Diablo 4 is the next mainline installment in the long-running ARPG franchise. The series has a rich, deep lore to draw from, and it seems like Diablo 4 is looking to pull from deep in that well. The first cinematic trailer for the game revealed its new main antagonist, Lilith. In the wake of Diablo's final defeat in the third game, a new evil is returning to fill that void and create the necessary conflict for Diablo 4. Lilith herself is deeply connected to the roots of Diablo's world, and her offspring Rathma is also making a return in Diablo 4.
Rathma is among the first of the nephalem, the result of the union between angels and demons. His mother Lilith is critically important to Diablo and its backstory. She was the first to break away from the other demons to try and find a way out of the Eternal Conflict between Heaven and Hell. She conspired with the angel Inarius to steal away the powerful Worldstone artifact, and with it created the world of Sanctuary. Sanctuary is the world where the events of the Diablo franchise have taken place, but the demon Lilith had her own nefarious schemes to eventually give Hell the advantage.
Rathma's Connections to Diablo 4
Rathma is a name likely familiar to even casual fans of Diablo given his connection to the Necromancer class and the several abilities and armor sets that have borne his name. But the founding member of the Priests of Rathma was born under a different name: Linarian. As one of the first nephalem, he was witness to the early events that would shape the trajectory of the Eternal Conflict and Sanctuary's fate. Lilith and Rathma have been mentioned as early as Diablo 2, with the former making an appearance as an optional boss. The bulk of their history has been explored in expanded universe novels like The Sin War, despite their impact on the overall story.
It's interesting to note the hints toward Rathma welcoming his mother back into Sanctuary from the reveal trailer. Rathma was defined early on by his conflict with both of his parents. Rathma quickly saw the threat of Heaven and Hell's war spilling into Sanctuary, and worked actively to help and maintain a balance between the two. The Balance was something Rathma studied tirelessly to understand, and operates as the fundamental principle behind the necromancers from Diablo 2 and Diablo 3. Rathma worked to undermine the efforts of both his angelic father and demonic mother, so seeing him welcome her back from her imprisonment seems at odds with his previous works.
Not too many story details about Diablo 4 have come to light yet, but it's something that many diehard fans are theorizing about online. The connections between Rathma and his parents are critical to the history of Diablo but haven't been explored much in-game yet. Rathma's place as the patron saint of necromancers also has interesting ramifications about what the final playable class will be. Rathma survived long enough to see the slow change of the nephalem, who were even more powerful than their parents, into the normal humans seen throughout Sanctuary.
Training others in the ways to maintain the Balance became Rathma's driving force later in his life. Beginning with some of the earliest normal humans, Rathma taught others in the manipulation of the energies of life and death. They would soon use those abilities to fight back against both Heaven and Hell. It's going to be interesting to see if Blizzard does bring the Necromancer back and whether they'll encounter Rathma on the new class quests in Diablo 4. Rathma has been linked to the lore of Diablo in a major way for years, and it's going to be interesting to see him step closer into the spotlight.
Diablo 4 is in development with PC, PS4, and Xbox One.