I will be discussing the overall arch of Wrath herein, including the end video of the Lich King encounter. If you have not seen it and do not wish to be spoiled, well, I’m not really going to be saying anything that would spoil it really. More than likely anything I mention you would have already guessed by now anyway.
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Leaving some blank space so you don’t actually have to read anything if you don’t want to.
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Right then.
So Arthas is dead, the Lich King is dead, the head of the beast that we call the Scourge lopped off where he dies a quiet, ignominious death on the floor.
These are the facts we know, from earlier quests in the game and the novel about Arthas:
- The Lich King is simply that. There is no Ner’Zhul, strictly speaking there isn’t even supposed to be a true Arthas anymore. He threw away his humanity, what’s left is just the Lich King.
- The Lich King has been taunting and mocking us all the way through this entire expansion. He shows up, says “Oh %t, you so crazy”, disappears, and even when we break into his home he still pulls the old “haha how amusing” type lines.
- Both Uther and Terenas (Arthas’ dad) have told us there must always be a Lich King, or the scourge would run rampant and kill everything.
How, Chastity has the rather intriguing idea that all this was simply Arthas pulling an hero by forcing the world to come and kill him. It’s kind of a scary though, but I’ll get to that in a moment with my own theory.
This whole “there must always be a lich king” thing gets thrown around a lot, often derided whenever it’s brought up. But I wonder… why, exactly, do we believe it?
No seriously. We have it on the word of Uther and Terenas only that there must always be a Lich King. More accurately, we have it on the word of Arthas’ Father’s soul and a piece of Uther’s soul, both of which have been trapped within Frostmourne enslaved by the Lich King for years.
That is what we are trusting. This isn’t something Tirion Fording told us, it isn’t something that was decreed by Medivh, this isn’t something Alextrasza told us.
This is something a soul that looks like Uther, a soul that looks like Terenas told us.
First, how do we know their will is their own? The Lich King has been pretty damn good about utterly quashing the free will of others, he even has factories, actual factories, to do that. Entire assembly lines dedicated to subjugating the wills of other beings.
And so we’re somehow trusting souls that are trapped within the very heart of the power?
Second, how do we even know it was really Uther in the Halls of Reflection? A wispy spirit shows up that happens to look like Uther appears. We’re all “Holy crap, Uther, is that you?!” and the soul says “yeah, it’sa me, Uthero!” and we just flat out believe him?
Which brings me to my theory, which is two fold.
The first fold is simple. The Scourge itself is not a collection of small entities, but rather is one huge collective conscience. The stereotypical hive mind, if you will.
The second fold is a little more complicated.
There is a military strategy that, for lack of a better term, I will call “the long game”. The point of such a strategy looks beyond anything short term, and plans solely for the end game, whatever the end game might be. It plans for ultimate victory, and as long as that is accomplished, any short term losses are acceptable.
I’ll try and illustrate what I mean here.
What is the Scourge? A huge, continuously refreshing army of undead bent on destroying all life.
Can the Scourge be “killed”? Yes, it is entirely possible to completely wipe them out. Extremely difficult to eliminate completely, but we Azerothians have been doing a damn fine job of defeating them near everywhere we go.
Now, imagine if you were the Scourge. Not an individual scourge, but the hive mind consciousness. Your goal is to destroy all life on Azeroth, yes? So how do you go about doing that when even the mighty Burning Legion has failed multiple times?
Now picture the current situation in game. We have Bolvar on the throne, a full Lich King, in command of the severely weakened Scourge.
We have the victorious armies of the horde and alliance, nearly at each other’s throats with relations worse than they have ever been.
And perhaps most importantly, we have Tirion Fording, nearly the only man on the entire planet that both the horde and the alliance trust explicitly, telling everyone to rest easy because the Scourge has been defeated.
I cannot even begin to imagine a more ideal situation for the Scourge to be in.
In the events of Warcraft III, the Scourge was still ostensibly under Burning Legion control. The Scourge was forced to make it’s presence known and felt to the world at large, sacking human and elven kingdoms alike. Of course the Scourge knew that there inevitably would be backlash against itself. It was given no choice by the Burning Legion, it had to start making plans for it’s own survival.
It brought a champion north, one Arthas Menethil, someone who could personify the Scourge, giving it’s enemies in Azeroth a face to hate, something they could delude themselves into believing they could defeat.
The entire world considered the Scourge a threat, no matter how low it laid (and it did lay extremely low during TBC, if you’ll remember) eventually Azeroth would sort out that whole Old God and Burning Legion business and come bearing down on Northrend with huge armies.
