| “ | Lilith. I have returned to Hell... for you. | „ |
| ~ Inarius's most famous quote. |
| “ | I am Sanctuary, and Sanctuary is I! You seek to fight the very world itself when you seek to stand against me. | „ |
| ~ Inarius. |
| “ | Heavens, protect me! | „ |
| ~ Inarius's last words. |
Inarius, also called Father and Veiled Prophet, is a major antagonist in Diablo series, serving as the secondary antagonist in Diablo IV. He is a Fallen Archangel, seduced by Lilith, and the creator of Sanctuary and Nephalem. He hates Sanctuary and humanity and tried to destroy both of them many times.
He was voiced by Gabe Kunda, who has also voiced King in One Piece, Owethu "Jackal" Mabuza in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Orsted in Mushoku Tensei, Bat Devil in Chainsaw Man and Gueldre Poizot in Black Clover.
Biography[]
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Jafar says: Read my lips and come to grips with the reality! This article is a stub and is in need of expansion. You can help Villains Wiki by expanding it. |
Background[]
| “ | They call me a hero. I slew demons beyond count. I won battle and broke sieges, but it availed me nothing. I know that this war can have no victor, only an eternity of revenge, pride, and hatred. Tyrael does not understand. He cannot see beyond the glory of battle. In time, he may, but that day is not yet here. | „ |
| ~ Inarius writing about Eternal Conflict. |
Born from Crystal Arch, Inarius was once a prominent archangel who served as an advisor to his peers who formed Angiris Council. He also used to be one of Heavenly Host's prominent commanders under the command of Tyrael, regarded by his people for his successes on the battlefield. On at least one occasion during Eternal Conflict, he confronted Azmodan and lived to tell the tale. However, eons of war and witnessing countless acts of brutality saw Inarius disillusioned by Eternal Conflict as whole, concluding it to be unjust and could never be won. So much that he would do whatever it takes to end his part in such conflict and things would go differently if he was at the head of the Angiris Council. Though he failed in persuading Tyrael to see his perspective back then, Inarius managed to sway those who shared his dissatisfaction over their part in Eternal Conflict to his cause.
During the ill-fated siege at Pandemonium Fortress that saw his capture at hands of Lilith, Inarius's luck changed when his rants about his dreams and dissatisfaction over his part in Eternal Conflict intrigued the Daughter of Hatred. His captor turned out shared such sentiment, having suffered under Mephisto's hatred, tired even of her father's approach to the conflict as well as leadership of Diablo and Baal, along with her brother, Lucion. So, she freed him and told him that they would meet again. It was when the demoness and the archangel fell for each other — an unthinkable turn of events neither sides of Eternal Conflict believed to be possible, let alone acceptable. Same went with the idea of angels and demons putting aside their differences for the sake of common interests.
Before long, other angels and demons followed the unlikely couple's example as they joined Inarius and Lilith.
Reaching Worldstone within Pandemonium Fortress through either misdirection or force, Inarius and his renegades wasted no time to alter its frequency/dimensional alignment, concealing it from the angels and demons still fighting in the Eternal Conflict and bringing it to a pocket dimension. They then shaped it into a world of refuge Inarius christened as Sanctuary. As a precaution and per his own agenda, Inarius secretly fooled all the other renegades and tied the Worldstone's power to himself, enhancing his already immense powers to unimaginably God-like levels and securing his place as the strongest being there and its de facto ruler. He and Lilith ruled their realm with a council of angels and demons, residing inside the structure that would become known as the Temple of the Firstborn. Worldstone's disappearance didn't go unnoticed by the rest of High Heavens and Burning Hells however, though neither of them knew how or where it had been transported to, halting Eternal Conflict.
Despite his and Lilith's achievement in banding angels and demons together and creating a world in which they could co-exist, Inarius worried that his kin back at High Heavens would come to him sooner or later. This didn't stop the renegade archangel and his demoness wife to proceed with what they have started. Using Altar of Rites, the couple magically conceived a son they named Linarian aka. Rathma, the first of Nephalem and future tutor to the first necromancer of his namesake's order, the Priests of Rathma. Their fellow renegade angels and demons would sire children of their own, giving rise to Nephalem race.
