All Diablo Cinematics

[Zulema Estabrooks]

Thischapter of the Diablo saga is known as the "The Darkening of Thristram" and marks the begining of the Diablo game series. More than two centuries have passed since anyone had heard of the Prime Evils until the Khanduran king Leoric chose Tristram for his kindgodm. Nobody knew that beneath the city, Diablo the Lord of Terror was imprisoned and his prison was weakening.

Diablo, the Lord of Terror, has fallen to the brave hero prince Aidan beneath the church of Tristram. Now that hero is gone, replaced by a Dark Wanderer who roams the world of Sanctuary leaving death and destruction in his wake.

In Diablo II, the narrative of the gameplay and cinematics is pretty interesting. The cinematic starts with Marius who acompanied the Dark Wanderer throughout his journey in Diablo II. Now aged and rotting in a mental asylum, he is visited by a stranger who Marius mistakes for the archangel Tyrael and starts telling him the story of what his journey with the Dark Wanderer was like. So all the cinematics are being told by Marius to the stranger, thinking he is Tyrael.

After dealing with Andariel we understand that the Dark Wanderer, Baal and Marius have left and began their desert journey to Lut Gholein where the tomb of Tal Rasha is. Marius is having a dream of how the archangel Tyrael has imprisoned Tal Rasha himself into the Tomb of Tal Rasha. Their journey end goal is not yet known.

The Dark Wanderer's goal was to release his brother Baal who in fact was imprisoned in the body of the great Tal Rasha who sacrificed himself in order to try and contain Baal's soulstone plunged into his chest. The cinematic shows us how Aidan entered the tomb but was greeted by Tyrael. They fought and amidst the fighting, Marius sneaked in and released Baal from the prison believing that he helped the mage Tal Rasha. Baal and Aidan overpowered Tyrael and locked him down into the tomb and placed Duriel to guard him from escpaing. Tyrael, angry with Marius of what he has done, sends him to follow the Dark Wanderer and Baal

Marius has followed Baal and the Dark Wanderer to Kurast and to the Temple of Hate where they reunite with their brother Mephisto. Together they perform a ritual in which Diablo takes full form and the Dark Wanderer is no more. They also open a portal to Hell which Diablo takes while the others stay behind while Mephisto stays behind to push the heroes away from entering the portal. Not much is known where Baal went after that ritual. Marius still holds the soulstone of Baal after he took it out of his chest.

After the heroes defeat Diablo, we are revealed what happened with Marius. Marius would not dare to follow Diablo into the Hell portal, instead he would then run away and being consumed with madness and from what he has endured is locked into a mental asylum. He is visited by a dark wanderer-like figure who Marius mistakes for being the archangel Tyrael. Believing that this is indeed Tyrael, Marius delivers him the Baal soulstone who he kept with himself all along. After giving the soulstone to the dark figure, he reveals that he is not the archangel Tyrael and Marius realizes that he has given the soulstone to Baal.

The video shows us how Baal is laying a siege on Mount Arreat where the Worldstone is. Baal's end goal is to get to the Worldstone and corrupt it so Sanctuary is no longer hidden from the forces of Heaven and Hell. Baal in this cinematic is in his true form after retrieving his soulstone from Marius.

Diablo III takes place 20 years after the destruction of the Worldstone by Tyrael. Tristram is rebuilt near the location of the old Tristram and all has been well until something fell from the skies which caused the dead to rise. Deckard Cain and his ward Leah had been researching the prophecy of the end of days for the last 13 years and together with Leah they witnessed the Falling Star coming down from the sky. It hit the cathedral, blasting Cain into the depths of the structure.

After venturing into the new cathedral and finding out that King Leoric has risen once again, heroes venture even further into the pits only to find that the Fallen Star was no other but the archangel Tyrael in a strange human form and with no memory. The witch Maghda then kills Deckard Cain to the horror of everyone. During the burial of Cain, Leah confronts Tyrael about sacrifice to which he presnets her with a vision of what actually caused him to Fall.

After the fall of Belial, Leah is in possession of the Black Soulstone. The Black Soulstone was an artifact of incredible power created by the renegade Horadrim known as Zoltun Kulle. Unlike the other Soulstones, the Black Soulstone was intended to hold the souls of many beings, angels and demons alike, and in particular was capable of trapping all seven of the Great Evils. At that point 6 of the 7 Great Evils are trapped into the Black Soulstone. Leah, trying to figure out what the last remaining Great Evil will do next is being presented with a vision from Azmodan himself, the last of the Great Evils, telling her that he will attack Mount Arreat and will take the Black Soulstone for himself in attempt to combine all seven Great Evils into a single all-powerful Prime Evil.

