Queen Azshara is a character in the fictional Warcraft Universe.
Azshara was once the queen of the Kaldorei on the lands of ancient Kalimdor. She ruled them with benevolence and kindness, and was revered by her people for her beauty and spirit.
Azshara built a palace on the shores of the Well of Eternity, where she and her servants, called the Quel'dorei, or Highborne, studied the Well. Though the Kaldorei civilians continued to adore Azshara, they began to spurn the Quel'dorei for their smug narcissism and the superiority they seemed to display.
As they worked to discern the deepest secrets of the Well, Azshara and her followers found that, in time, they could control the flow of its mysterious energy.
Wishing to see the limits of her newfound powers, Azshara had many magical experiments done within the confines of her palace, seeking to test herself and her followers. The Highborne began to use magic recklessly and without any caution.
To the people of Kalimdor, a change had come over Azshara and the high-borne. Though previously something of an annoyance, the Highborne had now become cruel to the populace. Azshara, meanwhile, had secluded herself within her palace, and her skin paled over time. She heedlessly continued to embrace her new identity, and worked to test the limits of the Well's power. Soon, however, she attracted attention that was not of this world.
Azshara's experiments continued unabated, and soon, she felt a presence so powerful that it overwhelmed her, and she was greeted by the ancient Titan, Sargeras.
Azshara, impressed beyond words by Sargeras' power, agreed to allow him passage to their world. The Highborne too, were struck with awe as the majesty of Sargeras filled their minds. Soon, they abandoned worshiping Elune, instead worshiping Sargeras as a god.
Azshara and her followers banded together in a magical network and crafted a portal at the bottom of the Well of Eternity. Archimonde and Mannoroth came hurtling into this world with a legion of demons at their backs, and they ravaged the land, killing every creature in their path.
As all of Kalimdor fell to pieces around them, Azshara and the Highborne basked in the majesty of their magical creation and the power of Sargeras' innumerable demon hordes .
Some time into the invasion, Illidan Stormrage, one of the Highborne who had left her at the will of his brother, Malfurion, returned to warn Azshara that Malfurion was attempting to destroy the Well of Eternity to collapse the portal that Azshara had created. Azshara would not hear of that, and immediately prepared for Malfurion's assault.
The destructive magics she unleashed upon Malfurion's forces slaughtered most of them, but he came on relentlessly. Tyrande, attempting to attack Azshara from behind, was ambushed by the queen's guardsmen, and though she slew them, she fell with grievous wounds. Malfurion, enraged by the sight, attacked Azshara. To defend herself, Azshara attacked him with magic.
As their battle progressed, the carefully crafted spells that Azshara had spent so much time creating lost their balance, and the portal collapsed.
The resulting catastrophe sundered the world, and blew Azshara and most of her treacherous followers to the bottom of the sea.
However, in the aftermath of the explosion, the energies of the Well transformed the Night Elves into denizens of the deep. Over time, buried among the sunken ruins of Zin-Azshari, Azshara and her followers became the serpentine Naga. Azshara herself continued to transform into an insidious creature, malignant and cunning. More recently, she sent up expeditions of naga to survey the land and attempt to establish a power base. For the time will come, she is confident, when they shall have their revenge.
This differs greatly with the account provided in the Well of Eternity book series. In the literature, Azshara is not as much personally involved in the casting and summoning, being replaced by her subordinate Lord Xavius. In addition, there is no "final showdown" or confrontation between Malfurion, Tyrande, and herself; instead, she is awaiting Sargeras' arrival from her palace room, when the Well of Eternity begins its implosion. Her hastily constructed magical barrier protects those in the palace, but she senses her power quickly fading, and accepts an offer of aid from the Old Gods, leading to the morphing of the Highborne into the Naga.
Azshara was once the queen of the Kaldorei on the lands of ancient Kalimdor. She ruled them with benevolence and kindness, and was revered by her people for her beauty and spirit.
Azshara built a palace on the shores of the Well of Eternity, where she and her servants, called the Quel'dorei, or Highborne, studied the Well. Though the Kaldorei civilians continued to adore Azshara, they began to spurn the Quel'dorei for their smug narcissism and the superiority they seemed to display.
As they worked to discern the deepest secrets of the Well, Azshara and her followers found that, in time, they could control the flow of its mysterious energy.
Wishing to see the limits of her newfound powers, Azshara had many magical experiments done within the confines of her palace, seeking to test herself and her followers. The Highborne began to use magic recklessly and without any caution.
To the people of Kalimdor, a change had come over Azshara and the high-borne. Though previously something of an annoyance, the Highborne had now become cruel to the populace. Azshara, meanwhile, had secluded herself within her palace, and her skin paled over time. She heedlessly continued to embrace her new identity, and worked to test the limits of the Well's power. Soon, however, she attracted attention that was not of this world.
Azshara's experiments continued unabated, and soon, she felt a presence so powerful that it overwhelmed her, and she was greeted by the ancient Titan, Sargeras.
