Diablo 3 website analysis: writings of Abd Al-Hazir

[mouseman]

There are several writings in the world section of the official Diablo 3 website. There are some clues hidden in the text and to the fact that all of the writings come from the same fictional author and the author apparently dies in the end.

Who is Abd Al-Hazir?

Abd al-Hazir is a renowned gentleman, historian, and scholar. He has recently taken up the unprecedented task of investigating, researching, and compiling information about the unique locales and denizens of our world.

So he is a fictional character used by Blizzard to give us information about the game. This means it isn't likely that there's going to be contradictions with his writings and the game world.

What does he write about?

Everything. Monsters, towns, locations and character classes so far. At the moment there are 9 visible entries. The interesting this is that they are all given an entry number. The complete list follows:

Caldeum // Entry no. 002
Undead // Entry no. 008
Khazra // Entry no. 009
Witch Doctor // Entry no. 0013
New Tristram // Entry no. 0016
Tristram Cathedral // Entry no. 0017
Gnarled Walkers // Entry no. 0020
Barbarian // Entry no. 0025
Dark Cultists // Entry no. 0042

Why is this important?

One remark caught my attention. After the dark cultist entry it reads:

This is the last known writing of Abd al-Hazir. Known for his compilation of weird and wonderful facts about our unique world, he has unfortunately been missing since late last year.

If we assume there will be entries added (or reserved) to every character class, town and monster type, this will effectively cap the limit to 42. With 5 character class and at least (?) 5 towns, that leaves us with 32 monster types, which I guess is okay since there are a lot diversity inside each of the base monster class (like with goatmen/khazra).

Or then they just want to showcase certain elements of the game and the exact number of entries isn't important at all. It would be impractical for Blizzard to tie the development if they don't already know exactly what's going to be in the game and what's not. That's unlikely, because certain elements and especially monsters are being scratched even in the late part of the development, or at least that was the case with Diablo 2.

Are there other minor points of interest?

Well yes there are. Aside from the mighty interesting lore, there are some hints of how the actual game will play out.

The writings' entry numbers form a chronological journey of Abd Al-Hazir. Based on the entry number of the towns we can assume what kind of monsters are found on every town/act. Couple of examples:

1. New Tristram (no. 0016) is followed by Tristram Cathedral (no. 0017). Tristram Cathedral will be a playable dungeon yet again.

2. Between Caldeum (no. 002) and New Tristram (no. 0016) are two monster types (undead (no. 008) and khazra (goatmen) (no. 009)) so we can assume these monster types will be found on the Caldeum areas. Of course, they are pretty common monster types, so they won't be tied to just these particular areas.

3. Gnarled Walkers are somewhat tied to Tristram, lore-wise in the text, and close appearance (no. 0016 and no. 0020). Or perhaps to Wortham (see 5.)?

Other points of interest include:

4. Butcher is mentioned in Tristram Cathedral entry. Could he be returning?

5. A mini-town, fishing village of Wortham, is mentioned. Could this indicate a smaller NPC-areas in the game? I wouldn't bet on it, but a character from the cinematics, a young girl named Leah, seems to live in this village, so I don't think it's trivial information.

I likewise found it odd that there seemed to be only elderly people in the village, with the exception of one beautiful young woman whose father was quite insistent I keep my distance from her.

In addition, Leah's father, DeSoto, is found on the concept art, so this could indicate his appearance in the game and thus make the town of Wortham an act town, or a mini-town.

6. Blizzard knows how to laugh at themselves. I quote the Undead entry:

I am at a loss to explain the average skeleton's somewhat ludicrous mental predisposition, however. Perhaps the implausibility of its own existence makes the skeleton think it hilarious to hide in a barrel, cackling intermittently for some three hundred years until a victim happens by?

And yes, this could indicate that there will be skeleton's coming out of barrels in Diablo 3, also :)

There is a lot of stuff there open to speculation but I posted some of the most obvious here. I don't know if these hold any water or should be posted on D3 wiki - you decide.

