Why was Arthas wrong?

[Ielenia]

If you can't understand how literary themes work then I don't know how any of this is going to sink in. It's doesn't matter that zombies don't exist in our world. They're simply a trope used to provide conflict.

And you apparently cannot tell the difference between a lie used up to cover up an intentionally evil act like the crusades and witch hunts, to an actually real and imminent threat like the zombies in Warcraft.

If a character knowingly and indiscriminately massacres civilians, it doesn't matter if the threat is zombies, aliens, disease, or any other real or fictional threat. That character is a villain.

He is certainly no hero, but he is not a villain.

Warcraft isn't even written to truly depict a real scenario.

And yet you treat it like it is a real scenario by comparing it to real life events?

He SAID to make it quick and painless so that's how every civilian died when they were cut down with swords, axes, and warhammers? If you want to sterilize a chaotic slaughter of thousands of civilians, that's fair because the story isn't about the civilians, it's only about Arthas. We're not REALLY supposed to care for their individual suffering because they're just the vehicle for Arthas' character shift.

And yet we do. You don't? Really? And you call us the immoral ones?

[Adamas102]

And you apparently cannot tell the difference between a lie used up to cover up an intentionally evil act like the crusades and witch hunts, to an actually real and imminent threat like the zombies in Warcraft.

Those real life events had people with a variety of motivations. There were, without a doubt, people who truly and deeply believed they were doing the right thing. Who believed that witches, the devil, and souls were real and that drastic measures needed to be taken to protect their way of life. These are very human emotions, and characters like Arthas are meant to mirror them in a fantasy setting.

He is certainly no hero, but he is not a villain.

Of course he was. Everything in lore supports the fact that his actions were meant to be framed as evil and he caused much suffering despite his best intentions. He didn't listen to advisors or people who knew better than him. He was stubborn and rash, and willing to do ANYTHING if he believed the ends justified the means.

And yet we do. You don't? Really? And you call us the immoral ones?

No, you really don't care about them if your solution to their plight is to kill them while spouting platitudes like "quick and clean death". What you don't understand is that abusing that power over defenseless people isn't a mercy. It's simply murder.

[Whitedragon]

Only thing I would say is maybe wait until they started to turn. Could have maybe saved a few that way.

[Ielenia]

Those real life events had people with a variety of motivations.

All evil motivations. Because all of those were made-up justifications to cover up the intentionally evil acts.

There were, without a doubt, people who truly and deeply believed they were doing the right thing. Who believed that witches, the devil, and souls were real

And none of that matters because those are all lies. Witches, the devil, souls, etc, are not real, they do not exist in the real world, whereas zombies, ghouls and other kinds of undead are actual things that exist in Warcraft.

Of course he was.

He is not a villain.

Everything in lore supports the fact that his actions were meant to be framed as evil and he caused much suffering despite his best intentions.

"Everything"? Such as? Because the book certainly doesn't. Examples, please?

He didn't listen to advisors or people who knew better than him.

Oh really? What advisors? The advisor that said "there has to be another way" implying he didn't know what to do? Or the advisor that said "I'm sorry, I can't watch you do this" which was no advice whatsoever? What advisors? Who was an expert in the undead plague that has been with Arthas through his campaign?

No, you really don't care about them if your solution to their plight is to kill them while spouting platitudes like "quick and clean death".

It's precisely because I care for them that I think a merciful death was the best solution. If I didn't, I'd just say that the best idea would be to just barricade all the exits and leave Stratholme alone, condemning everyone inside to either become undead, or be killed in horrendous ways by the other undead and just leave.

But no. I do care about those people, hence why them being mercifully killed before the curse took hold was the humane way.

What you don't understand is that abusing that power over defenseless people isn't a mercy. It's simply murder.

Except it's not abuse of power. It's a drastic measure to an untenable situation. Like it was pointed out earlier: it's the train trolley situation.

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Only thing I would say is maybe wait until they started to turn. Could have maybe saved a few that way.

How? The city was so big that many, if not most of those who didn't turn would end up killed by the undead before Arthas could save them.

[Adamas102]

All evil motivations. Because all of those were made-up justifications to cover up the intentionally evil acts.

And none of that matters because those are all lies. Witches, the devil, souls, etc, are not real, they do not exist in the real world, whereas zombies, ghouls and other kinds of undead are actual things that exist in Warcraft.

