 In the theme of the last video, which was about Arthas' menothel, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the Lich King as its own entity. Because as most of us know, or don't know actually, the Lich King story is a lot bigger than just the part which involves Arthas. There will be parts in this video that will overlap with the previous video, namely the parts about when Arthas fused with Lich King. But for the sake of a complete lore overview, I will include this again, albeit a bit shorter. So let's take a look at the story of the Lich King, from the start until the currently known recent lore. As usual, we will start with the most memorable quote. When Ner'zul tried to escape Draenor, he was caught by the demon lord Kil'jaeden. Kil'jaeden carried out the blood pack that Ner'zul had taken many years ago. He then ravaged and ultimately destroyed Ner'zul's body, but kept the spirit alive and imprisoned it in a block of ice from the twisting nether. Kil'jaeden gave Ner'zul more power, including the power over death itself. Ner'zul as an individual ceased to exist, and the Lich King, Lord of the Dead, was born. The Lich King was sent to Azeroth through the Great Dark beyond, landing in Northland where the ice that imprisoned him turned into the shape of a throne, the famous Frozen Throne. From his new throne, he would start his army of undead scourge and slowly weakened the world for when the Burning Legion would arrive. Unlike the orcs, who always had fights amongst themselves because of different clans and different visions, which ended up failing their conquering, this undead army would have no such disadvantage. The dreadlords, sent by Daikomners himself, were sent to watch over the Lich King. Inside the Frozen Throne, the Lich King experimented with his psychic powers and enslaved the local lifeforms to test his capabilities. The plague of undeath that was coming forth from the Frozen Throne turned all these lifeforms into his undead servants. By using these psychic and necromanthic powers, he was able to conquer much of Northland. The larger his army grew, the stronger the Lich King became, and his army fed his powers. As his army grew, he started turning more and more into undeath, and its power increased exponentially. The dreadlords that were watching the Lich King were very aware of this and kept a close eye on him. The Lich King went to war against the Kingdom of Azul-Narup as the spider inhabitants were immune to the plague of undeath. This war took ten years and was named the War of the Spider. It ended, however, with the Lich King's great first triumph. Even though the spiders were immune to the plague of undeath whilst being alive, their corpses could still be reanimated to serve the Lich King. The Lich King had a great amount of respect towards his enemy and adopted norubian architecture as his own, as a testament to the spider lords tenacity and age. Now controlling most of Northland, the dreadlords urged Ner'Zul to proceed with the agreed upon plan to prepare the world for the invasion of the Burning Legion. The Lich King used his telepathic powers to reach out into Azeroth and call upon any dark soul that were here to call. Kel'Thuzad, a mage and prominent member of Dalaran's Kirin Tor, answered this call. Kel'Thuzad was quickly enslaved by the Lich King, faithfully serving him as the first member of the Cult of the Damned. This cult would worship the Lich King as a god and would be taught necromancy to better aid the undead army. Kel'Thuzad and the Dreadlord Morganus were instructed to start weakening the world, but Ner'Zul, ever mindful of Kil'jaeden's schemes, secretly sought away out of his prison. After months of preparation, Kel'Thuzad and his Cult of the Damned finally struck the first blow by releasing the plague upon Lordaeron. Prince Arthas Menethil and Lady Jaina Proudmoore, along with Captain Falrich, began investigating what this new threat was upon their homeland. Lordaeron's northern camps and villages were already overtaken by the plague. As the undead army crept over Lordaeron, Prince Arthas Menethil took the fight to the undead. The Lich King had planned for this to happen. As Arthas killed Kel'Thuzad, the undead army grew with every living soldier that fell. Frustrated and feeling powerless against the growing enemy, Arthas took his decisions further, leading to the calling of Stratholm, where he ordered every citizen of Stratholm slaughtered in order to stop the spread of the plague. This meant killing innocent, infected and not yet infected people. All this to prevent Morganus from adding the citizens to his undead army. Arthas meant to strike at Morganus himself, but he got away and fled to Northland. With the calling of Stratholm, the people by Arthas's side feared he was losing grip on his humanity. Arthas's fear and determination turned out to be his