History Characters / DiabloHighHeavens

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:A Type C; Malthael's rationale for eradicating Humanity is because doing so would end the Eternal Conflict which has made humans so suspectible to becoming corrupt and evil like demons do. While he genuinely believes in his cause and paints himself to be doing it for a greater good, his refusal to seek out any alterntives as well as being more than willing to turn on his former comrades and even kill off any angels who don't side with him ''and'' don't even have any demonic taint on them, alongside being merciless on every human, good or bad, completely nullifies whatever good intentions Malthael has on his goals]].

* MoralMyopia: [[spoiler:For all his talk about Humans inevitably chosing evil when given the opportunity over good as a consequence of their Demonic heritage, Malthael is ''exceptionally'' quick to turn on his fellow Angels and kill ''them'' when they don't align with his beliefs. Not to mention how with Diablo defeated, all Malthael had to do to win the Eternal Conflict for the Angels... was absolutely nothing. Instead, he took the decidedly evil option of stealing the Black Soulstone for his own purposes and slaughtering anyone who got in his way, or whom he seemed unworthy.]]
* NearVillainVictory: [[spoiler:While the Nephalem managed to defeat him before he could complete his plans, he still managed to kill the vast majority of humanity and postponed the reawakening of humanity's Nephalem heritage indefinitely. ''Diablo IV'' set decades later, showed that the survivors would be unable to recover in time to oppose the next demonic threat.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Imperius would likely have tried to kill the Nephalem upon their second visit to the High Heavens, but Malthael's [[spoiler: slaying of fellow angels in an attempt to murder the Nephalem -- to say nothing of his tampering with the power of the Black Soulstone, which contained the essence of the Prime Evil -- led Imperius to decide Malthael ''had'' to be put down, and that despite his hatred of them the Nephalem was best suited to the task.]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:His failed attempt to destroy humanity for the sake of the High Heavens released the Great Evils, effectively starting the effectively-ended Eternal Conflict all over again. Since he killed off most of humanity, when Lilith and Inarius were both released decades later, they were free to enact their plans on a Sanctuary far too weakened to defend itself from them.]]

* WalkingWasteland: [[spoiler:When he unleashes his death magic, all mortal life rots into dust in seconds. He uses the Black Soulstone to amplify this power to let him slowly kill all life on Sanctuary before he was stopped.]]

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: By ''Diablo IV'', Inarius has convinced himself that he is the virtuous god that he posed as to the mortals of Sanctuary. He has also deluded himself into thinking that all he has to do to get back to Heaven is to kill Lilith and stop her plans, despite having no reason to believe this would work. [[spoiler:And indeed, it doesn't work, which Lilith points out to Inarius after he's run her through. Essentially, Inarius deluded himself into thinking that the High Heavens still gave a damn about him after everything he's done prior, and that he's never going to go back. This leads Inarius into a VillainousBreakdown, which allows Lilith to likewise run Inarius through with the same spear and kill him.]]

* NeverMyFault: He can't accept that the High Heavens cast him out for his own actions. Instead, he blames Lilith, humanity, and Sanctuary as a whole for the pain he has suffered. He seeks to destroy them all in his demented plans to "make things right".

* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: During his time ruling Sanctuary, his desire for peace slowly warped into sheer egotism. By the time of his banishment, his only real concern was that nobody would know of his "great deeds". Upon his return in ''Diablo IV'', he has become little more than a glorified cult leader obsessed with murdering Lilith at any cost.

* UndignifiedDeath: [[spoiler:Lilith kills him by stabbing him through the chest with his own spear and tearing off his wings while he begs the Heavens to protect him. Afterwards, his body is unceremoniously dragged down by the damned souls of Hell, presumably to join them in their misery for eternity.]]

* NotBrainwashed: [[spoiler:He betrayed the High Heavens of his own accord, not because he was corrupted.]]

* LightIsGood: Most of the Angiris Council are quite benevolent in their own ways. They govern and administrate the laws and rules by which all other Angels abide, a heavenly counterpart and opposing force to the three Prime Evils of the Burning Hells, their eternal adversaries.

* CelestialParagonsAndArchangels: As benevolent counterpoints to the various leaders of the Burning Hells. In the absence of God, they serve as the leaders of the High Heavens. It initially consisted of five archangels, each of a particular aspect said to represent the chief virtues of Anu.

