So last week I gave my insight on what is becoming an increasingly debated point in the Warcraft community.  How much, if any, of Arthas’ humanity is still intact, and what role is that going to play in our battle upon the Frozen Throne?

The biggest point of contention that I can see is in the way the lore is written and not necessarily in the way that the lore has played out and evolved, and the thing that keeps coming back to me is a quote by Christ Metzen that I cannot seem to find for myself in which he says that there has been no retroactive redevelopment of the Lich King and how he came to be, and that the Lich King himself is the perfect fusion of the souls of both Arthas Menethil and Ner’zhul.

Now, be that as it may there are a number of things that point to Arthas having retained his humanity despite phantom statements and half blooded arguments to the contrary.  The first, and probably the most important in my mind is Uther’s statement—it kind of rings in my mind as something that I had never considered prior to having heard it—that Arthas’ humanity, the righteous sense of justice and a desire to protect everything in his kingdom, is all that’s stopping the Scourge from destroying Azeroth and ushering in an age of shadow and darkness.  The statement by Uther is written in a very interesting way, because it implies that the Lich King and Arthas are two separate entities; that Arthas is the Prince of Lordaeron sitting on the saronite shoulder of the Scourge’s dark king.  His conscience, perhaps?

Arthas is the voice that reigns the Scourge into Northrend—the voice that fueled the Lich King’s decision to built a fortress in Icecrown instead of sending the Scourge into Azeroth.  In fact, if you’ve read Christie Golden’s “Rise of the Lich King” and timeline the events of the book with the events of Warcraft, you’ll see that the only time the Scourge invaded Azeroth was under Kel’thuzad’s command while the Lich King dreamt on the Frozen Throne.  But what about Acherus and the Battle of Light’s Hope?  Rather than get back into that here, I encourage you to look over the last few Wednesday posts to get my thoughts on what took place there.

There are other things that point to Arthas having retained at least some of his humanity—the Scourge’s propensity for the aesthetic is one of them.  The Horde under Ner’zhul had no such tendency to create visually pleasing structures—as a war machine his Horde was more in tune with the practical and the deadly, but Arthas—the crowned Prince of Lordaeron—you can see his influence in almost everything the Scourge creates.  Most notably is in the Halls of Reflection (pictured above), where the Lich King has created a replica of the throne upon which King Terenas sat and was killed, but it can be seen in other things as well.  There are Scourge banners, tapestries and structures that have been assimilated into the Nerubian architecture that Ner’zhul adopted out of respect for the Nerubians.  Just take a look inside of the fallen citadels in Northrend, and inside of Naxxramas.  For what other reason would the Scourge, an undead war machine, create such aesthetic things than to make the remnant of Arthas within the Lich King more comfortable with his position?

No questions this week, I just encourage you to leave me your thoughts and ideas!  Kelly and I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

Supervas out!