Are DeathKnights really dead?

[Fmr]

You don't have to die to become undead. Exposure or usage of necromantic magic is enough.

[the0o]

Here is my take on Death knights.

Looking totally at Arthas generation and the Ebon blade I would certainly say that all evidence points to them being undead.

The curse of Frostmourne states that anybody who wields that sword would lose their soul to it. Upon claiming the sword I would say it claimed Arthas soul and ripped it from his body, leaving him for all intensive purposes as undead, the same goes for the other Knights of his generation who were all bound to their own cursed Runeblades in the same way.

The third generation (Ebon Blade) are different to the former in that they seemingly are not bound to a single Runeblade but rather can runeforge their essence into any new weapon, perhaps the Lich King saw dependence on a single weapon as a weakness his knights could no longer endure?

On the difference between Forsaken Undead and DK Undead, I would say it boils down to the same as the difference between a vampire and a zombie.

Forsaken were mindless zombies (quite literally) until they were freed, they had no free will of their own and were subject to decay, pretty much treated as expendable fodder for the LK until freed along with Sylvannas.

DKs on the other hand I see as more like vampires, they retained free will as champions and generals to lead the Scourge but they cannot disobey the command of the lich King's whispers inside their minds. They also do not decay. Much like a vampire they can use blood magic along with their lich-like frost magic and of course unholy necromantic magic.

A forsaken DK? Consider them twice cursed, going from zombie like mindless state to regaining free will to being slain again and risen to the higher state of undeath of a DK which doesn't undo the decay that his body already suffered.

This makes alot of sense, even explains the "rotten" forsaken DK. Nice work, +10000 interwebs.

[Fmr]

You don't have to make up a story for a forsaken death knight. Forsaken are undead humans and have a more decomposed body but still human. A forsaken death knight is just a human but more rotten. There is no need to make up a story from a human becoming undead, freed from the lich king, captured again and then freed again. Doesn't make much sense. There's much in this game that is complete nonsense lorewise but needs to be there for game mechanic purposes, that's understandable. But the forsaken dk drama can easily be avoided. Some death knights look rotten like forsaken, which could also be just decomposed bodies becoming death knights after. And some are intact human bodies, which have been turned to death knights recently. The original death knights of the scourge were almost all paladins who fell to the dark side. Most of them did so with their own will or out of desperation. The playable death knights with no free will are just made up to have a background story for the playable dks. I mean go think about it, death knighs used to be a rare class of the scourge, and not be everywhere like any other undead (ghouls, skeletons) There is no reason for every raised corpse to become a death knight without free will but well, that's blizzard.

[Icarris]

(The Forsaken are a different topic, the plague is like autopilot Necromancy instead of a spell, so you can't just kill someone to make it go away.. and Ner'zhul's control was undead binding, then he let's go and you have a bunch of people wondering what happened to them)

Necromancy binds a soul or spirit to rise the mindless fallen to do your bidding.
Ghouls, gargoyles, abominations, aberrations.. even skeletons can be summoned and controlled at a DK's will, thus they are Necromancers.

But how can Necromancers control the dead and not eachother.


The Lich King let's you know that he went out of his way to make Death Knights the elite of his forces, how?

They stand out not only because their spirits have been bound back into their original bodies, but such bodies have been reanimated to function instead of decay.

(ever wondered why instead of remaining 58 forever, wandering and rotting until you become bare bones, you actually look the same, and hell how is it that you can become stronger... could it be that you muscles develop....?)
The answer is yes!
Death Knights think, learn, adapt and improve.
Their bodies and mind toughen, they're not mindless and they're not 'dead' thus cannot be controlled (by Undead binding at least [<-- They chose to GTFO when LK betrayed them] their minds can be assaulted like anyone else's).

The flesh, the sinew, the dark blood coursing within.

Basically, they're alive.. if you stab them, they die, if you cut their head, they die.. Their bodies died... initially... but the engines are working now!

(Stupid question: If they were dead why there isn't any rotten DK, missing limbs, etc -- Stupid Answer: Who would want an Elite force in less than excellent conditions?)

This doesn't hold any ground. If you're using leveling as your reason to why they get stronger, and thus are living, then forsaken are alive too. Their warriors go through the same journey ( or using this logic would be even stronger because they start at lvl 1 and have a lot more training as they go). Plus forsaken in the game don't get weaker and disintegrate as they level. They maintain the same rot level as when they started.

[The Madgod]

You don't have to make up a story for a forsaken death knight. Forsaken are undead humans and have a more decomposed body but still human. A forsaken death knight is just a human but more rotten. There is no need to make up a story from a human becoming undead, freed from the lich king, captured again and then freed again. Doesn't make much sense. There's much in this game that is complete nonsense lorewise but needs to be there for game mechanic purposes, that's understandable. But the forsaken dk drama can easily be avoided. Some death knights look rotten like forsaken, which could also be just decomposed bodies becoming death knights after. And some are intact human bodies, which have been turned to death knights recently. The original death knights of the scourge were almost all paladins who fell to the dark side. Most of them did so with their own will or out of desperation. The playable death knights with no free will are just made up to have a background story for the playable dks. I mean go think about it, death knighs used to be a rare class of the scourge, and not be everywhere like any other undead (ghouls, skeletons) There is no reason for every raised corpse to become a death knight without free will but well, that's blizzard.

How does it not make sense that a Forsaken can die, be resurrected again, and thus be put back under the control of the Lich King, then break free? It's not like they became immune to such. A man who has broken out of prison can still go back. It's not like the police say "Oh he's escaped, so he can't go back."

And the death knights of the scourge during the third war were nothing like the original death knights. I fail to see why the third generation should be the same as the second... Nor does every raised corpse become a death knight. The third generation was made for a specific purpose: to create a threat large enough to get Tirion out of hiding. The Scarlet Crusade, who were blocking the way, in the Plaguelands is a fairly strong force. Arthas needed powerful undead to get through, but at the same time disposable, hence, death knights as soldiers, not generals. Unless you're saying that the death knight starting zone's story, one of the most highly thought-of bits of storytelling in the game, is bad... in which case...

[oplawlz]

It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead.
( I can't believe I'm the first one to throw a princess bride quote out, shame on all of you.)