After two weekends of Diablo 4 beta, it's fair to say fans old and new have been left hungry for more, and thankfully due to the Server Slam we got a third taste. As a Diablo fan this has been an incredible year so far, and I'm comforted by the sheer volume of buzz on social media for the Diablo universe. Players I'd never have expected to try a Diablo game have been playing and loving Diablo 4, and it's been a joy to behold. Helped greatly I'm sure by the insane marketing campaign Blizzard has put behind this new addition to the series.
I can say with certainty that Diablo 4 does a better job than any of the games that have come before it, at telling a compelling story. Many of the naysayers, "What, Diablo has a story?" voices have been silenced by what was an enthralling Act 1.
You do not need to have played the previous games to enjoy Diablo 4, but the more you know about the world, the richer the experience you will have. Diablo has always had a story, and I'm going to tell it. From the beginning.
Diablo Lore: The Beginning
The very first being in existence in the world of Diablo, was Anu. Anu was all, Anu was only. Following what must have been a millennia of self-reflection, Anu decided to cast out all of the evil forces within him, effectively becoming a being of pure good and light. Pretty cool right? Well, not quite...
The evil forces had to go somewhere, and those components of Anu formed another being by the name of Tathamet, the seven-headed dragon. Anu and Tathamet fought each other for eons, light against dark, day against night until they exasperated their energy into one final killing blow. The deities were destroyed simultaneously creating the Diablo lore universe equivalent of the Big Bang.
From this destruction of the two beings came the creation of other beings and other worlds. What we now know as the Worldstone, is actually the Eye of Anu, the Heart of Creation itself, and the area formed around it Pandemonium. From Anu's spine came the 'Crystal Arch' also known as the foundation of the High Heavens. From the Crystal Arch beings of light and sound are created, Angels to you and I.
Lower Pandemonium became home to a much darker force. Tathamet's severed parts formed what we now know as Hell, and the seven heads of the dragon were split to form the Three Prime Evils, and four Lesser Evils. The Black Abyss in Hell is where all demons are created.
Diablo Lore: The Eternal Conflict
When Demons aren't trying to kill and overthrow eachother, they love fighting Angels.
There is more to the Conflict than simple brawling however, the fight for control over the World Stone. The World Stone being the Eye of Anu at the centre of the Universe which has the ability to shape reality and create worlds and life.
While the Pandemonium Fortress was built to protect the World Stone, possession of the Fortress itself passed between Angels and Demons many times over during the Eternal Conflict. Whilst Angels were in possession of the World Stone they would create worlds of light and perfect order, but these worlds were also stagnant and devoid of life. Demons in possession of it made worlds of chaos and destruction, basically toddlers playrooms for evil. These worlds too were unsustainable.
Regardless the war raged on for an unspecified amount of time, but we figure a long time given the name Eternal. Worlds were endlessly created and destroyed by either side in a bid for control over the Heart of Creation.
Diablo Lore: The Prime Evils and Lesser Evils
Demons do not live by the same rules of order as Angels, they are far more selfish and hungry for power, but they do follow a basic hierarchy most of the time when they aren't infighting. The heads of Tathamet we discussed earlier are now the Great Evils and each rule over their own domain. Generally, these seven Great Evils rule their own area and demon armies, but their are exceptions to this rule and demons that refuse to join any particular faction.
The Three Prime Evils and most powerful demons in Hell are:
- Diablo - Lord of Terror
- Baal - Lord of Destruction
- Mephisto - Lord of Hatred
While it's debatable who is the most powerful of the Three Prime Evils, Diablo is generally held as the most fearsome and unpredictable due to his untethered ambition and abilities of manipulation. Diablo is probably the most chaotic of the three and obsessed with having ultimate rule. As the youngest of the Three, he's a typical trouble-making little brother.
In contrast, Mephisto is the oldest of the Three, and the second being to have been created from the destruction of Anu and Tathamet (Malthael was the first). Malthael is more rational and strategic, but also the most hateful, which being the Lord of Hatred comes with the territory. Mephisto is the father to Lilith and Lucion.
