How Blizzard Ruined Arthas (WoW Lore)

He could have lay siege on the city, kill the undead and quarantine the survivors to make sure they are not infected.

I hated many parts of the shadowlands story. But the Arthas stuff was not one of them. I think it was perfect. I didn't want to see him return in any real way. His story as a villain was done, and he sure as hell didn't deserve any kind of redemption. The only purpose of him now was to show the aftermath of him on other prominent characters. Namely Uther and Sylvanas. And they did that. His ultimate fate, having his soul utterly consumed in the maw, was suitably tragic. But also arguably a fitting punishment.

they should never touch Arthas in the first place in the modern age.

thats why i dont give af anymore about WoW-Lore. They fu*ked it so hard up, that it can't be fixed anymore. WoW-Lore is dead!

He was ruined in WotLK more than in Shadowlands. WotLK went really wishy washy with the whole Lich King entity and didn't make sense.

Completely detached me from the Lore, now i just play wow like I play other games.... fot the end game content... the lore is non existent for me

The quest text wherein it is revealed that the Jailer sent the helm of domination implies that Arthas, Ner´zhul and Bolvar defied him, which means Arthas was not under the Jailers control. Like it is never stated or revealed that Arthas was directly under the jailers control. I´m glad they only did this, if Arthas actually played a siginificant role in the story, that would be a very cheap nostalgia move.

The core problem of shadowlands' story remains that the jailer is the lamest big bad ever. He came out of nowhere, had no motivations until the very end, and did not leave a real impact on the story. You can literally start the narrative of DF after BFA, NZoth is gone, the dragon isles awaken. The only real difference would be that Sylvanas is still alive somewhere, and that Anduin is still king, but it feels like the leadership of the factions won't play that big a role anyway in DF.

even though I know the story and the symbolism by heart, it was still a good listen. thanks!

I will never forgive blizzard for this, the utter disrespect disgusts me. Spitting on your own legacy and take away most peoples favorite villain, taking his rested corpse and drag it through an ocean of diarrhea just to milk some money on the name, the man, the king everyone loved.

This entire company must be purged…

Arthas was one of the best villains ever created in any video game franchise, what they did to him was pitiful. I don't wanna be a doomer but Shadowlands was largely the worst xpac because of all the systems/etc and the ruined lore. The ruined Sylvanas, Garrosh, Kel'thuzad and many more prominent lore figures. They also (imo) failed to use characters like kaelthas and ysera and others well. Just trying to figure out what they did well/better than previously donem

What Blizzard has done with Arthas and Garrosh during Shadowlands was a huge mistake. So much potential for future storylines there. Blizzard just erased them both without a care. The team that wrote Shadowlands definitely didn't take into the account of the target audiences' wants or needs.

Glad to see that you're making wow lore videos! Please do more

You could make the same video about Arthas' most loyalt friend and important lieutnat "Kel'Thuzad".
In SL, Kel lost his memory and does not even know that Arthas exists just under his nose.(if he would have still one) They could have worked together to overthrow Sylvanas and the Jailer, after all, Sylvanas was just another servant to Arthas, and the Jailer was hardly a Titan++, but a mere Robot, who had the wrong coding and thus failed to dominate "reality".


Why even make a teaser to throw arthas into the maw, if he playes no role anyways? 'Turn him into 30 anima?

How can develop these narrativ writers ever a good story? Its like disney asking to do a good star wars triology.

A point of view can be biased and opinionated, while still remaining 'Technically' Correct.

The story of Jesus, is subjective to the passionate experience that makes up the Crucifixion of Christ.

However, on the same note... Even though that tragedy is subjective, at the same time, it is also TECHNICALLY the most tragic story. You CANNOT write or experience a series of events more tragic than that told in the Story of Christ. It is an aggregation of EVERYTHING people are afraid could happen to them.

#1 - There is no death more painful than that of the Crucifixion. The Romans invented it to punish Political Miscreants. A slow, agonizing death of suffocation brought on by your own bodyweight that you're unable to continuously support due to the dehydration, starvation, and environmental exposure.

#2 - He knew it was coming

#3 - His best friend betrays him into this death

#4 - His people turn against him

#5 - They're led by a tyrant who knows the truth, in that you're innocent

#6 - Everyone else KNOWS you're innocent

#7 - The release a criminal from this extended, and extremely painful death, whom was punished alongside you, when they knew he was a criminal and you were innocent

#8 - Your mother has to watch and accept the entire thing, without speaking out against it

Arthas's story, and the way they shat on it? Was terrible.... TECHNICALLY.... Yes, subjectively, but ALSO TECHNICALLY!