Of course it matters. If they believe it to be true then their actions are informed by those beliefs. We also know that the purge being the only solution was a lie. The purge was the trap, it was what Arthas was meant to do in order to ensure his corruption. Arthas didn't believe that, but we as the audience know it to be true. Arthas didn't know that Mal'Ganis had planned the whole thing out. He based his evil act on the lie that taking those drastic measures would make a difference.

Oh really? What advisors? The advisor that said "there has to be another way" implying he didn't know what to do? Or the advisor that said "I'm sorry, I can't watch you do this" which was no advice whatsoever? What advisors? Who was an expert in the undead plague that has been with Arthas through his campaign?

Oh, I don't know. How about the guy who can literally see the future and warned Arthas in no uncertain terms that his actions were playing directly into his enemy's hands and would accomplish the opposite of what he intended. The guy who Jaina confirmed to be a powerful sorcerer who very well might have valuable insight. Arthas shut that shit down without a second thought because he's a stubborn bastard and it didn't fit with the narrative he had constructed for himself.

And yeah, Uther and Jaina as well. Even if in their shock they didn't immediately pose an alternative, that shock should have given Arthas pause. But no, Arthas had already made up his mind, and stubborn bastard that he was, he immediately escalated the situation, threatening Uther, and when that didn't work suspended him and his paladins from duty. Knowing what Arthas was about to do, Uther should have stayed and directly opposed him, but then we wouldn't have the Lich King story arc, so Uther acted out of character and turned his back.

When the people who are close to you say "whoa whoa whoa.. wait, you're really going to do that", maybe take a second to think about the actions you're about to take.

It's precisely because I care for them that I think a merciful death was the best solution. If I didn't, I'd just say that the best idea would be to just barricade all the exits and leave Stratholme alone, condemning everyone inside to either become undead, or be killed in horrendous ways by the other undead and just leave.

But no. I do care about those people, hence why them being mercifully killed before the curse took hold was the humane way.

No, you really don't. Massacring innocent people is an evil act no matter how you cut it. You're just telling yourself lies to make you feel better. A good person would do what they could to help anyone who could be helped, even if it meant failure. THAT'S the hard choice. The one where you put yourself at peril in order to save at least one. The neutral and pragmatic response, which most people would likely take, would be to accept what you cannot fix and retreat to formulate a plan and gather more forces. The evil act is to believe yourself a savior while putting innocents to the sword.

[Nathreim]

Because murdering every citizen because they MAY have had bread that morning is fucking stupid and evil. The chance that even a majority of the people ate tainted wheat is very low. Most of the poor to middle class would eat day old bread at least not fresh baked.


All he did was make it easy for the Scourge to raise the entire city by killing everyone for them.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Because murdering every citizen because they MAY have had bread that morning is fucking stupid and evil. The chance that even a majority of the people ate tainted wheat is very low. Most of the poor to middle class would eat day old bread at least not fresh baked.


All he did was make it easy for the Scourge to raise the entire city by killing everyone for them.

The grain got there days before it wouldn’t only be fresh bread.

[Rendark]

Play Wc3 and you'll see why Arthas was wrong. Not that hard to understand.

I played it and i see why he was right to do it.

[Ielenia]

Of course it matters. If they believe it to be true then their actions are informed by those beliefs. We also know that the purge being the only solution was a lie.

Except it wasn't a lie. It was the absolute truth. Arthas did not have the resources, manpower OR time to do quarantine, even with Uther's entire battalion of paladins.

The purge was the trap, it was what Arthas was meant to do in order to ensure his corruption.

It being a trap or not does not make the purge any less necessary or any less the correct action. The only other option at the time would be to let everyone turn.

Oh, I don't know. How about the guy who can literally see the future and warned Arthas in no uncertain terms that his actions were playing directly into his enemy's hands and would accomplish the opposite of what he intended. The guy who Jaina confirmed to be a powerful sorcerer who very well might have valuable insight. Arthas shut that shit down without a second thought because he's a stubborn bastard and it didn't fit with the narrative he had constructed for himself.

You mean the guy whose "warning" was so cryptic and vague it didn't amount to anything valuable? "Valuable insight", from the guy who did not have the insight to know how Arthas is?

And yeah, Uther and Jaina as well. Even if in their shock they didn't immediately pose an alternative, that shock should have given Arthas pause.

