Jeweler Covetous Shen
Lore and Character Dialogue Guide
This lore and character dialogue guide will cover Covetous Shen, the Jeweler Artisan follower in Diablo 3, providing background information and a listing of his dialogue options that are available throughout the game, with information on when they can be heard for the Everybody Loves Shen achievement.
*SPOILER WARNING*
The purpose of this guide is to cover plot event’s and other important information. If you don’t want to learn something you may not already know, go beat the game first and come back later.
Note: Sometimes a dialogue option remains hidden until you have opened another one that is available. Also, sometimes they eventually go away later in the game.
Also, the character’s replies are done from the point of the Witch Doctor, others may be added in the future for completionism, but they will all be along the same lines. Requests are open if this is something you are interested in, just leave a comment below and I’ll work on getting your requested character type’s put in.
About Covetous Shen:
Shen is the most talkative character by far, also being your artisan Jeweler after discovering him locked away in a barrel in the Waterlogged Passage Act II. Although he might seem like a babbling loon at first, he is actually one of the most mysterious and intriguing people who join your cause.
Available Dialogues in Diablo 3
- Tell Me About Yourself
- The Restless Dead
- Deckard Cain
- Jewels
- King Leoric
- The Fallen Star
- The World
- Dark Visions
- Grieving
- The Stranger
- The Journey Ahead
- A Special Jewel
- The Legend of Zei the Trickster/A Case of Mistaken Identity
- A Mysterious Rumor
- The Desert Heat
- Caldeum
- Zoltun Kulle
- Legends and Myth
- The Jewel’s Price
- The Black Soulstone
- The Frozen North
- Memories*
- More Memories
- Hard Questions
- The Battlefields
- The Nature of the Jewel
- The End
- The Hunt Continues
- Hope
- A Dark Day
- Leah’s Soul
- God or Man
- Ruin and Corruption
- The Lord of Terror
🗄️ **Archived** 🗄️
Tell Me About Yourself
Available at the start of the Quest: A Shattered Crown (Act I)
Covetous Shen:
Ah, a very interesting topic, heh-heh! I sell jewels.Player:
What you do does not define you. Where do you come from?Covetous Shen:
Xiansai! Great Families warred in the streets! Political intrigue and bottomless wells of treachery around every corner!Player:
I notice that you still tell me nothing of yourself.Covetous Shen:
Oh dear. Perhaps you are not asking the right questions.
The Restless Dead
Available at the start of the Quest: A Shattered Crown (Act I)
Covetous Shen:
You are very brave to venture outside the town gates. I hear there are all sorts of dangerous things crawling around out there.Player:
The spirits speak of the risen dead.Covetous Shen:
That’s terrible! I only meant the rats and snakes.
Deckard Cain
Available at the start of the Quest: A Shattered Crown (Act I)
Covetous Shen:
Hm, I do like this Deckard Cain fellow. It’s rare that I can find someone I have so much in common with.Player:
You do not seem very similar.Covetous Shen:
We both had rather interesting experiences with the Zakarum priestesses in our youths.
Jewels
Available at the start of the Quest: A Shattered Crown (Act I)
*May need to progress to Northwest Gate
Disappears at Reign of the Black King.
Covetous Shen:
You know, there is nothing in the world quite so perfect as jewels. They have color, size, shape… transparency.Player:
You do have a powerful love for them, it seems.Covetous Shen:
Oh yes! If only I could eat them, I would need nothing else in life. Not that you can’t. I hear some people even shave certain crystals atop their food!
King Leoric
Available at the start of the Quest: Reign of the Black King (Act I)
Disappears at Sword of the Stranger
Covetous Shen:
Well… though I never knew him personally, I saw Leoric himself when he was building his manor.A troubled man with a heavy burden upon his fragile mind. Is it any wonder that he built such a home for himself?
What he needed was someone to teach him how to laugh once in a while.
The Fallen Star
Available at the start of the Quest: Sword of the Stranger (Act I)
Disappears at The Broken Blade
Covetous Shen:
Oh, perhaps it was a jewel that fell from the sky. Did you ever consider that?Player:
It was not a jewel; it was a stranger. A man.Covetous Shen:
A man? Now, that is strange. Where do you suppose he came from? And how did he survive his fall? Did he have any jewels on him?
The World
Available at the start of the Quest: The Broken Blade (Act I)
*May need to progress to Talk to Alaric
Covetous Shen:
Such a strange place this world is. You never know what you might find over the next rise, or what the next day might bring.A man who fell from the sky, a king who cannot die. I can tell I will have no dull days, traveling with you.
