Symbol of the Wood Elves
The Wilding Tree had been the seat of Prince Elatior of the Wood Elves, lord of the Silvam Dale.
Originally a cruel, bristling hawthorn, the tree had been broken by Elatior's spells, creating a hate-filled living citadel, a towering hybrid of thorn and leaf, with beeches and willows threaded through its crown.[1a] It was kept lashed to the ground with several ropes to keep it in place.[2a]
Entry into the fortress of Elatior was through holes into the roots, through which travellers were carried to the subterranean halls of the Enchanter.[1a] Here, a coven of spellweavers tortured the tree, themselves crucified among the roots and their souls entwined with it.[2a] Through this, Elatior had unlatched the tree and its spirit from the seasons, being able to draw upon its might and rage even in winter.[2a]
When the daemonic army of the Daemon Prince of Nurgle Alkhor flooded Athel Loren, Elatior planned to draw the army in the Silvam Vale right to the Wilding Tree and then unshackle his fury. Although he managed to unleash great devastation upon the Nurglite host, the traitor Ordaana managed to kill the spellweavers while the majority of the Wood Elf army was fighting the Daemons, freeing the tree from Elatior's control.[2b]
The vengeful spirit of the Wilding Tree ripped its torturer asunder and then uprooted itself, vanishing into Athel Loren to attack the core of the Chaos corruption. Here, the Wilding Tree was slain by Alkhor and his daemonic minions, its death spreading corruption and mutation through a large swath of the forest.[2c]