Let the speculation begin - or continue.

[Deuterium]

You are not aware that 42 is the final entry or that they are being revealed in any sort of chronological order. That could be the highest entry found/revealed thus far. It could go up to 122. It could be entirely irrelevant due to the numbers being arbitrary. Sorry but I think you're reading far too much into it.

The skelly thing was pretty funny.

[mouseman]

You are not aware that 42 is the final entry or that they are being revealed in any sort of chronological order. That could be the highest entry found/revealed thus far. It could go up to 122. It could be entirely irrelevant due to the numbers being arbitrary. Sorry but I think you're reading far too much into it.

They are entries in a book - thus entry number tells us when it what written and what was written before or after a certain entry.

The last entry, no. 0042, is about cultists, tells that the author is being chased by these cultists and that they have located him. At the end of the page the author is mentioned to be missing since the last entry. So either we found him in the game or he is dead - anyway, it's safe to assume there's not going to be any entries after no. 0042.

And I know I could be reading too much into it - I said it myself in the original post. I'm more pressed about the whole Wortham/Leah/DeSato find.

[Sein Schatten]

I doubt Blizzard will reveal all monsters, cities etc. pre-release. But, I think, D2C has only like 30 different monster classes...

[Apocalypse]

i would assume that this guy never would have ventured all the way into the depths on hell so i dont see how he could report on all monsters

[mouseman]

Even if we can't predict the total number of monster classes from it, we can assume the minimum monster classes - there are at least ~30 monster classes, unless more of the entries are reserved for location describing. Anyway, there seems to be a lot content - even for a nobleman historian to stumble upon.

Oh, and necromancers have made it to the lore - in the Gnarled Walkers section. It was even hinted that their part in the previous games were bigger. Come to think of it, Blizzard has never announced that there won't be necromancers, people have just assumed that there won't because of Witch Doctors. But many classes had summons in D2, as well as curse-like spells (frightening totems etc) so even if it's feeble, there are a chance for necromancer.

Is it been confirmed elsewhere that DeSato is indeed Leah's father and that they live in Wortham? It just seems to me that more clues to the last character seen in the main cinematic would be exciting, but no one has really noticed number 5. on my list, as of yet.

And maybe a moderator would be so nice and replace "analyze" with "analysis" on the thread topic? :)

[Sein Schatten]

As I said D2C had around 30 different types of monsters. And the variety was about right. You were constantly fighting a new monster type(not reskinned ;)) during the game.

Necros are not in the game. At least not in the way we played them in D2. Having 2 classes who play identical, or nearly identical, is a wrong decision. ;) We will see them as enemies. I think there is a picture of a WD engaging a necro and his skeletts. Maybe the necro will not become a minion type class?

[Gamekk]

NICE. Thanks someone finally analyze these writings, and thanks for putting all the info there! I wanted to do it myself but I'm somehow too busy and lazy for the moment.

I feel that Abd Al-Hazir is like the new narrator, taking the place of Marius. However, I really don't think he's dead. The entry 42 says he is missing, but I think there are really big chances to see him back in the game or cinematics or in the plot somehow.

But I had no idea about Leah and DeSoto, where did you get clues that he might be his father, did you see that in another topic? picture?
EDIT : Lol nvm, found proof of the diablo3 site Though he was rude on this point, I found him to be a rather sociable sort once convinced I was not interested in his daughter. He introduced himself as Pablo DeSoto

And thanks again for gathering all of this info.

[Putz]

5. A mini-town, fishing village of Wortham, is mentioned. Could this indicate a smaller NPC-areas in the game? I wouldn't bet on it, but a character from the cinematics, a young girl named Leah, seems to live in this village, so I don't think it's trivial information.


In addition, Leah's father, DeSoto, is found on the concept art, so this could indicate his appearance in the game and thus make the town of Wortham an act town, or a mini-town.Where's the proof she is from this village?

[PlasmaTorture]

We will see them as enemies.

