With Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage in a mysterious coma, Archdruid Fandral Staghelm recently became the leader of all druids on Azeroth. His first act was to persuade the rest of the Cenarion Circle to grow the second World Tree, Teldrassil. He argued that Teldrassil would eventually restore the immortality that the night elves sacrificed during the Third War. This claim has yet to be born out.
Fandral's mate died while giving birth to Valstann Staghelm, and Fandral formed a very strong attachment to the boy as a result. Valstann's death during the War of the Shifting Sands left Fandral inconsolable and obsessed with finding a way to restore his son to life. The archdruid swore he would have nothing further to do with the qiraji, the dragons, or Silithus, for he blamed them all for his son's death.
Experience and Antagonism
Grief and bitterness have changed Fandral's personality--some might say for the worse. He has made many hard choices in his single-minded pursuit of his lost son, and each successive choice has proven easier for him to make. He stopped questioning his decisions altogether several hundred years ago. Many night elves regard this attitude as well justified self-confidence, but there are also those who consider him arrogant. Fandral himself has little care for what others think of him, provided that they stay out of his way.
Although Fandral is the political leader of only the small Cenarion Circle, he is convinced that he also understands the best course of action for night elf society to take. He has a relatively low opinion of High Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind, who has been sole leader of night elf government since the War of the Ancients. Fandral's disagreements with Tyrande are not a matter of public knowledge, however. Only the highest-ranking priestesses of Elune and druids know of the friction that has sprung up between Tyrande and Fandral.
