History Sandbox / MonsterTheElderScrolls

* [[SatanicArchetype Alduin]] is the [[PlanetEater World-Eater]] and the firstborn of [[TopGod Akatosh]]. Responsible for the corruption of the Leaper King into the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon, Alduin ultimately decides to conquer Nirn instead of destroying it as he is meant to. Alduin erects a tyrannical reign among him and his dragon brethren, dividing up power among the Dragon Priests, human zealots who exercised wanton cruelty. After accidentally being cast forward into the fourth era by an Elder Scroll, Alduin, out of spite, decides to destroy Nirn before his allotted time, razing the town of Helgen and resurrecting other dragons to cause further havoc across Skyrim. After being defeated once by the Last Dragonborn, Alduin cowardly deserts the battle, fleeing into Sovngarde to [[SoulEating consume the souls of fallen warriors]] to empower himself. Deliberately forsaking his divine duty as Eater of Worlds to instead indulge in his own limitless megalomania, Alduin is ultimately little more than an arrogant, cowardly sadist of a god in the skin of a [[DarkIsEvil jet-black dragon]].

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Your mind is naked to me! I can taste your fear! You are fertile ground for the seeds of eternal torment]]!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"Your mind is naked to me! I can taste your fear! You are fertile ground for the seeds of eternal torment!"]]

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alduin_8.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"And the Scrolls have foretold, of black wings in the cold, That when brothers wage war come unfurled! Alduin, Bane of Kings, ancient shadow unbound, With a hunger to swallow the world!"]]

->''"Indiscriminate death. Set upon by the gnawing and the rabid. Cyrodiil's candle flickers and is snuffed. Servants and superiors — no one is spared the sharp tooth, ridged blade, or diseased hook, barb, or beak. And Molag Bal will watch from his palace in Coldharbour where everything stares back at him with his own face, and he will gloat, and mock, and gorge on the souls of mortals."''

* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'': [[TheHeavy Mankar Camoran]], the leader of the [[ApocalypseCult the Mythic Dawn]] and a worshipper of [[BigBad Mehrunes Dagon]], aims to summon his master into Tamriel so Dagon may destroy the world and create a new one in its place, one that coheres with Camoran's [[TheSocialDarwinist beliefs]]. Not only does Mankar assist Dagon's [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daedra]] in attacking the mortal world, he also orchestrates the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim, as well as his grown children. He even had the city of Kvatch completely destroyed in a failed attempt to kill Uriel's bastard son, Martin. While Mankar [[ManipulativeBastard lures in his followers]] with promises of a paradise for their faithful service, this turns out to be a lie. Seemingly idyllic on the surface, Mankar's "paradise" is really a hell where his followers are constantly killed by monsters, only to be resurrected and killed over and over again. His promise to allow any follower who loses faith to leave his paradise also proves false, as the grotto, which is said to be an exit from the afterlife, really leads to a torture chamber where the unfaithful are [[AndIMustScream made immortal, locked into gibbets, and then dumped into lava]]. One follower who lost faith was forced by Camoran into inflicting this punishment on his friends over and over again. Paradise is said to be Mankar's vision of how he believes the world will be once Dagon takes over.

* ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls The Infernal City]]'' [[Literature/TheElderScrolls &]] ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls Lord of Souls]]'':
** [[ItsAllAboutMe Vuhon]] was a Dunmer [[MadScientist scientist]] who invented the Ingenium to keep the floating meteorite known as the Ministry of Truth above Vivec City, [[HumanResources using the souls of living beings as fuel]]. Vuhon, possibly out of jealousy over having his affections spurned years ago, tried to use the wife of his rival Sul as fuel for the Ingenium, and [[NeverMyFault refused to own up]] to any of the subsequent destruction when the Ministry of Truth [[ColonyDrop fell]] during their confrontation. After torturing Sul for years when they were trapped in Oblivion, Vuhon made a deal with the Daedric entity [[EmpathicWeapon Umbra]] and [[FusionDance fused into]] "Lord Umbriel". As they lord over the namesake city of Umbriel, countless [[YourSoulIsMine souls]] are burned to fuel the Ingenium that lets the city fly, and countless more of his own citizens as doomed to live as "skraws", spending their short, agonized lives as slaves tending to the city's sump. Vuhon destroys the city of Lilmoth upon being summoned into Tamriel and has his undead armies raze their way across the country, nearly destroying the Imperial City as well. Ultimately concerned only with his own ego, and slaying even his own devout servants while treating them and the city as an extension of himself, Vuhon believes the thousands of lives spent to power Umbriel are worth it to emancipate himself from Oblivion and rule Umbriel forever.
** [[EvilWeapon Umbra]] himself is a malevolent entity formed from the essence of Clavicus Vile. Upon his creation, Umbra immediately attempts to butcher Vile but ends up imprisoned. Wanting to escape, Umbra makes a deal with Vuhon to provide him the means of escape, resulting in Umbra powering the Ingenium and allowing him to siphon souls from innocents [[ImmortalityImmorality to bolster his power]]. Travelling throughout Tamriel, Umbra would have countless souls harvested, treating the destruction of entire cities as a mere obstacle, purely to boost his own power to escape his torment he had brought upon himself.
** [[AmbitionIsEvil Minister Hierem]] is a backstabbing, influential noble in the Imperial Empire and the second-most powerful man in the nation. Seeking even more power, Hierem attempts to overthrow the Emperor and kill any and all rivals, trying to have Prince Attrebus Mede assassinated alongside over fifty of his own men and later torturing Attrebus with MindRape, a violation severe enough to leave Attrebus near broken despair. Hierem orchestrates Umbriel's passage into Tamriel by ensuring the city comes through and destroys Lilmoth, actively undermining efforts to stop its path of slaughter while intending to [[TheStarscream betray Vuhon]] and [[GodhoodSeeker become a god]] by siphoning off all the souls Vuhon has collected for himself.
* "[[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks The Horror of Castle Xyr]]" InGameNovel ([[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr link]]): [[AristocratsAreEvil Sedura Iachilla Xyr]], wife of the preeminent lord of Castle Xyr and seemingly TheGhost at first, turns out to be a TortureTechnician with a scientific interest in Destruction magic. In correspondence with a fellow necromancer, Iachilla purchases innocent slaves and magically [[CruelAndUnusualDeath tortures them to death in every way imaginable]]. Castle Xyr's cellar is bloated with victims melted, frozen, electrocuted, torn apart and sewn back together, and among her victims is her own maid Anara whom Iachilla slowly poisoned to death so [[KillAndReplace she could impersonate her]].

