50 replies to this topic

[Hexy]

Here’s my personal theory of the storyline of Diablo 3 which I can somewhat support in a few ways. If anyone has better fits for any of the details within, please share them. Allow me to first start with what I see as the biggest giveaway of the storyline in the form of a cryptic excerpt written by “Deckard Cain.”

"And in the end of days, wisdom shall be lost
As justice falls upon the world of men.
Valor shall turn to wrath
And hope will be swallowed by despair.
Death at last shall spread its wings over all
As fate lies shattered forever."

Everything in bold represents a character. The underlined words are concepts. I did this to make it easier to take in, piece by piece. I will start with the first line and give you my translation, and again, feel free to argue otherwise, I’d love to see other point of views on this.

“And in the end of days, WISDOM shall be LOST.”
http://www.diablowiki.net/Malthael  - Malthael is the Archangel of Wisdom and close with Imperius. I have heard that he has disappeared in various places but according to the Wiki, it doesn’t specify his whereabouts.  In my opinion, he is either killed or succumbs to evil and corruption.

“As JUSTICE FALLS UPON THE WORLD OF MEN.”
I believe most of us reading the lore section don’t need a hyperlink to realize Tyrael is the Archangel of Justice and can get what I mean when I believe this sentence symbolizes him falling into the cathedral in the cut-scene.

“VALOR shall turn to WRATH.”
http://www.diablowiki.net/Imperius - Imperius as most of us know is the Archangel of Valor which is the point of this sentence.  This to me signifies a transformation from a brave and courageous angel to one that is extremely pissed off. If it’s true that Malthael is corrupted or killed, that might do it. One could argue Imperius would also get upset at the next line, but I believe this passage is a chronological series of events written in words. Imperius becoming “wrathful” may also make an angel who never much cared for Sanctuary to lash out even more so, which in turn could make him dangerous and lead to a confrontation with Tyrael, as seen in the TV spots, etc.

“And HOPE will be swallowed by DESPAIR.”
http://www.diablowiki.net/Auriel - Auriel is the Archangel of Hope. Despair, as far as I know has no political meaning in this line as I do not see any connection besides the fact that despair, by definition, is the polar opposite of hope. The key part of this theory starts within this line and is supported in a way by a more slender-looking and girlish Diablo. I firmly believe that Auriel will be possessed by Diablo. The very next line is tied into this.

“DEATH at last, shall SPREAD ITS WINGS OVER ALL.”
When I think of death I think of Diablo. It would further cement my theory If they used “terror” instead of “death,” but I’m still thinking this is a symbolization of Diablo emerging from his angelic host (Auriel). You must also take into account the TV spot, where it clearly shows Imperius fighting Diablo. If you look at the following thread, a few posts down; http://www.diablofan...t-new-theories/ you will clearly see in the top left corner angelic-looking structures. I feel very confident Diablo needed an angel as a host to gain access to the High Heavens and a confrontation with Imperius seems certain.

“as FATE lies SHATTERED forever.”

Quick lore: The “Crystal Arch” is a place in the High Heavens that angels are birthed from. Not much is known about it other than the possibility it is actually the spine of Anu, a creature that died during creation.

Regardless, if it gives birth to angels, I’d wager most of Hell would want to destroy it. Now, take a look at this not-so-much-mentioned angel; http://www.diablowiki.net/Itherael
I don’t mean to say Itherael will be killed (shattered) or anything, but he’s merely a supporting detail for my theory. This is a quote from the following link; http://www.diablo3.o...angel-fate.html

“This is possible because Itherael possesses crystals from the Crystal Arch; the spine of Anu.”

Let’s put 2 & 2 together. Itherael is the Archangel of Fate, and in order to fulfill his job requirements, he must use shards that were broken off of the Crystal Arch. This implies that not only does the arch birth angels, but it also reveals to him some form of the future. To get to the point, my translation to this last line is that the Crystal Arch will be destroyed. If in the TV spot, Tyrael is indeed attacking the Arch with Imperius’ spear that would only back up my theory even more. However, walls don’t wear name tags and I can’t be certain that he is actually attacking the Crystal Arch at all.

TLDR: Something bad happens to Malthael, Tyrael is the comet that hits the Cathedral, Imperius gets really pissed off, Diablo possesses Auriel to gain access to the High Heavens , probably corrupting the Arch like Baal corrupted the Worldstone, forcing Tyrael to blow that up too, but he already used his own weapon so he took Imperius’ after he beat him down.