Azshara, impressed beyond words by Sargeras' power, agreed to allow him passage to their world. The Highborne too, were struck with awe as the majesty of Sargeras filled their minds. Soon, they abandoned worshiping Elune, instead worshiping Sargeras as a god.
Azshara and her followers banded together in a magical network and crafted a portal at the bottom of the Well of Eternity. Archimonde and Mannoroth came hurtling into this world with a legion of demons at their backs, and they ravaged the land, killing every creature in their path.
As all of Kalimdor fell to pieces around them, Azshara and the Highborne basked in the majesty of their magical creation and the power of Sargeras' innumerable demon hordes .
Some time into the invasion, Illidan Stormrage, one of the Highborne who had left her at the will of his brother, Malfurion, returned to warn Azshara that Malfurion was attempting to destroy the Well of Eternity to collapse the portal that Azshara had created. Azshara would not hear of that, and immediately prepared for Malfurion's assault.
The destructive magics she unleashed upon Malfurion's forces slaughtered most of them, but he came on relentlessly. Tyrande, attempting to attack Azshara from behind, was ambushed by the queen's guardsmen, and though she slew them, she fell with grievous wounds. Malfurion, enraged by the sight, attacked Azshara. To defend herself, Azshara attacked him with magic.
As their battle progressed, the carefully crafted spells that Azshara had spent so much time creating lost their balance, and the portal collapsed.
The resulting catastrophe sundered the world, and blew Azshara and most of her treacherous followers to the bottom of the sea.
However, in the aftermath of the explosion, the energies of the Well transformed the Night Elves into denizens of the deep. Over time, buried among the sunken ruins of Zin-Azshari, Azshara and her followers became the serpentine Naga. Azshara herself continued to transform into an insidious creature, malignant and cunning. More recently, she sent up expeditions of naga to survey the land and attempt to establish a power base. For the time will come, she is confident, when they shall have their revenge.
This differs greatly with the account provided in the Well of Eternity book series. In the literature, Azshara is not as much personally involved in the casting and summoning, being replaced by her subordinate Lord Xavius. In addition, there is no "final showdown" or confrontation between Malfurion, Tyrande, and herself; instead, she is awaiting Sargeras' arrival from her palace room, when the Well of Eternity begins its implosion. Her hastily constructed magical barrier protects those in the palace, but she senses her power quickly fading, and accepts an offer of aid from the Old Gods, leading to the morphing of the Highborne into the Naga.
Arthas Menethil is a fictional character in the Warcraft universe, a fictional universe in which a series of games and books are set.
Backstory
Arthas Menethil is the son of King Terenas king of Lordaeron, the northernmost Human kingdom, and is thus the crown prince of Lordaeron. He has a sister named Calia Menethil. Arthas was first introduced in the novel Day of the Dragon as a young boy. At the age of nineteen he was inducted into the Knights of the Silver Hand at the behest and with the sponsorship of the renowned paladin Uther Lightbringer. It is indicated in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne that he had once competed with of the Elven Kingdom of Quel'Thalas to win the heart and hand of Jaina Proudmoore. Little else is known of Arthas during his younger years.
Role in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
As a Paladin
At the beginning of the first section of the single-player campaign, Prince Arthas and his mentor and friend Uther the Lightbringer are battling Blackrock Orcs when he hears of a mysterious plague in northern Lordaeron. Meeting with the sorceress Jaina Proudmoore, they journey northward in a desperate bid to investigate the plague. At every step they are confronted by a necromancer named Kel'Thuzad, the founder of The Cult of the Damned, who always departs with cryptic remarks to Arthas about his eventual fate. Following the necromancer to Andorhal, Arthas and Jaina Proudmoore discover that the plague was being administered to the unwitting populace through infected grain. Before their very eyes, they watched as innocent townspeople fell ill and perished, only to rise again as the undead and attack the living. Realizing that the town was in danger of being overrun, Arthas sends Jaina Proudmoore to gather Uther the Lightbringer and his knights, while he and his forces attempt to defend the town. They are nearly overtaken by the time that Uther arrives, and together they manage to defeat the undead attackers. Eventually Jaina Proudmoore and Arthas manage to slay Kel'Thuzad, but the infected grain had already been distributed across the countryside by unwitting farmers and merchants. Arthas arrives at the city of Stratholme and decides to slay the entire population before the plague can take effect there, but Uther the Lightbringer and Jaina Proudmoore refuse to follow his order. Arthas rashly removes Uther the Lightbringer from command, resulting in the departure of Uther and his knights as well as Jaina Proudmoore. Then, a Dreadlord named taunts Arthas as he converts some of the city's residents into the undead through the plague. Racing against the Dreadlord's dark mission to convert the townspeople, Arthas successfully purges the city. Arthas, now full of vengeful wrath, then rallies his forces and sets off to pursue Mal’Ganis to the continent of Northrend, leaving Stratholme a flaming wreck of death and sorrow. Later, Uther the Lightbringer returns to the city, appalled at what he sees. He finds Jaina Proudmoore there, and finds out from her that Arthas has taken the fleet north to pursue Mal’Ganis in Northrend.
