"There must always be a Lich King"

We kinda forgot about Bolvar’s original job. You’d think Azeroth would be flooded with Scourge since they’re uncontrolled and the heroes are off in the Shadowlands.

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They are in the same place as Sargeras’ sword.

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I am quite sure they’re being taken care of.

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Don’t worry, the mechagnomes can offer a solution. :robot:

I mean, to be fair, it was just a human NPC that said that.

Unless I missed it, it was never stated by an entity that knows how the lich king works.

Plus it was a flawed argument. If they had never put the crown on bolvar, sure there would have been casualties from crazed scourge, but without a LK, more wouldn’t be made, so once the existed scourge were wiped out, they’d be gone.

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Also, from what we saw in that Kyrian quest that took us to Redridge, the Scourge are loose on Azeroth. Or they were.

In game, poorly represents what is happening in real time because Azeroth is not a living breathing world.

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It was King Terrenas Menethil, Arthas’s father, whose soul had been stuck in Frostmourne because he killed him with it. It wasn’t just a human NPC.

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By that logic, Sylvanas also knew how it worked because her soul was severed by it.

Which I highly doubt she knew since she was willing to break the helm.

I assume only Ner’zhul, Arthas, The Primus, and the Jailer could truly know if a lich king was always necessary.

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The spirit of that NPC (King Terenas Menethil) was trapped within Frostmourne for years, and we saw several instances where he and at at least a few other trapped spirits were aware of the events going on around the Lich King. If anyone were to be considered an ‘expert’ on the workings of the Scourge, it would probably be him.

Further, I don’t see how it’s a flawed argument. There are many thousands of undead left in Northrend. A concerted effort by the forces of the Alliance and Horde to “wipe them out” would cost many lives, and there are many self-aware and intelligent Scourge among them that could unify them into a dangerous force if there is no Lich King to keep them in check.

She was being dominated by the Jailer at the time, and…

…the Jailer wouldn’t care whether the Scourge was under control. In fact, he would have appreciated the increased number of souls being sent to the Maw in the case of a Scourge attack upon the living beings of Azeroth.

Correction: Sylvanas wasn’t dominated. However, she was still doing Zovaal’s bidding, so…same outcome.

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Difference was is she did not stay in the sword to see what Arthas was doing. Part of his power was drawing from the souls bound within so yes it is entirely possible he knew something Sylvannas didn’t.

Maybe now that the crown is gone and the Jailer is dead, the souls forced to stay in the mindless scourge are free to travel to the Shadowlands. The rotting skeletons just drop in a heap to degrade. Of course that is wishful thinking. They might be swept under the rug like other old content.

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Yeah I’m hoping they cover it and finish it off rather than just jumping over it like it never existed.

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Indeed. Considering so much of the current expansion involves the Helm of Domination, The Lich King, Icecrown (the zone) and the Ebon Blade death knights, now would have been the perfect time to address the threat the remaining Scourge presents. Does anyone else think revisiting Northrend one final time would make an excellent close to this expansion?

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The Warcraft setting was full of undead before a Lich King, and that wasn’t a problem.

Everyone in Suramar was killed by the legion and raised into undeath by Dreadlords, and this is cannon… until it wasn’t because reasons. Trolls have probably been mummifying their dead since well before the Night Elves committed widespread genocide against everything on the planet in the War of the Ancients.

Even before that, there was probably undead in one form or another, the most glaring example being the dragons that Galakrond kind-of-ate-and-animated.

There’s probably things before that too, and they all did just fine without a lich king.

Sounds like a good way to ensure job security to me :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Scourge probably are rampaging as you’d expect, however I’d like to think we just haven’t allowed them to rebuild their forces since wrath, so if we’re being consistent, the scourge should be very easy to manage.

In the Crown of Wills quest, they make some reference to things in the dialogue:

Thrall says: What is to stop this new helm from being used to enslave others?

The Primus says: It is to become something greater. An instrument of free will.

Sylvanas Windrunner says: Never again will a Lich King reign in Icecrown.

I think the greater question is, if it is now an instrument of free will and a Lich King will no longer exist, do the undead get their free will back?

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I mean not necessarily. It’s a rather valid argument - The Val’kyr were part of the Scourge. As were many Lich. With no Lich King to hold them at bay means they can go about their own nefarious devices, and plotting plans whether it be for control, power, glory or all of the above. They can raise more, and more - and more.

I remember reading in Chronicles Volume 3 - about when Bolvar was shirking his responsibilities and witnessed the deal made with Sylvanas and the Val’Kyr - panicked, then tried to reaffirm his grip on them but the bargain had already been struck and they were released from his grasp - which is when he realised he had a role to play, taking the burden of the crown more seriously onward.

That given incident with Sylvanas, in particular, made Bolvar realize how dangerous the power of the undead was should they fall into the wrong hands, and he resolved to not only contain the Scourge but also guard against any intruders from the outside world who would try to steal their power for themselves.

So that’s the thing - They wouldn’t be wiped out, they’d amass - some out in the open, some in the shadows … before the clashing waves of them combine, coming back as a creeping tide hurdling into a tsunami of undeath, more horrifying in number and deadly force than before.

Wasn’t the whole point of the pre-patch event to take care of the Scourge for good…?

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