Know Your Lore: The Legacy of the Fordragons

We still don’t know much about the Fordragon family. With BlizzCon in two weeks, and spoiler-laden posts like this one making us think about what might be next, there’s some room to think about the Fordragon family and what their legacy might be. One thing that needs to be discussed is how little we know about them, and how it might be revealed in upcoming content.

Lady Mara Fordragon and the Fordragons of today

First off, I feel it needs to be said that I don’t think it’s likely that Lady Mara Fordragon is Taelia Fordragon’s mother or Bolvar Fordragon’s deceased wife for a number of reasons. First off, she would have been an adult during the First War, which would put her in her late fifties if we assume she was 20 when the First War broke out. Since she was High Clerist of Stormwind by the fall of the city some five years later, that seems unlikely. If we assume she was at least thirty, she’d be in her late sixties and at least twenty years Bolvar’s senior, if he was the same age as Varian Wrynn (who was five when the First War began and ten when Stormwind fell).

Similarly, we don’t even know for sure that Bolvar himself was alive during the Second War. He may not even have been born yet, or if he was, if he returned to Stormwind when Varian did after the end of the Second War. We know that Bolvar had a daughter with someone in Lordaeron and that someone died during the Scourge, and that Bolvar sent his daughter Taelia to Kul Tiras to be raised by the Proudmoore family to keep her safe from the war, but we don’t know if Bolvar himself was living in Lordaeron at the time. Still, based on Bolvar’s apparent age when we see him in the original World of Warcraft at Stormwind Keep, he’s entirely too young to have been married to Lady Mara Fordragon, who therefore would not have gained his last name through marriage.

It’s not impossible that Lady Mara was Bolvar’s wife, but if so, they were married before Lady Mara left Stormwind as her name on the statue in Stormwind Keep is “Lady Mara Fordragon” and not her maiden name. Bolvar would also be considerably older than he’s presented as in game, were that the case.

The unknowns of the Fordragons

Based on the statue in the Paladin Class Order Hall, the Sanctum of Light, Lady Mara is revered among the Paladins of the original Order of the Silver Hand. She is given a place of honor, directly across from the statue of Uther the Lightbringer himself, and is one of two lady Paladins immortalized in the hall along with General Lena Stormpike.

What we know of her life is simply that she was High Clerist of Stormwind and that she served a role in protecting the refugees from Stormwind on their way north to Lordaeron. We don’t know how old she was for sure, we don’t know when she died — although with two statues remembering her, it seems likely she is at least thought dead, as Turalyon was — and we don’t know her relationship to Bolvar.

This is, to my mind, the first and most important secret I hope any new storylines for Bolvar or Taelia reveal to us. What is the relationship between Mara and Bolvar? Was Bolvar born in Lordaeron? Was he raised there? Did he live there until the Third War? Under what circumstances did he come to Stormwind, and why did Varian think so highly of him that he left him as regent for Anduin? It seems likely to me that Bolvar is Mara’s son, but if so, who is his father? I do admit, it’s interesting that for once it’s the father who we don’t know much about.

Speaking of mystery parents…

Who is Taelia’s mother? Why was Taelia important enough for Lord Daelin Proudmoore himself to personally appoint one of his best men to watch over her? I mean, sure, Bolvar was Regent for Anduin Wrynn after the Third War, but we have no idea what his standing was before or during it. Was he living in Stormwind? If so, why was Taelia in Lordaeron? We’re specifically told that Taelia lost her mother when the Scourge hit Lordaeron and Bolvar sent her to live in Kul Tiras at that time, so it would have been roughly around the time that Arthas returned from Northrend and killed his father. So what, if any, was Bolvar’s position in Lordaeron? Who was Taelia’s mother?

Quite frankly I’d be thrilled if Christie Golden or someone else was given the job of writing a novel that explained the entire Fordragon line and answered some of these questions, especially since we’re heading into an expansion with several hints about the Lich King and other forces of Death coming to a head.

Now, I’d be failing my duty as a lore nerd if I didn’t talk about the Calia Menethil theory. Quite a few people have noticed that Taelia’s story of losing her mother and Lordaeron before she was even old enough to understand gibes to a degree with the story Calia tells about being separated from her husband (a footman in the armies of Lordaeron) and daughter in Southshore after having escaped from the initial Scourge attack on Lordaeron. Southshore would be a perfect place to retreat to as a first step towards escaping from Lordaeron entirely, as the wall made Gilneas impassable at this time. Southshore would be the closest town with a port outside of Lordaeron proper.

Is this why Bolvar sent Taelia to Kul Tiras? Did he witness (seemingly) the death of his wife and send their daughter off to the island fastness, knowing Daelin would keep the granddaughter of Terenas Menethil safe? Was Bolvar still in Lordaeron at this time, serving as a footman in her armies, because he’d met and fallen in love with Calia and didn’t want to leave for Stormwind to reclaim his legacy as the son of one of the city’s greatest heroes? We have no idea, but it’s a theory some have mentioned and it’s worth considering.

In the end…

We really have no idea, and there are a few flaws with the idea of Calia as Bolvar’s wife and Taelia’s mother. For starters, Calia went to Stormwind and visited with Anduin during the run up to the peace meetings in Arathi in Before the Storm, and you’d think she’d see some mention of Bolvar or Mara during her time there. If she’d last seen her husband during the end of the Third War and was in hiding ever since, wouldn’t discovering that he’d survived for years afterwards have been something she’d react to? For that matter, if Bolvar had been her husband, wouldn’t she think to look for him in Stormwind, the country his — at least potential — mother came from?

It is possible nobody talks about Bolvar around Anduin because they don’t want to upset the King. I mean, Bolvar essentially raised him before he ‘died’ in Northrend.

At any rate, we really don’t know a lot about Taelia, or Bolvar, or Mara Fordragon, and I hope we start to learn more soon.