Baal, the Lord of Destruction is the main antagonist of the Diablo 2 expansion of the same name. There has been conflicting information within the Diablo stories about if Baal or Diablo is the youngest but since the release of The Book of Cain, he is generally regarded as the middle sibling. You may hear the community mention Baal runs regularly as repeatedly killing Baal in Diablo 2 was the best way to level up characters and get loot.
The Lesser Evils are made up of:
- Azmodan - Lord of Sin
- Belial - Lord of Lies
- Andariel - Maiden of Anguish
- Duriel - Lord of Pain
Diablo Lore: The High Heavens and the Angiris Council
As we have covered, Angels are birthed from the Crystal Arch and are actually being born from Anu's power, which is finite therefore only a finite amount of angels can exist at any one time. If the High Heavens are at maximum angel capacity, only the death of an angel will return their energy to the Crystal Arch and be used to birth another Angel. There need to be specific conditions for this to happen, and the death of Angel does not mean they themselves will return. The process works more like reincarnation. A new angel will be born that may have some of the aspects of its former self but generally be a new being altogether.
Not all Angels are created equal, some are Archangels with greater power and status in the High Heavens. The five highest of which rule over the domain, The Angiris Council. Each archangel represents a different virtue of Anu.
- Imperius - Archangel of Valor and current leader of the council.
- Malthael - Archangel of Wisdom and first and oldest of the Angels.
- Tyrael - Archangel of Justice
- Auriel - Archangel of Hope
- Itherael - Archangel of Fate
Malthael, an integral character for Diablo 3, was the original leader of the council and the oldest known being in existence. Malthael was also the first of the Angels to discover and understand the World Stone and it's importance, and the first to notice it had gone missing later in the timeline.
Diablo Lore: Inarius and Lilith and the Creation of Sanctuary
Inarius and Lilith are two very important characters in Diablo lore and the two that newcomers to Diablo 4 will be the most familiar with as they are the focus of the latest game. We know that they are responsible for creating Sanctuary but how did this come to be?
Inarius was a powerful angel who served as an advisor to the Angiris Council, in fact under direct command of Tyrael. After tiring of the Eternal Conflict, he pondered the utter pointlessness of battling with demons for the World Stone and the passing back and forth of power and became disillusioned with the goals of the High Heavens. Being a well behaved angel he fought tirelessly on anyway, until one day he found himself incapacitated in battle and imprisoned by demons.
Inarius used his time in captivity to air his thoughts on the futile nature of the Eternal Conflict to his captors, and fortunately for him he found agreement in a particular demon, Lilith. Lilith was the daughter of Mephisto, also known as Daughter of Hatred and Queen of the Succubi. For a demon, Lilith was pretty hot and Inarius soon found himself utterly infatuated with her. The two fell in love and hatched a plan to rebel against both Angels and Demons and steal the World Stone for themselves thus ending the Eternal Conflict.
After recruiting some other willing volunteers to their cause from both sides of the war, they managed to steal the World Stone and harness its power to conceal themselves and it in a pocket dimension. Within that pocket dimension, Inarius, Lilith, and their followers created the world of Sanctuary. Turns out that combining the elements of order and chaos can create quite a stable world in comparison to each side's previous attempts with the World Stone.
Mount Arreat which you explore in Diablo 2, was the first area to be created and would come to house the World Stone.
Diablo Lore: Nephalem and The Purge
Inarius, Lilith and their followers lived in relative harmony in Sanctuary. In fact with no war to be had, they amused themselves in other way. Specifically copulating and reproducing. The offspring that came of this inter-breeding was known as the Nephalem. The first being the son of Inarius and Lilith, Linarian.
Linarian would later come to be known as Rathma, the first necromancer. Linarian and the other first nephalem are known as The Ancients. There were supposedly tens of thousands of Ancients at some point in the history of Sanctuary, who all spread across this new world in their efforts to discover and understand it.