Edited by Hexy, 02 May 2012 - 08:06 AM.

[Yos]

very interesting theory, and as far as i can see, it seems very plausible. i recently read the book of Cain as well, and some of those things caught my eye as well. haven't put a lot of thought into the female dialbo, but him corrupting Auriel seems to fit pretty well.

time will tell...

Edited by Yos, 02 May 2012 - 08:15 AM.

[sarcouth]

Not bad,
I Still have 2 opinions what the comet is, It could be tyrael, the hole glows Blue, which is not really an evil colour, doubt it would have been chosen to represent something evil, could be tyrael crashing to earth after getting his butt handed to him (doubt he would initiate any attacks)

But the skeleton king says the power of the comet woke him, and it caused all the undead to come up, so i doubt it is good in nature, is most likely a weapon/creature that is evil. Searching for something that was left behind maybe?

Still in 2 minds. ah well 2 weeks till we find out i suppose.

[DGen]

Maybe the crystal arc holds some kind of destiny for everything, kind of like that game, kingdoms of amalur with the fateless thing, so as of now, everything is kinda written in stone, but when it is destroyed, people get to choose? Dunno But i agree with all your points OP I wonder how the black soulstone fits in. In the book of cain the guy who made the stones is said to be making a stone that can hold the soul of both angel and demon alike

[Yos]

sarcouth, on 02 May 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

Not bad,
I Still have 2 opinions what the comet is, It could be tyrael, the hole glows Blue, which is not really an evil colour, doubt it would have been chosen to represent something evil, could be tyrael crashing to earth after getting his butt handed to him (doubt he would initiate any attacks)

But the skeleton king says the power of the comet woke him, and it caused all the undead to come up, so i doubt it is good in nature, is most likely a weapon/creature that is evil. Searching for something that was left behind maybe?

Still in 2 minds. ah well 2 weeks till we find out i suppose.

your opinion on the comet being something harmfull, thus awakening the SK, seems sound. however the comet came from the sky, or perhaps more symbolically the heavens (High Heavens). it didn't come from below (Burning Hells). so maybe something bad/evil coming from the high heavens.

long shot using this theory: Imperius, awakening the SK (and others?) to help destroy Sancuary, which he isn't fond of any way.

Edited by Yos, 02 May 2012 - 08:38 AM.

[sarcouth]

O.o Imperus seems a dick, this would totally fit in.

But in sanctuary, is Heaven/Hell up/down, or is sanctuary just a world floating betweem whats left of the original dude, ie the spine thingy that is heaven, or the dead body of hell?

[Montuno]

Man... This is so cool! I cannot imagine story being any different from what you have written.

It has also isnpired me and I think, after we defeat diablo in heavens, because - for some reasons (like Crystal Arch corruption) - neither Tyrael nor Imperius was capable of, we are gonna earn Imperius faith in human kind and he is gonna lead our invasion to hell in upcoming expansion.

[Yos]

sarcouth, on 02 May 2012 - 08:49 AM, said:

O.o Imperus seems a dick, this would totally fit in.

But in sanctuary, is Heaven/Hell up/down, or is sanctuary just a world floating betweem whats left of the original dude, ie the spine thingy that is heaven, or the dead body of hell?

quote from the book of cain: "just as heaven cooled in the spaces above, Tathamet's blackened smoldering husk spiraled into the lower darkness of reality. from hus putrid flesh grew the realms of the burning hells."
-middle of page 12

so i guess it could, at least, be up/down

Edited by Yos, 02 May 2012 - 09:21 AM.

[Sikosh]

Great theory. I think you are spot on with Auriel as the Diablo host, it's nice to see some common sense at last.

Leah is going to be too important to the story to be the host of Diablo, never mind how clichéd having her as the host would be.

Spoiler

I have a feeling that this all ties together and is set up in Act 2 - We know from the Book of Cain that the black soulstone can contain the essence of both demons and angels. Will this be used on Auriel to make her the host of Diablo?

Also - there's a quest in the Demon Hunter reveal video to rescue an imprisoned angel from the Halls of Agony. Could this be Auriel who's been captured and is going to become she-ablo? Whether this is before or after we retreive the Black Soulstone is unclear:



There's conflicts about this as at Blizzcon, the Halls of Agony seemed to tie to Act 1 - this could have been just for the demo, though.