I hope Blizzard fixes Arthas soon one last time as I really hate how they made Arthas into a pathetic ball of light

choices after putting on lich king armor are not his own sins and makes him more deserving of a redemption arc than sylvanas, they screwed the pooch hard.

Imagine if Anduin's Jailer-tinkered Sharlamayne (sp) sword was the combination of Arthas as he was and the Lichking persona he became. If in the fight, or aftermath, the sword splits into its two 1-handers, each with one aspect of Arthas/LK, and by restoring Anduin's will - he speaks with Arthas's spirit - who warns him of the dark path he (Anduin) now treads, and how Anduin must no longer follow in those footsteps. The LK persona appears (something we fought in the raid), telling Anduin to forgo weakness for strength or somesuch... THEN, Varian's spirit appears, reminding Anduin of the kind, compassionate soul he's always been -- and that's how Anduin is free to then contemplate his next steps.

Yeah its a real shame
Wows story direction became totally uninteresting and honestly just plain bad
I stopped caring some time ago but how they butchered arthas's and my deathknight lore still bothers me
Nothing showcases this whole situation better then the ingame scene where the helm of dominatiom gets changed into a lvl 58 outland quest reward
Unbelievably anticlimactic yet symbolic for modern wows treatment of classic lore
Old blizz is long dead
I just enjoy the game for what it is and i havent been invested in it for some time now and never will again
The magic is gone as is the passion and direction behind the game
However gameplay wise its still developing and decent etc etc
Its not a bad game at all despite being a frankenstein of what warcraft used to be

Their doing what movies are doing now .. no story .. no character building .. just flashy effects and explosions .. make the crowd go OOOO BIG EXPLOSION OOOO .. and they forget what their actually watching .. sign o' the times .. sign of the times ..

Shadowlands could have been an incredible expansion pack lorewise. Sadly, the people in charge of the story obviously had no clue how to write a story. Imo, it mostly was pure garbage, naive teen fanfiction level written in one night imo.

the only one, who can save arthas is nozdormu i guess

Because now no-one is allowed to be a genuinely evil or morally compromised character. It's all about "oh he was being controlled" or "oh he was manipulated, he was totally not on board with this." Some people just make bad judgements and decisions and some are just outright horrible individuals.

I read the Arthas book several years ago and it was really good. They should have left his story closed after WotLK. The bad story writing and patch pacing after getting to the Maw in Shadowlands is why I took a break from the game. Just came back to retail for Dragonflight. Fingers crossed.
Great lore video. Hope you continue to do more.

Arthas the whisp

Arthas was already ruined in WOTLK. The ending was too dumb...not intelligent written. J.R.R Tolkien should have written it in his time. The whole warcraft universe for that matter. Then you would have something that raised the bar. And also the Arthas books are written AFTER Warcraft 3 to justify all the dumb low generic bullshit in WoW. And most people fall for it including you.

Blizzard is failing company especially how they treated arthas. Wotlk was their best expansion and instead of brining the main character back they kill it. The writers should be Fired

Arthas at the end of w3 rise was a perfect excuse to write and develop Warcraft 4 rather than killing him in a wow extention

Arthas was never that great of a character to begin with. The fact that his evil actions after picking up Frostmourne are done through some form of mind control lessens his value as a villain. It would have been better if throughout his campaign he started seeing undeath as an upgrade that could make his people stronger. Thus, making all his evil actions later fully conscious.

Why Arthas menethil so popular & Big fan is the best game Warcraft ever. Best the Protagonist & Antagonist💙❤!!

They spent so long trying to tell us that Arthas was bad and evil even though both he and Sylvanas were literally missing their souls and could not make moral decisions because of it.
But Sylvanas gets a redemption and Arthas gets told he "meant nothing" and disappears like 35 anima.
What a fucking joke, so glad I never bought this trash expac.

well done !

activision fucked wow

dont even get me started on garrosh

I think you are wrong about Arthas and his father giving up on him. The fact that he was there in Arthas' final moments, comforting his son as he was drawing his last breath shows that he actually never gave up on him, and that he forgave him in the end.
I also think you are wrong in saying that Arthas wanted to do all those things that he did, yes he was in control, but the helm of domination, or Ner'zhul twisted his mind. I think thats why he asks his father if its over when he's dying, he is relieved that his suffering has come to an end.

Activision and Chinese mobile games invaded Blizzard ... those who make this game no longer the guy that used to make the story we once love. They all care only about money now.

He wouldn't just kill them after they become zombies. He kills them after they become assault troops for the Scourge and go on to kill who knows how many people when they could have been killed earlier. The mercy for your people is just a bonus.

