Behind the scales of Terror

The following was written by Dauroth-
Okay, before I start with this, I'd like you to read this excerpt from DiabloWiki.com - Kingdom of Shadow 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, the first thing you should notice is, that the horns are scaled, just as they are in the description and on the first picture. There is also one extra pair of horns. If we compare the two pics, it looks like those are not the same monsters/demons. But, take a look at the details. The bat-winged ears are nowhere to be seen in the second pic! However, the extensions of the demon's horns could be interpreted as wings (not literally). If you take a look at the animation, you can see that those things are moving simultaneously with the demon's mouth. When they stretch, the skin between the bones stretches in a similar manner just like bat wings.


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

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