Donan’s death was a plot catalyst D2R Items. He needed to die so that Lorath would be forced to stay behind, so that Neyrelle would be forced to choose by herself what happens to the soulstone, so that she would have an excuse to escape Mephisto’s chamber before Lilith arrived, and so that the party would be separated and she could make her escape to the Western Kingdoms with the soulstone. It was narratively necessary, so I don’t take issue with the fact that Donan died, just the way it happened.

In the final flashback, we see Lilith parlay with Astaroth in Hell as he grants her permission to enter Mephisto’s domain. We know that Asteroth is present in Hell and nearby our location shortly before we arrived. Wouldn’t it have been so much more fitting to let Donan confront Astaroth, the demon that killed his son, and let the once-mighty Horadrin die seeking his revenge?

It would make sense that the old man wouldn’t be able to hold his own against Astaroth, considering it took three heroes to bring the demon down the first time. Seeing Donan fall to Asteroth’s sword would have set up an eventual rematch for us with the demon too. Instead, Donan stumbles into a pillar and gets unceremoniously shanked by a wacky waving monster arm cheap D2R ladder items. Not exactly a dignified end for one of Sanctuary’s last heroes.