- Were you looking for Diablo novels, or Tomes?
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Books and writings are as common in Sanctuary as in any other world, and the writings of men, angel and demon kind alike numbers in the thousands. These are a few of the known works from the Diablo Universe.
Contents
Introduction
Books and writings are as common in Sanctuary as in any other world. The writings of men, angel and demon kind alike numbers in the thousands. A few of these are known works from the Diablo Universe for us mere earthlings.
A lot, but not all, of the material that sums up what we know of the lore about Mr D comes from "in-world" books, and as such is prone to fault and inconsistencies, like sources might be in our world. This is of course also a perfect way for Blizzard to keep most of the material "real" in terms of retcons and "canon" facts.
The fact these stories most likely were meant to indeed be "true" when it was written by Metzen & co ten or more years ago just makes it a little bit funny to us readers a decade later.
With an ever growing library of ideas that together sum up the Diablo Universe, inconsistencies are bound to happen, and as such, retcons will happen. Less interesting facts like specific years or months will fall aside to more interesting ideas such as fitting a multitude of creative works together as a cohesive whole.
All of a sudden, King Leoric was no longer a Northern Lord and he no longer ruled for decades in Tristram. Instead the pious lord ruled for a year or two and come from the East. Several similarly minor changes have taken place, and much of it explained as just errors by the individual authors of the books, as the author was an in-world scribe with his own knowledge and own motivations. Most famously hinted on by Abd al-Hazir in his Goatman entry, blaming much of the old lore's faults on corrupt Vizjerei mages wanting to improve their reputation after the horrendous Mage Clan Wars.
The term "in-world" applies to Books/Tomes and simply means that even though some real person from our real life obviously wrote it, it's meant to be made by a character in the world of Diablo.
Most of these books have no known author and only comes with a few short paragraphs each. This of course makes sense from our real world point of view, as it would be a terrible waste of man hours to write a multitude of books that often overlap just to give some backstory to the game anyway.
The two primary sources of these books are from the Diablo I Manual, Diablo II Manual and Tomes. Tomes are ancient books spread in dark and dangerous places with surprisingly little useful information (considering they are each a whole book). Never the less, some pieces of information can only be found in Tomes.
A majority of these Book excerpts are collected in Diablo Wiki as a handy reference for anyone interested in lore. More books will soon be added, both from the Diablo I Manual as well as from actual Diablo novels and other references.
So, you got the intro peptalk, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and read some REAL Diablo literature, from people living* on Sanctuary!
* At the time of writing they were alive - most likely anyway...
Known Authors and their Works
There are several known authors of literature in Sanctuary and related realms. Many of the more interesting ones are of course powerful magicians or leaders of people. There is also Abd al-Hazir and his travels around the globe, which brings a lot of knowledge to us readers. Here is a list of known authors:
- Abd al-Hazir - Travelling writer, who have seen much of Sanctuary none else ever have.
- Writings of Abd al-Hazir - Collection of entries from his mission to gather information about different regions of sanctuary, and their inhabitants. 42 entries are so far in circulation.
- Xiansai Chronicles - Chronicles that presumably are about Abd's travels in Xiansai.
- Akarat - Prophet of the Zakarum.
- Visions of Akarat - The bible of the Zakarum.
- Aust of Harrogath - One of the town Elders in the Barbarian town of Harrogath.
- Journal of Elder Aust of Harrogath - A few days in Montaht when Aust convinced the Elders to erect Druid wardings around Haggorath to stop the armies of Baal.
- Deckard Cain - Scholar and last descendant of the mighty Horadrim. While lacking magic skills, he has tremendous knowledge, and helps any inquisitive traveller or adventurer on their path.
- Deckard Cain's Journal - Journal of the year when Diablo returned and was defeated together with his brothers Mephisto and Baal.
- Kalan - Not much known.
- Books of Kalan - Books about the Sin War.
- Nor Tiraj - Acolyte of the Horadrim.
- Nor Tiraj's Journal - Describing the capture of Baal.
- Ord Rekar - One of the Elders of Harrogath.
- Last Testament of Ord Rekar - Summary of the events that started with Diablo's release from Tristram up until Baal assaulted Harrogath.
Works of Unknown Authors
- Prophecies of the Final Day - This book is a work of prophecies in Sanctuary. It's most likely located in one of the libraries of Caldeum, but exact information is currently unavailable.
- Encyclopedia Sanctuaria - As part of the Vizjerei or Horadrim libraries, it's a known encyclopedia about Sanctuary with brief entries about its lands and inhabitants (mostly monsters). Author is unknown, but it's possible it's Nor Tiraj.
Tomes & Books
- Main article: Tomes.
Tomes are in-game in the Diablo games with lore information. They are of course also books, but listed and indexed separately from "regular" works created on Sanctuary (or anywhere in the Diablo Universe). Their exact credibility or canonity is as debated as any other in-world book. Most of these lack a known author.