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Diablo IV’s eighth Season is on the way, and it’s all about the big return of Diablo III villain Belial, Lord of Lies. As one of the seven Great Evils of the Burning Hells, the elusive god is a powerful adversary who has been biding his time since players silenced him at the end of the last game. Diablo IV sees him return as a new lair boss with heavy implications on the narrative, but if this is going to be your first time encountering the trickster demon, or you need a refresher on his history, Blizzard as you covered.  

For a quick primer on Belial, I spoke to Blizzard’s associate lore historian Ian Landa-Beavers and lead seasons designer Deric Nunez about the character’s history up to this point, how his motivations have changed between the events of Diablo III and IV, and how they approached redesigning him as a boss encounter. Blizzard also provides exclusive concept art of Belial from Diablo III’s development. 

Game Informer: Diablo IV brought in a lot of new fans for the first time. For the unfamiliar, who is Belial? What has he been up to since his defeat in Diablo III? 

Ian Landa-Beavers: Belial is considered one of the seven Great Evils. He counts himself among the four Lesser Evils, though, that doesn't mean they're any less dangerous than the Prime Evils that sort of take rank every so often. As it is, he is the Lord of Lies. He really relishes deceit and duplicity to get what he wants out of any given situation. He particularly relishes the point when his victims realize they've been deceived. So, that's sort of a vicious cycle there. And we last saw him in Diablo III, when he was impersonating Emperor Hakan II, and he's been a little quiet since then.

Deric Nunez: As you know, folks who have played Diablo III might recall that Belial was in the form of Emperor Hakan II, as Ian pointed out. And in Diablo III, we saw what he is capable of when he is allowed to kind of build up to his full strength and put his networks of lies and intrigue throughout a society, essentially. 

So, as Ian mentioned, he has been quiet. And as we know, even if you defeat a Great Evil, that's not the permanent end to them. Their soul, or whatever they have, gets cast back into the Burning Hells to reemerge when the time is right. And Belial has essentially been kind of biding his time for that opportunistic moment that was created when Mephisto, his former mentor, at the end of the Vessel of Hatred, is now walking Sanctuary, creating the appropriate kind of atmosphere or distraction for Belial to breach Sanctuary once again, to make his bid to plunge it into the Realm of Lies, where he maintains sole dominance over the perception of reality.

Will Belial’s role be as big as it was in Diablo III, or is he merely secondary to Mephisto right now?

Nunez: We're continuing the Age of Hatred, which is the story of Mephisto. But that does not necessarily mean that Belial is coming into the game in kind of a downplayed way. In fact, he's actually coming into the game in a very meaningful way, not just from a narrative standpoint, but also a mechanical standpoint. So the entire Season 8 storyline is all about Belial and the player's efforts to ally with the Vizjerei Mage and the Cathedral of Light's former knight to kind of stem the spread of his power before it gets out of control. But as far as the impact that he'll have, even after Season 8, Belial is now a permanent part of Diablo IV as the top of the lair boss ladder. So he is the top dog, the highest difficulty, the most rewarding. And I think one of the cool things about not just Season 8, but also just the updates we're making to the Lair Boss system, as far as how Belial relates to it, is he's going to be kind of stalking the player as they're fighting the other bosses even, in the sense that he can actually surprise ambush you after defeating and looting any one of them. So it's kind of interesting, the kind of a place that we landed, where this is the Age of Hatred, it's the story Mephisto, but we're able to bring kind of fan favorite, nostalgic characters like Belial in in not just kind of like a narratively impactful way, but I think even more importantly, to some of our players, in mechanically meaningful way, as far as his role into connect the overall core loop of Diablo IV.

There's a pretty big time gap between Diablo III and IV, and we assume Belial’s been licking his wounds, so to speak. How much attention has he been paying to the events of Diablo IV, and how has this shifted his motivations since the last game? 

Nunez: I think one thing that's kind of changed is that he is fully aware of the events that have transpired. Like, again, he's been kind of biding his time, and he knows that his old mentor, Mephisto, is walking the Earth, and that's why it's an opportunistic moment for him to kind of strike. I think one of the key differences that players who are familiar with him in how he portrayed his character in Diablo III compared to IV, is through an early kind of a narrative beat where you, in some way, kind of spoil some part of his plan. Since you have the blood of Lilith coursing your veins, there's an early beat where Belial actually tries to possess you. But since you have the blood of Lilith, it kind of counteracts and it kicks off kind of like the sequence of events in Season 8. 

