I consider myself quite the Warcraft Lore junkie but I have two questions I cant find the answer to (if their even is an answer).
#1 Why did the scourge summon the Burning Legion in WC3 if Ner’zhul hated the Burning Legion, wanted revenge on them, and knew before hand that Archimonde would toss Ner’zhul aside the moment Kel’Thuzad summoned him? Wouldnt it be smarter to just not summon the burning legion, kill the dreadlords, and reign over the world himself?
#2 After Arthas left Lorderon to save Ner’zhul from Illidan in Northrend, he left Kel’Thuzad in charge of Lorderon while he was away. Quickly after that, Kel’Thuzad teamed up with the dreadlords to manage the plaguelands and take out Alex Mograine. (Why did KT team up with the dreadlords? Werent they his Arch-Nemesis?
Ner’zhul was trapped inside the Frozen Throne and had to get Arthas close enough to break the ice and put on the helm. To that end, he had them playing along with the Legion plan, assuming that once he had his host they would be strong enough to break free.
KT was likely working with the dreadlords because they were there, and as long as they were all playing friends he could use them to his advantage. Dreadlords are pretty opportunistic anyways, so as long as they could all help each other neither side probably cared too much about the others’ true intentions.
Some people are just drawn to the story whenever there’s a story. I’m one of those people. WoW isn’t Tolkien or anything close to it but it does have some pretty deep and interesting lore…until Blizzards retcons it away in the next expansion to justify the Burning Legion converting to the Light…or whatever they do next…
So what youre saying is, dont worry about it because Blizzard doesnt even know and Kel’Thuzsd will most likely come back as a Light Lich and join the night elves as they make Tyramde the next holy Lich King against their fight against the void orcs led by Anduin and Garrosh?
At the time, Archimonde ruled the Burning Legion and would have punished Ner’zhul further if he opposed their will. After Archimode was killed, Ner’zhul was losing power and under threat from Illidan’s attempt to shatter the Frozen Throne, which is why Arthas returned Frostmourne to it, and became the new Lich King.
At the time, the Dreadlords were still somewhat allies to the Scourge. I think it was more when Sylvanas betrayed them that they lost their allegiance. They still were fine working with her and the Forsaken up to that point.
In an interview where they got asked where the Vindicaar was during the burning they openly stated they will never allow continuity to get in the way of the narrative they want to give.
Which to translate means there is zero continuity, if the devs remember and like it it is there if not consider it non-binding.
What drives current “lore” isn’t previous things in or out of game or other games it is whatever movie or show the devs happened to watch before they made a decision.
I.E. “There must always be a capt I meant Lich King”.
Under Sylvanas’ orders as the Forsaken were rebelling against Arthas.
Ner’zhul was the original Orc shaman who was contacted by the Burning Legion, and after realizing the lies that were told, refused to do their bidding. His apprentice, Gul’dan, is the one who opened the Dark Portal for the First War invasion into Azeroth. During the events following the Second War, when the Azeroth Expedition went to Draenor, Ner’zhul used the ley lines to open portals across the world, and shattered Draenor into what became Outland.
When Ner’zhul fled through the portal into the Twisting Nether, he was captured and his physical form was destroyed, and his skeletal remains and spirit were sealed into an icy prison by the Dreadlords, and later was sent to Azeroth to become the Frozen Throne to command the Scourge. Up until Archimonde’s defeat, he was still their tortured slave.
Sigh Deathwing could have been an AWESOME villian; take the original Knaak novels detailing his schemes against the Alliance and Horde, and those of his son Nefarian and daughter Onyxia.
Instead we got the mustache twirling and random zone blasting Saturday morning parody. So disappointing.
Sylvanas didnt have the dreadlords under her command though. In fact, i dont believe they were ever in contact with Sylvanas until later in the campaign when she defeated Tich’s forces and made him her b*tch (though the other dreadlords still never worked with her. Only Tich out of fear! They thought she was still under the Lich King’s command.
Ner’zhul had no body and was bound to a suit of armor in a block of ice. The dreadlords had a tight grip on him until the Burning Legion’s forces were routed, and people like Kil’jaeden could be a huge threat to him without having to be on Azeroth itself.
He wasn’t going to make his move openly against the Legion until he saw them substantially weakened. Also, he wanted to stick with the Legion’s initial plans, because those initial plans were what was going to massively increase the size of his undead forces and greatly weaken the world’s living defenders. The Lich King’s enemies weren’t just the Burning Legion after all. He wanted the Legion and the Alliance / Horde to pound away at each other, wreck each other’s forces, and leave lots of dead behind for him to reanimate.
Fail to summon the Legion through, and the world’s forces would be strong enough to wipe him out too. He saw his only path to freedom and domination as being a slim one - get the Legion through, subversively sabotage the Legion’s chance at total victory, let the Horde and Alliance (and Night Elves, who aren’t part of the Alliance yet) fight them and get weakened, then make his move against everybody. Kil’jaeden’s retaliation plan with Illidan, off-world, still nearly killed him.
I assume Mograine was seen as a bigger threat by Kel’thuzad, and the dreadlords probably saw Kel’thuzad as something of an independent agent with the Lich King being weakened and so many of his forces being led by powerful agents that displayed independence.