1. Diablo 3: The Lord of Lies
Theres a diabolical philosophy swirling around the vastness of the internet concerning Belial as the secret mastermind behind the entire franchise. It plays out like the very worst daytime drama, but its entertaining in the same way conspiracy theories are kooky, harmless fun. This one relies heavily on understanding the events the Diablo 3, so if youve not yet finished the game, youll want to go ahead and do that now. Ill wait All done? Awesome! Now imagine Adria is actually Belial in disguise. Years ago he learned of the Black Soulstone and hatched a plan to contain all the Evils within. Whoever controlled this fully loaded stone would possess all the powers of Hell, thus becoming the Prime Evil - essentially what you thought you witnessed at the end of Diablo 3. To do this, he set out to find and mark the souls of the Lord's of Hell already defeated in the series: Mephisto, Baal, Andariel, Duriel and Diablo himself. This leaves Belial and Azmodan as the only Lords of Hell who haven't been captured at the start of Diablo 3. Belial knew he could never defeat his brother Azmodan openly, so he developed this ruse to be falsely imprisoned within the soulstone in order to coax Azmodan into action. The Belial you thought you defeated and trapped within the stone, in reality, was just an illusion. You then defeated Azmodan and trapped his soul within the stone, leaving Belial as the only Great Evil not actually imprisoned. So why doesnt Belial swoop in and steal the stone now that the other Evils are imprisoned? Well, because Belial doesnt like confrontation. Still disguised as Adria, Belial releases Diablo who immediately launches an assault on the high heavens under the impression hes the Prime Evil. Once you defeat Diablo, the cinematic clearly shows the Black Soulstone falling away from the heavens. What it doesnt show, is Belial waiting for it. (Thunderclap) So it might sound ridiculous, but its actually fairly plausible considering Belial is of course, the Lord of Lies who employs illusion and manipulation to achieve his goals. But the worst part of this whole theory? If its true, it means weve all been playing into Belials hand since the events of Diablo 1. Yeah, hes been making us look like suckers since 1996. Dammit. So what do you think? Are these the right directions to take the series? Is there another plot out there just dying to be explored? Share your thoughts in the comments below.