I’m aware, so no I didn’t need it. However there is no evidence to suggest that any gilneans left to join them and then subsequently returned. It’s only mentioned that a tiny, essentially negligible, amount of token support was given during the Second War. The degree of what that actually means isn’t even defined, it could mean troops or it could simply have been supplies. It’s the Third War where an actual meaningful group is sent out to assist the fight and the wall was locked keeping them from returning.
Given that Gilneas was so uninterested in helping anyways,and in general not interested in joining the Alliance, it’s a massive leap to assume they’d have trained under and joined the Silver Hand.
Don’t tarnish the name when there’s nothing to justify it.
Paladins aren’t infused with the light. There is no fundamental difference between a paladin and priest other than how they use the light in the field. The Silver Hand ceremony is that of a blessing (akin to giving someone a buff), not an infusion.
Of Blood and Honor (Chapter 2):
“Archbishop: In the Light, we gather to empower our brother. In its grace, he will be made anew. In its power, he shall educate the masses. In its strength, he shall combat the shadow. And, in its wisdom, he shall lead his brethren to the eternal rewards of paradise.”
“Archbishop: Clerics of the Northshire, if you deem this man worthy, place your blessings upon him.
One of the clerics comes with a blessed dark blue embroidered stole in his hands, which he placed reverently around Tirion’s neck. Then, he dipped his thumb in a small vial of sacred oil and anointed Tirion’s forehead.”
“Archbishop: Knights of the Silver Hand, if you deem this man worthy, place your blessings upon him.
Two of the armored men comes, the first laid the warhammer before Tirion’s feet. The second, Saidan Dathrohan, placed the silver plates upon Tirion’s shoulders.”
“Each of the clerics and knights raised their right hands and pointed toward Tirion, empowered him with the holy light.”
Arthas: Rise of the Lich King (Part 1: Chapter 5):
“In the Light, we gather to empower our brother.”
& 3) are similar to the 2) & 3) from above
“Sweat broke out on Arthas’s brow. What was going wrong? Why wasn’t the Light wrapping itself around him in blessing and benediction?”
The rest of the book makes a point that the light flows through him or he’s channeling it etc. Same as priests.
Chapter 8 … “Maybe if he focused on fighting, on learning how to accept, and channel and direct the Light, he could get the hell over her. Over the girl he himself had broken up with”
Had he been infused, why would he need to learn to accept, channel, and direct the light? Seems like it’d only be directing.
This ceremony is exclusive to the Order of the Silver Hand, which not all Paladins are a part of. There is no evidence to support that other Paladin individuals/races/organizations undergo the same process nor is it explicitly mentioned that it’s needed to become a Paladin.
This is just a fact. Silver Hand was originally just Humans and Dwarves.
Draenei became Paladins through the Naaru teaching them about the Light.
High Elves had Paladins through normal worship of the Light, but briefly lost in after most of them renamed to Blood Elves and had to drain it from Naaru. With the Sunwell restored, the Blood Knights returned to embracing the Light like the originally did.
Sunwalkers get the Light from basic worship of An’she, which is just a different form of the Draenei worshipping it through the Naaru and Humans/Dwarves through the Light itself.
The first Human Paladins were literally just Warrior + Priest
Tides of Darkness (Chapter 5)
“I will establish a new branch of the Church, the paladins. I have already selected the first candidates for this order. Some were knights before but others were priests. I chose these men for both their piety and their martial prowess. They will be trained, not only in war but in prayer and in healing. And each of these valient fighters will possess both martial and spiritual power, particularly in blessing themselves and other with the strength of the Holy Light.”
And just so you’re aware there is zero statement about the ORIGINAL paladins of the Church, mentioned above, having gone through the ceremony mentioned twice earlier. This implying that the ceremony was created afterwards, and that again it isn’t necessary for one to be a Paladin.
Wielding the light is a matter of faith. Paladins don’t have the light within them. It answers their call just like with a Priest. The only Light infused mortals are Lightforged Draenei.
And before you mention the ceremony that supposedly “removed the light infusion from tirion”, that ceremony is literally just a gaslighting ceremony to make the Paladin believe they aren’t worthy and therefore their faith (and thus ability to call to the light) is disrupted. It’s why it didn’t actually succeed as he was able to rekindle his faith later after a self discovery/reflection journey.
