In the Diablo lore does a necromancer have the ability to bring back the dead from ashes? If someone retrieved some of Cain’s ashes could a necromancer bring him back or would he just be some type of zombie? Who within the lore would have the ability to bring a person back from the dead as a functioning person, not just a mindless body? When a person dies in Diablo lore what becomes of the spirt, soul, life force? Do all the dead live on in another realm? We saw some in D3 as blue spirits asking for our help.
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All religions have resurrection stories, so with a little creativity he could be brought back. The three types of resurrections that I know of relate to the soul, the consciousness and the body. The body, or the physical, being associated with evil. Cains soul and consciousness are somewhere, and could be returned as a ethereal higher being, such as the case of Christ Consciousness whom resides in the human heart of hearts. Not the physical heart, but that swelling ball of energy we experience in our chest when we experience emotional love.
I want Halbu and Jamella to be back too. Not kidding.
Take what I say with a grain of salt, but assuming that Cain’s soul still exists and hadn’t been consumed by Malthael, then it would be possible for him to return as a ghost, similar to Zoltun Kulle. However to actually resurrect him as flesh? That may not be possible even for a Necromancer.
For starters, Cain was cremated rather than mummified like most of the ancient Horadrim were, as such I doubt a Necromancer would be able to bring him back to life. In fact, I doubt any Necromancers would be able to (especially since most of their master rank or higher members are dead), with the exception of the Diablo 3 Nephalem Necromancer, who became attuned with death and thus closer to the cycle than any other Necromancer before them (or at least according to their Master Ordan). That said, I doubt even they’d be able to revive Cain, flesh and all. The most that likely can be done is having someone bring Cain’s soul back and then finding and/or creating a humanoid medium, like an enchanted puppet or sort, to bind his soul to in order to allow him to interact with the physical world.
Keep in mind that the only reason Zoltun Kulle was able to come back to life, was because he still had his Head (which housed his spirit) and body, along with the necessary spell needed. Cain likely has neither, so there wouldn’t be any way to actually bring him back as he were.
As for what happens to a person’s soul when they die in the Diablo lore; according to Adria, if a person dies when they’re not ready to, their soul won’t move on and attempt to continue living, with some even becoming angry ghosts. Necromancers believe that souls move on to the next plane of existence to carry out a role in maintaining the cycle (this belief likely stems from what happened with Uldyssian). Witch Doctors on the other hand believes that when a person dies, their souls move to the Unformed Lands to become spirits. Now from what we’ve seen in the games, it’s likely that there’s merit in all three beliefs.
That said, we learned in Diablo 3 RoS, when humans die and their souls pass on, their souls go to Pandemonium, or the Pandemonium Fortress to be exact, at the location where the Worldstone once resided in (rather odd in a way); at least that’s what Malthael said.
However I can say with certainty, is that humans who do dealings with demons often go to Hell upon their deaths, where their souls would be tormented for all eternity.
Please let the old man rests for real.
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If he does come back I would love to see it happen in D4. Where he returns not in the world of Sanctuary as an NPC. Instead where he is made part of the Angiris Council as an angel of Wisdom.
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In the sin wars books that one mage/priest guy was killed, had his soul in a shard and was going to be used to to take over Uldyssian or something. So it could be possible, however Malthael devoured every soul so it shouldn’t happen. But then Blizzard has never been a fan of sticking to lore
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That’s not how things work on Sanctuary. Angels and demons would technically be aliens to Sanctuary. It’s not like human religions where “good” people die and go to the high heavens and “bad” people go to the burning hells. His soul, if still out there, would have to be transferred into a mortal vessel as far as I understand. Personally, I’d rather see him stay dead. He was fine in D1, D2, I know it was Diablo’s plan to keep him alive, but he should have died then. He’s just too old and would just get in the way now. He was old I. D1 which was at least 40 years before the events of D4. Let him rest in peace.
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That’s kinda harsh lol.
I’m not a fan of retcons but I say just erase that stupid butterfly death. 
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That’ll be highly unlikely to happen, as only Archangels are made members of the Angiris Council, as the angelic essences they possessed are the closest that represents the pure aspects of Anu (Said aspects being Justice, Hope, Valor, Wisdom, and Fate). Since Malthael’s been destroyed, a new angel of wisdom will be born in time to take the place of the absent angel, that is of course, assuming that his spirt hadn’t been corrupted.
Something to keep in mind is that Wisdom’s role within the Angiris Council, is to essentially guide and/or if necessary lead the High Heavens. Cain being formerly human (and thus lacking in the pure angelic essence that an Archangel is expected to have) would never be truly accepted by the High Heavens (especially by Imperius) as a leader, thus making his position a useless one. Even Tyrael (someone who once for millennias commanded hordes of angels respect and in battle), barely had any power within the Angiris Council once he took up the mantle of wisdom, despite him being assigned the role by the Crystal Arch itself.
Admittedly, this was also because the Black Soulstone was affecting the High Heavens (including the Angiris Council), however the fact Tyrael still chose to leave showed that even without it being in the equation, the end result wouldn’t had been too different.
Indeed. If the Nephalem hadn’t rescued Cain’s soul from Malthael when they destroyed the Soul Prison, then Cain’s Soul was consumed by Malthael, in which his soul is forever lost; at least according to Enkasi.
Yeah, the last thing Cain needs is coming back to find out his niece was callously sacrificed for Diablo’s long term plan; Malthael going rogue and attempting genocide, the great evils being freed, Lilith’s revival, and as a direct consequence to all of this; the world literally going straight to hell. That’s not something I’d want him to be brought back to either, especially since Cain was literally mocked and/or considered crazy for attempting to warn mankind about the lords of Hell for 20 years after the events of Diablo 2, after literally the world had actually witnessed such events in Diablo 1 and 2.
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I wish the story would be resolved like that though.
Not really we had to risk our lives just to save his but in D2. He did an awful job “training” Leah. 20+ years older he’d be a liability.
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His story has be resolved. He did what he was supposed to and died. There is nothing more for him to do.
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i literally made this topic before. you are starting to think like me now. we may even be twins irl.
blast from the past
IIRC Cain said that if he wasn’t so apathetic about the horadrim texts warning about what happened in Diablo, 1 Diablo wouldn’t have been able to do what he did in Diablo 1.
Indeed, Cain deeply regrets not taking the horadric texts seriously at the time, because if he did acted accordingly, things may not had happened as they did (although we can’t say for sure if that is indeed the case). However in Cain’s defense, there were very little signs that could be even considered noticable, and there hadn’t been any major demonic activity of recent (before the darkening of Tristram that is). So it’s understandable that he didn’t take the Horadric texts seriously.
However I can’t say the same for most of the folks (including Leah) who didn’t take Cain’s warnings seriously before and during the events of Diablo 3. After all, in Cain’s defense, the world hadn’t had a demon invasion before the darkening of Tristram. However in Diablo 3, you literally had people act as if demons were no more or even myth, despite no more than twenty years ago, the Prime Evils had wreck havoc across Sanctuary and the aftermath of the events led to the destruction Mount Arreat.
aren’t you tired of saving that old fart? 
but i kinda miss him though, diablo franchise feels like home with him.
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Sure, Cain could pull a Dr. Doom or Nick Fury “I was really a bot” thing and come back anytime.
The only way Cain should ever come back, is as a killable zombie or whatever.
Stay a… brains… listen… brains…
Dammit.
He should never come back in a shape or form that we can speak to. Blizzard already reuses content/characters too much.
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