One month later, Arthas arrives in Northrend with a small group of loyal followers. They encounter a group of stranded dwarves exploring the continent in search of a runeblade called Frostmourne. Arthas quickly enlists their aid, and with the help of their leader, Arthas' old friend Muradin Bronzebeard, they cut through the Undead. Shortly afterward, an emissary of the king arrives and informs Arthas that the king has recalled the expedition. Infuriated at this news, Arthas conspires with a group of local mercenaries to burn and sink the ships that they used to sail to Northrend. While his men worked at clearing a path to the shoreline through the thickness of the forest, Arthas, Muradin and the mercenaries slipped past them unseen, and succeeded in destroying the ships, stranding his own men. His men eventually reached the shoreline to find that their only way home has been lost. When asked what had happened, Arthas turned on the mercenaries, claiming they had sunken the ships and robbed his people of their only way home. Within seconds, Arthas and his men killed the surprised mercenaries, while Muradin could only watch, horrified.
Privately, Muradin confronts Arthas about his treachery, about how he lied to his men and betrayed the mercenaries that fought for him, and that he was growing concerned about what it happening to his friend. Arthas, disregarding his friend’s concern, only stated that Muradin wasn’t there to see what Mal’Ganis had done. Muradin, although no longer sure if what they’re doing is justified, remains to help Arthas, since he previously swore to see this endeavor through. Arthas and Muradin take a force of men through monster-infested caverns to reach Frostmourne, hidden in a frozen vault deep beneath a mountain. When they finally come upon the sword, the dwarf warns Arthas that it is cursed, but Arthas, consumed by rage and a lust for vengeance, swears an oath to bear any curse and pay any price if the sword will help him. The ice around Frostmourne shatters and a shard of it kills Muradin. Arthas, unmoved, abandons his warhammer and takes the sword. With his newfound power, his army destroys Mal’Ganis’s base. He finally corners Mal’Ganis, who revealed that all Arthas had done was foretold by his master, the Lich King, and that it is the voice of the Lich King that whispers to Arthas through the sword. Dark whispers are heard from the sword as Mal’Ganis asks what the Lich King is telling Arthas to do. Arthas announces that the Lich King has told him that the time for his vengeance has come, and quickly kills the shocked and betrayed Dreadlord. Without another word, Arthas abandons his army and flees into the icy wastes of Northrend, slowly losing his sanity.
As a Death Knight
In the ending cinematic of the first campaign, some unspecified time later, a black-clad Arthas walks through the streets of the Capital City of Lordaeron. Flanked by two hooded figures, he enters the royal throne room and kills his father, King Terenas, with Frostmourne. This event marks the end of the human kingdom of Lordaeron.
At the beginning of the second part of the campaign, Arthas is greeted as a Death Knight by Tichondrius. He learns that upon taking up Frostmourne, he began to hear the voice of the Lich King Ner'zhul, who had forged the blade for the purpose of ensnaring a powerful soul. The first it claimed was Arthas'. Tichondrius instructs Arthas to gather together Kel'Thuzad's Cult of the Damned, then to recover the remains of the necromancer for resurrection. Upon doing so, Arthas sees the ghost of Kel'Thuzad, who advises him not to trust the Dreadlords. Arthas then kills his once-mentor Uther Lightbringer to retrieve a sacred urn to carry the necromancer's remains. Arthas then journeys to the woods of Quel'thalas, the homeland of the High Elves. He battles his way through the Elven defenders, killing the Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner and subsequently resurrecting her as a Banshee. The Undead sack the elven capital of Silvermoon and corrupt the Sunwell, the source of magic for the High Elves. Here Kel'Thuzad is reborn as a Lich.
Kel'Thuzad tells Arthas that the plague is an initial strike by the Burning Legion, a demonic army that employs the Dreadlords and has spent countless millennia rampaging through the Great Dark Beyond. Next, Arthas and Kel'Thuzad attack a nearby Blackrock Orc Clan village guarding a demonic portal. After crushing the Orcs, Kel'Thuzad uses the portal to contact Archimonde, one of the Legion's mightiest leaders, who instructs the lich on how to open a portal allowing the demon into the world of Azeroth. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad assault the wizards' city of Dalaran and claim the spellbook of Medivh, the Last Guardian. Kel'Thuzad uses this book to summon Archimonde to Azeroth, whose first action is to destroy the entire city of Dalaran at once using an eldritch spell, which ends the second part of the campaign.
Arthas is absent for most of the remainder of the game; he briefly appears in one chapter, facing off against the newly released Illidan Stormrage amid the corrupted forests of Ashenvale. Arthas tells Illidan how to acquire the Skull of Gul'dan and kill their mutual enemy Tichondrius, which deals a heavy blow to the Burning Legion.
