Why I love Lilith and you should too â An Essay / Analysis
Howdy! I've been mulling over these thoughts of mine concerning Lilith for a while (in case you haven't yet noticed, I cherish her character immensely), and I wanted to do sort of an essay that WHY exactly do I love her so.
Warning: EXTREME AMOUNTS OF YAPPING. This is a long read. Engage at your own risk :'D
Let's get the obvious statement out of the way before I delve into the deeper stuff; Lilith's design as a whole is PHENOMENAL.
A small history lesson: Before D4, I didn't really care much for Lilith's character even if I already liked the games and their lore. She was a very outdated relic of the early Diablo games' era, where female demons (Lilith, Andariel, etc) were allowed to be nothing more than slutty temptresses in metal bikinis, designed for the male gaze.
When D4 rolled around, Blizzard decided to basically re-imagine Lilith's whole ass character, including her design. And holy moly was that a good decisionâ
What draws most, including me to Lilith at first is her imposing, iconic silhouette, formed by her crown-like horns and her bigass leather wings. She is... majestic. Yet I also love the small details in her, notably her heterochromia and her skeletal tail (it's so darn cute!).
I'm not an expert on clothes, but I do think that Lilith's dress combines her mature behavior with her succubus origin quite well. She has her chest and cleavage showing, yes, but the outfit still doesn't come off as intentionally "sexy" (looking at you, metal bikiniâ), but instead natural and realistic, even. My favorite thing about Lilith's clothes is her veil at the back of her head, it's lovely.
Lilith's face and expressions are astonishing. I've already stated that I love her in-game model the most, as it captures both her beauty and her expressiveness the best. Lilith's frustration, her self-satisfaction, her grief and wrath, all of those emotions shine brightly through and feel almost tangible to the viewer.
Additionally the voice actress of Lilith (Caroline Faber!) really breathes life into the character, her voice matching perfectly to this demonic daughter and grand mother.
I've heard some people express disappointment in her final design when comparing to how she looked when she was initially summoned.
While I do understand where these complaints are coming from, I personally never really cared much for this iteration of Lilith. It is extremely iconic and a very unique look for a character, yes, but I doubt that this design would have worked with the character of Lilith all too well in a long run. (Can you imagine her running around, doing her deeds looking like... that?) The transparency is cool though. The red Lilith is a strong design for a cinematic appearance, but I'm glad that she decided to ditch the cape and put on some clothes for the game itself.
Analysing Lilith's character is... complicated. She isn't a one-dimensional demoness antagonist, even if she very well could've been, given Blizzard's history with female characters.
Lilith is an antagonist to the player, yet her motivations aren't fueled by simple sources like vengeage, altruism or lust of power. Matter of fact, I've noticed that we hear very often from other characters (Deckard Cain, Tyrael, Lorath, etc) their assumptions of Lilith's goals and why she is doing what she is doing, but very rarely from Lilith herself. Even more so, whenever she is sharing those goals of hers, she usually shapes them to fit whoever she is telling them to. In D4, she lied both to Elias and the Wanderer about her intentions regarding Sanctuary. Only in D4 LOH Lilith starts to become more candid with the Wanderer, opening up more about her inner thoughts and feelings.
Putting her secrecy aside, I admire how... real they made Lilith's character feel. She has flaws. She definitely isn't an altruist aiming to generously help humanity (anyone who tries to claim that has no media literacy skills whatsoever), yet she isn't a purely evil archetype either, even though most demons in Diablo tend to fall in that category.
Lilith is ruthless, proud, ambitious, and values power while feeling disdain for weakness, yes, but she's also... capable of love. While her methods are often harsh and, well, demonic, Lilith has shown time and time again that she loves Sanctuary, loves her children, loved even Inarius. Most of all, I'd argue, she loved Rathma. That love compels Lilith to go against the Hells, Heavens and anything else that dares stand in her way in her mission to protect humanity.
Certainly, she isn't the greatest mother. But she is a mother, nevertheless.
One of the little things that I also enjoy about Lilith's character is the way she carries herself. She uses sophisticated words and speaks with regal poise, rarely letting her composure falter. Have you noticed that she is always standing with her hands clasped in front of her? Very cool, very elegant. Also, how could I forget her iconic resting bitch face? Lilith is constantly scowling and throwing death glares, her displeasure visible for all to see.
