Dark Wanderer

The Dark Wanderer was originally the hero of Diablo I, and becomes a NPC in Diablo II. His presence in Diablo III is unknown, although Blizzard has given him a name and family tree: he is the semi-estranged son of Leoric, the Skeleton King, and his name is Aidan Leoric.

Contents

Background

Diablo Character [e]
Dark Wanderer  Main Character
Gender:	Male
Race:	Human
Status:	Dead
Occupation:	Adventurer
Affilliation:	Order of the Gauntlet, Prime Evils
Friends:	Deckard Cain, Marius, Baal, Mephisto
Foes:	Diablo, Heroes, Deckard Cain

As Diablo I draws to a conclusion, the hero defeats Diablo, and takes Diablo's Soulstone within his own body, intending to contain Diablo there forever- which had potentially unforeseen consequences. According to Deckard Cain's Journal it takes about 2 days for the spirit of Diablo to corrupt and posses him. At which point, he became fully possessed and left Tristram. Immediately after his departure, hordes of demons either killed or possessed the remaining denizens with the exception of Deckard Cain whom was only captured. It is implied that the Dark Wanderer is directly responsible for that carnage, although it may have just been a side-effect of his presence.

In Diablo II

The Dark Wanderer (left) and Archangel Tyrael (right) do battle during a Diablo II Cinematic.

After the destruction of Tristram the Dark Wanderer proceeds to the east where he frees Baal and Mephisto from their respective prisons before shedding the last of the hero's humanity and metamorphosed into Diablo- ceasing to be the Dark Wanderer. Diablo then proceeds by entering Hell where he will eventually be slain by the band of heroes.

The Diablo II wiki entry for the Dark Wanderer may be found here.

In Diablo III

The Dark Wanderer is mentioned in Cain's Journal on the Official Diablo 3 Website, and concept art of the Wanderer has been released by Blizzard. It is also possible that the pages of Deckard Cain's Journal which make reference to the Wanderer contain concept art of him as well, but that remains to be seen. The concept art in Cain's Journal does not match that released by Blizzard.

He may be mentioned by NPC's throughout gameplay. It is not likely this NPC or character will return in the flesh (so to speak) during the events of Diablo III, even if different incarnation Diablo does. He is rumoured to be Leah's father, apparently having a tryst of some sort with Adria before the time of Diablo I. He is mentioned in lore books briefly (during the beta test, at least).

Heritage

Wanderer transforming into Diablo.

Many fans believed the Dark Wanderer to be, specifically, the warrior class due to gender and skin tone. Blizzard later confirmed this theory, and it became cannon. Fans who believed this also subscribed to the theory that the rogue became Blood Raven and the Sorcerer became The Summoner, each hero succumbing to madness due to Diablo's corruption in their own way.

Both of these predictions were also confirmed later.

Dark Wanderer's Identity

The Identity of the Dark Wanderer is never revealed in any of the games or books, but in the Diablo II PnP RPG module released as The Awakening, his name is revealed as Qarak, the last surviving member the Order of the Gauntlet, an order of adventurers.

In 2011 Chris Metzen informed the world that Blizzard had given the Dark Wanderer a minor retcon. When the Dark Wanderer was human he was the long lost son of King Leoric and his name was Prince Aidan. This would also make him an an older brother to Prince Albrecht.

This does not directly contradict known information about the character (save for one NPC referring to Albrect as Leoric's only son, easily explained away), and as such might be labeled a minor retcon.

In the Diablo 3 beta it was revealed, from Leoric's Journal, that Aidan went off to become a warrior after Leoric made Tristram his new seat of power. He later returned to Tristram to put the Skeleton King to rest and later defeat Diablo. It is also hinted from Adria's Journal, and other sources in the beta, that Aidan may be Leah's father.

Evolution of the Wanderer

At media event E3 in 1998, Blizzard North released a trailer for Diablo II that did not make it into the release of the game, which has footage of the Wanderer traveling on the back of a carriage in the rain, cradling the (then-enormous) soulstone containing the essence of Diablo. His mouth was sewn shut, his eyes smoldered red, and his entire appearance was very different from that which players saw in the release of the game. This trailer, also unlike anything seen in the release of the game, was actually narrated by Aidan himself, not Marius, which is a drastic perspective shift for the narrative and would have perhaps brought about an entirely different game.

The wanderer was iterated upon heavily during the development of Diablo II. In the Collector's Edition of the game, a player could watch the cinematics disc in "high quality" where they could also see very low-res slideshows of concept art that were not released on any other format, and three of these slides featured distinctly different versions of the wanderer. While this is not relevant today, as not only has ten years passed since the release of Diablo II, but there is an entirely different team working on Diablo III, it is still interesting to see how this character who is pivotal to the plot of all three games progressed over time.

E3 trailer courtesy of the IncGamer's Diablo III Channel.

Three pieces of concept art never used for the Wanderer in Diablo II:

"Old Man" concept.

"Lucifer" concept.

"Tortured" concept.

The last piece being strikingly similar to the version that was used for the E3 cinematic in 1998.

Media

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  Aidan concept (Diablo III).

• 

  Aidan concept (Diablo III).

References

• Diablo II Manual
• Mephisto's Jungle
• Diablo II: The Awakening
• Diablo PnP RPG