The Ballad of Craishae the First Flame: Tale of the Lost Queen of Arathor

This article contains lore taken from Warcraft novels, novellas, or short stories.

The Ballad of Craishae the First Flame: Tale of the Lost Queen of Arathor is an Arathi myth about the Arathorian queen Craishae that was told by Sygfraed Siegepyr to Faerin Lothar when she was a child.

Story

Craishae was an intelligent but rambunctious princess of Arathor, with a skill for fighting and the arcane, who often neglected her chores to explore nature and befriend the people. When she came of age, a magical curse struck the land, mutating anyone it touched into monsters. The kingdom was besieged as the monsters attacked their loved ones, destroyed settlements, and—at the height of the conflict—breached Thoradin's Wall, which had protected the land for generations. Craishae pledged to protect her kingdom and destroy the source of the curse. During one battle, she did something unprecedented by releasing a torrent of fire and the Light, which she subsequently wielded as a sword and shield. Although the princess won many victories, the war turned as an unseen force strengthened the curse and hastened its spread. One night, Craishae had a dream of a being of light who told her to seek out a hidden temple "where the heart of the world and the eye of the heavens met" and which only she could find, since she was the only one who possessed a soul "true enough" to wield its power.

Craishae searched across the continent until she found the temple and the being, who introduced herself as the Scion, guarding a well of light and fire. The Scion explained that she had in Craishae sensed a willingness to fight to defend others, and that the world would need such strength in "the coming age" just as Arathor did now. Craishae pledged to defend "all lands" if the Scion gave her the power to save Arathor from the curse. The Scion told Craishae to bathe in the well, whose waters empowered the princess with an inextinguishable ember, "the First Flame". When she returned to Arathor with the ember, Craishae wielded both the Light and fire to drive back the curse and cure its victims, transforming them back to their old selves.

After winning many battles and ruling for many years as queen, Craishae left the kingdom to her children, who had inherited a portion of her ember and spread her lessons among the people. Craishae herself left to find the source of the curse and destroy it to make Arathor and the world safe forever. Sightings of her grew fewer and farther between until she passed into legend.

Context

Sygfraed Siegepyr, caretaker of the Orphanage in Mereldar, once read the legend to Faerin Lothar, one of Craishae's descendants, when she was eight years old. Uniquely for the occasion, Sygfraed's storybook began to glow while he read the story; he claimed that it was because the book was magical. According to him, The Ballad is a special story, "hidden amidst all the fighting and all the battles, nearly forgotten due to the oath that was sworn by the Secret Keepers". Although The Ballad is only one of many myths about Craishae, few Arathi have ever heard of her. When Sygfraed finished the story, the book's glow faded. Whenever Faerin subsequently looked in the storybook for herself, she was never able to find the pages about Craishae that Sygfraed had supposedly read from. Nevertheless, the legend became a lifelong inspiration to her.