History Monster / TheElderScrolls

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

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/es_cm.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Your mind is naked to me! I can taste your fear! You are fertile ground for the seeds of eternal torment!"]]
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->''"Indiscriminate death. Set upon by the gnawing and the rabid. Cyrodiil's candle flickers and is snuffed. Servants and superiors — no one is spared the sharp tooth, ridged blade, or diseased hook, barb, or beak. And Molag Bal will watch from his palace in Coldharbour where everything stares back at him with his own face, and he will gloat, and mock, and gorge on the souls of mortals."''

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

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

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

%% NOTE 2: A CompleteMonster is an individual character, not a collective. Therefore a faction cannot be listed as one. %% A faction can attract Complete Monsters and can have them among its members, but cannot be one in and of itself.

->''"Indiscriminate death. Set upon by the gnawing and the rabid. Cyrodiil's candle flickers and is snuffed. Servants and superiors — no one is spared the sharp tooth, ridged blade, or diseased hook, barb, or beak. And Molag Bal will watch from his palace in Coldharbour where everything stares back at him with his own face, and he will gloat, and mock, and gorge on the souls of mortals."''
-->--'''Flaccus Terentius''', dreaming of '''Molag Bal's''' invasion, ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline The Improved Emperor's Guide to Tamriel]]'' ("[[https://www.imperial-library.info/content/dreams-cyrodiil Dreams of Cyrodiil]]")

[[folder:Franchise-Wide]]

* [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Potema Septim]], the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Wolf Queen of Solitude]], has the dubious honor of being one of the few "unambiguously evil" figures in the history of Tamriel. Potema was responsible for the War of the Red Diamond, alleging her niece--and rightful Empress--to be a bastard, then having her executed to install her son Uriel Septim III as Emperor in her place, plunging the country into a war so brutal it nearly tore the Empire to pieces. Dabbling in {{necromancy}} and daedra-summoning toward the end of her life to the point the city of Solitude has become a "land of death" from how bloated it is with resurrected corpses of her enemies and her own servants alike, Potema's evil was powerful enough to live on into [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim the Fourth Age]] as a hateful spectre. Unspeakably [[EvilIsPetty petty]] as well, Potema once condemned a servant to the eternal torment of [[FateWorseThanDeath the Soul Cairn]] for an unintentional insult. Suspected to have even been responsible for the [[DrivenToMadness fall of her grand-nephew Pelagius the Mad into irrecoverable insanity]], Potema is one of the few characters in Tamriel's inconsistent lore to be exactly as evil as she's claimed to be.

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

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

** [[TortureTechnician Hevnoraak]] is a Dragon Priest who obsessively sought immortality through {{lich}}dom. Hevnoraak amassed an army by [[CompellingVoice mentally dominating his followers]] and placing his will upon their own, permanently twisting their minds into evil. Hevnoraak subjected his servants to torture and humiliation for his own amusement, with countless victims still littering the tomb of Valthume. Hevnoraak had a special fascination with feeding many of them to his pet GiantSpiders in the process, with a fondness for paralyzing them to be EatenAlive.
** [[ILoveTheDead Arondil]] is a reclusive Altmer hiding in Yngvild who was chased out of Dawnstar for his lustful behavior and his unspeakable necromancy. Finding his mind constantly chasing back to the subject of the milkmaids he used to [[StalkerWithACrush pursue]], Arondil uses his magic to resurrect Yngvild's buried women as his enslaved draugr harem to satisfy his wants. Arondil eventually graduates to murdering one of the old milkmaids he used to lust after, resurrecting her spirit as his [[SexSlave servile slave]] and repeating the process with many more innocent women from Dawnstar, keeping their souls enslaved to his every whim and pleasure.
** [[{{Sadist}} Sild the Warlock]] is a sadistic mage defined by his [[TortureTechnician love of torture]]. Hiding out in the ruins of Rannveig's Fast, Sild lures adventurers into his clutches with tales of treasure within the crypt, before dumping them down a long pit into his clutches, whereupon Sild proceeds to torture them to death. Not content with merely killing them, Sild enslaves the souls of his victims and forces them to kill anyone who stumbles upon the ruins, [[AndIMustScream leaving them conscious and begging for forgiveness as they do so]]. Dissatisfied with the number of people who simply die from the fall, Sild is always experimenting with new ways to torture his victims to death, with a passion eclipsing most other {{evil sorcerer}}s in Skyrim, even casually murdering his own assistant [[ForTheEvulz for a chuckle]].

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

** [[ItsAllAboutMe Vuhon]], better known as Lord Umbriel, was a Dunmer scientist who invented the Ingenium to keep the floating meteorite known as the Ministry of Truth above Vivec City, [[HumanResources using the souls of living beings as fuel]]. Vuhon, jealous over having his affections spurned years ago, tried to use his rival Sul's beloved as fuel for the Ingenium, and [[NeverMyFault refused to own up]] to any of the subsequent destruction when Morrowind was devastated as the Ministry of Truth [[ColonyDrop fell]] from their confrontation, torturing Sul for years when they were trapped in Oblivion. Finally escaping upon making a pledge with the Daedric entity [[EmpathicWeapon Umbra]], Vuhon became lord of the flying city of Umbriel, burning countless more souls to fuel the Ingenium that let the city fly and allowing countless Umbrielians known as "skraws" to live short, agonized lives as slaves tending to the city's sump. Vuhon destroys the city of Lilmoth upon being summoned into Tamriel and has his undead armies raze their way across the country, willing to annihilate the Imperial City if they give him trouble and saying all the lives spent to power Umbriel are worth it to emancipate himself from Oblivion and rule Umbriel forever.