* LightIsGood: The Angiris Council is the highest known authority of the High Heavens that govern and administrate the laws and rules by which all other Angels abide, a heavenly counterpart and opposing force to the three Prime Evils of the Burning Hells, their eternal adversaries.

* CelestialParagonsAndArchangels: As counterpoints to the various leaders of the Burning Hells. In the absence of God, they serve as the leaders of the High Heavens.

* LightIsNotGood: Most of the angels are far from benevolent and would probably be LawfulNeutral at best (indeed, the series is more about OrderVersusChaos than BlackAndWhiteMorality)

[[Characters/CharacterClasses Character Classes]] | [[Characters/DiabloHighHeavens The High Heavens]] | [[Characters/DiabloBurningHells The Burning Hells]] | [[Characters/DiabloHumans Humans]] | [[Characters/DiabloEldritch Eldritch]]]]]]-]

'''Character Classes''' | [[Characters/DiabloHighHeavens The High Heavens]] | [[Characters/DiabloBurningHells The Burning Hells]] | [[Characters/DiabloHumans Humans]] | [[Characters/DiabloEldritch Eldritch]]]]]]-]

[[Characters/DiabloCharacterClasses Character Classes]] | '''The High Heavens''' | [[Characters/DiabloBurningHells The Burning Hells]] | [[Characters/DiabloHumans Humans]]]]]]-]

* FakeUltimateHero: By the Cathedral Of Light, he is considered Humanity's destined savior, and later [[spoiler: a martyr that [[HeroicSacrifice gave his life to defeat Lilith]]]]. Of course, this all ignores [[spoiler: That the player had to finish her off]], all of the previous times he got his own ass handed to him by both sides of the Eternal Conflict, the centuries he spent trapped in the Burning Hells while Tyrael, The Horadrim, the Adventurers, and The Nephalem did the actual saving of the humanity, and [[spoiler: Reverend Mother Prava's inconsistence as to whether he willingly gave his life, or Lorath and the player left him to die]], all of which his followers are eiter unaware of, [[SelectiveObliviousness or igore]].

[[caption-width-right:301:"If I have learned anything during my time here, it is that what we desire and what we need are rarely the same thing."]]

Izual was once Archangel Tyrael's lieutenant, sent to Hell to battle for the Hellforge. He was eventually corrupted and trapped inside a demon's body by the Prime Evils. In '''Diablo II''', Tyrael asks the player character to free him of his misery, only for Izual to reveal he betrayed the High Heavens on purpose and was the one who advised the Prime Evils on using the Soulstones, initiating their plan to invade Sanctuary. He is later brought back by Diablo in the third opus to disturb Tyrael.

* PutOnABus: Tyrael is completely missing from ''IV''. The lore says that he disappeared some time before the game starts, but no one knows where he is.

* FakeUltimateHero: By the Cathedral Of Light, he is considered Humanity's destined savior, and later [[spoiler: a martyr that [[HeroicSacrifice gave his life to defeat Lilith]]. Of course, this all ignores [[spoiler: That the player had to finish her off]], all of the previous times he got his own ass handed to him by both sides of the Eternal Conflict, the centuries he spent trapped in the Burning Hells while Tyrael, The Horadrim, the Adventurers, and The Nephalem did the actual saving of the humanity, and [[spoiler: Reverend Mother Prava's inconsistence as to whether he willingly gave his life, or Lorath and the player left him to die]], all of which his followers are eiter unaware of, [[SelectiveObliviousness or igore]].

* FakeUltimateHero: By the Cathedral Of Light, he is considered Humanity's destined savior, and later [[spoiler: a martyr that [[HeroicSacrifice gave his life to defeat Lilith]]. Of course, this all ignores [[That the player had to finish her off]], all of the previous times he got his own ass handed to him by both sides of the Eternal Conflict, the centuries he spent trapped in the Burning Hells while Tyrael, The Horadrim, the Adventurers, and The Nephalem did the actual saving of the humanity, and [[spoiler: Reverend Mother Prava's inconsistence as to whether he willingly gave his life, or Lorath and the player left him to die]], all of which his followers are eiter unaware of, [[SelectiveObliviousness or igore]].

