rashkah:

Gok Gorerend. An old warrior who died defending Winterspring during the second Scourge Invasion. The time that passed brittled his bones before he could be risen as a Death Knight, instead of tossing him aside after having given a fierce battle, his bones were frozen solid with Scourge magic and his armour drilled to his body for extra support and protection.

As a consequense the orc had to constantly mantain himself surrounded by cold. While he could hold himself with his own frozen power, he couldn’t be on warm land for too long without it tasking his body to a breaking point. Considering he (like every other Knight of the Ebon Blade) had a score to settle with Arthas, so leaving Northrend wasn’t really part of his plans.