Chapter Summaries

Nathanos led an Alliance team through the Soul Forge as part of a plan to infiltrate Icecrown Citadel and reach the Hall of Reflection. As the group prepared to enter the Saronite Mines, Sylvanas set out to secure help for Nathanos’s return, while Darian Mograine waited nearby for news.

• Nathanos welcomed Lansber and nearly twenty Silver Covenant allies, then explained the plan to infiltrate the Lich King's halls and reach the Hall of Reflection.
• Darian Mograine waited on an Undead Gryphon above Icecrown Citadel for progress from Nathanos's team.
• Sylvanas pressed Veronalara for details about Nathanos's plan, then decided to seek assistance to ensure he returned safely.
• Nathanos's team killed a one-eyed monster in the Soul Forge, and he gave them only a few minutes to rest.
• Nathanos began opening a portal to the Saronite Mines, where Cynthia warned the group that the next battle would be major.

Nathanos and his companions confronted Scourge Lord Taelan in the Saronite Mines and planned to free prisoners to help them fight their slave masters. Meanwhile, Sylvanas reached the Alliance gunship Skybreaker and entered its command room to find Justin Barrett.

• Nathanos told Meryl about Shadowmourne, and Meryl condemned his pursuit of dark power.
• Nathanos's group entered the Saronite Mines, where Scourge Lord Taelan attacked them from atop Frostfang.
• Cynthia returned through the portal as Nathanos asked Taelan for directions to the Hall of Reflection, and Frostfang froze Nathanos's legs.
• Nathanos broke free of the ice and urged his companions to free the prisoners being used as mine laborers.
• Sylvanas found the Skybreaker, presented her Silver Covenant insignia, and asked to see its commander, Justin Barrett.
• Sylvanas entered the command room during a military meeting and introduced herself as Ranger-General of the Silver Covenant.

Nathanos interrogated the captured Gnome Kaelen, who revealed that Frostmourne was in the Hall of Reflection, but Taelan stood in the way. After Taelan interrupted Nathanos’s execution of Kaelen and fled, the group pursued him, only to face a terrifying approaching threat as Taelan prepared to fight.

• Nathanos threatened Kaelen, who revealed that Frostmourne was in the Hall of Reflection and that Taelan had to be killed to reach the master’s lair.
• Taelan interrupted Nathanos’s shot at Kaelen with a spell, then fled on Frostfang toward the Hall of Reflection.
• Nathanos spared Kaelen and tasked him with controlling the walking corpses while Cynthia spoke with him.
• Lansber reported that the rescued Alliance and Horde prisoners were arming themselves, and Nathanos told them to join the fight against Taelan.
• Taelan summoned a powerful creature with Frostfang’s roar and used ice to suppress the poison in his wounded hand.
• Nathanos ordered everyone to kill Taelan as the Scourge Lord prepared to attack.

Nathanos defeated Taelan in the Saronite Mines, then let Sindragosa kill the celebrating rescued slaves while he protected Lansber and the other heroes. He continued alone toward the Hall of Reflection, leaving Calila to escort the survivors.

• Nathanos fought Taelan while the Witherer’s allies held back the Undead, and he killed the Scourge Lord despite feeling Frostmourne’s call.
• After Taelan died, Nathanos rejected the rescued humans’ praise and decided the Forsaken would cast aside the past.
• As Sindragosa approached, Nathanos drew Lansber and the other heroes behind a magical barrier without warning the celebrating crowd.
• Sindragosa froze everyone on the platform, while Nathanos and the protected heroes survived inside the tunnel.
• Nathanos told Lansber he had spared him because he belonged to her, then ordered Calila to take the survivors away and walked alone toward the Hall of Reflection.

Nathanos confronted Arthas at Frostmourne and learned from his mother that the Lich King had to be defeated on the Frozen Throne, but someone would need to take his place to control the Scourge. As Nathanos faced Arthas and his guards, Darian Mograine arrived at the Frozen Throne and began searching for its fragments.

• Nathanos found Frostmourne and tried to contact the souls trapped inside it, but his mother Daphne answered instead of Uther.
• Daphne warned Nathanos that the Lich King had to be defeated on the Frozen Throne and that someone must take his place to keep the Scourge under control.
• Arthas arrived, silenced Daphne, and drew Frostmourne, prompting Nathanos to confront him over his mother’s soul.
• Arthas summoned his guards Marvin and Farek to fight Nathanos.
• Darian Mograine sensed that the Lich King had left the Frozen Throne, flew there, and began searching for its fragments.

