"You, too, shall serve!"
Archmage Arugal was a Gilnean archmage and a member of the Kirin Tor. Having survived the fall of Dalaran at the hands of Archimonde and the Scourge, Arugal fled west, into Silverpine Forest where he found refuge at the keep of Baron Silverlaine. Desperate to find some way to combat the Scourge, Arugal used the research of the wizard Ur to summon the werewolf-like worgen. Although initially successful in fighting the Scourge, Arugal lost control of his summoned minions, resulting in them turning on Arugal's allies. The worgen stormed Baron Silverlaine's keep, killing the baron and slaughtering the keep's occupants. Furthermore, the curse of the worgen was inflicted on Gilneas, which would eventually result in a significant portion of the population being turned.
Driven mad by his guilt, Arugal declared the worgen to be his children, took control of the keep formally held by Baron Silverlaine, renaming it Shadowfang Keep in the process, and continued his research into the worgen. He eventually mastered the ability to control worgen, as well as inflicting the curse on others, infecting nearby Pyrewood Village in the process.
As his worgen minions continued to be a persistent threat to them, the Forsaken eventually tasked a group of adventurers to deal with him. With his head taken as proof of the dead, the rest of Arugal's body was buried in an unmarked grave not far from Shadowfang Keep. That should have been the end of Archmage Arugal, however
The Lich King had taken an interest in his work, and tasked four of his
Darkfallen servants to raise the dead mage.
As
a shade, Archmage Arugal traveled to the Grizzly Hills in Northrend, infecting the local human population with the curse of the worgen, and establishing a Wolf Cult in the service of the Scourge. The machinations of the Wolf Cult were uncovered, however, and adventurers tasked with his destruction, ending his existence once again.
Arugal didn't do too bad, and he got to
live the dream for a little while, albeit a warped and twisted version of it. He wasn't doing too badly in 2009 either, having just gained about 56 levels, although he did lose his status as a dungeon final boss in the process. Since vacating Shadowfang Keep, its been taken over by a renegade faction of Forsaken, led by the former Gilnean noble,
Lord Godfrey.
