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With Reaper of Souls confirmed to not only be taking place in Westmarch - the location of the Templar's stronghold - but also said to involve side-quests for each of the Followers, the Templars should have a role to play. Especially with their lore that we uncover by talking to Kormac as we play through the game.

If you've gone through all of Kormac's dialogues, you can see what role they might play in Reaper of Souls. They have tomes of prophecies, they were possibly created to stop an angel invasion, and somehow they acquired plans for angelic weaponry to fight them with.

The questions then are: Who established them? Since they have plans to make angelic weaponry, does that mean it was an angel? Was it the Enchantress' Prophet? Was the threat they were designed to thwart something in the past, or was it foreseen that Malthael would be coming as the Angel of Death? (and it has been confirmed he wants to destroy all humans)

Unfortunately, we might just fight them since our character instantly distrusted them in our conversations with Kormac, and Kormac wanted to go challenge them and get justice for what they've done. If we don't, they could be a powerful ally against Malthael.


We don't know too much about the Templars, but what we do know is pretty interesting.

The Templars are an ascetic order based out of Westmarch. They are holy warriors, fighting for justice and eschewing the dangers that lead to cultism and demonic possession by espousing self-denial. They do not merely pay lip service to protecting the realm - they are battle-trained and experienced to a man.

The great bastion of the order stands astride Westmarch, It has been besieged many times and even fallen, but never for long, as the Templars will 'rebuild a thousand times if they must, but will never give in.' There is something called 'Vault of the Order' there, which could be the name of the stronghold or an actual vault, as the Templars also collect chalices, vials and sacred texts, which 'have a tendency to inspire a deep reverence in those who view or hold them.'

The order is headed by an individual called the Grand Maester. There is also a group called the inquisitors, which recruit new members. The Templars' recruits are supposedly criminals who are stripped of their sins and the memory of their past life by the inquisitors. Apparently they have been abducting innocent citizens and subjecting them to horrific torture, then purging their memories and molding them into zealous adherents. (This may be an 'ends justify the means' thing since we saw for ourselves how the 'Templars were established to fight angels' secret went over with the Nephalem and Kormac. If your order was tasked with such a deed, it would probably be hard to find recruits. :cute:)

In the Book of Tyrael, Tyrael says he can't confirm any of these darker tales with facts, but the mere existence of them makes him fearful of the group's true intentions.

The Templars are trained to use the Light, and are 'turned into a living weapon, a light against the darkness.' They are said to practice throwing spears, and possess catapults.

A key part of the Templar lore are their sacred tomes, said to contain prophecies. Unfortunately, I believe when/if Kormac talks of these it's done 'in the field' which makes it a little difficult to find where and when he mentions them. I believe the prophecies are supposed to be akin to the End of Days prophecy though.

These tomes were stolen by the Archbishop Lazarus at some point. How might Lazarus have accomplished this? As King Leoric succumbed to demonic oppression and went mad, Lazarus eventually convinced him to wage war with Westmarch, perhaps distracting the Templars and allowing Lazarus to make off with their tomes.

Why did Lazarus steal these tomes? We know Lazarus was corrupted and working as an agent of the Prime Evils, so he may have stolen them to deprive a threat of any forewarning towards what Diablo and his brothers had planned, or to give the Evils whatever information the prophecies contained.

(These sacred tomes may be the source for the excerpt of the Prophecies of the Final Day seen in D2:LoD's manual. Ord Rekar, an Elder of Harrogath, is familiar with these prophecies, and the Barbarian is the only character (currently) that knows what the Templar are, as he/she tells Kormac that he/she knows Templars can be trusted when they first meet. Of course the Barbarian could know of the Templars' good character else wise, but it would be a cool reference if they were the source of that LoD prophecy. ;))


These Templar prophecies likely describe the events of Diablo III/Reaper of Souls and beyond. Like the Druids, it appears they have been training for a final, prophecized battle. The Templar initiation 'blinds us to our sinful pasts so that we might clearly see the future and prepare for the final battle."

When your character hears about the initiation process and is appalled, Kormac replies, "Don't you understand? The Templar order is trying to protect humanity from extinction."

