Uther of the Ebon Blade


 * ''For other appearances of Uther Lightbringer, see Uther Lightbringer (disambiguation).

Uther of the Ebon Blade is a legendary paladin hero card, from the Knights of the Frozen Throne set.

How to get
Like all other death knight hero cards, he is a possible reward for completing the prologue of the Icecrown singleplayer adventure.

Strategy
Uther of the Ebon Blade is a very powerful tool in a control Paladin deck. The Grave Vengeance weapon boasts great stats equal to an Ashbringer, with each swing able to take out medium-sized minions or deal direct damage to the opponent. What's more, it has Lifesteal to boot; combined with the Armor received by playing this card, you can regain up to 20 Health over the course of three turns.

You can create more copies of Grave Vengeance with Hoard Pillager and Rummaging Kobold.

The Four Horsemen is a straight upgrade to your Hero Power, providing you with a steady stream of 2/2 minions. Similar to Justicar Trueheart, the extra stats on-board are difficult for your opponent to answer without using cards. The special win condition of the Horsemen will also pressure your opponent to remove them quickly, lest you threaten victory by keeping all of them alive.

A combo with Auctionmaster Beardo and cheap spells (either Paladin secrets, or coins generated by Burgly Bully or Licensed Adventurer) can provide a good opportunity to make use of The Four Horsemen's win condition.

You can also return the horsemen to your hand and later play them all on the same turn. However, your hero power will always summon a horseman which is not already on the board, so you may end up with the same horseman both in your hand and in play.

Emotes
Each hero has their own selection of audio and written emotes that are produced in response to specific events. For more information, see Emote.

Lore
Uther of the Ebon Blade is the version of Uther Lightbringer.

In the web comic Undeath Conquers All, a Pompous Thespian tells a tale of how Arthas Menethil and Jaina Proudmoore were corrupted into death knights of the and waged war against the living, causing the world to cry out for heroes to stand against them. Uther the Lightbringer tracked down his former pupil, Arthas, but the two death knights easily defeated him. However, the thespian announces that the paladin's story did not end there, for the power of the reached out once more. The thespian states that Uther had been prepared to pay any cost to stop them, and asks the audience if the paladin would slip away into the peace of death or if he would accept a new power to achieve vengeance. The female pirate that the thespian first began telling the tale to replies that she didn't pay him for a story of peace. The thespian replies "Vengeance it is" and relates how the Frozen Throne transformed its new servant while Jaina and Arthas continued to destroy in its name. However, the Frozen Throne called for them to return to, telling the two death knights that it would choose only one of them to inherit its power. When they arrived, they discovered that the Throne had a surprise in store in the form of Uther, now a death knight, who leapt forward to attack them, yelling "WELL MET! NOW DIE!" However, Uther was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Thrall, who urged Arthas and Jaina to return to being the heroes they once were and told them to surrender. The shaman was silenced by an icy blast, and Uther tried to continue exacting his vengeance, but was suddenly interrupted yet again by Thrall, who was now also a death knight. The Pompous Thespian's story ends with a massive battle between the undead Jaina, Uther, and Thrall, with the moral of the story being that the Frozen Throne does not bring people together, but rather pits them against one another until only the strongest remains. After being offered more gold by the audience, the thespian reluctantly concedes that Jaina won.

The are a faction of death knights led by  who broke away from the Lich King's control after the.


 * The Knights of the Ebon Blade are an organization of renegade death knights. Freed from the grasp of the Lich King, they regrouped under the banner of Highlord Darion Mograine. They now fight the alongside the other class orders during their third invasion, and their order hall is the floating necropolis of . The Ebon Blade also possess three other bases in, namely the  in , with the  and  in .

The Horsemen summoned by Uther are, in fact, the new created by the Knights of the Ebon Blade under the orders of the Lich King, Bolvar Fordragon.


 * The Four Horsemen are extremely powerful elite death knights originally created by the Kel'Thuzad. The most feared and powerful soldiers of all the Scourge, the Archlich considered them his greatest creation. They are damned souls, shackled in anguish for eternity. Few would pay the price for such power.

Uther's icy blue color scheme suggests an association with the death knight specialization.


 * "Combining martial prowess with supernatural cold, frost death knights leave their enemies chilled to the bone—and broken of the will to fight. Unlike mages who learn to harness frost magic to great effect, these death knights are born of it, rime gripping their decaying hearts. These frozen undead warriors wield dual blades to strike with ferocity and inflict deathly cold upon anyone who would stand against them."

For more information, see Knights of the Frozen Throne.

Trivia

 * Uther of the Ebon Blade went through multiple redesigns during the development of Knights of the Frozen Throne. Early on the card was named "Uther, Death Reaper", with early designs being a 5-Mana card with "Battlecry: Destroy all enemy minions and restore 3 health to your hero for each destroyed.", and another being 8 Mana with "Battlecry: Equip Frostmourne."

Patch changes

 * Added.