Why must there "always be a Lich King?"

[Klingers]

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.

But again, we come back to that "I've got the helmet on... Why do I have to be a jailer? I could just kill the Scourge, thus ensuring them never being a problem again." argument. He could eaisly mind-control a few ghouls into a volcano. It's kind of his special skill.

[Ferg]

But again, we come back to that "I've got the helmet on... Why do I have to be a jailer? I could just kill the Scourge, thus ensuring them never being a problem again." argument. He could eaisly mind-control a few ghouls into a volcano. It's kind of his special skill.

And then what? He can't exactly leave ICC, only like 10 people on the planet (no, the PCs don't know either) know that he is the LK. The world presumes him dead, by the word of Tirion Fordring himself (may his soul rest in peace).

[Mayonnaise]

The scourge seem kind of neutral so I don't see the reason of killing him off. Also if you destroy the helm then they do whatever and will cause mass destruction. It would be hard to control if at all since others can become zombies.

[Klingers]

And then what? He can't exactly leave ICC, only like 10 people on the planet (no, the PCs don't know either) know that he is the LK. The world presumes him dead, by the word of Tirion Fordring himself (may his soul rest in peace).

But again, that's not the point. The point was removing the Scourge as a threat. Most efficient way to remove that threat?
Remove the threat, not contain it. Where Bolvar ends up on the other end of that equation isn't a primary concern, even for Bolvar. Especially considering the whole self-sacrifice angle.

[Ferg]

But again, that's not the point. The point was removing the Scourge as a threat. Most efficient way to remove that threat?
Remove the threat, not contain it. Where Bolvar ends up on the other end of that equation isn't a primary concern, even for Bolvar. Especially considering the whole self-sacrifice angle.

If your options are:

1. Remove threat but retain valuable asset / strategic advantage (undead army)

2. Remove threat but do not retain valuable asset / strategic advantage

Which do you think is the proper choice? The Scourge are not evil, they're mindless husks. They do whatever their master tells them to.

[Klingers]

If your options are:

1. Remove threat but retain valuable asset / strategic advantage (undead army)

2. Remove threat but do not retain valuable asset / strategic advantage

Which do you think is the proper choice? The Scourge are not evil, they're mindless husks. They do whatever their master tells them to.

Unless they go feral. There's also the less mindless scourge further up the totem pole who might get ambitious, not to mention living necromancers. We've seen that happens when Val'Kyr get free and join Sylvanas.

Also what are you going to use the Scourge to fight? Clearly not the Legion. "I'll just keep this giant ravenous horde of feral undead kept in check purely by the will of one being up here at the North Pole... Just in case I need them." Said no one ever.

[Sansnom]

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?"

Bolvar told you why. You did not pay attention.

[clevin]

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."

See above. And not all dead are undead by a long shot

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If your options are:

1. Remove threat but retain valuable asset / strategic advantage (undead army)

2. Remove threat but do not retain valuable asset / strategic advantage

YOu forgot 3) Leave threat, end up threatened by it.
That was quite literally the theme of Wrath, after all. Bolvar seems to be going down a dark path so if I was an adviser in Azeroth, I'd want to take him out.

Oh and for your #1? Where's the army helping us now? I don't see it.

[Azahel]

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.

Yeah, we the players are not all there is. There are villages there and various factions. The whole thing about "protecting azeroth" wouldn't be a thing if it was all about us, we could just be somewhere else and we'd be fine.

[Vaelorian]

I agree with killing the scourge. It is ludacrous to think Bolvar would want to keep "his" army. He is there precisely to be the jailer. So he can go in retirement when we destroy all the scourge. While I don't particularly think that Bolvar/The Lich King would "help" in throwing his armies into the fire... I do believe that Azeroth's armies could just get rid of the scourge by land and air. (Do not forget about those gargoyles)
And in all honesty... I don't know about you but I have destroyed the undead since Vanilla until today. I doubt there is a mob out there whom I never defeated. And I don't mind having new necromancers in the game raising undead here and there... but obviously the "plague" as it were, would stop.