[[folder: Franchise-Wide]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'': [[TheHeavy Mankar Camoran]], the leader of the [[ApocalypseCult the Mythic Dawn]] and a worshipper of [[BigBad Mehrunes Dagon]], aims to summon his master into Tamriel so Dagon may destroy the world and create a new one in its place, one that coheres with Camoran's [[TheSocialDarwinist beliefs]]. Not only does Mankar assist Dagon's [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daedra]] in attacking the mortal world, he also orchestrates the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim, as well as his grown children. He even had the city of Kvatch completely destroyed in a failed attempt to kill Uriel's bastard son, Martin. While Mankar [[ManipulativeBastard lures in his followers]] with promises of a paradise for their faithful service, this turns out to be a lie. Seemingly idyllic on the surface, Mankar's "paradise" is really a hell where his followers are constantly killed by monsters, only to be resurrected and killed over and over again. His promise to allow any follower who loses faith to leave his paradise also proves false, as the grotto, which is said to be an exit from the afterlife, really leads to a torture chamber where the unfaithful are [[AndIMustScream made immortal, locked into gibbets, and then dumped into lava]]. One follower who lost faith was forced by Camoran into inflicting this punishment on his friends over and over again. Paradise is said to be Mankar's vision of how he believes the world will be once Dagon takes over.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
** [[SatanicArchetype Alduin]] is the [[PlanetEater World-Eater]] and the firstborn of [[TopGod Akatosh]]. Responsible for the corruption of the Leaper King into the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon, Alduin ultimately decides to conquer Nirn instead of destroying it as he is meant to. Alduin erects a tyrannical reign among him and his dragon brethren, dividing up power among the Dragon Priests, human zealots who exercised wanton cruelty. After accidentally being cast forward into the fourth era by an Elder Scroll, Alduin, out of spite, decides to destroy Nirn before his allotted time, razing the town of Helgen and resurrecting other dragons to cause further havoc across Skyrim. After being defeated once by the Last Dragonborn, Alduin cowardly deserts the battle, fleeing into Sovngarde to [[SoulEating consume the souls of fallen warriors]] to empower himself. Deliberately forsaking his divine duty as Eater of Worlds to instead indulge in his own limitless megalomania, Alduin is ultimately little more than an arrogant, cowardly sadist of a god in the skin of a [[DarkIsEvil jet-black dragon]].
** "Evil in Waiting": [[TortureTechnician Hevnoraak]] is a Dragon Priest who obsessively sought immortality through {{lich}}dom. Hevnoraak amassed an army by [[CompellingVoice mentally dominating his followers]] and placing his will upon their own, permanently twisting their minds into evil. Hevnoraak subjected his servants to torture and humiliation for his own amusement, with countless victims still littering the tomb of Valthume. Hevnoraak had a special fascination with feeding many of them to his pet GiantSpiders in the process, with a fondness for paralyzing them to be EatenAlive.
** "Toying With The Dead": [[ILoveTheDead Arondil]] is a reclusive Altmer hiding in Yngvild who was chased out of Dawnstar for his lustful behavior and his unspeakable necromancy. Finding his mind constantly chasing back to the subject of the milkmaids he used to [[StalkerWithACrush pursue]], Arondil uses his magic to resurrect Yngvild's buried women as his enslaved draugr harem to satisfy his wants. Arondil eventually graduates to murdering one of the old milkmaids he used to lust after, resurrecting her spirit as his [[SexSlave servile slave]] and repeating the process with many more innocent women from Dawnstar, keeping their souls enslaved to his every whim and pleasure.
** "Rannveig's Fast": [[{{Sadist}} Sild the Warlock]] is a sadistic mage defined by his [[TortureTechnician love of torture]]. Hiding out in the ruins of Rannveig's Fast, Sild lures adventurers into his clutches with tales of treasure within the crypt, before dumping them down a long pit into his clutches, whereupon Sild proceeds to torture them to death. Not content with merely killing them, Sild enslaves the souls of his victims and forces them to kill anyone who stumbles upon the ruins, [[AndIMustScream leaving them conscious and begging for forgiveness as they do so]]. Dissatisfied with the number of people who simply die from the fall, Sild is always experimenting with new ways to torture his victims to death, with a passion eclipsing most other {{evil sorcerer}}s in Skyrim, even casually murdering his own assistant [[ForTheEvulz for a chuckle]].
** ''Dawnguard'' {{DLC}}: Lord Harkon is the VampireMonarch ruling over Clan Volkihar, and the [[ArchnemesisDad father]] of Serana. Harkon is a pure-blooded vampire, a distinction he gained through a zealous devotion to Molag Bal, which included [[AbusiveParents turning over his own daughter to be violated by the Daedric Prince]] in a ritual to make her a vampire. Harkon even thinks nothing later of [[OffingTheOffspring sacrificing Serana's life]] to fulfill a dark prophecy to [[TheNightThatNeverEnds blot out Nirn's sun]], allowing vampirekind to overwhelm the mortal races. His arrogant lunacy turning away even his wife, who takes Serana far away from Harkon's clutches, Harkon satiates himself for centuries afterward feeding on the blood of innocents as he works to fulfill the prophecy, allowing his vampires to feed on a menagerie of suffering, still-living slaves and even ordering the culling of other "lesser" vampires should the Dragonborn elect to join him.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Online]]'':
** The deceitful, silver-tongued [[FantasticRacism High Kinlady Estre]] is secretly [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Veiled Queen]], the leader of an Altmeri terrorist group, the Veiled Heritance, intending to assassinate Estre's sister-in-law and expand Estre's xenophobic rule across Tamriel. Estre orders villages massacred, corrupts the souls of her own ancestors, tries to goad a promising recruit into killing a captured innocent Bosmer, and uses the Maormer to wreak swathes of bloody havoc, promising them a place in her ideal Tamriel while secretly planning for their extermination or exile. Estre even deals with [[OmnicidalManiac Mehrunes Dagon]], having the Daedra kill hundreds of innocent people merely as a diversion to her true plan to arrive at Firsthold and have her Daedra burn the entire city to the ground in revenge for being exposed.
** Ruuvitar, who leads the Dominion forces in Shadowfen, engages in [[FaceStealer skin-stealing]], deals with Daedra, and [[PlayingWithSyringes cruelly experiments]] on Argonian prisoners to learn how a [[ArtifactOfDoom powerful artifact]] can be used to sever the Argonians' connection to the Hist. With the artifact, he attacks the Hatching Pools, where Argonian young are born. As the babies require the Hist to hatch, Ruuvitar's experiment causes [[WouldHurtAChild the hatchlings to die en masse in their shells]], bursting apart in bloody chunks. As if that were not enough of an atrocity, Ruuvitar plans to do the same thing to all future generations of Argonians, [[FinalSolution dooming their entire race to extinction]]. While the game has numerous quests in which the player character must fend off villainous schemes by one of the other alliances, Ruuvitar stands out for literally murdering babies onscreen, and for having the only plot that is explicitly and unrepentantly genocidal in nature.
** [[MadArtist Dutheil]], the "Mad Architect" of Oblivion, was a Breton architect in life who turned to the Daedra after his career was ruined by his rival Gasteau. Dutheil [[DisproportionateRetribution goes above and beyond]] in exacting his revenge; to trap Gasteau and his friends, the Mad Architect designs a prison known as the Vaults of Madness made purely for the purpose of torturing their souls. With whatever sympathies he had as a mortal man long gone, [[TortureTechnician Dutheil]] now constructs horrific devices of torture for multiple Daedric Princes, from Molag Bal to Mephala, and fills the Vaults of Madness with countless souls who never had anything to do with his grudge. Dutheil even lends his services to Nerien'eth, a fellow psychotic {{necromancer}} with a fancy for torturing souls; Dutheil considers him [[EvilerThanThou utterly insignificant]] except in terms of his sadism.
** [[EvilOverlord "Emperor" Tarish-Zi]], of the Empire of Yokuda, is known foremost for being the one behind the various atrocities of the Anka-Ra, including genocide and the destruction of culture. Tarish-Zi rode his armies into Hammerfell and began a [[RapePillageAndBurn bloody sweep]] across the land, exterminating entire peoples and leaving civilizations as nothing but "blood and bones". The depredations Tarish-Zi visited upon his conquered cities were so extreme that one of them, Shada's Tear, voluntarily sold themselves into the service of the Nereids and a FateWorseThanDeath rather than let the Anka-Ra into their city. Tarish-Zi even broke his own traditions and turned his armies against his own allies when he was unsatisfied with the power he had, trying to engulf Cyrodiil in a massive war that was only stopped by the treachery of one of his own retainers. Even then, as an [[GhastlyGhost undead ghost]], Tarish-Zi again tries to raise an army to invade and subjugate one of the cities he ruled in life.
** "Death and Dreaming" & "The Remnant of Argon": [[TortureTechnician Myndhal]] is a Barsaebic Ayleid with an obsession over exploiting the Argonian culture. Long ago Myndhal went on a [[YourSoulIsMine soul-harvesting]] spree against the Root-Whisper Tribe, taking the souls of many innocent Argonians. In this butchery Myndhal learned of the powerful Remnant of Argon and the power it could give him. To figure out its secrets, Myndhal voluntarily became undead so he could spend the subsequent centuries torturing as many Argonians to death as he could. By the time the PC stops him, the remains of countless victims speckle the dungeon he's found in.
** "Cold-Blooded Revenge" & "The Tree-Minder's Fate": [[{{Sadist}} Maldur]] is the head of Camp Merciful Reduction, who on behalf of the Altmeri Dominion has been draining the sap from Hist trees for his own corrupt research. When one of these Argonian villages refused to let him exploit their Hist tree, Maldur massacred nearly the entire settlement, even the hatchlings, and plundered their tree anyway. Maldur leaves the souls of these Argonians cut off from the Hist and [[AndIMustScream condemned to horrible agony]], [[BarredFromTheAfterlife unable to truly pass on]].
** "Plans of Pestilence": [[MadScientist Plague Concocter Nathien Mortieu]], a [[PsychoSupporter fervent dedicant]] of the Daedric Prince [[{{Plaguemaster}} Peryite]], took Scalecaller Peak as his base of operations and exposed the otherwise-peaceful monsters to his agonizing diseases, driving them to kill everything that ventured onto the mountain, including some of his own cultists. Mortieu accidentally unearthed a Dragon Priest named Zaan the Scalecaller and worked with her endorsement to unleash a [[SyntheticPlague plague of his making]] upon all of Tamriel and possibly beyond in an effort to "[[DepopulationBomb bury the world in corpses]]", eagerly planning to use a nearby village as his first testing pool. Though working in conjunction with Zaan, Mortieu scoffs at the Dragon Priest's lingering dedication for her former dragon master.
** ''Greymoor'' ExpansionPack: [[AmbitionIsEvil High King Svargrim]], ruler of Skyrim, turns out to be in league with the terrifying Grey Host. Playing the part of a grieving husband after his wife is murdered by the Grey Host, Svargrim in fact [[TilMurderDoUsPart arranged for her murder]] and has no qualms trying to [[OffingTheOffspring slay his horrified daughter]] after. [[ImmortalityImmorality For the prospect of immortality]], Svargrim has sold out his entire country and his people to become chattel for the Grey Host, and personally attempts to wipe out thousands of innocent lives by bringing down a harrowstorm upon his own hold, Solitude.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends Legends]]''' ''Return to Clockwork City'': [[MadScientist Mecinar]] was once one of the Clockwork Apostles of the "tinkerer god" Sotha Sil, and his [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious intellect]] brought him to intellectual depths that horrified even Sotha. Mecinar [[PlayingWithSyringes turned many unwilling innocents into abominations]], fused by steel and flesh, causing Sotha to exile Mecinar. Biding his time until after Sotha had died, Mecinar [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] a wandering party into letting him regain access to the Clockwork City, before seizing the New Heart of Lorkhan that powered the city to make himself into a god. Mecinar attempts to reduce the entire population of the Clockwork City into mindless grotesqueries to serve him forevermore, and resurrects one of the hero's fallen companions to force them to fight their former friend out of nothing but spite and [[ForScience dark scientific curiosity]].

