Deckard Cain – Diablo III. Twelve Most Memorable Deaths in Video Games
Table of Contents
Game: Diablo III
Cause of death: tortured to death by Maghda
Last words: "Heed the journal... The truth... lies within.”
How we will remember him: as the old man with whom we began our adventure with Diablo, the man capable of identifying every object in the world and the most elegant British accent in the entire universe
Decard Cain's death scene is perhaps not as well written or gripping as other moments from this list – mainly because the developers somehow did not try to make the last moments of one of the most recognizable characters in the Diablo universe particularly memorable. But even despite that, saying goodbye to the old man they had known since the first installment was a very emotional moment for many players.
After all, it was this old man who greeted us upon arrival in Tristram, outlines the whole intrigue, provides important lore and plot-essential information, and also helped identify various items. By the way, he is not only a well-versed sage and storyteller, but also the last member of the Brotherhood of the Horadrim, founded to counter demonic activity. When Cain dies in the first act of Diablo III, tormented to death by the witch Maghda, it was the end of an era for many – after all, Deckard and was with us since 1996.
However, the creators emphasize that the old man's death was inevitable. According to them, this was largely due to the fact that his role in the story was taken over by Tyrael, so Cain would have gotten side-tracked at best. However, the developers did not want the beloved character to be reduced to a background character, and in addition they considered that killing the sage would add more emotional content to the game. The end result came out rather mediocre, because the players quite consistently stated that Deckard's last moments could have been written much better (besides, other scenarios were considered – m.in. one in which the old man dies when Leah loses control of her powers). Anyway, it is worth remembering about this death – if only for sentimental reasons.
Shortly before the launch of Diablo III, we learned where Deckard Cain's name actually came from. It turned out that back in the mid-90s Blizzard held a small competition – anyone who wanted his name to appear in the game, had to send a postcard to studio's HQ. One of the (involuntarily) participants of the fun was Deckard Cain Elder, who was but an infant at the time and whose name was submitted by his father. Blizzard liked the boy's name so much that the devs rewarded the winner with various souvenirs – m.in. a unique figurine of Diablo – and named one of the main characters of the story after him. The real Deckard Cain Elder probably does not blame his father for the whole thing, because in 2011 he boasted about it on Reddit. Apparently, people on the streets didn't ask him to identify items for them as often as he would like.
