In Diablo, there are three beings of absolute evil, known as the "Prime Evils." They are:
Mephisto, Lord of Hatred
Baal, Lord of Destruction
Diablo, Lord of Terror
Now, I'm noting something here. We have the Council of Archangels, or the Angiris Council, but there are no canon "Prime Virtues." Why not? I can understand to a certain extent in that they are not necessary to the story, but it'd add another dimension to the world. Blizzard seems to be a developer all about depth-of-world, so why this lack (beyond, y'know, DII being an 8-year-old game)? Will this be expounded on in DIII? (If you want to extend opinions on these, feel free, but my real point of discussion is below.)
Looking at the "Prime Evils," I notice something else: They can be applied very neatly to D&D's three evil alignments, like so:
Mephisto=Lawful Evil
Baal=Chaotic Evil
Diablo=True Evil
If we take this piece of correlation, we can expand upon it. There would thus not only be three "Prime Virtues," but three "Prime Neutrals" or "Prime Truths." Thus, this could become the very basis of the pantheon in the Diablo series:
Of course, I have no idea what Blizzard's plans for the deeper backstory of the Diablo series are, but if they were to extend the supernatural aspects of it, it would likely look something like this.
If you think about it, almost all ancient Western pantheons follow this formula to a certain extent: the Greek Harmonizer would be Artemis; the Norse Rebeller would be Loki; the Roman Protector would be Jupiter; etc. There are variations, largely formed from the unwillingness of most people to worship evil deities and extensions, but most gods and goddesses I can think of fit into one of those descriptors.
I guess the discussion I'd like to have is based on these questions: What are your thoughts on the similarity of ancient and fictional pantheons? Is this basic human nature? Did the creators of D&D's alignment system hit on some sort of, I don't know, universal formula for human personalities? DOES D&D CAUSE SATANISM??
Oh, wait, I already know the answer to that last one, it's a resounding "Of course not, you moron!"
NOTE: I'm gonna steal a paragraph or two from my Player's Handbook (3.0):
Mephisto, Lord of Hatred
Baal, Lord of Destruction
Diablo, Lord of Terror
Now, I'm noting something here. We have the Council of Archangels, or the Angiris Council, but there are no canon "Prime Virtues." Why not? I can understand to a certain extent in that they are not necessary to the story, but it'd add another dimension to the world. Blizzard seems to be a developer all about depth-of-world, so why this lack (beyond, y'know, DII being an 8-year-old game)? Will this be expounded on in DIII? (If you want to extend opinions on these, feel free, but my real point of discussion is below.)
Looking at the "Prime Evils," I notice something else: They can be applied very neatly to D&D's three evil alignments, like so:
Mephisto=Lawful Evil
Baal=Chaotic Evil
Diablo=True Evil
If we take this piece of correlation, we can expand upon it. There would thus not only be three "Prime Virtues," but three "Prime Neutrals" or "Prime Truths." Thus, this could become the very basis of the pantheon in the Diablo series:
...and thus you have an entire Pantheon.
Of course, I have no idea what Blizzard's plans for the deeper backstory of the Diablo series are, but if they were to extend the supernatural aspects of it, it would likely look something like this.
If you think about it, almost all ancient Western pantheons follow this formula to a certain extent: the Greek Harmonizer would be Artemis; the Norse Rebeller would be Loki; the Roman Protector would be Jupiter; etc. There are variations, largely formed from the unwillingness of most people to worship evil deities and extensions, but most gods and goddesses I can think of fit into one of those descriptors.
I guess the discussion I'd like to have is based on these questions: What are your thoughts on the similarity of ancient and fictional pantheons? Is this basic human nature? Did the creators of D&D's alignment system hit on some sort of, I don't know, universal formula for human personalities? DOES D&D CAUSE SATANISM??
Oh, wait, I already know the answer to that last one, it's a resounding "Of course not, you moron!"
NOTE: I'm gonna steal a paragraph or two from my Player's Handbook (3.0):
This is to provide a point of reference to the definitions I was using when I came up with this theory. Obviously, personal definitions of Good and Evil vary from person to person, so I include this in the hope that no one will accuse me of forcing my moral viewpoint onto anyone else.Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition Player's Handbook said: