Anub'arak

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Anub'arak

Gender	Male
Race	Nerubian
Character class	Crypt Lord
Affiliation	The Scourge
Occupation	Nerubian Crypt Lord and follower of Ner'zhul; former King of Azjol-Nerub

In the fictional Warcraft universe, Anub'arak is the bodyguard of King Arthas in Northrend.He is also the king of Azjol-Nerub.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] History

Anub'arak debuted in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, in the Scourge campaign. Before joining the Scourge, he was a Nerubian living in the kingdom of Azjol-Nerub, up in the lands of Northrend. As the former King of Azjol-Nerub, Anub'arak was among the Nerubians slaughtered in the War of the Spider who were ritually mummified. When Azjol-Nerub was crushed and the surviving Nerubians scattered, Ner'zhul, the Lich King, raised the high lords of the spider kingdom as undead to do his bidding, and Anub'arak was among them.

Now a malicious Crypt Lord, Anub'arak uses his powers to purge the snow swept landscape of any remaining resistance to the reign of the Lich King. Despite the pleas from his former subjects, he massacred many Nerubians who stood in his way.

In the period leading up to Reign of Chaos, he also guided the then-human Kel'Thuzad to Naxxramas through a series of underground tunnels. During this time, Anub'arak commented that he was the one responsible for conquering the ziggurat for his master. Further comments revealed that he was not a willing servant of the Lich King, but rather forced to serve him upon death. As a demonstration of the corrupting influence of death, Anub'arak led Kel'thuzad to a cell containing a human couple and killed the wife, who was then compelled in undeath to destroy her living husband.

[edit] Role as a Bodyguard

Anub'arak was sent south to meet Arthas when he arrived at Icecrown Glacier. Anub'arak saved the dark prince from an attack by Blood Elves before he introduced himself and told Arthas of Ner'zhul's plans. Anub'arak helped Arthas to establish a base and masterminded the attack on Sapphiron. Anub'arak told Arthas that it would take far too long to fight their way through Kael'thas and Vashj's expansive forces, and formulated a plan to go through the underground ruins of Azjol-Nerub to reach Icecrown, but warned that it would be a perilous journey.

Anub'arak led Arthas into the ruined spider kingdom, negating many perilous traps along the way, but all the while, he fought many of his former subjects, the living Nerubians, who called him the traitor king for serving the Lich King, who had destroyed Nerub.

As they entered the kingdom, they encountered survivors of Muradin's expedition, now led by Baelgun, who reported that an ancient evil had been released beneath the kingdom, and that they would not allow any to open the Inner Kingdom's doors. Anub'arak and Arthas destroyed the troublesome Dwarves and broke into the Inner Kingdom. Soon, they came upon the evil the dwarves had spoken of - the Faceless Ones - strange, malformed creatures who had been imprisoned beneath the earth in ages long forgotten. They even faced off with a Forgotten One, a creature of great power and resilience.

Upon entering the Upper Kingdom, an earthquake separated Anub'arak from Arthas, and Anub'arak and his minions dug fervently through the rubble to get to Arthas before he killed himself in one of the many booby traps laden throughout the halls of Nerub. Impressed at Arthas' resilience, when he found him, Anub'arak quickly ushered him out of Nerub and to the surface, where they were immediately engaged with Illidan and his servants in a battle for the Frozen Throne.

Anub'arak was quick to the battle, defending Arthas as he magically activated the four obelisks surrounding Icecrown's pinnacle. Finally, all four were active, and Anub'arak stood by as Arthas climbed the stairs to his destiny.

[edit] Anub'arak in World of WarCraft

Anub'arak, presumably still in Northrend, has not made an appearance in World of Warcraft. He is mentioned in the backstory to Patch 1.11, involving the opening of Naxxramas - Kel'Thuzad's fortress. According to the story posted on the WoW website, entitled "Road to Damnation", Anub'arak led Kel'Thuzad through Naxxramas, showing him the Lich King's experiments with undeath. It is believed that if a Northrend expansion is released he will be a raid boss. There is also a realm named after him.

Warcraft Universe