Some one made a post in another thread about how Ashbringer was ruined when they gave it to all of us, and that they should not do the same thing by giving us similar armor to Turalyon, its too awesome...which got me thinking about what they could have done with our artifact. Let me know what you think about this, and add your own details that could have made this awesome.
Instead of Ashbringer, what our artifact could(should?) have been was a weapon related to Turalyon's disappearance, something that was found and restored to prominence...they could have made up all sorts of tidbits to make this work. A whole new story about a legendary artifact that Turalyon once wielded, but was thought to be lost when he disappeared, but was found and became our artifact. Send us to Outland in search of it, Arator coulda been involved too. Lothraxion could have been involved as we recruited him as a follower. All sorts of clues that would all make sense as we get closer to Argus and our inevitable course to find Turalyon.
Ashbringer could have had a role to play in this whole thing, since he is obviously the only Paladin around with the stature to claim it. The Ashbringer could have been used to lead us to this lost weapon, use its power to infuse our new weapon as a might weapon against the legion. Then the Ashbringer is stored in our order hall at the head of the line of statues of hero paladins of the past, constantly reminding us of the sacrifice of Tirion, but also giving us hope that we may actually find Turalyon. Obviously there is the message he sends to us through that quest line. All of this connected, giving us hope. All of this leading to us returning his artifact to him...except instead, we get to keep it.
Upon our return to Azeroth, after defeating Kiljaeden, and *forever* banishing Sargeras from existence, King Anduin(who, looks like he's ready to embrace the warrior-priest within) bestows the Ashbringer upon Turalyon, restoring the Silver Hand to greatness. And beginning his tutelage under Turalyon to become a paladin.
Oh man, I feel like this was a HUGE missed opportunity by Blizzard to make a compelling story for Ret paladins that tied into the entire story arc of the expac. What about you guys?