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* LetsYouAndHimFight: Very much enjoys this. Whenever Boethiah shows up, a fight (with any luck, between allies) is sure to follow; when Boethiah appears after you sacrifice a follower in Skyrim, she immediately demands that all cultists in the area kill each other for the right to receive her ''actual'' quest.
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* LetsYouAndHimFight: Very much enjoys this. Whenever Boethiah shows up, a fight (with any luck, between allies) is sure to follow; when Boethiah appears after you sacrifice a follower in Skyrim, ''Skyrim'', she immediately demands that all cultists in the area kill each other for the right to receive her ''actual'' quest.
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* LetsYouAndHimFight: Very much enjoys this. Whenever Boethiah shows up, a fight (with any luck, between allies) is sure to follow; when Boethiah appears after you sacrifice a follower in Skyrim, she immediately demands that all cultists in the area kill each other for the right to receive her ''actual'' quest.
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* DerelictGraveyard: Apocrypha contains a region called Fathoms Drift, which contains the ships of sailors who offended Mora or carried forbidden cargo, and were dragged beneath the waves and into Apocrypha for it.
* EldritchOceanAbyss: Ancient Khajiiti myth claims that Apocrypha is located beneath the waves.
* LordOfTheOcean: Though it's not focused on much as his domains of knowledge and memory, he's strongly associated with the seas and very commonly worshiped by sailors. One book in ''Online'' calls him the Daedric Prince of "hidden shoals, whirlpools, and sudden squalls," and claims that any sailor who disrespects him or carries forbidden cargo draws the risk of being dragged beneath the waves to his realm, their souls doomed to eternally wander a DerelictGraveyard in Apocrypha.
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* RedBaron: The Golden Eye, Gardener of Men, Prince of Fate, Lord of Secrets, Abyssal Cephaliarch, The Woodland Man, Old Antecedent, Scryer, Inevitable Knower, Tide-King, He Who Records All Knowledge, Abider in the Abyss, and Demon of Knowledge.
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* RedBaron: The Golden Eye, Gardener of Men, Prince of Fate, Lord of Secrets, Abyssal Cephaliarch, The Woodland Man, Old Antecedent, Scryer, Inevitable Knower, Tide-King, He Who Records All Knowledge, Abider in the Abyss, the Watcher Below, and Demon of Knowledge.Knowledge.
* ReroutedFromHeaven: Sailors who offend him or carry forbidden cargo are sometimes dragged beneath the waves, their souls cursed to roam a DerelictGraveyard in Apocrypha called Fathoms Drift for all eternity.
* ReroutedFromHeaven: Sailors who offend him or carry forbidden cargo are sometimes dragged beneath the waves, their souls cursed to roam a DerelictGraveyard in Apocrypha called Fathoms Drift for all eternity.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Azura]]
!!Azura (aka Azurah)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/azura_morrowind.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Avatar of Azura]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Shari Elliker (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Linda Canyon (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Creator/LyndaCarter (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'', ''The Elder Scrolls Online'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Natalia Litvinova (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Nina Gogaeva (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Ekaterina Afrikantova (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
->''"Azura, whose sphere is dusk and dawn, the magic in-between realms of twilight, known as Moonshadow, Mother of the Rose, and Queen of the Night Sky."''
-->-- '''''The Book of Daedra'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Dawn and Dusk, Twilight, Prophecy, Vanity, Egotism\\
'''''Realm''''': Moonshadow\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Azura's Star, Moon and Star Ring of Nerevar, Moonlight Blade\\
'''''Servants''''': Winged Twilights
Azura is the Daedric Prince of Dawn and Dusk, and is heavily associated with prophecy. Her most common symbols are a moon and star, and her typical form is as a matronly woman. She is one of the more benevolent Daedric Princes as well as one of the few to be almost universally considered "good" by mortals, and has typically shown greater concern for the well-being of her mortal followers than do most Princes. Azura has a particular association with the Dunmer people dating back to the earliest eras of Tamriellic history, and she is considered one of the three "Good Daedra" in their religion.
That said, Azura has no compunction against expressing her displeasure in very nasty ways, having a cruel and often petty streak toward those who defy her in any way. While she is the "Lady of Prophecy", the fact that she actively works to ensure that her prophecies come to fruition is something she'd rather you ignore. Although she is never overtly deceitful, the way Azura always gets what she desires in the end, and how titanic events always follow her interventions, can be portrayed as disturbing. There are also some hints that she may be a sort of 'cosmic force' primarily concerned with maintaining a sort of metaphysical balance in the universe, and her perceived "benevolence" is merely the result of her actions benefiting mortals more often than not.
As Azurah, she is also fairly prominent within Khajiit tradition, being believed to be the being that gave them the ability to be born with different forms based on the phases of Masser and Secunda.
Azura's realm is Moonshadow, said to be so beautiful that it "half-blinds" mortals who lay eyes upon it. It features all manner of beautiful flowers, trees, and waterfalls. There is a rain that "blurs the colors" and a "Rose Palace" in a "city of silver" at its center, where Azura herself resides.
In ''Daggerfall'', she asks you to kill a healer who blasphemed against her by preaching humility and decrying vanity. In ''Morrowind'', she acts as a guide to the PlayerCharacter through the main quest. She also has a side quest where she asks you to slay the Daedra sent by Sheogorath to disturb her priestess. In ''Oblivion'', she asks you to mercy kill five of her followers who were infected with Porphyric Hemophilia (vampirism). In ''Skyrim'', she asks you to find and purge one of her artifacts, Azura's Star. She is involved with several quests in ''Online'', mostly revolving around the Dunmer and the Tribunal.
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* AmbiguouslyRelated: According to the Khajiiti tale "''The Favored Daughter of Fadomai''", Azura and [[GodIsDead Lorkhan]] were siblings. How true this is, however, is up to speculation.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: She's inarguably the most benevolent of the Princes, and is strongly associated with beauty. The Khajiit worship her as a goddess of beauty, and her plane, Moonshadow, is so beautiful that it's actually hard to look at. It's somewhat played with though, as this beauty likely stems from her connection to vanity.
* BenevolentBoss: If you worship her and stay loyal, she'll watch out for you. ''Invocation of Azura'', a book written by one of her followers, notes that Azura wants the love of her followers and for her followers to love themselves. Regardless of the interpretation of her actions, she is this toward the Nerevarine in ''Morrowind'', being nothing but pleasant towards and protective of the Nerevarine, just as she was to the original Nerevar who served as her champion.
* BerserkButton: Mortals criticizing her or refusing her requests. A good example comes from ''Daggerfall'', if you summon her but do not accept her (rather petty) request:
--> ''"No! You're supposed to say yes! You're supposed to say: Yes, beautiful Azura, I would gladly murder at the snap of your ivory fingers. Boor! Bigot! Barbarian! Now, I must go before I forget that I am a lady and say something that I'll regret."''
* BewareTheNiceOnes: She makes a point of looking after her followers and isn't interested in messing with mortal affairs unless they directly concern her. This may seem like common courtesy, but by Daedric standards, she's practically a saint. However she's still a Daedric Prince, and even her own devout worshipers will admit that she can be very cruel, especially to those who cross her. [[DisproportionateRetribution Just ask the Chimer]].
* BigGood: Azura seems to be a unique hybrid of Big Good and GreaterScopeVillain for ''Morrowind'', [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation with exactly where she falls depending on one's interpretation of her role]] in the events of ''Morrowind'' and its aftermath.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Along with EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. Her first appearance in ''Daggerfall'' is also her most malevolent and petty. She demands that you kill a priest who has spoken ill of her, and gets extremely upset if you refuse her request. She is also mentioned to be an ally of Molag Bal, something which has never been brought up in any work since then.
* TheChessmaster: She is the "Lady of Prophecy", and she actively works (mostly) behind the scenes to ensure that those prophecies come to pass, at least "in spirit" if not exactly as they are foretold.
* TheChooserOfTheOne: She prophesied the reincarnation of Nerevar, her slain champion, as "the Nerevarine", and serves as a guide to the Nerevarine. (It is implied that it may be a MultipleChoiceChosen situation, where she set forth criteria in her prophecy, and any individual who met those criteria could ''become'' the Nerevarine.) Fitting given her "chessmaster" reputation.
* CrystalDragonJesus: Downplayed, but her appearances in ''Morrowind'' seem rather like purported appearances of the Virgin Mary, complete with her always wearing a [[TrueBlueFemininity blue dress.]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: While none of the Daedric Princes are truly evil, Azura is one of the more benevolent Princes, despite her association with twilight and the night.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: In her ''Skyrim'' quest, if you choose to purify Azura's Star on your own, it becomes a re-usable ''black'' soul gem called the Black Star.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Toward the Chimer/Dunmer, as a result of the actions of the Tribunal (and really, even the very ''existence'' of the Tribunal to begin with). While everyone involved has their [[TheRashomon own version]] of exactly what happened [[WhenItAllBegan at Red Mountain all those years ago]], we do know that Nerevar, faithful champion of Azura, ended up dead and the Tribunal (and Dagoth Ur) ascended to godhood. Neither of which Azura was happy about. She then (possibly) cursed them with the dark skin and red eyes of the modern Dunmer. Years later, she (definitely) played a prominent role in guiding the Nerevarine to unbind the Heart of Lorkhan, and with it, the Tribunal's divinity. They all end up dead or disappeared, plunging Morrowind into chaos and indirectly leading toward its destruction with the subsequent Oblivion Crisis, Red Mountain eruption, and Argonian invasion.
* DivinePunishment: After her champion Nerevar was murdered and his followers went against her wishes by using the Tools of Kagrenac on the Heart of Lorkhan to become {{Physical God}}s, she cursed the formerly gold-skinned Chimer race into the Dunmer with ashen gray skin and blood red eyes. After helping the Nerevarine cast down the "false gods" in ''Morrowind'', she further abandons the Dunmer by warning only a few of her followers ahead of the Red Year and Argonian Invasion, leaving the rest to suffer.
* EldritchAbomination: Behind her veil of benevolence and pleasing female form, there are hints that Azura may be something much more eldritch. She may be a sort of 'cosmic force' primarily concerned with maintaining a sort of metaphysical balance in the universe.
* EldritchLocation: Her realm of Moonshadow, said to be so extremely beautiful that the viewer is half-blinded by it, where Azura resides in a Rose Palace in a city made of silver.
* EnemyMine: As much as she hates the Tribunal, she is willing to work with them or help them to protect Morrowind. In ''The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind'', she helps save Vivec's life to prevent the fall of Baar Dau.
* EvilPaysBetter: The ([[BlueAndOrangeMorality mostly]]) good ending of her ''Skyrim'' questline is to purify Azura's Star, receiving it as a reusable Grand Soul Gem and gaining Aranea Ienith as a potential follower. On the other hand, you can complete the corruption and transform it into the Black Star which can hold all types of soul including human -- keep in mind Black Soul Gems are rather rare and humanoid souls are the best for enchanting.[[note]]Though this is apparently a glitch. Originally the Black Star was supposed to hold ''only'' black souls and not white souls, making it less useful but still more so than the standard Star.[[/note]] And even just the ability to hold black souls makes it heads and shoulders better than the other version, as grand animal and monster souls can be rare, but black (aka human) souls are extremely common regardless of level.
* {{Expy}}: Azura shares much of her temperament and nature, if not her domain, with [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Athena.]] Like Athena, she is seen as one of the "good" deities of her setting, but shows a very cruel and petty side when slighted. The in-universe text, 'Azura and the Box' shares much with some versions of tale of Arachne, with a mortal outdoing a god, and bringing down a curse upon themselves due to the gods in question being sore losers.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Some sources state that she is a "sister" of Nocturnal, although it is unclear whether it is in a literal or metaphorical sense, as other sources also mention both having a rivalry to each other.
* GodOfTheMoon: Ancient Khajiiti myths strongly associate her with the moons, especially the "Ghost Moon," believed to have been Lorkhaj's corpse placed there by Azurah. The Order of the Hidden Moon, an ancient Khajiiti cult that primarily revered Azurah, was gifted a powerful artifact called the Moonlight Blade by the goddess herself. Even following the rise of the Riddle'Thar and her resulting loss of prominence in Khajiiti religion, she's still believed to be the one who gifted the Khajiit with moon-sugar and the one who tends the fires in Jone and Jode.
* GoodIsNotNice: Generally considered of the "good" Daedra, and usually one of the more benevolent Princes toward mortals. However, she has no compunction against expressing her displeasure in very nasty ways. Additionally, there is some evidence that she may be more of a neutral cosmic force, concerned with maintaining a sort of metaphysical balance, and doing so just so happens to benefit the mortal races more often than not.
* GreaterScopeVillain: One interpretation of her behavior in ''Morrowind''. While Azura takes on a highly benevolent image in helping to free the Dunmer (and Tamriel in general) from the threat of Dagoth Ur, the primary reason why the Nerevarine is actually sent to Vvardenfell is to undermine and destroy the [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Tribunal]] (who defied her, stole her worshipers, and [[TheRashomon may have]] killed her previous champion, Nerevar). Actually defeating Dagoth Ur is just good PR "icing on the cake" while she actually gets what she wants when the 4000-year reign of the Dunmeri {{Physical God}}s is brought to an end. In addition, Azura herself played a highly active role in bringing about the destruction of Morrowind in the years that followed, as she only warned a handful of her followers to leave (allowing for the rest to die horribly as punishment for turning on her). She is also the only party during and after the events of ''Morrowind'' to end up with ''[[TheBadGuyWins everything she wanted]]'' (Dead or otherwise indisposed Tribunal, her former worshipers are firmly hers again, those who didn't worship her are enslaved and destroyed, amazing PR...)
* MagicalStarSymbols: Her most famous symbol is Azura's Star, which is only visible in the sky during the hours of twilight. Her most famous artifact is the reusable soul gem of the same name, which is shaped like a star. Finally, she blessed her ancient champion Nerevar's Moon-and-Star ring (which features a golden star and silver crescent moon on a platinum colored ring) to kill anyone but him who tries to wear it.
* ManyfacedDivinity: The depiction of Azura seen in the Temple of the Hidden Moon in ''Online'' has three faces: One human, one elven, and one Khajiiti.
* NavelDeepNeckline: Her statues in ''Skyrim'' and ''Online'' have plunging necklines, as opposed to being topless with BarbieDollAnatomy and/or NippleAndDimed in other games like ''Daggerfall'', ''Morrowind'' and ''Oblivion''.
* PragmaticVillainy: One of the reasons she's rather reasonable by Daedric Prince standards is because she has the sense to realize that being a BenevolentBoss is the best way to inspire loyalty and keep backstabbing to a minimum, and the fact that she doesn't generally antagonize mortals means that her worship is far more tolerated in most cultures than that of the other Princes.
* ProudBeauty: Though she's less obviously narcissistic than Meridia, there are still moments when her association with vanity shines through. In ''Online'', she at one point states that "none can match [her] beauty."
* RedBaron: Lady of Prophecy, Mother of the Rose, Queen of the Night Sky, Moonshadow, Cosmic Severer. As Azurah she's known as the Mother of All Khajiit, She Who Sits at the Precipice, the Rim of All Holes, and the Favored Daughter of Fadomai.
* SlaveToPR: Ultimately, the reason the goddess of [[ItsAllAboutMe vanity and egotism]] is considered one of the "good" Daedra is because, uniquely among all the Daedric Princes, ''she wants people to like her''.
* SomethingAboutARose: While it's never focused on in any of the games, she is strongly associated with roses. She holds one in her ''Daggerfall'' sprite, one of her titles is the "Mother of the Rose," ''Azurah's Crossing'' has a khajiit walking a path of roses to reach her, and it is said that in her realm of Moonshadow she either sits on a throne of roses or resides within a palace of roses, depending on the source. ''The Five Points of the Star'', a book which outlines the five major aspects of Azura worship, states that the rose is one such point, describing it as "Her color and Her flower."
* TarotMotifs: The ''Skyrim'' Tarot deck shows her as The Star.
* ThresholdGuardian: To the Khajiit, Azura is "keeper of all gates and keys, all rims and thresholds", is known as She Who Sits at the Precipice, and is believed to watch over the Gates of the Crossing behind the Lunar Lattice, a twilight realm between death and the afterlife, where in at least one case a Khajiit had to walk across a bed of rose thorns to reach her.
* TokenGoodTeammate: ''Heavily'' downplayed (due to both her [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] [[ItsAllAboutMe egotism]] and InUniverse DeliberateValuesDissonance), but Azura is the only Daedric Prince among the "Three Good Daedra" the Dunmer revere in the modern Fourth Era who is considered to be generally "good" among both general Tamrielic society and on a metatextual level among most real-world people. After all, Azura might be a conniving egotistical oracle, but at least she's not Boethiah (a.k.a. the AnthropomorphicPersonification of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder) or Mephala (who is basically the Daedric Prince version of a FemmeFatale).
* UnwittingPawn: Given her reputation as a "chess master" of sorts, just about any mortal in her service falls into this. While Azura may give that mortal a straightforward task and that mortal may accomplish it, it is almost certainly one move that is part of a bigger game. Her use of the Nerevarine to rid the Tribunal of their divinity by assisting them in defeating Dagoth Ur is an prominent example.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity:
** Despite playing an active role in the events that would eventually lead to the destruction of the Dunmer homeland, the Dunmer religion still highly reveres Azura. In fact, the destruction of the Dunmer homeland has made Azura ''more'' revered in the Dunmeri religion and was what ultimately ended worship of the Tribunal, her most hated enemies.
** While listed as one of the "good" Daedra (both in Morrowind lore and by series fans), Azura is also closely tied to and allied with Molag Bal, [[NamesToRunAwayFrom the King of Rape]]. If the name didn't make it obvious, just about everyone both in and out-of-universe considers him to be a "bad" Daedra. This is possibly a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, as Azura's alliance with Molag Bal is only mentioned in ''Daggerfall''.[[note]]In ''Morrowind'', there is Molag Grunda, daughter of Molag Bal, who looks like a Winged Twilight, a type of Daedra serving Azura]], suggesting there may indeed be still a connection between Azura and Molag Bal. ''Online'', however, introduces a group of Winged Twilight that serve Molag Bal; one quest in particular introduces one that ''betrayed'' Azura to do so, and Azura is none-too-pleased about it.[[/note]] As mentioned above, Azura, like many other Daedric Princes, was a subject to CharacterizationMarchesOn since then.
* XanatosGambit: As the "Lady of Prophecy", she actively works (mostly) behind the scenes to ensure that her prophecies come to pass. Even if things don't go exactly according to her plans, they still tend to work out in ways that ultimately benefit her.
