Ort+Sol: Mephisto, Lord of Hatred

by Whitney "Neinball" Fairchild - 7 years ago

Odium, Mefis, Dul’Mephistos. The Lord of Hatred has gone by many names, but we know him best as Mephisto. In honor of the recent developments in the Design a Legendary series Ort+Sol returns with a vengeance as we delve into vile depths of Hell.

The Nature of Hatred

Mephisto is the eldest of the three Prime Evils and as it is generally associated with age, Mephisto is considered to be the most intelligent and scheming of the Prime Evils. He uses these abilities to assert himself as the unofficial leader of the Primes by constantly pitting his brothers against one another. Baal and Diablo put up with Mephisto’s machinations only because his constant plotting gives them plenty of avenues to pursue their own ambitions. His position within the Three makes him one of the greatest leaders in Hell and his constant manipulation of the other Evils solidifies his placement at the top. While no one honors him as the ruler of the Burning Hells he is the closest thing to a leader of the Seven Evils.

Like his title would suggest, Mephisto hates all things, angels, humans and demons alike. Nothing fills his black heart with joy like seeing entire societies thrown into depravity as they wage war on one another in the blind hatred brought on by his subtle plots. The demons within his Realm of Hatred constantly form alliances and factions based on different ideologies as they vie with one another for power. Mephisto takes great interest in the plots and machinations of these factions as they constantly lead to all our war.

Mephisto is also the only of the Seven Evils that is known to have children. His progeny, Lilith and Lucion, are demons of considerable power themselves. Lilith was one of the renegades responsible for stealing the Worldstone and creating Sanctuary. She single-handedly slew almost every other angel and demon that had taken refugee in Sanctuary when the renegades started warring over the fate of the Nephalem. Lucion was Mephisto’s proxy on Sanctuary during the Sin Wars and guided the forces of Hell in the fight for control of the souls of humanity. Lucion was able to stand against Uldyssian, one of the strongest Nephalem to have ever existed, and almost defeated him before being destroyed.

In addition to his powerful offspring Mephisto commands great armies within the realms of Hell. Like the other Demon Lords, Mephisto commands a massive host of demons, but it is his command over the undead that he is best known for. His hatred is so pervasive that it seeps into the dead and animates them as specters of vengeance seeking to lash out their hatred for the living on any who cross their paths. Mephisto’s hatred is so infused into his very being that when he is injured in battle his very blood corrupts and twists the ground it falls upon, creating misshapen demon spawn of lava and rock.

Dark Beginnings

Being the eldest of the Prime makes Mephisto one of the oldest beings in existence and like his brothers was spawned from one of the heads of the great dragon Tathamet. Ever since the discovery of Heaven Mephisto has been at the center of Hell’s war effort in the Eternal Conflict. With his vast intelligence and ability to unify the other Lords of Hell he guided most of the overarching strategies in Hell. It was Mephisto who first noticed the retreat of the angels during the battles in Pandemonium that signaled the loss of the Worldstone.

The Sin War

After the Worldstone was discovered to be missing there was nothing left to fight over and the Eternal Conflict came to a halt. The demons were the first to discover the new world of Sanctuary thanks to the actions of the Virjerei summoners. It didn’t take long for Mephisto and his brothers to see the potential for evil that lurked within the hearts of men. The three saw these new beings as a weapon the likes of which that had never been seen before in Creation and immediately began plotting on how to corrupt the descendants of the Nephalem. Simply invading Sanctuary wasn’t an option as such a show of force would undoubtedly be noticed by the High Heavens so a subtler plan was hatched to slow corrupt humanity through the guide of a false religion, that of the Triune. Within the Triune Mephisto took on the aspect of Mefis, Spirit of Love, to hide his true intentions and sway the belief of the unwitting humans that flocked to this new religion. It is around this time that Inarius returned from his self imposed exile and fought back against the Triune with his own religion and thus began the Sin War.

Mephisto and the other Primes had very little direct involvement throughout most of the Sin War, it was Mephisto’s son Lucion that guided the forces of Hell during the shadow conflict. It is difficult to say who may have won this war for the souls of mankind had the spark of the Nephalem not been rekindled within a group of commoners. It was due to this new force being brought into the Sin War that the Heavenly Hosts finally became aware of Sanctuary entered into the conflict. Thanks to the actions of Uldyssian the Nephalem were able to hold their own in this three way conflict and a truce was called. Acting as his station would dictate, it was Mephisto that represented the Burning Hells in the negotiations with the Angiris Council as what should be done with the inhabitants of Sanctuary. While Mephisto agreed to have the forces of Hell leave Sanctuary alone, he and his brothers immediately started plotting new ways they could try and take control of this resource.

