Karthys Sorrowsong

Even as a boy, Karthys was different. There was a darkness within him that could not be denied. The young child clung to the shadows and shunned the company of others. He snuck into the funerals of strangers, and spoke to their tombstones in the cemetery. He sought out corpses of animals to preserve and memorialize them, creating a grim collection of morbid art. Karthys volunteered to tend to the sick and dying, though his intentions were not to help, but to closely witness the passing of those who were beyond help. Ultimately, he went so far as to elaborately stage his death, and he secretly observed his own funeral with intense fascination. When others discovered what Karthys had done, they were so shocked and disturbed that, in a way, he became truly dead to them. Karthys found himself fully rejected by the living.

His isolation only served to fuel his obsession. Karthys delved further into his exploration of death, and became fascinated by the Scourge of Lordaeron. There, it was said, the specters of the deceased continued on in unlife everlasting. Possessed by these tales, he knew he had to discover for himself if they were true. Journeying to that dreaded land, Karthys soon found himself wandering through the mist, overcome by the surreal beauty of the place. He felt as if he had finally come home. He had always chased the elusive purity of the moment of death, when life passed and in a single instant achieved meaning. Karthys saw that undeath was like that moment, preserved in dread stillness forever. He had discovered his destiny, to cross over the veil and leave the living behind for eternity. Something awoke in the woods that day, when Karthys did something no other creature had ever done: he willingly gave his life over to undeath. When he reentered the world, Karthys had become the embodiment of his own obsession. An undying being with the keys to life and death, he seeks to bring his reaping to the world.

After his ascension, Karthys spent years into the Lich King's service until he came upon his future apprentice. In her, he saw the potential for a great  Harvester, so he ignored Arthas' orders to continue through Silvermoon and took her alive, dragging her screaming body until she passed out to Scholomance. There, his minions and associates spent weeks torturing and breaking her until only a shell remained. only then was she ready. The next few years were spent under  the command of the Dark Lady Sylvanas, carrying out numerous harvests to produce more undead for her. Then when he became a captain, he suddenly retired, having found a calling in the Black Harvest, a sect of elite warlocks. He was trained harshly and then married to his master, Flame Mistress Sheera, an orc who was taught by Cho'Gall himself.