Role in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
The player next encounters Arthas during the third part of The Frozen Throne. After the downfall of the Burning Legion at the end of Reign of Chaos, Arthas journeys from Kalimdor back to Lordaeron. Upon his arrival, he launches an assault against the remaining Dreadlords ruling over the ruins of Lordaeron's Capital City, and declares himself king. It is then revealed that before the story of Warcraft III even began, the Lich King pushed the sword Frostmourne out of the Frozen Throne so Arthas could find it. A fracture in the Lich King's icy prison formed, leading to his gradual loss of power over the course of the campaign as the his magic seeps out of the fracture. Arthas, his strength directly linked to the Lich King by his wielding of Frostmourne, suffers seizures and loss of strength (manifested in-game as level loss). Regaining her freedom of will from the weakened Lich King, Sylvanas and her banshees rebel. Her dreadlord allies occupy the Capital City, and Sylvanas herself attempts to kill Arthas in an ambush, but is foiled by Kel'Thuzad's intervention.
Arthas escapes and headed to Northrend at the Lich King's summons. Waiting to meet him is a legendary king of the Nerubians, Anub'arak. Using their combined might, Arthas and Anub'arak descend into the depths of the ancient spider kingdom Azjol-Nerub, cutting through Illidan's Naga and Blood Elf warriors, as well as a company of Dwarves and a horde of subterranean monsters called 'The Faceless Ones', awoken by the partial destruction of the glacier by Illidan. Eventually Arthas and Anub'arak emerge at the base of the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King channels his power into Arthas once more, enabling him to regain his strength. The Undead drive back Illidan's combined Naga and Blood Elf forces. At the base of Icecrown Citadel, Arthas defeats Illidan after a fierce fight which leaves Illidan mortally wounded. Arthas ascends to the Frozen Throne, ignoring echoes of voices from his past. The Lich King commands Arthas to release him from the Frozen Throne with Frostmourne. Obeying, Arthas shatters the ice prison encasing the armor imbued with Ner'zhul's spirit, and places the helmet upon his head. Ner'zhul's voice echoes in his mind: "Now, we are one!" At that moment, the spirits of Ner'zhul and Arthas fuse into a single being.
While some fans suspected that Arthas had killed Illidan, Blizzard has repeatedly assured them that this is not true and that the original script for that scene would have made it clear that Arthas had simply beaten him into submission and humiliated him. As a result, Illidan is present in the first expansion pack to World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, having fled to Outland to lick his wounds and build a bulwark against the Lich King/Arthas, the Scourge and the Burning Legion.
Role in World of Warcraft
In World of Warcraft, which takes place four years after The Frozen Throne, the Lich King resides on the Frozen Throne, and has rebuilt the massive fortress around it, which houses a thousand undead warriors. His loyal vassal, Kel'Thuzad, commands the Scourge in Lordaeron, while Sylvanas with her Forsaken hold only Tirisfal, a small part of the kingdom. Presumably, he will continue to bolster the Scourge to make sure that there is no threat left from his creator and former masters, the demon lord Kil'jaeden and the Burning Legion.
In the Eastern and Western Plaguelands the Scourge appears to be rising in power, a fact which has given rise to very ominous rumors of his return. His floating Necropolis, Naxxramas, hovers above the Eastern Plaguelands, further bolstering his army. Arthas' lieutenant, the Lich Kel'Thuzad, commands this 40-man raid instance. The voice of the Lich King is heard throughout the Kel'Thuzad boss encounter.
It has been confirmed that the continent of Northrend will be the primary focus of the second expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King. Northrend houses the Frozen Throne and the ruins of the Nerubian kingdom Azjol-Nerub. Players will be able to challenge Arthas as the final boss of a major raiding instance, though Blizzard has stated that player characters will not stand a chance against Arthas until they are capable of advancing to level 80 at least. The level cap currently stands at 70 with the Burning Crusade expansion.
Many fans of Warcraft III believe that if Blizzard keeps true to the continuity of the story, that Arthas would probably be the most powerful single unit in the entire game. This is based on his single-handed defeat of Illidan, who is arguably the second most powerful character in the story, and also because Arthas has now ascended to a completely new level of power that is above and beyond any other non-monster, humanoid character in the Warcraft universe.
Backstory
Arthas Menethil is the son of King Terenas king of Lordaeron, the northernmost Human kingdom, and is thus the crown prince of Lordaeron. He has a sister named Calia Menethil. Arthas was first introduced in the novel Day of the Dragon as a young boy. At the age of nineteen he was inducted into the Knights of the Silver Hand at the behest and with the sponsorship of the renowned paladin Uther Lightbringer. It is indicated in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne that he had once competed with of the Elven Kingdom of Quel'Thalas to win the heart and hand of Jaina Proudmoore. Little else is known of Arthas during his younger years.
