Rise of the Lich King excerpt shows the other side of the Lich
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 5th 2009 at 5:00PM
BlizzPlanet has an excerpt up from Christie Golden's upcoming Rise of the Lich King novel, featuring the back story of perhaps the lesser known (though no more less powerful) half of the Lich King, Ner'zhul the Shaman. Arthas has gotten banner credit for being the big bad in this expansion (because it's his form that the Lich King is possessing), but Ner'zhul is in there as well, being all evil and angry. And this little snippet from the book portrays very well just what exactly is going on inside that big spiky helmet. As much as little Arthas is lost inside the Lich King's power, there might still be a tiny bit of him that's still fighting back. Is he worth saving or not?I haven't been really interested in the Warcraft books, but given how timely this is (we're about to go knock that helmet off), and how interesting the story of Arthas has been, this is one that I plan to check out. It's due out later this year.
Filed under: Shaman, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Lore
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Cyrus Jan 5th 2009 5:59PM
"As much as little Arthas is lost inside the Lich King's power, there might still be a tiny bit of him that's still fighting back. Is he worth saving or not?"
Ugh. If there is, it'll almost definitely be pretty crappy storytelling, like all the Anakin cracks above. But I'm not too worried about that because I think a questline in Icecrown makes it pretty explicit that no, he's not worth saving and there isn't a part of him still fighting back. Or there WAS a part of him that might have fought back, but SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER STOPREADINGIFYOUHAVEN'TQUESTEDINICECROWN
... he physically cut it out and threw it in a pit so deep that Forgotten Ones roam around it. With the help of the player and a ghostly little human boy (the ghost seems innocent, but - and this is the important part - apparently not at all connected to Arthas as he exists now), Tirion Fordring cuts it in half. Any kind of remorse or redemption at all from Arthas would retcon that questline, which was awesome, in both storyline and mechanics.
JBurg Jan 5th 2009 6:04PM
I'm a bit of a Christie Golden fan myself. She is a better quality of writer than the usual people that write these media tie in types of books. I am hoping though that we don't get something in there that makes Arthas a good guy fighting Ner'zhul for the soul of the Lich King. That would be kind of weak.
Cyrus Jan 5th 2009 6:09PM
As for Ner'Zhul getting recognition in-game, it's no secret. Even if no members of the Cult of the Damned at all have spilled their guts to an interrogator in all the years since Warcraft III, Kel'Thuzad knew in Warcraft III, and Varimathras almost certainly did too. Varimathras is (well, was) a leader of the Forsaken, and if Kel'Thuzad knew then other sentient Scourge probably knew too, and at least a few of those may have joined the Forsaken. So it's almost certain that the Horde's leadership knows (and therefore the Argent Dawn, and therefore the Alliance leadership), and very possible that the common citizens of the Horde know too.
So why do people always call the Lich King "Arthas" instead of alternating between that and "Ner'Zhul"? Because Arthas is much more memorable! Ner'Zhul was missing for over two decades and then was a scary disembodied voice from another continent while Arthas committed patricide in broad daylight, led hordes of undead through his homeland, razed Quel'Thalas, betrayed a dwarven prince and his loyal soldiers, and pointed Illidan at a major source of his power. For humans, dwarves, forsaken and blood elves - in other words, 40 percent of both the Horde and the Alliance - the need for revenge would feel personal with Arthas in a way it couldn't with Ner'Zhul.
lumacman Jan 5th 2009 6:14PM
I have always thought that frostmorn took arthas' soul into its self and that when the souls body of arthas placed the helm of ner'zhul on his head the body was then possessed by the spirit of ner'zhul that was trapped withing the armor and frozen throne. the excerpt seems to support that idea.
The hall is the body of arthas but the man is how either the boy (the soul of arthas) or the orc (the soul of ner'zhul) can exert control over the creature that is the lich king. it would seem that the boy is loseing this fight. the soul is dieing. he is fighting the powers of a shaman/warlock that has been empowered by one of the most powerful of the burning legion.
He may be dark and evil now, but once Ner'zhul was a good and humble orc. Read Rise of the horde and you will see how tragic he is.
