

Arthas also only had (very weak) ghouls and meat wagons in his forces that even with Zerg Rush, Uther can easily kill the ghouls. Did Uther hold himself back due to his fatherly feeling for Arthas? Keep in mind that Uther is full-powered Paladin and much more experienced than Arthas even if the latter wielded powerful runeblade. However, this overlooks how Tyrande helped a group of Furbolgs (try to) escape the corruption, mobilized her people against the Burning Legion and eventually turned from her racist ways. Tyrande is often seen as a villain rather than a hero due to her being unwilling to ally with the other Azeroth races to fight against the Burning Legion, and slaughtering a group of innocent prison wardens that were only doing their job keeping a condemned criminal (Illidan) behind bars.Later lore confirms both to be the case the Lich King wanted Arthas to strike him down, but encouraged it to make Arthas easier to corrupt.

Is he just allowing Arthas to finally have his revenge, or is this perhaps the start of the Lich King's entire grand scheme to bring about the downfall of the Burning Legion by killing off one of the Dreadlords when no one's watching? Mal'Ganis being surprised in his last moments that the Lich King ordered Arthas to kill him could make a case for the latter.