I don't believe Kormac finds the tomes during the events of Diablo III, but he does find the torn page that Jondar had hidden, 'as if proof of a crime.' The page does not contain the prophecies that Kormac expected, but instead had 'a set of instructions for the creation of magical weapons' and an angelic rune, the same rune Kormac had seen on Tyrael's bracers.

You and Kormac bring the page to Tyrael, who instantly recognizes it as plans for 'angelic weapons that will fit human hands.' Tyrael deduces that his brethren (the angels) sought to destroy Sanctuary, and that the Templar order was created to stop them. Despite the fact that Tyrael, the Archangel of Justice himself, admits that the angels did indeed wish to destroy the world, the player character and Kormac both think that the Templar order must be 'bad' because of this, and Kormac vows to go plunge his spear into the ground before the Vault of the Order and "meet their champions until they answer for their sins and their lies. I will have justice."


We encounter two Templars in the base game:

Jondar - The 'Necromancer Betrayer,' Jondar was once a man of faith, devoted to the Templar order. We don't have too much background on this character, but like Kormac and other Templar recruits, Jondar suffered the same initiation ritual and had his past memories removed. Presumably during his search for the sacred tomes of the Templars, Jondar came across 'key words' in a dusty libram. Reading these words undoes the inquisitor's brainwashing, and afterwards Jondar began to mistrust the order.

Jondar likely discovered one of the order's sacred tomes, as he had a ripped-out page from one and had studied it. It is unknown if Jondar knew exactly what he had found (the page contained plans for angelic weaponry fit for human hands), but he knew it was important enough to hide within the binding on his journal.

Jondar is possibly mind controlled by the Coven (likely via the same ritual we interrupt them performing on Kormac), and upon his defeat he asks Kormac for forgiveness, stating that his vision had been clouded by the Coven's evil magic. Kormac immediately strikes him down, for betrayal can never be forgiven.

Later, after realizing the truth about the order that Jondar had discovered, Kormac feels some regret for slaying his friend. He knew Jondar was troubled, but said nothing, and dismissed Jondar's doubts as weakness. The Barbarian counters by saying that Jondar's blood is on the order's hands, not Kormac's, and Kormac agrees and says the order shall pay for Jondar's downfall. The Wizard says while he/she personally thinks everyone can be redeemed, he/she thinks Kormac made the right choice, which comforts Kormac, who even admits that Jondar was able to tell stories that made him laugh, if you can believe it. The Witch Doctor says that Jondar's spirit is now free and likely doesn't blame Kormac, which also comforts Kormac. The Demon Hunter and Monk fail to console Kormac, their replies merely make him wonder if he could have said something, done something, to change Jondar's mind.

It would be interesting to know when Jondar became a Necromancer. Was he one in his life before being brainwashed into the Templars? If he was, did he still have necromantic powers while a Templar? Was it something he became after the Coven got ahold of him? Or did he realize the dark truth to the Templars, that they were created to stop the angels from destroying the world, and this revelation brought him into the Cult of Rathma aka Necromancers, which are supposed to uphold the Balance between Order and Chaos.

Kormac - A paragon of the order and considered one of their best warriors, Kormac was possibly tasked with recovering the order's sacred tomes, destroying the Skeleton King, and making his fellow Templar and friend Jondar pay for forsaking his vows and joining the Dark Coven. He joins the Nephalem on our quest, and along the way he discovers some secrets about the Templars and himself.

Kormac is also quite taken with Eirena the Enchantress, but tries to adhere to his order's ideals against love, since it "is the surest way to a tragic end." While not selected as your follower in Bastion's Keep, one of his lines asks the Nephalem to do him a favor and let Kormac come with us for a while, because, "These widows keep pestering me."

The player character finds the Templars' memory wiping initiation highly suspicious, and plants a seed of doubt in Kormac's mind. Kormac decides to try and recover his memories, in part to exonerate his order. He eventually finds the method in the journal he took from Jondar's corpse. He discovers he was once a promising soldier of Westmarch, until the Templar recruiters lied to him and piled false sins upon him.

