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Fandral Staghelm

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Fandral Staghelm
Warcraft imagery © Blizzard Entertainment; via Wowhead; contributed by Mavirick.

The armies of the qiraji surged across southern Kalimdor, forcing the night elves into a bitter struggle for survival. Fandral Staghelm led the resistance, while his son fought beside him. When Valstann was captured and killed by General Rajaxx, grief broke the archdruid’s confidence and the army’s advance faltered.

The War of the Shifting Sands

War of the Shifting Sands — historical chronology

Nobbel87 — The Story Behind Call of the Scarab

Fandral Staghelm — image source

Timeline

c. 975 BDP

The War of the Shifting Sands

The armies of the qiraji surged across southern Kalimdor, forcing the night elves into a bitter struggle for survival. Fandral Staghelm led the resistance, while his son fought beside him. When Valstann was captured and killed by General Rajaxx, grief broke the archdruid’s confidence and the army’s advance faltered.

The fighting reached the bronze dragons’ territory. Anachronos gathered help from other flights, and the combined forces drove the qiraji back toward Ahn’Qiraj. Even then, they could not destroy the enemy’s numbers outright.

Merithra, Caelestrasz and Arygos held the qiraji back inside the city while the remaining defenders raised the Scarab Wall. The barrier contained the army and ended the immediate invasion. The three dragons remained trapped beyond it, and the power behind the war survived beneath the fortress.

Sources (3)
After the War of the Shifting Sands

The Key No One Wanted

The Scarab Wall had stopped the invasion, but Anachronos left a means to pass it again. He created the gong and the Scepter of the Shifting Sands, then offered the key to Fandral.

To the archdruid, the end of the war could not balance the loss of Valstann. He broke the scepter against the barrier and walked away. What the dragon offered as a duty for the future met a grief still fixed on the past.

Anachronos gathered the fragments and arranged for their protection. Ahn’Qiraj remained sealed, but reopening it would now require recovering pieces entrusted to guardians whose own futures were uncertain.

Sources (1)