Characters associated with the Daggerfall Covenant in Online.
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High King Emeric
Voiced By: Bill Nighy
Formerly a Merchant Prince of Wayrest, Emeric used his business and political savvy to become leader of the Daggerfall Covenant.
- Archenemy: In his backstory, he and King Ranser of Rivenspire were mortal enemies. Ranser came very close to dethroning him.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: In his backstory, Emeric distinguished himself by fending off a Reachman invasion and saving Daggerfall, leading to an early version of the Covenant among various High Rock kingdoms. He -along with Prince Irnskar and Queen Ayrenn- gets a chance to show he can still kick ass in the High Isle storyline, personally fighting next to you against the final boss.
- Big Good: For the Covenant.
- Cool Old Guy: Despite his age, he's very laid-back, affable and willing to lead his armies himself.
- Deadpan Snarker: He holds nothing about being High King sacred, and frequently jokes about what a pain in the ass it is ruling the Covenant.
- Does This Make Me Look Fat?: Inverted, in one of the overheard conversations between him and his wife, she asks if a particular dress makes her look too thin. Emeric awkwardly bumbles over the answer.
- Double In-Law Marriage: He and his brother Nathaniel are married to the daughters of King Fahara'jad.
- Gag Penis: According to an alleged former lover.Chronicler: My gods! You practically admitted you played "sheathe the dagger" with High King Emeric in "Investigator Vale and the High Rock Revolt!"Arabelle: I did no such thing! And besides, Emeric's dagger would more accurately be described as a sword ….
- Genghis Gambit: Rather cannily, Emeric brought in the Redguards (via his marriage to Fahara'jad's daughter) and the Orcs (by promising to restore Orsinium) to aid him against King Ranser's rebellion. It is implied the mutual struggle ended up strengthening the Covenant.
- The Good King: Yup. For one, he managed to get the Bretons, Orcs, and Redguards to form an alliance, despite the three peoples' mutual distrust.
- The High King: In his own right, he is King of Stormhaven, ruling from Wayrest. He commands the loyalty, among others, of King Fahara'jad of Alikr and King Casimir of Daggerfall.
- It's Personal: Bangkorai's Arc Villain is Septima Tharn, who nastily rejected Emeric's romantic interest in their younger days. Now Happily Married, Emeric no longer has romantic feelings for her, but facing her again rankles his pride. For Septima's part, this is completely averted, as Emeric is not her true target at all, merely bait so that she can try to kill the player character, whom she recognizes as the true threat to her designs on the Daggerfall Covenant.
- Like an Old Married Couple: In Wayrest Castle, Emeric and his queen Maraya can be heard lightly bickering about a variety of mundane topics.
- Love Triangle: Emeric was engaged to Rayelle, the daughter of King Ranser, but broke it off abruptly when he fell in Love at First Sight with Maraya. Ranser was so enraged that he started a war and nearly unseated Emeric from power.
- Merchant Prince: How he gained his prestige.
- Modest Royalty: He's a pretty down-to-earth, recognizes talented individuals with the praise they deserve, admits when he is wrong, and doesn't let being High King get to his head.
- My God, You Are Serious!: If you're a member of a rival Alliance, he has this reaction first when you propose the ceasefire conference on Stirk, then when you propose sending the Fighters and Mages Guilds into Coldharbour.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: He and his brother Nathaniel married the daughters of King Fahara'jad of Alikr, and both ended up in happy marriages.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Definitely does later on in the game.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: A mild example, but Emeric is surprisingly pissy and obstinate in the Stirk conference compared to the Covenant storyline, where he's a Reasonable Authority Figure through and through.
- What the Hell, Hero?: If you've completed the Thieves Guild questline prior to High Isle, an appalled Emeric will inform you that his spymaster linked you with the Guild's activities. And he isn't fooled by the Blatant Lies you offer as an excuse, although he admits to the pragmatic usefulness of the criminal underworld.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Lampshaded and played for laughs. By the third or fourth major crisis the Player Character resolves, Emeric starts straight up admitting he's basing his strategy around sending you in to handle things.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: He thought giving rule of Rivenspire to a triumvirate of leading noblemen would allow him to stymie any attempts to unify the region against him, pretty standard Chessmaster stuff. Unfortunately, it led to a civil war in Rivenspire at a time when the Covenant cannot afford internal conflict.
