open/close all folders
Queen Ayrenn Arana Aldmeri
Voiced By: Kate Beckinsale
The Queen of the Aldmeri Dominion, as well as its founder. She was the first in line for the throne, and her abrupt return caused her brother to lose his shot at the throne. She is not popular in certain circles of Altmer society, due to her rejection of the culturally institutionalized Fantastic Racism many Altmer still hold.
- Action Girl: Despite being the Queen, she's a damn good fighter in her own right.
- Alliterative Name: Her full name is "Ayrenn Arana Aldmeri".
- Big Good: For the Dominion.
- Dull Surprise: Ayrenn's inflection remains a deadpan monotone that barely changes from scene to scene regardless of if she's happy, worried, or angry. When you are deeply concerned of an extremist faction who's gunning for your head and throne, the last emotion you would want to display would be boredom. In fact, the image to the right does a wonderful job of depicting her reaction throughout the entirety of the Aldmeri Dominion campaign and Summerset.
- The Good King: More The Good Queen, but pretty benevolent by Altmer standards, though she still thinks humans are unfit to rule Tamriel.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She's completely shocked when Estre turns out to be the Veiled Queen, despite earlier telling the player that Estre was more broken-up about Ayrenn taking the throne away from her brother than even Naemon was. She also doesn't show any signs of recognizing her brother's jealousy, even though he resents the fact that he was almost done with the coronation requirements and the fact that his wife's murderer (you) is considered a Dominion hero and the Queen's new best friend.
- Humans Are Bastards: Downplayed; her beliefs are more along the lines of 'humans are dumb' and unlike some of her 5th age successors she has no problem with humanity existing, she just thinks they're less fit to rule.
- Implausible Deniability: After Naemon jumps in Ayrenn's place in the Orrery, Ayrenn orders that her brother's death be treated as one of a hero. Even after he is forced to return as a lich, she simply uses that to leverage the story and say that he was used by the Veiled Heritance from beginning to end.
- Lady of War: As nice as she is by Altmer standards, she's quite ruthless when it comes to the war and keeping her own house in order. In High Isle, she's pretty pleased to finally get a chance to get involved in the action first-hand.
- Moral Myopia: Although she openly tolerates the existence of other, non-Mer civilizations across Tamriel, Ayrenn is of the same mind as her kin, in that she sees humans as too young and unfit to rule, and would "sooner place an Altmer infant on the Ruby Throne than surrender Tamriel to their capricious whims", wilfully ignorant of the fact that she herself is only merely 28 years old by the time of Online, which is practically infantile by the standards of her own race.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: While she wants to make peace with humans, she still doesn't want them in charge of Cyrodiil.
- Noodle Incident: At one point, she had one of these with Razum-Dar. She isn't keen on sharing the details. Except to say that it involved a drunken schoolmarm, a purple dress, lots of wine, and some city that began with the letter W. (Either Whiterun or Wayrest, she's not sure.)
- Her adventuring days seem to be a collection of these. The stories are mostly exaggerated, of course. Except the one with the bear. That one is true.
- Not So Above It All: Despite being the Queen and leader of the entire Aldmeri Dominion, Ayrenn is actually quite a bit of a party animal, with her recounting the wild tales of her younger years spent traveling across Tamriel, which would be absolutely controversial for a major leader such as she. She's also quite The Gadfly, with Battlereeve Urcelmo usually being the target of her jokes, especially after the Vestige told her of their interactions in a possible Bad Future where the Dominion collapses and he betrays her.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Arguably the most reasonable and personable of the three Alliance leaders. Unlike the volatile Enemy Mine of the Ebonheart Pact and the heavily implied political and racial corruption of the Daggerfall Covenant, Ayrenn formed the Dominion out of a genuine desire to protect and safeguard her people in the wake of the Soul Burst. Certain dialogues and sidequests all but state that she is the most tolerant and accepting of the non-Dominion races in comparison to the Covenant and Pact (to the point that she's allowed a Breton to join the Eyes of the Queen), and during the ceasefire conference on Stirk, she's pretty much the only one who realizes that Molag Bal's threat is considerably more important than the rush for Cyrodiil. And in Summerset, she opens the titular island's borders to all visitors, even those from the Covenant or the Pact.
