This however is entirely speculation on your part.
Mephisto was weaker because your character was lower level. It's a game balance issue, it has nothing to do with lore.
Lore dictates game balance, especially with Blizzard North. If Mephisto was not inherently weaker than Diablo, he would not have been able to be killed earlier in the game. He also wouldnt have been content for lower level characters, but he was. I'm not going to say this as fact, however, I do know Baal was so powerful, they decided to use him in an expansion of his own... Aka, at level 20 or so, you got to kill Duriel... But Baal wasn't there... Its a question of why they chose Baal for the expansion. Almost simply put, because you couldnt of killed Baal at level 20 so they removed him entirely and gave you Duriel.
Quote from "PhrozenDragon" »
Which is also speculation, because what would be the point of killing Diablo in Hell and then smash his soulstone, just to get him back.
The general consent is that Diablo and Mephisto have both been banished to the Abyss, and smashing the soulstones was necessary to stop them from coming bakc by possessing another being.
Because it removes Diablo and Mephisto from Sanctuary, in effect, they have to find it all over again. You were only fighting their Spirit forms, after all. Their physical forms were still in Hell waiting for their spirits to return, at least, I don't know where else their physical forms would be.
Also, the "hell" in Diablo 2 may not be the actual, real hell, as Azmodan and Belial were nowhere to be found, nor any of their followers.
Also, smashing the soulstones was needed so they would be banished back to Hell again, and no longer be present on Sanctuary. This is simple, because, the prime evils were on Sanctuary without Soulstones to begin with. In other words, they only needed to possess a human being because they were imprisoned. Without the soulstones, they have free reign and are in their "true demonic" forms. They don't need a host without being imprisoned in the soulstone.
Personally i don't think the soultones matter much at all. As previously stated they are an anchor to Sanctuary. It appears to me the worldstone does in fact physically prevent the 3 from entering Sanctuary. Why would they not have started a war.. I doubt they cared about Sanctuary being destroyed by heaven. This is where Tyrael comes into play.
He has been working on the evil side all along. It was his idea to make the Soulstones so perehaps he intended Baal to corrupt the worldstone so he would have an excuse to destroy it. This would allow Hell to flood in sanctuary.
Well/ regarding tyrael turning evil i think it is a big possibility based on lore and stuff in D2. Blizzard obvioulsy know about all of this and may not make Tyrael evil because everyone has anticipated it. I also have to say something about Cain. In Hellfire the D1 expansions one of the books in the crypt talk about the soulstones. First of all they hadnt been made yet or you would be possessed,,but besides the point. It say that if the being encased were to break free it would go after someone weak such as a baby or an old man hmmm.... Cain seems pretty old and weak to me. Also note that Diablo most likely had no intention of possessing the hero in D1 because you were just defeated by him. Instead he took the advantage of the oppotunity and took you over as you attempted to encage his being inside you. Ok, back to Tyrael.
I for one believe Tyrael is evil but some people have not touched on many things. I do not think he was corrupted by shards of the worldstone but was in league with the 3 all along. Why did he destroy the worldstone? Well the worldstone protects the barrier between heaven, sanctuary, and hell. Now he supposedly destroyed it because Baal had corrupted it. If this is so then the worldstones power would dwindle slowly as the taint destroys the worldstone. INstead tyrael destroys it and instantly break the barrier. If Tyrael had told the heavans about the worldstone they could have had time to get ready for the war with Hell.
Cain has already stated that Tyrael has been working on his own agenda. He has most likely already been banished from heaven because they are not supposed to interfere with sanctuary which Tyrael has. So if he is int he meteor being thrown from heaven doesnt make any sense to me. If he is corrupted why would he go back to heaven..exactly.
Regarding him fighting Baal and Diablo vs. Tyrael in Tal Rasha's chamber he obviosly let them inprison him to make it look like he was good. perhaps the 3 were expecting some mortal to come and free tyrael, maybe not but he would play an important role in the master plan. Baal corrupts the worldstone and tyrael finshes it off so that it look like he had a legitimate reason to destroy it. With the worldstone destroyed the 3 can be reborn and enter Sanctuary with ease.
Now you wonder how they got in sanctuary in the first place... Well with the soulstones. Once the were imprisoned they could possess somone. It it was TYRAEL'S idea to make the soulstones. Perhaps he had this in mind all along. With this master scheme everything has come together perfectly and they will now take heaven on unsuspecting in an all out war.