* YourSoulIsMine: Her most famous artifact is Azura's Star, a reusable Grand Soul Gem. She is not otherwise associated with the taking of souls, however, making it somewhat unusual. Also unusual is the Star is specifically intended to ''not'' be capable of trapping a human's soul.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Boethiah]]
!!Boethiah (aka Boethia)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boethiah.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The Shadow of Boethiah]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Wes Johnson (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Jean Gilpin (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'', ''The Elder Scrolls Online'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Alexey Borzunov (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Olga Pletneva (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
->''"So one day Boethiah, Prince of Plots, precocious youth, tricked Trinimac to go into his mouth. Boethiah talked like Trinimac for awhile then, and gathered enough people to listen to him. Boethiah showed them the lies of the et'Ada, the Aedra, and told them Trinimac was the biggest liar of all, saying all this with Trinimac's voice..."''
-->-- '''''The Changed Ones'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Plots, Deceit, Conspiracy, Murder, Assassination, Treason, Unlawful Overthrow of Authority, Betrayal\\
'''''Realm''''': Attribution's Share and/or Snake Mount\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Goldbrand, Eltonbrand, Ebony Mail, Fearstruck\\
'''''Servants''''': Hunger
Boethiah is the Daedric Prince of Plots, whose sphere includes seemingly all manner of high crimes. Snakes are a common symbol of Boethiah, who has an intense love for competition and battle. Boethiah also has the greatest tendency out of the Daedric Princes to change gender with each manifestation, appearing variously as male or female. In either case, Boethiah takes a form a caped warrior wearing all black. Given all that is contained within Boethiah's sphere, Boethiah is naturally considered a "bad" Daedra near universally throughout Tamriel, with the Dunmer being one major exception. To the Dunmer, Boethiah is instead one of the three "good" Daedra.
Boethiah's sphere has some overlap with Mephalas's, and with Mephala's sphere being "obscured to mortals", it is nigh impossible to tell where the two are separated.
Boethiah's realm is variously referred to as Attribution's Share or Snake Mount, and is said to be a place generally avoided by mortals. It has been described as a country of labyrinthine policy and betrayals, with maze gardens and twisted towers.
In ''Daggerfall'', Boethiah asks you to kill a spellsword for being too nice for Boethiah's tastes. In ''Morrowind'', he asks you to rebuild his destroyed statue. In ''Oblivion'', he asks you to participate in her "Tournament of Ten Bloods". In ''Skyrim'', she asks you to kill all of their followers, and later kill her previous champion. In ''Online,'' she is the patron deity of the Maulborn Cult, as well as the patron of the Dragonstar Arena.
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* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Being the deceitful, back-stabbing head-goddess of the Dark Elves, she's essentially Bethesda's version of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Lolth]] minus the spider motif. (Which was given to Mephala instead) Given that Tamriel was based on the developer's own homebrew D&D setting, she might originally just have been a stand-in for Lolth. [[note]]Boethiah was mentioned in ''Arena'' as a "Dark Elven Goddess" but wasn't identified as a Daedric Prince until ''Daggerfall'' where the concept of the Daedra was introduced.[[/note]]
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In-Universe. Boethiah is near-universally considered one of the most outright "evil" Daedric Princes throughout most of Tamriel, with the major exception being the Dunmer. The Dunmer instead see Boethiah as a brutal but positive force, driving them to be tougher and stronger, and to be guarded against treachery and betrayal. In effect, Boethiah's harsh trials and ruthless betrayals push the Dunmer to [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre become greater than they think they are.]]
* AmbiguousGender: While technically true of all of the Daedric Princes, Boethiah has the most GenderBender tendencies. Boethiah appears as male in ''Morrowind'' and ''Oblivion'', while appearing female in ''Daggerfall'', ''Skyrim'', and ''Online'' (and was referred to as a goddess in ''Arena''). The worshipers and cultists refer to Boethiah as both "he" and "she", [[PronounTrouble sometimes in the same sentence]].
* ArchEnemy: To Molag Bal.
* BadBoss: Crossing over with YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness. Boethiah demands that his followers independently follow their own desires... just as long as those desires are completely in line with his own. The minute a follower fails that balancing act, things turn ''ugly'', with betrayal and murder as legitimate options. Being considered a "champion" of Boethiah practically paints a target on your back, one that Boethiah himself is often all too happy to hit the moment he considers you unworthy or simply ''gets bored''.
* BlackKnight:
** Boethiah's usual appearance, whether male or female, is of a caped warrior wearing all black. It is theorized that this may be the corrupted appearance of Trinimac (now Malacath) who Boethiah swallowed and temporarily assumed his form.
** The Ebony Mail is an artifact associated with Boethiah and is a suit of black armor, turning its wearer into one of these (at least aesthetically).
* BloodKnight: Boethiah has an intense love for competition and battle, and is known to hold tournaments among mortals to determine the strongest. Boethiah's quest in ''Oblivion'' is the "Tournament of Ten Bloods" on his plane of Oblivion, where one representative each of the 10 playable races fight to the death, with the last one standing being rewarded with Goldbrand. The tournament's purpose? [[ItAmusedMe None whatsoever; Boethiah just really likes fighting]].
* CardCarryingVillain: Boethiah is very open about the fact that he represents a number of typically ''evil'' attributes and actions including assassination, betrayal, deceit, and specifically the ''unlawful'' overthrow of authority.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: One could say that Boethiah is the ''embodiment'' of this trope. He exists to cause and exacerbate this condition in mortals.
* CoolSword: Boethiah's female statue depictions have her wielding a blade. Boethiah is also associated with Goldbrand, typically one of the best swords available in the games where it appears.
* CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption: Almost always the case to gain Boethiah's support and favor. Given that murder, deceit, and betrayal are all within Boethiah's sphere, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
* DemonicPossession: Boethiah has shown to be capable of taking over dead mortal bodies. However, Boethiah finds mortal flesh "distasteful".
* EqualOpportunityEvil: One positive thing you can say about Boethiah is that she is quite fair, due to his appreciation for individuality and willpower. While Boethiah considers the Dunmer her chosen people, he'll accept anyone who demonstrates the requisite strength and ruthlessness.
* EvilCounterpart: Boethiah's spheres of social Darwinism and the unlawful overthrow of authority almost perfectly mirror Stendarr as the god of authority and overpowering might used for the purposes of mercy, justice and law. Stendarr is also among the Nine most commonly associated with ThePaladin, while Boethiah is iconic for her BlackKnight imagery, echoing the paladin vs antipaladin/blackguard dynamic of more traditional fantasy settings.
* ForTheEvulz: Encourages and delights in getting mortals to deceive, betray, back stab, and outright murder each other. If doing so can be made to include treason, conspiracy, or the ''unlawful'' overthrow of authority as well, all the better.
* GodCouple: Played with. According to Khajiit legend, Boethiah and Mephala are lovers. However, whether or not this is even ''true'' is anyone's guess.
* GodEating: "Devoured" Trinimac in order to speak with his voice to convince his followers to leave the Summerset Isles for Morrowind (becoming the Chimer and later the Dunmer in the process). Later excreted Trinimac, with the remains becoming Malacath and Trinimac's remaining followers becoming the Orcs.
* GodNeedsPrayerBadly: In ''Morrowind'', Boethiah's shrine has been destroyed and dunk beneath the sea. His quest to you is to build him a new shrine so that he can once again receive worship.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Of the Deshaan arc in ''Online'', being the one responsible for [[ArcVillain Magistrix Vox's]] fall into evil and insanity, and her patron Prince.
* HijackingCthulhu: According to legend, Boethiah "ate" the Aedric/Aldmeri spirit Trinimac and spoke with Trinimac's voice in order to convince the Chimer to migrate to Morrowind. Trinimac was "tortured" in Boethiah's stomach and later excreted, with these excreted remains becoming Malacath and Trinimac's remaining followers becoming the Orcs. Malacath himself implies this is true, if [[MetaphoricallyTrue not entirely literal]].
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: Summoning Boethiah in ''Skyrim'' requires you to prove that you're treacherous enough to work for her. To do that, you need to find someone who trusts you enough to follow you, take them to Boethiah's altar, and [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice]] that person.
* InTheHood: Boethiah's female form statues in ''Skyrim'' and ''Online'' depict her wearing a hood and wielding a blade.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Goldbrand, and it's [[InfinityPlusOneSword upgraded version Eltonbrand]], are artifacts associated with Boethiah. Both take the form of katanas.
* ManipulativeBastard: Deceit, betrayal, conspiracy, assassination, treason, ''unlawful'' overthrow of authority... all are within Boethiah's sphere. Historically, he pulled this when he "ate" Trinimac, used Trinimac's voice to deceive the group that would become the Chimer into following him, and then (along with Azura and Mephala) leading the Chimer Morrowind where they would make the worship of these three "good" Daedra their primary religion.
* MindScrew: In the ''36 Lessons of Vivec'', Vivec frequently refers to Boethiah as the "House of False Thinking". By contemplating what must be "untrue", one can see into the true nature of reality.
* NonHumanNonBinary: The Daedric Princes overall don't subscribe to just one gender and are typically portrayed consistently (Mehrunes Dagon and Molag Bal are usually masculine, and Meridia and Azura are usually feminine. In addition, Hermaeus Mora, every bit an EldritchAbomination, is addressed with masculine pronouns and Mephala, a {{Hermaphrodite}}, is addressed with feminine pronouns). Boethiah, on the other hand, has been portrayed as both male and female throughout the franchise, with their myths frequently swapping between genders and their followers referring to them by different pronouns even within the ''same sentence''. Downplayed, ultimately, as Boethiah is never addressed as "they/them", but rather [[OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous swaps between male and female]].
* PronounTrouble: Thanks to his gender being less concrete than other Daedric Princes, [[SelfDemonstratingArticle she]] is referred to with both He/Him and She/Her pronouns, sometimes even in the same sentence.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The two colors most prominently associated with Boethiah are red and black, and he is typically considered one of the more outright malevolent Daedric Princes.
* RedBaron: Prince of Plots, Deceiver of Nations, Queen of Shadows, Goddess of Destruction, Warrior of the East and West.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Snakes are a common symbol of Boethiah, who is typically considered one of the more outright malevolent Daedric Princes.
* TheUnfettered: Boethiah encourages every single one of her followers to be one, in a dark and twisted version of DareToBeBadass. Pretty much her whole shtick is "follow no code, form no attachments, and devote yourself to leaving your mark upon the world, no matter how much blood you have to spill in the process".
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Given all that is contained within Boethiah's sphere, he is near-universally considered "evil" throughout Tamriel. However, to the Dunmer, he is considered one of the "good" Daedra and the anticipation of [[PhysicalGod Almalexia]].
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt:
** In Boethiah's ''Online'' quest, she decides that her current Champion must fight ''you'' ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation and your party]]) in the Dragonstar Arena in order to keep his title as Boethiah's Champion. Naturally, you win. (And get to take his place.)
** Boethiah "devoured" Trimimac to mimic his appearance and voice to trick the Chimer into following him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Clavicus Vile]]
!!Clavicus Vile
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clavicus_vile.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Shrine to Clavicus Vile (also depicting Barbas)]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Craig Sechler (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Stephen Russell (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Rudolf Pankov (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Dmitry Filimonov (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
-> ''"Clavicus Vile, whose sphere is the granting of power and wishes through ritual invocations and pacts."''
-->-- '''''The Book of Daedra'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Wishes, Pacts, Deals, Bargains\\
'''''Realm''''': Fields of Regret\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Masque of Clavicus Vile, Umbra, Bitter Cup, Rueful Axe\\
'''''Servants''''': Skaafin
Clavicus Vile is the Daedric Prince of Wishes, Pacts, Bargains, and Making Deals. He typically takes the form of a horned, jovial, very short man or boy, often joined by his canine companion Barbas, who is Vile's external conscience. While not considered to be one of the inherently malevolent Daedric Princes, it is common knowledge that those who make deals with Vile very often come to regret those deals.
Clavicus Vile's realm, The Fields of Regret, appear as a tranquil countryside. The floating island Umbriel was once part of Vile's realm, but became severed when Vile was weakened and it then "invaded" Tamriel. Vile assisted in taking down Umbriel, where it came to rest in an unknown realm of Oblivion.
In ''Daggerfall'', he asks you to slay a werewolf. In ''Redguard'', he has acquired the soul of Cyrus' sister and must be gambled to win it back. He does not appear in ''Morrowind'', but three of his artifacts, the Bitter Cup, Umbra, and his Masque, do appear. In ''Oblivion'', he asks you to acquire Umbra for him. In ''Skyrim'', he asks you, along with Barbas, to retrieve the Rueful Axe from a mage who previously made a deal with him. In ''Online'', he is involved with the Stillrise Village quests, serves as the main antagonist of the ''Morrowind'' expansion as he tries to break into Sotha Sil's Clockwork City, and serves as one of the antagonists of the ''Summerset'' expansion.
----
* AffablyEvil: While not truly "evil", Vile does have a mean streak to him and [[LiteralGenie loves to play on the words of his bargains for laughs]]. However, he is also highly social and friendly (at least while Barbas is around), and his realm is a beautiful, idyllic paradise, making it one of the safest and most suitable Daedric realms for mortal life.
* BigBadDuumvirate: He and Barbas are the main antagonists of ''Online's'' ''Morrowind'' expansion. He also serves as one of the principal antagonists of ''Summerset'' alongside Mephala and Nocturnal.
* CanineCompanion: Barbas, who is actually Vile's external conscience.
* CharmPerson: The Masque of Clavicus Vile, one of Vile's most famous artifacts, is a legendary helmet enchanted to turn its wearer into one of these. It makes others infatuated with the wearer.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: ''Skyrim'' reveals that the Champion of Cyrodiil ignored Barbas' warnings in ''Oblivion'' and gave Umbra to Clavicus Vile.
* DealWithTheDevil: Vile is essentially the ''embodiment'' of the trope. He does hold up his end of the bargain, typically by granting great power, but almost always manages to do so in a way that the dealmaker will regret. When performing tasks directly for Vile, he tends to be much less insidious and rewards his mortal agents well. On the flipside, if you give Clavicus Vile a gift, he will be delighted and give you a gift in turn... but because you got to chose the gift you gave him, he gets to choose the gift he gives you in turn, and that gift might not be what you want....
* ForTheEvulz: He enjoys seeing mortals regret the deals they've made with him, and is said to collect souls simply for the sake of having them.
* HellHound: Subverted with Barbas, who ''looks'' quite intimidating in statue form, but is actually Vile's external conscience and quite [[BigFriendlyDog friendly]].
* HornedHumanoid: Typically depicted with small horns protruding from his head. Barbas, when taking a non-canine form in ''Online'', is also one.
* KnightsAndKnaves: Poses this riddle to Cyrus in ''Redguard''.
* LiteralGenie: How his granting of wishes and fulfilling of deals typically goes, given his "deal with the devil" nature. When he is separated from Barbas, he gets much closer to JerkassGenie territory, being much more outright malevolent. (Such as "curing" a group of vampires by having a hero come along and MercyKill them all...and they were only vampires in the first place because they wished to Vile for immortality.)
* LiteralSplitPersonality:
** An in-game lore book 'The Vile Truth of Barbas' found in ''Online'' claims that Clavicus Vile and Barbas are two aspects of the same entity rather than Barbas being his own separate being. The book speculates that the existence of a Daedric Prince is an inherently lonely one and Vile split himself into two beings to always have a companion.
** Also happens with the sword Umbra in the ''Lord of Souls'' novel. As a Daedric artifact Umbra is technically a fragment of Vile's power but eventually the sword absorbed enough souls to be able to think and act independently and sliced off a piece of Vile's realm for itself. Vile clarifies that, while Umbra is acting on its own, it is also technically him.
--->''"What was in this sword was me, plain and simple. If someone cut your leg off and the leg starting calling itself 'Umbra', it would still be your leg, wouldn't it? "''
* MoralityChain: Barbas is his external conscience and takes the form of a BigFriendlyDog. With Barbas, Vile is much less outright malevolent. When he's with Barbas, Vile is far more affable and friendly and enjoys conversation and socializing with mortals.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: He seems to believe that most wishes can be granted by killing the wish maker. Vampires asking for a cure for vampirism? Have a hero come in and slaughter them all. A man whose daughter has been turned into a werewolf? Give him an axe to put her down. Asking for peace in Skyrim? Do nothing and let the Dragons kill everyone. A village asking for immunity from the Knahaten plague? Turn them ''undead''.
* PetTheDog: If the Dragonborn reunites him with Barbas in ''Skyrim'', he (reluctantly) decides not to flay them in the most gruesomely manner possible for disobeying his order to kill Barbas instead. The implication is that the return of Barbas, and thus Vile's full divine power (and his conscience) is the better deal for Vile.
* PutOnABus: He doesn't make an appearance in ''Morrowind'', but he is mentioned and several of his artifacts appear. He returns for ''Oblivion''.
* RareCandy: His artifact, the Bitter Cup, plays with it, along with UpgradeArtifact. It automatically increases the drinker's top two attributes significantly, but also drops their lowest two attributes by the same amount. Given Vile's nature, this shouldn't come as a shock.
* SatanicArchetype: He mostly reflects the DealWithTheDevil aspects of the archetype, as well as bargaining for souls, while leaving out the truly evil and demonic aspects. Vile does like to play cruel pranks and twists on his deals, but these are typically treated like childish pranks from his perspective. He also doesn't torture the souls in his care, and his realm is actually one of the nicer places a mortal could end up.
* SealedEvilInACan: Between the events of ''Oblivion'' and ''Skyrim'', [[NiceJobBreakingItHero due in no small part to the Champion of Cyrodiil's actions]], Vile is severely weakened, separated from Barbas, and forced to spend spend several decades trapped within a cave, high in the mountains of Skyrim.
* StealthPun: His name might be a very roundabout pun on [[Myth/NorseMythology Loki]]. "Vile" is the Latin word for "low," while "Clavicus" is derived from "clavicula," the Latin word for "key." In other words, he's low key, which is a homophone for Loki.
* YourSoulIsMine: He is a known collector of mortal souls, though he doesn't seem to do anything with them. He simply likes having them for the sake of having them. He also commissioned the creation of Umbra, an EmpathicWeapon blade which steals souls (including the soul of its wielder).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Hermaeus Mora]]
!!Hermaeus Mora (aka Herma-Mora)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hermaeus_mora.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hermaeus Mora as manifested in Apocrypha]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Wes Johnson (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Yuri Derkach (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
-> ''"Hermaeus Mora, 'the Gardener of Men', claims that he is one of the oldest Princes, born of thrown-away ideas used during the creation of mortality in the Mundus."''
-->-- '''''Imperial Census of Daedra Lords'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Fate, Knowledge, Destiny, Memory\\
'''''Realm''''': Apocrypha\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Oghma Infinium, Black Books\\
'''''Servants''''': Seekers, Lurkers
Hermaeus Mora is the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, and also associated with the tides of fate and destiny. His most common symbol is an eye and, unlike the other Daedric Princes, he does not bother with a humanoid form, preferring to appear as a grotesque assemblage seemingly endless tentacles and eyes. While not considered to be one of the inherently malevolent Daedric Princes, Hermaeus Mora has been known to commit unspeakable acts in the pursuit of knowledge. He is considered an "enemy" in the religious traditions of the Skaal of Solstheim and in the old Nordic religion, where he was an adversary of Ysgramor. Some sources state that Hermaeus Mora is a "sibling" of Mephala.
