Blood Knight

For the collection, see Blood Knight collection.

Blood Knight Order
Leader	Lady Liadrin
Secondary leaders	Knight-Lord Bloodvalor, Magister Astalor Bloodsworn, Lord Solanar Bloodwrath
Races	Blood elf
Capital	Silvermoon City
Other major cities	Undercity, Orgrimmar
Theater of operations	Azeroth, Outland
Main language	Thalassian
Secondary languages	Orcish, Darnassian, Kalimdoran, Common, Demonic (Kael'thas Sunstrider's Blood elf Knights)

The Blood Knights are an elite group of blood elf paladins serving as Silvermoon's equivalent of the Knights of the Silver Hand. As high elves, many were members of the Church of Light. Many later became priests and a few became paladins. ^{(WoWRPG 76)  (APG 153)  (W3Man 10)} After the Third War, the majority of high elves became blood elves, and soon the race began to lose its light given powers. Thus they needed to find a new way to access the Light. They did this by sapping Light energy from the captive naaru M'uru held beneath the Blood Knight headquarters. In a mad lust for power, Kael'thas Sunstrider sent the felblood to attack Silvermoon City and seize M'uru for his own personal uses.

History

Stealing the Light

From the official Burning Crusade website:

A blood elf paladin.

Not long ago, in Outland...

Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider and his blood elves waited until the newly arrived naaru departed Tempest Keep. He had little interest in what the naaru hoped to accomplish on this shattered world: it was Tempest Keep that had brought him here. At the prince's signal the elves stormed the dimensional fortress, quickly defeating its automated defenses and claiming its satellite structures. The only real threat the elves discovered was a lone naaru who had stayed behind to maintain the keep's defenses. With some difficulty, Kael'thas subdued the energy being and sent it to Quel'Thalas so that the magic-addicted blood elves could feed upon it.

Back in the capital city of Silvermoon, Magister Astalor Bloodsworn was not content with this idea. After long months of study and experimentation, he and his fellow wizards learned how to manipulate and corrupt the naaru's luminous energies. In the end the wizards devised a process by which the powers of the Light could be transferred to recipients who had not earned such abilities. Instead of feeding upon the naaru's magic, the blood elves would wield the naaru's Light-given powers themselves.

Lady Liadrin, formerly a priestess, had recently renounced her vows, for she felt the Light had abandoned her people. She learned of the wizards' achievement and volunteered to be the first to bend the stolen powers to her will. With her decision a new order was born: the Blood Knights. These renegade paladins are able to harness the sacred powers of the Alliance's noblest heroes.

Though many blood elves applauded the creation of the Blood Knights, just as many dislike their methods and their attitude, especially the Farstriders. Curiously the naaru don't express any sort of dislike for the blood knights and even allow them in their cities. Blood Knights, despite their capture of M'uru, don't seem to have any enmity with the naaru of Shattrath City, some even living in the city.

It is also important to note that not all blood elves abandoned their former ways to become Blood Knights. A very small minority of blood elves continued to follow their path as true Paladins of the Light.^{[citation needed]} This minority has increased due to the events that came during and after the events at the Magister's Terrace.^{[citation needed]}

Treachery of the Prince

For the dialog between Lady Liadrin and A'dal, see: Lady Liadrin.

Travelling to Quel'Thalas once more, Kael'thas and his "felblood" minions entered Silvermoon, took M'uru from his place under Blood Knight headquarters, and took the naaru to the Sunwell Plateau. In the empty chamber, the magisters that drained the Light energy stand around, dazed; young initiates seeking to learn the powers of resurrection (who would normally tap the power directly from M'uru) must instead collect the residual holy energies from the dazed magisters.

Seeing Kael'thas' treachery for herself, Lady Liadrin travelled to Shattrath and met with A'dal, who informed her that M'uru had known his fate - to aid in the redemption of the people of Quel'Thalas, as prophesied by Velen. With this new insight, Liadrin pledged herself and the Order to the Sha'tar and the Shattered Sun Offensive, the army raised to battle Kael'thas and his nefarious master, Kil'jaeden. With Liadrin absent from Silvermoon, the duties of training aspiring Masters - normally undertaken by Liadrin herself - are now being handled by Lord Solanar Bloodwrath. Mu'ru's death and the reawakening of the Sunwell through the use of his spark, has lead to the beginning of the path to redemption for the whole Sin'dorei race. The Blood Knight Order has since embraced the Light and are on the way to becoming true Paladins.

