However, what I wanted to revisit is something even older – the post titled “the soul in search of answers”, from the ancient times of July, 2008 (yeah, that’s 3.5 years ago), where I sat down and tried to plot out various ideas and stuff coming in Diablo III. The reason for that, is that I spent the start of this year blazing through the “Book of Cain”, which fleshes out a ton of lore to prepare for the release of Diablo III.

So, what new revelations did we learn? At least a very interesting point regarding Leah, which was – while being nothing more than a very good guess at the time – now solid and canon lore. Let me quote what I wrote back then:

Adria the Witch:
Shortly put, she was a mysterious witch, that appeared in the first Diablo game. She was somehow a riddle to most of the townsfolk, as she seemingly first settled down when the troubles of the Cathedral started. Her fate is unknown, but believed by many to be dead, as most of the townsfolk of Tristram were.

This is going to be a bit different from the other entries, as she doesn’t really connect with the other points I’m going to be making. However, I instantly came to think of her when watching the released cinematic. The reason is the young girl, but naturally it can’t be her, mainly because of her age. Adria, if still alive, should be atleast 40 years old. She does, however, seem to know about the art of a witch. Could this young girl perhaps be the daughter of Adria? If Adria had given birth not long after the events of Diablo I, then her age matches pretty well. Someone named Leah is also mentioned in the gameplay trailer, when Cain is leaving by Town Portal. Curious, if you ask me.

Now, just to clear out the few obvious things first. The cinematic I mentioned is naturally the teaser cinematic (link). We know for certain now, that this is the girl Leah that Cain later mentions in the gameplay teaser (link). As far as I remember, the connection was not officially confirmed at this point. Not even that the girl was Leah.

Time passed, theories arose. A lot more time passed, and more details about her identity was revealed – she referred to Cain as uncle. This is best experienced in the Intro Cinematic (link) revealed during last years BlizzCon. Now, we all thought that this was who she was – Cain’s niece. But, it did seem that something was amiss.

Book of Cain confirms that something was amiss. Cain is not her uncle – she was adopted by him. However, it also mentions that Cain knew her actual identity – and both her parents. Her mother was/is (as it is not completely certain what her current state is) Adria. That explains the similarity between the two women, and confirms that my (and possibly many others’) guess was correct.

But, what of her father? Who was he? The Dark Wanderer – the warrior who officially was the hero who defeated Diablo in the first game, and continued to turn into him in Diablo II – had gotten an official identity. King Leoric seemingly had two sons. Prince Albrecht, who was the child kidnapped by Arch-Bishop Lazarus, and later possessed by Diablo, who we already know about – and Aidan, the warrior. Except fleshing out the lore, and marking this warrior as a more detailed character in the lore, another very important detail was added. Before leaving Tristram, he had spent time with Adria… who ended up being pregnant. It’s best explained in the short addendum-script on page 112, as a footnote to when Aidan leaves Tristram. Remember that the whole book is written as being Cain writing to Leah.

Shortly after Aidan’s departure, Adria set out as well. I am, of course, aware of many things now that I did not know then: that Adria took Gillian the barmaid with her to Caldeum; that when Adria left, she was pregnant with you, dear Leah; and that she gave birth to you in Caldeum and left you there in Gillian’s care.

As always, no post without a few predictions and guesses. And, I’ll even make it short: Leah will eventually be Diablo in Diablo III.

But, how? With the focus of Leah’s father being revealed, some of Diablo’s essence could’ve been transfered to Adria’s womb, and lying dormant in Leah all these years, being the reason she has weird nightmares, visions and dreams. So, with calling that, I’ll leave that as the blunt statement it is: Leah will be Diablo. Besides, even if Diablo was completely and utterly annihilated during the end of Diablo II, he still shows up in the trailers, so he’s there somehow – and in a brand new form. The game is a Diablo-game, and it would simply be wrong without having any Diablo at all. I could probably make a few more sweeping guesstimates, but seeing as this has been the focus of this post, I feel that’s better off for a later point. Perhaps looking into Azmodan and Belial would be a good target of some pondering.

Need I say that I’m very excited for Diablo III? Good, because I am. Very much so.

For those of you that doesn’t know, I decided to challenge myself in the world of Sanctuary – the Diablo universe, and it did indeed prove to be a great choice. It was a splendid challenge, and the result is – in my own personal opinion – quite great as well.

After the defeat of Diablo beneath Tristram, Etophir – a paladin of Westmarch – travels east to find out more about the order of paladins, that seemed to have been turned to fight his kingdom. As his journey out-folds, he’s given a whole new view on what corruption can really do.

So, why wait? Read it right here, in PDF-format.

As last time, I’d love to get some feedback, and hear what you think of it – it’s my only payment from writing it, after all. As a result of that, I also updated my Fanfiction subpage, to better reflect the new work.

Last time, I stayed within the familiarity of the Warcraft Universe, with the story “A Change of Ways“. The advantages was that it has a rich lore, with tons and tons of details and places, and the more obvious thing that it’s the universe I’ve spend the most time in, so far. But, what’s a competition without a challenge?

With that in mind, only two real universes remained: Diablo and Starcraft. Being more a fan of dark fantasy than science fiction – although I do like both – and knowing something about Diablo, I chose the realm of Sanctuary. The lore is less detailed, and lots of stuff is still clouded in mystery, which makes a lot of nice openings for a good story.

So far, I’ve gotten a plot shaped, and slowly iterating through it and adding details, fleshing out characters and figuring out what part they’ll have. The main thing I want to do, is tying the various games together, and make further connections, as one of the things I’ve been having on my mind lately is just that. Looking forward to seeing how the story will turn out. This time, I shouldn’t have a problem with with time running out – I hope.