But if we go a step further with "my logic", I destroyed every mob in the game. The game would turn very dull very quickly if what you killed could not respawn for you. So while I don't agree with the story about "there must always be....." I do see the benefits of keeping mobs around ingame.

[cparle87]

You didn't answer the question. Where has he created more? You also do realize that the plague itself is a thing right? There are CotD members around still trying to mess stuff up possibly in that they don't know Arthas/Nerzhul is gone.

So until you actually answer where he literally is raising more scourge, you have no point.

I'm pretty sure they know he's gone, it's just their so indoctrinated in Scourge supremacy they won't let some upstart tell them to stop. They're all over the Plaguelands still, and at that close proximity so far from Bolvar they can override his control and keep causing trouble. Cult members are still alive so Bolvar doesn't have control over them.

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A: There doesn't need to be a Lich King. From a story standpoint, the Lich King only existed for about 20 or so years between the end of Warcraft 2 and beginning of Warcraft 3. Prior to the Lich King, all undead were summoned and controlled by individuals. There was no precedent for a singular overlord for the undead at the time, so referring to the one and only Lich King as 'always' having to exist is an overstatement.

I'm pretty damn sure there weren't millions upon millions of undead before the Lich King either.

[Lochton]

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?

There must be a Lich King to control the scourge. If you destroy the helmet, then you'll have them rampaging. Simple and sweet answer.

[Andromedes]

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?

this is also what i think.. he even wanted bolvar as his new champion,... I think ner'zhul always knew, that every person threw blame on Arthas, so he was preparing his new host, in case Arthas dies

[Shakou]

This is an example of bad story telling. The Scourge should have ceased to even be a thing upon the Lich King dying. However, Blizzard forced them self into a weird spot by making playable undead a thing. Essentially they couldn't just wipe out the scourge by killing the Lich King because then it would have raised questions about why/how playable undead are still around, even if not technically a contradiction that would be a little odd. But also they wanted a way to be able to bring back the Scourge as a threat if they ever wanted to and so they went with this angle.

Me? I've just been laughing at the loading screen of Bolvar taking a huge dump for many years now.

[Kokolums]

No reason. We can defeat the Burning Legion. Scourge is a tiny threat by comparison.

[Wildtree]

Why must there always be a jay thread? Geesh we got 2 jays.. Worse than one LK.
j/k
I believe the answers were given. Except..

This is an example of bad story telling. The Scourge should have ceased to even be a thing upon the Lich King dying.

Could be also an example of bad fantasy on the consumer?

The Scourge are the dead. The Lich King doesn't create them all. He only ever utilized them to his will. They follow him. He rules over them. He doesn't raise them.
He's got the power to gift certain creatures with superpowers. Responsible for raising the dead were the Val'kyr. The dark ones.
With the demise of the Lich King the Scourge would be leaderless. Would be able to go unchecked. Like a virus for which there isn't a cure, it would spread everywhere.
The end of the LK therefore isn't the end of the Scourge. And it cannot be that. THIS would be bad story telling. Theoretically you could kill off every Val'kyr, could kill every being that can raise the dead, but it would come to quite an boring price.
A looming thread would be removed for good.
Consequently, hero characters can no longer be resurrected either, because there's always a risk that it might backfire.
Which would lead to playing a toon til he/she dies. Then roll another one. I wonder about the outcry of such game mechanic lol

[Highdark]

Think of the lich king as a Lord of fire. He made a blaze to wield to destroy his enemies. Gotta have someone to control the blaze otherwise it will go nuts and destroy the world. Why not put out the blaze? With time and energy you can do just that, then you can get into the complicated issue of the forsaken. The lich king is the pin in the issues allowing other issues to be dealt with first. Like the legion, deathwing, or pandas..

[namecraft]

lich king answers prayers of skeletons

[Durandir]

Because the scourge is contaminated with a disease what spreads to plants and over the food chain to living things.

[Feanoro]

Because their ability to create new characters (at least without something D&D to rip off) is very lacking, so they tend to put characters on the shelf until they think we're no longer sick of them.

Inb4 Bolvar raises Tirion to be his champion which sets off another meandering through Northrend, complete with jousting carnival reuse.