Thought I'd wrap up the chronology of events of Diablo in a simpler, easier to read way. Also see Elfen Lied's thread for more detailed descriptions of events. This is a work in progress. Please notify all incorrect content, or big events that I seem to have excluded.
ALL OF REALITY BURSTS INTO EXISTENCE. THE HIGH HEAVENS AND THE DEPTHS OF HELL ARE BORN WITH IT.
The Great Conflict [/HR]The Great Conflict begins over anything of value. Angels and Demons fight endlessly, neither keeping gained ground for very long. The Angiris Council, led by Tyrael, Imperius, Inarius, Auriel, Itherael, and Malthael are the leaders of Heaven, while the Three Primes (Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal) are the leaders of Hell (for now).
Inarius, member of the Angiris Council, sees little point in their infinite war. Inarius gains the trust of many like-minded angels and demons and, together, defects from Heaven and Hell. He does three important things:
Creates Sanctuary, the world of men, as a paradise and refuge from the Great Conflict
Creates the Nephalem, the first humans
Creates the Worldstone, a huge purple stone
Instead of giving up on the war, Heaven and Hell alike turn to Sanctuary in a struggle for the souls of men in an effort to turn the tide of the now called Sin War. The events of The Sin War Trilogy (books) take place. Suffice to say, Inarius has severely pissed off both Heaven and Hell, and both want to see him pay heavily for his crimes.
The Dark Exile [/HR]Andariel, Duriel, Belial, and Azmodan are lesser evils, small fries compared to the Three Primes. However, with the ascension of man, they are presumably duped by the Three into believing that Diablo and his brothers are going to give up the fight against Heaven. With this in mind, they plot against the Three and exile them into Sanctuary. During the events of Diablo 2, Izual concedes that the Three Primes masterminded their own exile.
The Horadrim [/HR]Jered Cain, Tal Rasha, and Deckard Cain were the most notable members of the Horadrim, an elite group of Magi founded by the Archangel Tyrael. Tasked with hunting and sealing the Prime Evils, they used magic to seek and imprison the Three inside Soulstones, small fragments of the Worldstone, which were given to them by Tyrael himself. They found and captured each evil and hid their stones accordingly:
Baal’s Soulstone was imprisoned inside a huge tomb constructed with a single purpose: keep him in and others out. Tal Rasha, knowing that the final shard of Baal's broken Soulstone was not great enough to contain the Prime Evil, chose to use his own body as a prison for the Prime. Lodging it into his chest and binding himself to a pillar, Tal Rasha remained in the tomb for centuries, containing the Evil within.
Mephisto’s Soulstone was sealed inside a temple in Kurast. The Zakarum monks were tasked with its protection (ultimately, however, the Soulstone corrupted the monks and Mephisto took a host).
Diablo’s Soulstone was hidden beneath a deserted Cathedral.
And so the events of Tristram and Diablo 1 unfold…
Tristram and the Cathedral [/HR]King Leoric was King of Khanduras. He made Tristram its capital, and his throne several levels beneath the town’s cathedral that the Horadrim had built to conceal Diablo’s Soulstone. One of Leoric’s most trusted advisors, Archbishop Lazarus, was drawn to Diablo’s Soulstone and was corrupted by it soon after shattering it. Diablo took this opportunity to seize the King’s son as his host, and grew to full power far beneath the Cathedral.
A warrior appeared in Tristram (playable Warrior in Diablo 1). With the help of Deckard Cain, he sought Diablo and ultimately vanquished him. Thought able to contend with its evil, the Warrior forced Diablo’s Soulstone into his own forehead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGRGxt2-7rc
The hero who vanquished Diablo wandered Sanctuary in search of answers to the nightmares haunting his dreams. He found none, and though his spirit and will were stronger than most of Sanctuary’s most brave, Diablo took root in the hero’s soul. He wandered East; drawn blindly to Diablo’s brothers.
The events of Diablo 2 unfold here. Adventurers hear rumors of a great evil stirring in a rogue encampment near Tristram. Our heroes, a group of characters playable in Diablo 2, seek out this evil, rescue Deckard Cain and slay the Lesser Evil Andariel, who blocked passage to Lut Gholein. Passage now granted, our heroes and Cain traveled to the East.
