#instead of trying to kill him the dead second he steps foot on the f.rozen t.hrone

[necroarchy]

what is arthas's greatest personal regret? out of all choices made, what is the one choice he wishes he could undo entirely or do differently?

@hubrisi asked and i rambled <3

The thought came, brief and bright and sharp: Was she right?

No. No, she couldn’t be. Because if she was right, then he was about to become a mass murderer, and he knew that wasn’t who he was. He knew it.

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He had carried the guilt of that act alone all this time. But now he realized—it was all part of his destiny. If he had not slain his steed, he could not now bring it back. Alive, the horse would have feared him. Undead as it was, with fire for eyes, its bones held together by the necromantic magic that Arthas now could wield thanks to the gift of the mysterious Lich King, horse and rider could at last be reunited, as they had always been meant to be. It hadn’t been a mistake, seven years ago; he hadn’t been wrong. Not then, not now.

Not ever.

And this was proof.

     --- Arthas: Rise of the Lich King

     If you were to ask him, none.

     Arthas believes utterly, fervently, in the inevitability of his success. One of these days, eventually, no matter what, he’s going to win and he’s going to get his chance to rub it in the face of everyone who ever dared presume he isn’t the most important and special and great man to ever exist. It’s his destiny. Even his “failures” will one day be proven as the correct choice. It’s just.... going to take some time.

     “Regret” and “something he would change” are not interchangeable, in my mind. He’s capable of acknowledging failures, to a.... slight degree. One of his click lines during WC3 Scourge campaign is “I was a fool to trust in the Light.” During the Halls of Reflection dungeon, Horde-side, he will say, “I will not make the same mistake again, Sylvanas. This time there will be no escape. You will all serve me in death!“ He can acknowledge fuck-ups, but to say he regrets anything enough to change it is a step farther than I’m willing to take.

     More than anything else, Arthas seeks validation. That his fall to darkness was inevitable, that his choices were relatable. He is who is his, simultaneously because he has made himself such, and also because there was no other person he could be. He conducts the War in Northrend the way he does, weeding out the “weak” to seek out those ruthless and vicious enough to follow in his footsteps, for the same reason that he convinces himself that he shouldn’t have felt guilty for euthanizing Invincible. At every moment, he is busy convincing himself that he is exactly who he was always going to be by the machinations of both destiny and his own determination.

     He can’t seek to change the past. The past is what brought him here, to this exact moment, and this moment is exactly where he wants to be. Where he is meant to be. And he will spend every second of his existence proving it.