Characters / The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Player Character

The Champion of Cyrodiil

A prisoner in the Imperial Prison who was lucky enough to cross paths with Emperor Uriel Septim and the Blades. After escaping and witnessing the Emperor's assassination, they are tasked with delivering the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre.

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• A God Is You: By the end of Shivering Isles, they assume the name and office of Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness, with the former Sheogorath's blessing. In gameplay, they're still decidedly mortal, aside from the power to change the weather in the Shivering Isles.
• Ambiguous Gender: Although most promotional materials depict them as an Imperial male, the Hero's gender (and race) is left up to the player's discretion. After completing the Shivering Isles DLC, the Hero basically mantles Sheogorath, whereupon the concept of gender becomes irrelevant as Daedric Princes are technically genderless and can assume whichever form they want.
• Ambiguously Human: A normal man, mer or even Beast Man at the beginning of the game. After assuming the mantle of Sheogorath, even Jyggalag is uncertain whether to call you mortal or god.
• Anti-Hero: If played with high infamy. Skyrim further implies that the player character canonically became Sheogorath, dropping small hints that they may also have been involved with the Dark Brotherhood questline (they mention a severed head) and Thieves Guild (they mention a fox).
• The Archmage: Players in the Mages Guild will gain the title of Archmage. And a wide variety of magical powers can be obtained during play. And, as with other skills, others in the world will comment on the Hero of Kvatch's magical talents if they are high enough.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Becomes the new Daedric Prince of Madness after the events of the Shivering Isles.
• The Atoner: You can play as one, by gaining infamy (especially with the Dark Brotherhood), then going on a pilgrimage or undertaking the Knights of the Nine DLC to remove it. As a Knight of the Nine, the Hero will be stripped of all holy relics should they gain enough Infamy (i.e. more than two points), and must go on another pilgrimage to be absolved of their sins in order to wear them again.
• Badass Normal: Comes over as this compared the player characters from Morrowind and Skyrim. The player character from Morrowind is the Nerevarine, the reincarnation of an ancient legendary general, while the player character from Skyrim is the Dragonborn, a mortal with access to the reality warping ancient language of the dragons. The only peculiarity this character has, is that they happen to be at the right place at the right time to meet the emperor and set in motion the chain of events leading to the defeat of Mehrunes Dagon. Apart from this, there is nothing setting them apart from other people. However, this does not stop them from marching into Oblivion and killing hordes of Daedra. They subvert this trope after becoming the new Daedric Prince of Madness.
• Brutal Honesty: Some dialogue options in this vein exist. For example, when Savlian Matius asks them whether they found the Count of Kvatch, they can respond he was "lying face down in a pool of his own blood".
• The Call Knows Where You Live: It's implied that no-one, not even the Champion, seems to know exactly why they were in that prison cell at the beginning of the game. Martin Septim believes that this was no mere coincidence.
• Canon Name: If the Construction Set is any indication, Bendu Olo.
• Celibate Hero: The Champion of Cyrodiil never seems to show any interest in other NPCs, even when they drop hints and flirt with him/her. That said, if you so choose, they can imply during a lone conversation with an alchemist in Skingrad they might be into necrophilia...
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Simply using a spell/skill a lot can make the player have incredible strength, the ability to jump impossible heights, run faster than a charging bear, punch out a Flame Atronach, among many other traits.
• Deity of Human Origin: The Hero is the first mortal to ever become a Daedric Prince.^note Trinimac and Meridia did become Daedric Princes earlier, but the former was an Aedra and the latter was a Magna-Ge.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Before becoming Sheogorath, the Champion beats down his predecessor after the latter transformed into Jyggalag, the Daedric Prince of Order.
• Disability Superpower: If you choose to be born under the Atronach sign. You're not able to regenerate Magicka, but you start out with 50% Spell Absorption. Absorbing spells is how an Atronach Champion regains Magicka, and if they gain 100% Spell Absorption through items, they can become outright immune to all spells thanks to their 'disability'.
• Easily Forgiven: At least with the Emperor, who states that the reason the player is in prison does not matter, because that is not what s/he'll be remembered for.
• Fallen Hero: As an alternate to The Atoner. If you complete questlines like the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves Guild after the main quest, you can fall into villainy and evil after saving the realm.
• Featureless Protagonist: Can be male, female, human, elven, Argonian or Khajiit. Ultimately pointless once they become the new Sheogorath, since a Daedric Lord can be all of those things, even at once (and Sheogorath is nutty enough to do that last part; Sheogorath's character uses a male Breton asset during their cameo in Skyrim).
• God Is Displeased: Per the Knights of the Nine DLC, the Champion must complete multiple tasks and earn the Aedra's favor to wear the enchanted Crusader Armor. Should they gain more than two points of Infamy, the Aedra will remove both it and all of the protective enchantments from the Champion, demanding that the player complete the pilgrimage again to regain their favor.
• Harbinger of Impending Doom: The Emperor has long-since known and accepted that the day he finally meets the mysterious person from his dreams, will be the day he dies, though they are not the one who kills him.
• Healing Hands: All players start with a minor healing spell. Masters of Restoration can learn even more potent spells.
• Herald: While the Champion wasn't the one to actually choose Martin, per se, they were the one sent out to find him, inform him of his destiny and aid him in bringing it about, technically qualifying them for this role.
• Hidden Depths: In Skyrim, they seem to be using their new position as Sheogorath to help the souls of the mentally ill find some semblance of peace. At the very least, they steered the Dragonborn in this direction during their quest.
• Hypocrite: Depending on how you play, many possibilities exist:
  • Humorously, you can become a member of the vampire hunting Order of the Virtuous Blood even if you're a vampire yourself.
  • If you join the Mages Guild and fight Necromancers, you can still engage in necromancy yourself, such as creating black soul gems.
  • You can undertake a quest to raid a den of skooma traders, and then steal their skooma and sell it yourself.
  • Most notoriously, a journal entry at the end of the quest "Unfriendly Competition" mentions that it was fitting justice for you to kill a grave robber as grave robbing is punishable by death. Graves are regularly encountered as loot sources in various dungeons. By the point you've finished that quest you've likely robbed hundreds of graves yourself.
• Impoverished Patrician:
  • In the Fighter's Stronghold DLC, Castle Battlehorn is bequeathed to the Champion after defeating its would-be invaders. Lord Kelvyn, the previous owner, had sold most of the Castle's wealth to pay for its upkeep, with his will explicitly stating that he hoped that the Champion would refurbish the Castle back to its former glory.
  • Similarly, the Wizard's Tower DLC has Frostcrag Spire being bequeathed to the Champion by a distant relative. Since it's mostly unfurnished, they're required to bring the tower back up to snuff.
• Loss of Identity: An ambiguous case. The Champion's appearance as the new Sheogorath in Skyrim shows they've assumed the appearance and mannerisms of the previous mad god, but their dialogue implies that they remember their old life, and their shenanigans are noticeably more benevolent than the old Sheogorath's. It's equally plausible that their behaviour as Sheogorath is a total act, because a crazy performance is simply what people are expecting.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Snooping into the game files reveal that their default name is Bendu Olo, known in the lore as a former Colovian king of Anvil.
• The Paladin: Players of the Knights of the Nine DLC become the Divine Crusader, championing the realms in service of the Aedra against Umaril. Although, interestingly enough, Umaril is backed up by Meridia, considered by many to be a good (or at least better) Daedra.
• Physical God: They mantle Sheogorath after the conclusion of Shivering Isles, basically becoming one in the process, although they don't fully ascend into godhood until some time between this game and Skyrim.
• Previous Player-Character Cameo: Shows up again in Skyrim as the new Sheogorath. His quest is to take a Journey to the Center of the Mind of Pelagius Septim and help cure his insanity.
• Really 700 Years Old: Over 200 years old by the time of their appearance in Skyrim. Being a Daedric Prince, the Hero is functionally immortal and more than capable of being old enough.
• Right Man in the Wrong Place: Unlike other mainline Elder Scrolls protagonists, they're not the Emperor's most trusted agent, the reincarnation of a Physical God, or a dragon soul in a mortal body. They really are just some random schmuck who happened to be in the right place at the right time to cross paths with the Emperor just before he was assassinated and ended up getting put on a quest to save Tamriel from Oblivion.
• Silent Protagonist: Pretty much. Despite having the occasional line of text, your character isn't voiced aside from grunts and yells in battle. They do speak in Skyrim, assuming that Sheogorath in that game is indeed them.
• Took a Level in Badass: The Flavor Text for the level up descriptions portrays this nicely. And you can go from a mortal to a God.
• The Unchosen One: In contrast to the previous and following game, the player character is a normal person who happens to wind up being the one to help stop the Mythic Dawn through helping Martin.
• Unwitting Pawn: During the second half of the Dark Brotherhood quest line, to Bellamont. You think you're just receiving your orders to kill more random citizens, but Bellamont replaced the dead drops with orders to kill Black Hand members.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Perhaps. References in Skyrim suggest the Champion may have joined both the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild; despite that, they still get hailed as a hero and rewarded with near god-like power. As always, however, the truth is left ambiguous. There could also be a Dragon Break surrounding the events of the game, meaning that every possible path the hero could take all happened at once.
• Villain Protagonist: Depending on how you play. There's no reason why you can't go around punching everyone you see, and still save the world. And the Dark Brotherhood quest line is very much intended to let the player be a villain. Might be canon, considering, outside of Martin, they only reference the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood questlines as Sheogorath.

Empire of Tamriel

Septim Dynasty

Emperor Uriel Septim VII

Voiced by: Patrick Stewart (English)^note Other Languages:Andrey Yaroslavtsev (Russian)

The Emperor of Tamriel. The player meets him at the beginning of the game, as he is escaping from a group of assassins through a secret passage in the Imperial Dungeons. His attempts to flee are futile, and he is eventually killed, but not before handing the player the Amulet of Kings, which starts the main storyline of the game.

For additional details on Uriel Septim VII outside the context of Oblivion, see his entry on the series' Recurring Characters page.

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• Barrier Maiden: He and his heirs are assassinated because the Imperial line's covenant with Akatosh is what keeps the Daedra out of the mortal world. After Uriel himself is killed, Hellgates start opening up across the continent.
• Cool Old Guy: Is kind and friendly to you even though you're a prisoner and he's the Emperor.
• Cursed with Awesome: He can't turn off his prophetic dreams, so when you meet him he's been having terrible nightmares of the suffering to come.
• Ermine Cape Effect: He's wearing full imperial regalia when you meet him in the dank Imperial Prison, but the context of the game makes it clear he didn't have time to change his clothes to anything more practical.
• Face Death with Dignity: He's long since foreseen his death in his dreams and come to accept it.
• I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Hurriedly gives the player the Amulet of Kings and implores them to find his last heir, mere seconds before an assassin leaps from a hidden passage and kills him. It's implied that his prophetic abilities allowed him to perceive the exact moment this would happen.
• Nice to the Waiter: He's unfailingly polite to the player at all times, even rebuking his bodyguards after they insult you and suspect you of being an assassin sent to kill the Emperor. Somewhat justified however, since he's long since dreamt of your meeting, hence his inexplicable faith and trust in you, a lowly prisoner at the time.
• Plot-Triggering Death: He and his family are assassinated by the Mythic Dawn, and later you learn that this act of regicide enables The Legions of Hell to invade Nirn. Furthermore, the Blades' failed attempt to escort Uriel to safety directly leads to the player character being freed from prison.
• Requisite Royal Regalia: His purple, ermine-trimmed robe, and the amulet.

Martin Septim

Voiced by: Sean Bean (English)^note Other Languages:Yuri Brezhnev (Russian)

The last surviving son of Emperor Uriel Septim, Martin was raised as a priest in the city of Kvatch. After the Emperor's death, daedra invade Kvatch in order to hunt Martin down, but he is rescued by the player. Despite being reluctant at first, he grows to suit the role of Emperor.

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• 11th-Hour Superpower: During the Final Battle, he transforms into a giant, golden dragon to save the world from Mehrunes Dagon.
• Aerith and Bob: Among his entire bloodline, Martin has the distinction of having the single most mundane given name, among the likes of Tiber, Uriel, Geldall, Enman, Ebel, so on and so forth.
• Ambiguously Bi: Some of his lines hint that he may have developed a crush on the Hero of Kvatch regardless of gender; in any case, it doesn't come to anything since he performs a Heroic Sacrifice.
• The Atoner: He used to be a Daedra worshipper - even a previous owner of one of their legendary artifacts - but when you meet him, he's a quiet and humble priest.
• Badass Bookworm: He spends most of the game at Cloud Ruler temple, poring over old tomes to help the player retrieve the Amulet of Kings, but proves himself quite a capable combatant in the Battle of Bruma.
• Big Good: Being the only one who can seal the gates of Oblivion and Emperor of Tamriel.
• Bling of War: His Dragon Armor, which is essentially a set of Imperial Legion plate reworked in solid gold.
• The Chosen One: The only person who can save the Empire by lighting the dragonfires and closing the gates of Oblivion.
• Dark and Troubled Past: In his youth, he and other dissatisfied young Mages Guild apprentices studied Daedric magic with the result of some people, including Martin's friends, getting killed. It's implied that the Sanguine Rose was involved.
• Doomed Hometown: He was raised in Kvatch, which is on fire and full of daedra by the time the player reaches it.
• Former Teen Rebel: He worshiped a daedra (implied to be Sanguine) and experimented with daedric magic when he was younger, a far cry from the gentle man he is today.
• The Good King: In Skyrim, he's memorialized as the greatest of the Septims. Not bad for a bastard-born priest whose reign was five minutes long. In that time, however, he defeated a Daedric Prince and saved Tamriel.
• Heroic Bastard: From what we heard of Uriel's legitimate sons and Calaxes, another illegitimate son, Martin takes after Uriel the most despite being born out of wedlock.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Martin gives up his soul to become an avatar of Akatosh and defeat Mehrunes Dagon at the end of the main quest. Fitting for a Sean Bean character.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He clearly lacks self-worth; when you first meet him, he'll ask in a tired voice if you need a priest and if so, he doesn't think he'll be much help. If you press that you really do need his help, he incredulously asks what good you think he can do, despite single-handedly saving many lives. Throughout the main quest he proves himself to be thoughtful, kind, brave, and one of the best Emperors to live, but he always questions whether he'll really be any good a ruler.
• Hidden Backup Prince: After the Family Extermination of the Septims, the otherwise illegitimate Martin is sought out to become the new Emperor, since only members of the imperial bloodline can renew the Covenant of Akatosh and stop the invasion from Oblivion. Emperor Uriel seemed to have been invoking the trope, as he entrusted Martin's whereabouts to Grandmaster Jauffre alone.
• Ironic Name: The name "Martin" came from the Latin root "Martinus", which is a late derived form of the name of the Roman god Mars, the protective godhead of the Latins, and therefore the god of war. It usually has the connotations of being warlike or conflict, and yet, Martin is perhaps the single most pacifistic person you can find throughout the entirety of Oblivion.
• Noodle Incident: He once came into possession of the Sanguine Rose, but doesn't elaborate other than to say it didn't end well.
• One-Winged Angel: Inverted this time, as Martin is the Big Good. He turns into a flaming golden dragon during the finale of the main quest and epically defeats Mehrunes Dagon.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Learning he is the heir to the throne never once changes his humble behavior. He also takes an active role in researching how to stop the Daedric invasion and even goes to battle himself on several occasions.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He really shows he deserves being the heir to the Empire. Before knowing of his title, he helps the citizens of Kvatch when the Daedra assault the city. And after learning of his title, he actively tries to find a way to seal the Gates of Oblivion, even leads a few battles himself and unflinchingly makes a Heroic Sacrifice when things looked grim. So he is a real clear example of this trope.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Appearance-wise, Martin is basically a de-aged version of his father, sporting the same hairstyle, bright blue eyes, and general facial features.
• Suddenly Shouting: Although normally calm and soft-spoken, Martin will shout in terror if you bring him the Mysterium Xarxes. He promptly apologises for yelling in your face immediately afterwards.

The Blades

The Blades in General

An order of soldiers who serves as the Emperor's personal bodyguards and spies

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• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: There are many of them stationed at the Cloud Ruler Temple. Many powerful, over-trained, hardened warriors sworn to protect the Empire. So, will they help you fight off the Mythic Dawn and close the Gates of Oblivion that pop up everywhere across Cyrodiil? Yeah, no, they'll just stay at the Temple and... Well, do nothing. Only Baurus will help you from time to time, but he's mostly just good at getting himself killed. Justified in-game by Jauffre keeping them all at Cloud Ruler Temple to maximize its security and that of Martin's.
• Praetorian Guard: Their main purpose is to protect the Emperor.
• Samurai: Their armor looks like a combination between the designs of a samurai and a Roman legionary. They also wield katanas instead of the traditional straight European style swords the rest of Cyrodiil likes to use.

Grandmaster Jauffre

Voiced by: Ralph Cosham (English)^note Other Languages:Alexey Kolgan (Russian)

The aging Breton leader of the Blades, who comes out of retirement during the Oblivion crisis and serves as a mentor to Martin.

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• BFS: Wields an Akaviri dai-katana, a two-handed version of the standard Blades sword.
• Mauve Shirt: He's unkillable while he's tied into story missions. After that's over, he can perish in the Oblivion Gate battle.
• Old Soldier: He's been serving the Blades for decades and shows no sign of completely retiring anytime soon.
• Retired Badass: He appears to be at least sixty years old and has retired from fighting but does rather well for himself with a six-foot katana.
• Secret-Keeper: He was the only person that Uriel VII entrusted with the knowledge of Martin's existence, which makes him the first stop on the player's main quest.

Baurus

Voiced by: Michael Mack (English)^note Other Languages:Vladislav Kopp (Russian)

A young Redguard Blade who served as Emperor Uriel's bodyguard during the last moments of his life.

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• Fire-Forged Friends: At the start of the game, he is rude and distrustful of you (justified, since you were a prisoner at the time), but by the time he helps you getting a clue to find the Mythic Dawn's location, he starts to act more friendly with you. And if he survives the meeting, he even calls you friend.
• Historical In-Joke: His name evokes Brutus, but is trying to protect the emperor.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He bears a remarkable resemblance to his voice actor, Michael Mack — Especially notable as he voices all male Redguards in the game anyway.
• My Greatest Failure: Blames himself for being unable to protect Uriel from death.

Forces of Oblivion

Order of the Mythic Dawn

Mythic Dawn in General

A cult dedicated to destroying boundaries between Tamriel and Oblivion. Led by the elusive Mankar Camoran.

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• Apocalypse Cult: If you worship the Daedric Prince of Destruction, this is kinda a given. And while their specific theology isn't elaborated much as they're more interested in killing you than talking, it seems to involve Mehrunes Dagon entering Nirn to liberate it from the Aedra and return Lorkhan to his rightful place as its Daedric Prince, which will result in the coming of the 'Mythic Era'.
• Cult: Dedicated to Mehrunes Dagon.
• Family Extermination: The story begins when the Mythic Dawn sends assassins to kill Emperor Uriel Septim and all of his sons, to ensure no-one will be able to renew the Covenant of Akatosh. Fortunately for Tamriel, they missed an illegitimate son who was kept as a Hidden Backup Prince.
• For Want Of A Nail: Had they not attempted to assassinate the Emperor, the Player Character would not have been freed from prison.
• Instant Armor: Their signature move is to summon daedric equipment, which has a unique design compared to the armor spells the player can learn. The Mythic Dawn frequently exploits this magic by disguising their agents as ordinary townsfolk, allowing them to strike with the element of surprise.
• Sacred Scripture: Both the Mysterium Xarxes itself and Mankar Camoran's four-volume Commentaries on it. Mythic Dawn sleeper agents can often be identified by possessing a volume of the Commentaries.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: The Mythic Dawn agents that attack you in broad daylight invoke this. Since the Oblivion Crisis is in full swing with Oblivion Gates opening everywhere the moment they become hostile, they don't care if they die fighting in public since they're gonna end up in Paradise doing so.
• Unwitting Pawn: Most of the members genuinely believe that recreating the world is a good thing and that they'll be rewarded with paradise for their efforts. In reality, "Paradise" is a trap built by Mankar Camoran; it's no paradise except for him. One of their members even helps you make your way through Paradise after realizing how he'd been deceived.
• We Are Everywhere: Several seemingly normal citizens are in fact agents of the Mythic Dawn, and will summon the cult's signature Instant Armor to attack you after you've progressed enough in the main quest.