- You Are in Command Now: He ascended the throne of Wayrest when the entire royal family was killed off by the Khahaten Flu.
King Fahara'jad
The Redguard king, responsible for bringing Hammerfell into the Daggerfall Covenant.
- Authority Sounds Deep: He has a very deep voice and is a capable king.
- Birds of a Feather: He and High King Emeric have much in common, facing significant political opposition within their own kingdoms (Fahara'jad from the Crown population, and Emeric from King Ranser of Rivenspire), using trade and commerce to shore up their own power, and each acting as a Reasonable Authority Figure within their respective questlines. In fact, they are among the very few zone leaders who appear to be personally close with each other.
- The Magnificent: He, his deceased wife, and all of his children have such titles. Fahara'jad is the All-Beneneficent King, his wife the "Flower of Taneth," his eldest daughter is Maraya "the Jewel of Satakalaam," his younger daughter Lakana is "the Star of the Almandine," and his son is "Lion of Antiphyllos."
- Older Than They Look: He has three grown children, including one who's been in a relatively long marriage with King Emeric.
- Papa Wolf: When his daughter Lakana is killed by a Breton knight, he threatens to withdraw the Redguards from the Daggerfall Covenant unless the guilty party is immediately put to death. This is despite the fact that Fahara'jad is a strong proponent of the Covenant otherwise, even overriding the wishes of a segment of his own people.
- Pragmatic Hero: Fahara'jad has no qualms about employing privateers to maintain control of the seas, nor in calling upon the highly taboo Ash'abah warriors when his kingdom is threatened by the undead. It's also implied that he approved of his daughter's marriage to High King Emeric in order to cement a trade alliance between Hammerfell and High Rock, thus strengthening his own political power.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: During the Alik'r Desert questline. He endorses and assists the Vestige every step of the way, even doing so privately when he cannot be seen publicly endorsing attacks on the undead (due to a strong Redguard cultural taboo, which could be politically costly for him).
- Sucksessor: Fahara'jad himself doesn't actually suck as a ruler, but as a Forebear who brings the Redguards into an alliance with foreign powers, he is regarded as this by the more isolationist, tradition-bound Crown population.
Prince Azah
King Fahara'jad's only son.
- Distressed Dude: Lampshaded; he expresses embarrassment the second time the Vestige has to rescue him from the bad guys.
- Ignored Expert: When first encountered he's been conducting an investigation of the undead attacks, and tells you he's been pleading with his father for weeks to call upon the otherwise shunned Ash'abah warrior clan.
- Royal Harem: Subverted. He's known for spending time with a number of women at his seraglio. However, the women aren't mistresses or concubines - they are actually all part of his personal spy network.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Despite the Distressed Dude moments mentioned above, Azah is a capable warrior and a Reasonable Authority Figure much like his father.
Captain Kaleen
A Redguard Sailor, she saves the Soulless One from drowning if they sided with the Daggerfall Covenant.
- The Caper: She's the brains behind one and has a questline requiring you to collect the members of, and pull off said heist.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Inverted, especially if you destroy the relic. During the course of two voyages, she managed to suffer a mutiny by two separate crews. This is mostly down to her increasingly stickler for the rules behavior clashing with her far more chaotic underlings.
- Did Not Think This Through: Wants to give the Ayleid artifact to King Fahara'jad so he can use it to help the Covenant. The artifact has the ability to raise an army of undead. Redguards are virulently opposed to necromancy of any kind, and would never use such an artifact. At no point does any of this seem to occur to her.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Her cabin girl is practically screaming it from the rooftops.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Kaleen's defining motivation is her loyalty to King Fahara'jad first and foremost, and consequently to the Daggerfall Covenant.
- Privateer: For King Fahara'jad.
- Skewed Priorities: Master Kasan, her mentor, thinks this of her when she says she wants to give an Ayleid Artifact of Doom to King Fahara'jad. Her first priority, in his opinion, should be to make sure something so evil never again can be used to harm people.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Even if you bend over backwards to recruit everyone for her heist, if you destroy the artifact that the Bloodthorn Cult was using to enslave Orc spirits on Betnikh, all her respect for you flies out the window, and she'll see you as a traitor to the Covenant.