Despite learning of his impressment into the Templars, Kormac still thought Jondar was a fool, because he believes there is no way the Grand Maester knew what the inquisitors were doing. When he finds the hidden page and learns what it represents, Kormac says his faith is stronger than this betrayal. After defeating Diablo, he vows to go back to Westmarch and make the order answer for their sins and their lies.

Quote from daisychopper

So for the Laws, when it says "Active", does that mean when you cast it you get that bonus, sorta like how Monks get that initial bonus when they first cast the Mantra? Is it a short duration bonus like the Monk, and then the "Passive" bit always applies until you cast a different Law or it wears off?

From the Gamescom presentation: "We're going to activate the Law of Valor. It's a passive ability much like the Mantras, where I gain extra damage as I do critical hits, but also has an activation bonus of extra damage for everybody."

It looks like you always get the Passive effect of the equipped Law, and the buff from Laws of Valor appears to only last a few seconds when it triggers.

When he activates the skill itself earlier in the video, the buff icon for that effect also only lasts about 5 seconds. It also has a 30 second CD in the video.

Presuming the teaser is legit (which it seems to be), at least we know the Black Soulstone definitely did survive, someone naughty is trying to get it, and the remaining archangels are there, weapons drawn, to try and stop them. (Although why they let us (the Nephalem) throw it off in the first place is anyone's guess)

Quote from AldoDeCoco

Teaser has been updated again. Now we see some actors behind the canvas.

And guys, something went through my mind last night, as i rewatched some of the D3 Cinematics.
Well, u might want to take a closer look at the Ending Cutscene at 1:46. http:// youtu.be/c0Mckgl2ZO8?t=1m46s
"Sine justice has been met this day, I will now stand as wisdom."

Suspicious? At least an interesting point, i guess.
Maybe the burden to reign the High Heavens as a mortal is just too heavy.. just saying.

After seeing the Prophecy of the End Days in the Book of Cain and then watching the final cinematic, I kind of figured the Wisdom line really meant Tyrael. Whether it will or not, we shall soon see, but the preview from Book of Tyrael (where being a mortal in Heaven isn't a good thing, and he 'fled' from either the Court of Jusitce or Heaven itself) as well as language in the books description naming him a 'former archangel' may indicate it does mean Wisdom is lost because he couldn't handle it as a mortal.

That Imperius stained glass prop would be awesome to have!


What seems to be there:
The Imperius stained glass window from Tristram Cathedral (as seen in the opening cinematic and Wrath)

A statue of a hand clasping a soulstone in the back corner?

The sword of Tyrael, probably the sickles of Malthael, maybe the spear of Imperius, and two unknown weapons (may not belong to the other angels - in Wrath, Ithereal has a straight sword and Auriel uses the Cord of Hope).

Two books in the rubble pile in the center. (look to have an angel design on them, don't appear to match Book of Cain or Book of Tyrael, but hard to tell)

A Banner, like what you can make in-game.

The 'stone wall' also looks to have hellfire coming over it.

My brother and I bought Diablo, and soon entered the world of Sanctuary as the Warrior and the Rogue. I'll never forget the iconic introduction to the first quest we received, "Please, listen to me..." So, in we went, in pursuit of this Butcher. If only we knew then the joys that would await us as we progressed through the game.

Perhaps that is a lot of the appeal of the first Diablo, it was a dangerous, mysterious world to explore. As with many players, our first 'epic' moment was when my brother opened the door to The Butcher, and the terrifying line of 'Ah, fresh meat!' roared out of our speakers. His Warrior got pummeled and quickly retreated out of The Butcher's gore-soaked chambers.

Our duel of death continued as my brother fought to stay alive while I peppered The Butcher with arrows. Our potion supply began to dwindle, and so too did our chances of victory. We almost had The Butcher slain when the inevitable happened - my brother died. My Rogue managed to finish him off, but the victory was a tad pyrhhic.

Unfortunately, it would be the first of many deaths we experienced as we descended towards Diablo...

Looks like it's opening to reveal that spectral looking stuff. Almost seems like an angel's wings, albeit very ghostly looking.

