Memorable characters are the foundation of any great game world - and with this in mind, I started asking questions about the characters in Diablo: Unholy Alliance. Who exactly were they? Where did they come from, and what exactly did they want? What were their strengths? Their faults? Their secrets? I wanted them serve as a reminder of the great stories and characters that had come before, while at the same presenting the player with something new.
What resulted was a group of characters who served as a great reflection of the game’s story and setting. These characters would be the player’s loyal companions during their epic adventure on Sanctuary, but would still have their own secrets that might take the story in new and unexpected directions. Most importantly, I wanted these characters to have interesting and engaging personalities. If you’re going to spend hundreds of hours on a journey, you should enjoy the people you’re spending them with.
GAVILAN BLACKHEART
An infamous adventurer with a mysterious book, Gavilan Blackheart holds a dangerous secret…
Gavilan Blackheart is an infamous adventurer who leads the band of relic hunters known as Blackheart’s Reapers. Known far and wide for the mysterious book he carries, “the Blackheart” has discovered some of Sanctuary’s most wondrous and powerful relics of the past - and then sells them to highest bidder. Named for the strange, black, heart-shaped symbol tattooed on his chest, Gavilan is a hard man that requires unquestioning loyalty from his crew. He never speaks of his past, and always keeps his own counsel. When asked about the origins of his book, Gavilan merely refers to it as “family heirloom” – but those fools who have attempted to plunder its secrets have suffered the Blackheart’s blade.
SECRET LORE: Blackheart’s real name is Gavilan Cain, a distant descendant of Jered Cain, whose family had kept to the ancient rituals of the Horadrim for centuries. Orphaned as an infant by the Zakarum Inquisition, Gavilan did not become aware of his illustrious family legacy until coming into possession of the Book of Cain years later. Although he first used the book to aid him in finding valuable relics for profit, in time it came to teach him the ways of the Horadrim and the truth about their storied past. But when the Darkmother Lilith returns to Sanctuary to take her vengeance upon humanity, Gavilan will be faced with a difficult choice. Will he abandon his old life, revive the Horadric Order, and rise up to save the world from destruction? Or will he reject the burden of his family legacy, and watch the world burn?
“Reach for the book again, and you’ll come away with one less hand, friend. I promise you that.”
“My past? My business. You’d be better off minding your own.”
THORGIS FOE-SLAYER
Forged in the fighting pits of Kehjistan, this barbarian’s destiny has yet to be fulfilled…
Thorgis is a powerful barbarian from the Dreadland wastes, a legend among his people for his size, strength and ferocity. Exiled from his home for reasons unknown, “the Foe-Slayer” traveled to Kehjistan where he served as a mercenary for the True Sons of Rakkis - earning his name in battles by day and in the camp’s brutal fighting pits by night. When he met the Blackheart during the siege of Caldeum, Thorgis sensed a kindred spirit and agreed to join the Reapers in their search for ancient relics. Wielding a monstrous hammer hewn from the heart of a dreadwood oak, Thorgis feels an unwavering loyalty to the Blackheart - but in his quietest moments, he can often be found staring north towards his home in the Dreadlands.
SECRET LORE: Thorgis is the brother of Korak the Shatterer - the half-mad chieftan who has united the barbarian tribes. In reality, he was exiled from the Dreadlands because he represented a threat to Korak’s rule - and Thorgis was unwilling to shed his brother’s blood in a struggle over power. In time, Thorgis will come to learn that Korak has come under the influence of the old god Trag’oul, who plans to maintain the Balance by sacrificing the barbarian horde as they slaughter hundreds of thousands across Sanctuary. As the threat of Lilith and the Harbingers looms heavy on the horizon, the world will need the full might of the barbarians to face her - but will Thorgis return to the Dreadlands to face his brother and save his people once and for all?
“You seek revenge against the Blackheart? That road leads through this hammer.”
“The road ahead is difficult. May the strength of Bul-Kathos show me the way.”
BROTHER GRIM
A fallen Zakarum Vindicator with an unholy bloodlust, Brother Grim has a dark side waiting to be unleashed…
Brother Jonas Grim was once a vindicator for the Zakarum Church, but was ex-communicated from the order because of a love of strong drink and a frightening penchant for violence. Thick-set and bullish, with a scarred and stubbled head, Brother Grim still wears the armor of the Children of Light, and wields a giant, iron battle-axe that he lovingly refers to as “Grace”. Never far from a jug of wine, Brother Grim has a hearty laugh and a jolly spirit - but in battle that spirit can turn to a black wrath that ends with the slaughtered corpses of his enemies. Although Brother Grim still boisterously preaches the virtues of the Zakarum faith, he never flinches from an opportunity to bring retribution upon his “wayward brothers” in the Children of Light.
SECRET LORE: Although the Templar Order was disbanded more than a hundred years ago after the horrific revelations concerning the torture of their initiates, the Zakarum Inquisition revived and improved those techniques for their Vindicators - a covert sect that Brother Grim was once a part of. Although he was excommunicated from the order because of the almost-supernatural nature of his bloodlust, the Church has kept a close watch on his journeys across Sanctuary - and when they become aware of his association with a suspected descendant of Jered Cain, they recognize another opportunity to cleanse the world of heretical Horadric influence. Unbeknownst to Jonas, his weapon Grace has been enchanted with black magic to reactivate his Vindicator conditioning - and the Church need only choose the most opportune moment to unleash the dark side of Brother Grim upon Gavilan Blackheart and his friends.