- On the other hand, talking to her at Sentinel reveals that she feels awful for putting her alliance before Lambur's feelings, and shouldn't have been so insistent on keeping the thing. It also helps that, assuming the Rivenspire arc was completed beforehand, that by this point you saved her life and helped her stop a traitorous spy from inciting a civil war in the Covenant.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Lambur leaves her service in disgust after her actions on Betnikh.
Jakarn
Voiced By: Steve Blum
A Breton thief on Stros M'Kai who can be recruited by a Covenant-aligned Vestige.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Very briefly in Elsweyr, when he becomes so obsessed with the Jewel of Baan Dar he's willing to take a fatal plunge off a cliff pursuing it. The player character can snap him out of it via The Power of Friendship.
- Card Sharp: He scams some Khajiit thugs out of a great deal of money this way in Elsweyr, and only narrowly escapes the subsequent Gambling Brawl.
- The Charmer: Several of his admirers flat-out admit they know he's full of it, but find him so attractive they don't care.
- Chick Magnet: He catches the eye of three women on the Spearhead.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Along with the three women mentioned above, a male Nord also joins the crew just to see him work shirtless.
- Everyone Has Standards: When warning the player character away from a particularly violent gang.Jakarn: I'll liberate some poor sap's purse as quickly as the next man, but murder and bloodshed is not on my agenda.
- Karmic Thief: Most of Jakarn's onscreen robbery targets are cruel, thuggish, or flat-out evil (such as the Bloodthorn Cult, who he particularly relishes the opportunity to steal from).
- Ladykiller in Love: He catches actual feelings for Crafty Lerisa, another member of Kaleen's crew. Naturally, she's the one person who has zero romantic or sexual interest in him.
- Loveable Rogue: Jakarn's a thief and a trickster, but also an easygoing and likable guy who generally avoids violent methods where possible.
- Nice Guy: Despite being a bit of a rake, he's actually one of the nicer members of the crew. He's always nice to the player character, doesn't get mad if you give the gemstone to Headman Bhosek's associate, and is the only Breton crewman on the Spearhead who thinks you should destroy the Ayleid Artifact of Doom, even if it might give the Covenant an advantage.
- Really Gets Around: One of Jakarn's defining characteristics. Elsweyr makes it clear that gender and race are no object to him.
- Show Some Leg: Or in his case, show some chest. In High Isle he offers to create a distraction at a party. Cut to Jakarn dancing on a table shirtless while a nearby bard plays a risque song. It's a very effective distraction.
Neramo
An Altmer scholar investigating ruins on Stros M'Kai. He is recruited onto Captain Kaleen's crew.
- Admiring the Abomination: He would prefer to keep the Ayleid artifact on Betnikh for himself, instead of destroying it or using it for the Covenant war effort.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his personality, he's still one of the most knowledgable Dwemer scholars alive.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Unlike everyone else on Betnikh, his decision to destroy the artifact isn't out of moral reasons but to spite the Covenant for not letting him study it. He is also very curious about the pained twitching caused by a shock device he made.
- Expy: A brilliant but abrasive Mer who treats the powerful hero as his personal assistant? He and Neloth would get along fantastic if they were born in the same era.
- Fan Boy: He's very eager to impress Divayth Fyr and asks you to tell him about his personal exploits.
- Jerkass: He's very full of himself and walks all over Raynor Vanos when they have to work together.
Crafty Lerisa
Voiced by: Kari Wahlgren
A Breton pirate captain found shipwrecked on Stros M'Kai, she can be recruited for Kaleen's heist.
- Distaff Counterpart: To Jakarn, as a fellow Loveable Rogue who engages in shady business but is overall consistently helpful to the Vestige.
- The Men First: Her condition for helping the Vestige on Stros M'Kai is that the Vestige must first assist in rescuing her crew from the Sea Drakes.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Her retaliation against Captain Helane is horrifically painful — although as Lerisa points out, she's using a poison Helane herself used against disobedient slaves.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A literal example. Crafty Lerisa is supposedly a pirate captain, but spends much more of her time onscreen helping the player character than doing anything too pirate-y.
- Stealth Expert: To somewhat ridiculous levels, as she appears to successfully disguise herself as a fern at one point.Crafty Lerisa: Good trick that. Did I really disguise myself as a fern? Or did you see a fern because you weren't looking close enough?
