Although there's always been plenty of lore to dig into for players who were eager to learn more about the series' world and characters, Diablo 4 is arguably the first game in the long-running series to make the narrative a focal point of the experience. Diablo 4's story is mostly told through stunning cutscenes and easy-to-follow dialogue, making it one of the strongest on offer in the entire franchise. While the moment-to-moment gameplay determines much of the player's story, Diablo 4's overarching narrative focuses on two important characters that have been the driving force behind Sanctuary's creation and continued existence -- Inarius and Lilith.
As players make their way through Diablo 4's campaign, they will learn the reasoning behind Lilith's resurrection as well as her plans for Sanctuary, but Inarius' goals are clearly defined from the start. Despite being the patron saint of Sanctuary and the leader of the Cathedral of Light, Inarius wishes to return to the High Heavens and resume his place among his fellow angels even after a long history of betrayal and conflict. As one of Sanctuary's two creators alongside Lilith, it's necessary to look back into Inarius' history in order to discover why he wishes to abandon Sanctuary and humanity as a whole.
Inarius' Pact With Lilith and Creation of Sanctuary
In the overarching lore of Diablo, Inarius is one of Heaven's Archangels. The Archangels were essentially the military arm of High Heaven and served under Tyrael during the Eternal Conflict that pitted angels against demons for countless millennia. After untold thousands of years of fighting, Inarius grew to view the Eternal Conflict as futile and sought to discover a way to end it once and for all. After suffering defeat at the hands of demons and being captured as a prisoner of war, Inarius was imprisoned in the Burning Hells. It is here that he met Lilith and where the two hatched a plan that would result in the creation of Sanctuary.
Similar to Inarius, Lilith also viewed the Eternal Conflict as pointless and wished to end the war between angels and demons. Since the Eternal Conflict was waged to see who would gain possession of the Worldstone (the last physical remnant of Diablo's deity, Anu), Lilith and Inarius hatched a plan to steal the object and use it to create a realm free of conflict -- Sanctuary. Lilith freed Inarius and the two gathered other angels and demons sympathetic to their plot, successfully stealing the Worldstone and creating the world of Sanctuary. The children of Inarius and Lilith (as well as the angels and demons who joined them) were the Nephalem, who would eventually become the humans living in Sanctuary.
Despite Opposing Lilith, Inarius Is No Hero
The lineage of all humans in Sanctuary can be traced back to the union between Lilith and Inarius, which is why the two are referred to as "Mother" and "Father" in the game's story. Eventually, though, a rift grew between Lilith and Inarius over the fate of the Nephalem, whose very existence brought about a crusade of both angels and demons to end their existence. Since the Nephalem were more powerful than their parents, both the Burning Hells and the High Heavens considered them a significant threat and attempted to exterminate them. Lilith's choice to defend her offspring threatened the very fabric of reality, resulting in Inarius' banishment of Lilith from Sanctuary.
At the beginning of Diablo 4, Lilith is resurrected by a former Horadrim priest who believes that humanity needs her help against both Heaven and Hell, and Inarius has returned from an apparent exile. Their son, Rathma, refuses to take a side which results in Inarius murdering him to prevent him from aiding Lilith. Ultimately, Inarius wishes to abandon Sanctuary because he views humanity as hopeless, with his main goal being to defeat Lilith to earn his place back at the table of the High Heavens. Despite being one of Santuary's creators, Inarius seeks to turn his back on humanity for entirely selfish reasons.
Diablo 4 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.