Arthas Menethil

Arthas Menethil is a fictional character who appears in the Warcraft series of video games by Blizzard Entertainment. In the games, he was once an apprentice paladin with promising potential, but later became one of the most powerful and evil beings in the history of Warcraft, as well as one of the most prominent and well-known antagonists in Warcraft lore. The character has received mostly positive critical reception, and is voiced by Justin Gross in Warcraft III and by Patrick Seitz in World of Warcraft.

Development
According to Warcraft game designers Scott Mercer and Greg Street, "early on in the development of Warcraft III, we knew the game would be about heroes leading their armies into battle. We initially created Arthas as one of those leaders, so we knew from the beginning he would be central to the storyline", and that he "is the bridge connecting the human and the undead campaigns."

Regarding the development of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Mercer stated that "when development began on Wrath of the Lich King, we knew we wanted the players to have a more personal connection with the Lich King [...] so we started designing quests and instances in which we could show the Lich King to the players." Developers also designed the game so that "players can see the wrecks of the Alliance ships that Arthas set ablaze [...] they can also find the altar upon which Arthas first discovered Frostmourne [...] We deliberately built these aspects into Wrath of the Lich King to help remind players who Arthas is and where he came from, which we hope makes his character that much more vivid in players’ minds."

Role in Warcraft
Arthas Menethil was the prince of Lordaeron and son of Terenas Menethil. Arthas is an idealistic, yet some what rash, young man who dreams of one day succeeding his father as King of Lordaeron. Arthas became an apprentice paladin at nine-teen and has served as a favorite pupil of Uther the Lightbringer ever since. Though Arthas loves the kindly Uther as an uncle, he longs to take command of his own destiny and become a hero like those brave veterans who fought the orcs during the Second War. Despite the heartache he felt when his brief affair with the sorceress, Jaina Proudmoore, came to an end, Arthas has remained remarkably committed to his roles as both the Prince of Lordaeron and as a holy paladin. He has a deep reverence for the holy Light and wants nothing more than to safeguard his beloved people from harm.

When Arthas took up the fight against the Scourge, he became increasingly frustrated and stymied by the seemingly unstoppable enemy. Arthas took increasingly extreme steps to conquer them. Finally Arthas' comrades warned him that he was losing his hold on his humanity. Arthas' fear and resolve proved to be his ultimate undoing. He tracked the plague's source to Northrend, intending to end its threat forever. Instead, Prince Arthas eventually fell prey to the Lich King's tremendous power when he took up the cursed runeblade, Frostmourne, believing that it would save his people. Though the sword did grant him unfathomable power, it also stole his soul and transformed him into the greatest of the Lich King's death knights. With his soul cast aside and his sanity shattered, Arthas led the Scourge against his own kingdom. He murdered his own father, King Terenas, and crushed Lordaeron under the Lich King's iron heel.

When the Lich King was threatened by the forces of Illidan Stormrage, Arthas traveled to the Frozen Throne of Northrend and broke the ice surrounding his master, donning the Lich King's helm and merging with him. He took control of the Scourge as the Lich King, and years later challenged the Alliance and the Horde by initiating attacks on their cities. This led the Alliance and the Horde to march on to Northrend to war against him. Arthas is a raid boss and the primary antagonist to the World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King. He was mortally wounded after being defeated by Tirion Fordring and adventurers in his fortress Icecrown Citadel. He was succeeded as Lich King by Bolvar Fordragon.

Other appearances
Arthas appears as a playable character in the crossover game Heroes of the Storm. His play style engages with his enemies directly, freezing and slowing them. Arthas can also summons undead spirits of enemy Heroes he kills to fight for him. Although Arthas and the Death Knight class are not currently featured in the card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, designer Ben Brode has stated that additional classes may eventually be added, saying "we also felt like maybe some day we will do the Deathknight class and Monk class and so on [...] I’m not sure if we need more classes, but we certainly could add more someday."

Reception
The character has received mostly positive reception, and is often included on lists involving the most popular Warcraft characters and video game characters as a whole. Empire listed Arthas #25 on their list of "the 50 greatest video game characters", writing "Of all the characters in Warcraft lore, Arthas Menthil is the most tragic. The heir to the throne of Lordaeron, Arthas set out to save his father's kingdom from The Scourge of undead, only to be tricked into joining their ranks by taking up the cursed sword Frostmourne and ultimately becoming their lord and master, The Lich King. Talk about doing a one-eighty." He was also included on "The 10 best video-game characters" list by The Guardian, who claimed that "initially the valiant model of a medieval knight, everything changes when Arthas picks up a cursed sword and begins to perpetrate a steadily more sinister series of atrocities (think dead peasants), culminating in killing his own father. The character really came into his own in the mighty World of Warcraft, over which his twisted spirit presided for five years. Top-class schlock."

Matthew Rossi of Engadget listed the Lich King #4 on his list of the "Top 10 magnificent bastards of Warcraft, since he "successfully molded Arthas into the perfect death knight [...] Arthas went from an earnest young prince and paladin trying desperately to save his people to a cackling villain who betrayed them, and it was more Arthas' doing than the Lich King's that Illidan was defeated." He also wrote that "Arthas was useful because he started as a basically good, if somewhat arrogant, young paladin who slowly grew obsessed over time as he witnessed the actions of the Scourge, making mistakes [...] and then justifying each mistake as a necessity. By the time he took up Frostmourne and lost his soul, he'd long since eroded it away with expedient choices that were, in fact, monstrous [...] Arthas as a death knight and later Arthas as the Lich King showed this tendency to want to justify or prove his actions were the right ones, that anyone would have done what he did." Rossi also claimed that "what did Arthas, the part of Arthas still alive inside the Lich King, want to teach us? Ultimately, that power corrupts. Power corrupted him, and it will corrupt you, too. That it is inescapable, and thus, Arthas couldn't have escaped it - that becoming the Lich King was inevitable, that all kings and princes and people of power ultimately end up slaves to themselves."

Arthas was listed on Complex's list of "25 dead video game characters we wish were still here", as "in the same way that Boromir was corrupted in Lord of the Rings, Arthas represents the folly of man, and how easily power can be corrupted. Because of this, we almost want him to survive just to serve as an example that redemption is possible in anyone. If the Lich King had been able to turn around his ways, then there would've been hope for us all." IGN found Arthas to be one of "gaming's most notorious anti-heroes", since "Arthas Menethil began as something of a Disney prince, upholding the Light wherever he saw the need. But with the arrival of the plague of undeath, the Light in Arthas began to waver [...] but as is often the case, he wasn't a simple prince-turned-insane-villain. The newly formed Lich King may have been evil, but he was keeping the undead Scourge in check, holding back the flood of the decrepit and the mindless." Arthas also features in Warcraft-related merchandise, such as Halloween costumes.