downfall. He followed the plague's source to Northland, meaning to end it all by killing its supposed leader, Milganus. He ran into his longtime friend, Merdin Bronzebeard, brother of the Dwarven King, Magni, who would lead him to the legendary Runeblade Frostmourne in the hopes of stopping the scourge. Instead, Arthas fell into the Lich King's trap. Believing it would help him save his people, Arthas took up Frostmourne. Though Frostmourne increased his power, the cost was great. Merdin and Leydad were so Arthas taught, and Arthas began to lose his soul. He transformed into Lich King's first and greatest death knight. Arthas had his revenge and killed Milganus. He, however, was one of the dreadlords who was there to keep an eye on the Lich King. With the Milganus gone, the Lich King was more free to do as he pleased. With his soul cast aside and his sanity broken, Arthas led the scourge against his own kingdom, Lordaeron. Arthas started with the murder of his own father, King Terenas Menethil II, and crushed Lordaeron with his new unholy strength. With Arthas as his new champion, Nerjul spread the plague all throughout Lordaeron. What remained of the Order of the Silver Hand fought back, but even the mighty Uther fell to the death knight's power. Ordered by Tyconius, Arthas took the scourge north to the High Elven Kingdom of Cothalos, where he would resurrect the summoner of Archimonde, Kel'Thuzad. The High Elves never stood a chance, and the capital city Silvermoon was destroyed. Their magical Sunwell was used to resurrect Kel'Thuzad as a Lich. Both the Lich King and the Burning Legion were happy with this action. The Lich King's most loyal worshipper was back, and the Burning Legion summoner was released upon Azeroth. Being too far into the Legion's plans to back out and look suspicious, Nerjul's minions laid siege to Dalaran, reclaiming the Spellbook of Medivh, which contained the incantation required for Kel'Thuzad to summon Archimonde. Before summoning Archimonde, Kel'Thuzad had been reading through the Spellbook and told Arthas that Medivh's knowledge of the demons was incredible, and that Medivh was far more powerful than anyone had ever realized. Finally, Archimonde was summoned outside Dalaran, and he immediately gave control to Scourge the Tychondrius and the Dreadlords. The Lich King, however, wasn't done yet. Although Archimonde took control of the undead back, he didn't return the frozen throne back to kill Jaden, as he was too busy with his revenge against the Nidals, and so the Lich King could continue on. During the Legion's invasion of Ashenvale, Illidan Stormrage was released from his prison, in which he had been for 10,000 years. Realizing Illidan's addiction to magic and having used the Skull of Gul'dan himself years earlier, the Lich King sent Arthas to Kalamdor. There Arthas told Illidan about the Skull of Gul'dan. Unable to resist, Illidan took the Skull and took in its massive energies. By doing so, Illidan developed demonic features and vastly increased power. Illidan then, as the Lich King had foreseen, proceeded to kill Tychondrius and liberate Felwood. Without the support team of Tychondrius, Archimonde's overconfidence on top of Mount Hygel led to his downfall. With his newfound power and freedom, Illidan set out to find his own place in a great scheme of things. Kill Jaden, however, confronted Illidan and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Kill Jaden was angered by Archimonde's defeated Mount Hygel, but he wasn't going to let revenge cloud his mind. Sensing that his creation, the Lich King, was out of his control, Kill Jaden ordered Illidan to destroy Ner'zhul and put an end to the undead's scourge once and for all. In return, Illidan received unimaginable power and a place amongst the remaining lords of the Burning Legion. Illidan accepted and set out to destroy the Frozen Throne, the icy crystal cask in which the Lich King's spirit resided. Illidan knew that it would need a mighty artifact to destroy the Frozen Throne. Using Gul'dan's memories, which he had gained access to when he used Gul'dan's power, Illidan went to seek out the Tomb of Sargeras and claimed the Dark Titan's remains. Using his demonic powers, Illidan lured the Naga from the undersea lairs. Led by Lady Vash, the Naga held Illidan reach the Broken Isles, where the Tomb of Sargeras was rumored to be. With the Eye of Sargeras in his possession, Illidan traveled to Dalaran. Empowered by the city's lay energy lines, Illidan used the Eye to cast a destructive spell against the Lich King's citadel of Icecrime. The attack broke through the Lich King's defenses and ruptured the very roof of the world. The Lich King, who had no defense against this spell, would have been forever vanquished at that very moment if it weren't for Illidan's brother Malfurion, who intervened. He sensed that the spell would