Yes.

Since most, most likely the Sunwalkers will follow An'she and they use Holy spells.

I'd say we wait and see how the lore will go.

Tauren Priests will surely beleive in Anshe, but the Paladins? Meh sure it does seem obvious that they will follow Anshe too since there the Sunwalkers, but you don't see Blood Knights being Blood worshippers or anything. It's just a racial title like the Vindicator.

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It'll be interesting to see what the connection between An'she and the Holy Light is as the Holy Light has never been a faith with a deity.

I've always assumed that Tauren Priests won't just be Priests of An'she, but Mu'sha too. So, the Druids are Mu'sha, the Paladins are An'she and the Priests are both, and represent the balance between the two.

While "The Holy Light" is a specific religion in WoW, it doesn't have exclusive rights to the words "holy" and "light".

So, Sunwalkers might be calling on the holy light of An'she, just like Night Elf priests might be calling on the holy light of Elune. Holy means anything divine or sacred. So to the Tauren anything from An'she could be described as holy.

It gets a bit convoluted, but I don't think we'll get an actual explanation of any sort of relationship between An'she and "The Holy Light". I imagine, similar to the treatment of Elune, the exact nature of any possible connection will be left entirely vague and open to interpretation.

I think their source of power won't be the same as original paladins.

They'll be probably using the holy light of An'she, the same way the night elf priests use the holy light of Mu'sha. The problem here is that all those different types are so similar, and they end up as the same classes.

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Metzen: They are one of the ancient races of Northrend that we haven't spoken of before... because we hadn't made them up before. (laughter)

~Main: Expansion theorycrafting, Expansions list, The Age of Nightmare, Empire of the Tides (coming soon)~
~Fan ficton: Anachronos Journey: The Timeless Heir~ ~Geography of continents series: Old Kalimdor (original), Pandaria~
~Locations as zones series: Azjol-Nerub, Barrow Deeps, Zul'Aman, Demon Hunter zone, Caverns of Time~

But Paladins have always been shown as specifically followers of the Holy Light, aka the religion followed by Humans, Dwarves, Draenei and Blood Elves. Hence why the races who are priests, but don't follow the Holy Light (Night Elves + Elune, Trolls + the Loas, Forsaken + Forgotten Shadow) don't have Paladins. Taurens having Paladins implies to me at least, that there is a link somewhere between the Holy Light that Humans, Dwarves, Draenei and Blood Elves use and An'she.

Otherwise if An'she Holy Light allows for Tauren Paladins, then surely Mu'sha should allow for Night Elf Paladins. And even Troll Paladins that use the Holy Light of the Loa Gods.

Unless they're not "paladins" in the traditional sense, but "sunwalkers" who are totally different and just have abilities that look and sound like what paladins use enough to appear as the same class for gameplay. I believe this is the case, and there will be no conenction to the Holy Light.

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Yeah, that's it.

The Silver Hand and the Hand of Argus are paladins and vindicators, respectively, and I think they aren't 100% the same style-wise. The paladins didn't know about the naaru, for example. In the end, they are the same, but in the origin, they have nothing to do with each other.

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Metzen: They are one of the ancient races of Northrend that we haven't spoken of before... because we hadn't made them up before. (laughter)

~Main: Expansion theorycrafting, Expansions list, The Age of Nightmare, Empire of the Tides (coming soon)~
~Fan ficton: Anachronos Journey: The Timeless Heir~ ~Geography of continents series: Old Kalimdor (original), Pandaria~
~Locations as zones series: Azjol-Nerub, Barrow Deeps, Zul'Aman, Demon Hunter zone, Caverns of Time~

This reminds me alot of the god Amaunator from Forgotten Realms. He was an ancient deity of the Sun and Law, and later he fades away, and a newer deity named Lathander appears, who is the god of the morning and light. Later on you find out that the rumors about Amaunator and Lathander being the same god are true, because after the Spellplague he becomes Amaunator again.

To get straight to the point, this whole "Sunwalker" thing reminds me of the special priests of Amaunator called "Sunlords".

I'd argue that although Paladins, Vindicators and Blood Knights are different in style and origin, they could all be linked back to the same source.

On the subject of spells, Seal of Corruption is one I'm wondering about. Whilst it fits well with Blood Elves, it doesnt with Tauren. I wonder if they'll change it for them, making three variations of the same spell.

Just because an explanation that might work for Tauren Paladins could also explain Night Elf or Troll Paladins, doesn't mean that Blizzard must therefore add them to the game. Blizzard still gets to pick and choose which stories they want to tell.

Look at Blood Elf warriors. There was no lore reason why Blood Elves couldn't be warriors. But, when it came down to deciding which classes Blood Elves would get and it became clear that something had to give, it was warriors that got the axe. The Blood Elf story Blizz wanted to tell was better represented by other classes.

In this case, Night Elf and Troll paladins aren't part of the story Blizzard wants to tell right now, they want to talk about Night Elf mages and Troll Druids.

Edit: Also, what connections there might be between An'she and the Holy Light is really hard to say with what we know, as they're both very abstract things. We know the mythology of An'she, but is she literally the eye of the Earthmother? Or is that simply mythology and folk lore and An'she is in fact a ball of gas burning brightly in the sky?

We know that the Naruu are tied to the Holy Light...but are they the entire source of the Light? Are they the Light itself? Where do the Naruu actually come from?

Sometimes i wish Blizzard would give racial class names the titles they have instead of slapping Paladin to it. It just annoys me if the Tauren Paladin aren't tied to the Holy Light.

