Arthas: Evil, or just lonely?

A friend of mine mentioned that he noticed that there was a lot of talking done in Wrath of the Lich King. This is to be expected, as Blizzard is trying to push more lore into the game to keep things fresh and interesting. However, it got me to thinking...

For the harbringer of evil, Arthas sure does talk a lot. I mean... A LOT.

It starts in the Culling of Stratholme. Okay, so this is technically before he's the Lich King, but already on his downward spiral and it sets a baseline for his expositional habits. Granted, some of the talking is done by his cohorts, but the bulk of the dialogue is Arthas'. The player has to suffer through a long cut scene just to start the event, as well as listen to him yammer on as you kill off minions of Mal'ganis and agens of the Infinite Dragonflight.

There's also a quest line on the Alliance side that recreates the Warcraft III scene with Arthas drawing Frostmourne and killing Muradin. I recall him being Chatty-Cathy in that scene as well, basically telling Muradin to shove his advice up his dwarven... ahem.

From this point, we see Arthas after he's become the Lich King. Yet, for all his bad ass armour and dour demeanour, he's still as talkative as ever. In the Wrathgate scene, we see him have a nice long conversation with the champions of the Alliance and Horde. Eventually the Forsaken traitors show up and ruin his monologue, forcing Arthas to flee the scene, but not before he gets a few last words in, of course!

The Lich King makes an appearance at the end of Drak'tharon keep. There, he compliments Drakuru for duping you into helping the evil cause, and promises more power, and yadda this, yadda that. It's all very touching, and of course, like all Evil Villians, the Lich King spares your life. Because you have potential.

Further in the Drakuru storyline, you meet up with him again in Zul'drak. At the very end, you face off against Drakuru, and just before you kill him, he summons Arthas for help. The Lich King, in a long monolugue, deems Drakuru a failure and destroys him. You'd think he'd finish the job by also destroying you, but he spares your life... yup, you guessed it, citing your potential.

In Utgard Pinnacle, the first boss, Svala Sorrowgrave, is interrupted talking to the Lich King by the party. Well, I shouldn't interrupted, because they continue their conversation while your party bounce around the room like dipshits waiting for the event to start. Which takes forever, because Arthas talks forever. Again, the same promises; more power, destruction of her enemies, yadda this, yadda that. Of course, Arthas knows Svala will fail. She's only the first boss of the dungeon, and you have potential.

Last example I can think of... Icecrown, a five man group quest where you challenege Overthane Balargarde on top of a citadel. Halfway through the fight, the Lich King makes an appearance. Again, he throws out a couple lines, strikes down your helper (but not you!), then merrily watches as you slaughter one of his greatest champions. Afterwards, he gives you an open invitation to Icecrown Citadel. Why? Well, because you have potential, of course!

So what's my point? Arthas isn't some brooding dark lord, bringer of despair and chaos. He's just... well, lonely! It gets boring sitting up on a throne all day and night that freezes your ass. Even thick, bad ass armour can't get a chill like that out. Really, he just wants a friend. It's why he keeps raising all his minions; he's simply looking for a companion. Hunters tame pets, engineers build robots, and Arthas raises the dead.

But... it's not working. They keep rotting away, or getting killed off by intrepid adventurers. So I think he's playing the long con - Arthas sees the player as his next buddy. That's why he keeps sparing your life, even though he could easily snuff it in an instant. He wants you to see that he's really not such a bad monster after all... just, misunderstood. He only wanted to do what was right for Lordaeron. In doing so, all his friends and family abandoned him, and now he's trying to fill that void with the player(s).

Mark my words, the boss fight with Arthas will have a Friendship! finisher move, much like Mortal Kombat 2.