Here among the raging deserts, our heroes sought a powerful evil locked within a secret tomb. Using the Horadric Cube, a device crafted by the Horadrim Magi, and with the help of Deckard Cain, the band of heroes was able to craft a key into the tomb’s most inner sanctum. Forced to traverse the Arcane Sanctuary, a mystical structure crafted by Horazon, a long dead (or believed to be dead) Magi, our heroes ultimately found a portal to Tal Rasha’s tomb. In it they found a keyhole for the crafted key, and the door it unlocked led to Duriel, a Lesser Evil. The demon was slain: but it was too late.
A companion of the Wandering Hero, Marius, had made a fatal error in ignorance of the situation. Finding himself face to face with Tal Rasha (Baal’s spiritual prison) while his companion was locked in combat with the Archangel Tyrael, Marius pulled the Soulstone from Tal Rasha’s chest and unlocked the evil contained within.
Tyrael tasked Marius with taking the Soulstone to the Hellforge in order to destroy it. Baal could not manifest his power in Sanctuary without the stone, and its destruction would spell Baal’s end in the mortal realm. Marius had little choice but to obey Tyrael’s orders, and would appear again in Kurast later.
Marius escaped the tomb while Tyrael contended with Baal's new form.
The heroes now found themselves among the Zakarum in Kurast, an ancient order of light. But what they found in that city was beyond the reaches of light. Corrupted by Mephisto’s presence, the Zakarum became the Lord of Hatred’s agents. Mephisto entrusted six Zakarum priests with six shards of his Soulstone to protect him, while he kept the seventh and final shard for himself.
Marius caught up with the wandering hero and spied a demonic meeting. Baal (using Tal Rasha’s form) and Mephisto managed to catalyze the wanderer’s transformation into Diablo himself, and opened a portal into Hell for Diablo to take. Marius does not find the courage to follow, and instead retreats somewhere to an asylum, where he will spend his final years.
The heroes find their way inside Mephisto’s lair and vanquish the demon’s physical presence long after Diablo had made his trip into Hell and Baal had disappeared to somewhere in Sanctuary. The heroes took Mephisto’s Soulstone and entered into the same portal Diablo had taken, leading to the events in the Pandemonium Fortress.
The Pandemonium Fortress is a sort of bastion of Heaven on the steppes of Hell. It is here the heroes meet Tyrael again since following the Archangel's instructions in Tal Rasha’s Tomb. Tyrael instructs them that he cannot help them on his journey, but that he must destroy Mephisto’s Soulstone before contending with Diablo himself. Traversing Hell and the River of Flame, the band of champions defeats Hephasto and destroys the Soulstone at the Hellforge, the most inner sanctum of Hell.
The heroes also find and defeat Izual, once a powerful angel of Heaven that was overcome in combat and his spirit corrupted or enslaved by the Three. Now an agent of Hell, Izual ceded important information about the Angiris Council to the Prime Evils. Before falling, the angel’s assault on Hellforge presumably stopped the creation of a powerful demonic sword known as Shadowfang, saving countless.
This sword is a unique two handed sword in Diablo 2, but its power is largely diminished. This is either a gameplay balance or a reference to its incompletedness.
Finally, the heroes unlock and defeat Diablo, the Lord of Terror. His Soulstone is taken to the Hellforge and shattered. Upon returning to the Pandemonium Fortress, Tyrael informs the champions that a greater evil lurks in Harrogath, homeland of the Barbarian nation, the Nephalem, Mount Arreat, and the Worldstone.
Baal still does not have his own Soulstone with him, and he must find it if he is to damn all of Sanctuary. Eventually, Baal finds Marius, who had pulled the Soulstone from his captor’s chest in Tal Rasha’s tomb. Baal impersonates Tyrael and asks that Marius give him the Soulstone. Marius agrees and hands him the stone, but moments later realizes his grave mistake. Baal now has his full power returned to him and launches an assault on Harrogath, the last bastion before Mount Arreat.
Baal unleashes all available forces on Harrogath. His deceptions trick an Elder of Harrogath, Nihlathak, into giving him the Key of the Ancients in return for sparing Harrogath. Baal, being the Lord of Destruction, refuses to uphold his end of the bargain and continues the assault. Additionally, his possession of the Key of the Ancients allows him to bypass the Nephalem Ancients guarding the entrance to the Worldstone Keep, a fortress within the mountain of Arreat, where the Worldstone resides.
