Update (3/6/2023): More info added, since we finished the game last week.

The Diablo 4 Early Access/Open Beta session this March allowed players to experience parts of Act 1’s main campaign where you chase the demon Lilith all across the world of Sanctuary and stop her evil plans. Along the way, you come across an unexpected ally of sorts in the most mysterious shape possible: a wolf.

We’re going to talk a bit about this creature and its significance in Act 1’s plot. You come across this creature in the game’s intro cutscene where your character somehow survives the cold weather. However, the wolf pops up yet again in a later Act 1 quest. Minor spoilers for Act 1 below:

While you’re in the game’s story quest where you have to find Neyrelle in a forest and also look for the Horadric Vault, you’ll come across a red portal and a Bloodied Wolf; the same wolf from the intro cutscene. In his sinister-kinda voice, he leads you out of the magic forest you’re stuck in, take a shortcut through a horrific vision of Tristram, says a few cryptic lines, and leads you out and closer to Neyrelle.

The Bloodied Wolf wants to help you deal with Lilith and Inarius, but his reasons are unknown at this point in the story, which is why he’s willing to give you a shortcut via a red portal. And also it’s telling you not to side with the Horadrim as they’re a doomed has-been group. Of course, this will not be the last of the Bloodied Wolf.

Who Is The Bloodied Wolf? Our Theories

The wolf is Mephisto, who is disguised as such to help our hero deal with his Daughter of Hatred Lilith. She wants to stop the Sin Wars and deal with Hell by ruling Sanctuary and changing things; Mephisto doesn’t want that. Due to his brothers being AFK (they were killed time and again in past Diablo games), Mephisto attempts to use his “Hatred” influence to get our Wanderer hero and the Horadrim to deal with Lilith.

In the end, Mephisto ends up getting trapped in the blue Soulstone via Neyrelle’s last-minute plan, with the latter ending up wandering in Sanctuary to keep the blue Soulstone away from others. Check out the Mephisto and ending cutscenes below (53:30 for Mephisto’s reveal, 2:16:41 for the ending)

Original story

Based on the chatter on Reddit, a lot of people are speculating who the Bloodied Wolf really is. But first, let’s spell out the one elephant in the room: Why show Tristram in its hellish form? Well, it’s the Bloodied Wolf’s one way to show that the Horadrim are crappy at containing evil.

We do have our own theories on the Bloodied Wolf’s identity: it’s possible that this is another form of Diablo, the main antagonist of Diablo, Diablo 2, and Diablo 3. He’s not known to shapeshift, but perhaps in a desperate attempt to stay alive in Sanctuary, he had to possess the next living thing that isn’t human. His voice however does sound a bit like Diablo 3’s Zoltan Kulle, but that could be a mere coincidence.

Why would Diablo want to wreak her niece’s plans? Well, some story points have popped up that Lilith wants to preserve and rule over Sanctuary, and wants to eliminate Heaven and Hell to end the eternal conflict. After all, she created the humans and the Nephalem (and thus Sanctuary). Sanctuary has been a battleground for Heaven and Hell, with Diablo being one of Hell’s top leaders.

Other theories include the wolf being Trag-Oul, Rathma’s teacher in the ways of necromancy and balance. Like Rathma, he’s not a fan of Lilith and Inarius. Or heck, it could be Rathma who in a last-minute act of being killed by his father Inarius, he cast his soul into a woodland animal nearby -a wolf- and survived for a long time as a wolf.

At the very least, the Bloodied Wolf is someone from Hell. Guess we’ll have to wait until the full game comes out on 6th June to get the whole story and lore.