(Well, except when she reveals that she has killed Donan's son. Guess that was super funny to her)
3. Lilith's relationships
Now I'm getting to the meat of the essay! Lilith is a compelling character on her own, yet her most intriguing aspects are visible in her interactions with other characters. Notably, Inarius, Rathma and Mephisto. Let's start with her dear old daddy.
I'm overjoyed with the fact that how profoundly D4 LOH examined Lilith's relationship with Mephisto. Before, the only solid statement was that "Mephisto did not spare Lilith of his hatred". That doesn't really tell much at all. Thankfully, LOH came to my rescue!
(I love this artwork btw, made by Klaher Baklaher on artstation.com !)
Mephisto and Lilith are the epitome of a toxic father-daughter relationship. Mephisto carved Lilith out of his own hatred, dictating how she turned out to be as he had the power to cut away her compassion, mercy, and assumably other such positive features as well. This can be interpriated as a strict, harsh upbringing, Mephisto molding Lilith into something specific that he envisioned of his daughter. Furthermore, Mephisto created Lilith to serve as yet another puppet in his show, a worthy adversary in his games of wit and will. He knew what he wanted Lilith to be, and didn't want her to stray from that role.
But she did. By falling in love with an angel, stealing the Worldstone and running away to the Sanctuary she and Inarius created, Lilith defied what Mephisto had envisioned for her. She clearly hated her father and the way he treated her, desiring to become something more than what Mephisto had intended her to be. Instead of the role of an eternal daughter, Lilith became a lover. A mother. She created something of her own.
To me, Lilith reflects a survivor of an abusive upbringing, trying to escape her origin and start anew. Yet the effects of that abuse, all the pain, the mindsets and behavior are still a part of her, something she brought with her unwillingly. Lilith continues that cycle of abuse when raising Rathma, teaching him that power is desirable and weakness despicable, as Mephisto had once taught her.
I wonder if Lilith saw herself in Rathma, or Mephisto in herself when she heard her own child claim to hate her.
Speaking of Mephisto: he didn't take Lilith's act of rebellion kindly at all. As seen in LOH, Mephisto intended to sadistically hurt, humiliate and punish Lilith, destroying all she had created, almost as if saying: "You cannot escape your blood, your hatred, as they are mine. You can never be nothing more than my daughter."
I still stand by my statement that had Lilith been on Sanctuary instead of the void at the end of the Sin Wars, Mephisto would have taken her as a prisoner alongside Inarius, hell, maybe even INSTEAD of Inarius. Mephisto would have tortured her endlessly to "correct her behavior".
Lilith's missing half, her lover, her worst enemy: the angel Inarius.
I'll be trying not to stray from Lilith as a topic here, as Inarius is a fascinating character of his own, too. I certainly don't love him like I love Lilith, but I'd be lying if I said I don't think a lot of him as well. Their relationship thrills me so!
People seem to divide into factions, debating whether these two really loved each other or not. I myself assume that they did indeed love, very much so is evident, yet perhaps their love was directed to some kind of... idealized versions that they saw in each other.
Lilith and Inarius are both proud, narcissistic even, and share many other qualities as well, such as the desire for something more than stagnant life. I think they fell for these familiar features that thay saw in each other.
Lilith looked past, or never even knew of Inarius' cowardice and desperate need of being worshipped and recognized as the best, the qualities that caused him to fear and detest the offspring they had created.
Inarius, on the other hand, never signed up for Lilith's violent ways, her wrath and unwillingness to trust others, which led her into slaughtering all those who threatened her beloved children's existence.
When they finally saw each other for what they truly were, the illusion shattered. I'm certain that they both mourned the love they once had, but both of them are too proud to fully admit that. The love was there, yet it had been built on... poor foundations. That's why it could have never truly lasted.
The relationship and aftermath of Lilith and Inarius' relationship is absolutely riveting, yet most of that intrigue comes from Inarius' side. I daresay that out of the two, Inarius loved more, or perhaps not more, but more dependently and possessively. Therefore their failed relationship affected him on a deeper level comparing to Lilith.
Inarius has this whole arc of transitioning from promising not to slay Lilith (even when he had perfectly good reasons to do so) to growing to hate her more than anything, so much so that Inarius desparately wanted to kill her and escape from the world they made. Thanks for that, Mephisto.
