IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLE! The Lich King Vs Sauron

[MsSideEye]

Little surprised this hasn't been put it up here yet, but wanted to share it to see if we couldn't get some good chat about it!

For those who don't know, the Online series Death Battle, well known for taking different fictional characters and see who would win in a fight to death, had it's Halloween Episode today/Yesterday (It's past 1 in the morning as write this). As customary for their videos, at the end of one Death Battle, we get to see whose going to be participating in the next, with it being dark king vs dark king with Arthas going up against Sauron from the lord of the rings.

Now, I will preference this by noting that Death Battle is not something to take seriously, but I'm curious on how you think this fight is going to turn out? Considering both characters are well known for being mostly hands off in their own universes, I expect this kinda to be like the Death Battle we had years ago with Eggman VS Dr. Wily, where it was a lot of the minions and monsters they had under their power doing the fighting. Though that said, they've also gone and removed said aspects from characters before.

If I had to share my own opinion just from what I recall from both characters, I think Arthas probably has the edge in overall abilities that would be conductive to a fight like Death Battle, but then again it's been YEARS since I've read the Lord of the Rings. What do you think, folks? Who would win? And what abilities would you expect them to cover or use for the fight between the lords of the dead?

[Rustedsaint]

I’m would like to think the litchking is gonna win., minionwise every Orc/goblin w/e falls the king is gonna take over as zombies.
The ring wraiths themselves are gonna be a factor, the litchking could take them over/disrupt Sauron hold on them.
Haven’t read much of Tolkien work besides lotr and in the movies Sauron had little screen time, all we saw was him knocking stunned humans around then he got his ring finger Cut off by a lucky strike.
Haven’t checked much of the rings of power series but still I’m thinking his feats of actual strength be lacking.
but really it’s gonna be who pays rooster teeth the most/whom they are promoting.
The group already admitted they gave Yang the win over Tifa in podcasts to promote rwby,
aswell as making unfair matchups to promote like the time they sent a hedgehog with a history of being weak to mental attacks against a psychic god, or that time the paid sponsor goon won.

[ArenaDk]

Iam not to well known with how strong Sauron is, but i wanna remind people that the Lichking is under wild god level power wise , before he is is hyped up to much again

[Miffinat0r]

Sauron wins.

Arthas was tempted by Frostmourne, and succumbed to it.

No shot he is able to resist the power of the ring.

I will add this does depend if this takes place in Azeroth or Middle Earth.

Arthas has a better shot on Azeroth because Sauron wouldn't be able to control the Trolls and Orcs. But the one ring would eventually get him I feel.

Middle Earth this isn't even a contest.

[The Stormbringer]

If we're talking both Sauron and Arthas Lich King at their full power, with the full combined might of their armies? That's a tough one. Sauron is incredibly cunning and charismatic, and Arthas has been shown to give in to promises of power more than once. But would he still, as the Lich King? I feel like he wouldn't. I do think that the Ringwraiths would be bound permanently to Sauron via the rings they wear, and LK wouldn't be able to take those from him, so Sauron might have the edge in Lieutenants. In terms of army, I'm pretty sure the LK has the edge.

Sauron and the LK have both been shown to be beasts in direct combat, though Arthas probably edges out Sauron in that department, possibly by a fair margin. I think in terms of overall strategy and tactics, Sauron is definitely stronger.

TL;DR: It's a pretty close fight, with each combatant having an edge in every other field over the other. The only way I can see Sauron winning is if he manages to get Arthas to wear the One Ring, or out-thinking him on the battlefield or pulling some other brainy play.

[Miffinat0r]

If we're talking both Sauron and Arthas Lich King at their full power, with the full combined might of their armies? That's a tough one. Sauron is incredibly cunning and charismatic, and Arthas has been shown to give in to promises of power more than once. But would he still, as the Lich King? I feel like he wouldn't. I do think that the Ringwraiths would be bound permanently to Sauron via the rings they wear, and LK wouldn't be able to take those from him, so Sauron might have the edge in Lieutenants. In terms of army, I'm pretty sure the LK has the edge.

Sauron and the LK have both been shown to be beasts in direct combat, though Arthas probably edges out Sauron in that department, possibly by a fair margin. I think in terms of overall strategy and tactics, Sauron is definitely stronger.

