Diablo 4’s Lord of Hatred expansion brings a conclusive end to the storyline started in the base game of Blizzard’s live-service ARPG, but already players are wondering what comes next. According to those following Diablo 4’s lore, it might not be Diablo himself.
Spoilers for Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred below.
Mephisto’s defeat in the expansion brings an end to the Age of Hatred, wrapping up the storyline that started in 2023 with Diablo 4’s release. Lilith is gone for the time being, having been defeated in the base game, and her connection to the player-character severed in Lord of Hatred. Mephisto is sent into the Void, from which he can’t reform in hell.
That leaves a bit of a power vacuum in Sanctuary, and while many fans would likely love to see the franchise’s namesake appear as the next big bad of Diablo 4, the more likely candidate is Baal, the Lord of Destruction.
We know almost for certain either Diablo, the Lord of Terror, or Baal, is coming next. As explained by Diablo content creators like LoatheBurger, after Diablo’s defeat in Diablo 3, both evils have likely been reforming in hell and are primed to return and wreak havoc on Sanctuary. A piece of Rathma’s prophecy (a key part of Diablo 4’s ongoing storyline) revealed in Lord of Hatred gives even more evidence that the two Prime Evils are on their way, as it states “I saw a child give birth to a mother, as Hatred’s sun set and that of Terror and Destruction dawned.”
Given how closely Diablo 4 has followed Rathma’s Prophecy, it seems a foregone conclusion that Diablo and Baal are coming next. The real question is in which order will they appear?
In Diablo 2, players defeat Diablo first before fighting Baal as part of the game’s expansion, Lord of Destruction. Does that mean Diablo may reform first and arrive in Diablo 4 ahead of Baal? Possibly. A postgame side quest in Lord of Hatred does lend some evidence for this. An oracle of Skovos, aided by the previously unseen angel Lycander, receives a vision of what sounds like Diablo returning.
“I see oceans boiled by hellfire,” the Oracle states. “Cities turned to bone. Children born marked. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. All voices fall silent, not by death, but in dread. It waits behind the veil … shapeless, waiting. TERROR. We open the gate for him.”
However, it’s unclear when this vision actually takes place, and when asked about it later, the oracle states the vision she saw “will not come to pass in our lifetime.”
As for Baal, there have been a few in-game items that have repeatedly pointed to a cycle involving the Prime Evils that sees Baal return first. That theory has only been strengthened in Lord of Hatred. In earlier versions of Diablo 4, an item called the Cuirass of the Prime Evils stated in its flavor text “Terror begets Hate and Hate begets Destruction, Destruction begets Terror.”
That cycle lines up with the events of the games, as players last defeated Diablo in Diablo 3, followed next by defeating Hatred (aka Mephisto). Following that pattern, Baal would be next, finally followed by Diablo. A new Warlock Unique helm added in Lord of Hatred, Cage of Madness, adds a new layer and further reinforces the cycle. “Sin begets sins as men beget men. Terror begets Hate and Hate begets Destruction. Destruction begets Terror as Terror begets Hate.”
By that logic, it certainly seems like Baal will return to Sanctuary first, paving the way for Diablo. It also makes sense from a narrative standpoint. As Diablo’s return would certainly feel like the grand finale, continuing to build up the arrival of the Lord of Terror would be more thematically appropriate, rather than introducing him in the middle.
It’s also possible that Diablo never shows up in Diablo 4 at all, and is instead saved for a future Diablo 5. After all, the oracle’s prophecy in Lord of Hatred states Diablo’s return would not “come to pass in our lifetime.” As the story of every Diablo game jumps forward in time by decades, that could be seen as evidence Diablo is being saved for a future installment in the franchise.
Whatever comes to pass, hopefully Diablo fans won’t have to wait too long. In an interview from earlier this year, Blizzard stated it hoped to release Diablo games more frequently than in the past. In other Diablo news, Diablo 4 players have finally found the game’s secret cow level, along with what is without a doubt the most ridiculous item in the franchise’s history.