Just as Sanctuary had been the only successfully stable world made using the World Stone using the efforts of both Angels and Demons, it seems the combination of these two species also spawned a much more powerful and stronger offspring in the Nephalem.
What was at first viewed a blessing by our unlikely couples, quickly became a concern. The Nephalem were far more powerful than anything that had come before, and some were concerned of what this mean for angels and demons. Could the Nephalem become a threat? Could they make either Heaven or Hell aware of the existence of Sanctuary and put this relative paradise in danger?
The concerns over the perceived threat of the Nephalems power caused much fighting between Lilith and Inarius and their band of runaways. Inarius took some time away to contemplate the potential destruction of these children.
Lilith, seeing the potential in the Nephalem's power wanted to use it to her advantage to end the Eternal Conflict once and for all, by using them to destroy Heaven and Hell leaving her as the ruler over all creation. Sensing the impending slaughter of these offspring she struck first by weilding a total bloodbath over Sanctuary. Lilith made quick work of murdering all of the other Angels and Demons whilst Inarius was still contemplating his final move.
Returning to find that his love had seemingly gone insane and wiped out all of their followers, Inarius still did not have the heart to kill her. Using the World Stone Inarious banished Lilith to the Void, an area that sits outside of the known Universe never to return. Let's see how that turns out.
Inarius ultimately decides that all of this bloodshed was not the fault of the Nephalem, and they should be allowed to live, however only under his control. Wielding the powers of the World Stone once again, he supresses the powers of the Nephalem. As generations of Nephalem are born and die, eventually all their power is lost and we are left with much less impressive humans.
Diablo Lore: The Cathedral of Light and The Triune
Following an unspecified amount of time, and humans having no memory of their ancestors' history or power, humans still found a way to get themselves into trouble.
The World Stone was missing from Pandemonium, and the disappearance of some key characters had not gone unnoticed by the High Heavens or the Burning Hells, most pointedly the Prime Evils. With Sanctuary being concealed and them having no knowledge of its existence they didn't have many avenues of investigation.
Some humans were still capable of practicing magic, not at their previous levels of proficiency but enough for a clan of mages in Kehjistan to accidentally summon a demon. The Vizjerei Clan responsible for this monumental mess-up are mentioned throughout the games, and were known for their skills in summoning spirits. Except they weren't spirits, they were demons.
The Prime Evils sensing not only the potential of Sanctuary but the dormant powers of the Nephalem in the human descendants of the Ancients, hatched a plan to corrupt humanity to their own ends. Rather than beam down to Sanctuary and start wreaking havoc, and alerting the High Heavens to its existence, The Prime Evils created a religion to corrupt unsuspecting humans — The Triune. The cult of the Three.
The Triune consisted of Three distinct sub-sects devoted to three guiding spirits, that were not at all suspicious:
- Order of Dialon dedicated to the Spirit of Determination (not Diablo)
- Order of Bala serving the Spirit of Creation (most definitely not Baal)
- Order of Mefis serving the Spirit of Love (not Meph.... ok you get it)
As humans joined the religion of The Triune with good intentions, they would eventually be corrupted and brainwashed with the true teachings of the order. The leader of The Triune 'The Primus' was actually the son of Mephisto and Lilith's brother, Lucion. He obviously had a much better relationship with his father and wanted to take on the family business of hatred, destruction and general terror.
Inarius was not blind to the corruption of the Triune, and that there were others now at least in Hell that knew of Sanctuary. Still unwilling to let the High Heavens in on the secret of his paradise and the now powerless humans, he started an opposing religion — The Cathedral of Light. Taking on a mortal disguise Inarius became The Prophet, the leader of this competing religion. For centuries the two religions co-existed, competing for ultimate control over the hearts and minds of mortals, though with no direct conflict or confrontation that would alert the High Heavens.
