With all this talk of the Helm of Domination and Frostmourne being artifacts of the Maw and conduits with which the Jailer can mind control people where does this leave the OG Lich King? Was Ner’zhul also a pawn? did he have any power whatsoever? Is this explained at all in Shadowlands or am I going to have to buy a book a year from now that explains things?
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Not that I know of, and I couldn’t find anything new on the wowpedia to contradict that. He’s likely in the maw for all intents and purposes, might’ve even been picked up at the same time as Arthas and simply wasn’t shown in the cinematic cause “Who’s that random orc guy?” for those who don’t know and it’s irrelevant to that specific story.
He should be just as prominent as Arthas but because he was completely forgotten in WotLK I don’t expect to hear so much of a peep from him here either. Unfortunately.
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I think Nerzhul’s soul stopped existing the second he was grafted onto the “Armaments” of the Jailer that the Runecarver made.
I think he was just used as a channel/filter to Zovaal from that moment on, it stopped being Nerzhul from that moment. All the “I was a shaman” stuff in WC3 were lies to try to convince Arthas.
The only “real” part was maybe the echoes that Arthas and later Bolvar (and the DK player character) had to fight.
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Well, that’s wrong, mainly because we know that Arthas, during his ten year sleep, consumed most of Ner’zhuls spirit, leaving ner’zhul barely a whisper in the back of Arthas’ mind.
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Retcon incoming 
Was it Arthas or THE JAILER
Dun dun dunnnnn
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Hey now, let’s not give them any more bad ideas to implement into the game <3 
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Alas the lack of Nerzhul even being VAGUELY mentioned in any of the beta questlines, dialogue, or cinematics should indicate its too late
To be fair, Ner’zhul hasn’t been mentioned since the end of TFT. His character is largely done with, when Arthas became the dominate Lich King personality
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Nerzhul had an echo with the Legion DK questlines when we went into the Helm or something iirc, and I believe the artifact weapon echo of Arthas mentioned Nerzhul too.
But beta? Zilch. Nada.
The echoes of Ner’zhul and Arthas in Legion were inside Frostmourne’s shards, not inside the Helm.
Also they were echoes not their spirits.
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Well, as Invidia said, they were just echos and not the actual spirits of Ner’zhul or Arthas inside the shards of Frostmourne. And that was mostly to show the battle between Arthas and Ner’zhul on who would become the dominate personality.
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Technically they were called both, as before the Death Knight goes the reforged blades they were told this:
- The Lich King says: It is done. From the shards of Frostmourne the twin blades are born! Soon, they shall feed upon the souls of my enemies!
The Lich King says: I sense powerful spirits remain within the blades. Enter into the spiritual realm within and purge them of all resist your domination!
But when they went inside what they saw was the Echo of Ner’zhul and Echo of Arthas Menethil.
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It’s either it was Jailer’s voice or Arthas’ perspective was incorrect, which is kinda the same thing. Nu-Blizzard lore.
The Lich King actually tells the Alliance player he was once a shaman. One of the most memorable moments for me in Howling Fjord because the first time I did it I was on my shaman and it felt like the LK was talking directly to me.
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It’s kinda disappointing to hear, The jailer is kinda neat but I didn’t really want the Lich King to be turned into his pawn that Blizzard totally has been setting up all this time. I really do wish they’d leave their villains alone and let them just be what they were. I hope I’m wrong and the Lich King is still his own evil brand and doesn’t get ruined by the new lore writers.
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I wouldn’t say pawn. I think they’re going to do the following
- Arthas was actually protecting us all from the Jailer all along
- Arthas is still another soul at the end of the day, and deserves a fair chance before the Arbiter
- Light!Uther and Kyrian!Uther will fuse together and forgive Arthas and escort him to the Arbiter
BUT THEN TRAGEDY STRIKES RIGHT AT THE END OF THE XPAC
- Arthas chooses to become Jailer of the Jailer and sacrifices himself to be the warden of Torghast/Zovaal once we rebind him, thus self-condemning himself to the Maw
My boy Ner’zhul always gets the short end of the stick, so of course he’ll be ignored in Shadowlands. Just like in WoD where he appeared three times and then was the endboss of a 5-man. God, that expansion hated me. The zone I was looking forward to seeing the most, Farahlon, was completely cut. The joy and hope I had of seeing the inside of Karabor was squashed when they abandoned it and just sealed the entrance. My favorite Old Horde orc, Ner’zhul, was barely in it. I guess he had more screen time than poor Orgrim, but that’s not hard to accomplish.
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The funny part being that Orgrim was only screwed over because they cut Farahlon. He was the main Horde character before they tried to cram Farahlon into Gorgrond and we got a half of two different zones.
That was Arthas saying that, which is why for years since, people complained how Arthas saying that made no sense, since we know Ner’zhul was nothing more than a mere whisper in the back of Arthas’ mind.