Talk: Demon

Reaper of Souls

Do we know what the state of the Demons as of Reaper of Souls? I assume they've been largely crippled by the defeat of the Prime Evil and loss of any leadership from the other Evils, Imperius even mentioned that a sweeping invasion into hell by the angels to be possible now. However I havent found any solid facts to support this beyond a few mentions by characters. Furthermore do we know if the Demons were attacked by the Reapers during their assault on sanctuary? They were said to killing humans because they're part demon, I assume that means they attacked actual demons too.SpartanD14 (talk) 05:41, April 20, 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure about RoS, but I know the state of demons is touched on in Storm of Light. Forget the exact details, but references are made to demons being scattered in both Sanctuary and (the outer plains of) the Burning Hells due to the lack of leadership. It's one of many things to get round to at some point.--Hawki (talk) 06:25, April 20, 2014 (UTC)

Don't think it will last... Evils are already at the process of rebirth in Black Abyss, and sheer numbers of the Burning Hells inhabitants make it difficult to blast them for the Heavens' host - especially considering those suffered heavy losses, even more significant than demons did, in the battle for the Crystal Arch. So it's more like a Pyrrhic victory state, where both sides are hardly in condition to conquer another, but unlikely to fall as well. Just an opinion. Reapers, without Malthael and Pandemonium Fortress, cannot reinforce their numbers, and have no purpose either, so their extinction is a matter of time. What is more interesting is if The Nephalem, who is the new Aspect of Death, can command the Reapers? Or will Maltael be able to, once he is reborn in the Crystal Arch?199.107.213.166 07:03, April 20, 2014 (UTC), Pryamus

Well, given their (lack of) appearances in Reaper of Souls, with the areas inside Pandemonium before the Pandemonium Fortress really being the only areas with demons, I can safely say that without the leadership of the Prime Evil, they have suffered a demoralizing blow. But its as the above user said, the Heavenly Host took their share of blows as well. My concern, though, turns to that last segment of the Prophecy of the End Days... how would one go about 'shattering Fate forever', aside from killing Itherael?

Ishi Clarke (talk) 07:49, April 20, 2014 (UTC)

This is starting to become a forum post. Please continue further discussion here.--Hawki (talk) 08:08, April 20, 2014 (UTC)

Update

And finally that's done. Yay.

There's two things I want to address concerning the version of this page (info's still the same, just sourced basically) with this version. The first is irrelevancies. Something I noted with the old page is that there was little rhyme or reason with the inclusion of some demons. Hellflyers, morlu, the heralds of pestilence, etc. This being a general article, there's no reason to include such info here unless the info can be applied to demons as a whole. For instance, the eating of demons' own young comes from D3 imp lore, but as it deals with demons as a whole, it's worth noting. In contrast, saying "demon x can do y" is irrelevant unless it can apply to demons as a whole. So for instance, the statement that demons can wield powerful magic is included by virtue of its statement in the D1 manual, not from an extrapolation of (insert demon here) using magic. Don't assume the tree represents the forest and all that.

A second quesiton I've pondered is the idea of listing demons as a single article, such as a "List of Demons" page. Something that sorts and lists them by type, affiliation, hierarchial place, etc. Such an article isn't essential, but there's probably enough to justify it. Alternatively, a template is an option - I did one for the zerg awhile back, but granted, there's far more demon articles to sort through, so a template might be too clunky to deal with it.

Anyway, food for thought.--Hawki (talk) 13:14, August 16, 2014 (UTC)

Abilities

I don't know where to fit this on the main page, but is there any exposition on the general abilities of demons. Here are my own conclusions:

• The primary ability of all demons is necromancy, though only higher demons are intelligent enough to actively use it.
  • Demons being flesh eaters is because of this. Their main nourishment is the essence in their prey, not necessarily the flesh.
    • A proof of this is that it is mainly lower demons that eat flesh, while higher demons don't need to as they can harvest the essence after killing their victims or feed on essence directed to them through sacrifice.
  • Another proof will be undead. While human necromancers have to actively raise corpses to create undead, the mere presence of a demon (or several weak demons) raise the dead into undeath.
  • Another means demons express this affinity is by fleshcrafting. They mainly use this to craft or modify minions, or to punish upstart minions. Examples are
    • Diablo punished Izilech and the Fallen by warping them to hideous forms.
    • Azmodan crafted Demonic Hellflyers.
    • Skarn created Hell Riders and Dra'yev by fusing two different entities.

InZodwetrust (talk) 16:58, July 6,2023 (GMT)

Possession

Alright, I don't see any evidence of the possession claims being made. For Lilith, simply citing her abilities as a source doesn't cut it, you need to cite an actual piece of evidence. Unless this is from D4, her possession of Serenthia shouldn't be taken as being emblematic of anything, since not only is Lilith atypical, but the manner of possession is established in SotS as atypical as well.

As for Masters of Death, again, Diablo never possessed Leoric, he influenced him while he was still trapped inside the soulstone. Even if it was possession, again, Diablo's a Prime Evil, if he (or any Evil) does one particular thing, that's not evidence in of itself that every demon has the same properties.Hawki (talk) 09:58, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Affinities

Has anyone noticed that many powerful demons are connected to a concept that they obsess on, can manipulate and feed on? Eg

• Prime Evils: This is common knowledge; Hatred, Destruction, Terror, Pain, Anguish, Lies and Sin.
• Lassal: Fear of extinction (check Horadric Bestiary)
• Rigglot: Pain (check No Pain side quest)
• Astaroth: Suffering (he absorbed the suffering of innocents to subdue Yorin)

Was it ever officially said that the above statement is true?InZodwetrust 12:11, 21 August 2023 (GMT+1)

To my knowledge, no. There's certainly numerous demons that have some kind of emotion/trait they're connected to (Great Evils, Sin Lieutenants, etc.), but there's no real affinity system for demons as a whole. There's certainly types of demons that correspond to the traits of certain traits/emotions, but that doesn't appear to be true for every demon.Hawki (talk) 23:57, 20 August 2023 (UTC)

Resurrection vs Reincarnation

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that demons reincarnate in Hell after dying than to say they resurrect? Resurrection implies that they are exactly as they were, but demons change shape—and sometimes abilities, after reforming. InZodwetrust (talk) 15:23, 16 April 2024 (GMT+1)