World of Warcraft
Return to Lordaeron
After the devastation wrought across Azeroth, Arthas returned to Lordaeron, intent on reclaiming his former seat of power. Though Archimonde’s forces had long departed, the remnants of the Scourge still haunted the capital, twisting the once-proud streets into a frozen nightmare of death and decay. A trio of dreadlords, left behind by the demon lord to maintain order and oversee Ner’zhul’s servants, attempted to assert control over the remaining undead. They had expected an empty throne, not the living champion who had once been Lordaeron’s prince. Unaware that Archimonde had been vanquished, the dreadlords were caught off guard when Arthas arrived. His presence alone was enough to scatter them; his voice, cold and commanding, carried the authority of the Lich King, forcing the demonic agents to flee into the shadows.
Arthas moved quickly to consolidate power, summoning two of his most trusted allies: Sylvanas Windrunner, the dark ranger whose loyalty had already begun to falter, and Kel’Thuzad, the necromancer whose ambition mirrored his own. Together, they sought to crush the remaining pockets of human resistance. Among those resisting were paladins Halahk the Lifebringer, Magroth the Defender, and Dagren the Orcslayer, who led a desperate band of refugees attempting to delay the Scourge’s advance through the canyons surrounding the city. In the chaos of battle, Arthas felt a painful tremor of the Lich King’s will surge through him. His vision blurred, his limbs shook, yet even weakened, he ruthlessly ensured that all who opposed him were cut down or raised in undeath, leaving no quarter for mercy.
Amid the carnage, Sylvanas quietly observed the cracks in Arthas’ devotion to the Lich King. She perceived the diminishing power that had begun to afflict him, and a seed of vengeance took root in her mind. When Arthas attempted to regroup with Kel’Thuzad, dreadlords ambushed him once more, forcing him to fight through loyalist forces. Among his opponents was the monstrous abomination Bloodfeast, a grotesque fusion of flesh and cruelty. Just as the prince seemed overwhelmed, a cadre of banshees, sent by Sylvanas under the guise of aid, intervened. Yet even their assistance carried betrayal; a vision from the Lich King revealed her duplicity, and Sylvanas paralyzed Arthas with a precise arrow. Kel’Thuzad, however, arrived in time to prevent her lethal strike, binding the threads of loyalty, treachery, and survival into an uneasy equilibrium.
Escape to Northrend
Even as Lordaeron burned with undead conquest, the Lich King’s voice reached out to Arthas, warning him of new threats: demonic forces, later revealed to be the agents of Illidan Stormrage and the naga, who coveted the Frozen Throne’s power. Acting swiftly, Arthas assembled a fleet of ships, gathering the Scourge’s most loyal troops, and set sail for Northrend, leaving Kel’Thuzad behind to maintain control of Lordaeron and ensure the kingdom’s undead subjects remained subjugated.
The journey was perilous. Upon arrival in Northrend, Arthas immediately faced hostilities from the surviving blood elves, led by Kael’thas Sunstrider, who sought vengeance for Quel’Thalas’ destruction. Yet even in this hostile land, Arthas found allies in unexpected forms. Anub’arak, the crypt lord and former king of Azjol-Nerub, approached him with an offer: a secret passage through the ancient tunnels of his kingdom, promising a faster route to the Frozen Throne. Accepting the crypt lord’s guidance, Arthas ventured into the shadowed labyrinths, battling undead guardians and surviving traps laid by centuries of forgotten wars.
During their expedition, Arthas confronted Sapphiron, the ancient blue dragon corrupted by frost magic. The battle was fierce, but victory came at a cost, Arthas claimed the dragon’s soul and raised him as a frost wyrm, a new instrument of death to augment his legions. Each conquest, each act of domination, further bound him to the will of the Lich King, and the icy grip of Northrend began to take root in his heart.
Race to the Frozen Throne
Within Azjol-Nerub’s tunnels, Arthas faced new resistance. Dwarves loyal to Muradin, now commanded by Baelgun Flamebeard, defended their territory alongside the surviving nerubians. The ensuing clashes tested Arthas’ cunning and martial skill; traps and collapsing corridors forced him to navigate with precision, while Anub’arak’s knowledge of the tunnels provided the only hope of survival. They confronted the faceless ones, ancient horrors released by the collapse of a kingdom long buried. The battle was deadly, and an earthquake soon separated Arthas from his guide, leaving him to rely solely on instinct and determination to traverse the treacherous passages.
Reunited with Anub’arak, Arthas received a dire warning from the Lich King: the Frozen Throne had been fractured, and Ner’zhul’s power was leaking into the world. The prince absorbed the dark energies, preparing for the ultimate confrontation that would decide the fate of Azeroth’s undead scourge. Emerging from the labyrinth, Arthas met Illidan Stormrage at the Court of Bones. The demon hunter sought to destroy the Frozen Throne, but Arthas struck him down with Frostmourne, claiming Illidan’s Black Blade of the Betrayer as a symbol of triumph.
Ascension of the Lich King
At last, Icecrown Citadel loomed before him, a jagged fortress of ice and despair. Voices of the fallen, Muradin, Uther, Jaina, echoed in his mind, pleading for the man they once knew to resist the corruption. Arthas ignored them, compelled by a relentless need to complete his destiny. Atop the glacier, within a crystalline tomb, lay the armor of the Lich King, chained and imprisoned in the ice. Ner’zhul’s voice whispered urgently: “Return the blade… complete the circle… release me from this prison!”.
Without hesitation, Arthas lifted Frostmourne and shattered the icy bindings. He donned the helm, and in that instant, Ner’zhul and Arthas became one, their wills fused into a singular, terrifying entity. The young death knight had fully ascended as the Lich King, master of Northrend and ruler of the Scourge, his mortal past extinguished beneath the cold certainty of his new dominion. From that moment onward, all of Azeroth trembled before his power, and the legacy of Arthas Menethil was forever transformed into legend, and nightmare.
Personal Thoughts on Arthas Menethil
Arthas’ story is a haunting tale of choices and consequences. Born a prince of promise, he sought to protect his people, yet his pride and urgency led him down a path of darkness. Step by step, ambition, fear, and vengeance transformed him, until he became the Lich King, a figure of unimaginable power but stripped of humanity, love, and honor.
His life is a reminder that the line between hero and villain is perilously thin. Yet in his death, there is a trace of the man he might have been, a fleeting reflection of lost potential and the cost of surrendering to darkness. Arthas endures not only as a cautionary legend but as a mirror of human ambition, pride, and the choices that define who we ultimately become.