“Cost of Honor”: the Riverglades, the Second War, and the Paladin Terallion

2026-11-13 · ForeverDB

Blizzard's “Cost of Honor” short tells the Riverglades' history: the siege of Blackrock Spire, Orgrim Doomhammer and Anduin Lothar, and a Paladin named Terallion. The Riverglades is a real Forever zone and Terallion is a Paladin, but the rest is backstory the client can't confirm. Further down, we also list the Paladin changes the video skips.

This is an official World of Warcraft video, a fireside telling of the short story “Cost of Honor”. It is lore rather than patch notes. The class numbers further down come from the Forever client (build 1.60.1.70938), not from the video.

Blizzard posted a roughly seven-minute animated short on 13 November 2026. Around a campfire, Demar Brant tells the young people of the Riverglades the history behind the siege of Blackrock Spire, and the Paladin who stepped up when Anduin Lothar fell. The tale is told as the Brotherhood remembers it, so treat the history as their version. Here is what the video says, and what our Forever data can and can't back up.

The short version

• The Riverglades is a real place in Forever: a zone that's new to the game, with its own map at /maps/2548 and a lore page.
• The story is set after the Second War, around the siege of Blackrock Spire, where Orgrim Doomhammer killed Anduin Lothar and a Paladin named Terallion took command.
• Terallion is a Paladin. The character isn't in our data, but the class is, and Forever rebuilt it from top to bottom.
• The Brotherhood, Farhold Keep, Sunny Glade and the Twilight's Hammer get named too. None of them is in the client data yet, so we can't check them.
• Further down, the article also lists the Paladin changes the video never mentions.

Claim by claim

Places, factions and characters named in the story, checked against the Forever client data.

The Riverglades and the Brotherhood

The one piece of the story we can stand on is the setting. The Riverglades is a zone in Forever, new to the game, and we have its map at /maps/2548. The rest, the Brotherhood, Farhold Keep and the lost Sunny Glade, is lore the client doesn't carry as place or faction data, so it's Blizzard's word for now.

The strength of the Riverglades lies in its people. Blizzard, “Cost of Honor” | World of Warcraft: Forever (6:40)

The siege of Blackrock Spire

The flashback is a Second War battle. Doomhammer kills Lothar, and by the story's logic the war should have ended there.

Now when Doomhammer slew Anduin Lothar, by all logic, the war should have ended there. Blizzard, “Cost of Honor” | World of Warcraft: Forever (2:58)

Instead the Paladin Terallion picks up Lothar's broken sword and his great hammer, beats Doomhammer unconscious and chains him. None of this is in our data. The one check we can make is that Terallion is a Paladin, and the Forever Paladin is a heavily changed class.

As Lothar fell, the Paladin Terallion rose. Blizzard, “Cost of Honor” | World of Warcraft: Forever (3:38)

Where the client and Blizzard differ

• The names. The video's Anduin is Anduin Lothar, the Second War commander. The only Anduin in our client data is Anduin Wrynn, the child king of Stormwind. Same first name, different person.
• Everything else in the story, Blackrock Spire, Doomhammer, Terallion, the Brotherhood, Farhold Keep, Sunny Glade and the Twilight's Hammer, is lore the client has no record of. Nothing in it contradicts the client; the client just can't confirm it.

What we have, and what we don't

The client has the Riverglades as a zone with a map, and the Paladin class behind Terallion. It doesn't have the siege of Blackrock Spire, Anduin Lothar, Orgrim Doomhammer, the Brotherhood, Farhold Keep, Sunny Glade or the Twilight's Hammer as places, factions or NPCs you can look up. For a story video that's expected: the history is backstory for the zone, and you can't test backstory in game. What you can do at launch is level a Paladin through the Riverglades and see how the class in the tale actually plays, which is what the rest of this article covers.

What the video didn't mention

Paladin

Holy. The healing tree was reshuffled and given new tools.

• Holy Shock Holy Shock moved to Holy tier 5, so you take it at level 30, and its cooldown is 10 sec instead of 30 sec. A much faster instant heal or nuke.
• Light's Vigil Light's Vigil, a new tier 7 talent at level 40: your next Holy Shock on the target has no cooldown and heals them and their party for 315 to 333.
• Oath of Light Oath of Light, a new tier 4 talent at level 25 in Improved Blessing of Wisdom's old slot: it boosts your Holy Light, Flash of Light and Holy Shock on one chosen ally.
• Consecrated Ground Consecrated Ground, a new tier 5 talent at level 30: +10% Holy damage against the first 4 enemies that walk into your Consecration.
• Divine Precision Divine Precision, a new tier 4 talent at level 25: +8% to hit with Holy spells and 20% shorter silences on you.
• Exorcism Exorcism now does 475 to 529 at rank 6 instead of 505 to 563, learned at level 20.
• Lay on Hands Lay on Hands has a 20 min cooldown instead of 1 hr, from level 10.

Protection. Tanking got real threat and survival talents.

• Templar's Bulwark Templar's Bulwark, a new tier 3 talent at level 20: an absorb shield worth 100% of your maximum health for 8 sec (it applies Forbearance).
• Sacred Duty Sacred Duty, a new tier 2 talent at level 15: cuts the cooldown of Divine Shield, Divine Protection and Templar's Bulwark by 60 sec.
• Seal of Fury Seal of Fury, a new tanking seal from level 10.
• Holy Shield Holy Shield moved to Protection tier 5 (level 30), costs less mana (195 instead of 240 at rank 3) and gains a 4th rank at level 60.
• Righteous Fury Righteous Fury is stronger (90% extra Holy threat instead of 60%) and trained at level 10 instead of 16.
• Shieldsworn Shieldsworn, a new tier 7 talent at level 40: Holy Strike hits with your shield and lets you block spells for 6 sec.
• Blessing of Kings Blessing of Kings is now a trainer skill at level 20 (it was a talent) and lasts 1 hr instead of 5 min.

Retribution. Ret gets a new strike and seal-based talents.

• Holy Strike Holy Strike, a new melee attack from level 6.
• Sanctified Judgement Sanctified Judgement, a new tier 2 talent at level 15: Judgement returns 60% of the judged seal's mana cost.
• Champion of the Light Champion of the Light, a new tier 6 talent at level 35: up to 60% of your Intellect as spell damage, and a 1.0 sec faster Hammer of Wrath.
• Unsealed Wrath Unsealed Wrath, a new tier 7 talent at level 40: your melee attacks store a copy of your active Seal, stacking up to 3 times.
• Blessing of Might Blessing of Might is weaker (133 attack power instead of 185 at rank 7) but lasts 1 hr instead of 5 min, from level 4.
• Vengeance Vengeance is reworked to 3 ranks: +3% Physical and Holy damage per stack, up to 5 stacks, at level 30.
• Repentance Repentance moved down to Retribution tier 5, so you can take it at level 30.

All 101 Paladin changes, rank by rank →

Sources

• “Cost of Honor” | World of Warcraft: Forever (World of Warcraft, YouTube)
• Paladin: changes from Classic Era (ForeverDB, from the client)
• The Riverglades zone map (ForeverDB)
• “Cost of Honor” short story (World of Warcraft news)