Inarius
From Diablo Wiki
Inarius was an Archangel of the High Heavens, once part of the Angiris Council as an advisor to the main 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 and Lilith as the renegade leaders. 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).
- 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 … - Birthright
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Canon
Life before Sanctuary
Inarius had grown tired of the costant conflict between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells. Even though the armies had fought since the dawn of time, not much was gained. He wished he was in-charge of the Angiris Council so he could do things differently. He even tried to reason with Tyrael, his brother (in the sense that their resonances were similar) that conflict was leading them nowhere.
Soon, he found that there were many that shared his ideology not only within the Host's ranks itself, but in the Burning Hells too. He and his followers met secretly and discussed their plans. Being the council's advisor meant that he knew how to circumnavigate the watchdogs of Hell, enabling him to meet up with his compatriots in Hell.
The leader of hell's resistance was the demoness Lilith, elder daughter of the Lord of Hatred, Mephisto. She, like Inarius had been contemplating a world where demons could live peacefully without any interference, demonic or angelic. Inarius immediately took a liking towards the demoness and they set out to an uninhabited world which they named Sanctuary, for that was the purpose of the world.
Years in Sanctuary
Even though the renegades had created this new world, they needed to protect it from the prying gazes of the Angiris Council and the Prime Evils. So, Inarius and the others created the Worldstone, a sort of radar-deflector that would hide Sanctuary from the higher planes.
Inarius and Lilith became lovers, like many more angel-demon pairs. The renegades seem to have 'created' humans, or Nephalem (meaning first-born) 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 are not 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 her kind. He connected his powers with the Worldstone and destroyed all the other demons and angels as well as a large number of the Nephalem. Seeing the first-born to be of a greater number than imagined, he used the Worldstone to radically diminish the human's powers, so that each successive generation became less and less powerful. He wanted control over them, not anyone else.
Inarius disguised himself as the Prophet and created the Cathedral of Light, an order similar to the setup in the High Heavens bent on projecting himself as the all-knowing and omnipresent. But, meanwhile, the burning Hells came to know of the hidden world and created their own order, the Temple of the Triune to recruit humans into the ranks of the Burning Hells. Both Inarius and the Prime Evils knew that if the Angiris Council were to discover the new world, the Great Conflict would reach Sanctuary and it would be destroyed like all the other strategic resources that could help either side gain an upper hand.
The Sin War
After a few centuries, all was well in Sanctuary. The humans prospered on their own, they created powerful cities and learnt to tap the magic that lay inert in Sanctuary. The periodic but diplomatic conflicts between the Cathedral of Light and the Temple of the Triune were ignorable, because of both sides needing to lay low to not provoke the Angiris Council.
However, Lilith came back and awoke the Nephalem powers of Uldyssian ul-Diomed, who created an army of similarly awakened humans called the Edyrem that turned against both Inarius and Lilith. Inarius fought Uldyssian, but Uldyssian ultimately won. The cataclysmic battle between the Edyrem and the armies of the Cathedral of Light caught the notice of the Angiris Council, who promptly sent the Heavenly Hosts to invade Sanctuary. Seeing that all may be lost, the Burning Hells also sent the Demonic Legion to counter the Hosts leading to a gigantic three-way melee. Uldyssian sacrificed himself. 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.
Diablo I
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 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.
Mephisto apparently turned Inarius and his followers into Overlords. But this doesn't quite fit with The Sin War trilogy in which Mephisto only took Inarius. The Black Road mentions that the followers of Inarius (the Seraphs) were turned to Mephisto's side by the Demon Lord Kabraxis, which may explain the creation of the Overlords. Since after the Sin War, the memories of the humans were wiped off, the binding of Inarius may just be a huge historical error where the entire events of the Sin War are summarized as just the punishment Inarius got for destroying one of Mephisto's temples.
| Angels | ||
|---|---|---|
| Angiris Council | Auriel • Imperius • Itherael • Malthael • Tyrael | |
| Other Angels | Hadriel • Inarius • Izual • Yaerius | |