Instead, the Scourge hits first. Victory at this point is not the intent, rather, defeat is. The plan is to hit both sides hard, but haphazardly, forcing them to put the Scourge as the top priority enemy to defeat whilst still leaving them intact enough to actually fight and win a major war.
The Scourge launched simultaneous attacks all over Azeroth. Massive invasions of both Orgrimmar and Stormwind, and piles and piles of forces hitting Mulgore, Tanaris, Azshara, etc, all at once in a huge, disorganized, and intentionally ineffective offensive.
The Scourge even went to great length to “lose” a bunch of powerful Death Knights back to their original factions. This does two things: first, it gives the impression that the Scourge is fallible. Second, it provides both factions with a great number of extremely skilled soldiers that hate Arthas and will stop at nothing to kill him.
Not the Scourge itself, just Arthas. Death Knights hold no ill will towards the Scourge, just Arthas. You think that was all an accident?
Finally, by attacking Light’s Hope, the Scourge forces Tirion Fordring himself to become involved.
The end result of this is a massive offensive on the part of the horde and alliance, resulting in numerous defeats of the Scourge all across Northrend. Kel’Thuzad dies, perhaps permanently this time, and one by one all the strongest and most powerful leaders of the Scourge are eliminated.
But this entire offensive was never intended to defeat the Scourge, all the way through it is intended to defeat Arthas. Indirectly this is supposed to be the end of the Scourge
Finally, once the horde and alliance reach the very heart of scourge power, it flat out lies to Tirion/Jaina/Sylvanus et al through the guise of Uther (you honestly think Arthas killing Uther and claiming his soul to have been out of sheer vengeance?) that there must always be a Lich King.
None of them question Uther, of course. The holiest of holies, his word as infallible as his weapon in combat, why on earth would anyone question what he says?
Let’s just ignore facts like Mu’ru, a being constructed of holy energy, was corruptible.
The Scourge needs a Lich King. Without one, it would slowly wither and “die”. There is absolutely no reason for its enemies to know that, however.
In the end, the Scourge gets a new Lich King, one everyone thinks is dead, the hated enemy of everyone is dead, the scourge is considered defeated, and Tirion Fordring, another of those holiest of holies paladins everyone trusts, tells us exactly that based on the advice of the new Lich King.
We’ve been outplayed. The Scourge had already won before Stratholme even fell, and none of us know it.
I read a book where this happened. The characters were all doggedly trying to fulfill this prophecy but no one questioned where it came from or who’s side it was for. Turns out it was for the other side.
Oops.
Sounds like a lot of books, which one were you referring to?
And great post Q. I personally will keep a much closer eye on this “defeated” enemy.
It isn’t that uncommon of a subversion to a classic trope.
Such blind faith in prophecy is just begging to be subverted.
It might be Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Or if not, then it had a plot element quite similar. Good book and series.
I hadn’t thought of this angle before, as I was trusting Uther just like the rest of them. Thinking that somehow there was a glimmer of Arthas left, holding the Scourge back for some reason, even though he had torn out his heart, had it destroyed, and set the plague and other numerous horrors upon the world.
Your theory also explains why he never killed us when he appeared all those times. He was simply grinding our gears, making us want to kill him more for taunting us.
I had thought Bolvar would have been resistant to any taking over by the helm (I had thought it would have been the Burning Legion trying to retake dominance, didn’t even think of the Scourge). Perhaps he will be, perhaps he won’t. Time will tell, though the change to his voice after he’s sealed into the throne is… foreboding.
I like it, I like it a lot, and I seriously hope the truth is along these lines, because it would be so much more interesting.
So what are the Scourge’s future plans then?
What the Scourge’s next moves are depends entirely on what their end goal is.
Are they still a tool of the Burning Legion? Then it’s to pave the way for (another) Legion invasion.
Are they free from Legion control, but still aiming to do that whole wipe out all life thing? Then they’re going to need to rebuild, and do it as stealthily as possible.
At which point you have to ask, are they merely going to take over Azeroth, or become a second Burning Legion and set their sights on the universe?
Imagine an unlimited horde of slavering undead conquering the stars one by one…
Or, does the swarm have completely different ideas in mind? Maybe it wants to do nothing until all the dragon aspects are dead. Maybe it’s content to wait a million years for a titan to return.
Imagine a TITAN as a Lich King.
Maybe it intends to follow the route taken by the Forsaken, and simply make a home for itself.
And, and this is an example of a reeeally long game plan, maybe they intend to simply wait for the heat death of the universe.