Role in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
As a Paladin
At the beginning of the first section of the single-player campaign, Prince Arthas and his mentor and friend Uther the Lightbringer are battling Blackrock Orcs when he hears of a mysterious plague in northern Lordaeron. Meeting with the sorceress Jaina Proudmoore, they journey northward in a desperate bid to investigate the plague. At every step they are confronted by a necromancer named Kel'Thuzad, the founder of The Cult of the Damned, who always departs with cryptic remarks to Arthas about his eventual fate. Following the necromancer to Andorhal, Arthas and Jaina Proudmoore discover that the plague was being administered to the unwitting populace through infected grain. Before their very eyes, they watched as innocent townspeople fell ill and perished, only to rise again as the undead and attack the living. Realizing that the town was in danger of being overrun, Arthas sends Jaina Proudmoore to gather Uther the Lightbringer and his knights, while he and his forces attempt to defend the town. They are nearly overtaken by the time that Uther arrives, and together they manage to defeat the undead attackers. Eventually Jaina Proudmoore and Arthas manage to slay Kel'Thuzad, but the infected grain had already been distributed across the countryside by unwitting farmers and merchants. Arthas arrives at the city of Stratholme and decides to slay the entire population before the plague can take effect there, but Uther the Lightbringer and Jaina Proudmoore refuse to follow his order. Arthas rashly removes Uther the Lightbringer from command, resulting in the departure of Uther and his knights as well as Jaina Proudmoore. Then, a Dreadlord named taunts Arthas as he converts some of the city's residents into the undead through the plague. Racing against the Dreadlord's dark mission to convert the townspeople, Arthas successfully purges the city. Arthas, now full of vengeful wrath, then rallies his forces and sets off to pursue Mal’Ganis to the continent of Northrend, leaving Stratholme a flaming wreck of death and sorrow. Later, Uther the Lightbringer returns to the city, appalled at what he sees. He finds Jaina Proudmoore there, and finds out from her that Arthas has taken the fleet north to pursue Mal’Ganis in Northrend.
One month later, Arthas arrives in Northrend with a small group of loyal followers. They encounter a group of stranded dwarves exploring the continent in search of a runeblade called Frostmourne. Arthas quickly enlists their aid, and with the help of their leader, Arthas' old friend Muradin Bronzebeard, they cut through the Undead. Shortly afterward, an emissary of the king arrives and informs Arthas that the king has recalled the expedition. Infuriated at this news, Arthas conspires with a group of local mercenaries to burn and sink the ships that they used to sail to Northrend. While his men worked at clearing a path to the shoreline through the thickness of the forest, Arthas, Muradin and the mercenaries slipped past them unseen, and succeeded in destroying the ships, stranding his own men. His men eventually reached the shoreline to find that their only way home has been lost. When asked what had happened, Arthas turned on the mercenaries, claiming they had sunken the ships and robbed his people of their only way home. Within seconds, Arthas and his men killed the surprised mercenaries, while Muradin could only watch, horrified.
Privately, Muradin confronts Arthas about his treachery, about how he lied to his men and betrayed the mercenaries that fought for him, and that he was growing concerned about what it happening to his friend. Arthas, disregarding his friend’s concern, only stated that Muradin wasn’t there to see what Mal’Ganis had done. Muradin, although no longer sure if what they’re doing is justified, remains to help Arthas, since he previously swore to see this endeavor through. Arthas and Muradin take a force of men through monster-infested caverns to reach Frostmourne, hidden in a frozen vault deep beneath a mountain. When they finally come upon the sword, the dwarf warns Arthas that it is cursed, but Arthas, consumed by rage and a lust for vengeance, swears an oath to bear any curse and pay any price if the sword will help him. The ice around Frostmourne shatters and a shard of it kills Muradin. Arthas, unmoved, abandons his warhammer and takes the sword. With his newfound power, his army destroys Mal’Ganis’s base. He finally corners Mal’Ganis, who revealed that all Arthas had done was foretold by his master, the Lich King, and that it is the voice of the Lich King that whispers to Arthas through the sword. Dark whispers are heard from the sword as Mal’Ganis asks what the Lich King is telling Arthas to do. Arthas announces that the Lich King has told him that the time for his vengeance has come, and quickly kills the shocked and betrayed Dreadlord. Without another word, Arthas abandons his army and flees into the icy wastes of Northrend, slowly losing his sanity.
As a Death Knight
In the ending cinematic of the first campaign, some unspecified time later, a black-clad Arthas walks through the streets of the Capital City of Lordaeron. Flanked by two hooded figures, he enters the royal throne room and kills his father, King Terenas, with Frostmourne. This event marks the end of the human kingdom of Lordaeron.
At the beginning of the second part of the campaign, Arthas is greeted as a Death Knight by Tichondrius. He learns that upon taking up Frostmourne, he began to hear the voice of the Lich King Ner'zhul, who had forged the blade for the purpose of ensnaring a powerful soul. The first it claimed was Arthas'. Tichondrius instructs Arthas to gather together Kel'Thuzad's Cult of the Damned, then to recover the remains of the necromancer for resurrection. Upon doing so, Arthas sees the ghost of Kel'Thuzad, who advises him not to trust the Dreadlords. Arthas then kills his once-mentor Uther Lightbringer to retrieve a sacred urn to carry the necromancer's remains. Arthas then journeys to the woods of Quel'thalas, the homeland of the High Elves. He battles his way through the Elven defenders, killing the Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner and subsequently resurrecting her as a Banshee. The Undead sack the elven capital of Silvermoon and corrupt the Sunwell, the source of magic for the High Elves. Here Kel'Thuzad is reborn as a Lich.
