Sharptalon

Sharptalon is a level 22 named blue hippogryph that roams the forests between Warsong Labor Camp and Splintertree Post in Ashenvale where he was hunted by the Horde as part of the Ashenvale Hunt.

Some time after the invasion of Outland, Hamuul Runetotem gave a hippogryph feather to the gladiators Broll Bearmantle and Lo'Gosh. Broll used the feather to summon Sharptalon, and escape from Thunder Bluff to Ashenvale. During the process, Sharptalon was injured by an orc wyvern rider. Broll rode him during a fight in the Warsong Gulch. His next stops were Thistlefur Hold, Darnassus and Theramore and then Sharptalon was free to go.

He apparently returned to Ashenvale as he was attacked and killed by adventurers of the Horde who took his claw to Senani Thunderheart at Silverwind Refuge. Despite this, Horde hunters that know the secrets of taming feathermanes can catch him.

Notable drops

 * Sharptalon's Claw starts Sharptalon's Claw (quest)
 * Buzzard Wing (Sharptalon seems to be the only source of buzzard wings that isn't a carrion bird)


 * Sharptalon's Claw (Classic)

Speculation
Since Sharptalon has been a quest objective since Classic, it is possible that is a name given to a rare breed, or perhaps family, of hippogryphs. It is also possible it is a different hippogryph than the one ridden by Broll, since Senani Thunderheart remarks the "beast terrorized many over the years" and the Sharptalon ridden by Broll was called after the invasion of Outland, some time after adventurers would have originally killed the Ashenvale NPC in Classic. (Like many other named kill quests that survived from Classic to the Cataclysm revamp, the timing of the creature in question's death is uncertain.) The most likely event seems to be that since it was only a claw turned in, that the original adventurer(s) happened along a rather large and/or vicious hippogyph in Ashenvale, thought it was Sharptalon, killed it and claimed the bounty, although it was not the actual beast. (This template has been used in some other named kill quests that survived from Classic, and it seems to work well here, especially given that the quest gossip text was updated for the Cataclysm version .) Whether or not, then, the actual Sharptalon was killed in the Cataclysm revamp would remain debatable.