I strongly doubt it. Necros are staunch supporters of keeping the balance in Sanctuary between Order and Chaos. Basically, they are as much advocates for Sanctuary as Tyrael is for Heaven and Diablo is for Hell. They could even be considered the most "good" of all classes in Diablo 2: they're uncorruptable, and they seek only for Sanctuary to live in natural order. The only other one that comes remotely close is Druids, but even they are more focused on "protect Mt. Arreat" than "protect Sanctuary".

Unless they have the plot involve you actively trying to destroy Sanctuary (which they won't, since you can play as the Barbarian), there is no reason for you to fight Necromancers.

I strongly suggest you read this (http://battle.net/diablo2exp/classes/necromancerhistory.shtml) official history of the Necromancer, since it sounds like you haven't.

[AxlStrife]

I strongly doubt it. Necros are staunch supporters of keeping the balance in Sanctuary between Order and Chaos. Basically, they are as much advocates for Sanctuary as Tyrael is for Heaven and Diablo is for Hell. They could even be considered the most "good" of all classes in Diablo 2: they're uncorruptable, and they seek only for Sanctuary to live in natural order. The only other one that comes remotely close is Druids, but even they are more focused on "protect Mt. Arreat" than "protect Sanctuary".

Unless they have the plot involve you actively trying to destroy Sanctuary (which they won't, since you can play as the Barbarian), there is no reason for you to fight Necromancers.

I strongly suggest you read this (http://battle.net/diablo2exp/classes/necromancerhistory.shtml) official history of the Necromancer, since it sounds like you haven't.

Here's something to chew over, from Page 24 of "I hate the witch doctor!" in the Witch Doctor sub-forum (http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=668352&page=24):



This is just an attempt by the anti-Necro folks to convince themselves that Necro's really are bad guys. Raising skeletons is not just a necromancer skill. Remember Act II? That place was full of skeletons, yet the only necromancer around was the one killing them all. Not to mention we now have the WD, who also raises the dead and IMO is far more likely to be stirring up trouble.
The comparison of the Undead Shamans can be made closer to the Act 1 Demon Shamans than the Necromancer. The Necromancer wields demonic forces, so it's no wonder why demons and undead would have that power.
Just because I propose a hypothesis that actually has some validity: The bestiary hinting at necromancers controlling generally evil concoctions as well as Blizzard people saying the WD doesn't replace the Necro(which is clever enough to be put in the context of having NPCs or enemies as Necros), does not mean I am "anti-Necro" whatsoever. I'd be comfortable playing a Necromancer again, but I'd rather the Witch Doctor. You don't see me getting in an uproar like some people from either camp, and that's a good thing. Otherwise, these discussions would look like the D3PK thread (no offense to Mike, who is an awesome mod).

Besides that, its completely out of character for a Priest of Rathma to raise skeletons just to cause trouble. There might be a necro playing the bad guy, with very good reasons for doing so (in his mind anyway), but for the entire group to go that way is highly unlikely. If anything, the necromancers would be fighting the demons, as they are once again upsetting the balance that the necros wish to preserve.
And what of the 20 years of "peace" beforehand? Would the Priests of Rathma notice the destruction of the Prime Evils, thus throwing the balance to good causing the Necromancers to react accordingly? I doubt that an immediate reversal of alignment would occur as soon as the "omen" beckons the D3 cast.

This is all speculative of course, since none of us know exactly what the story is actually going to be. The point is that just because there are skeletons causing mischief doesn't mean the necromancer is a villain now. It doesn't mean anything at all really.

Also, Nihlathak was not a Priest of Rathma, IIRC.
There is nothing concrete connecting him to the Clan of Rathma, but that does not completely rule out the possibility. Here's a few things I noticed about him that could hint at this:

1) His garments resemble that of the common Necromancer.
2) He uses Corpse Explosion, only available as a skill to Necromancers (barring Death Sentry)
3) The belief of "keeping the balance of good and evil" could have been skewed in his demented mind to give Baal the Relic to allow him in the Worldstone.