Stratholm had to be purged for strategic reasons. It was hours away from becoming a massive additional zombie army ready to be let loose on Lordaeron.

You know ppl forget that after claiming Frostmourne , Arthas' soul was the first one it claimed that being stated at the beginning of the Undead campaign by Thicondrius.

Knowing this how can Arthas be held accountable for his actions even after becoming the Lich King and winning the battle in his head between the 3 entities (Ner'zhul , young Arthas and dk Arthas).

In the end Arthas had no soul cause it was inside the blade, just like Sylvanas was without a soul and made horrible acts, but made a radical change of character after she got her soul forced back to her by the Jailer in the cinematic. It makes not sense to judge someone who has no morality or good side in them because it was taken away.

Even Arthas says in the begging of the undead campaign that he feel no remorse , no shame , no pity after killing his own father and destroying the capital. That is because he has no soul and did not have any soul until the blade was destroyed atop Icecrown and Arthas was defeated.

Maybe Arthas' soul went back into his body as he was lifted up by the enranged souls or something and then at the end cinematic he is asking his father "Is it over?" , meaning actually " Is the nightmare over?".

But of course Blizzard didnt think every detail and didn't know what to do with his choices (was he mind controlled ? was he doing this himself?)
But even if he was influenced by the jailer he still had no soul left, it's not like he could resist the jailer with nothing.

He deserved a better fate.

very shameful.

Your video is full of mistakes.

The book isn't canon in the game. Ingame, the Lich King isn't Arthas or Ner'Zul, he's just the Lich King, with elements of them both and memories of them both. He'll respond to Arthas because that seemed to be his dominant side but there are moments where he acknowledges his past as a shaman and where he mocks the Horde out of spite.

When he's finally defeated, Arthas isn't remorseless. His soul was also trapped in the blade and his only question is whether it is finally over. He didn't ask for forgiveness or immediately break into confession because that's not his characters and I suspect he must have known it was all far too late for that.

Also Terenas calls him 'son' near the end, consoling him. Yes he was slain by his own son, but in that moment, he understood that both he and Arthas were victims of the Lich King and Frostmourne. He closes his eyes tenderly and stays with him in his final moments.

The rest I didn't watch because SL is non-canon and I bet if you asked Metzen about it in private, he would agree.

Blizzard had a thing there where they felt desperately thatvthey needed to reddem two of their most evil characters and make them misunderstood or unaccountable. Sylvanus Windrunner in WarCraft and Sarah Kerrigan in StarCraft.

You're wrong. Arthas went insane after Stratholme, and was fully mind controlled after Frostmourne. I don't care about Christie Golden and the novels. Those are fan fic and make little sense. At the end of wotlk we can clearly see that Arthas is relieved ("Father! Is this over??") that his days as Lich King are over, which indicates that he didn't relly mean all this. Yes, he is guilty of picking up Frostmourn despite warnings but he was young and fool hardy like a lot of young people. And his father DID IN FACT sympathized with him. The ending scene proves it. He was a villain and did a lot of evil, but my points above prove that he deserved a redemption story.

blame danuser he did this because he is a bad writer hack and hacker.

I quit WoW after the disappointing WotLK ending. I loved WC3 for the simple dualistic Story telling of Thrall redeeming his people while Arthas was to proud to see the dawnfall. I wished an interesting epitome of synthesis from both...

What were they thinking!?!! 🙄Such a dumb move to kill off one of the most legendary warcraft characters like that. Also unworthy. Imagine how much potential there could have been. Like arthas being freed from the jailer, becoming the good guy alongside uther against jaina. In a way to redeem himself in the afterlife. Sooo much potential. All in ruins. It would have made for a great story, and a worthy ending to his chapter. Perhaps ending with him sacrificing his soul or something to imprison the jailer. Would also have been quite symbolical seeing how ner'zhul had him imprisoned in his own body.

he was innocent.

Somebody in Blizzard really wanted to destroy Arthas once and for all, what they get i dont know, but thats it.

I don't know why people have such a hard on for Arthas. He was a horrible person even before he took up the helm.

Already in Warcraft 3 it was clear Arthas was not fully himself as a death knight. Tichondrius outright tells him that Frostmourne claimed his soul, and when Arthas finally puts on the lich king's helmet, he says, "Now we are one" which implies that Arthas and Ner'Zhul have merged, not that one erased the other. It seems that the books and the WotLK were retcons themselves.

Arthas 's end was, literally, the worst “end” they could have made. Disgusting end, but hey, what could have we expected from blizzard…