From WoWWiki

This article or section contains lore taken from the Warcraft RPG books.

An ex-paladin is a paladin or paladin warrior who ceases to be good, who willfully commits an evil act or who grossly violates the paladin code of conduct. A paladin must be of good alignment and loses all light abilities if he ever willingly commits an evil act. He loses all paladin spells and abilities (but not weapon, armor and shield proficiencies).

Additionally, a paladin’s code requires that he respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use his help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents. While he may adventure with characters of any good or neutral alignment, a paladin will never knowingly associate with evil persons, nor will he continue an association with someone who consistently offends his moral code. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers or cohorts who are of good alignment.

If they break any of these, they may not train any farther as a paladin. He regains his abilities and advancement potential if he atones for his violations.^{WoWRPG 80} An ex-paladin may only restore his paladinhood if he is truly repentant and desirous of setting right his misdeeds, this atonement requires undertaking a quest, and/or through the spell of atonement.^{WRPG 90WoWRPG 279}

It seems that corruption caused by external sources may also cause an individual to cease being a paladin, as was the case with Nobundo and Arthas Menethil.

Ex-paladins may become dark knights or death knights.

Famous/Named

• Aretain Naris
• Jorad Mace
• Grand Marshal Garithos
• Nobundo

Death knights

• Arthas Menethil
• Barthilas
• Fallen Champion
• Darkreaver
• Eldritch Deathlord
• Thomas Thomson
• Kaylaan
• Exarch Maladaar
• Mograine
• Sir Zeliek

Note: An ex-paladin is not so much a true variant or class, but a penalyzed paladin (blocked from Light-given abilities).