The heroes follow Baal quite shortly behind his tracks, slowed by Baal’s minions. They confront and defeat the Nephalem warriors, a feat even Baal feared he could not do. The heroes venture deep inside the Keep and, after defeating the Lord of Destruction's litany of elite minions, chases Baal into the Worldstone Chamber itself. Baal’s defeat would come too late and at too great a cost: Baal’s corruption of the Worldstone was too far in progress to be reversed. Tyrael appears and grants the champions safe passage back to Harrogath. Their quest is finished… for now.
Tyrael is now forced to contend with the predicament of the corrupted Worldstone. Without any other option to save humanity, he hurls his flaming sword into the Worldstone and shatters it into an infinite number of pieces, its destruction appearing as if Tyrael had thrown a boulder into a lake of water but the splashes and ripples were manifested as shards of crystal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYVUcMw9JY
Diablo 2 concludes with this final act, and Diablo 3 will pick up twenty years later. No one knows what the destruction of the Worldstone will mean for Sanctuary. No one knows what will become of Tyrael. Belial and Azmodan do play critical roles in the story’s plot, however, and it can be assumed that Diablo has somehow made it back to Sanctuary.
It is also known that the only returning hero from Diablo 2 is the Barbarian, who will play a crucial role in Diablo 3's events.
The Dark Exile [/HR]Andariel, Duriel, Belial, and Azmodan are lesser evils, small fries compared to the Three Primes. However, with the ascension of man, they falsely believe that Diablo and his brothers are going to give up the fight against Heaven. With this in mind, they plot against the Three and exile them into Sanctuary. During the events of Diablo 2, however, Izual concedes that the Three Primes masterminded their own exile.
Where exactly is it stated that the the lesser evil feared the Three would abandon the war?
Quote from "Huck" »
The Horadrim [/HR]Jered Cain, Tal Rasha, and Deckard Cain were the most notable members of the Horadrim, an elite group of Magi founded by the Archangel Tyrael. Tasked with hunting and sealing the Prime Evils, they used magic to seek and imprison the Three inside Soulstones, small fragments of the Worldstone, which were given to them by Tyrael himself. They found and captured each evil and hid their stones accordingly:
Baal’s Soulstone was imprisoned inside a huge tomb constructed with a single purpose: keep him in and others out. Tal Rasha, knowing that the Soulstone would draw an adventurer inside its depths, chose to use his own body as a prison for the Prime. Lodging it into his chest and binding himself to a pillar, Tal Rasha remained in the tomb for centuries, containing the Evil within.
Mephisto’s Soulstone was sealed inside a temple in Kurast. The Zakarum monks were tasked with its protection (ultimately, however, the Soulstone corrupted the monks and Mephisto took a host).
Diablo’s Soulstone was hidden beneath a deserted Cathedral. And so the events of Tristram and Diablo 1 unfold…
The Baal part doesn't make any sense. Tal Rasha put Baal insid ehim because the Destructive nature of Baal damaged it during his capturing. The only way to seal him away was to complete the prison, and Tal Rasha, perhaps in his pride, volunteered.
Quote from "Huck" »
Tristram and the Cathedral [/HR]King Leoric was King of Khanduras. He made Tristram its capital, and his throne several levels beneath the town’s cathedral that the Horadrim had built to conceal Diablo’s Soulstone. One of Leoric’s most trusted advisors, Archbishop Lazarus, was drawn to Diablo’s Soulstone and was corrupted by it soon after shattering it. Diablo took this opportunity to seize the King’s son as his host, and grew to full power far beneath the Cathedral.
A warrior appeared in Tristram (playable Warrior in Diablo 1). With the help of Deckard Cain, he sought Diablo and ultimately vanquished him. Thought able to contend with its evil, the Warrior forced Diablo’s Soulstone into his own forehead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGRGxt2-7rc
The events of Diablo 2 begin many months later…
Do you know more of the Diablo I part? If so, would you perhaps like to expand the Lore Summary of the wiki?
The hero who vanquished Diablo wandered Sanctuary in search of answers to the nightmares haunting his dreams. He found none, and though his spirit and will were stronger than most of Sanctuary’s most brave, Diablo took root in the hero’s soul. He wandered East; drawn blindly to Diablo’s brothers.
The events of Diablo 2 unfold here. A Barbarian born from the fringes of civilization and forged in inner-clan warfare heard rumors of a great evil stirring in a rogue encampment near Tristram. The Barbarian sought it out, rescuing Deckard Cain and slaying the Lesser Evil Andariel, who blocked passage to Lut Gholein. Passage now granted, the Barbarian and Cain traveled to the East.