Dark Visions
Available at the start of the Quest: The Doom in Wortham (Act I)
Covetous Shen:
I can see the fires from here. Wortham burns.It is only the truly evil who force innocents to suffer for a battle they have no part in.
Grieving
Available at the start of the Quest: Trailing the Coven (Act I)
Covetous Shen:
It’s a cruel world that would take Deckard Cain away from us. His was never an easy life, and he gave much for us all.Player:
I will not rest until Maghda and her coven have paid for Cain’s death.Covetous Shen:
We all pay. Just look at the face of Leah, the poor girl. What price could the Coven pay that could be greater than that?
The Stranger
Available at the start of the Quest: The Imprisoned Angel (Act I)
Covetous Shen:
A strange man. I know a thing or two about a man with secrets.Player:
Like you?Covetous Shen:
Me? Oh, no. I’m a simple man. Give me a good meal, a warm bed, and a handful of jewels. But you, I think, are different. Complicated.
The Journey Ahead
Available at the start of the Quest: Return to New Tristram(Act I)
Covetous Shen:
Where do we go next? To the great desert?Player:
We go to Caldeum.Covetous Shen:
Caldeum! Yes, the great Jewel of the East!Player:
Caldeum is not actually a jewel.Covetous Shen:
I knew that.
A Special Jewel
Available at the start of the Quest: Shadows in the Desert (Act II)
Unlocks The Legend of Zei the Trickster/A Case of Mistaken Identity (see below)
Covetous Shen:
I knew you would lead me to exciting and mysterious places! We should encounter the jewel I seek any day now!Player:
Tell me of this jewel. What does it look like?Covetous Shen:
Sometimes, a ruby. Other times, a glorious emerald or a stunning diamond. It is very good at hiding.Player:
So it is aware. There is a dark spirit within?Covetous Shen:
A very good question. A dangerous question. You are getting better at them.Player:
I notice that you did not answer me.Covetous Shen:
Hmm. Yes, well, a good question answers itself.
A Case of Mistaken Identity
This conversation is labeled as The Legend of Zei the Trickster in the achievements menu, but A Case of Mistaken Identity in Shen’s conversation window. (probably referring to the journal received afterwards)
Available at the start of the Quest: Shadows in the Desert (Act I)
Unlocked after the conversation, A Special Jewel.
Covetous Shen:
You try to give a young man some advice, and he assumes you are the Xiansai god of thieves, traveling in disguise as an elderly jeweler!I understand his confusion. Zei and I do share certain features.
Player:
How strange. The spirits tell me that you are often mistaken for this god.Covetous Shen:
That would be correct! But enough about me. Who are these “spirits” you speak to?Player:
All who die pass from this world to Mbwiru Eikura, the true one. They speak to me, and some of them say they knew you from times long past.Covetous Shen:
Of course they do! I am very memorable!
The Legend of Zei the Trickster (Journal Unlocked)
The people of Xiansai worship fifty-nine gods, but few are more revered than Zei, the exiled trickster god who travels the face of the world, disguised as a humble merchant. Tales of his adventures range from ingenious thefts and practical jokes to more… lurid exploits, none of which I am comfortable recording here.
And al-Hazir
A Mysterious Rumor
Available at the start of the quest Shadows in the Desert (Act II)
Jeweler Covetous Shen:
I heard a rumor that there is a strange and mysterious jewelcrafting device hidden in the aqueducts of the Dahlgur Oasis.I have a mind to go search for it myself. Don’t worry, I won’t go alone. I’m sure I’ll find someone to show me around.
The Desert Heat
Available at the start of the quest Shadows in the Desert (Act II)
Jeweler Covetous Shen:
Ugh, it’s even hotter than I remembered it. I’m afraid I’m growing weak. I need a drink, and a bath, and something to keep the sun off.Or maybe just a nice, cold jewel to put on my forehead. That will fix everything.
Caldeum
Available at the start of the quest A Royal Audience (Act II)
Jeweler Covetous Shen:
The Jewel of the East! Caldeum is really quite amazing. I have never seen anything quite like it, and I have seen many things in my life.Player:
Caldeum is not actually a jewel. It is just a name.Covetous Shen:
That explains quite a bit, actually.
Zoltun Kulle
Available at the start of the quest Betrayer of the Horadrim (Act II)
Covetous Shen:
I think I might have met Zoltun Kulle once. He seemed like a perfectly reasonable sort, for a mage, that is.Player:
Are mages so different?Covetous Shen:
Oh yes, well, you know how they can be, with the waving hands and the mumbling all the time. They can be a little strange.
