Ben Brode - ARTHAS


 * "How did Arthas become the Lich King? Sure, you could read the story, or go play Warcraft III. Or you could just listen to this rap!"

"Ben Brode - ARTHAS" is the title of a rap by Game Director Ben Brode, released July 31st, 2017.

History
In February 2017, Blizzard announced the Journey to Un'Goro expansion for Hearthstone and released a cinematic trailer for the expansion. Players were quick to notice the lack of a song in the trailer, leading to the creation of a reddit petition to make Game Director Ben Brode sing a song. The day after the petition was posted, Brode released Un'Goro: The Journey, a video featuring himself rapping, on his personal YouTube channel.

When Knights of the Frozen Throne was announced in July 2017, players again noticed the lack of a song in the trailer. Within a few days of being posted, a player-created reddit thread entitled "Petition to make Ben Brode record another song" had received roughly 13,400 upvotes. Brode responded to the thread with a tweet stating "This is some kind of bizzaro world we are living in where "rap petitions" have 10k upvotes".

During his July 14th reddit AMA, when asked if he was going to perform another rap, Brode hinted at the possibility.

On July 24th, Brode tweeted an image of the room and office chair seen in "Un'Goro: The Journey", with an accompanying message simply reading "ARTHAS" 07.31.2017. He also referenced the lyrics of "Un'Goro: The Journey" and stated that the tweet was not hinting at an upcoming card reveal,  nor at the release date of Knights of the Frozen Throne, but rather at something "HOT".

Finally, on July 31st, Brode released "Ben Brode - ARTHAS" on his personal YouTube channel. The rap tells of the story of Arthas Menethil, the future Lich King, by recounting the events of the in . The video is interlaced with gameplay and cutscene footage from Warcraft III and also features the appearance of several Hearthstone cards.

By popular request, Brode also released a lyrics-only version of the song for fan remix purposes.

Lyrics

 * Well met!
 * My name is Ben Brode
 * I got a story to tell
 * Are you ready?
 * Then come on and listen well


 * Many years ago there lived a paladin
 * He was prince of the when our story begins
 * This ain't a happy story, it's a little dark
 * This ain't no summer day
 * This ain't no walk in the park
 * You see, this prince's name was Arthas
 * AKA the Lich King
 * This is the story of how he became him


 * It all started with a mysterious
 * Only vague reports were all the Alliance scouts gave
 * The sent Arthas to go check out the rumor
 * And he met up with his college buddy, Jaina Proudmoore-a
 * Arthas and Jaina, yo, they were on the case
 * They found some crates with grain that were poison-laced
 * Suspicious - they looked about
 * as something moved in the forest
 * Shadows emerged and Arthas yelled
 * "They're coming right for us!"


 * That's when the attacked
 * The defenses just cracked
 * and Arthas just snapped
 * He jumped in to act
 * But quickly got trapped
 * s at his front and ghouls at his back
 * Arthas looked up and through battle
 * saw a 's shadow
 * It was Kel'Thuzad
 * Arthas gave him a nod
 * And then he swept the ghouls away
 * And clawed his way towards KT and
 * punched that necromancer straight square in the teeth


 * KT said, "seek Mal'Ganis where he makes his home
 * He controls the Scourge from the city of "
 * Those were the last words Kel'Thuzad said
 * Arthas killed that necromancer with a blow to the head
 * Then said, "Jaina, I demand
 * that you call the and
 * Uther will command them
 * and we will purge the damned then"
 * And Jaina said, "Yo yo yo, OK I'll go
 * I will go find Uther and I'll tell him what I know. Yo"
 * And she teleported away
 * There wasn't much else to say
 * They had to go stop the plague
 * undead were coming this way


 * ARTHAS
 * WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
 * WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
 * ARTHAS
 * WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
 * WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?


 * Right then he arrived at
 * Looked down
 * Saw plagued grain on the ground again
 * Arthas took a deep breath, then turned around
 * he was surrounded by the entire town
 * "Wait a second", said Arthas, filling with dread
 * "This plague doesn't just kill it turns you into UNDEAD"
 * The prince's stomach began to churn
 * At that second townsfolk began to turn


 * Twelve hours later, Arthas barely alive
 * His royal bodyguards, well, they didn't survive
 * The undead had him on the ropes, all outta hopes
 * Guess who showed up then?
 * You better check ya notes!
 * It was UTHER, Arthas' tutor
 * an incredible maneuver
 * shoulda come sooner
 * He saved the day
 * Poor Arthas would never be the same
 * Something clicked in his brain
 * And they heard him exclaim:


 * "STRATHOLME
 * Mal'Ganis is there
 * He will pay for what he did today, I swear"
 * And then he left, still covered in ichor
 * heading to Stratholme, all alone
 * And here is the kicker:
 * Empty crates lined the streets
 * the plague had been released pretty soon
 * the city would be an undead army of beasts
 * Arthas knew he couldn't let them become Scourge
 * Turned around and shouted, "Listen to my words!
 * There is only one way to emerge as victors
 * We surge into the city and PURGE the villagers!"
 * Uther said, "Are you serious?
 * Your father would be furious!
 * You can't possibly consider this!
 * There must be some other way!"
 * Arthas said, "Not today
 * There is no other way to save this town
 * You betray the crown!"
 * Uther said, "Fine, then, do it alone
 * I'm taking my army home."


 * Arthas started killing people in the night
 * They were sleeping? Didn't matter, he would kill 'em on sight
 * Better to kill 'em now before they turned to undead
 * so he burned the town down 'til the skies turned red


 * Then he found Mal'Ganis in the wreckage
 * He was just seconds from wrecking him
 * when he said, "Wait, I have a message
 * Do you think you can get the best of me?
 * Then come to, Arthas!
 * Fulfill your destiny!"


 * ARTHAS
 * WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
 * WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
 * ARTHAS
 * WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
 * WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?


 * Yeah, he went up to Northrend
 * He would chase Mal'Ganis and do anything to avenge
 * the death of his people, including doing things that sound a little evil
 * or at least a little illegal
 * But his campaign in Northrend didn't go very well
 * His army kept getting weaker
 * His soldiers fell
 * It was bleak, they'd only been there for a week
 * but they were close to defeat
 * Arthas was willing to cheat


 * There was a rumor of a sword full of ultimate power
 * But the inscription said that it would devour
 * the soul of any that touched it
 * It was called
 * Arthas tracked it down anyway
 * because he'd sworn
 * to kill Mal'Ganis
 * It was worth any risk, including this
 * So he lifted his fist and gave the sword a twist
 * It came out of the altar
 * Arthas did not falter
 * He ran back to his army where the undead all were


 * Arthas tore through the undead forces
 * straight to Mal'Ganis, of course
 * The laughed
 * "You think you're winning?
 * When you picked up that sword
 * you became a pawn of the Lich King"
 * And Arthas knew it was true
 * He was doomed, through and through


 * "I've damned everyone and everything I've ever loved
 * and I still feel no remorse."
 * A lot happened after that
 * He killed his father
 * But I'm just not gonna bother to rap the rest
 * I guess I oughta tell you one last thing
 * He found the of the Lich King
 * He put it on his head and now it's time to sing


 * ARTHAS
 * WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
 * WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?
 * ARTHAS
 * WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
 * WHY DID YOU TURN TO DARKNESS?