Deckard Cain is a fictional character who appears in the Diablo video game franchise by Blizzard Entertainment. Within the series, Cain is a prominent non-player character who acts as an advisor and guide to the player character of the first three games, and represents the wise old man archetype who provides most of the in-game lore. Cain is the last surviving descendant of the original members of the Horadrim, an ancient order of magicians charged with trapping the series' primary antagonists within enchanted crystals and guarding them thereafter. Cain has appeared in series related media, an
Deckard Cain is a fictional character who appears in the Diablo video game franchise by Blizzard Entertainment. Within the series, Cain is a prominent non-player character who acts as an advisor and guide to the player character of the first three games, and represents the wise old man archetype who provides most of the in-game lore. Cain is the last surviving descendant of the original members of the Horadrim, an ancient order of magicians charged with trapping the series' primary antagonists within enchanted crystals and guarding them thereafter. Cain has appeared in series related media, an
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Deckard Cain is a fictional character who appears in the Diablo video game franchise by Blizzard Entertainment. Within the series, Cain is a prominent non-player character who acts as an advisor and guide to the player character of the first three games, and represents the wise old man archetype who provides most of the in-game lore. Cain is the last surviving descendant of the original members of the Horadrim, an ancient order of magicians charged with trapping the series' primary antagonists within enchanted crystals and guarding them thereafter. Cain has appeared in series related media, and appears as a playable hero in the crossover multiplayer online battle arena video game Heroes of the Storm. The character is originally named after the winning entry of a fan contest organized by Blizzard and PC Gamer, and is voiced by Michael Gough for all media.
Cain has received a mostly positive reception, and is considered by several commentators to be an iconic character originating from the Diablo series.
Creation and development
Cain is named after the son of a fan of video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment; his full legal name is Deckard Cain Elder, with his first name taken from Harrison Ford's character in the movie Blade Runner, and his middle name is his mother's maiden name. This was the result of a promotional contest jointly run between Blizzard and PC Gamer in the mid-1990's, which gave fans an opportunity to have their name referenced in the then-upcoming , and the winning entry was to be drawn by random pick. Deckard Elder's father decided to submit a postcard with his son's full legal name as he felt that it was unique. The Elder family later received a letter personally written by Diablo producer Bill Roper to congratulate their winning entry, as well as a bundle of gift prizes which included a copy of the game and assorted merchandise.
Diablo series
In Diablo, Cain first appears in Tristram as the town's elder, where he remains for the entirety of the game. He is encountered standing next to a fountain in the middle of town, where he provides advice, spread gossip, and identifies items for a small fee. He eventually reveals to the player character that his ancestor, Jered Cain, is a leader of the Horadrim Order who personally led the party that pursued and captured series antagonist Diablo. The Horadrim imprisoned Diablo and his brothers, the Prime Evils, within enchanted crystals known as Soulstones.
On April 1, 2009, Blizzard announced a new character class for Diablo III called the Archivist, which was soon revealed as an April Fool's Day hoax. According to a post uploaded on Blizzard's official Diablo Facebook account the following year, the original concept of the joke was to create a character archetype based on Deckard Cain, a frail and elderly character unsuited for physical combat. Cain's character model for Diablo III was reskinned and repurposed for the gameplay reveal trailer and website assets. Another prank by Blizzard Entertainment for April Fool's Day the following year involved the false advertisement of a Deckard Cain GPS voice pack for sale as merchandise.
Hero designer for Heroes of the Storm Nathan LaMusga said that Cain has been discussed as a potential addition to Heroes of the Storm by the developmental team for a long time, but the team struggled to design him as a fun and engaging playable character. LaMusga was of the view that he is "one of the hardest heroes to think of design". Lead Hero Designer of Heroes of the Storm Matt Viller noted that about a year before the character's 2018 debut, his team started to take the idea of Cain as a hero seriously as he is a "very iconic character" who is closely associated with the Diablo series, though they faced some challenges in trying to make the character "fun and interesting" to play. They experimented with abilities that incorporate paper-based material like books and scrolls, and decided to shift the focus away from his physical traits into a backline support archetype with abilities such as repetitive usage of healing potions and shooting "Horadric Cubes" which slow the movements of enemy characters. The developers also reintroduced an ability called "Lorenado", which was originally demonstrated by the Archivist in video footage of the 2009 April Fool's Day prank.
In Diablo II, he is rescued from a gibbet next to the same fountain in Tristram, and travels as a constant companion of the player character for the remainder of the game. If he was rescued by the player, he offers his service to identify magical items free of charge as a token of his gratitude, but otherwise charges a fee if the player does not retrieve him from Tristram and Cain is rescued by the Rogue Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye instead.
Cain returns as a supporting character in Diablo III, which takes place twenty years after the second game, and is assisted by his ward Leah. Cain gives written and voice narration for a vast number of lore items found in Diablo III. In the game's storyline, he is rescued from the ruins of Tristram's Cathedral after falling into its depths as a result of a "fallen star" impacting the Cathedral in the opening cinematic, and directs most of the major quests of Act I. By the end of Act I, Cain is fatally wounded by the witch Maghda and her Dark Coven, who seek the "fallen star", later revealed to be the fallen archangel Tyrael. Cain's last act before dying is to use his Horadric magic to reforge Tyrael's broken sword, recovered by the player character, and determines that it is angelic in origin. At the cinematic leading into Act II, Cain is cremated on a pyre in the graveyard outside the cathedral. The player character's early quests in Act II involve hunting down Maghda and slaying her as retribution for Cain's death.
Cain appears in the 2022 title Diablo Immortal, a prequel set years before the events of Diablo III.
During Act 3 of Diablo IV, the non-player character Meshif refers to Lorath, an ally of the player character
