In 2019, a trailer for Diablo IV, featuring Lilith as the main antagonist, was released. Lilith is the ‘Queen of Succubi,’ a character who’s been in the Diablo lore for a long time, but the game’s main plots haven’t revolved around her until now. The game doesn’t have a solid release date (except that it won’t come out this year…), but the excitement is palpable.
In the meantime, fans are waiting for the remaster of Diablo II. That installment was actually where Lilith first appeared as an in-game enemy. Ever since, she has garnered a loyal following of Diablo players who are fascinated with this demonic witch. However, unless you’ve read every piece of flavor text, you’re bound to learn something new here.
10 She Fell In Love With An Archangel
Lilith’s lover, Inarius, was an Archangel who fought in the Eternal Conflict (the war between the forces of Heaven and Hell). The pair had a complicated relationship, to say the least.
Inarius was unconcious when Lilith found him, and she brought him to her lair intending to use him for amusement. Her plans were altered when her touch breathed new life into Inarius. When he awoke, Lilith could tell he had fallen in love with her, and manipulated him into helping her to steal the Worldstone and escape the war.
9 Attendees Of BlizzCon Got Her Wings
Blizzcon 2019 was a huge event, and any fans who purchased a ticket — or a virtual ticket — earned a pair of Vanity Wings for Diablo III. They are modeled off of Lilith’s own monstrous wings, and are appropriately described as making the player “much more cunning, seductive, and manipulative.”
Since the Diablo IV trailer was released at Blizzcon 2019, this special reward makes sense. It undoubtedly kept the hype for the new game going, since players would be reminded every time they logged in to see their character. A 12-foot statue of her also appeared at the event.
8 She Was Supposed To Be Andariel’s Mother
Since Lilith hasn’t been in the spotlight of a Diablo game’s plot, her lore has been developed in the background. As a result, her backstory was (understandably) shifted around more than once. One example is that, in the original lore, Lilith was listed as the mother of Andariel.
Andariel is a Lesser Evil in Diablo, known as the Maiden of Anguish. It was later retconned because Andariel originated as a head of Tathamet (the second being to ever exist). This actually makes Andariel more like Lilith’s aunt.
7 Her Heterochromia
Fans have paid special attention to Lilith’s appearance over the years, so it follows that the developers would do would the same — especially considering Lilith is set to be a major part of their next game.
Her appearance has changed multiple times as the games evolved, but in the Diablo IV trailer, a new detail is clear: Lilith has Heterochromia (eyes of mismatched colors). In medieval Christian mythology, heterochromia was a characteristic of Satan’s and was thought to be one of the signs that someone was a witch.
6 She Was Close With Her Brother
Lilith is the daughter of one of the three Prime Evils: Mephisto, Lord of Hatred. Her only sibling was her brother, Lucion. The two were extremely close before Lilith’s betrayal, and it was said that he knew her better than anyone else, except for their father.
Eventually, she attempted to awake the special powers in humans to use for her own ends, and Lucion realized she had returned from the Void where she’d been exiled; he chose not to report it to their father. That made it all the more heartbreaking when he died at the hands of Uldyssian, Lilith’s (unwitting) human champion.
5 All People Descend From Lilith
After Lilith and Inarius stole the Worldstone, they created a new world that they called Sanctuary, where they (and renegade angels and demons) could find respite from the Eternal Conflict. They mated, and Lilith gave birth to a half-angel, half-demon child: this was the first Nephalem.
Lilith adored her children, but Inarius saw them as dangerous. He used the Worldstone to diminish their abilities; as the Nephalem reproduced, they became a little less powerful with each generation. Eventually, they became the weak, mortal race known as ‘humanity.’
4 Her “Plussed” Design For Diablo IV
Lilith’s appearance has changed several times over her multiple iterations and appearances. When she was seen as an enemy in Diablo II, her model was just a reskinned Andariel. In the novels, she and Lucion are described as having a ‘reptilian appearance.
Her redesign for Diablo IV is the most drastic and detailed yet; extra attention was probably given to her since she’ll be a main character in that game. The Art Director, John Mueller, described this particular process as “plussing,” which means that an artist takes a pre-existing concept, affirms what they like about it, and then adds new ideas of their own.
3 She Saw Potential In The Nephalem
The Sin War was a period of time during which the angels and demons attempted to win the support of the Nephalem in the hopes of winning the Eternal Conflict. When the first Nephalem came into being, angels and demons alike noticed that they were greater than the sum of their parts — Nephalem were stronger than angels or demons were.
Lilith cared for them, so the thought of their destruction pushed her into a mad frenzy and she morphed into a new, horrific form. As the angels and demons fought for control of humanity, Lilith disguised herself to earn their support through a champion and altered the Worldstone so that humanity would become powerful again.
2 Her Writings In Diablo III
Though Lilith doesn’t appear as a character in Diablo III, references to her can still be found throughout the game. One of the most obvious is a four-part tome, called The Writings Of Lilith, which can be found in Act V.
The brief paragraphs follow her story as she meets Inarius and convinces him to help her “liberate” the Worldstone. The final part ends with ominous foreshadowing; Lilith insists that winning the Eternal Conflict is possible, but that, first, she will “give [Inarius] children.”
1 She Masterminded Diablo’s Revival
Lilith appeared in Diablo II during the Pandemonium Event of the game’s online-multiplayer. Players who were lucky enough to experience it will remember how they slaughtered legions of Succubi, and Lilith decided to personally intervene by reviving Diablo herself.
The event ended with a showdown against this ‘Pandemonium Diablo.’ There’s some debate about whether this event was canon, since it took place in the online-multiplayer (battle.net), but it certainly exhibits Lilith’s raw power.
NEXT: Diablo 3: The 10 Best Pets, Ranked