Hermaeus Mora's realm is Apocrypha, an endless library containing all knowledge in the form of tomes. The sky is an illuminating green in color and it is covered by a sea of roiling acidic waters. Some areas of Apocrypha are consumed by a darkness which kills any mortal who tries to enter it. The realm is haunted by the ghosts of mortals forever searching for knowledge.
In ''Daggerfall'', Mora asks you to assassinate a noble. He does not appear in ''Morrowind''. In ''Oblivion'', he asks you to collect a soul from every Tamriellic race. In ''Skyrim'', he tasks you with freeing the Oghma Infinium from a sealed Dwemer lock box. In the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, he serves as an instigator behind the main plot. In ''Online'', he seeks knowledge of the Celestials.
----
* AffablyEvil: Like most Daedric Princes, Mora is not inherently "evil" per se, but he certainly has his episodes of malevolence. Despite this, Mora is generally one of the friendlier Princes (certainly one of the most polite) to mortals and generally prefers to entice people into his service with promises of rich rewards, trusting that if he needs more of their help, the power he promises will be enough to convince them. ''Dragonborn'' provides a good example of this; while yes, Mora has set up the situation so you don't have much of a choice but to help him out, he'll still offer you his Black Books, the final word of Bend Will, and free unlimited skill point resets after his quest.
* ArchEnemy: Of Ysgramor and the Skaal of Solstheim. His Daedric quest in ''Skyrim,'' and the plot of the ''Dragonborn'' DLC especially, set him up as one of the most dangerous and personal foes that the Dragonborn faces, as well as the only one that remains undefeated at the end.
* BerserkButton:
** As affable as he may seem, he does have one particularly big berserk button: trying to hide knowledge from him. Storn of the Skaal and Miraak [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice find this out the hard way]] in ''Skyrim'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC. The latter also gets hit with one of the few instances of Mora [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness raising his voice in anger]].
--> '''Hermaeus Mora''': "Did you think to escape me, Miraak?! You can hide ''NOTHING'' from me here! Ha ha."
** To a lesser extent, attempting to scheme behind his back and betray him, and thinking he would be none the wiser to the attempt. Miraak was not only stupid enough to do it, but did it in Apocrypha of all places. Mora not only made it plainatively clear he's known about Miraak's plans for years, and possibly ever since Miraak first came up with the idea, he ensured [[spoiler:Miraak's death was an incredibly painful one.]] Both as a means to warn the Dragonborn of what could happen to them should they decide to follow Miraak's example, and to punish Miraak for his stupidity and GenreBlindness.
* TheChessmaster: He ''is'' the Daedric Prince of ''Knowledge'', afterall. He can play whatever game he needs to in order to get exactly what he wants, and often more.
* CombatTentacles: Which he uses in ''Dragonborn'' to kill Miraak and Storn via ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice. The book ''Boneless Limbs'' has this to say:
-->''A writhing mass of heaped appendage''\\
''Slipping grasp the squirming slick''\\
''Extend the reach to touch the face''\\
''Burn the mind, reveal the quick''
* DeusExMachina: The story of the ''Dragonborn'' DLC of ''Skyrim'' reaches its climax when Mora spontaneously appears to the player in Apocrypha and offers to give them the Words of Power needed to challenge Miraak on equal footing. In this case it's justified in that a) he was presumably the one who taught Miraak said words in the first place, and b) [[spoiler:his plan was always to force you to bargain for the Words so that you would replace Miraak as his champion.]]
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu:
** Mora was an enemy to the [[FounderOfTheKingdom old Nordic king]] Ysgramor. According to Nordic legends, Ysgramor outwitted him regularly.
** The Skaal of Solstheim consider Mora their enemy, and have managed to keep their secrets safely hidden from him. The plot of ''Dragonborn'' is revealed to be an elaborate scheme by Mora to get them.
* DoNotTauntCthulhu:
** As affable and polite as he may come across, he can flip the switch to extreme violent anger in an instant if taunted. Doubling fitting, as Mora is easily the most eldritch out of the Daedric Princes. In ''Dragonborn'', Miraak learns this the hard way.
** In ''Skyrim'' and ''Dragonborn'', the Dragonborn has the option of flipping him off several times, even venomously referring to him as a "demon". The only time he even slightly gets back for these slights is when Dragonborn tells him that his help isn't needed to find the last word of Bend Will from his realm, to which he politely explains that you would be searching for all eternity without his aid.
* EldritchAbomination:
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], but also [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] a little. While he dives head-first into the aesthetics and trappings traditionally associated with this trope, he isn't anymore "otherworldly" or "beyond mortal comprehension" than any other Et'Ada, though to be fair that is an accurate description to a degree. While some sources do state him to be one of the "oldest" of a class TimeAbyss beings, forming out of "discarded ideas" during creation, it should be noted that this conflicts with the consensus account for the origin of the Et'Ada.
** His motives (If him being a discarded draft of creation is the truth) are also not quite incomprehensible if some of the "Obscure Texts" are to be believed. Assuming that "draft of the universe" origin is true, he's essentially getting information so he can know every difference between himself and creation as it exists. He's either trying to figure out why his creators discarded him, or how to finish the process since they won't. Either is understandable from a human perspective.
* EldritchLocation: Apocrypha, along with being a GreatBigLibraryOfEverything. It is home to all forbidden knowledge, with a green sky, roiling acidic waters, and areas covered in darkness which kill any mortal who tries to enter. Mora's eyes and tentacles are known to blot out the sky, and it is stalked by Mora's servants, the Seekers and Lurkers. It's endless expanse of shadowy bookshelves is haunted by the ghosts of mortals who have become trapped there in search of knowledge.
* EvilIsPetty: Well, BlueAndOrangeMorality is petty. The "secrets" the Skaal won't tell him are benign and most likely useless to him, being simply their ways of communing with nature, and kept more out of tradition than anything. Mora ''still'' instigates a world-threatening problem to make sure [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse they couldn't afford to refuse him]] [[spoiler:and murders Storn Crag-Strider out of anger at the Skaal for holding out so long, even after Storn was giving him everything he wanted]]. He's the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, and as such treats the mere idea of a secret being kept from him (no matter the reason or how trivial the secret might be) as unimaginably offensive.
* EvilSoundsDeep: His voice is always deep. In ''Oblivion'', it is more a menacing kind of deep, while in ''Skyrim'' it's soothing and grandfatherly but with distinctly thick, bubbling undertones.
* {{Expy}}: He ''very'' closely resembles [[Creator/HPLovecraft Yog-Sothoth]] of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, in both appearance and nature. Like Yog-Sothoth, Hermaeus Mora exists outside of linear time and possesses vast amounts of knowledge often sought out by mortals and cultists. Likewise in ''Dragonborn'', Hermaeus Mora manifests as a mass of tentacles and eyes not unlike common depictions of the Outer God.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: It's a subtle example, but during his appearances in Skyrim (specifically when the ''Dragonborn'' expansion is installed), his eyes will constantly look directly at the camera, or perhaps more specifically, directly at ''you'', the player!
* GenuineHumanHide: The Oghma Infinium is said to be bound in it, and the ''Skyrim'' version is bound specifically in various ''elven'' hides.
* GiantEnemyCrab: Frequently depicted as having giant crab-like pincers. Even ''Skyrim'' has statues that depict him like this, although his actual appearance is very different. The book ''Delving Pincers'' has this to say:
-->''Crushing razors, hollow shells''\\
''That snap, that twitch, that cinch and rend''\\
''To hold the subject, bodily,''\\
'''Til mind blows soft and life meets end''
* GodOfKnowledge: Hermaeus Mora is the Daedric Prince of Forbidden Knowledge and Destiny. His plane of Oblivion, Apocrypha, is a GreatBigLibraryOfEverything, containing tomes on things past, present, and even future.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: His most famous artifact, the Oghma Infinium. Reading it grants immense knowledge, but it vanishes before one can ''[[GoMadFromTheRevelation read too much]]''.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Of ''Skyrim'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC. His champion, Miraak, serves as the BigBad and EvilCounterpart to the Dragonborn.
* IGaveMyWord: In keeping with his preferred recruitment method of tempting potential followers with gifts of knowledge, Mora keeps just about every promise he makes and holds his end of every bargain, both in spirit as well as word. [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Doesn't mean he won't toss you aside when he doesn't need you anymore.]]
* KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge: Hermaeus Mora is the embodiment of the trope. In addition to being the keeper, he is also the ''seeker'', and is willing to offer knowledge to those who serve him.
* MagicalLibrary: Apocrypha. In addition to all of the "forbidden" and supernatural knowledge, it also contains all known spell tomes in general. Aside from the acid and the tentacles, it's practically a dimension made up of nothing but books. The walls are often stacks of books (sometimes arranged to look like bones or spines). The wandering monsters all tend to drop random books, and treasure chests in Apocrypha usually contain ''more'' books.
* MindScrew: According to Mora himself, he ''is''/arose from detritus concepts ejected from reality during creation. Hermaeus Mora ''is'' what ''could not be''.
* TheOlderImmortal: Mora claims to be one of the "oldest" of Daedric Princes, who are already TimeAbyss deities who have existed since before time itself was conceived of as a concept.
* {{Omniscient}}: He claims to be this. However, it's more likely he isn't, since the whole plot of ''Dragonborn'' is him using the player character to acquire knowledge he did not have. The Elder Scrolls, which predict possible futures but not with certainty, are constantly changing and shifting their contents. In addition, like the other Princes, he opposed and assisted in the curse of Jyggalag, who had a library that ''actually'' threatened to know everything. It is probably better to say that omniscience is something that Hermaeus Mora aspires to but does not currently have.
* PragmaticVillainy: His preferred method of gaining followers is to offer them access to his vast knowledge and to reward them well whenever they succeed. Not because he really cares, but because it's much easier to deal with servants who ''don't'' hate you, and even if one person refuses to deal with him on principle, there's always going to be someone else easily tempted or who needs Mora's help.
* PutOnABus: He doesn't make an appearance in ''Morrowind'', since he isn't part of the Dunmer pantheon, but he is mentioned. He returns for ''Oblivion''.
* RedBaron: The Golden Eye, Gardener of Men, Prince of Fate, Lord of Secrets, Abyssal Cephaliarch, The Woodland Man, Old Antecedent, Scryer, Inevitable Knower, Tide-King, He Who Records All Knowledge, Abider in the Abyss, and Demon of Knowledge.
* ScaryLibrarian: His dimension is a giant eldritch library containing the world's "forbidden" knowledge, and Mora is a generally terrifying entity in appearance. He'll generally let you browse in peace if you've pleased him (any consequences from learning ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow are on you), but ''nobody'' will help you if you damage any books.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He speaks this way in ''Daggerfall''. For example, when he needs someone to kill a noble he doesn't like, he tells you to "exterminate a certain scrofulous patrician who has aroused my displeasure".[[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness This trait has been dropped in later appearances]].
* ShoutOut: As a nod to his [[Creator/HPLovecraft inspiration]], in ''Skyrim'', one of his Black Books is a play named ''[[Literature/TheKingInYellow The Sallow Regent]]'', written by '''H'''awfi'''p''' the '''Crafter'''.
* SoftSpokenSadist: In Skyrim, unless he becomes angry, his voice is soft and almost gentle in tone, occasionally dipping into a whisper, and he sounds as if he's yawning with nearly every word.
* SuddenlyShouting: When he confronts Miraak at the end of ''Dragonborn'', he raises his voice in anger and starts yelling in disgust for Miraak's betrayal before calming down.
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In the first four games, he was always a neutral entity, even if his quests tended to be a bit ruthless. Come ''Skyrim'', he orchestrates everything that happens in ''Dragonborn'', putting millions of innocent lives at risk, just to obtain the "secrets" of the Skaal.
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow:
** Hermaeus Mora is the keeper of this sort of knowledge. According to Mora himself, he ''is''/arose from knowledge ''that cannot exist'' (detritus concepts ejected from reality), rendering him not only the keeper of things man was not meant to know, but also making him something man ''cannot'' know.
** Neloth in ''Dragonborn'' is an expert in the madness people can experience if they delve too much into the forbidden secrets Hermaeus Mora offers... which is why he's willing to let you keep the Black Books. The Dragonborn is his guinea pig for "how much is too much".
* TimeMaster: Of a sort. In the same way that Akatosh ''is'' time, Mora exists outside of linear time, which allows him to interact with it in unusual ways. Some of his Black Books are believed to come from the future, and he has direct (but subtle) influence over fate and destiny.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: His IconicItem, the Oghma Infinium, and in ''Dragonborn'', the Black Books. The Infinium grants a massive boost to one-third of your skills, and the Black Books take you to a mini-dungeon with special perks and abilities at the end.
* UnwittingPawn: He doesn't ask much of the Dragonborn as a champion, and in fact makes no requests at all of you after ''Dragonborn's'' main plot or the daedric quest...but he doesn't have to. Your status as a wandering adventurer means you will inevitably stick your nose into dungeons full of forbidden secrets and lost knowledge. All he has to do is watch you while you do it, and you're working for him.
* VerbalTic: In ''Skyrim'', and especially in ''Dragonborn'', he yawns while talking regularly.
* VillainHasAPoint: In Skyrim's ''Dragonborn'' DLC, The Last Dragonborn can question Hermaeus Mora on why they can't simply find the last Word of Power for the Bend Will Shout on their own, Mora will point out that while technically there's a specific spot the Word can be found, it would take an eternity for the Dragonborn to find it in a Plane of Oblivion like Apocrypha, which is ''infinitely'' large, meaning Mora doesn't actually have to deliberately withhold the Word for The Dragonborn to have to make a deal with him for it.
* VillainTakesAnInterest: He's apparently ''very'' interested in those who are Dragonborn, leading him to offer Miraak power in exchange for serving as his champion. He later makes the same offer to the Dragonborn after Miraak's death. After his ''Skyrim'' quest and the main quest of ''Dragonborn'', he claims that he has been watching the Dragonborn for some time and claims that he has been grooming the Dragonborn to become his champion. Even if the Dragonborn defiantly refuses Mora's offer, Mora states that the Dragonborn ''already is'' [[UnwittingPawn his pawn]].
* WeCanRuleTogether: Offered the Dragon Priest, Miraak, the knowledge to control his former masters, in exchange for agreeing to serve as his [[TheDragon Dragon]]. After Miraak's failed rebellion against Mora is thwarted by the Dragonborn, he informs the Dragonborn that they've just [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt inherited the position.]]
* XanatosGambit:
** The main questline for ''Skyrim'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC is essentially this for him. By allowing Miraak to plot against him while simultaneously drawing in the Dragonborn to investigate, he creates a threat neither the Dragonborn nor the Skaal can ignore; the former because Miraak sees them as competition and will keep harrying them (and [[NinjaLooter stealing their dragon souls]] until one or the other is dead, and the Skaal because his plan involves corrupting and taking over Solstheim. Since the only way to reach Miraak is to use the full Bend Will shout, and the only one who knows the last word is Hermaus Mora, he gets to name his own price for allowing the Dragonborn to kill Miraak- and the price, of course, is the secrets of the Skaal plus the Dragonborn's service.
** Additionally, in order to get the main ''Skyrim'' plot to finish, you need the "Elder Scroll (Dragon)", which you also have to get for Mora's daedric quest. One way or another, you're ''eventually'' going to be doing him a favor.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Mora has no compunctions with killing off those that are of no further use for him. However, he generally makes it quick and painless for loyal servants such as Septimus (who largely just appeared to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence), while instead treating followers that try to betray him with a hefty dose of ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice.
* YourSoulIsMine: His ''Oblivion'' quest requires capturing the soul of one of every member of the Tamriellic races. Mora plans to have his followers use them in rituals to bend reality, time, and space.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Hircine]]
!!Hircine
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hircine_bloodmoon.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hircine as seen in Morrowind]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Jonathan Bryce (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind'', ''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Craig Sechler (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Alexander Gruzdev (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Kirill Radzig (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Eugene Waltz (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
-> ''"You may meet the Hunter, who is invoked as Alrabeg. He bears the Spear of Bitter Mercy. He comes here from the Hunting Grounds to hunt new prey, or he brings prey native to the Hunting Grounds, like the Unicorn, to hunt in new forests. If he brings not prey, then woe betide you who meet him, for he may dub you the Hare. Then you must flee as best you can, though you will not escape."''
-->-- '''''Aspects of Lord Hircine'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': The Hunt\\
'''''Realm''''': The Hunting Grounds\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Hircine's Ring, Spear of Bitter Mercy, Saviour's Hide, Spear of the Hunter\\
'''''Servants''''': Werecreatures
Hircine is the Daedric Prince of the Hunt and all aspects associated with it. His most common form is of a spear-wielding, antlered humanoid. While not considered to be one of the inherently malevolent Daedric Princes, those who are unwillingly drawn into his hunts may disagree. Despite this, he always gives his prey a chance to escape or turn the tables, as Hircine is the ultimate sportsman.
Hircine is the "Father of the Manbeasts", being responsible for the creation of Nirn's werecreatures. His most famous servants are the werewolves, who act as his "hunting dogs".
Hircine's realm is the Hunting Grounds, an infinite expanse of thick forests and open plains populated by Hircine's werecreatures.
In ''Daggerfall'', Hircine asks you to hunt a rogue wereboar. In ''Battlespire'', you take place in his hunt and win two of his artifacts. He does not appear in ''Morrowind'' itself, but serves as the instigator of the plot of ''Bloodmoon''. In ''Oblivion'', he tasks you with hunting a unicorn. In ''Skyrim'', he has you hunt down a rogue werewolf. In ''Online'', he tasks you with slaying a series of monsters as a werewolf.
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* AffablyEvil: Like most Daedric Princes, Hircine is not inherently "evil" per se, but he certainly has his episodes of malevolence. He's always very polite to those who summon him, as well as to his opponents when he judges them worthy, and he watches over his followers much more than the average Prince. It is noted that summoning Hircine typically invokes "Hrokkibeg", the aspect of the Mighty Bear, who brings horror and violence to those who disrespectfully interrupt his slumber, but will be delighted and friendly if the summoner is respectful and makes the appropriate offerings.
* AnimalMotifs: Hircine appears in various animal forms, including wolves, bears, rats, and stags. In ''Skyrim'' he first appears to the player in the form of a large white stag and his Savior's Hide resembles deer hide and is stag themed.
* BadMoonRising: The event known as the Bloodmoon signals that it is time for his hunt on Mundus. The final sign of the Bloodmoon is Secunda, Nirn's smaller moon, turning blood red.
* BenevolentBoss: He values his followers, whose fealty is 'precious' to him.
* BigBad: Of the ''Morrowind'''s ''Bloodmoon'' expansion. [[spoiler:Unlike most instances where a Daedric Prince is the BigBad, he personally serves as the FinalBoss at the end of his "hunt"]]. In keeping with his personality, however, he imposes a DramaPreservingHandicap upon himself, as fighting him at his full power would be, in his own words, "less than sporting".