Mankar Camoran

Voiced by: Terence Stamp (English)^note Other Languages:Nikita Prozorovsky (Russian)

An Altmer mage, leader of the Mythic Dawn cult, and bent on summoning Mehrunes Dagon to Tamriel. Writer of the "Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes".

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• Abusive Parents: One of his commentaries states that his daughter Ruma at one point was against the Mythic Dawn, and depending on how literally you take his narrative, he did something that could range from simply torturing her until she agreed to join the Mythic Dawn, to actually murdering and cannibalizing her before having her replaced (either magically or just by having another kid also named Ruma).
• Ambiguous Situation: A number of things relating to Mankar don't line up with details present within the game, or the wider series. While the out of universe explanation is simply due to Bethesda making mistakes, the in universe explanations are unclear. For specifics:
  • The alleged circumstances of his birth don't seem to match up with other information about him or his physical appearance. He is implied in an in-game book to be the bastard son of the Camoran Usurper and his Bosmer mistress, born around the time of the former's death. This would put his birth year at 3E 267. However, he is shown to be an Altmer, despite interracial hybrids in the series have long since been established to take after the race of their mothers, and his commentaries are said to be contemporary with Tiber Septim, who died in 3E 38, further muddying the waters. However, in Legends, his card is categorized as both Altmer and Bosmer, but since both of his parents were Bosmer, this implies he was able to somehow completely change his race at one point. Out of game, the reason for this is likely because the developers simply selected the wrong race when making his model.
  • Camoran notes in his Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes that in an anecdotal case, three days after learning a new language, he could "speak fire". This, combined with his seeming ability to wear the Amulet of Kings, heavily implies that he is one of the Dragonborn himself.
  • While you're in Paradise, he'll give you a Hannibal Lecture that claims a very different cosmology to the one generally presented in lore. Is he right and the Aedra are liars squatting on Lorkhan's Daedric Realm, lying to throw you off balance (in-character, given the whole deal with Paradise), or just a Know-Nothing Know-It-All (his mixing up planes of Oblivion is an admitted out-of-universe mistake by the writer, but Death of the Author and all that) who's come to the wrong conclusion or is being deceived by Mehrunes Dagon? No one else supports his claims, but most of the people who would know what he's talking about would also have a good reason to lie about it.
• Bad Boss: Outright states in his commentaries that he'll do very bad things to Mythic Dawn membrs who "falter;" depending on how literally you take the text, he might even actually cannibalize such agents. And even if you do serve him loyally and die for him, all you have to look forward to is an eternity of being a Daedra chew toy.
• Consummate Liar: He's obviously not telling the whole truth. The real son of the Camoran Usurper was a Bosmer, and his list of Daedric realms and their rulers contradicts several other sources. His speech to the Mythic Dawn about Paradise is also more than a tad misleading. He's damned good at sounding believable, though. Don't forget his speech if you walk into Paradise after completing the Shivering Isles. He'll have no idea you're now Sheogorath.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Dagoth Ur.
  • They're both elves, but Dagoth Ur is a grey-skinned Dunmer while Camoran is a light-golden skinned Altmer (or Bosmer, whichever).
  • Dagoth Ur's effect on the plot up until his boss fight is entirely passive since he's trapped in the Red Mountain, with the Nerevarine fighting his Blight and Dunmer society. Mankar Camoran is much more active and is encountered and fought before the end of the main questline.
  • Dagoth Ur is Affably Evil and nothing but honest to the Nerevarine; you can ask him about his plans, motivations, and history, and he will answer to the best of his ability- and if he doesn't know the answer (like if you ask him what happpened to the Dwemer), he'll outright say so. Mankar Camoran is Faux Affably Evil and his promises to the Mythic Dawn are all lies, while his speeches to the player are ambiguous but probably not entirely truthful.
  • Dagoth Ur used an Aedric artifact (the Heart of Lorkhan) to become a god in his own right, while Camoran used a Daedric artifact (the Mysterium Xarxes) in service of a Daedric Prince.
• Cosmic Keystone: Serves as a living one for his Paradise. If he dies, every immortal soul in Paradise will die for good and the realm will cease to exist.
• Dimension Lord: Created the Daedric Pocket Dimension of Paradise using the Mysterium Xarxes, where he receives the souls of his faithful into eternal bondage and torment.
• The Dragon: To Mehrunes Dagon. Camoran's children, Raven and Ruma, are his Co-Dragons.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Implied. He has two children in the Mythic Dawn and they are the only ones other than him that aren't being tortured. His commentaries subvert this with the implication that he only loves them because they're subservient to his cause, having possibly killed a previous child for rejecting him.
• Faux Affably Evil: He can seem affable, but he really really isn't. One moment he will show Villain Respect for you, in another he will call you a relic of the old world and a fool.
• Foreshadowing: In some Oblivion Gate worlds, you can find some Mythic Dawn agents dead and imprisoned, which is a hint of what awaits for members that are not him or his daughters.
• Hannibal Lecture: As you travel through his Paradise near the end of the main quest, you hear his voice in your head remarking on the futility of your actions and the true nature of the Daedra Lords and the Nine Divines. Apparently, Tamriel is just another plane of Oblivion, and the Nine are traitors to the Daedra Lords, the true gods of the universe. Though considering the amount of mistakes in the speech and holes in his backstory, he might just be a liar or badly informed.
• I'm a Humanitarian: His Commentaries imply that he eats random children and Mythic Dawn members who fail him, and that he ate one of his children, though it's unknown if he means literal cannibalism or just sacrificing them for the cult's purposes.
  Falter now and become one with the wayside orphans who feed me.
• In-Universe Factoid Failure: For someone who claims the Daedra are the true gods of creation, he doesn't seem to know that much about them. He states that Coldharbour is Meridia's realm (it belongs to Molag Bal; hers is the Colored Rooms), Peritye owns Quagmire (mixing him up with Vaermina; Peryite's realm is The Pits), and that the Moonshadow belongs to Mephala (it's really Azura's; Mephala's realm is the Spiral Skein), something that throws doubt on his other claims.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Zigzagged. He presents himself as a mysterious keeper of forbidden knowledge and secrets of The Universe, but the so called "facts" that he lists off during his speech are rather incredibly outlandish and completely contradict all of the lore that you have received up until this point (Tamriel being a Plane of Oblivion and mixing up The Daedric Princes with the wrong Planes that they rule). However no indication is given as to whether or not he truly believes all of what he's preaching or if he's just lying in an attempt to manipulate you alongside his followers.
  • That being said, out-of-universe Camoran probably wasn't intended to come off as one, since Word of God from the speech writer says he made it in a hurry and mixed up the Daedric realms, with the editors not catching it in time.
• The Heavy: He's the most active villain in the game, until the end when Mehrunes Dagon is summoned.
• Informed Ability: His commentaries mention that he learned how to "speak fire," possibly meaning he learned the Yol Toor Shul Shout. He displays no such fire-speaking ability during his boss fight, even allowing for the Shout system not yet being implemented.
• Load-Bearing Boss: By defeating and killing him, his Paradise will collapse and cease to exist.
• Manipulative Bastard: Oh, boy. He told his followers in the Mythic Dawn that they'd go to Paradise. Turns out, he didn't tell them the whole truth. It's a paradise for him and his children, but his followers are forever tormented by Daedra or submerged in lava if they lose faith.
• Offing the Offspring: Implied in his commentaries to have killed his first daughter for rejecting his beliefs.
• The Social Darwinist: Believes that the weak and unfaithful are not fit to serve in the new world Mehrunes Dagon would create in place of Nirn and designed his Paradise as a sort of test for his followers to weed out those he sees as unworthy.
• The Sociopath: Mankar Camoran is an empathy-lacking, megalomanical lunatic who has no issues selling out Nirn in exchange for power and is completely dedicated to the teachings of one of the series' most evil beings. He is also a liar and a manipulator who would say anything to sway gullible, desperate or dumb people into following them. 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 made immortal, locked into gibbets, and then dumped into lava. On top of that, the lore implies that even his love for his children is conditional and downplayed.
• Unreliable Expositor: His speech claiming that Lorkhan is a Daedric Prince, the Aedric gods are usurpers, and Nirn is a plane of Oblivion sounds quite plausible. It's also full of errors and inconsistencies with every other piece of lore in the Elder Scrolls universe, as well as possibly the player's own experiences, suggesting he is either lying or sorely misinformed.

Ruma and Raven Camoran

Mankar's two children, who aid their father with the Mythic Dawn cult. Ruma oversees cult rituals, and Raven acts as a recruiter.

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• Daddy's Little Villain: Totally loyal to the Mythic Dawn... albeit quite possibly because Mankar would've killed them otherwise.
• Human Sacrifice: Ruma tells you to sacrifice an Argonian named Jeelius as part of your cult initiation.
• If Youre So Evil Then Eat This Kitten: Ruma makes all prospective initiates "offer Lord Dagon the sacrificial red-drink" (i.e. perform a Human Sacrifice) as part of their initiation. If they refuse, she kills them.
• Morality Pet: Downplayed. They're the only Mythic Dawn members of Paradise who live in Mankar Camoran's castle instead of outside being tortured by Daedra, but other hand, he never mentions or interacts with them, and in one of his commentaries, he says that his first daughter, named Ruma, was rebellious, so he "ate her with no bread, and made another," which could be a metaphor for torturing her into submission, or entirely literal and the current Ruma was given her dead sister's name.
• Unusual Euphemism: Ruma refers to blood as "Red-Drink."

Eldamil

Voiced by: Craig Sechler (English)^note Other Languages:Rudolf Pankov (Russian)

An Altmer member of the Mythic Dawn responsible for opening the Oblivion Gate at Kvatch, where he was killed. He later assists the Hero of Kvatch in Paradise.

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• The Atoner: He comes to regret the death he caused in Mankar Camoran's name, so he jumps at the chance to do something to redeem himself.
• Cult Defector: Does this posthumously in Mankar's Artificial Afterlife. Realizing that they were being used and their "Paradise" is a trap, he helps the Hero find and kill Mankar.
• Redemption Equals Death: He helps the Hero kill Mankar, which destroys Paradise and permanently kills all souls trapped there.
• Spanner in the Works: The Hero of Kvatch would never have been able to reach Mankar Camoran if Eldamil hadn't removed their Bands of the Chosen.

Gwinas

A Bosmer and prospective initiate into the Mythic Dawn who doesn't realize he's bitten off more than he can chew.

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• Everyone Has Standards: He's fine with the Dagon worship but gets cold feet if you tell him the Mythic Dawn murdered the Emperor.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Very eager to assure you that there are definitely no cults here. None whatsoever. His interest in the Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes (basically the Mythic Dawn Bible) is purely coincidental.

Mehrunes Dagon

Daedric Prince of Destruction and the leader of the Daedric forces invading Tamriel. Worshipped by the Mythic Dawn as a god.

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• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: When he manifests, it's as this.
• Big Bad: Of the Oblivion main quest line. He appears in the flesh at the end of the main quest in a last-ditch attempt to stop the lighting of the Dragonfires, forcing Martin to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to defeat him.
• Big Red Devil: Very big, very red and very demonic-looking, though not the in-universe equivalent of the devil.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Do not engage. You may be destructive, but he is Destruction.
• Destroyer Deity: The Daedric Prince of Destruction.
• I'm Melting!: Should you actually kill him, which is at least theoretically possible, he ends up melting into a puddle due to not having a death animation or ragdoll skeleton for his corpse.
• Person of Mass Destruction: He personifies Destruction, after all.
• Orcus on His Throne: For most of the game, though it's justified as he's stuck in Oblivion. Mankar Camoran and the Mythic Dawn do the vast majority of the legwork, with Dagon only appearing in-person at the very end.
• The Voiceless: Despite being the main antagonist (and being the only Daedric Prince (bar Sheogorath) that we see in the flesh), he never speaks a word in the game. Strangely, all his other appearances (Battlespire, Morrowind, Skyrim) have him speak.

Kathutet

Voiced by: Wes Johnson (English)^note Other Languages:Oleg Shcherbinin (Russian)

A Dremora that you encounter in Mankar Camoran's Paradise. He assists you in the quest by providing you with the Bands of the Chosen, should you agree to do a certain "favor" for him.

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• Blood Knight: He loves fighting as much as any other Dremora. This is also why he dislikes the Ascended Immortals because they choose to flee instead of fight.
• Cruelty Is the Only Option: His "favor" involves freeing an Ax-Crazy Xivilai named Anaxes, who had been imprisoned by a group of Ascended Immortals, and allowing him to continue killing his captors.
• Deadpan Snarker: If the Player chooses to fight him for the Bands instead of doing his favor, Kathutet responds with this:
  Kathutet: Your mind follows the simple path ... the choice of an animal. You see an enemy and you attack it, unthinking. But you have courage, at least. To slay a bold animal like you is not without glory.
• Jerkass: Being a Daedra, it's only natural for him to despise mortals.
• Large Ham: Being a Dremora, this is to be expected, but he's surprisingly subdued... sometimes.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He's not only the friendliest, but the least aggressive Dremora in the entire game.
• Noble Demon: Played straight, and since Kathutet is a Kynval (the Dremora equivalent of a knight), this is also played literally.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy
• Punch-Clock Villain: One of the reasons he agrees to help you on your quest is because he despises Mankar Camoran as much as you do, and couldn't care less if Camoran's plans succeeded or not.
• Voice of the Legion: He has the exact same voice as the other Dremora.
• Worthy Opponent: He sees the player as this, for defeating his fellow Dremora in the siege of Kvatch, and destroying their tower. This is also the other reason he agrees to help you in your quest.
  Kathutet: You destroyed the Sigil Tower at Ganonah. My kin say you fought well.
  Player: Ganonah? I've never heard of it.
  Kathutet: Our clan sacked your city of Kvatch... a trifling task fit for scamps. Your swift retribution earned you much respect among my people. We had not expected that a mortal would act with such resolution and honor. It is no dishonor for us to speak.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: If you don't want to do his favor, you can just kill him, and take the Bands of the Chosen from his corpse. This can be done, even after you do his favor for him.

The Dremora

A Daedric race of humanoid warriors that are native to the Deadlands. They serve as the enforcers of Mehrunes Dagon during the Oblivion Crisis.

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• Black Knights: Their warriors tend to wear full body armor, complete with face-concealing helmets.
• Blood Knight: They love to fight, and are extremely aggressive towards non-Daedra.
• Evil Sounds Deep: The male Dremora speak with a deep, distorted voice.
• Genius Bruiser: In addition to being physically strong, they are among the most intelligent Daedra present in the game.
• Horned Humanoid: They have horns.
• Jerkass: How they regularly behave towards mortals.
• Large and in Charge: Along with the Altmer, the Dremora are consistently the tallest race (playable or otherwise) in the game.
• Large Ham: The male Dremora are easily among the hammiest characters present in the game.
• Proud Warrior Race: They have their own Viking-esque clan system, a sense of honor in combat, and are fiercely loyal to Mehrunes Dagon.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: In Morrowind, they have glowing crimson eyes, while in Oblivion, they have hellish red pupils.
• Resurrective Immortality: Like all the Daedra, Dremora cannot be permanently killed. Upon death, their Vestige (soul equivalent) will return to Oblivion to build itself a new body.
• The Smurfette Principle: This trope hit the Dremora race very hard. Female Dremora are extremely rare, since the few females in the entire game are:
  • Archers, which are only found inside certain Oblivion Gates. This means they can only be encountered before the "Light the Dragonfires" quest is finished.
  • Members of the Markyn, which is the second-highest rank in Dremora society. Thus, they will only be encountered by a high-level player.
  • There is a chance that a Kynmarcher, Valkynaz, or even a male Markynaz archer might appear in their place instead.
  • Due to a minor oversight in the game's production, they are all completely silent, and don't even have dialogue or even audio files assigned to them; Any attempt to converse with a female Dremora will yield the infamous "I HAVE NO GREETING" message, and will make no sounds during combat.
• Spikes of Villainy: The Daedric armor they wear is covered with these.
• Voice of the Legion: Kind of a vaguely-distorted scream/growl at the top of their lungs.

Cities of Cyrodiil

Citizens of the Imperial City

Imperial City in General

• A Lighter Shade of Grey: The Imperials are no-saints, but they firmly care about law and maintaining the safety of its people. Even those coming in from Morrowind (where the Cyrodilic Empire is a major threat) have some of the venom sapped from their outlook once they see how thorough yet palatable Imperial City law is taken. Compare them to Morrowind or Skyrim governments and they are firmly the good-guys.

Captain Audens Avidius

A Imperial Guard Captain who is extorting citizens and merchants in the city.

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• Alliterative Name
• Bald of Evil: The only bald man among Imperial City's guard captains.
• Determinator: After being arrested, he'll break out of jail and start looking for the player character to get his revenge, and he'll find you! He'll even follow the player character inside an Oblivion Gate; he won't enter the Shivering Isles but will wait next to the entrance.
• Dirty Cop: The player can do a side quest to expose his corruption and get him arrested.
• Meaningful Name: "Audens" is Latin for "bold", while "Avidius" is similar to "Avidi", Latin for "greedy".
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: If the player confronts him without evidence and backup from Captain Itius Hayn, he will claim the player attacked him and put an 1000 gold bounty on you.
• Too Dumb to Live: He breaks out of prison and hunts down the player for revenge. Unfortunately for him, he is wearing prison clothes and only has a iron dagger as a weapon. He will also attack you anywhere, even in the middle of dungeons crawling with deadly enemies or the main hall of a castle surrounded by guards who will instantly swarm and kill him.

Captain Hieronymus Lex

A Imperial Guard Captain who has dedicated his life to hunting down and destroying the Thieves Guild.

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• BFS: His weapon is a giant silver claymore.
• Big Bad: Technically for the Thieves Guild storyline, although there is never actually a confrontation with him.
• The Captain: His rank in the Imperial Guard, and later becomes captain of the Anvil City Guard after the Thieves Guild conspires to get him transferred to that city to get him off their backs. And also because the Gray Fox likes Lex and wants him to be his Guard Captain when he reclaims his position as Count of Anvil.
• The Idealist: He comes off as this because of his personal line when asked about the Imperial City in conversation, and because of the dedication he shows about eradicating the Thieves Guild despite its existence not being believed by the majority of the Imperial Legion (and commoners as well). Also, during the quest 'Imperial Corruption', if the player informs any Imperial Watch of the corrupted captain, they'll react visibly annoyed and tell the player to go talk to Hieronymus Lex, whom they refer to as a "pompous fool".
  Hieronymus Lex: Never compromise. Never blink. Never wink at injustice. Never quit trying to make this a better city for everyone.
• Meaningful Name: "Lex" is Latin for law.
• Properly Paranoid: One of the few Imperial officers who believes the Thieves Guild is even real, which makes him somewhat of an annoyance to his superiors. He is also rightly convinced that the Gray Fox is behind his reassignment to Anvil, just not for the reasons he thinks.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Well, not quite Antarctica, but Anvil isn't the primary city that the Thieves Guild operates out of. Since the Thieves Guild does not condone killing, doctoring some documents to invoke this is how they "deal" with Lex.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: He is just doing his job, and sincerely believes that the Thieves Guild is a blight on Cyrodiil.
• Worthy Opponent: The Gray Fox considers him one.

