Hey guys, noticed some of you pointing out things like, "then who would become the new lich king?" and "who would discover yogg saron" Like I said in the video, I do have a sequel planned for this that will cover all of those questions. The reason I didnt put part 1, is because even though there will be a sequel, it will not be named "What if Arthas Never Purged Stratholme Part 2" that question was covered entirely in this video. However, the events building off of this video will be explained in the following one.

“He’s feeling the weight of the crown for the first time,” Uther said quietly. “He’s never had to before. This is all part of it, my lady-part of learning how to rule wisely and well. I watched Terenas struggle with the same thing, when he was a young man. Both good men, both wanting to do the right things for their people. To keep them safe and happy.” His eyes were thoughtful as he watched Arthas fade into the distance. “But sometimes the only decision is which is the lesser evil. Sometimes there’s no way to fix everything. Arthas is learning that.”

Here's an idea for a what if, "What if Arthas listened to Muradin's Warning About Frostmourne?"

Honestly Arthas made the most practical decision in Stratholme if Jaina or Uther actually gave an alternative things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand.

what if Tyrande chose Illidan over Malfurion

What if Hellscream was a shitty channel? Then he'd be called TheWarcraftBible

A lovely hypothetical story. As I played the WCIII human campaign, I always felt bad for Arthas to fall into darkness. I totally agree that Arthas' decision to pursue his personal desire for vengeance marked a huge turning point in WC III history. Great work and hope to see more of these hypothetical scenarios!

Arthas is one of my favorite characters from Warcraft and I really liked seeing the other side of what could of been. Feels like you really put a lot of work into this. Nice job!

Trade Prince Gallywix should have been warchief

Holy shit that is a fantastic idea for a video. When i saw the title i was like....holy shit i need to watch

Most impressive. I disagree, however, that it was the culling of Strathholme that damned Arthas. He had a number of chances to turn away from the darkness, even in the cold embrace of Northrend. In my opinion Strathoholme destruction was the prudent thing to do, although harsh and brutal. With the vast population of Strathholme under his command Mal'ganis would have been unstoppable. I doubt it, that even with the help of the Silver Hand order, Lordaeron would have been able to stop the Scourge, which already had considerable standing forces, now bolstered by the citizens of Strathholme. And at the same time to prepare an expedition to Kalimdor, with the necessary for the task military contingent. Besides - how a champion of the Light, could just stand and watch as his own people are being damned for an eternity of suffering and turn his back on them. By slaying them, Arthas have actually done them a favor. Arthas's madness comes from his over-consuming desire to kill Mal'Ganis. Muradin Bronzebeard was the last chance the Light gave him to return to the Light. If he have took this chance, even then the outcome would have been very different. By destroying Strathholme and even taking the battle to the Scourge, Arthas have gave the undead a pause, that on the other hand gave Jaina time to rally her forces and leave for Kalimdor. If he has stopped after meeting with Muradin, well, thing might have been different. The other thing that still puzzles me though, is why Medivh did not tell everyone, that he is in fact Medivh, The Last Guardian, the embodiment of the full power of the Tirisfall Council. Hard to ignore an advice, coming from one such as him. And even if Medivh didn't want to reveal his identity, its not like he was trying to hide it somehow. He was wearing the same robes he did as a Guardian, looked the same way, and was carrying the Staff of the Guardian. How comes that noone, even Antonidas, was unable to recognize him. Sure it have been few decades, but its not like Kirin'Tor or Antonidas have forgot how the Guardian have looked like.

Arthas's story is one of the greatest in Warcraft, this is truly an awesome alternate story but its also incredibly sad knowing what arthas could/would have become and had in his life had he resisted Frostmourne and The Lich King.

What if Jaina joined Arthas in the culling of Strathholme

What if blizzard never implanted garrisons?

I'm really looking forward for more videos like this one, good job /thumbs up

This was great, Hellscream. Very well done and intricately thought out! Can't wait to see more and thanks!

the purge of stratholme was not a bad thing if you ask me. the people were already infected there was nothing arthas could do. and then going to northrend to kill malganis and the rest of the undead was also a great thing to do. The only mistake he made was taking frostmourne and using it to destroy malganis.

what if gnomes have finally gotten their city before cata and actually do something

Awesome video dude! Many thanks for making this :-)

great video :) just subscribed, can't wait to watch more like these ^^

i think arthas made the right decision

Oh god yes! Do more of these videos, look up the stupendous wave, he does the same thing. But with Star Wars.

