Who was the first nepholem who become Diablo?

[Mormolyce]

Adding more info: actually in D2 you find the D1 heroes.

The warrior is obviously the Dark Wanderer - which is also Aidan, the other son of King Leoric. The amazon is Blood Raven you find in Act1. The wizard is the SUmmoner you defeat in Act2. Basically all heroes were present and contributed to kill Diablo in D1 (even if you played alone), and all of them were corrupted by its dark power.

The transition between D2 and D3 is more "complicated", also due to the fact the connection initially planned were scrapped and while some stuff remained things like the Barbarian being a different one applies. We know for sure that D2 Necro is Xul (the one in HotS) and he took an apprentice under his wing - Methan, tthe one you fine in different events in Act2.

Also we have the D2 wizard: it's Isendra, the spirit you encounter in act 5 playing the Wizard - specifically the female version, which is canonically Li-Ming (the one in HotS).

I cannot recall other characters, i may have missed out stuff for sure.

Yeah and I think they did establish canonically at some point that Aidan is the Warrior and the Summoner was the Sorcerer. I can't remember if the original game outright stated Blood Raven was the Rogue or just heavily implied it. But I think it's all safe to say.

If I remember right there was some backstory on each hero in the lead-up to the D3 launch. Maybe it was mini stories on the website. I definitely remember the D2 Sorceress dying in the Wizard's. Maybe I should try to find those again.

[Kontinuum]

Sorceress was killed by a (the?) Assasin.

I'm pretty sure we'll get some info about Xul when Necro is released.

[Liftbrul]

Dear OP

Never post again.

Sincerely,
Me

Infracted.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Dear OP

Never post again.

Sincerely,
Me

Pass the salt.

[Keile]

TBH the lore is confusing as hell, since all humans are Nephalem but they decided to use it to address your character specifically, disregarding any other human NPC being talked to. With the Worldstone gone, there should be no reason why anyone's latent power is still locked away. It's just a convenient plot device.

Not every human has the crazy strong powers, even back in the day. Sure they are all nephalem but only some would reach the godlike state of being that you hear about (like the ones who could literally WILL a Demon out of existence). Basically the damage the stone did isn't fully reversed (it was there for a LOOOONG time, odds are most of the "damage" it did was irreparable) and only some are having their power reawakened. As time goes more will pop up but not every Human will exhibit Nephalem levels of power.

[Thimagryn]

That's my personal criticism of the lore though, the fact that anyone is getting crazy powers due to newly implemented/revised Worldstone lore. To me, Diablo's heroes are about adventurers from numerous different disciplines honing their craft. Their power is attributed to the incredible artifacts they come across in their journey, while their skills can be learned by anyone devoted enough to learn and master them. They are regular humans who can reach godlike state given that they dedicate themselves to farming finding the greatest weapons and armor.

That has changed with the Worldstone being explained to have withheld some ancient power residing in every human. I can see why they went with the 'superhero backstory' cool factor, but it's a confusing cliche that doesn't fit in what I envision to be a gothic horror/dark fantasy universe. IMO, it would have been better if they just left it as having blood lineage to the ancient Nephalem, but not to the point where your godlike state is attributed to some awakened power that makes you more powerful than everyone else.

[Coldkil]

-snip-

That came out in D2 already. Sanctuary was born as a "pocket dimension" created by Inarius and Lilith around the Worldstone to cloak it from both Heaven and Hell. nephalem are the children of the interbreeding of angels and demons residing there.

All went down the drain when Lilith decided to use nephalem as a personal army to nuke the shit out of everyone, and killed every angel and demon in Sanctuary excluding Inarius. Inarius instead wanted full control on Sanctuary so he changed the Worldstone so it would have progressively dampened the nephalem powers.

Cutting down the Sin War part, in the end Inarius got captured, the Angiris Council got to know about Sanctuary (the Prime Evils already knew about its existence) and a pact was signed; Mephisto got Inarius as a prisoner with the caveat of leaving Sanctuary alone; all agreed in levaing everythign as it was previuos a complete memory wipe to everyone so they could start anew.

[Thimagryn]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's all post D2 lore and retcons, not lore sourced from Diablo 2.

Inarius' lore wasn't present in Diablo 2, so he was still a footnote in Diablo 1's manual. Lilith was implemented as queen of all succubus and Andariel's mother. Her backstory was only relevant as an Uber Boss who ressurected Uber Diablo. The Worldstone itself was simply a symbol of protection for the world, and the angel/demon union did not exist formally until Sin War trilogy (2006-2007) and Diablo 3's lore and its supplements (Book of Cain).

Diablo 1 and 2, as games unaffected by outside lore sources, we are still mere mortals swaying the balance between good and evil. While the new lore about Inarius+Lilith and Sanctuary's origins are cool, their explanations change the tone of the series from being gothic fantasy (mere mortal vs supernatural) to epic fantasy (superhumans vs supernatural).

[Orangetai420]

Doesn't seem that legit really, Barbarian was already a near invincible super-hero level demon slayer and nothing changed!

Well he no longer has to deal with physical immunity. Perks of being a nephalem I suppose.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's all post D2 lore and retcons, not lore sourced from Diablo 2.

Inarius' lore wasn't present in Diablo 2, so he was still a footnote in Diablo 1's manual. Lilith was implemented as queen of all succubus and Andariel's mother. Her backstory was only relevant as an Uber Boss who ressurected Uber Diablo. The Worldstone itself was simply a symbol of protection for the world, and the angel/demon union did not exist formally until Sin War trilogy (2006-2007) and Diablo 3's lore and its supplements (Book of Cain).

Diablo 1 and 2, as games unaffected by outside lore sources, we are still mere mortals swaying the balance between good and evil. While the new lore about Inarius+Lilith and Sanctuary's origins are cool, their explanations change the tone of the series from being gothic fantasy (mere mortal vs supernatural) to epic fantasy (superhumans vs supernatural).

I think Gothic Fantasy seems to reference mostly the art itself and how the world looks. Very Dark and gritty. The Epic fantasy part you mention is well Blizzard *epicness* in a nutshell.

[Bigbazz]

Well he no longer has to deal with physical immunity. Perks of being a nephalem I suppose.

Just had to spec berserk, no more iron maiden death!

[Orangetai420]

Just had to spec berserk, no more iron maiden death!

Totally forgot about berserk! (Never played barb much, more of a necro/druid/sorc guy :P )

[Gallahadd]

Fury Wolf FTW. Only problem you had was with Phy/Poison immune... And how often did THAT happen