Arthas made his own choices all the way. He chose to purge Stratholme, He chose to go to Northrend. He chose to burn his own soldiers ships so they couldn’t leave. He chose to pick up Frostmourne even though he was warned against doing so. He chose to kill his father and the citizens of Lordaeron and he chose to kill Ner’zhul.
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Indeed Arthas did all of those things, and was rightfully condemned to the Maw for it, and deserves no redemption. But the time between his picking up Frostmourne and putting on the Helm of Domination, he had about as much free will as Sylvanas did before Illidan’s attack.
Edit: Correction, it is debatable that Arthas killed his father and the citizens of Lordaeron of his own free will:
Tichondrius: By killing your own father and delivering this land to the Scourge, you have passed your first test. The Lich King is pleased with your… enthusiasm.
Arthas: Yes. I’ve damned everyone and everything I’ve ever loved in his name, and I still feel no remorse. No shame. No pity. Tichondrius: The runeblade that you carry was forged by the Lich King and empowered to steal souls. Yours was the first one it claimed. Arthas: Then I’ll make do without one. What is the Lich King’s will?
Sylvanas also knew of there was a distinction between the original Lich King and Arthas as well:
Balnazzar: Lady Sylvanas. We are pleased that you came.
Sylvanas Windrunner: How could I not? For some reason I no longer hear the Lich King’s voice in my head. My will is my own once again. Sylvanas Windrunner: You dreadlords seem to know why. Varimathras: We’ve discovered that the Lich King is losing his power! As it wanes, so too does his ability to command undead such as you. Sylvanas Windrunner: And what of King Arthas? What about his powers? Balnazzar: Though his runeblade, Frostmourne, carries powerful enchantments, Arthas’ own powers will fade in time. It is inevitable.
Banshee: You seem troubled, mistress.
Sylvanas Windrunner: Aren’t you, sister? Only days ago we were the Lich King’s slaves. We existed only to slaughter in his name. And now we are… free.
Banshee: I don’t understand, mistress. I thought you’d be overjoyed.
Sylvanas Windrunner: What joy is there in this curse? We are still undead, sister–still monstrosities. What are we if not slaves to this torment?
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It is hard to tell if you are trolling.
Let me clarify: in the real world, the theme that some races are inherently superior to others used to be quite common and acceptable. I think you will agree that this is no longer the case.
To the extent that the Nightborne, or any other race in WoW, have that belief, it is depicted as a flaw. Garrosh, for example. Acceptable theme: racism bad. Unacceptable theme: racism good.
Yes, I am arguing that some themes are unacceptable. Nobody disputes that. The only thing that people argue about is which themes are unacceptable, and then we call everyone who disagrees with us names.
In general, I am pretty libertarian when it comes to art. But thematically celebrating a vicious abuser at the expense of his victim, as the OP suggests, is over the line.
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Obviously.
Yeah racism bad. But its still there in the story.
We don’t ignore it.
Sometimes we even celebrate it like Trollbane calling what’s his name in the Arathi warfront for example.
You know… orcs/forsaken evil that must be destroyed.
Ok.
So in a “dragged to hell” punishment payoff what do you have in mind?
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Arthas was the Second Lich King. He was preceded by Ner’zhul who along with Mal’Ganis manipulated Arthas into the path that dammed him.
Arthas died with no regrets no redeeming qualities to him whatsoever he caused an uncountable amount of death, displacement, and suffering through his career. The Forsaken and the Blood Elves are still living with the consequences.
He is also responsible for making Sylvannas into the monster that she is now. For her to condemmed while he is redeemed would be the ultimate irony in it’s injustice.
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We seem to have multiple threads along this line: What will you do when Sylvanas says - #39 by Carmageddon-bloodsail-buccaneers
And I think you would agree that having Tyrande go bad because Night Warrior so Sylvnas is redeemed by helping us put her down would be a terrible plot line and thematically horrifying.