[[folder: Literature]]
* ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls The Infernal City]]'' [[Literature/TheElderScrolls &]] ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls Lord of Souls]]'':
** [[ItsAllAboutMe Vuhon]] was a Dunmer [[MadScientist scientist]] who invented the Ingenium to keep the floating meteorite known as the Ministry of Truth above Vivec City, [[HumanResources using the souls of living beings as fuel]]. Vuhon, possibly out of jealousy over having his affections spurned years ago, tried to use the wife of his rival Sul as fuel for the Ingenium, and [[NeverMyFault refused to own up]] to any of the subsequent destruction when the Ministry of Truth [[ColonyDrop fell]] during their confrontation. After torturing Sul for years when they were trapped in Oblivion, Vuhon made a deal with the Daedric entity [[EmpathicWeapon Umbra]] and [[FusionDance fused into]] "Lord Umbriel". As they lord over the namesake city of Umbriel, countless [[YourSoulIsMine souls]] are burned to fuel the Ingenium that lets the city fly, and countless more of his own citizens as doomed to live as "skraws", spending their short, agonized lives as slaves tending to the city's sump. Vuhon destroys the city of Lilmoth upon being summoned into Tamriel and has his undead armies raze their way across the country, nearly destroying the Imperial City as well. Ultimately concerned only with his own ego, and slaying even his own devout servants while treating them and the city as an extension of himself, Vuhon believes the thousands of lives spent to power Umbriel are worth it to emancipate himself from Oblivion and rule Umbriel forever.
** [[EvilWeapon Umbra]] himself is a malevolent entity formed from the essence of Clavicus Vile. Upon his creation, Umbra immediately attempts to butcher Vile but ends up imprisoned. Wanting to escape, Umbra makes a deal with Vuhon to provide him the means of escape, resulting in Umbra powering the Ingenium and allowing him to siphon souls from innocents [[ImmortalityImmorality to bolster his power]]. Travelling throughout Tamriel, Umbra would have countless souls harvested, treating the destruction of entire cities as a mere obstacle, purely to boost his own power to escape his torment he had brought upon himself.
** [[AmbitionIsEvil Minister Hierem]] is a backstabbing, influential noble in the Imperial Empire and the second-most powerful man in the nation. Seeking even more power, Hierem attempts to overthrow the Emperor and kill any and all rivals, trying to have Prince Attrebus Mede assassinated alongside over fifty of his own men and later torturing Attrebus with MindRape, a violation severe enough to leave Attrebus near broken despair. Hierem orchestrates Umbriel's passage into Tamriel by ensuring the city comes through and destroys Lilmoth, actively undermining efforts to stop its path of slaughter while intending to [[TheStarscream betray Vuhon]] and [[GodhoodSeeker become a god]] by siphoning off all the souls Vuhon has collected for himself.
* "[[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks The Horror of Castle Xyr]]" InGameNovel ([[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr link]]): [[AristocratsAreEvil Sedura Iachilla Xyr]], wife of the preeminent lord of Castle Xyr and seemingly TheGhost at first, turns out to be a TortureTechnician with a scientific interest in Destruction magic. In correspondence with a fellow necromancer, Iachilla purchases innocent slaves and magically [[CruelAndUnusualDeath tortures them to death in every way imaginable]]. Castle Xyr's cellar is bloated with victims melted, frozen, electrocuted, torn apart and sewn back together, and among her victims is her own maid Anara whom Iachilla slowly poisoned to death so [[KillAndReplace she could impersonate her]].