Kel'Thuzad tells Arthas that the plague is an initial strike by the Burning Legion, a demonic army that employs the Dreadlords and has spent countless millennia rampaging through the Great Dark Beyond. Next, Arthas and Kel'Thuzad attack a nearby Blackrock Orc Clan village guarding a demonic portal. After crushing the Orcs, Kel'Thuzad uses the portal to contact Archimonde, one of the Legion's mightiest leaders, who instructs the lich on how to open a portal allowing the demon into the world of Azeroth. Arthas and Kel'Thuzad assault the wizards' city of Dalaran and claim the spellbook of Medivh, the Last Guardian. Kel'Thuzad uses this book to summon Archimonde to Azeroth, whose first action is to destroy the entire city of Dalaran at once using an eldritch spell, which ends the second part of the campaign.
Arthas is absent for most of the remainder of the game; he briefly appears in one chapter, facing off against the newly released Illidan Stormrage amid the corrupted forests of Ashenvale. Arthas tells Illidan how to acquire the Skull of Gul'dan and kill their mutual enemy Tichondrius, which deals a heavy blow to the Burning Legion.
Role in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
The player next encounters Arthas during the third part of The Frozen Throne. After the downfall of the Burning Legion at the end of Reign of Chaos, Arthas journeys from Kalimdor back to Lordaeron. Upon his arrival, he launches an assault against the remaining Dreadlords ruling over the ruins of Lordaeron's Capital City, and declares himself king. It is then revealed that before the story of Warcraft III even began, the Lich King pushed the sword Frostmourne out of the Frozen Throne so Arthas could find it. A fracture in the Lich King's icy prison formed, leading to his gradual loss of power over the course of the campaign as the his magic seeps out of the fracture. Arthas, his strength directly linked to the Lich King by his wielding of Frostmourne, suffers seizures and loss of strength (manifested in-game as level loss). Regaining her freedom of will from the weakened Lich King, Sylvanas and her banshees rebel. Her dreadlord allies occupy the Capital City, and Sylvanas herself attempts to kill Arthas in an ambush, but is foiled by Kel'Thuzad's intervention.
Arthas escapes and headed to Northrend at the Lich King's summons. Waiting to meet him is a legendary king of the Nerubians, Anub'arak. Using their combined might, Arthas and Anub'arak descend into the depths of the ancient spider kingdom Azjol-Nerub, cutting through Illidan's Naga and Blood Elf warriors, as well as a company of Dwarves and a horde of subterranean monsters called 'The Faceless Ones', awoken by the partial destruction of the glacier by Illidan. Eventually Arthas and Anub'arak emerge at the base of the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King channels his power into Arthas once more, enabling him to regain his strength. The Undead drive back Illidan's combined Naga and Blood Elf forces. At the base of Icecrown Citadel, Arthas defeats Illidan after a fierce fight which leaves Illidan mortally wounded. Arthas ascends to the Frozen Throne, ignoring echoes of voices from his past. The Lich King commands Arthas to release him from the Frozen Throne with Frostmourne. Obeying, Arthas shatters the ice prison encasing the armor imbued with Ner'zhul's spirit, and places the helmet upon his head. Ner'zhul's voice echoes in his mind: "Now, we are one!" At that moment, the spirits of Ner'zhul and Arthas fuse into a single being.
While some fans suspected that Arthas had killed Illidan, Blizzard has repeatedly assured them that this is not true and that the original script for that scene would have made it clear that Arthas had simply beaten him into submission and humiliated him. As a result, Illidan is present in the first expansion pack to World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, having fled to Outland to lick his wounds and build a bulwark against the Lich King/Arthas, the Scourge and the Burning Legion.
Role in World of Warcraft
In World of Warcraft, which takes place four years after The Frozen Throne, the Lich King resides on the Frozen Throne, and has rebuilt the massive fortress around it, which houses a thousand undead warriors. His loyal vassal, Kel'Thuzad, commands the Scourge in Lordaeron, while Sylvanas with her Forsaken hold only Tirisfal, a small part of the kingdom. Presumably, he will continue to bolster the Scourge to make sure that there is no threat left from his creator and former masters, the demon lord Kil'jaeden and the Burning Legion.
In the Eastern and Western Plaguelands the Scourge appears to be rising in power, a fact which has given rise to very ominous rumors of his return. His floating Necropolis, Naxxramas, hovers above the Eastern Plaguelands, further bolstering his army. Arthas' lieutenant, the Lich Kel'Thuzad, commands this 40-man raid instance. The voice of the Lich King is heard throughout the Kel'Thuzad boss encounter.