Diablo Lore: The Sin War
The Sin War is a defining moment in the history of the Diablo Universe, and if you are going to read any of the numerous stories prior to playing the games, you'll want to start with this trilogy. Inarius, Lilith and Rathma all appear in these stories so they have relevance to the unfolding story in Diablo 4.
The books open with a seemingly innocent story of a farmer, Uldyssian ul-Diomed who is already disillusioned with the current control of the two established religions in Sanctuary. He believes that the Cathedral of Light and the Triune are self-serving and exploit the lower classes for their own means, and his unwillingness to pick a side gets him in hot water and framed for a murder he hasn't committed.
In the course of this tale, he meets and becomes infatuated with a noblewoman who shares his beliefs and wishes to help him raise a rebellion against these two factions, Lylia. Uldyssian begins to manifest powers, which he uses to free himself from captivity and escape with Lylia and a band of rebels. These powers not only grow but he finds himself able to awaken them in others and becomes a spiritual leader of an uprising against The Cathedral of Light and the Triune.
Lylia is revealed to be none other than Lilith, who has managed to escape the Void and return to Sanctuary. She has been manipulating the World Stone under the nose of Inarius to awaken the nephalem powers within humanity, starting with Uldyssian who is later revealed to be a direct descendant of Rathma. Lilith ultimately wants Uldyssian and his followers to join her in an uprising against both Heaven and Hell. Unfortunately, the awakening of this power backfires against Lilith, whose offer is rejected by Uldyssian as he now finds himself strong enough to fight her influence. In fact, Uldyssian can channel the power of the Ancients without her aid and uses this to again banish Lilith to the Void.
These actions don't go unnoticed by the High Heavens who are now aware of Sanctuary, humanity, and the presence of demons in this domain, and the full brunt of the Eternal Conflict is inflicted upon the world. Stopped only by the eventual sacrifice of Uldyssian who gives his life to banish both Angels and Demons from Sanctuary and seal off humanity once again. In this, he also wipes the memories of the humans who were impacted so they can no longer remember the power they once yielded or the existence of Uldyssian himself.
Following this epic battle, both the Angiris Council and the Prime Evils are fully aware of the power that humans are capable of wielding and find themselves in the same quandry that Inarius and Lilith found themselves in at the beginning. The Angiris Council were split on the fate of humanity, with Malthael himself choosing to abstain from the vote. Tyrael himself undecided on humanity's fate, after much thought felt that Uldyssian's sacrifice was proof of the good in humanity, and therefore cast the final vote to leave them to flourish.
The two sides agreed to let the World Stone stay in Sanctuary, call a truce, and agree to sit back and wait. Letting Sanctuary survive as its own domain, and see how humanity advances.
As part of this peace deal, Mephisto demands Inarius as a prisoner. The Angiris Council begrudgingly agree to hand him over, they aren't exactly fond of him themselves after the prior events, and Inarius is then held captive by Mephisto for what we believe is 3000 years of torture.
Diablo Lore: The Dark Exile
So the truce between Heaven and Hell went swimmingly, and the Eternal Conflict had finally come to a conclusion, right? Well demons aren't exactly known for their honour when it comes to deals, so it's not exactly a surprise that the Prime Evils went straight back to plotting how to return to Sanctuary and wreak havoc, or at least get humanity to side with them against Heaven and ultimately win the Eternal Conflict (yes this again).
The Lesser Evils, weren't so enamored with this plotting. The despised the obsession over humans and didn't understand the fascination as they believed Demons to be superior in every way, having not experienced the might of Uldyssian themselves. The Lesser Evils wanted to continue to fight the High Heavens and viewed all this Sanctuary lark as an irritating side quest in the ultimate goal.
The four Lesser Evils banded together, to wage a rebellion against the Primes, turning their followers against them and eventually winning and banishing them to Sanctuary. Azmodan, the tactician, believed that the Prime Evil's presence in Sanctuary would turn Heaven's interest back toward humans, and they would leave the Gate of Heaven unguarded.
