Vampire Lord Zir

"In the darkest shadows, Lord Zir feeds. When he emerges, Sanctuary shall know his name and tremble."

- Character description^(src)

Zir
Title	The Dark Master
Gender	Male
Race	Nephalem (formerly) Vampire
Affiliation	Vampire cult
Occupation	Lord
Status	Deceased
Appearances	Diablo IV

Lord Zir was an ancient vampire and former nephalem.

Biography

Early Life

"We were born with eternal blood yet not enough to preserve us. To claim eternity, we must claim the blood of our bretheren"

- Zir to his kinsmen^(src)

Zir on his throne

Zir was among the Firstborn nephalem. In the days of the Ancients, Zir gathered his kinsmen and made an offer of power.

After the Purge, Inarius tampered with the Worldstone, robbing the Firstborn of the power they'd once enjoyed. Zir and his cohort reacted negatively to this, and for their actions, were imprisoned in the underground City of the Ancients. He slumbered under Sanctuary, waiting to enact his twisted plan to rule over all.

At some point prior to his imprisonment, Zir feasted on blood and achieved immortality.

Season of Blood

"Child of the Eternal Conflict, waiting for the victor to claim them as servant...Answer me something: have you ever felt like you were born with a noose around your neck, tied by your Mother and Father? Enslaved by demons, threatened by angels...how do you fight the infinite when you are finite?"

- Zir taunts the Wanderer^(src)

Zir

In 1336 Zir awoke from long slumber. He led a vampire cult and dispatched a vampire army under the command of the Bloodseekers, under orders to conquer Scosglen, the Dry Steppes, and Hawezar. This campaign was referred to as the Blood Harvest. He would not stop until he had bled Sanctuary dry. and his followers were ordered to gather blood for a terrible ritual. His cult members hid themselves in numerous places, operating within human towns, ensnaring victims and/or sending them off to areas where vampires could ambush them. He sealed off the City of the Ancients.

When The Wanderer was bitten by a vampire, Zir was able to talk to them from afar, but the Wanderer did not change into a vampire for some reason. Zir later summoned Oren to the Tomb of Hallows. Oren believed this to be a reward for sending the Wanderer to be bitten, but when Oren entered the tomb, he was executed by Zir's vampires, despite his pleas to be given another chance. Erys later theorized that Zir had ordered Oren killed because of her presence and the Wanderer's. That he'd left a trail for them to follow, complicating Zir's plans. With Oren dead, at least one loose end was taken care of.

Zir appears before the Wanderer

Erys left the tomb, while the Wanderer continued their descent. It was at this moment that Zir resumed his telepathic communication with the Wanderer. He taunted them as they descended, before they arrived in the tomb's depths, where Zir appeared as a bloody apparition before them. He declared that the Wanderer would join his Blood Seekers, but the Wanderer refused. Perturbed, Zir demanded to know why the Wanderer hadn't turned into a vampire, before he realized that the blood of Lilith they carried inside them was preventing their transformation. Still, it didn't matter. The Wanderer might not turn into a vampire, but they would thirst for blood all the same, and the more they thirsted, the more they would understand.

Through his link with the Wanderer, Zir observed them kill a number of his Blood Seekers. Unperturbed, Zir's campaign against the living intensified. Erys theorized that Zir's army was making a "big push" in order to gather the remaining blood required to ensure Zir's "ascension." While Zir's armies were defeated, Erys feared that Zir would rally his remaining legions to gather the blood he needed. To that end, the Wanderer entered the City of the Ancients and fought their way to Zir themselves. Zir taunted them from afar until the Wanderer confronted him directly. Zir was slain in the ensuing battle.

Legacy

"You've killed Zir, but his thralls are still out there. The strongest will try to claim his throne and the killings will continue. So I'll finish packing, have a drink in the tavern, then set out to hunt them down. I'll try to leave a few for you."

- Erys to the Wanderer^(src)

While Zir had been killed, his thralls remained. Erys feared that the strongest would try to claim his throne, and that the killings would continue.

In-game

Zir's game model

Zir was the main antagonist of Season of Blood in Diablo IV. He contacted the player throughout the season, and is fought at the end of the quest "A Serpent Cornered."

Zir can be summoned again in the Darkened Way in the Fractured Peaks. Nine Exquisite Blood must be obtained to summon him. Upon defeat, Zir can drop the Diadem of the Ancient (a cosmetic helm), in addition to the following Unique Items:

• General: Penitent Greaves, Razorplate, Temerity
• Barbarian: Gohr's Devastating Grips, Overkill, Rage of Harrogath, Ramalandi's Magnum Opus, The Butcher's Cleaver
• Druid: Fleshrender, Greatstaff of the Crone, Mad Wolf's Glee, The Butcher's Cleaver, Vasily's Prayer
• Necromancer: Blood Artisan's Curiass, Deathless Visage, Greaves of the Empty Tomb, Lidless Wall
• Rogue: Asheara's Khanjar, Eyes in the Dark, Grasp of Shadow, Skyhunter
• Sorcerer: Esadora's Overflowing Cameo, Iceheart Brais, Raiment of the Infinite, Staff of Endless Rage

Trivia

This section contains facts and trivia relevant to this article.

• By the end of Season 2, Zir had been killed 9.4 million times, and had inflicted 1.2 million deaths.