The Barbarian is not the canonical hero. A band of heroes, composed of an unknown amount of people and classes defeated the Three. The Barbarian was part of that group, but he was not the only one.
Quote from "Huck" »
Lut Gholein A companion of the Wandering Hero, Marius, had made a fatal error in ignorance of the situation. Finding himself face to face with Tal Rasha (Baal’s spiritual prison) while his companion was locked in combat with the Archangel Tyrael, Marius pulled the Soulstone from Tal Rasha’s chest and unlocked the evil contained within. Tyrael escaped the tomb with Marius while Baal took Tal Rasha as a physical host.
Incorrect. Tyrael was trapped in the tomb by Baal, and Marius fled of his own volition after Baal and Diablo had gone, weird as it might seem.
Quote from "Huck" »
Pandemonium Fortress The hero also finds and defeats Izual, once the most powerful angel of heaven that was overcome in combat and his spirit corrupted by the Three. Now an agent of Hell, Izual ceded important information about the Angiris Council to the Prime Evils. Before falling, the angel’s assault on Hellforge stopped the creation of a powerful demonic sword known as Shadowfang, saving countless.
He is technically only mentioned to have been a lieutenant of Hell. While leading an assault against the Hell Forge probably requires you to be of some rank and power, we do not know.
Quote from "Huck" »
Tyrael informs him that a greater evil lurks in Harragoth,
Baal still does not have his own Soulstone with him, and he must find it if he is to damn all of Sanctuary.
Unclear if it exactly makes him stronger, though I agree it is likely. It could just as well be simply to guard the stone from anyone else. What a great situation that would otherwise be if Baal, just gone into Mount Arreat, dies because Tyrael had found Marius and destroyed his soul stone
Baal unleashes all available forces on Harragoth. His deceptions trick an Elder of Harragoth, Nihlathak, into giving him the Key of the Ancients in return for sparing Harragoth. Baal, being the Lord of Destruction, refuses to uphold his end of the bargain and continues the assault. Additionally, his possession of the Key of the Ancients allows him to bypass the Nephalem ancient warriors guarding the entrance to the Worldstone Keep, a fortress within the mountain of Arreat, where the Worldstone resides.
The three barbarians are not Nephalem themselves, but were charged by the Nehpalem, chosen, to guard the mountain.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
It is clear now, if Izual is to be believed (there is no obvious reason he shouldn't), that the Primes did indeed plans for the Lesser Evils to exile them into Sanctuary. Perhaps the Three had no other means into Sanctuary, or perhaps they predicted the eventual shitstorm Azmodan and Belial would create in their absence (to perhaps use this discord as an advantage when they return). It is unknown, however it does make more sense if it was not planned, seeing as the Prime Evils discovered the existence of Sanctuary before Heaven did, and planned to take the war to the mortals. The Lesser Evils may have seen Sanctuary as a distraction from the primary target: the High Heavens, and, subsequently, decided to banish the Primes in order to control Hell absolutely.
And I confused the Barbarian as the canonical hero. I have replaced all mentions of Barbarian with, simply, hero.
Typos and uncredited assertions corrected.
And while the Nephalem are a whole race of people (or used to be), are the Ancients not Nephalem themselves? I did not state specifically that they were the only Nephalem, but did not feel it necessary to complicate the history more than it absolutely needed to be.
It is clear now, if Izual is to be believed (there is no obvious reason he shouldn't), that the Primes did indeed plans for the Lesser Evils to exile them into Sanctuary.
Oh I certainly agree with you about the Primes intending for it to happen. What I wonder is where it says that the Lesser Evils did it because "falsely believe that Diablo and his brothers are going to give up the fight against Heaven"?
Quote from "Huck" »
And while the Nephalem are a whole race of people (or used to be), are the Ancients not Nephalem themselves? I did not state specifically that they were the only Nephalem, but did not feel it necessary to complicate the history more than it absolutely needed to be.
The term Nephalem and Ancient refer to the same thing (despite our forum ranks indicating that is not the case). This is made clear on Arreat Summit under the description for Talic:
The Ancients had spoken to her of a young warrior in the West named Talic.
Clearly the Ancients are the ones who bestow the three barbarians with their duty, and clearly the Ancients are even here a distinct group of beings.