A pause that would have costed lived, because, again, there was no time to waste. A decision had to be done then and there.

No, you really don't.

Yes, you do. And if you really think you know me better than I know myself, you're delusional at best, trolling at worst.

Massacring innocent people is an evil act no matter how you cut it.

So everyone who has to go through the "train trolley" situation is evil, for you?

You're just telling yourself lies to make you feel better.

Says the guy who equates the crusades to what Arthas did. You're equating a situation in which lies were told to the public to mask intentionally evil acts, to a situation where there was immediate danger of zombie overrun.

A good person would do what they could to help anyone who could be helped, even if it meant failure. THAT'S the hard choice.

Which is what Arthas did. There was no helping the citizens of Stratholme other than giving them a quick, merciful death. Again: there was no time for anything else.

The one where you put yourself at peril in order to save at least one.

Except there was no way to save a single soul, and this has been explained multiple times.

The neutral and pragmatic response, which most people would likely take, would be to accept what you cannot fix and retreat to formulate a plan and gather more forces.

In other words: damn all the civilians to either turn into undead or be horrifically killed by said undead. Good plan. Much neutral, very pragmatism.

The evil act is to believe yourself a savior while putting innocents to the sword.

Except I don't think Arthas ever called himself savior, nor anyone here is calling him a hero, AFAIK?

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Because murdering every citizen because they MAY have had bread that morning is fucking stupid and evil.

Okay. First: it wasn't "just this morning". Second, grains is the base of the overwhelming majority of food people of that time eat that is NOT fruit or vegetable. So the chances you were infected were incredibly high.

The chance that even a majority of the people ate tainted wheat is very low.

Quite the opposite. Read above.

[OokOok]

Garrosh did nothing wrong

[Adamas102]

Except it wasn't a lie. It was the absolute truth. Arthas did not have the resources, manpower OR time to do quarantine, even with Uther's entire battalion of paladins.

It being a trap or not does not make the purge any less necessary or any less the correct action. The only other option at the time would be to let everyone turn.

Yeah, and that argument is still bullshit. Arthas had resources and manpower. To evacuate and quarantine the entire city? No. But he still had time, resources, and manpower. He must have known that it would take time to purge the city of all life. He could have used that time to pursue at least several options that didn't involve killing civilians.

Arthas couldn't know how long it would take to purge the whole city and if he would even succeed, so how can you use the "no time" argument when his whole plan was also based on a hunch. He knew it would take time, but he didn't know whether he'd be overrun immediately or if he had the time to kill most of the civilians while they were still human. As such, he couldn't know for a fact that he didn't have time to quarantine.

Yes, you do. And if you really think you know me better than I know myself, you're delusional at best, trolling at worst.

No, I'm sure you truly believe that taking it upon yourself to dole out mercy killings is the right choice and that you still care about the citizens you murder. I just think you're morally bankrupt and full of platitudes to make your morbid thoughts sound reasonable.

So everyone who has to go through the "train trolley" situation is evil, for you?

The trolley problem is a joke of a morality test. First off, it's set up with parameters that allow only two options and a split second decision/action. Unlike the Arthas situation which have a whole variety of options and hours to carry them out. The trolley problem takes away pretty much all agency from the subject and it's aim is to make you weigh lives like a mathematical equation. The trolley problem has no right answer, because it doesn't allow for any real choice.

Also, unlike the Arthas Problem, you know immediately that the trolley only has two outcomes. The train is on tracks and it cannot deviate so it will, beyond a shadow of a doubt, kill either one or five. Arthas had no idea how many people were infected (could have been 90%, could have been 10%), how long the infection took before it turned someone (three days, so even all the infected were unlikely to turn at once), how long it would take for the city to fall if he did nothing, how long it would take for the zombies to spread outside the city. It could have taken hours, it could have taken days. He also didn't consider that he could have rallied the townsfolk to fight by his side before they turned. Instead, he forced them to fight the undead on their own as well as his rampaging soldiers. Arthas might have had more information than Uther, but he still didn't have nearly enough to deem the purge a necessity.

Which is what Arthas did. There was no helping the citizens of Stratholme other than giving them a quick, merciful death. Again: there was no time for anything else.

Except there was no way to save a single soul, and this has been explained multiple times.

