What you need to know about Lady Liadrin going into Midnight

Midnight opens with the heroes of Azeroth called to the desperate defense of the Sunwell by Lady Liadrin, but before we accept the summon request we should refresh ourselves on the background of the Blood Knight Matriarch. As a Priest-turned-Paladin, she has perhaps the most tempestuous relationship with the Light out of the entire cast of the World of Warcraft story.

While she has been doling out quests to adventurers since The Burning Crusade and is recognizable enough to represent her class in Hearthstone, a closer look reveals a haunted, conflicted leader with an unwavering belief in her people.

From the Amani Trolls to Arthas

Liadrin was born before the first opening of the Dark Portal amid a time of great conflict between her High Elf nation of Quel’thalas and the neighboring indigenous Amani Trolls. After losing both of her parents amid the ongoing violence, she was taken in and raised by a High Priest named Vandellor.

An early display of her connection to the Light came when her party was ambushed by Trolls during an excursion to investigate a problem with the protective runestones set onto the borders of the High Elven kingdom. After being captured, they were interrogated by Zul’jin, the Amani chieftan. Liadrin was able to channel the pain she had endured under questioning back to Zul’jin via the Light, creating an opportunity for her group to escape.

The animosity between these two groups continued through the Second War, when the Amani joined the Horde’s march on the Eastern Kingdoms and reached Quel’thalas. After the magical wards protecting Silvermoon City proved effective, Orgrim Doomhammer grew frustrated and turned his invading army west to focus on Lordaeron. The Trolls were unwilling to abandon their attack, but also unable to pierce the city’s powerful defenses.

After the remaining Amani armies were driven back, Liadrin was among a group that came across Zul’jin himself among the scarred and burned remains of the Quel’thalas countryside. While her compatriots were more than willing to avenge their kingdom by inflicting agony upon the leader of the Forest Trolls, Liadrin bristled at such barbarism and dared to speak out against her commander before an Amani raiding party arrived and rescued Zul’jin.

Though the tides of war shifted away from Quel’thalas for the time being, it would not take many years for a new threat to march on Silvermoon City and once again test Liadrin’s relationship to the Light.

Where there’s a Sunwell, there’s a way

By the time Arthas Menethil and his undead army laid siege to Silvermoon City, Liadrin had become a High Priestess. She was among the contingent that fled north to Quel’danas, seat of the Sunwell and the High Elves’ magic, after watching Arthas parade a fallen Sylvanas Windrunner before the gates of the city.

After Arthas conjured a path of frost to reach the island, Liadrin watched as he and his army struck down her closest allies one by one: her commander Grand Magister Belo’vir, her king Anasterion Sunstrider, and her mentor and father figure Vandellor. With his goals accomplished and the Sunwell desecrated, Arthas left Quel’thalas a scarred wasteland.

Throughout the battle and in the aftermath, Liadrin struggled to call the Light. Her guilt and grief had weakened her connection. When Anasterion’s son, Prince Kael’thas, sought volunteers to assault the tainted Sunwell, Liadrin volunteered. Without the Light to rely on, she set aside her Priest title and armed herself with a traditional melee weapon.

This squadron was successful in reaching the Sunwell and destroying it to prevent the emanating dark energies from laying waste to what was left of the High Elven society. After a fierce battle where Liadrin was forced to slay a risen Vandellor, the armada succeeded in destroying the Sunwell. Without its abundant arcane energies, the people of Quel’thalas declared themselves the Blood Elves and began to rebuild their society.

The Order of the Blood Knights

Liadrin spent the next several years in self-imposed exile, wracked with grief and guilt over her role in the tragedies that had befallen her people. She wandered the Ghostlands, the now-corrupted southern section of the Eversong Woods, and spent her days hunting and destroying any Scourge leftover from the forces of Arthas Menethil.

Eventually she was summoned to Silvermoon City, which she was startled to see had been almost entirely restored. Prince Kael’thas had been busy exploring Outland and seeking a remedy for the arcane addiction of the Blood Elves. He had managed to capture the citadel of Tempest Keep and overcome its Naaru crew. These beings of pure light had been at war with the forces of the Burning Legion across the cosmos for thousands of years, yet Kael’thas managed to subdue one of them, M’uru, and teleport it back to Quel’thalas to be siphoned of its power.

The magisters of Silvermoon City had summoned Liadrin as the perfect candidate to be able to use M’uru as a means to control the Light, rather than serve it. She was able to channel the power of the captured Naaru to become the first Blood Knight, a skilled martial combatant with the ability to wield the Light by sheer will.

Betrayal and redemption

Eventually the obsessions and reliance on fel energies caught up with Kael’thas Sunstrider, and he turned his back on his homeland and people during The Burning Crusade. Lady Liadrin witnessed the prince storm Silvermoon City and absconded with M’uru. Without a way to channel the Light, a conflicted Liadrin voyaged to Outland in order to seek counsel from another Naaru: A’dal, the leader of Shattrath City.

Liadrin was shocked to find out from A’dal that M’uru had allowed himself to be kidnapped and utilized by the Blood Knights. It had been foretold by Prophet Velen, a Dranei with a knack for seeing the future, that M’uru would be led astray and broken by one who would later redeem herself at the darkest hour.

After hearing this, Liadrin renounced her ties to House Sunstrider and pledged her loyalty to the effort to stop Kael’thas from using a restored Sunwell to summon the general of the Burning Legion, Kil’jaedan. Although they were successful in defeating the Prince (several times) and preventing the full summoning of Kil’jaeden, the transformation of the Sunwell into a tainted portal had infused it with corruption.

Just as Liadrin seemed to accept her Order’s fate for their actions in originally siphoning power from M’uru, Velen was able to use the Light-infused heart of the now-expired Naaru to cleanse the Sunwell into a brilliant source of both Light and arcane magic. The Blood Knights pledged to cease wielding the Light by domination and began the now-familiar task of restoring their people to their former glory.

Further adventures with Liadrin

In the years since the restoration of the Sunwell, Liadrin has been a prominent Paladin present at many of the important moments in Azeroth’s history. She was among the vanguard that made the first foray through the Dark Portal to alternate-Draenor, and eventually ended up commanding the all-Blood-Elf Sunsworn forces throughout the Talador campaign.

She can be seen at the Paladin player’s ascension to Highlord during the events of Legion, eventually becoming one of their loyal champions. She saw the parallels between her own people’s struggles and that of the Nightfallen, and played a major part in the eradication of the demonic forces from Suramar City. Liadrin eventually plays a diplomatic role in welcoming the Nightborne into the Horde.

Liadrin has represented the Horde, Blood Elves, and Paladins across Azeroth and beyond as a military commander, political figure, and wielder of the Light. She has trained Earthen forces, studied the application of holy and arcane magics in Hallowfall, and even officiated the union of First Arcanist Thalyssra and Lor’themar Theron.

Not while I draw breath

With Xal’atath having bested us at nearly every turn of The War Within, it was inevitable that Lady Liadrin would be on the front lines of the defense of the Sunwell against the latest focus of The Harbinger’s forces. The cinematic trailer highlights her ongoing tumultuous relationship with the Light, but it is her deep-seated belief that her people are worthy of aid that eventually triggers the Sunwell to summon enough help to drive Xal’atath from the plateau.

With our players called to join the Vanguard of the Light, it seems a near certainty that we’ll be spending more time with Liadrin throughout Midnight. As the Worldsoul Saga continues to unfold, we may find out more about things like the very nature of the Light itself. Perhaps then Lady Liadrin will finally make peace with her eternally tempestuous connection to the luminous cosmic force that empowers her.