Villainpedia: The Lich King

Prince Arthas + Ner'zhul = o no
Come and enjoy part 2 of the story of Arthas Menethil, and the unlikely origin of The Lich King. Lore is good for u man
👻 MERCH: ghostcharm.myspreadshop.com/
👻 PATREON: / ghostcharm
👻 DISCORD: / discord
00:00 - Intro
01:19 - Origins: Ner'zhul
11:22 - Warcraft 3 Undead and Beyond
37:50 - Hype and Wrath
52:21 - Outro
All atmospheric footage: / @everness1
WC3 footage: / yogscastrythian
#arthas#lichking#lore#nerzhul#scourge#warcraft

[@Ghostcharm]

May we never forget the true story of Arthas. Check out my Warcraft movie review ---> kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5CnpqCugJ2jias

[@cyrusthegreat3299]

Amen, brother. They did Arthas dirty. That ending was sooooo anti-climactic ( The Shadowlands Cutscene ). I can't begin to express how disappointed I am. But then again, that's what I get for putting my faith in Blizzard once again.

[@mikoto7693]

I’m a visitor from Eorzea (FF14) that has become curious about WoW and yeah it’s foul… what modern Blizzard did is terrible.

[@cyrusthegreat3299]

@@mikoto7693 exactly

[@CS-ft6by]

They should have NEVER revisited the Arthas story. I think the end of Arthas story (pre shadowlands) was fine and should have been left alone.

[@cyrusthegreat3299]

@@CS-ft6by They wanted to milk that story line one more time.

[@PaleNazgul]

"Father, is it over?" "No, my son, the raid resets next week."

[@mrShade-sb1th]

That joke was worn out in 2009 my guy let alone now

[@elpsykoongro5379]

@@mrShade-sb1th not with classic wrath, once we get the fall of the lich king

[@hajimakairu5451]

@@mrShade-sb1th It's the lich king. Reviving the dead is kind of the entire theme.

[@shuraamano]

​@@mrShade-sb1thlooks like the joke isnt worn out yet

[@juhomantynen4638]

​@@mrShade-sb1th well I'd hardly believe you since ICC released on December 8th 2009 and Lich King wasn't killable until several weeks later which means nobody saw the cinematic before early 2010. You sir are lying.

[@jarofpickles4057]

24:30 "Illidan had been imprisoned for being a rascal." As someone who knows his entire story intimately, that description is hilarious lol

[@dentbrain6527]

Pnkiii

[@gregorjevonatopp4326]

you have been intimate with Illidan? how was it?

[@antiope-d9780]

@@gregorjevonatopp4326 I imagine it was a good time. Illidan is know for being devilishly handsome

[@Judicial_Cat]

He did a bit of trolling.

[@drake.2639]

the reason illidan is in there is because he didint follow the jedi code of not wanting some bitches

[@reginlief1]

Arthas is so hard to place. I couldn’t tell if he was a slave to the Lich King’s will, or if he had fallen so far as to embrace his new evil identity, whether had personal goals or not. It’s really hard to tell how much agency he has.

[@Martial_Autist]

From what I remember arthas was the one in control post-merger, having suppressed both the ner'zhul and 'good' parts of his being (what little good remained after he originally became ner'zhul's puppet). So he was arthas but fueled by his previous puppet master's evil, as that would remain a part of him even after the consciousness of ner'zhul was eradicated. Then again it's been a long time and I'm foggy on the details.

[@LongClawzHidden]

@@Martial_Autist The original plan of the Lich King was to weaken Azeroth, but Ner'zhul kind of fucked it up. Overall, I think his end goal was to prepare for the arrival of the Burning Legion, defeat them, and then spread his territory.

[@KingMidgardsormr]

Arthas as a death knight had 0 free will. Arthas as the Lich King had "Free Will" he was really a slave to the whispers of Frostmourne. "Frostmourne was as much the master of the Scourge as the Lich King. Whispering sweet nothings into it's master's ear."

[@IveBeenWithBruma]

@@KingMidgardsormr wasn't frostmourne just a shard of the throne

[@KingMidgardsormr]

@@IveBeenWithBruma no. Frostmourne was created alongside the helm of domination and placed inside the frozen throne. Where Ner'zhul pushed it out into the frozen wastes. Arthas then found it.

[@TheGreatRakatan]

Arthas deserves to have his story told in series of Warcraft movies. I don't think I actually want it to be made so I can continue to imagine just how incredible it could be.

[@798jeremy]

Would be even better straight up into series just like Game of Thrones all along imo. Movies wouldn't make him justice enough for this (even though it couldn't be worse that WoW itself did to him ironically with that motherfucking Shadowlands piece of shit).

[@michaelshattuck2949]

And leave out all of that opportunity to talk about his white privilege as prince of lordareon? That’ll never happen

[@hardcoreclassicenjoyer]

hopefully its not a live adaptation. The warcraft movie that made it to cinemas was complete screenplay garbage.