We'll see Belial in a bit more of an openly aggressive kind of status than we were familiar with him in Diablo III. So in Diablo IV, we have as part of the new seasonal activity, the Apparention Incursions we see Belial kind of just being more aggressive by spreading these horrifying apparitions of monsters across Sanctuary to kind of mentally break down the denizens of the Sanctuary to make them more prime for the picking. I think the best way I can put it is he knows that he has a limited window, while Mephisto is creating this distraction, to strike and kind of grasp at some semblance of power or control on Sanctuary. So I think we can expect a bit more of an aggressive, maybe impatient, Belial.

 Does that mean Belial will rely less on subterfuge and tricks and be more in-your-face?

Nunez: I think pretty much, yeah, he's going to be relying a little bit less on subterfuge, since he now knows that there is a distinct threat in the Wanderer who spoiled kind of a part of his plan. So we can expect Belial to be more openly aggressive towards you and trying to take down you and your ragtag crew who's trying to put into him. So it's kind of a cat-and-mouse chase in Season 8.

How did you approach writing Belial? What aspects of the character do you enjoy writing for the most, and can long-time fans expect any types of fun callbacks to things he’s done in the past? 

Landa-Beavers: So, historically, Belial, we talked about before, he's very much into deception. His whole idea is that perception is the reality that you live in. So if he can decide, or if he can help you decide, that what you're seeing is real, he's controlling you already. And that extends not only to humanity, but also to the Great Evils. We have to remember that Belial is very much responsible for the Great Evils arriving on Sanctuary in the first place. He had ousted them from the Burning Hells along with Azmodan and had since been ruling in the Burning Hells. It wasn't until very recently, within the last 100 years of Sanctuary's history, that he started becoming intrigued and curious about humanity and seeing what he could leverage them for what he wants out of ruling the Hells or extending that rule over the rest of creation as well.

Nunez: Yeah, I think there's one piece that Ian and I are chatting about is his vanity.

Landa-Beavers: Yes, very much. He's very vain. One of the first times he started getting curious about humanity, in fact, he sort of duplicated two playwrights into penning two plays about his escapades and kicking the Primevals out of the Burning Hells. And it didn't stop there. He engaged in a war just before the events of Diablo II kicked off. He gave the forces of Hell over to one of his minions. He's always been out there and getting more and more involved in Sanctuary's business.

Nunez: So kind of with that, the vanity and tendency for spreading lies and subterfuge and whatnot, was the inherent inspiration for like, “Hey, we want to expand the lair boss system in a meaningful way. We need a character that is a lot of fun to work with.” He has big impact on the lore of Sanctuary, and he's also very versatile. So, Belial, being a shape-shifter and master illusionist, was inherently what was exciting about bringing him back at this specific beat in the Age of Hatred. And as far as the writing style is concerned, the team's approach to that, we definitely did review the tapes, go into the archives, review the tapes of Diablo III to remind ourselves of his speech cadence and the way that he kind of portrays his characteristics, and kind of just took that and asked ourselves, “Where would he be now after all of the events of the base game, and after the events of the Vessel of Hatred?" So again, kind going back to in Diablo III, he was a far more patient version of Belial than he will be in Seanson 8, maybe to the point, that Ian mentioned, that he is kind of just barely getting his feet in the world of Sanctuary, since he's kind of like a baby to actually walking it. 

So he's a little bit more pompous now. And I think that was really exciting to kind of expand on the story, especially because I love kind of jerk-type characters, and Belial is definitely one of those. So again, it was a lot of fun to write for and for the team to write for him. And I think also just the fact that he's a very chatty boss encounter as well. He's going to be taunting you, he's going to be throwing disses at you, and whatnot. And again, he's one of the most fun, Great Evils, I think, in my opinion. 

 

How did you approach redesigning Belial as a boss fight with all of that in mind? How does he differ from the previous lair bosses?

Nunez: So if we recall from Diablo III, his initial boss fight was like a two-parter, right? Like, you fight the smaller version of him, and then everything crumbles, and you fight the big, supreme version of him. So one, we wanted to extrapolate the cool and spread it across Diablo so that it's more of a long-term impact as opposed to a one-two punch. So the smaller version of Belial will be stalking the apparition incursion events, the new seasonal activity that I mentioned. He will be kind of ambushing you for a secondary bonus boss fight in the whole lair boss loop itself. 

And the supreme Belial, or as we cheekily like to call him on the team, "Giga Belial", will be sitting atop the throne of all the lair bosses. So that was kind of like the initial approach: "How do we take this really cool, memorable two-parter boss fight that players already know and love with the character, and kind of pay homage to that, and respect that in our own way that casts a wide net of value as opposed to a singular beat in a campaign? So, as far as redesigning the fights, the team definitely wanted to take a look at what the signature abilities that are just inherent to the Belial fight. 