Quote from DamienJohn

Oh I know what the lore suggest, trust me. I was adamant that the Soulstone fell towards Sanctuary as well. I'm just pointing out that in the cinematic, it is actually shown disintegrating into nothing. It doesn't continue falling, it turns to dust before the shot cuts.

That storyboard doesn't really indicate anything, as the soulstone indeed was shown falling as the storyboard suggests, but it disintegrates shortly afterwards.

When did Tyrael say that if we didn't smash it that the evils would be reborn? (just out curiosity). I know this is what the lore suggests and is what we did in D2, but I can't recall it ever being said in-game in Diablo 3.

Also, if the souls of the Lords of Hell are indeed still within the Black Soulstone somewhere then they wouldn't have returned to the Black Abyss (with Leah) as they usually do upon defeat. The whole original purpose of the soulstones was to act as a prison and trap the Evils instead of letting them return to the Black Abyss to be reborn and rebuild their power.

This is further highlighted in the "Wrath" animated short when Imperius kills Diablo instead of keeping him captive.

He tells us in his dialogue in Act III.

The Flawed Stone
Available at the start of the Quest: The Siege of Bastion's Keep (Act III)
Available after listening to Kulle's Black Soulstone conversation.
Tyrael:
The Black Soulstone was created to be an improvement over the original three. They were crafted to contain single demons, but Kulle intended his to hold many.
But the Black Soulstone is flawed and cannot contain that many demons for long. We must capture Azmodan within it and shatter it... lest all these Evils be reborn.

What you're talking about (the Black Soulstone 'disintegrating') was what the 'blue' post was about, I think. I loaded up my game and you can definitely see it falling in one piece, and if you look closely, you can see the trail of smoke still going down as it moves into the cloud bank.

Quote from DamienJohn

After watching that ending cinematic frame by frame, I'm fairly confident that the Black Soulstone disintegrates completely as opposed to falling back towards Sanctuary. Sure it's the last thing to dissolve, but it's quite obvious it turns into dust and doesn't continue falling.

I think the Lords of Hell will appear again in the second expansion, in which we try to rescue Leah's soul from the Black Abyss. After all the Lord of Hell return there whenever they are defeated (they can't be killed, only trapped), and we know for a fact that's where Leah is and that we will try an save her (devs mentioned this).

I think the Dirgest Jewel Covetous mentions might come into play somehow and we might try to use it to trap the evils.

The Black Soulstone seems to survive according to the storyboard. (And I think I remember 'blue' posts around when the game came out clarified that it did) However, Tyrael told us if we didn't smash it, the Evils would be reborn. We didn't smash it (and it turns out we're the ninnyhammers that tossed it over, still in Diablo) and if Leah's soul is in the Abyss (according to Metzen) then the Evils' must be as well.

Tyrael also said that the Soulstone was flawed and wouldn't be able to hold them for long (so we know they can be free without the Soulstone being destroyed at the end). It was explicitly stated that it can hold the souls of demons and angels, so there's seemingly no way it's been destroyed already since if it was, they might as well have never even bothered creating that aspect of its lore.

The preview from the book of Tyrael says many Barbarian tribes were completely wiped out when Mount Arreat was destroyed. They lived to protect Arreat, and since it was destroyed, many tribes disbanded and 'scattered like leaves in the wind' searching the world 'for a new purpose - a new vigil - to give their lives meaning.

https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/I0EYAVDRRH341376532105960.jpg

Quote from Novacron

You guys are taking that chart too literally... does no one see the bold disclaimer at the bottom of it? Someone may have just made that according to past release dates.

I fear when I get home my roommate's poor kitty has already been sacrificed..

The disclaimer was added by MMO-Champion. The chart has Titan's actual codename (before it was public knowledge) as well as WoW TCG aka Hearthstone, and the provenance of it was a Blizzard China employee, Ye Weilun, sold it and lots of other confidential Blizzard data to rival companies, and an employee at one of those companies that bought it leaked it on a Chinese forum. http://news.mmogamesite.com/blizzard-china-manager-resigns-management-reshuffle-for-leak.html

An interview with Jay Wilson also 'confirms' multiple expansions. "There's a lot of people on our team who aren't happy with our class choices,” Jay admitted. "But after we've established 'Diablo III' as its own game with its own type of gameplay and experiences, I wouldn't be opposed to looking at old classes. We are trying to design the Witch Doctor class so that if we did bring back the Necromancer, there's room for him. We're looking out ahead of time at what our expansions are going to be, so we've got to keep room open for some of those other classes down the road."