* BloodKnight: ''The'' Blood Knight of the ''Elder Scrolls'' universe. The plot of ''Bloodmoon'' is him seeking the most worthy opponent for his hunt on Mundus, and he is always seeking the best prey within his realm, the Hunting Grounds.
* {{Cernunnos}}: He has several traits in common with Cernunnos -- he claims hunting and all things related to it as his sphere of influence, and his statues and avatars often take the form of a humanoid with antlers or with a stag's head. He is served by a race of Lesser Daedra called the Herne, sometimes placing them in charge of hunts that he does not personally participate in.
* CombatByChampion:
** If Hircine is not participating directly in one of his hunts, he will usually appoint another Daedra (such as the Herne in ''Battlespire'') or a great were-beast to do the hunting instead.
** According to the ''16 Accords of Madness'', Hircine and Sheogorath agreed to a battle in this fashion. Each would choose a champion, and the two champions would battle. Hircine infected an ancient Daedroth with lycanthropy to serve as his champion. Sheogorath chose... a songbird. [[spoiler:Hircine's champion ends up blinding itself and tearing itself apart while struggling to hit the song bird]].
* CursedWithAwesome: Or BlessedWithSuck, depending on how one views his "gift". His werebeast followers are granted the ability to transform into powerful monsters, but enter a vicious hunter/hunted cycle as the are typically demonized by their fellow mortals. Additionally, Hircine claims their souls upon death to hunt and/or be hunted in his Hunting Grounds realm, regardless of what afterlife they may have preferred.
* DefeatMeansRespect: He has immense respect for those who survive his hunts, or better yet, turn the tables on the hunter.
* EgomaniacHunter: He lives for the glory of the hunt, and has no reason to do so beyond his own vanity. He hunts solely for the sport, including having his own pack of hunting dogs (read: werewolves). Somewhat unusually for the trope, he doesn't consider it a ''true'' hunt unless the prey has a sporting chance.
* {{Expy}}: Of the Horned God, a modern pagan deity of the wilderness and the hunt that is based on several figures from mythology. One of these is Cernunnos, a Celtic god thought to be associated with hunting (though nothing about him survives except for his name and a few images). Another is Herne, the ghost of a hunter that haunts Windsor Forest, mentioned in ''Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor''.
* FairPlayVillain: One of his defining qualities. A hunt isn't a hunt to Hircine unless both prey and predator have a chance to win, and whenever he causes trouble in Mundus he makes sure to leave the mortals he hunts a sporting chance to drive him off.
* GracefulLoser: A defining part of Hircine's character: he doesn't view any hunt as an actual hunt if the prey has no chance to turn the tables on the hunter, and this includes Hircine if he's the hunter. As such, he takes losing probably the best of any of the Princes and often rewards them for their victory over him.
* HornedHumanoid: He most often appears with deer antlers, even in his humanoid form.
* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: In Hircine's realm, everyone is either Hunter or Prey. However, Prey and Hunter can reverse roles at any time, and for the most part, Hircine delights in these role reversals, [[spoiler:even if he's the one who becomes the prey.]] His werebeast servants are the embodiment of this trope. At night, they are dangerous monsters and hunt mortals while they have the advantage. During the day, however, they revert to their own weaker mortal forms and must flee from the very mortals they were just preying on.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: His realm, the Hunting Grounds, has this going on eternally. He is always looking for more dangerous prey to add to them. Additionally, the Bloodmoon event is when he brings his hunt to Mundus. He will gather the greatest warriors in a region and pit them against his werewolf "hunting dogs" (and each other) until only the most "dangerous" still lives, then he will personally enter the hunt. It's also part of why he likes werewolves; they hunt mortals by night, but are hunted ''by'' them during the day.
* TheMarvelousDeer: He often takes the form of a white stag and even his humanoid avatar is typically depicted with deer antlers.
* MeaningfulName: The word "hircine" means "goat-like" in Latin, although Hircine's forms tend to resemble a deer more closely.
* MonsterProgenitor: He is the creator and master of Nirn's were-creatures.
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: He is the creator of werebeasts, which include werelions, werecrocodiles, werebears, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]], wereboars, and werebats. Only the last four have been seen in the games to date.
* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: He communicates to his werebeast followers in this fashion.
* RedBaron: The Huntsman of the Princes, the Father of Manbeasts, Master of the Chase.
** The Reachfolk are said to have as many names for him as there are tribes, including Old Elk-Eye, Hunt-King, Beast Father, Skinshaper, and the Spear with Five Points.
* ReroutedFromHeaven: He gets the souls of all werebeasts, usually whether or not they worship other entities or want to go to other afterlives. In an unusual case, one can reroute the rerouted souls via drawing out and killing the beast aspect of their soul. Doing this breaks the connection to Hircine and releases the soul.
* SinisterDeerSkull: His most common form is that of a deer skull-headed humanoid. While he usually ensures his hunts are ''fair'', the "sinister" nature comes in as most of his prey is taken against their will.
* TheyHaveTheScent: Werewolves are his favored servants and serve him as hunting dogs. They are sometimes referred to specifically as his "hounds".
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Like all Daedric Princes, he is not bound to any one form, but he has several different forms which he uses to present himself to mortals, each of which represents a different aspect of his. These include "[[PhysicalGod The Hunter]]" (also known as Guile), the "Quick Fox" (also known as Speed, and sometimes taking the form of a [[SavageWolves Savage Wolf]]), the "[[BearsAreBadNews Mighty Bear]]" (also known as Strength), the "[[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Manbeast]]", and the "[[TheMarvelousDeer Great Stag]]".
* WarGod: Of the "personal battle" variety. Hircine's hunts almost always end in a battle of some kind, and while he adores a fair contest where the prey can defeat the predator, in his darker appearances and interpretations he also frequently champions a hunt where many warriors pursue a weaker foe. As long as the prey has a ''chance'' to turn the hunt inside out and defeat their enemies, Hircine is happy.
* WarriorHeaven: Or HellIsWar, depending on the preferences of the particular inhabitant. The Hunting Grounds are a variation of one for his werebeast followers, who alternate between being predators and prey in an eternal, endless hunt.
* TheWildHunt: He views the entirety of existence as an unending hunt. Events involving he or his minions hunting have been referred to by this exact name.
* WildWilderness: His realm, The Hunting Grounds, is an endless world of plains and forests where the inhabitants forever hunt and are hunted.
* WillfullyWeak: When he personally engages mortals in his hunts, he generally does not do so at full strength. As a Daedric Prince at full power would easily crush any mortal, he does this in order to give his prey a sporting chance. If he successfully hunts the prey, he wins. If the prey [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted turns the tables]], he ''still'' wins, because what better expression of his sphere is there than that?
* WorthyOpponent: His whole purpose for being is finding, creating, testing and watching these, whether they win or lose. Hircine generally rewards those that survive his hunts; the Savior's Hide was created for the first mortal to ever escape his hunting grounds. Although he directs the Dragonborn in ''Skyrim'' to hunt down and kill a specific werewolf, a player who decides to instead hunt the other hunters will indeed be rewarded by Hircine for [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted completing the hunt]] in [[TakeAThirdOption a different way]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ithelia]]
!!Ithelia
-> ''""There was another Daedric Prince! My Prince! A Prince that saved me and preserved just enough of my memory so that I could one day save them in return. A Prince whose jealous and craven siblings cast down and wiped from the annals of history."''
-->-- '''''Torvesard'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Paths\\
'''''Realm''''': Mirrormoor\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Unknown\\
'''''Servants''''': Torvesard
Ithelia, known as the Prince of Paths, the Mistress of the Untraveled Road, the Unseen, the Fate-Changer is the Daedric Prince of Paths. She supposedly had the ability to shape destiny, alter fate and rearrange its strands to her whims. Considering this power a threat to reality, Hermaeus Mora erased the memory of the Prince from existence in order to preserve reality. Ithelia left behind her loyal servant, Torvesard, as a contingency plan in her absence. As of 2E 582 she was mostly forgotten and unknown by the academic community.
Ithelia has only been mentioned so far and has yet to make an actual appearance in the franchise.
----
%%zce* ArchEnemy: To Hermaeus Mora.
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: She was able to preserve the memory of her servant Torvesard to avoid being erased entirely by Hermaeus Mora.
* RetGone: Hermaeus Mora was able to erase her from the collective memory of mortals and Daedra alike, with only himself and Ithelia's servant Torvesard remembering her.
* SealedEvilInACan: After wiping out all memory of her, Hermaeous Mora had her imprisoned deep within the Mythos of Apocrypha. [[spoiler:Subverted, as the ''Gold Road'' prologue reveals that the prison was merely a formality. The ''real'' seal on Ithelia was the simple fact that she had been forgotten. Once Torvesard remembered her at the end of ''Necrom'', she immediately gained enough power to escape the Mythos on her own.]]
* ScrewDestiny: As the Prince of Paths, she apparently had to power to alter fate.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Jyggalag]]
!!Jyggalag
[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jyggalag_969.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Wes Johnson (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Dmitry Filimonov (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion'') (Russian)[[/note]]
-> ''"The other Princes, fearful of my power, cursed me with Madness, doomed me to live as Sheogorath, a broken soul reigning in a broken land. Once each era, I was allowed my true form, conquering this world anew. And each time I did, the curse was renewed, damning me to exist as Sheogorath. For millennia this drama has unfolded, and each time, I have conquered this land, only to be transformed back into that gibbering fool, Sheogorath."''
-->-- '''''Jyggalag's Dialogue in The Shivering Isles'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Order, Deduction\\
'''''Realm''''': The Realm of Order (now the Shivering Isles)\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Sword of Jyggalag\\
'''''Servants''''': Knights of Order, Priests of Order
Jyggalag is the Daedric Prince of Order, specifically associated with Logical Order and Deduction. His typical form is as a knight clad fully in silver armor. He is said to have taken account of every detail of the world and of every action that has ever taken place on Mundus or Oblivion, long before they actually happened.
In a time before recorded history, Jyggalag grew too powerful, making the other Daedric Princes fearful and jealous of him. They came together and cursed him, trapping in the form of Sheogorath. However, at the end of every Era, he is allowed to return to his true form in an event known as the Greymarch. During this time, he retakes and destroys the Shivering Isles, only to return to the form of Sheogorath at the end. At the end of the 3rd Era, the Champion of Cyrodiil ended the cycle by defeating Jyggalag and assuming the mantle of Sheogorath. Jyggalag then left to "roam the voids" of Oblivion.
His realm is the Realm of Order. Little is known of it save that it contains a giant library holding the logical prediction of every action ever taken by any creature. It is believed to have been the Shivering Isles before he was cursed into becoming Sheogorath.
Jyggalag's only appearance to date in the series is in ''Oblivion'''s ''Shivering Isles'' expansion.
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* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The other Daedric Princes are fearful and jealous of his power. Even Malacath, not considered a "true" Daedra by the other Princes, is more highly regarded than Jyggalag.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He was cursed by the other Daedric Princes, who feared his growing power.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis:
** The Library of Jyggalag contained a precise and exact record of ''everything'' that ''any'' entity in Nirn or Oblivion would ''ever'' do, which Jyggalag compiled through nothing but simple but extremely thorough deductive reasoning and logic. This was one of the big reasons why the other Daedric Princes turned on him.
** His chamberlain, Dyus, also has this ability. Though he admits he is surprised when he miscalculated that the Champion could pull off Sheogorath's scheme to free Jyggalag and pass himself on to a mortal body.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Very literally, and very deliberately [[InvokedTrope invoked]] as part of his IronicHell curse by the other Daedric Princes.
* {{BFS}}: His weapon of choice, the Sword of Jyggalag, is roughly the size of a claymore, and is wielded as such by any mortal fortunate enough to obtain it. [[GiantsKnifeHumansGreatsword Jyggalag himself is able to wield it with just one hand]].
* BigBad: Of ''The Shivering Isles''. It turns out that he's also the ''BigGood'' of the expansion at the same time, ''being'' Sheogorath.
* BoringButPractical: His specialty. His strategy for destroying the Shivering Isles is '[[ZergRush throw hordes of respawning mooks at it until it dies]]', and the sword he wields is an unenchanted claymore, just backed by his considerable SuperStrength. After all, it still works like an absolute charm, so why bother getting fancy?
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Despite ''The Shivering Isles'' ending with Jyggalag freed from the curse that forced him to become Sheogorath, he is not mentioned or referenced even once in ''Skyrim''. It's implied in some obscure texts and interviews that he doesn't have much of an interest in Nirn and is more active in Oblivion. Makes sense, given that Nirn itself is already ordered, but the rest of Oblivion is a chaotic mess.
* CombatPragmatist: Prince of logical deduction and order, but he is neither creative nor theatrical. Logically speaking, the most efficient way for him to wipe out a realm is to go through it with an army and big sword, just demolishing it piece-by-piece, thus, that is exactly how he goes about it. He still outsources some traitors from said realm to try their hands at schemes, but whether they succeed or fail he's still sticking to the tried and true method in the meantime.
* ControlFreak: He takes order very seriously, which is only natural, as he ''is'' Order. After the Champion of Cyrodiil separates him and Sheogorath, Jyggalag moves on to the rest of Oblivion, largely ignoring Nirn because the Aedra have made it much more ordered than the chaotic realms of Oblivion, which is a much more pressing issue for him to deal with.
* CreativeSterility: Sheogorath accuses him of "never having had an original thought in his existence". Ironically, as Sheogorath, he's actually able to come up with a plan that lets him break out of the endless cycle of destruction and rebirth.
* DivinePunishment: The victim of one. In the earliest days, the other Daedric Princes, fearing Jyggalag's growing power, came together and cursed into becoming Sheogorath.
* TheDreaded: ''All'' the Daedric Princes collaborated to seal him within Shegorath. It's usually considered a miracle for even two of them for to join forces.
* EarlyBirdCameo: The in-game book ''On Oblivion'' mentioned a Daedric Prince named Jyggalag as early as ''Daggerfall''.
* EnemyWithin: Formerly this to Sheogorath. Jyggalag spent his imprisonment as the last vestige of sanity in Sheogorath's broken psyche.
* EternalRecurrence: Crossed with ViciousCycle. At the end of every Era, he is able to return to his true form in an event known as the Greymarch. During this time, he retakes and destroys the Shivering Isles, only to return to the form of Sheogorath at the end. It isn't until the events of ''Shivering Isles'' that he is able to break it.
* EvilSoundsDeep: '''Very''' deep, complete with a sub-bass rumble underneath to add to his already imposing stature.
* FightingFromTheInside: Played very subtly but consistant. A lot of things about Sheogorath's behavior seem alarmingly calculated for someone who is supposed be the embodiment of insanity, from seaking out and indivdually betting against every other Daedric Prince, to nearly destroying Jyggalag's library but sparing the faithful librarian/living master-record, but most notably planning to train someone to represent him and break the cycle of his curse, but said champion could only end it in a battle with Jyggalag, and being defeated in specifically that state returns him to be reborn as his true self, upon reforming in Oblivion - meaning Sheogorath was not so much planning to stop Jyggalag permanently, as much as free him.
* FireForgedFriends: As an insane god and with the fact that he and the Champion of Cyrodil left on good terms, it's possible that they are allied now. Seeing as how Sheogorath sends the Dragonborn to ''cure'' insanity instead of cause it, it's not a baseless assumption.
* FisherKing: He longs to overthrow Sheogorath and reclaim the MadGod's plane, The Shivering Isles, as his own. Whenever he grows powerful enough to do so, life in the Isles begins to die off and crystal spires grow out of the ground, signalling the beginning of the Greymarch.
* GodOfOrder: Unlike all the other Daedric Princes, Jyggalag represents order, specifically associated with Logical Order and Deduction. He was such a ControlFreak the other Daedra were scared of him, leading to being cursed into an IronicHell in the form of Sheogorath.
* GodzillaThreshold: All of the other Daedric Princes combined their powers to prevent him from threatening them further. No small feat considering how openly hateful and hostile several of the Princes are toward each other.
* GracefulLoser: He treats the player rather politely upon defeat, especially since he is ''counting on'' the Champion of Cyrodiil defeating him so that they could both break the cycle of the Greymarch and the Champion could become Sheogorath.
* GroundhogDayLoop: He's only able to become his true self during the Greymarch, once in a thousand years during which he destroys the land his mad self made and then has to witness the mad half rebuilding it. It's also implied that Sheogorath's plan to have a mortal champion mantle him and defeat Jyggalag is something that has been repeated many times in the past to the same result, with the Champion of Cyrodiil being the first one to break the loop by actually beating Jyggalag.
* HijackingCthulhu: The other Daedric Princes, fearing his growing power, came together and trapped him in the form of Sheogorath.
* IronicHell: His existence as Sheogorath, the Prince of Madness, is essentially this. What would be a worse Hell to a being of ''order'' than complete madness? The two seem to have separated in ''Shivering Isles'', with a new person taking up Sheogorath's mantle.
* {{Irony}}:
** One of his spheres of influence is logic and deduction, but his main approach to retaking the Shivering Isles is often through brute force.
** Despite being cursed into become a prince of pure madness, in his regular form, he was a perfect fit for the ''obsessive-compulsive'' form of madness.
* TheJuggernaut: When the Greymarch comes, there's nothing to stop Jyggalag. He slowly marches through the Shivering Isles, destroying or converting everything he comes across.
-->'''Sheogorath''': The Greymarch comes, and Jyggalag walks. Or runs. Never skips, sidles, or struts. Mostly, he just destroys everything around him.
* KnightTemplar: It is his driving mission to put the universe in perfect order. The Daedra under him are even called "Knights of Order".
* LightIsNotGood: Despite his associations with order, light, and his shiny metal appearance, he is a destructive deity who stops at nothing in an attempt to put the universe into his idea of "perfect order".
* LiteralSplitPersonalities: At the end of ''Shivering Isles'', he is freed from Sheogorath and passes that mantle onto the Champion of Cyrodiil.
* MadGod: One implication of the obscure texts is that Jyggalag's extreme obsession with order is, itself, a form of insanity, and that Sheogorath is madness in the expression of manic uncertainty while Jyggalag is madness expressed in [[ObsessivelyOrganized extreme order and obsessive organization]].
* ObsessivelyOrganized: Jyggalag obsessively orders everything in his Realm and extends that to a desire to order all of the realms of Oblivion.
* OrderVersusChaos: He is the order to Sheogorath's chaos.
-->''"Of the Daedra, only the Gray Prince of Order knew his nature, and he went mad in the knowing."''
* OxymoronicBeing: Sotha Sil and his priests believe the source of Jyggalag's madness stems from the fact that, despite his all-consuming desire for order, Jyggalag's nature as a Daedra renders him an inherently chaotic creature, and his knowledge of this contradictory existence drove him insane.
* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: He was sealed by the other Daedric Princes in the form of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness.
