dun Baldar offers Staghelm's Requiem: Staghelm has ordered every troll on the field killed, and players bring back troll mojo as proof.

The Scepter of the Shifting Sands

Fandral's past comes to light in patch 1.9 (January 2006), in the quest line that opens Ahn'Qiraj. Players who earn the trust of the Brood of Nozdormu are sent to Anachronos in the Caverns of Time, who tells them to find the Crystalline Tear in southern Silithus in [[forever:quest:8305]]. Gazing into the crystal starts [[forever:quest:8519]], a long in-game cutscene of the battle at the Scarab Wall that shows Fandral, Anachronos and the dragons sealing the gate, and Fandral breaking the scepter.

Anachronos explains that he gathered the pieces and gave them to three dragons to guard. Players then recover the shards in [[forever:quest:8555]]:

• the [[forever:item:21138]] from Nefarian in Blackwing Lair, with help from Vaelastrasz;
• the [[forever:item:21137]] from Azuregos, through a long chain run by the gnome Narain Soothfancy;
• the [[forever:item:21139]] from the corrupted dragon Eranikus, redeemed in Moonglade.

The green branch adds a hint of something worse. Malfurion's spirit, giving [[forever:quest:8733]] in the Sunken Temple, tells players to warn Tyrande without alerting Staghelm. Once [[forever:item:21175]] is rebuilt, players ring the Scarab Gong in [[forever:quest:8743]] to open the gates. The gong can be rung only once on each server, and the player who rings it receives the [[forever:item:21176]], the black Qiraji battle tank mount.

Later history

The Stormrage novel (2010) reveals that Fandral had fallen under the influence of the Nightmare Lord Xavius, who promised him Valstann back. Fandral had helped keep Malfurion trapped in the Dream and had used Morrowgrain to slowly weaken his body. Teldrassil itself was grafted with a branch from Xavius's corrupted tree. Malfurion defeated him, and Fandral was imprisoned.

In Cataclysm (patch 4.2, 2011), Fandral escapes and joins Ragnaros as Majordomo Staghelm, a raid boss in the Firelands, where players kill him.

Trivia

• Staghelm's Requiem calls the Darkspear trolls' claim that they birthed the night elves "preposterous," but Warcraft lore actually agrees with the trolls: the night elves are descended from ancient trolls changed by the Well of Eternity.
• Fandral's quest The New Frontier is also the Alliance's introduction to Silithus and the Cenarion Circle's work there.

Sources

• Fandral Staghelm - Warcraft Wiki
• The Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest chain - Warcraft Wiki
• A Pawn on the Eternal Board - Warcraft Wiki
• The War of the Shifting Sands (short story) - Warcraft Wiki