Nathanos pursued Arthas through the Hall of Reflection and confronted him on its highest platform, where he tried to free his mother’s soul from Frostmourne. Arthas unleashed Frostmourne’s power, and the chapter ended as he sent a storm of icy blades toward Nathanos.

• Nathanos reached the Hall of Reflection’s throne room and followed Arthas’s pulse of energy to the highest platform.
• Arthas waited for Nathanos, confident that Frostmourne would reclaim the rebellious soul it contained.
• Nathanos confronted Arthas while the Knights of the Ebon Blade carried out their plan to gather Saronite and steal Frozen Throne fragments.
• Arthas argued that he sought power to create an eternal kingdom, while Nathanos accused him of trying to erase the memory of his crimes.
• Arthas summoned frost and air around Frostmourne and sent the resulting blades toward Nathanos.

Nathanos fought Arthas on the ice, discovering Sulfuras could withstand Frostmourne and using his skill to turn the duel around. Just as Arthas nearly killed him, the Skybreaker rescued Nathanos, who awoke beside Saurfang in an unfamiliar place.

• Arthas overwhelmed Nathanos with ice magic and a blast that drained his energy, while Nathanos taunted him about killing his father.
• Nathanos blocked Frostmourne with Sulfuras and grew confident when the weapon remained unharmed.
• Nathanos used Muradin's battlefield lessons to evade Arthas's killing blow and kick him back.
• Arthas's rage made him strike the ground where Nathanos had been, but the Skybreaker arrived and fired on the platform.
• The Skybreaker carried Nathanos away, and he awoke to find Saurfang standing over him in an unfamiliar place.

Nathanos argued with Saurfang aboard the Skybreaker after the Alliance airship rescued him from the Lich King. He refused to meet the commander and escaped toward Dalaran as black mist, leaving Saurfang shaken by his words.

• Nathanos questioned Saurfang about the Skybreaker's arrival and learned that the Silver Covenant's Ranger-General had told them where to find him.
• Saurfang confronted Nathanos about his connection to Darion Mograine and the commotion in Icecrown Citadel, while Nathanos refused to explain.
• When a soldier summoned Nathanos to meet the commander, Nathanos threatened to kill the crew, and Saurfang reminded him that they had saved his life.
• Nathanos threatened Lylessa to make Saurfang release him, then challenged Saurfang's loyalty to the Alliance and his chance of winning acceptance from his own people.
• Nathanos refused to meet the commander, promised that the Forsaken would remember the favor, and transformed into black mist to travel to Dalaran.

Nathanos infiltrated Dalaran through its sewers, caught sight of Alleria and his son Belorell, and searched the Silver Covenant base for Sylvanas. He discovered preparations for a campaign against Icecrown Citadel and realized Sylvanas and Veronalara knew he was in Dalaran, but he left hoping Sylvanas would keep his identity secret.

• Nathanos entered Dalaran through the Sewers and found an exit near the Violet Hold.
• Nathanos saw Alleria, Vareesa, and his son Belorell at a pet shop, then slipped away without being noticed.
• Alleria sensed a familiar presence and briefly wondered if Nathanos had returned, but dismissed the thought as imagination.
• Nathanos infiltrated the Silver Covenant base, learned Sylvanas was away, and found concealed siege weapons apparently intended for Icecrown Citadel.
• Nathanos found evidence that Sylvanas and Veronalara had recently met, thanked Sylvanas for protecting his secret, and considered Veronalara's spy role potentially useful.

Nathanos watched Darion Mograine complete Shadowmourne by binding thousands of powerful souls and infusing the weapon with blood, plague, and frost. Darion gave the finished weapon to Nathanos, entrusting him with the task of destroying the Lich King.

• Nathanos watched Darion begin forging Shadowmourne at Shadow Vault with his elite smiths.
• Darion sent thousands of souls into the forge and added Arthas's former weapon, Light's Vengeance, to create an unstable Shadowmourne.
• Darion reforged the weapon with a fragment of the Frozen Throne and the powers of Vampyr blood, plague, and Sindragosa's breath.
• Darion declared the weapon complete, and Nathanos recognized its fused powers as a match for Frostmourne.
• Darion offered Shadowmourne to Nathanos, saying he had the strength to wield it and defeat the Lich King.