Quote from waargmk

Quote from m4st0d0n

I'm more interested in those numbers(?) on the base of the gate pillars.

Ok i can't believe no one is commenting on this... I tried to clear up the image on PS as well, to the best of my abilities i think the dates are 1985 and 1989. A simple google search showed that The Twilight Zone aired from 1985 to 1989 so my guess is Blizzard knew someone was gonna mess with the image looking for hidden stuff so they decided to mess with us?

The 'original right' looks like 295? and the 'original left' looks like ?295 to me. May 29th release date maybe?

Quote from Sky10

This picture reminds me of WoW's Burning crusade gate. Wich makes me believe our Nephalems will have to enter another realm of existence. This portal leads to where Leah's soul is being held.

Chris Metzen said Leah's soul is in the Black Abyss in the Behind the Scenes DVD, which is a realm where all demons go when they die and eventually are reborn.

Trag'Oul may also not be in the game at all (although they could have just meant the base game): "Trag'Oul, the Dragon god of necromancy, is not around any more and will not be featured in Diablo 3"

Malthael definitely seems very likely to be the Reaper of Souls, especially since the Prophecy of the End Days lists Archangels by their domains, and Death is listed on there. The question is: are the other lines things that have happened already, or things yet to come? I'm kind of worried about Tyrael since he became mortal and took up Wisdom, which is going to be 'lost' to kick things off.

Malthael abstained from voting on the fate of the Nephalem, because "Whatever the choice in the end, it does not matter for me."

Player: Malthael abstained? Was it out of cowardice?
Tyrael: He was no coward. He was Wisdom itself... until his disappearance. The Angiris Council has been... broken ever since.

His lore entry in game says: "Much uncertainty surrounds the archangel Malthael. Once the calm guiding hand of wisdom, he was lost to us the moment the Worldstone disappeared. Unable to fathom that catastrophic event, he abandoned Heaven. His departure created a colossal fracture within the Councilone that, to this day, remains unrepaired."

Deckard Cain wrote in the Book of Cain: "Malthael is the most mysterious member of the Angiris Council. He is an intelligent and noble being who was once said to cherish all life, but the archangel is later described as melancholy, evasive, and at times even frightening.

Perhaps this is because he is bound to the truth of all things. His wisdom comes from seeing the myriad emotions and experiences that connect the universe. I believe Malthael’s demeanor can be better understood through the following tract written by the mortal sage Furisaj, who sought out wisdom for the entirety of his life:

In all things, there are two sides: motion and stillness
emptiness and fullness, light and dark

Alone each side is complete, but together they form the
totality of existence. Only through embracing the
oneness of all things can true wisdom be obtained."

After he began to change due to obsessing over the Worldstone, his voice did as well: "However, as his demenour darkened, his voice became chilling and could provoke thoughts of forboding and feelings of angst. Mendeln was one such example, Malthael's voice filling him with thoughts of permenant, empty death."

Tyrael tells us:
Player: What became of Malthael?
Tyrael: Long ago, when Inarius and his ilk stole the Worldstone to create Sanctuary, Malthael became consumed with discovering its whereabouts.
As the archangel of Wisdom, he was tortured by his inability to recover the sacred artifact.
Player: Where is he now?
Tyrael: Some say he haunts the silent halls of Pandemonium, forever seeking answers to the unknowable mysteries of life and death.


So, the Worldstone was stolen and Malthael started going batty over it. What happened in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction? Baal corrupted the Worldstone, and Tyrael destroyed it. That just might have sent Malthael off into the deep end since he went nuts over losing the thing, and now it's completely destroyed due to his failings.

Quote from Zathor

Finally explanation who is the dude on Diablo 2 cover? In every Diablo the cover art has always presented the final boss of the game. Diablo 2 cover guy sure looks like the Grim Reaper himself (I have seen him, yes).