For Lilith, I assume her devotion to Inarius shattered the moment she heard him plot the demise of their children. She grieved, yes, but by the time of D4, she is basically already over Inarius. Lilith only starts to feel strong feelings (of hatred) towards Inarius again when she discovers that he has murdered Rathma. As an appropriate response, Lilith sends him into a psychotic episode before murdering him herself. Go queen!
Rathma, Rathma, Rathma. I'll have to say that I have never been particulary interested on his character myself, yet I'd say that I know enough of him to somewhat analyse his and Lilith's relationship. (Sorry, Rathma fans.)
Rathma is the one who haunts the narrative for Lilith, acting as a driving motivation for her actions. He is the reason why Lilith made her blade, permanently weakening her own essence. Because of Rathma, Lilith slaughtered all the renegades aside from herself and Inarius. As a revenge for Rathma's murder, she murders Inarius. (Would she had done so regardless, as a means of self-defense against her maddened ex-lover angel who very much desired to murder her? Perhaps yes. Likely yes. Yet Inarius chose to die at her hands when he dared to take away the one thing Lilith loved above all else.)
There's no denying that Lilith loved Rathma. But as I already briefly mentioned in the Mephisto segment, she wasn't the greatest mother to him. As the Daughter of Hatred, a demoness, she herself had learned things the hard way, being taught the importance of callousness and power by Mephisto and the rest of Hells. All that she then attempted to pass onto Rathma, who, understandably, didn't see eye to eye with his mother. Like Lilith before him, Rathma, too, claimed to hate the one who gave him life.
Rathma believed that Lilith is unable to change. That she rots all that she touches, tainting it with her infectious hatred. Rathma shares this mentality with his granpa Mephisto; Lilith cannot change. This idea is challenged throughout LOH, and reaches its climax in Lilith's sacrifice as she saves the Wanderer from Mephisto. Which leads us to my final point...
Lilith is a vile creation. She is the Daughter of Hatred, an extention of Hatred itself. It is in her nature to hate, and act in that hate. It's what Mephisto made her to be. It's what everyone around her believes her to be. It's all that she'll ever be.
Now, don't get me wrong: Lilith is not a good person. She's done horrid things, some of which she has even taken pleasure upon. Lilith's methods are violent, heinous and inherently demonic. She doesn't mind acts of cruelty as long as they serve her goals. I'm not trying to say that Lilith is an innocent character who has redeemed herself and completely atoned for the sins she has done. No.
Lilith has noble goals, yet she constantly makes mistakes in trying to reach them, tripping over her own hubris and tendency for manipulation. She is a mother who thinks she knows the best for her children, making decisions for them and executing those decisions herself. Lilith has a clear vision for the future of Sanctuary and humanity, and she thinks that all the bloodshed she leaves in her wake is a necessary measure to realize this vision of hers. Her intentions may be pure, yet, in the end, all she has managed to do is make everyone around her either fear, or hate her.
She does remind her father, doesn't she?
And that's exactly what is so fascinating about Lilith. Her losing battle against her own blood.
The main campaign left Lilith's development at that, initially. She was an echo of hatred, dangerous despite her evidently genuinely caring for Sanctuary's future. I loved her then already, simply for the sake that she was something more than a generic evildoer that most, if not all other Diablo demons seemed to be.
But then... LOH rolled around, much to my eager anticipation.
The amount of Lilith content was mindblowing. We learned so much of her, especially regarding her dark origins at the hands of Mephisto. We saw her strife against her father, her efforts culminating in her sacrifice. There, Lilith proved herself to her own doubts, to the doubts of Inarius, Rathma, and Mephisto, confirming that YES, she is capable of change.
Lilith, the controlling mother, chose to let go and allow her children to decide for themselves, leaving the fate of Sanctuary in their hands.
Lilith, the Daughter of Hatred, ceased to hate, offering her own life to save someone who had wronged her.
Lilith, the demoness, finally showed she can be something more than a demon.
I am extremely sorry that this became more of an analysis than an essay halfway throughâ
My point is that I love Lilith because of all these observations and thoughts that I have formed from her. It was hard to put my feelings into words, but I do hope you enjoyed reading the end product!
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