For the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics around the world, the title “Blessed Mother” refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. For 2,000 years, this title has been sacred to Christians regardless of race, nationality and culture throughout the world.
In the New Testament, Mary’s title is mentioned by Mary herself after the Angel Gabriel visits her to tell her she will give birth to a saviour who is to be named Jesus the only Son of the Most High, God:
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. — Luke 1:48
Over the years, Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians have conferred many reverential titles on the Blessed Virgin Mary, such as the Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and many, many more. The Muslim faith has a high degree of reverence for Mary as well.
On November 1, 2019 at BlizzCon in Anaheim, Blizzard Entertainment blasphemed the Blessed Virgin Mary when it revealed to the world a cinematic video announcing the release of an upcoming video game called Diablo 4. At the end of the video, a warlock (notice the missing finger on his hand) utters the words in the presence of a Lilith, a blood-soaked demon just invoked in a disturbing, human sacrifice ceremony:
“Blessed mother, save us…”
Here is the video in question queued up at the precise moment the words are uttered:
As a Roman Catholic, words that equate an arch-demon named Lilith with the Blessed Mother of our faith are blasphemous and outrageous.
Of all the titles they could come up with, why did they have to pick a title that would be blasphemous to Christians?
Who is Lilith in the world of Diablo?
According to Blizzard’s lore Lilith is the Blessed Mother of Sanctuary.
Who is Lilith in ancient history and in popular culture?
Lilith is possibly alluded to just once in the Old Testament but is a part of Jewish folklore as Adam’s first wife. Here’s a revealing article entitled: The Anti-Mary: The Terrifying New Patroness of Abortion by Scott Smith. He explains who Lilith is from a Catholic perspective and how radical abortion-loving feminists have embraced her as an icon.
The title “Blessed Mother” is not something that they just invented. It’s a blatant mockery of the Blessed Mother of Jesus Christ. Type in the words “blessed mother” into any search engine and you’ll see thousands of references to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Searc for graphics of “blessed mother” and thousands of holy and reverential images of the Mary will greet the viewer.
Here’s an infographic I made of just the first 7 pages of images that came up in Google for “blessed mother.”
Luis Barriga the Game Director for Diablo 4, is Hispanic and surely has ancestors who were Roman Catholic. There is simply no excuse for him not being fully aware that naming Lilith as the “Blessed Mother” in the Diablo 4 cinematic would be blasphemous and offensive to Catholics. All lore decisions would have had to pass by him for approval.
The Blizzard executive team would also have final say on this. They are equally responsible for allowing this outrage to occur.
For years, Blizzard has borrowed much of it’s lore from The Bible for it’s sinister demon and angel infused game world of Diablo. They take what they like from Western religion and art such as Dante and others and ignore what they don’t like. For example, this official artwork from the Diablo 4 deep dive panel is clearly influenced by sensibility of Christian art.
Additionally, the physique of the semi-naked man below the angel and Lilith looks very similar to various depictions of Christ crucified on the cross.
This article is not meant to be a review of Diablo 4 as it stands thus far, but I can’t let this go to print without briefly commenting on what I see. I have played versions of Diablo in the past but what I see here is downright frightening. They’ve gone from gothic inspired world to one drenched in Satanic themes. I’d advise Christian gamers to stay well away from Diablo 4.
Conclusion
While I respect the right of artists to be free to create what they want, they can and do go over the line at times and create art that is offensive to people of faith especially Christians. I do not want to mention past blasphemous art as it’s too sickening and depraved to even ponder.
The blasphemy in this video whether intentional or not is unacceptable. I can guarantee you they would never dare to offend Jews, Muslims and other groups that are considered as victims by today’s standards.
Blizzard has a history of insensitivity toward devout people of traditional faiths with it’s gratuitous inclusion of homosexuality within video games like Overwatch and it’s promotion of the LGBTQ agenda inside Blizzard. Yet, it has no problem removing those questionable themes at the behest of the communist Chinese regime for their enslaved Chinese audience.
From a business point of view, offending people whether deliberately or due to negligence makes no sense. Christians love playing video games too, so why needlessly alienate them?
