Harrogath

Birdseye view of Harrogath before its destruction

Harrogath was the town area at the foot of Mount Arreat in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction's fifth act. Harrogath can only be entered by players who install the Diablo II expansion pack, and it is accessed through a red portal opened by Tyrael, after a character defeats Diablo himself in Act Four.

It has been confirmed [1] that Harrogath was destroyed when the Worldstone blew up, an event shown in the final cinematic of D2X. The fates of the citizens in the town are unknown, other than that of Deckard Cain and the Barbarian, who both survived to reappear in D3.

Background

In Lord of Destruction Harrogath is a city in the frozen north, situated on the slopes of Mt. Arreat. It is located in the Barbarian lands, and all of the NPCs are Barbarians of one type or another, though they are hospitable to characters of other classes as well, once they've proved their worth.

Harrogath was a town at the foot of Mount Arreat forming one of the last barriers of defence. It was the safe town area of Act 5, and withstood the host of Baal when the elders (except Nihlathak) sacrificed themselves casting a forbidden druid spell which blocked demonic energies from entering. However, it was later destroyed in the powers unleashed by the shattering of the Worldstone.

Destruction of Harrogath

Render of Harrogath.

One confusing aspect of the destruction of Harrogath [2], is that even though it was apparently destroyed by the explosion of Worldstone, caused by Tyrael's hurling of his sword into the stone as seen in the final D2X cinematic, it's possible to speak with the NPCs in town, in D2X, after killing Baal. And none of them have any worries about the town being destroyed.

"You have done the impossible, hero. Your defeat of the last of the three prime evils is a great victory for the light. Strange that you say the Worldstone must be destroyed. The prophecy said nothing about that. Perhaps all we have fought for will be lost. Or, perhaps, we will never need fight again." - Anya, Diablo 2x final speech

This is at the heart of the controversy about Tyrael. In any case, no-one seems to be evacuating the city, so we can only assume that no-one knew it would explode. On the other hand, we know of at least two survivors of the destruction of the city - the Barbarian, and Cain, so maybe the mountain exploded in parts, and the residents had time to evacuate through a portal or waypoint.

This can be explained by some retcon, perhaps the conclusion that Harrogath was destroyed was made during the D3 plot writing, and wasn't something the D2X writers ever considered. Or perhaps there's a time lapse between the slaying of Baal and Tyrael's destruction of the Worldstone. Just because his actions are shown in the final D2X cinematic, doesn't mean he didn't wait days or weeks before taking that action, potentially giving the citizens of Harrogath and the other surviving humans to vacate the area.

Reference

• [1] The Return of Harrogath? [Blizzard Post - 10 October 2009]