TL;DR: It's a pretty close fight, with each combatant having an edge in every other field over the other. The only way I can see Sauron winning is if he manages to get Arthas to wear the One Ring, or out-thinking him on the battlefield or pulling some other brainy play.

There is no shot Arthas can refuse a ring. Sauron would totally give him the one ring, and when Arthas has it the darkness will bind him.

[Myradin]

It should be noted the finger slicing thing was a movie invention. Its not well detailed how he was defeated in that battle. In the books he took on Gil Galad and Elendir and was defeated by them (though killed both in the process), while Isildur cut off his finger after he was defeated.

Arthas has more powerful minions since warcraft has generally higher power levels, but Sauron's manipulative powers are quite potent.

Sauron's also a Maiar, though as much as their powers are conceptually extremely powerful, they don't get used much for some reason. I mean, it makes sense Gandalf isn't cause he's trying to lead the world to solve its own issues, but why is Sauron holding back?

[loras]

Little surprised this hasn't been put it up here yet, but wanted to share it to see if we couldn't get some good chat about it!

For those who don't know, the Online series Death Battle, well known for taking different fictional characters and see who would win in a fight to death, had it's Halloween Episode today/Yesterday (It's past 1 in the morning as write this). As customary for their videos, at the end of one Death Battle, we get to see whose going to be participating in the next, with it being dark king vs dark king with Arthas going up against Sauron from the lord of the rings.

Now, I will preference this by noting that Death Battle is not something to take seriously, but I'm curious on how you think this fight is going to turn out? Considering both characters are well known for being mostly hands off in their own universes, I expect this kinda to be like the Death Battle we had years ago with Eggman VS Dr. Wily, where it was a lot of the minions and monsters they had under their power doing the fighting. Though that said, they've also gone and removed said aspects from characters before.

If I had to share my own opinion just from what I recall from both characters, I think Arthas probably has the edge in overall abilities that would be conductive to a fight like Death Battle, but then again it's been YEARS since I've read the Lord of the Rings. What do you think, folks? Who would win? And what abilities would you expect them to cover or use for the fight between the lords of the dead?

1 on 1 Sauron wins hands down.
Actual god-like creature that is near impossible to slay, can but does not need to engage in necromancy to bolster his forces, vastly greater corruptive powers, far more capable magical fighter and likely more than a match for the lich king in a physical fight as well if he does not underestimate Frostmourne (though it is no match for the power of the ring it could still disrupt Sauron enough to allow him to be permanently destroyed if it cuts him down) versus Arthas, corrupted human merged with shattered orc remnants with powerful hat, sword and an excessive amount of zombies.

Army versus army would be more difficult, since while the lich king's necromancy is much more expansive Sauron's corrupting influence and own superior-yet-more-limited-in-scale necromancy could win out the day, especially as he does not need to rely on just undead (which require defeated foes).
Additionally i would not be surprised if Sauron's influence is of such a strength that he could simply impose his will on large swathes of the Scourge, seizing Arthas' armies from under his nose to bolster his own (remember that just his gaze can break minds and even kill, the lich king's telepathy is a lot more limited).

There is however the plague of undeath to consider as well, and while i would expect the orcs' corrupted nature (or alternatively their elven heritage) to provide high resistance or even immunity to it there are still many others in his arsenal to consider, such as the Haradrim, who are definitely vulnerable.
But given the shakiness of necromancy's usefulness versus Sauron as well as Sauron's many, ah, not quite biological minions (wraiths especially) i do not think the plague would make the difference.

Don't get me wrong, both are world ending threats, it's just that the lich king is basically "just" a zombie apocalypse while Sauron is pretty much an amalgam of evil invading.
Zombies are ultimately pretty tame in comparison.


Also if Arthas puts on the one ring it's just an instant win for Sauron.
Honestly on second thought Sauron just letting that happen seems the most likely outcome of this death battle.

[Kaleredar]

Sauron as an entity exists at a power level beyond Arthas'.

However, army-wise, I'd say the scourge is far more formidable, disciplined, and vast. The great majority of Sauron's forces were perfectly vulnerable to conventional weaponry which the scourge has in droves, and the Lich King has access to a wide array of magic users and types of magic that could feasibly harm the scanty forces Sauron has that can only be affected by them.

[Shadowferal]

Hmf... Helm of Domination vs the One Ring. I think Sauron might deceive LK into getting into a fight with the pretense of losing, just to get "absorbed" into Frostmourme.