%% NOTE: Due to the controversial nature of this trope, any changes (additions, removals, edits) should be discussed here or here.

* "[[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks The Horror of Castle Xyr]]" InGameNovel ([[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr link]]): [[AristocratsAreEvil Sedura Iachilla Xyr]], wife of the preeminent lord of Castle Xyr and seemingly TheGhost at first, turns out to be a TortureTechnician with a scientific interest in Destruction magic. In correspondence with a fellow necromancer, Iachilla purchases innocent slaves and magically [[CruelAndUnusualDeath tortures them to death in every way imaginable]]. Castle Xyr's cellar is bloated with victims melted, frozen, electrocuted, torn apart and sewn back together, and among her victims is her own maid Anaram whom Iachilla slowly poisoned to death so [[KillAndReplace she could impersonate her]].

[[AC:Franchise-Wide]]
[[folder:Examples]]

[[AC:Video Games]]
[[folder:Examples]]
[[AC:''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'']]
* [[TheHeavy Mankar Camoran]], the leader of the [[ApocalypseCult the Mythic Dawn]] and a worshipper of [[BigBad Mehrunes Dagon]], aims to summon his master into Tamriel so Dagon may destroy the world and create a new one in its place, one that coheres with Camoran's [[TheSocialDarwinist beliefs]]. Not only does Mankar assist Dagon's [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daedra]] in attacking the mortal world, he also orchestrates the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim, as well as his grown children. He even had the city of Kvatch completely destroyed in a failed attempt to kill Uriel's bastard son, Martin. While Mankar [[ManipulativeBastard lures in his followers]] with promises of a paradise for their faithful service, this turns out to be a lie. Seemingly idyllic on the surface, Mankar's "paradise" is really a hell where his followers are constantly killed by monsters, only to be resurrected and killed over and over again. His promise to allow any follower who loses faith to leave his paradise also proves false, as the grotto, which is said to be an exit from the afterlife, really leads to a torture chamber where the unfaithful are [[AndIMustScream made immortal, locked into gibbets, and then dumped into lava]]. One follower who lost faith was forced by Camoran into inflicting this punishment on his friends over and over again. Paradise is said to be Mankar's vision of how he believes the world will be once Dagon takes over.

[[AC:''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'']]
* [[SatanicArchetype Alduin]] is the [[PlanetEater World-Eater]] and the firstborn of [[TopGod Akatosh]]. Responsible for the corruption of the Leaper King into the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon, Alduin ultimately decides to conquer Nirn instead of destroying it as he is meant to. Alduin erects a tyrannical reign among him and his dragon brethren, dividing up power among the Dragon Priests, human zealots who exercised wanton cruelty. After accidentally being cast forward into the fourth era by an Elder Scroll, Alduin, out of spite, decides to destroy Nirn before his allotted time, razing the town of Helgen and resurrecting other dragons to cause further havoc across Skyrim. After being defeated once by the Last Dragonborn, Alduin cowardly deserts the battle, fleeing into Sovngarde to [[SoulEating consume the souls of fallen warriors]] to empower himself. Deliberately forsaking his divine duty as Eater of Worlds to instead indulge in his own limitless megalomania, Alduin is ultimately little more than an arrogant, cowardly sadist of a god in the skin of a [[DarkIsEvil jet-black dragon]].
* "Evil in Waiting": [[TortureTechnician Hevnoraak]] is a Dragon Priest who obsessively sought immortality through {{lich}}dom. Hevnoraak amassed an army by [[CompellingVoice mentally dominating his followers]] and placing his will upon their own, permanently twisting their minds into evil. Hevnoraak subjected his servants to torture and humiliation for his own amusement, with countless victims still littering the tomb of Valthume. Hevnoraak had a special fascination with feeding many of them to his pet GiantSpiders in the process, with a fondness for paralyzing them to be EatenAlive.
* "Toying With The Dead": [[ILoveTheDead Arondil]] is a reclusive Altmer hiding in Yngvild who was chased out of Dawnstar for his lustful behavior and his unspeakable necromancy. Finding his mind constantly chasing back to the subject of the milkmaids he used to [[StalkerWithACrush pursue]], Arondil uses his magic to resurrect Yngvild's buried women as his enslaved draugr harem to satisfy his wants. Arondil eventually graduates to murdering one of the old milkmaids he used to lust after, resurrecting her spirit as his [[SexSlave servile slave]] and repeating the process with many more innocent women from Dawnstar, keeping their souls enslaved to his every whim and pleasure.
* "Rannveig's Fast": [[{{Sadist}} Sild the Warlock]] is a sadistic mage defined by his [[TortureTechnician love of torture]]. Hiding out in the ruins of Rannveig's Fast, Sild lures adventurers into his clutches with tales of treasure within the crypt, before dumping them down a long pit into his clutches, whereupon Sild proceeds to torture them to death. Not content with merely killing them, Sild enslaves the souls of his victims and forces them to kill anyone who stumbles upon the ruins, [[AndIMustScream leaving them conscious and begging for forgiveness as they do so]]. Dissatisfied with the number of people who simply die from the fall, Sild is always experimenting with new ways to torture his victims to death, with a passion eclipsing most other {{evil sorcerer}}s in Skyrim, even casually murdering his own assistant [[ForTheEvulz for a chuckle]].
* ''Dawnguard'' {{DLC}}: Lord Harkon is the VampireMonarch ruling over Clan Volkihar, and the [[ArchnemesisDad father]] of Serana. Harkon is a pure-blooded vampire, a distinction he gained through a zealous devotion to Molag Bal, which included [[AbusiveParents turning over his own daughter to be violated by the Daedric Prince]] in a ritual to make her a vampire. Harkon even thinks nothing later of [[OffingTheOffspring sacrificing Serana's life]] to fulfill a dark prophecy to [[TheNightThatNeverEnds blot out Nirn's sun]], allowing vampirekind to overwhelm the mortal races. His arrogant lunacy turning away even his wife, who takes Serana far away from Harkon's clutches, Harkon satiates himself for centuries afterward feeding on the blood of innocents as he works to fulfill the prophecy, allowing his vampires to feed on a menagerie of suffering, still-living slaves and even ordering the culling of other "lesser" vampires should the Dragonborn elect to join him.