[PlasmaTorture]

I'm not anti Witch Doctor, nor do I propose the Necromancer be a playable character again, just so you know. We know blizzard isn't above completley screwing over their previous lore (see: WoW), so I suppose technically it is possible for the Necros to play an enemy role in Diablo 3.

However, I wanted to respond to this:
"And what of the 20 years of "peace" beforehand? Would the Priests of Rathma notice the destruction of the Prime Evils, thus throwing the balance to good causing the Necromancers to react accordingly? I doubt that an immediate reversal of alignment would occur as soon as the "omen" beckons the D3 cast."

The 20 years of peace are what the Necromancers are striving for. Not intervention from Heaven. No intervention from Hell. Just Sanctuary. The balance during those years between chaos and order is presumabley the goal of the Necros the whole time. Remember that Heaven != good (neccesarily) in the Diablo universe. Heaven is and can be just as much a problem for Sanctuary as Hell can be, and the Necromancers as a whole recognize that.

[Telzen]

Just because some guy in the world thinks Necromancers are up to no good and created the gnarled walkers doesn't mean they did. Remember that Necromancer are really misunderstood in the Diablo universe. The same guy also thinks that Necromancers were involved with the "whole Diablo incident" and we know that they were not. If anything its probably the Dark Cultists being believed to be Necromancers.

[Sein Schatten]

Just because some guy in the world thinks Necromancers are up to no good

started making trouble in my neighborhood
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared and said
"you're moving with your aunte and uncle in Bel-Air"

Ｉ ｆｅｅｌ ｋｉｎｄ ｏｆ ｂａｄ ａｂｏｕｔ ｉｔ ：（

[ecksfiveone]

Off-topic much?

I, for one, can't wait until I can see some smoking hot Leah cosplayers. :thumbup:

[AxlStrife]

I'm not anti Witch Doctor, nor do I propose the Necromancer be a playable character again, just so you know. We know blizzard isn't above completley screwing over their previous lore (see: WoW), so I suppose technically it is possible for the Necros to play an enemy role in Diablo 3.

However, I wanted to respond to this:
"And what of the 20 years of "peace" beforehand? Would the Priests of Rathma notice the destruction of the Prime Evils, thus throwing the balance to good causing the Necromancers to react accordingly? I doubt that an immediate reversal of alignment would occur as soon as the "omen" beckons the D3 cast."

The 20 years of peace are what the Necromancers are striving for. Not intervention from Heaven. No intervention from Hell. Just Sanctuary. The balance during those years between chaos and order is presumabley the goal of the Necros the whole time. Remember that Heaven != good (neccesarily) in the Diablo universe. Heaven is and can be just as much a problem for Sanctuary as Hell can be, and the Necromancers as a whole recognize that.

Throughout the entire game each character is called a "Warrior of Light", and there are multiple references of said characters fighting for the Light, which we can assume is Heaven. It's not far-fetched to say that in Sanctuary the High Heavens are considered "good", or at the very least the lesser of two evils. (Off-Topic: Philosophically, I agree with you that heaven is not synonymous with good since the notions of good and evil are highly subjective to a person's upbringing amongst other factors.)

A balance between chaos and order does not equal peace for the entire world for 20 years. That would entail a balance between peace and war. While we do not know how much time took place during the events of Diablo 2, I'll venture to guess it is somewhere in the vicinity of 2-3 years due to the vast amount of space traversed. Not much of a balance once this is considered.

The following comparison in no way reflects my view of either country, their people, or their cultures. Let's say the US (Hell) and Russia (Heaven) are at War and the UN (Warriors of Light) intervenes since US troops invaded a neutral territory. If the entirety of the United States' national government (the Prime Evils) were obliterated in the ensuing conflict along with some state government figures (the Lesser evils that were killed) while Russia's casualties were confined to St. Petersburg or a city of similar size that isn't Moscow (Tyrael, or so it is hypothesized), would there not be a major shift in the balance in the world? Would there not be a need for some stabilizing power to fill the vacuum that was filled by the destroyed party?