Undead could still function fine in a heat death universe (that’s necromancy for you), so what better place for a society of undead than a universe that is no longer capable of supporting life?
This is a very good theory. This ties in nicely with the theory Greyseer had about Mal’Ganis and the Burning Legion pulling the strings of the Lich King.
Oh I like this very much
Such theories are too deep for Blizzard.
Perhaps, but it’s way more fun this way 😀
I think there always needs to be a Lich King because without one, there’d be no zombies. And killing zombies is fun.
Your theory is way less complicated and just as fun.
By the way, shooting bosses in Icecrown with that air rifle we got at christmas is flat out hilarious. It hits for one damage and is way too fun.
Though sometimes you get stunned, which is pretty hilarious.
I be the BB gun makes Recount junkies cry a little on the inside. And probably the outside, too.
Is pretty much how I saw it, only you thought it out a lot mores. Nicely done.
I’m a mage. Thinking about things a lot is what I do.
I had similar theories about Kael’thas in BC. From the very beginning you’re only told that Kael is crazy and evil by the people who deserted from him and you’re never given any credible reason why you should take everything the Scryers said as the truth with no other possibilities.
Turns out Blizzard is just really crap about telling a consistent story and not leaving major major plotholes around.
Does this mean the Knights of the Ebon Blade(reformed Deathknights) are a sleeper cell, and will secretly foment discord between the Horde and Alliance while the Scourge prepares for it’s next attempt at destroying all life? The end of the next expansion will be a super surprise when the Cataclysm is found to have been actually caused by the Scourge, and in the expansion after that the Deathknights will reunite with the Scourge and become the third playable faction. Thus begins the end of THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT.
Death Knights can summon ghouls and gargoyles loyal to themselves. Hell, Death Knights can summon entire armies of ghouls.
What, pray tell, are those ghouls?
They’re walking corpses, enslaved to their master’s will.
Hmm… sounds a lot like Scourge to me.
And by the way, how do any of us know that these Death Knights actually are free? They say they are, but why do we believe them?
Because Tirion said so?
… I’m noticing a trend here…
I love this theory. It’s great. It fits, and makes sense. The new Lich King clearly sounded like an evil person based on the tone of voice. The fact that he told Tirion to “forget me” and “never come back” means he’s given himself the space he needs to build up a new army.
I really hope one of the future expansions brings this story back, and we see the new Lich King come out in the form of Bolvar.
The Scourge are still around in massive number complete with a Lich King. There’s absolutely no way the Scourge aren’t coming back in some fashion.
I also noticed that “There Must Always Be a Lich King” is something we’re only told by people who we have no reason to believe whatsoever – my personal theory was that it was the Burning Legion pulling their *extremely common* trick of impersonating trustworthy people to get the good guys to do what they want.
Unfortunately, like Shayzani, I don’t actually think Blizzard thinks like that. I’m pretty sure that they’re just being grossly, annoyingly inconsistent.
Similar to Star Wars, fan theories usually turn out more intelligent and consistent than anything the original writer(s) came up with.
Is it really so bad to believe the fan theories instead of word of god?
Great theory. In response to Chas’ comment, I add only that it’s not only the Burning Legion that is very well known for impersonating people… *cough Deathwing’s children…*
Is there any chance this will be seen by blizzard and be considered for plot? It’s a really well thought and sensicle concept that I would like to be true.
Also, is there any kind of correllation between the hive mind of the scourge and the silithids? ie Function, Structure, etc
Probably?
Both, I think, would act very similar to how ants are. Any individual unit is essentially a mindless drone. Left to it’s own devices, a single unit would merely amble about pointlessly.
Get them together in huge groups, though, and you have a veritable swarm intelligence thing going on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_intelligence
I’m not too great with science, so really the best I can say is that the Scourge are a lot like ants. Undead ants.
Perhaps the results of the Spider War are what caused the Scourge to turn into the Hivemind it is today? Before inducting the Nerubians into the Scourge it was simply the Lich King as the overlord, and the mindless zombies following. After the minds of the Nerubians were added to the swarm of souls, they started to take shape?
Interesting turn you’ve taken us down!
I like this. I like this a lot. Reaaallly makes me wonder what’s coming after Cataclysm.
Icecrown Citadel was just a setback!
Interesting; question, though: I get the feeling that Blizz is going to ‘reveal’ that Deathwing is now either a host for Sargeras or an avatar of Sargeras; do you think they would do that?