PlugY for Diablo II allows you to reset skills and stats, transfer items between characters in singleplayer, obtain all ladder runewords and do all Uberquests while offline. It is the only way to do all of the above. Please use it.
Supporting big shoulderpads and flashy armor since 2004.
On The Dark Exile: Izual confirms (if he's to be believed) that the Three intended to be Exiled. The specifics involved are irrelevant and this article does not try to discern lore up for debate.
I will reword who our heroes are, once more :3
The Pandemonium Fortress is obviously near or within Hell itself: again, semantics are unimportant as this article only wishes to introduce Diablo lore to the average player without pages of speculation or arguments. It is plainly seen that the Fortress has only one entrance, and thus presumably is kind of like a western fort within Indian nation.
Izual either chooses of his own volition to betray Heaven, or is forced to. The general idea is that he was once a good guy.
Tyrael's decision to destroy the Worldstone is largely seen as a result of Tyrael's love for humanity. In his eyes, it is a regrettable but necessary loss.
Thanks for the input! I will consider removing or rewording pieces of contention to be more neutral. Also planning to revise complex ideas and also add in pictures.
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ALL OF REALITY BURSTS INTO EXISTENCE. THE HIGH HEAVENS AND THE DEPTHS OF HELL ARE BORN WITH IT.
The Great Conflict
[/HR]The Great Conflict begins over anything of value. Angels and Demons fight endlessly, neither keeping gained ground for very long. The Angiris Council, led by Tyrael, Imperius, Inarius, Auriel, Itherael, and Malthael are the leaders of Heaven, while the Three Primes (Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal) are the leaders of Hell (for now).
Inarius, member of the Angiris Council, sees little point in their infinite war. Inarius gains the trust of many like-minded angels and demons and, together, defects from Heaven and Hell. He does three important things:
The Dark Exile
[/HR]Andariel, Duriel, Belial, and Azmodan are lesser evils, small fries compared to the Three Primes. However, with the ascension of man, they are presumably duped by the Three into believing that Diablo and his brothers are going to give up the fight against Heaven. With this in mind, they plot against the Three and exile them into Sanctuary. During the events of Diablo 2, Izual concedes that the Three Primes masterminded their own exile.
The Horadrim
[/HR]Jered Cain, Tal Rasha, and Deckard Cain were the most notable members of the Horadrim, an elite group of Magi founded by the Archangel Tyrael. Tasked with hunting and sealing the Prime Evils, they used magic to seek and imprison the Three inside Soulstones, small fragments of the Worldstone, which were given to them by Tyrael himself. They found and captured each evil and hid their stones accordingly:
And so the events of Tristram and Diablo 1 unfold…
Tristram and the Cathedral
[/HR]King Leoric was King of Khanduras. He made Tristram its capital, and his throne several levels beneath the town’s cathedral that the Horadrim had built to conceal Diablo’s Soulstone. One of Leoric’s most trusted advisors, Archbishop Lazarus, was drawn to Diablo’s Soulstone and was corrupted by it soon after shattering it. Diablo took this opportunity to seize the King’s son as his host, and grew to full power far beneath the Cathedral.
A warrior appeared in Tristram (playable Warrior in Diablo 1). With the help of Deckard Cain, he sought Diablo and ultimately vanquished him. Thought able to contend with its evil, the Warrior forced Diablo’s Soulstone into his own forehead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGRGxt2-7rc
The events of Diablo 2 begin many months later…
Reunion of the Three
[/HR]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubD5wkCG07g
The hero who vanquished Diablo wandered Sanctuary in search of answers to the nightmares haunting his dreams. He found none, and though his spirit and will were stronger than most of Sanctuary’s most brave, Diablo took root in the hero’s soul. He wandered East; drawn blindly to Diablo’s brothers.
The events of Diablo 2 unfold here. Adventurers hear rumors of a great evil stirring in a rogue encampment near Tristram. Our heroes, a group of characters playable in Diablo 2, seek out this evil, rescue Deckard Cain and slay the Lesser Evil Andariel, who blocked passage to Lut Gholein. Passage now granted, our heroes and Cain traveled to the East.
