World of Warcraft/YMMV: Difference between revisions

** '''The Culling of Sratholme'''. There is a great amount of debate among players whether this (the event that either [[Start of Darkness| started Arthas on his path to evil]] or [[Moral Event Horizon|cemented his place there]]) was necessary or whether Arthas truly could be blamed. Short version: Strathholm was the second-biggest and second most important city of the Alliance, and was thus a primary target of the Scourge. They shipped plague-infected grain to the city, a plague that would cause death in three days, then cause the infected to rise as undead, which would be easy to manipulate by the Lich King’s control. The soldiers under Arthas’ command - which included both Uther and Jaina - caught wind of the plan, destroyed many silos of grain that were intended for other towns (likely including Stormwind itself) but when they arrived at Stratholm, they were too late. Believing the disease to be irreversible, incurable, and highly contagious, Arthas ordered the town purged, and despite objections from both Uther and Jaina - who abandoned him rather than be accomplices to the act - killed every man, woman, and child in Stratholm, their pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears. Players debate to this day whether Arthas was justified here. Was finding a cure truly impossible? Was the disease truly as contagious as he believed? Had the plague actually spread to every resident? Maybe killing them ''after'' they had become zombies might have been a better choice. Did Arthas coldly view the civilians as expendable, or did he hate himself the whole time, sobbing as he killed them? (One of his underlings did indeed commit suicide out of guilt, now a restless spirit haunting the place, known only as The Unforgiven.) It is an argument that may never be resolved, and indeed, it seems the whole thing had been designed to give the players something to think about.