Arthas redemption?

I am excited to be fighting Arthas in 3.3, because I remember playing Warcraft 3 and thinking "this guy is a dick".

Now we are approaching our chance to kill him, but I am afraid. I am afraid that Blizzard is going to "redeem" him after he is beaten somehow. That he will be like "oh what have i done i was under the Lich King's control blah blah blah."

Does anyone hope he is "redeemed"? Or do you also want him dead?

Nice question, and welcome!

I've actually thought about this, because for some reason the idea of Ner'zul (not sure if that's right) consuming his soul really struck me at some point. That here is this guy who we have seen bits and pieces of back to his childhood, who was corrupted and then consumed by a demon just disturbs me, and I knida don't like the idea that once he's defeated his essence is just obliterated. So yeah, I guess I hope he is redeemed in some way. At least his spirit is saved or something.

Excellent insight Osis.

See my problem is that i like Ner'zul more than Arthas. I hated Arthas. He is a narcissistic spoiled rich boy. He never cared about anyone other than himself.

So I wouldn't mind Ner'zul being redeemed, but I don't think there is anything worth redeeming in Arthas.

I would love for Blizz to give Arthas the Hannibal Lector treatment. I want him to seemingly be defeated, but after all is said and done, we realize that we were his puppets all along and doing his dirty work for him. Let him slip away somewhere and work on his next evil scheme.

Yeah, Siba, I guess it's like WWE plotlines like that. After months of hating the heel you just want to see him get his head bashed in, but once he's gone and they start a new storyline it just isn't the same and we all talk about how good it was back when.

I personally think Uther should have smacked him in the face with that giant hammer right before the culling of Stratholme started.

Metzen & co. have been kind of sending mixed messages on this point - one the one hand, there's a quest line in Icecrown (offered by Thassarian for Alliance, I'm assuming Koltira Deathweaver has the equivalent) that has you find a crystalline object that is presumably Arthas's frozen heart, ripped out all Mola Ram style. On the other hand, that new book we've been hearing about brings a very interesting dynamic to Arthas's inner turmoil in the prologue they posted on the official site - Ner'zhul and a very beat-up boy Arthas fighting for adult Arthas's soul. Now, that might already be long over, as the heart quest chain would suggest, but anyone who's done the questline will now that a ghostly boy figure leads you through many of the individual quests - maybe the "good guy" Arthas is still present in the form of the boy, now cast out of the Lich King's body and dwelling within the heart.

That aside, the people around Arthas who would likely play a big role in his redemption (like Muradin Bronzebeard and Tirion Fordring) are pretty set on settling scores, so I don't think a fully-redeemed, back to normal Arthas is likely. Something like a "oh noes, what have I done" in-game death seems like it'd fit, and that heart will probably play a big role in bringing this about.

I don't want to give away too much... but I think that the new book Arthas: Rise of the Lich King has, I think, a pretty conclusive answer on this question. Before I read it, I definitely had some concerns that this "OH I'm saved! Thank you!" would happen... but now I don't.

Yeah, I'm really interested in picking that up. I'm sure it will paint a clearer picture of Arthas, and how we should feel about him.

If I were going to start reading the WoW novels where would be the best place to start?

whisp3rbl4d3 wrote:

If I were going to start reading the WoW novels where would be the best place to start?

Honestly, it doesn't matter. If you are an avid WoW player, you can pick up any of the books and start to read them. You'll immediately pick out names and places that you can ground yourself into. Each book is its own adventure so technically you can read them in whatever order you so choose.... however I read them in chronological order but I am not a normal case... I have to do everything in chronological order. If I want to watch a new t.v. show like Lost or Dexter, I CANNOT watch an episode until I have seen all of the previous episodes. I'm a little OCD about these sort of things! If you want to start at the beginning, go to the lore pages here. I recommend reading all of that and seeing if you want to spend the money on the books. If you read all that, love it, and want more (MORE I TELL YOU!) then go down to your nearest bookstore (or order from Stompalina and Hafrot's online store) and pick up one of the compilations such as World of Warcraft Archive . This gives you 3 books in one and the price is very good (about 17 USD). Don't go and buy Arthas right now unless you're a 100% dedicated WoW lore nerd, OR have ~30$ of disposable income. It's relatively short, but it costs so much because its hardback :/ ... but it is an absolutely fantastic read. If you have played Warcraft III you are going to notice A LOT of scenes taken directly from the game. (which I thought was kind of cheesy, but meh) Also you will notice a lot of stuff from northrend which is really fun to go back and explore after the book. Icecrown is fascinating.
Or you can go a different route: just read anything by Christie Golden. She's a fantastic writer and I take a lot of inspiration from her work.