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.