WoW ended with Arthas

[Deleo]

If you believe Warcraft can continue without Arthus as seen from your last statement then why does WoW have to die? Heck, what role did Arthus play before Wrath? WoW existed fine before Arthus and will do so after.

Who is Arthus ?

Anyway warcraft lore is shaped around the Burning Legion, titans and Old Gods and we are still in that same boat as far as I know.

[Charge me Doctor]

warcraft 3 child =)
play in wc1 or 2 or read some books, arthas is just a side character

[TTerminator999]

Warcraft ended with Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal.

That's REAL Warcraft. Not sissy "zomg undeadz and friendly hordez", as fun and cool as WC3 was. Nothing can beat WC1-2x.

Warcraft 3.1 RoC: No Arthas

Should go back and play RoC again, bro.

[Raunuk]

I sorta see WC3 being like Star Wars 1, 2 &3 while WOW being 4, 5, 6. What your saying is that Arthas who i relate to Anakin/Darth Vader is the entire story. There is 15,000 years of WC lore before WC1, just like there is 10,000years of SW lore before the Phantom Menace as well as 133 years of lore after Return of the Jedi. Arthas was only a mosquito compared to what Sargeras and the Burning Leigion has done to hundreds even thousands of worlds and him and his plague was just the cherry on top. Deathwing is a much more complex villian than Arthas will ever be. So your post is false on all accounts

[macoling729]

If anything most of the Warcraft series revolves around Thrall, and thats a huge stretch. What's great about WoW's lore is that it has all thee great characters, places, and events. Arthas was a big deal, but he is by no means the end all be all of Azeroth's common enemies

[Aired]

before arthas who was there? heaps of things, one of those being deathwing, story makes sense, stop trying to be different and stop trying to glorify WotLK, Learn to cata.

[zizfizziks]

Hellscream and his kin are far more central to the WoW franchise than Arthas.

[asukamaru]

Read the first couple pages of this thread and felt like I needed to put my 2 cents in.
Yes Arthas had a big story to be told, but like every great story, and movies, series, characters die off, and new ones are introduced, but in the case of World of Warcraft, major characters are everywhere, with their own unique story to be told. I only started reading warcraft lore about 2 years ago but I have been playing wow for a little over 5 years. Started alliance but stopped playing again till after BC was released and went horde.
Anyway, when I started reading lore it was through wowwiki. Its amazing how much info and how many stories intersect with other major lore characters. That being said, Arthas played a major role because thats how Blizzard intended, but if blizzard wants, and surely they do, other characters stories will be impactful as well. To me Arthas' story wasnt the greatest, personally I loved Illidans lore, as well as Azshara, Sylvanas, Medivh, Malfurion, Aegwynn, Me'dan, and the list goes on and on.

[starwarsgeek]

He's been the central character in warcraft since the game even had a story.
people say arthas is just a side character in the warcraft series.

Arthas and his scourge:

- led Illidan to the skull of gul'dan, causing the events which lead to BC.

- RELOCATED both the entire alliance and the horde forces

- crippled the burning legion enough to prevent another invasion RoC

- had 2 warcraft games centered around him

None of which would have happened without Ner'zhul's actions in Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal. Ner'zhul would have never gotten the chance to rise to power if Gul'dan hadn't betrayed the Horde in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, or, if he hadn't formed the Horde and led it to Azeroth. Gul'dan's actions were the true source of most problems we're facing or have overcome:

Ner'zhul never would have risen to corrupt Arthas.

Arthas never would have led the scourge to cause all that damage and become the Lich King that we dethroned.

Kel'thuzzad would never have summoned the Legion to Azeroth for the Second Invasion.

Illidan would still be rotting in his cage.

Kael'thas never would have joined with the Legion.

Malygos would still be alive and insane.

The Cult of the Damned, Twilight Hammer, Illidari, Scourge, Shadow Council, Dark Horde, Old Horde, Horde of Draenor, Fel Horde, New Horde, Alliance, and most significant neutral factions--Argent Crusade, Ebon Blade, Earthen Ring, ect.-- would not exist.

Paladins and Death Knights would not exist.

Silvermoon, Stormwind, Dalaran, Lordaeron, Gilnaes, Stromgarde, Kul'tiras, and Alterac never would have been decimated (or, in the case of most--completely destroyed)...maybe Gnomergan as well.

Darnasus, Theremore, Orgrimmar, and Thunder Bluff would not exist.

The Orcs, Draenei, and Ogres would still be on Draenor.

Broken Draenei, Green Skin orcs, Fel Orcs, Wretched, Blood Elves, and Fel Elves would never have mutated.

The Tauren, Darkspear Trolls, and Amani Trolls would have been wiped out.

Practically every major character who was killed off would have survived--or died much earlier. This includes political leaders and military leaders of the Horde, Alliance, and the Burning Legion

The Red Flight would never have been enslaved...who knows how much that would change Deathwing's current situation.

It's even possible that the Old Gods themselves may still be contained without Illidan's world-shaking Eye of Sargeras spell.

Gul'dan is the only mortal villain who wasn't controlled, manipulated, corrupted, driven insane, or forced into service by some greater force--and the only villain to do this at all other than the Old Gods. If he had chosen to warn the Orcs about Kil'jaeden instead of taking the oppurtunity for power...if he hadn't made that one choice, then the World of Warcraft would not have happened. He wasn't forced to serve or die....he wasn't brainswashed. No one was whispering to him.

He simply wanted power...he took it, and he was the direct or indirect cause of almost every struggle the protagonists of every game and book have gone through.

...tell me again how Arthas is the central villain of Warcraft...