The Diablo franchise is one of the best-known series in all of gaming. Developed in 1996 by Blizzard Entertainment, it remains one of the most influential hack and slash roleplaying games ever created. The wide spread success of the first venture into the depths of Tristram's Cathedral spawned one of the most popular and well respected series in gaming. Followed by the wild success of Diablo II and its expansion Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and the mediocre final installment Diablo III. Diablo's multiplayer is still used as an 🌳example of how to do online hack and slash action due to the addictive quali🎃ty of its gameplay. Not only was the gameplay renowned as being some of the best, spawning countless clones and copycats across a cornucopia of systems, players often mention the games characters and lore as a major sticking point for the trilogy.
While most characters backstories are presented through in game conversations or journals found in the game world, some characters back stories are still steeped in mystery or intertwined in ways that are in the shadows of Sanctuary. From some of the most memorable bosses, to the main characters that make the world of Diablo turn, there is no shortage of lore for players who are hardy enough to dig. Characters are tied to angels and demons alike and the storylines of certain characters can become seriously convoluted. With that, lets dive into the depths of hell to dust off some of the lesser known tomes of lore in the Diablo series.
15 ꦉ ℱ The Butcher
First mentioned by the Wounded Townsmen outside the cathedral of Tristram, The Butcher is the first boss you’ll face in the original Diablo. If you proceed back to town to inquire about him with the town’s people, they’ll tell you tales of slaughter and terror brought back by the few surviving members of the first search party sent into The Cathedral’s belly. Towering, bloody, and frustratingly brutal for lower level players, The Butcher is one of the most memorable bosses in the entire Diablo franchise.
Surprisingly, he almost didn’t make it into the game. Whilst completing a room adorned with blood-spattered tiles, the developers joked that the room looked like a butcher’s. Thus, the infamous first boss was born. His rise to popularity in the franchise could also be due to the fact that he was the sole boss present in the original Diablo demo. The butcher makes another appearance in Diablo III’s Anniversary dungeon, where 💧you can even obtain his cleaver🥃.
14 ꦚ Deckard Cain
“Stay awhile and listen.” The single phrase that is at once comforting and maddening to all Diablo fans, spoken by none other than the flagship NPC, Deckard Cain. Cain is one of two characters to appear in all three Diablo titles, sharing the honor with the titular boss of hell, Diablo. C🥀ain is a village elder that offers advice and gossip about quests and enemies, and also identifies items. He 🦩is the last of the Horadrim, an ancient race of sorcerers that eradicate evil from the world.
He serves as the main catalyst of the first two games, providing information and quests that allow you to advance. Although his purpose seems simple, as he drives most events and crucial discoveries, Cain’s personal life is a dark and sorrowful one. As the schoolmaster of Tristram, Cain grew farther and farther removed from his wife Amelia and son Jered, instead focusing on scholarl♔y pursuits. This forced his wife and son to leave town, only to be killed on the road by bandits.
13 Aidan
The prince of the royal family of Kurast, Aidan’s family travels and sets up their royal court in the abandoned Cathedral of Tristram, which is the dungeon world of the first Diablo. Essentially, if you pick the warrior class in Diablo, you are playing as Aidan, as evidenced by Ogden’s welcomꦿing you back and informing you of the evils that lie in wait under your family’s old stomping grounds. As the game goes, Aidan eventually makes his way to the bowels of the Cathedral and defeats Archbishop Lazarus andไ Diablo and returns to the surface in victory.
It is noted however that he is obviously changed, as he took to solitude except the company of Adria, the witch that sells you magic tomes and mana potions from her hut outside of Tristram. Eventually, Aidan impregnates Adria with Leah, a prominent NPC in Diablo III, and essentially the reason Diablo returns in the third game. Aidan is also the Dark Wanderer from Diablo II, the hooded figure that essentially spreads evil’s influence through the world. Aidan never defeated Diablo in the first game; he was merely the dark lord’s puppet and vessel, continuing his reign, and thankfully, the Diablo series past the first entry.
12 Adria
The witch that assists you with all things magical in the first Diablo, Adria’s story is essential to t𒈔he franchise. She was purportedly responsible for killing her merchant father at a young age after he murdered her mother following a string of financial failures. She then fled into the arms of a witch’s coven, later showing up in Tristram to profit from the subsequent spelunking of the Cathedral’s lower levels and to offer services to the band of warriors tasked with ending the evil frothing from below.
Unbeknownst to her at the time, she would become the sole confidant of Aidan after he plunged Diablo’s soul stone into his head in an effort to defeat him. After many nights behind closed doors, she would become impregnated with Leah, Diablo’s planned vessel to become the only primary evil in Diablo III before Aidan became the Dark Wanderer and sparked the events of Diablo II.
