Hahaha what a funny turn this topic has taken
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On some level it’s funny, on some level it’s a legitimate question.
IRL due to smoke and sunlight, my face is slightly darker than my body (pale like a corpse).
So I am wondering if Blizzard went for this by design if the first 2 games, and then they slightly altered his appearance.
Maybe he could be resurrected in D4? At first I couldn’t believe that they killed a so iconic character and I thought he might appear again later in the D3 campaign.
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How would that work? He was cremated at lest 20 years ago. The only two people who knew the location are now also gone. If they are just going to bring dead people back willy-nilly, whats the point of the death? If that is the case bring Lachdanan back.
You have to remember a few things about Cain.
1.) Horadrims don’t live forever.
2.) He was old and in ill health.
3.) His book was basically a goodbye letter to Leah.
4.) Cain went through a lot before dying.
5.) That magic that was holding him wasn’t helping him either. Along with that final attack was probably designed to kill a horadrim. Leah hinted at it by how she reacted. If it was just a meaningless ritual and attack she wouldn’t have reacted that way.
6.) He was just a loremaster and scholar not a battle mage. In fact Cain at first was as apathetic as Leah was. He said so himself by stating, forgot which game it was. That if he took the prophecies seriously that Cain would’ve been able to handle Diablo on his own.
Tyrael had to wake up Leah to the fact that Cain did make a sacrifice by showing her his sacrifice. Showing her that those prophecies weren’t some fanciful stories that had no meaning. Ones that weren’t based on reality. Why would an angel sacrifice heavenly life for nothing more than a bunch of stories.
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I had no problem with how he died. I think too much energy is spent on worrying on how these things happen. Like many cry about a lore character dying in a dungeon or end of campaign quest as opposed to being a raid boss. It’s all about the flow.
Deckard was older than dirt in Diablo, a bit older in D2. He should have died from old age before D3, and we have people on this forum who wanted him to be in D4. Which would put him at 2 lifetimes worth of time.
He died doing what he knew best seeking out knowledge to help defeat the burning hell’s. I see nothing wrong with how it was handled.
The same thing happened to John Conner in a recent movie. All of a sudden, boom dead. It could of happened so many times if you really want to think about the possibilities. Still, it was a slap in the face. He was such an engrained character.
Granted D3 has been around a lot longer than that movie, but it’s the same principle. A character that has stayed around for a while, goes splat in the beginning stages of the game (story, lore, act, etc.). He wasn’t even granted the curtesy to do anything, nope. Shut up old man and die. Me and my butterfly wings demand it. well… I guess we got the sword fixed, but I am sure there could have been another way that didn’t demand that he die.
If you really want to find some deeper meaning (if there is actually one to begin with), you could argue that followed the female (I guess you could call it anti-male) theme in D3. Heck, even D4 if you want to think out this Lilith character. I don’t know.
To be quite honest, it actually bothered me that he kept getting caught up in stuff and needing a ‘hero’ to save him over and over again. It’s truly a wonder that he survived as long as he did.
Still, even if it was planned that he go splat, at least give him more than a partial stint in the first act. But as others have said, what’s done is done. He’s been dead for how long now?
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I do think we should see something of Deckard Cain again in D4 even if it is not in body. Was a shame to slain him i do agree. Even if it’s not for long.
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When Cain died, my friend logged out to never play a single second of Diablo 3 again.
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That sounds somewhat childish. Turn your back on an entire game because an NPC dies, whatever.
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It was put in to piss off fans simply. Anyone remember the class introduction videos of D3? Who remembers the “Archivist” class? Lorenado and all those powerful gimmicky spells just to get one shot by a simple monster or environmental death at the end of the video. It was a long thought foreshadowing by developers and thinking it’s funny they kept it that way.
They could’ve dramatize it better or thought of a better way to go rather than flock of bloodsucking moths from a disney-tier villain. They just thought it’d be a good callback to their previous videos for fans who has this kind of dark humor…
“Oh no, developers wouldn’t do that”. I mean, come on now. We’re talking about the guy who put a unicorn level just because he was pissed at the fans who thought D3 is “too cartoony”. It’s just dark humor at the highest pitched gig with layers of irony.
