King Terenas Menethil II

King Terenas Menethil II is a fictional character in the Warcraft universe - a fictional universe in which a series of games and books are set.

King Terenas was the ruler of the Human Kingdom of Lordaeron in the Warcraft universe of games. He first appeared in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, and it was through his efforts that the Alliance between the Dwarves, Elves, and the Humans was forged. Suitably warned of the threat from the south by the Stormwind refugees, lead by Anduin Lothar (Note that at the release of Warcraft II, the Kingdom of Stormwind was named Azeroth), this Alliance turned to face the oncoming invasion of the Orcish Horde and their Ogre, Goblin and Forest Troll allies.

The Alliance was a success and the Orcish Horde was defeated and broken. Under Terenas' order, against wishes of other leaders such as the ruler of Stromgarde Thoras Trollbane, the surviving orcs were rounded up and placed into concentration camps. It was in one such camp that Aedelas Blackmoore schemed to lead a new army of Orcs against the Alliance through use of an Orc infant he found and named Thrall. He would teach this infant the strategy and intelligence of a human while employing its Orcish savagery to stir his fellow Orcs into a fury against the Alliance. This plan was to backfire spectacularly as the harsh methods Blackmoore employed only served to steel Thrall against him and when Thrall did come to stir the Orcs into fury, it was against the internment camps and Blackmoore.

In the following years, the Alliance faltered in its unity. The High Elves withdrew their support, claiming that the Alliance had failed to defend their lands. Increased tensions between the Human Kingdoms demanded more and more attention and diplomacy. The growing problem of the Orc escapees provided another source of consternation as did the whisperings of a mysterious plague spreading across the northlands. When an anonymous prophet came before him, preaching that his people's survival required an exodus from their hard-defended lands, Terenas made a fatal mistake when he dismissed the prophet's warnings out of hand as rambling prophecy. He was not to know that this hooded vagrant was in fact the infamous Medivh, returned from the dead with the intent to prevent the damage he had set into motion years previously.

Sending his son Arthas Menethil, a young Paladin in the Order of the Silver Hand, to investigate the spread of the mysterious plague was to be a terminal mistake. For while Arthas fought against the agents of this plague of Undeath with redoubtable determination, it was this obsession which would drive the Prince into the hands of the Lich King. He followed the leader of the Undead forces, the Dreadlord Mal'Ganis, to the frozen continent of Northrend. With the aid of a band of dwarves under the command of Muradin Bronzebeard, Arthas came to realise that his only hope of defeating the forces arrayed against his Kingdom was to seek out a powerful runeblade named Frostmourne. While Muradin warned of caution, Arthas pledged to pay any price to rid the world of the threat posed by Mal'Ganis and seized the blade, in doing so, causing in the death of Muradin. Arthas killed Mal'Ganis but not before learning that the entire campaign was orchestrated by the Lich King in order to secure Arthas' service to Ner'zhul after stealing his soul. The Lich King communicated to Arthas through the blade, driving away whatever remained of his sanity. Upon returning to Lordaeron, under the rain of rose petals showered upon him by a loving populace, Arthas sought out his father and after a moments' seeming obeisance, rose up and impaled Terenas upon Frostmourne.

Although we do not see it, in the course of the Scourge campaign of Warcraft III, we learn that King Terenas' ashes were placed in an enchanted urn. Visiting the Throne Room in the Ruins of Lordaeron in the game World of Warcraft, it is possible to see Terenas' blood stain the floor near to where his bloodied crown fell. Also, behind the Throne Room is a small shrine dedicated to his memory which, perhaps strangely, the new Forsaken residents of the ruins have left intact. A well known Easter-Egg in game is that if the player increases the volume of the music played in the throne room in World of Warcraft, the final dialogue of Arthas and his father can be heard endlessly replaying.

Physically, King Terenas was a hearty man in late middle age during the Second War, who had fought many campaigns for his kingdom. By the time of Warcraft III however, the succession of years of warfare and political struggle had taken their toll and while still an imposing figure, the shadow of age was apparent upon his countenance. In the final dialogue between Arthas and Uther in the Scourge campaign, Uther reveals that Terenas had ruled Lordaeron for seventy years.

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