11 Marius
Known to most as the narrator in Diablo II, Marius is the man that eventually ends up following The Dark Wanderer; after he stops into the same bar and ends up unleashing demons from portals to hell, killing everyone inside, save Marius. Marius then follows The Dark Wanderer through the plot of Diablo II,𒆙 until they arrive in the Temple of Light where The Dark Wanderer turns into Diablo and crosses through a portal into hell.
Marius refuses to cross through the portal with Diablo and flees, ending up in the asylum where he is seen in the beginning of the game. The hooded figure that visits Marius in the opening cutscene of Diablo II, who identifies itself as Tyrael, asks for Baal’s soulstone, which Marius has come into possession of through his travels with the Dark Wanderer. After he turns over the soulstone, the hooded figure turns out to be Baal himself, who then kills Marius and burns the asylum to the ground, triggering the events of the Lord of Destruction expansion.
10 Baal
Tor’Baalos, more commonly referred to in the Diablo universe by his short name Baal, is the titular Lord of Destruction from the Diablo II expansion of the same name and one of the three prime evils, along with Mephisto and Diablo. He plays a major role in in the Great Conflict—a never-ending war between heaven and hell—fighting along side his brothers to defeat the forces of light before Diablo’s treacherous turn✱ to become the main prime evil.
Baal is freed in Diablo II by Diablo after The Dark Wanderer transforms into the Prince of Terror and crosses into hell. Baal then finds Marius, procures his soulstone, and proceeds to Mount Arreat in his attempts to become the only prime evil. He is, of course, defeated again at the end of the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction expansion and b♛anished into the black abyss along with his brothers.
9 Diablo
The titular Lord of Terror that sparked the series in the first place, Diablo is an obviously major character in the franchise. It’s your sole mission to find and defeat Diablo through all the games, in one convoluted form or another. The youngest of the three brothers of the Prime Evils, Diablo was created f🥃rom one of the seven heads of Tathamet, a dragon made up of the✃ expelled evils of Anu, the pure entity of creation.
After a battle between Tathamet and Anu, heaven and hell were created from their deaths and the Eternal Conflict between good and evil followed. Diablo’s main compulsion in the franchise is to become powerful enough to become Tathamet again, plunging the world into chaos. Althou🐲gh Diablo is the youngest of the three brothers, 🔯he is often seen as the most powerful and the one responsible for much of the evil that has spread throughout the world.
8 Azmodan
One of the Lesser Evils in the Diablo franchises hierarchy of hell, Azmodan is the Lord of Sin. According to Deckard Cain, Azmodan’s prowess as a commander and fighter on the field of battle during the Eternal Conflict was unparalleled, making his presence in Diablo III and his planned invasion of Sanctuary particularly harrowing. Because of the Lesser Evils exclusion from the three Greater Evils waging of the Sin War, Azmodan and the other Lesser Evils tried tไo rebel against Diablo and his brothers.
After the Lesser Evils’ rebellion is put down, Azmodan’s followers were then turned into The Fallen Ones. He also fought a civil war with Belial, Lord of Lies, for control of hell and all its denizens. After defeating Belial, he sets his sights on the realm of humans, having to be defeated at the end of Act III in Diablo III.
7 Tyrael
The most prominent angel in the Diablo franchise, Tyrael is the Archangel of Justice. He is seen throughout Diablo II and Diablo III, not only in cutscenes like when he confronts and battles The Dark Wanderer; he also helps in numerous battles in Diablo III. He is billed as being one of the most battle worthy angels in the Eternal Conflict and also defeated Diablo on several accounts during the en�ღ�dless struggle.
This is in stark contrast to his past history; in Diablo lore, Tyrael began as one of the most rigid angels in heaven, adhering to all the rules. Like most angels, he saw the duality of humans, being that t𒁃hey are made of good and evil, as disgusting and regarded them with disdain. After the Sin Wars however, he has a change of heart and decides that humans are not abominations and that he should fight to protect Sanctuary at all costs.
6 Imperius
The archangel of Valor, Imperius is the greatest fighter in all of creation, at least according to Diablo lore. He fought by the side of Tyrael through most of the eternal struggle and his battlefield presence was renowned as being one that could turn the tide of any fight. When Tyrael and Imperius were able to corner Diablo during the Eternal Conflict, instead of trapping him in a soulstone, Imperius sh⭕owed a moment of weakness and allowed his rage to overcome him. He slayed Diablo, knowing that he would return again in time to lead the forces of hell again.
The council of angels saw this as an act of treason and Imperius was then looked down upon from then on. Imperius appears in a few quests in Diablo III and aids you in your pursuit o📖f destroying evil once again.