%% NOTE: Due to the controversial nature of this trope, any changes (additions, removals, edits) should be discussed [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=6vic3f9h1cy5qivsenw8llok here]].

** ''Greymoor'' ExpansionPack: [[AmbitionIsEvil High King Svargrim]], ruler of Skyrim, turns out to be in league with the terrifying Grey Host. Playing the part of a grieving husband after his wife is murdered by the Grey Host, Svargrim in fact [[TilMurderDoUsPart arranged for her murder]] and has no qualms trying to [[OffingTheOffspring slay his horrified daughter]] after. [[ImmortalityImmorality For the prospect of immortality]], Svargrim has sold out his people to the slaughterous reign of the Grey Host, and personally attempts to wipe out thousands of innocent lives by bringing down a harrowstorm upon his own hold, Solitude.

** [[AmbitionIsEvil Minister Hierem]] is a backstabbing, influential noble in the Imperial Empire and the second-most powerful man in the nation. Seeking even more power, Hierem attempts to overthrow the Emperor and kill any and all rivals, trying to have Prince Attrebus Mede assassinated alongside over fifty of his own men and later torturing Attrebus with MindRape, a violation severe enough to leave Attrebus near broken despair. Hierem orchestrates Umbriel's passage into Tamriel by ensuring the city comes through and destroys Lilmoth, actively undermining efforts to stop its path of slaughter while intending to [[TheStarscream betray Vuhon]] and [[AGodAmI become a god]] by siphoning off all the souls Vuhon has collected for himself.
* "[[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks The Horror at Castle Xyr]]" InGameNovel ([[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr link]]): ''[[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr The Horror at Castle Xyr]]'': [[AristocratsAreEvil Sedura Iachilla Xyr]], wife of the preeminent lord of Castle Xyr and seemingly TheGhost at first, turns out to be a TortureTechnician with a scientific interest in Destruction magic. In correspondence with a fellow necromancer, Iachilla purchases innocent slaves and magically [[CruelAndUnusualDeath tortures them to death in every way imaginable]]. Castle Xyr's cellar is bloated with victims melted, frozen, electrocuted, torn apart and sewn back together, and among her victims is her own maid Anaram whom Iachilla slowly poisoned to death so [[KillAndReplace she could impersonate her]].

* [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Potema Septim]], the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Wolf Queen of Solitude]], has the dubious honor of being one of the few "unambiguously evil" figures in the history of Tamriel. Potema was responsible for the War of the Red Diamond, alleging her niece--and rightful Empress--to be a bastard, then having her executed to install her son Uriel Septim III as Emperor in her place, plunging the country into a war so brutal it nearly tore the Empire to pieces. Dabbling in necromancy and daedra-summoning toward the end of her life to the point has become a "land of death" from how bloated it is with resurrected corpses of her enemies and her own servants alike, Potema's evil was powerful enough to live on into [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim the Fourth Age]] as a hateful spectre. Unspeakably [[EvilIsPetty petty]] as well, Potema once condemned a servant to the eternal torment of [[FateWorseThanDeath the Soul Cairn]] for an unintentional insult. Suspected to have even been responsible for the fall of her grand-nephew Pelagius the Mad into irrecoverable insanity, Potema is one of the few characters in Tamriel's inconsistent lore to be exactly as evil as she's claimed to be.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'':
** [[TheHeavy Mankar Camoran]], the leader of the [[ApocalypseCult the Mythic Dawn]] and a worshipper of [[BigBad Mehrunes Dagon]], aims to summon his master into Tamriel so Dagon may destroy the world and create a new one in its place, one that coheres with Camoran's [[TheSocialDarwinist beliefs]]. Not only does Mankar assist Dagon's [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daedra]] in attacking the mortal world, he also orchestrates the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim, as well as his grown children. He even had the city of Kvatch completely destroyed in a failed attempt to kill Uriel's bastard son, Martin. While Mankar [[ManipulativeBastard lures in his followers]] with promises of a paradise for their faithful service, this turns out to be a lie. Seemingly idyllic on the surface, Mankar's "paradise" is really a hell where his followers are constantly killed by monsters, only to be resurrected and killed over and over again. His promise to allow any follower who loses faith to leave his paradise also proves false, as the grotto, which is said to be an exit from the afterlife, really leads to a torture chamber where the unfaithful are [[AndIMustScream made immortal, locked into gibbets, and then dumped into lava]]. One follower who lost faith was forced by Camoran into inflicting this punishment on his friends over and over again. Paradise is said to be Mankar's vision of how he believes the world will be once Dagon takes over.
** "Caught in the Hunt" quest: [[LoanShark Kurdan gro-Dragol]] is a nasty Orc extortionist in Bravil who created something called the Hunter's Run at the nearby Fort Grief. In this sick game, wealthy clients pay Kurdan to [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunt and kill innocent people]] in the underground dungeons for sport. After kidnapping a gambler named Aleron Loche, Kurdan tricks the PlayerCharacter into participating in the Hunter's Run, as he had done to many others in the past. When the player succeeds in killing all of the hunters and [[HopeSpot collecting the key apparently needed to escape the fort]], they emerge to find Kurdan murdering Aleron. Kurdan tells the player that he's impressed they managed to kill all his clients, but that there will be more to replace them. He also informs them that the key they found was a fake--there was never a chance for anyone to survive his game, and Kurdan intends to keep it that way by killing the player.