Inarius and the council were present in the Temple of the Firstborn when Kalmor arrived, having been summoned to account for the death of Bersarik. Bersarik, aggrieved at the deaths of Corvik and Helgrotha, had come to meet his makers, intending violence, and Kalmor had been forced to slay him. Inarius remained silent and simply watched, as the council declared that they did not hold Kalmor responsible for Bersarik's death, and explained that while the nephalem would not succumb to age, or be touched by plague, they were still able to be slain. Presenting them the sword Severian, the council ordered it destroyed, and filed out.
First generation Nephalems' presence brought dissention among the community of angels and demons in Sanctuary owing to being stronger than their parents, bound to neither lineage, and better capacity in chosing their own path. Contemplating to take the route of genocide at first, Inarius instead called for a period of reflection, to consider the matter in solitude. Lilith on the other hand, didn't take the former idea very well that she lashed out at her fellow renegades, both angel and demon alike. Horrified by the bloodshed his wife has brought and unable to reason with her, Inarius reluctantly banished her into the void. Left with no one but himself and "abominations", Inarius attuned Worldstone's magic so Nephalems' powers diminished over time. For a good measure, he banned them from using their latent powers lest incurring his wrath. After this, Inarius watched over humanity, weaker descendants of Nephalems whom he favored over their more powerful ancestors according to some accounts. Unknown to him, the tragedy marked the beginning of his inevitable undoing.
Demon summonings conducted by magic practitioners among mortals at Sanctuary have drawn the attention of Prime Evils who subsequently masterminded a cult called Triune in a bid to sway them to Burning Hells' cause. Recognizing the cult's deception, Inarius responded by establishing a religious movement of his own, Cathedral of Light, with himself as the leader under the epithet of "The Prophet". As The Prophet, Inarius often gave sermons, gained fame from his youthful physical perfection, and was able to spread the Cathedral's influence through his angelic powers of persuasion. For his cult's headquarters, he established the namesake cathedral at the north of Kehjan which designed to invoke the architecture of Heaven. The times where he was able to truly relive the sensation of being in Heaven were few and far between however, which didn't help by restlessness from inability to appear in his true angelic form nor take flight above Kehjan in order to maintain his charade (the closest he could get to the experience of flight was to climb to the cathedral's tallest towers). The same restlessness also resulted him often seen in the late hours, which not an issue for him owing to his true angelic nature. His chosen senior priests at the time were Oris and Gamuel, latter whom reminded Inarius of himself in the remotest manner possible. By establishing Cathedral of Light, the secret war for mankind's soul had begun, a struggle that would come to be known as the Sin War.
The rivalry between Cathedral of Light and Triune escalated because of the presence of third parties; Lilith who made her return to Sanctuary three human lifetimes before revealing herself at Hashir (one of the focal points of Sanctuary's reality) and attuned Worldstone so remaining Nephalem regained their powers as the beginning of her agenda, and Edyrem — a band of the next generation of the Nephalem led by Uldyssian seeking to bring the Triune and the Cathedral of Light to justice. Upon being informed of the situation by Oris and Gamuel with the latter expressed his concern regarding Edyrem which would target their cult next after vanquishing Triune, Inarius reassured that Cathedral of Light will join forces with Uldyssian's group but not elaborate it further.
Inarius and Lilith reunited and battled once more, during which the former masked her presence when Rathma showed up to investigate the temple. The firmer covertly masked the latter from detection, only revealing himself once their son had departed. Sealing Lilith in a conjured sphere, Inarius sent her back into the Void and made precautions to prevent her return this time around, all while his former lover promised that Uldyssian would be his undoing.