After the defeat of Azmodan, the Black Soulstone was used to contain his soul too, making the Black Soulstone holding all Seven Great Evils - Andariel, Duriel, Belial and Azmodan and Diablo, Mephisto and Baal. Soon, however, Adria (Leah's mother) showed her true colors and allegiance: Leah had been bred as a vessel for Diablo, and the essences within the Stone were channeled into her, giving rise to a new form of Diablo, combining all seven essences into a singular Prime Evil. This is evident from the sheer power of Diablo, who easily defeats Imerpius and enters the Silver Gate of the Silver City for the first time in history.

Despite the power of the newly reborn Diablo, the Nephalem (the heroes) were able to defeat Diablo. As his body fell from Heaven and disintegrated, the Black Soulstone was seen falling through the clouds below.

With the aid of the Horadrim, Tyrael intended that the Black Soulstone was to be placed in the Tomb of Rakkis. While the Black Soulstone was being put into place, Malthael revealed himself, having taken on the Aspect of Death. The Horadrim were killed and Tyrael was incapacitated, leaving Malthael free to take the Black Soulstone for himself.

Becuase Nephalem (the humans) are essentially half angels half demons because of their origins coming from the unholy relationship between Lilith (the daughter of Mephisto) and Inarius (an Archangel), Malthael's goal was to use the Black Soulstone to destroy the demonic essences of every Nephalem or creature of Sanctuary, thus destroying the Nephalem as a whole.

We are shown how a group of tomb riders together with a scholar are trying to enter an unknown tomb in order to find treasures. Instead they find horrible death and participate in a summoning ritual of no other but the Creatore of Sanctuary and Daughter of Hatred - Lilith. "By three they come" meaning that the summoning ritual required the blood of 3 people at once to complete.

In the second and final cutscene, it shows Diablo's death as his body crumbles to ash and the young Prince Albrecht is released from his torment. Also in the scene, the character is shown stabbing himself in the forehead with the Soulstone in order to contain Diablo's evil. This scene is notable because originally, all three character classes had their own version of this scene, but the final version of the game only contained the Warrior's scene, further reinforcing the fact that the Dark Wanderer is in fact, the Warrior from Diablo I.

Diablo II took cutscenes to a new level, with improved graphics and showing more interest in revealing the storyline. At the beginning of each Act, the narrator, a crazed old man named Marius, tells Baal (believing him to be Tyrael), why he was unable to complete the task of bringing the Soulstone of Baal to the Hellforge to be destroyed.

The first epic scene showed Baal, now in his true form with the powers of his Soulstone, and the Demonic Legion invading Mount Arreat. Their ascent is hurdled at the gates of the Barbarian Capital, Sescheron, by an old, but brave Barbarian guard. The guard tries to convince Baal to turn back, lest the Barbarian Hordes within the city obliterate the Legion. Baal thinks about the proposal and proceeds to literally explode the guard as his reply with his Mana Rift spell. Then, the Legion pours into the gates hacking away at all who stand in their way.

The final cutscene featured the enigmatic Archangel Tyrael, dressed in a new garb and spectacular wing effects, trying to save Sanctuary from the Worldstone's corruption by destroying it. This cutscene may play a huge part in deciding the storyline of Diablo III. The music and direction of this scene has been lauded by fans and critics alike. The expansion ends in a cliff-hanger, like all the previous releases.

Majority of interludes between quests are given in form of engine-based cinematics. Class intros and some cinematics between quests are given in form of animated sketches and narrated by the player character's voice.

In early 2019 I was brought onboard Blizzard to help create and establish some of the iconic characters and creatures of Sanctuary for our game cinematics. I was extremely lucky to help model, texture, and look develop Lilith for our realtime cinematic content. She was designed and concepted by the great Gerald Brom, and was sculpted and modeled in collaboration with Brian Fay, Taso Gionis, and Jessica Johnson, which all did an amazing job and each played a crucial role in bringing her to life. It was a great honor to be a part of team Lilith, and was one of the longest ongoing character developments I had the opportunity of contributing towards on the project.

Thank you to everyone who has been reaching out to congratulate us on the work done on Lilith and the game. The outpour of love and support is amazing and overwhelming to say the least. Congratulations to the entire Diablo Team for the immensely successful launch. Lilith is here!

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