Why do you want to kill the Lich King?

I posed this question to my guild. We're getting close to the release of Patch 3.3, and I'm fairly excited at the chance to go head to head with The Lich King. We've worked hard to become a guild that can role play as well as we raid, with our focus being on 10 person progression since our desire as a guild was not to field the number of members necessary to run 25s. I have been leading our raids since the beginning of Wrath, and when Icecrown does open its gates, we'll be there waiting.

I asked in our forums what your character's personal reason for defeating the Lich King was. As a player, I feel I have some vested interest in this because I've played Warcraft III where I literally played as and watched Arthas seal his fate as he climbed the Frozen Throne. This is a culmination of those events I played through several years ago and I'm eager to see what happens. Will he die? Will he be redeemed? Will the Burning Legion show up again? He was their creation after all. I'm extremely excited to play through the dungeon quests, to see the storyline for so many characters progress, and to deal with the aftermath and how that will affect my own characters, the guild, and the world at large.

Elionene has waged war on the Legion ever since her father died at My. Hyjal. She sees the Lich King as an extension of the Legion and has vowed to remove this threat from the world. She also happens to be in the position of a leader of a small group of adventurers that share her sentiments, though they all have their own reasons. Salthier is concerned with the rifts this war is placing between the Horde and Alliance. It took their combined might to stop Archimonde. Can they succeed against Arthas divided?

I bet there are some good stories out there. Maybe you don't want to kill the Lich King. Maybe you're fine with him. Maybe you want to be him. Maybe you'll do whatever grants you the biggest profit, monetary or otherwise. Maybe you're already bent on future threats, and are willing to leave the Lich King to others.

I've read some rumors about what is supposed to happen with the defeat of Arthas. I'm still looking forward to seeing it first hand. Ulduar was hard to figure in, and sort of a let down at the end. We killed (or did we?) Yogg-Saron, but what effect did that have on the world? He wasn't even out of his prison yet when we got to him, so why was he such a big threat? We didn't have the Alliance or the Horde backing us. We just went along to help out Brann.

Then the Coliseum came with Tirion's grandiose plans to take the winners to Icecrown. Elionene still holds that this is foolishness, but she goes along with it because it is what is expected of her and her friends to reach the gates of Icecrown. And it's also the only way to curry favor with the Silver Covenant, who she aspires to be exalted with. She does what she must.

Now we're closer than ever to Icecrown, and this time, the battles should mean something. But what does it mean for you? Why do you want to kill the Lich King?

Lessons in Lore - Kel'Thuzad

Because we had a long weekend and I forget to put it up last week, here's a lore post for you.

Kel'Thuzad was a high ranking member of the mages of Dalaran at the time of the second war. About 20-25 years ago. He had long been interested in Necromancy and was one of the key people who interrogated Khadgar about Medivh after the Guardian had been killed in his tower. His goals and views often differed with others in Dalaran, which made him all the more susceptible to the calling of the Lich King.

When Ner'zhul was made into the Lich King, he sought out people who may be willing to be his hands as they worked out his plan to weaken the inhabitants of Azeroth before the arrival of the Burning Legion. Kel'Thuzad was a prime target and he responded just as the Lich King had hoped. Drawn by the Lich King, Kel'Thuzad went to Northrend and offered his service to the Lich King in exchange for immortality and power beyond his wildest dreams. His mission was to return to the Eastern Kingdoms and begin a secret following of people that would worship the Lich King and undeath as a religion of sorts. Eager to prove his worth, Kel'Thuzad was more than happy to do this. And so was created the Cult of the Damned.

Eventually, the time to unleash undeath upon the people of Lordaeron came. Kel'Thuzad and his cult put cauldrons filled with the plague of undeath in towns around Lordaeron that were actually controlled by the cult. There is actually a quest involving these cauldrons in the western plague lands. This plague is what turned normal humans into the undead that would then mindlessly serve the Lich King. Many members of the cult were eager to sacrifice themselves in this manner. While undergoing operations in Brill, Kel'Thuzad was found by Arthas and Jaina Proudmoore. Arthas eventually killed Kel'Thuzad in his fight against the Scourge, but it was only the beginning of the end.

Haunted by Kel'Thuzad, Arthas was eventually driven into the grasp of the Lich King and became a servant himself. He then recovered the remains of Kel'Thuzad and burned a scar of death through the city of Silvermoon to the Sunwell where he resurrected the mage as a Lich, destroying the Sunwell in the process (or so we thought). Kel'Thuzad, along with Arthas, were then able to draw the Burning Legion into the world by summoning Archimonde, who then proceeded to wage war against the alliance and horde forces in Kalimdor, and was killed in the process. Arthas was then called back to the Lich King to protect him from Illidan, who had been tasked with destroying the Lich King for his betrayal of the Legion. Arthas prevented this and was reborn as the Lich King himself. Throughout all of this Kel'Thuzad kept a low profile, supporting the ultimate goal of the Lich King to be free of the Legion and to rule as he saw fit.