* [[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks In-Universe Books]], by release:
** ''[[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horror_of_Castle_Xyr The Horror at Castle Xyr]]'': [[AristocratsAreEvil Sedura Iachilla Xyr]], wife of the preeminent lord of Castle Xyr and seemingly TheGhost at first, turns out to be a TortureTechnician with a scientific interest in Destruction magic. In correspondence with a fellow necromancer, Iachilla purchases innocent slaves and magically [[CruelAndUnusualDeath tortures them to death in every way imaginable]]. Castle Xyr's cellar is bloated with victims melted, frozen, electrocuted, torn apart and sewn back together, and among her victims is her own maid Anaram whom Iachilla slowly poisoned to death so [[KillAndReplace she could impersonate her]].
** ''[[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Confessions_of_a_Khajiit_Fur_Trader Confessions of a Khajiit Fur Trader]]'': [[AntagonistTitle The Fur Trader]] was a former Khajiit vagrant and robber who [[FromNobodyToNightmare became something much worse]] after a botched heist. Discovering that a Trader would pay much more for his deceased brother's pelt, the Fur Trader took that trade to an art form, [[SapientFurTrade killing countless others to sell their skins for profit]]. Eventually, the Fur Trader had managed to gather enough gold to hire others to do his work for him, stalking the alleys and forest roads to harvest innocent people's skins. Despite being captured and tried for execution, the Fur Trader intends on breaking out of his prison and continuing the trade, not intending to stop until his demise and leaving behind a horrific legacy.

[[Franchise/TheElderScrolls Live another life, in another world.]] Just watch out for [[CompleteMonster these villains]], who aim to make that world a living hell.

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

* [[TheCorrupter Molag Bal]], the "[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil King of Rape]]", is the [[Characters/TheElderScrollsDaedra Daedric]] Prince of Domination and Corruption who spreads strife and discord on Nirn so that he can harvest every mortal soul and torture them for eternity in his realm of [[BloodyBowelsOfHell Coldharbour]]. The first vampire was created when Molag Bal committed the first rape in history, and creates more by gifting vampirism to servants who survive getting raped to death by him. Desiring mortal souls, Molag Bal [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline instigates the Planemeld]] by trying to drag all of Tamriel into his realm and has captured innocents' flesh sculpted into decaying biological weapons against his enemies. On a smaller scale, [[EvilIsPetty Molag Bal is petty enough]] to corrupt a good and righteous man into breaking his oath of pacifism by sending a servant to defile his wife's grave, and dominates the defenseless priest of his rival Boethiah by having the old man beaten to death and revived to repeat the process until he swears fealty. Even [[BadBoss his own servants are not safe]] from his wrath, as he has his favorite murdered for not spreading enough destruction and arranges the death of his own daughter for falling in love with a lesser Daedra. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Disgusting even his fellow Daedric Princes]], Molag Bal is by far the vilest and most depraved being in existence.

->''"Your wicked mysticism is no way to wield your power. Your studies must cease, because you only bring horror to the spirit world."''
-->--'''Vanus Galerion''', to '''Mannimarco''', from ''[[https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Mannimarco,_King_of_Worms Mannimarco, King of Worms]]''

