Shalamayne

Shalamayne in the Battle for Azeroth cinematic trailer.

Shalamayne is a legendary sword, the result of two elven blades, Shalla'tor and Ellemayne, that fused. Once wielded by Varian Wrynn, former King of Stormwind,^[1] and now by his son, Anduin Wrynn.^[2]

History

Shalamayne in the BattleCry Mosaic.

Shalla'tor and Ellemayne

Shalla'tor and Ellemayne were a pair of magic elven blades forged during the War of the Ancients and wielded by the twins Vor'Illian and Lo'Vellian. In Darnassian, Shalla'tor means Shadow Render, while Ellemayne means Reaver.^[3] While Ellemayne had a red gem, Shalla'tor had a blue one instead.

The blades eventually came into the possession of Lady Jaina Proudmoore. After Varian was split into two people by Onyxia's magic, the two ultimately found each other again and resolved to slay the black dragon. They were granted the night elven blades by Jaina, who aided them in the assault on Onyxia's Lair.^[3]

When Onyxia inadvertently combined the two Varians back into one person, the two blades were merged into a single weapon as well.^[4] This sword became known as Shalamayne,^[1] and its first target was the black dragon Onyxia, who was slain by the merged Varian using his new sword.

Shalamayne

After Onyxia's death, Varian returned home with the new sword at his side. From this moment onward, Varian would be able to split the sword at will.

At the battle for the Broken Shore, Varian once more split Shalamayne into two to battle the Burning Legion. In the end, the split swords were left in the sand upon Varian's death. One of the halves is last seen with its hollow no longer emanating its fiery glow.

When the Armies of Legionfall began their assault on the Broken Shore, Varian's son Anduin Wrynn snuck out of Stormwind and journeyed to Wrynnfall, the site of his father's demise, where he found Shalamayne. On regaining his purpose and resolve, the hollow of the right hand blade he was holding relit once more, only this time with a golden glow.^[5]^[6] He would go on to wield it himself.^[7]

Appearance

It has a unique narrow edge at the point and a thicker, angled edge further down. The hollow in the lower part of the blade glows like a sun. There is a backward arch at the bottom of the blade, and the hilt is long and slender.^[1]

Notes and trivia

A Shalamayne-like Rallying Blade in Hearthstone.

Following the creation of Shalamayne, Varian was depicted using this sword in the comic book, in the Secrets of Ulduar trailer, in the BattleCry mosaic, and in the novel Stormrage.
In the Broken Isles loading screen, one of the blades had blue glow until it was changed to orange glow as its twin blade in patch 7.1.0.
- When Varian's personality was split in The Comic, one of the sword had the blue glow.^[8]
In World of Warcraft, Varian used two swords with the Shalamayne model from patch 3.1.0 and until patch 3.3.3. He then wielded only one until his death. Now, the sword is wielded by his son Anduin.
The Rallying Blade, a rare Paladin weapon in the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion for Hearthstone, appears very similar to Shalamayne.
The weapon's name may be a reference to the Frankish king Charlemagne who is often regarded as a great king and strategist.