- State Sec: The "Eyes of the Queen" are an organization that are part Secret Service and part CIA who are allowed to do pretty much whatever they want, so long as it is for the good of the Aldmeri Dominion. They answer directly to her.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: As of now it's unknown what fate Ayrenn will meet in the future, as her last appearance is in High Isle and the Legacy of the Bretons storyline. Given that the Second Aldmeri Dominion already exists some two hundred years later by 2E 830 before Tiber Septim conquered the Isles in 2E 896, and Ayrenn herself is not mentioned in any capacity in the chronologically later titles, it's possible that she was overthrown or otherwise removed from power in some other manner.
Razum-dar
Voiced By: Christopher Corey Smith
A Khajiit agent who serves as a high-ranking officer of the Eyes of the Queen. He serves as a major ally to the player character, if they are with the Dominion.- Beware the Silly Ones: Despite the frequent humor of Razum-dar's dialogue, he is still State Sec, and demonstrates himself to be fittingly ruthless when the need arises.
- The Casanova: Raz fancies himself some kind of a ladies' man and flirts with every girl he sees, including a female Vestige of any race and build, and even Queen Ayrenn herself. In fact, he's flirted with all three of his neighbor's daughters back in Anequina, having promised each girl that he would come back to marry her, all without their father or each other knowing about it. The girls (and their dad) were predictably upset to learn of the truth.
- Cat Folk: Comes with being a Khajiit.
- Chivalrous Pervert: A lot of his dialogue comes off as this.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Raz likes to crack jokes and make himself look unassuming, but he's also a bonafide badass who can punch way above his weight, as demonstrated several times during the Dominion campaign. His enemies tend to underestimate him, and only those really in the know will ever be wary of him. In Elsweyr, we find out that his family and associates do not know about his secret work as Eye of the Queen, and only remember him as that lazy womanizer who never helped on the farm and left to pursue a pretty high elf (Ayrenn).
- Deadpan Snarker: He definitely has his moments.
- Dual Wielding: He uses two daggers to fight.
- Extreme Omnisexual: Raz would flirt with anyone if he could. It doesn't matter what race your Vestige is, or how physically unattractive you've deliberately made them, he will still attempt to hit on them all the same, even if you're an extra-muscular Orc or Argonian.
- The Lancer: In many ways, he serves as Ayrenn's second-in-command, as well as yours, whenever the two of you are involved in a mission together.
- Noodle Incident: Queen Ayrenn has a story about the two of them that she gets rather embarrassed about whenever it comes up. He also mentions having once rode a guar naked through an Argonian temple, the full story he only shares with veteran agents.
- Plucky Comic Relief: By far one of the funnier characters in the game, even people who have no idea what he's talking about can find his quips rather entertaining.
- Sadistic Choice: Becomes a subject of one. During the last leg of the Dominion questline, he is trapped in an Ayleid ruin, and the only way out also happens to be mutually-exclusive to destroying an Artifact of Doom that threatens Queen Ayrenn. The player has to choose between destroying the artifact (which Razum-dar wants, as his duty is to die for the queen) or saving him while the artifact remains a threat. If you choose to follow his orders, he still shows up later, having barely escaped on his own.
- State Sec: One of the Eyes of the Queen.
- Third-Person Person: In the manner of Khajiit speech, he often refers to himself either as "this one" or "Razum-dar", and almost slips up with this when disguised as an Altmer noble. Played for Laughs when he acts as Ayrenn's body double at one point, with Kate Beckinsale accidentally stating "this one" once or twice.
- What the Hell, Hero?: If you fail to destroy the Crown of Elven Supremacy during the aforementioned Sadistic Choice. Trying to convince him that you simply couldn't let him die doesn't make him any less furious at you, though he does come back around eventually.
Prince Naemon
The younger brother to Queen Ayrenn, was due to take the throne of Alinor before Ayrenn suddenly returned.