(Also, it strikes me that the ‘ending’ for LK is more-than-somewhat reminiscent of the ending for Diablo 1; donning my trusty tinfoil hat, a la D2, it would make some sense that the Pantheon is going to comeback and ‘reboot’ Azeroth at some point, no? I though Algalon in heroic Ulduar more-or-less implied this is going to happen…)
I’ve always wondered where the titans are and what they’re doing. They just sorta left Azeroth behind and… went and did what? Are they even aware there’s this huge Burning Legion thing running around trying to destroy everything?
Buncha dicks, in my opinion.
From the first time I saw that outro movie, I thought “hey, what if the Lich King really did break Bolvar, and just made us all think he resisted? What if he was keeping Bolvie around as a back-up, in case he died? I mean, damn, Lava-Bolvar certainly SOUNDS evil enough …”
But when you’re dealing with a being that can possess the will and likeness of anything it’s killed (and it’s killed a lot of things), supported by a secretive, fanatical cult that has apparently infiltrated all levels of both the Horde and the Alliance, you can make just about anything sound possible.
It’s wild speculation. Fun wild speculation, sure. But you can’t really say anything definitively.
You are correct, but Blizz probably won’t reveal anything for, probably, years yet story wise.
And yeah, it’s tons of fun.
Illuminati syndrome.
I disagree with your conclusion that the Scourge Armies would wither and slowly die if there were no new Lich King.
Even if the Scourge somehow worked as a Hive, the Lich King would still be the Queen Bee. With no Leader inside the hive the Scourge would just go Berserk.
With the Armies of both Alliance and Horde bound in Nordrend, The Eastern Kingdoms would lay in ruins befor we could return.
The Game as it is does imao not reflect the true Strength of the Scurge. As I understood from Quests and Books, there are Millions of Zombies which we have not yet encunterd und without them being mind controlled by some sort of Leader the would just run rampage and the next Expansion would just be running Battles all over the Old World with us batteling thousands of Thrashmobs and the occasional a bit more Powerfull Leaders of the Pack…
There are two ways to look at this. The first, as you’ve so described, is that we’re all being played and the Scourge won. But take another look at things:
The Lich King, up until fairly recently (the book at the very least) was an imperfect gestalt of Arthas, Ner’zul and Arthas’ remaining humanity. This inner conflict is what ‘held back’ the Scourge, as the Lich King couldn’t muster the full force of will to command the Scourge and destroy Azeroth.
Arthas gets fed up with Ner’zul, fed up with the kid, and kills them both. No more ambiguity, no more conflict, now he’s ready to rock and roll. The ‘shackle’ has been broken…and must be replaced.
Listening to Arthas during the climax of the fight, he’s pretty blatant about his master plan. He held back slaughtering the Horde and Alliance because he wanted to cull the herd, and await the very best and mightiest in order to crush them himself, and raise them as his personal high guard. He was on the verge of creating 25(10) new Scourge Lords right then and there, each who had personally bested every challenge on Azeroth and Outland combined. They would be unstoppable.
Arthas was about to put together the most EPPPPIIIC of epic raiding guilds, and then put every major capital in Azeroth on permanent farm status. Remember the Battle for Undercity? Can you imagine what Arthas’ “Battle Hymn” would do?
But lo! Now we have Bolvar, who replaces Arthas’ original angst and inner turmoil with (apparently) iron resolve and a steadfast devotion to mediocre leadership of the Scourge. He is determined to be a half-assed guild leader, who doesn’t maximize his player pool or even make a majority of raiding nights. But for the Scourge, he’s the only game in town, and he’s sitting on the Frozen Throne, which makes him the boss. They aren’t so good about that free will thing, remember? But someday, Bolvar is going to get bored, or resentful of his lot in life, or SOMETHING, and he’ll do what Arthas did. Then we’ll need another Shackle.
The forces of the Living have two options: wipe out the Scourge entirely, leave not one twitching limb unscorched, and kill the current Lich King once and for all, but what this will take in time, blood and treasure is hard to measure. Certainly it would leave both sides exhausted, and the bad blood between Horde and Alliance all but assures that neither side will want to commit all it must to the cause for fear that doing so will leave it vulnerable to the other. The other option is the status quo: defeat the Scourge when it spills forth into civilized territory, replace the Lich King when the current one goes REALLY bad, and live with the undead nipping at our heels for eternity.
Sounds like cancer to me, and we all know how that tends to end.
What I don’t understand is the whole reason why there must be a Lich King, everyone claims “the scourge would go crazy and kill everyone” but if that’s true, Arthas could of just destroyed all life in the first place in a more strategic way… Why would the Lich King hold back his army so much if it’s so incredibly vast?