First announced at BlizzCon 2019, the highly-anticipated follow-up to Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo 3 is still yet to be released. It's been a while since fans have had a proper mainline Diablo game – ten years, in fact – and expectations are high for Diablo 4. While players have been able to enjoy expansions for Diablo 3 in the intervening years, as well as the Diablo II: Resurrected remaster, the next installment in the long-running series has been the one that a lot of fans have been holding out for. With Diablo 4 set to release sometime in 2023, they hopefully won't have to wait that much longer.
Sanctuary, the dark and often macabre fantasy world of the Diablo games, has seen many protagonists and antagonists come and go. The ongoing battles between humans, demons, angels, and monsters have raged across multiple entries and in various realms, and players are excited to see the next stage of the saga play out in Diablo 4 when it is finally released. While some aspects of Diablo 4's story still remain a mystery, players do know that Lilith will be making a return to cause chaos and wreak havoc, and there is plenty of information about her past that they should familiarize themselves with before they play the next Diablo installment.
The Reveal Of Diablo 4's Lilith
Diablo 4's official announcement was a big deal for fans of the franchise, and it was fitting that Blizzard would accompany it with the appropriate amount of fanfare. The game was revealed at the start of BlizzCon 2019 with a gorgeous cinematic trailer that gave a glimpse of the world of Sanctuary, which has been devastated by the ongoing war between the High Heavens and Burning Hells. The game focuses on the aftermath of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, and the forces of demons and angels have been severely depleted thanks to the never-ending conflicts.
This has left a power vacuum, which the main antagonist and daughter of Mephisto, Lilith, is perfectly positioned to take advantage of. The Diablo 4 announcement trailer showed the demonic figure being summoned by a cultist in a gory, blood-soaked ritual that is in keeping with the series' dark tone and gothic visuals. The blood of three unwitting victims is woven together in a membranous shroud from which Lilith, Daughter of Hatred and Creator of Sanctuary, emerges, complete with a skin-like cape. As entrances go, it's pretty spectacular.
Exploring Her Story Before The Game
Lilith was first seen in Diablo 2 and is a prominent figure in Diablo lore. According to the developers, the story of Diablo 4 and its expansions will be centered around her, so players can expect to see a lot more of the daughter of Mephisto in the upcoming game. Lilith grew tired of the Eternal Conflict – the war between the High Heavens and Burning Hells – and wanted to escape from the never-ending discord. Together with a rogue angel named Inarius, Lilith stole the Worldstone and created Sanctuary – the mortal realm.
Lilith and Inarius gathered like-minded followers and retreated to Sanctuary for a break from the Eternal Conflict, and eventually, the demon and the rogue angel had Rathma, a first-generation nephalem, and the first child to be conceived between two such beings. Other nephalem followed, but the rogue angels and demons began to worry about their offspring's growing strength and felt threatened by this new race of beings. Some wanted to destroy them, and Lilith, fearing for her children and seeing them as the key to ending the conflict for good, murdered every follower of Inarius who wanted to destroy them.
Inarius was appalled at Lilith's betrayal and savagery, and while he could not bring himself to kill her, he did banish her to the Void. He also made sure that each subsequent generation of nephalem grew weaker, avoiding the problem that the renegade demons and angels feared of their progeny rising up against them. But Lilith was still honored in legend, referred to as the First Mother by some and inspiring cults to continue to worship her. Lilith did make a return to Sanctuary previously and altered the power of the Worldstone to grant nephalem powers again. Although Lilith has managed to cause mayhem and temporarily return to Sanctuary in various guises, Inarius was successfully able to reinstate her banishment to the Void.
Lilith In Diablo 4
As seen in the announcement trailer for Diablo 4, a member of the Triune successfully tricked two adventurers and a scholar into entering a ritual chamber so that Lilith could finally be released thousands of years after her initial banishment from Sanctuary. Lilith's return inspired a new wave of cultists and worshipers throughout the mortal realm, as her arrival was seen by some as the answer to ending the Eternal Conflict. Lilith awakens the darkest urges in the hearts of those that encounter her, and her return to Sanctuary will no doubt lead to a return of darkness and despair as well. Her ultimate goal – to ensure that the nephalem will rise again – will probably be a central crux of Diablo 4's story.
The developers have promised a much grittier and grounded approach for Diablo 4's narrative compared to its predecessor Diablo 3. Although the Pandemonium Event in Diablo 2 is not strictly considered canon, it could provide some hints as to how Lilith will go about her nefarious plan of domination and might suggest that she could attempt to summon Diablo or other Prime Evils. If Lilith is seeking to empower the nephalem again, this could also provide some interesting antagonists or even strengthen the player's own character as the game progresses as well. Other than Lilith's return and the vague details about her plans for Sanctuary, not much else is known about Diablo 4's narrative, and players have been left to speculate prior to the game's release.
While Lilith was only featured briefly in a previous Diablo game, she has received a complete redesign for her Diablo 4 incarnation. Lilith looks a lot different from her previous Diablo 2 character model, and her updated design shows the level of detail that the developer is aiming for in the next installment, as well as a return to more classically gothic aesthetics.
Diablo 4 is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.