Whilst the Lesser Evils celebrated their victory, so to did the Prime Evils as it had been their plan all along. By being overthrown and banished to Sanctuary they themselves hadn't violated the terms of the truce.
The Three Prime Evils ravaged Sanctuary, taking on human hosts to corrupt humanity, feeding upon the worst parts of men across the Eastern regions, causing pain and suffering wherever they interfered.
Eventually, their presence was noticed by Tyrael, and knowing how shaky a foundation the truce was made on, he decided to take matters into his own hands without alerting the Angiris Council. Gathering members from the Mage Clans, he formed the Horadrim. The Horadrim were an order of crusaders standing for justice and light, bought together to combat the Prime Evils specifically. Members of the Horadric order included Zoltan Kulle, Tal Rasha and Jered Cain. Names you will become familiar with if you do go on to play the games.
Tyrael had prepared special artefacts using shards of the World Stone in which to capture the Prime Evils. These Soul Stones were given to the Horadrim to aid in their quest to capture the three brothers and imprison their essence in each of the stones.
Mephisto was the first to be captured in the lands of Kehjistan, his soulstone was then guarded in Kurast by a religious order, the Zakarum.
Baal was the next to be captured, however, the ensuing battle led to the destruction of his soulstone. Having only a small shard in which to capture him which would only work in the short term, Tal Rasha selflessly volunteered to sacrifice his human body to be a vessel for capture and using the remains of the stone he would battle eternally to keep Baal in captivity within himself. Tal Rasha was then kept in unbreakable chains in a tomb in the Canyon of the Magi.
Diablo was the last to be found, 15 years after their quest first began. In Khanduras a final showdown took place between Diablo and the Horadrim that nearly wiped out the order. Diablo was imprisoned in a soulstone and this was hidden in a cave, found in a labyrinth near the River Talsande. The Horadric order built a monastery to guard the labyrinth lest Diablo ever be discovered and released.
Villages and other settlements sprouted up around the monastery over the years, and eventually the town of Tristram. The monastery itself would come to be known as Tristram Cathedral, and Diablo would remain trapped there for two centuries as humans forgot about the existence of the Prime Evils, and even the Horadrim themselves.
Diablo Lore: Diablo
The first in the Diablo games, is where we are introduced to King Leoric, a reoccuring character/foe in the game series.
King Leoric was responsible fof converting the old monastary into a cathedral, which we now know as Tristram Cathedral. Over the centuries, Diablo trapped underneath this cathedral continued to corrupt the soulstone and hatch a plan to escape, but for this he required a human host. As his corruption of the soulstone grew stronger so too did his influence across the surrounded land of Tristram, until he was able to corrupt King Leoric's archbishop Lazurus.
With the intention being to possess King Leoric, Diablo manipulated Lazurus to instruct his king to start a war with the neighboring kingdoms, which made him an unpopular ruler. Ultimately the will of the King proved too strong for Diablo to control, and whilst King Leoric was drove to madness by the corruption, Diablo decided to possess his much weaker son instead. Prince Albrecht found himself lured into the catacombs underneath the cathedral to be used as a vessel for Diablo.
Upon insertion of the soulstone into Albrecht's forehead, he became Diablo who continued to lure people into the cathedral to their slaughter, helped by The Butcher who you will come to know and fear.
King Leoric, accusing the townspeople of his sons disappearance, starts executing innocents in his madness. Eventually he is put out of his misery and slain by his own knights. You as the player are summoned to Tristram to control the demon spawns erupting from the cathedral and investigate the cause.
After going 16 levels deep throughout the catacombs, and fighting off the Butcher, you eventually find and kill the games Big Bad, Diablo. Removing the soulstone from Diablo's head reveals the dead body to be that of Prince Albrecht. Then in a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, you plunge that soulstone deep into your own forehead.
We are then left in the dark about what becomes of the player character until the release of Diablo 2, where they are named the 'Dark Wanderer'. More on them later.
Diablo Lore: Diablo 2
The opening cinematic of Diablo 2 is one of Blizzard's finest cut scenes, and I highly recommend you watch it below.
