List of Warcraft characters

Characters in the Warcraft Universe
This is a page with deals primarilly with the major and minor characters in the Warcraft Universe. Warcraft is a fictional universe created by Blizzard. This page will cover the major games of the series, including Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Warcraft II, Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and World of Warcraft.

Arthas Menethil
Arthas Menethil was first introduced in the game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. At a young age he was inducted into the Paladins of the Silver Hand, on a sponsorship by the legendary knight Uther Lightbringer. He is the son of King Tyrannis, Lord of Lordaeron the northern human kingdom and is thus the crown Prince. It was indicated in The Frozen Throne that he had a rivlary from Prince Kael'thas of the elves of Quel'thelas, to the end of winning the heart of Jania Proudmoore. Little else is known of Arthas during his younger years.

Arthas is introduce as a protege of Uther, assisting him as a young Paladin in quelling the uprising of the renegeade Blackrock Orcs and assisting halpless villagers. At this age he was shown to have a fiery spirit, but sometimes fell into fits of anger when he felt that he was not being given the proper responsibility to handle difficult engagements. His grumbling is at this point contained to just narritives to the player however. Arthas is followed through his inital jounrny and is joined by Jania Proudmoore, a young sorceress of Dalaran. They, on the behest of Uther are investigating a plague that has broken out at the small city of Andorhal. Upon arriving, they discover that the plague has caused all those infected by it to rise as the undead, upon their death. This is the start of events that would shape the entire world.

Arthas and Jania begin their frantic journey northward, at every step they were confronted by a necromancer by the name of Kel'Thuzad. The necromancer seemed to be testing their limitations, always leaving with cryptic remakrs directed towards Arthas about his eventual fate. However, it was Kel'Thuzad's fate that was the first to arrive, for eventually Jania and Arthas caught up to the Necromancer and slew him. Theur victory was ill achieved though, as they had arrived too late and the plagued grain had been distributed all over the countryside by unwitting farmers. Jania left Arthas when they arrived at the city of Stratholme as the first signs of madness began to appear in him. He was determined to destroy the infected population of Stratholme. During the nighttime raid into the city, aided by loyal knights Arthas succeeded in slaying a vast majority of the population of the city, murdering them in their sleep to halt the plague. During this siege Arthas was tormented by a demon, a Dreadlord named Mal'Ganis. The demon taunted Arthas with the effects of the plague, and in the end fled to the northern continent of Northrend. Sinking deeper into madness, Arthas followed with vengence in his heart.

Upon arrving at the northern continent with a smattering of loyal men Arthas began making broad steps into chasing Mal'Ganis. He quickly encountered a group of dwarves who had been exploring the continent searing for a runeblade named Frostmourne. Arthas quickly enlisted the dwarves, and with the assistance of their leader Muradin Bronzebeard they cut through the Undead defenses. The madness was decending faster upon Arthas though, and after hearing that his father was summoning him back to Lordaeron he hatched a despearte plan. Recruitng some mercenaries Arthas used them to burn the ships that had he had used to sail to Northrend, thus effectivley stranding his men and himself there. Arthas then blamed the mercenaries for the burning of the ships, and the desolate men tore them apart. This second act of evil only did more to confirm the Dreadlords words, that Arthas was quickly staining his soul with the blood of the innocent.

The final conflict would hammer in the last nail on the coffin of his humanity however. As the assault force moved in on the citidal of Mal'Ganis, Arthas and Muradin took a force of men through some monster infested caverns to reach the Runeblade stowed deeper under a mountain. Upon reaching the blade, Muradin examined it and declared the blade cursed. Arthas, unheeding of the warning took up the blade and fully embraced his fall. The blade began to whisper in his mind, the voice of the Lich King, lord of the Undead. The blade commanded that he must sacrafice something to wield its power, Arthas choose Muradin. Using the immense power of the blade, he smote down Muradin and left the chamber, the blood on his soul overshowing any purity that was left.

Using the newfound power of the Runeblade Arthas tore down the Dreadlord defenses and faced him on the desolate field of battle. The Dreadlord gloated in his victory, he had known all along that Arthas would choose the path of damnation. However, The Lich King had one more gift for Arthas. His vengence. Arthas killed the Dreadlord, and marched off into the swirling snow, leaving all his ment behind to be slaughtered by the undead or the unyielding elements.

Several months passed, and the plague ravanged Lordaeron. However, on a spring day the bells of the city rang clear, for the Prince had returned. The Prince walked through the strets of Lordaeron, cloaked and wearing armor that radiated evil. He strode into the throneroom of the King, and in front of the shocked advisors quickly and savagely ended his life. With the blood stained crown still twirling on the ground, he uttered the words that shook the entire country to the foundations. "The kingdom shall fall."