Gabrielle Benele
A Breton member of the Mages Guild, Gabrielle assists the Vestige in several Daggerfall Covenant zones as well as in the main quest.
- Absent-Minded Professor: Frequently misplaces her things while wrapped up in research.
- Badass Bookworm: Although Gabrielle is primarily a scholar, she jumps in to personally fight Angof alongside the Vestige.
- I Will Find You: After Darien Gautier goes missing in Coldharbour, she can subsequently be found in Anvil's guildhall, obsessed with researching a way to find him.
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: As a scholar, Gabrielle can sometimes be cheerfully enthusiastic over freakish or disturbing magical anomalies.
- Character Development: This is downplayed after the Coldharbour quests, as the shock of losing King Dynar and Darien Gautier appears to have genuinely shaken her.
- Persona Non Grata: Banned for life from a tavern in Evermore after she used her arcane abilities to deal with an unwelcome yet persistent suitor.Besides, what's the big deal? Scalp and beard hair always grows back eventually, even when it's been scorched off.
- Thinking Up Portals: One of Gabrielle's greatest strengths as a mage. When she's given the opportunity to try to break into an impenetrable vault, she practically salivates over the challenge.
Captain Darien Gautier
Voiced By: Jon Curry
A captain in the army of the Covenant, and the son of General Gautier. The player first meets him during the campaign to retake the city of Camlorn from the werewolves of Angolf.
- Ambiguous Situation: Summerset reveals that he is a creation of Meridia and not fully human, but whether he is completely Born of Magic or actually related to his human father (whom you meet in Glenumbra) is never clarified.
- And I Must Scream: His implied fate at the conclusion of Summerset, where he is trapped in Meridia's realm, with his mind and identity slowly slipping away. He knows it's happening, but is completely powerless to stop it.
- Awesome, but Temporary: While serving as a Guest-Star Party Member in Summerset, Darien turns out to be one of the only NPCs who can do a Combination Attack with the player character using his Dawnbreaker sword. The attack is devastating to opponents and recharges constantly, so your joint raid on Evergloam is basically just curb stomping your way to the end of the level. Unfortunately, Dawnbreaker is stolen from Darien at the end of the level.
- Badass in Distress: In Summerset, he needs to be rescued from Mephala's realm. In subsequent quests, however, he's an incredibly capable Guest-Star Party Member.
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Darien isn't shy about extolling his own charms, particularly with the opposite sex. However his friend Alinon comments that a lot of it is bluster, and a glimpse at his journal in Camlorn reveals he's been secretly tormented by nightmares — and that he freaked the hell out when they started coming true.
- The Casanova: Not to the extent of Raz, but Darien is an unabashed flirt and will also hit on a female Vestige of any race, with several gender-specific pieces of dialogue having him inviting them out for a beer. As of Summerset, a female Vestige can also flirt back at him. He also seems to have the hots for Gabrielle Benele, as well as Gloria Fausta if she was spared during the Aldcroft arc, and his method of obtaining intel on Montclair troops in Northpoint is to get into the pants of their female captain. Gwendis cheekily calls him out on the last bit, which he tries to deflect with sarcasm.
- Cerebus Retcon: The reveal that he is Meridia's vessel opens up a LOT of this in his Daggerfall Covenant zone appearances, from the way he freaks out at Tamrith's religiously-based healing in Rivenspire (initially played for laughs), to his seemingly unexplained lack of harm in the battles at Cath Bedraud and Northpoint.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Darien loves the ladies, but he's a good guy.
- Contagious Heroism: Meridia claims that you as the player character have had this influence on him, stating that after meeting you "The knight had a single purpose, but somehow you complicated matters. Now the knight actually... cares."
- Deadpan Snarker: Is rather sarcastic in the situations he's in. For example when he is in a dangerous place he will sarcastically pretend it's a lovely place.
- Establishing Character Moment: When you first encounter him in Camlorn, his top priority is saving as many of the city's civilians as he can. Assisting the player character's goals is firmly in second place.
- Failure Knight: He resigns as guard captain of Camlorn at the end of that city's quest, stating that the city fell to werewolves on his watch, but goes on to fight evil throughout the rest of Glenumbra and later Rivenspire.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Over the course of the Daggerfall Covenant questlines, he evolves into this with Skordo the Knife and Gabrielle Benele.