Good job man, I liked this a lot. Can't wait for the second one.

Yes! This video was awesome, looking forward to a part 2 :D

I think you risk with that divine intervention. It sometimes happens and sometimes not. Without it, it is possible that Arthas would have died in regular battle.

What if WoW had not been forged? Would lives have been saved?

A topic that is horrible difficult to handle and you still impressed me enough that I subscribed. I look forward to the new content!

one of your best videos thus far. well done!

Blizz should have shown us an AU where Arthas was still on the good side.

What if Thrall would have named Cairne as Warchief instead of Garrosh after the Cataclysm? I mean he was a wellseasoned warrior, wiser than anyone else in the horde, honorable, loved by his people and well respected through the Horde

I really hope to see more of these in the future... This is absolutely brilliant! Thanks mate

This was amazing. It gave me chills to think what repercussions would happen if Arthas had never purged Stratholme.

Hellscream has effectively written an AU fanfiction. I dig it.

What if Garrosh didnt go crazy in MoP? Or more specifically didnt succumb to the influence of Y'Shaarj.

Great video, loved it! Excited to see the sequel.

great video!!! loved it!!! Keep up the good work :)

what if arthas was never able to gain the urne to transport kel'thuzad savley to silvermoon and s neer resurecting kel'thuzad'

What if Orgrim did not spare Gul'dan.

Literal zombies apocalypse and people who against Arthas' idea would be killing zombies, while Arthas drinks from a tall glass of 'I told you so!'.

Man that was actually really good, great job with this! I look forward to the sequel.

There would be no Wrath of the Lich King then

IF he didn't purge stratholme we wouldn't have the best villain in WoW

that was a really great video hellscream keep it up

Great job mate on the video!

What if all of the Aspects died during the War of the Ancients?

My Idea: What if Night elfs seen that Illidan sacrificed everything to save them? And maybe the biggest What If: What if Sargeras and other Titans found common way to protect universe from Voidlords.

You really did put a lot of work into it, I believe that you spoke really well to the point. Cheers.

Absolutely fantastic video! Loved it!

What if Velen would have joined Sargeras instead of Kil'Jeaden and Archimonde?

You know who else put his faith into the Light even in the most dire circumstances, to the very end? Tirion. The Light sucks.

Sweet Jesus, may I just say; I absolutely LOVE YOUR WRITING! Every bit of dialogue and lore-poiints you brought up not only sonded, but FELT authentic and usable in a novel, or in-game event. Absolutely fantastic work Hellscream. I hope to see more videos like this, as it was most indeed a tasty treat to subscribing to your channel. Extreme respect goes to you, good sir!

interesting. and the logic you described at the end as to how you came up with the story line was a good touch..

Arthas, you can't just arthas. Damn it Arthas! I must Arthas!

What if Saurfang the younger had survived northrend? Thrall does state in the sundering novel that he wanted to make Saurfang the new warchief, not Garrosh, and that his father was too old to take the title (which frankly was just bullshit from Blizzard, considering Saurfang the older is close to the greatest hero the horde has had since the launch of wow....) Alternatively: What if Cairne had killed Garrosh in the mag'gorah?

I really REALLY enjoyed the video Hellscream, your work is just a true art, keep it up man :D

This is a great new show and I hope you do more of these the amount of effort and work put into it is evident and I hope you do more, and I would love to see the squeal to this vid. Keep up the great work

