Not exactly, much of the events that took place in act 2 and 3 would’ve still happened even if Cain were alive (albeit not present). The heroes and company would’ve still head for Caldeum in order to deal with Belial, then met Adria, which in turned would’ve led them to learn about the black soulstone, which would lead them to contest with Kulle and Belial and thus sealing Belial. Then Leah would’ve still received the vision from Azmodan and realized that they were going to attack Bastion’s Keep, and thus set forth the destination of act 3 to Bastion’s Keep.
The only thing that may have changed is that our characters wouldn’t seek Maghda’s death so fervently (since in this case, Cain would still be alive, and thus no need to seek vengeance for him). However, she likely still would’ve died since Belial would’ve used her in some way to slow our characters down.
Truth be told, Cain already took a backseat in the guiding figure position. With the exception of leoric’s crown, Cain didn’t offer much guidance in regards to our activities in act 1. That was done by both Leah and Tyrael (while he lacked his memories).
According to Adria, Cain had indeed suspected Leah’s father to be Diablo.
I know few people actually play D3:RoS anymore. It’s all about Seasons and Adventure Mode, which is endgame content. But, for those who have ever played through Campaign Mode and took the time to talk to all the NPCs and listen to their Conversations, you’ll remember that, in Act V, Lorath talked about reforming the Horadrim.
So, Lorath is not so much the last, but the first of the new Horadrim generation. I don’t know if Blizzard will work that into D4’s lore, but I don’t expect to see Cain again. (That doesn’t mean he won’t be mentioned though).
Maybe Lorath will pick up Cain’s mantle as Horadric Scholar. (I’m okay with that).
We know at the very least he failed. Maybe he did reform them but they failed afterwards. As far as they are concerned in D4 theyy are but a handful of old men at this point.
We know that the Horadrim were still functioning as a stable group immediately after RoS, since Tyrael and Lorath spoke about Horadrim members sent to Skovos Isles. It seems like the years that followed after RoS is when the Horadrim fell into another decline. Likely sometime between Diablo 3 RoS ending and Diablo 4 start, or even a bit before or after Lilith’s return.
All this type of talk makes me wish we started with the entirety of sanctuary to play through. Im sure we will get there as they have 2 full expansions already planned out.
What about killing him?
Didn’t that free the souls he consumed?
Edit.
Of course they can. Remember the Horadric Burger is still missing cheese. The order can’t cease to exist until the bring forth the Horadric Cheeseburger.
If you played through the witch doctor’s campaign, the soul (Enkasi) that interacted with the nephalem witch doctor revealed that Malthael’s manipulation of the souls within pandemonium had weakened the divide (the veil between the living and dead). Once the player destroyed the soul prisons that entrapped some of the souls, the players asks Enkasi what happens to him, to which he reveals that the souls now freed from the soul prison and/or had yet to be consumed by malthael will simply remain within Pandemonium. However the souls that Malthael had already consumed are gone forever. If Cain’s soul was consumed by Malthael, then it’s gone.
That would be perfect. In the second expansion, you find out that Cain’s soul wasn’t consumed and someone in the Horadrim was able to preserve and safeguard it. But now it’s missing (taken obviously) and you have to find it and either put it back where it was (the only way to keep it from detreating/dissipating) or ‘FINALLY’ setting him free (some way, somehow.) His own wishes of course. Maybe he can say something along the lines of not wanting to end up like Zoltun Kulle.
I could see him “returning” as villain and that would be interesting, and disturbing, which is a core point of the game.
That would have been better than the way it went down. Cain deserved an epic death. Not a death from what seems like a minor character (to me who is not deep into the lore).
Id rather, if anything, just find lore pages, like in D3, with his voice. There is no need for him to come back as a demon disguised as him, no spirit/ghost Cain, and certainly no reanimated Cain. Also the whole deserved a better death typ talk is what gets us everything always needing to be grander than before.
Look at Hitchcock’s Psycho. Janet Leigh, a big name, was cast in Psycho. People flocked to see her. She died unexpectedly in the first scene. No one expected it. It was out of the blue. Cain died in a similar manner. No one was expecting it. It came out of the blue. It upped the stakes of what we needed to do.
Presentation aside, this was the better approach. As opposed to an ancient elderly man constanly being in harms way, not to mention, the most knowledgeable Horadirm, couldn’t even piece together that Leah was Diablo’s daughter. Too keep him around not figuring it out for another two acts just to get his big death reward would have made the narrative worse IMO.
That would work I could also see the old Horadrim at the grave being the main story teller.
Could it be Lorath Nahr? “Hell is coming brother, hell is coming.”
