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Arthas was consumed with the desire for revenge. You know how it is… Mal’Ganis, posse of the Lich King, popped some caps in Arthas’s hood. Arthas had to represent! He got his crew and their gats and rolled out. Arthas’s Lordaeron Soldiers has a reputation nomsayin? They can’t just let this shit go.

Arthas was very aggressive about protecting his people and avenging their deaths. In his zeal, he chose to sacrifice himself ‘for the greater good.’ Presumably, the curse of the sword would be sort of a small deal in comparison to that of the Scourge threat.

Arthas: “I can has eebul swords?”

No, Arthas. Cannot has.

“But I wants it…”

Of course, once Arthas used the sword, he lost this mildly important thing most humans have: sanity. He switftly became power hungry and insane. Arthas kept his focus just long enough to kill what he perceived at the time to be the ultimate threat, but was really only a pawn.

So, Arthas won the battle, but he lost the war. (Huah! What is it good for?)

By the time Arthas made it back to his hometown (which is now the Undercity), he’d gone crazier than the love child of Tom Cruise and Britney Spears. He murdered his father, and was manipulated into being a bad guy. I guess he just got “Scourge Killin’” and “Scouge Chillin’” mixed up. It happens.

Blond Arthas is not Blonde?

Naturally Blond, Not Naughty By Nature

This is a very special AskAlgorithm. You get not one, but TWO side tangents! One on hair color. One on Azeroth’s MPV (Most Popular Villain).

What’s interesting about the Lich King is that there are 2 people inside him, and both of them were originally good guys. Arthas, obviously, was originally a paladin who wanted to protect and avenge his people.

Ner’zhul (i.e. the other 50% of the Lich King) was originally a powerful and respected orc shaman. But, he was deceived into doing evil things. One he done wrong, Ner’zhul lost his shaman abilities. Afterwards, he went around being ostracized and not respected. Kids called him ‘smell’zhul.’ It was cruel, sad, and worst of all: uncreative. Just to rub salt in his wounds, while Ner’zhul was a powerless wimp, he had to watch his old apprentice rise to power and screw over the orcs (Ner’zhul’s old fan club).

Later on, Ner’zhul gets super-sized combo #3 serving of power. ”Screw you guys that hated on me. I’m THE MAN now, dawg.”