[Spoilers] [Character] is back!!!!!

[Lionhearte0]

BUT NO REDEMPTION, it makes no sense for this cat, he isn't a Darth Vader with inner turmoil, Arthas was a dickbag the entire time post Human campaign in WC3.

Arthas doesn't need redemption because he literally did nothing wrong.

[ThrashMetalFtw]

Correct, his soul was the first one frostmourne claimed. What was left was a soulness body, aka, Arthas the DK, under control and empowered by Ner'Zhul


Wrong, Arthas eliminated Ner'Zhull soul after he merged with Ner'Zhull, the questlines that tell us that are in Icecrown, most likely now gone because the area has been updated.


He most likely went there just after Arthas terminated him.


Arthas is no saint at all, and whille i love his story, i think its better to leave the dead... dead.

A nice collection of fanfic lvl retarded retcons.

The original lore with Arthas and Ner'Zhul merging into one new being at the end of WC3 is the only real lore for the LK, anything else is trash tier fanfic. And don't even get me started about the dreaded "there must always be a..." line.

[Wyattbw09]

The true king will return...

I guess you could argue that he was a Chekhov's gun character.

[Rendark]

No one's ever really gone...

[This One Time At Bandcamp]

Well.. We know that the Jailer will get help from a known character - might be Arthas

[Tiev]

One could even argue that Arthas was 'the' main character in the grand story of Warcraft all the way up to the Lich King expansion.

[Wyattbw09]

What does that even mean? Arthas was a main character in the grand story of warcraft, not some prop.

It basically means that if you are going to show a major character like Arthas being thrown into the Maw then we should expect to encounter said character at some point in which we are in the Maw. If we are not going interact with Arthas in the Maw why bother to put him in the story.

The story is designed to show how Uther is a broken character. he acceded before he was ready before he was supposed to to because the Devos lost faith in the Covenant process. They could have ended it with her simply acceding him. Instead it showed Uther dropping Arthas into the Maw, but we already knew Uther was not ready to join the Kyrian.

[Florena]

One could even argue that Arthas was 'the' main character in the grand story of Warcraft all the way up to the Lich King expansion.

I don't know if I could say 'main' character because the scope of the story doesn't really have that one singular protagonist label in the grand scheme of things, but during WC3 he had the strongest claim to it as the protagonist of 3/8 of the campaigns. But Vanilla WoW and BC he was off screen too much.

[formerShandalay]

I guess they could make Uther get him out of the Maw, when he realizes he was just being the same kind of pawn that Arthas was before him and Arthas goes to Revendreth instead. He may even get some kind of relief, because he already suffered enough punishment and may begin the path to redemption right away, if he wishes to.

[Goldielocks]

I don't know if I could say 'main' character because the scope of the story doesn't really have that one singular protagonist label in the grand scheme of things, but during WC3 he had the strongest claim to it as the protagonist of 3/8 of the campaigns. But Vanilla WoW and BC he was off screen too much.

You really can't compare the narratives of RTS games and MMOs, especially early WoW. Blizzard didn't really put effort into telling unified stories until arguably WoD (but definitely Legion). Before then, tiers were just content trials to overcome. Nothing really happened until the final tier of each expansion.

[Mojo03]

Calling it now.

I bet it'll be something like he becomes a double agent and knows the secret to defeating the jailer from his time in the maw.

He helps us get the "lost relic of the creators" or whatever "x" relic is called, which weakens the jailer. But Jailer finds out Arthas helped us and has Sylvanas "kill" him (or whatever equivalent is), which she'll easily be able to do now.

This "noble" act is seen as selfless and the Kyrian decide to ascend him, where he and Uther (who forgives him now) live happily ever after.

[kappas]

He should lead the forsaken.

[AthranThom]

Dont know if it was said before, but i think it would be cool if Arthas ended up accepting his place in the Maw and becoming the new Jailer after we kill the "bad" current one.

[Dakhath]

Well I suppose all the "Sylvanas did nothing wrong" people had to go somewhere.

[Thage]

If he wasnt destined to the maw who is?

The Maw is for people who refuse or fail their second chance in Revendreth. I don't think it's intentional for anyone to go directly there, since the anima in the Maw does nobody any good.

@OP We're probably not going to see Arthas's full 'redemption' arc in Shadowlands. Odds are we'll get him out of the Maw, to Revendreth, where he begins his penance for his sins in life. That's the best ending he can hope for, to be given the chance to enter purgatory Uther denied him and succeed or fail on his own merits. Not to say it won't be a long process; he's likely to be in there for a few centuries at the minimum.

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You really can't compare the narratives of RTS games and MMOs, especially early WoW. Blizzard didn't really put effort into telling unified stories until arguably WoD (but definitely Legion). Before then, tiers were just content trials to overcome. Nothing really happened until the final tier of each expansion.

I'd argue their pivot toward lore focus started in WotLK, after catching hell for the numerous retcons and lore flubs from TBC. WotLK set the stage for Cataclysm, which set the stage for MoP, which only kindasorta set the stage for WoD, which existed just to bring Gul'dan in to set the stage for Legion and to tie in with the movie.

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I guess they could make Uther get him out of the Maw, when he realizes he was just being the same kind of pawn that Arthas was before him and Arthas goes to Revendreth instead. He may even get some kind of relief, because he already suffered enough punishment and may begin the path to redemption right away, if he wishes to.

I don't think the Venthyr care much how much you suffered before landing in their turf. You've got dues to pay and you're gonna pay them.

[Claymore]

I think Blizzard realized that killing Arthas was the start of WoW's decline. Not that he should've had a "redemption arc", but like Illidan before him, Arthas fell victim to the mentality that "let's just turn all these interesting characters into raid bosses to kill!".

I'm personally hoping that, if they bring him back, they keep him firmly in the realm of anti-hero. But interested to see how his story progresses either way.

[jellmoo]

Calling it:

After the players finally defeat Sylvanas, she lies on the ground, beaten but alive. As Anduin suggest they bring her back to Stormwind to face trial, the Ashbringer appears from off screen, cutting her down and killing her.

There, in all his glory, is Arthas. Who says three words: "For the Horde."

Thrall and Baine lower themselves to the ground and say "Yes, Warchief."

Warcrafty music. Fade to black.

[Scathan]

arthas was thought to be responsible for all his crime including by uther, but he was just under the control of ner'zhul, which soul remained in existence

when arthas died, ner'zhul remained

with the helm of domination broken, ner'zhul escaped the shadowlands to the void

arthas will escape the maw in shadowlands and seek revenge against ner'zhul in the expansion after shadowlands

source: dude trust me

That isn't even remotely true. Sacrificing soldiers and murder to unlock frostmourne, killing mercenaries that aided him. Burning the ships of his men so they couldn't obey orders and go home. Among other things, all were done because of his own innate flaws and not because of mindcontrol or influence. It simply took mal ganis taunting him

[Azerate]

It's probably just bait to make those 5 people buy SL who wouldn't otherwise have done that. Arthas will probably have like 5 lines in the entirety of SL

[Mirishka]

Would be nice to see what become of Arthas in the Shadowlands but he is, IMO, beyond redemption.