Wrong. That was Arthas' excuse. He had absolutely no way of knowing how many he could have saved over the hours it took to hunt down and murder every man, woman, and child. The orphanage, at least, was safely evacuated, (so yes some souls were saved no thanks to Arthas) and there are quests that follow some of the NPCs who fought back, even against a two front battle against both their prince and the undead.

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Okay. First: it wasn't "just this morning". Second, grains is the base of the overwhelming majority of food people of that time eat that is NOT fruit or vegetable. So the chances you were infected were incredibly high.

That doesn't take into account the possibility that many people might have still been eating food that used the grain from before the tainted shipments arrived. We know the plague takes about 3 days from infection to death, so if people were turning when Arthas arrived the tainted grain had only been available for about 3 days. As far as I know, there are no sources to say that food was scarce so the bad grain had to be used immediately. In fact, Stratholme was a fairly prosperous port town so it's perfectly reasonable to believe that a lot of its people didn't NEED to consume the tainted grain immediately, instead continuing to rely on food that had been prepared prior to the distribution of the tainted grain. That means many could have had days before they turned, and a portion were still uninfected.

All this breaking down of posts is getting super tedious, so I'm done. All you're doing is using the same, false arguments to try to paint the purge as the only choice. That's a point that Arthas has to hammer home to excuse his actions, but we as the audience should know better. He had the time, resources, and manpower to kill over 10,000 civilians spread out across a city. That's time, resources, and manpower to attempt a plethora of other things. He had no idea how many people he could have helped save in the time it took him to massacre them.

While Arthas might be an interesting literary character for a video game, he really isn't all that complicated. He's powerful, but he's young, immature, stubborn, and hotheaded. He might truly have cared for the people of his kingdom, but his character flaws (and the trap that was laid out for him) led him down a path of corruption. He's a textbook anti-villain (until he picks up Frostmourne and becomes just a plain old villain). He uses "the greater good" to commit evil acts, and while his desperation might be relatable we as the audience are not meant to condone his extreme actions.

[Ielenia]

Yeah, and that argument is still bullshit. Arthas had resources and manpower. To evacuate and quarantine the entire city? No.

Then case closed. He simply did not have the resources, manpower or time to do anything other than either let everyone in the city turn and brutally murder those who haven't, or go inside himself with his troops and kill those before they turned.

He must have known that it would take time to purge the city of all life. He could have used that time to pursue at least several options that didn't involve killing civilians.

It was the only viable option with the time they had. Anything else would take too long.

Arthas couldn't know how long it would take to purge the whole city and if he would even succeed, so how can you use the "no time" argument when his whole plan was also based on a hunch.

I've repeated this multiple times, and I originally said this to you. It's obvious:

Now take all your numbers and think on this:

• Time used analyzing the situation.
• Time used coming up with logistics and devising a strategy.
• Time used up to gather the manpower and resources.
• Time used up to prepare a location to house an ENTIRE CITY's worth of people.
• Time used up to escort small parts of the city at a time.

versus:

• Time used up to head in and mercifully kill everyone.

No, I'm sure you truly believe that taking it upon yourself to dole out mercy killings is the right choice and that you still care about the citizens you murder. I just think you're morally bankrupt and full of platitudes to make your morbid thoughts sound reasonable.

Then you are dead wrong. By that same token, by the way, I can say you're morally bankrupt and full of platitudes to make your morbid thoughts about letting everyone inside Stratholme either suffer by turning into a mindless undead, or suffer by being brutally murdered by their own children/spouse/sibling/parent/neighbor/etc who turned into a mindless undead. Because that is what all your offered options entail: everyone inside Stratholme horrifically dies, because all of your options would take too long to even begin implementing.

The trolley problem is a joke of a morality test. First off, it's set up with parameters that allow only two options and a split second decision/action. Unlike the Arthas situation which have a whole variety of options and hours to carry them out.

Except it isn't. Just like the "train trolley", time is of the essence and you don't have time to think. Again, I'll remind you that people started turning shortly after Arthas entered Stratholme.

The trolley problem takes away pretty much all agency from the subject and it's aim is to make you weigh lives like a mathematical equation.

Which is precisely what Arthas had to do: weight in the lives of those in Stratholme vs the lives of everyone else in his kingdom.

Also, unlike the Arthas Problem, you know immediately that the trolley only has two outcomes.

Same thing with the "Arthas Problem", as you dubbed it: thanks to time being of the utmost essence, there were only two outcomes: let everyone die and make Stratholme into an army of the dead, or kill everyone before they turned.