Dralora and Ulen Athram

A Dunmer merchant couple who live in the Imperial City.

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• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ulen seems like a friendly-but-ditzy civilian who'd rather bet on others' fights than enter one himself, but he can handle himself in combat, since he has Mythic Dawn training.
• Gargle Blaster: Ulen made his fortune trading Flin, an alcoholic beverage so strong it can be used as a strength-enhancing potion.
• Hidden Depths: Ulen is actually a Deep Cover Agent for the Mythic Dawn, as indicated by the books in his study, and he will attack you after you finish the Path of Dawn quest.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: They left Morrowind because they didn't like aspects of the culture; Dralora hated the Fantastic Racism, and Ulen didn't like the Tribunal and ancestor worship.
• Obsessive Sports Fan: Ulen is a big fan of the Yellow Team at the arena.

Jakben

The reclusive Earl of Imbel, reputed to be a descendant of the legendary thief Springheel Jak. The Grey Fox sends you to get the magical Boots of Springheel Jak from him.

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• Bad Boss; His servant is terrified of him.
• Expy: Springheel Jak is a reference to the folkloric figure Spring-Heeled Jack.
• My Grandson, Myself: He actually is Springheel Jak, who became a vampire and posed as his own descendant.
• Punny Name: Jakben of Imbel -> Jack Be Nimble.

Umbacano

A wealthy Altmer who collects Ayleid artifacts.

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• Anime Hair: Has a gravity defying haircut that resembles whipped cream.
• Ascended Extra: He appeared as a simple mine worker in Morrowind.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He definitely has grand villainous aspirations, what with his plot to resurrect the Ayleid empire and take over Tamriel. Unfortunately, his plan will never come to pass; if he empowers the Crown of Nenalata, he'll become possessed by an evil Ayleid king and you kill him, while if he tries it with the Crown of Lindai, the Ayleid power he invoked will kill him.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He is actually gathering the Ayleid artifacts as part of his plan to become empowered with magic through a ritual in the Ayleid city of Nenalata. He then plans to revive the Ayleid empire.
• Collector of the Strange: Artifacts of the long-gone (and good riddance) Ayleids.
• Karmic Death: If you switch out the Crown of Nenalata for the Crown of its rival city Lindai, as Herminia Cinna suggests, his ritual to summon the power of Nenalata backfires and he is fried by the very forces that he tried to harness.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: He is not exactly supposed to be collecting all of his Ayleid artifacts, and even hires the player to steal some of them but justifies it with the large amount of money he is paying.

Citizens of Skingrad

An affluent city located southwest of the Imperial City. It is well known for its vineyards.

Skingrad in General

• Because You Were Nice to Me: According to post Oblivion records the count is eventually exposed as a vampire, by the Vigil of Stendarr, and the citizens stone the Vigil for trying to harm their beloved count, no matter what he is.
• By-the-Book Cop: Has some of the most honest vigilant guards in Cyrodiil, corruption is not tolerated in this county.
• Rich Recluse's Realm: Count Janus Hassildor is a reclusive man, but he is very proud and protective of his county and likewise the people are both prosperous and have a very large expanse of land separating them from the other counties.

Count Janus Hassildor

The Count of Skingrad. He is rarely seen in public, but is known by reputation to be a powerful wizard.

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• Blessed with Suck: He gains the standard bonuses of vampirism, like increased strength and resistance, but he has to limit his public appearances and is dependent on blood to keep his secret safe.
• Badass Boast: As the Skingrad Oblivion gate opens, Count Hassildor openly states Mehrunes Dagon - a Daedric Lord, will remember the mistake of picking a fight with him and his county.
• Boomerang Bigot: He despises other vampires, and says they gave in to their bestial instincts.
• Defends Against Their Own Kind: He views Skingrad as his clan and thus considers other vampires feeding on them barbarians deserving of painful death.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: One of the more reasonable Counts and usually helpful despite his condition.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: Vampire or not, he's adamant about protecting his citizens from the daedra of Mehrunes Dagon.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's stated to be respected by the residents of the county and even the Mages Guild acknowledges that he has ruled Skingrad well for years without incident.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Do the Mages Guild quest-line before tending to the Oblivion Crisis and Count Hassildor will be outside by the mine he met you at, tending to one of the Oblivion gates himself. With his high Strength and Hand-To-Hand stats he will likely be one-shotting the forces of Oblivion!
• Vampires Are Rich: Skingrad is probably the most prosperous city in Cyrodiil, not counting the Imperial City, and he himself has a large and extremely well-appointed castle.
  • Note that he is something of an unusual exception in this regard. Most vampires in Cyrodiil are little better off than thieves and bandits ^note  Though there are a few living comfortably in the Imperial City He even admits in one quest that other vampires are jealous of his prosperity and are drawn to prey on Skingrad because of it.
• Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Sends the player to kill a cave full of vampires, as their presence could run the risk of him getting exposed as one to a bunch of vampire hunters that are prowling the city. It would seem that the vampires heard rumors that he is one, and think that he'll provide them protection. They were wrong.
• Younger Than They Look: Due to his affliction with vampirism, his facial features make him look much older than he actually is.

Else God-Hater

A Nordic woman who hates the Nine Divines. Clue's in the name there.

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• Captain Obvious Reveal: A minor example, since she isn't plot-important. But was anyone surprised that the woman vocal in her hatred of the Aedra would be a member of Mythic Dawn, a cult dedicated to a Daedric Prince who wants to destroy the Aedra along with everything else?
• Foreshadowing:
  • One of her complaints is that the Divines don't tend to openly intervene on Nirn. By the end of the game, Akatosh, manifesting through Martin Septim, will pull possibly the most blatant divine intervention in the history of Nirn, driving off Mehrunes Dagon.
  • At one point, she comments that at least the Daedric Princes "do things. Bad things, mostly, but things you can see." She's part of the Mythic Dawn and worships the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon.
• Jerkass Has a Point: If asked about Glarthir, she'll call him a "raving lunatic" and state that "one day he'll snap," mocking the other townspeople for thinking he's just a harmless eccentric. If you do Glarthir's quest, you learn that he's absolutely convinced that random townspeople are spying on him, and no matter how you end the quest, he'll try to kill them- either by paying you to do it, or attacking them himself with an axe.
• Magic Knight: She's a Spellsword.
• NayTheist: She doesn't know if the Divines exist or not, but if they do then she hates them for not listening to mortals, and if they don't then she hates mortals building fancy churches for beings that don't exist.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Is apparently a swordswoman of some renown, but generally hangs around the West Weald inn instead of doing anything sword-y. At one point, her routine involved spending time at Skingrad's Arena, but that was cut when the arena itself was.

Falanu Hlaalu

A Dunmer alchemist who sets up shop in Skingrad, despite there not being too much of a demand, since she can't go back to Morrowind. Don't ask.

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• Blue Blood: Hlaalu is one of the five Dunmer Great Houses, so Falanu has some fairly important relatives- if most likely ones that don't want to acknowledge her existence.
• I Love the Dead: She's quite happy to learn that the punishment for necrophilia is 500 gold, because that's much more lenient than in Morrowind.
• Noodle Incident: How a member of House Hlaalu found herself unwelcome in Morrowind. It's hinted that it involved necrophilia (something the ancestor-worshiping Dunmer would consider especially appalling), but that's it.
• Persona Non Grata: She can't go back to Morrowind, and her curiosity about the Empire's penalty for necrophilia has nothing to do with it.

Glarthir

An odd Wood Elf who is widely regarded and tolerated as the 'town eccentric'. He makes a point of approaching the Hero of Kvatch upon their first visit to the city, regarding his own troubles with his fellow townsfolk.

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• Apocalyptic Log: You can find several entries of his diary in his house of his 'investigation', and a few extra entries that change depending on your actions during his quest. Either way, it showcases his Sanity Slippage quite nicely.
• Ax-Crazy: Depending on how you resolve his quest (the aptly titled 'Paranoia'), he may go on a killing spree of all of his suspected conspirators. The fact that he keeps his axe next to his bed wasn't a good sign.
• Being Watched: Or so he thinks.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He's noted by the townspeople as 'eccentric' and 'tolerated' by the guards. In actuality, he's a few false assurances and/or rejections away from going on a rampage.
• But Thou Must!: You can follow his targets all day long, but it doesn't matter. They never follow or watch him as he suspects. You can simply skip watching them and tell him that none of them are pursuing him. Easing his fears a third time causes him to go crazy thinking you're in on it, because ONE of them HAS to be following him. The fact that none of them are must mean you're working for them.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: He's generally perceived as Skingrad's resident eccentric. He is, in truth, a very disturbed man, and is convinced that everyone is out to get him - to the point of hiring you to follow (and possibly kill) those he suspects are guilty.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: His impression of being persecuted by the other Skingrad citizens eventually proves to be nothing but the result of his paranoia. On the other hand, exploring his basement shows that he spotted the Mythic Dawn and thinks they're the most dangerous of the groups he's aware of.
• Conspiracy Theorist: He believes that the Blades (who at this point are only concerned with protecting Martin), the Marukhati Selectives (all long dead by the present day), and the Mythic Dawn (okay, he's right about this one, especially as Else, one of his more vocal detractors, is a Mythic Dawn sleeper agent) are all out to get him, along with several random townspeople.
• Everyone Has Standards: He wants you to follow the people he suspects but doesn't think you'll actually do anything to them. If you do kill one of his suspects, he'll be quite startled though he'll eventually accept it as the only way.
• Irony: He's convinced that people hate him and conspire against him. Out of the three people he has you follow, Davide hates him because of how creepy he is, Toutius barely gives him a second thought, and Bernadette seems to pity and worry about him in a very endearing way.
  • If you truly try and help him: follow his targets, confirm they don't spy on him, and ease his fears, he goes crazy and attacks you. The people in town sadly say that someone must have gotten sick of his antics. Damn near everyone feels bad that he died and he only ever thought that they were all out to get him...
• It's All About Me: His personal quest has you following around several townspeople all day long. If you refuse to do everything he asks, he's extremely put out by your lack of commitment. He also believes that several people are stalking him, for no apparent reason other than the fact that he's Glarthir.
• Large Ham: His voice actor was clearly having the time of his life during recording sessions.
• No Indoor Voice: Despite apparently trying to be covert, he practically yells his theories at you, even right after insisting you lower your voice.
• The Paranoiac: He seems to believe that practically everyone has it out for him.
• Properly Paranoid: About the Mythic Dawn being the most dangerous group out of the ones he's "investigating." Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
• Sanity Slippage: He's already quite mad when you first meet him, but no matter how you go about his quest, he'll slip deeper into his paranoia and eventually order the deaths of his 'enemies' or set about doing it himself.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Telling him that none of his targets are following him causes him to snap and attack you with his fists, whereas otherwise he will attack his targets with his axe. Supposedly he didn't want to tip you off by carrying a weapon when he suspects you are lying to him about his targets following him. However, instead of acting like he believes you and going to get his axe, he simply attacks you right then and there.
• You Have to Believe Me!: His response if you straight up tell him he's delusional. Tell him too many times, and he'll start to think you're guilty too...

Eyja

A young Nord woman who works as a store clerk. If the Hero of Kvatch buys the local Rosethorn Hall, she sees an opportunity to join a well-to-do manor and asks to become their housekeeper.

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• Adopt-a-Servant: Gunder took her in as a teenage orphan but treated her as "just another part of his shop". Given the opportunity, she's glad to leave him.
• Kindly Housekeeper: If the Hero of Kvatch hires her as housekeeper for Rosethorn Hall, she's very happy with the new job and is always ready with a friendly word and a meal or drink.
• Orphan's Ordeal: Her parents died when she was a young child, and when Gunder took her in as a teen, it was only to put her to work in his store. She says that he was neither cruel nor kind, but calls the place "horrid" after she gets out.
• Sleeping with the Boss: She mentions that she has shared a bed with Gunder, her previous employer, and doesn't speak of him in positive terms.
• Spotting the Thread: If the Hero of Kvatch is a vampire, she's the only person to notice that "something seems... amiss with you" even if they stay well-fed. Downplayed since she doesn't seem to realize the full truth and nothing comes of it.

Citizens of Bruma

Bruma is the northern-most city of Cyrodiil. Its architecture has a distinct Nord influence, resembling towns from the northern province of Skyrim.

Bruma in General

• Defector from Decadence: The non-Nord citizens. Most have come to the otherwise harsh north to carve out a life for themselves away from the hustle and lackadaisical life-style of the central counties.
• Good Old Ways: The Nord citizens. The close proximity to Skyrim has seen traditional Nord culture bleed into the county, from rejection of Imperial marriage, to eagerly testing themselves against the elements.
• Norse by Norsewest: Natural, given the high-Nord population.

Countess Narina Carvain

The Countess of Bruma. A collector of Akaviri artifacts, Narina will proposition the player for help in locating more for her collection.

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• Adventure Archaeologist: She makes it a point to hire people out to be this, traveling to Akaviri sites in order to recover historical trinkets.
• Badass Bookworm: She has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of Tamrielic history, and is crucial in the defense of Bruma when it comes under siege.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She readily accepts that a large Oblivion Gate has opened at her city's doorstep. She asks for help from you to gather more guards from the countryside, but is understanding if you choose to siege the Gate without additional help. Moreover, when you agree to travel the Serpent's Tail to discover the Pale Pass, she reveals that she has already sent troops ahead to scout the land for you. A little redundant given that the game uses a quest marker to direct players, but the sentiment is appreciated, nonetheless.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Narina takes the initiative to find the player for quests; a switch from the traditional role most players have in seeking out potential quest-givers.

Jearl and Saveri Faram

Jearl is a Redguard citizen of Bruma who owns a house there, and Saveri is her Dunmer roommate/possible lover. Jearl is out of town on a trip for a portion of the game but will return after sufficient quest progression.

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• The Dividual: Jearl and Saveri are functionally identical in all but model, since they live in the same house, share a bed, aren't merchants or trainers, and are both Mythic Dawn agents who spy on Cloud Ruler and attack you on sight, so they have no dialogue.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Implied, though possibly due to developer oversight. Jearl isn't a good fighter and her Mythic Dawn orders explicitly tell her not to risk a confrontation with the player, but by the time you meet her, all Mythic Dawn agents are openly hostile and she is no exception. Apparently Jearl is just really eager to fight the person who stole the Mysterium Xarxes.

 * Outdoorsy Gal: Jearl enjoys traveling and some Dummied Out dialogue has her say she spends most of her time "outdoors, walking the ridges and valleys." In-game, however, she spends most of her time spying on the Cloud Ruler temple.

Citizens of Bravil

A riverside town located to the south of the Imperial City. It lies along the northern border of Elsweyr and is an important stopping point for the Mages Guild questline.

Bravil in General

• The Dung Ages: Compared to the other towns, Bravil gives off this vibe by the fact of how muddy it looks.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: How they are treated by other counties. The other counts have nothing good to say about count Terentius and his son and even people in the Imperial slums view it as a step up from living in Bravil.
• Opium Den: The town has a skooma den which the counts son frequents.
• Town with a Dark Secret: Unbeknownst to everyone, Bravil is the secret location of the Night Mother. With the statue in the middle of it being really her tomb.

Count Regulus Terentius

The Count of Bravil. A former champion of the Imperial Arena, he grew up to be a drunkard and general ne'er-do-well. He and his city are looked down upon by the other counts.

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• Decadent Court: The contrast betwen Bravil's decadent Terentius family and its dilapidated town is palpable. And yes, the former is a large reason for the latter.
• I Gave My Word: He sends his best soldier to Bruma if you help against the Oblivion Gate.
• Like Father, Like Son: Regulus's vice is alcohol, while his son's is skooma. But they are both useless drug addicts.
• Old Soldier: He was a former Grand Champion.

Hans Black-Nail

Bravil's local blacksmith. Knew Count Terentius when he was younger.

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• The Blacksmith: For Bravil. He'll offer the Hero of Kvatch his services, should they need their armor or weapons repaired.
• Hidden Depths: He knew Count Terentius before he became a useless drunkard. And he's a Mythic Dawn sleeper agent; apparently, he was frustrated by his old friend's failures and decided to change things by force..
• We Used to Be Friends: He used to be friends with Count Terentius, back when he was still a rising star in the arena. Now, he just wishes Regulus would straighten out his son.

Ranaline

The cook at the Lonely Suitor Lodge. A blunt woman who keeps her own company.

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• Creepy Loner Girl: She fits most of the criteria, though she doesn't really creep people out. She is a member of Mythic Dawn, which is plenty creepy.
• Hidden Depths: She's a Mythic Dawn agent.
• Horrible Judge of Character: She notes that she's "always found the wrong sort of friends," which is why she currently doesn't bother. And she's a member of the Mythic Dawn cult, which is another bad choice in friends for her.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: It's implied that she really does want friends, but she's been burned so many times she's given up.
• No Social Skills: If you try to talk to her beyond her terse introduction, she'll quickly rebuff you and that will be that.

Kurdan gro-Dragol

An orc money lender who secretly lures people into what he calls "the Hunters run."

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• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: He tricks people into participating in his game, which they are hunted by other killers on an island.
• Loan Shark: He lends money to people, and picks desperate saps into becoming targets in his Hunters run, where they are hunted by other people.
• Snipe Hunt: He tricks the player into finding his family axe in Fort Grief. But there never was one, and he simply fooled them into becoming his latest victims in his killer game.

Citizens of Leyawiin

A south-eastern city in Cyrodiil nestled between the borders of Elsweyr and the Black Marsh, which give it significant Khajiit and Argonian populations.

Leyawiin in General

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• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Aside from the Countess's, ahem, pastime, most human races view themselves as having civilized the Elsweyr-Black Marsh border that has been appropriated as Leyawiin, The Beastfolk on the other hand are half worried they’ll take more land, but coup with it by giving their new cultural overseers the business.
• White Man's Burden: Many human citizens consider it their duty to bring the light of Imperial civilization to their Beastfolk neighbors. With exception given to the Fighter and Mages Guilds - both far more acclimated to diversity.

Countess Alessia Caro

The Countess of Leyawiin, recently married to Count Marius Caro. She is the daughter of Countess Ariana Valga of Chorrol and detests Argonians, Khajiit and Dark Elves.

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• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She's described as a dutiful wife and pious churchgoer... but is in fact a racist who goes so far as to torture Argonian prisoners in her cellar.
• Butt-Monkey: Is the target of theft in one quest and subjected to having her party crashed and clothes stripped off to humor Sanguine in another.
• Churchgoing Villain: Very religious, and quite evil. Notably, her religion is against the things she does.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: She regularly visits her mother in Chorrol.
• Fantastic Racism: She despises the cultures of the Argonians, Khajiit, and Dunmer. In fact, the only positive association she has is with Nibenian culture (ironic, considering she herself is Colovian).
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Has a lot in common with Delphine Lalaurie, though it may not have been intentional.
• Proper Lady: Supposed to be one. The in-game loading screens describe her as "lovely and cultivated" and she's known to pay visits to her mother and the chapel regularly. Sanguine describes her castle as a "dull, dreary place".