cause great damage to the world. Now that Ner'zhul had openly defied the will of the Legion, he knew that Kil'jaeden's wrath would be immense. It would come at the worst possible time too, as Ner'zhul was losing his magical powers. When he had sent Frostmourne from the throne, he had cast a crack in the icy cask. Illidan's spell had worsened this crack, and now the Lich King's powers were seeping out like blood from an open wound. Meanwhile in Azeroth, Arthas too was losing his powers, as his strength came directly from the frozen throne through Frostmourne, and his hold over the undead was slipping. Ner'zhul knew that his time was short. Imprisoned within the frozen throne, he suspected that Kil'jaeden would send his servants to destroy him. In desperation to save himself, he called upon his greatest mortal servant to protect him, the Death Knight, Arthas. Though his powers were weakened, Arthas had been involved in a civil war in Lordaeron. Half of his undead forces, led by the Banshee, Sylvanas Windrunner, had been freed by the Lich King's loss in power, and they resented what they had become. Another part of his undead army was still under control of the Legion's remaining commanders, the three dreadlords, Ferrymothrus, Deatharok and Balnazar. Arthas, forced to return to the Lich King, left his remaining scourge in the hands of his lieutenant Kel'Thuzad, as the war continued in the plague lands. Eventually, Sylvanas and the Forsaken claimed the ruins of Lordaeron as their own, setting up base in the sewers below the city. The Forsaken swore to defeat the scourge and drive them from their lands. The Lich King was powerless to stop them, weakened, Arthas reached Northrend only to find Illidan's Naga and the bloodles waiting for him. Arthas and his Nerubian allies, led by spider lord Anuparok, raced against Illidan's forces to reach Icecrown and defend the frozen throne. With Anuparok's help, Arthas battled his way through the forces and faced Prince Kel'Thuzad. Kel'Thuzad used the fact Jaina now hated him to distract him and make him hesitant, and fought with his father's reforged Runeblade, Felon Malorn, which means Flamestrike. Flamestrike and Frostmourne clashed, but eventually Kel'Thuzad was forced to flee. Arthas then proceeded to activate the four Icecrown obelisks, opened the doors to the frozen throne. Illidan however, was waiting for him. A battle started between them, where Illidan showed his newfound demonic powers. He almost managed to defeat Arthas, until he accidentally left himself open. Arthas took advantage of this moment and sliced open the demon hunter's chest. Illidan collapsed on the floor and instead of finishing him off, Arthas warned him to leave Azeroth and never return. Arthas entered the hollow glacier and saw a winding pinnacle chain to the ice. As he went up the stairs, the voices of those he had forsaken came into his mind. He heard Uther, Muradin, Jaina and his father's voices. As he reached the top, he saw before him an icy cask, within which was a suit of armor arranged as if set upon a throne. Two voices now spoke to him, but Eve's previous warning to Jaina and the rasping whisper of Ner'zhul. Her young prince will only find death in the cold north. Return the blade, complete the circle, release me from this prison. With a great cry, Arthas swung Frostmourne against the Lich King's icy prison and with a haunting scream, the frozen throne exploded. The shards of crystals scattered across the floor. With Ner'zhul's helm laying at his feet, Arthas leaned forward, picked it up and placed it upon his head. It was at that moment, Arthas and Ner'zhul's spirit fused into one single being, just as the Lich King had always planned. And one of the most powerful entities on Azeroth was born. After the merge, the Lich King sat dormant for several years while storms raged across Northland and his minions constructed the infamous ice cream citadel around the frozen throne. While the Lich King dreamt, the various personalities in his mind. Death Knight Arthas, Orc Shaman Ner'zhul and Matthias Liener, a personality made up of the remnants of Arthas's humanity, fought for influence and control over the entity. If you look closely, you can see that Matthias Liener is an anagram of Arthas Menethil. Matthias tried to reason with Arthas, but Arthas killed him by running Frostmourne through him. Ner'zhul was delighted by this, saying he and Arthas could not merge into a single mighty being. Matthias rejected this and killed Ner'zhul too, as he wanted the power all to himself. And thus, Arthas became the dominant personality of the Lich King, and the dream ended. When the Lich King finally awoke after many decades, he shut out his own heart, believing that anything that made him mortal made him weak. Afterwards, he journeyed to Sindrugosa's fall, where he raised the ancient massive dragon