Also, for those wondering, the fallen star is indeed Tyrael. The other shards you see falling with the comet in the cinematic are the pieces of his sword. Confirmed by datamining, a good deal of Act 1 will be spent gathering and reforging his sword. A piece fell into the Drowned temple - there's a quest to gain access. I forget where the other two pieces landed.

What happens in Act 1 after you reforge the sword and how this ties into the rest of the game is unknown.. and I like it this way

Edited by Sikosh, 02 May 2012 - 09:35 AM.

[Rizh]

About the undead thing, I recall reading somewhere that cain says that when activities from demons OR angels is high on sanctuary the undead wakes up, so I still believe Tyreal is the comet

[Doomscream]

@Sikosh, the Halls of Agony are indeed in Act 1.

[Quimeraec]

Thats a very sound theory. I like it and think it makes a lot of sense that the prophecy refers to the angiris council.

What i doubt is diablo posessing an angel. It could happen but it is not explicitly written in the prophecy like the angels' fates.

[Scyldragon]

Sikosh, on 02 May 2012 - 09:21 AM, said:

Great theory. I think you are spot on with Auriel as the Diablo host, it's nice to see some common sense at last.

Leah is going to be too important to the story to be the host of Diablo, never mind how clichéd having her as the host would be.

Common sense? How is it common sense to disregard stuff like Leah being conceived by diablo-aiden and is the only plausible way of bringing Diablo back from the Black Abyss, that she has prophetic visions just like her possessed father before her, that she has a black, possessed in-game model, that Azmodan's speech only makes sense if you imagine him talking to Diablo, etc etc...

It's not common sense, it's an unsupported theory pulled from thin air, and blind faith in Blizzard not making a move they've shown with SC2 that they're far from above.

[ScP_Iodine]

Yos, on 02 May 2012 - 08:35 AM, said:

sarcouth, on 02 May 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

Not bad, I Still have 2 opinions what the comet is, It could be tyrael, the hole glows Blue, which is not really an evil colour, doubt it would have been chosen to represent something evil, could be tyrael crashing to earth after getting his butt handed to him (doubt he would initiate any attacks) But the skeleton king says the power of the comet woke him, and it caused all the undead to come up, so i doubt it is good in nature, is most likely a weapon/creature that is evil. Searching for something that was left behind maybe? Still in 2 minds. ah well 2 weeks till we find out i suppose.

your opinion on the comet being something harmfull, thus awakening the SK, seems sound. however the comet came from the sky, or perhaps more symbolically the heavens (High Heavens). it didn't come from below (Burning Hells). so maybe something bad/evil coming from the high heavens. long shot using this theory: Imperius, awakening the SK (and others?) to help destroy Sancuary, which he isn't fond of any way.

The whole falling star event could be, Tyreal crashing into the cathedral. This is the sign that "Justice has fallen" because "Valor has turned to wrath", this being the sign for hell to strike out because the high heavens are in a weakened state due to the loss of structure within the Angiris Council.

[Sikosh]

Agreed on the Diablo/Aiden thing. It does smell like a setup for a big payoff later, but there are other ways Diablo could come back:

Spoilers you can't unsee - you've been warned!

Spoiler

We know the Crystal Arch births angels. We also know that there's an Act 4 event to defend the Crsytal Arch from being corrupted before you fight Diablo - I believe this is actually a timed event. For all we know we may fail to defend the arch, it gets corrupted/destroyed and that is how Diablo comes back.

Due to certain events in Act 1, Leah will likely be taking over the lore/prophecy role, which is why I don't think they will turn her into Diablo. Leah's corruption could come from something else entirely, and we have to "heal" her thoughout the game. At this point, I don't believe anyone knows what happens with Leah for sure.

One thing I'm confused about - if the Halls of Agony are indeed in Act 1, why are they being referenced in a video that's clearly set during Act 2? Maybe the halls were always in Act 2 but got moved around specfically for the Blizzcon demo where they connected to the Highlands?

Considering most of Act 1 is blue/green themed and the Halls of Agony are all red (Blizzard already mentioned in their GDC panel that they are trying to theme the acts by colour), maybe the halls appear later then we thought?

Edited by Sikosh, 02 May 2012 - 11:35 AM.

[Doomscream]

Sikosh, on 02 May 2012 - 11:34 AM, said:

Agreed on the Diablo/Aiden thing. It does smell like a setup for a big payoff later, but there are other ways Diablo could come back:

Spoilers you can't unsee - you've been warned!

