Lethes

"Stop wasting my time, you peasant! I know her body was buried here...Where is Asylla's tomb?"
The Queen’s tomb...was hidden. The dead...deserve...their rest."
Wrong answer. The dead serve me! A fact you will learn soon enough."

- Lethes while interrogating a member of the Wortham Guard^(src)

Lethes is a rogue Necromancer.

Megolomaniacal, Lethes has little regard for life, and pursues her goals ruthlessly. She has little patience for subtlety.^[1]

Lethes could have been Deathspeaker if not for her disdain of Balance. Though she proudly advocated for resilient undead nations, her necromancy was often imprecise. After she spread curses through the Necropolis, Lethes was put on trial by her mentor, Xul. She fled, abandoning her dream of a dead kingdom... until she discovered a Worldstone shard.^[2]

Biography

The Wayward Apprentice

Lethes was the student of Xul. She came to resent her mentor, accusing him of attempting to suppress her potential. She ended up leaving the Priests of Rathma, though would later claim that she had been "cast aside."^[3] She also indicated years later that Xul intended to put her down, but would not (or could not) do it.^[4]

She sought out the Worldstone, intending on using it to reshape Sanctuary.^[5] After its destruction, she managed to obtain a shard.^[6]

Ashwold Cemetery

"Lethes, stop this! Your wanton disregard for life ends here. You will be brought to justice..."
"Xul...how I tire of your jealous attempts to suppress my potential. No. Now, with the power of the Worldstone at my command, I will obtain true dominion over the dead. Your entire lethargic order will be swept away and replaced by one with the ambition to reshape this corrupt world. You are a relic, old man, and you are no longer needed."

- Xul and Lethes confront each other^(src)

In 1270, Lethes came to Ashwold Cemetery, looking for the tomb of Queen Asylla.^[7] She believed that Asylla's spirit would be able to lead her to Leoric, giving her the power to rule the dead.^[3] She accousted Guard Fjord, and after slaughtering his fellow townsfolk, he gave her the location of the Crypt of Honored Dead. For whatever reason, she let him live.^[8]

At the Crypt itself, she tortured two members of the Wortham Guard, demanding to know where it was located. She killed one of them when he told her nothing, and the second told her that only Asylla's handmaiden knew the tomb's location. The man's life was saved when Xul arrived, demanding that she stop. Lethes refused, claiming that she'd obtained the power of the Worldstone, and that Xul and his order would be swept away, replaced by one which would reshape Sanctuary. She summoned undead to cover her escape, as her minions fought Xul and a hero.^[7]

Lethes later found the handmaiden inside her home. She tortured the woman until she revealed where Asylla's tomb was located, before killing her and then departing. Entering the tomb, she summoned a Skeletal Mage to waylay her pursuers. In the meantime, she intended to awaken Asylla's spirit so that it may lead her to Leoric, in order to claim his soul.^[9]

Lethes tried to waylay her pursuers by summoning necrotic barriers and a trio of Golems to defend them. However, the barriers were taken down,^[10] and the heroes arrived to find Xul and Lethes in a battle of wills, with the latter summoning Asylla's spirit, tethering it to Leoric's, and attempting to gain his power. Or, rather, the power that Diablo had left behind in Leoric's soul when he had corrupted him during the Darkening of Tristram. Xul did what he could to disrupt the ritual, but with Lethes inside the summoning circle, she apparently couldn't be harmed.

Lethes summoned a simulacrum to defeat the heroes, but the simulacrum itself was destroyed. Xul continued to disrupt Lethes's summoning, while the heroes entered the manor to slay Leoric.^[4] The tether was destroyed, and Leoric slain, but outside, history repeated itself, as Xul found himself unable (or unwilling) to slay his former apprentice. Lethes, however, was quite willing to wound her former master, and flee. The hero(es) pursued her however, and confronted the rogue Necromancer at Lords' Rest. Here, Lethes stood her ground, but was apparently slain, exploding in a torrent of blood. However, Xul told the hero(es) that he believed that Lethes was still alive, pointing out the lack of a corpse. In truth, the Lethes the hero(es) had faced was a simulacrum; one that appeared to be real than her earlier one due to holding a Worldstone shard. He resolved to follow her.^[6]

In-game

Lethes is encountered in Diablo Immortal, as part of the Ashwold Cemetery questline. She is encountered throughout the area, and is the area's final boss, confronted in the "Battle for the Shard" quest.

Lethes is immune to knockback, and can attack in the following ways:

Soulfire: Lethes fires crimson blasts similar to Soulfire.
A 360 attack, sending blood projectiles out in all directions.
Bone Spirits: Lethes sends out green skulls that hone onto the player.
Bone Spikes: Lethes sends out bone spikes in a given direction, covering a wide area. Getting hit inflicts Stun for 2 seconds.
Golem: Lethes summons a Bone Golem.

If the player's character is a Necromancer, Lethes's lines will adjust accordingly. Xul's lines adjust too, who explains that the Lethes boss was a simulacrum. This information is not given to other player characters, who are simply given the "no body, not dead" explanation.