Hymns and Oaths

This is how I think of paladins.

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There can never be more than 12 of them. They sing hymns to themselves and when they gather that is called a Choir. Their hymns are the basis for many cultural songs.

Eowyn is the perfect example of a paladin.

They do not always swear themselves to gods but they must make oaths all the same. The oath is their power. The oath is made when the would-be paladin is truly broken, but unlike the Warlock who swears away their soul out of desperation, the Paladin makes a pact out of love. They Paladin does not need power and they do not ask for it. They do not ask for anything. They simply commit themselves to whatever they swear to.

And as for what they swear themselves to, there are many possibilities. Gods, yes, but monarchs and rulers too; philosophies, ideals, emotions; family members, their lost loves, the graves of their sons and the mementos of their wives. Many of these vows are more powerful than the orders of gods. To tie a Paladin to something as fickle and inhuman as a diety is to underestimate just how devoted the Paladin is. And from their devotion comes power.

It is common to believe that Clerics weave miracles. They do not. The Paladin is the one that makes the impossible possible. Joan de Arc cured cancer and made lost wars won. Eowyn destroyed the indestructible Witch-King. King Arthur pulled the sword from the stone and built a kingdom. Miracles, man. Miracles.

To distill this all into one paragraph:

Bloody to the shoulder and still running through the ranks for her son, fatigue and wounds both fade from her mind. A sunburst followed by holy hymns--stepping out of the crater is that which survived the dragon's death fall. A war of 1 against 100 and victory appears on the horizon; the Horizon is all this and more. The Paladin is kneeling before their lord or their idol or their philosophy or even the tombstones of their families and swearing to them, making an oath, that they will perform a miracle to change the world in their honor. With sword and shield and blessed honor, they fight.