Ner’zhul was the original lich king, before Arthas and him merged.
After the defeat of Arthas, there is no mention of Ner’zhul ever again.
Is he still in the helm of domination and now merged with Bolvar, or is he somewhere else?
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Uhm. I think yes he’s still in the helm somewhere. But Arthas’ dark half pretty much silenced him and took complete control.
In their shared mind Arthas’ dark half stabbed Ner’zhul, attempting to kill him. But he did the same to his own light half, and his light half survived the encounter. So it’s reasonable to say Ned’zhul did too.
Now with Bolvar thrown in the mix, who knows what’s going on in the Helm of Domination.
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His soul echo was in the blades of the fallen prince or the shattered frostmourne. I’m pretty sure he’s gone. They also said Ner’zul is gone in a q&a.
AU Ner’zul dies at the “edge of reality” or something at the edge of the void, so who knows what happened to his soul, but it’s probably dead forever.
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Ner’zhul tried merging with Arthas, Arthas instead pretty much absorbed/consumed him and became the prime identity that made use of Ner’zhul’s knowledge and memories.
It’s possible that his spirit or a fragment/echo of it still lives on in the helm, but current Word of Blizzard is that he’s gonezo.
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We know Ner’zhul, at least a part of him, still exists. One of the first the thing the Lich King did in Northrend against the Alliance is mentioned how he was a former shaman. I always found that line striking because the first time I did it was on Zerde and it almost felt like he was just talking directly to me.
Well Arthas: Rise of the Lich King implied that Arthas’ spirit ate Ner’zhul, with Blizzard basically saying Ner’zhul was done. Then years later, they implied that while Arthas did eat Ner’zhul, he shoved his consciousness so far in the back that Ner’zhul was a non-factor. He still existed but could do nothing but languish in whatever hell Arthas was cooking up for him at the time because Arthas is a bit of a prat.
NOW it seems that at the very least, Ner’zhul and Arthas’ souls are still trapped in Frostmourne, or rather the Blades of the Fallen Prince but the Lich King’s appearance multiple times in Legion would imply that the former Lich King is no more bound to the blade as he is to the Frozen Throne.
Which begs the question what’s going on in the current Lich King’s head? When Legion starts Bolvar is now all in on rebuilding the Scourge so much so that the Ebon Blade basically gave themselves to his service in exchange for him keeping the Scourge contained in Northrend. This led people to believe that Ner’zhul, Arthas, Ner’zhularthas, or Arthasner’zhul is still in the Helm and has been influencing Bolvar since he locked himself in the Frozen Throne.
So a whole lot of question marks.
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Arthas essentially erased him along with the last remnants of his own humanity, the same way Hulk finally erased Bruce Banner in that apocalyptic post holcaust story “The End”.
The novel Arthas: Rise of the Lich King ended with Arthas consuming/killing Ner’zhul ensuring that he, alone, was the Lich King.
Chronicle Volume 3 had Arthas mentally break Ner’zhul by focusing on Ner’zhul’s lingering guilt of tricking the orcs into Kil’jaeden’s service. Ner’zhul was noted to be a wailing sound of sorrow that Arthas blatantly ignored.
When asked about Ner’zhul at Blizzcon 2010 Chris Metzen said, “Yes. Yeah, Ner’zhul is done. He served us well in that capacity, but really the Lich King idea… really is the ultimate expression, you know, as Arthas or whatever. Ner’zhul’s done.”
Granted there’s always a chance the current writing team could include Ner’zhul but I don’t see it as high odds.
Granted there’s always a chance the current writing team could include Ner’zhul but I don’t see it as high odds.
Seems like you were mistaken! lol
Did you really necro a 6 year old thread to try and get a cheap ‘gotcha’?
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No, it was not intended at anyone’s expense.
Shame on you, you miserable writers, for what you did to Ner’zhul in Shadowlands!
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Eh, if anything Ner’zhul might have gotten a better end then Arthas. There is a sliver of hope that he actually did end up finding Rulkan.
Ever the unfortunate soul…Nerzul soul was taken prisoner by the Jailer and tortured for his defiance during his short reign as litch king. Then bound to shadowsteel armor for combat. The players killed the last known remnant of his soul.
I’m sure everyone has told you that already. His dead lover came to him in visions to keep him comfort through his insanity. His dying words are that he would finally go to reunite with her.
However, I am going to throw one of my lore theories out there because I’m quite fond of it.
It’s entirely possible that a remnant of Arthas soul lives on in the frost DK’s artifact weapon “Blades of the Fallen Prince.” However, I think that this part of Arthas soul is the Litch King identity while the one in shadowlands is Arthas’ mortal side. Seeing how the Litch King is an amalgum of those that have held the helm or sword, then this spirit possessing the DK’s blades may also be one-part Nerzul. I prefer not to think that and prefer to think it is instead only Arthas but whatever.
Nerzuls legacy has not ended though. The scourge still walk the lands of Azeroth. Gorefiend has been slain 3 times and is not found in the shadowlands and may yet still carry the memory of Nerzul with him in life or death or undeath. Alternate Universe Nerzul is ultimately responsible for the light-craze corruption of Yrel and death of Alternate Velen. The effects of which are mostly unknown of but expected to be a problem at some point in the future. Then again, I think the writers are happy to never touch WoD again and most lore local to draenor is also entirely isolated to AU draenor (ogre island, fahralon, anything that could be expanded on there’s no need to return to except for heritage quests)
If your question is specific only to the period of time of Wrath, then yes Nerzul is in the helm but he is subordinate to arthas who is in the driver seat. Nerzul is basically powerless to do anything and Arthas is ruthless in his pursuit of power. The two of them also seem to get cosmic AOL messages from jailer from time to time and the only thing they get along about is telling him to get lost, or hating the legion, or both.
The fragment of Arthas mortal, “good person” or morally ambigeous (culling), self seems to have gone to the maw while the “Litch King” that is an amalgum of souls, is within the Frost DKs blades. And I do not care at all what the writers say in some QA during Shadowlands regarding it, because nobody is ever truly dead in fiction and they certainly put a lot of thought and effort into the spirit of the litch king possessing the blade in legion. All the talking artifacts had baring on lore, even that version of LK hints at things in their dialogs. Not as helpful as Xalatath or Skull of Ma’nari but still some vague things and platitudes worth reading. Also, while I hate it, everyone is begging for retcons of shadowlands and if there was a few things I think would be good to retcon it would certainly be anything regarding Arthas. Nerzuls death feels fine, I did not even expect to see him, because I incorrectly assumed shattering the helm destroyed Nerzul.