It has been confirmed that the continent of Northrend will be the primary focus of the second expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King. Northrend houses the Frozen Throne and the ruins of the Nerubian kingdom Azjol-Nerub. Players will be able to challenge Arthas as the final boss of a major raiding instance, though Blizzard has stated that player characters will not stand a chance against Arthas until they are capable of advancing to level 80 at least. The level cap currently stands at 70 with the Burning Crusade expansion.
Many fans of Warcraft III believe that if Blizzard keeps true to the continuity of the story, that Arthas would probably be the most powerful single unit in the entire game. This is based on his single-handed defeat of Illidan, who is arguably the second most powerful character in the story, and also because Arthas has now ascended to a completely new level of power that is above and beyond any other non-monster, humanoid character in the Warcraft universe.
Archimonde is a demon lord and warlock who originated from the world of Argus and then The Twisting Nether in the fantasy Warcraft Universe. He was a primary villain in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos as well as World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.
Lore
Archimonde, along with Kil'jaeden and Velen, was one of the three rulers of the Eredar on the planet Argus. Impressed by the mortal Eredar's magical talent, Sargeras, ruler of the Burning Legion, approached the three leaders and asked their race to join his growing demonic army in return for eternal life and great power. Archimonde and Kil'jaeden accepted on behalf of their people, but Velen refused, fleeing Argus with his followers.
Chosen as a champion, along with Kil'jaeden, by Sargeras, Archimonde the Defiler was the leader in the Burning Legion's First Invasion. He gathered a group of Pit Lords with Mannoroth the Destructor as their hellish leader and created his own elite force of destruction. His mission failed as Sargeras attempted to enter Kalimdor through the portal in the Well of Eternity. The intervention of Malfurion Stormrage and his allies caused the ritual supporting the vortex beneath the waters of the lake to collapse and implode. The following disturbance shattered the world and banished the Burning Legion.
Ten thousand years later, Archimonde attempted to conquer the world of Azeroth again. He entered through a portal created by the Lich Kel'Thuzad, and proceeded to single-handedly demolish the city of Dalaran as a show of power and a mark of the Legion's might.
Archimonde then led the Undead and the Burning Legion to Mount Hyjal in an attempt to consume the World Tree for its magical powers. However, the combined might of the Orcish Horde, the Human Alliance and the Night Elves served to give enough time to allow the Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage to enact his defence. Malfurion raised the Horn of Cenarius and called upon the ancient guardians of Nordrassil — The Wisps, the spirits of dead Night Elves who remain as nature spirits and wardens — which arose and surrounded Archimonde as he approached the Tree. As their fury was enacted upon the demon, his form began to burn with coruscating energies until finally it could not withstand their wrath. Archimonde was vaporised, burning the World Tree and severing the Legion's bounds to Azeroth. With his death, and the absence of the Tree's magical energies, the Burning Legion once more crumbled before the might of the mortal armies and were banished from the world.
Appearances
Archimonde appears as the primary villain of Warcraft III, leading the Legion's assault on Azeroth. The final level of the game involves the Battle of Mount Hyjal, in which Archimonde is defeated when the races of the world unite against him and the very land itself rises up and consumes him.
This battle is revisited in The Burning Crusade via an instance in the Caverns of Time. Archimonde is the last of five bosses (all of whom previously appeared in Warcraft IIIs final level). He drops the helm token for the Tier 6 armor set.
Lore
Archimonde, along with Kil'jaeden and Velen, was one of the three rulers of the Eredar on the planet Argus. Impressed by the mortal Eredar's magical talent, Sargeras, ruler of the Burning Legion, approached the three leaders and asked their race to join his growing demonic army in return for eternal life and great power. Archimonde and Kil'jaeden accepted on behalf of their people, but Velen refused, fleeing Argus with his followers.
Chosen as a champion, along with Kil'jaeden, by Sargeras, Archimonde the Defiler was the leader in the Burning Legion's First Invasion. He gathered a group of Pit Lords with Mannoroth the Destructor as their hellish leader and created his own elite force of destruction. His mission failed as Sargeras attempted to enter Kalimdor through the portal in the Well of Eternity. The intervention of Malfurion Stormrage and his allies caused the ritual supporting the vortex beneath the waters of the lake to collapse and implode. The following disturbance shattered the world and banished the Burning Legion.
Ten thousand years later, Archimonde attempted to conquer the world of Azeroth again. He entered through a portal created by the Lich Kel'Thuzad, and proceeded to single-handedly demolish the city of Dalaran as a show of power and a mark of the Legion's might.
Archimonde then led the Undead and the Burning Legion to Mount Hyjal in an attempt to consume the World Tree for its magical powers. However, the combined might of the Orcish Horde, the Human Alliance and the Night Elves served to give enough time to allow the Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage to enact his defence. Malfurion raised the Horn of Cenarius and called upon the ancient guardians of Nordrassil — The Wisps, the spirits of dead Night Elves who remain as nature spirits and wardens — which arose and surrounded Archimonde as he approached the Tree. As their fury was enacted upon the demon, his form began to burn with coruscating energies until finally it could not withstand their wrath. Archimonde was vaporised, burning the World Tree and severing the Legion's bounds to Azeroth. With his death, and the absence of the Tree's magical energies, the Burning Legion once more crumbled before the might of the mortal armies and were banished from the world.