Tirion read Nathanos’s warning that the Lich King had to be defeated at the Frozen Throne and that the throne must remain, leaving him troubled by what victory would require. Meanwhile, Nathanos mastered Shadowmourne by sharing his memories of regret, rage, and redemption with the souls bound inside it.

• Belmont delivered Nathanos’s message to Tirion and evaded questions about the Alliance’s Skybreaker.
• Tirion ordered a soldier to investigate the Alliance’s movements, then read Nathanos’s warning about the Frozen Throne and the need for a Lich King to remain.
• Nathanos took Shadowmourne to a deserted part of Icecrown Glacier and tried to make the souls within it obey him.
• Shadowmourne showed Nathanos visions of its souls’ deaths and hatred of the Scourge, and he answered with memories of his own suffering and resolve.
• Shadowmourne accepted Nathanos, its pain giving way to a sense of compatibility as its powers flowed through him, and he headed back.

Nathanos convened the Forsaken leaders at Dark Forsaken Bastion to plan their assault on Icecrown Citadel. He assigned them to attack the fortress’s second level while Tirion Fordring and his champions would face the Lich King, leaving Rassuvios and the others to decide whether to obey.

• The Forsaken leaders gathered at Dark Forsaken Bastion and asked where Nathanos was as they discussed the Argent Crusade and Knights of the Ebon Blade preparing to attack Icecrown Citadel.
• Nathanos arrived and told the leaders that the final assault was near, but the Forsaken still lacked a plan.
• Nathanos warned Rassuvios that Stormwind City was also an enemy of the Lich King and would join the assault.
• Belmont spread a map, and Nathanos explained that the Alliance would attack the main gate while the Horde assaulted the outer walls.
• Nathanos ordered the four leaders to accompany him in attacking the fortress’s second level, where powerful servants and possibly Sindragosa awaited.
• Nathanos announced that Tirion Fordring and his champions would go directly to the Frozen Throne, then declared that the Forsaken leaders could be replaced if they refused his decision.

Arthas heard Terenas and the souls trapped in Frostmourne warn that his power was failing as Azeroth’s forces besieged Icecrown Citadel, but he seized the sword and prepared to fight. Nathanos assigned commanders to eliminate the Lich King’s lieutenants, while Varian arrived at the front and proposed a direct assault on the Citadel’s upper levels.

• Arthas spoke with Terenas’s soul and the spirits inside Frostmourne, then grabbed the sword and declared that it was hungry.
• Nathanos explained that the gathered factions risked being wiped out together and organized a swift assault against the Scourge.
• Nathos volunteered to confront Professor Putricide, Rassuvios joined him, and Veronalara received orders to defeat Blood Queen Lana’thel.
• Nathanos sent Belmont to help an elite force fight Svalna and declared that he would face Sindragosa himself.
• Varian joined Tirion, Jaina, and Muradin at the front, then proposed using the Skybreaker to attack Icecrown Citadel’s upper levels directly.

Alliance and Horde forces clashed unexpectedly outside Icecrown Citadel while Nathanos and the Forsaken advanced through the upper citadel toward the Lich King. Nathanos reached Sindragosa’s nest and unleashed Shadowmourne’s spirits against its defenders.

• Sylvanas commanded the Rangers to defend the Skybreaker when the Doomhammer appeared and the Alliance became caught between Horde soldiers and the Scourge.
• Muradin joined Sylvanas, and Arthas’s voice revealed that Bolvar was alive and resisting the Lich King’s attempt to claim him.
• Nathanos led the Forsaken onward, splitting them into groups to attack the Scourge’s plague workshop, Vampyr domain, and other forces.
• Nathanos used Shadowmourne to confront Sindragosa and threatened to kill her two whelps before she arrived.
• Nathanos bypassed the Vrykul, a corrupted Green Dragon, and a Spider Demon hatchery, then reached Sindragosa’s nest.
• Nathanos struck the ground with Shadowmourne, releasing hundreds of vengeful ghosts against the Frost Wyrms and Vrykul.

Nathanos defeated Sindragosa’s two adult Frost Wyrms, but the Frost Queen arrived and sealed the platform’s exits with magical walls of fire. Trapped with Sindragosa, Nathanos faced her imminent attack.