While Necros are misunderstood, that hypothesis based on what info Blizzard has given us is the most logical that could be came up with that includes the Necromancer in D3.

EDIT@Sein Schatten:
I whistled for a cab and when it came near
The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror
If anything I can say this cab is rare
But I thought 'Now forget it' - 'Yo homes to Bel Air'

I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8
And I yelled to the cabbie 'Yo homes smell ya later'
I looked at my kingdom I was finally there
To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air.

[ecksfiveone]

I was just kidding about being off-topic. Let's continue to debate the motives of the good (or bad) Priests. HOORAY!

[Sein Schatten]

Axl: Haha... :D
And I completely agree with your comparison. Makes perfect sense to me.

[ecksfiveone]

I don't believe there will be any Necromancers in D3 because Abd Al-Hazir does not mention them in his writings.

[AxlStrife]

I don't believe there will be any Necromancers in D3 because Abd Al-Hazir does not mention them in his writings.

From the Gnarled Walkers page (http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/bestiary/gnarledwalker.xml): Master DeSoto is certain the origin of the walkers, and of the Festering Wood itself, can be traced to the foul doings of necromancers, who he claims are responsible for much of the evil that has befallen our world.

From the Undead page (http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/bestiary/undead.xml): Still, this is not to say that a skilled necromancer could not call forth a cadre of skeletal warriors to do his bidding anywhere he chooses. He merely requires less effort to construct a skeleton army in a graveyard than in the middle of a forest.

Since it was mentioned in an interview that the Witch Doctor hasn't replaced the Necromancer in Diablo it's a possibility. It wouldn't sadden me in the least if the Necromancer isn't in, but I like to entertain the idea of it.

[Telzen]

Necromancers want Sanctuary to be in balance. The prime evils have been kicked out and heaven isn't there. How is that not balanced? It doesn't really matter what the state of Hell and Heaven is, Necromancers just want both sides out Sanctuary.

[mouseman]

Where's the proof she [Leah] is from this village?

Leah can be seen in the end of the main cinematic saying "I think we're not safe here". She seems like a beautiful young woman. The Gnarled Walkers entry reads:

I likewise found it odd that there seemed to be only elderly people in the village, with the exception of one beautiful young woman whose father was quite insistent I keep my distance from her. Though he was rude on this point, I found him to be a rather sociable sort once convinced I was not interested in his daughter. He introduced himself as Pablo DeSoto

As Leah from the cinematic feels like an important person to the story and the young woman in the village of Wortham is singled out in the text, I came to the conclusion they are the same. She certainly fits the desciption.

It wouldn't make much sense to introduce another young woman in the lore - especially when other NPC's probably aren't as solid as Leah is. Other NPC's might come and go at this point of the development, but Leah was put into the cinematic. As for the point of the lore, it probably won't contradict the game, it is set to enforce it.

There are some people mentioned in the writings of Abd Al-Hazir, but none of them by name. DeSoto and his daugher are the only ones singled out. So they are permanent pieces of the story - so permanent they can be mentioned in the lore without fear of contradiction between the lore and the future game.

As Pablo DeSoto is one of the rare NPC's we have seen in the Diablo 3 artwork, his daughter is bound to have some importance, especially when she's put under the spotlight like that and his father is trying to protect her. As we see in this picture of DeSoto (http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=861&size=big&cat=563&limit=recent), he has been around from at least December 2006 (see the text in the upper left corner). For those who wonder, Victor Lee is the name of the artist.

Everything taken into consideration, it does all but say directly that Leah lives in Wortham. It forms a coherent image, we have no reason to doubt that Leah is the daughter of Pablo DeSoto.

I don't know if Wortham is an act town or a mini-town, like an outpost. But we know that Wortham is close to New Tristam and that players will start at New Tristram, so all we know Wortham could be the act town of act 2, if they keep the act concept same as in Diablo 2.

