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During the moments leading up to and including Stratholme, most of Arthas’ decisions were justifiable and correct. There was no saving those who were afflicted with the plague - killing them wasn’t just the only choice, it was the merciful path.
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Jaina and Uther’s joint decision to abandon Arthas at that critical juncture - despite lacking the first-hand experience with the plague that he had used to come to the the decision to cull - ultimately hardened his heart, and drove him down a dark path. Both characters washed their respective hands of responsibility for anything preceded the event or followed it - they left Arthas to feel simultaneously guilty and brutally vindicated. It was a completely toxic mixture that he didn’t bear personal responsibility for.
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Arthas’ singular greatest failure that wasn’t influenced in some way by Frostmourne was the decision to murder the mercenaries at the Forgotten Shore - this cannot be pinned on either Jaina or Uther, and is 100 percent an evil act by the prince. You can make the case that it was a direct result in the isolationism that he experienced following the loss of counsel/support after Stratholme, but, ultimately, this deed is the one that can be unequivocally pinned on him.
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Everything in the immediate leadup to touching Frostmourne can - and likely should - at least in part be blamed on enchantment. I’m not absolving Arthas of his deepening madness at this juncture, but rather pointing out that there are significant mitigating circumstances at work that would (at least in a court of law) probably largely absolve him of personal responsibility.
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Everything after he touched Frostmourne can be blamed on a) his losing his soul (a handicap I don’t think anyone can even properly fathom [what is a person without a soul? How is that even the same individual anymore?]) and b) his consciousness eventually becoming merged with that of Ner’zhul. Simply put: it’s difficult for me to accept that Arthas was, in any way, running the show anymore once he touched the sword.
So, all told, you have a guy doing a few heinous (but necessary) things, committing one really appalling (but hardly unique in the annals of Azeroth [and something that could be atoned for]) act, and then being heavily enchanted/corrupted/merged out of full existence.
I’m not trying to say that the Lich King was good or anything, or that Arthas was a completely innocent bystander during all that occurred once he grabbed Frostmourne. But he clearly wasn’t in full (or any) control during his supposed worst acts. It seems pretty obvious that, were Shadowlands operating properly, he would have wound up in Revendreth, and - I believe, given his actions immediately prior to his death at the Frozen throne - would have probably rapidly repented.
By contrast, most of what we know about Sylvanas revolves around character actions that occurred following her liberation from Arthas’ control. And during nearly that entire time, she has pretty much been a self-absorbed, plotting, plague-spreading, malevolent mess. I do not know the degree to which Frostmourne can ultimately be blamed for her behavior prior to its shattering, but once that happened, at least, every evil act she has committed rests squarely at her own feet.
And even then, I don’t feel like she deserves to be auto-condemned to the Maw, either. But her spirit definitely requires far more time in Revendreth than does even Arthas’, and a redemption arc for her doesn’t exactly make a lot of sense considering that she has actively plotted every moment from the Wrathgate to the present date to serve her own personal ambition - not caring a damn for even her own people (who nevertheless worshipped her like a god), let alone Azeroth’s millions of living sentient and non-sentient creatures.
So, no, I think it should be Arthas who gets to redeem himself - Arthas even, perhaps, who helps to redeem Uther. But Sylvanas? We shouldn’t care what happens to her because she’s just not a particularly good person, and doesn’t have an excuse for her behavior. And just because people like that suddenly say ‘oh, whoops, my bad!’ doesn’t mean they should be given a narrative pass.