- Foreshadowing:
- One of the longest cases in the game! In Camlorn, you can find his journal, in which he describes having strange dreams about anchors dropping from the sky. In Rivenspire, not only does he fend off a horde of Bloodfiends with a flash of light, but he's miraculously not infected with vampirism despite having been mobbed and covered in bite marks. Later, he will also mention his strange dreams during the main quest. In Summerset, he is finally revealed to be Meridia's vessel and not fully human. Whether it's a case of Divine Parentage or being simply Born of Magic is left ambiguous, but Darien claims to have known he was different all of his life.
- If you play through Orsinium, you can discover a note from Darien in Wrothgar's library, in which he describes being trapped in Meridia's realm. In Summerset this is a major plot point.
- The Good Captain: He does his best to put The Men First, and he frequently backs up the Player Character without any fuss.
- Handsome Lech: Darien's interest in any woman with a pulse is well-known and a turnoff for many recipients of his affections (he's shot down hard by Countess Tamrith, and Valsirenn suggests abandoning him in Oblivion). If female, the player character can choose whether to flirt back or to reject him in similar fashion.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Pulls one off towards the end of the Summerset questline to give the Player Character a shot at defeating Nocturnal.
- Honey Trap: His Chivalrous Pervert tendencies pay off in Rivenspire, where during one quest you can walk in on him having just seduced information out of an enemy guard captain.
- I Will Find You: He mysteriously vanishes during one of the final battles of the main quest. In later zones, Daggerfall Covenant characters such as Gabrielle Benele and Alinon the Alchemist can be found searching for him. When you meet him again in Summerset, depending on your playthrough, you can also get a dialogue option to tell him that you have been looking for him for a long time.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Meridia refers to him as "it" several times when revealing that Darien is the Golden Knight, emphasizing that "it" is purely her vessel.
- Knight in Shining Armor: His Chivalrous Pervert tendencies aside, Darien is a genuinely good guy who assists the player character several times in fighting evil that's befallen the land. A subversion occurs in Summerset when he gets upgraded to literal shining armor — but it's because he's now the champion of Meridia, a daedric prince.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Although he's able to keep his head often enough to avoid becoming The Millstone, Darien does more than once rush blindly into battle and need to get bailed out by the player character.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: In Summerset, after he loses Dawnbreaker, he switches to a special holy shield the player character can get behind.
- Mr. Fanservice: He's a Knight in Shining Armor who flirts incessantly with the player character, and gets a few beefy shirtless scenes to boot. Lampshaded during one of the aforementioned shirtless scenes as the player character has the option to remark, "I could get used to this."
- Missing Mom: Asking him about who he is in Summerset has him revealing that although he knew his father well, he strangely has no idea who his mother is, as his childhood feels kind of like a blur to him. Given that he's revealed to be an Artificial Human created by Meridia, she might as well be his mother in a sense.
- Never Found the Body: Twice over! He vanishes after the destruction of the Planar Vortex, but unlike King Dynar his death is not officially confirmed. It is heavily implied through his dialogue about his strange dreams that he was forcibly transported to Meridia's realm, the Colored Rooms. Sure enough, he returns in Summerset, albeit with no memories of who he was before becoming Meridia's Knight. At the end of Summerset he vanishes again in a Heroic Sacrifice, but you later receive a message from him establishing that he's yet again in Meridia's realm, albeit this time being slowly stripped of his free will.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His Heroic Sacrifice in the Crystal Tower puts him back in Meridia's realm — where she proceeds to punish him by stripping him of all memories and free will. A small side mission in Elsweyr confirms that she considers his actions to have been a betrayal.
- Noodle Incident: He and his buddy Skordo the Knife appear together in the Dragonstar Arena guestbook in Craglorn, but what exactly they were doing there is not elaborated upon.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: The player character gets the opportunity to tell him this during one of his shirtless scenes.
- Recurring Character: Darien starts out as a support character in Glenumbra, but gradually shows up in enough questlines that he evolves into a Walking Spoiler.
- Romance Sidequest: Downplayed as it does not significantly affect the plot, but Darien is one of the few NPCs (along with Naryu Virian of the Pact) whose flirtatious advances the player can choose to return. Becomes a case of Star-Crossed Lovers after the events of the main quest and especially Summerset.
