Arthas was bad before he even touched frostmourne...

[ro9ue]

...and people want a redemption story? Even as a paladin he was portrayed as an arrogant spoiled prince, who treated his subordinates like shit. The Culling of Stratholme was basically im using whatever ends to justify means that would sate his maliciousness.

[Accendor]

The culling was literally the right thing to do. He made choice there and it was not an easy one for him. No idea where you got that from.

[THEORACLE64]

...and people want a redemption story? Even as a paladin he was portrayed as an arrogant spoiled prince, who treated his subordinates like shit. The Culling of Stratholme was basically im using whatever ends to justify means that would sate his maliciousness.

Doesn't make him "bad"...

Stratholme was fully the right thing to do as well.

[enigma77]

Before he touched Frostmourne he was a vengeful, manipulative asshole. He hired mercenaries to burn his own men's ship and their way home and then had his men kill the very mercenaries HE hired. He also killed basically an entire city full of people, where surely many people could have been saved, but he took an extremely radical and vile approach to a grim problem, evidently being more concerned with denying Mal'ganis than saving innocent lives.

After he touched Frostmourne he became a monster, as the blade consumed his soul and all good that remained within him was extinguished. But he definitely was not an entirely innocent or good person before either.

[Nathreim]

The culling was literally the right thing to do. He made choice there and it was not an easy one for him. No idea where you got that from.

No the right thing to do would be kill those who turned only. Its not like everyone ate the bread that day. He just smells fresh bread and just says welp better kill everyone.

[Rustedsaint]

Stratholm was a lose lose scenario even if arthas had the full order of the silver hand with him they would probably lose the city and the majority of the population.

[Rendark]

The culling of Stratholme was the right thing to do. It was ether kill them or have them die anyways and become undead slaves.

[StationaryHawk]

Kael'thas sold out his people to the Legion, and he was sent to Revendreth.

[GR8GODZILLAGOD]

Did he do some very questionable things before that? Yeah, but it definitely wasn't enough to be irredeemable and sent to the maw.

Really, if he actually went through the proper sorting of the Shadowlands, he probably would have been sent to Revendreth. Hell, Kael'thas and apparently Garrosh were sent to Revendreth and they did much worse shit than Arthas pre-DK. Even Lady Vashj was sent to Maldraxxus.

The Maw would really be reserved for the truly irredeemable, like Gul'dan or Archimonde. Although, why have the souls just be pointlessly tortured for eternity and not just be destroyed or wiped clean of everything and reincarnated, I don't know.

[Houle]

Did he do some very questionable things before that? Yeah, but it definitely wasn't enough to be irredeemable and sent to the maw.

Really, if he actually went through the proper sorting of the Shadowlands, he probably would have been sent to Revendreth. Hell, Kael'thas and apparently Garrosh were sent to Revendreth and they did much worse shit than Arthas pre-DK. Even Lady Vashj was sent to Maldraxxus.

The Maw would really be reserved for the truly irredeemable, like Gul'dan or Archimonde. Although, why have the souls just be pointlessly tortured for eternity and not just be destroyed or wiped clean of everything and reincarnated, I don't know.

Exactly. I always see people asking for what types of people the Maw is, if not for Arthas, Kael'thas, etc
And my answer is always the likes of Gul'dan and Archimonde. Both fully irredemable, lovely, evil shitbags.
Especially Archimonde might just be the most evil character we've seen in the entirety of WoW. He was an asshole who only ever did anything for personal power, even before he joined the Legion, as Thal'kiels backstory + the lore bits in Mac'Aree prove.
Gul'dan at least had a reason for being an asshole, he was a cripple and mistreated by his people. But Archimonde was a talented sorcerer, good-looking and with high status.

[Mirishka]

...and people want a redemption story? Even as a paladin he was portrayed as an arrogant spoiled prince, who treated his subordinates like shit. The Culling of Stratholme was basically im using whatever ends to justify means that would sate his maliciousness.

He was definitely an ass, but he was also right about Stratholme when he said they were already infected.

[Immamoonkin]

No the right thing to do would be kill those who turned only. Its not like everyone ate the bread that day. He just smells fresh bread and just says welp better kill everyone.

The Legion had already turned most of the people into undead. It was only a matter of time. Everyone there would have died even if Arthas hadn't shown up.

[exochaft]

The Maw would really be reserved for the truly irredeemable, like Gul'dan or Archimonde. Although, why have the souls just be pointlessly tortured for eternity and not just be destroyed or wiped clean of everything and reincarnated, I don't know.

I was trying to find an answer, but the whole interaction between anima and souls is still a little vague in the WoW universe. However, nowhere do I see that the goal of any realm within the Shadowlands is to destroy souls outright. This could be due to anima or 'machine of death' or any various reason(s) as to why you do not want to destroy souls as a rule, with exceptions along the way. Basically, the Maw could serve a much larger purpose that we're not privy to right now. Or... the original creator(s) of the Shadowlands felt that the irredeemable souls would get off too easy by just being wiped clean (if that's even possible with such souls) or destroyed, and their wage of sin is eternal damnation. Bunch of possible reasons, either mechanically or morally, but we don't have an exact answer from Blizz as far I know.

[Jastall]

He was definitely an ass, but he was also right about Stratholme when he said they were already infected.

The problem of Stratholme was less the Culling itself (which, while somewhat necessary, definitely could have been handled in a different manner, or at the very least explained to Uther more convincingly) and more than it locked Arthas into thinking the rashest, boldest actions were the answer always. After this, his reaction to Mal'ganis's taunts were to deploy an entire fleet to Northrend. The reaction to Terenas predictably ordering his soldiers back was to hire mercenaries to burn his army's ships and then betray them. And then the reaction to predictably being encircled by the undead on their home turf was to go for a cursed blade that sealed his fate.

Arthas had many flaws and made several flawed decisions before he even touched the sword which should punt his ass to Revendreth straight away, Frostmourne or not. I don't want a redemption story for him at all, if he is to play a non-antagonist role in Shadowlands he should be a necessary evil at best.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

He's a villain and a victim.

[Super Kami Dende]

...and people want a redemption story? Even as a paladin he was portrayed as an arrogant spoiled prince, who treated his subordinates like shit. The Culling of Stratholme was basically im using whatever ends to justify means that would sate his maliciousness.

The Culling was legitimately the right choice though. It was the literal "Greater Good" option.

[Powerogue]

Uther, to Arthas: Vengeance cannot be a part of what we must do. If we allow our passions to turn to bloodlust, then we will become as vile as the orcs.

Arthas: I will have revenge on Mal'ganis! I will hunt him to the ends of the earth! I'll do anything, or pay any price!

[Sanguinerd]

Seems to me the Culling was only "the right thing to do" when you have the luxury of knowing what was really happening after the fact. But it did show what kind of person Arthas really was.

[Davaca]

The culling was literally the right thing to do. He made choice there and it was not an easy one for him. No idea where you got that from.

The most efficient answer (and only with the power of hindsight) isn't necessary the right one. That's why Uther and Jaina where against it. They knew that even if the couldn't find a cure for the plague, with the Knights of the Silver Hand and the magic of Jaina they could have beaten the zombies.

[zhero]

Seems to me the Culling was only "the right thing to do" when you have the luxury of knowing what was really happening after the fact. But it did show what kind of person Arthas really was.

you didn't need the power of hindsight to know the entire city was going to be turned undead.