[[AC:''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Online]]'']]
[[folder:Examples]]
* The deceitful, silver-tongued [[FantasticRacism High Kinlady Estre]] is secretly [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Veiled Queen]], the leader of an Altmeri terrorist group, the Veiled Heritance, intending to assassinate Estre's sister-in-law and expand Estre's xenophobic rule across Tamriel. Estre orders villages massacred, corrupts the souls of her own ancestors, tries to goad a promising recruit into killing a captured innocent Bosmer, and uses the Maormer to wreak swathes of bloody havoc, promising them a place in her ideal Tamriel while secretly planning for their extermination or exile. Estre even deals with [[OmnicidalManiac Mehrunes Dagon]], having the Daedra kill hundreds of innocent people merely as a diversion to her true plan to arrive at Firsthold and have her Daedra burn the entire city to the ground in revenge for being exposed.
* Ruuvitar, who leads the Dominion forces in Shadowfen, engages in [[FaceStealer skin-stealing]], deals with Daedra, and [[PlayingWithSyringes cruelly experiments]] on Argonian prisoners to learn how a [[ArtifactOfDoom powerful artifact]] can be used to sever the Argonians' connection to the Hist. With the artifact, he attacks the Hatching Pools, where Argonian young are born. As the babies require the Hist to hatch, Ruuvitar's experiment causes [[WouldHurtAChild the hatchlings to die en masse in their shells]], bursting apart in bloody chunks. As if that were not enough of an atrocity, Ruuvitar plans to do the same thing to all future generations of Argonians, [[FinalSolution dooming their entire race to extinction]]. While the game has numerous quests in which the player character must fend off villainous schemes by one of the other alliances, Ruuvitar stands out for literally murdering babies onscreen, and for having the only plot that is explicitly and unrepentantly genocidal in nature.
* [[MadArtist Dutheil]], the "Mad Architect" of Oblivion, was a Breton architect in life who turned to the Daedra after his career was ruined by his rival Gasteau. Dutheil [[DisproportionateRetribution goes above and beyond]] in exacting his revenge; to trap Gasteau and his friends, the Mad Architect designs a prison known as the Vaults of Madness made purely for the purpose of torturing their souls. With whatever sympathies he had as a mortal man long gone, [[TortureTechnician Dutheil]] now constructs horrific devices of torture for multiple Daedric Princes, from Molag Bal to Mephala, and fills the Vaults of Madness with countless souls who never had anything to do with his grudge. Dutheil even lends his services to Nerien'eth, a fellow psychotic {{necromancer}} with a fancy for torturing souls; Dutheil considers him [[EvilerThanThou utterly insignificant]] except in terms of his sadism.
* [[EvilOverlord "Emperor" Tarish-Zi]], of the Empire of Yokuda, is known foremost for being the one behind the various atrocities of the Anka-Ra, including genocide and the destruction of culture. Tarish-Zi rode his armies into Hammerfell and began a [[RapePillageAndBurn bloody sweep]] across the land, exterminating entire peoples and leaving civilizations as nothing but "blood and bones". The depredations Tarish-Zi visited upon his conquered cities were so extreme that one of them, Shada's Tear, voluntarily sold themselves into the service of the Nereids and a FateWorseThanDeath rather than let the Anka-Ra into their city. Tarish-Zi even broke his own traditions and turned his armies against his own allies when he was unsatisfied with the power he had, trying to engulf Cyrodiil in a massive war that was only stopped by the treachery of one of his own retainers. Even then, as an [[GhastlyGhost undead ghost]], Tarish-Zi again tries to raise an army to invade and subjugate one of the cities he ruled in life.
* "Death and Dreaming" & "The Remnant of Argon": [[TortureTechnician Myndhal]] is a Barsaebic Ayleid with an obsession over exploiting the Argonian culture. Long ago Myndhal went on a [[YourSoulIsMine soul-harvesting]] spree against the Root-Whisper Tribe, taking the souls of many innocent Argonians. In this butchery Myndhal learned of the powerful Remnant of Argon and the power it could give him. To figure out its secrets, Myndhal voluntarily became undead so he could spend the subsequent centuries torturing as many Argonians to death as he could. By the time the PC stops him, the remains of countless victims speckle the dungeon he's found in.
* "Cold-Blooded Revenge" & "The Tree-Minder's Fate": [[{{Sadist}} Maldur]] is the head of Camp Merciful Reduction, who on behalf of the Altmeri Dominion has been draining the sap from Hist trees for his own corrupt research. When one of these Argonian villages refused to let him exploit their Hist tree, Maldur massacred nearly the entire settlement, even the hatchlings, and plundered their tree anyway. Maldur leaves the souls of these Argonians cut off from the Hist and [[AndIMustScream condemned to horrible agony]], [[BarredFromTheAfterlife unable to truly pass on]].
* "Plans of Pestilence": [[MadScientist Plague Concocter Nathien Mortieu]], a [[PsychoSupporter fervent dedicant]] of the Daedric Prince [[{{Plaguemaster}} Peryite]], took Scalecaller Peak as his base of operations and exposed the otherwise-peaceful monsters to his agonizing diseases, driving them to kill everything that ventured onto the mountain, including some of his own cultists. Mortieu accidentally unearthed a Dragon Priest named Zaan the Scalecaller and worked with her endorsement to unleash a [[SyntheticPlague plague of his making]] upon all of Tamriel and possibly beyond in an effort to "[[DepopulationBomb bury the world in corpses]]", eagerly planning to use a nearby village as his first testing pool. Though working in conjunction with Zaan, Mortieu scoffs at the Dragon Priest's lingering dedication for her former dragon master.
* ''Greymoor'' ExpansionPack: [[AmbitionIsEvil High King Svargrim]], ruler of Skyrim, turns out to be in league with the terrifying Grey Host. Playing the part of a grieving husband after his wife is murdered by the Grey Host, Svargrim in fact [[TilMurderDoUsPart arranged for her murder]] and has no qualms trying to [[OffingTheOffspring slay his horrified daughter]] after. [[ImmortalityImmorality For the prospect of immortality]], Svargrim has sold out his entire country and his people to become chattel for the Grey Host, and personally attempts to wipe out thousands of innocent lives by bringing down a harrowstorm upon his own hold, Solitude.