* StrawVulcan: Jyggalag is essentially this trope incarnate. Interestingly, he stands in contrast to Julianos, another god of logic who also presides over ''contradiction'', which may well be what keeps the Divine from falling into the Jyggalag's monomania.
* ThatManIsDead: When he returns to his true form:
-->'''Sheogorath:''' With the Staff, there was hope. But now, hope is dead. ''I'' am dead. The Realm... '''AAAAARGH!!''' The Realm is dead! SHEOGORATH... IS ''DEAD!!''\\
'''Jyggalag:''' All shall crumble before... '''JYGGALAG!!'''
* TinTyrant: He and his Knights of Order appear to be clad head to toe in metallic armor.
* UnPerson: Though it wasn't intentional, this is effectively what happened to Jyggalag when they cursed him into his endless cycle with Sheogorath. The Greymarch cycle proved so effective at rendering Jyggalag irrelevant that virtually no one on Tamriel even knows what he is beyond passing mentions of his name.
* WorldsStrongestMan: If [[UnreliableNarrator his account]] of why he became Shegorath is true, then he may very well be the most powerful Daedra: The amount of beings in Oblivion who pose enough of a threat to get the ''Daedric Princes'', known for not getting along, to cooperate with each other can be counted on one hand.
[[/folder]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Azura]]
!!Azura (aka Azurah)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/azura_morrowind.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Avatar of Azura]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Shari Elliker (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Linda Canyon (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Creator/LyndaCarter (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'', ''The Elder Scrolls Online'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Natalia Litvinova (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Nina Gogaeva (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Ekaterina Afrikantova (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
->''"Azura, whose sphere is dusk and dawn, the magic in-between realms of twilight, known as Moonshadow, Mother of the Rose, and Queen of the Night Sky."''
-->-- '''''The Book of Daedra'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Dawn and Dusk, Twilight, Prophecy, Vanity, Egotism\\
'''''Realm''''': Moonshadow\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Azura's Star, Moon and Star Ring of Nerevar, Moonlight Blade\\
'''''Servants''''': Winged Twilights
Azura is the Daedric Prince of Dawn and Dusk, and is heavily associated with prophecy. Her most common symbols are a moon and star, and her typical form is as a matronly woman. She is one of the more benevolent Daedric Princes as well as one of the few to be almost universally considered "good" by mortals, and has typically shown greater concern for the well-being of her mortal followers than do most Princes. Azura has a particular association with the Dunmer people dating back to the earliest eras of Tamriellic history, and she is considered one of the three "Good Daedra" in their religion.
That said, Azura has no compunction against expressing her displeasure in very nasty ways, having a cruel and often petty streak toward those who defy her in any way. While she is the "Lady of Prophecy", the fact that she actively works to ensure that her prophecies come to fruition is something she'd rather you ignore. Although she is never overtly deceitful, the way Azura always gets what she desires in the end, and how titanic events always follow her interventions, can be portrayed as disturbing. There are also some hints that she may be a sort of 'cosmic force' primarily concerned with maintaining a sort of metaphysical balance in the universe, and her perceived "benevolence" is merely the result of her actions benefiting mortals more often than not.
As Azurah, she is also fairly prominent within Khajiit tradition, being believed to be the being that gave them the ability to be born with different forms based on the phases of Masser and Secunda.
Azura's realm is Moonshadow, said to be so beautiful that it "half-blinds" mortals who lay eyes upon it. It features all manner of beautiful flowers, trees, and waterfalls. There is a rain that "blurs the colors" and a "Rose Palace" in a "city of silver" at its center, where Azura herself resides.
In ''Daggerfall'', she asks you to kill a healer who blasphemed against her by preaching humility and decrying vanity. In ''Morrowind'', she acts as a guide to the PlayerCharacter through the main quest. She also has a side quest where she asks you to slay the Daedra sent by Sheogorath to disturb her priestess. In ''Oblivion'', she asks you to mercy kill five of her followers who were infected with Porphyric Hemophilia (vampirism). In ''Skyrim'', she asks you to find and purge one of her artifacts, Azura's Star. She is involved with several quests in ''Online'', mostly revolving around the Dunmer and the Tribunal.
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* AmbiguouslyRelated: According to the Khajiiti tale "''The Favored Daughter of Fadomai''", Azura and [[GodIsDead Lorkhan]] were siblings. How true this is, however, is up to speculation.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: She's inarguably the most benevolent of the Princes, and is strongly associated with beauty. The Khajiit worship her as a goddess of beauty, and her plane, Moonshadow, is so beautiful that it's actually hard to look at. It's somewhat played with though, as this beauty likely stems from her connection to vanity.
* BenevolentBoss: If you worship her and stay loyal, she'll watch out for you. ''Invocation of Azura'', a book written by one of her followers, notes that Azura wants the love of her followers and for her followers to love themselves. Regardless of the interpretation of her actions, she is this toward the Nerevarine in ''Morrowind'', being nothing but pleasant towards and protective of the Nerevarine, just as she was to the original Nerevar who served as her champion.
* BerserkButton: Mortals criticizing her or refusing her requests. A good example comes from ''Daggerfall'', if you summon her but do not accept her (rather petty) request:
--> ''"No! You're supposed to say yes! You're supposed to say: Yes, beautiful Azura, I would gladly murder at the snap of your ivory fingers. Boor! Bigot! Barbarian! Now, I must go before I forget that I am a lady and say something that I'll regret."''
* BewareTheNiceOnes: She makes a point of looking after her followers and isn't interested in messing with mortal affairs unless they directly concern her. This may seem like common courtesy, but by Daedric standards, she's practically a saint. However she's still a Daedric Prince, and even her own devout worshipers will admit that she can be very cruel, especially to those who cross her. [[DisproportionateRetribution Just ask the Chimer]].
* BigGood: Azura seems to be a unique hybrid of Big Good and GreaterScopeVillain for ''Morrowind'', [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation with exactly where she falls depending on one's interpretation of her role]] in the events of ''Morrowind'' and its aftermath.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Along with EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. Her first appearance in ''Daggerfall'' is also her most malevolent and petty. She demands that you kill a priest who has spoken ill of her, and gets extremely upset if you refuse her request. She is also mentioned to be an ally of Molag Bal, something which has never been brought up in any work since then.
* TheChessmaster: She is the "Lady of Prophecy", and she actively works (mostly) behind the scenes to ensure that those prophecies come to pass, at least "in spirit" if not exactly as they are foretold.
* TheChooserOfTheOne: She prophesied the reincarnation of Nerevar, her slain champion, as "the Nerevarine", and serves as a guide to the Nerevarine. (It is implied that it may be a MultipleChoiceChosen situation, where she set forth criteria in her prophecy, and any individual who met those criteria could ''become'' the Nerevarine.) Fitting given her "chessmaster" reputation.
* CrystalDragonJesus: Downplayed, but her appearances in ''Morrowind'' seem rather like purported appearances of the Virgin Mary, complete with her always wearing a [[TrueBlueFemininity blue dress.]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: While none of the Daedric Princes are truly evil, Azura is one of the more benevolent Princes, despite her association with twilight and the night.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: In her ''Skyrim'' quest, if you choose to purify Azura's Star on your own, it becomes a re-usable ''black'' soul gem called the Black Star.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Toward the Chimer/Dunmer, as a result of the actions of the Tribunal (and really, even the very ''existence'' of the Tribunal to begin with). While everyone involved has their [[TheRashomon own version]] of exactly what happened [[WhenItAllBegan at Red Mountain all those years ago]], we do know that Nerevar, faithful champion of Azura, ended up dead and the Tribunal (and Dagoth Ur) ascended to godhood. Neither of which Azura was happy about. She then (possibly) cursed them with the dark skin and red eyes of the modern Dunmer. Years later, she (definitely) played a prominent role in guiding the Nerevarine to unbind the Heart of Lorkhan, and with it, the Tribunal's divinity. They all end up dead or disappeared, plunging Morrowind into chaos and indirectly leading toward its destruction with the subsequent Oblivion Crisis, Red Mountain eruption, and Argonian invasion.
* DivinePunishment: After her champion Nerevar was murdered and his followers went against her wishes by using the Tools of Kagrenac on the Heart of Lorkhan to become {{Physical God}}s, she cursed the formerly gold-skinned Chimer race into the Dunmer with ashen gray skin and blood red eyes. After helping the Nerevarine cast down the "false gods" in ''Morrowind'', she further abandons the Dunmer by warning only a few of her followers ahead of the Red Year and Argonian Invasion, leaving the rest to suffer.
* EldritchAbomination: Behind her veil of benevolence and pleasing female form, there are hints that Azura may be something much more eldritch. She may be a sort of 'cosmic force' primarily concerned with maintaining a sort of metaphysical balance in the universe.
* EldritchLocation: Her realm of Moonshadow, said to be so extremely beautiful that the viewer is half-blinded by it, where Azura resides in a Rose Palace in a city made of silver.
* EnemyMine: As much as she hates the Tribunal, she is willing to work with them or help them to protect Morrowind. In ''The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind'', she helps save Vivec's life to prevent the fall of Baar Dau.
* EvilPaysBetter: The ([[BlueAndOrangeMorality mostly]]) good ending of her ''Skyrim'' questline is to purify Azura's Star, receiving it as a reusable Grand Soul Gem and gaining Aranea Ienith as a potential follower. On the other hand, you can complete the corruption and transform it into the Black Star which can hold all types of soul including human -- keep in mind Black Soul Gems are rather rare and humanoid souls are the best for enchanting.[[note]]Though this is apparently a glitch. Originally the Black Star was supposed to hold ''only'' black souls and not white souls, making it less useful but still more so than the standard Star.[[/note]] And even just the ability to hold black souls makes it heads and shoulders better than the other version, as grand animal and monster souls can be rare, but black (aka human) souls are extremely common regardless of level.
* {{Expy}}: Azura shares much of her temperament and nature, if not her domain, with [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Athena.]] Like Athena, she is seen as one of the "good" deities of her setting, but shows a very cruel and petty side when slighted. The in-universe text, 'Azura and the Box' shares much with some versions of tale of Arachne, with a mortal outdoing a god, and bringing down a curse upon themselves due to the gods in question being sore losers.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Some sources state that she is a "sister" of Nocturnal, although it is unclear whether it is in a literal or metaphorical sense, as other sources also mention both having a rivalry to each other.
* GodOfTheMoon: Ancient Khajiiti myths strongly associate her with the moons, especially the "Ghost Moon," believed to have been Lorkhaj's corpse placed there by Azurah. The Order of the Hidden Moon, an ancient Khajiiti cult that primarily revered Azurah, was gifted a powerful artifact called the Moonlight Blade by the goddess herself. Even following the rise of the Riddle'Thar and her resulting loss of prominence in Khajiiti religion, she's still believed to be the one who gifted the Khajiit with moon-sugar and the one who tends the fires in Jone and Jode.
* GoodIsNotNice: Generally considered of the "good" Daedra, and usually one of the more benevolent Princes toward mortals. However, she has no compunction against expressing her displeasure in very nasty ways. Additionally, there is some evidence that she may be more of a neutral cosmic force, concerned with maintaining a sort of metaphysical balance, and doing so just so happens to benefit the mortal races more often than not.
* GreaterScopeVillain: One interpretation of her behavior in ''Morrowind''. While Azura takes on a highly benevolent image in helping to free the Dunmer (and Tamriel in general) from the threat of Dagoth Ur, the primary reason why the Nerevarine is actually sent to Vvardenfell is to undermine and destroy the [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Tribunal]] (who defied her, stole her worshipers, and [[TheRashomon may have]] killed her previous champion, Nerevar). Actually defeating Dagoth Ur is just good PR "icing on the cake" while she actually gets what she wants when the 4000-year reign of the Dunmeri {{Physical God}}s is brought to an end. In addition, Azura herself played a highly active role in bringing about the destruction of Morrowind in the years that followed, as she only warned a handful of her followers to leave (allowing for the rest to die horribly as punishment for turning on her). She is also the only party during and after the events of ''Morrowind'' to end up with ''[[TheBadGuyWins everything she wanted]]'' (Dead or otherwise indisposed Tribunal, her former worshipers are firmly hers again, those who didn't worship her are enslaved and destroyed, amazing PR...)
* MagicalStarSymbols: Her most famous symbol is Azura's Star, which is only visible in the sky during the hours of twilight. Her most famous artifact is the reusable soul gem of the same name, which is shaped like a star. Finally, she blessed her ancient champion Nerevar's Moon-and-Star ring (which features a golden star and silver crescent moon on a platinum colored ring) to kill anyone but him who tries to wear it.
* ManyfacedDivinity: The depiction of Azura seen in the Temple of the Hidden Moon in ''Online'' has three faces: One human, one elven, and one Khajiiti.
* NavelDeepNeckline: Her statues in ''Skyrim'' and ''Online'' have plunging necklines, as opposed to being topless with BarbieDollAnatomy and/or NippleAndDimed in other games like ''Daggerfall'', ''Morrowind'' and ''Oblivion''.
* PragmaticVillainy: One of the reasons she's rather reasonable by Daedric Prince standards is because she has the sense to realize that being a BenevolentBoss is the best way to inspire loyalty and keep backstabbing to a minimum, and the fact that she doesn't generally antagonize mortals means that her worship is far more tolerated in most cultures than that of the other Princes.
* ProudBeauty: Though she's less obviously narcissistic than Meridia, there are still moments when her association with vanity shines through. In ''Online'', she at one point states that "none can match [her] beauty."
* RedBaron: Lady of Prophecy, Mother of the Rose, Queen of the Night Sky, Moonshadow, Cosmic Severer. As Azurah she's known as the Mother of All Khajiit, She Who Sits at the Precipice, the Rim of All Holes, and the Favored Daughter of Fadomai.
* SlaveToPR: Ultimately, the reason the goddess of [[ItsAllAboutMe vanity and egotism]] is considered one of the "good" Daedra is because, uniquely among all the Daedric Princes, ''she wants people to like her''.
* SomethingAboutARose: While it's never focused on in any of the games, she is strongly associated with roses. She holds one in her ''Daggerfall'' sprite, one of her titles is the "Mother of the Rose," ''Azurah's Crossing'' has a khajiit walking a path of roses to reach her, and it is said that in her realm of Moonshadow she either sits on a throne of roses or resides within a palace of roses, depending on the source. ''The Five Points of the Star'', a book which outlines the five major aspects of Azura worship, states that the rose is one such point, describing it as "Her color and Her flower."
* TarotMotifs: The ''Skyrim'' Tarot deck shows her as The Star.
* ThresholdGuardian: To the Khajiit, Azura is "keeper of all gates and keys, all rims and thresholds", is known as She Who Sits at the Precipice, and is believed to watch over the Gates of the Crossing behind the Lunar Lattice, a twilight realm between death and the afterlife, where in at least one case a Khajiit had to walk across a bed of rose thorns to reach her.
* TokenGoodTeammate: ''Heavily'' downplayed (due to both her [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] [[ItsAllAboutMe egotism]] and InUniverse DeliberateValuesDissonance), but Azura is the only Daedric Prince among the "Three Good Daedra" the Dunmer revere in the modern Fourth Era who is considered to be generally "good" among both general Tamrielic society and on a metatextual level among most real-world people. After all, Azura might be a conniving egotistical oracle, but at least she's not Boethiah (a.k.a. the AnthropomorphicPersonification of ChronicBackstabbingDisorder) or Mephala (who is basically the Daedric Prince version of a FemmeFatale).
* UnwittingPawn: Given her reputation as a "chess master" of sorts, just about any mortal in her service falls into this. While Azura may give that mortal a straightforward task and that mortal may accomplish it, it is almost certainly one move that is part of a bigger game. Her use of the Nerevarine to rid the Tribunal of their divinity by assisting them in defeating Dagoth Ur is an prominent example.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity:
** Despite playing an active role in the events that would eventually lead to the destruction of the Dunmer homeland, the Dunmer religion still highly reveres Azura. In fact, the destruction of the Dunmer homeland has made Azura ''more'' revered in the Dunmeri religion and was what ultimately ended worship of the Tribunal, her most hated enemies.
** While listed as one of the "good" Daedra (both in Morrowind lore and by series fans), Azura is also closely tied to and allied with Molag Bal, [[NamesToRunAwayFrom the King of Rape]]. If the name didn't make it obvious, just about everyone both in and out-of-universe considers him to be a "bad" Daedra. This is possibly a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, as Azura's alliance with Molag Bal is only mentioned in ''Daggerfall''.[[note]]In ''Morrowind'', there is Molag Grunda, daughter of Molag Bal, who looks like a Winged Twilight, a type of Daedra serving Azura]], suggesting there may indeed be still a connection between Azura and Molag Bal. ''Online'', however, introduces a group of Winged Twilight that serve Molag Bal; one quest in particular introduces one that ''betrayed'' Azura to do so, and Azura is none-too-pleased about it.[[/note]] As mentioned above, Azura, like many other Daedric Princes, was a subject to CharacterizationMarchesOn since then.
* XanatosGambit: As the "Lady of Prophecy", she actively works (mostly) behind the scenes to ensure that her prophecies come to pass. Even if things don't go exactly according to her plans, they still tend to work out in ways that ultimately benefit her.
* YourSoulIsMine: Her most famous artifact is Azura's Star, a reusable Grand Soul Gem. She is not otherwise associated with the taking of souls, however, making it somewhat unusual. Also unusual is the Star is specifically intended to ''not'' be capable of trapping a human's soul.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Boethiah]]
!!Boethiah (aka Boethia)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boethiah.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The Shadow of Boethiah]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Wes Johnson (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Jean Gilpin (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'', ''The Elder Scrolls Online'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Alexey Borzunov (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Olga Pletneva (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
->''"So one day Boethiah, Prince of Plots, precocious youth, tricked Trinimac to go into his mouth. Boethiah talked like Trinimac for awhile then, and gathered enough people to listen to him. Boethiah showed them the lies of the et'Ada, the Aedra, and told them Trinimac was the biggest liar of all, saying all this with Trinimac's voice..."''
-->-- '''''The Changed Ones'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Plots, Deceit, Conspiracy, Murder, Assassination, Treason, Unlawful Overthrow of Authority, Betrayal\\
'''''Realm''''': Attribution's Share and/or Snake Mount\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Goldbrand, Eltonbrand, Ebony Mail, Fearstruck\\
'''''Servants''''': Hunger
Boethiah is the Daedric Prince of Plots, whose sphere includes seemingly all manner of high crimes. Snakes are a common symbol of Boethiah, who has an intense love for competition and battle. Boethiah also has the greatest tendency out of the Daedric Princes to change gender with each manifestation, appearing variously as male or female. In either case, Boethiah takes a form a caped warrior wearing all black. Given all that is contained within Boethiah's sphere, Boethiah is naturally considered a "bad" Daedra near universally throughout Tamriel, with the Dunmer being one major exception. To the Dunmer, Boethiah is instead one of the three "good" Daedra.
Boethiah's sphere has some overlap with Mephalas's, and with Mephala's sphere being "obscured to mortals", it is nigh impossible to tell where the two are separated.
