After Arthas was trapped in Lordaeron city by the dreadlords then he is ambushed in the woods and nearly killed by Sylvanas. This was death knight arthas at his most powerful as Illidan had not yet gotten to Northrend. WITH frostmourne AND the plate of the damned.
Tirion, kicks arthas’ @ss not once, but TWICE in one strike. Lights hope? Strikes Arthas once and he is forced to retreat. Icecrown? Struck once by the ashbringer and he is defeated.
Dave Kosak confirmed in 2016 that Lei shen would have destroyed the Lich king if they went against each other in a one on one.
One could make an argument that the fury of the frostmourne instantly killed us all, but let’s not lie to ourselves here, that is the rule of cool. Aegwynn, one of the most powerful mages to have ever walked this planet, could barely resurrect Medivh WITH the help of a Phoqueton of mages. Then you’re telling me King Terenas, an old frail king that has never shown any magical abilities before can ressurect 25 of azeorths greatest champions in an instant?
The Lich king is powerful, I don’t deny that, but he is highly overestimated. I have said this as far as back in Mists of Pandaria. His power is from his ability to command the undead, and not him alone. The Helmet of domination doesen’t really grant that much power. If it did, Ner’zhul could just have put it on a random zombie instead of dragging Arthas across the world for it
Sure he got stronger, but so did Sylvanas. She is literally being fueled with power by a entity that literally predates the titans. If we can beat N’zoth at full power that easily, you know’ the guy that made deathwing near unstoppable, imagine what the jailer of the damned can do for Sylvanas?
It’s really not that hard you guys, Bolvar never stood a chance, neither would Arthas
there is another thing to consider. Arthas was strong with Frostmourne, the current lich king was just Bolvar, trying to contain the dead. it was not the Lich King that we knew. Sylvanas could have killed the Arthas LK also or maybe not, but Bolvar LK is not near as powerfull so he was easy kill
You’re coming at this completely backwards… It’s barely about power at all. It’s the fact that the Lich King, whether it’s Arthas or Bolvar, is not someone you want to watch go down without putting up a proper fight.
The fight as depicted in this cinematic, was the definition of one-sided… If you can’t understand why that bothers people, nothing will.
Yes. People confuse the influence and power he controls through the scourge with individual power. He was powerful enough to stand against Sylvanas as she is now, and that is already great power.
Ner’Zhul was incredibly powerful, he was after all a powerful Shaman already when alive, and was denied a body because of a sick joke from Kil’Jaeden.
lets not forget that Ner’Zhul organised the destruction of Lordaeron while still encased in ice in Northrend, as well as defeating the Nerubians during the War of the Spider, still without a body. He only needed a body because he was threatened by Ilidan. Which was defeated by Arthas at the base of Icecrown.
So we have a very powerful - former paladin - in Arthas. And we have a very powerful shaman in Ner’Zhul. The Lich King as an entity is incredibly powerful. That is, until the retcon train has passed by and the superpower of Sylvanas flies in with powers she has had for years but chosen to hide because of reasons.
I know people love lich king, but Lich Bolvar was always (to me) just a hero on the brink of death that sacrified his peace for duty, glorified keeper of the helm. Like, yeah, would it be cool to see some action from Bolvar? Sure. But I think they wanted to highlight (just like with Saurfang) that she’s gone of the deep end with some dark magic. And then you get the payoff with that big hole in the sky. I thought it was neat.
All of that history of arthas and ner’zhul is irrelevant. Both entities no longer inhabit the helm, its just bolvar and the latent powers it grants (the psychic stuff and undead powers). Arthas removed ner’zhul from the helmet when he was dreaming atop icecrown, and as Legion showed us with the fallen blades, the last vestiges of both their soul echoes were destroyed when the death Lord took up the shards of Frostmourne into the new blades.
When arthas was defeated, he was removed from the helm. Unlike ner’zhul he wasn’t transformed into a spectral, largely psychic entity. His presence within the helm was always tied to his body wearing it. With it removed, he’s out, and ner’zhul was already kicked out. Just bolvar on his tod in there, and as impressive as he is, he isn’t on the same level of power as ner’zhul in terms of magical aptitude nor Athas in terms of sheer willpower.
Sylvanas was fighting the Lich King, sure, but this Lich King is nowhere near at the power Arthas as LK was. Bear in mind also Arthas had years to accommodate himself with his new powers (even before as a death Knight), Bolvar hasn’t had nearly as long to do the same. If we assume 1 year per expo he’s had 5 years. Arthas had been the Lich King for about 8 years himself by the time of wotlk, and before he kicked ner’zhul out he had a dude who’d been the LK for far longer essentially coaxing him on the powers. Bolvar had no such “mentor”.
Wasnt ashbringer that tirion wielded, basically a holy wmd?
I do not find it surprising that stuff happens when you get hit by a wmd. Lich king is also extremely unholy character so getting hit by wmd of his weakness type probably hurts…
Lei Shen was OP. Not just OP, ridiculously OP. He could have conquered entire azeroth had he not been defeated by reorigination blast by a titan facility that was supposed to be used to annihilate everything. (This, if I recall that part of lore correctly… I cant have imagined all this, right?)
Blizz made him that way so pandaria would have lore. I find it not surprising he could have defeated lich king easily.
Arthas was a like an Anakin-version Paladin. He was strong and incredibly skilled. While a Death Knight, he was bolstered but not unstoppable. Only when he merged with the Soul of the Lich King / Ner’zhul within the Crown did he become the Lich King and actually become unstoppable.
Light’s Hope and the Wrath Gate were both exceptionally special events that detered the Lich King, but did not weaken him. Only when his heart was destroyed was Arthas-Lich King vulnerable.
Bolvar-Lich King did not have the strength to add to the formation that Arthas did. Nor had he been “risen” from the Throne long enough for his full power to come online.
Plus, he couldn’t stand up to the plot-power that Sylvanas was wielding. At least Lei Shen was “uber powerful” because, well, big and immensely powerful naturally. The Lich King is powerful, Lei Shen was just grossly more so. Sylvanas just has sudden convient uber-power.
Also, Sylvanas has continued to level all the way up through BFA while Bolvar-Lich King sat on his bum in only a few bits of lvl 80 Saronite gear even during Legion. He wasn’t even wearing a chest piece while Sylvanus probably had 3 high tier Azerite pieces. He even tried fighting her as Frost with a 2H weapon…
The Ashbringer crystal (The glowy circle in the blade) is supposed to be the heart of a Naaru from Draenor. Although they’re rarely focused on, Naaru basically are holy WMDs - A’dal single-handedly held the entire Burning Legion and Illidan’s armies at bay from Shattrath, and K’ara destroys an entire army of orcs (Including sinking three enormous carriers) in a single attack.
