Silver hand

This article is about the symbol. For the organization, see Knights of the Silver Hand. For other uses, see Silver Hand (disambiguation).

An ancient depiction of the silver hand in the Tomb of Tyr.

“Tyr replied that he did not consider his argent hand a reminder of defeat. For him it was a symbol of the sacrifice he had made to defend Azeroth, and he wanted the world to see it that way as well.”

— Senior Historian Evelyna, The Age of Galakrond^[1]

The silver hand^[2]^[3] (occasionally Silver Hand^[4]^[5] or Silver Fist)^[6] is a symbol of the titanic keeper Tyr, derived from the literal prosthetic hand of pure silver with which he replaced his left^{[n 1]} hand after it was severed by Galakrond. This silver hand was forged by Tyr's friend, Jotun,^[1] and came to symbolize the keeper's belief that true justice can only be accomplished through personal sacrifice.^[7]^[8] Following Tyr's ultimate sacrifice and death in his battle against Zakajz the Corruptor, his silver hand was placed atop his resting place in Tirisfal Glades, where it was watched over by his vrykul followers.^[9] The vrykul in turn passed down the legend of the keeper and his hand to their descendants, the humans, for whom it remained a potent symbol for centuries thereafter, most notably being used to represent the Tyr's Guard and, millennia later, the Knights of the Silver Hand.

Tyr and the silver hand

Tyr's silver hand.

The silver hand and its vrykul caretakers in Tirisfal Glades.

In Azeroth's ancient past, the keeper Tyr fought alongside the five proto-dragons who would become the Dragon Aspects against the monstrous proto-dragon Galakrond. During one battle, both Tyr's hammer and his Spark of Tyr were knocked free from his person. As he reached to grab the Spark, Galakrond's mouth came within range and the proto-dragon immediately bit down on Tyr's hand, devouring both it and the Spark.^[10] The maimed keeper only escaped with his life thanks to his proto-dragon allies.^[11]

Galakrond's bite suffused Tyr with necrotic energy, and the wound would never truly heal. Many years later,^[8] Tyr worked with his friend, the giant Jotun, to mine a vein of pure silver deep within Azeroth, which Jotun then used to forge a replacement hand for the keeper. Impressed by Jotun's work, Tyr also had the giant incorporate the image of his new hand on his warhammer, which was thereafter known as the "Silver Hand". Jotun asked why Tyr wanted to draw more attention to his wound. The keeper replied that he did not consider his silver hand a reminder of defeat, but rather a symbol of the sacrifice he'd made to defend Azeroth.^[1] It would come to represent his belief that only through personal sacrifice could one achieve true, lasting justice and order.^[7]^[8] Tyr later chiseled off a piece of his silver hand to be used by Archaedas in the forging of the shield Truthguard, in order to imbue the shield with righteous power.^[12]

Tyr ultimately sacrificed his life to defeat Zakajz and Kith'ix, C'Thraxxi generals sent by Loken to pursue the keeper and his allies after they stole the Discs of Norgannon from Ulduar. Tyr's followers buried him and Zakajz where they lay, in the region thereafter called Tirisfal Glades, and placed the keeper's silver hand atop the tomb as a memorial to the valiant sacrifice he had made to protect his friends. The iron vrykul among the group subsequently stayed in Tirisfal to guard the site.^[9] The tomb's interior was adorned with several silver hand symbols, and its entrance was named the Vestibule of the Silver Hand.

The exiled Highborne, who later became the high elves, saw the hand atop the Tomb of Tyr when they briefly settled in Tirisfal circa 7,300 BDP.^[13] At some point thereafter, the hand disappeared. No one knows what became of it.^[2]

Tyr's current body, forged according to the schematics stored in the Silver Scale,^[14] does not have a silver hand, apparently being modeled off of his original unmaimed appearance.

In human culture

The vrykul passed down various scrolls telling of ancient heroes and leaders to their descendants, the humans. One of these scrolls spoke of Tyr and how he had replaced his right^{[n 1]} hand with a silver fist after sacrificing it in a fight against a great evil.^[7] The Tyr's Guard, a secret group originally formed by the vrykul to protect the keeper's tomb,^[1] uses the silver fist as their symbol.^[6]^[15]

By the time of the Troll Wars, the silver hand was a common symbol for the human tribes that inhabited Tirisfal. It appeared on clothing and pendants, worn to ward away disease and evil spirits and to protect warriors in battle.^[2] The Arathi warlord Thoradin wore a silver hand pendant during his efforts to recruit the strongest tribe in Tirisfal by appealing to their religious beliefs.^[3] When Thoradin entered the Tomb of Tyr toward the end of his life, he immediately recognized the silver hands adorning the crypt as "the symbol that had haunted and inspired people from this area forever", and thereby knew that he had found something momentous.^[16]

Tyr remains a revered figure in the Church of the Holy Light centuries later.^[17]^[18]^[19] The city of Tyr's Hand, one of the Church's oldest and holiest sites,^[20] is named after the legend.

The silver hand inspired the name and iconography of the Knights of the Silver Hand, an order of paladins who placed self-sacrifice above all else.^[2]

A silver hand is depicted on the crystal in the Ashbringer, which was forged by Magni Bronzebeard for the paladin Alexandros Mograine.^[21]

The Argent Crusade, which was formed from a union of the Knights of the Silver Hand and the Argent Dawn, uses a silver hand superimposed over the Argent Dawn sunburst as their symbol.

Hadwin, a member of the reformed Tyr's Guard and former member of the Order of Embers, believes that there may be a connection between Tyr's silver hand and the silver weaponry used by the Order of Embers to fight the Drust on Kul Tiras.^[5]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Although the human version of the tale claims that it was Tyr's right hand,^[7] his model in [70] Tyr's Fall and the hand's depiction in Chronicle Volume 1 show it as his left. Depictions of the silver hand symbol variously show it as either a left or right hand.

[Tyr's Hand of Faith], a paladin legendary item, is named after the hand.
Tyr, the Infinite Keeper (an alternate version from a timeline where he sided with the infinite dragonflight) has a silver hand radiating with time magic, and his weapon is named [The Infinite Hand] instead of the Silver Hand.
A similar-looking fist symbol is depicted on the banner of Stromgarde, but it has never been identified as having any connection to the silver hand.