* Franchise-Wide:
** [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Mannimarco]], the King of Worms, is the leader of the Order of the Black Worm, one of the most powerful {{necromancer}}s to ever live, and the world's [[MonsterProgenitor first lich]]. In his first chronological appearance in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Online]]'', Mannimarco instigated the Planemeld, an event intended to merge Nirn with Coldharbour, the hellish realm of his master, the Daedric Prince Molag Bal. This would kill most people on the planet and leave the few survivors as eternal slaves. Mannimarco has his followers sacrifice countless people to summon Dark Anchors to pull Nirn into Coldharbour. His ultimate plan was [[TheStarscream to betray his master and steal his power]], becoming the new Daedric Prince of Schemes and ruling over both worlds as a god. Though slain, Mannimarco appears in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', where he continued his pursuit of power and performed favors in exchange for things like souls and firstborn children. Succeeding in achieving godhood by the game's end, in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', in the Mages Guild quest, a mortal part of Mannimarco resurfaced and decided to settle a petty grudge with his long-dead nemesis by destroying the Mages Guild said enemy founded. During the war with the guild, Mannimarco created black soul gems to [[YourSoulIsMine steal the souls]] of those who opposed him, tortured to death then resurrected a mage that infiltrated his cult, and personally led the slaughter of the Bruma Mages Guild chapter, leaving only one survivor.
** [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Potema Septim]], the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Wolf Queen of Solitude]], has the dubious honor of being one of the few "unambiguously evil" figures in the history of Tamriel. Potema was responsible for the War of the Red Diamond, alleging her niece--and rightful Empress--to be a bastard, then having her executed to install her son Uriel Septim III as Emperor in her place, plunging the country into a war so brutal it nearly tore the Empire to pieces. Dabbling in necromancy and daedra-summoning toward the end of her life to the point has become a "land of death" from how bloated it is with resurrected corpses of her enemies and her own servants alike, Potema's evil was powerful enough to live on into [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim the Fourth Age]] as a hateful spectre. Unspeakably [[EvilIsPetty petty]] as well, Potema once condemned a servant to the eternal torment of [[FateWorseThanDeath the Soul Cairn]] for an unintentional insult. Suspected to have even been responsible for the fall of her grand-nephew Pelagius the Mad into irrecoverable insanity, Potema is one of the few characters in Tamriel's inconsistent lore to be exactly as evil as she's claimed to be.

* ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls The Infernal City]]'' [[Literature/TheElderScrolls &]] ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls Lord of Souls]]'':
** [[ItsAllAboutMe Vuhon]], better known as Lord Umbriel, was a Dunmer scientist who invented the Ingenium to keep the floating meteorite known as the Ministry of Truth above Vivec City, [[HumanResources using the souls of living beings as fuel]]. Vuhon, jealous over having his affections spurned years ago, tried to use his rival Sul's beloved as fuel for the Ingenium, and [[NeverMyFault refused to own up]] to any of the subsequent destruction when Morrowind was devastated as the Ministry of Truth [[ColonyDrop fell]] from their confrontation, torturing Sul for years when they were trapped in Oblivion. Finally escaping upon making a pledge with the Daedric entity [[EmpathicWeapon Umbra]], Vuhon became lord of the flying city of Umbriel, burning countless more souls to fuel the Ingenium that let the city fly and allowing countless Umbrielians known as "skraws" to live short, agonized lives as slaves tending to the city's sump. Vuhon destroys the city of Lilmoth upon being summoned into Tamriel and has his undead armies raze their way across the country, willing to annihilate the Imperial City if they give him trouble and saying all the lives spent to power Umbriel are worth it to emancipate himself from Oblivion and rule Umbriel forever.
** [[AmbitionIsEvil Minister Hierem]] is a backstabbing, influential noble in the Imperial Empire and the second-most powerful man in the nation. Seeking even more power, Hierem attempts to overthrow the Emperor and kill any and all rivals, trying to have Prince Attrebus Mede assassinated alongside over fifty of his own men and later torturing Attrebus with MindRape, a violation severe enough to leave Attrebus near broken despair. Hierem orchestrates Umbriel's passage into Tamriel by ensuring the city comes through and destroys Lilmoth, actively undermining efforts to stop its path of slaughter while intending to [[TheStarscream betray Vuhon]] and [[AGodAmI become a god]] by siphoning off all the souls Vuhon has collected for himself.

* [[Literature/TheElderScrolls The Infernal City]]'' [[Literature/TheElderScrolls &]] ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls Lord of Souls]]'':

** [[TortureTechnician Hevnoraak]] is a Dragon Priest who [[AGodAmI sought godhood]] through [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lichdom]]. Amassing an army by [[CompellingVoice mentally dominating his followers]] and placing his will upon their own, Hevnoraak tortured and killed countless souls, feeding many of them to his pet GiantSpiders in the process, with a fondness for paralyzing them to be eaten alive. With the remains of many, many beings through his lair, Hevnoraak plots to revive and go on a bloody war of conquest until he rules all he can.
** [[ItsAllAboutMe Rahgot]] is a Dragon Priest who, in life, managed to survive centuries after the end of the Dragon War and hid with his servants in the remote temple of Forelhost. When High King Harald's forces discovered their hideout and began to siege the temple, Rahgot came up with a plan to save himself by [[OrderedToDie forcing most of his followers to commit mass suicide]], including having them [[OffingTheOffspring kill their own children]] and [[WaterSourceTampering poisoning their water supply]] for good measure, murdering his head alchemist when she objected. Once the legion succeeded in breaking through the entrance of Forelhost only to find so many dead, followed by half their forces succumbing to the poisoned well, they retreated, allowing Rahgot to live out the rest of his life in the deepest halls of his temple.

** The deceitful, silver-tongued [[FantasticRacism High Kinlady Estre]] is secretly [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Veiled Queen]], the leader of an Altmeri terrorist group, the Veiled Heritance, intending to assassinate Estre's sister-in-law and expand Estre's xenophobic rule across Tamriel. Estre orders massacres, corrupts the souls of her own ancestors, goads a promising recruit into killing a captured innocent Bosmer and even uses the Maormer to wreak swathes of bloody havoc while falsely promising them a place in her ideal Tamriel. Estre even deals with [[OmnicidalManiac Mehrunes Dagon]], having Daedra cause horrific slaughter merely as a diversion to her true plan to arrive at Firsthold and have her Daedra burn the entire city to the ground in revenge for being exposed.

