P is for the Prophet

This blog is part of the series I am writing for the A to Z Blogging Challenge. The goal is to write one blog for each letter of the alphabet and to post each blog on the right day. I have fallen behind, but am not going to quit. Those who are posting their blogs on Twitter are using #AtoZ.

All of the blogs I write for this challenge are about Diablo III (and the “universe” that surrounds it). So far, I’m pretty happy with the blogs I have written. It is nice to finally get all the Diablo related stuff that has been into my head out of it and into a blog post (or several blog posts).

P is for the Prophet. This blog most likely contains some “spoilers”. Read it at your own risk.

One of the Followers in Diablo III is Eirena, the Enchantress.  It is she that talks about “the Prophet”.  Just who is she talking about?  She doesn’t know him by any other name, and has little details to give to players.  Considering everything, including the events in Act V of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, I think “the Prophet” must be the angel Inarius.

Eirena and her sisters were alive during the Mage Clan Wars (which took place several decades after The Sin War had ended).  The Mage Clan Wars began when the Vizjeri Clan started summoning demons.  This was not at all acceptable to the other two Mage Clans, the Ennead and the Ammuit.  Both of the other Mage Clans were of the belief that the summoning of demons is what caused The Sin War to happen.  They didn’t want to see that happen again!

Those of you who have read The Sin War Trilogy, by Richard A. Knaak, will immediately realize that the Ennead and the Ammuit were a bit confused about what really caused The Sin War.  It is understandable that they would get their history wrong, though.  It had been a few decades after The Sin War ended, and most of the people who were alive at the time were made to forget that it even happened.  Few were left who could give an accurate history.

Eirena and her sisters were servants of a Vizjeri mage.  She began secretly reading his books and learning how to do spells.  After teaching herself how to do a spell, she taught the spell to her sisters.  They didn’t have permission to do this.  It appears that they were able to get away with it for a while before anyone noticed what they were doing.

Eventually, Eirena and her sisters learned that their master had started summoning demons.  The demons were rather small, but the women found it very troubling.  Eirena and her sisters waited to do anything about it until their master and a group of other Vizjeri mages got together to attempt to summon a greater demon.  Together, the women attempted to prevent the ritual from happening.  They used their magic to kill the Vizjeri mages before they could finish the ritual.  The Vizjeri mages managed to curse Eirena and her sisters shortly before they died.  The curses were enough to nearly kill all of the sisters.

Instead of dying, Eirena woke up.  The Prophet was standing over her.  He had healed her and her sisters and offered to train them.  The women accepted.  A few years later, the Prophet let the sisters know that he foresaw a great disaster that was going to take place fifteen hundred years in the future.  Long story short, Eirena and her sisters pledged their lives to preventing that tragedy.   The Prophet sealed them all into a tomb and put them into a magical sleep.  The magic was supposed to wake them up at the appointed time.  Once they woke up, there were supposed to seek out a hero, to whom they would give their aid in an effort to fight against the Great Evils.

Instead, something went wrong.  When Eirena awoke, she discovered that two of her sisters had died.  Their mutilated bodies were lying in the tomb.  Her other sisters were missing.  The Prophet was not there, either.  Somehow, Eirena found the courage to get up and carry out her duty.  She does find the hero (the player character) that the Prophet told her to locate, and she does help that hero.

There has only been one being who was called “the Prophet” in all the lore of Diablo – Inarius.  He was the angel who gathered up like-minded angels (and demons) who had grown tired of fighting in the Eternal Conflict.  In a previous blog, I wrote about how Inarius and Lilith (and their comrades) stole the Worldstone, altered it, and used it to create Sanctuary. Inarius and Lilith became a couple and produced children. (The same thing happened with other angels and demons on Sanctuary). Those children were the first generation of nephalem. They were a mixture of both angel and demon.

In  The Sin War Trilogy, Inarius is referred to as “The Prophet”.  This is several generations after Sanctuary was created.  Inarius started a religion and basically made himself the leader.  The people on Sanctuary worshipped him as though he were a god.  His followers went to the Cathedral of Light to worship.  In the book, Inarius is described by the people who have seen him as a beautiful youth with golden hair.  He never aged.  Some of his followers were more than willing to do anything he asked.   Inarius never told his followers that he was an angel from the High Heavens.

There was also a Temple of the Triune, which also had many followers.  Without giving away too much of the story, I can say that this religion was founded by demons.  The people who worshipped there, and followed that religion, had absolutely no idea that they were actually worshipping demons.  That was kept a secret.  This gives you a glimpse into part of what The Sin War was all about.  Angels and demons on Sanctuary were secretly trying to lure as many mortals as possible to “be on their side” of the Eternal Conflict (generally speaking, as pawns).

Here’s what I think happened.  Inarius started a religion and made the Cathedral of Light his home.  He was the one who healed Eirena and her sisters, trained them to fight demons, and sealed them in a tomb where they would be placed under a magical slumber.  The plan was that he would be there when they woke up, fifteen hundred years in the future.  Inarius, by that point, pretty much believed that he was a god.  He had grown arrogant and likely believed that he could do whatever he wanted on Sanctuary forever.

Of course, he was wrong.  By the end of The Sin War trilogy, Inarius is nearly defeated by Uldyssian, and his army of nephalem.  (They had already taken out the Triune.)  Again, leaving some things out intentionally, The Sin War ends with the Angiris Council voting on whether or not to destroy the nephalem.  They vote is 3 to 1 to save them (Malthael abstained).  The Angiris Council wasn’t the only ones there, though.  Inarius was there – he had been captured.  In short, he was in big trouble for stealing the Worldstone, creating Sanctuary, raising abominations (the nephelem) and for doing all of this with some of the demons.

So, the Angiris Council decided to leave the nephalem be.  Mephisto, a demon from the Burning Hells, was also present.  He was the father of Lilith (and Lucion) both of whom went to Sanctuary.  Mephisto agrees to leave Sanctuary, and the nephalem, alone.  This essentially puts the two sides at a truce (regarding Sanctuary).  Tyrael did not trust Mephisto’s word, and insisted that if Mephisto truly was proposing a truce that he had to leave his mark on a place of Tyrael’s choosing.  (He selected a location in Sanctuary).  Leaving a mark is a big deal.

Mephisto agreed to leave his mark as proof of his word, but only if he was allowed to take Inarius (the rebel angel.) Mephisto blamed Inarius for the deaths of his daughter, Lilith, and his son, Lucion.  The Angiris Council agreed, and Inarius was dragged off into the Burning Hells.  One can only imagine the plans that Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, had for Inarius at that time.

Obviously, if Inarius was trapped in the Burning Hells, he wouldn’t have been able to be with Eirena and her sisters when his sleep spell wore off.  From her perspective, he abandoned them.  She could not understand why he would do that.  There was no way for her to know what happened to “the Prophet”.  She never fully learns about exactly what happened, but does get some closure about things in Act V of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.