This culminated in Kel'Thuzad overseeing the Scourge operations in the plague lands from his citadel of Naxxramas. Within the context of the game, he was defeated by us, the adventurers in the game, but his phylactery, the source of his power, was given to the wrong hands, and not destroyed. This meant that Kel'Thuzad lived on. As of today, when Patch 3.0.2 is loaded, Naxxramas will have moved to Northrend, to fight another battle of the Lich King. I don't know all the details, but I'm eager to find all of the reasoning behind the move of Naxxramas and Dalaran in the expansion.

The Lich King

Yes, the Lich King. He's the focal point of the upcoming expansion, and he was an undeniable focus of the lore leading up to World of Warcraft. But who is he? Why is he? And what does he really want? Why have we not heard anything from him recently, other than the undead that roam the plague lands? Let's start at the beginning.

Back on Draenor, about 70 so years ago, the orcs lived peacefully with the Draenei. The orcs were a shamanistic clan society who met yearly for festivals with the other clans. Each clan had a lead shaman, but the head of all shaman was Ner'zhul. It was Ner'zhul that was deceived by Kil'jaeden into thinking the Draenei were a threat and must be eliminated, so Ner'zhul started teaching the shaman to be warlocks, and things went down hill from there. However, before the Draenei were completely wiped out, Ner'zhul realized the deception, but it was too late. His apprentice, Gul'dan, was all too eager to please Kil'jaeden, and took over in leading the orcs to nearly wipe out the Draenei and build a portal to Azeroth, where they would continue their reign of terror. Ner'zhul was not killed after refusing to help Kil'jaeden anymore. He was kept around, and closely watched by Gul'dan.

Eventually, the orcs destroyed Shattrath. A few Draenei were able to hide out in Zangarmarsh with Velen, and the orcs concentrated on building their citadel and portal on the Hellfire Peninsula. Blackhand and Gul'dan organized all of this and then lead the orcish horde through the portal to Azeroth. Ner'zhul stayed behind at the Black Temple. During the second war, the portal was destroyed from the Azeroth side, and the resulting explosion on the other side injured Ner'zhul, who retreated with his clan to the Shadowmoon Valley. The clans fell to fighting each other and were in disarray. Eventually Ner'zhul was roused by Teron Gorefiend, who had discovered how to create other portals. Ner'zhul, using items that were obtained for him from Azeroth began to seek the power of these portals. One of the items he had recovered was the skull of Gul'dan and the evil forces of now dead apprentice affected Ner'zhul. In his madness for power, he ordered members of the horde into the unstable portal. It was through this recklessness, and the resulting distortions from the many portals opened, that Draenor was destroyed and became Outland.

As for Ner'zhul, after entering the portal he was captured by Kil'jaeden and tormented endlessly until little of his physical body was left. It seems Kil'jaeden had never forgiven him for going back on his oath on Draenor. After all of this, Ner'zhul agreed to serve Kil'jaeden again. Kil'jaeden took what was left of the spirit of Ner'zhul and put it into a suit of armor which he then incased in ice and placed in Northrend on Azeroth. Ner'zhul ceased, and the Lich King was born, his power magnified many times. The idea was for the Lich King to weaken the masses of Azeroth for the impending entry of the Legion. To make sure he obeyed, Kil'jaeden set several Dreadlords over the Lich King to watch him.

Eventually, the Lich King drew Kel'thuzad to his will and created the Cult of the Damned which spread the plague throughout Lordaeron. Terenis Menethil, the King of Lordaeron sent his son, Arthas, to investigate, which lead Arthas to Northrend. Here the Lich King continued his plan, coaxing Arthas to take up the cursed sword, Frostmourne. Arthas slew Kel'thuzad, but was submitted to the will of the Lich King. Upon returning to Lordaeron, Arthas slew his father, and the city was lost to the Scourge. After that, Arthas summoned back the Kel'thuzad as a Lich so that he could summon Archimonde and the Legion to Azeroth. This happened, but the combined might of the people of Azeroth proved too much, and Archimonde was defeated at Mount Hyjal.

With the Legion defeated, the Lich King was free to reign as he saw fit, and not as a lackey of the Legion, but he feared retaliation, and rightly so. Kil'jaeden found and used Illidan to fight against the Lich King. The Lich King in turn called upon his pawn, Arthas. In the end, Arthas won out, defeating Illidan before the Icecrown Citadel. Illidan fled to Outland, and Arthas ascended the mountain where he broke the frozen thrown and put on the armor of the Lich King, becoming once with the spirit that had once been Ner'zhul.

This is where things were when WoW began. The Lich King was newly bound to the man that had been Arthas. He still controlled the undead scourge that was ravaging Azeroth, but his power was diminished, and he now had the forsaken, a rebellious faction of the scourge led by Sylvanas Windrunner, to contend with as well. The people of the world were dealing with the black dragon flight and the many different troll threats, as well as the silithid of the old gods. With the opening of the portal, the Burning Legion was once again the first and foremost foe. The adventurers of Azeroth poured into Outland to relinquish control of that land from Illidan and the Burning Legion. Now with Kil'jaeden being forcefully kept out of this world, the Lich King has decided it is time to make his move.

We don't know what will happen, but something will cause us to turn our eyes to Northrend and recognized the threat that is the Lich King. And that he still hungers for power and control, and the destruction of all life.