I mean whats next? Goblin Shamans don't really believe in shamanism and the spirits, but they just invented some machine to make the elements do as they wish, are we going to see Druidism created thru botanists?

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Almost all religions in the fantasy warcraft world are pretty much accurate. After all, if you pray to a god and they grant you power it is at least a prima facie confirmation that such a god actually exists and answers your prayers. I see no reason to think that the Tauren religion is the only one that is incorrect and their god is nothing but a sun.

Eh, I’m okay with it. It’s just a mechanic. I mean the little info box that appears on mouse-over isn’t there in the lore. Would it really make a difference if they were simply labeled “sunwalkers” but played in every other tangible way as paladins? I contend it would just needlessly complicate gameplay. We know in lore they’re not exactly a “paladin” and they’re really a “sunwalker”, so it’s cool.

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I dunno dude, i just don't like the fact a class is called a Paladin when they aren't really. Then again having Draenei called Vindicator and Blood elves as Blood knights would be cool, heh. =p

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We don't know anything about anshe.Just some tauren mythologies.Maybe he is a source of light,or light itself or something else and tauren don't know it.They call it with different name,just like they call Musha(Elune) and Aparo(Malorne).All the paladins follow holy light.Humans,dwarves,draenei,blood elves.Tauren may be following the holy light but differently than others.

it's already been hinted that the tauren paladins and the normal paladins are worshipping the same thing under different names, i've mentioned this before, it's in blue posts in the cata forums explaing a few of the classes races combo...

to repeat myself

How do you know that, exactly?
Players often like to think of the lore in an absolute, objective sense, but the relative, subjective sense according to a given culture is equally important to consider. In the absolute sense, the Tauren worship Elune as one of the powers. In a relative sense they do not -- they pay homage to Mu'sha, one of the eyes of the Earthmother.

Well, the problem with a statement like that is that the Church of the Holy Light doesn't worship a THING at all. It's a non-theistic religion.

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"Damn, snowcone, what were you for Halloween, a bitch? You best be ready for this shit, Cranberry Juice, cuz you bout to get FUCKED." -L Dubba E

Yeah, but take Mu'sha for an example. We don't know whether or not Mu'sha is a full goddess or just the eye of a larger and more comprehensive one? I see it like the Abrahamic faiths- some believe Jesus is the messiah, others believe he is "just" a prophet.



Like the blood elves, I think, at first, Sunwalkers will be portrayed as following something other than the light and just having similar powers, but will eventually be tied into using the same force as other paladins as the expansion rolls on. Perhaps there's a naaru on the sun, or the titans edited the sun in order to make it a font of what would later be known as the light? I mean, I think there's even a bit of sun reverence among human light-worshippers, since the argent crusade's banner includes a sun. And I mean, what's not to love about the sun? It radiates light, keeps us warm and, in a way, embodies the three virtues.

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I think that there is Light Energy, just as there is Arcane energy, and the Holy Light, An'she worship, the Naaru, they're all just ways to access it.

It's what they have told us many times:

Fire is fire, and its the same in shamans and mages.

The difference is in its summoning.

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Metzen: They are one of the ancient races of Northrend that we haven't spoken of before... because we hadn't made them up before. (laughter)

~Main: Expansion theorycrafting, Expansions list, The Age of Nightmare, Empire of the Tides (coming soon)~
~Fan ficton: Anachronos Journey: The Timeless Heir~ ~Geography of continents series: Old Kalimdor (original), Pandaria~
~Locations as zones series: Azjol-Nerub, Barrow Deeps, Zul'Aman, Demon Hunter zone, Caverns of Time~

Thank you.

All of the races are calling upon similar sources of power to do what they ask. However, the confusion comes when you have a source appealing to one person more than another. For example, when Tirion was ejected from the Order of the Silver Hand, he mentioned that he felt colder, with less power, and could barely call upon the light at all (For a brief period). Why is it that he had less control over this power? This leads one to believe that the sources of magic in WoW aren't purely resevoirs of power, but actual "beings" that can think and distinguish, that can choose and judge.

So, while I believe that Sunwalkers, Naaru, and good ol' Silver Hand Paladins get their power from the same source, I also think that source can distinguish and choose who to give it to; that the source is sentient and thinking. This makes me think about other sources; what about fire, water, earth, wind, arcane, shadow, etc.? Are all those elements also sentient, and granting their power to those who they wish?

Gosh... I hate it when you get to the point where you remember that Metzen probably hasn't considered any of these possiblities at all. Makes me feel really nerdy, lol.

They are actual beings. The powers of Priestesses of the Moon come from Elune, an actual Goddess. Same with the Loa. The Holy Light is also a tangible force of good, though not technically a God it is certainly more than a neutral power to be tapped like the Arcane. While all those powers fall under the general category of “Divine power”, they are not all the same thing and do not come from the same source.

Therefore, should the Tauren get their power from a God like Elune, it will be a different source entirely than the Holy Light the Naaru and paladins use.

Yes. Reference Shamans speaking with the elements and the elements refusing to answer when the orcs went bad.

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Well, as far as arcane energy goes, I don't think so. Judging by the gnomes' approach (and success) with the Arcane, it seems to function at least somewhat like electricity. You attach the device, close the circuit, and current is directed.

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"Damn, snowcone, what were you for Halloween, a bitch? You best be ready for this shit, Cranberry Juice, cuz you bout to get FUCKED." -L Dubba E

The difference between shaman fire and mage fire is how they start. Shaman fire comes directly from the fire spirit. Mage fire is arcane energy transformed INTO thermal energy.

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