What if Gul'dan was Lich King? (Part 1)

Nick and Katie are back with another week of What If wondering! This week’s question comes from Alisaunder who asks, “What if the Legion had bound Gul’dan into the helmet instead of that other guy? The smart Gul’dan not the idiot whiner.” So this week, Nick and Katie look at what would have happened if the Legion had turned Gul’dan (MU) into Lich King and stuffed him into the Helm of Domination, instead of Ner’zhul.

First, because of the question’s implicit disregard for AU Gul’dan, the duo compare MU and AU Gul’dans and how they were regarded. They comment on how AU Gul’dan is perceived as more cunning. Nick talks about how the fact that the Legion had less patience with AU Gul’dan would have made him more paranoid during his time on Azeroth. They consider his early history from his Lords of War cinematic and debate if that applies to MU Gul’dan.

So first they consider when Gul’dan would be claimed by the Legion and turned into the Lich King. The best opportunity is when Gul’dan goes to the Tomb of Sargeras and dies in the original timeline. At that point, Gul’dan, rather than be torn apart by demons, is taken and stretched until he becomes the Lich King, as Ner’zhul was, and then is placed in the Helm and thrown to Azeroth. Meanwhile, Ner’zhul is simply executed by Kil’jaeden when he opens the portals on Draenor, so that their fates are essentially switched.

Nick and Katie briefly wonder if the Helm should be sent anywhere other than Icecrown, and almost consider Pandaria as an interesting landing spot! But ultimately Northrend makes the most sense.
They try to consider Gul’dan’s actions while trapped within the Helm. Gul’dan would have been hostile to the Legion after their claiming him and rejecting his power, and so he would look to another who was willing to subvert the Legion. Instead of choosing Arthas as his champion, Gul’dan would find common ground with Illidan.

The then discuss some of what it would mean for Illidan to be the next Lich King, but that leaves us wondering about Arthas’ fate, which will be discussed next time in Part 2!
Thank you for listening to The Tauren & the Goblin! Please send any comments or questions to taurengoblin@mashthosebuttons.com or @taurengoblin on twitter.

Hosts

Nick Zielenkievicz

Host of WoW! Talk! and The Tauren & The Goblin. Sometimes known as the Video Games Public Defender. Wants to play more Destiny and Marvel Heroes but WoW is all-consuming. Decent F2P Hearthstone player. Sad that he lost the Wii that had Wrecking Crew on it. Would be happy if the only game ever made was M.U.L.E. Gragtharr on Skywall-US. Garresque on Ravencrest-US.

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Katie Grace

Katie is a long time gamer who has fallen in love with multiple genres. She started young by playing Nintendo 64, Spyro, and Blizzard games such as Warcraft II with family, then eventually moved into playing games in both my leisure time and as a occupation. She loves being immersed in different universes and exploring the characters that live in them, as well as just playing games for a good time.

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