- And I Must Scream: You can find him in Heart's Grief in Coldharbour, where he's spent all of this time being suffocated but not dying for failing Molag Bal.
- Arc Villain: Of the Greenshade arc.
- Body Horror: Happens to him when he tries to use the Orrery. His jealousy and bitterness transform him into a big, fat monstrosity of an Ogrim. When he sees what he's become he immediately tries to attack Ayrenn.
- Came Back Wrong: During the Greenshade arc, he's revived as a Lich by his underling Vicereeve Pelildil, who'd since defected to the Veiled Heritance after his death at The Orrery.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Tries to be loving and supportive of Ayrenn, but is still secretly resentful towards her ascending to the throne instead of him. When his attempt to use The Orrery backfires, these feelings are forced to the surface, and he attempts to kill her.
- Karmic Transformation: Tries to force The Orrery to recognize him as the next Emperor of Tamriel (and by extent, the Dominion's true ruler) by having it test him ahead of Ayrenn. However his deep-seated resentment of Ayrenn ascending to the throne causes it to reject him and transforms him into a hulking Ogrim.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Played with. He doesn't agree with his sister's policies, not the least of which involved ordering the death of his wife, or how the Dominion is run, but still tries to aid his sister out of loyalty.
- Never My Fault: When his attempt to use The Orrery goes wrong and he's transformed into an Ogrim, he immediately blames Ayrenn for "tricking him" into testing it first, when he did so entirely of his own selfish volition.
- He also blames you entirely for his wife's death, conveniently forgetting to mention that it only happened because the latter called upon Mehrunes Dagon to lay waste to Firsthold.
- Spare to the Throne: His coronation was set within days of his sister's return. Actually takes it rather well, all things considered, though his dialogue is peppered with thinly-veiled bitterness. His wife, on the other hand...
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Occasionally snips that he "won't give you any room to question his loyalty" whenever he's forced to check his ego and go along with Ayrenn's wishes by assisting you.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Some Dominion NPCs will express regret that you assisted Ayrenn, and remark that Naemon deserved the crown more.
The Veiled Queen
The leader of the Veiled Heritance, a group of extremist Altmer who want to drive all non-Altmer out of the Summerset Isles, as well as depose Queen Ayrenn and destroy the Aldmeri Dominion. Also Prince Naemon's wife.
- Arc Villain: Of the Auridon Arc.
- Deal with the Devil: In her schemes to usurp Ayrenn from the throne, the Veiled Queen has, in fact, made deals with the Maormer, the Ebonheart Pact and Mehrunes Dagon, and aspired to make one with Mannimarco as well. When you confront her and her schemes are exposed, she sics Daedra on Dawnbreak and Firsthold; in the latter case, even opening Oblivion portals to the Deadlands to cover her escape.
- Face Death with Dignity: Not when the Vestige defeated her in Firsthold, but in Coldharbour. Should you side with either Angof or Thallik instead of her, Estre will just make a rather indifferent quip before meeting her death.Estre: "Well … that's not good."
- Fantastic Racism: Estre is an extreme racist, even by Altmer standards. One of her main grievances with the current Aldmeri Dominion is its alliance with the Bosmer and Khajiit kingdoms, whom she sees as savages and lesser to the Altmer.
- Gold Digger: She's all but confirmed to have only married Naemon to eventually become Queen of the Summerset Isles. One of the many reasons she had for establishing the Veiled Heritance is hatred and jealousy for Ayrenn, whom she saw as an usurper of her rightful place as Queen of the Summerset Isles.
- It's All About Me: Not only is Estre a racist, she's also a narcissist. The main excuse for her establishing the Veiled Heritance in the first place was that Ayrenn returned to the Summerset Isles and took her place as the Queen of the Altmer, and a vast majority of her quotes demonstrate how she seems to have an extremely high opinion of herself, while deeming everyone else as lowly rabble. Even after meeting and saving her in Coldharbour, Estre's attitude still doesn't change.
- Villain with Good Publicity: After her defeat, some Altmer NPCs will condemn you for killing Summerset's "true Queen".