• Nathanos realized the Frost Wyrms could only be defeated by granting their corrupted remains true rest, then used Shadowmourne to bring down the first dragon.
• Nathanos transformed partially into spectral form, shattered the second Frost Wyrm’s wings with blood-charged ice blades, and forced it to crash onto the platform.
• Sindragosa arrived and sent magical ice spheres toward the stairway entrances, creating walls of fire that blocked Nathanos’s escape routes.
• Sindragosa confronted Nathanos on the sealed platform and lunged at him with her claws.

Nathanos fought Sindragosa in Icecrown and provoked her into revealing how she had fallen. As the battle continued, she described being grievously wounded by the Titans’ power and abandoned by Malygos, while Nathanos raised the dead hatchlings against her.

• Nathanos evaded Sindragosa’s landing and defended himself from her frost-and-arcane breath with Shadowmourne.
• Nathanos questioned Sindragosa about the dead dragon hatchlings and learned that she blamed the world for their deaths and wanted revenge.
• Nathanos taunted Sindragosa about Deathwing and Malygos, prompting her to attack and reveal that the Blue Dragons had fought Deathwing before the Demon Soul.
• Sindragosa recounted being blasted to Icecrown with broken wings and near death, and Nathanos used Shadowmourne to awaken the hatchlings and command them to attack her.
• Sindragosa said she had struggled toward Dragonblight and called to Malygos for help, but he abandoned her.

Nathanos learned that Sindragosa’s lingering abdominal wound could be her weakness and provoked her into exposing herself, but their first clash injured him and revealed her frost magic. The chapter left him facing her battlefield-wide tornado as Shadowmourne shifted to a new green power.

• Nathanos told Sindragosa that Malygos had been dead for months and that the Lich King could not defeat Deathwing.
• Nathanos identified Sindragosa’s unhealed abdominal wound as a possible weakness and planned to attack it.
• Nathanos used Shadowmourne’s Vampyr Blood power to rush Sindragosa and clash with her jaws, but the impact injured him and inflicted stacking frost magic.
• Sindragosa summoned a powerful tornado that pulled Nathanos toward her, and he braced himself with Sulfuras as Shadowmourne turned green.

Nathanos battled Sindragosa, whose frost magic weakened his control over his undead body, and devised a dangerous plan to exploit her exposed weakness. After their clash sent them both flying, Nathanos recovered first and threw Shadowmourne at the still-stunned Frost Wyrm.

• Sindragosa's freezing attack numbed Nathanos and restricted his movement, but Shadowmourne's blood form helped him counter the effects.
• Sindragosa took to the air and bombarded Nathanos with frost while he tried to find a way past her defenses.
• Nathanos endured great pain to transform his legs into black mist and rush Sindragosa, but Shadowmourne could not break through the protection over her skull.
• Nathanos released one hand from Shadowmourne, triggering a violent impact that blasted both combatants backward.
• Nathanos recovered before Sindragosa and hurled Shadowmourne at her.

Nathanos defeated Sindragosa by throwing Shadowmourne, then fell into the abyss as he tried to prevent her soul from being resurrected. Meanwhile, Korok and the others learned from Belmont that Nathanos had gone alone to face the Frost Queen.

• Nathanos hurled Shadowmourne into Sindragosa's weak point, releasing the power suppressed in her body and sending her plunging into the abyss.
• Nathanos suffered severe but temporary injuries from his forced transformation and crawled toward the place where Sindragosa had fallen.
• Nathanos found Sindragosa's shattered body and unresting soul, then pushed himself over the platform's edge to stop her from being resurrected.
• Valithria thanked Korok and the other warriors who had rescued her, then told them Sindragosa was in Frostwing Hall.
• Belmont told Korok and the others that Nathanos had gone alone to confront Sindragosa, and Valithria admired his courage.

Tirion and his allies confronted Arthas at the Frozen Throne, where they found Bolvar bound and unconscious before the battle began. Meanwhile, Nathanos brought Sindragosa’s soul to Tethys at Azure Dragonshrine, leaving him weakened and unable to join the fight against Arthas.

• Arthas waited atop the Frozen Throne as Tirion and his allies arrived, and Tirion recognized the tortured figure bound above the throne as Bolvar.
• Arthas mocked Tirion and threatened the warriors, and Tirion ordered the allies to attack.
• Nathanos searched Dragonblight for the blue dragons and found Sindragosa’s corpse, while Shadowmourne remained intact and held her soul.
• Nathanos found Tethys at Azure Dragonshrine and gave her Sindragosa’s soul flame.
• Tethys questioned Nathanos’s motives, and he insisted he had acted as he wished while his weakened legs kept him from joining the battle.