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Arthas Menethil (also known as Prince Arthas or Death Knight) is a fictional character in the Warcraft universe — a fictional universe in which a series of games and books are set.
Biography
Arthas Menethil was first introduced in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. At a young age he was inducted into the Knights of the Silver Hand, on a sponsorship by the renowned paladin, Uther Lightbringer. He is the son of King Terenas, Lord of Lordaeron (the northern human kingdom) and is thus the crown Prince. It was indicated in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne that he had a rivalry with Prince Kael'thas of the elves of Quel'Thalas, to the end of winning the heart of Jaina Proudmoore. Little else is known of Arthas during his younger years.
Arthas is introduced as a protege of Uther, assisting him as a young Paladin in quelling the uprising of the renegade Blackrock Orcs and assisting hapless villagers. At this age he was shown to have a fiery spirit, but sometimes fell into fits of anger when he felt that he was not being given the proper responsibility to handle difficult engagements. His grumbling is at this point contained to just narratives to the player, however. Arthas is followed through his inital journey and is joined by Jania Proudmoore, a young sorceress of Dalaran. They, at the behest of Uther, are investigating a plague that has broken out at the small city of Andorhal. Upon arriving, they discover that the plague has caused all those infected by it to rise as the undead upon their death. This is the start of events that would shape the entire world.
Arthas and Jania began their frantic journey northward, and at every step they were confronted by a necromancer by the name of Kel'Thuzad. The necromancer seemed to be testing their limitations, always leaving with cryptic remarks directed towards Arthas about his eventual fate. However, it was Kel'Thuzad's fate that was the first to arrive, for eventually Jaina and Arthas caught up to the necromancer and slew him. Their victory was ill-achieved, though, as they had arrived too late and the plagued grain had been distributed all over the countryside by unwitting farmers. Jaina left Arthas when they arrived at the city of Stratholme as the first signs of madness began to appear in him. He was determined to destroy the infected population of Stratholme. During the nighttime raid into the city, aided by loyal knights, Arthas succeeded in slaying a vast majority of the population of the city, murdering them in their sleep to halt the plague. During this siege Arthas was tormented by a demon, a Dreadlord by the name of Mal'Ganis. The demon taunted Arthas with the effects of the plague, and in the end fled to the northern continent of Northrend. Sinking deeper into madness, Arthas followed with vengeance in his heart.
Upon arriving at the northern continent with a smattering of loyal men, Arthas began making broad steps into chasing Mal'Ganis. He quickly encountered a group of dwarves who had been exploring the continent searing for a runeblade named Frostmourne. Arthas quickly enlisted the dwarves, and with the assistance of their leader, Muradin Bronzebeard, an old friend of Arthas, they cut through the Undead defenses. The madness was descending faster upon Arthas, though, and after hearing that his father was summoning him back to Lordaeron, he hatched a desperate plan. Recruiting some mercenaries, Arthas used them to burn the ships that had he had used to sail to Northrend, thus effectively stranding his men and himself there. Arthas then blamed the mercenaries for the burning of the ships, and the desolate men tore them apart. This second act of evil only did more to confirm the Dreadlord's words, that Arthas was quickly staining his soul with the blood of the innocent.
The final conflict would hammer in the last nail into the coffin of his humanity, however. As the assault force moved in on the citadel of Mal'Ganis, Arthas and Muradin took a force of men through some monster-infested caverns to reach the runeblade, stowed deep under a mountain. Upon reaching the blade, Muradin examined it and declared the blade cursed. Arthas, unheeding of the warning, took up the blade and fully embraced his fall. The blade began to whisper in his mind, the voice of the Lich King, lord of the Undead. The blade commanded that he must sacrifice something to wield its power, and Arthas chose Muradin. Using the immense power of the blade, he smote down Muradin and left the chamber, the blood on his soul overshadowing any purity that was left.
Using the newfound power of the runeblade, Arthas tore down the Dreadlord's defenses and faced him on the desolate field of battle. The Dreadlord gloated in his victory; he had known all along that Arthas would choose the path of damnation. However, The Lich King had one more gift for Arthas. His vengeance. Arthas killed the Dreadlord, and marched off into the swirling snow, leaving all his men behind to be slaughtered by the undead or the unyielding elements.
Several months passed, and the plague ravaged Lordaeron. However, on a spring day the bells of the city rang clear, for the Prince had returned. The Prince walked through the strets of Lordaeron, cloaked and wearing armor that radiated evil. He strode into the throne room of the King, and in front of the shocked advisors quickly and savagely ended his life. With the blood-stained crown still twirling on the ground, he uttered the words that shook the entire country to the foundations, "The kingdom shall fall."
What exactly happened to Arthas is something of a mystery. When he reappeared, still wielding the Frostmourne and riding a skeletal horse he appeared to be undead but mostly unmarked by his apperant death. His skin had turned chalk white and his hair faded to white as well but beyond that he showed no signs of injury. As well he had donned the armor of a Death Knight and forsaken all his vows as a Paladin. He was now the Champion of the Lich King, and the right hand of the Scourge. Unlike many of the other undead, who when raised had lost their ability to control themselves, Arthas appears to have walked into his fate willingly. His corrupted soul had no light in it left to be redeemed by.
