Okay, before I start with this, I'd like you to read this excerpt from Kingdom of Shadow:
Ichor dripped from a scaly, barely fleshed skull that almost appeared to have been stretched long. Two wicked, scaled horns rose high above bat-winged ears. Over the deathly crevices that were all that formed a nose, the thick-browed orbs of the demon lord glared at the impudent human, the hatred and evil within them matching exactly that which the horrified mercenary had noted in the image of the false archangel Mirakodus.
This is the description of Diablo's appearance, as he appeared to Kentril Dumon. Now look at this picture:
The description matches perfectly, especially the part about "two wicked, scaled horns that rise above bat-winged ears".
Now take a look at this picture:
Now, to the second and smaller pair of extensions that are located at the base of his cheeks (they are actually closer to his mouth than to his cheeks). You can see those in both the first and the second pic, and if you look at the animation, you can see that those things are moving in the same manner as their larger counterpart. If we take another look at the first pic, we can notice small, claw-like things that are located right by the horns. Now, let's take a look at this picture:
Notice those small sharp endings right by the side of his horns? I know, it's not the same, but they are conveniently placed at the same position.
Horns aside, there is something else I want to show you. This is the last thing, I promise!
If we take another look at the first picture, we can see a sign, some kind of a seal or even a rune, on the demon's forehead.
Now if we look at any of the remaining pictures, we can see a bright spot on the demon's/Diablo's forehead. Many people claimed that this is a hole where his Soulstone used to be. But, the Wanderer's body was destroyed in Diablo II, which means that this can't be the before mentioned hole!
The first picture is the artistic representation of Diablo's true form. Pay attention to the word "artistic"! I would like to compare this picture to a group of images that can be found in Collin de Plancy's "Dictionnaire Infernal", a book on demonology. Kingdom of Shadow tells us that Diablo has bat-winged ears, and the first picture is showing this perfectly. If we look at the other pictures, there are clearly no bat-winged ears, but the extensions I mentioned before could represent them, since the first pic is an "artistic" representation. After all, what do we know about demonic anatomy! Also, the excerpt from Kingdom of Shadow shouldn't be taken literally, since you can never know what the writer wanted to say. The best example for this is J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. To this day, there are some fans that doubt that the Balrog was indeed a fiery 20-foot tall horned demon or that Sauron literally took a form of a great fire eye. They think that those are just a bunch of metaphors. I think we can say that the bat-winged ears in our case is just another metaphor.
The sign/seal/rune on the demon's forehead is probably telling us that there is something of great importance located here. It is also an artistic representation of what we see as a bright spot on Diablo's forehead. What could it be, it's open to debate, but the artist clearly wanted us to know that there is something going on there.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
-Dauroth
Scientific view?
Hahahaha :wallbash:
Oh jesus, that's funny and idiotic simultaneously, like a Judd Apatow film. Hey buddy, ever heard of Burden of Proof? Logical fallacy? You know? No, you clearly don't.
Do you honestly think the game developers give a shit about what goes on the website?
And what the hells are you going on with this blizzard employee and guessing shit? Is English your second language? Because that's the only excuse for such poor sentence structure.
You really think that they'd tell Bashiok who the big demon is at the end of the cinematic and tell him it's ok to reveal who it is even though if Diablo was returning it'd be a huge component of the plot?
Here, I'll tell you who it is. It's Belial. One of the designers decided as an in joke, they'd design Belial's body to be structured in a feminine way. To poke fun at how women are deceptive.
Happy? Don't believe me? Don't care.
Jesus, you guys just love jumping to conclusions based on paper thin "evidence"
Bashiok only knows what he's told. Like I said, if you had bothered to actually read.
If you guys want to be so scientific then the only thing you can claim to know is that Diablo is dead, and his soulstone destroyed. That is all you know for a fact. Everything else is sheer speculation, and to conclude otherwise is, as I mentioned previously, arrogant.
It's really not that hard to pick up on. With the 2 lesser evils having emphasis put on them in this game, you really don't think they'd uncover them early on? It's called logic.