Blizzard needs to do the right thing and remove the “blessed mother” dialogue from their official lore and from the Diablo 4 cinematic and replace it with something else more original and ensure that the new lore and cinematic dialogue is not related in any way to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This was brought to my attention by a loyal reader to whom I am very grateful. I hope other readers who are Catholic, Christian and others will share this article, tell their friends and let Blizzard know. Thank you!
-Wolfshead
“Hail, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Hi. Lifelong Catholic here.
Who cares, it’s a video game.
I care.
It’s a video game yep. That doesn’t give Blizzard the right to promote blasphemy.
Meanwhile in other news today, ANTIFA in Chile desecrated a Catholic Church. All of this is connected.
Go back to sleep, or wake up and do something!
I also care. Very much.
And the fact you aren’t bothered by one of the largest video game developers blaspheming the Blessed Mother of God makes me believe that you are either lying about being Catholic, or you do not take the Faith seriously. Either way, perhaps it is time for some serious self-examination.
It’s not blasphemy(I mean not intentional/direct)….it seems to tie in with the in-game lore and how that character views that other character.
Also the catholic church doesn’t own the term blessed mother or have total ownership/usage of such, and(afaik) wasn’t the first to use such in history.
Now if they made Lilith LOOK/etc like Mary(or gave her that name or similar, or said “Yeah we’re doing this to piss off catholics”) you might have a point…..as of now this is just Conjecture and guessing.
(All that aside: I think the actual blessed mother and the Holy Trinity are more than capable of defending themselves…they don’t need any of us “donning armor” for them)
I’m not claiming an intellectual property violation on the term Blessed Mother. I’m just asking for some common sense and decency from Blizzard. They go out of there way not to offend the LGBTQ community but can’t spare an ounce of consideration for Christians? There are countless terms they could have chosen instead.
Actually, Christians are called on to defend the faith and the Holy Trinity. The first Christian martyrs were eaten alive by wild beasts in the Roman Coliseum for entertainment because they refused to worship Caesar and renounce Jesus Christ. Saint Philomena was martyred at age 13 for refusing to marry a King and give up her virginity.
“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God” – Luke 12:8
“But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 10:33
Really?
Part of your general position is that games should just be games as entertainment, absent “virtue signalling” and pushing various political agendas, right?
While Diablo’s iconography and style are undeniably influenced by Christian or Christian-adjacent art, shouldn’t Diablo be a game as entertainment, regardless of what your politics (or Blizzard’s) are? Isn’t this wanting Blizzard to push a (conservative) agenda here? Seems at odds with some of the ideas that Blizzard shouldn’t be pushing any agenda, unless the objection is that you want them to push your agenda, not someone else’s.
I’m not asking Blizzard to push a Christian or Catholic agenda. I’m not calling for Diablo 4 to be banned or boycotted.
I abhor censorship but blasphemy where unintentionally or intentionally is crossing a line. The lore of Diablo 4 is not enhanced in any way by calling Lilith “Blessed Mother.” It’s cheap and it’s lazy. They could have called her Dark Mother or Mother of Darkness, etc. That would be fine.
Blizzard routinely goes out of their way not to offend minorities. A few years ago they changed the name of the Maine Coon cat vanity pet in World of Warcraft as not to offend black people.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/8yvr6o/history_in_2005_blizzard_changed_the_name_of_the/
Recently they banned a WoW guild called Make Azeroth Great Again.
https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/10/23/blizzard-forces-wow-guild-make-azeroth-great-again-to-change-its-name/
If Blizzard mocked and trivialized the genocide of Armenians, Jews and Ukrainians, I’m sure many people would be rightly upset. The problem here is that the entertainment industry in southern California exists in a godless progressive echochamber. Conservatives, Christians and people of faith are seen as dumb hicks and ignorant bumpkins. The level of arrogance and hubris that these people possess is off the charts.
Blizzard has removed skeletons from all of their games that are sold in China as not to offend cultural sensibilities. When leftists are offended Blizzard jumps into action. When anyone on the right is offended Blizzard does nothing. All I’m asking for is some consistency here and some consideration for the 1 billion Christians who venerate the mother of Jesus.