[[AC:Franchise-Wide]]
* [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Mannimarco]], the King of Worms, is the leader of the Order of the Black Worm, one of the most powerful {{necromancer}}s to ever live, and the world's [[MonsterProgenitor first lich]]. In his first chronological appearance in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Online]]'', Mannimarco instigated the Planemeld, an event intended to merge Nirn with Coldharbour, the hellish realm of his master, the Daedric Prince Molag Bal. This would kill most people on the planet and leave the few survivors as eternal slaves. Mannimarco has his followers sacrifice countless people to summon Dark Anchors to pull Nirn into Coldharbour. His ultimate plan was [[TheStarscream to betray his master and steal his power]], becoming the new Daedric Prince of Schemes and ruling over both worlds as a god. Though slain, Mannimarco appears in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', where he continued his pursuit of power and performed favors in exchange for things like souls and firstborn children. Succeeding in achieving godhood by the game's end, in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', in the Mages Guild quest, a mortal part of Mannimarco resurfaced and decided to settle a petty grudge with his long-dead nemesis by destroying the Mages Guild said enemy founded. During the war with the guild, Mannimarco created black soul gems to [[YourSoulIsMine steal the souls]] of those who opposed him, tortured to death then resurrected a mage that infiltrated his cult, and personally led the slaughter of the Bruma Mages Guild chapter, leaving only one survivor.
* [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Potema Septim]], the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Wolf Queen of Solitude]], has the dubious honor of being one of the few "unambiguously evil" figures in the history of Tamriel. Potema was responsible for the War of the Red Diamond, alleging her niece--and rightful Empress--to be a bastard, then having her executed to install her son Uriel Septim III as Emperor in her place, plunging the country into a war so brutal it nearly tore the Empire to pieces. Dabbling in necromancy and daedra-summoning toward the end of her life to the point has become a "land of death" from how bloated it is with resurrected corpses of her enemies and her own servants alike, Potema's evil was powerful enough to live on into [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim the Fourth Age]] as a hateful spectre. Unspeakably [[EvilIsPetty petty]] as well, Potema once condemned a servant to the eternal torment of [[FateWorseThanDeath the Soul Cairn]] for an unintentional insult. Suspected to have even been responsible for the fall of her grand-nephew Pelagius the Mad into irrecoverable insanity, Potema is one of the few characters in Tamriel's inconsistent lore to be exactly as evil as she's claimed to be.

''[[AC:[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]]]''
* [[TheHeavy Mankar Camoran]], the leader of the [[ApocalypseCult the Mythic Dawn]] and a worshipper of [[BigBad Mehrunes Dagon]], aims to summon his master into Tamriel so Dagon may destroy the world and create a new one in its place, one that coheres with Camoran's [[TheSocialDarwinist beliefs]]. Not only does Mankar assist Dagon's [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daedra]] in attacking the mortal world, he also orchestrates the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim, as well as his grown children. He even had the city of Kvatch completely destroyed in a failed attempt to kill Uriel's bastard son, Martin. While Mankar [[ManipulativeBastard lures in his followers]] with promises of a paradise for their faithful service, this turns out to be a lie. Seemingly idyllic on the surface, Mankar's "paradise" is really a hell where his followers are constantly killed by monsters, only to be resurrected and killed over and over again. His promise to allow any follower who loses faith to leave his paradise also proves false, as the grotto, which is said to be an exit from the afterlife, really leads to a torture chamber where the unfaithful are [[AndIMustScream made immortal, locked into gibbets, and then dumped into lava]]. One follower who lost faith was forced by Camoran into inflicting this punishment on his friends over and over again. Paradise is said to be Mankar's vision of how he believes the world will be once Dagon takes over.
* [[LoanShark Kurdan gro-Dragol]], from the quest "Caught in the Hunt", is a nasty Orc extortionist in Bravil who created something called the Hunter's Run at the nearby Fort Grief. In this sick game, wealthy clients pay Kurdan to [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunt and kill innocent people]] in the underground dungeons for sport. After kidnapping a gambler named Aleron Loche, Kurdan tricks the PlayerCharacter into participating in the Hunter's Run, as he had done to many others in the past. When the player succeeds in killing all of the hunters and [[HopeSpot collecting the key apparently needed to escape the fort]], they emerge to find Kurdan murdering Aleron. Kurdan tells the player that he's impressed they managed to kill all his clients, but that there will be more to replace them. He also informs them that the key they found was a fake--there was never a chance for anyone to survive his game, and Kurdan intends to keep it that way by killing the player.