Of Plots and Exiles

While the Three were busy planning ways to take control of the Nephalem the Lesser Evils grew impatient. The Lessers lacked the vision of the Three and were more worried about continuing the Eternal Conflict than playing with these pitiful humans. This shows the difference between Mephisto and Azmodan, who is considered to be Hell’s greatest tactician. While Azmodan can’t see his plots through the outsides of the battlefield, Mephisto’s plans are far more reaching.

The Lesser Evils must have thought very highly of themselves as they waged a civil war and ultimately defeated the Primes. Little did they know they were playing directly into the plans of the Three. Mephisto and his brothers had planned all along to be defeated by the Lesser’s knowing they would be banished from Hell to realm they so desire, Sanctuary. Once the Primes had been cast out onto the mortal realm they immediately began sowing fear, destruction and hatred across the lands. It wasn’t long before the Horadrim were formed to combat the Evils that now plagued Sanctuary.

Being the physically weakest of the Three, Mephisto was the first fall and be imprisoned within the Sapphire Soulstone. His soulstone was given to the Zakarum to safeguard and it was within the Temple of Light in Travincal that he was locked away to be forgotten, but hatred is a difficult thing to forget. Mephisto’s essence was able to corrupt his prison and reach out into the hearts of his jailers, twisting and corrupting them over generations of imprisonment. As he worked his subtle influence within the High Council of Zakarum there was one who proved to be immune his spell, the Que-Hagan Khalim, leader of the Zakarum. Unfortunately for Khalim he didn’t uncover the corruption swelling within the heart of of his council until it was too late. Mephisto gained control of the High Council and instructed them in a ritual that would break his soulstone and free his physical form. His first act upon being freed was to order his new followers to turn on the former master Khalim and dismember him so that he wouldn’t pose any threat to Mephisto’s plans.

Shortly after being freed Mephisto began work on creating the Compelling Orb, an artifact that would allow him to easily control the rest of the Zakarum faith and turn it into his personal army to spread his influence across the globe and hunt for the whereabouts of his brothers. Eventually Diablo’s soulstone would be found in Tristram and the archbishop Lazrus would be sent with Leroic to ensure that the Lord of Terror would be freed.

The Fall of Hatred

It wouldn’t take long before Lazrus’s plot came to fruition and Diablo would be freed. During Diablo’s travels towards Kurast in the guise of the Dark Wanderer he would free his other brother Baal, but a band of mortal heroes had begun to give chase to the Primes. After three hundred years of imprisonment the Three were finally united in the depths of Temple of Light, now the Durance of Hatred, and there they put their plot in motion to retake Hell and start a new assault upon Sanctuary with the power of the soulstones under their control. Shortly after this unholy reunion the band of heroes would arrive to try and stop the plot of the Three, but they were too late. Diablo and Baal had already left to continue their scheme and Mephisto faced the heroes to stop their interference.

The Lord of Hatred proved to be a formidable foe for the heroes. He turned their hatred upon each other and preyed upon their mixed backgrounds to sow distrust amongst them. The battle raged for hours but eventually the heroes emerged victorious and bound the essence of Mephisto back within his soulstone. The heroes forced their way through the realms of Hell and eventually made it to the Hellforge and it was here, upon the Anvil of Destruction that Mephisto’s soulstone was destroyed. At the time all thought that the Lord of Hatred would be no more, with his soul finally banished to the Black Abyss.

The Rise of the Prime Evil

Mephisto’s next appearance in Sanctuary would be when he trapped once more within a soulstone but this time he would held within the Black Soulstone as part of Diablo’s plot to become the Prime Evil. Even though Mephisto was part of the plot behind the Dark Exile and the original soulstones it’s not yet known whether he was a willing participant with Diablo’s scheme. After Diablo was defeated by the Nephalem during the events of Diablo III Mephisto along with rest of the Seven Evils are now trapped within the Black Soulstone, but much like Mephisto’s original imprisonment the Evil within the Black Soulstone has been corrupting the High Heavens where it was being held. Seeing this corruption Tyrael hatched a plot to steal the Black Soulstone away and hide it in Sanctuary away from the forces of Heaven and Hell. All went well until Malthael interfered…

Now the future of the Black Soulstone and Mephisto within it is uncertain, but Hatred is a very difficult thing to contain.



