Inarius

Inarius was an Archangel of the High Heavens, once part of the Angiris Council. He, along with other Angels and Demons, were sick of fighting in the endless Great Conflict, so they banded together and left Heaven and Hell with Inarius as their leader. Together, the various Demons and Angels created a world of their own known as Sanctuary, and also created the first born humans known as the Nephalem. Along with the creation of Sanctuary came the creation of the Worldstone (and Trag'Oul - though they are unaware of Trag'Ouls existance).

Quote from Birthright: And in announcing it to himself, he felt a rush of jubilation. He was again Inarius, once of the Angiris Council, once a commander of the Heavenly Hosts. Once a rebel against both the High Heavens and the Burning Hells.

Inarius and Lilith were lovers, but now they hate each other.

They seem to have 'created' humans by means of some kind of partnership, because different Nephalem have different parents. Rathma was born of Inarius and Lilith, while Bul-Kathos is said to be born of a different pair of Angel and Demon. It is said that they don't have sex like humans do though, so we aren't sure how they 'mated' exactly.

The Nephalem, being born of both Angel and Demon, were found to be quite powerful. Lilith planned to use their power to build an army, but Inarius fought against her and used the Worldstone to diminish the humans' powers, so that each successive generation became less and less powerful. He wanted control over them, not anyone else.

Sanctuary was created as an escape from the Great Conflict, where it would be a paradise for the Angels and Demons to rest peacefully. So as not to draw attention to himself and Sanctuary from the High Heavens, Inarius disguised himself as The Prophet, leader of the Cathedral of Light. When Inarius is connected to the Worldstone, he is the most powerful being on Sanctuary.

However, Lilith awoke Uldyssians powers, but he turned against both Inarius and Lilith. Inarius fought Uldyssian, but Uldyssian ultimately won. Inarius was captured by the Angiris Council, who made a deal with Mephisto, where Mephisto agreed to leave Sanctuary alone if he could have Inarius to do as he pleases with him. Mephisto took Inarius back down to Hell to torture him. Mephisto has a special Hatred for Inarius.

In the original Diablo I manual, Inarius was only introduced as a means of explaining the origins of the Overlord demon encountered by the player in the Catacombs and Caves levels of the game. The angel left Heaven because of his pride, and built himself a temple. To prove his superiority he launched an ill-fated assault upon one of the temples of Mephisto and slew all his followers. Mephisto was greatly angered by Inarius's actions, and captured the angel and his followers.This is what it says in the Diablo I manual]:

He bound Inarius with tremendous chains and slowly tore the wings from the back of the angel. Great barbed hooks were then used to stretch out the once glowing skin and his features were distorted by vile powers. Many of the followers of Inarius were given as gifts to Baal and Diablo, but the rest were molded to match the bloated image of the now crippled angel. To this day, Inarius is said to be trapped in Hell within a chamber of mirrors, his eyelids torn from his face as he is forced to gaze upon his misshapen form for all eternity. His misguided followers now serve as Hell's taskmaster taking the anguish of their lost glory out upon the bodies of others.

With the coming of The Sin War Trilogy, this story changed to fit the expanding storyline. However, this led to several errors in the Diablo lore. For instance, Mephisto apparently turned Inarius and his followers into Overlords. But this doesn't quite make sense, because according to The Sin War Trilogy, Mephisto didn't take any of Inarius' followers, only Inarius.

Note: The Sin War is officially regarded as the most canonical, so the true nature of the Overlords is yet to be sorted out. But we can definitely say that Mephisto tortured Inarius.

Due to the memory wiping at the end of the Sin War Trilogy, later generations attribute the defeat of Inarius to Mephisto as retribution to the destruction of the Triune, which is in turn attributed to Inarius. Expanded role in books

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