[[AC:''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls The Infernal City]]'' [[Literature/TheElderScrolls &]] ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls Lord of Souls]]'']]
* [[ItsAllAboutMe Vuhon]], better known as Lord Umbriel, was a Dunmer scientist who invented the Ingenium to keep the floating meteorite known as the Ministry of Truth above Vivec City, [[HumanResources using the souls of living beings as fuel]]. Vuhon, jealous over having his affections spurned years ago, tried to use his rival Sul's beloved as fuel for the Ingenium, and [[NeverMyFault refused to own up]] to any of the subsequent destruction when Morrowind was devastated as the Ministry of Truth [[ColonyDrop fell]] from their confrontation, torturing Sul for years when they were trapped in Oblivion. Finally escaping upon making a pledge with the Daedric entity [[EmpathicWeapon Umbra]], Vuhon became lord of the flying city of Umbriel, burning countless more souls to fuel the Ingenium that let the city fly and allowing countless Umbrielians known as "skraws" to live short, agonized lives as slaves tending to the city's sump. Vuhon destroys the city of Lilmoth upon being summoned into Tamriel and has his undead armies raze their way across the country, willing to annihilate the Imperial City if they give him trouble and saying all the lives spent to power Umbriel are worth it to emancipate himself from Oblivion and rule Umbriel forever.
* [[AmbitionIsEvil Minister Hierem]] is a backstabbing, influential noble in the Imperial Empire and the second-most powerful man in the nation. Seeking even more power, Hierem attempts to overthrow the Emperor and kill any and all rivals, trying to have Prince Attrebus Mede assassinated alongside over fifty of his own men and later torturing Attrebus with MindRape, a violation severe enough to leave Attrebus near broken despair. Hierem orchestrates Umbriel's passage into Tamriel by ensuring the city comes through and destroys Lilmoth, actively undermining efforts to stop its path of slaughter while intending to [[TheStarscream betray Vuhon]] and [[AGodAmI become a god]] by siphoning off all the souls Vuhon has collected for himself.

''[[AC:[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]]]''
* [[SatanicArchetype Alduin]] is the [[PlanetEater World-Eater]] and the firstborn of [[TopGod Akatosh]]. Responsible for the corruption of the Leaper King into the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon, Alduin ultimately decides to conquer Nirn instead of destroying it as he is meant to. Alduin erects a tyrannical reign among him and his dragon brethren, dividing up power among the Dragon Priests, human zealots who exercised wanton cruelty. After accidentally being cast forward into the fourth era by an Elder Scroll, Alduin, out of spite, decides to destroy Nirn before his allotted time, razing the town of Helgen and resurrecting other dragons to cause further havoc across Skyrim. After being defeated once by the Last Dragonborn, Alduin cowardly deserts the battle, fleeing into Sovngarde to [[SoulEating consume the souls of fallen warriors]] to empower himself. Deliberately forsaking his divine duty as Eater of Worlds to instead indulge in his own limitless megalomania, Alduin is ultimately little more than an arrogant, cowardly sadist of a god in the skin of a [[DarkIsEvil jet-black dragon]].
* [[TortureTechnician Hevnoraak]] is a Dragon Priest who [[AGodAmI sought godhood]] through [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lichdom]]. Amassing an army by [[CompellingVoice mentally dominating his followers]] and placing his will upon their own, Hevnoraak tortured and killed countless souls, feeding many of them to his pet GiantSpiders in the process, with a fondness for paralyzing them to be eaten alive. With the remains of many, many beings through his lair, Hevnoraak plots to revive and go on a bloody war of conquest until he rules all he can.
* [[ItsAllAboutMe Rahgot]] is a Dragon Priest who, in life, managed to survive centuries after the end of the Dragon War and hid with his servants in the remote temple of Forelhost. When High King Harald's forces discovered their hideout and began to siege the temple, Rahgot came up with a plan to save himself by [[OrderedToDie forcing most of his followers to commit mass suicide]], including having them [[OffingTheOffspring kill their own children]] and [[WaterSourceTampering poisoning their water supply]] for good measure, murdering his head alchemist when she objected. Once the legion succeeded in breaking through the entrance of Forelhost only to find so many dead, followed by half their forces succumbing to the poisoned well, they retreated, allowing Rahgot to live out the rest of his life in the deepest halls of his temple.
* [[ILoveTheDead Arondil]] is a reclusive Altmer hiding in Yngvild who was chased out of Dawnstar for his lustful behavior and his unspeakable necromancy. Finding his mind constantly chasing back to the subject of the milkmaids he used to [[StalkerWithACrush pursue]], Arondil uses his magic to resurrect Yngvild's buried women as his enslaved draugr harem to satisfy his wants. Arondil eventually graduates to murdering one of the old milkmaids he used to lust after, resurrecting her spirit as his [[SexSlave servile slave]] and repeating the process with many more innocent women from Dawnstar, keeping their souls enslaved to his every whim and pleasure.
* [[{{Sadist}} Sild the Warlock]] is a sadistic mage defined by his [[TortureTechnician love of torture]]. Hiding out in the ruins of Rannveig's Fast, Sild lures adventurers into his clutches with tales of treasure within the crypt, before dumping them down a long pit into his clutches, whereupon Sild proceeds to torture them to death. Not content with merely killing them, Sild enslaves the souls of his victims and forces them to kill anyone who stumbles upon the ruins, [[AndIMustScream leaving them conscious and begging for forgiveness as they do so]]. Dissatisfied with the number of people who simply die from the fall, Sild is always experimenting with new ways to torture his victims to death, with a passion eclipsing most other {{evil sorcerer}}s in Skyrim, even casually murdering his own assistant [[ForTheEvulz for a chuckle]].
* ''Dawnguard'' {{DLC}}: Lord Harkon is the VampireMonarch ruling over Clan Volkihar, and the [[ArchnemesisDad father]] of Serana. Harkon is a pure-blooded vampire, a distinction he gained through a zealous devotion to Molag Bal, which included [[AbusiveParents turning over his own daughter to be violated by the Daedric Prince]] in a ritual to make her a vampire. Harkon even thinks nothing later of [[OffingTheOffspring sacrificing Serana's life]] to fulfill a dark prophecy to [[TheNightThatNeverEnds blot out Nirn's sun]], allowing vampirekind to overwhelm the mortal races. His arrogant lunacy turning away even his wife, who takes Serana far away from Harkon's clutches, Harkon satiates himself for centuries afterward feeding on the blood of innocents as he works to fulfill the prophecy, allowing his vampires to feed on a menagerie of suffering, still-living slaves and even ordering the culling of other "lesser" vampires should the Dragonborn elect to join him.