Paladins were stated as being immune to the Plague of Undeath, but priests were not, implying some innate difference in how they use and interact with the Light.
This is lawyer speak for dumb people to try and shift the burden of proof away from yourself, nice try Slick Willy. There is no evidence they did NOT either, other than the Alliance won the war of course. But I suppose “there is no evidence to suggest” they didn’t all die on their return to Gil’neas from orc pox. And “there is no evidence to suggest” they were not attacked by a powerful earth elemental that swallowed them into the ground with no trace. Oh! For certain “there is no evidence to suggest” they didn’t succumb to harvest witch magic, turn into aquatic form permanently, and are living in the deep waters of Southshore right now!
Derp.
The legitimacy of Gil’nean paladins was greater than Quel’thalas paladins prior to their introduction in TBC, as they are humans involved with the second war. Both Quel’thalas and Gil’neas exited the Alliance pre-third war based on dissatisfaction of the management. But since the release of Warcraft II clearly they have added some things that at the time “there was no evidence to suggest” occurred. But go ahead tell me why black in WCII shouldn’t have had the paladin upgrade.
It is a massive leap to assume they wouldn’t. Particularly after seeing the effectiveness of paladins and the failure of Stormwind’s Northshire Abby priests. Your whole “no evidence to suggest that any gilneans left to join them and then subsequently returned.” is a massive leap that makes this look like a hop skip and a jump.
All knights in WCII be like “I’m a knight!” 1000 gold research later
…please send more gold and trees to the church for abilities. Decades later
DON’T TARNISH THE NAME!
I’m just waiting for the definition of paladins to be changed to any of the universal powers infused warrior. That way it’s not specifically the Light anymore and it allows for more races to be included. But I’d also like a color palette on their spells to reflect their faith.
At the moment we essentially have Tauren, Trolls, Blood Elves, and Dark Iron Dwarves that don’t really fit the narrative of the Light giving them their powers. They are getting their infusion of power through other means beyond worshipping the Light.
I mean it’s called the Light. But it doesn’t really explain it right?
Why would the troll Loas and Ashne bestow a power not of their cosmic power to their followers? They are Nature aligned but grant the power of the Light? How does this all mechanically work.
I don’t have a horse in this race but using game mechanics, especially for an RTS like a decade before MMO classes were even conceived of, to justify a lore argument is kinda weak logic.
I mean sorta but not really because its all built off of the original lore right? It just gets expanded upon and in many cases retconned to fit whatever narrative they are writing.
Rezan was a loa and loas have always had priests and paladins that worshiped them. Where does it say a loa can’t use the Light when the game says differently?
There’s definitely cross-over. Like, the Winter Queen having a sister in the Life domain and having such a strong connection to the Dream - aka the Life domain itself as far as we can tell - while still being a leading entity of Death.
Or Freya, being a Titan - firmly in the Arcane domain - while still having demonstrable control over Life magic.
Or Elune herself, who seems to be a Life deity, while granting druids a connection to the arcane and star-related magic and her priests holy magic. Elune is all over the place lol
Technically yes, but game mechanics frequently ignore lore for the sake of better gameplay, and referencing mechanics from a game long before most of the current story was even conceived is particularly shaky.
That’s my question, so if deities and things of different pantheons can bestow powers not within their cosmic alignment where are the rules?
An’she isn’t from the cosmic alignment of the Light. She is more in nature which is why both the Moon and Sun are also prayed to by the Night Elves and Druids.
So it’s odd to me that these gods grant the ability to wield the cosmic power of the Light but they aren’t specifically aligned to the Light. They aren’t Naaru, they aren’t beings of Light. They are Nature born and aligned.
The game shows them using the Light but it’s not really though right? Much like the Void Elf priests don’t use the Light and neither do the Forsaken.
I’d love to see Void Elf “Paladins” and there’s one of two ways I can see them doing it.
Void Nights (Paladins in-game name only)
Basically just paladins with a void skin, this is would require quite a bit of work on Blizzards part though.
“High Elves” (Void Elves in-game name only)
We know Stormwind has their own small population of High Elves, add some lore where they join their former kin, as far as lore is concerned they wouldn’t actually be Void Elves. This would be much less work.
Yes and no. We know they’re planning on more combinations but “all races for all classes” is taking the quote to its extreme, as it was not implicitly stated, and already sounds like its being walked back a bit from a more recent interview with Ion