King Camoran Aeradan
The King of Valenwood, set the foundation of the Aldmeri Dominion in motion by enlisting the aid of Queen Ayrenn in repulsing invaders from Cyrodiil.
- Modest Royalty: Very approachable, he wears utilitarian armor even on the throne. Like many Wood Elves in the game, he speaks with a cockney accent.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: A humorous example, when speaking bluntly about Prince Naemon.Aeradan: He's the one with the entire Elden Root up his flue. I can say that, I'm the King.
Ulthorn / The Hound
Voiced by: Gideon Emery
A Bosmer who was in love with the Green Lady before she ascended to her new position. Her rejection of him, due to the Green Lady being bound by fate to be the bride of the Silvenar, drove him to become the Hound, a servant of Hircine, in an attempt to gain her back.- Arc Villain: Of the Malabal Tor arc.
- Body Horror: Comes with the werebeast territory.
- The Dragon: To Hircine.
- Love Makes You Evil: His obsession with the Green Lady caused him to sell his soul to Hircine in exchange for the power he thinks will be enough to win her back.
- The Man Behind the Man: He was this to the Drublog for the first half of the Malabal Tor arc.
- Not Good with Rejection: He sold his soul to a Daedric Prince after the Green Lady rejected him.
- Unwitting Pawn: Hircine never had any intention of giving him the Green Lady. As the strongest of the Bosmer, the species in Tamriel best known for their hunters, she's the ultimate prize for him. Ulthorn was just the tool he planned to use to get his hands on her.
- Yandere: For the Green Lady.
Javad Tharn
Leader of the Reaper's March invasion by the Colovians, having also brought the Stonefire Cult with him. He seeks to destroy the Dominion by plunging the Khajiit into darkness.
- Arc Villain: Of Reaper's March.
- The Charmer: According to the text House Tharn of Nibenay, prior to the events of the Planemeld, Javad was a notable ladykiller and party animal at official celebrations in the Imperial City.
- Dark Is Evil: His armor is dark-colored.
- Villainous Mother-Son Duo: His mother Euraxia also has evil designs on the Khajiit, and she sees nothing wrong with his actions in Reaper's March.
Silvenar (Edhelorn)
The spiritual leader of the Bosmer.
- Modest Royalty: Comes with being an Anthropomorphic Personification of his nation's spirit. The whole nation's, from nobles to peasants.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: With the Green Lady. They are both chosen for their roles, and these roles require them to marry. The current couple love each other dearly.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a cool-headed leader, in opposition to his confrontational, hot-blooded advisor.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Green Lady's red.
- Ruling Couple: Aeradan may be the king of Valenwood, but Silvenar and the Green Lady are the soul and strength of the Bosmer.
- Sacrificial Lion: He gets assassinated by the Maormer to prevent Khenarthi's Roost from joining the Dominion.
The Green Lady (Finoriell)
The martial leader of the Bosmer.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: The mantle of the Green Lady makes her the personification of the whole race's martial might.
- Blood Knight: Comes with the mantle. She's a military leader, her husband's bodyguard and the greatest of living Bosmer fighters.
- One-Woman Army: After the Silvenar is killed, she swims all the way to Pyandonea (which is hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from Tamriel) in order to seek revenge, killing Maormer indiscriminately until she dies from exhaustion.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: With the Silvenar. They are both chosen for their roles, and these roles require them to marry. The current couple love each other dearly.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Silvenar's blue.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Silvenar is killed, she vows to destroy those responsible. After the end of Khenarthi's Roost arc, she declares that once she finishes Silvenar's burial rites, she will spend the rest of her remaining life hunting Maormer.The Green Lady: I am the unerring bolt. Once loosed, I cannot stop 'til I pierce my quarry's eye.
- Ruling Couple: Aeradan may be the king of Valenwood, but Silvenar and the Green Lady are the soul and strength of the Bosmer.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Her fate is left ambiguous after you leave Khenarthi's Roost, with her post being replaced by her niece Gwaering later on. Given that Green Ladies are supposed to commit ritualistic suicide should their bonded Silvenars die before they do, it's not looking too optimistic for her given the circumstances. It's later revealed that she died on the coasts of Pyandonnea after traveling there to kill as many Maormers as she could to avenge her Silvenar. After her death, her spirit is drawn back to Treehenge in Malabal Tor, where she serves as one of the key allies during that mini-arc.
