Why must there "always be a Lich King?"

[Justpassing]

Well he could order them all to stand down while we cull the scourge, and then not raise undead anymore.

Or it's just a plot hook waiting to happen. I put my money on that.

[Heladys]

1. Lich King sends all the scourge through the portals to Argus
2. ???
3. Profit!

No, really. Bolvar is still supposed to be Bolvar in there somewhere, and he's supposedly opposed to the Legion, so why isn't he doing anything more tangible than annoying DKs and Mages who are chasing their artifacts?

[Deleted]

I actually argued on another thread that the whole thing was a ruse by Ner'zhul

I believe Arthas never really killed him after all how could a trainee pally really defeat him?

That ghost of Terenas and Uther was basically just avatars that was conjured by Ner'zhul so he could find another host like a parasite.

He knew if he couldn't find another host he was done for.

I dont believe a bunch of leaderless zombies is really that much of a threat after all how could they escape Northrend without being torpedoed by the combined fleets of the Alliance and Horde?

You're overestimating Blizzards writing capabilities or interest

[Deleted]

because there must always be material which can be recycled and the majority of people clap their hands and accept it .

[Azahel]

When Bolvar puts on the helmet of the Lich King after arthas is defeated, why is cannon that "there must always be a Lich King?"

Why not just banish the helmet into the twisting nether or destroy it? Undead scourge can only be raised by an entity like Sylvanis or the Vykrul spirit healers, or a *GASP* Lich King. If the Lich King is no more, then wouldn't that serve to stop large swaths of undead from ever rising? Thus, allowing the heros of azeroth to finally kill off ALL of the undead scourge and be done with any sort of threat they might pose?

Last time the undead started to get off the leash, the forsaken were born and they're not exactly a nice and trustable lot.
Hell, even with a lich king still there at the throne, we still see some guys trying to take control over factions of dead for their own reasons, the LK just keeps the bulk of them away from villages of workers or flanking busy armies.

[Jaylock]

Last time the undead started to get off the leash, the forsaken were born and they're not exactly a nice and trustable lot.
Hell, even with a lich king still there at the throne, we still see some guys trying to take control over factions of dead for their own reasons, the LK just keeps the bulk of them away from villages of workers or flanking busy armies.

We are never in those remote areas of the world anymore anyway. Have you see WPL or EPL lately? Ghost town. Azeroth has forgotten about the scourge for the most part.

[Eazy]

Because people don't know how to use search option:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...be-a-Lich-King
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...Be-A-Lich-King
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ure-lore-holes
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...t-amp-a-cookie

[clevin]

But he isn't just Bolvar now, he is the Lich King. Though he holds them in check, do you think he's just gonna sit there and take it when the Alliance and the Horde come to kill him?

We killed Arthas. It's not like this is impossible.

[Deleted]

Judging form how the lich king acts in the DK campaign, i don't believe for one second he is not raising new undeads. Sure he is probably not going out of his way to raise them, but if some humans go to northrend to explore it up, i'm sure he would kill them and then raise them as a warning. Don't doubt that any native creatures of northrend are fair game either.

Bolvars will obviously only goes so far. self preservation is probably hardcoded into the helmet. He can keep them in check, thats it. If he was truly in control, he could literally just reverse the magic that is keeping them undead in the first place, or have the scourge fight itself.

ironically he is much cooler then DHs with fighting the demon within that way.

[DeicideUH]

The one true answer is: "Because reasons".

Really, they never gave us reasons. They say the Scourge would be an even greater threat and so on. But does not explain why. An aimless army of undead is worse than a dormant one, true, but not than a coordinated army under the rule of a hostile Lich King.

My headcanon is that, without someone to control the power of the Helm of Domination, that power would leak and act on its own. New undead would rise in ramdom places accross the world, sorcerers, necromancers and liches could tap into that power and direct it, creating their own mini-Scourges, in addition to the wild one running rampant. Having a Lich King allows it to contain the powers of the Helm.

So, to ensure there would not be a new Lich King, they'd need to first take down the existing Scourge until it's no longer a threat, then find a way to contain the Helm so its power won't spread accross the world. But all that is just my guess.

[Ferg]

We killed Arthas. It's not like this is impossible.

No, we didn't. We didn't even come close to killing Arthas. He toyed with us all the way through WotLK and even defeated the "greatest fighting force the world has ever known" (his words, and he would know) with 1 ability after he tested us during his encounter.

