Well, then Blizzard wouldn’t have needed a magic soul-sucking sword to do the heavy lifting. But they did need that.
I’d say the rule of thumb is that if a writer can’t accomplish corruption without magical intervention to forcibly change a person’s personality, then they haven’t earned a narrative of damnation / annihilation being deserved. Redemption / Restoration is far more called for.
Never disagreed about him having that flaw, which he had when he was good too as you acknowledge. Good people have flaws. But he didn’t kill his dad because they disagreed about the best way to do something.
He killed his dad because the soul-sucking sword removed his conscience and he was dominated by the Lich King’s will, which wanted him to scourge Lordaeron of life.
Written by her, with direction/input on lore from the devs, from what I remember reading/hearing about, from back then.
I am copying this from one of my (numerous) past responses on this subject (I have many comments made on this. This one is the most recent):
Arthas was literally already being driven mad when he got to Strath. (Seriously, read the book). Those events, and everything after, were specifically to drive him to take up the sword.
I’m not going to read this book because I am basing my experiences on the games I have played.
But what I’m hearing from other people who have read this book is that this book did not exonerate him or excuse his actions so much as contextualize his rationalizations of them.
Okay. I am also a published fiction writer. But I just have little interest in a recap or a recontextualization of a story I already experienced in a different medium, because games are not a lesser medium than books.
What people seem to be saying is that this man was not exonerated for his chosen actions despite a plot being used against him. He still made immoral choices through his own agency. “Madness!” isn’t really a thing, unless it’s a physical health alteration.
If you’re telling me that literal magic made all of his choices for him (which I frankly see the game text disagree with) then he isn’t a character and is more or less a puppet.
I’m starting to think we can’t blame the writers because it is clear they don’t have writers. No I think they have cats following laser pointers with ink on their paws writing for them.
A legitimate argument can be made for the culling of Stratholme. The Plague of Undeath did not have and continues to not have a cure, and almost the entire city was infected. The people would either be killed by the Scourge or be risen AS the Scourge, so if nothing else they were able to die while still human and not as unfeeling, savage monsters.
The ship burning is the only unambiguously evil (and frankly idiotic) thing Paladin!Arthas really did, but you can say that he was overtaken with grief over Stratholme and again the aforementioned influence from Ner’zhul and the Jailer.
How is one expected to tell who is and isn’t infected when A. the disease is spread by tainted grains and bread (basic food that everyone is eating) which has been spread to the whole city, and B. The city is openly on fire and people are being slaughtered by zombies?
They did. I think they were tired of us wanting more of him so the destroyed him out of spite. I mean, not really. It’s probably just bad writing, but if not, then it was spite. Or both. I dunno LOL
I’m with you on everything. I love Sylvanas but the split soul thing makes everything she did less meaningful after her initial death. Her ‘redemption” feels cheap and undeserved. She committed heinous crimes, so honestly she needs to be punished to the same degree as them. Arthas had his reasons and is probably one of the few characters that hasn’t been ruined because his story has been done and had stayed done. I truly understand the disappointment people have for the cinematic he was sorta in, but his character still was givenjustice from beginning to end. Unless the Kael’thas quest line in SL proves otherwise, sounds like they left the blood elf prince nothing more than a greedy, entitled prick which was not his character at all. At least with TBC players could come up with reasons why he went evil.