Sindrugosa as a Frostmourne and watched as his massive undead army prepared for war. The cities of Azeroth began receiving strange packages with infected grain. As the citizens ate this grain, they turned into bloodthirsty ghouls, if they weren't treated by the members of the Argenton. With all the major cities in chaos, undead buildings appeared around the world, which triggered the Second Scourge War. Heroes from both the Alliance and the Horde fought back against the growing disease and the creeping Scourge armies. Thrall, now together with his fellow Horde leaders and King Varian Ryn, planned an invasion on Northend to deal with the Lich King once and for all. Meanwhile, the Lich King directly attacked the capital cities of the Horde and the Alliance. Orgrimmar and Stormwind were attacked by large Scourge armies containing Frostworms and Abominations. The battles for Stormwind and Orgrimmar were won by brave heroes once again and caused the formation of the Horde Expedition and the Alliance Vanguard. These attacks were done to lure powerful heroes to Northend, so that the Lich King could corrupt them and use them against their own people. Not satisfied by just luring champions of Azeroth into his service, the Lich King decided to remove the anti-Scourge presence within the Plaguelands. For this he created a new Order of Death Knights led by High Lord Daryon Mograine and forced the Scarlet Crusade away from Lordaeron, its survivors becoming the Scarlet Onslaught which headed to Northend. During the battle he sensed an old enemy he destroyed long ago, but he decided to ignore it for now. Strengthened by the destruction of the Scarlet Crusade, the Scourge prepared to attack the Light's Hope Chapel and to destroy the Argenton next. Despite the odds, the Argenton won against the army of the Scourge thanks to the arrival of Tyrion Forging. The spirit of Alexandros Mograine, the original Ashbringer, appeared to speak with his defeated son Daryon. The Lich King himself appeared and sealed away Alexandros' soul. Seeing how he was betrayed, Daryon attacked the Lich King, but was easily swatted aside. Forging came in to battle the Lich King. The Lich King incapacitated him, saying that sacrificing a small army of death knights was a small price to pay to get Forging to come out of hiding. Lord Maxwell Tyrosus gave the Order to attack, and while the remaining defenders of the Light charged forward, they were easily blasted away. Having heard from Lich King himself how disposable he was as a death knight, Daryon went through the corrupted Ashbringer to Forging. Forging's faith and the holy ground of Light's Hope Chapel cleansed the Ashbringer, restoring the sword to its original glory. With his new power, Tyrion escapes the Lich King's spell and strikes him with a holy sword. Surprised, the Lich King retreats, stating that the next time they met, it wouldn't be on holy ground. This battle led to the creation of two of the Lich King's greatest enemies, Tyrion Forging's Arjun Crusade, which is a combination of Arjun Dawn and Silver Hand, and Daryon Morgrain's Knights of the Ebon Blade, an Order of Death Knights who broke free from Lich King's control. Soldiers of the Horde and the Alliance who were fighting at the siege of Angrithar the Wrathgate formed the Temporarily Alliance, focusing their attacks on the Scourge rather than on each other. With the Dragonflies providing support from Skies, both factions made a courageous attack on the Gate. Bolvar Fordragon and Saurfang the Younger taunted the Lich King to fight his own battles instead of sending his minions. The Lich King entered as requested and quickly struck down Saurfang the Younger. Before Bolvar and the Lich King could engage combat Grand Apothecary Putris, chief of the Forsaken's Royal Apothecary Society and the creator of the new plague, betrayed the Horde and unleashed his plague on the soldiers down below, friend them phobalike. The plague killed most of the Horde, Alliance and the Scourge forces at the Wrathgate, including Bolvar Fordragon. The Lich King, injured, was forced to retreat. This betrayal and the battle for the undercity that followed resulted in seven years of Cold War between the Horde and the Alliance. After the Arjun Crusade that ended with the death of Anubarach, the Arjun Crusade, led by Tyrion Fordring, struck an alliance with the Knights of the Ebon Blade, led by High Lord Darion Mowgring. This alliance became the Ashen Verdict, two opposing groups that came together for a common goal, the final assault against the Scourge in Icecrown Citadel and the eventual fall of the Lich King. After they got information about an opening directly to the Lich King's private chambers, Jaina Proudmoore led adventurers from the Alliance, while Sylvanas Windrunner led adventurers from the Horde into the Frozen Halls. While Jaina hoped to find a little piece