''[[AC:[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Online]]]]''
* The deceitful, silver-tongued [[FantasticRacism High Kinlady Estre]] is secretly [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Veiled Queen]], the leader of an Altmeri terrorist group, the Veiled Heritance, intending to assassinate Estre's sister-in-law and expand Estre's xenophobic rule across Tamriel. Estre orders massacres, corrupts the souls of her own ancestors, goads a promising recruit into killing a captured innocent Bosmer and even uses the Maormer to wreak swathes of bloody havoc while falsely promising them a place in her ideal Tamriel. Estre even deals with [[OmnicidalManiac Mehrunes Dagon]], having Daedra cause horrific slaughter merely as a diversion to her true plan to arrive at Firsthold and have her Daedra burn the entire city to the ground in revenge for being exposed.
* Ruuvitar, who leads the Dominion forces in Shadowfen, engages in [[FaceStealer skin-stealing]], deals with Daedra, and [[PlayingWithSyringes cruelly experiments]] on Argonian prisoners to learn how a [[ArtifactOfDoom powerful artifact]] can be used to sever the Argonians' connection to the Hist. With the artifact, he attacks the Hatching Pools, where Argonian young are born. As the babies require the Hist to hatch, Ruuvitar's experiment causes [[WouldHurtAChild the hatchlings to die en masse in their shells]], bursting apart in bloody chunks. As if that were not enough of an atrocity, Ruuvitar plans to do the same thing to all future generations of Argonians, [[FinalSolution dooming their entire race to extinction]]. While the game has numerous quests in which the player character must fend off villainous schemes by one of the other alliances, Ruuvitar stands out for literally murdering babies onscreen, and for having the only plot that is explicitly and unrepentantly genocidal in nature.

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

* [[AGodAmI Mannimarco]], the King of Worms, is the leader of the Order of the Black Worm, one of the most powerful {{necromancer}}s to ever live, and the world's [[MonsterProgenitor first lich]]. In his first chronological appearance in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Online]]'', Mannimarco instigated the Planemeld, an event intended to merge Nirn with Coldharbour, the hellish realm of his master, the Daedric Prince Molag Bal. This would kill most people on the planet and leave the few survivors as eternal slaves. Mannimarco has his followers sacrifice countless people to summon Dark Anchors to pull Nirn into Coldharbour. His ultimate plan was [[TheStarscream to betray his master and steal his power]], becoming the new Daedric Prince of Schemes and ruling over both worlds as a god. Though slain, Mannimarco appears in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', where he continued his pursuit of power and performed favors in exchange for things like souls and firstborn children. Succeeding in achieving godhood by the game's end, in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', in the Mages Guild quest, a mortal part of Mannimarco resurfaced and decided to settle a petty grudge with his long-dead nemesis by destroying the Mages Guild said enemy founded. During the war with the guild, Mannimarco created black soul gems to [[YourSoulIsMine steal the souls]] of those who opposed him, tortured to death then resurrected a mage that infiltrated his cult, and personally led the slaughter of the Bruma Mages Guild chapter, leaving only one survivor.

* [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Potema Septim]], the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Wolf Queen of Solitude]], has the dubious honor of being one of the few "unambiguously evil" figures in the history of Tamriel. Potema was responsible for the War of the Red Diamond, having her bastard niece on the throne executed to install her son Uriel Septim III as Emperor in her place, plunging the country into a war so brutal it nearly tore the Empire to pieces. Dabbling in [[{{Necromancer}} necromancy]] and daedra-dealing toward the end of her life to the point has become a "land of death" from how bloated it is with resurrected corpses of her enemies and her own servants alike, Potema's evil was powerful enough to live on into [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim the Fourth Age]] as a hateful spectre. Unspeakably [[EvilIsPetty petty]] as well, Potema once condemned a servant to the eternal torment of the Soul Cairn for an unintentional insult. Suspected to have even been responsible for the fall of her grand-nephew Pelagius the Mad into irrecoverable insanity, Potema is one of the few characters in Tamriel's inconsistent lore to be exactly as evil as she's claimed to be.

