WoW History: Wrath of the Lich King

September 24, 2026•Lore•Brendo Arruda

"The History of the Expansions" series — Episode 3. The story of World of Warcraft told expansion by expansion, with the patches that changed it. The episodes are listed in order at the end of the post.

The story of Wrath of the Lich King is the final war against Arthas. After years sitting still on the Frozen Throne, the Lich King attacks the cities of Azeroth, and the Horde and the Alliance take their armies to Northrend. The campaign goes through the war of the blue dragons, the betrayal at the Wrathgate and the Old God of Ulduar, and ends at the top of Icecrown Citadel, with Arthas defeated and a new jailer for the dead.

Why the war went to Northrend

At the end of The Burning Crusade, Illidan and Kil'jaeden were defeated, and the Legion lost strength in Outland. The Lich King, who had been silent since the end of Warcraft 3, took advantage of the moment. The Scourge attacked the capitals of Azeroth with a plague that turned citizens into zombies, and the necropolises appeared in the sky again.

The answer was to take the war to his home. The Horde sent the Warsong Offensive, commanded by the young Garrosh Hellscream, son of Grom. The Alliance sent the Valiance Expedition, with Highlord Bolvar Fordragon at its head. On the side of the Light came Tirion Fordring's Argent Crusade and, from among the dead themselves, the death knights of the Ebon Blade, who had broken free from Arthas.

The Nexus War and Malygos

At the same time, another war was starting. Malygos, the Aspect of Magic, decided that mortals used too much magic and began pulling the world's ley lines into the Nexus, in Borean Tundra. The blue dragons attacked the mages of every race.

The Kirin Tor and Alexstrasza's red dragonflight joined forces against him, and Malygos was defeated in the Eye of Eternity. An Aspect killed by mortal hands was something no one thought possible.

The Wrathgate and the Battle for Undercity

The most famous moment of the expansion happens in Dragonblight. Horde and Alliance attack the Wrathgate, the entrance to Icecrown, together. Bolvar leads the Alliance, and Dranosh Saurfang, son of Varok Saurfang, leads the Horde. Arthas shows up in person and kills Dranosh.

In that instant, the Forsaken apothecaries of Grand Apothecary Putress throw a new plague over the battlefield, killing the dead and the living on both sides. Bolvar disappears under the fire of the red dragons. At the same time, the dreadlord Varimathras takes Undercity in a coup against Sylvanas.

The Horde and the Alliance attack Undercity, each from a different side. Thrall and Sylvanas take the city back from Varimathras, and Varian Wrynn, back on the throne of Stormwind, kills Putress. The distrust between the factions never goes away again.

Ulduar and Yogg-Saron

In the Storm Peaks, the titan city of Ulduar kept a secret: it was the prison of Yogg-Saron, the Old God of death and madness. He had corrupted the Keepers who were supposed to watch over him, and the prison was almost open.

The heroes entered Ulduar, freed the Keepers from the corruption and defeated Yogg-Saron. Algalon the Observer also appeared there, an envoy of the titans who came to judge whether Azeroth should be "re-originated", that is, wiped out and started over. The heroes convinced him otherwise.

The Argent Tournament

To choose the champions for the final assault, Tirion organized the Argent Tournament near Icecrown. In the Crusaders' Coliseum, the heroes faced beasts, the eredar lord Jaraxxus and champions of the opposing faction, in a contest that Garrosh and Varian turned into a personal rivalry.

In the end, Arthas broke the floor of the coliseum, and the heroes fell into the kingdom of Anub'arak, the old nerubian king who had fought alongside Arthas in Warcraft 3.

The fall of the Lich King in Icecrown

The final assault was on Icecrown Citadel. The heroes climbed the fortress, faced Arthas's greatest servants and reached the Frozen Throne, with Tirion and the Ashbringer at their side.

Arthas was defeated, and Frostmourne shattered. As he died, he saw the spirit of his father, Terenas, who came to take him. But the Scourge could not be left without a master, or the undead would ravage the world. The one who took up the Helm of Domination was Bolvar Fordragon, who had survived the Wrathgate, transformed by the dragons' fire. Bolvar became the new Lich King, a jailer instead of a conqueror.

The hook for Cataclysm

The last raid of the expansion, the Ruby Sanctum, shows the twilight dragon Halion attacking the home of the red dragons. It is the first sign that Deathwing, the black Aspect who betrayed the others, is about to return.