of Arthas within the Lich King, Sylvanas intended to sneak past the Lich King's defenses to finally get her revenge. Once inside, they found Frostmourne unattended within the Halls of Reflection. Both Jaina and Sylvanas tried to communicate with the spirits within and were met by the spirit of Uther the Lightbreaker. Uther warned them that the Lich King could see whatever Frostmourne saw and that it was on his way. He also told them that whatever was left of Arthas within the Lich King was just a fading presence, and that to destroy him, he must be killed at the place where he merged with Ner'zhul at the top of the Frozen Throne. Finally, Uther told them that when the Lich King falls, another must take its place, for without a master, the Scourge would just run rampant across the world. When the Lich King arrived, he banished Uther's soul back into Frostmourne and called upon his loyal captains, Felric and Morwen, to deal with the intruders. While the Lich King returned to his private chambers, the heroes dealt with the captains. Sylvanas and Jaina who followed the Lich King were unable to do any damage to him, so they ordered the heroes to flee. And they were seemingly trapped. They made a final stand, until their gunships, the Skybreaker and Orgrim's Hammer, arrived to carry them to safety. Champions of the Argent Tournament stormed Icecrown Citadel and defeated the Lich King's mightiest minions. At the top of the Spire, the Lich King encased Tyrion in a block of ice, forcing him to watch helplessly as his champions battled with the Lich King and his minions. Eventually, the Lich King killed the champions with a single blow, revealing that he had been waiting for the assault all along, so that he could kill Azeroth's greatest champions and rise their corpses to serve him in an undeath. Every obstacle he had laid before them was merely a test to see their worthiness. Before the Lich King could finish raising them, Tyrion, calling upon a final blessing from the Light, managed to break free and shatter Frostmourne with his own sword, Ashbringer. The spirits trapped within Frostmourne were released, including King Taren's menethil II, and attacked the Lich King by holding him floating in the air while simultaneously resurrecting the fallen heroes, who were then able to defeat the Lich King. Tyrion's spirits held arses in his arms as he drew his last breath, and informed Tyrion that the Scourge must always have a master before vanishing in the wind. Tyrion picked up the Lich King's crown, prepared to take up this burden until it was stopped by Bolvar Fordragon. The undead paladin set upon the frozen throne, having been burned by dragonfire and tortured by the Lich King, said he no longer had a place amongst the living, unlike Tyrion. As a final act of his service, he would take up the role of the Lich King, to keep the damned under control. Tyrion reluctantly put the crown upon Bolvar's head. As the eyes of the frozen throne began forming around him, Bolvar, now the new Lich King, told Tyrion to tell the world that the Lich King is dead, and as his voice changed similar to that of the Lich King, added that Bolvar Fordragon died with him, and to leave and never return. The Lich King slumbered until the invasion of Azeroth by the Legion. As the Legion was a threat to Azeroth, it was a threat to the Lich King. He contacted High Lord Tyrion Mograine and proposed that, in exchange for continuing to contain the Scourge in Northland, the Death Knights and their chosen Death Lord would act as his hand in the fight against the Legion. With the Death Knights combined into one order, the new Lich King gave information to them, as well as to other classes of heroes like Firemages, about powerful weapons to aid them in the coming fight, including shards of the Shadow Frostmourne and an axe made by the Legion itself that consumed its maker. Next was the reformation of the Four Horsemen, unseen since the floating Citadel of Nexromus. The Lich King also tried to raise Tyrion forging into undeath, who had fallen at the failed Broken Shore invasion. By going into Light Hope Chapel itself, but the power of the Light was too overwhelming. After the Battle of Azeroth and the defeat of Sargeras, Sylvanas Windrunner, War Chief of the Horde traveled to Icecrown to face Bolvar. After an intense fight, which ended with Sylvanas chaining down Bolvar with her magic arrows, Sylvanas tore off the helm of the Lich King. Bolvar, assuming she would wear it herself and become the next leader of the Scourge, said that the power of the Lich King was a prison, to which she replied that this world is a prison. To Bolvar's surprise, Sylvanas torn the helm of Domination apart, tearing open a rift in the Shadowlands above Icecrown Citadel. And that is the story of the Lich King for now. Thank you for listening, and I will see you in the next story.