* In life, Rahgot was a Dragon Priest who managed to survive centuries after the end of the Dragon War and hid with his servants in the remote temple of Forelhost. When a legion of soldiers discovered their hideout and began to siege the temple, Rahgot came up with a plan to save himself by [[OrderedToDie forcing most of his followers to commit mass suicide]], including having them kill their own children and [[WaterSourceTampering poisoning their water supply]] for good measure. When his head alchemist tried to protest against such a horrid act, he personally murdered her and proceeded with his plans. Once the legion succeeded in breaking through the entrance of Forelhost only to be greeted by the sight of so many dead, they retreated, allowing Rahgot to live out the rest of his life in the deepest halls of his temple. [[DirtyCoward Cowardly]] and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]], Rahgot's willingness to murder his own subjects, including the [[WouldHurtAChild children]], sets him apart even from his fellow Dragon Priests.

[[AC:''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls The Infernal City]]'' [[Literature/TheElderScrolls &]] ''[[Literature/TheElderScrolls Lord of Souls]]''

''[[AC:[[Literature/TheElderScrolls The Infernal City]]]]'' [[AC:[[Literature/TheElderScrolls &]]]] ''[[AC:[[Literature/TheElderScrolls Lord of Souls]]]]''

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The ''[[Franchise/TheElderScrolls Elder Scrolls]]'' franchise has some incredibly [[CompleteMonster evil characters]].

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* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall'': [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Akorithi]] of Sentinel, like her late husband King Cameron, was a warmonger. Their designated-heir son was chronically ill and fairly uninterested in invading neighboring countries for their land, the latter of which was the kind of thing his parents liked doing when they could get away with it. Not only did they produce some more children and partially disinherited him, his interest in scholarly pursuits hit King Cameron's BerserkButton, so he and Akorithi [[OffingTheOffspring murdered him]] by tossing him into a dungeon full of zombies and mummies just after a bad bout of the flu. By the end of ''Daggerfall'', Queen Akorithi has used the power of the Numidium to conquer Bergama as well as the whole of northern Hammerfall.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'': [[BigBad Mankar Camoran]], the leader of the Mythic Dawn cult and a worshipper of [[OmnicidalManiac Mehrunes Dagon]] plans to summon his master into Tamriel so Dagon may destroy the world and create a new one in its place, one that coheres with Camoran’s [[SocialDarwinism Social Darwinist beliefs]]. Not only does Mankar aide Dagon’s Daedra in attacking the mortal world, he also orchestrates the assassination of Emperor Uriel Septim, as well as his children. He even had the city of Kvatch completely destroyed in a failed attempt to kill Uriel’s bastard son, Martin. While Mankor lures in his followers with promises of a paradise for their faithful service, this turns out to be a lie. Seemingly idyllic on the surface, Dawn’s Beauty, Mankar’s “paradise,” is really a hell where his followers are constantly killed by monsters, only to be resurrected and killed over and over again. His promise to allow any follower who loses faith to leave his paradise also proves false, as the grotto, which is said to be an exit from the afterlife, really leads to a torture chamber where the unfaithful are [[AndIMustScream made immortal, locked into gibbets, and then dumped into lava]]. One follower who lost faith was forced by Camoran into inflicting this punishment on his friends over and over again. Dawn’s Beauty is said to be Mankar’s vision of how he believes the world will be once Dagon takes over.
* Both games: Mannimarco, the King of Worms and the leader of the Order of the Black Worm, first appears in ''Daggerfall'', then appears again as the ArcVillain of the Mages’ Guild quest line in ''Oblivion''. An incredibly powerful necromancer and the world's first lich, Mannimarco’s study into the arts of entrapping and enslaving souls festered in him a deep hatred for peace and life. A sadist believing himself AboveGoodAndEvil, Mannimarco sought out obtaining as much magical and political power as he could over the passing millennia. Sometimes this power was obtained via [[DealWithTheDevil Faustian deals]]; in at least one instance he helped a princess arrange a political marriage in exchange for her firstborn child. After achieving godhood at the end of ''Daggerfall'', a mortal part of Mannimarco was left behind, and decided to settle a petty grudge with a long-dead enemy by destroying the Mages’ Guild said enemy founded. Mannimarco became invested in creating black soul gems, which he used to [[YourSoulIsMine steal the souls of those who opposed him]], and plotted to capture the soul of Archmage Hannibal Traven to empower himself. [[AndIMustScream The souls captured are aware while in the gems]], and, once their power is used up, they are sent to a purgatory-like dimension called the Soul Cairn for all eternity. When a mage infiltrated his order, he had the mage tortured to death and then resurrected the mage as a zombie to be an example to the Guild. Mannimarco also took great pleasure in leading the attack on the Bruma Mages’ Guild chapter, slaughtering everyone present save for one mage whom he kept alive to tell tale of what happened in Bruma.

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The ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' franchise has some incredibly [[CompleteMonster evil characters]].