Dark Mother or mother of darkness wouldn’t work, as that character views her as blessed/holy….hence what he says.
Also it’s one line in one trailer….i’d wait and see the finished product before casting judgement, if it were me.
It’s blaphemic to Orthodox Christians as well.
Given how much of the European market depends on Eastern Europe and Russia, and how more outspoken Orthodox Churches are (thanks, Frankie), I think you’d get better traction informing them/Orthodox YT personalities.
Hi there. I hope following wont shock you but Im afraid its the truth. The story of holy mary and diablo 4 have something amazing in common. They are both make believe stories.
That doesn’t shock me at all. There are lots of people who don’t believe in God, Jesus or His mother Mary. There’s plenty of evidence for the existence of God, Jesus and Mary. There are plenty of authenticated unexplainable miracles as well.
Here’s the conversion story of an athiest who is a Harvard Professor:
However, there are billions of people that do believe. Why needlessly disrespect them?
I deleted a reply today that violated our terms of service. I allow readers to post here if they have something positive and productive to add to the conversation that is relevant to the topic at hand. Thank you.
Hi Wolfshead,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and naming things as they are. I think I have similar views to yours in regard to religion symbols in games and offence on one hand and danger on the other when it comes to abusing Christianity. You are absolutely right – the point is that numerous minorities are more influential an respected that us, Christians. From a perspective of a Central-European (Roman) Catholic I see it as a process reflecting increasing fight against Christianity, independent on whether one believes it or not. The statistics and numbers are more and more obvious.
This is probably because most of the West have cut off their roots and think that this way they will reach the sky. In my eyes it is a mistake, but how can you explain it to those who treat religion as ballast from the past? I believe most people are still in need of faith although they are like in a mist, loosing their compass.
Probably here, in Poland, it is a bit better as the past taught us lessons and we had to save our identity and survive, recently (yes, still quite recently) having learnt detailed differences between communism and fascism, the too “purely human” totalitarian systems.
I am glad that The Witcher (Wiedźmin) is free of the content we discuss, although it is not, and I doubt it will be, a MMO. But this is beyond the topic.
Thanks again and keep doing your work.
Hello and thanks for stopping by. I appreciate the thoughtful response. Polish people have a unique perspective on freedom as they lost it from World War 2 to the fall of the Berlin wall under communist rule — that’s at least 45 years.
Most Americans and people have the west have no idea of the freedoms that have been bequeathed to them. They have no conception of the great sacrifices made throughout the centuries by Christians to build our great civilization.
I think that Eastern Europe will save Western civilization and the Roman Catholic faith. My deepest respect goes out to the people of those former Soviet satellite countries. My people are from the Baltics and barely escaped the Siberian work camps run by the godless Russian Bolshevik devils.
I fully support Eastern European video game studios. They are not as impacted by the scourge of cultural Marxism (inclusion/diversity/representation) than their cohorts here in America.
I often feel like a voice in the wilderness. Thank you for your kind words! It really means a lot.
To those that think that there is no war being waged on Christianity and that we Christians should sit back and do nothing, Breitbart just posted an article that in 2019 there were 3,000 Christian sites in Europe were vandalized:
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/11/report-record-3000-christian-sites-europe-vandalized-2019/
ROME — Christian sites in Europe suffered a record number of attacks in the year 2019, with some 3,000 Christian churches, schools, cemeteries, and monuments vandalized, looted, or defaced.
Reports compiling the anti-Christian acts during the year document a range of profanation including arson, defecation, desecration, looting, mockery, Satanism, theft, urination, and vandalism.
“Sadly, 2019 was punctuated by increasing incidents of desecration and vandalism of churches around Europe, along with the 2019 fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which captured worldwide attention,” the director of The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, Ellen Fantini, told Breitbart News on Saturday.
“In most instances the perpetrators of these acts were unidentified, but the Observatory has documented that churches and other symbols of Christianity in Europe are targets for many groups — from Islamists to radical feminists, LGBT activists to anarchists and self-proclaimed Satanists,” Ms. Fantini said.
In all, some 3,000 Christian churches, schools, cemeteries, and monuments were vandalized, looted or defaced in Europe during 2019, making it a record year for anti-Christian sacrilege.