Cinematic Speculation

[Aranock]

After watching the cinematic a few times, i find myself curious about a few things, so i figure i'd get a thread up with some speculation.

First thing to note: Diablo has 3 heads now? Very interesting....lot of possibilities there. (or is it even Diablo?)

Second thing: Why show a different angle of Tyrael throwing Azurewrath at the worldstone...especially the fact that time almost stops before it hits. I'm sure it's storyline about the aftermath of it all.

Third not relating to the cinematic. Whos is this new Abd al-Hazir guy all over the new Diablo 3 site? It claims he is a renowned historian....but i always considered cain to be our storyteller. (Hence his Journal). I wonder if this new guy is Cain successor? Rather that Cain being Evil, i'm just guessing that he is going to die by one of the higher powers (lesser evils, etc). It would certainly get any Diablo fan furious, and ready to kick some ***. Think about it ~ We have Cain, who leads and helps us defeat Evil in Diablo 1 and 2, takes a 20 year rest only to finally reveal himself?

That’s it for now – more to come!

[ebolasupermonky]

i thought the Abd al-Hazir guy was a real person over at blizzard doing research on this stuff or something

[Cyborgasm]

It's implied this guy gets killed by cultists after his writings of them. He's just some guy they made up to describe Sanctuary in a more interesting way.

[ThulRasha]

Abd al-Hazir is new. He is a sort of journalist.
He appears to be very sceptical about all of this, maybe he doesn't even believe that there is something like Diablo.

[OverUsedChewToy]

The object falling to earth has me wondering. It COULD be Tyrael- I'm only saying this because in the artwork section there's Tyrael kind of "floating" with a golden hue.

See this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgbUSsblCSQ (The thing falling from the sky is in 1:10-1:17, 1:36 and 1:42)

And compare to this:
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/artwork.xml#38

And this:
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/artwork.xml#48

Also of note is that the final sequences alternate from the evil hordes to tyrael, back to evil hordes, to falling object, evil hordes, falling object, Diablo (or really nasty demon) , or thereabouts.

Well, perhaps the falling object isn't Tyrael, but then just what the hell is it?

[jamesisbest]

I have a feeling they mention Abd al-Hazir on the site because there will likely be a quest involved with him. Possibilities being a search and rescue quest, or a one where you find him corrupted by the evils and you must vanquish him, or one in which you see him die. The writing themselves wouldn't suggest him part of the quest per say but when they said he went missing for a year it seemed odd that they would say this unless he appears somewhere in the story (though likely a side-quest/story).

[Tsumaru]

He's just some guy they made up to describe Sanctuary in a more interesting way.
I believe this is correct. It's just like the old manuals where you get writings by various characters who you don't directly interact with. He may be mentioned in-game, he may not. I personally think he won't, and exists solely for the website online.