[@keithchamp]

An old school style Japanese anime I could see, anything made by the progressive Western studies would be absolutely horrendous, no doubt Arthus would be Donald Trump and David Duke the lich King enslaving the non white alliance

[@iamtheyeti6663]

Saw a fan post on insta saying Henry Caville would make a monstrous arthas in a live action film, if only producers knew what the fans wanted ehh, we can only dream

[@youyoawad]

All of WC3 are "one of the best cinematics ever."

[@798jeremy]

I'd even say more : every Warcraft III cinematic is a masterclass...every single one of it (and it didn't need Reforged to begin with).

[@Ar1AnX1x]

the Cinematic where Arthas comes back to Lordaeron and kills his father is a Masterpiece, the Cinematography is better than some of the best movies out there.

[@798jeremy]

@@Ar1AnX1x Totally agreed. Hands down my favorite and the best of all imo...even the best ever in video games history (closely tied up with the Frozen Throne's ending though).

[@Ar1AnX1x]

@@798jeremy the Grommash/Thrall vs Mannoroth Cinematic was amazing as well and that shot of Arthas/Lich King on top of Icecrown sitting like a Boss with the camera moving away with the whole location looking different was one of the best endings ever and I never thought Wrath of the Lich King lived up to how Epic Arthas' story line was in Warcraft 3.

[@798jeremy]

@@Ar1AnX1x Arthas was the ultimate boss of Warcraft III. Wotlk ruined him first because of its ending. Then Reforged just made it unnecessary for how it turned out. And Shadowlands just outrageously flouted him, definitely ruining him for good, the best character of Blizzard's golden age ever and the whole legacy of Warcraft III which allowed WoW to become something to begin with...so in conclusion, WoW just ruined Arthas. And I will forgive this and this is just another good reason for me to never play this game (just once a 2 weeks one shot for free though and that was it for me) . I basically stopped after the extension (Frozen Throne) and I tried the Reforged version (also, Hearthstone, HOTS and even Starcraft), but not much after.

[@Lagbeard]

The Lich King's ultimate plan in WotLK was a really ingenious one. He kept laying challenges at the Alliance and Horde to make them stronger and helped them birth a force that's ultimate goal was to storm Icecrown Citadel and be strong enough to kill himself. But the twist was that using Frostmourne, he could take their souls and make them into Death Knights serving him, which would have immediately turned the war that he was kind of losing on purpose around as he would control the most powerful force of Azeroth. If Tirion had no broken free from the ice and shattered Frostmourne then and there, The Lich King would've won.

[@ScarletEdge]

Deus ex machina defeat. Not a big fan of resolving stories like that.

[@bunnieskitties293]

@@ScarletEdge You say that, but the Ashbringer wasnt introduced from thin air. It has existed since the dawn of Warcraft. It has always been the counter legendary blade to Frostmourne. I see Tirion's purifying of it as the Excaliber exiting the stone. Ashbringer is the blade that defeats the undead, it doesnt exist for any other purpose. It has been in the game files since classic WoW when it was joked at that it could be fished up in Stranglethorn Vale. They even made due on this being Tirion's LAST gift. The light wouldnt answer him again, he gave up his future to have this present moment. It is a meaningful tradeoff, it has power because it is pure agency and deciding what matters.(Not that he has a huge "choice" given his circumstance) It would be a deus ex machina defeat if Tirion appeared in the Frozen Throne once the raid was defeated and 'saved the day' like a miracle walking in. But that wasnt the case. He was inseparably the figurehead of the hunt for Arthas from the prepatch to the final patch. It was always him who SHOULD have struck the final blow. Arthas originally cost him his paladin-hood in the Silver Hand. Turned him into a grub-eating humble hermit in the plaguelands. It was his destiny to return the pain of loss Arthas inflicted upon him. Of Love and Family -- the portrait you had to get for Tirion. Dont remember that? You literally just dont understand storytelling, and this story's telling, if you consider this an ex machina victory. Because Tirion was built from the beginning for this role. From day one of patch one of World of Warcraft. It was a magnificent display of long term story writing. It is the only good thing I have to say about Wrath, since the expansion was dogshit in my opinion for gameplay.

[@WarriorVVanaB]

@@bunnieskitties293 yes all of this is true, but if you show how easily Arthas catches Tyrion, how easily he kills all the champions, and how successful is all of this because, even from the beginning, it was all part of his plan... Firstly, you're establishing that even with his full character arc, Tyrion is no match for Arthas, and secondly, that Arthas is head and shoulders above his enemies and the entire plot shows that his plans are successful... And then Tyrions gets a power from a faith that he already had, or the power to believe in yourself or whatever... When there is no explanation why the whole situation has changed, it is called Deus Ex Machina. With arthas they show him Powerful, confident, fearless, being the great enemy to fight against. even during combat, he still shows no signs of weakness, and then kills everyone, with Tyrion it's the opposite. Sorry if this makes you sad, but this is called Deus Ex Machina. A good one, in my opinion, because it's climactic, very dramatic and gives us the ending we should have.

