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.

A Paladin and a Prince

At nineteen, Arthas entered the Silver Hand. Uther served as his paladin mentor, adding another duty to the prince’s future kingship. His relationship with Jaina also deepened in these years. These personal ties would be tested by the choices he made in his kingdom’s defense.

The Culling of Stratholme

At Stratholme, Arthas learned that infected grain had already reached the population. He ordered the city purged before its people could rise as undead. Uther refused, and Jaina left him. Arthas continued without them, making the destruction of Mal’Ganis his overriding purpose.

The Prince Returns

Arthas returned to Lordaeron bearing Frostmourne and murdered his father. The kingdom he had sworn to protect became a target of his undead campaign. Now serving the Scourge, he also killed Uther while seeking the remains needed for Kel’Thuzad’s resurrection.

The Teacher’s Last Stand

The effort to restore Kel’Thuzad brought Arthas back against the paladins of his former order. Gavinrad guarded the necromancer’s remains and fell when the death knight came to recover them. Carrying those remains onward required a suitable vessel.

Uther stood in defense of the urn holding King Terenas’s ashes. The student he had trained now sought to empty it for the enemy who had helped destroy the kingdom. Their confrontation gave the war a terrible intimacy: duty to the dead king placed Uther directly in Arthas’s path.

Arthas killed his teacher with Frostmourne and took the urn. The defense of Lordaeron lost another of its great paladins, while the Scourge gained what it needed for the journey to the Sunwell.