This Near Pure Evil was headlined on November 2024.
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I was cast out by my comrades. Exiled. Forced to wander the frozen wastes... but I was not alone. Not entirely. The voice, now my only companion, guided me to my destination. Strange, nightmarish creatures awaited me at the entrance. I felt my blood run cold, as cold as Icecrown itself. Inside, I bore witness to horrific acts, demonstrations of power, power that could be mine for the asking. Terrified, I ran... but did not get far. All too soon, my choice was made. Too late did I realize that such power does not come... without a price. Now, the world shall pay a far greater toll, for I have returned. I am Kel'Thuzad... and your curiosity will be the death of you.
„
~ Kel'Thuzad during the Naxxramas preview monologue.
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I am Kel'Thuzad, and I've come to deliver a warning. Leave well enough alone. Your curiosity will be the death of you.
„
~ Kel'Thuzad to Arthas and Jaina after they followed him into the ruined town of Andorhal.
Kel'Thuzad is a major antagonist in the Warcraft series. He was formerly a mage of Kirin Tor in Dalaran until he swore allegience to the Lich King in exchange for power and knowledge and later became a lich. He is also the founder and leader of the Cult of the Damned, an organization consisting of mortal members who serve the Lich King to receive eternal life.
Even before officially joining Ner'zhul and the Undead Scourge, he was already a power-hungry person. When Ner'zhul contacted him telepathically from afar, Kel'Thuzad, who at the time was a Mage and a member of the Kirin Tor order in the city of Dalaran, was quick to answer and he would perform twisted necromantic experiments with rats to learn more about necromancy.
Even after his experiments are discovered, and his colleagues tell him to stop, he still continued with them, which forced the rest of the Mages to eventually expel him from both the Kirin Tor and Dalaran.
Afterwards, he travels to Northrend, guided by Nerzhul's voice, to pledge his alliegence to the Lich King. While initially he is horrified when he sees the corpse of a woman being reanimated and then forced to tear apart her own husband which causes Kel'Thuzad to try to escape only to be brought back forcefully by the Lich King's servants, eventually he subverts his initial horror as he wants to gain great power and knowledge, he swears allegiance to the Lich King and would go on to enact many of the same atrocities himself.
He returns to Lordaeron where he secretly convinces many people to become servants of the Lich King and creates the Cult of the Damned, an organization consisting of mortal members who serve the Lich King willingly. The Cult of the Damned secretly infiltrates many layers of Lordaeron's society and gains a lot of influence. They also conduct gruesome and torturous experiments on living people, produce devastating plagues and create monstrous beings like the abominations or Thaddius, a giant made from the flesh of women and children whose souls are bound eternally within the body and suffering.
Kel'Thuzad convinces Baron Rivendare to join the cult with promises of eternal life for him and his family in exchange for him providing his keep Caer Darrow to the Cult of the Damned to turn it into an academy for necromancy called Scholomance. A deadly plague was unleashed which killed the inhabitants of the keep, the servants were used for experimentation and in one particularly gruesome instance, two butlers were tortured and mutilated for weeks on end before being torn apart while they are still alive by a pack of ghouls. Scholomace is also the place where the Cult of the Damned creates the first abominations - giant creatures made from the flesh of many dead people whose bodies a hacked apart and restiched into monstrosities who possess a fresh, still living brain with restricted mental capacities which is used to make the body functional. The abominations become an integral part of the Undead Scourge.
After spreading the influence of the Cult of the Damned for years, Kel'Thuzad decides that they have become strong enough to strike. He instructs the other members of the cult to start spreading plague across the kingdom and to infect the people themselves as well as shipments of grains which would be sent to other places. Anyone infected by the plague eventually dies and comes back as one of the Undead who tear apart anyone they encounter including their former friends and family. This causes a lot of death and devastation across Lordaeron and makes Kel'Thuzad responsible for the Undead Scourge being able to extend their influence beyond the icy continent of Northrend into the human kingdoms.
When the Lordaeron Prince, Arthas Menethil, as well as his companion, the Dalaran Mage Jaina Proudmoore, discover that he is the one behind the plague and engage his forces in battle, Kel"Thuzad gloats about it and proclaims that the land would be cleansed of the living to establish a "paradise of eternal darkness". Even when they mortally wound him and he is dying, he continues to gloat about how his death would make little difference in the long run.
Even after Kel'Thuzad's death, his actions of creating the Cult of the Damned, the resurrection of the Undead and the spread of the plague ultimately leads to the downfall of Lordaeron and Prince Arthas Menethil being corrupted by the Lich King in his desperation to save his people. It is also revealed that during the time when Arthas killed him, Kel'Thuzad already knew that Arthas would eventually become the Lich King's champion which is why he didn't care if he was killed by him. This means that one of Kel'Thuzad's goals was to push Arthas even further on the path of corruption.
