The leading duo of Blizzard’s Diablo 4, Lilith and Inarius, have a storied history with one another. While Lilith is seen as the action RPG game‘s prime antagonist, the angelic Inarius has been dubbed Sanctuary’s saviour in its time of need. General manager of the Diablo franchise Rod Fergusson and Diablo 4 game director Joe Shely urge caution, however, as all is not quite what it seems with our heavenly hero.
That probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise, though. Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls centred around Archangel of Wisdom turned Angel of Death, Malthael, who vanishes in the wake of the Worldstone’s destruction and goes on to anoint himself the Reaper of Souls.
As he gazes (kind of) down on my desk menacingly in statuette form, I am constantly reminded that even the series’ most divine creatures are well and truly flawed. So, I asked Fergusson and Shely whether Lilith and Inarius represent ‘bad’ and ‘good’ respectively in Diablo 4.
“One of the interesting things about the Diablo universe is that all characters, whether angel, demon, or human, have the capacity for moral shades of grey regardless of their affiliation to Heaven or Hell,” they told PCGamesN.
“In the past, we have come face to face with Prime Evils from Hell as well as the Archangels of Heaven, and have had to defend Sanctuary from both. In Diablo 4, you will learn more about the backstory and true motivations of Lilith and Inarius that go beyond simply good versus evil.
“All of the characters you meet throughout the campaign will have reasons for their actions, no matter how noble or horrific those actions may seem at face value.”
For those unaware, Lilith and Inarius are heavily intertwined (if you do know why, hopefully that phrasing gave you a little giggle). As the Eternal Conflict continued to turn on its axis, Lilith captured the husk of an angel who, upon his kidnapping, reawakened and was named Inarius. Lilith, aware of his affections for her, informed him that he would have to help her steal the Worldstone in order to graduate from ‘seeing each other’ to full blown partnership. As their romance blossomed, the duo stole the artifact and used it to create Sanctuary – the woeful world that frames the action of all of the Diablo games.
While Lilith has been portrayed as the ‘big bad’ of this instalment, trust me when I say Inarius is no peach either – I’ve met him. I expect there to be blood when this age-old feud reaches an head, and honestly, I am here for it. So here for it that I enthused about all things dark and depressing in my Diablo 4 gameplay preview.
With the Diablo 4 release date finally out in the wild, make sure you read up on the five Diablo 4 classes to get ahead of the curve. If the character you see isn’t there right now, don’t worry! We quizzed Fergusson and Shely about whether or not there are any upcoming Diablo 4 classes in the works – and it looks like there might be.