[@morgrimgaming7342]

@@ScarletEdge While I will agree that it can be seen as a bit of a cop-out in terms of endings I have to posit this: Given how much it took to finally get to where Arthas was just to have him resort to Frostmournes powers, had he delayed for any moment longer in that raid, Arthas would have been killed by the raid. Yes, he had it planned out. However, I suspect there are many alternate timelines where even with that trump card in place Arthas still lost to us. The take away here is this: We were a real enough threat to Arthas that he could not, even for a moment, let his arrogance get the better of him in his battle with us. He HAD to stick to his plan, else he knew he would lose.

[@byronholt2031]

He was doing this because his ultimate goal was to destroy the Burning Legion, and through his machinations believed that only a united undead army of all of Azeroths greatest heroes could ultimately destroy the Legion.

[@carcasses5131]

I'm so relieved you used the OG version instead of WC3 Reforged

[@WoobertAIO]

Reforged is one of the most ungodly shites to ever befall gaming as a whole.

[@Nathantheconqueror]

Reforged killed one of my top 5 favorite games of all time.

[@DarkOmegaMK2]

ik right? after all, reforged was sooOOOooo praised at launch >.>........................

[@Ghost1170]

@@DarkOmegaMK2 ?? But it wasnt, unless this was sarcasm

[@DarkOmegaMK2]

@@Ghost1170 it was sarcasm. It was abundantly clear to everyone the reception that Reforged got at launch, specially to those using Metacritic n stuff. lmao!

[@thefirebirdflock3440]

Arthas was one of those villains so well-written and badass that you kinda wanted them to win. At least in my case it was

[@anti-spiral159]

Agreed, would have been cool to maybe see a fight with the corrupted heroes of Azeroth vs a new group of heroes or smth and then like, everyone with every single race, specialty and stuff fights the Lich King in full force and no bullshit about "I was using 10% of my full power"

[@WallNutBreaker524]

Arthas' deserved to win let's be honest.

[@mojus2890]

​​@@WallNutBreaker524deus ex machina

[@The-Southerner]

Ah hell yeah we get a long villianpedia today boys

[@thanoseid2883]

And on an awesome villain too.

[@AngryCommonSense]

Ah shit, here we go again.

[@curtisfranzen986]

I don't know about WOW. I'm a DND player. A friend of mine was into WOW. We would argue the positives of both games. So, long story short, we decided to have a duel between the two games. I don't remember how or what rules we agreed upon, but it was was a slaughter. We had each took our most powerful characters , 5 each if I remember correctly. Also we had allied NPCs with us. The numbers were equal. The levels were equal. My DND characters destroyed him. In a system that was at least 60/40 WOW.

[@hugh.g.rection5906]

@@curtisfranzen986 finna get dem stinky fights on yo

[@miguelmackay4851]

I like the "friendship" that Arthas and KT have, they seem like two evil lords that have the same enemies in common and are in some way or another forced to fight as allies but end up having a much cooler relationship

[@Tems_Aly]

much "cooler" relationship. I salute you

[@FlymanMS]

KT is the best boy and a great advisor.

[@AxenfonKlatismrek]

In my version, both agree on hating non believers and that whoever kills non believer rules 72 thots in afterlife

[@shaunybonny688]

“No king rules forever” every time I hear the music or Arthas’ father speaking I get chills.

[@WallNutBreaker524]

"No kings rule forever" No...but their sons do...and they rule for a long time as well.

[@EQ_EnchantX]

That music reminds me of how far he has fallen, and the sadness of what he becomes from what he once was.

[@samuelbell2818]

53:00 tbf there is some small hinting that Ner'zhul isn't fully gone from the lich king. There may be more examples, but the one I remember most is in the quest 'The Echoes of Ymiron' he makes a comment about shamanism. Here is the quote from the Fandom wiki "The Lich King says: Shamanism has brought you here... Its scent permeates the air. *The Lich King laughs* I was once a shaman."

[@samuelbell2818]

Awesome video btw. It was a very pleasant 50 minutes :)

[@Ghostcharm]

100% . i should have included this. i think there may be a small tid bit in the legion frost DK quests about shamanism as well, but arthas of course is out of the picture by then. i think thats why folks arent crazy about the "mental battle" story line though

[@samuelbell2818]

@@Ghostcharm Personally, I loved it. But with recent retcons, specifically with the inclusion of the Jailer, it seems like a freshman dorm with the amount of people in that fucking helmet lmao.

[@federicamacchia1656]

@@samuelbell2818 and probably you're right...there are other stronger entities behind the Helm of domination..,Arthas was a pally,he didn't know anything about the kind of magic the Lich King used,so,of course,the dominant part of that warmachine we call Lich King Is not him....

[@notlengthy]

He's literally just saying that he was once one with nerzhul, who was once a shaman. It's canon that Arthas killed the spirit of nerzhul within the helmet that held kelthuzads spirit

[@isaacfaith9369]

I can't understand why Blizzard doesn't want to honor this timeless villain's legacy? People outside of WoW's sphere even know about him. Great video, I really dig Arthas and everything he is.

[@jondoe1557]

He is my all time favorite video game villain. I would relinquish my own soul to have the slightest taste of his power.