Appearances
Archimonde appears as the primary villain of Warcraft III, leading the Legion's assault on Azeroth. The final level of the game involves the Battle of Mount Hyjal, in which Archimonde is defeated when the races of the world unite against him and the very land itself rises up and consumes him.
This battle is revisited in The Burning Crusade via an instance in the Caverns of Time. Archimonde is the last of five bosses (all of whom previously appeared in Warcraft IIIs final level). He drops the helm token for the Tier 6 armor set.
In the fictional Warcraft Universe, the Kirin Tor were the ruling body of the magocratic societies of Dalaran, based in the Violet Citadel, before the downfall of the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Kirin Tor is also the name of a World of Warcraft server located in the central USA and of another server located in western Europe.
The Kirin Tor, led by the most powerful mages in the world, founded the nation of Dalaran as a place to study and teach the ways of magic. They were extremely proud and sometimes arrogant about their skills and fiercely guarded their secrets. Also they were exceedingly hostile towards "Rogue" mages, meaning any magic-users who are not under their rule or not under the rule of the E. Often going so far as to hunt them down. They encourage experimentation as long as it is supervised, but draw the line at Necromancy and Warlock magics of which studying is forbidden.
Many notable wizards and sorcerers belong in their ranks, including Archmage Khadgar, Archmage Antonidas, the Dragon-Archmage Krasus, Lady Jaina Proudmoore, and Rhonin.
One of the ruling members of the Kirin Tor, Kel'Thuzad, left the order because they restricted the study of necromancy. Because of the restrictions which he considered foolish, Kel'Thuzad left for Northrend after receiving the mental summons.
During the third war, Archimonde, a demon lord of the Burning Legion singlehandedly annihilated the city of Dalaran in a display of power. But after the war during the "Frozen Throne" era the ruins of Dalaran were used as a base of operations by Lord Garitho's band of human survivors.
Currently despite the destruction of the Violet Citadel Dalaran and the Kirin Tor remains a powerful member of the Alliance.
Notable members
Antonidas
In Warcraft III, Antonidas is introduced as an archmage and leader of the Kirin Tor. He aids Arthas throughout the Human campaign and leads a futile effort to defend Dalaran when Arthas returns to conquer it. Though killed by his former prince, he lives on as the template for the archmage hero unit. He also makes a brief re-appearance as a ghost in Warcraft III: Frozen Throne that Prince Keal'thas destroys as he escapes from the dungeon's under the ruins of Dalaran where he and his people are being kept prisoner before their execution.
Jaina Proudmoore
Kael'thas Sunstrider
Kel'Thuzad
Krasus
A more detailed history may be found at: http://www.wowwiki.com/Dalaran
fr:Kirin Tor
The Kirin Tor, led by the most powerful mages in the world, founded the nation of Dalaran as a place to study and teach the ways of magic. They were extremely proud and sometimes arrogant about their skills and fiercely guarded their secrets. Also they were exceedingly hostile towards "Rogue" mages, meaning any magic-users who are not under their rule or not under the rule of the E. Often going so far as to hunt them down. They encourage experimentation as long as it is supervised, but draw the line at Necromancy and Warlock magics of which studying is forbidden.
Many notable wizards and sorcerers belong in their ranks, including Archmage Khadgar, Archmage Antonidas, the Dragon-Archmage Krasus, Lady Jaina Proudmoore, and Rhonin.
One of the ruling members of the Kirin Tor, Kel'Thuzad, left the order because they restricted the study of necromancy. Because of the restrictions which he considered foolish, Kel'Thuzad left for Northrend after receiving the mental summons.
During the third war, Archimonde, a demon lord of the Burning Legion singlehandedly annihilated the city of Dalaran in a display of power. But after the war during the "Frozen Throne" era the ruins of Dalaran were used as a base of operations by Lord Garitho's band of human survivors.
Currently despite the destruction of the Violet Citadel Dalaran and the Kirin Tor remains a powerful member of the Alliance.
Notable members
Antonidas
In Warcraft III, Antonidas is introduced as an archmage and leader of the Kirin Tor. He aids Arthas throughout the Human campaign and leads a futile effort to defend Dalaran when Arthas returns to conquer it. Though killed by his former prince, he lives on as the template for the archmage hero unit. He also makes a brief re-appearance as a ghost in Warcraft III: Frozen Throne that Prince Keal'thas destroys as he escapes from the dungeon's under the ruins of Dalaran where he and his people are being kept prisoner before their execution.
Jaina Proudmoore
Kael'thas Sunstrider
Kel'Thuzad
Krasus
A more detailed history may be found at: http://www.wowwiki.com/Dalaran
fr:Kirin Tor