Boethiah's realm is variously referred to as Attribution's Share or Snake Mount, and is said to be a place generally avoided by mortals. It has been described as a country of labyrinthine policy and betrayals, with maze gardens and twisted towers.
In ''Daggerfall'', Boethiah asks you to kill a spellsword for being too nice for Boethiah's tastes. In ''Morrowind'', he asks you to rebuild his destroyed statue. In ''Oblivion'', he asks you to participate in her "Tournament of Ten Bloods". In ''Skyrim'', she asks you to kill all of their followers, and later kill her previous champion. In ''Online,'' she is the patron deity of the Maulborn Cult, as well as the patron of the Dragonstar Arena.
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* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Being the deceitful, back-stabbing head-goddess of the Dark Elves, she's essentially Bethesda's version of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Lolth]] minus the spider motif. (Which was given to Mephala instead) Given that Tamriel was based on the developer's own homebrew D&D setting, she might originally just have been a stand-in for Lolth. [[note]]Boethiah was mentioned in ''Arena'' as a "Dark Elven Goddess" but wasn't identified as a Daedric Prince until ''Daggerfall'' where the concept of the Daedra was introduced.[[/note]]
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In-Universe. Boethiah is near-universally considered one of the most outright "evil" Daedric Princes throughout most of Tamriel, with the major exception being the Dunmer. The Dunmer instead see Boethiah as a brutal but positive force, driving them to be tougher and stronger, and to be guarded against treachery and betrayal. In effect, Boethiah's harsh trials and ruthless betrayals push the Dunmer to [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre become greater than they think they are.]]
* AmbiguousGender: While technically true of all of the Daedric Princes, Boethiah has the most GenderBender tendencies. Boethiah appears as male in ''Morrowind'' and ''Oblivion'', while appearing female in ''Daggerfall'', ''Skyrim'', and ''Online'' (and was referred to as a goddess in ''Arena''). The worshipers and cultists refer to Boethiah as both "he" and "she", [[PronounTrouble sometimes in the same sentence]].
* ArchEnemy: To Molag Bal.
* BadBoss: Crossing over with YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness. Boethiah demands that his followers independently follow their own desires... just as long as those desires are completely in line with his own. The minute a follower fails that balancing act, things turn ''ugly'', with betrayal and murder as legitimate options. Being considered a "champion" of Boethiah practically paints a target on your back, one that Boethiah himself is often all too happy to hit the moment he considers you unworthy or simply ''gets bored''.
* BlackKnight:
** Boethiah's usual appearance, whether male or female, is of a caped warrior wearing all black. It is theorized that this may be the corrupted appearance of Trinimac (now Malacath) who Boethiah swallowed and temporarily assumed his form.
** The Ebony Mail is an artifact associated with Boethiah and is a suit of black armor, turning its wearer into one of these (at least aesthetically).
* BloodKnight: Boethiah has an intense love for competition and battle, and is known to hold tournaments among mortals to determine the strongest. Boethiah's quest in ''Oblivion'' is the "Tournament of Ten Bloods" on his plane of Oblivion, where one representative each of the 10 playable races fight to the death, with the last one standing being rewarded with Goldbrand. The tournament's purpose? [[ItAmusedMe None whatsoever; Boethiah just really likes fighting]].
* CardCarryingVillain: Boethiah is very open about the fact that he represents a number of typically ''evil'' attributes and actions including assassination, betrayal, deceit, and specifically the ''unlawful'' overthrow of authority.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: One could say that Boethiah is the ''embodiment'' of this trope. He exists to cause and exacerbate this condition in mortals.
* CoolSword: Boethiah's female statue depictions have her wielding a blade. Boethiah is also associated with Goldbrand, typically one of the best swords available in the games where it appears.
* CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption: Almost always the case to gain Boethiah's support and favor. Given that murder, deceit, and betrayal are all within Boethiah's sphere, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
* DemonicPossession: Boethiah has shown to be capable of taking over dead mortal bodies. However, Boethiah finds mortal flesh "distasteful".
* EqualOpportunityEvil: One positive thing you can say about Boethiah is that she is quite fair, due to his appreciation for individuality and willpower. While Boethiah considers the Dunmer her chosen people, he'll accept anyone who demonstrates the requisite strength and ruthlessness.
* EvilCounterpart: Boethiah's spheres of social Darwinism and the unlawful overthrow of authority almost perfectly mirror Stendarr as the god of authority and overpowering might used for the purposes of mercy, justice and law. Stendarr is also among the Nine most commonly associated with ThePaladin, while Boethiah is iconic for her BlackKnight imagery, echoing the paladin vs antipaladin/blackguard dynamic of more traditional fantasy settings.
* ForTheEvulz: Encourages and delights in getting mortals to deceive, betray, back stab, and outright murder each other. If doing so can be made to include treason, conspiracy, or the ''unlawful'' overthrow of authority as well, all the better.
* GodCouple: Played with. According to Khajiit legend, Boethiah and Mephala are lovers. However, whether or not this is even ''true'' is anyone's guess.
* GodEating: "Devoured" Trinimac in order to speak with his voice to convince his followers to leave the Summerset Isles for Morrowind (becoming the Chimer and later the Dunmer in the process). Later excreted Trinimac, with the remains becoming Malacath and Trinimac's remaining followers becoming the Orcs.
* GodNeedsPrayerBadly: In ''Morrowind'', Boethiah's shrine has been destroyed and dunk beneath the sea. His quest to you is to build him a new shrine so that he can once again receive worship.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Of the Deshaan arc in ''Online'', being the one responsible for [[ArcVillain Magistrix Vox's]] fall into evil and insanity, and her patron Prince.
* HijackingCthulhu: According to legend, Boethiah "ate" the Aedric/Aldmeri spirit Trinimac and spoke with Trinimac's voice in order to convince the Chimer to migrate to Morrowind. Trinimac was "tortured" in Boethiah's stomach and later excreted, with these excreted remains becoming Malacath and Trinimac's remaining followers becoming the Orcs. Malacath himself implies this is true, if [[MetaphoricallyTrue not entirely literal]].
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: Summoning Boethiah in ''Skyrim'' requires you to prove that you're treacherous enough to work for her. To do that, you need to find someone who trusts you enough to follow you, take them to Boethiah's altar, and [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice]] that person.
* InTheHood: Boethiah's female form statues in ''Skyrim'' and ''Online'' depict her wearing a hood and wielding a blade.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Goldbrand, and it's [[InfinityPlusOneSword upgraded version Eltonbrand]], are artifacts associated with Boethiah. Both take the form of katanas.
* ManipulativeBastard: Deceit, betrayal, conspiracy, assassination, treason, ''unlawful'' overthrow of authority... all are within Boethiah's sphere. Historically, he pulled this when he "ate" Trinimac, used Trinimac's voice to deceive the group that would become the Chimer into following him, and then (along with Azura and Mephala) leading the Chimer Morrowind where they would make the worship of these three "good" Daedra their primary religion.
* MindScrew: In the ''36 Lessons of Vivec'', Vivec frequently refers to Boethiah as the "House of False Thinking". By contemplating what must be "untrue", one can see into the true nature of reality.
* NonHumanNonBinary: The Daedric Princes overall don't subscribe to just one gender and are typically portrayed consistently (Mehrunes Dagon and Molag Bal are usually masculine, and Meridia and Azura are usually feminine. In addition, Hermaeus Mora, every bit an EldritchAbomination, is addressed with masculine pronouns and Mephala, a {{Hermaphrodite}}, is addressed with feminine pronouns). Boethiah, on the other hand, has been portrayed as both male and female throughout the franchise, with their myths frequently swapping between genders and their followers referring to them by different pronouns even within the ''same sentence''. Downplayed, ultimately, as Boethiah is never addressed as "they/them", but rather [[OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous swaps between male and female]].
* PronounTrouble: Thanks to his gender being less concrete than other Daedric Princes, [[SelfDemonstratingArticle she]] is referred to with both He/Him and She/Her pronouns, sometimes even in the same sentence.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The two colors most prominently associated with Boethiah are red and black, and he is typically considered one of the more outright malevolent Daedric Princes.
* RedBaron: Prince of Plots, Deceiver of Nations, Queen of Shadows, Goddess of Destruction, Warrior of the East and West.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Snakes are a common symbol of Boethiah, who is typically considered one of the more outright malevolent Daedric Princes.
* TheUnfettered: Boethiah encourages every single one of her followers to be one, in a dark and twisted version of DareToBeBadass. Pretty much her whole shtick is "follow no code, form no attachments, and devote yourself to leaving your mark upon the world, no matter how much blood you have to spill in the process".
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Given all that is contained within Boethiah's sphere, he is near-universally considered "evil" throughout Tamriel. However, to the Dunmer, he is considered one of the "good" Daedra and the anticipation of [[PhysicalGod Almalexia]].
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt:
** In Boethiah's ''Online'' quest, she decides that her current Champion must fight ''you'' ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation and your party]]) in the Dragonstar Arena in order to keep his title as Boethiah's Champion. Naturally, you win. (And get to take his place.)
** Boethiah "devoured" Trimimac to mimic his appearance and voice to trick the Chimer into following him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Clavicus Vile]]
!!Clavicus Vile
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clavicus_vile.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Shrine to Clavicus Vile (also depicting Barbas)]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Craig Sechler (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Stephen Russell (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Rudolf Pankov (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Dmitry Filimonov (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
-> ''"Clavicus Vile, whose sphere is the granting of power and wishes through ritual invocations and pacts."''
-->-- '''''The Book of Daedra'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Wishes, Pacts, Deals, Bargains\\
'''''Realm''''': Fields of Regret\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Masque of Clavicus Vile, Umbra, Bitter Cup, Rueful Axe\\
'''''Servants''''': Skaafin
Clavicus Vile is the Daedric Prince of Wishes, Pacts, Bargains, and Making Deals. He typically takes the form of a horned, jovial, very short man or boy, often joined by his canine companion Barbas, who is Vile's external conscience. While not considered to be one of the inherently malevolent Daedric Princes, it is common knowledge that those who make deals with Vile very often come to regret those deals.
Clavicus Vile's realm, The Fields of Regret, appear as a tranquil countryside. The floating island Umbriel was once part of Vile's realm, but became severed when Vile was weakened and it then "invaded" Tamriel. Vile assisted in taking down Umbriel, where it came to rest in an unknown realm of Oblivion.
In ''Daggerfall'', he asks you to slay a werewolf. In ''Redguard'', he has acquired the soul of Cyrus' sister and must be gambled to win it back. He does not appear in ''Morrowind'', but three of his artifacts, the Bitter Cup, Umbra, and his Masque, do appear. In ''Oblivion'', he asks you to acquire Umbra for him. In ''Skyrim'', he asks you, along with Barbas, to retrieve the Rueful Axe from a mage who previously made a deal with him. In ''Online'', he is involved with the Stillrise Village quests, serves as the main antagonist of the ''Morrowind'' expansion as he tries to break into Sotha Sil's Clockwork City, and serves as one of the antagonists of the ''Summerset'' expansion.
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* AffablyEvil: While not truly "evil", Vile does have a mean streak to him and [[LiteralGenie loves to play on the words of his bargains for laughs]]. However, he is also highly social and friendly (at least while Barbas is around), and his realm is a beautiful, idyllic paradise, making it one of the safest and most suitable Daedric realms for mortal life.
* BigBadDuumvirate: He and Barbas are the main antagonists of ''Online's'' ''Morrowind'' expansion. He also serves as one of the principal antagonists of ''Summerset'' alongside Mephala and Nocturnal.
* CanineCompanion: Barbas, who is actually Vile's external conscience.
* CharmPerson: The Masque of Clavicus Vile, one of Vile's most famous artifacts, is a legendary helmet enchanted to turn its wearer into one of these. It makes others infatuated with the wearer.
* CuttingOffTheBranches: ''Skyrim'' reveals that the Champion of Cyrodiil ignored Barbas' warnings in ''Oblivion'' and gave Umbra to Clavicus Vile.
* DealWithTheDevil: Vile is essentially the ''embodiment'' of the trope. He does hold up his end of the bargain, typically by granting great power, but almost always manages to do so in a way that the dealmaker will regret. When performing tasks directly for Vile, he tends to be much less insidious and rewards his mortal agents well. On the flipside, if you give Clavicus Vile a gift, he will be delighted and give you a gift in turn... but because you got to chose the gift you gave him, he gets to choose the gift he gives you in turn, and that gift might not be what you want....
* ForTheEvulz: He enjoys seeing mortals regret the deals they've made with him, and is said to collect souls simply for the sake of having them.
* HellHound: Subverted with Barbas, who ''looks'' quite intimidating in statue form, but is actually Vile's external conscience and quite [[BigFriendlyDog friendly]].
* HornedHumanoid: Typically depicted with small horns protruding from his head. Barbas, when taking a non-canine form in ''Online'', is also one.
* KnightsAndKnaves: Poses this riddle to Cyrus in ''Redguard''.
* LiteralGenie: How his granting of wishes and fulfilling of deals typically goes, given his "deal with the devil" nature. When he is separated from Barbas, he gets much closer to JerkassGenie territory, being much more outright malevolent. (Such as "curing" a group of vampires by having a hero come along and MercyKill them all...and they were only vampires in the first place because they wished to Vile for immortality.)
* LiteralSplitPersonality:
** An in-game lore book 'The Vile Truth of Barbas' found in ''Online'' claims that Clavicus Vile and Barbas are two aspects of the same entity rather than Barbas being his own separate being. The book speculates that the existence of a Daedric Prince is an inherently lonely one and Vile split himself into two beings to always have a companion.
** Also happens with the sword Umbra in the ''Lord of Souls'' novel. As a Daedric artifact Umbra is technically a fragment of Vile's power but eventually the sword absorbed enough souls to be able to think and act independently and sliced off a piece of Vile's realm for itself. Vile clarifies that, while Umbra is acting on its own, it is also technically him.
--->''"What was in this sword was me, plain and simple. If someone cut your leg off and the leg starting calling itself 'Umbra', it would still be your leg, wouldn't it? "''
* MoralityChain: Barbas is his external conscience and takes the form of a BigFriendlyDog. With Barbas, Vile is much less outright malevolent. When he's with Barbas, Vile is far more affable and friendly and enjoys conversation and socializing with mortals.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: He seems to believe that most wishes can be granted by killing the wish maker. Vampires asking for a cure for vampirism? Have a hero come in and slaughter them all. A man whose daughter has been turned into a werewolf? Give him an axe to put her down. Asking for peace in Skyrim? Do nothing and let the Dragons kill everyone. A village asking for immunity from the Knahaten plague? Turn them ''undead''.
* PetTheDog: If the Dragonborn reunites him with Barbas in ''Skyrim'', he (reluctantly) decides not to flay them in the most gruesomely manner possible for disobeying his order to kill Barbas instead. The implication is that the return of Barbas, and thus Vile's full divine power (and his conscience) is the better deal for Vile.
* PutOnABus: He doesn't make an appearance in ''Morrowind'', but he is mentioned and several of his artifacts appear. He returns for ''Oblivion''.
* RareCandy: His artifact, the Bitter Cup, plays with it, along with UpgradeArtifact. It automatically increases the drinker's top two attributes significantly, but also drops their lowest two attributes by the same amount. Given Vile's nature, this shouldn't come as a shock.
* SatanicArchetype: He mostly reflects the DealWithTheDevil aspects of the archetype, as well as bargaining for souls, while leaving out the truly evil and demonic aspects. Vile does like to play cruel pranks and twists on his deals, but these are typically treated like childish pranks from his perspective. He also doesn't torture the souls in his care, and his realm is actually one of the nicer places a mortal could end up.
* SealedEvilInACan: Between the events of ''Oblivion'' and ''Skyrim'', [[NiceJobBreakingItHero due in no small part to the Champion of Cyrodiil's actions]], Vile is severely weakened, separated from Barbas, and forced to spend spend several decades trapped within a cave, high in the mountains of Skyrim.
* StealthPun: His name might be a very roundabout pun on [[Myth/NorseMythology Loki]]. "Vile" is the Latin word for "low," while "Clavicus" is derived from "clavicula," the Latin word for "key." In other words, he's low key, which is a homophone for Loki.
* YourSoulIsMine: He is a known collector of mortal souls, though he doesn't seem to do anything with them. He simply likes having them for the sake of having them. He also commissioned the creation of Umbra, an EmpathicWeapon blade which steals souls (including the soul of its wielder).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Hermaeus Mora]]
!!Hermaeus Mora (aka Herma-Mora)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hermaeus_mora.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hermaeus Mora as manifested in Apocrypha]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Wes Johnson (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Yuri Derkach (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
-> ''"Hermaeus Mora, 'the Gardener of Men', claims that he is one of the oldest Princes, born of thrown-away ideas used during the creation of mortality in the Mundus."''
-->-- '''''Imperial Census of Daedra Lords'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Fate, Knowledge, Destiny, Memory\\
'''''Realm''''': Apocrypha\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Oghma Infinium, Black Books\\
'''''Servants''''': Seekers, Lurkers
Hermaeus Mora is the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, and also associated with the tides of fate and destiny. His most common symbol is an eye and, unlike the other Daedric Princes, he does not bother with a humanoid form, preferring to appear as a grotesque assemblage seemingly endless tentacles and eyes. While not considered to be one of the inherently malevolent Daedric Princes, Hermaeus Mora has been known to commit unspeakable acts in the pursuit of knowledge. He is considered an "enemy" in the religious traditions of the Skaal of Solstheim and in the old Nordic religion, where he was an adversary of Ysgramor. Some sources state that Hermaeus Mora is a "sibling" of Mephala.
Hermaeus Mora's realm is Apocrypha, an endless library containing all knowledge in the form of tomes. The sky is an illuminating green in color and it is covered by a sea of roiling acidic waters. Some areas of Apocrypha are consumed by a darkness which kills any mortal who tries to enter it. The realm is haunted by the ghosts of mortals forever searching for knowledge.
In ''Daggerfall'', Mora asks you to assassinate a noble. He does not appear in ''Morrowind''. In ''Oblivion'', he asks you to collect a soul from every Tamriellic race. In ''Skyrim'', he tasks you with freeing the Oghma Infinium from a sealed Dwemer lock box. In the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, he serves as an instigator behind the main plot. In ''Online'', he seeks knowledge of the Celestials.
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* AffablyEvil: Like most Daedric Princes, Mora is not inherently "evil" per se, but he certainly has his episodes of malevolence. Despite this, Mora is generally one of the friendlier Princes (certainly one of the most polite) to mortals and generally prefers to entice people into his service with promises of rich rewards, trusting that if he needs more of their help, the power he promises will be enough to convince them. ''Dragonborn'' provides a good example of this; while yes, Mora has set up the situation so you don't have much of a choice but to help him out, he'll still offer you his Black Books, the final word of Bend Will, and free unlimited skill point resets after his quest.
