What was the motive of Arthas?

[Ron Burgundy]

Specifically after he ascended the frozen throne and became the lich king... Was his plan to fight and defeat Kil’jaeden and the burning legion?

[Raetary]

He thought the scourge could defend azeroth better against the legion and the void than the living.

[chrisisvacant]

He thought the scourge could defend azeroth better against the legion and the void than the living.

Is there a source for this? Chronicle I guess? I don't ever recall Arthas saying this stuff in WC3 or WOTLK.

[Aucald]

Is there a source for this? Chronicle I guess? I don't ever recall Arthas saying this stuff in WC3 or WOTLK.

It is in "Chronicle Vol. 3" when it goes over WotLK.

[Raetary]

Is there a source for this? Chronicle I guess? I don't ever recall Arthas saying this stuff in WC3 or WOTLK.

yes, chronicles vol. 3.
page 172.

A world ruled by undead would have no more injustice, no more wars, no more moral flaws.
Perhaps most importantly to the Lich King, he believed his Scourge would be far more capable of defending Azeroth the threats that would try to conquer it. He had observed the awakening of C'Thun and the Burning Legion's attempts to launch other attacks on Azeroth. Neither the demons nor the powers of the Void would rest until they controlled the world. A fractured world, constantly beset by skirmishes between the Alliance and the Horde, simply would not be prepared for another incursion.

[The Stormbringer]

yes, chronicles vol. 3.
page 172.

I think the problem was making everyone undead. After all, if everyone is undead, there's no way to replace your losses. Ideally he would've kept large populations of the living around to continually build up their numbers. He should've also gone full-bore on engineering as well. Imagine the power of undead Goblins, Gnomes, Humans, and Dwarves all producing machine armies, tools, weapons, and devices to supplement the Global Scourge...

Hell, we could've seen him making use of other powers and resources. It's shown that Forsaken can use Chi, so undead Monks are a thing. We don't know of any undead Shamans or Druids that I know of, but I'm sure he could figure something out, especially when working with Orcs, Tauren, and the Drust.

[saintminya]

How amusing. Arthas was doing the Legion a favor while trying to defend against the Legion. ...and this guy has fans?

[chrisisvacant]

yes, chronicles vol. 3.
page 172.

Fascinating. I haven't read past Chron1, so this is neat. Though I gotta admit, a bit of a letdown. For once, I'd love a megalomaniacal villain - someone who is just flat out evil and not angling for an anti hero edit.

[Briselody]

Fascinating. I haven't read past Chron1, so this is neat. Though I gotta admit, a bit of a letdown. For once, I'd love a megalomaniacal villain - someone who is just flat out evil and not angling for an anti hero edit.

Villains that are evil for the sake of being evil can be fun when done right, e.g. Joker in The Dark Knight.

But for the most part it's far more interesting for villains to have a reason for why they do things. In real life, evil people usually rationalize what they do and see themselves as the hero.

[MrDragon]

I always assumed Ner'Zuhl was out against the Legion and that Arthas' soul was eaten by frostmourne when he picked it up in the final human mission of WC3RoC... but you know blizzard and retcons.

#notmylichking #Nerzuhlbestlichking

[Deleted]

Ner'zhul goal was to unite the world under the scourge banner and defeat the Legion and get revenge on KJ.
Ofc then we got the Arthas destroyed Ner'zhul in a mind battle BS what ruined the whole character.

[Zandalariprelate]

He got the illidan treatment, but well that was about to happen considering the ending of his novel is about him feeling the presence and the maniac laught of N'zoth in the ocean.

[TickTickTick]

Ofc then we got the Arthas destroyed Ner'zhul in a mind battle BS what ruined the whole character.

I cringe everytime I see this... I hope some day they will retcon this bullshit. It's unforgivable how they took such a great story with lots of future potential and just went "haHAA this blonde human pally [now gray-haired dk] is more powerful in mental gymnastics than ner'zhul"

[chrisisvacant]

Villains that are evil for the sake of being evil can be fun when done right, e.g. Joker in The Dark Knight.

But for the most part it's far more interesting for villains to have a reason for why they do things. In real life, evil people usually rationalize what they do and see themselves as the hero.

Just a bit of fatigue re: void lords, I think. Character depth is great - I enjoy the Drustvar stuff because it doesn't feel super related to void lords yet there is no doubt tons of evil to be had.

[Houle]

Ner'zhuls plan was to kill any living being on Azeroth (since he wasn't really an orc anymore, he had no connection to the living and even detested them, as shown in the KT story) and to get revenge on Kil'jaeden/the Legion.
Then, after the whole shitty "mind battle" fck thing (which was terrible, and completely destroyed the entire relationship and story these two characters had in WC3), Arthas got in control, and tried kill everyone on the planet because he thought it was the only way to stop the Legion/void, although he never showed any personality like that in WC3

[eurojust]

How amusing. Arthas was doing the Legion a favor while trying to defend against the Legion. ...and this guy has fans?

??? It's literally some new lore stuff that came in 2018 and no one cares about. Arthas popularity comes from wc3 and wotlk (even if the later turned him into scoobydoo vilain).

I cringe everytime I see this... I hope some day they will retcon this bullshit. It's unforgivable how they took such a great story with lots of future potential and just went "haHAA this blonde human pally [now gray-haired dk] is more powerful in mental gymnastics than ner'zhul"

Half of undead units in wc3 were yelling "for Ner'zhul". He was that big evil guy in the shadows with a master plan who could see the futur and was pulling the strings and he got rekt in a book.

[Magnagarde]

Arthas took the helm on because he was told to by Ner'zhul. He was his champion.

Arthas had absolutely no idea about the background of the Lich King, save for the bits and pieces Kel'thuzad gave him during their time spent together.

[vertigo12]

Ner"zhul was against Guldan's plan with allying the orcs with the Burning Legion. He hated the idea of them too becoming demon slaves.

The Shadowmoon storyline about Ner'zhul is bit unclear. I was aware they did try to Planeswalker portal hopping.