Legends and Myth
Available at the start of the quest Blood and Sand (Act II)
Covetous Shen:
You are looking at me in a very strange manner.Player:
The spirits are confused. This is not something that happens. Some think you a god; others, a man. Which are you?Covetous Shen:
Ah, philosophy! Can a man not be both? Can I not live well, and give generously, and live a perfectly holy life?Player:
I do not know. Can you?Covetous Shen:
Oh, definitely not. It’s tremendously boring. I’d rather eat too much and sleep late.
The Jewel’s Price
Available at the start of the quest The Black Soulstone (Act II)
Covetous Shen:
I think I was wrong about the jewel I seek. It is not in this land either. What a pity.Player:
Why do you search for this jewel so persistently?Covetous Shen:
Because… it has killed thousands, and because I am the only one who can hold it without harm.Player:
Because you are a god?Covetous Shen:
No. Because it has already taken everything from me that matters.But enough of that! I have gone too long without spiced beef and spicier wine!
The Black Soulstone
Available at the start of the quest The Scouring of Caldeum (Act II)
Covetous Shen:
Do you think I could take a close look at that Black Soulstone? It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.Player:
It is no ordinary stone. It is an object of great evil.Covetous Shen:
You think to little of me. The object of my search is as dangerous as anything. My expertise may be of some use to you. I am, after all, quite well versed in the knowledge of jewels and stones.
The Frozen North
Available at the start of the quest The Siege of Bastion’s Keep (Act III)
Covetous Shen:
It’s just unnatural to go from a place so hot to a place so cold. The change isn’t good for my old bones.Player:
I had to come here.Covetous Shen:
And what is all this noise? It’s as though we’re right in the middle of a battle!Player:
This is a great battle we are in.Covetous Shen:
I know; isn’t it?
Memories
Available at the start of the quest The Siege of Bastion’s Keep (Act III)
Player:
You look distant, my friend. Your mind casts itself into the past, I think.Covetous Shen:
Oh, yes, yes, yes. Well, memories are useless, aren’t they? You can’t eat them or sell them for food. I’m glad that I’m starting to lose them!Oh, I was just remembering a time when I tracked the jewel to Skovos. A long story, but let us just say that between the sea monsters and poison arrows, it managed to slip away again.
Player:
A disappointing conclusion.Covetous Shen:
Oh, it was. But when the theater’s ceiling collapsed, I fell right into the lap of my soon-to-be seventh wife! She managed to console me.Player:
Seven wives?Covetous Shen:
Oh, no, no, no. I’ve been married many more times than that. But never to more than two women at a time. Never let it be said that I am greedy!
More Memories
Available at the start of the quest Turning the Tide (Act III)
Player:
I would enjoy another story from your past.Covetous Shen:
During the Festival of Masks many years ago, a lady stole my money pouch and a kiss from me. Of course, I had to catch her.In those days, I was quite an athlete. I chased her halfway across the city’s moonlit rooftops, wearing nothing more than a mask with a gigantic nose.
I never caught her, but I still remember her laugh.
Hard Questions
Available at the start of the quest Tremors in the Stone (Act III)
Covetous Shen:
Oh, dear. That’s a very resolute expression you’re wearing. You may as well say what you’re thinking.Player:
The spirits say you are a fraud and a god, husband and thief of wives, a chieftain and a vagabond. You cannot be all these things.Covetous Shen:
And why not? People can be anything they want, I say. The only limitation s time, and I have been alive for many years.Player:
For more years, perhaps, than a normal man would live.Covetous Shen:
Oh yes. And I think everyone would agree that I am far from normal.
The Battlefields
Available at the start of the quest Machines of War (Act III)
Covetous Shen:
You’re going out there?Player:
That is why I came here.Covetous Shen:
Make sure you bundle up. You should probably wear an extra layer or two. You can never be warm enough, I always say.Player:
And yet you have not put on more since Caldeum.Covetous Shen:
Oh, well, it’s quite simple. I just tuck a few fire opals in my pockets and under my shirts, and I never get cold. As good as a pair of long underwear.
The Nature of the Jewel
Available at the start of the quest Siegebreaker (Act III)
Player:
I wish to learn more about this jewel and the spirit trapped within.Covetous Shen:
Oh, all you wish to hear is my most guarded secret. Well, certainly. If you cannot be trusted, then the world is in trouble, I think.The jewel contains a… powerful creature named Dirgest. He was trapped within it for terrible crimes against his people.