Campaign on Pandaria

Roughly two months following the discovery of Pandaria, Lor'themar Theron leads a Blood Knight division to the myth-shrouded continent. The Blood Knights serve as either protectors of the Reliquary or as the personal honor guard of the regent lord himself in Kun-Lai Summit.

The Blood Knights are additionally fielded on the Isle of Thunder, just as the Sunreaver Onslaught is near the point of breaching the stronghold of Lei Shen, the Thunder King. Furthermore, a Blood Knight regiment can be seen at the sin'dorei base camp located at the Dawnseeker Promontory.

Fighting the Iron Horde

The Blood Knights are the primary force of the Sunsworn, being personally led by Lady Liadrin herself. The Sunsworn hope to drive out the foul taint of demonic corruption in the region and allied with the Auchenai to defend the draenei's sacred area, Auchindoun, from agents of the Burning Legion. Primarily situated in Talador, members of the Order can be found all over Draenor, from Horde garrisons to maintaining a minor presence in Nagrand.

Turmoil in the Horde and Pandaria

Lady Liadrin.

The Blood Knight order, following the banishment of Kil'jaeden, now channel their power through the renewed Sunwell. With the increasing militarization of Garrosh Hellscream's reign, the Blood Knights initially lent considerable support to the Orcish Warchief, although following the purge of Dalaran, opinions have split between supporting the increasingly deranged orc and serving their country. They played a large role in the fight against Lei Shen (the Thunder King), as part of the Sunreaver Onslaught. The Blood Knights mostly support the efforts of Regent Lord Lor'themar Theron and his eventual support of the Darkspear Rebellion. Thus, they are present at the Battle of Orgrimmar and the defeat of Garrosh Hellscream.

Alternate Draenor and the return of the Legion

The order played a major role in the war against the Iron Horde in the new, altered timeline after Garrosh's escape from captivity. With the escape of Gul'dan and the impending return of the Burning Legion, the Paladins of the Blood Knight Order will be needed more than ever before to combat the threat presented by the demonic forces of Sargeras. To that end, they fought alongside other Horde forces at the Battle on the Broken Shore. In the days thereafter, they would lend their support to the reformed Knights of the Silver Hand.

Horde-specific paladin spells and items

There are a great number of similarities between Alliance and Horde paladins, but there are also major variations of the Horde paladins over their Alliance cousins. These are but a few:

Blood-Tempered Ranseur

At level 20, blood elf paladins receive a quest from Knight-Lord Bloodvalor in Silvermoon to create a spear that serves as both weapon and badge of office as a Blood Knight Adept. However, many have complained that the result - the [Blood-Tempered Ranseur] - is weaker than both the sword [Sin'dorei Warblade]​​​​​​​​, the quest reward for killing Dar'Khan Drathir and the Alliance's own paladin weapon, the mace [Verigan's Fist]​​​​​​​​. However, the Blood Tempered Ranseur does have subtle advantages. The stat buffs are substantial (+ 6 Strength and Intellect, +9 Stamina, as opposed to the Warblade's +10 Strength, +4 Stamina (no Intellect bonus) or the Verigan's Fist's +7 Stamina, +6 Intellect, and +12 Spirit (no Strength bonus)), and the weapon is quicker, allowing more chances to interrupt enemy casting, as well as more chances to score crits. Also not to be overlooked from an RP aspect is the weapon's undeniable visual appeal and striking distinctiveness.

Mounts

Like the Alliance, blood elf paladins receive their class-specific warhorse & charger mount at level 20 & 40 respectively.

There are also variations in appearance. Alliance paladin horses are white, with blue livery and silver armor plating (gold at 60). Blood elf paladin horses are black, with red livery and brass armor plating.

Blood Knight tabard

Upon completing the Charger quest, in addition to receiving the epic mount, blood elf paladins receive the [Blood Knight Tabard] to mark their promotion to the rank of Master in the Blood Knight order. This is the only mount quest on either side that provides a tabard in addition to the mount.