If you bothered reading Bashiok's posts (or anybody's for that matter) you'd see him often saying he has to ask Jay or somebody else to be able to answer a question, or to be corrected on something. Shows how involved he is with the game development, doesn't it? I don't feel like digging through his posts to find the specific posts I speak of, but they exist.
Under what circumstances are your evidences classified as "valid"? They're from official sources sure, but from ones that aren't involved with the game development itself. A quote from a game developer saying it is Diablo, the Lord of Terror would be significantly more credible, believable, and "valid" than the shitsmear that resembles text of which you decided to label as "evidence"
I'm not the one picking lame sources and calling it irrefutable evidence.
I would also point out that this is fantasy. In fantasy, death is hardly insurmountable (especially in fantasy like this). How many times in any form of fantasy have heroes, villain, and anything in between come back from what we though was a permanent death? Very very many. I wouldn't say that he can't come back just yet.
BTW, nice article Dauroth. I especially like how you talked about how people could see things like those horns and see bat wings. It fits with how things are often described biblically and how they are in reality, or what things may represent in terms of horns and wings. Definitely a good read.
The keyword here is Black Abyss, aka the place you're at when you're dead. A blank, seemingly infinite nothingness. Derp.
Further proof that you never read anybody's posts.
Keyword here is ultimately. That doesn't mean that Diablo is in the initial release of Diablo 3.
Plus that quote doesn't even prove that the demon you think is Diablo is actually him, which is the entire point of my posting in this thread.
Again, go with the information we have, not the information we don't. 3 People have said that it's Diablo, and Jay Wilson says Diablo is in-game (and don't tell me it's not in the initial release, as most game developers, including Blizzard don't start working expansions until the game is at least finished as it would be bad business to put money into developing an expansion if the game doesn't do well). We have no information that says hes not in-game, nor that the demon is not him. Only things that say he is. Occams Razor therefore states that it is indeed Diablo. Give it up until you actually have something to go on, as at the moment, you have nothing.
Also, in fantasy, the Abyss can refer to many things, especially as far as Demons are concerned. Until we know more about what this Abyss is, we shouldn't rule out anything coming back from it. Diablo was there once before.
Ok Mr. Metzen.
It's nice to know that you know the context Jay Wilson was speaking in despite not being present at the interview.
Not to mention, the key word that I mentioned in the post being ultimately
Diablo's coming back? The villain the entire series of games based in Sanctuary has focused on so far is coming back?
You must be psychic.
No, wait. You're not Chris Metzen, you're Jay Wilson! That explains everything.
Your sarcasm doesn't change anything.
Dauroth is right. He takes the quotes for what they are worth and comes to the most likely conclusion. It's a logical process.
Again, work with the information we have, not the information we don't.
To curve that immaturity, if you respond again in this thread, you will have some trouble to deal with, I'm thinking a temporary ban of some sort. If you take this anywhere else, expect likewise treatment.
This is not for discussion.
Apparently Diablofans is a hater of Freedom of Expression.
No surprise. This place went rapidly down the shitter after it actually got popular.
Hey Dauroth, when Diablo 3 is released, remember this thread and try to act surprised when you find out that I'm right.
Oh pu-lease. That kind of whining really doesn't help you make your point. Your posts are still up unless they are particularly offensive. No one has stopped you from putting up your opinion. People just overwhelmingly disagree with you, as the evidence is against you. And no, you haven't debunked the evidence. You've called it into question, but as there is no evidence for your viewpoint and nothing that contradicts the evidence that we have, it still stands.
Oh, really quick, I seem to recall something about us seeing Belial in Act 2. Can someone confirm? I need to go pick up my wife.
edit: And I'm pretty sure I know why Kabraxis has a chance of making an appearence. But I could be wrong - would you mind sending a PM explaining your thoughts?
Some guys can keep a good grip on their swords for some time, whereas others are done rather quickly............
In all seriousness, I always figured Kabraxis getting control was an inevitability, especially with the last time we saw Lang and what his actions were.