I made a comment summarizing Diablo’s story for newcomers to the series some time ago. A number of people have since asked me to make a separate post out of it. With the release of Diablo IV just around the corner, I thought now was as good a time as any to do that.
Diablo’s lore is extensive. I tried to trim it down as much as possible to hopefully make it understandable and not overwhelming. So, in a (relative) nutshell:
The Eternal Conflict and the creation of Sanctuary
An eternal war rages between Heaven and Hell, consuming all of creation, with neither side being able to gain the upper hand. As products of order and chaos, angels and demons are eternally reborn. Stuck in a stalemate, both sides seek control of the Worldstone, an object of immense power formed from the creation of the universe. It is the cornerstone of all creation, able to alter reality and create life.
r/diablo4 - A summary of Diablo’s lore
Angels and demons battle over the Worldstone
Both Heaven and Hell gain control of the stone throughout the ages, forming flawed worlds, all of which eventually whither.
One angel and one demon, Inarius and Lilith (daughter of Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred and one of Hell’s three rulers) tire of the eternal conflict and run off together, taking an army of like-minded angels and demons with them. They manage to take the Worldstone and use it to create a world for themselves. This world is Sanctuary, essentially Earth.
The Worldstone becomes the heart of this new world. Inarius makes it so the stone hides Sanctuary from Heaven and Hell, and he draws on the stone’s power to make himself more powerful.
In an unprecedented union, Sanctuary’s angels and demons eventually have offspring, the nephalem. Half angel and half demon, they are the forebears of humanity, with the potential to be vastly stronger than angel and demonkind.
r/diablo4 - A summary of Diablo’s lore
Inarius and Lilith watch over the nephalem
The nephalem’s power creates division among Sanctuary’s angels and demons. Some accept the nephalem, others fear them or believe their power could give away Sanctuary’s location. Some start calling for the eradication of the nephalem.
Inarius sees the nephalem as abominations. Lilith sees them more as her children, but wants to use them as soldiers to end the eternal conflict. Because while Inarius believes escape from the war is enough, Lilith wants to end it. Inarius calls for a moment of reflection to decide on what to do with the nephalem.
Lilith knows she is no match for Inarius’ power and can not forcefully keep him from killing the nephalem. Heading off his decision, she murders all the renegade angels and demons on Sanctuary, hoping it will force Inarius to spare the nephalem, as the alternative is to spend eternity alone.
Enraged, but unable to bring himself to to kill her, Inarius banishes Lilith to the void. Rather than kill the nephalem, Inarius attunes the Worldstone to weaken them. Each generation is born weaker, and so humanity is born. Over time the memory of their nephalem ancestry fades away.
Disillusioned, Inarius withdraws from the eyes of humanity.
The Sin War
Eventually humanity harnesses the power of magic and ends up summoning demons, revealing Sanctuary to Hell. Sensing that a world of potentially powerful beings could tip the scales in their favor, Hell attempts to win humanity to its side. Rather than do it by force and risk alerting Heaven, they choose to create a religion, the Triune.
Inarius, though having little love for humanity, fears punishment from Heaven and similarly does not want Sanctuary or himself being discovered. To counter Hell’s influence, he creates the Cathedral of Light. He installs himself as its leader in human guise, calling himself the Prophet. This sets in motion a secret war over who can win humanity as their prize, creating a rift within humankind.
Lilith eventually escapes. She returns to Sanctuary to bring the nephalem under her control. She manages to alter the resonance of the Worldstone to grant some of humanity back their nephalem potential. She takes the form of a beautiful noblewoman and tries to manipulate the first person to regain his powers, Uldyssian, to awaken the latent power in others as well.
r/diablo4 - A summary of Diablo’s lore
Uldyssian ul-Diomed
Uldyssian is cruelly uprooted from his life as a simple farmer and turned into a reluctant prophet. He and those around him become the target of attacks by both the Triune and Cathedral of Light, the latter by order of an uncaring Inarius himself, leading to the deaths of many of Uldyssian’s friends and loved ones.
A broken Uldyssian eventually comes to realize Lilith’s deception. As she abandons all pretense, Lilith mockingly tries to shatter Uldyssian’s worldview, revealing the true nature of Sanctuary, its religions and the existence of the Worldstone before disappearing.
Uldyssian manages to gain access to the Worldstone and uses it to lift the weakening effect on the nephalem, even empowering them further. Such is his strength that he inadvertently alters part of the stone in the process, something even Inarius could not do or reverse. This causes Sanctuary to become visible to Heaven.
Uldyssian marches on both religions with his awakened followers. They wound Lilith, allowing Inarius to banish her again. They then turn on Inarius, who is seething with rage over an insignificant, unworthy man rising up to threaten him and his perfect world, intent on utterly destroying Uldyssian and his kin.
The battle between Inarius and Uldyssian is one of world-shattering intensity, fueled by the power of the Worldstone. During their fight, Uldyssian wills the Worldstone to sever its link with Inarius. As he is about to strike down Inarius, Heaven descends upon Sanctuary to contain what they see as a threat. The forces of Hell immediately follow. Uldyssian manages to awaken his full power, becoming for all intents and purposes a god. He drives Heaven and Hell off Sanctuary. But the immense surge of power coming from within him threatens to tear the world apart. To save Sanctuary, Uldyssian sacrifices himself, releasing his power and being into creation. The burst of energy floods the Worldstone, resetting it and stripping the nephalem of their power once more.
As the councils of angels and demons convene to decide the fate of Sanctuary, the archangel of Justice, Tyrael, moved by Uldyssian’s sacrifice, casts the deciding vote to not destroy Sanctuary, but to erase humanity’s memory. A pact is made to keep humanity out of the eternal conflict to develop on their own, allowing them to eventually pick a side themselves.
Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred and one of the three Prime Evils that rule Hell (consisting of the brothers Diablo, Mephisto and Baal), agrees in exchange for Heaven turning over Inarius, who is subsequently tortured and disfigured, remaining a captive of Hell for all eternity.
r/diablo4 - A summary of Diablo’s lore
The Prime Evils Diablo, Mephisto and Baal
The Dark Exile
Despite the pact, the Prime Evils still plot to influence humanity to use them in the war against Heaven. Their focus on winning over humanity instead of fighting Heaven directly angers the Lesser Evils, the four other lords of Hell, who believe the Prime Evils have become afraid to continue the war. A civil war erupts, and the Prime Evils are overthrown. They are banished to Sanctuary, bodiless and weakened. The Lesser Evils hope that by unleashing the Prime Evils on Sanctuary, Heaven’s focus will shift to Sanctuary, leaving Heaven open for attack.
Even in their weakened state, where they have to possess mortals to gain physical form, the Prime Evils bring chaos and destruction, corrupting and twisting the world. Scores of demons still loyal to them flock to their side.
Upon learning of this, Tyrael intends to imprison the Prime Evils within three soulstones, fashioned from shards of the Worldstone. Despite being forbidden to interfere with Sanctuary, Tyrael forms an order of powerful human mages on Sanctuary called the Horadrim.
After decades of searching and fighting, the Horadrim manage to trap all Prime Evils in the stones. They hide and seal the stones away on Sanctuary, guarding them for all eternity. Mephisto’s soulstone is buried under a temple of the Zakarum religion. Baal’s is entombed under the desert sands. And Diablo’s soulstone is hidden under a Horadric cathedral.
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