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Has anyone realised that Kabraxis seems to have been inspired by Abraxas?

Abraxas is a God, sometimes referred to as a demon (demon God?) Its hard finding information on him though (or atleast information that actually makes sense), but from what I've gathered, he's like a balance of Light and Dark.

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsabraxas.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraxas

There's also this song by Therion that seems to make more sense:

Eros and Thanatos are branches on the same old tree
Rooted in the soil of shadow and light
If God was seperated from the dark twin, the Devil
Could he ever know the soul of mankind?

We want a new god called Abraxas!

Enter the Pleroma and see that nothingless is all
And you must destroy a world to be born
Alpha and Omega are the beginning and the end
United in the shape of Abraxas

Darkness and the light
Sermones ad Mortous, empty fullness
Abraxas, your words is a riddle to be solved

You bear the mark of Cain
And you are fighting like a bird
Free you from the egg, the egg is all the world
The Sermon to the Dead
A gospel to another life
Hear the words of Cain, the sinner and the saint
The grave is a flower
And you are dying to be born
Baptized by fire and you will slough your skin
The sign of Abraxas
The circle of the solar year
Deep in the winter you'll see the sun be born

(Also note the character of 'Cain' lol)

This seems to resemble Kabraxis, who is a demon but kind of sees himself as above both. I posted an excerpt in another thread about Kabraxis, but for those who haven't read it, I'll post it here too:

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You’re surprised by how good you feel at having had a hand in healing the boy? Kabraxis asked.

“Yes,” Cholik whispered, knowing no one around him could hear him but that the demon could.

It shouldn’t. To know the Darkness, a being must also know the Light. You lived your life cloistered in Westmarch. The only people you met were those who wanted your position.

Or those whose positions I coveted, Cholik realized.

And the Zakarum Church never allowed you to be so personal in the healing properties they doled out, the demon said.

The Light is afraid to give many people powers like I have given you, Kabraxis said. People who have powers like this get noticed by regular people. In short order, they become heroes or talked-about people. In only a little more time, the tales that are told about them allow them to take on lofty mantles. The stewards of the Light are jealous of that.

“But demons aren’t?” Cholik asked.

Kabraxis laughed, and the grating, thunderous noise echoing inside Cholik’s head was almost painful. Demons aren’t as jealous as the stewards of Light would have you believe. Nor are they as controlling as the stewards of Light. I ask you, who always has the most rules? The most limitations?

Cholik didn’t answer.

Why do you think the stewards of Light offer so many rules? Kabraxis asked. To keep the balance in their favor, of course. But demons, we believe in letting all who support the Darkness have power. Some have more power than others. But they earn it. Just as you have earned that which I’m giving you the day you faced your own fear of dying and
sought out the buried gateway to me.

“I had no choice,” Cholik said.

Humans always have choices. That’s how the stewards of Light seek to confuse you. You have choices, but you can’t choose most of them because the stewards of Light have decreed them as wrong. As an enlightened student of the Light, you’re supposed to know that those choices are wrong. So where does that really leave you? How many choices do you really have?

Cholik silently agreed.

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I think almost every demon is from myth or from somewhere

Belial, Lord of Lies- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belial

Azmodan, Lord of Sin- (i saw it earlier but i cannot find the link now, but he is actually a demon in the hebrew texts, blizzard just added the z instead of s i believe)

Lilith- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith

Diablo, Lord of Terror- Spanish for the Devil

Baal, Lord of Destruction- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal

and im sure there are a number of other inspirations for other names in the Diablo series

for example the countess: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory



*btw i highly suggest you read the link on Belial, it is extremely interesting. this part is also really interesting "In The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness " really reminds me of the sin war, and you will see it if you read both the links lol

Also does anyone else get the sense that the necromancers in the books really resemble sort of the Chinese daoist view of the earth that everything should be in harmony. Ie the yin-yang symbol. the similarities are so stunning that i know that he got inspiritation from Daoism when writing the books.

Hmm. Kabraxis in the novel was certainly no balance between the dark and light, but he neither did he adhere to the tenets of the Burning Hells or the High Heavens. But many demons/creatures in Diablo are based on some existing myth or lore found in other cultures as Num said.

Diablo is spanish for devil, not The Devil. The Devil would be El Diablo.

Diablo comes from the latin word diabolus, which means devil.


But yeh many creatures in diablo are based on myths and legends, and the odd few on historical figures.

Yeah, I know about all those others, they are obvious. Its just that this one is much less obvious, and so many people may not have realised.

But thanks, I didn't know about Belial. (I love his name though, can't wait to see what he looks like - though I'll likely be dissappointed).