Is Arthas Capable of Redemption?
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pixiestixy on Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 48 Comments Tags: Lore, arthas, arthas menethil, climax, culling of stratholme, icecrown, icecrown citadel, jaina proudmoore, kel'thuzad, lich king, mal'ganis, patch 3.3, redemption, second chance, star wars, stratholme, tragic fall, wrath of the lich king
pixiestixy on Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 48 Comments Tags: Lore, arthas, arthas menethil, climax, culling of stratholme, icecrown, icecrown citadel, jaina proudmoore, kel'thuzad, lich king, mal'ganis, patch 3.3, redemption, second chance, star wars, stratholme, tragic fall, wrath of the lich king 
This post may contain spoilers for anyone who hasn't played through the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
With the beginnings of Icecrown Citadel now on the PTR, it seems that the death of Arthas is on a lot of peoples' minds. If you've been playing Wrath of the Lich King, you're certainly at least vaguely familiar with the, well, wrath that the Lich King has brought to Azeroth. You've seen the destruction of waves of scourge under his command and the legions of indigenous peoples of Northrend enslaved under his control. But what of Arthas Menethil, the fallen paladin prince who ultimately unleashed the full power of the Lich King by merging with him?
Arthas' story is, indeed, a tragic one. The only son of King Terenas Menethil II, Prince Arthas was a promising swordsman as a youth and a member of the purest paladin group, the Knights of the Silver Hand. He may have been perhaps a bit too quick to action, but the prince became a well-known, renowned warrior who, among other exploits, defended Quel'Thalas from an attack by a group of forest trolls.
Perhaps the turning point in Arthas' life came with the rise of the plague of undeath. While investigating the plague, Arthas and his group, including Jaina Proudmoore, fight an undead army and encounter Kel'Thuzad, the plague-bringing necromancer. During this attack, Kel'Thuzad mentions Mal'Ganis. On their way to Stratholme and Mal'Ganis, Arthas learns that the plague is not just killing innocent people; but turning them into an undead army. Every soldier who had fallen while defending Lordaeron would become an undead puppet. Arthas, who wanted to be the one in control of the situation, was perhaps driven a little crazy knowing that even in his death, Kel'Thuzad had triumphed. As it turns out, this was the Lich King's intention all along.
Although the prophet Medivh and Jaina both suggest that Arthas should head to Kalimdor and not to Stratholme, Athas' headstrong manner guides him against that advice. He drives onward to another spot of his unraveling. Arthas pledged to do anything to protect his people - even if it meant the extreme step of killing those who were on the brink of becoming undead in the Culling of Stratholme. Some viewed it as murder; But I see it as the tragic fall of a hero - Arthas sacrificed his own humanity in the hopes that it would prevent the spread of the plague.Perhaps haunted by what he had done, Arthas grows ever-obsessed with the intention of eradicating the plague. He tracks the source to Northrend and, once again in the hopes that it will help protect his people, takes up the cursed runeblade Frostmourne. As we know, it has quite the opposite effect. From there, the downfall becomes rapid. Arthas begins losing his soul and his sanity. He finally destroys Mal'Ganis, but only to help free the Lich King and take control of the Scourge. Eventually, the Lich King and Arthas become one... or do they? Perhaps with the approaching climactic battles of Icecrown Citadel in Patch 3.3, we shall see.
Could Arthas' true consciousness still be buried deep within the Lich King? Or has he been so completely tainted that he never could be found again? I would draw a comparison to Star Wars' Anakin Skywalker, so consumed by the Dark Side that he lost his true self until just before his death.
Take that a step further - what if, by chance, Arthas knew that taking up the Frostmourne would eventually kill the Lich King by giving him a human form, and he was willing to lose himself in the process? Would the end justify the means?
Personally, I'd like to see the former Arthas come out once again (and it seems some of you would, too), somehow, in Icecrown Citadel. But even if he did somehow live and separate himself from the Lich King, could he redeem himself after all the horror he inflicted upon his people? If given the choice, would you allow Arthas to have a second chance?
Reader Comments (48)
I want to see him die. period. They make you hate him so much through out the expansion that i just want to see him die. no redemption...no "finally i'm free" speech...just his head chopped off or something equally dramatic. thats my two cents....
First :)
I like the idea of Arthas planning the whole thing, as for what will actually happen, I wouldn't put anything past Blizzard. I do know it will be awesome though.
As stated in my previous posts on the 'How do you want Arthas to die' article, I think its possible, but ONLY after death, or by means of self sacrifice somehow. He truly did have the potential to be a good king. Its just as WoWwiki says, though, he couldn't differentiate his equals from his people, as in his mind, he was equal with them. In a way, this is a good thing since it meant he loved all his subjects. On the other hand it made him go crazy, wanting to keep them all safe by himself. It could all have been avoided, if he'd listened to those who were actually his equals (Jaina) and in some cases his betters (Uther).
