The Diablo franchise has a deep set of lore developed over multiple games, books, collections, and comics. Fans have been immensely patient lately, but small news — such as the Diablo II Remaster’s alpha stress test, or the Diablo animated series — keeps them hoping for more content as the world recovers from COVID-19.
Diablo II has been of special interest because of its upcoming Remaster after months of speculation. This game’s lore and story are well-developed, but occasionally vague; fans are eager to know more about characters like Marius, who narrates the player’s adventures. Even if you’re a rabid Diablo fan, you’re bound to find out something new about him.
10 Voiced By Frank Gorshin
Behind the scenes at Diablo, the voice of Marius was performed by Frank Gorshin. He’s an incredible actor who only improved with age after his most famous role as the Riddler in the 1966 Batman series — DC wants to include the Riddler in some new Batman content, but finding an actor that matches Gorshin’s talent is a tall task. His performance as Marius was equally superb (if slightly less well-known). Gorshin brings out the tired, defeated aspect of Marius without being a bore to listen to.
9 Opium Smoker
At the beginning of his story, Marius was just an old vagrant. He’d been seeking shelter in a monastery when Diablo’s hellspawn overwhelmed the citadel and he fled, along with many others who were seeking refuge. Diablo II details how he was trying to stay awake as much as he could after the monetary attack because it left him plagued by nightmares and visions whenever he slept. The ongoing Diablo e-book series entitled The Story of Diablo adds a detail to the story, describing how Marius was smoking opium at the time (ironic, since opium is actually known to induce sleep).
8 No Character Model
Players of Diablo II become intimately familiar with Marius over the course of the game. He describes how he unwittingly followed Diablo on a journey to find Baal’s soulstone, a gem meant to hold his demonic essence, before being charged by the angel, Tyrael, to travel to the Hellforge and destroy it there.
Despite having such an important role in Diablo II’s story, it’s worth noting that he has no dedicated character model in-game. Even the Dark Wanderer gets one, however brief that appearance may be.
7 He Managed To Reach Kurast
In Diablo II, Marius describes how he had to travel from the Tomb of Tal Rasha, where he acquired the soulstone, to Kurast, where a portal to hell created by the Prime Evils would allow him to reach the Hellforge. One look at a map of Sanctuary (the mortal realm) shows that Tal Rasha’s tomb is in the Aranoch desert, and Kurast, the capital of Kehjistan, is across the twin seas. One Redditor points out that Marius being able to manage this journey so quickly seems pretty unlikely, for a number of reasons already set in the lore - like how Jerhyn commanded all ships to be docked, and the first ship that did leave sped to Kurast, and yet Marius still managed to arrive first.
6 Wrote In His Cell With His Fingernails
Unfortunately, Marius failed to enter Hell because he was so horrified by the sight of the three Prime Evils. He fled to Westmarch and began to go mad. As a result, he was arrested and locked up, confined to a sanitarium. By this point, his mind had shattered - but he was cohesive enough to carve the accounts of his experience into the floor of his cell, using only his fingernails. His madness was justified; Marius’ failure to destroy Baal’s soulstone lead to the corruption and destruction of the Worldstone.
5 His Charred Corpse Stayed In The Cell
The Book of Cain is a compendium of Diablo lore with superb animations which adds a lot of extra details to Marius’ story. One such detail is how Deckard Cain, a scholar who has appeared in just about every Diablo game, visited Marius’ sanitarium years later. It was burnt to a crisp — Baal had visited Marius, disguised as Tyrael, to kill him and take the soulstone. Cain noted that he could still read the story which Marius had inscribed with his fingernails, and that his charred corpse was still there in the cell.
4 Fans Theorize That He Was A Nephalem
Marius’ story is vague, even after filling in the gaps of Diablo II with books and other media. These unclear details have left plenty of space for fans to speculate about his all-important backstory, which has rippling ramifications through lore. One particularly well-developed fan theory is that Marius is actually a nephalem.
The nephalem existed years before the Diablo games begin, so they’re a bit mysterious, but the theory holds water. It suggests that Marius was a naturally-gifted necromancer, whom Diablo kept alive for so long because he’d have been unable to retrieve Baal’s soulstone otherwise.
3 A Vision Of Him In Diablo III
Tyrael features in Diablo II as a part of Marius’ story, but he becomes a properly developed character during Diablo III. It’s a debated issue, but many fans find the way that Tyrael treated Marius to be deplorable.
In Act IV of Diablo II, Diablo attempts to demoralize Tyrael with symbols that evoke his guilt. Among these, a vision of Marius appears. When Tyrael manages to fight back, its replaced (appropriately) by a vision of one of Baal’s lieutenants.
2 The Lord Of The Rings Parallel
Marius’ journey, which he retells during Diablo II, bears a lot of similarity to the Lord of the Rings story. In some ways, the parallels are obvious: both Marius and Frodo take on an item of immense power which they, coming from humble origins, are not equipped to handle; they are both told by an angelic being to destroy the object; they both must fight off its corruption; they both have to deal with the rippling consequences of their actions. However, in other ways, Marius’ story seems to be a reversal of Frodo’s: the soulstone quickens Marius’ aging, while the One Ring prolongs it; Frodo succeeds, and Marius fails.
1 Some Fans Think He’ll Return
Diablo IV was announced back in 2019, but it won’t be coming out until 2022 at the earliest. It’s left fans with plenty of spare time to theorize about the plot and characters. Some wonder if Marius might make a return appearance in Diablo IV. Marius is theoretically dead, but stranger things have happened. u/The_Creatorist on Reddit suggests that Marius might return as a demon, for helping Diablo and untrapping Baal. It’s true that Lilith, another character who was prominent in Diablo II, has been set up as a primary antagonist.
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