My personal main storyline guess? Players start at New Tristram, seeking once again to find Deckard Cain. Cain knows something about Wortham and that Leah is important (apparently there's something going on, with only old people living in a town, except for one young girl). We go to Wortham and the story starts to unfold as we find Leah. Of course, these are all just pieces of a puzzle as the player starts to gradually understand that the heavens are about to tremble.

Anyway, I'm glad that Diablo 3 seems to take a slower approach, one of mystery and intrigue, rather than wannabe-epic trailer voice opening cinematic what tries to set a mood that has to be built in-game over time.

Another interesting remark: NPC's have surnames opposed to Diablo 2. We had Akara, Charsi, Jamella, Anya and so on. Now we have Pablo DeSoto. Could Pablo's family name held some significance? Are family networks one of the new ways to tell the story in Diablo 3? They certainly are an important factor in the Caldeum entry.

Or maybe it's just lore and in the game he will just be simply Pablo or DeSoto.

[stillman]

Here are my thoughts:

-Al-Hazir may get rescued by us. Blizzard seems to be using the old rescue Cain bit again anyway. His kidnappers won't kill him right away since they're into ritualistic deaths, so they might be just preparing him for such an appointment from which we rescue him just in time. It's the standard boring old Hollywood hostage-saving scene.

-After we rescue him, he may go on to write an "Arreat Summit" equivalent for d3. It'd be nice to know who's giving us all the game info.

-Or, as we progress through the game, we find more articles he wrote and use it as backgound info (like the moldy tombs from d2) or to piece together some sort of mystery.

-Al-Hazir is kind if a sissy. He reports almost losing his sanity upon witnessing just one little cult killing. Additionally, he's not interested in the only girl in town. His name sounds a bit like "Alzhiemers". What does all this mean? Idk; just brainstorming. But we had to rescue sissy barbs in act 5 and sissy Cain in act 1 and sissy Tyreal in act 2, and sissy Anya in act 5. Something tells me we'll be rescuing a scholar in d3.

[Mizantrop]

I have sort of a request about the writing of Abd. We know that he started near Caldeum (entery 2) and stops(?) in an area with Dark Cultists. Could someone try to draw a route of travel on Sanctuary map so we could know where everything he writes about is at?

Link to the map of the world:
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/worldmap.xml

The reason I think it will be interesting is that there would be some sort of correlation between his travels and the journey the player will experiance.

[PlasmaTorture]

Throughout the entire game each character is called a "Warrior of Light", and there are multiple references of said characters fighting for the Light, which we can assume is Heaven. It's not far-fetched to say that in Sanctuary the High Heavens are considered "good", or at the very least the lesser of two evils.

I'm not so sure. In Diablo 2 it is very clear that Hell has too much influence in Sanctuary. While some of the characters (Paladin?) might be fighting just for Heaven's influence, the Barbarian, Necromancer, and Druid all are protecting the balance of Sanctuary itself. But, yeah, Diablo 2 is about fighting for the Light and being a Warrior of the Light because there needs to be more light to counteract the darkness. I wouldn't go as far as to say that Heaven should always be considered good throughout Sanctuary's history, but it is clearly the force of good for Sanctuary during Diablo 2 (and Diablo 1). Does that make sense?

A balance between chaos and order does not equal peace for the entire world for 20 years. That would entail a balance between peace and war. While we do not know how much time took place during the events of Diablo 2, I'll venture to guess it is somewhere in the vicinity of 2-3 years due to the vast amount of space traversed. Not much of a balance once this is considered.

The following comparison in no way reflects my view of either country, their people, or their cultures. Let's say the US (Hell) and Russia (Heaven) are at War and the UN (Warriors of Light) intervenes since US troops invaded a neutral territory. If the entirety of the United States' national government (the Prime Evils) were obliterated in the ensuing conflict along with some state government figures (the Lesser evils that were killed) while Russia's casualties were confined to St. Petersburg or a city of similar size that isn't Moscow (Tyrael, or so it is hypothesized), would there not be a major shift in the balance in the world? Would there not be a need for some stabilizing power to fill the vacuum that was filled by the destroyed party?

