This is pure conjecture and probably not what the devs had in mind, but I think this is a cool headcanon/lore connection that isn't that much more spurious than the Bane/Darkterror connection:
Roshan the Immortal is a cursed smeevil.
From the The International 3 courier description:
"Tis said among artisan and warrior alike that there is no finer servant than a trusty smeevil."
Likewise, from the Murrissey The International 2 courier:
"It is rare to find a smeevil far from the warmth of the forge to which it's bound, for they thrive on the affectionate cuffings and curses of their sworn smith. But the lure of a free tortoiceros ride compelled the smeevil Murrissey to break every oath..."
Smeevils are bound to blacksmiths, and they are trusty, but not perfect. They can break their oaths and leave the forge. (A few smeevils--three, I think, the same number accompanying the workshop artwork--can be seen in silhouette on rocks in the jungle in the Greeviling video; they could be looking onward from a shop or something so make of this what you will.)
The Steam Workshop page for Dota 2 has a portrait of the Radiant shopkeeper (who received a new black-maned model about a year ago, differentiating him from the Radiant secret shopkeeper from the Are We Heroes Yet? comic) accompanied at his anvil by a smeevil. It makes sense that smeevils are affiliated not just with craftsmen but also the shopkeepers themselves. While the secret shop and side shops are staffed with merchants, the Radiant and Dire shopkeepers seem to be blacksmiths, artisans who would have pet smeevils.
Now we know from the Are We Heroes Yet? comic that Roshan killed a shopkeeper and stole the Aegis, and as a result, he was cursed by the gods to be hunted again and again.
Now, look at Roshan. He has the same reptilian form and the same basic horns and facial features of smeevils. There are some considerable differences (size, proportions, wings, tail, etc.) but his general form looks somewhat similar to that of a smeevil.
I'm proposing that Roshan was a smeevil who murdered the shopkeeper/blacksmith/forgemaster he was sworn to. He may have already been inordinately large or a different subspecies of smeevil, but perhaps the gods made him larger and more monstrous to entice adventurers/heroes to kill him over and over as punishment.
Perhaps it even explains why he carries cheese despite being an incredibly huge and terrible beast: he wasn't always this way, and he used to be a small pet who was fed cheese by his loving master.
That said, this doesn't really explain Baby Roshans, but whatever.
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