- Semi-Divine: He's the vessel of Meridia, meaning he is essentially a demigod.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He's seen chomping down on a loaf of bread in a few key scenes, a Running Gag that made it into Smolder Scrolls
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Skordo The Knife
An Orc soldier initially based in Shornhelm, Skordo joins the player character through several campaigns in the Daggerfall Covenant.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Skordo loves to bash skulls and make quips about it.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: In Elsweyr, he's hell-bent on rescuing two innocent civilians who were kidnapped alongside him. And he's genuinely broken up when he can't reach one of them in time.
- Distressed Dude: He is first encountered being held captive by Montclair's forces in Rivenspire.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Darien Gautier in some of the Daggerfall Covenant zones.
- First-Person Smartass: His three volumes of The Adventurer's Almanac are written in this style.You ever heard of Cyrodilic Collections? Me neither. Not until they started throwing gold around like King Jorunn in a bawd house.
- Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: In Elsweyr, an Alfiq Khajiit finds him quite sexy, evidently not deterred by their highly different physiologies.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: In Elsweyr you can encounter him shortly after he's been kidnapped; Skordo would strongly prefer that no one ever hear about it.
- The Men First: Stranded in the Tower of Lies with his Fighters Guild unit, getting everyone out safely is Skordo's absolute top priority. When one of his guildmates cannot be saved, he furiously takes it out on the daedric overseer at the first opportunity.
- Noodle Incident: He and his buddy Darien Gautier appear together in the Dragonstar Arena guestbook in Craglorn, but what exactly they were doing there is not elaborated upon.
- Recurring Character: He pops up again in Orsinium and Elsweyr.
- Signpost Tutorial: He is the author of three almanacs that point the player towards daily repeatable quests.
- Took a Level in Badass: Skordo is a capable fighter to begin with, but he graduates from Distressed Dude to Fighters' Guild member to joining the assault on Coldharbour and Molag Bal in the main quest.
Angof the Gravesinger
Leader of the Bloodthorn Cult, Reachmen who seek to conquer the Glenumbra region.
- The Atoner: When the Observer lists the weaknesses of the three, he lists Thallik's ambition and Estre's deception. By contrast, he lists Angof's as an overwhelming sense of regret.
- Arc Villain: Of Glenumbra.
- Heel–Face Turn: Like Estre and Thallik, he can undergo one in the Coldharbour arc and become an ally against his former master, Molag Bal. Unlike Estre and Thallik, however, his turn is heavily implied to be genuine, as unlike them he has no desire to return to Nirn and restart his schemes, only wanting to undo his transformation.
- Necromancer: Well, why else would he be called "the Gravesinger"?
- Worthy Opponent: If you killed him before Coldharbour, he admits that he considers you this when you meet again in the Cliffs of Failure, and its exactly because of that respect that he urges you not to get roped into the Overseer's game.
Duke Nathaniel of Alcaire
High King Emeric's brother, he is married to King Fahara'jad's other daughter Lakana.
- Double In-Law Marriage: He and his brother Emeric are both married to a pair of sisters, the daughters of King Fahara'jad.
- Happily Married: Her sister claims that Lakana fell in Love at First Sight with Nathaniel, while dialogue with Nathaniel confirms that he too deeply loves Lakana. It's implied in one of his letters to Emeric that is partly due to bedroom skills.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Lakana tells you there are many in Hammerfell who oppose the Daggerfall Covenant, and thus violently oppose the political marriages (hers, and her sister's to King Emeric) that cement it.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He is devastated and furious at Lakana's murder, yet also self-aware enough to recognize that any rash action on his part could imperil the Daggerfall Covenant. Thus he recuses himself from deciding her killer's fate and allows the player character to decide.
Duchess Lakana
King Fahara'jad's youngest daughter and wife to Duke Nathaniel.
- Double In-Law Marriage: She and her sister Maraya were part of an Arranged Marriage to King Emeric and his brother Nathaniel, thus uniting Hammerfell and High Rock into the Daggerfall Covenant.
- Happily Married: Her sister claims that Lakana fell in Love at First Sight with Nathaniel, while dialogue with Nathaniel confirms that he too deeply loves Lakana. Although by the time the player meets her, she's having doubts about the marriage, fearing he may be behind the attempts on her life.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Lakana tells you there are many in Hammerfell who oppose the Daggerfall Covenant, and thus violently oppose the political marriages (hers, and her sister's to King Emeric) that cement it.