We are introduced to Marius, a man driven mad by the horrors he has witnessed. Marius recounts to, who we believe is Tyrael, his tale of escaping a demon attack on the Rogue Monastery. After his escape, he meets The Dark Wanderer who is controlling Diablo's soul within his body, and losing the battle. Slaughtering everyone in the tavern, he continues East with Marius in tow.
As the player, you choose your class and fight your way through five acts in total, to clear evil from the surrounding lands, aided and instructed by Deckard Cain, last of the Horadrim and descendent of Jered Cain — one of the founders of the order. It is implied that though you play one character, you are fighting as part of a band of heroes and not alone (trust me this is relevant later.)
During your travels, you fight both Andariel and Duriel, two of the lesser evils we spoke of earlier. During a stay in Lut Gholein you learn that the Dark Wanderer is Diablo and seeking the Tomb of Tal Rasha, however, after fighting your way to the resting place of Baal, you instead find Tyrael in chains. The Dark Wanderer was one step ahead all along and freed Baal with the help of Marius, and now Diablo and Baal are making their way to Kurast to free Mephisto from his soulstone imprisonment.
As Diablo was able to corrupt the surrounding lands of Tristam, so too was Mephisto able to corrupt the surrounding grounds of Kurast with his soulstone. The Children of Zakarum, entrusted with protecting his temple prison, are now demonic and overrun the jungle, leaving death in their wake. The High Council have since freed Mephisto, who embedded shards of the soulstone in each of the priests and use the high priest as his vessel. Our player character must defeat and kill all of the priests, and eventually Mephisto himself as he tries to stall our hero from following his brothers through a portal to the Pandemonium Fortress.
Act 4, the final act of the launch version of Diablo 2, is where our heroes face off with Diablo. Upon entering Pandemonium, the final outpost before Hell, they are tasked with one last side quest from Tyrael.
Tyrael requests that you rescue his lieutenant Izual who has been captured by the minions of Hell and wanders the Plains of Despair. When rescued however Izual is not as grateful as you would expect, and in fact reveals to the player that it was him who helped the Prime Evils all along. He masterminded the Dark Exile and consequent capture of the brothers into the soulstones, having previously taught them how to corrupt the stones and use to their advantage. This is one of the hugest plot twists in the Diablo story, as we learn that the Prime Evils always intended to be captured, and Tyrael and the Horadrim were always just puppets in their long term plans. As they were trapped in the stones they could never truly be destroyed, as their spirits would forever be bound to these shards of the World Stone.
Mephisto's soulstone is later destroyed within the Hellforge by the only weapon capable of destroying such a powerful artifact, the Hellforge Hammer. The heroes continue on deeper into the Chaos Sanctuary to face off against Diablo, and ultimately succeed.
Later though, concluding his tale, Marius gives Baal's soulstone to Tyrael for safekeeping, only for the Tyrael in the asylum to be revealed as Baal, that darned trickster. The game ends until Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction was released adding and Act 5 and resolution to Baal's story.
Lord of Destruction
Lord of Destruction opened with Baal leading an attack on Mount Arreat, which we know to be the home of the Worldstone. The barbarians that protect the Worldstone are slaughtered, and their fortresses are left in ruins. The final battle for control occurs in Harrogath, where our player is sent to aid the pushback on hell's forces. Baal appears defeated at first but ultimately gains control of the Relic of the Ancients, which allows him access to the Worldstone Chamber.
Upon the Arreat Summit, not having the benefit of the relic, our heroes must undergo the Rite of Passage to enter the chamber and fight the spirits of the Ancient Ones. These Ancient Ones are in fact spirits of the Nephalem, the first generation of humans, and it's here we initially learnt about the Nephalem's powers.
Fighting through the best of Baal's minions, you eventually face Baal for a final showdown in the Worldstone Chamber and take him out (and if you are farming XP, you will do this again and again and again). The battle is far from won though, as Tyrael reveals to you that Baal was successful in corrupting the Worldstone, which now weakens the boundaries between our mortal realm and the Burning Hells. To prevent us from being overrun, Tyrael destroys the Worldstone. Seems smart?
