Tyrael

Tyrael is an Archangel and a member of the powerful Angiris Council. He defied the council in order to teach the Horadrim how to seal the Prime Evils' souls into soulstones, thereby trapping them for eternity.

Tyrael is the Archangel of Justice.

Diablo III Character

Diablo Character [e]

Tyrael Archangel of Justice
Gender:	Male (presumed)
Race:	Angel
Status:	Alive (presumed)
Occupation:	Angiris Council Member
Affilliation:	High Heavens, Horadrim
Friends:	Deckard Cain, Tal Rasha
Foes:	Baal, Mephisto, Diablo
Location:	Unknown

Tyral has been seen a lot on concept art and on the official webpage for Diablo III, and is very likely to end up as an NPC in the game in some form. There has been debates as to whether he will be good or evil, something we will have to wait and see.

Diablo 3 Theories

Many players believe that Tyrael will be central to the plot of Diablo 3. They claim that he will suffer the repercussions of destroying the Worldstone, and has perhaps even been cast out of heaven in the intermittent 20 years since his wings seem to be smoking[1] he may be also be corrupted and an enemy in the next game [2]. Finally, in a Q&A session a Blizzard Representative said in answer to a question on The High Heavens and Tyrael:

"We are not going to reveal any details about that but I can say we do address a lot of the issues that you’re talking about. I can extrapolate that the high heavens aren’t very pleased about his actions. I probably shouldn’t say any more." [3]

The official website line is that Tyrael has been missing for the last 20 years, and nobody has heard anything about him.

Tyrael, as seen on the official home page. Some fans claim that his wings seem to be just smoke, as if he is being banished from the High Heavens.

Related Characters (and Monsters)

Deckard Cain
The Player characters

Personality

The personality of Tyrael is known to only a very few. We know he is a man of great justice, compassion and hatred of demons, and he has a special interest in Sanctuary as well as humanity.

Since he was close to destroy Sanctuary himself, originally, it's clear he's not afraid to take action against what he considers a threat to the High Heavens.

Background

Sanctuary

When the Angiris Council first discovered Sanctuary, Tyrael was designated to lead Heaven's forces in destroying the "abomination". This was Imperius' view, one Tyrael sympathised with, since the whole existence of sanctuary comes from a defiled union of angels and demons.

When Tyrael witnessed Uldyssian sacrificing himself for the world of sanctuary he had a change of heart, and took the deciding vote within the council to save Sanctuary from destruction.

The council wiped the memories of all humans, and none now know that Tyrael could have been the one responsible for the undoing of all of humanity.

The Horadrim

Sigil of the Horadrim.

After the existence of Sanctuary was secured, Tyrael has been ordered by his fellow angels on many occasions not to interfere with the mortal world. He has often disobeyed, fearing that Sanctuary would otherwise fall in the hands of the Burning Hells.

When the Prime Evils later were banished from hell during the Dark Exile, Tyrael helped humanity to create the Horadrim and creating the Soulstones they used to imprison Diablo, Mephisto and Baal with, centuries before the events covered in Diablo I and Diablo II.

He also helped the Horadrim to seal the essence of Mephisto in the body of Tal Rasha.

The Worldstone

Tyrael destroying the Worldstone.

Tyrael was captured by Baal after he failed to stop Diablo from releasing Baal but was eventually freed by the adventurers of Diablo II. He returned to the adventurers in the Pandemonium Fortress, the last bastion before Hell, to offer some assistance.

When Diablo was defeated and the adventurers had caught up with Baal to slay him, Tyrael made it clear that Baal had permanently corrupted the Worldstone. He decided that the only thing he could do to protect Sanctuary was to destroy the sacred relic.

The destruction left the massive Mount Arreat as nothing more than a crater, and dealt a devastating blow to the Barbarian tribes, who saw it as their life duty to protect the Worldstone.

The Barbarian tribe leader Anya considers the destruction and tells us in her valediction that this action was never foreseen in the prophecies.

Speculation: Tyrael's Agenda

This Archangel, who likely is Tyrael, is doing something powerful.

Tyrael has appeared to humans in many other times and locations to assist the humans in the fight against the demonic forces. Amongst players there is must speculation as to Tyrael's real agenda, but in the game all of the NPCs seem to hold him in the highest esteem.

Friends

As with his personality, it's hard to know if Tyrael ever had any human friends, but if he did, Tal Rasha would likely be part of those, as would Deckard Cain and the heroes who helped defeat the Prime Evils.

Foes

More than anything, Tyrael opposes the Burning Hells and demonkind. If this is his only motivation for helping humans on Sanctuary, or if he perhaps is using the human world as a battlefield against Hell is unknown.

Previous Appearances

Tyrael in Diablo II.

Tyrael is seen in three places in Diablo II. The first is at the end of Act Two, when he greets the player from the island where Baal/Tal Rasha had been imprisoned. The second meeting comes in the Pandemonium Fortress, the town of Act Four, where Tyrael interacts with characters like any other NPC, though of course he's a bit less chatty.

He is not a merchant, but he can resurrect dead mercs, for the usual price. What Tyrael does with the gold is an eternal question and running joke for many players. The third sighting of Tyrael comes at the end of Act Five, when he descends from above after Baal's defeat in the Worldstone Chamber.

After a speech in which he asserts that Baal has poisoned the Worldstone and that it will no longer function to keep most of the forces of Heaven and Hell from flooding into the mortal world, Tyrael creates a portal for the human heroes to leave.

After their departure, Tyrael hurls his sword into the Worldstone, causing it to shatter into countless millions of pieces, and its this explosion and apparent doom for humanity that fills the final cinematic of Diablo II.

For more information about the Diablo II NPC Tyrael, see: Tyrael