- Red Herring: The start of the questline involving her makes her look like she's trying to sabotage the Daggerfall Covenant by acting like a spy to her father. But it's soon made clear she's only acting suspicious because of the several murder attempts on her life.
- Sacrificial Lion: She ends up getting assassinated no matter what, causing a crisis to the Hammerfell and High Rock relationship.
- Sex Goddess: Implied in one of his letters to Emeric."P.S.: The tricks these Redguard women employ in the bedchamber...! Why didn't you warn me, you old dog?"
Countess Eselde Tamrith
Head of House Tamrith, one of the Rivenspire Triumvirate. An intelligent and patient young woman though some believe her inexperience causes her to lack a firm hand.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: The Rivenspire arc can potentially end with her crowned Queen of Shornhelm.
- Big Sister Instinct: She's outraged when she learns Reezal-Jul has her sister and even moreso after she learns what he plans for her. However, this is subverted when her sister is afflicted with vampirism. Countess Tamrith immediately asks the player to put Janeve down, despite Janeve begging to live.
- Chaste Hero: She's immune to all of Darien's flirtatious advances.
- The Fundamentalist: Countess Tamrith is extremely devoted to Arkay and prays over every decision. When her own little sister — whom she otherwise dearly loves — is turned into a vampire, she immediately rejects her as an unholy abomination.
- Mercy Kill: She asks the player to do this to her own little sister, although the player character can choose to spare Janeve.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: With Baron Dorell. She's the blue, being a peacekeeper who wants to focus on easing Rivenspire after a time of great turmoil.
- The Rival: To Baron Alard Dorell.
- Tap on the Head: She tells you she gave the delirious Darien Gautier something to help him sleep. When asked what it is, she admits it was the blunt end of her staff.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She is livid if you spare Jeneve, angrily telling you that any deaths she causes due to her newfound thirst for blood will be on your head.
Baron Alard Dorell
Head of House Dorell and Baron of Northpoint. An experienced military man but some fear his hot-bloodedness will lead him to reckless decisions.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: The Rivenspire arc can potentially end with him crowned King of Shornhelm.
- But Thou Must!: You can't change his mind regarding the fate of his traitorous son. Even if you argue in favor of going easy on him, he sadly admits that he can't afford to do so due to the severity of his son's crimes.
- I Have No Son!: Alard is thoroughly disappointed in his son for falling under Lleraya's control and dooming the people of Northpoint to a Fate Worse than Death. He himself says as much.Alard: You're dead to me, Ellic. Dead!
- Jerkass Has a Point: During the conflict in Shornhelm, Tamrith is shocked to find herself agreeing with Dorell that a decisive attack is needed.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: With Countess Tamrith. He's the red, wanting to strengthen the kingdom's armies and defenses.
- The Rival: To Countess Eselde Tamrith
Count Verandis Ravenwatch
An Altmer nobleman of High Rock and old friend of King Emeric. In truth, he is a powerful vampire who is responsible for the current crisis and trying to atone for his mistake.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: A temporary case which the player controls Verandis while visiting his repressed memories.
- The Atoner: Even though he was trying to save Lady Montclair's life by turning her into a vampire at request of her husband, it lead to her becoming a bloodfiend and turning her family too, making him indirectly for the Rivenspire crisis. In addition, it's revealed that he is a pureblood vampire, turned directly by Molag Bal. Molag Bal doesn't do this for just anyone and the last male pureblood we met, Lord Harkon, had to commit mass murder for his vampirism, implying that Verandis may have committed some atrocity of his own in Molag Bal's name to be deemed worthy of vampirism.
- Big Good: Of the Rivenspire and Markarth arcs.
- Broken Pedestal: Zig-zagged. Gwendis and Fennorian, who idolized Verandis, are horrified to discover Verandis was a member of the Grey Host and a personal friend of Rada al-Saran. However, their faith in him is restored as Verandis works to stop Rada, eventually sacrificing himself in the process.
- The Bus Came Back: After being Put on a Bus at the conclusion of the Rivenspire arc, Verandis returned during the prologue of Markarth and once again plays the role of the Big Good for much of its questline.
