Arthas Menethil

Arthas Menethil
Series	Warcraft
Age	31
Birthday	Unknown
Sex	Male
Species	Undead Human
Height	N/A
Weight	N/A
Alignment	Lawful Evil

“	All life, must end...	„
	~ Arthas Menethil, The Lich King

Arthas Menethil, later known as the Lich King, is an undead villain of the Warcraft series. He leads the undead armies of the Scourge in an attempt to conquer the world of Azeroth from his throne atop Icecrown Citadel. 

Background

After Ner'zhul and the Orcish Horde failed to invade Azeroth for the Burning Legion, the demon lord, Kil'jaeden, destroyed Ner'zhul's mortal body, trapped his spirit in a block of ice and a suit of armour, thrusted him into the glacier of Icecrown, and turned him into the first Lich King, leader of the undead Scourge.

Arthas Menethil, crown prince of the kingdom of Lordaeron, desired to defeat the demon dreadlord Mal'Ganis and his army of undead, caused him to fall into the Legion's plan; Hearing the voice of the Lich King, transforming the once kind paladin into a death knight, and becoming the one that would lead the scourge itself to decimate his own kingdom, as well as many others.

Now donning the armor of the itself and joining his mind with Ner'zhul, Arthas gained full control over Scourge with no one, not even the Burning Legion itself, controlling him, finally becoming the king he wished to be.

Powers & Abilities

• Eye of Acherus:
  • Secret Revealing:
  • Ghoul Summoning:
• Flight & Leviation:
• Frost Magic:
  • Cryokinesis: The Lich King is a master of ice magic, being able to utilize the element through various means. He has shown to be capable of freezing foes in a solid block of ice, creating ice spheres that harm nearby victims, creating giant ice spikes and can create ice tendrils. His control over the element is so great that he can freeze water in order to create a bridge of ice over the sea for his armies to go through.
• Blood Magic: Whilst Arthas has not displayed these abilities himself, Death Knights generally possess the ability to manipulate blood in various ways.
  • Blood Tap:
• Mind Manipulation:
• Soul Manipulation:
• Quake:
• Unholy Magic:
  • Necromancy: Ner’zhul, and by extension the Lich King, have complete control over the undead (to the point that their souls are bound to the Lich King’s will), binding them to his evil forever until they are slain. He can create skeletons, ghouls, abominations, vile spirits, etc. He can even resurrect non-humanoid beings such as Nerubians, in order to fight for his army. His most impressive feat of Necromancy was the time he resurrected the mighty frost wyrm, Sindragosa to fight on his behalf.
    • Undead Summons:
• Plague of Undeath:
• Shadow Magic:
  • Darkness Manipulation:
• Weather Manipulation:
• Teleportation:
• Immortality:
• Notable Spells:
  • Fury of Frostmourne: Deals massive damage & disables resurrection.
  • Harvest Soul: Pulls a soul into Frostmourne to be devoured.
  • Necrotic Plague: An infection that spreads.
  • Raise Dead: Turns a corpse into an undead servant.
  • Remorseless Winter: Causes a huge winter storm.
  • Summons Drudge Ghouls: Creates multiple ghouls.
  • Summon Ice Sphere: Creates ice projectile.
  • Summon Shadow Trap: Creates an explosive trap.

Equipment

• Frostmourne: The powerful sword that is the source of Arthas' lich powers. It houses the soul of Ner'zhul, the original Lich King, which controls Arthas from inside the blade. The sword is powerful enough to effortlessly shatter other weapons that cross blades with it.
  • Soul Absorption: Frostmourne can drain the soul of anyone the blade comes into contact with. If the opponent is slain by the sword, their soul is permanently absorbed.
  • Sentience: Since Frostmourne is home to the soul of the original Lich King, it has a mind of its own.
    • Corruption: Anyone who first picks up Frostmourne is slowly driven to darkness, as the blade eats away at the user's morality, eventually turning them evil if they weren't already. Once evil, Frostmourne forcefully transforms the user into an undead warrior, absorbing the soul of the victim and gaining their skills and memories.
    • Mind Control: So long as Frostmourne remains 1 mile from corrupted undead, it has complete control over their actions.
    • Telepathy: Frostmourne and Arthas share a psychic link that transcends dimensional barriers.
  • Goodness & Life Smite: Frostmourne is more effective against good-hearted and/or living beings.
  • Intangibility Bypassing: Frostmourne hits incorporeal and intangible enemies as if they were corporeal.
  • Bleeding: When struck by Frostmourne, an enemy begins to bleed, losing stamina and taking damage over time.
  • Chaos Generation: Frostmourne damages opponents with pure chaotic energy with each strike.
• Helm of Domination: The crown of the Lich King. Anyone that wears the crown becomes the new Lich King, granting them the power to control the undead Scourge. If the current Lich King is still alive when attempting to wear the crown, it will unleash a surge of power to deny the wearer, killing most mortals. Regardless, it can not be stolen until the previous King has died.
• Saronite Armor:
  • Self-Repairs:
  • Resistance to Magic:
  • Holy & Light Magic Reflection:
• Sindragosa: Once an ancient and powerful blue dragon. After being betrayed and struck down, Sindragosa died in the cold Tundra of Northrend, her final thoughts turned to bitter hatred. Thousands of years later, Arthas would re-animate her remains as a frost wyrm, enslaving the once great and powerful dragon into the service of the Scourge.
• The Scourge:
• Army of Undead:
• Light's Vengance:
• The Frozen Throne:

