Vessel Of Hatred is Lord of the Rings Diablo

The opening cinematic for Vessel of Hatred — which premiered at this summer's Xbox Game Show — makes my skin crawl every time I watch it. This is one of the most horrific examples of body horror I have ever seen. Neyrelle, on her journey to destroy Mephisto's soul stone, is tormented by Satan with visions of her dead mother. Nerel manages to fight back through deception, but finds himself a prisoner trapped in a torture chamber in his own corrupted mind. In this dark trance, Mephisto has him bound by his arms and legs. with His arms and legs are split open and all his veins and tendons are pulled out of them, like he was on display in the Bodies from Hell exhibit. It's enough to make David Cronenberg blush. what a scene

However, Cronenberg's body horror isn't the only inspiration Vessel of Hatred draws from. Neyrelle's relationship with the Soulstone, a cursed artifact that contains the soul of an original demon, reminds one of a very similar story. An unassuming hero goes on a long and dangerous journey to destroy an object of power to prevent the destruction of a godlike being? Is your last name Neill Baggins? Because that sounds a lot like Lord of the Rings to me.

These are more than superficial similarities. In fact, I'm sure the writers of Diablo knew they were quoting The Lord of the Rings in this story, because the ending of Vessel of Hatred subverts every expectation you've built up to that point. Because It's just like Lord of the Rings. A spoiler for the ending of Vessel of Hatred is coming, but first, more similes.

Diablo 4: Vessel Of Hatred Review – There And Back (To Hell) Again

Vessel of Hatred deepens Diablo's culture while simplifying the endgame in several ways.

We've touched on the way the Big Bad is trying to corrupt our hero through The very thing they want to destroy, but when you compare what the Spirit Stone does to Nirrel to what the One Ring does to Frodo, boy did Frodo get off easy. Mephisto's soul stone is one of the most dangerous objects in all of fiction. This thing literally oozes evil that not only corrupts Nerel's mind, but also the world around him. The black oil it emits poisons the water and turns the wildlife into monsters. Neyrelle's journey leaves a trail of horror in her wake as Neyrelle slowly loses herself under its influence. Meanwhile, the One Ring sat at the bottom of a stream, doing nothing for several hundred years, and then it gave Frodo a bit of a headache. Pfft

Sure, The One Ring turned Smeagol into Gollum, but honestly, Nirrel would rather be Gollum than whatever the hell the Soulstone wanted to do to him.

Instead of melting the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, Nirle plans to take the Soul Stone to Akarat's tomb in the Vault of Light, where the stone can be purified. It's a bit more complicated, and the Soul Stone isn't originally built here, but it's the same idea. If we can destroy this evil thing, the big bad can't come back from the dead and kill us all.

We can also compare Mephisto with Sauron. Both villains once possessed god-like powers that they used to battle the world of men, but were ultimately defeated and for a time thought to be destroyed forever. As each of them began to regain their power, which existed in a non-physical form, they relied on trickery and control methods to further their evil agendas. In the end there's only one thing standing between them and fully regaining their powers: a little girl/little hobbit man.

Our character's role in Vessel of Hatred is very similar to The Two Towers. Our character is separated from the ring-bearer (or rather, Soulstone-bar) at the end of Diablo 4's campaign, and at the start of Vessel of Hatred we find ourselves facing more immediate threats that keep us from helping. He we finally find Nirrel and we do what we can to help him, but like Frodo, this burden is on him and we can't take it off his shoulders.

I know what you're thinking, and you're right: Why didn't Seraph just fly Nirle into the Vault of Light? It doesn't make sense

Where these two stories ultimately diverge is what makes Vessel of Hatred so fascinating. This is your spoiler alert: When the heroes finally reach the Vault of Light and leave the Soul Stone to be cleansed, they are suddenly, unexpectedly betrayed by one of their own. Eru, an old soulborn who has guided us all in Nahanto, has conspired with Mephisto to steal the soul stone and Akarat's body, which Mephisto intends to possess. All this time we thought the Hate Vessel was the Soul Stone, but it turns out Akarat was the vessel all along.

Vessel of Hatred follows the familiar path of The Lord of the Rings, using story beats and iconography to shape its story—albeit in a much more gruesome and gruesome way. But when the campaign ends, we're in completely uncharted waters. We see what happens if Sam betrays Frodo and brings the One Ring to Sauron. The Soul Stone had to be destroyed at all costs to prevent Mephisto from regaining his power, but our heroes failed, now what? Seeing how much damage the Soulstone can do on its own makes it even more terrifying to think about what Mephisto is planning. “What if Sauron takes back the One Ring?” It's a very compelling proposition and an exciting jumping off point for the next chapter of Diablo 4's story.

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