War of the Spider

This article is about the event. For the book and History of Warcraft chapter of the same name, see  [War of the Spider].

War of the Spider
Azjol-Nerub
Date	After 10 ADP but before 15 ADP
Location	Northrend Azjol-Nerub Icecrown
Result	Decisive Scourge victory Fall of the Empire of Azjol-Nerub Many nerubians raised as undead The Lich King gains uncontested control of Northrend
Commanders and leaders   Empire of Azjol-Nerub King Anub'arak † Anub'Rekhan † Krik'thir the Gatewatcher † Elder Nadox † Nerub'enkan † Tuten'kash † Vorus'arak (deserter)   Undead Scourge The Lich King Nathrezim   Yogg-Saron's forces Yogg-Saron
Casualties and losses   Empire of Azjol-Nerub Very heavy   Undead Scourge Moderate; losses quickly and easily replenished   Yogg-Saron's forces Light
Major Battles	Battle of Azjol-Nerub
Previous	Battle of Grim Batol
Next	Third War

“Long ago, our people made war upon death itself, clad in frozen armor and armed with the power of a fallen god. Those who fought, fell. Those who fell, rose. Those who rose, turned their mandibles upon us.”

— Old V'k

The War of the Spider was a conflict between the newly-formed Undead Scourge and the nerubian Empire of Azjol-Nerub prior to the Third War. After enslaving most of Northrend's other inhabitants, the Lich King Ner'zhul encountered heavy resistance from the insectoid nerubians. After a years-long war of attrition, the Lich King's armies invaded and destroyed the nerubians' underground kingdom of Azjol-Nerub. The nerubians tried to escape by tunneling underground and accidentally exposed the faceless minions of the Old God Yogg-Saron, leaving them trapped between two fronts. Many of the nerubians, including their king Anub'arak, were killed and raised into undeath (mainly as crypt fiends and crypt lords). The Lich King was left to rule Northrend unopposed and adopted the nerubians' architectural style as his own.

History

Beginning

After arriving in Northrend, the Lich King Ner'zhul used his psychic Domination powers and the plague of undeath to enslave most of the continent's inhabitants—including ice trolls, wendigo, vrykul, and humans—and build up an army of undead that would later be called the Scourge. Once he had control of Northrend, he could begin his real work by releasing the plague of undeath on the Eastern Kingdoms and the rest of Azeroth and thereby prepare for the Burning Legion's invasion.

However, as the Lich King extended his influence, the nerubian empire of Azjol-Nerub stood against his power and sent their elite warrior-guard to attack Icecrown Citadel and end his bid for dominance. The nerubians, who had vast forces and a network that stretched under nearly half of Northrend, were immune to both the plague of undeath and the Lich King's telepathic Domination, and any attempts to spread the plague in Azjol-Nerub were ruthlessly snuffed out by King Anub'arak. The nerubian spiderlords' hit-and-run tactics on the Lich King's strongholds stymied his efforts to root them out time after time. The brutality and fearlessness of Anub'arak and his warriors made it difficult for the Scourge to overtake Azjol-Nerub, and the insectoids came close to winning.

Fall of Azjol-Nerub

With no way to subvert their defenses, the Lich King decided to instead smash the nerubians into rubble. For years, the undead fought a war of attrition against the insectoids. Though the nerubians were immune to the plague, their bodies could still be raised through necromancy, and each one who fell was added to the Lich King's ranks. Thrice, Anub'arak beseeched the southern nerubian kingdom of Azj-Kahet for aid. The Kaheti could potentially have turned the tide of the war, but since Azj-Kahet was too remote to be threatened by the Scourge, Queen Neferess did not want to invite death on her people by intervening. She also argued that Anub'arak could finish the war that he himself had started. She cast out the diplomat he sent, refused to answer his demands, and sealed the tunnels that connected Azj-Kahet to Azjol-Nerub.

The Gilded Gate.

Ultimately, with the aid of the dreadlords and innumerable undead, the Lich King invaded Azjol-Nerub and breached the Gilded Gate which had stood unchallenged for centuries. However, the gatewatcher, Krik'thir, was able to close off most of the empire before he was killed, ensuring that only the exposed Upper Kingdom fell to the invaders. The Scourge brought the empire's subterranean temples crashing down on the spiderlords' heads.

The Lich King raised Anub'arak himself as an undead crypt lord and forced him to lead the attack on the nerubians, kill many of his own former subjects, and lead the undead in conquering nerubian ziggurats (such as Naxxramas) and repurposing them for the Lich King's designs. For this, the living nerubians began to refer to Anub'arak as the "Traitor King" and lay the destruction of their kingdom at his feet. Anub'arak's most loyal commander, Anub'Rekhan, was likewise killed and raised. Other spiderlords betrayed their people and willingly sided with the Lich King to become crypt lords in exchange for power and immortality. One spiderlord, Vorus'arak, successfully escaped Azjol-Nerub through tunnels with his brood, the Voru'kar, allowing them to survive the war.

During the fall of Azjol-Nerub, nerubian viziers released a single spider, Hadronox, that would one day grow to avenge the fallen and reclaim its home from the Scourge. As they lost ground amid the invasion, many of the nerubians in Ahn'kahet attempted to escape the undead by tunneling underground. In desperation, some of them dug too deep and inadvertently exposed tendrils of the Old God Yogg-Saron, who roused its awareness and sent its faceless minions against the insectoids. The nerubians were unable to fight a war on two fronts against such powerful enemies, and this misfortune ultimately cost them the war and their home.

Aftermath

Impressed by the nerubians' resistance, the Lich King adopted their architectural style for his own structures and infused their ziggurats with magic to turn them into airborne necropoli. The Scourge also claimed the nerubian empire's few remaining obsidian destroyer slaves. Left to rule Northrend unopposed, the Lich King prepared to unleash the plague of undeath on the Eastern Kingdoms. Corrupting powerful minds such as Anub'arak taught the Lich King the value of powerful allies, which he would need both to complete his mission and (secretly) to break free from his Burning Legion masters. He consequently spread his consciousness across Azeroth in search of individuals he could tempt with power, leading to his recruitment of Kel'Thuzad.

The nerubians who survived the War of the Spider fled into Northrend's wastes or deep into Azjol-Nerub, where they would continue to fight even years later to liberate their kingdom from the undead. Although they were spared the fate of their northern kin, the War of the Spider also culturally impacted the nerubians of Azj-Kahet. They began referring to their own nation as the "Last Kingdom", seeing it as the last bastion of their race following Azjol-Nerub's destruction. They began practicing cremation in order to prevent their dead from being used against them and avoid repeating Azjol-Nerub's mistakes. The Kaheti book Eight Views on Defense against Hostile Runes: Lessons from the Fall of Ahn-Kahet^[sic] describes potential ways to counteract the Scourge's rune magic.

Notes

• The War of the Spider was originally described in the Warcraft III manual as having lasted ten years. However, when that section was copied into the History of Warcraft, the mention of years was removed and the timeframe was rewritten to be simultaneous with the liberation of the internment camps in 18 ADP. World of Warcraft: Chronicle Volume 3 does not provide a date for the start of the war but places it after the events of 10 ADP and just before the Lich King's recruitment of Kel'Thuzad in 15 ADP, while stating that it lasted for several years.