None of those. He resisted the Jailor’s whispers. The Old God’s cannot affect the undead. And the Legion had no sway over him. Chronicle states that Arthas’s goal was to scourge the whole world and rule some sort of undead Utopia that would also be strong and united enough to fight off the legion.
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Arthas was a jerk way before Frostmourne. From Invincible, the jilting of Jaiana, Strathholme, stealing his father’s fleet, burning his own ships, hiring mercenaries to kill his own marines, to ignoring the warnings surrounding Frostmounre. He was creating that child way before his soul was even split.
Uther’s soul was split. Sylvanas’ soul was split. They both found redemption. Arthas deserved his final fate; with the last remanence of his soul wisping away into nothingness.
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Arthas’ reasoning was arguably twofold. From a practical standpoint he thought an Azeroth united as Scourge could better stand against the Burning Legion, but behind even that reasoning was the less practical and more emotion-driven need to justify what he’d done by “saving” Azeroth.
Scourging the entire world might feasibly stop the Burning Legion from ever invading again, but moreover it would retroactively make every heinous wrong he’d committed toward that end “right.” Basically ever since Stratholme - whether one agrees with his reasoning in that specific instance or not - Arthas remained on a course of accruing more and more sins in the belief that when all was said and done, the payoff would justify him and the world would be able to look back at his misdeeds and judge them all necessary and worthwhile sacrifices.
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The goal, according to official lore, was for Ner’zhul to spread the plague of undeath to eliminate the defenders of Azeroth that would impede the Legion’s arrival. That was what Kil’jaeden wanted Ner’zhul to do.
Secretly the Dreadlords, who were feigning loyalty to the Burning Legion but were actually working for Sire Denathrius and the Jailer wanted Ner’zhul to serve the Jailer’s interests on Azeroth. Ner’zhul didn’t stick to the plan, however, which was why Mal’ganis lured Arthas to Northrend. When Arthas took up the blade and put the Helm of Domination on his head later, he was supposed to serve as the Jailer’s ‘Champion’ on Azeroth who would herald his coming. But again, thanks to Ner’zhul and his own willpower, he ‘mostly’ resisted, although subconsciously there were some effects, which is why he built Icecrown Citadel the way it was, including the Forge of Souls which would be used by the Jailer during the events of Shadowlands.
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Incidentally, discovering the dreadlords’ true loyalties in Shadowlands has since cast potential doubt on whether Ner’zhul ever actually had them fooled with his plans to escape the Legion’s confinement via Arthas, or if they recognized what he was really up to all along and just didn’t inform Kil’jaeden because letting Ner’zhul’s scheme continue unimpeded fit into the Denathrius’ and Jailer’s plans for the Lich King.
I expect, although this is not confirmed, that the Dreadlords knew that Ner’zhul was defiant (after all they had been there watching as Ner’zhul defied Kil’jaeden before), which is why Mal’ganis lured Arthas to Northrend.
If they thought that Ner’zhul would work with them, chances are they’d have just had him serve as the Jailer’s champion. But his constant scheming and rebellious nature ensured that never happened, and it’s why his soul ended up in the Maw.
the fact that Denethrius/Zovaal’s plan required so many many many strings of failures that such perfectly led to the events of Shadowlands has since cast potential doubt on whether the story developers who thought it made sense/was a good idea kept their positions and are still on the story development team.
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It’s almost as if a bad guy tries multiple times rather than just saying: “Whoops, guess I messed up, oh well, you all win.”
Sargeras tried to wipe out Azeroth multiple times and failed each and every time, but he didn’t stop after the War of the Ancients and go: “Oh, well, I got beat so I guess I’ll start looking for another planet to conquer.”
After the Jailer’s initial plan to get a champion on Azeroth failed (which was Arthas), he tried to exert his will over Bolvar, then recruited Sylvanas to dispatch Bolvar and destroy the helm to open the way, which is what Arthas/Bolvar was supposed to do, act as his herald and prepare the way for his arrival.