Player:
The spirits have never heard this name. That is a strange thing. They know everyone.Covetous Shen:
The spirits of those who know him are trapped with him in the stone.Now a flaw has developed in the jewel. Through it, Dirgest can consume the holder’s life. I intend to seal his prison, trapping him in it forever.
The End
Available at the start of the quest Heart of Sin (Act III)
Covetous Shen:
You are so close now. Only Azmodan is still out there, waiting for you. What do you suppose you will do after he is dead?Player:
We can discuss that after he is dead.Covetous Shen:
Oh, you’re too modest. I saw how easily you took care of Belial. And you’ve already beaten Azmodan’s army. How much more trouble could he be?Let me tell you what I think. After Azmodan is dead, you come with me, and we’ll go on a grand adventure! Just you and Shen. The wind at our backs, and the road stretching out before us.
Player:
It is not an unpleasant thought.
The Hunt Continues
Available at the start of the quest Fall of the High Heavens (Act IV)
Covetous Shen:
When you have lived as long as I, you learn that life is filled with betrayal. But the cruelest always comes at the hands of those we love.I know it must be hard to think of other things, but now we must. All creation rests upon your shoulders.
Player:
You sound more serious than I have ever heard you.Covetous Shen:
Well, these are dark times. Even I must set apart thoughts of Dirgest’s jewel and dwell upon the fate of the world.But that doesn’t mean you have to frown so.
Hope
Available at the start of the quest Fall of the High Heavens (Act IV)
Covetous Shen:
Hope… Do not look down, my friend. Even in the darkest of times, there is always hope.Hope for a better day, hope for a new dawn.
Or just hope for a good breakfast. You start small, then see what you can get.
A Dark Day
Available at the start of the quest Fall of the High Heavens (Act IV)
Covetous Shen:
I never quite expected my life to… end this way.Player:
And what did you expect?Covetous Shen:
Well, smothered by a harem! Or, more likely, killed by the jewel I seek. Who would have thought that the entire world would die together?I can’t complain. It;s not as though I can say my life was not long enough!
Player:
All is not yet lost, my friend.Covetous Shen:
I’m glad my boundless confidence is rubbing off on you. Could you give some of it back?
Leah’s Soul
Available at the start of the quest The Light of Hope (Act IV)
Covetous Shen:
Do you think that Leah is lost forever?Player:
Diablo consumed her. She is gone.Covetous Shen:
Do you not think Leah’s soul is stronger than that? But, oh, but then sometimes I-I forget that you have not seen everything that I have seen.Player:
You always dodge the truth. Who are you?Covetous Shen:
Er, what am I? I am Covetous Shen, of course-no more, no less. To some, that has meant one thing; to others, another.Player:
When will you give me a real answer?Covetous Shen:
When the sun sets in the east and the shore swallows the tide. When the moon smiles upon the day and the blind man sees once again.
God or Man
Available at the start of the quest Beneath the Spire (Act IV)
Player:
The time for mysteries is past. I wish to know who you are.Covetous Shen:
Why? Do you think it will help you face Diablo?Player:
Knowledge can aid us at unexpected times. The spirits say you are long-lived. Perhaps you know something that will help me.Covetous Shen:
Oh, yes, yes, yes! I most certainly do. The last time I saw someone more intelligent than you, I was looking in a reflection. Fight intelligently, my friend, and you cannot fail.At any rate. When you defeat Diablo, don’t laze about. We have other lands to explore, you and I. Dirgest’s jewel is still out there somewhere.
Ruin and Corruption
Available at the start of the quest Beneath the Spire (Act IV)
Covetous Shen:
All is falling to ruin and corruption. Nothing in all my days and all my years has ever compared to this.Player:
Do not lose hope. Terrible things have come and gone before.Covetous Shen:
But nowhere near as terrible as might happen if you do not defeat Diablo. All the jewels in Heaven or in our world would mean nothing then. Oh, I weep to think of such a day.
The Lord of Terror
Available at the start of the quest Prime Evil (Act IV)
Covetous Shen:
I know what I fear. For long years I feared the jewel of Dirgest would fall into the wrong hands, that its evil would be unleashed upon our world.But in the sight of this, in the sight of all this destruction, I can hardly look or even think upon a jewel, even one as terrible as Dirgest’s.
You must save us.
Credits & Recognitions:
MudHolland – updates to “The World”
Bolzoo – updates to “Jewels”
Synikal – spelling corrections
Last Updated on October 4, 2020 by Standard of Entertainment