Honestly, I like the idea of theory crafting but I feel that you did not capture the personas of the characters very well. I could see Arthas being swayed to stay his wrath at stratholme by Uther but not willingly. I can not see Arthas willing to let his kingdom fall to the undead at all. I think you have to assume that if he were swayed by Uther, that he may well have survived till Jaina returned, but when Jaina returned, she would have returned as a vanguard to an army. Both the Kirin Tor would have mobilized as well as the human kingdoms informed. Aided with portals supplied by the Kirin Tor, I am sure a sizable force would have been dispatched rapidly to Arthas and the undead would have been contained. Perhaps even destroyed along with the dreadlord (being unable to retreat due to magical interference if he lingered too long). If Arthas had been persuaded to hold off, it would have meant only one of three possible outcomes. The one described above where the alliance forces rallied to face this threat. Option two is that they do not rally, or they drag their feet which seems to be the most likely and Arthas would have to stand alone with what few forces he had. As such, by the time help reached him, Arthas and his men would have been killed by the undead. Option 3, Jaina manages to return but can only save Arthas and a dozen or so men and the rest are left behind to die - and you can make them say something heroic or what not before Arthas left or not but at that point, who cares? As for the fact that you have totally misrepresented every other leader and group when Arthas returned, is kind of silly. An army of 25,000 from stratholme is not enough to convince anybody to abandon an entire continent where there are massive amounts of armies. You have the dwarf army, the gnomes, the humans and the elves (although the elves were persecuted heavily around this timeline and I am sure they would have been looking to their own borders). Now the mages were arrogant and stuck up, they believed wholeheartedly in their own superiority and power. There is no chance that they would imagine forsaking their lands to some pesky plague in the north and in all honesty, the horror that appears throughout Azeroth shows how true this really is. In theory the undead are stopped in their tracks until Arthas returned to lead them and even then, he basically gave the undead Lordaeron on a silver platter. He betrayed his people, used his unique knowledge and expertise to lead the undead to destroy his homeland. If he had held the course and Jaina had not abandoned him and Uther had not been ordered to take his knights and disappear and he had called in help from the other alliance races, the undead threat would have been minimal. You forget that the undead were not the threat that Medivh was warning about - it was the returning of the demons. Granted that the dreadlords were in charge of the plague and undead but on the other hand, they were but a small part and were considered a failure despite everything. The concept of abandoning the entire continent because of something as small as that is somewhat ridiculous. The most I can imagine Arthas doing, would be setting up an expedition to the west merely as a precautionary tale. "Father, a prophet approached me and warned me of a great evil. He urged me to abandon my land and travel west to the shores of a place called Kalimdor. However I will not forsake my homeland. However sending an expedition to the west to find this Kalimdor may be prudent, a safe haven should there be something to this doomsday prophecy. We could relocate the villages in the path of this undead plague and protect our people." I could imagine something along those lines. He gets to expand his borders, protect his people, not forsake his homeland and above all else, fight his war. It fits the character of Arthas and the King, I think Jaina and the other kingdoms of man would help (although much of it would not be required). I bet just the aid of the Order of the Silver hand (paladins), the mages of Dalaran and the standing forces of Lordaeron would be more than a match for the undead, considering the proximity to the Elf cities to stratholme, they would not sit idly by regardless of the state of affairs with the humans. The lands surrounding Stratholme also had a host of Trolls that were conquered by an army lead by the Deathknight Arthas. So they would also be a standing force against the undead, I doubt they would win but they would buy the time needed for the alliance to rally. Also, the dwarfs to the North would have been there to help the moment they heard. They are fierce warriors and loyal to the alliance. I am sure Jaina could have even gone to her father and got a vast fleet from Admiral Proudmoore. 25,000 undead could easily have swelled to well over double that by raising graveyards but still with the combined forces of two of the great powers in the alliance (elf and man), they would have been outmatched 10 to one. Then you add all the extra forces like the forces of dalaran or the paladin orders or the dwarfs or the possibility of the alliance fleet and you know that the undead forces would have been crushed. That said, afterwards, the welcoming lands of Kalimdor, a safe haven from the coming storm would probably have been a place where the alliance would have traveled to expand their territories, not for safety but more land which would have led to a more interesting dynamic of Kalimdor. Think about how the Tauren or the Orcs would have been able to set up there, or if the trolls would have been anything more than a footnote in history as the alliance fleets swept across the lands. Would the orcs have had a place to settle or would they have been routed. I would imagine they would have run down to Ferelas. Would the Tauren be hunted down or would they have stood a chance against the alliance? Would they have joined the alliance? The ripple effect I guess, the entire universe would become unrecognizable if Arthas had not walked down his path. There are very few characters as important as Arthas in the story.

What if the orcs never drinked Mannoroth's blood? Oh, wait...

Really good video, man. Subbed.

fantastic development of dialogue! it was really captivating lol. great job :)

This was most welcome video! Thanks!

Now what if for illidan, its only fair

Lovely! Great job man :D

Well done, this has facts and lore to back it up! I love it and look forward to more!

