 Sky'ree | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Gryphon (Beast) |
| Affiliation(s) | Wildhammer dwarves, Alliance |
| Occupation | Gryphon of Kurdran Wildhammer |
| Location | Wildhammer Stronghold, Shadowmoon Valley |
| Status | Alive (Outland), Deceased (lore) |
| Relative(s) | Kurdran Wildhammer (rider), Eli Thunderstrike (keeper) |
Template:Warcraft II Hero
Sky'ree is the legendary gryphon mount of Kurdran Wildhammer, the equally-legendary hero of the Second War and afterward. With her master, Sky'ree gained a spectacular reputation among the Wildhammer clan, bearing him into battle against the red dragons enslaved by the Horde during the Second War. Kurdran had nine dragons on his death toll during the war.
Kurdran and Sky'ree went beyond the Dark Portal as part of the Alliance Expedition, where Kurdran acted as a scout during the excursion into Draenor. Kurdran and Sky'ree survived the destruction of Draenor and are located at Wildhammer Stronghold in Shadowmoon Valley. While Kurdran tends to the business of running Wildhammer Stronghold, Sky'ree is tended to by her keeper, Eli Thunderstrike.
Sky'ree is eternally loyal to Kurdran and would willingly sacrifice her life for him.
Fire and Iron
Sky'ree accompanied Kurdran to Ironforge when he joined the Council of Three Hammers, and she laid a clutch of three eggs shortly after arriving, in a nest at the city's gryphon roost. Kurdran would have prefered that she and the clutch return to Aerie Peak, but she had already made up her mind to stay with him. Sky'ree is noted to now be quite old, and although she had easily flown Kurdran to Ironforge, laying the clutch had severely weakened her. She became so frail that even a daily walk with Kurdran was a day-to-day uncertainty. Many priests, gryphon masters, and alchemists had examined her, and all had diagnosed Sky'ree's weakness was due to her aging body.
With the roost overcrowded with Wildhammer gryphon nests, a group of ten Dark Irons tried to pass by with kegs of what presumably were Dark Iron Ale, but one slipped on some roost straw, causing a smashed kep to spill all over the roost. The Dark Irons also threw another keg into the roost, spilling even more. The first dark iron instigated a brawl, with Kurdran throwing the first punch. The brawl knocked over one of Ironforge's many braziers, catching onto some straw, which then ignited the spilled alcohol and in seconds set the entire roost ablaze.
Two other gryphons tried to work together to airlift the weakened Sky'ree by her wings, but she refused their assistance, wanting to protect her clutch from the fire. Another one that had been huddled near Sky'ree had to flee the flames. The smoke and heat of the inferno quickly killed her afterward; unfortunately underneath her charred and smoking corpse, the eggs were also destroyed.
Hours later however, Sky'ree's keeper, Eli Thunderstrike who had been tending to the Wildhammer gryphons at the roost, discovered a miracle. He found that the gryphon that had been huddled beside Sky'ree was holding an egg. None of the other gryphons had been tending to a clutch. Eli realized that it could only be one of Sky'ree's three eggs, which the male gryphon had clutched to his chest as he excaped the flames.[1]
Cataclysm
In Cataclysm, Kurdran Wildhammer is involved in the Wildhammer's wedding event in Twilight Highlands and gives the happy couple the only surviving egg of Sky'ree.