** [[spoiler:A subtle bit during his doomed final confrontation with Lilith arguably makes this aspect of him worse than it already is; when Lilith calls him out for murdering Rathma in cold blood, he claims that he did it as just another part in appeasing Heaven and earning his redemption. This could easily be chalked up as him just being his holier-than-thou NeverMyFault self... except there's the easy-to-miss element that his voice ''genuinely quavers'' when recounting this. Keep in mind that, as we're traversing Rathma's temple, we receive visions as we make our way through it that all but outright state that Inarius killed Rathma out of spite when he wouldn't surrender the key to Hell to him. Inarius is so utterly self-deluded that he can't reconcile with the fact that he was willing to kill his own child for any reason other than as a regrettable-but-necessary cost for his redemption.]]

* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: Angels are creatures of law by nature, so they will follow any agreement or law to the letter. When the Prime Evils schemed their Dark Exile to enter Sanctuary, they refused to intervene because this [[LoopholeAbuse technically hadn't violated their non-aggression agreement]]. The Council was willing to sit back and allow the Prime Evils a free shot at the Worldstone for this and were enraged that Tyrael would break their rules to prevent it.

* OnlySaneMan: Sort of. Itherael and Auriel also show signs of being reasonable, but Tyrael's the one who stands most openly against Imperius' more dogmatic and extremist decisions, and the only one who would think of ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight, the other two couldn't find the strength to break away from law yet. He is the only one that clearly figures out that Sanctuary is under still the threat of the Burning Hells while the High Heavens will be too bound by their own word to lift a finger after the Sin War, as clearly shown by the Dark Exile that gave the three Greater Evils free reign to do whatever they want and practically everything else that came after.

* LawfulStupid: His other FatalFlaw. Is it clear that the machinations of the Burning Hells will just bind the High Heavens into inaction while they run amok in Sanctuary, effectively playing them like a fiddle. Does he at least make sure the Burning Hells keep their end of the bargain of staying away from Sanctuary? Nope. No wonder Tyrael quit being an angel.

* OnlySaneMan: Sort of. Itherael and Auriel also show signs of being reasonable, but Tyrael's the one who stands most openly against Imperius' more dogmatic and extremist decisions, and the only one who would think of ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight, the other two couldn't find the strength to break away from law yet.

*** It should be noted that Tyrael had ''very'' good reason to remove the Black Soul Stone from Heaven, however. Its presence was spreading an invisible corruption that was effecting his fellow Angels and needed to be removed as soon as possible.

** [[spoiler:A subtle bit during his doomed final confrontation with Lilith arguably makes this aspect of him worse than it already is; when Lilith calls him out for murdering Rathma in cold blood, he claims that he did it as just another part in appeasing Heaven and earning his redemption. This could easily be chalked up as him just being his holier-than-thou NeverMyFault self... except there's the easy-to-miss element that his voice ''genuinely quavers'' when recounting this. Keep in mind that, as we're traversing Rathma's temple, we receive visions as we make our way through it that all but outright state that Inarius killed Rathma out of spite when he wouldn't surrender the key to Hell to him. Inarius is so utterly self-deluded that he can't reconcile with the fact that he was willing to kill his own child for any reason other than as a "regrettable cost" for his redemption.]]

** [[spoiler:A subtle bit during his doomed final confrontation with Lilith arguably makes this aspect of him worse than it already is; when Lilith calls him out for murdering Rathma in cold blood, he claims that he did it as just another part in appeasing Heaven and earning his redemption. This could easily be chalked up as him just being his holier-than-thou NeverMyFault self... except there's the easy-to-miss element that his voice ''genuinely quavers'' when recounting this. Keep in mind that, as we're traversing Rathma's temple, we receive visions as we make our way through it that all but outright state that Inarius killed Rathma out of spite when he wouldn't surrender the key to Hell to him. Inarius is so utterly self-deluded that he can't reconcile with the fact that he was willing to kill his own child for any reason other than as a "regrettable cost" in his quest to redeem himself.]]

** [[spoiler:A subtle bit during his doomed final confrontation with Lilith arguably makes this aspect of him worse than it already is; when Lilith calls him out for murdering Rathma in cold blood, he claims that he did it as just another part in appeasing Heaven and earning his redemption. This could easily be chalked up as him just being his holier-than-thou NeverMyFault self... except there's the easy-to-miss element that his voice ''genuinely quavers'' when recounting this. Keep in mind that, as we're traversing Rathma's temple, we receive visions as we make our way through it that all but outright state that Inarius killed Rathma out of spite when he wouldn't surrender the key to Hell to him. Inarius is so utterly self-deluded that he can't reconcile with the fact that he was willing to kill his own child for any reason other than as a "necessary evil" in his quest to redeem himself.]]