Hi all!
Long time Diablo fan here and huge fan of the lore/history. But I’ve got some questions about it in regard to Diablo 4. Sort of hoping the forum’s monitored by designers on the team, but if not, hoping some other members may be able to help answer, too.
Before Diablo 3, there were only a few discrepancies in the Diablo Universe and things were pieced together really well overall. Diablo 3 brought a ton of lore in, and it’s really amazing how much was given to us. But some previously created details, (spoilers ahead) such as Leoric having only one son, the Worldstone actually being created to hide Sanctuary (not stolen from the High Heavens), Goatmen being demons of Baal, timelines being changed over many spans of years, etc. are kind of impactful to the lore and history of Sanctuary.
So my question is, will Diablo 4 “repair” any of these inconsistencies that showed up in Diablo 3? Or will they leave it as-is and expand further from where things are at now?
Thanks!
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Leoric has two sons, Aidan (your warrior in D1 / The Dark Wanderer in D2) and Albrecht (Diablo’s vessel in D1)
the Worldstone was stolen from the Pandemonium Fortress
The Khazra are half man, half goat, they are creations of the Vizjerei, their homunculi, unlimited resource of slaves, sacrifices, and blood for their rituals.
The Vizjerei attempted to hide their true nature through their writings, claiming they were servants of Baal, but that’s a lie.
Right now the inconsistencies have more to do with the background of some classes than anything else, I just hope Diablo 4 takes place 51 years after Diablo 3 (just so the year is 1337 a.k. 
)
If using the “ret-con” lore, those are indeed true. But if going by classic lore (pre-D3), it’s not. My question is mainly asking whether or not they’re going to revert any of the ret-con (so ret-con the ret-con? lol).
If curious about the original lore:
- In Diablo 1, the lore books say, “… Enjoined by his dark master, Lazarus kidnapped Albrecht - the only son of Leoric …” (in the Darkening of Tristram).
- The Worldstone was mentioned in the Sin War trilogy a couple of times as being created for the purpose of hiding sanctuary, where in Diablo 3 it was said to have been stolen.
- In Diablo 1, it was indicated that the goatmen were “Demons of Baal” (I think in the manual, if I recall correctly). Edit: Just saw your mention on the vizjerei trying to lie about Khazra in their writings; Where was this mentioned? Just curious. I also remember readings on the Umbaru Tribe lore saying that the original witch doctors of the tribe left Teganze and “transformed to Khazra” - so I’d be curious about that as well.
But again, it depends on whether you want to agree w/ the original lore (those like me) or the ret-con. I personally felt many of the “Ret-con” changes were made simply to satisfy the lore of the Diablo 3 game designers rather than trying to work with the original lore that Diablo already had. There were a few inconsistencies prior to D3, I won’t argue that, but I feel they increased the number and just put a ret-con label on them instead of trying to find a way to work with them.
I guess here’s my main question(s), worded differently: “Will Diablo 4 ret-con more things, or work with what currently exists? And will it ret-con the ret-cons, in order to use prior lore?”
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Ah yes, I see your point.
The truth is that you have only touched the surface because there are many more things that have been touched during these 25 years… Years ago I made several entries for a Spanish fansite about all the lore that has changed over the years… I had to divide it into several parts because at the end I had a document of more than 10 pages.
I remember when Bashiok tried to make a timeline and I had to replicate his multiple contradictions, this caused very few things to be taken as canon.
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But going back to what you say about Albrecht it is true, in fact, the true identity of the Dark Wanderer was revealed already during the development of Diablo 3, with the aim of combining the plotline from D1 to D3 and that someone from Leoric’s lineage is the vessel of Diablo (Albrecht, Aidan, and Leah).
Who to blame? Vischar Orous the Chief Librarian and Zharesh Covenant of the Brotherhood of the Vizjerei. 
In the Diablo 1 manual, there are even references to the Egyptian Book of the Dead…
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About The Worldstone, It also has to do with the objective of the Eternal Conflict, initially in D1 and D2, they tell us that angels and demons dispute the souls of mortals, but then we see that souls do not go to heaven or hell… and the goal is to dominate the Eye of Anu.