Arthas was intrumental in the Scourging of the land. He gathered together the Cult of the Damned, which Kel'Thuzad had spent years organizing, and learned of the truth behind the Scourge. The plague itself had been a inital strike by The Burning Legion, a demonic army that employed the Dreadlords and destroyed entire worlds. The Burning Leigon was led by the Arch Warlock Archimonde, and was preparing to destroy the world of Azeroth. Shortly after meeting his new master, the Dreadlord Tichondrius, Arthas is visited by a specter of the past. He began to see the Necromancer Kel'Thuzad as a ghost who whispered in his ears the truth of the invasion. Kel'Thuzad led Arthas down a path of destruction to retrieve his body where he had been left to rot orginally, and to retrieve a sacred urn that held the ashes of King Terenas. In accomplishing his second goal, Arthas destroyed the Paladins of the Silver Hand. In the end he killed Uther and destroyed the remainder of the troops. The Scourging of Lordaeron was complete.
The next stage of Arthas's destructive conquest would take him to the woods of Quel'thalas, the homeland of the elves. He scythed his way through the Elven defenders, taking special time to kill, and subsequently raise, the Ranger General of the Elven defenders, Sylvanas Windrunner, as a banshee. The vast Scourge force devastated the forests and land as every elf who stood in their way was crushed into mulch beneath their feet. At last the Undead forces lay siege to the capital city of the elves, and in a bloody conquest the Undead utterly destroyed the defnders of the city, and lay victorious before the sunwell, the source of magic for the High Elves. Here Arthas emptied the urn that contained the remains of Kel'Thuzad, and the necromancer was reborn as a mighty Lich. The process corrupted the sunwell, turning its pure waters to a malificent black flowing sludge.
With the Lich coming into his newfound power, Arthas and Kel'Thuzad next set their sight on a nearby Blackrock Orc clan. These orcs were guarding a demonic portal that would allow Kel'Thuzad to contact the lord of the Burning Legion, Archimonde. After assaulting the Blackrock orcs and crushing them beneath their heel, the Lich was able to communicate with Archimonde. The demon lord blessed Kel'Thuzad with a vital piece of information; the ability to open a portal to the world of Azeroth and to finally begin the true assault of the Burning Legion.
Utilizing the most powerful Undead units, Arthas and Kel'Thuzad assaulted the human city of Dalaran, where the spellbook of Medievh, the Last Guardian, lay. After a tenuous assault and braving the barrier that destroyed the undead, the book was at last in the possession of the fearful Scourge. Using the book, Kel'Thuzad was able to breach the barrier between the two worlds and bring Archimonde to Azeroth. Archimonde's first action was to destroy the city of Dalaran in one quick blow. Arthas had assisted in the almost complete destruction of all the human civilization on Azeroth.
Arthas is, from this point, absent for a large amount of time. His actions during the inital meeting of the Night Elf Wardens of Ashenvale Forest and the Horde are unnoted, and he only makes a brief appearance facing off against the newly released Demon Hunter Illidan, amid the corrupted forests of Felwood. After a few minor words, and blows exchanged, Arthas leaves Illidan with information on how to aquire the Skull of Guldan; an artifact that eventually helped bring down Tichondrius and dealt a fatal blow to the Burning Legion. Arthas had loyalty to only the Lich King, the Burning Legion be damned.
After the downfall of the Burning Legion, Arthas remains inactive for a relatively long period of time. He is not again introduced until the Undead campaign of The Frozen Throne; it is presumed that the time spent between the end of Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne is spent in a time of transit back to Lordaeron from Kalimdor. He arrives and promptly launches an assault against the remaining Dreadlords stationed at the Ruins of Lordaeron. Declaring himself King Arthas, and allied with the now Heroine Sylvannas Windrunner and the Lich Kel'Thuzad, he begins to set himself up as ruler of the Plaguelands. However, fate had a say in the matter. Illidan, using the power of the Skull of Guldan, launched an assault on the Lich King at his base of power in Northrend. Additionally, the power of the Lich King is weakening due to a fracture in the icy prison. The Lich King had sent the Rune Blade Frostmourne out for Arthas to use, and aid his descent into insanity. Doing so had begun a slow leech of his power, and it is now beginning to affect Arthas. His iron clad grip on the Scourge army is starting to waver and the Undead are starting to regain their sense of individuality.
Chief among those first to rebel against him is the Ranger Sylvannas Windrunner. She plans an ambush to kill Arthas once and for all, but due to the intervention of Kel'Thuzad, he is able to save the rapidly weakening Arthas and sends him on his way north to defend the Lich King.
Arthas's arrival at Northrend is not unremarked. Waiting to meet him is the legendary Lord of the Nerubians, Anub'Arak. Using their combined might, Arthas and Anub'Arak descend into the depths of Azjol-Nerub, the ancient spider-kingdom, scything through the waiting Naga and Blood Elf warriors. Once in the depths of the crypt, and after a harrowing journey through the labyrinth of the ruined city of the Nerubian lords, Arthas and Anub'Arak emerged at the base of the Frozen Throne. There, in a final desperate and horrific battle against the combined Naga and Blood Elf forces, the Undead were able to drive them back. In the end, a rejuvinated Arthas and Illidan faced off in front of the Lich King's tomb. A vigorous battle was fought there, with it ending by Illidan being driven down to the ground by the might of the Death Knight. Victorious, Arthas ascended to the Frozen Throne and faced the Lich King. With the last of his power, the Lich King commanded Arthas to return the blade Frostmourne to his prison. Arthas used the blade to smite the prison, sending the shattered armor pieces scattering accross the floor. Arthas picked up the helmet and placed it on his head, melding the Lich King and Arthas Menethil into one being. His power absolute, Arthas sat on the Frozen Throne and watched the land around him through the eyes of the most powerful entity on the planet of Azeroth.
Arthas's role in World of Warcraft is yet unconfirmed, but in the Eastern and Western Plaguelands the Scourge appears to be rising in power. This gives birth to very ominous rumours of his possible return.
Family
Arthas is the son of King Terenas and brother of Calia Menethil.
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