Warnning! Small spoilers for “New Path” campaign chapter.
During our little talk with Uther, during this week chapter, he and the other Kyrians ponder whether if he and Davos were to not intervene would Arthas be given chance for redemption.
So I turn to you dear readers. What do you think regarding this subject? Was Arthas salvageable? Can we shift the blame on the cursed runeblade? Was he always kind of a jerk? He should go to the Maw regardless?
Also if he was to be spared the Maw, where you think he would end up?
Ultimately, the author is the tyrant in the story. If the devs decide that he is, then he is.
I mean, that’s already happening, isn’t it?
Didn’t see much of that kind in W3. Kind of hot head, but that’s about it. Without dreadlords he would not act the way he did.
Anything could be.
Depends on the devs’ whim.
If I would have an option, I would go in a bit different direction.
If you do the WotLK quest line, you’ll eventually have to find Arthas’s heart. And so it happened that the place where you find it, as well as Mathias, is full of faceless.
I wanted to ask one question about the 3.1 patch specifically. This is the patch that introduced the Ulduar raid. That seemed like a strange break in the main Lich King storyline. I know that Hodir had an extensive and interesting questline in Wrath of the Lich King, but the focus for all the other raids was a little more directly on the Lich King himself. How early into the Wrath of the Lich King process did you decide that Ulduar would be the first content patch? Did it concern you that you might be taking attention away from the main villain of the game?
Not much. I agree that they feel a little too disconnected. There is supposed to be a tie-in between Yogg-Saron (the boss of Ulduar) and the Lich King, and that’s how that was supposed to make sense – through Yogg-Saron’s manipulation of world events. I don’t think that was obvious enough to the players. It’s hard for them to draw that connection even though theoretically that connection exists. In the planning stages, that wasn’t much of a factor for us, because in our minds that connection existed and was clear. We just didn’t do a very good job of expressing it.
So, what could that connection between Arthas and Yogg-Saron be? My dream scenario of Shadowlands having its climax with a 3 way story of Sylvanas–Zovaal vs. Tyrande–Elune vs. Arthas–Yoghurt is in the bin (and who cares, speculations are just speculations), but is something that could be fun to consider.
Interesting, what would be Arthas and Yoggy plan for SL be?
Well in WC3 alone he: wanted to retaliate orcs agression with full scale slaughter, automaticly brand as a traitor anyone who dares disagree with him, ignore other people council because he knows best, killed mercenaries for what he himself paid them to do, arbitrary decided his vengence is more important than anything else (including lives of his soldiers). All of that before he decided (again by himself) to grab a cursed sword. So not really Bastion material.
@Aditu
Yes, concept of “hell” be it in WoW or real world religions never sounded right to me. It’s seems much better to fix people rather than tornent them for some misguided sense of “justice”.
It was never revealed what this connection supposed to be like. Some speculate that is something related to creating the ICC out of saronite. Could be anything really.
So was Uther. And the whole Tyrion-Uther conflict was because Tyrion did not want to kill orcs. Yet here we are with Uther.
To be honest, it’s an open question if the story could go differently should the closest to Arthas people not abandon them next to the dreadlord trap.
Well, he paid, so… they could’ve been dead by that time anyway.
Back then dreadlords were not in the ordinary “kill 5 mobs” category. They could find just the right way to influence the situation.
The ways Shadowlands function are mysterious and arbitrary. Say, there was Garrosh.
Anachronos says: Garrosh Hellscream… Such a pity how things turned out.
Anachronos says:In countless potential timelines, he was seen as a great hero of his people. Some called him the Horde’s greatest warchief.
So, because 1 of them was the one we had, orc supremacist with genocidal tendencies and means to act upon them, the countless versions of the characters, regardless of good they are, ended up doomed for Revendreth and obliteration.
Be as good / honourable / heroic as you wish - all matter not, as you might be judged not for your deeds. Such is the story of the Shadowlands.
No, please don’t. No redemption arc for Arthas. His story is brilliant from the beginning to the very end atop the Icecrown Citadel. There is absolutely no need to add anything more. Leave it as it is. Especially now, when WoW is plenty of woke crap and strong male characters being depicted as toxic and unnecessary.
Maybe he was salvageable but then again, there is quest in Wrath of the Lich King where Arthas got rid of his own heart because that was last thing that made him a human.
Now, I have not read this anywhere but my assumption is that there was a possibility that Arthas tried to fight off Lich Kings grasp before getting rid of the heart but that’s just an assumption.
However, if rules of Shadowlands is that everyone must meet the Arbiter and only then their fates will be decided, I don’t think that Arthas should be denied that because he wasn’t born rotten and corrupted. There are reasons he went astray.
I would really like to see the trial of Arthas in Shadowlands or something like that.
Frostmourne is apparently one of the many mournblades so I wouldn’t shift blame blade itself.
then again his last words is, father is it over, there you already can se that he will be redemeed sooner or later, becuse he regreted everything and most likely where not in full control at times at all.
so it might happen, if he gets implented in game, will he survive probably not, but who knows, he might become the new jailer or something in the maw after Zovaal.
Well yes,all that is true. And honestly, before Shadowlands I was fine with the idea that Arthas went to the Maw for his deeds. But now that we know a place like Revendreth exists, and given that he lost his soul and was sort of mind-controlled after picking up Frostmourne, I’d say none of his actions are enough to condemn him to a place of eternal torture with no chance of redemption.
He wasn’t without flaws, certainly not, and Mal’ganis deliberately exploited his pride and vengefulness, but he was also a young man facing a horrible situation where every choice could be fatal and doom his whole kingdom. And the choices he made were made for his people, at least initially.
So no, I don’t think he deserves the Maw anymore. Revendreth, and then maybe Bastion because Uther is there. And I think that’s where the story is headed, too.
I think i’m on the side of doing nothing, or by the least, if there must be something, do only a little of it. Something overall that wont affect the storyline. I don’t want to see Arthas’ soul being important to some plot, or Arthas being the key link to something related to the maw, none of that.
But I would honestly give it a big plus to see how the dude is doing. He could just as well be a repentant soul with its usual bland ghost model named ‘Arthas Menethil’ wandering in Revendreth and i’d be okay with that. Or even a soul getting tormented in a random space in the maw as well, that’s fine too, just nothing super influential.
I say this because I feel Arthas’ story is finished, and while references and inspirations to draw plots from him is all fine and good, bringing him back completely to influence things is not going to do anyone justice.
At least, in my honest opinion. Arthas’ story, whether some might see it as slightly incomplete or disagreeable, is nonetheless one of the more well-assembled stories out there that is still referred to without constant pandering from its creators. And that is a great thing.
I agree. And I really don’t think “bringing him back completely” is even an option. He’s dead. His soul may be destroyed by now or been used to forge Kingsmourne or whatever. Who knows. Even if he plays a part sometime during the campaign he won’t return as a living character, I think that much is certain.
But that is the problem with making an expansion about the afterlife which features several known deceased characters. You will ask yourself what happened to the ones you don’t see.
Now I could have lived just fine without seeing Zul’jin’s lifeless husk in a Revendreth cellar so maybe you’re right, the less we know the better.