Feats

Strength

• Froze the ocean between Eversong Woods and the Isle of Quel'Danas (111 teratons of TNT).
• Battled and killed Mal’Ganis.
• With a single strike, killed Horde’s warchief Dranosh Saurfang and shattered the weapon.
• Blasted a Undead Tauren through a Saronite Wall.
• Defeated Ilidain Stormrage who:
  • Killed Gul’Dan, an extremely powerful warlock and someone who posed a major threat to Legion players.
  • Defeated the Pit Lord Magtheridon.
  • Killed the Pit Lord Azgoth.
  • Superior to Burning Crusade-era Champions of Azeroth who were unable to defeat him without side help.
  • Implied to have taken part in the battle against Argus the Unmaker, who easily overwhelmed the Titan Pantheon.
  • Powerful enough to act as Sargeras’ jailer alongside the Titan Pantheon.
• Superior to Wrath of the Lich King era Champions of Azeroth who:
  • Prior to fighting the Lich King, were able to defeat demons such as Eredar and Pit Lords, who have been shown to be able to annihilate the surface of a planet, and even destroy a planet outright.
  • Held their own against Archimonde for a time, a demon second in power only to Sargeras himself, and thus should be vastly more powerful than Pit Lords and other Eredar.
  • Defeated Algalon the Observer, who belongs to a race of beings that traveled the cosmos alongside Titans, and on at least one occasion were able to fight alongside Argus, and keep up with Legion-era players. Algalon himself has multiple abilities that are described as creating stars or constellations.
  • Have defeated multiple Titan Watchers and Keepers, whom the Winter Queen has been directly compared to. The Winter Queen is the sister and counterpart to Elune, who could create a constellation.
• Comparable to Bolvar Fordragon who:
  • Fought a Jailer-empowered Sylvanas Windrunner, who later posed a major threat to characters like the Champions of Azeroth, Jaina Proudmoore, Tyrande Whisperwind, and Thrall.
  • Lifted large stone structures with his telekinesis.
  • Was still able to somewhat keep pace with Shadowlands era threats such as Sylvanas and a Jailer-controlled Anduin, even after losing access to his Lich King powers, albeit to a much less effective degree than before.
• The Lich King’s powers (as seen with Bolvar) and Arthas’ own soul powered Kingsmourne, a major threat to Shadowlands-era characters, including the Champions of Azeroth, who by that time had:
  • Defeated Xavius in the Rift of Aln who was capable of corrupting the entire Emerald Dream, and even began merging the Emerald Nightmare into baseline reality.
  • Defeated the Coven of Shivarra, who were keeping members of the Titan Pantheon imprisoned and were channeling their powers against the players.
  • Defeated the Titan Aggramar.
  • Were able to kill the Titan Argus, who even the Titan Pantheon could not defeat on their own. Argus also possessed the ability to cast End of All Things, which would have destroyed the universe.
  • Was able to fight on par with the Old God N’Zoth, who created the alternate reality of Ny’alotha.
• Destroyed a prison that endured planet shaking attacks

Speed

• Scales to Illidan (as demonstrated with his fight against him), who traveled from ground to cloud height in a short timeframe (Mach 4.7 - 18.8).
• Scales to the Champion of Azeroth who:
  • Moved in tandem with a light beam (0.219c).
  • Prior to fighting the Lich King, defeated Algalon the Observer, who could casually travel between multiple stars within an undefined, but short, time frame.
  • Fought Titans, who:
    • Waged a war across the cosmos that destroyed stars in a single fight (87.66 billion - 87.66 trillion c).
    • Have been stated to be able to destroy entire solar systems in the span of a heartbeat (3790.12c).

Durability

• Tanked an attack from a massive tauren Trag; the "wound" on his armor also healed up immediately.
• Saronite (which Arthas’s armor is made up from) can resist attacks from Holy and Nature Spells.
• Due to Arthas’s soul being contained in Frostmourne and not actually his physical body, it is very difficult to kill him without destroying Frostmourne.
• Cut out his own heart after his battle with Illidan.
• Tanked a blow from a Light-Empowered Uther that sent him flying.
• Survived getting attacked by the Forsaken’s New Plague which can melt human beings into goo, as well as completely vaporize the undead within seconds.
• Survived Illidan's "Immolation" spell which utilizes fel magic, which can destroy the soul, such as with spells like Soul Fire.
• Withstood mental-based attacks from Priests who can damage the target's mind.
• Tanked attacks from Shamans including Lava Burst which fires Molten Lava at the target

Skill

• Suppressed Ner’zhul within his mind, becoming the only Lich King.
• Defeated Kel'thuzad, Mal'ganis, Uther the Lightbringer, Sylvanas Windrunner, Archmage Antonidas, Kael'thas Sunstrider, Illidan Stormrage, Champion of Azeroth and many more.
• Succeeded his father as the King of Lordaeron.
• Threatened the entirety of Azeroth with the might of his army.
• Eradicated 90% of the high elven race.
• To this day the most iconic character Warcraft has ever seen.
• Conquered a country quickly & effortlessly
• Considered the most powerful Lich King
• Can canonically wipe out an entire 25 man raid

Weaknesses

• Arthas is largely dependent on the Helm of Domination and Frostmourne. Although removing the helm will not kill a Lich King, as seen with Bolvar, it will cut them off from its power, and appears to cause a significant amount of pain. Should Frostmourne be destroyed, the spirits trapped within will swarm Arthas, rendering him completely unable to act, making him a free target for his opponent.
• Additionally, while his dominance over captured souls is impressive, spirits with strong enough willpower like Trag can break free from his control.
• The Light can also break Arthas' control over someone, as seen with the Death Knight Thassarian.
• Fire is effective at destroying ghouls and zombies created by the Lich King’s plagues.