Euraxia Tharn
The half-sister of Abnur Tharn and mother of Javad Tharn, she launches an invasion of Northern Elsweyr while the Dominion forces are otherwise occupied with the Alliance War.
- Cain and Abel: Her half-brother Abnur Tharn is hell-bent on ending her tyrannical reign over Northern Elsweyr. After you kill Euraxia, he expresses little sorrow over her death and tells her you did what you had to do.
- Disc-One Final Boss: You kill her halfway through the Elsweyr zone questline, with the dragons/the Betrayer as your opponents for the remainder of the arc.
- Mama Bear: If you've completed the Reaper's March questline before talking to her, she reacts to you with absolute fury for killing her son Javad Tharn, the Arc Villain of that zone.
- Puppet Queen: You can accuse her of being this in Elsweyr, but she remains in utter denial.
- Taking You with Me: She has seige weapons trained on the city of Rimmen, and intends to destroy the city (including civilians) if she is unseated from power.
Khamira
Initially encountered as an agent of Lord Gharesh-ri, the Speaker of the Mane, Khamira plays a key role in Northern Elsweyr's questline.
- Action Girl: Khamira is quite willing and able to leap into the fray, occasionally skirting the line of being a Leeroy Jenkins.
- Foil: To Euraxia. As Euraxia is a false puppet queen who rules by cruelty and brute force, Khamira is the true queen of Anequina who begins as a humble Queen Incognito and ascends by righting the wrongs done to her people.
- Odd Friendship: She develops one with Abnur Tharn of all people, seeking his tutelage in magic (even though like most other characters she has little patience for his Jerkass moments).
- Rags to Royalty: She barely survived the massacre of the royal family, and hid as a commoner for many years before reasserting herself as the true queen of Anequina.
- Really Royalty Reveal: She is in fact the Princess of Anequina, and the last surviving member of the original royal family before Euraxia took over the region.
- Rousing Speech: She delivers one of the most rousing speeches in the game at the Battle of Riverhold, shouting down an actual Dragon that's attacking the city.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: And how! "Something," in this case, means facing down multiple, literal dragons in order to save her people.
Zamarak
A Khajiiti monk encountered in Northern Elsweyr, he becomes a recurring ally in the dragon crisis.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: He is initially found at a monastery in Elsweyr, and is both spiritual and quite adept at kicking ass.
- Martial Pacifist: Zamarak struggles greatly with the idea of using violence, afraid that it will only lead to more.
- My Greatest Failure: He was initially in the king's guard, and failed to prevent the royal family from being slaughtered when Euraxia took over.
- Nice Guy: Zamarak is genuinely devoted to his spiritual beliefs and determined to make things right.
- Quit Your Whining: The player character has to tell Zamarak this at one point, as his extreme guilt over failing the royal family in the past threatens to derail him during a key mission.
- Turn to Religion: Devastated by failing to protect the royal family, Zamarak turned to Khajiiti mysticism.
Prefect Calo
An Imperial commander who joins your ranks during the Elsweyr storyline. Initially part of Euraxia's invasion force, Calo opposed her cruel methods and ended up imprisoned for it.
- Defector from Decadence: Jailed for his open refusal of some of Euraxia's crueler orders, he jumps at the opportunity to assist the heroes opposing her.
- Dork Knight: Calo is obsessed with books and reports, and reveals a personal obsession with mystery novels. When he sees the great library of the ancient Dragonguard in Elsweyr, he reacts like a kid in a candy store. Later, he openly fanboys over General Remnus.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: He leads a special force called the Cygnus Irregulars.
- Not What I Signed on For: His unit was assigned to accompany Euraxia into Northern Elsweyr on "Imperial business", but he was horrified when she turned it into her own personal invasion of the territory.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: The Khajiiti characters do not warm up to Calo at first, seeing as he participated in the invasion of their homeland.