Lut Gholein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkJRxBlZi70&NR=1
Here among the raging deserts, our heroes sought a powerful evil locked within a secret tomb. Using the Horadric Cube, a device crafted by the Horadrim Magi, and with the help of Deckard Cain, the band of heroes was able to craft a key into the tomb’s most inner sanctum. Forced to traverse the Arcane Sanctuary, a mystical structure crafted by Horazon, a long dead (or believed to be dead) Magi, our heroes ultimately found a portal to Tal Rasha’s tomb. In it they found a keyhole for the crafted key, and the door it unlocked led to Duriel, a Lesser Evil. The demon was slain: but it was too late.
A companion of the Wandering Hero, Marius, had made a fatal error in ignorance of the situation. Finding himself face to face with Tal Rasha (Baal’s spiritual prison) while his companion was locked in combat with the Archangel Tyrael, Marius pulled the Soulstone from Tal Rasha’s chest and unlocked the evil contained within.
Tyrael tasked Marius with taking the Soulstone to the Hellforge in order to destroy it. Baal could not manifest his power in Sanctuary without the stone, and its destruction would spell Baal’s end in the mortal realm. Marius had little choice but to obey Tyrael’s orders, and would appear again in Kurast later.
Marius escaped the tomb while Tyrael contended with Baal's new form.
Kurast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgwRT5dLt8
The heroes now found themselves among the Zakarum in Kurast, an ancient order of light. But what they found in that city was beyond the reaches of light. Corrupted by Mephisto’s presence, the Zakarum became the Lord of Hatred’s agents. Mephisto entrusted six Zakarum priests with six shards of his Soulstone to protect him, while he kept the seventh and final shard for himself.
Marius caught up with the wandering hero and spied a demonic meeting. Baal (using Tal Rasha’s form) and Mephisto managed to catalyze the wanderer’s transformation into Diablo himself, and opened a portal into Hell for Diablo to take. Marius does not find the courage to follow, and instead retreats somewhere to an asylum, where he will spend his final years.
The heroes find their way inside Mephisto’s lair and vanquish the demon’s physical presence long after Diablo had made his trip into Hell and Baal had disappeared to somewhere in Sanctuary. The heroes took Mephisto’s Soulstone and entered into the same portal Diablo had taken, leading to the events in the Pandemonium Fortress.
Pandemonium Fortress
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD8fOTlMt1Q&NR=1
The Pandemonium Fortress is a sort of bastion of Heaven on the steppes of Hell. It is here the heroes meet Tyrael again since following the Archangel's instructions in Tal Rasha’s Tomb. Tyrael instructs them that he cannot help them on his journey, but that he must destroy Mephisto’s Soulstone before contending with Diablo himself. Traversing Hell and the River of Flame, the band of champions defeats Hephasto and destroys the Soulstone at the Hellforge, the most inner sanctum of Hell.
The heroes also find and defeat Izual, once a powerful angel of Heaven that was overcome in combat and his spirit corrupted or enslaved by the Three. Now an agent of Hell, Izual ceded important information about the Angiris Council to the Prime Evils. Before falling, the angel’s assault on Hellforge presumably stopped the creation of a powerful demonic sword known as Shadowfang, saving countless.
Finally, the heroes unlock and defeat Diablo, the Lord of Terror. His Soulstone is taken to the Hellforge and shattered. Upon returning to the Pandemonium Fortress, Tyrael informs the champions that a greater evil lurks in Harrogath, homeland of the Barbarian nation, the Nephalem, Mount Arreat, and the Worldstone.
Baal’s Return
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46YHIIu9D8Q
Baal still does not have his own Soulstone with him, and he must find it if he is to damn all of Sanctuary. Eventually, Baal finds Marius, who had pulled the Soulstone from his captor’s chest in Tal Rasha’s tomb. Baal impersonates Tyrael and asks that Marius give him the Soulstone. Marius agrees and hands him the stone, but moments later realizes his grave mistake. Baal now has his full power returned to him and launches an assault on Harrogath, the last bastion before Mount Arreat.
The Lord of Destruction
[/HR]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STz_8UiGHT4
Baal unleashes all available forces on Harrogath. His deceptions trick an Elder of Harrogath, Nihlathak, into giving him the Key of the Ancients in return for sparing Harrogath. Baal, being the Lord of Destruction, refuses to uphold his end of the bargain and continues the assault. Additionally, his possession of the Key of the Ancients allows him to bypass the Nephalem Ancients guarding the entrance to the Worldstone Keep, a fortress within the mountain of Arreat, where the Worldstone resides.