Count Marius Caro

The Count of Leyawiin and husband of Alessia Caro. He's the one that you receive quests from.

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• Reasonable Authority Figure: He shows none of his wife's racism. He hates criminals, though, and will put out a bounty in the Black Bow Bandits for any of their bows that you bring back.

Cingor

A Bosmer warrior who's the leader of Leyawiin's neighborhood watch. He's also the president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and everything else- he's the only member.

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• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's actually a quite competent fighter.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: He's desperate to be accepted by somebody; see the No-Respect Guy section below. Which is probably why he joined the Mythic Dawn, and even they seem to keep him at arm's length.
• Nice Guy: He's perfectly friendly, just a little pathetic.
• No-Respect Guy: Nobody takes him seriously. He can't get anyone else to join his watch, can't get into the Fighters Guild (who are happy to accept you if you just walk in and ask), and it's implied that even the Mythic Dawn don't respect him, as he doesn't know their signature spells.
• Oddly Small Organization: The neighborhood watch consists of just him.
• Token Good Teammate: A bug in the main quest means that with a high enough reputation in the Fighters' Guild, he won't attack you even when the rest of the Mythic Dawn agents become hostile. One imagines this trope is in play, and he's just too nice to hurt you even after you steal the Mysterium Xarxes, and/or that the Mythic Dawn don't tell him anything and so he isn't even aware of the spoiler event.
• We Help the Helpless: His purpose in founding the watch is to deal with crimes that the guards either can't or won't.

Citizens of Anvil

A seaside town located in the far southwestern corner of Cyrodiil. It boasts an impressive port and is one of the main hubs for the Fighters Guild.

Anvil in General

• Father Neptune: Practically everyone who lives dockside, but also a fair share inside the walls, are hardy sea-traders.
• Gangplank Galleon: Dunbarrow Cove is an underground pirate hideout that is occupied by undead pirates. After clearing out the undead, the player can upgraded the place into their personal base, and send pirates to plunder gold for them.

Countess Millona Umbranox

The Countess of Anvil, whose husband, Corvus, vanished mysteriously ten years ago, leaving her in control of his lands.

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• Not So Stoic: When her husband, Corvus, the Grey Fox, returns to her and breaks Nocturnal's curse.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Is one of the more gentle rulers of Cyrodiil. She openly admits everyone is welcome at her castle, as long as they behave. Several lower class workers of Anvil even tell you the countess takes time to personally greet them.
• The Wise Prince: She is considered to be one of the best Counts that Anvil has ever had.

Citizens of Cheydinhal

A north-eastern city in Cyrodiil located at the foot of the Jerall Mountains. Cheydinhal is the embark point for many players scouring the north-east and far eastern portions of the map.

Cheydinhal in General

• Token Non-Human: It's the one city whose Count is a Dunmer, instead of an Imperial.
• Town with a Dark Secret: Beneath the town is the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary where they conduct their operations.

Count Andel Indarys

The Count of Cheydinhal and the only non-Imperial among them. His son is something of a Miles Gloriosus who tries to close an Oblivion Gate and goes missing. He's also rumored to have had his wife killed twenty years ago.

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• Ambiguously Evil: His wife was discovered dead at the foot of some stairs, and it's rumored that Andel murdered her, but this might just be because of anti-Dunmer racism.
• Nepotism: Accused by Countess Caro of having gotten his appointment due to his connections to King Helseth and Queen Mother Barenziah of Morrowind. Not exactly a reliable source, though, considering her racism.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Maybe, the game makes it ambiguous if he's this or a coward. It's up to interpretation, but he refuses to rush his guards into the portal as it deprives them of his walls' defenses and he has no intel of the other side. When his son rushes in taking many of the young men and local rookies with him, he still refuses to waste his guards in a portal rush despite his personal feelings.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Played with. The loading screens indicate that he's taking bribes from the Dark Brotherhood to keep quiet about their presence in his town, but knowing them, they didn't give him much choice in the matter.
• Twofer Token Minority/Token Nonhuman: The sole non-Imperial among the Counts of Cyrodiil, and a Dunmer rather than a human.

Farwil Indarys

Son of Andel and the leader of the Knights of the Thorne. The Hero of Kvatch has to rescue him and his companions from an Oblivion Gate that opens up outside the city.

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• Glory Seeker: Always eager to face threats, which usually puts him in danger since he is woefully ill-equipped for them.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Charges into an Oblivion gate and promptly gets most of his friends killed.
  • Indeed, he has very little concern for his own life if he comes with you into the tower and will almost certainly die. The least frustrating method for getting him home alive is to completely avoid him by using a water walking enchantment to cross the lava and avoid the bridge he's on. That way he stays safely on the bridge outside while you close the gate yourself. And the reward for keeping him alive is definitely worth it.
• Lord Error-Prone: Likes to make boasts about the great accomplishments he and the Knights of the Thorne have done, but they are all very silly or exaggerated. The townspeople note that he is never around when something big is actually going on, and that he and the other knights spend most of their time drinking.

Ulrich Leland

A corrupt Captain of the Cheydinhal Guards who imposes "fines" on people of Cheydinal. The Hero has to find a way to expose his corruption, and take him down.

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• Dirty Cop: He imposes illegal fines on people of Cheydinhal, and pockets the money for himself.
• Fantastic Racism: He seems to target the Dunmer citizens quite often. One part of the quest has him face a Dunmer woman, and the Hero can arrange for him to be killed by her.

Voranil

"If you were somebody, I'd know. But I don't, so you aren't."

An Altmer noble who likes to host parties at his home of Riverview. Unfortunately, it's invitation only and you will never be invited.

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• Bad Boss: His servants don't like him all that much. His bad attitude has apparently been enough to drive two of his servants to the Mythic Dawn.
  Tolisi Girith: ''He pays peanuts. And thinks it entitles him to chew us out 18 hours a day? Sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake coming here."
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: His super-exclusive parties are forever closed to you, even if you're a national hero, the Divine Crusader, and leader of the Fighters' and Mages' Guilds. Apparently, such titles aren't much in comparison to the count, two mages' guild members, and some Skooma dealers.
• Failed a Spot Check: Never recognizes you, even if you're the boss of some of his guests, or if you've closed a Oblivion Gate just outside Cheydinhal and saved the Count's son while doing so, despite the Count being a regular guest; you'd think Count Indarys would at least talk about you sometimes if you saved his son's life. He also has no idea that two of his servants are agents of Mythic Dawn, despite them keeping a copy of the Mythic Dawn commentaries in plain sight in their quarters.
• Functional Addict: His house always has Skooma in it, and some of his party guests are members of a Skooma smuggling ring.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He'll always dismiss you as a nobody on the grounds that he, a minor noble whose greatest claims to fame are being friends with the Count and owning a moderately large house, hasn't heard of you.
• Upper-Class Twit: Definitely part of Cheydinhal's upper class but is really only good for hosting parties and keeping the neighborhood Skooma gang in business.

Elionwy and Orintur

A married couple of Altmer spell merchants (Elionwy sells supplies and Orintur sells spells) who are members of the Mages' Guild.

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• Happily Married: Orintur calls Elionwy "my love" and Elionwy likes to gush over her husband's skill in magic.

Voranil's Servants

Voranil employs four servants to maintain his Riverview house; married Orc couple Maknok gro-Coblug and Rogmesh gra-Coblug (groundskeeper and cook respectively) and the Dunmer Tanasa Arano (charwoman) and Tolisi Girith (maid).

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• Fiery Redhead: Tolisi has red hair and is happy to complain about her employer's bad behavior. She'll also attack you after you make the Mythic Dawn hostile by stealing the Mysterium Xarxes.
• Hates Small Talk: Rogmesh, though it's more like Too Busy for Small Talk.
• Hidden Depths: Tanasa and Tolisi are Mythic Dawn agents, though Maknok and Rogmesh are innocent. It's implied that their frustration with escaping the Tribunal Temple only to be stuck serving Voranil led them to the cult.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Tanasa states that she immigrated to Cyrodiil to get out from under the Tribunal Temple's thumb.

Citizens of Chorrol

A north-western city in Cyrodiil located between the Great Forest of west Cyrodiil and the Colovian Highlands of the Hammerfell border. Its proximity with the Weynon Priory makes it the second most likely city to be visited by a player sticking to the Main Quest, right after the Imperial City itself.

Chorrol in General

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• Mountain Man: Most residents are proud to be such.

Countess Arriana Valga

The recently-widowed Countess of Chorrol.

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• Happily Married: She was deeply devoted to her husband. Dialogue with Chanel, the court mage, however, is a bit ambiguous on how the Count felt. He may have had an affair with Chanel, or it could be a case of All Love Is Unrequited on her part.
• The Help Helping Themselves: The lead suspects in the theft of her portrait of her beloved husband are her Court Mage and her porter. It's the mage Chanel, albeit out of unrequited infatuation rather than malice, but the Countess dismisses her if she's exposed.
• The Lost Lenore: Her husband died recently, and she's still heartbroken. Notably, a quest of hers involves finding someone who stole a portrait of her husband. It was the court mage and painter, Chanel.
• Never a Self-Made Woman: Downplayed. She only inherited the position because she married her husband, who was the hereditary count. But she is beloved by her people and runs her county well.

Eugal Belette

A newcomer to Chorrol who hasn't had time to get to know anyone, though the unsavory rumors about him certainly play a part in his lack of socialization.

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• Creepy Basement: His basement contains a locked room full of weapons and alchemy tools, along with Mythic Dawn paphernalia.
• Loners Are Freaks: Town gossip will occasionally mention "strange noises coming out of his house", presumably from his Mythic Dawn activities.

Citizens of Kvatch

An impressive city in the hinterland of the Gold Coast of Cyrodiil, located between Anvil and Skingrad. It is built atop a large bluff, raising the city above the surrounding forests.

Kvatch in General

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• Badass Bystander: A look at the game files reveals that Weedum-Ja, one of the few survivors you can meet at the refugee camp, is a level 20 Pilgrim. Gameplay-wise, she could have single-handedly torn Dagon's legions a collective new one, saved the whole city and closed the Oblivion Gate before the Hero was even out of the prison's sewers to begin with. Another survivor, Oletra, is level 40, a distinction shared with only 4 others: Baurus, Renault (both Blades), the Grey Fox, Modryn Oreyn, and M'aiq the Liar.

Count Ormellius Goldwine

The ruling Count of Kvatch. He gets trapped within his own castle during the Daedra attack, and rescuing him will be necessary to gain Kvatch's aid in the future.

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• I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: You have to take his ring from his dead body and return it to Savlian Matius to complete the quest The Battle for Castle Kvatch.
• Purple Is Powerful: He wears a black & burgundy outfit, which is the closest any noble other than the Emperor himself gets to playing this trope right.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: After successfully storming the castle and killing every Daedra inside, you will find Count Goldwine lying dead in a pool of his own blood. If only you'd gotten here sooner...

Cyrodiil Guilds and Factions

Fighters Guild characters

Modryn Oreyn

Voiced by: Craig Sechler (English)^note Other Languages:Rudolf Pankov (Russian)

Champion of Chorrol's Fighters Guild.

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• Continuity Nod: He's a descendant of Oreyn Bearclaw and related to Farvyn Oreyn, both of whom were involved in Malacath's Daedric quest in Morrowind.
  • Notably unlike his relatives, he doesn't inflate his accomplishments, and was returned the Helm of Oreyn Bearclaw by a visitor from Morrowind.
• Giftedly Bad: In the art of war, he's a master. In the art of painting...not so much. Just look at this masterpiece◊
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Vilena is considered to be too much of a doter to get much done with the Fighters Guild. Modryn tends to handle most of the work.

Maglir

Voiced by: Craig Sechler (English)^note Other Languages:Rudolf Pankov (Russian)

A fellow guild member who often refuses contracts, due to their danger and low pay.

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• Dirty Coward: Runs away from Fighters Guild contracts at first. Later on, he defects to the Blackwood Company, another band of mercenaries who use less legal means to get what they want. And he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
• Face–Heel Turn: Joins the Blackwood Company for the higher pay they offer.
• Game-Breaking Bug: Oh dear... sometimes, the game doesn't remove him from the Fighters Guild properly when he joins the Blackwood Company. When you kill him at the end of the quest, you will be expelled from the guild for killing a fellow guild member, despite the fact he went hostile towards you. There are very few ways around this- either go outside and let a city guard kill him, or use the console to reset your guild murder status to avoid expulsion. It's not known what causes this... certain game mods may interfere with scripts, but it's also known to happen in an unmodded game for some players.
• Greed: Defects to the Blackwood Company when they offer him more money.
• Guest-Star Party Member: During the quest 'Den of Thieves', where you take Maglir along to defeat a group of thieves. This time he actually will fight alongside you.
• I Have a Family: One of his excuses for defaulting on contracts. Considering you can't actually meet them, he might be lying.
• Lazy Bum: Rarely ever completes contracts, instead spending most of his time drinking and offering excuses about why he can't go out this time.

Vilena Donton

Voiced by: Catherine Flye (English)^note Other Languages:Nina Gogaeva (Russian)

The Guildmaster of the Fighters Guild.

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• A Father to His Men: A Deconstructed Character Archetype. She's a doting and overprotective mother due to the death of her son Vitellus, which affects her judgement.
• Never Mess with Granny: Aged and wizened with two fully-grown sons, and she's always 40 levels higher than you and her health at the lowest is even higher than Umbra's. You never fight her, but it's best not to mess with her.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: After realizing her faults in being too overprotective towards guild members, and your actions in saving the guild, she immediately names you Guildmaster and retires herself, knowing you would do a far better job in leading the guild.

Viranus Donton

Voiced by: Wes Johnson (English)^note Other Languages:Vladimir Antonik (Russian)

The Guildmaster's son.

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• BFS: His weapon is a two-handed sword
• Leeroy Jenkins: In practice and on paper.
• The Load: During an early Escort Mission with him, he is invincible since he has a Plotline Death to suffer later, but his tendency to get knocked out rather quickly gets old fast.
• My Beloved Smother: He loves his mother dearly, but expresses frustration at her refusal to send him out any missions since his older brother's death.
• Plotline Death: He suffers a rather unceremonious death offscreen late in the questline.
• Sacrificial Lion: At the hands of the Sap-Berserk Blackwood Company Men.
• Straight Gay: Some of his diary entries very heavily imply he and another man in the Guild are having an affair.

Azani Blackheart

A Redguard Nightblade living in the ruins of Atatar who the Fighters' Guild was contracted to kill. They couldn't complete the contract, losing 15 men trying, but the Blackwood Company stepped in and managed it, making the Fighters' Guild look like fools in the process.

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• Cool Sword: Wields the magic sword Sinweaver. Part of the original contract's stipulations were retrieving the sword; the Blackwood Company did this by making a deal with Azani: he gave them the sword, and they gave him some of the contract money and told him where he could find the mage who set up the job so he could then kill the guy and get the sword back. After you kill Azani, you can loot the sword for yourself.
• Magic Knight: As a Nightblade.
• One-Man Army: The dude is 25 levels higher than the player, so no matter what he's a terror few can hope to match. Modryn Oreyn (himself level 40) went after him with a group of 20 men and lost 3/4s of them, and it turns out even the Blackwood Company couldn't kill him; instead, they made a deal with him to fake the contract's completion.

Mages Guild characters

Hannibal Traven

Voiced by: Ralph Cosham (English)^note Other Languages:Pavel Kipnis (Russian)

The Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild and responsible for the banning of Necromancy.

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• The Archmage: Naturally. Not only is he the top-ranked mage in Tamriel, he's a whopping Level 50 with maxed-out magic skills and three different spell lists.
• Big Good: Of the Mages Guild questline.
• Cool Old Guy: An old but badass Archmage.
• Fate Worse than Death: Places himself in a huge Soul Gem, which are known for this. If you've played Battlespire or the Dawnguard quests in Skyrim, you find out he'll be trapped in the Soul Cairn for all eternity if it's ever used to enchant anything.
  • The alternative isn't much better: He's stuck on the Colossal Soul Gem for as long as it exists. Let's hope it's comfy inside.
• General Ripper: Has a grudge against necromancy. Turns out, he's right.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Places his soul in the Colossal Black Soul Gem so Mannimarco can't take The Prisoner's soul.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: An Archmage who makes an Heroic Sacrifice.
• Mission Control: You report to him once you Guild work shifts from reacting to the Cult of the Black Worm to counter offensives.
• Non-Action Guy: He doesn't do much (at least until his Heroic Sacrifice).
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Though many necromancers would argue otherwise he at least gave one of the primary detractors in the Guild a chance to plead her case as to why necromancy should stay and even after she was found guilty of human sacrifice, thus bias, and kicked out of the Guild he still published her arguments not wanting to devalue her points.

Carahil

Voiced by: Linda Canyon (English)^note Other Languages:Elena Kischik (Russian)

Altmer head of the Anvil Chapter of the Mages Guild. Proud to proclaim she worked under now Arch-Mage Hannibal Traven before he was called off to the Mages Council and eventually became Arch-Mage.

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• Knight Templar: She wants the Mages Guild hall of Anvil to focus on doing good works, to rather violent degrees as they arrise. In addition she is noticlbly anti-necromancy, even by Mages Guild standards.
• Hero of Another Story:Over 100 years ago, she had defeated necromancer Lorgren Benirus, but wasn't able to fully banish his curse on Benirus Manor.
• Holier Than Thou: Can come off as this a bit, she has no patience for those who will not make themselves useful to the Guild.
• Master of Illusion: Though the guild hall focuses on Restoration, Carahil is an Illusion trainer.
• Principles Zealot: She would be against necromany even if it was still legal. As far as she is concerned, the controversial decision was just closing a loop-hole.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: She is favored by Hannibal Traven for her constant support, hence why she never stops singing his praise.
• Retired Badass: One hundred years prior she exorcised, mostly, the lich of Benirus Manor. She now has a comfortable stable job as the head of the Mages’ Guild chapter just across the street from the place.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Not only is she perfectly willing to put associates in life or death situations, she resents objection to such. Being a mage involves real risk and she expects you to adapt to that quickly.
• So Proud of You: If you kill Lorgren Benirus, she congratulates you on finishing what she had started.
• Statuesque Stunner: She's very pretty and, being an Altmer, is taller than any other race.
• White Mage: Her guild halls focus is Restoration, and she is its undisputed head.

Jeanne Frasoric

Voiced by: Catherien Flye (English)^note Other Languages:Nina Gogaeva (Russian)

The rather inept head of Bruma's Mages Guild. Often the victim of pranks set up by the other guild members.

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• Karma Houdini Warranty: She appears to continue to run her Guild Hall completely unqualified with no repercussions for her hubris minus getting slightly flustered for a day. However... When Mannimarco has the Guild Hall destroyed she gets perhaps far more karma for her hubris and air-headed nature than was necessary.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Jeanne is quite convinced she is the most learned scholar at Bruma. But her chapter members are all experimenting with advanced techniques like invisibility, dispelling and alchemy, while she struggles to use a basic light spell up for five seconds.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: The nicest thing any of her subordinates has to say about her is that she's well-intentioned but incompetent. Others are insulted that they have to report to someone of her sheer ineptitude.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Commentary from her and Hannibal Traven indicates she got and keeps her position with persistent praise and flattery.

Dagail

Voiced by: Linda Canyon (English)^note Other Languages:Elena Kischik (Russian)

A Bosmer mage, formerly a Guild leader, encouraged into retirement in Leyawiin after she started to show signs of senility. Master Mysticism Trainer.