Then the real fight begins...no predicting how that will go.

[Zorgulon]

I've always felt like Arthas/LK has a pretty low powerlevel in comparison to a very large amount of Warcraft's character roster. Like, he's obviously strong, but his strength does not come from him alone, it comes from his power over undead. When he kills a soldier, he takes control over them, and thus, every time someone dies, it's not bad enough that the other side loses a soldier, their enemy also gains one.
Imo, Arthas would lose to, say, almost all the bosses in Molten Core, BWL, AQ etc in a 1v1, but would be able to defeat many of them through the sheer number of undeads he could produce.
I might also be totally wrong, but that's how I've always imagined him.

[Miffinat0r]

The more I dwell on this the more I'm coming to the conclusion Sauron wins no matter what the circumstances are.

The reason for that is the Lich King is still Arthas and they cannot resist the one ring's power. The only beings able to resist such power are:

Frodo
Sam
Tom Babidil
Bilbo
Aragorn
Faramir

Only those people had the ability to resist the one ring's corruption. Arthas has next to no shot here even if he's the full Lich King.

Also forgot you can say Gladriel refused the ring too but that wasn't her resisting corruption as much as it was her regaining her right to be in Valinor.

[Shadowferal]

Only those people had the ability to resist the one ring's corruption. Arthas has next to no shot here even if he's the full Lich King.

It's not really Arthas here. It's the amalgamation that comprises the "Lich King" entity. And it may exult in that corrupted power, possibly either undermining the One Ring and Sauron, or simply absorbing it into one aggregate being. In either case it would be scary powerful.

[Miffinat0r]

It's not really Arthas here. It's the amalgamation that comprises the "Lich King" entity. And it may exult in that corrupted power, possibly either undermining the One Ring and Sauron, or simply absorbing it into one aggregate being. In either case it would be scary powerful.

Ya but eventually even if he absorbed the ring Sauron would still live because the ring survives.

Gandalf was as powerful as Sauron was but he knew if he took the ring eventually Sauron would control him.

The only way to truly defeat Sauron is to destroy the ring, which I just can't see the Lich King doing.

[Berkilak]

Sauron, hands down.

[lazypeon100]

It's not really Arthas here. It's the amalgamation that comprises the "Lich King" entity. And it may exult in that corrupted power, possibly either undermining the One Ring and Sauron, or simply absorbing it into one aggregate being. In either case it would be scary powerful.

I think even if we go with that, LK is still susceptible to outside influence. If we go with most up to date lore, even if it's dumb, he was being controlled even as the LK to do Zoval's bidding.

LK also was shown to be over confident multiple times during WOTLK, assuming no one would be capable of beating him and that he could kill and turn us whenever he actually wanted to.1 if he hadn't played around with us and if Tirion hadn't been there, we would be serving as his minions.

LK lost due to his own ego. If Sauron's corrupting influence is a major part of the battle, I think the LK loses this one. He simply can't seem to resist power when it's in front of him.

[Makabreska]

Actually looking forward to that. Know pretty much nothing about S̶a̶u̶r̶f̶a̶n̶g̶ Sauron, so dunno how it will go. Hope they will actually include army strength, as it seems to be an important factor for these two.

[The Stormbringer]

Hmf... Helm of Domination vs the One Ring. I think Sauron might deceive LK into getting into a fight with the pretense of losing, just to get "absorbed" into Frostmourme.

Then the real fight begins...no predicting how that will go.

Sauron becomes the Lich King, having supplanted Arthas, stolen Frostmourne, the Helm, and the Plate of the Damned. He leads an even greater army and has a new array of powers at his beck and call, and uses his greater conceptual existence to claim full ownership of said items, deleting any connection the Jailer might have to them and making them entirely his own.

[Shadowferal]

Sauron becomes the Lich King, having supplanted Arthas, stolen Frostmourne, the Helm, and the Plate of the Damned. He leads an even greater army and has a new array of powers at his beck and call, and uses his greater conceptual existence to claim full ownership of said items, deleting any connection the Jailer might have to them and making them entirely his own.

...and this won't attract the Jailer's attention?

[loras]

...and this won't attract the Jailer's attention?

The jailer is, well, jailed.
That's why he needs pawns.
But if a sufficiently powerful creature seizes those pawns he is again only a jailed dude with little to no influence on the rest of existence.