Karandra Fordring

Lady Karandra Fordring was the wife of Lord Paladin Tirion Fordring of Hearthglen.

Of Blood and Honor
After Tirion met the orc hermit Eitrigg he was convinced the orc knew honor, but his wife Karandra disagreed. The two then got into a fight when Tirion told their son Taelan that not all orcs were bad, and that the good ones were just harder to find. Karandra however was very stuck in the idea that orcs were evil and should all be killed, a very traditional and common view.

When Tirion was eventually excommunicated and exiled for attacking Alliance soldiers and refusing to break the promise he made to the orc, Karandra didn't go with him for Taelan's sake. She told their son that Tirion had died, and took him to a false grave at the Undercroft, where Taelan buried the toy warhammer his father had given him, and the memory of this father, forever. Years later, she was present at a ceremony in which Taelan became a paladin.

Her subsequent life is unknown but she died at some point.

Memory
The only known picture of Karandra is a painting which is the goal of the quest Of Love and Family in World of Warcraft. Tirion explains: "When Taelan was a child, we would often visit Caer Darrow on family excursions. On our last visit, an artist by the name of Renfray painted a portrait of us poised along the beachside. It is my fondest memory of both Taelan and Karandra. For it was at that moment, with my wife and son in my arms, that I felt a bond of love and family that I would never know again."

Memorable quotes

 * You went off alone only days after your attack? How can you be so reckless, Tirion? What were you trying to prove? It's not like you're a young man anymore!
 * Honor. It always comes down to that with you, Tirion! You're just as exasperating as that vainglorious Barthilas! Is your precious honor really more important to you than your own wife?
 * You're supposed to be careful and stay alive so that our son doesn't grow up without a father.
 * Don't tell him that! Orcs are mindless beasts who should all be hunted down and killed! How can you even say that, knowing what they've done to our world! What's gotten into you, Tirion?
 * I can't even begin to imagine what you were thinking. The orc is a beast, Tirion! It has no concept of honor! You gambled all our lives on a stupid, silly whim! So what happens to us now, Tirion? Did you even consider that while you were playing the martyr?
 * Exiled? Light-damn you, Tirion! I told you your precious honor would be the end of us! Will your honor keep us fed and keep our son decently clothed? How can you maintain this senseless obsession in the face of what's happened? What happened to the responsible man I married?
 * I love you, Tirion. Please believe that. But I won't be coming with you... and neither will Taelan. I will not have our son grow up as an outcast or be the subject of ridicule for the rest of his life. He doesn't deserve that, Tirion, and neither do I.

Speculation
While she is confirmed to be deceased, it is currently unknown how and when exactly she died. It may have been during one of Scourge's attacks on Hearthglen during or after the Third War.