Well well well, seek a TRUE Lore Master and you shall find one. Me.
i’ll tell you the truth about Izual, a truth barely known by so few that play this game, and then maybe, maybe… you will better understand who the real hero is. Izual, the savior.
To say Izual played a small role in Diablo is a to say you know nothing of Diablo lore. If you were to examine the Eternal conflict between the High Heavens and the Darkest Hells, one hero outshines all others. Of all of Heavens heroes to ever exist, Izual, was the greatest. His legendary deeds of the realms beyond, elicit both veneration and insight. Izual was the creator and first bearer of the Angelic Runeblade Azurewrath. Now you understand why the blade shares Izual’s frozen divine light. But that is another branch of the lore tree we will talk about another day.
Izual was once a lieutenant of Tyreal the Fool, though you know him as the archangel of Justice, but Izual knew better. Izual saw what was coming. He literally fought on the front lines more than any other. Who better to understand conflict and where it was headed. He knew how naive Tyreal was, and realized he had to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save this world. Izual in his ingeniousness devised a plan. A plan similar to what you know today as the Trojan horse. While assaulting the Hellforge shortly before Shadowfang was near completion, Izual would allow himself to be captured knowing full well that he would be tortured beyond comprehension.
Izual NEVER broke. He led the prime evil’s to believe they had broken him and he had fallen. He had to stay strong and carry out his plan or all would be lost. You see, Izual had knowledge no others on either side had. An eternity on the front lines of Good vs Evil had taught Izual many things. Izual discovered how soulstones could be corrupted. And between the pain and suffering from torture, Izual knew if he was to save us all, if he were to fool them, he would forever be changed. There was no going back. In fact, he fooled them all so well they all agreed to corrupt the soulstones and use them as a trojan horse to recapture the burning hells from the lesser evils.
When approaching Tyreal about the soulstones, it wasnt difficult at all for Izual to convince him that they would trap the prime evil’s forever. The same Tyreal who thought the civil war between the lesser evil’s was real and not a simple ruse to distract the archangels. Izual knew this. Izual tried to bring this to his general’s attention many times only to be lectured. Izual knew what must be done.
Izual counted on Tyreal’s failure, and he allowed the prime evil’s to carry out their plot that they believed they devised themselves. And in doing so, Izual would be labeled by the archangels as The Betrayer and cast out of the Heavens. It was the only way. You see, Izual tricked the prime evil’s and the soulstones that contained them were destroyed forever.
Without Izual, we’d all be dead.