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I tend to interpret those lines as implying he still had freewill and chose to do it anyway in the name of the Lich King (and that he was a total fool being played by Tichondrius and the Lich King)
Yes, she knew there was a distinction and she also knew it was Arthas who chose to turn her into a banshee and torture her.
He was a Soulless Shell with a sliver resisting said Shell’s actions. The Death Knight Arthas is no different from the Nobodies of Kingdom Hearts when they first manifest. Said Nobodies lack a Heart yet have free will.
Even when the Nobodies start regrowing their Hearts they don’t start feeling until after a while. Marluxia’s Heart only started to feel when Sora beat him in KH3 and same went for Xemnas. Axel’s Heart only started feeling emotions after interacting with Namine for some time.
In Death Knight Arthas’s case his Heart/Soul was fed to Frostmourne leaving behind a sliver that clashed with his desires.
The Arthas Novel outright said that the sliver of Arthas’s Soul disagreed with Arthas’s statement on remorse. Arthas’s body felt no remorse yet his Soul felt tons of remorse and tried to stop Arthas’s body who tried to push the fragment down again and again until finally feeding it to Frostmourne.
Sylvanas saw a distinction between Arthas and the Lich King yet failed to see the distinction between Arthas’s body and Arthas’s Soul since she wasn’t there when Tichondrius mentioned it was claimed.
If the body gets up and about without it’s Soul and acts more evil than it did with said Soul should the Soul be blamed for it? A Soulless Husk is practically a Psychopath that lives only to fulfill it’s ambitions now that the Superego/Empathy known as the Soul is gone.
Arthas’s Soulless body didn’t get the suffering it deserved while Arthas’s Soul who is less evil than Kael’thas got a punishment worse than Kael’thas did!
Which he freely picked up of his own will even though he was warned it was cursed.
You apply that logic to Arthas, but you won’t afford the same curtesy to Sylvanas? It doesn’t fly.
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Sylvanas had her Soul when she committed her crimes just as Kael’thas did.
Her Soul was turned into a Banshee and said Banshee eventually possessed her corpse making it a body with a Soul again. It was after that that she committed her crimes!
She is practically a fully resurrected Master Xehanort not a Marluxia!
His words were: "I will give anything, or pay any price, if only you will help me save my people."
He knew it was cursed but didn’t know that the curse would doom his people by turning him into what is practically a Nobody as vile as Marluxia(who was willing to help Xehanort to cover all in Darkness) as the Revenant never told him that the blade was connected to the Scourge’s master!
His same people he killed at Stratholme. His same soldiers that had their ships burned so they couldn’t leave. His good friend who warned him about frostmourne killed when he said that. All before he was cursed. He then kills all of his people in Lordaeron. No… you can’t excuse his actions.
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Arthas should not be redeemed. They need to knock that stuff off. 
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At this point the only people suggesting that Arthas should be redeemed are on this forum.
This was my point in reverse when responding to Carmageddon, to which I was glad we agreed. The sympathy people give to Sylvanas after what she has done is as strange as the sympathy people give to Arthas.
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True, but I don’t want it to get into their heads over at HQ.
Sylvanas is the monster Arthas created. He spiritually violated her to make her in to what she became. He used her as a tool for the crime of standing against him. While she did become a monster herself, it was a result of his actions.
That you want to reward the abuser by giving him his victim back to abuse for all eternity says a lot about you as a person. That you find the idea satisfying is all the more grotesque and disgusting.
Get help.
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Is Sylvanas guilty of the same crimes as Arthas?
If yes then same punishment.
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You’re not even advocating for the same punishment. Arthas isn’t being given to his abuser. You’re advocating for giving him a prior victim to continue abusing, because you find it satisfying.
Get help.
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I want her to end up in the same hell he ended up and for her to understand, as a character, she has fallen as low as the person she hated the most.
Nah. Quite happy actually.
Working from home on one screen and debating lore on the other.
Maybe I will watch some netflix later.