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About the Khazra and the Umbaru, If I remember correctly, the Umbaru tribes came into conflict with the Vizjerei, the Umbaru were captured and transformed as Khazra, and sent again to capture more, until they captured a Vizjerei … this Vizjerei summoned the demon Zagraal to gain control over the Khazra and drive out the wizards. Then the Umbaru themselves had to fight Zagraal and his Khazra.
The Diablo 3 developers had no qualms about changing whatever was necessary to fit their story, and as you’ve shown, with dire consequences.
Developers never want to be tied down by the old lore and will look for ways to change lore if necessary for their game.
For Diablo 4 it seems that they are using the “post-apocalyptic” technique to introduce changes:
- In the Sorceress class, they belong to the clan of Zann-Esu, and it is restricted to women, a male sorcerer has to be from another clan.
- The Rogue class has something similar, as Askari descendants, they can only be female… but it seems that this class can have different backgrounds between Sisters of the Sightless Eye (original D1 / D2), Caldeum mercenaries, or Hawezar smugglers.
TLTR: Yes, and prepare yourself mortal
and yet I will continue my watch from the top of the citadel of Ureh. 
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I sort of wish they had put in the game somewhere something along the lines of Abd saying “I found entries proving that Vischar Orous lied about many of his writings to prove …” or something. That would have made all of the changes a lot more acceptable to me personally, lol 
Maybe they will in D4 
I haven’t gone through the cain/adria/tyrael books quite yet; just been going in chronological order from the sin war books up to d3 and looking at all the lore of d3, so I’ll have to see what else I’m missing and then start on those books + the d3 novels.
Thanks for all the clarifications; Keeping my fingers crossed for D4, and as a huge Diablo 2 fan, can’t wait for Resurrected. Gonna spend way too much of my life back on that as I did before xD
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We could write pages and pages here with things that have changed… Master Inquisitor
As for changing things in-game… I couldn’t access D:I but apparently they’ve taken “The Mechanics of Visions” to see past events, like the CoT version of WoW, you can relive the experience of The Binding of Destruction in the Zoltun Kulle Library.
The books are fine, they are small works of art, but as a reading I prefer Richard Knaak’s books.
For now in D4, we have to see the male versions of Sorceress and Rogue, obviously, they will have to have a different background, the sorceresses of Zann-Esu and the Sisters of the Sightless Eye do not allow males…
And about D2R… remember the Canyon of the Magi? (looking for Tal-Rasha Tomb) Well, they changed the lore from there thx to Diablo 3, there are no magicians buried there but kings of Ivgorod, so it shouldn’t be the Canyon of the Magi but the Canyon of the Kings or Patriarchs 
We will keep an eye on D4, and of course, I will play D2R I can’t wait for the first ladder night.
I think Jerhyn or Cain said in Diablo 2 that they were “7 horadric tombs”, which of course one included Tal Rasha’s Tomb… So yeah that really makes no sense to change that, especially since the player (heroes) actually visited there in person, not heard it through some tales, lol. But I can rant on that one I guess… Gotta take what I want/prefer and toss out something else, I guess xD. Where was it mentioned that the tombs were kings of Ivgorod? I assume maybe one of the books I haven’t got to yet (I don’t remember hearing dialogue on that, but it sounds like something that’d be in Cain’ or Tyrael’s book)
I’ll have to check out Diablo Immortal for the lore, too. Curious how much they’re going to put in there and whether my brain’s going to overload w/ stuff before D4 even releases, rofl. We’ll see then.
Yesss, looking forward to the first ladder night. Once they have a release date, I’m taking a week off work to go all-nostalgia on Hardcore+Ladder
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Book of Cain page 131, the zone was controlled by the kingdom of Ivgorod and named The Valley of Ancient Kings, a sacred burial ground for some of the ancient Patriarchs…
D:I has a lot to offer, I hope they don’t bundle it up and present the creation of the demon hunters correctly with Natalya, but from what I have been able to see from the cinematics of the first alpha test, it is awesome.