[@navyt6380]

@@jondoe1557 You mean the power to be a mindless slave zombie to another entity? Your will isn't your own anymore if you become part of the Lich King

[@stefanbre4139]

He is the most honored villain from blizzard i think ..... they done him a statue in china for the 25 years of blizzard 😄

[@diamondmetal3062]

I may be weird for stating this, but I’m fine to let Arthas rest. The crux of Arthas’ character that he is irredeemable, not in some vague philosophical sense, but because we’ve had a front row seat to every single atrocity he has committed. We’ve seen him turn from the Crown Prince of Lordaeron, to the Scourge’s first death knight, to the new Lich King, all the way up to his deserved, ignoble end at the pinnacle of Icecrown Citadel. Bringing him back would be a disservice to his character.

[@user-sx4qu4dz9z]

@@jondoe1557 Ironic

[@tacky4237]

19:00 BIGGEST mistake arthas made second to not listening to Medivh. He ended up making the biggest damaged goods character in warcraft that would ruin the storyline of wow extremely.

[@megrimlockmesmart.1200]

Shes just a Damaged Emo girl that never grew out of wanting to cut her writs...

[@unholyallen9572]

Sylvanas was a cool character UNTIL BfA.

[@drfate7863]

@@unholyallen9572 Yeah, she went nuts and went entirely against her own character.

[@alyssinclair8598]

@@drfate7863 I hate how everyone will think of her as that character that noclips into storylines and /deletes important characters rather than the banshee who rebelled against the burning legion and the witch king to regain free will for the undead. really bites

[@marshallterrance358]

@@alyssinclair8598 a yes the witch king

[@waseem7195]

I think it's very interesting Nerzhul speaks to Arthas 13:35 in Arthas's own voice. Having your own voice echo thoughts in your head would make you believe they were your own I'd imagine. Just more of the deception

[@chenstormstout9456]

God! I Love Arthas so much. I think his story is one of the best written tragedies in video games.

[@Saedorthemar]

The reason why Touhou lore is better then WoW Lore: Because WoW has so many favourite characters getting killed

[@chenstormstout9456]

In the future please refrain from replying to any comments, especially mine with stuff like this.

[@danksauron3172]

The best

[@I_am_a_cat_]

@@Saedorthemar Wtf is touhou? never even heard of it so why are you here talking about it on a warcraft video? No one cares lmao. A story where no one ever dies is boringggggggggg. Imagine lord of the rings but no one dies. Star wars but no one dies. You're a troll, aren't you? you can't really be this dumb, and saying some dumb 2d game has better characters like wtf?

[@cuckpatrol6556]

"I see only darkness... before me." The exact moment when Uther and Devos casted Arthas' soul into the Maw. Despite Shadowlands questionable story writing, I did really appreciate how they went back with that.

[@kyrrilcrepeele1353]

Actually, lich kings motive was very clear. In WotLK his goal was not to just be the sole Master, it was to create an army strong enough to defend Azeroth from the Burning Legion. That was both nerzhuls objective, and arthas objective in his Frozen throne campaign. He deemed the mortal races not strong enough, so thought an immortal army was the only way to keep the planet safe, albeit in undeath.

[@adahnyemeth6317]

Its as if temperature in my room have gotten colder from all the blue tones

[@waderoberts3701]

The way you experience Arthas and his legacy was very thorough. In Warcraft III, you play through his fall to the Scourge and the making of the Plaguelands and Ghostlands. In Frozen Throne, you raise him up to be the Lich King in Northrend. In Vanilla WoW and TBC, you're on the ground, walking the plagued lands you created in Warcraft III. And in Wrath of the Lich King, you meet him on his home turf and undo everything you've done with him.

[@AxenfonKlatismrek]

In Frozen Throne: Arthas and Illidan are fighting over who can shit at frozen toilet in peace

[@snazzyjovialwyrm3314]

Something I think should have been noted that I think really set Arthas down the path to becoming the Lich King is the death of Invincible. It changed him as a person, made him feel a twang of doubt and self-hatred because he felt that Invincible's death was his fault. That self doubt and hatred is what allowed Ner'Zhul and Kel'Thezad to manipulate Arthas into joining their cause.

[@sharpnelshots]

Arthas was always my childhood videogame character and learning about his fall is...Bittersweet. Thank you man.

[@ForumArcade]

You mean you didn't already know? Where ya' been?

[@sharpnelshots]

@@ForumArcade definitely not working hard and forgetting about warcraft plus I don't like MMOs

[@alicetalley8192]

What did we do to deserve this masterpiece. Been waiting for the villainpedia since Part 1 dropped and it's all that I expected it would be and so much more 🥺🥺🥺

[@hardcoreclassicenjoyer]

i'm a sucker for a really good arthas story on youtube.

[@semnijespar587]

Proud to say I watched it all in one go, another banger!

[@thrinmon]

I don't even want to know how long this took you to make.. Thanks for another great one man!

[@Ghostcharm]

like 20 min no biggie

[@andrean733]

@@Ghostcharm less than the video itself. what a guy

[@FroggyORTIZ]

Arthas/the Lich King is my favorite character of all time. Thank you for putting his story so succinctly.