* ArchEnemy: Of Ysgramor and the Skaal of Solstheim. His Daedric quest in ''Skyrim,'' and the plot of the ''Dragonborn'' DLC especially, set him up as one of the most dangerous and personal foes that the Dragonborn faces, as well as the only one that remains undefeated at the end.
* BerserkButton:
** As affable as he may seem, he does have one particularly big berserk button: trying to hide knowledge from him. Storn of the Skaal and Miraak [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice find this out the hard way]] in ''Skyrim'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC. The latter also gets hit with one of the few instances of Mora [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness raising his voice in anger]].
--> '''Hermaeus Mora''': "Did you think to escape me, Miraak?! You can hide ''NOTHING'' from me here! Ha ha."
** To a lesser extent, attempting to scheme behind his back and betray him, and thinking he would be none the wiser to the attempt. Miraak was not only stupid enough to do it, but did it in Apocrypha of all places. Mora not only made it plainatively clear he's known about Miraak's plans for years, and possibly ever since Miraak first came up with the idea, he ensured [[spoiler:Miraak's death was an incredibly painful one.]] Both as a means to warn the Dragonborn of what could happen to them should they decide to follow Miraak's example, and to punish Miraak for his stupidity and GenreBlindness.
* TheChessmaster: He ''is'' the Daedric Prince of ''Knowledge'', afterall. He can play whatever game he needs to in order to get exactly what he wants, and often more.
* CombatTentacles: Which he uses in ''Dragonborn'' to kill Miraak and Storn via ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice. The book ''Boneless Limbs'' has this to say:
-->''A writhing mass of heaped appendage''\\
''Slipping grasp the squirming slick''\\
''Extend the reach to touch the face''\\
''Burn the mind, reveal the quick''
* DeusExMachina: The story of the ''Dragonborn'' DLC of ''Skyrim'' reaches its climax when Mora spontaneously appears to the player in Apocrypha and offers to give them the Words of Power needed to challenge Miraak on equal footing. In this case it's justified in that a) he was presumably the one who taught Miraak said words in the first place, and b) [[spoiler:his plan was always to force you to bargain for the Words so that you would replace Miraak as his champion.]]
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu:
** Mora was an enemy to the [[FounderOfTheKingdom old Nordic king]] Ysgramor. According to Nordic legends, Ysgramor outwitted him regularly.
** The Skaal of Solstheim consider Mora their enemy, and have managed to keep their secrets safely hidden from him. The plot of ''Dragonborn'' is revealed to be an elaborate scheme by Mora to get them.
* DoNotTauntCthulhu:
** As affable and polite as he may come across, he can flip the switch to extreme violent anger in an instant if taunted. Doubling fitting, as Mora is easily the most eldritch out of the Daedric Princes. In ''Dragonborn'', Miraak learns this the hard way.
** In ''Skyrim'' and ''Dragonborn'', the Dragonborn has the option of flipping him off several times, even venomously referring to him as a "demon". The only time he even slightly gets back for these slights is when Dragonborn tells him that his help isn't needed to find the last word of Bend Will from his realm, to which he politely explains that you would be searching for all eternity without his aid.
* EldritchAbomination:
** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], but also [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] a little. While he dives head-first into the aesthetics and trappings traditionally associated with this trope, he isn't anymore "otherworldly" or "beyond mortal comprehension" than any other Et'Ada, though to be fair that is an accurate description to a degree. While some sources do state him to be one of the "oldest" of a class TimeAbyss beings, forming out of "discarded ideas" during creation, it should be noted that this conflicts with the consensus account for the origin of the Et'Ada.
** His motives (If him being a discarded draft of creation is the truth) are also not quite incomprehensible if some of the "Obscure Texts" are to be believed. Assuming that "draft of the universe" origin is true, he's essentially getting information so he can know every difference between himself and creation as it exists. He's either trying to figure out why his creators discarded him, or how to finish the process since they won't. Either is understandable from a human perspective.
* EldritchLocation: Apocrypha, along with being a GreatBigLibraryOfEverything. It is home to all forbidden knowledge, with a green sky, roiling acidic waters, and areas covered in darkness which kill any mortal who tries to enter. Mora's eyes and tentacles are known to blot out the sky, and it is stalked by Mora's servants, the Seekers and Lurkers. It's endless expanse of shadowy bookshelves is haunted by the ghosts of mortals who have become trapped there in search of knowledge.
* EvilIsPetty: Well, BlueAndOrangeMorality is petty. The "secrets" the Skaal won't tell him are benign and most likely useless to him, being simply their ways of communing with nature, and kept more out of tradition than anything. Mora ''still'' instigates a world-threatening problem to make sure [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse they couldn't afford to refuse him]] [[spoiler:and murders Storn Crag-Strider out of anger at the Skaal for holding out so long, even after Storn was giving him everything he wanted]]. He's the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, and as such treats the mere idea of a secret being kept from him (no matter the reason or how trivial the secret might be) as unimaginably offensive.
* EvilSoundsDeep: His voice is always deep. In ''Oblivion'', it is more a menacing kind of deep, while in ''Skyrim'' it's soothing and grandfatherly but with distinctly thick, bubbling undertones.
* {{Expy}}: He ''very'' closely resembles [[Creator/HPLovecraft Yog-Sothoth]] of the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, in both appearance and nature. Like Yog-Sothoth, Hermaeus Mora exists outside of linear time and possesses vast amounts of knowledge often sought out by mortals and cultists. Likewise in ''Dragonborn'', Hermaeus Mora manifests as a mass of tentacles and eyes not unlike common depictions of the Outer God.
* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: It's a subtle example, but during his appearances in Skyrim (specifically when the ''Dragonborn'' expansion is installed), his eyes will constantly look directly at the camera, or perhaps more specifically, directly at ''you'', the player!
* GenuineHumanHide: The Oghma Infinium is said to be bound in it, and the ''Skyrim'' version is bound specifically in various ''elven'' hides.
* GiantEnemyCrab: Frequently depicted as having giant crab-like pincers. Even ''Skyrim'' has statues that depict him like this, although his actual appearance is very different. The book ''Delving Pincers'' has this to say:
-->''Crushing razors, hollow shells''\\
''That snap, that twitch, that cinch and rend''\\
''To hold the subject, bodily,''\\
'''Til mind blows soft and life meets end''
* GodOfKnowledge: Hermaeus Mora is the Daedric Prince of Forbidden Knowledge and Destiny. His plane of Oblivion, Apocrypha, is a GreatBigLibraryOfEverything, containing tomes on things past, present, and even future.
* GreatBigBookOfEverything: His most famous artifact, the Oghma Infinium. Reading it grants immense knowledge, but it vanishes before one can ''[[GoMadFromTheRevelation read too much]]''.
* GreaterScopeVillain: Of ''Skyrim'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC. His champion, Miraak, serves as the BigBad and EvilCounterpart to the Dragonborn.
* IGaveMyWord: In keeping with his preferred recruitment method of tempting potential followers with gifts of knowledge, Mora keeps just about every promise he makes and holds his end of every bargain, both in spirit as well as word. [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Doesn't mean he won't toss you aside when he doesn't need you anymore.]]
* KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge: Hermaeus Mora is the embodiment of the trope. In addition to being the keeper, he is also the ''seeker'', and is willing to offer knowledge to those who serve him.
* MagicalLibrary: Apocrypha. In addition to all of the "forbidden" and supernatural knowledge, it also contains all known spell tomes in general. Aside from the acid and the tentacles, it's practically a dimension made up of nothing but books. The walls are often stacks of books (sometimes arranged to look like bones or spines). The wandering monsters all tend to drop random books, and treasure chests in Apocrypha usually contain ''more'' books.
* MindScrew: According to Mora himself, he ''is''/arose from detritus concepts ejected from reality during creation. Hermaeus Mora ''is'' what ''could not be''.
* TheOlderImmortal: Mora claims to be one of the "oldest" of Daedric Princes, who are already TimeAbyss deities who have existed since before time itself was conceived of as a concept.
* {{Omniscient}}: He claims to be this. However, it's more likely he isn't, since the whole plot of ''Dragonborn'' is him using the player character to acquire knowledge he did not have. The Elder Scrolls, which predict possible futures but not with certainty, are constantly changing and shifting their contents. In addition, like the other Princes, he opposed and assisted in the curse of Jyggalag, who had a library that ''actually'' threatened to know everything. It is probably better to say that omniscience is something that Hermaeus Mora aspires to but does not currently have.
* PragmaticVillainy: His preferred method of gaining followers is to offer them access to his vast knowledge and to reward them well whenever they succeed. Not because he really cares, but because it's much easier to deal with servants who ''don't'' hate you, and even if one person refuses to deal with him on principle, there's always going to be someone else easily tempted or who needs Mora's help.
* PutOnABus: He doesn't make an appearance in ''Morrowind'', since he isn't part of the Dunmer pantheon, but he is mentioned. He returns for ''Oblivion''.
* RedBaron: The Golden Eye, Gardener of Men, Prince of Fate, Lord of Secrets, Abyssal Cephaliarch, The Woodland Man, Old Antecedent, Scryer, Inevitable Knower, Tide-King, He Who Records All Knowledge, Abider in the Abyss, and Demon of Knowledge.
* ScaryLibrarian: His dimension is a giant eldritch library containing the world's "forbidden" knowledge, and Mora is a generally terrifying entity in appearance. He'll generally let you browse in peace if you've pleased him (any consequences from learning ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow are on you), but ''nobody'' will help you if you damage any books.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He speaks this way in ''Daggerfall''. For example, when he needs someone to kill a noble he doesn't like, he tells you to "exterminate a certain scrofulous patrician who has aroused my displeasure".[[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness This trait has been dropped in later appearances]].
* ShoutOut: As a nod to his [[Creator/HPLovecraft inspiration]], in ''Skyrim'', one of his Black Books is a play named ''[[Literature/TheKingInYellow The Sallow Regent]]'', written by '''H'''awfi'''p''' the '''Crafter'''.
* SoftSpokenSadist: In Skyrim, unless he becomes angry, his voice is soft and almost gentle in tone, occasionally dipping into a whisper, and he sounds as if he's yawning with nearly every word.
* SuddenlyShouting: When he confronts Miraak at the end of ''Dragonborn'', he raises his voice in anger and starts yelling in disgust for Miraak's betrayal before calming down.
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: In the first four games, he was always a neutral entity, even if his quests tended to be a bit ruthless. Come ''Skyrim'', he orchestrates everything that happens in ''Dragonborn'', putting millions of innocent lives at risk, just to obtain the "secrets" of the Skaal.
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow:
** Hermaeus Mora is the keeper of this sort of knowledge. According to Mora himself, he ''is''/arose from knowledge ''that cannot exist'' (detritus concepts ejected from reality), rendering him not only the keeper of things man was not meant to know, but also making him something man ''cannot'' know.
** Neloth in ''Dragonborn'' is an expert in the madness people can experience if they delve too much into the forbidden secrets Hermaeus Mora offers... which is why he's willing to let you keep the Black Books. The Dragonborn is his guinea pig for "how much is too much".
* TimeMaster: Of a sort. In the same way that Akatosh ''is'' time, Mora exists outside of linear time, which allows him to interact with it in unusual ways. Some of his Black Books are believed to come from the future, and he has direct (but subtle) influence over fate and destiny.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: His IconicItem, the Oghma Infinium, and in ''Dragonborn'', the Black Books. The Infinium grants a massive boost to one-third of your skills, and the Black Books take you to a mini-dungeon with special perks and abilities at the end.
* UnwittingPawn: He doesn't ask much of the Dragonborn as a champion, and in fact makes no requests at all of you after ''Dragonborn's'' main plot or the daedric quest...but he doesn't have to. Your status as a wandering adventurer means you will inevitably stick your nose into dungeons full of forbidden secrets and lost knowledge. All he has to do is watch you while you do it, and you're working for him.
* VerbalTic: In ''Skyrim'', and especially in ''Dragonborn'', he yawns while talking regularly.
* VillainHasAPoint: In Skyrim's ''Dragonborn'' DLC, The Last Dragonborn can question Hermaeus Mora on why they can't simply find the last Word of Power for the Bend Will Shout on their own, Mora will point out that while technically there's a specific spot the Word can be found, it would take an eternity for the Dragonborn to find it in a Plane of Oblivion like Apocrypha, which is ''infinitely'' large, meaning Mora doesn't actually have to deliberately withhold the Word for The Dragonborn to have to make a deal with him for it.
* VillainTakesAnInterest: He's apparently ''very'' interested in those who are Dragonborn, leading him to offer Miraak power in exchange for serving as his champion. He later makes the same offer to the Dragonborn after Miraak's death. After his ''Skyrim'' quest and the main quest of ''Dragonborn'', he claims that he has been watching the Dragonborn for some time and claims that he has been grooming the Dragonborn to become his champion. Even if the Dragonborn defiantly refuses Mora's offer, Mora states that the Dragonborn ''already is'' [[UnwittingPawn his pawn]].
* WeCanRuleTogether: Offered the Dragon Priest, Miraak, the knowledge to control his former masters, in exchange for agreeing to serve as his [[TheDragon Dragon]]. After Miraak's failed rebellion against Mora is thwarted by the Dragonborn, he informs the Dragonborn that they've just [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt inherited the position.]]
* XanatosGambit:
** The main questline for ''Skyrim'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC is essentially this for him. By allowing Miraak to plot against him while simultaneously drawing in the Dragonborn to investigate, he creates a threat neither the Dragonborn nor the Skaal can ignore; the former because Miraak sees them as competition and will keep harrying them (and [[NinjaLooter stealing their dragon souls]] until one or the other is dead, and the Skaal because his plan involves corrupting and taking over Solstheim. Since the only way to reach Miraak is to use the full Bend Will shout, and the only one who knows the last word is Hermaus Mora, he gets to name his own price for allowing the Dragonborn to kill Miraak- and the price, of course, is the secrets of the Skaal plus the Dragonborn's service.
** Additionally, in order to get the main ''Skyrim'' plot to finish, you need the "Elder Scroll (Dragon)", which you also have to get for Mora's daedric quest. One way or another, you're ''eventually'' going to be doing him a favor.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Mora has no compunctions with killing off those that are of no further use for him. However, he generally makes it quick and painless for loyal servants such as Septimus (who largely just appeared to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence), while instead treating followers that try to betray him with a hefty dose of ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice.
* YourSoulIsMine: His ''Oblivion'' quest requires capturing the soul of one of every member of the Tamriellic races. Mora plans to have his followers use them in rituals to bend reality, time, and space.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Hircine]]
!!Hircine
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hircine_bloodmoon.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hircine as seen in Morrowind]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Jonathan Bryce (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind'', ''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Craig Sechler (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Alexander Gruzdev (''[=TES=] III: Morrowind''), Kirill Radzig (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion''), Eugene Waltz (''[=TES=] V: Skyrim'') (Russian)[[/note]]
-> ''"You may meet the Hunter, who is invoked as Alrabeg. He bears the Spear of Bitter Mercy. He comes here from the Hunting Grounds to hunt new prey, or he brings prey native to the Hunting Grounds, like the Unicorn, to hunt in new forests. If he brings not prey, then woe betide you who meet him, for he may dub you the Hare. Then you must flee as best you can, though you will not escape."''
-->-- '''''Aspects of Lord Hircine'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': The Hunt\\
'''''Realm''''': The Hunting Grounds\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Hircine's Ring, Spear of Bitter Mercy, Saviour's Hide, Spear of the Hunter\\
'''''Servants''''': Werecreatures
Hircine is the Daedric Prince of the Hunt and all aspects associated with it. His most common form is of a spear-wielding, antlered humanoid. While not considered to be one of the inherently malevolent Daedric Princes, those who are unwillingly drawn into his hunts may disagree. Despite this, he always gives his prey a chance to escape or turn the tables, as Hircine is the ultimate sportsman.
Hircine is the "Father of the Manbeasts", being responsible for the creation of Nirn's werecreatures. His most famous servants are the werewolves, who act as his "hunting dogs".
Hircine's realm is the Hunting Grounds, an infinite expanse of thick forests and open plains populated by Hircine's werecreatures.
In ''Daggerfall'', Hircine asks you to hunt a rogue wereboar. In ''Battlespire'', you take place in his hunt and win two of his artifacts. He does not appear in ''Morrowind'' itself, but serves as the instigator of the plot of ''Bloodmoon''. In ''Oblivion'', he tasks you with hunting a unicorn. In ''Skyrim'', he has you hunt down a rogue werewolf. In ''Online'', he tasks you with slaying a series of monsters as a werewolf.
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* AffablyEvil: Like most Daedric Princes, Hircine is not inherently "evil" per se, but he certainly has his episodes of malevolence. He's always very polite to those who summon him, as well as to his opponents when he judges them worthy, and he watches over his followers much more than the average Prince. It is noted that summoning Hircine typically invokes "Hrokkibeg", the aspect of the Mighty Bear, who brings horror and violence to those who disrespectfully interrupt his slumber, but will be delighted and friendly if the summoner is respectful and makes the appropriate offerings.
* AnimalMotifs: Hircine appears in various animal forms, including wolves, bears, rats, and stags. In ''Skyrim'' he first appears to the player in the form of a large white stag and his Savior's Hide resembles deer hide and is stag themed.
* BadMoonRising: The event known as the Bloodmoon signals that it is time for his hunt on Mundus. The final sign of the Bloodmoon is Secunda, Nirn's smaller moon, turning blood red.
* BenevolentBoss: He values his followers, whose fealty is 'precious' to him.
* BigBad: Of the ''Morrowind'''s ''Bloodmoon'' expansion. [[spoiler:Unlike most instances where a Daedric Prince is the BigBad, he personally serves as the FinalBoss at the end of his "hunt"]]. In keeping with his personality, however, he imposes a DramaPreservingHandicap upon himself, as fighting him at his full power would be, in his own words, "less than sporting".
* BloodKnight: ''The'' Blood Knight of the ''Elder Scrolls'' universe. The plot of ''Bloodmoon'' is him seeking the most worthy opponent for his hunt on Mundus, and he is always seeking the best prey within his realm, the Hunting Grounds.
* {{Cernunnos}}: He has several traits in common with Cernunnos -- he claims hunting and all things related to it as his sphere of influence, and his statues and avatars often take the form of a humanoid with antlers or with a stag's head. He is served by a race of Lesser Daedra called the Herne, sometimes placing them in charge of hunts that he does not personally participate in.
* CombatByChampion:
** If Hircine is not participating directly in one of his hunts, he will usually appoint another Daedra (such as the Herne in ''Battlespire'') or a great were-beast to do the hunting instead.
** According to the ''16 Accords of Madness'', Hircine and Sheogorath agreed to a battle in this fashion. Each would choose a champion, and the two champions would battle. Hircine infected an ancient Daedroth with lycanthropy to serve as his champion. Sheogorath chose... a songbird. [[spoiler:Hircine's champion ends up blinding itself and tearing itself apart while struggling to hit the song bird]].