Wrong. That was Arthas' excuse.

And also a fact, considering that, again, people started turning into undead shortly after he entered Stratholme.

[Adamas102]

/snip

Your base premise that he only had the one choice is wrong. "It was the only viable option with the time they had" is meaningless because he had no idea how much time he had. In the time it took him to argue with Uther he could have issued the necessary commands to take another approach. That's why there is a chain of command. He only has to relay a few orders to his captains which in turn are carried out down the line.

Uther says "There must be some other way", Arthas says "You're right. You, you, and you. Order your men to set up a quarantine zone here, outside the walls. Watch out, many of these villagers will become undead soon so keep people in controlled groups. Try to separate the sick from the healthy. You, you, and you. You and your men are coming with me into the city, we're going to funnel out as many people as we can. Keep an eye out for anyone who is sick, they could turn at any moment. Those who are not sick, rally them to fight the undead that we will begin to encounter"

That took less than 30 seconds to read out loud. Less time than it took Arthas to argue with Uther and Jaina (yeah, I rewatched the cinematic to time their brief exchange). I call bullshit on your idea that there was no time to do anything else.

Okay. First: it wasn't "just this morning". Second, grains is the base of the overwhelming majority of food people of that time eat that is NOT fruit or vegetable. So the chances you were infected were incredibly high.

That doesn't take into account the possibility that many people might have still been eating food that used the grain from before the tainted shipments arrived. We know the plague takes about 3 days from infection to death, so if people were turning when Arthas arrived the tainted grain had only been available for about 3 days. As far as I know, there are no sources to say that food was scarce so the bad grain had to be used immediately. In fact, Stratholme was a fairly prosperous port town so it's perfectly reasonable to believe that a lot of its people didn't NEED to consume the tainted grain immediately, instead continuing to rely on food that had been prepared prior to the distribution of the tainted grain. That means many could have had days before they turned, and a portion were still uninfected.

All this breaking down of posts is getting super tedious, so I'm done. All you're doing is using the same, false arguments to try to paint the purge as the only choice. That's a point that Arthas has to hammer home to excuse his actions, but we as the audience should know better. He had the time, resources, and manpower to kill over 10,000 civilians spread out across a city. That's time, resources, and manpower to attempt a plethora of other things. He had no idea how many people he could have helped save in the time it took him to massacre them.

While Arthas might be an interesting literary character for a video game, he really isn't all that complicated. He's powerful, but he's young, immature, stubborn, and hotheaded. He might truly have cared for the people of his kingdom, but his character flaws (and the trap that was laid out for him) led him down a path of corruption. He's a textbook anti-villain (until he picks up Frostmourne and becomes just a plain old villain). He uses "the greater good" to commit evil acts, and while his desperation might be relatable we as the audience are not meant to condone his extreme actions.

[Ielenia]

Your base premise that he only had the one choice is wrong. "It was the only viable option with the time they had" is meaningless because he had no idea how much time he had. In the time it took him to argue with Uther he could have issued the necessary commands to take another approach. That's why there is a chain of command. He only has to relay a few orders to his captains which in turn are carried out down the line.

Uther says "There must be some other way", Arthas says "You're right. You, you, and you. Order your men to set up a quarantine zone here, outside the walls. Watch out, many of these villagers will become undead soon so keep people in controlled groups. Try to separate the sick from the healthy. You, you, and you. You and your men are coming with me into the city, we're going to funnel out as many people as we can. Keep an eye out for anyone who is sick, they could turn at any moment. Those who are not sick, rally them to fight the undead that we will begin to encounter"

And by the time a quarantine zone is foundset up and prepared, Stratholme is a dead city. Not to mention it was impossible to separate those who ate the grain and those who did not.

That took less than 30 seconds to read out loud. Less time than it took Arthas to argue with Uther and Jaina (yeah, I rewatched the cinematic to time their brief exchange). I call bullshit on your idea that there was no time to do anything else.

But it certainly won't take thirty seconds to implement.

That doesn't take into account the possibility that many people might have still been eating food that used the grain from before the tainted shipments arrived. We know the plague takes about 3 days from infection to death, so if people were turning when Arthas arrived the tainted grain had only been available for about 3 days. As far as I know, there are no sources to say that food was scarce so the bad grain had to be used immediately.