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• Attack Reflector: When battle starts, Dagail is prone to putting up a brief 100% Magic Reflect spell up. Which makes very short work of any of the Destruction Magic favoring Mythic Dawn you want to drag into the Leyamin Mage Hall.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Rumors about her go like this. Apparently she is a learned mage, knows a lot about Mysticism... and sheep?
• Cloudcuckoolander: Subverted. She appears mad, but in truth it is just a communication issue - She can think clearly but when she tries to process coherent speech it comes out jumbled and rambling.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: An elderly woman forced into retirement due to her inability to speak coherently, a condition passed down to her from her father, with her just barely tolerated by those near to her who see her as a nice but still The Load? If not for her Seer Stone being able to fix this and the fact she is a confirmed diviner this would be text-book Alzheimer's.
• Fortune Teller: Does free divinations via palm reading.
• Loon with a Heart of Gold: She is the only Representative willing to give you a recommendation right away but can’t due to her condition.
• Mad Oracle: Somewhat, she has reliable visions but they cluster and overlap to the point she can’t make them out or even separate her own thoughts from them without her pendant.
• Master of One Magic: She is the master Mysticism trainer.
• Non-Linear Character: Strongly implied without her amulet she experiences the past, present and future all at the same time.
• No Social Skills: It is so hard for her to talk to people that the Leyawiin chapter runs completely independent of her oversight.
• One-Man Army: Drag the Mythic Dawn into the Leyawiin Guild hall and watch this kindly old lady utterly destroy them in seconds. She not only max level, 25, but uses Spell Absorb + Reflect to make herself actively healed by magic while reflecting it back at her targets. And all of a sudden it's a lot easier to envision her as a former member of the Mage’s Council.
• Power Incontinence: She is so good at reading portents and diving the future she frequently can not distinguish between past, future, present, living or dead. She hears her dead father just as easily as she hears you.
• Random Species Offspring: Her brother over in Chorrol is a Dunmer yet she is a Bosmer with zero hint of mixed racial traits - indicating at-least one of them is adopted. The subject never comes up when speaking with her though. On the other hand, it's stated in the lore that, when it comes to breeding, the child will almost always be the species of the mother with the notable exception being the Bretons who show characteristics of both their parent species. That could mean they are half-siblings sharing the same father.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: She used to be one of the Heads of the Guild but was encouraged to retire and sent off to a literal backwoods town like Leyawiin. This may have been due to her mental problems, age or possibly even her expertise in Mysticism, which overlaps with the now illegal Necromancy school.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Certainly one of the nicer Guild Heads. She lets her Guild members do as they wish, gave her assistant the run of the place, is willing to give you a recommendation right away and even allowed a “reformed” necromancer into her Hall not that he was very appreciative.
• Scatter Brained Senior: Years of divinations have warped her perception of linear time.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Her dialogue sounds disconnected and far-fetched but if You know what to listen for it references the traitor in the Guild hall, The Amulet of Kings and The Oblivion crisis.
• The Load: How her hall sees her, it's not her fault though, and she -does- get better.

Kud-Ei

Voiced by: Elisabeth Noone (English)^note Other Languages:Marina Bakina (Russian)

The Argonian head of Bravil Mages Guild. She has been trying to deal with the fall out of a Stalker with a Crush towards one of her apprentices... which she would tend to herself if not for an entirely separate situation regarding her missing friend.

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• A Father to His Men: Kud-Ei considers herself something of a den-mother to her local magi, focusing on resolving social issues just as much as professional ones.
• A Friend in Need: Two of her quests have her dispatch the Hero of Kvatch to help out friends of hers who are in trouble. If the Hero takes care of them, she's very grateful in both word and deed.
• But Thou Must!: Subverted. She just won’t stop talking about her dear missing friend Henantier, however this has nothing to do with her Guild assignment and it can be ignored entirely for a brief fetch quest.
• Master of Illusion: It is her Guild Hall’s specialty with Kud-Ei herself able to scribe Charm Person scrolls with such ease she can give them away like free candy.
• Nice Girl: Certainly one of the friendlier Mage Hall heads, she is deeply concerned about keeping all her hall-mates safe and secure.
• Secret-Keeper: She dares not mention what has happened to her friend Henantier to any official in the Guild.

Teekeeus

Voiced by: Jonathan Bryce (English)^note Other Languages:Oleg Shcherbinin (Russian)

The Head of the Chorrol Guild Hall, an Argonian specializing in Conjuration. A stringent enforcer of rules and protcol. His former student Earana has found an exceedingly powerful spell and won't leave until he helps her recover it.

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• But Thou Must!: His quest will give you the option of handing Fingers Of The Mountain over to either him or Earana, but until he gets it, you get no recommendation.
• My Greatest Failure: Earana was a former student of his that he never wishes to see again. No details are given, but seeing how ambitious she is against how strict he is, details may be a moot point.
• Noodle Incident: Teekeeus was fired from the Arcane University due to some drama Earana stirred up while there; she was eventually kicked out when exposed as just trying to stir up trouble, but no one will speak of the details.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Though he is the model of following the rules, his quest demonstrates honesty is not always the best policy for a mage. Either he will get the book stolen in order to get the recommendation after you got the spell, or you will be cheated out of a powerful spell to get your recommendation. Either way, whoever decides to be the honest one loses out.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Teekeeus was kicked out of the Arcane University due to Earana, he would be vindicated later, but by then he was reassigned to the Chorrol chapter head where he would never bother the Mages’ Council again.
• Rules Lawyer: He will enforce due process of all Guild Hall activities to their strictist letter and point out for even a moment if one is not being followed.
• Third Option: Get the Fingers Of The Mountain back and give it to either Teekeeus or his former student, Earana; Give it to Earana and she will teach you a powerful spell, give it to Teekeeus and you will get your recomendation for full Mages Guild status but no spell and neither will give it back once you surrender it... unless you steal it back from one and give it to the other.

Adrienne Berene

Voiced by: Catherine Flye (English)^note Other Languages:Nina Gogaeva (Russian)

Breton leader of the Skingrad Guild Hall. Her apprentice Erthor is missing, something she feels like she is probably obligated to care about.

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• Absentminded Professor: She "forgot" Erthor went to train at Bleak Flats Cave and makes you ask around first before you can go retrieve him. Was she just not paying attention when he told her, or is she deliberately holding up the process to teach him a lesson? Good luck figuring that one out.
• Badass Bookworm: Her face is almost always buried in a book, however she has quite the array of deadly spells to show for it, in-fact it spills over into other vendors, as the spells the other mages have to sell they learned from Adrienne.
• Fair-Weather Mentor: Adrienne told Erthor he is not to practice dangerous unconventional spells in her hall, so he went to a cave to practice them instead. She is fairly annoyed by the whole situation and cares about his safety with as much passion as she would care about some spelt wine and really just wants some one to clean the whole mess up.
• Fantastically Indifferent: When Erthor arrives back at the Guild Hall to announce he has been rescued from a life or death situation it only provokes vague annoyance he is interrupting her reading to acknowledge he is still alive.
  Erthor: Adrienne, I’m back! I was rescued!
  Adrienne: So it would seem. You’re unharmed I presume.
  Erthor: Well, my pride is a little wounded...
  Adrienne: Oh spare me. You’re lucky I bothered to send someone after you at all.
• For Science!: Yes she has all sorts of nasty Destruction spells, but she is more interested in the research they can provide than actual destructive applications.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Unsurprisingly she has one of the largest assortment of Destruction spells as the head of the Hall which specializes in Destruction.
• Stopped Caring: Erthor kept looking for loopholes to try dangerous magic out, at a certain point, Adrienne just stopped caring. She asks you to rescue him as little more than professional obligation.

Falcar

Voiced by: Craig Sechler (English)^note Other Languages:Rudolf Pankov (Russian)

The Altmer head of the Cheydinhal Mages Guild Hall, which specializes in Alteration. Snide and hard to please.

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• Bad Boss: No one likes him, in-fact they are all afraid of him. No wonder, since he's killed at least one of them.
• Fair-Weather Mentor: Vidkun, the last apprentice who came seeking approval, was given a task so challenging he has not been seen since. Falcar assures his hall-mates that they are better off without people so intimidated by their work they would flee town. Though in-fact Vidkun did not leave, he died trying to complete his task.
• Jerkass: He challenges you to get a ring back from the well behind the hall, if you can’t handle that he assures you that you are even weaker than he first thought. But this crosses the line from The Social Darwinist to Jerkass with the revelation that the ring is enchanted to weigh A LOT more than it should, meaning you are likely to drown once you get down the well.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • He had to leave The Guild due to being exposed as a necromancer, something that never would have happened if he had just given you a simple task and sent you on your way.
  • He is later encountered working for Mannimarco to get his revenge...for being kicked out for trying to kill you...It does not end well for him.
• The Mole: He is actually a necromancer looking to join Mannimarco smuggling information and Soul Gems out of the Guild and into the Cult of the Black Worm
• The Social Darwinist: Has no problem endangering apprentices as a means of providing their talents.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: He has a fine collection of Soul Gems but not ordinary Soul Gems, Black Soul Gems - for sacrificing humanoid souls.

Raminus Polus

Voiced by: Wes Johnson (English)^note Other Languages:Vladimir Antonik (Russian)

An Imperial Master Wizard at the Arcane University in the Imperial City. He handles much of the Guild's administrative issues.

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• Mission Control: Once you are allowed in the college, Raminus is your main handler on behalf of Hannibal Traven, until you’re moved above his rank to work with Traven himself to prepare counter offensives against The Cult Of The Black Worm.
• Nice Guy: Never shows any animosity or condescending behavior to the player, unless the player breaks Mages Guild rules.
• Number Two: As Master-Wizard, he is naturally this to Traven, and later, to the player as guild rank advances.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He is Traven's second in command, but never abuses this position or acts haughtily because of it. He even apologizes and corrects himself in one quest when he realizes that he endangered you by omitting important information.
• Secret-Keeper: He's one of the few who know that Count Janus Hassildor is a vampire.
• Sole Survivor: He is the only member of the Council of Mages to survive the war with the Necromancers.

Mannimarco

Voiced by: Craig Sechler (English)^note Other Languages:Rudolf Pankov (Russian)

A legendary necromancer from the First Era, now returned to take back the reins of the Order of the Black Worm. See also his entry in The Elder Scrolls: Recurring Characters.

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• Achilles' Heel: His Magicka pool is capped at 350. Which wouldn't be so much of a problem if his higher-level spells didn't cost so much as to completely wipe his pool with one or two casts (he can't actually use his Summon Lich spell because it costs more Magicka than he has), forcing him, a Squishy Wizard, to rely on melee combat.
• Ambiguous Situation: Given Mannimarco's role in the Warp in the West and his ascension to godhood, it's not clear if this Mannimarco is either a mortal form he took to personally destroy the Mages Guild, a Literal Split Personality thanks to his apotheosis not going as planned, or an imposter.
• Animate Dead: The Staff of Worms reanimates fallen enemies. Naturally, this includes Mannimarco himself.
• Arc Villain: The Mages Guild quest line deals with the threat posed by his plots, culminating in you personally putting him back in the grave.
• Black Eyes of Evil: Using his Staff of Worms resurrects a corpse and gives them these for the duration.
• Informed Ability: Said to be nearly invincible, but is only slightly more powerful than the average necromancer. In fact, he's weaker than Mankar Camoran.
• Necromancer: He is the leader of the Order of the Black Worms, after all.
• Squishy Wizard: He has a lot of high-level spells, but only a silver dagger and some robes for when he needs to fight the normal way.
• The Worf Effect: When the player finally faces him, he appears to be a typical Altmer mage in some regular necromancer robes. Compare this to his appearance in Daggerfall, where he was a menacing hooded figure with Glowing Eyes of Doom.
• What Is Evil?: He claims that good and evil are "manifestations of the same thing".

Irlav Jarol

Voiced by: Wes Johnson (English)^note Other Languages:Vladimir Antonik (Russian)

A Imperial Master Wizard on the Council of Mages. He is a researcher specializing in Ayleid history and authored the book "Magic from the Sky".

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• Adventurer Archaeologist: Implied to be one until he became a member of the Council. In fact, he sends the player off to an Ayleid Ruin to study the ancient site and help an expedition that's stalled out.
• Late to the Tragedy: By the time the player is tasked to reach him after he took the Bloodworm Helm, Necromancers have caught up to him and slain him. Notably, though, they weren't fast enough to take the helmet and give it to Mannimarco.
• Power Incontinence: After being attacked by necromancers, in desperation, he put on the Bloodworm Helm and summoned many daedra. Unfortunately, he couldn't control them and was killed by them.

Caranya

Voiced by: Linda Canyon (English)^note Other Languages:Elena Kischik (Russian)

An Altmer Wizard on the Council of Mages.

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• Brainwashed and Crazy: After killing her Traven has you recover the Colossal Soul Gem to prevent Mannimarco from enthralling you - implying Caranya’s soul had been removed to convert her. This would also explain her Mood Swinger status
• Face–Heel Turn: Once problems with the Necromancer's Guild become serious, Caranya defects to them.
• Mercy Kill: By the time she steals the Necromancer’s Amulet she has been enthralled to Mannimarco, you’re less likely killing a traitor than putting an Empty Shell out of its misery.
• The Mole: She is a Necromancer and secretly serves Mannimarco. She steals the Necromancer's Amulet from the Mages Guild to give it to him, but gets killed by the Hero of Kvatch before she can deliver it.
• Mood-Swinger: Goes back and forth between "If you need anything, I'll be happy to help," and "I'm too important for you!"
• Necromancer

Thieves Guild characters

The Gray Fox

Voiced by: Wes Johnson (English)^note Other Languages:Vladimir Antonik (Russian)

The mysterious head of the Thieves Guild.

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• Catchphrase: "Capital!"
• Color Animal Codename: Gray fox, of course.
• Darkness Von Gothick Name: Again, Raven Shadownight is only slightly less cool and edgy than the actual Trope Namer.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Due to the curse of the Gray Cowl, hiding is easy for him. All he has to do is dress normally, and he's just another face in the crowd. In fact, you can interact with him multiple times as 'A Stranger', a random Thieves Guild member, prior to the curse being broken.
• I Know Your True Name: Uses an Elder Scroll to discover the name of the first Gray Fox who stole the Gray Cowl from Nocturnal. Speaking it breaks the curse on the cowl, restoring Count Umbranox's identity and allowing the Hero of Kvatch to wear it without losing their own.
• Just Like Robin Hood: The beggars of the Imperial City are all under his protection. In return, they serve as his spies.
• Legacy Character: The Gray Fox is merely an identity magically assumed by the person who wears the cowl. It's stated that there were numerous other "Gray Foxes" over the years, creating the illusion of him being immortal.
• Meaningful Name: Corvus Umbranox roughly translates as 'Raven Shadownight'. All three are evocative of symbology of Nocturnal, Daedric Prince of night, shadow, and thieves.
• Ret-Gone: The cursed cowl he's forced to wear makes all traces of his existence vanish, even if he goes right up and reveals his identity to someone (which he apparently did to both his wife and you, but the curse pretty much erased that from history). He's always simply "a stranger".
• Secret Identity: Count Corvus Umbranox.
• Shrouded in Myth: Mostly due to him supposedly living for over 300 years (because the cowl's curse makes it seem as if the same person has always been The Gray Fox, no matter how different each Fox is from the last).

Dark Brotherhood characters

Lucien Lachance

Voiced by: Wes Johnson (English)^note Other Languages:Vsevolod Kuznetsov (Russian)

Speaker for the Dark Brotherhood.

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• Affably Evil: For an amoral and psychotic killer, he can be quite the charmer.
• Alliterative Name: Lucien Lachance.
• Asshole Victim: As unfortunate as his death is for you, it doesn't change the fact that he is a murderer with a high body count to his name, and whose cruel death was justly deserved. You can inflict this on him yourself if you wish by killing him when you first meet him, since he won't be essential.
• Card-Carrying Villain: When you first meet him, he shows no shame in talking about his role for the Dark Brotherhood.
• Cold Ham: His voice may be hushed and whispery, but his speech patterns are very verbose and theatrical
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He did not have an easy passing, judging from his corpse mutilated beyond recognition: besides the general torture, his genitals and jaws were removed, and he was flayed enough that his ribs were exposed. What is more, it's rumored that one of the Black Hand may have eaten his entrails.
• Dead Guy on Display: By the time you find his corpse, it has been suspended upside down for everyone to see in its macabre glory.
• Didn't Think This Through: He tries to recruit the player by showing up while they're sleeping after having committed murder, which is how his guild recruits. It doesn't occur to him that perhaps this potential recruit never meant to commit the murder and may not react well to the offer, which he can find out the hard way if you off him since he's not essential at this point.
• In the Hood: Like most members of the Black Hand, he wears a hooded black cloak.
• Parental Substitute: According to Ocheeva, he serves as a surrogate father to her and Teinaava.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: To you, interestingly enough. After he realizes you've been going around systematically killing his fellow members of the Black Hand, he sets off to kill you in turn, but the moment he catches up to you, Lucien quickly deduces that you've been duped as well, and instead decides to work with you in figuring out who the real traitor is.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's known to be aloof and distant, as his business with the Black Hand keeps him away from the Sanctuary often. Still, that doesn't stop him from being genuinely fond of you; he even openly states that Shadowmere is a token of his trust and love when he grants you her.
• Villainous Breakdown: Has quite an epic one near the end of the Dark Brotherhood storyline when he realizes that he's been set up.

The Cheydinhal Guildhall

A diverse crew of murderers-for-hire who convene in a hidden safehouse beneath Cheydinhal.

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• Affably Evil: Almost without exception. It's just how the Brotherhood conducts its affairs.
• Alas, Poor Villain: It's heartbreaking when the time comes for you to kill them all, after you spent so much time getting to know them and building a genuinely familial bond with each. Even Mraaj-Dar is shocked when you kill him. To rub the salt in the wound, none of them were traitors. So you just killed them all for nothing.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Antoinetta looks like the most innocent member of the group with her appearance invoking Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold, but her blood thirst is made clear during dialogue as well as her ambitious disposition.
• Covert Pervert: Ocheeva is a stoic, merciless assassin, but she spends five hours reading The Lusty Argonian Maid during the early hours of the day.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Some of its members.
  • Before contracting vampirism, Vicente lost his father and mother at early age to a wolf that infected them with rockjoint.
  • Telaendril's father ordered a hit on her before she arranged for Lucien to kill him in return.
  • Antoinetta suffered a horrible life as a homeless and is said to have been abused by the city guards, possibly sexually.
• Dumb Muscle: Gogron, who gets a shout-out to Lenny from Of Mice and Men in his backstory. Hell, he admits to not even know who or what Sithis is, but he will obey the Five Tenets and the contracts regardless.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The lineup consists of a vampire, two Argonians, a Khajiit, an Orc, a Wood Elf (the last two of which are sleeping together) and a Breton, diversity that would make any other guild hang its head in shame. And that's all in one Sanctuary, too! Outside of there, you can find two Imperials, a High Elf, two Nords, another Khajiit, an Argonian, two Dark Elves, another Breton, and another Wood Elf, who's the leader of the whole Brotherhood.
• Et Tu, Brute?: They all react with shock and betrayal, especially Vicente, when you purge the Cheydinhal Sanctuary.
• Hate at First Sight: Mraaj-Dar will despise you the moment he lays his eyes on you and he won't be any kinder if you are Khajiit yourself. He does warm up just before the Purification happens.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Gogron's too big and clumsy for sneaking, and too unsubtle to care. He just kills anything between him and his target, even forgoing the Brotherhood's trademark Shrouded Armour to help him do so.
• Interspecies Romance: It's implied that Gogron and Telaendril are in a relationship.
• Jerkass: Mraaj-Dar, who's consistently rude to you until you enter the Sanctuary with orders to kill him.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Antoinetta Marie had a miserable life until she was welcomed into the Brotherhood, but now she's terrifyingly chirpy about killing large numbers of people.
• Would Hurt a Child: Gogron gro-Bolmog tells the player about a time he got hired to kill a five-year-old Nord girl at her birthday party.
  Gogron: This one time I had a contract to kill a little Nord girl at her birthday party. She asked me if I was the jester! So I said to her, "No, I am a messenger of death." You should have seen the look on her face! Ha ha ha ha! Anyway, she won't be seeing age six!