What exactly happened to Arthas is something of a mystery. When he reappeared, still wielding the Frostmourne and riding a skeletal horse he appeared to be undead but mostly unmarked by his apperant death. His skin had turned chalk white and his hair faded to white as well but beyond that he showed no signs of injury. As well he had donned the armor of a Death Knight and forsaken all his vows as a Paladin. He was now the Champion of the Lich King, and the right hand of the Scourge. Unlike many of the other undead, who when raised had lost their ability to control themselves, Arthas appears to have walked into his fate willingly. His corrupted soul had no light in it left to be redeemed by.

Arthas was intrumental in the Scourging of the land. He gathered he Cult of the Damned together that Kel'Thuzad had spent years orginizing and learned of the truth behind the Scourge. The plague itself had been a inital strike by The Burning Legion, a demonic army that employed the Dreadlords and destroyed entire worlds. The Burning Leigon was led by the Arch Warlock Archimonde, and was preparing to destroy the world of Azeroth. Shortly after meeting his new master, the Dreadlord Tichondrius Arthas is visited by a specter of the past. He begins to see the Necromancer Kel'Thuzad as a ghost who whispered in his ears the truth of the invasion. Kel'Thuzad led Arthas down a path of destruction to retrive his body where he had been left to rot orginally, and to retrieve a sacred urn that held the ashes of Kink Tyrannis. In acomplishing his second goal Arthas destroyed the Paladins of the Silver Hand. In the end he killed Uther and destroyed the remainder of the troops. The Scourging of Lordaeron was complete.

The next stage of Arthas's destructive conquest would take him to the woods of Quel'thalas, the homeland of the elves. He scythed his way through the Elven defenders, taking special time to kill, and raise the Ranger General of the Elven defenders Sylvannas Windrunner as a banshee. The vast Scourge force devestated the forests and land as every elf who stood in their way was crushed into mulch beneath their feet. At last the Undead forces lay siege to the capital city of the elves, and in a bloody conquest the Undead utterly destroyed the defnders of the city, and lay victorius before the Sunwell, the source of magic for the High Elves. Here Arthas emtpied the urn that contained the remains of Kel'Thuzad, and the necromancer was reborn as a mighty Lich. The process corrupted the Sunwell, turning its pure waters to a malificent black flowing sludge.

Sylvannas Windrunner
Sylvannas Windrunner was, before hear death and ressurection as an Undead Banshee the Ranger General of Quel'Thalas. She was the defender who initally fought against the Death Knight and former Prince of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, Arthas Menethil. Her forces were driven back through the three elfgates by the merciless Undead and she finally fell outside the elven capital. Despite her pleas for a quick death, Arthas raised her as a banshee after slaying her. She is not seen again in the game, and acts as a normal unit but with a different name during that mission.

Sylvannas reappears in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne in the first mission of the Undead campaign. She has been upgraded to a Dark Ranger, a hero unit. She assists Arthas in his return, slaughteirng the hapless humans as they try to escape from their villages. Shortly after this mission, Arthas's powers begin to fail, and his grasp over her mind dissapears. Sylvannas and some of her fellow freed banshees plots a trap and attempts to assasinate Arthas outside the fallen city of Loredaeron, but their attempt is foiled by the Lich Kel'Thuzad. The remainder of the Undead mirrors both her rise to power and destruction of the Dreadlords in the Plaguelands, and Arthas's flight to the Frozen Throne to defend the Lich King against the assault of Illidan.

In her war against the Dreadlord, Sylvannas recruits many of the residents of the countryside. Included are gnolls, ogres and bandits; all conviently placed to be possessed by banshees. The greatest addition to her army is Varimthras, a Dreadlord who promised his loyalty in return for his life. As well, nearing the end of her campgain she was able to enilst the aid of an Alliance squad of humans, led by the Grand Marshal Garithos. Using Varimthras's knowledge she launched at double headed attack on the base of the Dreadlord Balnazzar at Lordaeron. It finilized with her ordering Varimathras to kill Balnazzar as a final test of his loyalty. As well she betrayed Garithos, having Varimthras kill him too. With this victory she proclaimed herself and the freed Undead the Forsaken, and took up residence in the Ruins of Lordaeron, eventually transforming it into the Undercity.

In World of Warcraft she is the leader of Undead forces, still called The Forsaken. She and Varimathras lead from The Undercity, after allying themsleves with Thrall and The Horde to war against the Alliance. What else has occurred in the years between the end of The Frozen Throne and World of Warcraft is still shrouded in mystery, however.