Post by sibz on Apr 22, 2006 0:20:53 GMT -8
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Character class: Death Knight;formerly a Paladin
Affiliation: The Scourge;
Occupation: Lich King; former Prince of the Kingdom of Lordaeron
Weapon: The FrostMourne
Armor: Full Platemail
Ability: Death Pact - Kill an ally to regain health
Death Coil - Inflict damage on Living, Heals Undead
Unholy Aura - all ally near Arthas will be have additional
movement speed and damage
Animate Dead - Resurect all creatures who had fallen in
battle
Biography
Arthas Menethil was first introduced in Day of the Dragon. At a young age he was inducted into the Knights of the Silver Hand, at the behest and with the sponsorship of the renowned paladin, Uther Lightbringer. Arthas is the son of King Terenas Menethil, king of Lordaeron, the northernmost Human kingdom, and is thus the Crown Prince. It was indicated in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne that he had once competed with Prince Kael'thas 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.
Arthas' Role in Fighting the Plague
Arthas and Jaina began their frantic journey northward in a desperate bid to outrace the plague, at every step confronted by a necromancer by the name of Kel'Thuzad. The necromancer seemed to be testing their limitations, always leaving with cryptic remarks directed towards Arthas about his eventual fate. However, it was Kel'Thuzad's fate that was the first to be met, for eventually Jaina and Arthas caught up to the necromancer and slew him. Yet their victory was ill-achieved, for they had arrived too late and the plague-ridden grain had been distributed across the countryside by unwitting farmers and merchants. Their defeat left Arthas in great agony, his mind wandering down paths of anger and hate; and upon their arrival at the city of Stratholme, as the first signs of madness began to appear in him, Jaina left Arthas on his own, having heard of his plan: he was determined to destroy the infected population of Stratholme. In a nighttime raid on the city, and aided by loyal knights and their retainers, Arthas succeeded in slaying the vast majority of the city's population, cutting them down as they slept, and all in the name of good; all to stop the plague. Due to the refusal of his mentor, Uther Lightbringer, to obey his order, Arthas dismissed the Knights of the Silver Hand from service. During this time Arthas was tormented by a demon, a Dreadlord by the name of Mal'Ganis who taunted Arthas with the effects of the plague, and in the end fled to the northern continent of Northrend. Sinking deeper into madness fueled by rage, grief and guilt, Arthas pursued his quarry.
Upon arrival at the northern continent, alone but for a smattering of loyal men, Arthas began making progress in chasing Mal'Ganis. His travels led him to encounter a group of dwarves exploring the continent in search of a runeblade named Frostmourne. Arthas quickly enlisted their aid, and with the assistance of their leader, Muradin Bronzebeard, an old friend of Arthas, they cut through the Undead defenses. The madness was descending faster upon Arthas, and hearing that his father was summoning him back to Lordaeron, he hatched a desperate plan. Recruiting some mercenaries, Arthas used them to burn the ships that had he had used to sail to Northrend, effectively stranding his men. Arthas then blamed the mercenaries for the burning of the ships, and the desolate men of his company tore them apart. This second act of evil succeeded only further to confirm the Dreadlord's words, that Arthas was quickly staining his soul with the blood of the innocent.
Yet, it was the final conflict that would hammer the last nail into the coffin of his humanity. Muradin and his dwarves, as previously mentioned, had come to Northrend in search of the legendary runeblade, Frostmourne. The closer the dwarves got to the runeblade, however, the more undead they encountered. As the Alliance assault moved further towards the citadel of Mal'Ganis, Arthas and Muradin took a force of men through monster-infested caverns to reach the blade, hidden deep under a mountain. Upon reaching Frostmourne, Muradin was quick to realize it was cursed, yet, despite such, Arthas took it up anyway. The ice around it shattered, but not before a shard went through Muradin. Even as he lifted it from its ageless cover, the blade began to whisper in his mind: the voice of Ner'zhul, now known as The Lich King, lord of the Undead. It commanded him to sacrifice something to wield its power. The Lich King warned that it would be something that Arthas felt was precious, initially it is thought that Arthas would lose his soul and he accepts this deal. However it turns out that the sacrifice was his friend Muradin, and the dwarf loses his life.
The Rise of the Death Knight
Using the newfound power of Frostmourne, Arthas tore down the Dreadlord's defenses and faced him on the desolate field of battle. The Dreadlord gloated in his victory; he had known all along that Arthas would choose the path of power, regardless of its outcome. However, The Lich King had one more gift for Arthas: vengeance. Arthas killed the Dreadlord, and marched off into the swirling snow, leaving all his men behind to be slaughtered by the undead or the unyielding elements.
Several months passed as the plague ravaged Lordaeron. However, on a spring day the bells of the Capital City rang clear; the Prince had returned. Arthas walked through the streets, cloaked and wearing armour that radiated the evil in his soul. He strode into the throne room of the King, and in front of shocked advisors savagely murdered his father. With the blood-stained crown still rolling on the ground, he uttered the words that tore down the last remnants of the greatest alliance Azeroth had ever known: "This kingdom shall fall, and from its ashes shall arise a new order that will shake the very foundations of the world."
What exactly happened to Arthas is something of a mystery. Still of living flesh, his soul had nonetheless been stolen by the malignant powers of Frostmourne and its creator, the Lich King. No longer the prodigy who had claimed the hearts of all Lordaeron with his brave exploits as a Paladin of the Silver Hand, now he sought their bodies to fill the ranks of the Undead Scourge. He was now the champion of the very force which he had given his humanity to try and destroy.
