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Imperius is a member of the enigmatic Angiris Council. He is thought to be the Archangel of War. Wearing crimson red robes and a gleaming breastplate, he is anything but patient. In fact, his name is likely derived from the word imperious, which means overbearing and urgent. He makes a cameo appearance in The Sin War trilogy in the last book, The Veiled Prophet, fervently denouncing Sanctuary and it's denizens. If humanity had an angelic enemy, he is certainly the number one candidate. Below are some quotations directly from The Sin War that show just how much Imperius despises humanity.

[Imperius talking about Sanctuary]
THERE IS NO NEED FOR THIS DEBATE TO CONTINUE....OR TO HAVE EVEN BEGUN, declared a majestic angel with robes of royal red and a shining breastplate upon which the image of an upturned sword blazed. THE PATH IS OBVIOUS....WHAT HAS BEEN WROUGHT BY THE TRAITOR MUST BE UNDONE! LET THE HOST FINISH WHAT IT BEGAN, EVEN IF WE MUST CUT THROUGH A HUNDRED RANKS OF DEMONS TO ACCOMPLISH IT!

[Imperius talking about Inarius]
FROM HIS CRIMES WAS THIS ABOMINATION CALLED SANCTUARY CREATED! JUDGE ONE, AND YOU RIGHTLY JUDGE THEM BOTH!

[Imperius talking about Inarius and Sanctuary]
I SAY THAT THE RENEGADE MUST BE FOREVER IMPRISONED AND HIS NEST OF DEMON-SPAWN ERADICATED!

[Imperius talking to Tyrael]
WELL, OLD FRIEND? asked Imperius. HOW WILL YOU CHOOSE, YOU WHO HAVE SEEN THEM AT THEIR MOST FOUL? WILL YOU VOTE WITH ME AND PUT AN END TO THIS MOST HEINOUS OF SPAWNING GROUNDS?

Perhaps his most notable physical feature is the blazing upturned sword on his breastplate. When I think of the natural state of a sword, it's being held by the hilt with the blade pointing upwards. Then if it were to be upturned it would be sitting on the tip of it's blade with the hilt towards the top. A cross could easily be construed as a sword in the Diabloverse where there are no real world religions.




When Richard Knaak was asked about this from Diablofans member, TH3N00S3 he replied:
This certainly doesn't mean they couldn't have changed their idea of what an upturned sword is. Even Richard Knaak admitted the word upturned can really be taken either way in this case.

Now this takes us to Diablo3.com where the page initially said:


But was changed a couple years back to:


There is a pretty large difference here. In the first version it seems to hint at angelic intervention at some point in the story. In the later version it seems like they've pulled all that back to hint only at demonic influence. Perhaps they're planning for an expansion?

If The High Heavens were to intervene, at this point after their stance during The Sin War, it's rational to assume they wouldn't be friendly. These quotes also seem to point to the importance of the comet, or what they would have us believe is a comet.

All throughout Diablo 2, Tyrael makes it very clear that the Angiris Council does not approve of his meddling in the affairs of mortals. Is it possible that destroying the Worldstone was the final straw? Could Tyrael have been cast from The High Heavens? I don't know of any comet with that little substance. It is my belief this is Tyrael plummeting into the depths of the Cathedral.



Now after the events of The Sin War, no one would be more willing to toss Tyrael from the graces of The Heavens than Imperius. Tyrael was the deciding vote that could have landed Sanctuary directly in the path of angelic annihilation. In this piece of concept art it appears to be the same angel we see with the cross or sword on his chest to be looming above another angel which appears to me to be Tyrael shielding his eyes.



If this is the case, Imperius wouldn't be acting alone. It's very likely that the Angiris Council of The High Heavens once again held a vote deciding the fate of the human race. This time we may not have came out so lucky. During the last vote the two angels that voted to save humanity were Auriel and Iltherael, who essentially agreed they wanted to let us grow and hopefully become allies. One thing is certain though, both The High Heavens and The Burning Hells wish to use us as pawns. One wrong step in one direction and we'll become puppets to The Hells , to the other, The Heavens will destroy us. Heaven has been watching, and what have they seen?

The Prime Evils, after being unleashed, are all finally caught inside their own soulstone. Then, by human error, all the stones were damaged. A horadric mage attempting to contain Baal becomes consumed and corrupted, eventually leading to the corruption of the world stone. A religion is founded by Akarat, based on the visions and teachings of what we are led to believe is an Archangel named Yaerius. That religion evolves into the Zakarum church, which is infamous for its inquisition and then becomes the perfect staging ground for the corruption of Mephisto. After being secretly usurped by the demon lord, the paladins of the church were sent on a crusade throughout the lands murdering all non believers suspected of the use of demonic magic. Mephisto then used the church to provide him with fresh human sacrifices.

A small group of heroes develop extraordinary powers, once again, and defeat Diablo only to succumb to his taint later. One going on to become The Dark Wanderer, one becoming Blood Raven, and the last becoming The Summoner in the Arcane Sanctuary. Nihlathak shows them that humanity is untrustworthy and has a thirst for power and a price at which we can be bought. In Diablo III the Triune is emerging once again. Once a major religion in the world headed by Lucion then, and now another demon. We have groups of humans known as Demon Hunters, wielding demonic magics. We just may appear too much of a risk at this point, a loose end.

This time we do not have Uldyssian to protect us. Will we be able to survive an onslaught from The Heavens trying to purge us and the driving forces of The Hells trying to enslave us? If Tyrael truly has been cast out of The High Heavens, what could this mean for our characters in Diablo III? What could this mean for all of Sanctuary?




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Quote from DesmondTiny

I dont think they take away an angels wings when the banish them. I mean Inarius would still have his wings if Mephisto did not tear them off of him. (Which probably really hurts to have your wings torn off.)

Very true but you have to remember, Inarius wasn't banished. He took the renegade angels and left.

Quote from DesmondTiny

Well he was going to be banished/imprissoned/executed or whatever untill Mephisto came and took him.

Right, I meant before he left to go to Sanctuary.

Yeah I'm unsure what they would have done to him. It does seem like they wouldn't allow him all his powers. Angel's wings seem to be tied to their powers or at least their emotions, they flare up when they get angry. So it would make since for them to possibly neutralize Inarius by clipping his wings, but they could also have just Imprisoned him forever possibly, we know they have such spells: IE Lilith. Possibly even killed him. It's hard to say.

It makes sense. I wish I could find the quote but I think I even remember them saying we won't be fighting angels, this time. Or something like that, though my mind could be playing tricks on me.

However you can see how they changed the quote from the main page to change the fact that angels seem to be in the game. I think it's very likely we'll see angels in D3, and probably more likely we'll do the fighting them in the expansion.

Quote from GeoGenetic

I just wanted to say thank you and try to explain how awesome these writeups are for me. Thank you to everyone who runs this website for constantly keeping us up to date on the progress of D3. It makes me so excited when I start imagining what this game is going to be like when it's released.

You're very welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed the read. I'm sure the newsteam has more articles to bombard you with. This was a rare guest appearance for me.