Mathieu Bellamont

Have you heard the tale of Mathieu Bellamont and the great treachery of Cheydinhal? Kill a boy's mother, and vengeance festers in the son...

The Spectral Assassin Lucien Lachance, Skyrim

Voiced by: Ralph Cosham (English)^note Other Languages:Pavel Kipnis (Russian)

One of the mysterious Speakers of the Dark Brotherhood.

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• Apocalyptic Log: His diary, describes in-game as the writings of a madman, show the disintegration of what little sanity he has left. He routinely writes insane ramblings, including "kill him" repeatedly, a rhyming part with no punctuation that explains his motives, and "Lucien Lachance will die!" backwards at the very end of the diary. Played with in that the events of the "apocalypse" have long since happened, and it's more about his loss of sanity since.
• Ax-Crazy: He kills his lover, a member of the Dark Brotherhood herself, after she learned at least part of the truth of his insanity and his attachment to his dead mother's head. In his own words, there wasn't enough left of her for anyone to find. He then proceeds to kill most of the Brotherhood and has an unhealthy obsession with the color red.
• Big Bad: Of the Dark Brotherhood questline.
• Couldn't Find a Pen: Presumably he could, but he nonetheless writes his diary in red ink that might be blood.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Killed the entire crew of the Serpent's Wake ship for an insult.
• Expy: To Norman Bates, since they are both deranged murderers obsessed with their long dead mothers.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He was in love with a fellow Dark Brotherhood member named Maria and was actually hoping to build a real family with her. Tragically, she rejected him after hearing his real plans, causing him to snap and brutally murder and mutilate her beyond recognition.
• Evil Versus Evil: Seeks revenge against an amoral death cult that killed his mother, but he is not at all better than them.
• Freudian Excuse: His father was an abuser who summoned the Dark Brotherhood to assassinate his wife, and had Lucien Lachance murder her before Mathieu's eyes. No wonder he is so screwed up.
• He Who Fights Monsters: It's clear that his obsession for revenge against the Dark Brotherhood has taken a heavy toll on his sanity, so much so, that he became just as despicable as them.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Heavily implied, since his hideout is littered with body parts and there is nothing else left to eat.
• Manipulative Bastard: He arranges the deaths of several members of the Brotherhood by setting them up against the other.
• The Mole: He's the traitor, trying to destroy the Dark Brotherhood from within.
• Momma's Boy: After his mother's assassination, Mathieu became utterly obsessed with her.
  Traitor's Diary: mommy I so afrade. i mis yu mommy. i just wantyu to kis me agenn
• Not So Stoic: While Bellamont does an admirable job of keeping a cool poker face at all times when you speak to him, should you bring the severed head found within the traitor's hideout in the Anvil lighthouse and drop it in front of him, he will begin to uncharacteristically stutter and trip over his own words. Of all the people present inside the Applewatch farmhouse at that time, only he will react to the head at all.
• Psychopathic Manchild: His diary shows that he constantly oscillates between being a homicidal criminal mastermind and a deranged child obsessed with his mother.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Though he is unable to destroy the Night Mother, he manages to get his revenge on Lucien Lachance and kill several Dark Brotherhood members. But he dies shortly after being exposed, and as it turns out, he was nothing but a pawn of the Night Mother herself who foresaw his plan from the beginning, but allowed him to carry it out in order to cull the Brotherhood of any weak members.
• Room Full of Crazy: Lives in one.
• Unwitting Pawn: In the end, he was this to the Night Mother, who allowed Bellamont to carry out his plan in order to teach the Black Hand a lesson about treachery.
• You Killed My Father: Motivated to destroy the Dark Brotherhood in revenge for Lucien killing his mother.

The Doomed Guests of Summitmist Manor

Five people from across Tamriel who were invited to Summitmist Manor in Skingrad to search for a treasure hidden somewhere in the vast house as part of the quest "Whodunit?". Of course, there is no treasure; all of them have a Dark Brotherhood contract on their heads and the treasure hunt is a ruse that allows them all to be disposed of conveniently in one place. You must infiltrate the manor posing as another treasure hunter and discreetly murder them all without attracting their suspicions by gaining their trust and manipulating them against each other.

Primo Antonius

An Imperial Noble who is a guest at Summitmist Manor.

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• Idle Rich: He's part of a wealthy family and came to Summitmist Manor for a fun time. Unlike the other guests, he has no need of money and doesn't care about finding the chest of gold.
• Nice Guy: He is not racist or judging towards the other guests and treats them quite warmly. Matilde is the only guest he doesn't like, and who can blame him?
• Star-Crossed Lovers: He shows some romantic interest in Dovesi but only admits it to you. Potentially subverted seeing as he can be persuaded to kill her.
• Stop Being Stereotypical: He hates Matilde as he thinks she gives nobles a bad name through her attitude. He even suspects she isn't really a noble.
• Upper-Class Wit: Who pretends to be an Upper-Class Twit, but he has a surprisingly sharp head on his shoulders. However...
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Primo will always attempt to kill the other guest if he is one of the last two still alive, regardless of who they are. If your disposition with him is high enough, he never suspects you are the killer.

Dovesi Dran

A Dark Elf Commoner who is a guest at Summitmist Manor.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: Dovesi fancies Primo. Subverted in that Primo does return her feelings, but neither will ever get a chance to act on it anyway.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: If she is the last guest standing, she will cower in the corner and plead for her life.
• Badass Bystander: Despite being a mere Commoner, Dovesi knows a few leveled Destruction and Mysticism spells. Where exactly she learned these spells is unclear.
• The Cutie: As far as Nels and Primo are concerned.
• Gold Digger: The other guests believe she is this in regards to Primo.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: She shows some romantic interest in Primo but only admits it to you. Potentially subverted seeing as she can be persuaded to kill him.

Matilde Petit

A Breton Noble (or at least she claims to be) who is a guest at Summitmist Manor.

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• Asshole Victim: Matilde's a racist, judgmental bitch. Practically nobody feels bad for killing her.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Appears to be a kind, sweethearted, down-on-her-luck elderly woman. She will warmly greet you when you enter the house for the first time. She's actually snobbish, classist and racist.
• Break the Haughty: She completely loses her attitude as the body count rises, going from a snooty noblewoman to a crying mess.
• Death by Materialism: She only came to the party to get more money, seeing as her fortune has long been squandered. Needless to say, she won't be leaving.
• Dirty Old Woman: It doesn't take much convincing to get her talking about Neville's good looks.
• The Fake Cutie: Very much plays up the innocent old lady routine, often calling the player "Sweetie" or "Dearie" even. She's also a racist bitch who is very quick to judge others.
• Fantastic Racism: She strongly dislikes and distrusts Dovesi as she dislikes all Dunmer. This can be used to your advantage. She also dislikes Nels, calling him an unwashed barbarian.
• Horrible Judge of Character: With high enough Disposition, she can be convinced to work with you to find the treasure in the manor. This is a fantastic way to get her alone so you can murder her. When you first enter you can even introduce yourself as an assassin, which she just laughs off as a joke, even if you are wearing Dark Brotherhood armour and have a knife in your hand.
• Impoverished Patrician: She claims to be from a distinguished noble line in High Rock, but the other guests work out that the family has squandered her fortune. She's certainly not too rich to be lured to the Manor by gold.
• Kick the Dog: If Dovesi is killed first, rather than be frightened, saddened or unnerved like the other guests, she'll express happiness knowing there's one less Dunmer in the world. She's also quite indifferent to Nels' death because he's a Nord.
• Proper Lady: She presents herself as a dignified noblewoman, though the act starts to fray as soon as her opinions come out.
• Rich Bitch: At one point, she was rich (though she still claims to be), and she is most definitely a bitch.

Nels the Naughty

A Nord Barbarian who is a guest at Summitmist Manor.

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• The Alcoholic: It's actually Drowning My Sorrows; he drinks to soothe the pain of his dead daughter.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A jovial Nord who loves ale and jokes. It's all an act.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He had a daughter named Olga who was killed by bandits during a raid on their farm in Skyrim. The local garrison of Imperial soldiers did nothing to help them so Nels hates the Legion and thus hates Neville.
• Death by Materialism: Nels wants to own a tavern in Skyrim someday and accepted the invitation as a way to make some quick cash towards that end.
• Despair Event Horizon: If he's the last survivor, he recognizes you as the murderer and attacks, no matter whether his disposition is low or high. If he dislikes you, it's with a "Bring It", but if he liked you, he says, "You want to know something, my friend? I just don't care anymore ... Well, let's get this over with."
• Hidden Depths:
  • He hates Neville because his daughter Olga was killed by bandits and the local Legion soldiers didn't lift a finger to help his family. As far as he is concerned, Imperial Legion soldiers are all corrupt scum. If he and Neville are the last two guests, Nels will grab any nearby weapon and try to kill Neville.
  • If he is the last guest standing, he is the only one who correctly recognizes you as the murderer even with maxed Disposition. If another guest is murdered, he will also rightly guess that they were killed by an assassin rather than a greedy guest.
• Ironic Nickname: For someone named "Nels the Naughty", Nels is actually a pretty decent guy. When asked about it, he'll say it had something to do with a tavern wench and too much mead.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being a gruff and crass Nord, Nels cares deeply about Dovesi and is concerned for her safety because she reminds him of his deceased daughter Olga.

Neville

An Redguard Knight and retired member of the Imperial Legion who is a guest at Summitmist Manor.

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• Asshole Victim: Neville is one of the more unlikable guests and few players will regret killing him.
• Death by Racism: Possibly, if you convince Nels to kill him.
• Fantastic Racism: Neville was garrisoned in Solstheim and has a very dim view of Nords (and consequently Nels). He dismisses them all as greedy, vicious, animal-worshipping savages. When a guest dies he immediately suspects Nels of being the killer and warns you to keep an eye on him. If it's only him and Nels left, he will believe Nels is the killer and try to do him in.
  • Really, Neville is a grim reminder to players that while fantasy racism in Tamriel is bad, there's still good old human-on-human racism about as well.
• Old Soldier: A retired member of the Imperial Legion. He still has his sword and armour in a trunk upstairs.
• Retired Badass: See above.
• Sleepyhead: Provided nobody has been killed yet, Neville often retires to the bedroom for naps.
• Where da White Women At?: Matilde is attracted to him, and considers Redguards exotic.

Arena characters

Owyn

Voiced by: Michael Mack (English)^note Other Languages:Denis Nekrasov (Russian)

The Arena's Redguard Blademaster, who sorts out matches and new competitors.

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• Berserk Button: He threatens to "rip your damn liver out" if you wrong Ysabel in any way.
• Deadpan Snarker: Tends to get very snarky at times. "I heard a rumour that you're an idiot. Any truth to that?", "Try not to die when the gate opens!". He tones it down as you advance up in ranks, however.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: You could be the Champion of Cyrodiil and he will treat you like you're some overconfident civilian with no combat skill whatsoever. Justified: might be his way of pushing you to do better and impress him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although he's rather abrasive to new fighters, he does show respect to you as you raise through the ranks, and he's genuinely concerned for his daughter.
• Scary Black Man: Early on, he's pretty mean, but becomes friendlier as you gain fame in the Arena.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: According to a note in the Bloodworks, he has an illegitimate daughter. The end of her note reads:
  All I want, all I ever wanted, was to make you proud. Your loving daughter, Branwen

Agronak gro-Malog aka The Gray Prince

Voiced by: Jonathan Bryce (English)^note Other Languages:Kirill Radzig (Russian)

The Champion of the Arena, rumored to be a "Half-Orc".

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• Awful Truth: His heritage that his father was vampire.
• Despair Event Horizon: When the player reveals the truth that his father was vampire, and he is a result of an affair with him and his mother. This broke him mentally, when he and the player have to fight each other in a match, he won't fight back choosing to die than live knowing he is a hellspawn.
• Disappointing Heritage Reveal: He's rather upset by the discovery that his father is, in fact, a vampire.
• Dhampyr: With an orc and an Imperial (the latter being the vampire), oddly enough.
• Half-Human Hybrid: It's public knowledge that only his mother was an Orc. We can learn from his quest that his father was an Imperial. He was also a vampire, less pleasantly.
• Nice Guy: You wouldn't expect the grand champion of a Blood Sport to be such a friendly guy, until he learns the truth about his past at least.
• Suicide by Cop: If you do the side quest where he learns of his heritage, he won't even attack when you fight him for the title, and if you kill him, the Dark Brotherhood comes to you if you haven't joined yet, counting it as murder even if the rest of society doesn't.
• Undeathly Pallor: His skin is tinged grey, instead of the usual Orcish green. It seems to be the only real side effect of being a Dhampyr.

Yellow Team Champion

Voiced by: Lynda Carter (English)^note Other Languages:Olga Kuznetsova (Russian)

The sub-champion of the arena and likely leader of said team.

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• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: No matter in which rank you are, she will always have something menacing or condescending to say
• Brawnhilda: Big, strong and rough looking as expected from a nord.
• No Name Given: oddly enough despite being the second best fighter of the arena.
• Fiery Redhead: Has a bright orange mane.
• Flunky Boss: During your fight against her she is aided by two teammates.
• Jerkass

The Adoring Fan

Voiced by: Craig Sechler (English)^note Other Languages:Rudolf Pankov (Russian)

A small wood elf fan the player gains after becoming the Grand Champion of the Arena, who can follow you around and worship you.

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• And I Must Scream: It is possible to put him through this if you take him inside an Oblivion Gate, then leave him there. His respawn script will still run, but he's trapped in whatever version of Oblivion you left him in, meaning he is trapped in a realm where Everything Is Trying to Kill You. Reviving every three days. Forever.
• Anime Hair: His bright yellow "Hershey Kiss" shaped hair (as the Strategy Guide describes it) is his most noticeable physical trait.
• Bumbling Sidekick
• Butt-Monkey: Many a fan has taken pleasure in tossing him off a mountain, among other deaths.
• Catchphrase: "By Azura! By Azura! By Azura!"
• The Chew Toy: His lack of armour, poor base HP, tendency to run away and his over-all annoying demeanour have rendered him one both in and out of universe.
• Cowardly Sidekick: He tends to run away at the smallest of threats (we're talking Mudcrabs, here).
• Hero-Worshipper: He says as much during his opening spiel, mentioning "worshipping the very ground you walk on".
• Joke Character: Though he'll follow you anywhere (even into Oblivion), he'll run away when you get into a fight.
• Mythology Gag: Seems to have become one for Bethesda, with an identically-voiced expy named Sticky appearing in Fallout 3. In Skyrim, a passing reference is made to a past Arena Champion who was murdered by a supposed 'Adoring Fan', in reality a member of the Dark Brotherhood. In Starfield, it's possible to gain the Adoring Fan as a follower by choosing a specific background trait during character creation.
• Not Completely Useless: As annoying as he can be, he does take out a torch whenever it gets dark, freeing up a hand for the player. Of course, there's still the issue of him running away, which can be remedied with a Rally spell.
• Sour Supporter: He can be. If you lower the Adoring Fan's disposition enough — training up your pickpocketing skill on him will do the trick — he'll constantly sneer at you.
• Stealth Pun: He seems to be rather taken with the Hero of Kvatch, and at night, carries a torch for them.
• They Killed Kenny Again: He respawns if he dies, leading players to find hundreds of creative ways to kill him, only for him to reappear by the Arena in three days, still worshipping the ground you walk on.

Porkchop the Boar

A boar that lives in a cage in the Bloodworks.

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• Beastly Bloodsports: His purpose is to fight in the gladiator Arena.
• Full-Boar Action: He's a boar and he fights. Owyn releases him into the arena to help you win the Blue Team Championship match.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Despite being small, he's able to kill one of the enemy fighters on his own and cause some damage to the others.

Minor factions

Blackwood Company

A mercenary company that is making competition for the Fighters Guild.

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• Evil Counterpart: To the Fighters Guild.
• Evil Pays Better: Apparently, they offer higher pay than the regular Fighters' Guild.
• Expy: Most likely named after the Blackwater mercenary company.
• Psycho Serum: The source of their power, the Hist Sap, turns those that drink it into raging berserkers and also causes hallucinations; when the player takes some, they see a peaceful small village as goblins. This affects even the Argonian Blackwood mercenaries (and the player if they are also an Argonian) because the process used to transplant the Blackwood Company's Hist Tree from Black Marsh to Cyrodiil has corrupted and perverted the tree and its Sap.
• Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: A mercenary company instead of a criminal syndicate, but the same sentiment is there. They're an organization rooted in Black Marsh primarily (and proudly) made up of Argonians and Khajiit in direct competition with the native Fighters Guild, and they are known to be unscrupulous with regards to both the contracts they will accept and the methods they go about completing them.

Knights of the White Stallion

A minor chivalric order chartered by the Count of Leyawiin.

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• Bounty Hunter: Effectively what they are, given they hunt the Black Bow Bandits to bring back the bows for money.
• Knight in Shining Armor: It feels like a mercenary or Bounty Hunter type order, but the fact of the matter is that the Black Bow bandits are in fact bandits, and the noble order was created to deal with threats to the peace in southeastern Cyrodiil.

Order of the Virtuous Blood

An order of Vampire Hunters set up in the Imperial city. When completing their quest, they can be a large source of gold for the player.

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• Captain Oblivious: While claiming to be vampire hunters dedicated on protecting the Imperial City from vampires, they seem to do an awful job at it, since two vampires live among the citizenry of the Imperial City, while an entire nest of them can be found in the sewers of the Arena District of the city. Since this faction is formed and led by the vampire Seridur as some sort of cover operation. He is probably keeping his group members in the dark to protect his kin. Notably, if the player is also a vampire and joins, they won't notice that as well.
• Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: They can easily become this if you solve their quest in the best way possible. If you do, you can sell Vampire Dust to them for exactly 250 gold, which is normally valued at 50 gold, not factoring in Mercantile skill. Add the fact that Vampire Dust is easily found, which makes it very easy for players to get rich.
• Vampire Hunter: An organization of them, and you can join if you complete their quest. Even if you're a vampire at the time.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: They do genuinely mean well, but the group (under Seridur's rule) is very pragmatic in approach. Don't even seem to consider that some vampires aren't compulsive killers; they jump on a lead, no matter how little evidence there is.
• You Are What You Hate: The PC can invoke this on themselves, as it is possible to join even if they're a vampire at the time. Then again, they were completely oblivious about Seridur, so it's plausible that they don't figure you out.

Miscellaneous Characters

Other characters

Boethia's Chosen

Nine fighters chosen by Boethia to participate in the Tournament of Ten Bloods alongside the player. They represent every playable race except the one the player chose. All are the same level as the player.

