Of all the classes in Blizzard's Diablo franchise, the Barbarian serves as one of its best martial classes. Unlike the masterful Sorceress or the nimble Amazon, the Barbarian can go toe-to-toe against the most vicious of foes. In turn, Diablo 2 players enjoy the Barbarian for their ability to dual wield melee weapons. Their recognizable garb of leather and hide pair quite well with their rich lore as guardians of the fabled Mount Arreat.
Interestingly, players loved the Barbarian so much that devs marked their return in Diablo 3 and the upcoming Diablo 4. As such, players might wonder just what other secrets lie inside Mount Arreat's protectors.
10 Barbarians Share A Duty With Druids
If Barbarians can tap into the powers of nature for power, aren't they similar to Druids? Interestingly, the Barbarians and Druids in Diablo share the same goal: protecting Mount Arreat. In fact, the Barbarian's Immortal King Bul-Kathos knew the Druid's founder, Vasily. They were, after all, brothers or confidants, as per the lore.
Both leaders of their organizations agreed that protecting Mount Arreat, and in turn, the Worldstone, should be the Nephalem's utmost priority. However, their methods in doing so differed and caused their separation. Rather than becoming enemies, though, the Barbarians and Druids had mutual respect of each other's approaches. Barbarians believed in martial discipline to protect Mount Arreat, while the Druids relied on their connection with nature.
9 Magic Is A Big No-No
Given the Barbarian's melee-reliant skill-trees, players can surmise that Barbarians don't appreciate magic. However, Barbarian society actually actively rejects the usage of technology and magic. According to them, relying on these tools would make Barbarians dependent and weak in combat. Instead, they actually tap into the land's primal energies to boost their strength and raw power. These shamanistic beliefs get represented through totems and other implements they use in combat.
In turn, Barbarians are also known to call upon the spirit of nature to imbue them with various abilities. As such, Barbarians can charge into combat imbued with the fighting spirit of bears, cranes, and even owls.
8 They Have The Immortal King
Unlike other Ancients, Bul-Kathos the Immortal King earned his namesake for his apparent immortality. While he no longer has a physical form, his spiritual form remains as a guardian of Mount Arreat. He has also been called to fight for the defense of Mount Arreat even after his passing, including in the Sin War against angels and demons otherwise considered bosses in a Diablo title. What Bul-Kathos has done to achieve his spiritual immortality remains unknown.
Bul-Kathos also has what's called the Immortal Throne, and this cultural icon has only allowed two people to ever "sit" on it. The first was Bul-Kathos himself, father of the united Barbarian Tribes, the second was Kanai, who was seated on the throne after his death.
7 Children Had Weapons Instead Of Toys
Players love the Barbarian for their sheer ferocity and mastery of melee combat. However, lore-wise, much of the Barbarian's specialization comes from conditioning – both in training and their daily lives. As children, Barbarian elders teach their young how to navigate the environment, hunt and kill beasts, and even carry various weapons. This education helps them develop the skills necessary to fight ferocious beasts and mighty demons.
In terms of combat, children get acquainted early on with tactics, weapon styles, and hand-to-hand combat. Furthermore, the harsh conditions of the mountains force their skins to turn as hard as leather, capable of resisting most attacks.
6 Barbarian Tribes Were Unique
As lore would state, Barbarians in Diablo differentiate themselves into tribes named after animals. They would incorporate these animals into their daily lives, including unique war paints and fighting styles. For instance, the Bear Tribe specialized in using the mace and grapple-focused combat. Meanwhile, the Crane Tribe mastered the polearm and incorporated it into their distance-focused style.
Unfortunately, most Barbarian Tribes were driven to extinction after the destruction of Mount Arreat in Diablo 2. Other Barbarians in Diablo 3 either lost their way or are currently trying to bring back honor into their society. However, most Barbarians retain their expertise to continue the fight against various monsters and creatures.
5 The Arsenal System May Visualize Mastery
Popular depictions of Diablo's Barbarian include quite a number of weapons on their person. Visually, this depicts the lore of Barbarians being weapon masters, capable of wielding a variety of weapons at once. Thankfully, the introduction of the Barbarian's Arsenal System in Diablo 4 may show this on a technical level. With this system, the Barbarian can have up to four equipped weapons while using two at a time.
The system allows them to switch weapons they will attack with, possibly incorporating them into skills. This should allow Barbarians to demonstrate their mastery over weapons, as Diablo 3's depiction relies heavily on spells.
4 They Make An Appearance In Hellfire
Despite appearing formally in Diablo 2, players can actually access the Barbarian in Diablo's Hellfire expansion pack. While Hellfire formally introduced the Monk class, it also contained two test classes cut from the game, namely the Bard and the aforementioned Barbarian. Unfortunately, players can only access these classes by tinkering with the main game files.
Similar to the Warrior, the Barbarian relies heavily on melee attacks. However, the Barbarian boasted supreme performance in melee but at the cost of having less chance to-hit and no innate magic abilities. Interestingly, Hellfire's Barbarians stay in the lands of the south after having suffered at the hands of mages. These Barbarians have no attachment to Mount Arreat and the mission of the Children of Bul-Kathos.
3 Devs Wanted To Avoid Stereotypes
At first glance, players hearing about the Barbarian class might associate them with "Conan the Barbarian" stereotypes of fantasy literature. As such, Diablo 2's developers wanted to switch up the Barbarian's design to avoid these associations. In turn, Diablo 2's Barbarian remained scantily-clothed but had a prevalence of leather equipment.
This motif carried over into Diablo 3, albeit with some stylistic changes. These included the prevalences of plated armor pieces, larger belts, boots, and gauntlets, as well as large tasses or pants. Theme-wise, Barbarians in Diablo 3 also have a lot of belts, spikes, and fur.
2 The Nexus Made The Female Barbarian Canon
Thanks to the Barbarian's popularity for Diablo players, Blizzard actually included the Barbarian in Heroes of the Storm. The MOBA already featured quite a number of Diablo NPCs and classes. In terms of the latter, these included the Amazon (Cassia), the Crusader (Johanna), the Monk (Kharazim), the Witch Doctor (Nazeebo), the Demon Hunter (Valia), the Wizard (Li-Ming), and the Necromancer (Xul).
In the case of Barbarian, it came in the form of Sonya, a fierce dual-wielder of swords. Lore-wise, Sonya currently wanders Sanctuary to help her tribe. The inclusion of Sonya and the aforementioned warriors confirms the canonicity of certain genders in the terms of Diablo 3's Nephalem heroes.
1 Kratos Avoided The Barbarian Look
Fans of God of War might notice that Kratos had a design quite similar to Diablo's Barbarian, particularly with the use of war paint. Granted, heroes of all sorts can get war paints of their own, and this gave Kratos a unique look compared to his Spartan companions. However, the original Kratos design meant for him to have blue war paint, which looked very similar to Diablo 2's Barbarian design.
Ultimately, Kratos was switched to red paint, reducing the similarities between the God of War protagonist and the Barbarian as well. Meanwhile, the Barbarians evolved from their inspiration of Germanic Tribes towards a more liberal use of spikes and leather.