Long before the creation of Sanctuary, angels and demons had been in a constant state of war, acting out their respective roles in a conflict that was fated to continue for eternity. Regardless of the reasons each side had, they were both simply cogs in the great wheel, living a binary existence of good versus evil, light versus dark. That is until Inarius and Lilith broke from the wheel and ventured to create a reality for themselves, separate from the never-ending war.
After being captured by the armies of Hell, Inarius expressed his desire to end the eternal conflict to his captor Lilith, daughter of Mephisto. She, too, shared Inarius’ sentiment and decided to free him. Shortly after, the two fell in love and sought out a way to escape the clutches of Heaven and Hell. Inarius stole the Worldstone and used it to create a separate reality, dubbing it Sanctuary. For a time, he lived there peacefully alongside Lilith and a handful of sympathetic angels and demons.
The Birth Of Humanity
Eventually, Inarius and Lilith had children that became known as the Nephalem. The angels and demons feared the power of Nephalem and sought to slaughter them all. Like a momma bear protecting her cubs, Lilith lashed out to protect her children, killing all the angels and demons that had originally sided with them.
Once Inarius found out, he couldn’t bring himself to kill her, so he instead banished her to the Void. Fast-forward an aeon or two, and the Nephalem have degraded into what is now known as humanity. While they don’t have the powers they did before, they still possess the duality of good and evil – an inheritance that only their parents could give them.
Lilith’s Return
Although Lilith has not been present for ages, her love for her children has not withered. As she escapes the Void, breaking through the membrane created from the “blood of the willing,” she immediately seeks to free humanity from the clutches of both Heaven and Hell. Prior to her return, humanity had simply just been caught in the middle of the same eternal conflict that had already been playing out long before their creation.
Unlike Diablo, or any of the other self-righteous angels or demons, Lilith does not initially seek to force humanity to submit to her will, she wants them to choose to be their authentic ‘sinful’ selves, free from the rules of the church and the torment of Hell’s armies. Heaven and Hell each only represent one side of the balance of good and evil, whereas humanity is both, and Lilith believes they should be free to live that duality however they see fit. How will her ideals hold up when she almost certainly has to battle her children head-on? Only time will tell. But it seems like her unconditional love will have come second to her machinations.