[@sfbuck415]

I think Nerzul knew something was up from the start. He just pretended he didn't to preserve his hypocritical sense of honor. But Kiljaden was offering power and Nerzhul wanted that. He just didn't want to be a servant to anyone. The Burning Legion's secret weapon: seek out the powerful and offer them more power. Everyone with power has a lust for more, so even the ones who understand it's cost can't resist the lure.

[@Drakon_Minaka]

When you mentioned loving necromancers and the evil of it, I agree. But I always loved the idea of good necromancers. When I played age of wonders 3, for instance, my main character that I played was a Necromancer. You used to be able to make necromancers with the good skillset, but that was patched out. Someone made a mod to patch it back in however. So essentially my character was a necromancer (eventually lich when I spec him into the skill tree turning both him and all his generals into liches) who used necromancy to raise his armies and have cities of the dead working to churn out more armies, but also using the power of life magic to remove blight and corruption in the world and make it beautiful (Outside of his own corrupted farms and wells) and using his magic to forcefully dedicate his forces to good and doing all he can to ally himself with and/or take control of independent settlements (as in independent cities, Dragons, Fey, Giants, Merfolk, and Naga, only actively waging war on Archon settlements as they are actively hostile almost all the time because the Revenants are all dedicated to evil and are hostile undead hordes that are very powerful). Another one was in the game battleforge, where I focused on shadow elemental units (necromancy and creatures of darkness basically). In that game you're playing as a god (sort of) and in the first proper singleplayer mission a hero from the game begs for a skylord to answer his pleas for help as him and his people are being hunted and murdered by the twilight plague. So imagine the shock when in response to these pleas for assistance, skeletons rise from the ground with clawed gauntlets and armor, and to their rear there are humans with pale grey skin and white eyes carrying guns with scythe like bayonets, and they immediately rush and murder the twilight plague infected coming for the civilians. I just like both sides to necromancy, it's ability for good (or usually perceived good) or evil.

[@Ghostcharm]

That’s awesome dude. I totally agree it’s a cool archetype. I also really enjoy paladins/crusaders that are evil or misguided. A somewhat good example is the scarlet crusade from Warcraft, depending on your point of view.

[@ziephel-6780]

@@Ghostcharm what if in an AU Warcraft 3, villain paladin becomes heroic death knight, freeing Lordaeron from tyrannical light-orientated imperialists

[@Werewolf_Korra]

I think Kelthuzad should probably get one next. Much less complex than Arthas, but much more emblematic of the Scourge and villainy in general, being an affable fiend.

[@MinesCastttt]

From what I understand, Arthas the Death Knight took most of the control, he was always influenced by his old self and Ner'zhul. I believe it is mentioned somewhere that Arthas actually held back the full might of Scourge. While his old self could never fully stop or control the Lich King, he sort of manipulated him into effectively ending his reign, and that's his old self finally taking control in his final moments with the helm gone and Frostmourne shattered.

[@thenewguyinred]

14:57 “dang dude these guys are cold!” Hehe, ice puns.

[@2Syndras1Cup]

Damn... I'm going to watch this with a really heavy heart after what they have done to Arthas recently for their dumbass soyjack queen in WoW.

[@bighairymeow9664]

Just ignore the new lore. Wow ended with WOTLK, pandas are lame.

[@loveconqueror]

@@bighairymeow9664 MoP was a dope expansion, Thunder King was amazing villain.

[@bighairymeow9664]

@@loveconqueror Sorry, but I am just not into furry kinks. When Pandas came out, I stopped playing wow.

[@TheGamingBDGR]

@@bighairymeow9664 not even a furry kink but okay. Pandaren were in WC3 as an Easter egg, MoP just fleshed out them a whole lot more. And it honestly did a great job, had some really good story beats, Garrosh story was eh, but still good. But I do agree the story of WoW kinda finished with WotLK. Everything after has just been shoehorned in by new writers or try to expand background lore that was fine being just background lore.

[@riplix20]

@@bighairymeow9664 shit I didn’t know I was a furry cause I watched Kung fu panda when I was a kid. Thanks for enlightening me

[@Zarocaz]

I love how you put all of your videos together. I've watched many lore vids on the LK that don't paint it as detailed yet simple like you do. I've never really played WoW but the story of Arthas is powerful

[@inhumanesounds]

Let's fucking GOOOOO! These are so amazing! I would never have expected a Lich King video, especially an *hour long* one!

[@Necron_Lord]

By far one of the best Arthus character studies I have seen. You nailed it man! Also you just gained a sub!

[@Strider30]

Bolvar Fordragon is like that one friend / co-worker is the one to take a massive hit to a new low but also at great heights FOR THE TEAM. Because he is strong in willpower and endurance enough to do so. Also, just overall badass.

[@bonkyouded]

Now imagine intead of the jailer, we would have Ner'zhul just being a soul in the maw starting his final fight and pulling all the strings. Just remove Zovaal as he is literally has so lite time that it wouldn't change a thing.

