Arthas Menethil: A Frozen Soul

Arthas Menethil, Prince of Lordaeron. A stalwart defender of justice and promising Paladin, future king of the strongest nation in the known world and a man of kindness and compassion. When the scourge of undeath began to claim his land, he claimed that he would pay any price, make any sacrifice, to save his people. And he did.

Taking up the cursed blade Frostmourne, his singlemindedness was his undoing. The first thing the runeblade did was steal his soul, and with it went everything he once stood for. In taking up the blade, he fell victim to The Lich King's machinations, becoming everything he once fought against. He became The Lich King's champion, losing his connection to the light and becoming the first of a new generation of powerful Death Knights.

Arthas was so effective as The Lich King's champion that upon the completion of his plan to merge with the corrupted prince and obtain a new physical body, Arthas shoved the King's consciousness out and took the mantle of Lich King solely for himself, becoming one of the greatest threats that Azeroth had ever known.

I LOVE this story. I think a lot of people would say it's one of the major highlights of the entire WarCraft franchise. Why is it so good?

When we meet Arthas, he's:

Likable
Heroic
Driven
Compassionate

But also

Narrowminded
Overly passionate
Impulsive
Reckless

His flaws are apparent almost from the beginning, but they don't overshadow him or outright spell his downfall. I don't think he ever had a giant red flag that said "I WILL TURN EVIL" over his head, at least not until the major incident at Stratholme. His journey into darkness felt mostly organic.

Even at his worst, when he still had his soul, his actions could still be justified. He purged Stratholme to save the rest of his kingdom. He used mercenaries to burn his own ships because he honestly believed that going home would spell doom for Lordaeron. He was an extremist, and he missed the forest for the trees, but his heart was always overflowing with a desire to do well by his calling, which was to protect and lead his people.

Frostmourne itself is an instrument of tragedy. He loses his soul, and all that's left is his passion, which turns from a burning love to a cold whirlwind of death. Without his care for others, all that's left is his extremism, his strength, and his drive, without any of the human emotions that directed these traits to good places. The Lich King plays the role of a deceiver who is fully aware of Arthas' flaws, and uses them against him to turn him into his pawn.

Arthas ignores all of the warning signs (including a literal one on the dais of the blade) and lets himself fall into his trap. If he had calmed down for just a moment and tried to assess the situation, or listened to his friends and troops, he could have avoided his fall. This makes him accountable for his actions to a degree, which means even without his soul, the chaos he brings to others is equally tragic and detestable.

Even watching others spew their hatred for him has an element of tragedy to it. Can a man be held entirely accountable if he's missing his soul, and if his soul was stolen from him in a devil's gambit? Only the one who was closest to him, Jaina, seems to realize that something went wrong. Jaina claims over and over again that Arthas isn't being himself. All anyone else sees is a man that betrayed his kingdom for reasons they can't fully understand. A traitor and a monster. Which he was, but only through some fault of his own.

In the end, when he's finally defeated, Frostmourne releases all of its captive souls. The first thing Arthas sees is the ghost of his father, and, almost in abject terror, reaches out and grasps his hand.

"FATHER!" He says, with great exasperation. "Is it over?" He asks, as if this entire time, his soul was begging for him to be released from the torment of becoming what he hated.

And his last line doesn't end with a bang of light, like many fallen hero stories do, but the chill of darkness.

"I see only darkness before me..."

Arthas was never redeemed. He was, in the end, accountable for what he became. But there's an underlying sense of sadness to everything he does, because it's not entirely his fault either.

The juxtaposition between what a person can do for good or for evil is always interesting, and Arthas is no exception. When he fought for good, he was a proud prince who'd do anything for his people. When he fought for evil, he became a storm of death and destruction, a terror that the world collectively feared and abhorred.

I want to say rest in peace, but does he deserve it? I don't know.