Preface – Storytellers

"Stay awhile, and listen!"

The voice line is famous, anyone who's played Diablo or been around the Blizzard ecosystem has heard it a thousand times, the quavering voice of an old man, as if surprised that an adventurer has paid him any attention at all. It is the voice of Deckard Cain.

Deckard Cain was never a hero in the conventional sense. He carried no weapon. His staff was the functional walking stick of an old man. He was old when you first met him in Diablo, and he was older still by the time the events of Diablo III brought his life to a close.

Yet his life and death are meaningful in a way that transcends his actions and accomplishments. There is a reason his character (and his funeral, portrayed in cinematic form) is given equal narrative weight to Tyrael – the Archangel of Justice, whose renunciation of divinity and literal fall from the heavens act as the primary catalyst for the events of the third game. When Tyrael comes to Deckard's funeral, it is not simply to pay respect to a scholar and historian. Rather, it is recognition that an old man with a walking stick and an inexhaustible supply of things worth knowing had done just as much as an agent of the High Heavens to oppose the forces of Hell.

Blizzard understands that stories have power. The stories are the product.

The games that people buy? They are vessels, the expression of where those stories take shape. The lore, the characters, the worlds that persist in our memories long after the boss is dead and the game is closed – that is what Blizzard actually sells. Action figures, novels, even a feature film: none of those would exist without the stories underneath them.

Which means everyone who works at Blizzard is also a storyteller. The narrative designers and lore historians and creative directors, yes, that's obvious, but that's not all. The engineers who construct and render the worlds, the producers who keep the whole production process moving forward, even the people in finance to make sure the lights stay on – every role is a critical part of the process. Every employee is, in some essential way, a part of that storytelling.

Deckard Cain understood that stories have power. He never wielded martial or magical power. He carried knowledge, and gave it away to anyone willing to stop and listen.

There are many stories to tell. These ones are mine.