Bolvar has now been Lich King longer than Arthas was. It's a little surprising to note that, given how iconic Arthas was and how we watched his entire journey from young, hot-headed paladin to undead traitor and then sovereign of the damned.
But there's been a huge question hanging ever since the end of the Icecrown Citadel raid.
To recap, for those who might not remember:
When we entered the Halls of Reflection and, depending on your faction, either Jaina or Sylvanas found, with us, Frostmourne floating above an altar in the Halls of Reflection, the spirit of Uther the Lightbringer appeared.
Uther was the first Knight of the Silver Hand, making him the first human paladin (the Draenei were a couple dozen thousand years ahead of him) and given that Arthas was the crown prince of Lordaeron, it was fitting that Uther became his mentor. But Arthas' ruthless tactics - even if they could have potentially served the greater good, like in Stratholme - created a rift between them that would allow Arthas to descend into obsession over revenge that ultimately allowed him to be corrupted by Frostmourne. When Arthas returned to Lordaeron and murdered his father, Uther confronted him, but ultimately fell to Frostmourne.
The evil rune blade traps the souls of those who touch it - whether dying on its blade or taking up the sword itself. It's not clear if there are any real exceptions to this - Illidan clearly lost the battle with Arthas, and one would imagine that he was wounded with the sword, though perhaps as a half-demon he had some kind of exemption from this effect (prior to his appearance in Onslaught Harbor in Icecrown, I had assumed Mal'ganis was only defeated by Frostmourne because the sword could trap his soul and prevent it from returning to the Twisting Nether.) It also appears as if the sword forged from Frostmourne's shards - the Blades of the Fallen Prince - do not have this same soul-trapping effect.
Anyway, to get back on topic: Uther tells us that there must always be a Lich King, for if the Scourge had no master it would run rampant and go full zombie apocalypse.
Later, when Terenas is freed from the sword and resurrects the raid at the end of the Lich King fight and his son lies dead beneath the Frozen Throne, he claims that there must always be a Lich King.
We took this at face value, but I've always felt skeptical about it.
How, exactly, does the Scourge having a central leadership make it less dangerous? I get that if Bolvar is holding them at bay, that makes sense. But Arthas did, truly, want to overwhelm the entire world with undeath. How would the Scourge be more dangerous without some intelligent strategist behind it all?
It's also a little confusing as to how, exactly, we were able to talk to Uther. One could, of course, just argue that a man of such conviction as Uther the Lightbringer could muster the force of will to push his consciousness out of the sword long enough to speak to Jaina and Sylvanas, but there's another very strange element to this:
Uther's soul shows up in the Western Plaguelands - and did so prior to the end of Wrath.
There was a pre-Cataclysm quest (I can't recall if it still exists) in which a Draenei NPC for the Alliance sends you to pay tribute to Uther, while a Blood Elf, who resents Uther for failing to prevent Arthas' fall to corruption, sends you to desecrate his tomb. In both cases, Uther's soul appears, to thank the Alliance players and to forgive the Horde ones.
But if Uther's soul was there, what was the one that emerged from Frostmourne?
Now, sure, this could just be a continuity error - WoW is huge and these things happen.
Terenas' appearance after Frostmourne is destroyed feels consistent, but I really have to wonder: was he telling the truth? Ominously, Terenas tells Arthas as he's dying "No king rules forever," which is a quote that we heard in the Yogg-Saron fight. Was Yogg-Saron just predicting this moment? Or is there something else at work?
The expectation is that Bolvar would be the right choice as "Jailor of the Damned." He spent about a year being tortured by Arthas and never giving in, never falling to necromantic corruption. Between his force of will as a paladin and the fires of the red dragons filling him with life, he seemed better suited than anyone to resist the corrupting power of the Helm of Domination.
And yet.
In Legion, we had our first major interactions with the Lich King in a long time. While Fire Mages got a brief visit to Icecrown Citadel to get Felo'melorn, Death Knights spent their entire campaign working alongside the Lich King. Indeed, there's a subtle development over the course of the class campaign that begins with the Ebon Blade not really trusting him as an ally, but by the end, Darion Mograine, former Highlord of the Ebon Blade, is now a direct servant of the Lich King once again.
And that campaign sees Death Knights massacring Paladins at Light's Hope and later invading (and potentially slaughtering) Red Dragons in the Ruby Dragonshrine. Heroes and villains of the past are raised as new Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Yes, it's all theoretically to help fight against the Legion, but damn if the Lich King doesn't become way more powerful by the end of it.
Which really raises some interesting questions: what does he intend to do with all this power?
The Scourge may not be rampaging across the world, but Bolvar has clearly rebuilt his base of power after we destroyed much of it in Wrath of the Lich King. And at its height, the Scourge was arguably the biggest menace on Azeroth - rivaling even the Old Gods.
When we crowned him, we assumed that Bolvar was making one last sacrifice, giving up his freedom and any hope for a normal life or even the release of death, in order to hold back the tide of undeath that was the Scourge.
And so far, I think the assumption has remained that that's his intention.
Is it, though?
Bolvar held out for a year being tortured by Arthas. But surely that's a different situation. The corruptor was external. Bolvar took on the power of the Lich King. He is not being tortured - he has been empowered. And power is a corrupting force like no other.
So what might we expect from Bolvar? Is he our worst nightmare, or is he the great and dark force that we will simply count ourselves lucky for having him on our side?
Five days until Blizzcon. If the Shadowlands leak is real - and usually the real ones come around when this one did - it suggests that he'll be playing at least some kind of role.
Will he be plot fodder? Someone to kill off at the beginning and throw everything into disarray? Will be be our only hope against the forces of Death? Or is Bolvar - no, scratch that - is the Lich King ready to make his move, and not repeat the same mistakes his predecessor made?
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