[@cameronescovedo8412]

Amazing. Masterpiece. The text chat and the spongebob comparison killed me

[@partino97]

i have seen alot of "Arthas" lore and you have made the best of them (in my opinion) all i will share this to my friends. keep the work up, waiting for more.

[@TheCitnarfoztiks]

Awww... You just brushed over Invincible. I believe that Invincible's loss was truly the point in which Arthas had the wherewithal to fall prey to to Frostmourne. That solemn promise that if anyone ever needed protection, that if sacrifices had to be made to save others, he'd take it on himself, and that he did. Hell even one of the first things he did was to raise his -own- horse. He could have raised any horse, but he raised the horse that he had made that solemn promise to. The horse that had set him on this path to pay any price to protect others. It was well documented the entire time that while he bore the powers of the Lich King that he could have taken over the world, that the Undead were too powerful to be beaten: But he didn't and they were. Instead, he brooded, and wasted time, and fought, and hemmed himself up, and set himself up to be taken down. Everyone likes to act like Arthas was just the story of a hero turned villain, but the truth is - Arthas saved the world, and paid the ultimate price to do so. Sure he did some truly horrible things after he was 'taken over' but the fact still remains that he could have done so much worse, and everyone knew it. Had anyone else taken up the Lich King at that time - Azeroth would be a dead husk. Even saying all of this just smacks on how bad the story-writing in Warcraft is these days. If you take it as a stretch, as serendipity, you can still thread Arthas all the way back to the horse that he loved, that he killed, and the promise he made. Now Warcraft is just shoveled-in story, a fit narrative, forced villains and heroes. At one time, Warcraft's story was amazing, now it's just... Whatever it is.

[@inquin1653]

he mentioned it in the heropedia part

[@austin7203]

This was great. You did an amazing job of putting the story together!

[@joshbrown384]

Glad to have stumbled upon your channel. Very well-told stories covering my all-time favorites. Easy sub

[@seveneh1788]

O SHIT WE GOT A LICH KING MOVIE

[@kareth117]

I played all the original warcraft games, got on wow in classic, beat the lich king, and own the book. A: you did a spectacular job covering the lore. B: I agree. Arthas is an iconic character whose story is one for the ages. I'd pay good, hard earned money to see Henry Cavill play him in a movie or limited series run, that's for sure. I came looking for some Arthas lore because I'm customizing a magic the gathering deck with Wilhelt the Rotcleaver at the helm (commander deck) and I'm altering it to be Arthas, so I wanted some information on named characters, important story notes, and history so I can accurately alter a ton of cards in the deck. Your video has been the most comprehensive one I've seen yet, so I thank you. Liked. Subscribed. Keep up the good work, my man. 10/10

[@florkiler6242]

Yo that's a big one, and a BIGG ONE. If this turns out good it might be a big step for the channel

[@Aarygon]

So, I fell in love with Arthas' story back in warcraft 3, and I didn't play wow u til the middle of the burning crusade because he wasn't in it directly, but watching this video has reminded of so much, and much more than the game itself, that I teared up in nostalgia several times throughout. Thank you very much for putting this together, your hard work really shows. 💜

[@jackbishop7693]

Glad my comment made you feel some of the appreciation you deserve brudda, and I legit felt my heart skip a beat when I saw the screencap of it at the end ahaha. I've watched all the other entries now and this is definitely the most titanic yet, and I'm glad to be a footnote in it. Can't wait for the next...

[@HazzronIV]

WoW will never have another like him, his story was truly a one of kind experience for me and many others. I'll remember it and him, well into my twilight years, certainly long after I've forgotten Blizzard and the rest of those miserable wannabes that followed him up.

[@michaelshattuck2949]

That why I quit after wotlk. As far as I was concerned I’d “beaten the game” when arthas died.

[@factandsuspicionpodcast2727]

These videos are extraordinarily well written and produced. Fantastic work, man.

[@jacksonholderman4912]

although it is recent, i have found your videos and I absolutely love them. I can tell you put a lot of work into them.

[@frozenangel1000]

Loving the your sense of humor for your lore vids! Keep it up

[@insertname9140]

Your videos are criminally underrated. Keep up the good work!

[@nekohallowking4762]

*frostmourne hungers....*

[@fistimusmaximus6576]

Loved the dynamic of the spirit of kel'thuzad advising and plotting/guiding arthus.

[@deaconsyxx322]

I watched this video and skipped straight back to the start. Brilliant, I’ve been looking for this exact story for a while…thanks ❤

[@WoobertAIO]

Dude, such quality content here. I'd love if you did a Heropedia about Broxxigar the Red, one of the greatest heroes (if not THE sole greatest hero) in the entire history and lore of the World of Warcraft Universe. He's a dude with close ties to (*inhales*): Tyrande Whisperwind, Malfurion and Illidan Stormrage, Queen Azshara, Demigod Cenarius, Thrall, Deathwing, Rhonin, Nozdormu and the very founder and ultimate leader of the Burning Legion, Dark Titan Sargeras himself.

[@brightestlight9462]

biggest mary sue*

[@YamiOni]

So many memories; thanks for the feels my dude.

[@EliorFureraj15]

The production quality of these is fantastic. Keep up the good work man.