This isn't modern life. They have no fridges or similar type of storage to make food last longer. What is not eaten in a few days is tossed away. So the idea that the grain was used up "right away" holds up.

All this breaking down of posts is getting super tedious, so I'm done. All you're doing is using the same, false arguments to try to paint the purge as the only choice.

Except they're not "false" as I've pointed that out numerous times.

While Arthas might be an interesting literary character for a video game, he really isn't all that complicated. He's powerful, but he's young, immature, stubborn, and hotheaded.

But not evil, or a villain. At least until he took Frostmourne.

[Adamas102]

And by the time a quarantine zone is foundset up and prepared, Stratholme is a dead city. Not to mention it was impossible to separate those who ate the grain and those who did not.

But it certainly won't take thirty seconds to implement.

It would be implemented IMMEDIATELY. I'm not saying they need to build a fucking hospital. They're traveling soldiers so they likely have some supplies in tow. Use tent poles or standards to denote areas where people should gather and set up a perimeter. You have multiple groups performing different tasks, but acting in unison. I'd tell Jaina to remain with the group outside and to signal if the situation was becoming untenable and they needed more support.

All versions of the cutscene show infected people displaying symptoms of illness. Antonida's journal also supports the fact that it was a quickly progressing disease that had visually identifiable symptoms. "Fatigue, nausea, fever, to minor hallucinations" were seen in infected non-human creatures, and humans had a more pronounced effect that included necrosis and death. So while one might not be able to identify a newly infected person, someone who was nearing the end of the disease could possibly be identified. Rise of the Lich King notes that both Arthas and Jaina noticed "victims of this Plague became limned with a sickly, green glow".

While there's some sources that contradict each other, nothing I can find suggests that totally healthy people were dying and immediately returning as zombies.

How the dungeon journal describes Stratholme:

It was here that Prince Arthas turned his back on the noble paladin Uther Lightbringer, slaughtering countless residents believed to be infected with the horrific plague of undeath. Ever since, cursed Stratholme has been marred by death, betrayal, and hopelessness.

It was only BELIEVED that the entire (or even most of) the populace was infected.

A quick google search also suggests that after being processed in a granary (like at Andorhal), grains can last months, and if dried and stored properly they can even last for years. That's for traditional methods of storage. Stratholme was also a port town, so should have had easy access to fish, which could be smoked to last for months as well. So no, there's no reason to believe that most of the populace HAD to eat the nearly delivered tainted grain within those three days.

[TheFirstOnes]

The purge of Stratholme wasn’t really anything evil. Realistically, it’s what someone would do in dire situations such as that.

The issue comes from literally everything else afterward...

[Adamas102]

Except they're not "false" as I've pointed that out numerous times.

Found a PDF of Rise of the Lich King. This book really doesn't present Arthas the way you think it does.

“Listen to me. We don’t know how many people are infected. Some of them might not have eaten any of the grain at all—others might not have eaten a lethal dose. We don’t even know what a lethal dose is yet. We know so little—we can’t just slaughter them like animals out of our own fear! ...There’s too much unknown for such a—a drastic solution.”

Jaina is absolutely right. There was no way for Arthas to know how many were infected. Could have been only 1/10th of the city for all he knew.

“I...that would be my personal choice, yes. But we can’t make that choice for them. Don’t you see?”

Again, Jaina is correct, but Arthas simply refuses to entertain that notion. The idea that his personal belief on how he wants to die should be applied to everyone is echoed later by Falric and the men that remained. Though their agreement is "murmured" Arthas takes that as affirmation of his beliefs (" There were murmurs of agreement and Arthas’s heart lifted"). It's a coping mechanism to sterilize the massacre they're about to commit.

No. No, she couldn’t be. Because if she was right, then he was about to become a mass murderer, and he knew that wasn’t who he was. He knew it.

Again, coping mechanism. He's doing his best to push reason from his mind and let his pride and emotions guide him. He knew Jaina was right, but he couldn't reconcile that with his inability to think of another solution. Arthas NEVER even considers that something else could be done. It's pride, to think that the solution he picked is the one and only true solution.

It was a relief when some of the citizens of Stratholme began to fight back. Then the self- defense instinct kicked in. They still did not have a chance against professional soldiers and a trained paladin.

That's not the quick and clean death you profess Arthas meted out. After the initial shock, fear and self preservation took over. If there was struggle and combat, it wasn't quick and clean executions like when he first entered the city and caved in a little boy's chest.

