Shadow Staff

This article contains canon information corresponding to the Tales of Arcadia franchise. That means all information in this article is true and has appeared/been validated officially on-screen.

“After a battle with Angor Rot, Claire steals the Shadow Staff from him and learns to harness its energy, which is powered by emotions. With its ability to create interdimensional portals, it enables Claire to instantly teleport to another location. The Shadow Staff's only limitation: it cannot teleport to the Darklands.”

―The Art of Trollhunters

Shadow Staff
Type	Staff
Origin	The Shadow Realm
User(s)	Morgana (creator; formerly) Angor Rot (formerly) † Claire Nuñez (formerly) Stricklander (briefly)
Used for	Making portals Creating shade to protect the user from the effects of daylight (Ex. Trolls)
Victims	Gumm-Gumms Goblins
Status	Destroyed
First appearance	"Return of the Trollhunter" (Trollhunters) "D'aja Vu" (3Below)
Last appearance	"The Eternal Knight: Part 2" (Trollhunters) "Last Night on Earth" (3Below)

The Shadow Staff (true name: Skathe-Hrün) was a weapon of dark magic created by Morgana. It is capable of opening portals through the Shadow Realm and was Claire's primary choice of weapon.

It was later destroyed by Toby (under Claire's orders) so they could trap Morgana in the Shadow Realm forever.

History

An ancient relic of Morgana, it was in possession of Angor Rot until it was taken by Claire in "The Shattered King" and used it as her weapon of choice.

After creating a massive portal to save the trolls in Trollmarket from Gunmar's takeover, the staff has unwittingly linked her to Morgana herself, turning her into the witch's personal puppet.

The staff was later given to Stricklander to hold open a portal long enough for them to free Claire‘s spirit from Morgana after she becomes possessed by the witch.

As the creator, the staff was originally bonded to Morgana. However, in "The Exorcism of Claire Nunez", it‘s connection with Morgana was completely severed by Claire while she fought for control.

When Morgana is sent to the Shadow Realm, Claire calls on Toby to destroy the staff, imprisoning Morgana within the dark plain forever.

Abilities

• Shadow Realm Portals: The Shadow Staff utilizes the negative emotions of its user to open inter-dimensional shadow portals through the Shadow Realm, a dark plain of chaos and devoid of light or reason. When being used, the staff turns completely black. The staff's portals can connect very distant places. In the case the user does not know where their destination is, they can not open a portal unless they have an individual with whom the user possesses some emotional link so that it acts as an "emotional anchor".
• Shadow Generation: The staff can also create a shadow over the user, allowing trolls to walk through sunlight.
• Portable Form: The staff can fold into a pocket-sized stick.
• Shadow Realm Portal Spell: With this spell, it creates a portal that causes everything to be sucked into the Shadow Realm.
  • Incantation: Drooma katorth-a myntarth-a klar
• Shadow Staff Reclaiming/Controlling Spell: With this spell, the Shadow Staff can be controlled and/or reclaimed if the user ever loses possession of it.
  • Incantation: Azazazuth-Kinekh-Thoon
• Shadow Blast: In the series finale, Claire blasted Morgana with some sort of shadowy torrent, to push her into the portal to the Shadow Realm. Claire was slowly pulled toward her own portal as she blasted Morgana, and ultimately had to resort to simply shoving Morgana through, suggesting that the spell isn't particularly powerful.

Limitations

“Claire is arguably the most powerful of the three. But, with that power comes a great cost. Jim can use his sword without facing any negative consequences and Toby, likewise, with his warhammer—but Claire, because the Shadow Staff is powered by emotion, it takes a toll on her.”

―Marc Guggenheim, Executive Producer

• Incapable of Dimensional Travel: Even so, the staff's portals are not able to cross between dimensions (minus the Shadow Realm), since Blinky affirmed that it could not be used to enter the Darklands.
• Exhaustion: As mentioned by Claire, since the staff is powered by negative emotions (such as anger and fear), creating several portals at once takes a toll on her and exhausts her energy. However, after mastering her emotions, she was able to make as many portals as she wants without much strain.
• Corruption: Excessive use of staff power can cause the user to be corrupted by its dark magic and possessed by Morgana. This happened to Claire at the end of Part Two, when she created a giant portal to rescue the inhabitants of Heartstone Trollmarket. It can also kill the user if used excessively.

Trivia

• In Icelandic, Skathe-Hrün (the Shadow Staff's true name) means "scathe-crashing" or "harm-crashing".