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• Archer Archetype: The Argonian, Bosmer, and Dunmer are all archers.
• Boss Rush: The player must defeat all 9 of them before Boethia will teleport them back to Cyrodiil.
• Easy Level Trick: They're all very powerful warriors, but they're about as immune to the lava surrounding the arena as you are.
• Empowered Badass Normal: All of the Chosen have been given a powerful martial blessing from their patron Prince.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Boethia is a lot of bad things, but discrimatory isn't one of them. There are male and female Chosen, and they represent every major race in Tamriel.
• Magic Knight: The Altmer, Argonian, Breton, Dunmer, and Imperial Chosen all have magic, though due to a bug the Argonian and Dunmer can't actually cast their spells and the Imperial only can when leveled to 26 and above.
• Man Bites Man: Boethia's opening comment for the Nord Chosen says that she does this, although she never will as biting isn't implemented.
• Necromancer: The Altmer is one.
• Pet the Dog: Boethia is nicer to the Dunmer (though he won't interfere in the fight), and instead of giving a sassy remark on his death like he does to the other Chosen, he congratulates the Dunmer for his "valiant effort" and tells him to take comfort as his spirit is in Boethia's hands.

M'aiq the Liar

Voiced By: Jonathan Bryce (English)^note Other Languages:Oleg Shcherbinin (Russian)

A Khajiit monk who runs around Cyrodiil. When spoken to, he voices the opinion of the creators towards the Unpleasable Fanbase. Mostly in a very cryptic way of talking.

For more information on M'aiq outside of the context of Oblivion itself, see his entry on the Elder Scrolls Recurring Characters page.

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• Author Avatar: He directly voices the opinion of the game's creators.
• Catchphrase: "M'aiq knows much, tells some. M'aiq knows many things others do not."
• Cloud Cuckoolander: He comes over as very detached from the setting. Logical, since he's something of a literal Author Avatar. His behavior is pretty odd, too: he often enters ruins and caves to search for calipers for 5 hours (which has likely startled some players), enters Valenwood along his route between Anvil and Leywiin, and has been known to occasionally chase deer.
• Deadpan Snarker: Some of his speeches are very sarcastic.
• Easter Egg: As a Meta Guy Fourth-Wall Observer who runs randomly around Cyrodiil. It's entirely possible to play for hundreds of hours without running into him, and his dialogue is mostly just for fun.
• Legacy Character: There was also a Khajiit with his name in Morrowind, and 200 years later in Skyrim. Though Morrowind only takes place six years before Oblivion, so it could very well be the same guy. This is strongly hinted at when he comments on how he misses the hat he wore in Morrowind.
• Self-Deprecation: Some of his comments mock features of previous games.
• Super-Speed: He starts with a maxed-out Athletics stat, meaning he is nearly impossible to keep up with until later levels.
• Take That!: One of his comments is: "People always enjoy a good fable. M'aiq has yet to find one, though. Maybe some day." This is a Take That! to the similar rival game, Fable.
• Take That, Audience!: Just about every speech he makes is a reaction the makers have about an aspect of the game fans aren't pleased about. An example is the fact throwing weapons are removed. M'aiq responds to this by saying that if people hold their weapon, they only need one.
• Walking the Earth: He moves along the Gold Road and Green Road (spanning the distance between Anvil and Leyawiin) constantly, only stopping at each town for a day or so before running off on his journey again. He will only eat if food is dropped nearby, and if he is the same M'aiq as the one in Morrowind, who knows how many of the provinces of Tamriel he was wandered in his lifetime.

Valen Dreth

Voiced by: Craig Sechler (English)^note Other Languages:Dmitry Filimonov (Russian)

A rude Dunmer prisoner who occupies the cell opposite yours at the start of the game. Despite only appearing once or twice, he sticks in many players' minds, if anything because he spends his meagre amount of screen-time slinging racist and sexist slurs at you.

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• Asshole Victim: A racist, sexist jerk who players have the opportunity to assassinate as a Dark Brotherhood contract.
• Dirty Coward: He will yell for help as soon as it becomes obvious you're there to kill him.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: If you talk to him during his assassination and tell him the Night Mother sends her regards, Valen barely gets out her title before realizing he's been marked for death by the Dark Brotherhood.
• Hates Everyone Equally: It doesn't matter which race or gender you have, he will insult you no matter what.
• Hate Sink: He's a racist asshole with zero redeeming qualities. Killing him is one of most satisfying moments in the game.
• Ironic Echo: You have the opportunity to throw his closing line ("You're going to die in here!") back at him when you arrive to murder him for the Dark Brotherhood.
• Jerkass: He is the first character met in the game, and will mock your character based on their race and sex no matter what it is (even if one is a Dark Elf like him, he will proposition you if female, or threaten to seduce your wife when he gets out if male). This makes it very satisfying to kill him during the Dark Brotherhood questline.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: If you play as a Female Dunmer, he starts off seeming like he's genuinely complimenting you and trying to soothe you... then it veers into him basically saying he wants to cash in his favor with a guard so he can be in your cell for untoward purposes until your execution. Alternatively, if you're a male Dunmer, he will offer to look up your family since he's getting out soon, only to say he'll sleep with your wife after you die. This makes killing him in the Dark Brotherhood questline very satisfying.
• Smug Snake: When he first talks to you, he is very confident that he will be getting out soon, but you are here for life. Cue the Emperor's (plus elite guard) arrival, here to take a secret escape route through your cell. The fact that you are later ordered to kill him makes it even more deliciously ironic.

Appearing in Oblivion Add-ons:

Shivering Isles characters

The Shivering Isles

The Daedric Realm of Sheogorath, Prince of Madness. Being nuts is an entry requirement. It's divided into three sections: Mania (representing creativity and manic instability), Dementia (representing depression and paranoia), and the Fringes (outside of the isles proper, where the people who aren't crazy end up).

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• CloudCuckooland: Mania more than Dementia, but both of the islands are home to some very weird people.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: The Heretic enemy faction in Mania doesn't believe in Daedric Princes, despite living in Oblivion and being ruled by one; they instead think Sheogorath is a mortal (apparently they didn't notice the crazy powers or the cat eyes) and the prophet Arden-Sul is the true lord of the Isles.
• The Fundementalist: The Zealot enemy faction in Dementia is defined by strict beliefs that Sheogorath is a living god (which he is), Arden-Sul is his mortal aspect (which is undetermined), and that everyone not a Zealot is an unbeliever who they should kill (hilariously enough, this will include you as Sheogorath, even though the rest of the Isles' residents will recognize you on sight).
• I Choose to Stay: Pyke, one of the residents of Mania, was originally a Knight of the Thorne who found love with a resident of the isles and decided to stay there.

Sheogorath

Voiced By: Wes Johnson (English)^note Other Languages:Dmitry Filimonov (Russian)

Daedric Prince of Madness.

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• Big Good: For a given level of good, of the Shivering Isles expansion.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Like many of the Daedric Princes, Sheogorath does not function under the typical good or evil morality most mortals live under. In particular: Being the Prince of Madness himself, he admires madness in any form and does not care whether said madness becomes dangerous to other people. He also likes to pull pranks on unsuspecting mortals on Nirn, just because he thinks it's fun. Said pranks can really make the victim's life a living hell. However, while this does sound evil, he does really care for the denizens of his realm and tries everything in his power to stop his realm and people from being destroyed during the Greymarch.
• Brain Food: "Care to donate?"
• Crazy-Prepared: If you do his daedric quest after the main story for the Shivering Isles, Haskill will reveal he had the final part of the plan to trick the town of Border Watch for a long while but couldn't find a mortal to perform the task.
• Elderly Immortal: Although he can change his form at will and has freely adjusted his hair color, eyes and apparent age in other portrayals.
• For the Evulz: His various pranks seen in Nirn have no motivation other than that they amuse him, despite utterly destroying the live of the victim(s). A good example is having a mortal reenact the apocalyptic K'Sharra prophecy in a small supposititious Khajiit community. Just because the idea of a settlement of hysterical Khajiit was amusing to him. Subverted, however, in the backstory lore books when Sheogorath tricks the other Daedric Princes. Given that they cursed him to be the gibbering fool he hates, it can easily be interpreted as seeking revenge.
• Great Gazoo: Particularly when he makes flaming dogs fall out of the sky.
• In Love with Your Carnage: He and Relmyna Verenim form a poetically unholy union of insane inspiration.
• Ink-Suit Actor: An interesting and unintentional case. While Sheogorath didn't look like Wes Johnson when Oblivion was released, he sure does now.
• Large Ham: "CHEEEESE! For everyone!"
• Loophole Abuse: Why his portal is able to stay open even after the Dragonfires are permanently re-lit. Daedra are banned from entering Mundus, but the portal isn't for that; nothing from Oblivion ever escapes to Nirn through it. There's also nothing forcing mortals who enter to stay in the Shivering Isles, since the portal remains open through the entire expansion. And after you become Sheogorath, you're still allowed back because you're from Nirn.
• Lord British Postulate: You could try and kill him, but he's marked as Essential so you can't. And even if he wasn't, he has an obscene amount of health, all of his stats are maxed out, and he has a spell that can drop you a thousand feet above the ground and will never miss.
• Mad God: One of his many names and his main role.
• Manly Facial Hair: In fact, beards manlier than his are outlawed in the Shivering Isles on pain of death.
• Nice to the Waiter: Played with. Sheogorath happily encourages the player character to do things like repeatedly and unnecessarily summon his eternally put upon chamberlain, insisting that Haskill "loves it" and doesn't feel appreciated otherwise. On the other hand, he also regularly praises Haskill's intelligence, loyalty and fashion sense, referring to him as dear and a friend. Sheogorath is also surprisingly slow to punish another character who openly promises to betray him, and genuinely fond of his Realm and its inhabitants. Not that any of this in any way negates him also being ultimately inhuman and unspeakably dangerous.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Relmyna Verenim’s propensity for warping flesh get him noticeably frisky.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Sheogorath stops all joking, overreacting and non-sequiturs just before his transformation into Jyggalag. He's not Jyggalag yet, though, meaning that his despair over the fate of the Isles and his apparent failure to save them is genuine.
• Powerful and Helpless: He's nigh-omnipotent, but the one thing he can't do is prevent the Greymarch, since it's technically him doing it. That's where you come in.
• Purple Is Powerful: Wears purple clothes. After becoming Sheogorath, you can wear his outfit.
• Silver Fox: There are several characters of both sexes scattered around Cyrodiil and the Isles (but mostly the Isles) that get a little fluttery over the Madgod.
• Talkative Loon: Every time you talk to him to report you finished a quest, he'll just start a sequence of countless strange unrelated remarks.
• Tranquil Fury: If you raise your weapon against him, he stands, uses Paralysis magic on you, then teleports you away to a spot several hundred feet in the air- letting gravity finish the job - with the most terrifyingly calm expression. Note that this is a scripted sequence, so nothing will stop this from killing you.
  Sheogorath: You shouldn't have done that. Enjoy the view.
• What Beautiful Eyes! / Hellish Pupils: By all appearances a normal-seeming and handsome older gentleman with odd fashion sense... except for his eyes, which are black with yellow irises.
  • He shares an eye model with the Mania-side soldiers known as the Golden Saints, which may be confirmed in the game's Construction Set. Assorted hints such as the existence of dual torches for the Flame of Agnon, a loading screen referring to Mania and Dementia as factions with one or the other "currently" in favor at any given time, and Sheogorath's palace being located significantly to the Mania side of the Isles' dividing line (visible from a high enough vantage point outside the city) appear to imply that he favors his Mania side during the events of the DLC. Hence the eye color favoritism.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: An interesting take in that Sheogorath isn't the one trying to destroy the Shivering Isle but his other self Jyggalag. The Woobie part is made very clear just before Sheogorath becomes Jyggalag and he seems very sorrowful that his beautiful isle is about to be destroyed again. It's more than a little sad to realize that Jyggalag must suffer as the god of madness, the very thing he despises, and Sheogorath must suffer the grief of constantly seeing his home destroyed and have to rebuild it knowing that it's just going to get destroyed again.

Haskill

Voiced By: Jeff Baker (English)^note Other Languages:Vadim Maksimov (Russian)

Sheogorath's long-suffering chamberlain.

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• Ambiguously Human: His character by all appearances is an elderly Breton with a dour fashion sense. But given hints from his dialogue and outside sources all but confirm that he's actually a daedra. The official website lists his race as "Daedric Breton".
  • This article by the Loremaster of The Elder Scrolls Online has Haskill state that he is the vestige of a mortal who tried to mantle Sheogorath a long time ago, but its canonicity is quite uncertain.
• Berserk Button: Mehrunes Dagon specifically and mortals oversimplifying the politics of Oblivion in general. During the interview mentioned in the elderly immortal entry below, a question that touches both of these drives Haskill into a rant he describes as "excessive".
  Haskill: How typical. You mortals love to take a pebble of information and construct entire realms of conjecture upon it. Your lore of those disparate beings that you lump together as "daedra" is based on nothing — lies and half-truths told by traitors, rebels, miscontents and weaklings who have had the misfortune to become involved with mortals. Or with Mehrunes Dagon. Do not speak his name to me again. The Master of Scum. The pawn of every Prince of true power, the dupe of every schemer in the Nineteen Voids. Do you think you know anything of the politics, factions, feuds, vendettas, wars of Oblivion? Do you think Oblivion such a simple place, that the tale of the loyalties of a great people such as the Mazken could be encompassed in a brief tale?
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Casually refers to decency and morality as "provincial notions." It's a daedric realm, after all.
• Elderly Immortal: Bethesda's Interview With Two Denizens of the Shivering Isles reveals that he has been serving his master since "the beginning." Despite this he appears in the form of an aging Breton.
• Happiness in Slavery: Combines elements of "beloved servant" and "cultural values dissonance", especially since he's generally implied to be a lesser daedra. (While Sheogorath is shown to be a troublesome, stressful and generally obnoxious creature to work for, he is never shown to outright mistreat Haskill enough to warrant a "cringing bootlick" label.)
• Interspecies Friendship: His attitude towards the player character improves greatly over the course of the game. Although at the end of the storyline the "interspecies" part becomes questionable and rather complicated.
• Nerves of Steel: Considering where he lives and who he works for, likely a result of Seen It All.
• Old Retainer: Though a fantasy version in which both servant and master are immortal and the "several generations" parts do not apply.
• Only Sane Man / Only Sane Employee / Crazy Sane: In the Realm of Madness. He bears it with a patient but long-suffering air. (Although Shivering Isles lead designer Mark Nelson has explicitly described the character as "probably nuts too - but you're not exactly sure how or why".)
• Servile Snarker: Despite his loyalty to Sheogorath/the Hero of Kvatch, he tends to talk back to them rather frequently, with him particularly insulting the Hero of Kvatch's intelligence.
• Stiff Upper Lip: Although he can be snappy or a bit gloomy about it, and immediately after Sheogorath "dies" to become Jyggalag his script notes in the game engine state that he "Regains composure and ressumes his character." So it's not quite 100%.
• The Jeeves: Serves as a butler to Sheogorath.
• The Reliable One: The sanest sounding man in a world gone mad.
• Undying Loyalty: To his master, behind the sarcasm. Sheogorath describes him as "Faithful like a good hound, that one."

Jyggalag

Daedric Prince of Order.

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• Big Bad: Of the Shivering Isles expansion.
• Boring, but Practical: Befitting for him, his Daedric Artifact is this compared to the others. It's essentially a giant sword that has no enchantments whatsoever, but that's all that Jyggalag really needs.
• Creative Sterility: Haskill remarks that Jyggalag has never had an original thought in his life. When Jyggalag plots to cut off the Wellsprings at Brellach/Pinnacle Rock, Haskill points out that such a thing would've been thought up by the traitorous Duke.
• Graceful Loser: After winning the final battle, Jyggalag is quite gracious to the Hero of Kvatch. Of course, since being defeated ended his curse, he got what he always wanted.
• Irony: Jyggalag's spheres of influence include logic and deduction, but he is not one for strategy and subterfuge compared to brute force as noted by Sheogorath.
• Order Versus Chaos: Actually the god of all order. His ability to maintain order at all times made him a huge threat to the other Daedric Princes, who banded together to put a curse on him, giving him the split personality of Sheogorath and thus becoming his own worst enemy.
• Tin Tyrant: More like Crystal Tyrant, as he looks like a giant crystal knight.

Dyus of Mytheria

Jyggalag's former chamberlain, Dyus sits behind an impenetrable wall in Knifepoint Hollow, and is all that remains of the great Library of Jyggalag after Sheogorath burned it.

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• Ambiguously Human: Similar to how Haskill looks like a Breton despite definitely not being one, Dyus looks like an Imperial despite being so old, he predates Tiber Septim. Not even Dyus himself knows his past; he's not even sure if Mytheria was a real place.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Being Jyggalag's chamberlain, he views individuality as meaningless and people as insane for thinking otherwise. He also considers time and space to be alien constructs of mortal brains desperate to make sense of the world.
• Complete Immortality: Sheogorath made him completely immortal.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He doesn't react with anger so much as annoyance.
  Dyus: Spare me your grief. My imprisonment is as meaningless as my immortality.
• Elderly Immortal: He looks like an elderly Imperial man. But he's been alive since before Jyggalag's curse.
• Great Big Book of Everything: Discussed by Dyus. He claims that the Hero was probably expecting one of these, rather than a person.
• Nerves of Steel: Being immortal, he is completely unconcerned, and regardless the Hero of Kvatch both before and after becoming Sheogorath as little more than a meaningless distraction.
• The Omniscient: He claims to be so, using logical deduction to plan out everything, just as Jyggalag did and wrote everything in the library Dyus was once a part of. Once the Hero of Kvatch surpasses Dyus's believes, he merely chalks it up to error on his part, as personal choice makes things...imprecise.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Believes that any attempt to subvert the Greymarch is destined to fail, and that the Hero of Kvatch will never be able to complete the Staff of Sheogorath. When the Hero of Kvatch proves otherwise, he is actually impressed.

Forces of Order

Jyggalag is assisted by the Knights of Order, who look like faceless crystal humanoids, and the Priests of Order, who are regular humanoids wearing crystalline robes and masks.

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• Faceless Mooks: The Knights of Order wear — or perhaps are — crystalline armor, concealing any features that might be underneath.
• Face–Heel Turn: Seeing as the Priests of Order are of races from Nirn, it can be assumed they were previous denizens of Nirn or the Isles defecting to Jyggalag. The noble you don't assassinate during the Ritual of Ascension is one of many who defect over
• Gem Heart: The player can loot hearts from their corpses. They look like a piece of quartz rather than the normal Daedra Hearts from the beings that serve other Daedric Princes.
• King Mook: An inversion. They're essentially smaller and weaker versions of the prince they serve.
• Mook Maker: The Priests of Order can activate certain obelisks which create a constant flow of Knights of Order.
• Starfish Language: The Knights of Order aren't able to talk and instead communicate through sounds resembling a high pitched roar.
• Zerg Rush: Jyggalag's go to means of invasion is to use swarms of Knights. Since this tactic works all the time, there's no need for Jyggalag to change it.

Relmyna Verenim

Voiced by: Linda Canyon (English)^note Other Languages:Irina Savina (Russian)

A Dunmer "Flesh Mage", initially encountered in Passwall, visiting from Xaselm. She is the "mother" of the Gatekeeper that guards the entrance to the Shivering Isles.