Shionia Jan 5th 2009 7:57PM
Yes! Nerzhul does seem more tragic and ironcially more "human," as he seems to have started out decent and good. Even after being tricked he seems to have struggled at times to set things right. Though he did succumb at the end to his "hunger for power," I always got the impression from the bits I read that by that point it was more like a desperate flailing for self-preservation ... ("I'll do anything ... just make it stop!") ~ On the other hand, the snips of Arthas that we see (in WotLK at least) show, even before Frostmourne, an arrogant punk blasting any "obstacles" without remorse. The scene at the beginning of CoT Strat riles me up every time. :p
I have never so looked forward to killing a boss - and it will please me no end if the denouement involves Nerzhul tearing himself away just long enough to expose some weakness in the Lich King. (Even if such an attempt fails.)
Karakkan Jan 5th 2009 6:34PM
Umm, to the person talking about the questline, do you know WHEN this excerpt took place? I mean, it's not that hard to believe that this took place before the cutting out into a pit of death whatever that the quest-line entails.
The Hammer Jan 5th 2009 6:35PM
Ugh, not a fan at all of Christie Golden, from what I read of Lord of the Clans. There's little complexity or emotion in the writing whatsoever - it's not emotive, effective, nor particularly detailed.
I'll give this a miss, but be interested in what it has to say about the lore.
Zelius Jan 5th 2009 8:16PM
In response to The Hammer's avatar: WoW needs more Monkey Island references.
The Hammer Jan 6th 2009 6:10AM
Ha, indeed! I'm surprised I saw none in the pirate camp in Howling Fjord. :)
Kirtan Jan 5th 2009 8:20PM
I'll put is simple as that:
It's true what others said about why Arthas is more recognizable as Lich King, rather than Ner'zul.
As it is known, during the 2rd war, Ner'zul sent Teron Gorefiend out to hunt for ancient relics, such as Book of Medive and Eye of Dalaran, which he wanted to use to open multiple gates like the Dark Portal in order to confuse the Burning Legion, in order to escape (after he spoiled Kil'Jaedens plans), which of course resulted Draenors destruction, while he escaped, through the wrong, ending up in the Twisting nether, where Kil'Jaeden tortured him until he would finally submited to his will and than blasted his soul through dimensions until it ended up on the roof of the world, locked in his armor. The only ones who would remember Ner'zul would be the members of the Old Horde, but alas, they're all dead now.
As for Arthas, people are completely wrong when they stated him to be a total emo and goth (I noticed a rude comment earlier about how he liked to cut himself or something). I mean look at him: he was son to king of one of the greatest nations on Azeroth and heir to the throne of Lorderon, he was Urther the Lightbringer's favorite student and he was in love with one of the most talented sorcerers of the Kirin Tor. He had a bright future before him. But faith had different plans for him, and so did Ner'zul.
Regarding the little boy in Icecrown about Arthas' Heart, if you've jumbled the letters of his name aground you mite find out what it says. Apparently somehow his good part of the soul managed to escape from Frostmourne, which would probably explain why Tirion didn't saw anything to redeem before he destroyed. (WARNINGSPOILER!! I noticed something from browsing on wowwiki, that some of the players had a bug which allowed them to speak draconic, aka dragon language. so wehn people stood before the Wrathgate and Alextrasza and her consort start talking, it is discovered that perhaps Bolvar and Sarufang's son aren't dead, yet atleast. If you watched carefully the cinematic, you would notice that after Arthas oneshoted Sarufang, Frostmourne apparently drained his soul, which was probably what happend to Bolvar, tho we didn't see it. So it is possible, that during the events where Arthas got his soul drained by the runeblade, his good side somehow managed to free itself and ended up in forgotten deeps.) How would a ghost of an innocent lil boy otherwise know what happened during the questline and he shows you visions of the past? Have u ever seen a military taking little kids to war perhaps? =P
In any case, weather the ghost kid (and Bolvar/Sarufang) will appear again, we won't know until Icecrown Citadel patch comes, which will probably take atleast 1 year. But I just hope that there is still a chance that Arthas mite be turned back to human again. I hated how Illidan and Keal'thas ended, leaving their remains to rot, without even a quest item atleast to drop from them (well, okay Keal'thas has in the raid version).
RetPallyJil Jan 6th 2009 7:15AM
Perhaps it's about force of will?
If you're descended from a line of asskicking and awesome kings, you probably have a pretty strong sense of your self and worth.
I think that would have a notable effect in a case of possession, anyway.
Also, there's never been any indication that Ner'zhul zipped open a totally empty Arthas like a cheap Halloween costume. In fact, Blizzard has always used the word "fused", indicating both are alive and kicking in some way or another ... and Blizzard should know.
Theadrick Jan 6th 2009 10:53AM
I wish authors like George R. Martin or Neil Gaiman would write some Warcraft based novels. I might read them then.