[[AC:''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends Legends]]'']]
* ''Return to Clockwork City'': [[MadScientist Mecinar]] was once one of the Clockwork Apostles of the "tinkerer god" Sotha Sil, and his [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious intellect]] brought him to intellectual depths that horrified even Sotha. Mecinar [[PlayingWithSyringes turned many unwilling innocents into abominations]], fused by steel and flesh, causing Sotha to exile Mecinar. Biding his time until after Sotha had died, Mecinar [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] a wandering party into letting him regain access to the Clockwork City, before seizing the New Heart of Lorkhan that powered the city to make himself into a god. Mecinar attempts to reduce the entire population of the Clockwork City into mindless grotesqueries to serve him forevermore, and resurrects one of the hero's fallen companions to force them to fight their former friend out of nothing but spite and [[ForScience dark scientific curiosity]].

[[AC:Literature]]
[[folder:Examples]]

* "[[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks The Horror of Castle Xyr]]" InGameNovel ([[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr link]]): [[AristocratsAreEvil Sedura Iachilla Xyr]], wife of the preeminent lord of Castle Xyr and seemingly TheGhost at first, turns out to be a TortureTechnician with a scientific interest in Destruction magic. In correspondence with a fellow necromancer, Iachilla purchases innocent slaves and magically [[CruelAndUnusualDeath tortures them to death in every way imaginable]]. Castle Xyr's cellar is bloated with victims melted, frozen, electrocuted, torn apart and sewn back together, and among her victims is her own maid Anara whom Iachilla slowly poisoned to death so [[KillAndReplace she could impersonate her]].

!!Franchise-Wide

!!Video Games

[[folder:Examples]]

[[/folder]]

[[AC:''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends Legends]]'']]
* ''Return to Clockwork City'': [[MadScientist Mecinar]] was once one of the Clockwork Apostles of the "tinkerer god" Sotha Sil, and his [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious intellect]] brought him to intellectual depths that horrified even Sotha. Mecinar [[PlayingWithSyringes turned many unwilling innocents into abominations]], fused by steel and flesh, causing Sotha to exile Mecinar. Biding his time until after Sotha had died, Mecinar [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] a wandering party into letting him regain access to the Clockwork City, before seizing the New Heart of Lorkhan that powered the city to make himself into a god. Mecinar attempts to reduce the entire population of the Clockwork City into mindless grotesqueries to serve him forevermore, and resurrects one of the hero's fallen companions to force them to fight their former friend out of nothing but spite and [[ForScience dark scientific curiosity]].

!!Literature

* "[[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks The Horror at Castle Xyr]]" InGameNovel ([[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr link]]): [[AristocratsAreEvil Sedura Iachilla Xyr]], wife of the preeminent lord of Castle Xyr and seemingly TheGhost at first, turns out to be a TortureTechnician with a scientific interest in Destruction magic. In correspondence with a fellow necromancer, Iachilla purchases innocent slaves and magically [[CruelAndUnusualDeath tortures them to death in every way imaginable]]. Castle Xyr's cellar is bloated with victims melted, frozen, electrocuted, torn apart and sewn back together, and among her victims is her own maid Anaram whom Iachilla slowly poisoned to death so [[KillAndReplace she could impersonate her]].

