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"All of creation cares not whether you live or die."
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| “ | Even now, Earth smolders in ruins, fallen to the Demon Lords, and the Destroyer carves a new kingdom amongst his mighty Chosen. — The Crowfather, on the Earth |
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Earth, also known as the Third Kingdom or the Kingdom of Man was one of the Three Kingdoms and home to the Human race. It is the only known realm to explicitly lack an incarnation of the Tree, as its manifestation was burned to cinders by the Charred Council to restrict access to the realm.
Overview
Death's Door
In 1722, a rogue Angel by the name of Makhala descended to Marseilles, France and led a cult of human followers under the influence of Corruption. Her pendants cured their wearers of Corruption but infected those around them. The angel's schemes were ended when Death hunted her down on Earth and killed her.
Darksiders
Earth was in the midst of its modern age when the Apocalypse began prematurely. Humanity, originally protected by treaties between Heaven and Hell so that it could reach its full potential, was unprepared and annihilated in the crossfire between the two sides. The Kingdom of Man was meant to fight on equal footing with the other kingdoms but they had no chance in the early End War. During the initial battle, War descended to the Earth and bore witness to the start of mankind's fall. After falling in battle with Straga, his soul was banished to the Abyss, not to return to Earth until the Charred Council sent him to slay the Destroyer and the conspirators that triggered the early Apocalypse a century later.
By that time, most of the Earth's surface had been reduced to ruin in Hell's victory, reduced to crumbling structures, seas of ash and demonic growths scarring the blasted landscape. Only a handful of Angels hadn't retreated to the White City and all that remained of humanity were Undead serving the realm's Demon rulers and feral Wicked prowling the skeletons of its once-great-civilizations. War went on to do much to shift the balance of power on Earth's surface: freeing Samael and Azrael from the Destroyer's prisons, slaying the Chosen, bringing the truth of the premature End War to light, and finally slaying the Destroyer himself. With the breaking of the Seventh Seal, the remainder of the Four Horsemen have been summoned to Earth.
Darksiders II
After the Apocalypse but before War's return, Death traveled to Earth twice in his quest to redeem his brother. The first time, he went to retrieve the Rod of Arafel for Archon Lucien, who promised to clear the way to the Ivory Citadel, where the pale rider hoped to find half of Key to the Well of Souls. There he encountered the Hellguard and saved Uriel from the Swarm when he arrives at the Destroyed City. He found that the Destroyer was using pieces of the Rod to summon such Abyssal Creatures to do his bidding. After recovering the Rod, Death departed.
Uriel and Death met again when the latter came to Earth investigating rumors of a surviving human. The rider found the Hunter living in fear of one of Hell's lesser demon lords, Belial, and slew the demon. Upon finding that he had betrayed his own kind over empty threats as well as the fact that Belial had never had power over his soul, the Hunter asked Death to kill him. The Horseman obliged and left Earth.
Death's eventual sacrifice in the Well of Souls restored humanity to Earth.
Trivia
- There is an unconfirmed minor detail that would contradict the common knowledge about Earth's inhabitants' total annihilation. In the first Darksiders, one can sometimes hear gunshots when War is in the Crossroads. This hint at humanity's survival at least in part is confirmed with Death meeting with The Hunter.