Diablo Lore: Diablo 3
The consequences of the destruction of the World Stone, would not come to be known until twenty years later, in Diablo 3. The story in Diablo 3 is rather controversial in the community as being rather rushed and nonsensical, and randomly retconning some previous facts in the lore, so bear with me while we try get through this.
The game begins with a fallen star crashing into the old cathedral near the town of New Tristram (old Tristram now being complete ruins). The player character arrives to investigate the fallen star and meets Leah, the niece of Deckard Cain. Cain has been missing since the collision and she requests the player's help to rescue him.
Together they recover Cain from the cathedral and find that the fallen star is, in fact, an angel, Tyrael. Tyrael has renounced his place in Heaven and become mortal to warn us of a new threat, the Black Soulstone.
The Black Soulstone is a dark version of the Worldstone, created by Zoltun Kulle, a renegade Horadrim who sought to harness the power of both angels and demons. He was killed by his fellow Horadrim before he could finish his work, but his spirit remained in his hidden archives. The Black Soulstone has the ability to trap the souls of the Prime Evils, and the lesser evils. Tyrael reveals that Azmodan Lord of Sin, and Belial Lord of Lies are plotting to use this Black Soulstone to claim the power of their fallen brethren and wage war on Heaven and Sanctuary.
The player character agrees to help Tyrael stop Belial and Azmodan, and travels to various locations across Sanctuary to find clues about the Black Soulstone. Along the way, they encounter allies such as Adria, Leah’s biological mother and a powerful witch; Maghda, a leader of a cult called the Coven that serves Belial; Zoltun Kulle’s spirit; and various other characters from previous Diablo games.
The player character eventually finds and obtains the Black Soulstone with Zoltun Kulle’s help, but he betrays them and tries to take it for himself. He is killed by the player character and Leah. They then confront Belial in Caldeum, where he has been posing as Emperor Hakan II and manipulating the people. They defeat him and trap his soul in the Black Soulstone. They then travel to Mount Arreat, where Azmodan has launched an invasion with his army of demons. They breach his fortress and face him in his lair. They defeat him and trap his soul in the Black Soulstone as well.
With all seven Prime Evils captured in the Black Soulstone, Tyrael plans to hide it away where no one can find it. However, Adria reveals herself to be a traitor who has been working for Diablo all along. Remember the 'Dark Wanderer' from the previous games? Here it is revealed he fathered a child with Adria whilst possessed with Diablo's soul, oh and he was also the second child of King Leoric, oh and that child he fathered is Leah (I told you this story was bonkers).
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Leah’s body is used as a vessel for Diablo’s soul, Diablo then absorbs all the other Prime Evils’ souls from the Black Soulstone and becomes the Prime Evil, the ultimate incarnation of evil. He then opens a portal to Heaven and begins his assault on the High Heavens.
The player character follows Diablo to Heaven and fights their way through his minions. They meet Imperius, the Archangel of Valor and leader of the Angiris Council, who blames Tyrael for Diablo’s invasion and refuses to help. They also meet Auriel, the Archangel of Hope and Itherael, the Archangel of Fate. Malthael, the Archangel of Wisdom has gone missing.
They manage to restore hope to Heaven’s defenders and reach Diablo at the Crystal Arch, where he intends to destroy Anu’s remains and end all creation. They engage him in a final battle and manage to defeat him once and for all.
So what exactly were those consequences of the World Stone's destruction? Well for one, as previously mentioned it took a whole group of heroes to succeed in the battle against evil in Diablo 2, but in Diablo 3 you are seemingly an untouchable force who can take on enemies of all size and power completely solo. This is because the World Stone is no longer supressing the innate power of humans, and we can call on our nephalem ancestry once again. For the first time in Diablo 3, we are able to access our full potential again.