The heroes follow Baal quite shortly behind his tracks, slowed by Baal’s minions. They confront and defeat the Nephalem warriors, a feat even Baal feared he could not do. The heroes venture deep inside the Keep and, after defeating the Lord of Destruction's litany of elite minions, chases Baal into the Worldstone Chamber itself. Baal’s defeat would come too late and at too great a cost: Baal’s corruption of the Worldstone was too far in progress to be reversed. Tyrael appears and grants the champions safe passage back to Harrogath. Their quest is finished… for now.
Tyrael is now forced to contend with the predicament of the corrupted Worldstone. Without any other option to save humanity, he hurls his flaming sword into the Worldstone and shatters it into an infinite number of pieces, its destruction appearing as if Tyrael had thrown a boulder into a lake of water but the splashes and ripples were manifested as shards of crystal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYVUcMw9JY
Diablo 2 concludes with this final act, and Diablo 3 will pick up twenty years later. No one knows what the destruction of the Worldstone will mean for Sanctuary. No one knows what will become of Tyrael. Belial and Azmodan do play critical roles in the story’s plot, however, and it can be assumed that Diablo has somehow made it back to Sanctuary.
It is also known that the only returning hero from Diablo 2 is the Barbarian, who will play a crucial role in Diablo 3's events.
Where exactly is it stated that the the lesser evil feared the Three would abandon the war?
The Baal part doesn't make any sense. Tal Rasha put Baal insid ehim because the Destructive nature of Baal damaged it during his capturing. The only way to seal him away was to complete the prison, and Tal Rasha, perhaps in his pride, volunteered.
Do you know more of the Diablo I part? If so, would you perhaps like to expand the Lore Summary of the wiki?
The Barbarian is not the canonical hero. A band of heroes, composed of an unknown amount of people and classes defeated the Three. The Barbarian was part of that group, but he was not the only one.
Incorrect. Tyrael was trapped in the tomb by Baal, and Marius fled of his own volition after Baal and Diablo had gone, weird as it might seem.
He is technically only mentioned to have been a lieutenant of Hell. While leading an assault against the Hell Forge probably requires you to be of some rank and power, we do not know.
Harrogath
Unclear if it exactly makes him stronger, though I agree it is likely. It could just as well be simply to guard the stone from anyone else. What a great situation that would otherwise be if Baal, just gone into Mount Arreat, dies because Tyrael had found Marius and destroyed his soul stone
The three barbarians are not Nephalem themselves, but were charged by the Nehpalem, chosen, to guard the mountain.
It is clear now, if Izual is to be believed (there is no obvious reason he shouldn't), that the Primes did indeed plans for the Lesser Evils to exile them into Sanctuary. Perhaps the Three had no other means into Sanctuary, or perhaps they predicted the eventual shitstorm Azmodan and Belial would create in their absence (to perhaps use this discord as an advantage when they return). It is unknown, however it does make more sense if it was not planned, seeing as the Prime Evils discovered the existence of Sanctuary before Heaven did, and planned to take the war to the mortals. The Lesser Evils may have seen Sanctuary as a distraction from the primary target: the High Heavens, and, subsequently, decided to banish the Primes in order to control Hell absolutely.
And I confused the Barbarian as the canonical hero. I have replaced all mentions of Barbarian with, simply, hero.
Typos and uncredited assertions corrected.
And while the Nephalem are a whole race of people (or used to be), are the Ancients not Nephalem themselves? I did not state specifically that they were the only Nephalem, but did not feel it necessary to complicate the history more than it absolutely needed to be.
The term Nephalem and Ancient refer to the same thing (despite our forum ranks indicating that is not the case). This is made clear on Arreat Summit under the description for Talic:
Clearly the Ancients are the ones who bestow the three barbarians with their duty, and clearly the Ancients are even here a distinct group of beings.
I will reword who our heroes are, once more :3
The Pandemonium Fortress is obviously near or within Hell itself: again, semantics are unimportant as this article only wishes to introduce Diablo lore to the average player without pages of speculation or arguments. It is plainly seen that the Fortress has only one entrance, and thus presumably is kind of like a western fort within Indian nation.
Izual either chooses of his own volition to betray Heaven, or is forced to. The general idea is that he was once a good guy.
Tyrael's decision to destroy the Worldstone is largely seen as a result of Tyrael's love for humanity. In his eyes, it is a regrettable but necessary loss.
Thanks for the input! I will consider removing or rewording pieces of contention to be more neutral. Also planning to revise complex ideas and also add in pictures.