As a ghost, he guides Arthas during his genocide against the High Elves of Quel'Thalas, giving him useful advice on how to bypass their defenses. Eventually, he corrupts their Sunwell to revive himself as a Lich to serve Ner'Zhul once more. This makes him responsible for the Elves losing their immortality, which is drawn from the Sunwell, and subsequently for many of them resorting to blood magic and becoming Blood Elves to satiate their hunger for magic.
He and Arthas travel to the Alterac mountains and kill Orcs from the Blackrock clan, so Kel'Thuzad could reach a Demongate and communicate with Archimonde.
Under Archimonde's instructions, Arthas and Kel'Thuzad attack Dalaran. When the mages erect a defensive barrier, Kel'Thuzad finds out how to break it. They kill many of the mages, steal the Book of Medivh which Kel'Thuzad uses to perform a complex ritual and open a portal for Archimonde and his demonic legions to arrive on Azeroth while Arthas protects him from attacks. This also makes Kel'Thuzad responsible for the massive casualties which were caused by the Burning Legion's second invasion against Azeroth under the command of Archimonde which include the destruction of Dalaran, the near annihilation of the eastern human kingdom, the corruption of Ashenvale forest and the deaths of many of its inhabitants among other things.
While Kel'Thuzad knew that his master, the Lich King, was eventually planning to betray the Burning Legion and not let them win, he still didn't care about the massive casualties caused by them after he opened a portal for them and he only wanted them to be eventually defeated not out of altruistic purposes but because they were interfering with his master's plans and, subsequently, with his quest for power.
He helped Arthas destroy several villages that were trying to evacuate and kill the Paladins who were protecting the peasants.
When Arthas went to Northrend and became the next Lich King, Kel'Thuzad continued to serve under him, rule over the Plaguelands from the flying fortress of Naxxramas and kept performing his experiments and atrocities as well as with his attempts to wipe out the last remnants of humanity in the lands he rules over.
He worked with the Dreadlord Balnazzar to possess Renault Mograine and force him to betray and murder his own father, Alexandros Mograine. Kel'Thuzad then took his body to Naxxramas and started torturing him in the worst ways possible to convert him into a Death Knight who would serve the Undead Scourge. The tortures include constantly showing him images of his deceased loved ones to break him psychologically. After Alexandros becomes a Death Knight due to all the torture Kel'Thuzad put him through, his other son Darion Mograine is forced to kill him when he sees he can't save his father.
He leads an assault against Light's Hope Chapel with his army to exterminate all its inhabitants and raise all the corpses that reside there. During the Third War, the remains of thousands of heroes of the Light had been unearthed and moved to Light's Hope Chapel to protect them from being raised by the Undead Scourge which is why Kel'Thuzad targets the place. His plans are stopped when Darion sacrifices his own life to unleash an explosion of light which destroys most of the Undead army. However, Darion's corpse was recovered by Kel'Thuzad who transformed him into a Death Knight like his father.
He actively supported the Lich King's efforts to wipe out the living from the face of Azeroth and even participated in a number of battles himself where he would kill countless and fights against the Lich King's enemies to secure victories before being slain for good.
After his death, his soul goes to the Shadowlands to the realm of Maldraxxus where he joins Zovaal the Jailer's cause and starts helping him in his goals to destroy reality. In Maldraxxus, Kel'Thuzad joins the House of Rituals, rises to a position of Baron of the entire House and uses it to turn all the Houses in Maldraxxus against each other and cause a civil war between them as part of serving Zovaal's plans.
When one of Kel'Thuzad's allies, the Tithelord, is about to be killed by the adventurers and asks Kel'Thuzad for help, Kel'Thuzad refuses to interfere due to having more important things to do and leaves him to die.
He had the kyrian Bearer Thedrin captured from a raid on Bastion and planned to perform a ritual where he would sacrifice Bearer Thedrin to breach the Maw which serves as Zovaal's prison. However, the ritual fails due to sabotaged reagents.
He betrayed and captured Margrave Sin'dane and then trapped her in a block of ice, so he could draw power from her while he fights against his attacking enemies. After Sin'dane is freed, Kel'Thuzad flees away to his master's side.
He continues to serve under the Jailer Zovaal and leads his Mawsworn servants to kill the adventurers to make sure that Zovaal's goals of eradicating all reality succeed which results in his own death when he is killed off.
While initially he appears to be loyal to Ner'Zhul and then to Arthas, by the time of Shadowlands, he calls them "false masters" and starts serving the Jailer instead. His service to the Jailer seems to be because he hopes to gain power and not out of genuine loyalty.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
He cares for his pet cat, Mr. Bigglesworth. If the players kill Mr. Bigglesworth, he cries out his name in terror and then gets enraged, curses the players for what they have done and swears brutal revenge on them. Even after Kel'Thuzad's death, the soul of his cat accompanies him to the Shadowlands.