There are also a lot of very clear moments to tell the reader when Arthas is acting in the wrong. When he fights the undead at Hearthglen, he and his men are bolstered by the power of the Light flowing through him. When he's purging Stratholme, he notes with surprise that he no longer radiated the holy Light that had helped him in battle before. Even when he confronts Mal'Ganis himself his hammer only glows faintly.

"Maybe. Or maybe he’s some ally of this Mal’Ganis. Or maybe he’s just some crazy hermit. Nothing he can say will make me abandon my homeland, Jaina. I don’t care if that madman has seen the future."

“I am sick of people trying to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do!” The words burst from him, startling himself as much as Jaina."

"Uther and Jaina blinked at the harsh tone of voice. He was overreacting—Uther wasn’t censuring him; he was praising him."

Stubborn, hotheaded, and most importantly, prideful. A classic flaw for corrupting storybook heroes. Both Arthas' words and inner thoughts are rife with examples of his anger issues and his constant need to quickly dismiss reasonable thought when it fleetingly pops into his mind. There are several times both before and during the purge when he starts to second guess himself, but he quickly shuts that down. "No, no SURELY I must be right. Can't let pesky "reason" lead me to hesitate and actually consider what I'm doing".

The idea he only becomes evil once he touches the sword is ignoring the whole point of his arc. He starts off doing something he believes is right, but is truly evil. He then progresses through a series of more and more selfish acts (making off with the fleet, betraying the mercenaries, lying to his men) and in doing so loses more and more of his humanity. Picking up Frostmourne isn't a flick of the switch, it's the culmination of a long road of evil deeds that began with Stratholme.

------------------

One thing the book sort of retcons is the speed at which the plague takes hold. It was noted as three days in some sources, but the book turns it into minutes, maybe an hour at most. Arthas notices the smell of freshly baked bread both at Hearthglen and Stratholme immediately before people begin to turn. That makes it even less believable that everyone (or even a sizeable portion) in the city baked and consumed bread within an hour of Arthas arriving. Everyone across the city was just munching on bread over the course of the hours that it was taking Arthas to burn their buildings? It's far more reasonable to believe that most of the people he was killing by the end of the purge were not infected and had been spending the prior couple hours trying to hide rather than snacking.

Also, unlike the game where you have to fight Mal'Ganis and his entourage in a race to kill the most civilians, the book makes it seem like Mal'Ganis was only taunting Arthas, spurring him into continuing the purge. Mal'Ganis only appears (alone) after Arthas and his men have slaughtered "every living—and dead—person in the city". That fully supports the idea that Mal'Ganis wasn't really trying to overrun Lordaeron himself. His real aim was just to play on Arthas' personality flaws, trick him into seeding a dormant undead army, stoke the vengeance in him, and lead him to Northrend where his destiny as the Lich King awaited.

[Askyl]

I played it and i see why he was right to do it.

So going for a revenge-trip instead of saving your lands, picking up a cursed blade you have no idea what it'll do to you against your own better judgement. Attacking your own troops and being a fucking idiot.

That's like. OH BUT HE KILLED A MONSTER THAT LED HIM INTO A TRAP, SO HE DID THE RIGHT THING

No, he was an idiot, vendictive and got what was coming.

[TheFirstOnes]

Doesn’t help that he abandoned his men and left many of them for dead at Northrend even before picking up Frostmourne.

[Aresk]

Which is what Arthas did. There was no helping the citizens of Stratholme other than giving them a quick, merciful death. Again: there was no time for anything else.

Arthas didn't give them a quick, merciful death. He cut them apart with swords and bashed them in with hammers. "Survivors" of the attack classify his efforts as brutal.

And despite the "no other way" argument, there were those who attempted to evacuate the city. The orphans were safely evacuated, and Eris Havenfire attempted to evacuate but was killed by the Scourge. Shaw notes that Arthas' choice was a mistake and that there were alternative methods that could've been employed to spare some people. And killing the people did no good, because they were just brought back into undeath anyway; given how death knights wielded such magics against Dalaran in the second war, there's no reason Arthas wouldn't have known that necromancy isn't limited in effect to the living.

Arthas saw no other way to handle the situation, and he was all too willing to see his butchering done. That's not exactly the depiction of mercy that you're claiming. While his motivation was to try to save his kingdom, his actions suggest he cared very little for the actual people of Stratholme.