[@cherriida]

oh heck yeah opened front page and see that this just released Edit: after watching the video, just wow - the arthas heropedia video had already been amazing and now this hour long episode about my favorite warcraft character really makes me happy that i found your channel. the production quality is great with how perfectly you transition from explaining the story yourself to letting the games and cinematics speak for themselves, loved the video and i'm excited to see what more you'll be creating in the future

[@Ghostcharm]

thanks a ton, it means a lot to get this sort of feedback. so glad you enjoyed it!!

[@gelduin6504]

Loved this video from the beginning to the last second. Thank you for this work and keep it on!

[@elf_prince_aefion]

Wow. I have covid and watching this epic story made me feel better so much. Thanks for an amazing video ☺️

[@Ghostcharm]

Feel better friend

[@arkane5260]

Arthas as The Lich King is the greatest character Blizzard has ever created! Great video!!

[@dazzlemasseur]

So this is why WoW went downhill. There was no way they could recreate what Warcraft the single player games built. Arthas was so interesting, the saddest part for me is when jaina and him parted ways. That love will have never bloomed.

[@starblaze79gaming85]

I love how he sums up the cult of the damned as those who are down with the scourge. Nice down with the sickness reference.

[@KRG30001]

Please do Mannimarco the King of Worms! Love your work

[@jameshouchens5987]

Your channel is dope not only because the amount of research and detail you go into, but also because it spans across so many different lore universe. Keep it up.

[@Dameon_The_Daemon]

The cinematic still gives me chills.

[@michaellevit9458]

You make great original content - I hope to see this channel explode like Fudge Muppet

[@jacobstanchfield8452]

This is my favorite new channel in a while! Loved this video so much. I’m looking forward to new videos on my favorite games ❤️

[@buhrise]

binging through the villainpedia series atm, this stuff is great man. very inspirational content-wise

[@AVeryOldLady4397]

Another series idea: NPCedia. Just neutral npcs who actually have cool stories and lore. The roles they play, and how they passively affect the story.

[@Ghostcharm]

This is a really good idea dude. I will credit you if I make such a thing.. which I think I just might

[@LenTos1337]

Never heard this story told in such details, great video man!

[@emanuel81111]

What a story arc, who can top this one, Arthas Menethil. We just dont get this type of storiest too often , its like One in a billion.

[@chwig7354]

I was waiting for this! Thanks, man!

[@override83]

Just found your channel. Wow, you really put the efforts in with all the details my dude. I know Arthas and Lich Kings whole story from the games and reading the instruction manual that came with WC3 and WC3 Frozen Throne, and you never missed a beat. Definitely going to sub. All the effort and details are appreciated my dude. This makes for some good info/background while playing WoW TBC Classic waiting for the WOTLK pre-patch. Will definitely check out more videos now.

[@Otterly_luna]

22:20 "Artonodas" Poor Antonidas :(

[@safu4497]

Bro, the way you explained this story had me captured the entire time. Good job man, would love to see more WoW character stories from you. You narrated it so well that I'm sucked back into watching lore videos again lol.

[@ASNS117Zero]

Your channel is going to explode here pretty soon, mark my words. Personally, I feel like the Lich King kind of defeated himself toward the end. The Arthas died, gasping at the ghost of his father, asking, "Is it over?" always implied to me that Arthas, that is, the real Arthas, sought release and escape from his damned state. I know that the novel kind of contradicts that, but lets be real here, a LOT of stuff in Wrath contradicts that novel anyway, so I view it only as loosely canon if at all (well, for what canon is worth with modern WoW, lol shadowlands), as game content is always > novel content. So with that in mind, it makes sense that maybe some part of Arthas colored his perception of things toward making strategic mistakes, thinking they were part of some greater 'plan', when in reality he was slowly dooming himself. At least that's how I headcanon the constant screw ups and strategic blunders that an otherwise brilliant character shouldn't be making, over and over again. The other interpretation is that the Lich King got a bad case of saturday morning cartoon villain syndrome and just became too stupid to win because the plot demanded it. Which, well, would definitely fit with modern blizzard, and Wrath was around the time that modern blizzard was emerging.

[@njalsand133]

Yeah, evil made him a bit dumb

[@rakmodslyr7459]

I agree. The novel dictates that Arthas was able to overpower both Nerzhul and his good side to become the Lich King. Whereas in various places in Northrend, wherever you encounter Arthas you are able to see that it's Nerzhul in command. I think I heard that in some area he talks about Shamanism and revealed that he too was a Shaman. The only shaman who could fit the bill is Nerzhul. His good side would also not be able to guide us if it was already destroyed. I prefer the game's lore compared to the novel.

[@mariomolnar3184]

This was the clearest explaination and everything makes sense. Thank you

[@Batman_the_bad_man]

15:58: "These guys are cold!" ...literally

[@clave7203]

One of the greatest enemies in Warcraft was reduced to a blue orb worth 35 anima… sadge.

[@PrideofAshbringer]

Great vids, found your channel and gave a sub. A video on the Ashbringer/Alexandros would be great!