I agree with your point somewhat. A peace does not neccesarily mean a balance in the world when you take the world to be the whole planet.

But I think a more accurate comparison to how it is, would be this:

Venus (Hell, warriors of Chaos) is fighting an eternal war in space with Mars (Heaven, warriors of Order). Earth (Sanctuary) is caught in the middle. The aliens from Venus realize that it would give them strategic advantage to take over Earth, so they hatch a plan to send their three leaders over there and they take over the Americas (Tristram/that area), Africa and the Middle East (Lut Gholein and surrounding), Asia (Kurast and area), and eventually spread to Europe (Harrogoth). Australia is untouched, but sends its warriors to help in the battle (amazons!). So basically all of Earth (through the course of diablo and diablo 2) becomes corrupted/influenced by Venus.

Of course the Horadrim and Warriors of Light are working to kill the Venus aliens and get them off the planet.

Mars, while generally having a non-intervention policy with Earth, sends Tyrael to help, and yadda-yadda-yadda, the world is cleansed of all the Venus aliens and Tyrael, presumably, leaves as well. Now Earth has no Venus nor Mars aliens left. That's what Necromancers want. An alien-free Earth, in the natural balance of the planet.

This is, of course, ignoring that Tyrael destoryed some weird artifact that kept Venus, Earth, and Mars from being seperate worlds (or whatever destroying the world stone did), but I think that's not really here nor there.

[quote]While Necros are misunderstood, that hypothesis based on what info Blizzard has given us is the most logical that could be came up with that includes the Necromancer in D3./QUOTE]

I could see them acting as an enemy if the storyline has us fighting to build a colony on Sanctuary for Heaven, or something (or vice versa, which I doubt).

But my main point is that Heaven and Hell are basically alien forces theoretically trying to take over Sanctuary, and Necromancers are there to get rid of aliens. Or something like that. :coffee:

[factotum]

The reason I think it will be interesting is that there would be some sort of correlation between his travels and the journey the player will experiance.

I don't see that it follows. Abd is presumably a native of Caldeum which is why his book starts there, but there's no proof that the player will also start there. (Somebody said earlier in the thread that the player starts in New Tristram--don't know where they got that from, though).

[Mizantrop]

I don't see that it follows. Abd is presumably a native of Caldeum which is why his book starts there, but there's no proof that the player will also start there. (Somebody said earlier in the thread that the player starts in New Tristram--don't know where they got that from, though).

I didn't say you will start where he did. But there is a lot of speculations if the player will have to rescue him whereever he is. Maybe afterwards he'll join you on your travels like Cain did, and maybe this travel will him back track to where he has been already. Or to new places he will right about in enteries 43+.:scratchchin:

[mouseman]

I don't see that it follows. Abd is presumably a native of Caldeum which is why his book starts there, but there's no proof that the player will also start there. (Somebody said earlier in the thread that the player starts in New Tristram--don't know where they got that from, though).

http://www.diablowiki.net/New_Tristram

The player starts in New Tristram, they said it in WWI, as you can read in the Wiki.

Mainly because of the different starting location, I don't think the player will follow the route of Abd Al-Hazir. As we have one lore-character, Cain, I don't think the game will need another. My guess is that we find him dead or he is just a character in the main page lore which doesn't exist in the game at all.

[AxlStrife]

I'm not so sure. In Diablo 2 it is very clear that Hell has too much influence in Sanctuary. While some of the characters (Paladin?) might be fighting just for Heaven's influence, the Barbarian, Necromancer, and Druid all are protecting the balance of Sanctuary itself. But, yeah, Diablo 2 is about fighting for the Light and being a Warrior of the Light because there needs to be more light to counteract the darkness. I wouldn't go as far as to say that Heaven should always be considered good throughout Sanctuary's history, but it is clearly the force of good for Sanctuary during Diablo 2 (and Diablo 1). Does that make sense?
Yes it most certainly does.