We're talking about Belial Supreme for a second here. He has the big claws, he does all the big striking movements, and the kind of like the half donut ring. So we wanted to definitely approach it by bringing something old, mesh it with something new, and something blue, but to create a new expression of the Belial boss fight in Diablo IV that takes advantage of all the new mechanics and character abilities that we have. So, yeah, definitely expect to see some more of his signature moves coming back, but with a heavy balance towards just new, previously unseen attacks that he has, and ways that he kind of mixes them up to juke you out, in some regards.

Will this Season more or less be a one-and-done for Belial, or should we expect him to maybe stick around for the longer haul as we continue to build towards the next big expansion next year?

Nunez: So I'll definitely say that Season 8 is definitely a season of, from a narrative perspective, reintroducing Belial to the world of Sanctuary. As mentioned, he will remain physically and mechanically in the game outside of Season 8. And one thing I will say, we have the roadmap that kind of showcases the build-up towards expansion. I can't give away too many of the kind of narrative beats that we're building up, but we definitely do want to draw more of a strong narrative thread as we're building up and continuing the Age of Hatred towards the crescendo in the next expansion. So, yeah, I wish I could say more, but yes-ish.

Is there any specific piece of feedback that you guys have received from Vessel of Hatred from a narrative standpoint that you guys considered for this upcoming Season? 

Nunez: Yeah, that's a great question. Let's see, I think the main element of the feedback coming out for the Vessel of Hatred, and this is all kind of like taking tidbits of scattered feedback, not necessarily one direct thing, and kind of meshing them together to help define the vision of where we take the seasonal quest lines with Season 8 specifically is we definitely did receive some of the feedback of fans wanting to have a stronger through line between the seasons that tie towards the canon thread and not see seasons kind of like a one off, offshoot type deal. So, the narratives that we're telling in the seasons of with Season 8, nine, and leading up to the the next expansion are all canon. And that's something the approach that we took from us is that we're not just bringing Belial back in like a Saturday morning one-off cartoon type fashion, we're bringing him back as a mainstay of the series. And that inherently dictated the direction of how we brought him back, and kind of the narrative role that he would play.

Have you guys written everything up to whatever the next expansion will be? Do you guys know for sure where you're going narratively right now? 

Landa-Beavers: I work directly with the writers, and I know that they've been hard at work this whole time. We definitely have a compass to follow for sure.

I would love to know from both of you what you’ve enjoyed most about bringing back Belial, and what you are most excited for players to experience with him. Is there anything else you'd like to tell players about Belial, especially those that are going to be fighting him for the first time, that we haven't talked about today?

Nunez: [Belial’s] honestly one of my all-time favorite characters in the Diablo franchise. So I think the opportunity to bring him back at this perfect moment in time in the Age of Hatred storyline was a great opportunity. One thing I absolutely loved about this character is, again, the versatility of him, that he has his shape-shifting forms that players get to experience Belial in various scenarios throughout the course of the Season, not just as a one-time campaign boss that you defeat and move on to the next thing. So, I think, for me, the thing that I'm most excited about Season 8, and for fans to kind of get their hands on, is just finding and fighting all the different flavors of Belial throughout the entirety of their time with the season. 

That, and I think one thing that we didn't chat about necessarily tying into the narrative of Season 8 and the blood of Lilith coursing through you, is that through that early interaction with Belial, you actually take a piece of his own power of deception and illusion. And that kicks off your own ability to steal the reality, the perception of reality, of signature bosses' key moves across the game. So, [there are] 24 bosses for you to go defeat, and on the first-time kill, you take their signature ability and express it for yourself. So this is like defeating the Wandering Death, and now you have the ability to shoot the big chest beam out. Or Duriel, you get the Duriel burrow. So, yeah, I think it's just the bombastic nature of Season 8 that I'm really excited about, and all the different forms that we're going to be finding Belial in.

Landa-Beavers: Yeah, likewise. I'm just really excited to get back to Belial. We've mentioned Mephisto wandering Sanctuary. If there's anyone that can pose a threat to Mephisto, it's Belial. Not only was Mephisto his mentor, but Belial is also responsible for getting him kicked out of the Burning Hells in the first place. It's two people playing 3D chess against each other at a certain point, and I'm really excited to explore what that means for Belial.

Is it one of those situations where Mephisto taught Belial everything Belial knows, but not everything Mephisto knows?

Landa-Beavers: It may be one of those situations, but also Belial may have developed a few new things on his own as well. But that's just speculation.

Diablo IV Season 8 begins on April 29. You can read our review of the base game here.

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