True to Gamuel and Lilith's respective claim, Edyrem attacked Cathedral of Light after vanquishing Triune. Inarius stepped in to try to convert Inarius' forces to his cause through his overwhelming presence as an angel, prompting their leader to use his bond to the edyrem to flush them with confidence and outsmarted the renegade angel. As the duel of leaders of both factions escalated, a tear opened up above everyone to reveal Heavenly Host — an army of angels of High Heavens — descending upon Sanctuary at last. The unexpected turn of events distracted Uldyssian long enough for Inarius to corner him. However, the leader of Edyrem was far from helpless; he changed the very essence of the Worldstone, destroying the bond it shared with Inarius, allowing him to defeat the renegade angel and subsequently imprisoned him. The empowred Uldyssian then sent both angels and demons from Sanctuary.
In the aftermath of Sin War, Angiris Council convened to decide the fate of the nephalem as well as Inarius. They agreed to an armistice between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells so the nephalem able to properly grow and eventually choose which side they would follow in their own volition. In this deal, the imprisoned Inarius was sent into Mephisto's custody. Brought into a new prison in form of some sort of chamber of mirrors somewhere in Burning Hells, the renegade angel was bound with chains and had his wings slowly torn from his back. Great barbed hooks were then used to stretch out his once glowing skin, his features were distorted by vile powers, and his eyelids were torn off from his face. To add insult to injury, the loss of his eyelids means he was forced to gaze upon his deformed state there and even denied the freedom of death.
Diablo IV[]
Inarius was meant to be imprisoned and tortured for all of eternity. However, catastrophic damage left behind by both Black Soulstone-empowered Diablo's ill-fated invasion at High Heavens and Malthael's failed genocide against humanity saw a vacuum of power everyone struggling to recover, which means no one in either sides was available to ensure it remain that way. As a result, Inarius managed to escape and subsequently return to the ruined Sanctuary on ease as he put it upon the rebuilt Cathedral of Light. Lorath Nahr argued that the renegade angel embellished certain details about it, which made sense considering Inarius' prison fell into the state of disrepair from neglect and decay in the next 50 years after Malthael's downfall.
In a bid to return to High Heavens, Inarius reignited Cathedral of Light. Unlike the religion's previous iteration, this one made his original nature as an archangel known to his followers; imposing statues erected in his true self's image made of precious stone and metal adorned the cult's namesake headquarters at Fractured Peaks. His faithful disciples often bowed in supplication before him. Mentions of Lilith's role in Sanctuary and humanity's birth were omitted however.
Among first disciples of his in the rebuilt Cathedral of Light was Prava, a mortal woman whose seizure that had plagued her since infancy cured by Inarius himself. In her gratitude, the became the renegade angel's right hand woman and accepted the tenets of the Cathedral of Light. As the supreme leader of his revived cult, Inarius entrusted Prava in handling its day-to-day operations, acting as a bridge between Inarius and the rest of his followers.
to be added
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Inarius is the first Angel villain in Diablo, who is not corrupted or is not on the side of Hell. The closest Angel villain to him would be Malthael, but because he is insane and is not an Archangel anymore, he still counts as corrupted.
- It was confirmed by Luis Barriga that all the time protagonists of the series ventured into Hell to save the world, none of them ever stumbled upon Inarius' prison.[1]
- Initial version of Inarius' backstory in Diablo was quite different in that he established his own dominion out of belief where he's above his kin and demons, constructing a great cathedral of mirrored glass and crystal, and followers flocked to him, drawn by his numinous charm and wealth. Once amassed sufficient amount of army, he led a siege against Hell to prove his superiority starting with Mephisto's followers. Having enough with the problems the renegade angel caused to them, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal teamed up to retaliate, culminating to Lord of Hatred personally laid waste upon Inarius' church and surrounding countryside, captured the renegade angel to be tortured at Hell for all of eternity, and forcibly turned his followers into Overlord demons.
- Though later installments retconned this, it must be noted that very few surviving accurate records pertaining The Sin War remained during the events of the series.
References[]
External Links[]
- Inarius on the Diablo Wiki.
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 Villains
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The 7 Great Evils Demons The Coven Temple of the Triune Cathedral of Light Army of Sin Humans and Undead | ||