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• Blood Magic: She has discovered Flesh Magic, which channels Magicka through blood and flesh, warping it in a variety of gruesome applications.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: She kills her test subjects, revived them, then kills them again, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, jotting down the results in between every few castings.
• Dark Mistress: To Sheogorath, a very unique variation - as their relationship is not a physical one. Both Sheogorath and she are mad creatives, and thus brainstorming sessions are equated to acts of erotic intimacy.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: She cries out in elated joy when you use her Flesh Conjurations to conceive a child. Both she and Sheogorath are unmistakably turned on by “birthing” a flesh golem.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She is less the Gatekeeper’s creator, than its mother. And she deeply loves the giant rotting abomination.
• For Science!: She developed and furthers Flesh Magic purely for academic purposes.
• Insufferable Genius: She is easily annoyed by having to converse with anyone dimmer than her, which is most people.
• Mad Scientist: She is a master alchemist that fled to the Shivering Isles to further her research when she found traditionally society too constricting.
• Man of Kryptonite: She dares not so much as touch her "son" - the Gatekeeper, as even her tears would burn at it, like acid.
• Necromancer: Her Flesh Magic, seems to have more than a few traits of traditional necromancy, but Relmyna is anything but traditional.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Crying into a handkerchief and admitting how her mere touch is harmful to the Gatekeeper can reveal one of the monster's weaknesses to the Player Character, as well as provide them a means to slay it.
• Obliviously Evil: She is so desensitized by the bloody applications of her research, she does not seem to register the pain she inflicts on her test subjects with cruelty.
• Outliving One's Offspring: She will live to see her first “son” killed by The Hero Of Kvatch, as defeating him is essential to progressing in the main Shivering Isles quest-line.
• Single-Target Sexuality: She is infatuated with the Prince of Madness and no one else will ever break her devotion to him. When the Champion becomes the new Prince of Madness, she sees them as Sheogorath and treats them with the same level of adoration.
• Video Game Caring Potential: You can request her to stop tormenting her imprisoned test-subjects. She will only do it if you agree to be her test-subject in return, as she is essential, she cannot be stopped any other way. If you survive your health will take a permanent hit, her reward is some enchanted manacles, and she keeps her word to end the torture of her subjects.

Golden Saints and Dark Seducers

The two humanoid Daedric races that are native to the Shivering Isles. They both serve as Sheogorath's warriors, and protect the Shivering Isles from hostile forces.

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• Amazon Brigade: The majority of both races are female, and prove to be incredibly fierce warriors.
• Blood Knight: The Golden Saints are considerably more aggressive than the Dark Seducers, especially in combat against the latter.
• Can't Argue with Elves: The Golden Saints treat all mortals that inhabit the Shivering Isles, and even their own male counterparts as completely inferior beings, and make no attempt to hide this in their interactions.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Dark Seducers, which are actually more polite towards mortals than the Golden Saints. Then again, considering that they serve the side of the Isles that favors secrets, cruelty and treachery, it may not be in one's best interests to take them at face value.
• Interservice Rivalry: Both factions serve as the military and police forces for their respective halves of the Shivering Isles, but neither like each other very much and are always competing for Sheogorath's favor.
• Keystone Army: If the Wellsprings in Brellach and Pinnacle Rock, which are the only things keeping the Golden Saints and Dark Seducers respectively connected to Sheogorath's realm stop flowing, then not only are the members of that respective species unable to return to the Shivering Isles after having their souls banished, but the members that are already in that realm instantaneously fall over dead and their bodies turn to stone. However, they do come back to life if the Wellspring is restored.
• Light Is Not Good: Despite their name, Golden Saints are anything but saintly, and in fact come off as aloof and haughty. More broadly, canon states that no daedric entity can truly be classed as good or evil.
• Proud Warrior Race: Almost as much as the Dremora.
• Statuesque Stunner: All of the female Saints and Seducers are not only tall and attractive, but also as physically strong in appearance as Dremora.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The males of both races are roughly the same height as Imperials, while the females are equivalent in height to the Altmer and Dremora, which are consistently the tallest races (playable or otherwise) in the game.

Nelrene

Voiced By: Betsy Ames (English)^note Other Languages:Olga Kuznetsova (Russian)

A Dark Seducer that is found patrolling Lady Syl's court in New Sheoth. She's later revealed to be The Mole and is involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Syl.

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• Corrupt Cop: Or at least, is the equivalent of one as far as Dark Seducer guards go.
• Dark Action Girl
• Deadpan Snarker
• High-Heel–Face Turn: An Enforced example. After being interrogated several times at a later point during "The Lady of Paranoia", she finally confesses to being involved in the conspiracy, and reveals that Muurine is the one behind it, but regrets that she is unable to supply any evidence of this to the Hero.
• Interspecies Romance: A Dummied Out interrogation session Herdir has with Nelrene implies that the former (an Imperial) has a sexual obsession with the latter (a Dark Seducer). Nelrene even accuses Herdir of fantasizing about the idea of her being trapped in his interrogation cage, despite Herdir's denial.
• Jerkass: Is notably much ruder towards the Player Character than the other Dark Seducers in the game, though she's not quite as nasty as the Golden Saints.
• Sore Loser: Even after her High-Heel–Face Turn, she still acts as snippy and rude as before, if not more so.
• Statuesque Stunner
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Once the quest "The Lady of Paranoia" is completed, she disappears from the game for no clear reason.

Staada

Voiced By: Bari Biern (English)^note Other Languages:Elena Chebaturkina (Russian)

A Golden Saint (Aureal) female, and Commander of the Golden Saints of Brellach.

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• Ascended Extra: She previously appeared in Morrowind as a Golden Saint (the only named one in that entire game, no less) you had to fight during Azura's Quest. Here, she plays a much more important role as the commander of all the Golden Saints.
• Action Girl
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: She, along with her fellow Aureals, dies when Order stops the flow of their Wellspring, but come back to life when you purge the Order crystals obstructing the flow.
• Fiery Redhead: Unlike nearly all the other Aureals, whose hair tends to be some shade of blonde. Staada's hair is more of a copper/chestnut color, but it still counts.
• Permanently Missable Content: You only encounter her if you choose to become the Duke/Duchess of Dementia (since Brellach ironically cannot be accessed if you become the Duke/Duchess of Mania, despite it being in that region).
• Statuesque Stunner

Duke Thadon of Mania

The Duke of Mania and a well known user of mind-altering substances, Thadon is a Bosmer bon vivant.

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• Face–Heel Turn: He'll join Jyggalag if Syl is killed.
• Fantastic Drug: He's addicted to Felldew, a sap from a tree that causes euphoria.
• Hookers and Blow: Invoked when a Duke of Mania decides to step down from office. He takes three doses of refined Greenmote and has a wild night of drinking, drugs, and sex.
• Obfuscating Insanity: Sheogorath tells the player not to underestimate Thadon, even if he seems like a loon.
• Opposites Attract: The joyful man with a zest for life is attracted to the dour and mad Syl.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He loses his joyous nature when encountered as a Priest of Order in the Font of Madness below Sheogorath's throne. He's all seriousness then.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Some Golden Saints plan to give him this if he defects to Jyggalag, but Sheogorath refuses. On the grounds that he is trying to prevent the Greymarch, and as such, anything that hasn't happened before like the defection of one of Sheogorath's court should be permitted.
• Spanner in the Works: He's one if he defects to Jyggalag, by taking over Brellach and stopping the reincarnation of the Aureals. He also seals off the Font of Madness from Sheogorath's throne.
• Targeted Human Sacrifice: This is done to succeed the office of Duke of Mania. He takes three doses of a powerful drug known as Greenmote, and then his heart explodes. The blood is then gathered and placed on the altar at the Sacellum of Arden-Sul. If the Hero of Kvatch wishes to become the Duke, they must do this to Thadon, except he takes the doses unwittingly. This angers Syl.

Duchess Syl of Dementia

The Duchess of Dementia, Syl is a paranoid Bosmer who believes everyone is out to get her.

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• Cold-Blooded Torture: She'll freely torture anyone she wants. Or let the high inquisitor do it.
• Crafted from Animals: Her dress is decorated with pieces from slaughterfish.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Syl tortures, she's cruel, she's a paranoid loon. But she does deeply care for Thadon.
• Face–Heel Turn: If the player kills Thadon and becomes Duke of Mania, Syl joins Jyggalag.
• Opposites Attract: The dour Syl is attracted to the bon vivant Thadon.
• Properly Paranoid: There is a conspiracy to get rid of her like she claims. It involves her handmaiden, her bodyguard, and several townspeople.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: She is about to be on the business end of some Dark Seducer's swords if she announces her loyalty to Jyggalag. But Sheogorath refuses to let them kill her, because a defection is just the sort of oddity within the Greymarch that might avert the tragedy, as he's hoping things will go differently.
• Shock and Awe: Loves using lightning spells, for both torture and death.
• Spanner in the Works: She comes up with the idea to prevent the Mazken from reincarnating at their Wellspring in Pinnacle Rock if she lives long enough to defect to Jyggalag. She also plans on sealing off the Font of Madness under Sheogorath's throne.
• Targeted Human Sacrifice: The typical way someone ascends to lead Dementia is for someone to find the old Duke, kill them, and cut out their heart. Placing it in the Sacellum of Arden-Sul will cause it to be consumed by flames. As Syl is the Duchess, she would have had to do this to her predecessor. And if the Hero wants to be Duke, Syl's going to have to go in the same way.

Ciirta

A resident of the Shivering Isles who survived the last Greymarch. During the Greymarch, she snuck into Sheogorath's palace and saw something no mortal had- Sheogorath vanishing. But without any context, she misinterpreted what she saw and thought that Sheogorath had abandoned the Isles. After that, she formed the Heretic sect known as the Apostles of Light and tried to forment rebellion against Sheogorath, for which she was imprisoned in the Howling Halls.

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• Dramatically Missing the Point: She knew that Sheogorath wasn't there during the Greymarch, but not knowing that it was part of a curse placed on Sheogorath as Jyggalag, she thinks that Sheogorath willingly abandoned them.
• Light Is Not Good: Her sect is called 'Apostles of the Light' and she uses a lot of light metaphors in her speech, but her 'Light' is founded on her mistake about the nature of the Greymarch and her followers' descriptions of the Light are... foreboding, to say the least.
• NayTheist: Hates Sheogorath for what she sees as his abandonment of his people and has founded her own version of the Heretics dedicated to overthrowing him. Notably, unlike most Heretics, she does acknowledge that Sheogorath is a god- she just sees him as unworthy.
• Path of Inspiration: The 'Light' she preaches is a vague and abstract concept of knowledge and truth, but that isn't really what Ciirta believes in; she just wants revenge against Sheogorath. Some of her Apostles have even turned against her because of it and will kill her if you give them weapons.
• Scary Amoral Religion: Her 'Apostles of Light' sect isn't very coherent (as expected from a belief founded in the realm of madness), but its beliefs involve self-harm and "forsak[ing] ignorance and morality."
• Spanner in the Works: She managed to find a way into Sheogorath's palace during the Greymarch. This made her a valid candidate to create one of the components of the Staff of Sheogorath (eye that had seen the deepest secret of the Shivering Isles). Had Ciirta not done that, the Hero of Kvatch would never have been able to fix the staff and end the Greymarch.

Arden-Sul

A prophet of the Shivering Isles. Though important to their entire society, Mania and Dementia (characteristically) agree on almost nothing about him as each depicts him as an exemplar of their particular brand of madness; the only consistent things are that he was a prophet, had 213 followers, and died along with them by doing something crazy. The stories about Arden-Sul's death are re-enacted as part of the ascension rituals to the Duchies of Mania and Dementia.

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• Blood Magic: The Demented believed that he could perform visceromancy, a form of divination that used the entrails.
• Posthumous Character: Is very, very dead in the present. His death narratives are so important to the society of the Isles that they're the basis of becoming Duke/Duchess of Mania and Dementia, and the Heretics and the Zealots are defined by their unusual beliefs about Arden-Sul.
• "Rashomon"-Style:
  • The Maniacs believe he was a hedonist and expert artist and craftsman who took too much Greeenmote during a party, upon which his heart exploded.
    • The Heretics of Mania believe that he is the true lord of the Shivering Isles and Sheogorath is an impostor.
  • The Demented believe that he was a BDSM prophet and that he suspected one of his disciples was a traitor who was destined to kill him. He killed them all and used divination magic to find that none of them had betrayed him. After he tore out his own heart in frustration, he realized as he died that he himself was the traitor, betraying his loyal followers, and was destined to kill himself.
    • The Zealots of Dementia believe that Arden-Sul was a mortal aspect of Sheogorath; given what you end up doing to halt the Greymarch, they might actually be right and Arden-Sul might have been another mortal who tried to mantle Sheogorath.

Knights of the Nine characters

Pelinal Whitestrake

Voice By: Wes Johnson (English)^note Other Languages:Alexey Kolgan (Russian)

A hero from the early First Era who helped the Nedes rebel against Ayleid tyranny.

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• Ax-Crazy: Against Elves. And Khajiit. Mostly.
• God in Human Form: Of both Akatosh and Shezarr, maybe. He didn't like being called that, though.
• Insane Equals Violent: Would go on violent rampages, usually against Ayleids (though sometimes he would kill Nedes and Khajiit) when he particularly lost it.
• Mad God: A maybe-God in Human Form whose connection with Akatosh turned him insane.
• Mood-Swinger: Comes from being mentally unstable.
• Off with His Head!: It took cutting him into eight pieces to kill him, and he still lived long enough to have a final talk with Morihaus.
• Rasputinian Death: It took cutting him into eight pieces to kill him, and he still lived long enough to have a final talk with Morihaus.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Huna's death drove Pelinal into his most horrifying and fearsome Madness against the Ayleids, destroying several of their cities so utterly they were wiped from existence. It took Alessia praying to the Eight Divines to stop it.
• Sociopathic Hero: A raging psychotic who fought for Big Good Alessia.
• Time Travel: Was most likely from the future. He supposedly knew who Reman was thousands of years before his birth.
• Unstoppable Rage: Had legendary berserker rages.

Umaril the Unfeathered

An Ayleid sorcerer-king slain by Pelinal Whitestrake in ancient times, but returned thanks to a pact with Meridia.

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• Big Bad: Of the Knights of the Nine expansion. The plot line is driven by his agents' attacks against the faith of the Nine Divines, and culminates in the Hero defeating him forever.
• Bling of War: His skin and armor are completely made of gold, similar to that of the Aurorans that serve Meridia.
• Demon of Human Origin: He was an Ayleid demigod that became an Auroran-like being after his death and rebirth.
• Deader than Dead: The only way to defeat Umaril permanently was to also destroy his soul, which could only be harmed by the power of the Blessing of Talos, the Divine that didn't exist yet the last time he was defeated.
• The Dreaded: Everyone is terrified at the thought of him returning.
• Last of His Kind: He's the very last living Ayleid in all of Nirn, having cheated death with the help of Meridia.
• Light Is Not Good: He's Meridia's favorite champion. Although she's usually benevolent towards the races of Mundus, some of her most fervent worshippers were the Ayleids, who once enslaved the humans that lived in old Cyrod, now known as Cyrodiil.
• Multi-Stage Battle: You have to fight his physical form at Garlas Malatar before following his spirit form into the skies above the Imperial City to kill him for good.
• Rage Against the Heavens: His motivation in the storyline, due to the at-the-time Eight Divines' role in his downfall.
• Resurrective Immortality: Using magic, he gave himself Daedric-like immortality. Upon death, his soul goes to the Colored Rooms while his body is rebuilt.
• Semi-Divine: His mother was an Ayleid, while his father was a god from a past kalpa.

Knights of the Nine

The knights who follow the Hero of Kvatch as he gathers the Relics of the Crusader. Their names are Areldur, Avita, Brellin, Carodus, Geimund, Gukimir, Lathon, and Thedret.

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• Bash Brothers: Geimund and Gukimir are brothers from Skyrim.
• Bring News Back: Lathon was instructed to do this by his master, Sir Roderic of Wayrest. Roderic was hoping to obtain the Greaves and Sword of the Crusader, but only got the Greaves before being attacked by a powerful ghost. Roderic sent Lathon with the greaves to the Priory to get help.
• Call to Agriculture: Brellin will tend the crops when he is not in prayer after Umaril is killed and the quests are over. However, he'll still pick up his weapons and fight if asked.
• Crisis of Faith: Areldur has one after realizing he declined to help a ward of the church break a hereditary curse, and wonder why he became a priest if he can't help others. He will come to terms with himself and pledge atonement by serving as a crusader.
• Failure Hero: Areldur and Carodus both struggle with their failures to obtain their relics. Areldur takes a more active shame.
• Like Father, Like Son: Carodus serves Zenithar after his tour of duty was over as his mother did: Unsworn to the church, but fully devoted in duty.
• Multinational Team: Two Redguards, two Nords, two Imperials, one Bosmer, one Altmer. The Bosmer also follows Auri-El, the elven version of Akatosh, implying he comes from outside Cyrodiil.
• Old Soldier: Carodus has served many tours the Empire over. Geimund and Gukimir have served as members of the Legion.
• Pals with Jesus: Avita claims to have received visions from Kynareth, which is why she takes an active role and becomes knighted.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Brellin, in particular, is a master with the Blade and a master of devotion to Auri-El, the elven version of Akatosh.
• Religious Bruiser: All of them are devout worshippers of the Aedra. Areldur and Avita in particular were priests of Stendarr and Kynareth, respectively, before they embraced becoming crusaders. Carodus was a protectorate of the Shrine of Zenithar.
• She Is the King: Avita is the sole female Crusader, and she goes by "Sir" just like the men when knighted.
• Shirtless Captives: Thedret was caught by Daedra conjurers as he sought the Shield of the Crusader. They stripped him of his shirt and shoes, then threw him in a cell.
• Take Up My Sword: Downplayed. Thedret asks the Hero of Kvatch to finish his quest. Justified in his case, Thedret lacks any equipment and is in no condition to offer assistance. Once Thedret gets some rest and equipment, however, he'll fight in subsequent battles.
• We Help the Helpless: Geimund and Gukimir cite this as their motivation: When they heard about how Umaril's armies were slaughtering the helpless, they resigned their commissions in the Legion and joined the Priory to save people.

The Prophet

A nameless old man who appears in the aftermath of the Anvil Chapel attack, preaching of worse to come. He guides the Hero on their path to becoming the Divine Crusader.

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• But Now I Must Go: He disappears forever after the Hero defeats Umaril.
• Deadpan Snarker: If the Hero insists that they're worthy to become a divine champion, the Prophet takes some time out of his preaching schedule to poke a hole in their ego.
  Player: Yes, I am the hero of Kvatch.
  Prophet: Well then, "Hail, Hero of Kvatch!" Let me add one more voice to the neverending chorus of praise. I'm sure one of your many devotees will able to guide you on your way to find the Crusader's Relics.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's only ever referred to as "The Prophet".
• God Was My Copilot: It's strongly implied in Knights of the Nine that the Prophet is, in fact, the deified Emperor Tiber Septim (Talos). He even looks like Uriel and Martin Septim.
• Magical Homeless Person: He preaches in the gardens of Anvil by day and sleeps there on a bedroll at night, but can grant a powerful blessing and is implied to be the god Talos incarnate.
• Secret Test of Character: At the beginning of his quest line, he fills you in on some evil that's plaguing the lands and then asks if you're worthy to seek out the holy relics that can stop it. If you say anything other than "no/not ready", he mocks you and says that you don't need his help in finding them since you're already such an awesome hero. However, if you say you're not ready, he tells you that a humble heart is the first step and allows you to continue the quest chain.
• Soapbox Square: He spends his days in the gardens of Anvil, preaching about the return of Umaril the Unfeathered to anyone who'll listen. It causes enough of a stir to be mentioned in rumours.
  Prophet: So, another one who has come to listen to the madman's rantings.

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