With Princess Calia Menethil, a famous Priestess as well as Light-infused undead, being part of the Desolate Council, and Alonsus Faol, former Archbishop, also being a high-ranking Forsaken, will the Forsaken finally abandon the heathen and faithless “Cult of the Forgotten Shadows” to re-embrace the sanctity of the Holy Light? Will Princess-Priestess Calia lead the flock back to the Light?
It’s also worth noting that Lordaderon was the most religious Human kingdom. It was the original seat of the Church, foundation of the Order of the Silver Hand, and contains many holy sites for pilgrims and the faithful; Light’s Hope Chapel, Tyr’s Hand, Stratholme, Lordaeron itself (which was a religious centre), etc. It’s interesting how the royals were all affiliated with the Light. Arthas a Paladin, Calia a Priestess, and I believe there was one statue depicting Terenas as a sort of “Paladin” or holy warrior.
If you ask Me, it’s only a matter of time until the Forsaken re-embrace the sanctity of the Church of the Holy Light, and abandon all that fake nonsense about “forgotten shadows” or whatever nonsense they made up.
Idk, but there are already plenty of Light-wielding Forsaken npc’s sprinkled throughout MoP. All they have to do is add more, if they want to make it clear Light-worship is still accepted among the Forsaken.
But for once you are right. Now that Calia and Faol have leading positions in the Forsaken, it is only a matter of time until their ranks are filled with Light users.
The fun thing about the HMP abbreviation is that you can swap paladin for priest just fine. The class may change, but the stereotype remains. One just may be RPing an intellectual rather than a glorified carpenter with their hammer.
Anyway, nothing to see here folks. Move along, move along.
I actually think forsaken paladins could be done in a bendy, but not canon-breaking way that I think would actually nod to prior lore and analogous uses of undeath and the story.
What we’ve been told about undeath is that interacting with the light is a painful-to-agonizing experience. We know calling on the light is still possible for undead, although it requires stronger-than-normal willpower to withstand it. We know paladins are imbued with the light, but it also “shut off” if their faith falters or no longer believe in themselves.
So how would a forsaken paladin work? Barely. And you roll with that. Whereas normal paladins are a constant beacon of light, forsaken paladins would be a flickering lightbulb, struggling through the same magically-induced depression others do, but using what’s supposed to be their superior will (of the forsaken) to perform short-burst feats where their conviction is strong enough that not even being set on fire is enough to stop them. Kinda like a mix of a self-flagellating monk who uses corporal chastisement for penance, crossed with the kind of person who’d run into a burning building to rescue someone. And then they burn out, fatigued, needing to recover before they can work up the enthusiasm/bravery/mindset to do it again.
That’d preserve light and undeath being soft opposites, remain aligned with what paladins generally represent in the game, justify them being uncommon enough that it wouldn’t warp forsaken society into being light worshipers en masse, and even plays into Warcraft’s trademark “metal fantasy” style: a blazing zombie using his own flames to burn you with him, for example.
Will WoW do that? lol no. Odds are they’re going to do something to partially “cure” undeath or cheese out with some void elf-esque “shadow paladin” stuff instead.