Diablo 4 Lore: What really are the sins of the Horadrim? 

Diablo 4 Season 9’s title, “Sins of the Horadrim,” is more than just a flashy title. It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about since the season was initially announced. After all, the Horadrim were supposed to be a force for good, right? To protect Sanctuary from the forces of Hell, so what kind of sins could they possibly have committed? It turns out that it’s pretty easy to figure out with a little bit of critical thinking.

I stumbled upon a Reddit post by u/Disciple_of_Erebos that aligns a great deal with how I was looking at the current lore and what the sins of the Horadrim could be in Diablo 4. It’s a mysterious faction with good intentions but, frankly, terrible implementation. They spent too much time hoarding secrets and not enough time with the actual people of Sanctuary.

Note: This piece is primarily speculation, based on information on the Diablo series.

---

What could the sins of the Horadrim really be in Diablo 4?

There are a few things that could be the sins of the Horadrim in Diablo 4, but one of the major ones is their greed for keeping secrets. They hoard knowledge like dragons hoard gold coins, learning as much as they can but not really using it to help anyone. All they do is hide in the Horadric Vault, learning and uncovering secrets.

Sure, terrible things would still happen if the Horadrim shared their knowledge, but people would be better prepared for it (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Instead of forming bonds with the people of Sanctuary and uniting them, the various members of the Horadrim are hermits in one way or another. Didn't they watch Naruto? Bonds are important! Instead, they keep secrets, which ultimately lead to tragedies.

Deckard Cain, as the Redditor pointed out, may have had good intentions in not telling Leah about her infernal heritage, but it ultimately made it easier to use her.

Let’s then look at our modern member of the Horadrim, Lorath Nahr. We found him as a hermit in the mountains, and as soon as the story wrapped up, he disappeared. There’s no way he’s dead yet because I think we’d have seen his head on the Tree of Whispers; that’s ultimately going to be his fate when he dies.

Virtually every member of the Horadrim is guilty of this kind of secret-keeping in Diablo 4. Lorath Nahr has almost no friends; he has pushed everyone away and only exists to hold secrets, even to the detriment of the world itself. He's not the only one, though.

We learn in Season 9 that Donan had scattered the physical remains of Astaroth across Scosglen, which led to the problems we’re currently facing in this season

Unlike some of the other Horadrim, Neyrelle actually learns from her mistakes (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

There was no warning, no information given to the people of Scosglen, whether it be the Druids or anyone else. Even Neyrelle, one of the last of the Horadrim, does this when she secrets away the Soulstone of Mephisto and tells no one she’s doing it. However, this is where things start to change.

Neyrelle realized that doing things this way was a terrible idea, which led to the Vessel of Hatred story, where she and the Wanderer (the player) now have the backing of the Nahantu and Cathedral of Light leadership. Slowly, we’re starting to bring people together, which is what the Horadrim should have been doing all along.

Pride and Greed mark the sins of the Horadrim in Diablo 4. Pride in thinking that their way was the only way despite doing nothing. Greed, in their hoarding of knowledge, and again, doing nothing with it. If the Horadrim had spent time uniting the people of Sanctuary and working with their common person, we could have potentially avoided some of the problems the world now faces.

As Disciple_of_Erebos points out:

“. . . every Horadric operation seen in the series has involved a substantial number of innocent lives lost due to the negligence of sealing away dangerous demons without planning around the lives of those who would come to live directly on top of the sealing locations.”

If only the Horadrim had spent time working with the people of Sanctuary to actually keep them safe, instead of doing horrifically dangerous things, telling no one, and then having to fix problems when they resurface, the number of lives lost could have been, if nothing else, reduced.

These relics are all incredibly important, but they feel more like a terrible warning, than a valuable lesson (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

In the later parts of Diablo 4 Season 9, there are several quests to uncover Horadric relics, such as The Priestess Horadrim and Wisdom’s Chosen. You can interact with the relics to learn a bit more about them, but it’s so impersonal. Always the mission, never about the people being protected.

Slowly but surely, we’re turning the ship around, building bonds with the people, and helping them instead of hoarding secrets and knowledge. It’s taking some time, but it sounds like we’re finally fixing the sins of the Horadrim of Diablo 4. I wonder how Lorath is going to take this change if he should show up again later.

---

Check out our other Diablo 4 guides and features

• Diablo 4 Season 9 review
• Diablo 4 Season 9: Escalating Nightmares mechanic, explained
• Diablo 4 Season 9 Endgame tier list: Best builds for Pit push and bossing
• Diablo 4 Season 9: All Horadric Jewels (known so far)