The “Spear of Light piercing Hatred’s heart,” getting his wings torn off, Lilith telling him he belonged in Hell, pleading with Heaven to tell him what he needs to do but getting the silent treatment… pretty clear Inarius is going to become the new Lord of Hatred now that Mephisto has run off with his new young hot GF.
We’ve seen Tyrael change from aspect of Justice to Wisdom. Malthael from Wisdom to Death. So supposedly the Lords of Hell can do it too. In the dialogue it was apparent early on that Mephisto was tired of or annoyed by his current state of things, even besides Lilith trying to absorb him. He asked us to bring “peace” to his realm, chastised the MC’s blind hatred for him, persisted in urging “reason.”
If I had to guess, that’s what he’d become. Something like “Aspect of Reason.” That, or he is being super tricky and will be something like Lies or Malevolence… though there already is a liar, Belial.
I think they’ll corrupt Nev w/ Mephisto and he’ll actually be the last expansion. This is my assumption:
Next expansion: Diablo and Baal come to realm and actually “win” by bringing the world asunder with destruction and terror
Expansion 2: We defeat Baal and helping to hold back hell. At the end the gates open and we get an “Angel of Hatred” - corrupted Valor in Imperius - set to rid Sanctuary and hell
Expansion 3: We rid Imperius and his attack and turn to Diablo; however, as we go to land the finishing kill on Diablo we see Mephisto save his brother and they both run off
Expansion 4: We beat back both Diablo and Mephisto. We kill Mephisto in a “tear-filled” kill of Nev but Diablo gets away and sets up as the main protagonist of Diablo V. We start getting wind in other media (book mainly) on Itherael (Angel of Fate) having foreseen the end of the eternal conflict, but the end of their race as well and is moving on sanctuary while Diablo sets his sight on corrupting the remaining Angels through their fear
We know there are 2 expansion in the work and this game is set-up to try and live on as a MMO-style expansion set for as long as possible. I’m guessing 15 years until they’ll need to overhaul.
IDK, Diablo is still dead after getting whooped in D3. If Mephisto was still forming since D2, and Diablo had a ton of power built up within him in D3… it would probly take him a very long time to reform.
I’m hoping Lilith actually has something else up her sleeve. That showing was not good enough for her. Next xpac will probly have something to do with the Angels. A lot depends on how much time passes.
OR… what would be really interesting, is if something else happens entirely. Something between the humans. Supposedly, right now we are doing a bunch of work ridding this patch of the world of demonic influence. I think next Xpac should definitely be a more demon-free world. Otherwise all this open world, boss, and Nightmare dungeon grinding wouldn’t make any sense.
There technically seems to be no one to lead Hell for a while now. Even if Inarius transforms, that may take a little while.
Actually… what would make sense to me is… No demons, at least not on the surface. Humans start fighting each other with the lack of threatening other-worldly forces. And it turns out at some point, Inarius decides to persist in erasing his mistake with sanctuary by inciting Hatred among humans to fight amongst ourselves and wipe ourselves out.
I mean… they can do anything they want. But something like that may sort of make sense…
The first expansion is 100% going to be us finding out where Nev went and tracking her. Probly in the same way we followed Lilith around just now instead of lilith petals we are going to see mephisto essence in some way. It will probly lead up to us finding out Diablo is back and from there set up to next expansion where my guess is Lorath will become diablo some how and the tree will make us kill him. Inaruis is probly dead for good. Which i was disappointed we didnt even get to fight him.
Mephisto isn’t dead, though, so he can’t be replaced. I would expect Neyrelle to turn into Mephisto, but something tells me that won’t happen cuz it’s [the current year] and “modern audiences” wouldn’t accept a “stronk independent woman” submitting to …well anything. Just a hunch that she’ll Rei Sue her way to victory.
I would love to see a whole new map of hell as an expansion and then a next one as a whole map of heaven. So that we not only go there during campaign. And after those expand on current map. Or maybe seasons be the new areas for current map.
I still don’t think Inarius has much to do with the prophecy at all. I don’t want to make a giant quote, so I’ll just leave the post I made about it
I’m pretty sure the prophecy is chronological and has to do with Lut Gholein and Mephisto will likely get stabbed in the expansion. Possibly by Tyrael with a spear of light. The more interesting part of the theory to me, is what will be unchained?
They’re both dead permanently I think. It’s just the Prime Evils and Lesser Evils that are eternal and constantly able to reform (unless they are stuck in a Soulstone). I don’t think Lilith is capable of constantly reforming like that.
And with Inarius cast out of heaven like he was by the other Angels, I doubt he’ll be able to reform at the Crystal Arch either, especially with how damaged it was in Diablo 3, same deal with Malthael, I don’t think either of them are able to come back. Tyrael gave up his wings when he made himself mortal, so I think once he’s gone that’s it for him too.
Lilith and Inarius both seem gone for good. Which is why the story carried so much weight in my mind. They actually set this up in Reaper of Souls, as their entire story was told in lore books in the Pandemonium Fortress. Lilith was also just far more of a presence than anyone has been before, even Malthael.
I’m fine with moving on from the main Seven. You will notice that in this round, Andariel and Duriel don’t say a word. They are simply primal forces of hell summoned to do another’s bidding. Then again, it would stand to reason if this game has the longevity they want, the other 5 will all have room to show up in the campaigns.
We’ll be fighting him. When Malthiel destroyed the black soulstone at the end of the fight to gain power to kill the Nephalem he let the primes and anybody else captured in it free.