The First Paladins

The First War had shown the danger faced by the servants of the Light on a battlefield. Alonsus Faol helped answer that loss by forming an order whose members could wield weapons as well as holy power. The Silver Hand made protection a fighting vocation.

Its first paladins were Uther, Turalyon, Tirion Fordring, Saidan Dathrohan and Gavinrad. Their induction at Alonsus Chapel in Stratholme established the generation from which the order’s later traditions would grow.

The same fellowship would be tested by more than battles against the Horde. Its members would eventually face the question of whom their duty required them to protect, and what remained of that duty when their kingdom fell.

The Price of Honor

Near Hearthglen, Tirion fought an orc he initially knew only as an enemy. When the ruined tower collapsed around them, Eitrigg pulled him from the wreckage. The rescue left the paladin with a debt that the laws governing their peoples did not recognize.

His defense of Eitrigg led to disgrace and exile. Even then, Tirion returned to prevent the orc’s execution in Stratholme. An attack by Thrall’s forces gave him the chance to free the prisoner.

Outside the city, Tirion called upon the Light to heal Eitrigg and found that it still answered. He had lost office and home, but the act that had condemned him had not made compassion impossible. Eitrigg returned to his people; Tirion faced the life of an outcast.

An Act of Love

Carrying the corrupted blade, Darion sought out Tirion Fordring, then living in exile. Tirion could sense Alexandros’s imprisoned soul. He offered no ritual or easy cure: undoing such an evil would require an act of love greater than the betrayal that had corrupted the sword.

Darion left with a possible answer rather than a restored weapon. Before returning to his allies, he urged Tirion to take up his former calling again. Their meeting connected the Mograine family’s struggle with the exiled paladin.

The First Battle for Light’s Hope

Darion returned to the defenders of Light’s Hope Chapel with the corrupted sword. The Scourge sought more than a military victory: the remains of Lordaeron’s fallen champions rested beneath the chapel, beyond its grasp. The defenders could not hold indefinitely against the approaching army.

Remembering Tirion’s counsel, Darion drove the blade into his own heart. His sacrifice freed his father’s soul and awakened a devastating response from the champions buried beneath the chapel. The defenders survived, but Kel’Thuzad recovered Darion and the still-corrupted weapon. Darion was raised as a death knight.

The Reunion That Never Came

Living in exile, Tirion sought a way to reach Taelan inside the Scarlet Crusade. An adventurer carried the objects and message that could remind his son of their family. The appeal succeeded: Taelan chose to leave Hearthglen and find his father.

Isillien stopped him on the road. The inquisitor killed the paladin he had once influenced, turning the attempted departure into an execution. Tirion reached the confrontation and killed Isillien, but could no longer save Taelan.

Over his son’s body, Tirion resolved to renew the work of the Silver Hand. His return was not a restoration of the family life he had lost. It was a commitment to act against the evil that had taken it, a duty he could no longer set aside.