Anub'arak

Full History

Before the Scourge mastered Northrend, Anub'arak was a king of Azjol-Nerub, the vast civilization beneath its frozen surface. The nerubians fought the Lich King's advance in a bitter underground war, drawing upon the defenses of their subterranean realm. The enemy's inexhaustible dead eventually overwhelmed them. Anub'arak fell, was raised into undeath, and became a commander of the very power that had destroyed his kingdom.

When Arthas returned to Northrend, the Lich King faced a mortal threat: Illidan Stormrage and his allies were advancing toward the Frozen Throne. Anub'arak met Arthas amid attacks by the blood elves and helped him fight toward Icecrown. The surface route would consume time they could not afford, so the former king proposed a passage through Azjol-Nerub. He knew the realm's buried ways, but also knew that its living defenders, traps, and deeper horrors had not disappeared.

The journey forced Anub'arak through the wreckage of his own people. Surviving nerubians fought the undead intruders and called their former monarch a traitor. Arthas and Anub'arak passed dwarven survivors of Muradin's expedition and confronted ancient creatures sealed beneath the earth. At last they emerged close enough to contest the approach to Icecrown. Their success allowed Arthas to ascend the Frozen Throne and join with the Lich King. Anub'arak's role was essential, but his victory was purchased with the continued ruin of the realm he had once ruled.