IF he lives, they'll probably exile hgim tirion fordring style. A few expansions later he'll pick up the ashbringer and kill Sargeras or something
This is what I and i'm sure many other people have been waiting for since they started playing WoW. After all Arthas and the lich kings story goes all the way back to Warcraft 3, and his change into the Lich King made the foundations of the World of Warcraft. So it would be suitable for his death or whatever to change the world yet again. But no matter what happens, Blizzard has to make it EPIC!
@Ryan u were 2nd. roflpwned.
i think he should live on and help in the fight against deathwing
I stopped playing WoW just becouse i knew too much, and i wanted to play aion but couldtn afford both, neays, now Arthas makes me miss the game. . .but i wanna see his ass dead, like dead, like the most epic battle ever and then a in-game cinimatic, im not talking Wrathgate cinimatic, but like the Wrath of the Lich King trailer cinimatic, just epic. either that or they jsut make him unbeatable, but thats not ganna happen. Altho on the other hand of leaving the game, i feel a bit better knowing that im not ganna kill him. . .i just cant imagine killing Arthas.
My guess is that if Arthas survives, he will be /gkicked from Knights of the Silver Hand.
Arthas is, for me at least, THE most important character in the World... of Warcraft.
Sargeras? Yeah, he's important as well, but most of us had Arthas as the main character when we started our Warcraft Career (Warcraft III in my case).
He deserves to live, period.
really good job on the lore review... its all right..but i think the true turning point for Arthas was the death of his horse Invincible that he indirectly caused. and when that happened he swore to himself that he wouldn't let anything happen to his people, no matter what. other than that you are spot on.
One more thing, He actually is the Lich King. In his 4 year dream ( the time he spent Idle on the frozen throne) Was when he Killed what was left of the lich king and his arthas' old self and he actually became the Lich King. (btw i got all of this Information from Arthas: Rise of The Lich King by Christie Golden)
As I commented on the former blog post: Arthas was evil long before he even heard of Frostmourne. Stratholme could be seen as a "tough call", akin to amputating a gangrenous limb before it poisons the rest of the body (not that it helped much), but his vengeance-driven decisions after that doomed him. Especially the whole betrayal of his own troops by burning their ships in Northrend.
And to suggest that there might be a sliver of goodness left in Arthas worthy of redemption is an insult, when there are other bosses in the game that get killed without a second thought, all the way down to poor Edwin van Cleef, who only wanted to get paid for the work he and his men did rebuilding Stormwind.
also @ Carlos, All the knights are dead....he killed them in Warcraft 3. But one was killed during the second war.
ok i think i know whats goin to happen since deathwing is coming. ur team will fight him to lets say 20%and arthas kneels and plunges Frostmoure into the groud For allies: Miss Proudmoure teleports tirion fordring and varian to his throne :horde Sylvanis will come out of stealth next to him. MIss Proudmoure will come up to him and pull off his helm and weep forcing the love of her heart onto him making the undead in him abolished and Arthas comes back. Sylvanis will come out and force arthas to tell her if he wants redemtion he says no she pulls off his mask and shoots him. The Lich King dies inside of him and is forced to retreat into the mask arthas is good good knock knock. then he might kill deathwing who knows
i didnt realize how far lich king goes and we wont be kil sargeras for a really long while i do not believe that the lich king isnt controllling arthas like sources say they are one if jaina or anyone elllse wanto save him they are going to have slap the lich king out of him to free arthas something ellse epic is sylvannar and jaina fighting each other jaina looked really good in the tales of the past series and all those characters going to be involved in battle should some upgraded gear
I have a new theory. (sort of)
Arthas and The Lich King will engage in some sort of mental battle at 1% health. Arthas will beg Jaina to kill him. Jaina will, of course, refuse then sylvanas will put an arrow in-between his eyes.
Arthas... an Anakin by any other name...
no1 has thought of this what if frostmourne breaks and all the souls come out including frostmournes first victim arthas and kill the lich king? then they are all at peace even arthas? that seem like a good ending?
How could he be redeemed? If you did the quest in Icecrown with his heart, you learn that there isn't anything left of arthas to redeem. He's evil to the bone.
dr no offence but i think that would be the cornyest ending ever dude we should fight him till his last point now if we are talking bringing good all arthas back then like i said we need to slap the lich king out of him what i allways thought cool is the lich king splits in 2 and one half turns into ner'zhull ner'zhul rejoince with arthas and he becomes half shaman half pally and BTW the silver hand doesnt exist anymore the argent dawn and silver hand joined togather to form the argent crusade
RE to DR. Awesome: You have terrible foresight. No offense.
omg to this is too painful, I may have to stop playing Aion and come back to WoW just to see what happens to arthas and the the Lich King.
@whitesuperman26 False~! Tirion Fordring, the guy who leads the scarlet crusade, and Turalyon( who Disappeared, not died, ,during the second war) are all knights. Knights of the Silver hand is more of a general term for alliance, non-draenie paladins. Plus the few that are left merge with the argent dawn under the guidance of Tirion to form the argent crusade.
@Cryos
Yep, afraid so. Even Tirion himself said when examining the heart of Arthas. "There is no more Arthas Menethil. There is only The Lich King."
How much money would an average college philosopher make?