User:Joshmaul/Catherine Hildreth
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This article is a player character biography page for Hildreth of Sisters of Elune US created by Joshmaul. The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official World of Warcraft history or occurrences which are accurate for all realms. The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and applied for roleplaying, fictional, speculative, or opinions from a limited playerbase only. |
“Put your trust in the Light. Your ass belongs to me.”
- — Dame Catherine Hildreth
 Dame Catherine Hildreth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Human (Humanoid) |
| Level | 70 |
| Class | Paladin, formerly Priestess |
| Affiliation(s) |
The Alliance Kingdom of Stormwind Knights of the Silver Hand 7th Legion Deathsworn Heralds Dragonscale Expedition |
| Occupation | Knight of the Silver Hand, Warmaster of the Deathsworn Heralds |
| Location | Valdrakken, Thaldraszus |
| Status | Alive |
| Relative(s) | Benjamin and Dorothea (parents, deceased), Sir Eran Heskin, Katerina Heskin (godparents) |
| Mentor(s) |
Saavedro of Stratholme High Priestess Laurena |
| Companion(s) | Perseverance (steed) |
| Alignment | Lawful good |
Dame Catherine Hildreth is a Knight of the Silver Hand and combat medic of the 7th Legion. Formerly a student of Saavedro of Stratholme during his early service as the Church ambassador to Stormwind, she was eventually guided by a prophecy that seriously affected her future...
Biography
The Hildreths are a prosperous family who lived in the town of Moonbrook in Westfall, where Catherine was born. Her godparents are the veteran knight Sir Eran Heskin, a friend of her father, and his wife Katerina, for whom Catherine was named. When the Defias made its presence known in the once-verdant fields, the Hildreths took their wealth and possessions and fled to Elwynn Forest, where they set up in a house outside of Goldshire with help from the Heskins.
During his time as a priest from Lordaeron, Saavedro of Stratholme often lodged in this house, dining with the Hildreth family. He could feel that their only child was gifted by the Light, and began to teach her the Three Virtues, and how to use the Light's healing powers. The training was cut short just before the Third War when Saavedro returned to Lordaeron at the behest of his own mentor, Sekhesmet of Stratholme. He did not return until after Arthas' purge of Stratholme, the opening conflict in the war against the Scourge that would later consume both Arthas and Lordaeron. To make matters worse, Catherine's parents journeyed to Lordaeron on a business trip, not realizing the conflict that had erupted in the northern kingdom. They were discovered among the ranks of the Forsaken, having been first killed by the Scourge outside the Greymane Wall (where they tried, in vain, to find sanctuary in Gilneas), then killed by the Gilneans when they were thrown into the fray. Catherine never discovered this until many years later.
Alone and orphaned at fifteen, Catherine journeyed to Stormwind and placed herself at the mercy of the Cathedral's priests, who took her in as one of their own. Trained by the High Priestes Laurena, Catherine grew more confident in her calling over the years and prepared to venture out into the "greater world". It was in the Cathedral, nearly a decade later, that she met Saavedro again. Now a powerful paladin seasoned from years of war against the Horde, the Burning Legion and the Scourge, Saavedro gave the young woman his blessing to carry on her duties to the Church and to the Alliance.
Two draenei shaman - Ammenkayn, daughter of Velenkayn (a friend of Saavedro), and Jaeden'laek the Seer - both foresaw Saavedro's eventual downfall, brought about by his hated enemy, the orc warlock Urgan the Corruptor, and his mad mentor, Sekhesmet, now a powerful Forsaken shadow priest. Jaeden'laek held a seance with Catherine when she arrived at Valgarde in the Howling Fjord during the war against the Lich King, and saw a battle that would destroy the lives of those who fought it, especially Saavedro himself. In the flickering firelight, Jaeden'laek spoke:
"The King is dead, and victory won,
The paladin gone to a gentle place.
An unknown priestess, fair and young,
Will carry his banner, his shield and mace.
Corruptor's fate sealed in blood,
The oncoming storm, for now abating;
Rivers of fire will herald the flood,
The fallen Aspect ends his waiting."
Jaeden'laek had predicted the Cataclysm, and the return of Deathwing. Though Saavedro would survive the conflict in Northrend - the Corruptor would fall, trapped for years in a soulstone - the shaman's vision would haunt Catherine for years, even as the conflicts grew bloodier. By the end of the conflict on Draenor, Saavedro had fallen into shadow, becoming reborn as the shadow priest "Father Shankolin", then killed to resurrect Sekhesmet.
Losing an eye to a demon's claws during the initial foray onto the Broken Shore, Catherine saw the coming conflict as the fulfillment of the shamans' prophecy, and so chose to train as a Knight of the Silver Hand, rather than remain among the priesthood. She became a battle-hardened combat medic of sorts during the war, which ended with the defeat of the Legion on Argus. There she discovered that Saavedro's efforts, which led to his fall to darkness, had been for nothing, as the Corruptor returned to fight in the final conflict as well. Rather than let it shake her, Catherine remained fixed on her service to the Silver Hand, choosing not to let obsession with a single foe destroy her as it had Saavedro.
After the burning of Teldrassil, Catherine joined the Alliance forces in Kul Tiras, and made regular forays to Stromgarde to restore the fallen kingdom. For her bravery during the Fourth War, she was made a knight of the Kingdom of Stormwind and inducted into the 7th Legion, where she would serve for the remainder of the war. She learned later that Saavedro had returned again following the death of Sekhesmet, now embracing the mantle of "Father Shankolin Blightpath" and becoming the very enemy he had tried to defeat... until he was killed, this time for good, in Nazjatar.