I was simply applying what we know as Heaven and Hell, philosophically, to Sanctuary. It seemed to fit, considering Sanctuary fits rather well with with Earth, as you demonstrated below. Our different approaches to this, both definitely valid, spawned different scenarios.

I agree with your point somewhat. A peace does not necessarily mean a balance in the world when you take the world to be the whole planet.

But I think a more accurate comparison to how it is, would be this:

Venus (Hell, warriors of Chaos) is fighting an eternal war in space with Mars (Heaven, warriors of Order). Earth (Sanctuary) is caught in the middle. The aliens from Venus realize that it would give them strategic advantage to take over Earth, so they hatch a plan to send their three leaders over there and they take over the Americas (Tristram/that area), Africa and the Middle East (Lut Gholein and surrounding), Asia (Kurast and area), and eventually spread to Europe (Harrogoth). Australia is untouched, but sends its warriors to help in the battle (amazons!). So basically all of Earth (through the course of diablo and diablo 2) becomes corrupted/influenced by Venus.

Of course the Horadrim and Warriors of Light are working to kill the Venus aliens and get them off the planet.

Mars, while generally having a non-intervention policy with Earth, sends Tyrael to help, and yadda-yadda-yadda, the world is cleansed of all the Venus aliens and Tyrael, presumably, leaves as well. Now Earth has no Venus nor Mars aliens left. That's what Necromancers want. An alien-free Earth, in the natural balance of the planet.

This is, of course, ignoring that Tyrael destoryed some weird artifact that kept Venus, Earth, and Mars from being seperate worlds (or whatever destroying the world stone did), but I think that's not really here nor there.

I could see them acting as an enemy if the storyline has us fighting to build a colony on Sanctuary for Heaven, or something (or vice versa, which I doubt).

But my main point is that Heaven and Hell are basically alien forces theoretically trying to take over Sanctuary, and Necromancers are there to get rid of aliens. Or something like that. :coffee:

Excellent stuff there. As I said above, the difference in view of Heaven and Hell (Catholicism-esque view vs. alien influences) leads us to two separate hypotheses as to the role of the Necromancer. I dare not attempt to dismantle your argument, for it makes perfect sense for that school of thought and is one of the most intelligent interpretations I've seen on these forums for the topic we were discussing.

[andreasdr]

...and the author apparently dies in the end.Yes, I remember that he was found by the dark cultists. There is also another story on the D3 page, told by a soldier going down into the cathedral:

"That's right, undead. I've faced the undead several times, but you never get used to it. You think you're prepared, but there's just something that sticks in your gut, this horrible feeling. Your hands get slick with sweat, and your sword is hard to grasp correctly...you really doubt your sanity in being down there, facing something like that. And the stench is unimaginable. But we were pulling ourselves through – I had started to come out the other side, where you start to ease into that unsettled feeling and use it to drive yourself forward."
"Then it started to go wrong. We began encountering these, these dark...things...imps or demons...or fallen, I think they're called. There were so many of them, all horns and flashes of red, attacking us from all sides. I don't think you could ever really be prepared for something like that. We got disoriented, which was easy to do. It was so dark...."


These stories really make you feel like your character is a hero. I mean, how will we tackle these monsters? By going down there and absent-mindedly hacking through them without worrying much (at least in normal), whereas normal soldiers are crapping themselves :)

6. Blizzard knows how to laugh at themselves. I quote the Undead entry:
And yes, this could indicate that there will be skeleton's coming out of barrels in Diablo 3, also :)
There is also another funny quote:

"It ever strike you as strange that wherever monsters are stirring up trouble, that's where you'll find the most treasure? Why can't there ever be a big haul in a safe place?"
I look forward to reading more of this guy's writings in the future.