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Deckard Cain knew lots of people. What’s to say he didn’t pass his info onto someone else knowledgeable other than himself? I’m pretty sure they can come up with something xD
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I don’t have a problem with Cain’s death but I think he deserved a cinematic and to be killed by a more important foe like Mephisto, Baal… you got it.
As for future Diablo games, I don’t think he should be resurrected but it would be cool imo if he had a small participation in D4 as maybe an angel, like the heaven’s librarian or something like it.
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My whole point is that deckard cain is not just “Some npc” He was a special character and a huge help to the world of sanctuary. Truely 1 of a kind so to not even get a 30 second cinematic was really sad
I’ll admit, I teared up a little at Cain’s death. But, it shows that the world is moving, is not static. It shows the passage of time. D3 really took a turn to make the whole world of Sanctuary feel more alive and lived in, I feel. I mean, you get a little of it in D2, as you go from just Tristram to multiple cities. In D3, you see much more of that world and its past.
Death is the course of nature. Though I forget the scene that is mentioned concerning the spell Maghda used being one specifically for Horadrim, I can see that being the case. She was a Dark Cultist, the leader of them potentially, and would have studied that sort of thing. It would also make a case for why she has butterflies/moths on her shoulders(always prepared to meet a horadrim).
I think it was handled fine. The funeral scene was much more powerful than the actual death, as it happens at the point most people would have processed the death. Makes the funeral a gut-punch reminder of what happened. And seeing the emotion in Leah’s and Tyreal’s eyes made the scene that much better.
Honestly, I don’t really care about the fact that Deckard died, it would be to the benefit of a dark story if beloved characters died. The problem I have is with the completely comic circumstances. The whole storytelling in this game seems like a soap opera of dubious quality.
That’s utter nonsense. Take off those political lenses.
Magda killed Cain, we huntedher down and killed her. Adria betrayed us and Leah, got Leah killed… we hunted Adria down and killed her.
If anything, women villains got equal treatment 
He got Diablo killed like twice (D1+D2) by helping our heroes… why would the demons continue to ignore him and not send someone after him?!
What’s with the whole crazy nonsense surrounding Cain, as if he was a stronger character than the heroes we played, so he can’t simply be killed by someone like Magda?
Jeeesus Christ… so unless he dies directly to a Prime Evil in one on one combat, then the character wasn’t respected… I’m sorry, but this is insane.
And honestly, I’d be more insulted if Baal killed him.
Remember the D2 Act5 cinematic?
At least when he died to the butterflies he got to have a burial pyre.
Baal would have exploded him into pieces the size of confetti.
He was respected, the issue was context. Townsfolk were just standing around when we arrived and nobody but the poor captain Rumford and a few militia died at the east bridge of the town only.
These characters weren’t even mentioned by any other character ever again until Act4 peaked our regrets with ghostly apparences. Compared to Captain Rumford, who was just an unlucky man with almost no purpose in the story besides boasting our ego; Deckard Cain was someone with a key role, a legacy of the old.
However, I think due to story writers’ weird approach and belittling attitude, he was reduced to a WoW quest NPC and died as one.
So important that you typed all that 
GO CAIN GO!
Stay a while and listen.
So?
The townsfolk were probably sleeping at home. Even if they weren’t, they didn’t care about Cain. Some old crazy guy… To them he’s like that guy form ancient aliens with the weird hair…
Rumford was patrolling and got killed.
The Witch got what he wanted and got out. That’s how it’s done…
and later got what she deserved!
This is not a Jake Skywalker type of a situation, where the character is completely inconsistent with the core of what he is, and the entire world and it’s laws and history are flipped on it’s head, so that the story can happen.
Cain helped the Warrior, Sorceror and the Rogue slay Diablo… Diablo managed to take control over the Warrior’s body, so he decided to punish Cain by leaving him to rot in the cage.
Cain gets saved, helps another bunch of Heroes… gets 2 less and 3 prime evils slain…
20 years later Belial is like “remember that old dude, who screwed us up and badly by sending very powerful humans after us? It’s time something is done about him… let’s see, better send someone expendable to take care of things… hey, Magda, come here, I’ve got a job for you!”
Makes perfect sense.
Yeah, it’s called the D3 forum. Posts, that look like long college thesis or an essay are nothing new here