Arthas was magnitudes more powerful than we were at that point in time. Now, we're about to fight a fucking Titan, so Idk how that falls into everything, but no, we did not kill Arthas. The Light itself did, by breaking Tirion free and empowering the Ashbringer to shatter Frostmourne.

[clevin]

No, we didn't. We didn't even come close to killing Arthas. He toyed with us all the way through WotLK and even defeated the "greatest fighting force the world has ever known" (his words, and he would know) with 1 ability after he tested us during his encounter.

Arthas was magnitudes more powerful than we were at that point in time. Now, we're about to fight a fucking Titan, so Idk how that falls into everything, but no, we did not kill Arthas. The Light itself did, by breaking Tirion free and empowering the Ashbringer to shatter Frostmourne.

Fine but... Arthas is still dead. My point is that I don't see it as impossible to kill Bolvar, destroy the helm, and end the scourge. Hell, after we defeat the Legion grab the Paraxis which can rain death on people on the ground. Get 10 of its sister ships, fly over Northrend and Lordaeron (sp?) and waste all the undead.

PS: on 'the Light did' Fine - there are a bunch of Naaru hanging about still (Adal, etc). Grab one of them and have it take out Bolvar. I mean, are we do believe that Bolvar is stronger than an avatar of the Light?

[Ferg]

Fine but... Arthas is still dead. My point is that I don't see it as impossible to kill Bolvar, destroy the helm, and end the scourge. Hell, after we defeat the Legion grab the Paraxis which can rain death on people on the ground. Get 10 of its sister ships, fly over Northrend and Lordaeron (sp?) and waste all the undead.

It's not that we couldn't, it's that we have no real reason to. The WoW universe is interesting, the heroes are always capable of defeating any evil they want, but they never care enough unless something major happens.

Basically, as long as he's up there not doing anything, there's no reason to waste resources on it.

[Feel The Power]

A better question is "Why must people still fall into every Jaylock trolling-trap".

[Dacu]

When Bolvar puts on the helmet of the Lich King after arthas is defeated, why is cannon that "there must always be a Lich King?"

Why not just banish the helmet into the twisting nether or destroy it? Undead scourge can only be raised by an entity like Sylvanis or the Vykrul spirit healers, or a *GASP* Lich King. If the Lich King is no more, then wouldn't that serve to stop large swaths of undead from ever rising? Thus, allowing the heros of azeroth to finally kill off ALL of the undead scourge and be done with any sort of threat they might pose?

It sounds to me like you're assuming that we have killed every last scourge throughout the expacs and the only reason they still exist is because Bolvar is continuously raising them. There are massive amounts of scourge running around unkilled (but at the same time, are being kept in line). If there was no LK, those scourge would be running rampant through azeroth, killing all the baby tauren.

[Arkthugal]

What's he going to do? Shoot arrows at our ships? My point is that we beat Arthas who had Frostmourne. Now, we have air superiority, we can destroy his ground forces and then him (again). Melt down the helm.

"But the Scourge left would run free" - Ok, aside from bombarding him from the air... what's worse, mindless Scourge that we'd have to destroy or Scourge controlled by a central, malevolent intelligence?

Mindless Scourge, by a mile. Without a Lich King to hold them in check, they'd swamp the planet.

"The dead outnumber the living, and always will."

[Klingers]

What I've never understood is why Bolvar didn't just command a couple of ghouls to stoke up a big furnace and then start mind-controlling the undead into the flames... Wouldn't that solve the problem?

[Ferg]

What I've never understood is why Bolvar didn't just command a couple of ghouls to stoke up a big furnace and then start mind-controlling the undead into the flames... Wouldn't that solve the problem?

If you were given an army, would you order all your soldiers to shoot themselves? Why would you ever do that? Such an asset could come in handy someday.

[Klingers]

If you were given an army, would you order all your soldiers to shoot themselves? Why would you ever do that? Such an asset could come in handy someday.

Well, I'd assume because the whole point of Bolvar putting on the helm of domination was an act of self-sacrifice to save the living races of Azeroth and keeping an army in his back pocket wasn't a primary concern at the time.

[Ferg]

Well, I'd assume because the whole point of Bolvar putting on the helm of domination was an act of self-sacrifice to save the living races of Azeroth and keeping an army in his back pocket wasn't a primary concern at the time.

He was already dead when he became the LK. "The world of the living can no longer comfort me."

It was either truly die and let the Scourge destroy everything he's ever known and loved, or claim the Frozen Throne and become the jailer of the damned, saving the planet.

Not exactly a hard choice to make.