[@procrastigamr]

How did I not see this earlier? Fantastic work! I actually never played alot of Warcraft until 3. Before that I was strictly a C&C player for RTS. I actually didn't take Blizz serious until Starcraft. I guess that well written story is why I feel Wrath was the best expansion Blizz ever made(due to focusing on this story), and I could never play WoW the same way again after that expansion. I have dabbled in every expack released - But I never had the motivation to get the big bad at the end like I did for Lich King. I felt betrayed at the end of WC3 in regards to the whole heel turn with Arthas at the end. It actually felt kinda personal once I entered Northrend in WoW. I always wonder if they lost alot of good writers after WotLK and into Cata. Or maybe it was just the final nail in the coffin caused by the Activision merger at that point. They definitely haven't written tragic villains like that since. Even the whole Sylvannas arc seemed hollow after Wrath.

[@wrektar8991]

Definitely one of the top 5 villains of any video game universe. Would love to see a top 5 villians list

[@matthewcarter919]

The jailer thing -kind- of makes sense... In the old lore, it was the dreadlords whom had been imprisoned by sargeras that drove him insane; thus creating the burning legion. Shadowlands suggests that the Dreadlords had always been the minions of the jailer, like even before the burning legion existed, and that their long con was to use a titan soul (at SOME point) to KO the arbiter, so that the events of the shadowlands expansion could occur. I can imagine that they had tried many times, with other titan worldsouls, perhaps their attempts were why the previous attempts to corrupt titans in the past had failed (as they had been afflicting them with death magic). The Jailer (the old arbiter before he got kicked out), was imprisoned with the power of domination, and he eventually figured out how that power worked, then used it to make the helm of domination and shadowmourne. The various forces of the scourge were a mix of baddies from the shadowlands (due to the jailer) and the old god aqir related stuff (nerubians, the magic eaters, etc). The original lore had the players fighting the Jailer's Lt. (and not the Jailer himself) and then the Jailer would actually be the runecarver that you end up freeing. Would have been a better idea, but due to covid/HR nightmares at blizzard, they parsed down the scope of the expansion, made the Lt. be the actual jailer, and had him be the big bad.

[@iceymuck2435]

Amazing vid!!! Great job

[@jackfoxx6351]

38:39 was my hands down favorite part of the wow saga. tbh ive never heard anyone say it was bad. Although that might be because i was to busy infecting every corner of Azeroth

[@MrKaar9012]

playing a DK on Dalaran WoW rn lmao so stoked about the vid

[@rustyshackleford3316]

nerzul found arthas on grinder and groomed him into the lich king

[@pariahmutt3589]

Was hoping you’d show my favorite quote from his boss fight in the raid, “Here I stand, the lion before the lambs. And they do not fear, they cannot fear.” It’s easily missable, though. Loved the video!

[@iksarguards]

The immediate and total dismissal of Shadow Lands era retcons only served to elevate this already excellent video

[@zHoody]

I'm going to talk about something not many people do, and that's about the tragedy of King Terenas. That sentence - "My son. The day you were born, the very forests of Lordaeron whispered the name. Arthas." It's too damn poetic. A king who had it all. A loving kingdom, the purpose/ role to defend his people, and a prodigy son who everyone grew to love and adore as a future king became no more. A King who, after everything was lost, was still there for his son until the very end. It's too beautiful not to mention. The unconditional love a father can have for his kin, even after what his own son does to him and the future of his people just eats ya away. Beautiful story telling from Blizzard👌🏼 it almost reminds me of the tragedy of Lord Gwyn and his son, the Nameless King had from the Dark Souls series.

[@joshuapaz7465]

Phenomenal work as usual

[@CarloRossiey]

Great video dude. Would of been nice to see a little more explaining for the people who don't know about the story what happened with Invincible... that short story of him basically killing his horse due to his own negligence and vowing to never let that happen again was a big part of Arthas' ruthless determination to do the things he did, although you briefly covered him bringing the horse back to life, for people who don't know the story learning of Invincible's death is a big thing and deserved a note in the video. Still enjoyed it though

[@faselblaDer3te]

6:09 wow I remember that flash game

[@JK_Snacks]

Subbed instantly after watching the first 1 minute. Definitely going to check out the rest of your vid lists and will hope for more after watching all of them.

[@Avrah]

I like to think that the story of the Lich King and Arthas will become a kind of "video game literature" one day if it has not already. Since you requested suggestions for future videos I am sure any of the notable villains/heroes of the Soulsborne series would be welcome as long as you you don't feel that those characters haven't been explored to death with other creators that is. The Metroid series has amazing villains if you're familiar with that. The Diablo universe as well. If you aren't tied to one specific video game maybe you wouldn't mind going outside of video games. Something from the warhammer 40k universe is always spicy. A villain in a movie you really love? Whatever you choose would be a pleasure to watch. Cheers. p.s. i make vids too, of kind of a similar style to yours, so its always fun to see how other creators tackle topics of the like.

[@vornado616]

Absolutely amazing video. I can tell a ton of work went into this as well. Thank you

[@MiniParkourKid]

Thoroughly enjoyed thanks!