It's an interesting analysis, and I think it's correct on many aspects... but I have to disagree on one point. Namely, about the Light enveloping Arthas as he and Uther fight undead from Startholme. Light isn't a concious being, isn't a God. It's cannot chose to suddenly empower somebody because they followed it's teachings. Light is a force, although granted, a benevolent one, which paladins and priest can work together with through their faith and willpower. The reason why the Light stopped responding to Arthas' call during Culling and later in Northrend was because he himself was confliced about what he was doing. And how couldn't he? He was killing his subjects, his fellow men, women, children and elderly. Even if he was convinced that what he was doing was right, that he was sparing them from a terrible fate, his heart must have been breaking. Not to mential what kind of mental thrauma this must have caused, which I believe later helped Lich King turn him into his champion (stealing his soul just caused him to lose ability to feel emotions such as pity and so on, Lich King also twisted his view on many matters and so on, when he killed his father he thought he was doing him favor, and turning his subjects into undead made them better, but all that is another matter). He wasn't able to call upon the Light after Stratholme, not until Muradin was about to die, because only then his mind and heart could focus. And if you want a prove, let me ask you this: if the Light would grant it's power to those who follow it's teachings, it would be impossible for any paladin to turn evil, right? Well, remember the Scarlet Crusade? They could still call upon the Light, as they believed what they were doing was right, and that conviction let them tap to its powers. And if you want to argue that they were mostly fighting Forsaken, which in some regards could be considered good or at least justified, there's Renault Morgraine, who killed his own father and still could use his paladin abilities. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying this means all the other things that you talked about couldn't happen. It could still be possible for Arthas and Uther to survive long enough against the undead, even all those 25k that lived in there. But it is also possible that both of them would die or they would retreat and the undead would go on a rampage across Lordaeron. Which I don't think would be as disastrous as if things would turn out the way they actually did, but as Medivh had said, the land would fall.

Also Yogg'sauron would be free in his prison without any threat to him

Stratholme never purged?! I love historic timeline changes ideas/thoughts put into a video. I saw the video in my Recommended list and was like... "Yo, I got to watch this!". Good stuff! I cannot wait until the next video in relation to this.

Really liked this video, Can't wait for part 2

Ever since I watched Gul'dan's backstory I've been wondering. What if Gul'dan was accepted by the elements?

I could listen to you talk about warcraft all day long

I am legit impressed by this video, good job Hellscream. Good story

I think you did a great job in suggesting how the events would follow up after the alternate split! Looking forward to the new videos!

Arthas did nothing wrong

Blizzard should do a what if animation "dream sequence" if Arthus did exactly what you said in this video.

Now I want to see "What if Uther helped his future king purge Stratholme"

I love this video! I can't wait for the next part.

What if we killed Garrosh at the end of Siege

What if Dranosh had Survived?

Great job with the vid man, covered a lot of hardpoints.

I look forward to your sequel to this. Subscribed. :)

what is Warcraft never happened? what would happen then?

uh..they've already said INSIDE OF WOW, in the caverns of time mission where you help arthas purge stratholme, that if he had never purged stratholme, the legion would have won. thus you go back in time to MAKE SURE that he purges stratholme.

This is an epic video man! You are great at telling stories :)

Great video. looking forward for the sequel :)

It is everyone's civic duty to purge!

I just realized..... lok'tar o'gar rhymes with allahu Akbar. orcs did 9/11 confirm???

so good, I can't wait to see the next one

Great Work man!

what if Sargeras had never been corrupted? would the legion be as big a threat as they are without Sargeras' command?

TLDR: Everything in WoW could have been fixed by thinking for a second rather than murdering everyone.

Hey Hellscream. I like the idea of an alternative lore, and I do agree with a lot of your ideas in this video. I would love to see more of these, especially if there are some connections between them. Good job man, looking forward to the sequel :)

This is an amazing concept. Thanks for the video!!

What if Arthas was gay? O.o

nice video dude.Good job! :)

More videos like this please! Best u have ever done!

Realy Realy awesome men! keep it up!

dude i did not expect an entire lore story about it. well done mate

I was expecting just a theory sort of thing, but the storytelling in this video was crazy good along with the image. Well done! (Sorry if my English isn't good it's not my first language)

I was a little hesitate going into this, but overall I was surprised at how well this played out. Great job man

Excellent, and thoroughly enjoyable video. In fact, I loved this idea so much that now I really wish this could have happened. Arthas' story will always be one of my favourites.