So, what’s so special about this one? It’s mini Tyrael (source)!

I’m envious. Alot. Looking forward to seeing how he looks though. And I’ll surely track it down with my [Diablo Stone].

To keep this a bit organized, I’ll focus on some different categories, and go into depths with those, one at a time, while trying to keep them as seperated as possible. Obviously, as you may see, there’s some subjects that could easily be discussed as well, but these are atleast the main points of my thinking, so far. It’s not like I’ll leave this subject behind for good. Also, I’m aware that much of this might seem deep for most, but that’s mainly because I’m leaving out some of the “less imporant” stuff.

- Adria the Witch:
Shortly put, she was a mysterious witch, that appeared in the first Diablo game. She was somehow a riddle to most of the townsfolk, as she seemingly first settled down when the troubles of the Cathedral started. Her fate is unknown, but believed by many to be dead, as most of the townsfolk of Tristram were.

This is going to be a bit different from the other entries, as she doesn’t really connect with the other points I’m going to be making. However, I instantly came to think of her when watching the released cinematic. The reason is the young girl, but naturally it can’t be her, mainly because of her age. Adria, if still alive, should be atleast 40 years old. She does, however, seem to know about the art of a witch. Could this young girl perhaps be the daughter of Adria? If Adria had given birth not long after the events of Diablo I, then her age matches pretty well. Someone named Leah is also mentioned in the gameplay trailer, when Cain is leaving by Town Portal. Curious, if you ask me.

- The Worldstone:
Very little is in fact known about this mysterical stone, except that it was created by Inarius to keep Sanctuary hidden from both Heaven and Hell, after he had created Sanctuary. Other properties are unknown, but Baal obviously sensed it, as it was made his goal to corrupt it. What happened after Tyrael destroyed it, is not yet known.

The destruction of the Worldstone would naturally, if it’s purpose was correct, reveal Sanctuary. What riddles me, is that the Worldstone probably wasn’t working as intended (sorry, I had to do that line), as the Prime Evils were found roaming around before being captured. Would the destruction ease the passage of “visitors” for either above and/or below? Would it cause a hidden overlapse, or simply seal of the three parts completely? The 20 years that passed between Diablo II and III seemingly didn’t have any significant visual impact, but something must have happened. I could delve deeper into the background of Sanctuary, but I’ll keep that till some other time.

- Tyrael:
Tyrael is an archangel of the Heavens, which lately resolved to go with his own cause, instead of obeying the Heavens, by interfering against Hell. The most notable action, was the creation of the Soulstones (described in the next part), and his set task on keeping the Prime Evils imprisoned within them. Yet, he failed, and chose to destroy the Worldstone, as Baal escaped him. What happened to him afterwards, is not known.

This is probably one of the subjects that was first to submerge after people had completed the Diablo II Expansion. What did happen to Tyrael? Was he corrupted by the Worldstone, or destroyed like the rest of Mount Arreat? He probably survived, in some form, as he’s visible at the offical website, looking like he always did. That doesn’t make him uncorrupted though. But, if the Worldstone didn’t corrupt him, what did? Baal, perhaps…?

- Soulstones and the Prime Evils:
We know that these were the prisons created to contain the Prime Evils (Diablo, Mephisto and Baal), so that they could not create havoc to Sanctuary, and that they were given to the Heavens by Tyrael. The soulstones were later corrupted, with the help of the fallen angel Izual, who was destroyed in Act IV of Diablo II. Diablo and Mephisto’s soulstones were destroyed at the Hellforge by the heroes of Diablo II, sending Diablo and Mephisto back into the abyss. What happened to the soulstone of Baal is unknown, and we’re especially uncertain if it was destroyed.

My theories lead me to believe that, since the evils could obviously exist on Sanctuary without the stones previously, the destruction of them would – ultimately – mean nothing. They managed to get there in the first place, before they got imprisoned, after all. The question is however, was that because they entered from Hell, or were they spawned from the Abyss? It’s seemingly possible to escape from the abyss, but how it is done is unknown.

- Summing Up:
The really interesting part comes when we think of Baal. Eventhough he was killed, his soulstone is unaccounted for, and Tyrael remains a myth. On top of that, Tyrael was the one who started the thing with the soulstones. If he was to be corrupted by Baal, there could probably be a way to bring Mephisto and Diablo back. Would the shattering of the Worldstone affect how even angels (fallen or not), can be affected by these soulstones?

The state of Belial and Azmodan are still unknown. Supposedly they are still fighting a civil war in Hell, but if the breaches have weakened with the Worldstone, what could happen? Since the Prime Evils are out of the way (except, perhaps, Baal), they’re likely to attempt something.

Deckard Cain is a point I wouldn’t want to look at just yet. He’s still alive and kicking, but the website (and it’s lore destription in form of his journal), hints to the fact that something is wrong. He seemingly got affected in Tristram, and was the only one not slain on the spot when the town was overrun. The fact that Diablo III seemingly starts with Tristram can only be said to be very interesting, and will likely reveal alot. I do however doubt that Cain will be turned, that would be sad – but, that wouldn’t necesarily mean that it couldn’t be turned into a good plot twist.

With that, I’m going to end this post, and think further, perhaps read what other people have in thought. Some might have the same theories as me, but I’ve holded myself back from reading them, in order not to be given any ideas, or lead away from my original line of thought. In case I did make an error, do point it out, so I can dimiss some of my ramblings, or modify it to fit.