[[folder:Franchise-Wide]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'': [[TheHeavy Mankar Camoran]], the leader of the [[ApocalypseCult the Mythic Dawn]] and a worshipper of [[BigBad Mehrunes Dagon]], aims to summon his master into Tamriel so Dagon may destroy the world and create a new one in its place, one that coheres with Camoran's [[TheSocialDarwinist beliefs]]. Not only does Mankar assist Dagon's [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daedra]] in attacking the mortal world, he also orchestrates the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim, as well as his grown children. He even had the city of Kvatch completely destroyed in a failed attempt to kill Uriel's bastard son, Martin. While Mankar [[ManipulativeBastard lures in his followers]] with promises of a paradise for their faithful service, this turns out to be a lie. Seemingly idyllic on the surface, Mankar's "paradise" is really a hell where his followers are constantly killed by monsters, only to be resurrected and killed over and over again. His promise to allow any follower who loses faith to leave his paradise also proves false, as the grotto, which is said to be an exit from the afterlife, really leads to a torture chamber where the unfaithful are [[AndIMustScream made immortal, locked into gibbets, and then dumped into lava]]. One follower who lost faith was forced by Camoran into inflicting this punishment on his friends over and over again. Paradise is said to be Mankar's vision of how he believes the world will be once Dagon takes over.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
** [[SatanicArchetype Alduin]] is the [[PlanetEater World-Eater]] and the firstborn of [[TopGod Akatosh]]. Responsible for the corruption of the Leaper King into the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon, Alduin ultimately decides to conquer Nirn instead of destroying it as he is meant to. Alduin erects a tyrannical reign among him and his dragon brethren, dividing up power among the Dragon Priests, human zealots who exercised wanton cruelty. After accidentally being cast forward into the fourth era by an Elder Scroll, Alduin, out of spite, decides to destroy Nirn before his allotted time, razing the town of Helgen and resurrecting other dragons to cause further havoc across Skyrim. After being defeated once by the Last Dragonborn, Alduin cowardly deserts the battle, fleeing into Sovngarde to [[SoulEating consume the souls of fallen warriors]] to empower himself. Deliberately forsaking his divine duty as Eater of Worlds to instead indulge in his own limitless megalomania, Alduin is ultimately little more than an arrogant, cowardly sadist of a god in the skin of a [[DarkIsEvil jet-black dragon]].
** [[TortureTechnician Hevnoraak]] is a Dragon Priest who obsessively sought immortality through {{lich}}dom. Hevnoraak amassed an army by [[CompellingVoice mentally dominating his followers]] and placing his will upon their own, permanently twisting their minds into evil. Hevnoraak subjected his servants to torture and humiliation for his own amusement, with countless victims still littering the tomb of Valthume. Hevnoraak had a special fascination with feeding many of them to his pet GiantSpiders in the process, with a fondness for paralyzing them to be EatenAlive.
** [[ILoveTheDead Arondil]] is a reclusive Altmer hiding in Yngvild who was chased out of Dawnstar for his lustful behavior and his unspeakable necromancy. Finding his mind constantly chasing back to the subject of the milkmaids he used to [[StalkerWithACrush pursue]], Arondil uses his magic to resurrect Yngvild's buried women as his enslaved draugr harem to satisfy his wants. Arondil eventually graduates to murdering one of the old milkmaids he used to lust after, resurrecting her spirit as his [[SexSlave servile slave]] and repeating the process with many more innocent women from Dawnstar, keeping their souls enslaved to his every whim and pleasure.
** [[{{Sadist}} Sild the Warlock]] is a sadistic mage defined by his [[TortureTechnician love of torture]]. Hiding out in the ruins of Rannveig's Fast, Sild lures adventurers into his clutches with tales of treasure within the crypt, before dumping them down a long pit into his clutches, whereupon Sild proceeds to torture them to death. Not content with merely killing them, Sild enslaves the souls of his victims and forces them to kill anyone who stumbles upon the ruins, [[AndIMustScream leaving them conscious and begging for forgiveness as they do so]]. Dissatisfied with the number of people who simply die from the fall, Sild is always experimenting with new ways to torture his victims to death, with a passion eclipsing most other {{evil sorcerer}}s in Skyrim, even casually murdering his own assistant [[ForTheEvulz for a chuckle]].
** ''Dawnguard'' {{DLC}}: Lord Harkon is the VampireMonarch ruling over Clan Volkihar, and the [[ArchnemesisDad father]] of Serana. Harkon is a pure-blooded vampire, a distinction he gained through a zealous devotion to Molag Bal, which included [[AbusiveParents turning over his own daughter to be violated by the Daedric Prince]] in a ritual to make her a vampire. Harkon even thinks nothing later of [[OffingTheOffspring sacrificing Serana's life]] to fulfill a dark prophecy to [[TheNightThatNeverEnds blot out Nirn's sun]], allowing vampirekind to overwhelm the mortal races. His arrogant lunacy turning away even his wife, who takes Serana far away from Harkon's clutches, Harkon satiates himself for centuries afterward feeding on the blood of innocents as he works to fulfill the prophecy, allowing his vampires to feed on a menagerie of suffering, still-living slaves and even ordering the culling of other "lesser" vampires should the Dragonborn elect to join him.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Online]]'':
** The deceitful, silver-tongued [[FantasticRacism High Kinlady Estre]] is secretly [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Veiled Queen]], the leader of an Altmeri terrorist group, the Veiled Heritance, intending to assassinate Estre's sister-in-law and expand Estre's xenophobic rule across Tamriel. Estre orders villages massacred, corrupts the souls of her own ancestors, tries to goad a promising recruit into killing a captured innocent Bosmer, and uses the Maormer to wreak swathes of bloody havoc, promising them a place in her ideal Tamriel while secretly planning for their extermination or exile. Estre even deals with [[OmnicidalManiac Mehrunes Dagon]], having the Daedra kill hundreds of innocent people merely as a diversion to her true plan to arrive at Firsthold and have her Daedra burn the entire city to the ground in revenge for being exposed.
** Ruuvitar, who leads the Dominion forces in Shadowfen, engages in [[FaceStealer skin-stealing]], deals with Daedra, and [[PlayingWithSyringes cruelly experiments]] on Argonian prisoners to learn how a [[ArtifactOfDoom powerful artifact]] can be used to sever the Argonians' connection to the Hist. With the artifact, he attacks the Hatching Pools, where Argonian young are born. As the babies require the Hist to hatch, Ruuvitar's experiment causes [[WouldHurtAChild the hatchlings to die en masse in their shells]], bursting apart in bloody chunks. As if that were not enough of an atrocity, Ruuvitar plans to do the same thing to all future generations of Argonians, [[FinalSolution dooming their entire race to extinction]]. While the game has numerous quests in which the player character must fend off villainous schemes by one of the other alliances, Ruuvitar stands out for literally murdering babies onscreen, and for having the only plot that is explicitly and unrepentantly genocidal in nature.
** [[MadArtist Dutheil]], the "Mad Architect" of Oblivion, was a Breton architect in life who turned to the Daedra after his career was ruined by his rival Gasteau. Dutheil [[DisproportionateRetribution goes above and beyond]] in exacting his revenge; to trap Gasteau and his friends, the Mad Architect designs a prison known as the Vaults of Madness made purely for the purpose of torturing their souls. With whatever sympathies he had as a mortal man long gone, [[TortureTechnician Dutheil]] now constructs horrific devices of torture for multiple Daedric Princes, from Molag Bal to Mephala, and fills the Vaults of Madness with countless souls who never had anything to do with his grudge. Dutheil even lends his services to Nerien'eth, a fellow psychotic {{necromancer}} with a fancy for torturing souls; Dutheil considers him [[EvilerThanThou utterly insignificant]] except in terms of his sadism.
** [[EvilOverlord "Emperor" Tarish-Zi]], of the Empire of Yokuda, is known foremost for being the one behind the various atrocities of the Anka-Ra, including genocide and the destruction of culture. Tarish-Zi rode his armies into Hammerfell and began a [[RapePillageAndBurn bloody sweep]] across the land, exterminating entire peoples and leaving civilizations as nothing but "blood and bones". The depredations Tarish-Zi visited upon his conquered cities were so extreme that one of them, Shada's Tear, voluntarily sold themselves into the service of the Nereids and a FateWorseThanDeath rather than let the Anka-Ra into their city. Tarish-Zi even broke his own traditions and turned his armies against his own allies when he was unsatisfied with the power he had, trying to engulf Cyrodiil in a massive war that was only stopped by the treachery of one of his own retainers. Even then, as an [[GhastlyGhost undead ghost]], Tarish-Zi again tries to raise an army to invade and subjugate one of the cities he ruled in life.
** "Death and Dreaming" & "The Remnant of Argon": [[TortureTechnician Myndhal]] is a Barsaebic Ayleid with an obsession over exploiting the Argonian culture. Long ago Myndhal went on a [[YourSoulIsMine soul-harvesting]] spree against the Root-Whisper Tribe, taking the souls of many innocent Argonians. In this butchery Myndhal learned of the powerful Remnant of Argon and the power it could give him. To figure out its secrets, Myndhal voluntarily became undead so he could spend the subsequent centuries torturing as many Argonians to death as he could. By the time the PC stops him, the remains of countless victims speckle the dungeon he's found in.
** "Cold-Blooded Revenge" & "The Tree-Minder's Fate": [[{{Sadist}} Maldur]] is the head of Camp Merciful Reduction, who on behalf of the Altmeri Dominion has been draining the sap from Hist trees for his own corrupt research. When one of these Argonian villages refused to let him exploit their Hist tree, Maldur massacred nearly the entire settlement, even the hatchlings, and plundered their tree anyway. Maldur leaves the souls of these Argonians cut off from the Hist and [[AndIMustScream condemned to horrible agony]], [[BarredFromTheAfterlife unable to truly pass on]].
** "Plans of Pestilence": [[MadScientist Plague Concocter Nathien Mortieu]], a [[PsychoSupporter fervent dedicant]] of the Daedric Prince [[{{Plaguemaster}} Peryite]], took Scalecaller Peak as his base of operations and exposed the otherwise-peaceful monsters to his agonizing diseases, driving them to kill everything that ventured onto the mountain, including some of his own cultists. Mortieu accidentally unearthed a Dragon Priest named Zaan the Scalecaller and worked with her endorsement to unleash a [[SyntheticPlague plague of his making]] upon all of Tamriel and possibly beyond in an effort to "[[DepopulationBomb bury the world in corpses]]", eagerly planning to use a nearby village as his first testing pool. Though working in conjunction with Zaan, Mortieu scoffs at the Dragon Priest's lingering dedication for her former dragon master.
** ''Greymoor'' ExpansionPack: [[AmbitionIsEvil High King Svargrim]], ruler of Skyrim, turns out to be in league with the terrifying Grey Host. Playing the part of a grieving husband after his wife is murdered by the Grey Host, Svargrim in fact [[TilMurderDoUsPart arranged for her murder]] and has no qualms trying to [[OffingTheOffspring slay his horrified daughter]] after. [[ImmortalityImmorality For the prospect of immortality]], Svargrim has sold out his entire country and his people to become chattel for the Grey Host, and personally attempts to wipe out thousands of innocent lives by bringing down a harrowstorm upon his own hold, Solitude.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsLegends Legends]]''' ''Return to Clockwork City'': [[MadScientist Mecinar]] was once one of the Clockwork Apostles of the "tinkerer god" Sotha Sil, and his [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious intellect]] brought him to intellectual depths that horrified even Sotha. Mecinar [[PlayingWithSyringes turned many unwilling innocents into abominations]], fused by steel and flesh, causing Sotha to exile Mecinar. Biding his time until after Sotha had died, Mecinar [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] a wandering party into letting him regain access to the Clockwork City, before seizing the New Heart of Lorkhan that powered the city to make himself into a god. Mecinar attempts to reduce the entire population of the Clockwork City into mindless grotesqueries to serve him forevermore, and resurrects one of the hero's fallen companions to force them to fight their former friend out of nothing but spite and [[ForScience dark scientific curiosity]].

