Project Lore

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?

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Project Lore journeys further into 10 man Naxx and comes to confront the final boss in Naxxramas: Kel'Thuzad. This is the hardest fight in Naxx and the guys are up for it... we hope. Find out how they do in this episode of Project Lore.

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I ran across this artistic presentation on Friday. I didn't stick around to see its completion

If you happen to be my mother, then you noticed that I didn't post on Friday.   I wasn't being lazy, or basking in the glorious amount of sunlight that Philadelphia had that day.  No, I was having bones forcibly extracted from my skull because they failed to know their place (in my mouth).  These so called "wisdom teeth" forced me to miss a day's worth of work, writing, and cleaning and put me through a substantial amount of discomfort and annoyance.  The chemicals that I was pumped full for the early morning procedure lasted until around noon, at which time the gang of four started to beat on my nerve endings until the experience became too unbearable to sleep through.  I rolled over and grabbed Arthas: Rise of the Lich King.  I made it through two pages before I returned to kicking my legs in frustration. I've always been intrigued by the studies showing that video games help hospital patients (and everyone else) deal with pain and the stress of their illnesses, such as transfusions or chemotherapy.  With that in mind, and a little coaxing from my girlfriend, I fired up the computer and dove into Azeroth with reckless abandon.  One, two, three, a half dozen hours passed me by as I continued to crush heroic after heroic.  I wouldn't claim that the pain had vanished, I still felt it, but with my brain utterly distracted by DPS maximization, group creation, fishing, or dailies, it was pushed by the wayside.  Thanks to my brain's limited capacity, the synapses continued to fire, but no one was home to receive delivery. No, it wasn't just my Wolverine-like healing abilities taking over.  I didn't even realize the positive effects of my "self medication" until the next morning where I awoke in agony, despite that fact that I went to bed feeling relatively well.  I broke down and took the prescribed pain medication before I went back to my previous method of recovery.  Once again, the hours passed and I was able to ignore the hardcore drugs in favor of GTA: Chinatown Wars, Demigod and a ton more of World of Warcraft. In an odd twist, the pain actually helped Solidsamm substantially.  During the course of the hazy weekend he bagged close to twenty achievements, hundreds of gold, leveled his fishing and cooking, participated in some new (to him) heroics, gained thousands of Kirin Tor rep, downed Kel'Thuzad for the first time and lost a collected 5 rolls on needed rogue loot.  The little gnome managed all of this will keeping me, his driver, off the hard medication.  Quite a weekend. The pain still remains as of today, but it is tolerable so long as I don't try to chew, speak on the phone long, laugh loudly or yawn.  Perhaps I am milking it a bit.  Hey, when else in your life do you get a perfectly reasonable excuse to drink milkshakes 3-4 times a day?  Now I know what I will be doing if I ever break a bone.  I feel a twang of pain...back to Azeroth.

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