Diablo 4 ending explained - What's next for Sanctuary?

Diablo 4 is a riveting adventure, with the ending leaving a few questions unanswered. The battle is over for now, but Sanctuary is left without either of the forces that created it. The forces of Heaven and Hell are likely not to cease the Endless Conflict, either. With both Inarius and Lilith being slain over the course of this latest entry into Blizzard’s grizzly action RPG series, what occurs during the ending cinematics of the game?

Just beating Lilith doesn't finish Diablo 4, though. Players will have to tackle an Epilogue after they are finished with the cutscenes and cinematics. Levels with even higher difficulty are in store for them, alongside the Shade of Lilith, which is the ultimate boss of the game.

Note: This contains a discussion, theory, and video of Diablo 4’s ending.

---

What occurs after the defeat of Lilith in Diablo 4?

Throughout Diablo 4, Lilith, the Mother of Sanctuary, states she wants people to break free of the shackles that bind them. She’s seeking free thought for the humans that live on Sanctuary. Whether that’s her real goal or not remains to be seen, but that is what she preached in the later parts of the game.

Despite claiming victory, this moment felt oddly bittersweet. (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

“I gave you free will…and you’ve squandered it….wasting it on a crusade you don’t understand…”

Lilith tells the protagonist that they chose tyranny instead of freedom, and in the coming battles, victory is now impossible. The cost will be too great to pay, the final boss of Diablo 4 reveals to the player. In the last seconds before the fight, the protagonist lets Neyelle make the choice of either trusting Mephisto or Lilith.

Instead, she plunges the Blue Soulstone into Mephisto’s prison, capturing him within it. Then, the player slays Lilith, defeating both evil forces. A brief flash of one of the Prime Evils appears during this conversation about paying a price. It seems to be Diablo 4’s namesake.

As Lilith slowly transforms into ash, can the players see the sadness in the Mother of Sanctuary? (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

As Lilith bleeds from her eyes, she turns to stone, defeated once and for all. She almost looks sad as the final parts of her body are consumed by stone, and she crumbles away into a pile of ashes at the end of this Diablo 4 cutscene.

After collecting the loot from the boss battle, the player needs to dive into the Fiery Portal to return to Lorath. Donan has well and truly died, and Lorath and the player will carry him out of Hell. He deserves a proper burial, after all.

However, Neyrelle is nowhere to be seen. After she captured Mephisto in the Blue Soulstone in Diablo 4, the mysterious girl disappeared. Now humanity is alone. Inarius and Lilith are both dead, and the conflict continues.

On the way out, Lorath posits an important question, though. He asks if Lilith was right - whether humanity can truly escape the Eternal Conflict.

The player heads to the desert chapel, hoping to find Neyrelle, but she isn’t here either in Diablo 4. Lorath, exhausted and in pain, gets confronted by members of the church who want him arrested as a heretic. Instead, the player hesitantly destroys them. Lorath valued the burial of Donan more than Iosef’s request.

The player then heads to the Cathedral to seek her out again. Meanwhile, Lorath will return to bury Donan with the dignity he deserves. The player finds a letter written in the Horadric code. They read it after the brief funeral.

What comes next? The Prime Evils, perhaps (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

The letter talks about the Horadrim and how the imperfection of men like Donan and Lorath gave Neyrelle the strength to do what needs to be done next in the Diablo 4 story. She mentions explcitly “to face him and his brothers,” which can only mean the Prime Evils.

Throughout Diablo 4, the player didn’t confront any of the Prime Evils in battle. Instead, they only fought lesser evils, like Andariel and Lilith. Mephisto even aids the player, though he likely had his own reasons and agenda.

Neyrelle left on a search for the answer to solving their problems concerning the Prime Evils alone, knowing that Lorath would have insisted on going. She didn’t want to risk Lorath’s life in whatever came next.

The Soulstone always corrupts its owner. Is it too late for Neyrelle? (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

The last scene features Neyrelle getting onto a boat. Sailing off into the distance, players could see her on the vessel, still possessing the Blue Soulstone. Behind her, Mephisto’s wolf form lurks, creating a very fascinating visual for the end of the title. Is it too late? Is she already corrupted by a Prime Evil?

While it’s not clear what will come next, it sounds like the story is going to drive the player toward defeating the Prime Evils. Everyone who has held the Soulstone has ultimately become corrupted by it. There’s a chance the player will have to fight an evil Neyrelle in a future update, entirely overtaken by Mephisto.

Diablo 4 launches officially on June 6, 2023. You can read our review here.