Christie Golden drops more info about Arthas

by Mike Schramm Sep 25th 2008 at 8:00PM

BlizzPlanet has a nice tidbit from Christie Golden about her upcoming novel about Arthas Menethil (better known as half of the Lich King, that bad guy we're going to be spending a lot of time with in the expansion). The book is due out next year (so odds are that we'll be approaching the end of the story by the time it hits store shelves), but it'll offer a look at the bad guy way before he started being bad -- the book starts with Arthas as a 10-year-old Prince, and covers everything between there to his little meltdown we witnessed in Warcraft III. The romance with Jaina is supposed to get some good coverage as well, so the book should be a good read.

And there are some bonuses for close readers as well -- we'll have seen some scenes before (including one between Arthas and Muradin in Beyond the Dark Portal), but of course, in this book, they'll be from Arthas' perspective. Arthas is undoubtedly the villian of the next ten levels in WoW (they even named the thing after him), but it's really exciting to have a villian with such an interesting and twisted past behind him.

Tags: arthas, arthas-menethil, beyond-the-dark-portal, blizzard, christie-golden, expanded-universe, lich-king, novel, warcraft-iii, writer, writing

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Lore, Bosses, NPCs, Death Knight

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Tim Sep 25th 2008 8:26PM

Why does it seem like Blizzard is going to make Arthas the next Anikin Skywalker?

turkey Sep 25th 2008 8:55PM

Too late =P I think hes talken that path already. Mr. Perfect-that-could-do-no-wrong somehow managed to turn himself evil because of a belief that something good will come out of it.

In another note, I'm excited for this book and the light it'll shed to the current lore. (Muradin ftw)

Kyle Connor Sep 25th 2008 8:37PM

Yet will Athas come back to the good guy side? Judging from the last cut scene in WC:III tFT I doubt it.

Veras Gunn Sep 25th 2008 9:23PM

We're fighting against Arthas' horde in WotLK. Of course he's not going to become a good guy.

insidiousraven Sep 25th 2008 8:40PM

what a horrible picture.

Lemons Sep 25th 2008 9:51PM

/agree

is she supposed to be the lich queen in that pic?

Bjara Sep 25th 2008 10:37PM

Good thing she's an author instead of a model, then.

Sels Sep 26th 2008 12:57AM

I'm going to assume these comments are concerning dislike of the choice of filter. I think she's beautiful. Real women, not painted scarecrows, ftw.

Keyra Sep 26th 2008 8:20AM

I agree with Sels. This picture is of a REAL person, not some made-over, airbrushed, photoshopped, undead, 85-lb. anorexia queen from the cover of the Victoria's Secret catalog that you've hidden in your underwear drawer.

Not only that, but she is a beautiful real person. In fact, I'm jealous of her hair! Mine's just this limp mop I can't seem to do anything with, but hers is a veritable mane!

omni guy Sep 26th 2008 10:31AM

I like scarecrows. I don't like looking at women older than my mom.

Foo Sep 25th 2008 9:43PM

That tidbit is the same information that was revealed in her comments last week when the link to her blog was posted: http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/09/17/arthas-novel-to-be-released-april-2009/

DNathan Sep 25th 2008 9:55PM

Let me guess... his name was Arthus "Anakin" blah blah blah and he was a gifted pod racer...

Derec Sep 25th 2008 10:38PM

Bah, everyone seems to forget who the real Lich King is. Arthas may just be the brawn, but Ner'zhul is the brains of the operation. I wonder if there's any lore stuff in the expansion about him.

Guess I'm just tired of the pretty boy getting all the attention...

RetPallyJil Sep 25th 2008 11:15PM

And he IS a pretty boy, ain't he?

Mmmmm ...

Eternauta Sep 25th 2008 11:39PM

/agree

Why is everybody so excited about Arthas to forgot that NER'ZHUL was (and still is) the first LICH KING. Arthas merged with him, not replaced him. Now "they're one", so stop calling him Arthas and get used to call him LICH KING, that's the more appropiate name.

...Well it's not unexpected in the same WoW that has a BoE motocycle with a "PWN" plate, that every child(ish) player seems to love.

[Warning: Shockwave of negatives commentaries incoming]

Matthew Rossi Sep 26th 2008 12:17AM

One of the early quests in Howling Fjord makes it clear that the Lich King is very much still Ner'Zhul as well as Arthas.

FD Sep 27th 2008 3:29AM

It's pretty obvious why everyone in-game calls the Lich King 'Arthas'. For starters, most non-orcs don't even know who Ner'zhul is. He never even came into Azeroth. And as far as I know, not even the orcs know that Ner'zhul the shaman was turned into the Lich King. Kil'jaeden did that on the sly.

As far as the general populace is concerned, this 'Lich King' dude appeared with an army, the Prince defected, and now the Prince is the Lich King. Subtleties about merging and Ner'zhul would be completely unknown to... well. Anyone except Arthas and his followers.