* CursedWithAwesome: Or BlessedWithSuck, depending on how one views his "gift". His werebeast followers are granted the ability to transform into powerful monsters, but enter a vicious hunter/hunted cycle as the are typically demonized by their fellow mortals. Additionally, Hircine claims their souls upon death to hunt and/or be hunted in his Hunting Grounds realm, regardless of what afterlife they may have preferred.
* DefeatMeansRespect: He has immense respect for those who survive his hunts, or better yet, turn the tables on the hunter.
* EgomaniacHunter: He lives for the glory of the hunt, and has no reason to do so beyond his own vanity. He hunts solely for the sport, including having his own pack of hunting dogs (read: werewolves). Somewhat unusually for the trope, he doesn't consider it a ''true'' hunt unless the prey has a sporting chance.
* {{Expy}}: Of the Horned God, a modern pagan deity of the wilderness and the hunt that is based on several figures from mythology. One of these is Cernunnos, a Celtic god thought to be associated with hunting (though nothing about him survives except for his name and a few images). Another is Herne, the ghost of a hunter that haunts Windsor Forest, mentioned in ''Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor''.
* FairPlayVillain: One of his defining qualities. A hunt isn't a hunt to Hircine unless both prey and predator have a chance to win, and whenever he causes trouble in Mundus he makes sure to leave the mortals he hunts a sporting chance to drive him off.
* GracefulLoser: A defining part of Hircine's character: he doesn't view any hunt as an actual hunt if the prey has no chance to turn the tables on the hunter, and this includes Hircine if he's the hunter. As such, he takes losing probably the best of any of the Princes and often rewards them for their victory over him.
* HornedHumanoid: He most often appears with deer antlers, even in his humanoid form.
* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: In Hircine's realm, everyone is either Hunter or Prey. However, Prey and Hunter can reverse roles at any time, and for the most part, Hircine delights in these role reversals, [[spoiler:even if he's the one who becomes the prey.]] His werebeast servants are the embodiment of this trope. At night, they are dangerous monsters and hunt mortals while they have the advantage. During the day, however, they revert to their own weaker mortal forms and must flee from the very mortals they were just preying on.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: His realm, the Hunting Grounds, has this going on eternally. He is always looking for more dangerous prey to add to them. Additionally, the Bloodmoon event is when he brings his hunt to Mundus. He will gather the greatest warriors in a region and pit them against his werewolf "hunting dogs" (and each other) until only the most "dangerous" still lives, then he will personally enter the hunt. It's also part of why he likes werewolves; they hunt mortals by night, but are hunted ''by'' them during the day.
* TheMarvelousDeer: He often takes the form of a white stag and even his humanoid avatar is typically depicted with deer antlers.
* MeaningfulName: The word "hircine" means "goat-like" in Latin, although Hircine's forms tend to resemble a deer more closely.
* MonsterProgenitor: He is the creator and master of Nirn's were-creatures.
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: He is the creator of werebeasts, which include werelions, werecrocodiles, werebears, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves]], wereboars, and werebats. Only the last four have been seen in the games to date.
* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: He communicates to his werebeast followers in this fashion.
* RedBaron: The Huntsman of the Princes, the Father of Manbeasts, Master of the Chase.
** The Reachfolk are said to have as many names for him as there are tribes, including Old Elk-Eye, Hunt-King, Beast Father, Skinshaper, and the Spear with Five Points.
* ReroutedFromHeaven: He gets the souls of all werebeasts, usually whether or not they worship other entities or want to go to other afterlives. In an unusual case, one can reroute the rerouted souls via drawing out and killing the beast aspect of their soul. Doing this breaks the connection to Hircine and releases the soul.
* SinisterDeerSkull: His most common form is that of a deer skull-headed humanoid. While he usually ensures his hunts are ''fair'', the "sinister" nature comes in as most of his prey is taken against their will.
* TheyHaveTheScent: Werewolves are his favored servants and serve him as hunting dogs. They are sometimes referred to specifically as his "hounds".
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Like all Daedric Princes, he is not bound to any one form, but he has several different forms which he uses to present himself to mortals, each of which represents a different aspect of his. These include "[[PhysicalGod The Hunter]]" (also known as Guile), the "Quick Fox" (also known as Speed, and sometimes taking the form of a [[SavageWolves Savage Wolf]]), the "[[BearsAreBadNews Mighty Bear]]" (also known as Strength), the "[[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Manbeast]]", and the "[[TheMarvelousDeer Great Stag]]".
* WarGod: Of the "personal battle" variety. Hircine's hunts almost always end in a battle of some kind, and while he adores a fair contest where the prey can defeat the predator, in his darker appearances and interpretations he also frequently champions a hunt where many warriors pursue a weaker foe. As long as the prey has a ''chance'' to turn the hunt inside out and defeat their enemies, Hircine is happy.
* WarriorHeaven: Or HellIsWar, depending on the preferences of the particular inhabitant. The Hunting Grounds are a variation of one for his werebeast followers, who alternate between being predators and prey in an eternal, endless hunt.
* TheWildHunt: He views the entirety of existence as an unending hunt. Events involving he or his minions hunting have been referred to by this exact name.
* WildWilderness: His realm, The Hunting Grounds, is an endless world of plains and forests where the inhabitants forever hunt and are hunted.
* WillfullyWeak: When he personally engages mortals in his hunts, he generally does not do so at full strength. As a Daedric Prince at full power would easily crush any mortal, he does this in order to give his prey a sporting chance. If he successfully hunts the prey, he wins. If the prey [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted turns the tables]], he ''still'' wins, because what better expression of his sphere is there than that?
* WorthyOpponent: His whole purpose for being is finding, creating, testing and watching these, whether they win or lose. Hircine generally rewards those that survive his hunts; the Savior's Hide was created for the first mortal to ever escape his hunting grounds. Although he directs the Dragonborn in ''Skyrim'' to hunt down and kill a specific werewolf, a player who decides to instead hunt the other hunters will indeed be rewarded by Hircine for [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted completing the hunt]] in [[TakeAThirdOption a different way]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ithelia]]
!!Ithelia
-> ''""There was another Daedric Prince! My Prince! A Prince that saved me and preserved just enough of my memory so that I could one day save them in return. A Prince whose jealous and craven siblings cast down and wiped from the annals of history."''
-->-- '''''Torvesard'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Paths\\
'''''Realm''''': Mirrormoor\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Unknown\\
'''''Servants''''': Torvesard
Ithelia, known as the Prince of Paths, the Mistress of the Untraveled Road, the Unseen, the Fate-Changer is the Daedric Prince of Paths. She supposedly had the ability to shape destiny, alter fate and rearrange its strands to her whims. Considering this power a threat to reality, Hermaeus Mora erased the memory of the Prince from existence in order to preserve reality. Ithelia left behind her loyal servant, Torvesard, as a contingency plan in her absence. As of 2E 582 she was mostly forgotten and unknown by the academic community.
Ithelia has only been mentioned so far and has yet to make an actual appearance in the franchise.
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%%zce* ArchEnemy: To Hermaeus Mora.
* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: She was able to preserve the memory of her servant Torvesard to avoid being erased entirely by Hermaeus Mora.
* RetGone: Hermaeus Mora was able to erase her from the collective memory of mortals and Daedra alike, with only himself and Ithelia's servant Torvesard remembering her.
* SealedEvilInACan: After wiping out all memory of her, Hermaeous Mora had her imprisoned deep within the Mythos of Apocrypha. [[spoiler:Subverted, as the ''Gold Road'' prologue reveals that the prison was merely a formality. The ''real'' seal on Ithelia was the simple fact that she had been forgotten. Once Torvesard remembered her at the end of ''Necrom'', she immediately gained enough power to escape the Mythos on her own.]]
* ScrewDestiny: As the Prince of Paths, she apparently had to power to alter fate.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Jyggalag]]
!!Jyggalag
[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jyggalag_969.png]]
->'''Voiced by:''' Wes Johnson (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion'') (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Dmitry Filimonov (''[=TES=] IV: Oblivion'') (Russian)[[/note]]
-> ''"The other Princes, fearful of my power, cursed me with Madness, doomed me to live as Sheogorath, a broken soul reigning in a broken land. Once each era, I was allowed my true form, conquering this world anew. And each time I did, the curse was renewed, damning me to exist as Sheogorath. For millennia this drama has unfolded, and each time, I have conquered this land, only to be transformed back into that gibbering fool, Sheogorath."''
-->-- '''''Jyggalag's Dialogue in The Shivering Isles'''''
-->'''''Sphere''''': Order, Deduction\\
'''''Realm''''': The Realm of Order (now the Shivering Isles)\\
'''''Artifacts''''': Sword of Jyggalag\\
'''''Servants''''': Knights of Order, Priests of Order
Jyggalag is the Daedric Prince of Order, specifically associated with Logical Order and Deduction. His typical form is as a knight clad fully in silver armor. He is said to have taken account of every detail of the world and of every action that has ever taken place on Mundus or Oblivion, long before they actually happened.
In a time before recorded history, Jyggalag grew too powerful, making the other Daedric Princes fearful and jealous of him. They came together and cursed him, trapping in the form of Sheogorath. However, at the end of every Era, he is allowed to return to his true form in an event known as the Greymarch. During this time, he retakes and destroys the Shivering Isles, only to return to the form of Sheogorath at the end. At the end of the 3rd Era, the Champion of Cyrodiil ended the cycle by defeating Jyggalag and assuming the mantle of Sheogorath. Jyggalag then left to "roam the voids" of Oblivion.
His realm is the Realm of Order. Little is known of it save that it contains a giant library holding the logical prediction of every action ever taken by any creature. It is believed to have been the Shivering Isles before he was cursed into becoming Sheogorath.
Jyggalag's only appearance to date in the series is in ''Oblivion'''s ''Shivering Isles'' expansion.
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* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The other Daedric Princes are fearful and jealous of his power. Even Malacath, not considered a "true" Daedra by the other Princes, is more highly regarded than Jyggalag.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He was cursed by the other Daedric Princes, who feared his growing power.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis:
** The Library of Jyggalag contained a precise and exact record of ''everything'' that ''any'' entity in Nirn or Oblivion would ''ever'' do, which Jyggalag compiled through nothing but simple but extremely thorough deductive reasoning and logic. This was one of the big reasons why the other Daedric Princes turned on him.
** His chamberlain, Dyus, also has this ability. Though he admits he is surprised when he miscalculated that the Champion could pull off Sheogorath's scheme to free Jyggalag and pass himself on to a mortal body.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Very literally, and very deliberately [[InvokedTrope invoked]] as part of his IronicHell curse by the other Daedric Princes.
* {{BFS}}: His weapon of choice, the Sword of Jyggalag, is roughly the size of a claymore, and is wielded as such by any mortal fortunate enough to obtain it. [[GiantsKnifeHumansGreatsword Jyggalag himself is able to wield it with just one hand]].
* BigBad: Of ''The Shivering Isles''. It turns out that he's also the ''BigGood'' of the expansion at the same time, ''being'' Sheogorath.
* BoringButPractical: His specialty. His strategy for destroying the Shivering Isles is '[[ZergRush throw hordes of respawning mooks at it until it dies]]', and the sword he wields is an unenchanted claymore, just backed by his considerable SuperStrength. After all, it still works like an absolute charm, so why bother getting fancy?
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Despite ''The Shivering Isles'' ending with Jyggalag freed from the curse that forced him to become Sheogorath, he is not mentioned or referenced even once in ''Skyrim''. It's implied in some obscure texts and interviews that he doesn't have much of an interest in Nirn and is more active in Oblivion. Makes sense, given that Nirn itself is already ordered, but the rest of Oblivion is a chaotic mess.
* CombatPragmatist: Prince of logical deduction and order, but he is neither creative nor theatrical. Logically speaking, the most efficient way for him to wipe out a realm is to go through it with an army and big sword, just demolishing it piece-by-piece, thus, that is exactly how he goes about it. He still outsources some traitors from said realm to try their hands at schemes, but whether they succeed or fail he's still sticking to the tried and true method in the meantime.
* ControlFreak: He takes order very seriously, which is only natural, as he ''is'' Order. After the Champion of Cyrodiil separates him and Sheogorath, Jyggalag moves on to the rest of Oblivion, largely ignoring Nirn because the Aedra have made it much more ordered than the chaotic realms of Oblivion, which is a much more pressing issue for him to deal with.
* CreativeSterility: Sheogorath accuses him of "never having had an original thought in his existence". Ironically, as Sheogorath, he's actually able to come up with a plan that lets him break out of the endless cycle of destruction and rebirth.
* DivinePunishment: The victim of one. In the earliest days, the other Daedric Princes, fearing Jyggalag's growing power, came together and cursed into becoming Sheogorath.
* TheDreaded: ''All'' the Daedric Princes collaborated to seal him within Shegorath. It's usually considered a miracle for even two of them for to join forces.
* EarlyBirdCameo: The in-game book ''On Oblivion'' mentioned a Daedric Prince named Jyggalag as early as ''Daggerfall''.
* EnemyWithin: Formerly this to Sheogorath. Jyggalag spent his imprisonment as the last vestige of sanity in Sheogorath's broken psyche.
* EternalRecurrence: Crossed with ViciousCycle. At the end of every Era, he is able to return to his true form in an event known as the Greymarch. During this time, he retakes and destroys the Shivering Isles, only to return to the form of Sheogorath at the end. It isn't until the events of ''Shivering Isles'' that he is able to break it.
* EvilSoundsDeep: '''Very''' deep, complete with a sub-bass rumble underneath to add to his already imposing stature.
* FightingFromTheInside: Played very subtly but consistant. A lot of things about Sheogorath's behavior seem alarmingly calculated for someone who is supposed be the embodiment of insanity, from seaking out and indivdually betting against every other Daedric Prince, to nearly destroying Jyggalag's library but sparing the faithful librarian/living master-record, but most notably planning to train someone to represent him and break the cycle of his curse, but said champion could only end it in a battle with Jyggalag, and being defeated in specifically that state returns him to be reborn as his true self, upon reforming in Oblivion - meaning Sheogorath was not so much planning to stop Jyggalag permanently, as much as free him.
* FireForgedFriends: As an insane god and with the fact that he and the Champion of Cyrodil left on good terms, it's possible that they are allied now. Seeing as how Sheogorath sends the Dragonborn to ''cure'' insanity instead of cause it, it's not a baseless assumption.
* FisherKing: He longs to overthrow Sheogorath and reclaim the MadGod's plane, The Shivering Isles, as his own. Whenever he grows powerful enough to do so, life in the Isles begins to die off and crystal spires grow out of the ground, signalling the beginning of the Greymarch.
* GodOfOrder: Unlike all the other Daedric Princes, Jyggalag represents order, specifically associated with Logical Order and Deduction. He was such a ControlFreak the other Daedra were scared of him, leading to being cursed into an IronicHell in the form of Sheogorath.
* GodzillaThreshold: All of the other Daedric Princes combined their powers to prevent him from threatening them further. No small feat considering how openly hateful and hostile several of the Princes are toward each other.
* GracefulLoser: He treats the player rather politely upon defeat, especially since he is ''counting on'' the Champion of Cyrodiil defeating him so that they could both break the cycle of the Greymarch and the Champion could become Sheogorath.
* GroundhogDayLoop: He's only able to become his true self during the Greymarch, once in a thousand years during which he destroys the land his mad self made and then has to witness the mad half rebuilding it. It's also implied that Sheogorath's plan to have a mortal champion mantle him and defeat Jyggalag is something that has been repeated many times in the past to the same result, with the Champion of Cyrodiil being the first one to break the loop by actually beating Jyggalag.
* HijackingCthulhu: The other Daedric Princes, fearing his growing power, came together and trapped him in the form of Sheogorath.
* IronicHell: His existence as Sheogorath, the Prince of Madness, is essentially this. What would be a worse Hell to a being of ''order'' than complete madness? The two seem to have separated in ''Shivering Isles'', with a new person taking up Sheogorath's mantle.
* {{Irony}}:
** One of his spheres of influence is logic and deduction, but his main approach to retaking the Shivering Isles is often through brute force.
** Despite being cursed into become a prince of pure madness, in his regular form, he was a perfect fit for the ''obsessive-compulsive'' form of madness.
* TheJuggernaut: When the Greymarch comes, there's nothing to stop Jyggalag. He slowly marches through the Shivering Isles, destroying or converting everything he comes across.
-->'''Sheogorath''': The Greymarch comes, and Jyggalag walks. Or runs. Never skips, sidles, or struts. Mostly, he just destroys everything around him.
* KnightTemplar: It is his driving mission to put the universe in perfect order. The Daedra under him are even called "Knights of Order".
* LightIsNotGood: Despite his associations with order, light, and his shiny metal appearance, he is a destructive deity who stops at nothing in an attempt to put the universe into his idea of "perfect order".
* LiteralSplitPersonalities: At the end of ''Shivering Isles'', he is freed from Sheogorath and passes that mantle onto the Champion of Cyrodiil.
* MadGod: One implication of the obscure texts is that Jyggalag's extreme obsession with order is, itself, a form of insanity, and that Sheogorath is madness in the expression of manic uncertainty while Jyggalag is madness expressed in [[ObsessivelyOrganized extreme order and obsessive organization]].
* ObsessivelyOrganized: Jyggalag obsessively orders everything in his Realm and extends that to a desire to order all of the realms of Oblivion.
* OrderVersusChaos: He is the order to Sheogorath's chaos.
-->''"Of the Daedra, only the Gray Prince of Order knew his nature, and he went mad in the knowing."''
* OxymoronicBeing: Sotha Sil and his priests believe the source of Jyggalag's madness stems from the fact that, despite his all-consuming desire for order, Jyggalag's nature as a Daedra renders him an inherently chaotic creature, and his knowledge of this contradictory existence drove him insane.
* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: He was sealed by the other Daedric Princes in the form of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness.
* StrawVulcan: Jyggalag is essentially this trope incarnate. Interestingly, he stands in contrast to Julianos, another god of logic who also presides over ''contradiction'', which may well be what keeps the Divine from falling into the Jyggalag's monomania.
* ThatManIsDead: When he returns to his true form:
-->'''Sheogorath:''' With the Staff, there was hope. But now, hope is dead. ''I'' am dead. The Realm... '''AAAAARGH!!''' The Realm is dead! SHEOGORATH... IS ''DEAD!!''\\
'''Jyggalag:''' All shall crumble before... '''JYGGALAG!!'''
* TinTyrant: He and his Knights of Order appear to be clad head to toe in metallic armor.
* UnPerson: Though it wasn't intentional, this is effectively what happened to Jyggalag when they cursed him into his endless cycle with Sheogorath. The Greymarch cycle proved so effective at rendering Jyggalag irrelevant that virtually no one on Tamriel even knows what he is beyond passing mentions of his name.
* WorldsStrongestMan: If [[UnreliableNarrator his account]] of why he became Shegorath is true, then he may very well be the most powerful Daedra: The amount of beings in Oblivion who pose enough of a threat to get the ''Daedric Princes'', known for not getting along, to cooperate with each other can be counted on one hand.
[[/folder]]
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