Know Your Lore #5 Tyrael

What makes the angel mortal.

Member of the Angiris Council

Leader of the Horadrim

Archangel/aspect of justice then wisdom

Willingly became mortal

Supporter of humanity

Your presence honors me

For as long as time remembered, angels and demons fought in an eternal conflict. The Archangel of Justice, Tyrael was a force of pure righteousness on the battlefield, even coming close to killing the Lord of Sin Azmodan. Not all were content with a lifetime of warfare, however, and a renegade group of angels and demons stole the Worldstone. The Worldstone was a literal mountain of power, and with it the angel Inarius and the demoness Lillith created Sanctuary and the Nephalem, a powerful race of early humans.

My vote is for humanity

During these Sin Wars, the forces of both Heaven and Hell learned of the existence of Sanctuary and men. Since humanity was born of both demon and angel, they were free to make their own choices between good and evil. Tyrael at first considered this an abomination and agreed with the destruction of Sanctuary. However, with the fighting growing throughout Sanctuary, the Nephalem leader Uldyssian realized his power would bring about the destruction of the world. With this knowledge he sacrificed himself to save his home. Such an act touched Tyrael's heart, and he cast the deciding vote on the Angiris Council to save Sanctuary.

I am a wanderer

Although Tyrael had saved humanity, he feared that any issues within Sanctuary would bring the debate up again. Wishing to protect the people he had grown to admire, he wandered Sanctuary regularly, keeping Hell's influence at bay. These efforts would be in vain, however, as a civil war raged in Hell and the three Prime Evils were cast from it's fires and into the world of man. To combat this great threat, Tyrael fashioned the soul stones out of the Worldstone. These powerful objects would serve as a prison for the souls of the Prime Evils. Such a dangerous task could not be done by Tyrael alone, and he formed the Horadrim to assist him. He would spend his next years hunting down Baal, Mephisto and Diablo with the help of these mages. Although he had put an end to the immediate threat, Tyrael had not stopped their ability to sway the minds of men.

Tyrael fought the foul forces of Hell on Humanity's behalf.

You have just ensured the doom of this world

Diablo demonstrated his power over men a time later by corrupting and possessing the soul of the warrior Aidan. Taking a new identity as the Dark Wanderer, Aiden traveled East to free the imprisoned demon lords. As the Dark Wanderer approached the Horadrim, whom bravely took on Baal's soul, Tyrael appeared to stop him. During the fight which ensued, a man named Marius, who had followed the Dark Wanderer, succumbed to the will of Diablo and freed Baal from his prison. Tyrael commanded Marius to take Baal's soulstone to be destroyed, but while Tyrael was distracted, Baal captured him and bound him to his former prison.

Not even death impedes justice

Tyrael was rescued when a group of adventurers who were tracking the Dark Wanderer found him. He was far too weakened by Baal to help them directly, but he guided the brave souls to destroying Diablo and Mephisto's soulstones. Unfortunately, Marius was unsuccessful and the stone fell into Baal's hands. He intended to march on the Barbarian's homeland and corrupt the Worldstone. Still too weak to face the threat himself, he teleported the adventurers to Mount Arreat. Even though they managed to defeat Baal, the damage had been done; the Worldstone was forever corrupted. Tyrael cast his sword into the stone, destroying it and his physical form in the process.

Tyrael's involvement with humanity brought him to blows with Imperius.

I am justice itself

Some time later, Tyrael reformed in the High Heavens but Imperius, leader of the Angiris Council, had learned of his actions. The once close friends fought, and Tyrael decided that if the angels of heaven wouldn't fight for men, he could not stand as their brother. In an unprecedented act of defiance, Tyrael tore his wings from his body and fell to Sanctuary as a mortal. His sword, El'druin, was shattered into three pieces when he landed, causing him to forget who he was, and why he was in Tristram. To make matters worse, his heavenly presence was enough to wake the dead.

I was... I am Tyrael

A group of Nephalem descendants killed the vengeful dead, retrieved the shards of El'druin, and restored Tyrael's memory. It came at great cost, however, as the witch known as Maghda killed Tyrael's close friend Deckard Cain.Through his sacrifice, the Nephalem learned of Belial and Azmodan's plots invade the world of man. With the help of his new allies, Tyrael and crew saved Caldeum from Belial and defended Bastion's Keep from the demon invasion sprung from Mount Arreat. Despite this success, they never saw the real enemy; Leah's mother Adria. She betrayed them and summoned the soul of Diablo and all the evils into Leah who went on to assault the High Heavens itself.

Tyrael willingly became mortal to help the realm of Sanctuary.

Justice dawns on this world

As Diablo rampaged through the heavens, Tyrael's old comrades were quickly captured or disposed. With the archangel of Hope captured, Tyrael began to despair, believing that his new mortalilty prevented him from seeing Adria's evil. For the first time, he felt the emotion of terror, something that as an angel he did not have the capacity to feel. His mortal allies pressed on, however, defeating the Prime Evil Diablo and locking the souls back into the black soulstone.

Reckoning is at hand

Although Diablo had been defeated, two new problems arose. The first was the issue of the black soulstone. Its evil could not be allowed to stay in the heavens, but a lack of consensus prevented the angels from moving it. The other, more personal issue was with Tyrael himself. Realizing that justice had been served, he took a new place in the Angiris Council as the aspect of Wisdom, but his new mortal thoughts kept bringing him to his human and nephalem companions. He felt out of place in heaven. This pressure, combined with the nightmares he suffered from Diablo's influence made Tyrael decide to flee.

Tyrael fighting against his former brother, Malthael.

You have done well, Horadrim

In defiance of his inactive council mates, Tyrael reformed the Horadrim and set forth a plan to steal the soulstone from heaven. They were successful in their mission, but Tyrael was ultimately cast from heaven for his efforts. As they brought the stone to its hiding place, the former archangel of wisdom Malthael appeared. This meeting was not a pleasant one, as Malthael slaughtered the Horadrim guards and stole the stone for himself. Sparing Tyrael only because of his angelic soul.

No one can stop death

With death itself unleashed, Tyrael once again joined with his mortal allies to defend Westmarch. Although the Nephalem wished to pursue Malthael, Tyrael knew not where he was. A sliver of the soul stone left behind would help them to that end, bringing them to the Battlefields of Eternity and Pandamoneum Fortress. With the help of long dead spirits, the Nephalem was able to bypass Malthael's defenses and stop him from killing all demonic influenced life. With this victory, Tyrael became worried for his companions. Seeing their ability to defeat the mightiest champions of both Heaven and Hell, he hoped his friends would never fall into temptation or darkness.

Tyrael has been the deciding factor in Sanctuary's survival for many conflicts. The denizans of that realm are surely releived to have a being as powerful as him fighting for them. Although he is no longer an angel, Tyrael still holds true to his ideals of a just world. With the ambigious ending of Reaper of Souls, it is very likely we will see more of Tyrael, but what his future holds is unknown.

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