I have seen these kind's of questions all over forums regarding Tyrael and what not. I think that Tyrael was not killed because as previously stated the prime evil were in their weakened states and were not able to "kill" him. I think considering he is an arch-angel that he would also be reborn like the Prime Evils would be so in the long run it would not be worth wasting their energy to kill him. There main intent was to reach Mephisto. Although i still don't understand why Hell would want to take over Sanctuary. The only plausible explenation would be that it would be a place to gather the army and attack Heavan. In order to do this they would have to break free of the Soulstones and get to Mt. Arreat. In order for them to get all of Hell onto Sanctuary they would have to destroy the Worldstone which protects Sanctuary from Heavan and hell. (I know i am jumping around a bit..so many ideas rushing through my head.)
Now you wonder, how did they get to Sanctuary in the first place? The soulstones,,thats right the very object to contain them. They would posses they nearest human which led to them regaining their power. Whose idea was it to make the Soulstones? TYRAEL! It always comes back to him. Perhaps he had been working with the three and had make the soulstone knowing they would escape, which is why he is spared. Tyrael has already been disliked by heaven for interfering with Sanctuary which the angels were not supposed to do. He has nothing to lose and i assume he turns into a power hungry beings like most antagonists. Now the reason for destroying the soulstone seems obvious, to help the 3. Baal had simply corrupted it to make it look that Tryrael had destroyed it for a semi legitimate reason. I dont think that the 3 had their death in mind but i think Hell has underestimated the Nephalem while heaven is somewhat afraid of them. I highly doubt that the 3 are terribly afraind of there death considering they will be reborn in the abyss. With Tyrael as a covert agent if he succeeds in destroying the Worldstone they can just hop right into Sanctuary and a massive unending war will begin.
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Personally i don't think the soultones matter much at all. As previously stated they are an anchor to Sanctuary. It appears to me the worldstone does in fact physically prevent the 3 from entering Sanctuary. Why would they not have started a war.. I doubt they cared about Sanctuary being destroyed by heaven. This is where Tyrael comes into play.
He has been working on the evil side all along. It was his idea to make the Soulstones so perehaps he intended Baal to corrupt the worldstone so he would have an excuse to destroy it. This would allow Hell to flood in sanctuary.
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I for one believe Tyrael is evil but some people have not touched on many things. I do not think he was corrupted by shards of the worldstone but was in league with the 3 all along. Why did he destroy the worldstone? Well the worldstone protects the barrier between heaven, sanctuary, and hell. Now he supposedly destroyed it because Baal had corrupted it. If this is so then the worldstones power would dwindle slowly as the taint destroys the worldstone. INstead tyrael destroys it and instantly break the barrier. If Tyrael had told the heavans about the worldstone they could have had time to get ready for the war with Hell.
Cain has already stated that Tyrael has been working on his own agenda. He has most likely already been banished from heaven because they are not supposed to interfere with sanctuary which Tyrael has. So if he is int he meteor being thrown from heaven doesnt make any sense to me. If he is corrupted why would he go back to heaven..exactly.
Regarding him fighting Baal and Diablo vs. Tyrael in Tal Rasha's chamber he obviosly let them inprison him to make it look like he was good. perhaps the 3 were expecting some mortal to come and free tyrael, maybe not but he would play an important role in the master plan. Baal corrupts the worldstone and tyrael finshes it off so that it look like he had a legitimate reason to destroy it. With the worldstone destroyed the 3 can be reborn and enter Sanctuary with ease.
Now you wonder how they got in sanctuary in the first place... Well with the soulstones. Once the were imprisoned they could possess somone. It it was TYRAEL'S idea to make the soulstones. Perhaps he had this in mind all along. With this master scheme everything has come together perfectly and they will now take heaven on unsuspecting in an all out war.
That is my theory enjoy
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Now you wonder, how did they get to Sanctuary in the first place? The soulstones,,thats right the very object to contain them. They would posses they nearest human which led to them regaining their power. Whose idea was it to make the Soulstones? TYRAEL! It always comes back to him. Perhaps he had been working with the three and had make the soulstone knowing they would escape, which is why he is spared. Tyrael has already been disliked by heaven for interfering with Sanctuary which the angels were not supposed to do. He has nothing to lose and i assume he turns into a power hungry beings like most antagonists. Now the reason for destroying the soulstone seems obvious, to help the 3. Baal had simply corrupted it to make it look that Tryrael had destroyed it for a semi legitimate reason. I dont think that the 3 had their death in mind but i think Hell has underestimated the Nephalem while heaven is somewhat afraid of them. I highly doubt that the 3 are terribly afraind of there death considering they will be reborn in the abyss. With Tyrael as a covert agent if he succeeds in destroying the Worldstone they can just hop right into Sanctuary and a massive unending war will begin.
This is my theory hope you enjoy it.