“Ha ha! By Grace you shall be delivered, my wayward brothers!”
“The prophet says there is Light in all things that bring us joy. Like the delicious vintage in this jug!”
LADY DREYA
A fierce warrior who wields a deadly bow, Lady Dreya seeks a treasure not seen for a thousand years…
Lady Dreya is a traveling warrior with black hair, golden eyes, and flawless brown skin covered in strange tribal tattoos. She is skilled with a vast array of weapons – and with a bow, there are none more deadly in all of Sanctuary. Captured by the Children of Light in the ancient ruins of the monastery of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, Dreya was branded a heretic and sentenced to death by fire – but the Reapers fought the zealots and rescued her before the torch was thrown. What she was doing in the monastery she would not say, but she pledged to serve the Blackheart “until the balance of her debt was paid”. By any reckoning, she’s paid that debt in blood a thousand times over. Although her skills in battle have served the Reapers well, Dreya’s subtle inquiries as to whether or not his book mentions anything about the Sisterhood leads Gavilan to believe that she will only be with the Reapers for as long as it takes for them to return to Khanduras.
SECRET LORE: Dreya hails from the Skovos Isles - a warrior-priestess of Askari. Trained by the Amazons from birth to fight in the dangerous rainforests of her island home, Dreya was sent to Khanduras in order to find the famed Sightless Eye and return it to its rightful home among the Askari. Realizing that Gavilan’s book might hold clues about the Eye, she joined the Reapers with the hopes of discovering its whereabouts. In time, Dreya will recover the Eye from the clutches of one of the Darkmother’s evil covens – but when it shows her a potential future where the world is destroyed as a result of their unholy alliance with the Lord of Terror, Dreya will have to choose whether to trust the Blackheart - or to kill him.
“I’d recommend you take that look off your face, or I’ll put an arrow through it.”
“The Sightless Eye was stolen from my people a thousand years ago. I will either return it, or die trying.”
Khando the Blind
Hardened and bent from a thousand battles, Khando the Blind is much more than he seems…
Khando is a monk, trained in the forest monasteries of Ivgorod. Born blind at birth, Khando was abandoned and left for dead by his family, his disfigurement considered an ill omen sent by the gods - but before the howling babe was set upon by wolves, a traveling monk picked him up and brought him back Ivgorod to be trained. Khando crossed paths with the Reapers in the tangled forests of the Sharval Wilds, where he helped them overcome the infamous Woodbaron of Westrmarch and his pack of murderous thieves. Old and bent from a lifetime of travels, with a bald head and a long, snowy white beard, Khando appears little more than a decrepit old man wearing the tattered blindfold of a blind beggar – but in battle, his gnarled staff as dangerous as any blade. When the Blackheart asked if the Reapers’ plunder betrayed the core tenants of his Sahptev religion, Khando merely shrugged, took a long drag off his dreamleaf pipe, and patted his share of the take. “Who truly knows the mind of the gods?”
SECRET LORE: Khando is one of the mysterious and powerful Patriarchs of Ivgorod, the Avatar of Neutrality who maintains the balance between the Sects of Order and Chaos. Having heard rumors that the Book of Cain had been found, the Patriarchs decided to send one of their own to seek out the infamous Gavilan Blackheart to determine whether or not the rumors were true. Khando, who is hundreds of years old, was alive when Leah, the ward of Deckard Cain, became the vessel of Diablo – and the Nine have decided that the volatile power of the Horadrim cannot be allowed to rise again on Sanctuary. Once Khando’s worst fears are realized, and he finds out the truth about the Blackheart’s true origins, his desire to revive the Horadrim, and his desperate plan to reincarnate the Lord of Terror, his mission is to obtain the Book of Cain and destroy it - whatever the cost.
“The will of the gods is like an inferno. Fascinating to look at, but impossible to control.”
“The weakness of age is an illusion. The flesh is merely a vessel for immortal spirit within.”
MAD MORISTAN
His mind shattered by the deaths of his kin, Mad Moristan seeks bloody vengeance upon Hell’s minions…
Moristan Locke hails from the highlands above New Tristram. For many years, Locke was a simple farmer, but that changed when his family was butchered by demons before his very eyes. Driven mad by grief and thirsting for vengeance, Locke buried his family, traveled north to the Dreadlands where he learned the dark disciplines of the demon hunters. The Reapers found him half-dead and gibbering incoherently in the ruins of Bastion’s Keep, surrounded by dozens of his bestial victims – and soon after he joined them. With a bone-white shock of hair, haunted eyes, and a necklace of demon teeth extracted from his prey, “Mad Moristan” is a frightening individual to behold – and despite the insanity that has twisted his mind, he is a deadly foe on the battlefield.
SECRET LORE: The mind of Moristan Locke was irrevocably broken in his past. Although this has given him a preternatural perception into the supernatural world, it has also made him more susceptible to demonic influence. When the Reapers are forced to search the ancient city of Viz-jun to find the Helm of the Warlord of Blood, Mad Moristan obtains a ancient relic - one that carries the soul of a powerful demon subjugated by the Vizjerei mage clan long ago. The more that Locke uses the relic to slaughter his enemies, the more deeply his soul becomes possessed. Can Mad Moristan resist losing his soul to this ancient evil? Or will he succumb to the dark powers of hell and betray his friends when they need him most?
I see the face of Mistress Death in midnight’s shattered mirror!”
“Fear me, spawns of hell! I will drown you in oceans of blood and fury!”