Arthas was instrumental in the scourging of the land. He gathered together the Cult of the Damned, which Kel'Thuzad had spent years organizing, and learned of the truth behind the Scourge. The plague itself had been an initial strike by the Burning Legion, a demonic army that employed the Dreadlords and had spent countless millennia rampaging through the Great Dark Beyond. The Burning Legion was led by the Arch Warlock Archimonde, and was preparing to destroy the world of Azeroth. Shortly after meeting his new master, the Dreadlord Tichondrius, Arthas was visited by a specter of the past. He began to see the necromancer Kel'Thuzad as a ghost who whispered in his ears the truth of the invasion. Kel'Thuzad led Arthas down a path of destruction to retrieve his body where he had been left to rot, and to retrieve a sacred urn that held none other than the ashes of King Terenas. Casting aside any doubts of his descent to utter darkness, he slew his old mentor and greatest friend, Uther the Lightbringer, to obtain the urn.
Arthas' Greed for Magic
The next stage of Arthas's destructive conquest would take him to the woods of Quel'thalas, the homeland of the High Elves. There, he battled his way through the Elven defenders, taking time to kill, and subsequently raise, the General of the Elven Rangers, Sylvanas Windrunner, as a Banshee. The vast Scourge force devastated the forests and land as every elf who stood in their way was crushed beneath their feet. At last the Undead forces lay siege to the capital city of the elves, Silvermoon, and in a bloody conquest the Undead reached the Sunwell, the source of magic for the High Elves. Here Arthas emptied the urn that contained the remains of Kel'Thuzad, and the necromancer was reborn as a mighty Lich.
With Kel'Thuzad coming into his newfound power, Arthas and Kel'Thuzad next set their sight on a nearby Blackrock Orc clan village. There, the orcs were guarding a demonic portal that would allow Kel'Thuzad to contact the lord of the Burning Legion, Archimonde. After assaulting the Blackrock Orcs and crushing them, the Lich was able to communicate with Archimonde. The demon lord told Kel'Thuzad of how to open a portal to the world of Azeroth and to finally begin the true assault of the Burning Legion.
Utilizing the most powerful Undead units, Arthas and Kel'Thuzad assaulted the human city of Dalaran, where the spellbook of Medivh, the Last Guardian, lay. After a savage assault, and braving the barrier that destroyed the undead, the book was at last in the possession of the Scourge. Using the book, Kel'Thuzad was able to breach the barrier between Azeroth and the Twisting Nether and bring Archimonde to Azeroth, where his first action was to destroy the city of Dalaran in one blow.
It was then that Arthas disappeared. His actions during the initial meeting of the Night Elf Sentinels of Ashenvale Forest and the Horde are unnoted, and he made but a brief appearance facing off against the newly released Illidan Stormrage amid the corrupted forests of Felwood. After a few minor words, and blows exchanged, Arthas left Illidan with information on how to acquire the Skull of Gul'dan; an artifact that eventually helped bring down Tichondrius and dealt a fatal blow to the Burning Legion. Arthas had loyalty to only the Lich King; and for the Burning Legion cared nothing.
The Lich King
After the downfall of the Burning Legion, Arthas made the long journey home from Kalimdor to the corrupted lands of Lordaeron. Upon his arrival, he promptly launched an assault against the remaining Dreadlords ruling over the ruins of Lordaeron's Capital City. Declaring himself King Arthas, allied with Sylvanas Windrunner (blessed with her original body by the Lich King), and the Lich Kel'Thuzad, he began to set himself up as ruler of the Plaguelands. However, fate was not to be denied her say in the matter. Illidan, using the power of the Eye of Sargeras, launched an attack on the Lich King at his base of power in Northrend. A fracture in the Lich King's icy prison formed by the magical assault began to sap him of his power. Arthas, his strength directly linked to the Lich King by his possession of the runeblade Frostmourne, suffered the same effects. Slowly but surely, the Lich King's iron grip on the Scourge began to slip, and some of the Undead began to regain their long-buried individuality.
Chief among those to rebel against Ner'zhul were Sylvanas and her Banshees. She planned an ambush to kill Arthas and avenge her ruined homeland of Quel'thalas, but with the intervention of Kel'Thuzad, Arthas escaped and rushed north towards the Lich King's summons.
Arthas' arrival at Northrend was not unexpected. Waiting to meet him stood the legendary Lord of the Nerubians, Anub'Arak. Using their combined might, Arthas and Anub'Arak descend into the depths of Azjol-Nerub, the ancient spider-kingdom, cutting through groups of Naga and Blood Elf warriors, and even a company of Dwarves. Once in the depths of the crypt, and after a harrowing journey through the labyrinth of the ruined city of the Nerubian lords, Arthas and Anub'Arak emerged at the base of the Frozen Throne. There, in a final desperate and horrific battle against the combined Naga and Blood Elf forces, the Undead were able to drive them back. In the end, a rejuvenated Arthas and Illidan faced off at the base of the icy spire housing the Frozen Throne. A vigorous battle was fought there, ending with the defeat of Illidan, having been driven to the ground by the might of the Death Knight. Victorious, Arthas ascended to the Frozen Throne and faced the Lich King. Climacticaly climbing up the icy spire, his mind echoed with the voices of his past, reminding him that he once was the bitter opponent of all that he has become. With the last of his power, the Lich King commanded Arthas to smite the prison with Frostmourne, sending the shattered pieces scattering across the floor. Setting the last echoes of his humanity aside, Arthas picked up the helmet and placed it on his head, melding the Lich King and Arthas Menethil into one. There upon the Frozen Throne, watching the wasted land of ice and all things beyond, sat the most powerful being in the world of Azeroth.
