14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard recently held a press tour at their European headquarters, during which an interview with Senior World Designer of Diablo III Leonard Boyarsky revealed some new information pertaining to the game's lore.
The interview, conducted by a Polish Diablo 3 fansite, unveiled some of the content awaiting players in the Reaper of Souls expansion. Particularly, after defeating the greatest enemy of the world of Sanctuary, the Prime Evil, players were left wondering who or what could pose a greater threat to humanity.
"That's always a challenge when creating a series of books or games. You know, at certain point you fight the ultimate evil and when you create a new installment, you have to fight extra-ultimate evil. But I'm really happy with how Malthael turned out. You can even argue that he is not... well he's definitely not a villain in his own mind.
"That's a difference between him and demons. Good character in fictions aren't evil in their own minds. I think it's really interesting to have a character who thinks that what's he's doing is right. For your hero it is completely wrong," the designer revealed, pointing out that they had thought about this beforehand, while working on Diablo III.
Players will now see a shifting perspective, while traditionally only the demons were portrayed as evil, now a more relative and complex issue will arise, in the form of mankind being stuck between angels and demons, having to completely re-assess the angels' motivation and what's humanity's standing in the world.
While angels are usually considered of the lawfully good alignment, if we are to borrow D&D's system, humankind discovers that their lawfulness only relates to their own purposes, and that man will never reach its full potential unless it somehow liberates from outside forces.
"It's funny because they are called angels and we think that they are good. They are the opposite of demons but I'm not sure if that's necessary good. At least in terms what's good for mankind," Boyarsky points out.
The Reaper of Souls expansion will challenge the traditional meaning of good, showing that such affiliations are only judged based on what's good for a certain group, as is the case of angels, which represent a form of "self-serving good" and pay little care to humans outside their struggle with Hell's minions, which is a defining characteristic of the embodiments of such cosmic notions.
This makes Tyrael unique and completely atypical, in that he witnessed how humans are able to make sacrifices for the greater good and for their fellow men, which is a unique characteristic specific to mankind. As such, although he began by assisting heroes in the fight against demons, he will now turn and fight his own brother, the angel of death.