Arthas was once heir to the throne of Lordaeron but now claims the Frozen Throne as the Lich King in Northrend.
In the Warcraft III story arc, Arthas is best know for the purging of Stratholme. When Uther refused to purge the city as ordered, Arthas charged him with treason, despanding the Order of the Silver Hand. He demanded that any true to the king stay with him and see to the town's destruction. Jaina turned and followed Uther to Arthas' surprise. As Arthas began to slay the citizens of Stratholme, he was met by Mal'Ganis himself. After destroying the city, Arthas arrives at the only part of Stratholme not infected and finds Mal'Ganis. Mal'Ganis flees, however, vowing to meet him in Northrend.
Arthas followes Mal'Ganis to Northrend, where he meets his mentor, Muradin Bronzebeard, who was searching for the runeblade Frostmourne. After some time, Arthas and Muradin findes the runeblade, but is confronted by the Guardian, who tried to keep him away. Muradin warns Artha, reading an inscription, that the blade was cursed, but is struck by a rogue shard of ice when Arthas picked up Frostmourne, leaving Muradin for dead.
Arthas defeated Mal'Ganis' undead army and finally confronted the demon, Mal'Ganis tells him that the voice he was now hearing was that of the Lich King. However, Arthas replied that voice was instructing him to destroy Mal'Ganis.
After slaying the dreadlord, Arthas fled into the frozen north where he soon lost the last remnants of sanity.
Months later, the prince returned to Lordaeron, he approached his father and kneeled before the throne. However, Arthas rose and drew Frostmourne and killed his father, King Terenas. He then fled from the scene, disappearing for weeks. Then in Vandermar village, Arthas was confronted by a dreadlord, Tichondrius the Darkener, who at first reminded him of Mal’Ganis.Tichondrius explained that Arthas’ new weapon, Frostmourne, was forged by the Lich King and was designed to steal souls, Arthas being the first one claimed. Arthas then continued in assembling the Cult of the Damned and used their magical powers as he traveled to Andorhal to recover Kel’Thuzad’s corpse.
Once he obtained the corpse, Kel’Thuzad’s ghost was brought into being and instructed Arthas not to trust the dreadlords. To revive the corpse, it would have to be transported to the Sunwell in Que’Thalas by using a mystical urn. The urn was, however, protected by the Knights of the Silver Hand. Arthas, on his quest to obtain the urn met with Uther the Lightbringer who explained the urn he sought contained his father’s
ashes. But without hesitation, Arthas murdered Uther and took the urn; he then replaced his father’s remains with those of Kel’Thuzad. Arthas used the Sunwell to bring life to Kel’Thuzad. After they reached the demon gate in Alterac to speak with the demon lord Archimonde, it became clear that they would have to obtain the spell book of Medivh in the city of Dalaran to summon the demon lord into Azeroth. They eventually killed the Archmage Antonidas and claimed the Book of Medivh.
Once Archimonde was successfully summoned, he claimed that Lich King was to be replaced by Tichondrius as the Scourge commander. Arthas and Kel’Thuzad then disappeared again. Several months later, Arthas confronted the demon hunter Illidan instructing him on how to claim the Skull of Gul’dan’s, currently controlled by Tichondrius, eventually leading to Tichondrius’ death and the disappearance of Arthas again.
After the death of Tichondrius, the dreadlords left behind to control Lordaeron fled once Arthas returned for his throne. Once the land was rid of all remaining human refugees, the Lich King returned to take control and ordered Arthas to travel back to Northrend to defend the Frozen Throne. When Arthas arrived in Northrend he was attacked by Kae’thas and an army of blood elves. The former king of Azjol-Nerub, Anub’arak, was able to save Arthas from the onslaught and they continued toward Icecrown. Once they finally reached their destination after various attacks from groups of dwarves loyal to Muradin they were confronted with Illidan’s forces. Arthas, with the help of Anub’arak, fought his way through the forces of naga and blood elves. Using the Icecrown Obelisks he was able to open the doors to the Frozen Throne. However, to his surprise, Illidan was waiting for him.
| Name | Platforms | Developer | ||
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World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King released on Nov. 13, 2008 |
PC, MAC | Blizzard Entertainment |
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World of Warcraft: Battle Chest released on Oct. 30, 2007 |
PC, MAC | Blizzard Entertainment |
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World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade released on Jan. 16, 2007 |
PC, MAC | Blizzard Entertainment |
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World of Warcraft released on Nov. 23, 2004 |
PC, MAC | Blizzard Entertainment |
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Warcraft III: Battle Chest released on Sept. 19, 2003 |
PC | Blizzard Entertainment |
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Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne released on July 1, 2003 |
PC, MAC | Blizzard Entertainment |
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Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos released on July 3, 2002 |
PC, MAC | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Character Name: | Arthas Menethil |
| Real Name: | Arthas Menethil |
| Gender: | Male |
| Birthday: | |
| Appears in: | 8 games |
| First appearance: | Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos |
| Aliases | Lich King |
