An armoured prince kneels in an ice cavern, gripping a runed sword driven into the frozen ground.

Original artwork, not a still

Arthas Menethil

Frostmourne hungers.

— Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne · 2003

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The sword is a character in its own right: Frostmourne takes souls, and here Arthas speaks for its appetite rather than his own, a sign of how far the blade has taken him from the paladin he was. Warcraft players quote it as shorthand for the whole Scourge storyline, and because it is a click-and-command line it is one of the most-heard sentences in the game, repeated every time a player orders the death knight about.

Context reviewed

In context

Spoilers for Warcraft III: The Frozen ThroneShow the scene

In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003), Arthas Menethil is the fallen prince of Lordaeron, now a death knight of the Scourge who carries the runeblade Frostmourne. The line is one of his unit responses: click him and give an order in the Undead campaign and, among a handful of variants, he answers that Frostmourne hungers. It is not a cutscene speech but a voice line players hear over and over while commanding him, delivered in his cold, post-corruption voice. Frostmourne itself was pushed out of the Frozen Throne by the Lich King Ner'zhul so that a champion would claim it, and Arthas did, in Northrend, during the Third War.

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Context reviewed

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