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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: I love Ashkandi
by Matthew Rossi 
Feb 13th 2012 at 8:00AM
Pretty much no weapon model in the history of World of Warcraft has affected me like Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood has. To me, it's emblematic of all that I love about Warcraft's model design -- excessive, bold, imaginative and evocative.
From the moment my guild first started running Blackwing Lair, I wanted one. I ended up getting a Sulfuras instead, which is certainly a fine weapon in its own right, but as much as I liked Sulfuras, I always knew I was making the logical decision (take the one that drops first) over the one my heart wanted (wait for Ashkandi). Years passed. We moved out of BWL and into AQ, then Naxx, and then The Burning Crusade launched. No model could replace Ashkandi in my heart. The Gladiator sword, Despair, Cataclysm's Edge, Apolyon, The Lionheart Executioner -- all fine models, all solid weapons. None could take its place.
From the moment my guild first started running Blackwing Lair, I wanted one. I ended up getting a Sulfuras instead, which is certainly a fine weapon in its own right, but as much as I liked Sulfuras, I always knew I was making the logical decision (take the one that drops first) over the one my heart wanted (wait for Ashkandi). Years passed. We moved out of BWL and into AQ, then Naxx, and then The Burning Crusade launched. No model could replace Ashkandi in my heart. The Gladiator sword, Despair, Cataclysm's Edge, Apolyon, The Lionheart Executioner -- all fine models, all solid weapons. None could take its place.
Ashkandi became more than a weapon to me, a symbol for the game itself. The impracticality of the model only endeared it to me more, the narrow blade exploding outward past the ridiculously elaborate hilt. When Cataclysm launched and I heard that Nefarian would return and he would have a Reclaimed Ashkandi on his loot table, I was at first ecstatic and then demoralized. The Reclaimed is, well, far more practical. The blade isn't so ludicrously broad and long, the hilt looks strong enough to take the stress of use. In general, although you can clearly trace the line of descent between the weapons, the new Ashkandi didn't reach me. And so I returned again and again and again to Blackwing Lair over the course of the years I've played it, seeking Ashkandi.
Some people collect pets or mounts or both. Some love achievements or holidays and world events. Some people hoard all their old armor sets or weapons. For me, it's always been swords. I keep other weapon models, but I love swords, and for me, Ashkandi is the sword in World of Warcraft. Sure, there are other awesome swords, other swords with amazing lore, epic quest lines and big chunks of WoW history, and I love all those swords too. I kept my Quel'Serrar and still have it in my bank, not Void Storage, so I can take it out and use it whenever I want. I've got a Jin'rokh, an original OEB, a King's Defender and a Spiteblade, and countless other swords I love and use.
But for me, all these swords are like the knights in a king's court, there to provide context and reflected glory for the king. And the king is Ashkandi, and it always will be. Because I still remember the first time I saw it and said wow without a trace of self awareness or irony. I still remember that fresh wonder, reading the flavor text and realizing that this was Anduin Lothar's sword. The Brotherhood in question is the Brotherhood of the Horse.
I wouldn't be writing lore articles for this site if not for the interest in finding out who these people were that Ashkandi gave to me. It's more than a weapon to me. It is World of Warcraft. I don't know if anything has given me greater satisfaction in-game than being able to use this model, and frankly it's made transmogrification my favorite feature of the game, because I will be able to use Ashkandi forever. This sword deserves to be gripped in a fist, not dusty in a bank somewhere. As crazy as it sounds, this mass of pixels that anyone who kills Nefarian enough time can pick up is strangely personal to me. It's not a legendary, but that just makes it better in my eyes.
A legendary will always end up in the bank. Ashkandi is forever.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Filed under: Paladin, Warrior, Breakfast Topics, Death Knight
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Evelinda Feb 13th 2012 11:26PM
ICONICALLY. CURSE my distracted typing on my phone while at work.
celtspatssox Feb 21st 2012 8:33AM
I started just a few weeks after Fury of the Sunwell 2.4 and got to 34 before I couldn't pay for a bit and had my first experience at max level during Call of the Crusade 3.2, also due to elongated break time. I found out who the Lich King was simply by questing and reading small amounts of backstory I became a huge lore fan during Cataclysm. When the expansion was announced I was like "ok so now some random dragon comes out of nowhere" so I looked it up. And now wow lore has become the most compelling and complex story (maybe other than Assassin's Creed) I've come to know. So while I read up on things like the War of the Shifting Sands and Naxxaramas, or Tempest Keep and Black Temple, I can only imagine what it was like to play through those things back when they were relevant. As much as everyone complains about those rep grinds for Brood of Nozdormu or the Zandalar, how worth it was it when you reached exalted? I wish I played back then even through all those incredibly long grinds just to experience the rewards like Matt talks about with the Brotherhood of the Horse. Hell, even Ulduar still mystifies me. Yea I can run MC and BWL but it doesn't mean anything anymore. I can go kill C'Thun but I can't experience the reopening of the scarab wall.
I guess what I'm saying is, if you're a vanilla vet and still playing strong, you may be grateful for things like dungeon finder more than anyone else (believe me I got to experience it too) and my look back and think why you even played this game but from the outside looking in, you guys had it made back then, to experience everything as it happened. Must have been nice.
I love the fact that lore only means so much to you because you needed to know about one thing in the game that lead you to so much more just like me. Great article, and as a blood elf, Quel'Delar would be my ultimate weapon of transmog choice.