Diablo II - Just How Religious is Diablo?
by El Flesh

Just how religious is Diablo?

It's a good question to discuss. How much of the Diablo mythos is religious? You'd have to be particularly obtuse not to realize that it's based on Christianity almost exclusively.

If you've been around for awhile, as some of us have, you might have bought D2 entirely on the merits of the original Diablo (whether or not that turned out to be a bad call, is not the subject of THIS particular piece, but hey, take that ball and run with it if you like).

In the original Diablo, we were introduced to things like "the battle between the light and the dark." Although that was nicely neutral in terms of which religion it followed: the devil / demon characters, and the description of the fallen angelâ Izual, pretty much led to Christianity. I have heard an account of a poor American boy's mother flipping out on him and pouring holy water on the CD. You'd think a religious nut would be proud that her boy was trying to kill the devil.

There are a lot more crosses (but no crucifixes in either game) to be found in the original Diablo, but not many in D2. I do find that the rogue monastery does look an awful lot like the very Gothic Catholic monastery on Mont St-Michel in France, from the "dark ages" however. The torture chambers below seem like nothing more supernatural than the Inquisition was. I'm still not sure if it was demons that did the torturing, or if it was left over from priests doing the work of god. Demons putting priests on their own torture devices would paradoxically be justice, wouldnât it?

Of course, a character like the Paladin is screaming out "Crusades." The "Holy Bolt" skill carried over from the original definitely belongs to him. Although you would think that he'd especially go after demons instead of the undead. We should also not forget that your life and mana bulbs are held aloft by an angel (looking quite different from the Tyrael brand) and a devil.

Given that Diablo, said to be the leader of the three in the original, is so obviously the devil, God himself seems conspicuous in his absence. Of course, it wouldn't make for much of a game if "god" decided to meddle; Tyrael wasn't even able to take on Baal, nor was he that hot against the very human D2's Diablo. It's all up to you, hero.

Then we have Barbarians that worship "Bul-Kathos," Amazons that worship other gods, pagan Druids that worship Nature, and I don't even wanna know what Necromancers are up to with this "Rathma."

You know, I sort of liked the original's clear religion basis, even though I find all religion a load of malarkey. (And please don't bother e-mailing me trying to "explain" things to me. I'm a lot more intelligent than I sound.)

While we're at it, have the old-timers out there noticed that D2 seems a LOT less nightmarish, christian or otherwise, than Diablo? Even the music in Diablo can give you bad dreams. When I first got into D2's Jerhyn's basement, however, the music made my wife stick her head in the door, and utterly confused, ask "What the heck are you playing?" She knew it was supposed to be scary, but it sounded instead like a vacation to the orient.

And does anyone remember the nicely suggestive death pose of the Succubi in Diablo compared to the nasty-leg things in D2X? In D2X, they just become a pile of KFC bones!

All in all, it seems that D2 has been toned down a HELL of a lot compared to its predecessor - less sex, less "nightmare," less religion.

Is that good or bad?