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls The Infernal City]]'' [[Literature/TheElderScrolls &]] ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls Lord of Souls]]'':
** [[ItsAllAboutMe Vuhon]] was a Dunmer [[MadScientist scientist]] who invented the Ingenium to keep the floating meteorite known as the Ministry of Truth above Vivec City, [[HumanResources using the souls of living beings as fuel]]. Vuhon, possibly out of jealousy over having his affections spurned years ago, tried to use the wife of his rival Sul as fuel for the Ingenium, and [[NeverMyFault refused to own up]] to any of the subsequent destruction when the Ministry of Truth [[ColonyDrop fell]] during their confrontation. After torturing Sul for years when they were trapped in Oblivion, Vuhon made a deal with the Daedric entity [[EmpathicWeapon Umbra]] and [[FusionDance fused into]] "Lord Umbriel". As they lord over the namesake city of Umbriel, countless [[YourSoulIsMine souls]] are burned to fuel the Ingenium that lets the city fly, and countless more of his own citizens as doomed to live as "skraws", spending their short, agonized lives as slaves tending to the city's sump. Vuhon destroys the city of Lilmoth upon being summoned into Tamriel and has his undead armies raze their way across the country, nearly destroying the Imperial City as well. Ultimately concerned only with his own ego, and slaying even his own devout servants while treating them and the city as an extension of himself, Vuhon believes the thousands of lives spent to power Umbriel are worth it to emancipate himself from Oblivion and rule Umbriel forever.
** [[EvilWeapon Umbra]] himself is a malevolent entity formed from the essence of Clavicus Vile. Upon his creation, Umbra immediately attempts to butcher Vile but ends up imprisoned. Wanting to escape, Umbra makes a deal with Vuhon to provide him the means of escape, resulting in Umbra powering the Ingenium and allowing him to siphon souls from innocents [[ImmortalityImmorality to bolster his power]]. Travelling throughout Tamriel, Umbra would have countless souls harvested, treating the destruction of entire cities as a mere obstacle, purely to boost his own power to escape his torment he had brought upon himself.
** [[AmbitionIsEvil Minister Hierem]] is a backstabbing, influential noble in the Imperial Empire and the second-most powerful man in the nation. Seeking even more power, Hierem attempts to overthrow the Emperor and kill any and all rivals, trying to have Prince Attrebus Mede assassinated alongside over fifty of his own men and later torturing Attrebus with MindRape, a violation severe enough to leave Attrebus near broken despair. Hierem orchestrates Umbriel's passage into Tamriel by ensuring the city comes through and destroys Lilmoth, actively undermining efforts to stop its path of slaughter while intending to [[TheStarscream betray Vuhon]] and [[GodhoodSeeker become a god]] by siphoning off all the souls Vuhon has collected for himself.
* "[[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks The Horror at Castle Xyr]]" InGameNovel ([[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr link]]): [[AristocratsAreEvil Sedura Iachilla Xyr]], wife of the preeminent lord of Castle Xyr and seemingly TheGhost at first, turns out to be a TortureTechnician with a scientific interest in Destruction magic. In correspondence with a fellow necromancer, Iachilla purchases innocent slaves and magically [[CruelAndUnusualDeath tortures them to death in every way imaginable]]. Castle Xyr's cellar is bloated with victims melted, frozen, electrocuted, torn apart and sewn back together, and among her victims is her own maid Anaram whom Iachilla slowly poisoned to death so [[KillAndReplace she could impersonate her]].