Ranks of the Blood Knight Order

There are eight ranks within the Blood Knight Order. (Six excluding Lady Liadrin's and Solanar Bloodwrath's exclusive, unattainable ranks of 'Lord' and 'Matriarch')

• Initiate: Where all blood knights begin, at level 12
• Adept: Obtained after completing the Blood-Tempered Ranseur, around level 20-25, and learning Summon Warhorse.
• Knight: Obtained after learning the Blood Charger summon, level 40.
• Master: Obtained after completing the Blood Charger quest and receiving the Blood Knight Tabard, around level 60. This rank is also held by some NPCs (Example:Master Pyreanor in Orgrimmar).
• Champion: Some Blood Elf paladin trainers (Example:Champion Cyssa Dawnrose in the Undercity.) have this rank. Presumably attained through loyalty to the order and going above and beyond the calls of a Blood Knight's duty.
• Knight-Lord: Presumably the teachers of aspiring Blood Knights (Example:Knight-Lord Bloodvalor in Silvermoon) They are the highest ranking among the Blood Knights outside of Lady Liadrin and Solanar Bloodwrath respectively. They answer only to the Matriarch and Lord of the Order, or others of the Knight-Lord rank.
• Lord: The Rank held by Lord Solanar Bloodwrath. Serving as the right hand of the Matriarch while she is out of the city.
• Matriarch: The rank held by Lady Liadrin, supreme leader of the Blood Knight order.

M'uru, the imprisoned Naaru from which the Blood Elves harvest their "holy" powers, pre-patch 2.4.0

Concerns and controversy

Main article: Blood elf controversy

The introduction of paladins to the Horde along with shamans to the Alliance was initially controversial. The decision to eliminate faction-specific classes was explained by Blizzard as an attempt to refine and distinguish the two classes from one another. They had previously suffered from comparisons of their abilities, and the attempt to "balance" them and yet have them remain distinct led to the two classes becoming more and more similar to one another. The introduction of these classes to both sides would reduce the controversial issue of faction balance. Nevertheless, this decision has met with some criticism by players and even Blizzard employees have expressed that the decision was not an easy one.

Female Blood Knight

Notable

Name	Location		Information
Lady Liadrin	Terrace of Light	Shattrath City	Matriarch of the Order and the first Blood knight, former priestess; trains aspiring Masters (pre-patch 2.4).
Lord Solanar Bloodwrath	Farstriders' Square	Silvermoon City	Trains aspiring Masters (post-Patch 2.4)
M'uru	Sunwell Plateau	Isle of Quel'Danas	Captured Tempest Keep technician, former source of Blood knights' powers. (Kidnapped by Kael'thas Sunstrider, patch 2.4.)
Magister Astalor Bloodsworn	Farstriders' Square	Silvermoon City	Creator of the Blood Knights, led the project to drain energy from captive naaru.
Knight-Lord Bloodvalor	Farstriders' Square	Silvermoon City	Oversees Blood Knight training in the lower ranks.
Mehlar Dawnblade	The Bulwark	Western Plaguelands	Former student of Uther the Lightbringer, aids in creation of Scourgebane.
Champion Cyssa Dawnrose	Royal Quarter	Undercity	Only Blood Knight trainer in Eastern Kingdoms outside of Quel'Thalas.
Master Pyreanor	Grommash Hold	Orgrimmar	Only Blood knight trainer in Kalimdor.

For a more detailed archive of blood knights see:

• Famous paladins

Trivia

• The Blood Knight order appears to hold political sway within Quel'thalas, the Silvermoon guardians appearing to be particularly respectful to both the Blood Knight player and Champion Vranesh. On the other end of the spectrum, they do not seem to hold the Farstriders in a very high regard.
• "Blood Knight" was originally a name of an enemy found in Diablo I. It was located in Hell. Blood Knight is one of three versions of Hell Knight, but they don't look much like the Warcraft versions.

Sources

• A portion or version of this article copied from  Wowpedia on 28 Aug 2015. See list of authors.

External links

Lore

WoW Insider Know Your Lore: The Blood Knights by Anne Stickney Jun 8th 2014 8:00PM

Old

Old Official WOrld of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade site The Burning Crusade — Paladins