New Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred trailer drags Lilith’s biggest fear back into the spotlight, Mephisto

Bad things happen in Diablo 4’s caves, and the latest Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred trailer is no different, as we see Neyrelle sink even deeper into Mephisto’s grasp.

Blizzard

Bad things happen in Diablo 4’s caves, and the latest Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred trailer is no different, as we see Neyrelle sink even deeper into Mephisto’s grasp. The new Vessel of Hatred trailer is a kind of cinematic prologue to the expansion itself, similar to what Blizzard did with the Diablo 4 opening, only instead of Lilith turning a bunch of explorers inside out for her birthday, we see Mephisto making it plain that Neyrelle’s suffering is our fault as much as his.

He’s probably lying, but he makes a compelling case anyway. You did leave Neyrelle to her own devices once her world fell apart, after all.

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For a little recap, Neyrelle is a supporting character early in Diablo 4 who you promise to help find her mother. Things take a very Diablo-like turn, Neyrelle sort of hates you, and then later, in the first Vessel of Hatred trailer, we see she grabs a soul stone that just so happens to link her to Mephisto. Mephisto, god of hatred, is Lilith’s father and turned up a few times in Diablo 4 to help you bring her down with a promise that one day, it’ll be your turn as well.

Lilith fought to keep Sanctuary safe from her father, but now that she’s but a fleeting memory of petals dancing on a rancid breeze of destruction, Mephisto is free to spread hate across the lands.

The general idea is that hate and isolation are closely linked and that the two made it easy for Mephisto to capture Neyrelle. Now, she’s bound to his soul, and he can torture her with a mere thought. Diablo 4 is very much not a narrative driven game, but even though I don’t expect to see these themes expanded on in a significant way in Vessel of Hatred, it certainly makes for an unusual and unexpectedly poignant setup for what’s to come.

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Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred launches on October 8, 2024, and Blizzard has at least one more major expansion planned for a later date as well. If you're just diving into Blizzard's hellish action-RPG