Reaper of Souls
The Diablo 3 expansion gave us a fifth Act to the story, and another villian. Maltheal, that Angel of Wisdom who went missing? He returns as the Angel of Death.
Maltheal takes the Black Soulstone, which contains the souls of the Prime Evils, and plans to use it to annihilate all humans, whom he sees as demonic hybrids. During the course of the story he slaughters thousands of innocent people and basically has a 'Hold my beer Thanos' moment where he kills 90% of the population in Westmarch.
Tyrael, who has taken Malthael’s place as the Aspect of Wisdom, sends a Horadrim named Lorath Nahr to find the Nephalem and stop Malthael. The Nephalem goes to Westmarch, a kingdom that is under attack by Malthael’s Reapers. The Nephalem saves the people and joins forces with the local defenders. The Nephalem also meets Adria, the traitorous witch who helped Malthael in Diablo 3 and reveals that she is his servant.
The Nephalem chases down Adria and slays her, but she tells them that Malthael is in Pandemonium, the realm between Heaven and Hell. The Nephalem pursues Malthael to Pandemonium and discovers that he wants to use the Black Soulstone to destroy the Crystal Arch, the origin of all creation.
We battle through Malthael’s army and face him at the core of the Pandemonium Fortress. We defeat Malthael and break the Black Soulstone, freeing the Prime Evils’ souls back into the world.
Tyrael comes and commends the Nephalem for their courage, but also cautions them that they will have to deal with their own inner darkness someday. Will Nephalem fall prey to corruption? Maybe Diablo 4 will answer this question.
Diablo Lore: Further Reading, Listening and Viewing
As of Diablo 4, we don't know where the story will take us. All we know so far is that Lilith is back, but for what purpose? What became of the Nephalem from Diablo 3?
While this has been a long read, I've only provided a brief overview of the world of Sanctuary, there's more to discover if you have fallen in love with the series. There are also way better sources out there for your Diablo fix than I, and I want to credit those amazing creators and hopefully send more recruits their way. Whether you want to watch, listen, or read more Diablo content, here are my recommendations.
Youtubers
Rhykker is one of the most respected Diablo content creators, and has even most recently appeared on the Developer panel to discuss endgame content for Diablo 4. If you want a more entertaining overview of Diablo lore, that doesn't require so much reading, he has a fantastic playlist here you can watch at your leisure.
DarkLoreDash is another great source for Diablo content and has some longer videos where you can enjoy the entire story of the games without actually having to play them yourself. Who has time for that before DIablo 4 comes out?
Podcasts
Pure Diablo are a great combination of Diablo knowledge and genuine passion for the series.
Shattered Soulstone are a weekly podcast hosted by Jen (great name) who covers all the news surrounding the Diablo series, as well as other Blizzard games and relevant news.
Books
There are ten novels to read in total, including the Sin War Trilogy I mentioned earlier which is your best starting point and has the most relevance to Diablo 4. If novels aren't your thing and you just want a brief overview with some cool art, then I recommend The Book of Cain, but this is currently out of stock at Amazon so you'll have to go searching via second-hand sources.
The novels themselves are hard to get hold of too, but most can be listened to on Audible, or purchased in a Kindle format. The chronological reading order is:
- The Sin War Trilogy (Birthright, Scales of the Serpent, The Veiled Prophet)
- Demonsbane
- The Black Road
- Legacy of Blood
- The Kingdom of Shadow
- Moon of the Spider
- The Order
- Storm of Light
Lucky for us, there is a new hardcover being released in time for Diablo 4, which you can pre-order now. The Book of Lorath is a new compendium of illustrations and notes on the events preceding Diablo 4, as told from the perspective of the last Horadrim.
Diablo 4 arrives on June 6 to Windows PC, Xbox and Playstation consoles. Having played through Act 1 in the Open Beta, I can already say with confidence we are in for a good follow-up to the Diablo stories told so far, and now when someone says "What? Diablo has a story?" you can refer them to this article.