Spoiler

We know the Crystal Arch births angels. We also know that there's an Act 4 event to defend the Crsytal Arch from being corrupted before you fight Diablo - I believe this is actually a timed event. For all we know we may fail to defend the arch, it gets corrupted/destroyed and that is how Diablo comes back.

Due to certain events in Act 1, Leah will likely be taking over the lore/prophecy role, which is why I don't think they will turn her into Diablo. Leah's corruption could come from something else entirely, and we have to "heal" her thoughout the game. At this point, I don't believe anyone knows what happens with Leah for sure.

One thing I'm confused about - if the Halls of Agony are indeed in Act 1, why are they being referenced in a video that's clearly set during Act 2? Maybe the halls were always in Act 2 but got moved around specfically for the Blizzcon demo where they connected to the Highlands?

Considering most of Act 1 is blue/green themed and the Halls of Agony are all red (Blizzard already mentioned in their GDC panel that they are trying to theme the acts by colour), maybe the halls appear later then we thought?

Spoiler

[Kuar]

Spoiler

Valor shall turn to wrath

- Azmodan is the Lord of Sin
- The seven deadly sins are: Wrath, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Envy, and Gluttony (Wikipedia, 2011)

At the 1:20 mark of the black soulstone cinematic we see what looks like a council room with several thrones and one large throne in the middle. Specifically we see is from Right to left, three regular thrones, one large throne and then three more regular thrones each with a demon sitting upon it with a different headdress awaking.

- There are total seven thrones, one representing each sin.

Problem: The center throne should belong to Azmodan himself, however he represents all seven sins.

There is a throne missing for the seventh sin.



So I'm throwing in a theory saying that Imperius is going to ally with Azmodan to destroy the descendants of the Nephilim. The book of Cain states that he is in favour of purging Sanctuary already.



And hope will be swallowed by despair.

I personally don't think that Auriel will be possessed by Diablo, I support the idea that Leah is Diablo. However I think that as Leah is the offspring of Adria and Aiden (who was possessed by Diablo) maybe if she manages to 'unlock' her mortal potential as a Nephilim then she would turn into this new form of diablo and potentially help you to kill Imperius. Either to dethrone Azmodan and re-take hell or because she can control herself.


Death at last shall spread its wings over all

Use of language here implies that there will be an angel of death. My money is on Malthael, the Archangel of Wisdom. Rather than this signifying that Diablo has possessed and Angel. Firstly as his character art includes scythes and they are traditionally associated with the Grim-Reaper.. and also because in the book of Cain in Malthael's section it states.


I think that he may go a bit mad and 'embrace' the 'dark' side (sorry) of his existence to such an extent that he tries to destroy everything.

I personally think that he might be the end boss of the first or second expansion though, Azmodan should be the big bad guy in Diablo 3.

Edited by Kuar, 02 May 2012 - 12:00 PM.

[Quimeraec]

I know this is speculation, but what if diablo transfered himself to adria and send a corrupted aiden away to draw atention to him and hide.

So this corrupted aiden, under diablo's orders frees the other primes to have them defeated  by the heroes. in hell we kill aiden, whio is possesed by another demon and 20 years later he comes back in Adria to fullfill his plans at last.

An Adriablo could be the reason diablo looks feminine in the game and having possesed a witch could imcrease its power making him an even more formidable opponent. (and remenber that with this theory we never fought diablo in d2)

EDIT: and death spreading its wings could be a references to the dragon who taugh dthe necromancers.

Edited by Quimeraec, 02 May 2012 - 12:05 PM.

[KingCobb]

Info based of ninja video and early datamined info that is no longer in the beta.

Spoiler

We have seen the halls of agony in the some of the DH ninja videos.  It is where you fight leorics executioner and the head of the cultists in Act 1 it appears.  Also, the angel you are rescuing is obviously whichever angel fell from the heavens-tyrael if we are correct in that assumption-- because in the early datamining-not there anymore, it was the same stuff that had audio files for barb being barb from D2--, it was revealed that after you kill leoric he states that he didn't know who came down in the comet, but that he was taken by the cultist.  Also, don't understand this who thing with Tyreals sword in act 1.  We know where it is, the comic shows where it is and that Jacob has it, and it has been hinted that we will meet Jacob in the game.  Also, it could just be that they have that quest active but are running around in Act 2.  

Edited by KingCobb, 02 May 2012 - 01:03 PM.

[BoyC]

Anyone still thinking the fallen star is an angel please explain to me why the presence of an angel would prompt the rising of the dead... Fallen star = black soulstone IMO.