- Chick Magnet: Downplayed, but present — both Lleraya and Gwendis are explicitly stated to be in love with him at different parts of his quest line.
- Deal with the Devil: Instead of being turned by another vampire, he was granted vampirism by Molag Bal this way.At the end of his questline, in order to prevent the destruction of the Lightless Remnant and cursing everyone in Rivenspire with vampirism, he makes a deal with Molag Bal to take it with him to Coldharbour.
- Expy: To Janus Hassildor in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion; both are friendly vampire counts that are very protective of the regions they watch over and provide an extremely helpful back up for the main protagonists in their respective games.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: You walk in on him and his retinue feeding on someone, who then explains that he was well-paid and cared for by the Count in exchange for his blood. He also offers an invaluable insight into the bloodfiend problem in Rivenspire.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: After being resurrected in the Markarth prologue quests, Verandis is brought back in a blood frenzy and immediately attacks Gwendis and the Vestige, forcing them to beat some senses into him to snap him out of it.
- Heel–Face Turn: Implied. Verandis is a kind and noble person but the fact he was turned directly by Molag Bal implies a dark past which we never get to hear of. Greymoor implies he was a member of the Grey Host until he betrayed them for unspecified reasons. Markarth makes it explicit; not only was Verandis a member of the Host, he was Rada al-Saran's closest friend. He left the Host once it became clear that his philosophy and Rada's were not compatible, as Rada saw humans as nothing but cattle to be ruled and suppressed, while Verandis aims for peaceful, equal co-existence.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He seems to be a huge fan of this trope, befitting his character type as The Atoner. Interestingly, both of the times he pulled this, are to try and contain an Artifact of Doom that's about to go off.
- At the climax of the Rivenspire arc, Verandis teleports both himself and the Lightless Remnant to Coldharbour, in order to stop it from firing and turning the entirety of the region into bloodfiends, knowing full well that it's going to result in his doom. The Vestige and Gwendis later manage to bring him back through a Gray Host ritual, so it didn't stick.
- He then does it again during the epilogue to the Markarth questline, where he elects to remain within Rada al-Saran's Grayhaven to try and control the Dark Heart. Due to him already being weakened, Verandis does this willingly, knowing that it's probably going to kill him for real this time. It turns out that he's still alive in some capacity, as his soul is bound to the Dark Heart, but his physical form was "ejected" out of it. Even Verandis himself is surprised by this turn of events, but is relieved nonetheless.
- Old Friend: He was one of High King Emeric's earliest supporters.
- Nice Guy: Verandis is very welcoming and courteous to the player character.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Dark Heart of Skyrim storyline reveals that it was Verandis’s own research (originally intended to help mortals) that Rada al-Saran used to create the harrowstorms amd enact his Evil Plan.
- Retired Monster: Ultimately subverted. While the Markarth prologue reveals that he was once an Exarch (General) of the original Grey Host, it quickly turns out that he maintained the same ideals regarding Vampires and mortals living in peace with each other back then as he does today. The one time he killed an innocent, it was a complete accident that he immediately regretted.
- So Proud of You: After returning from his second Heroic Sacrifice, Verandis expresses his pride over how much his charges have grown. He then relinquishes his title to them, and sets off for some time Walking the Earth alone, but also promises to visit them whenever he can.
- Token Heroic Orc: An Altmer vampire who is a high-ranking nobleman of High Rock.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Baron Montclair, the Arc Villain of the Rivenspire.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: At the conclusion of the Rivenspire arc, Verandis pulls a Heroic Sacrifice by teleporting himself and the Lightless Remnant back to Coldharbour before it infects the entirety of the region, possibly the whole of Tamriel itself. Unlike many other characters, you can't find him anywhere when you actually return to Coldharbour yourself, leaving his ultimate fate unclear. Later on, however, through notes left behind by Verandis himself long ago, the Vestige and Gwendis can manage to resurrect him during the prologue quests for Markarth, for which he is very thankful.
Gwendis
A young Bosmer vampire and a protege of Verandis Ravenwatch.
- Action Girl: Fights alongside Verandis and the Montclairs in Verandis' flashback, and manages to hold off the enemies chasing both.
- All Love Is Unrequited: She's in love with Verandis, but he seems to regard her strictly as a student.
- Big Damn Heroes: In Verandis' flashback, Gwendis arrives to save him at the last moment as the newly-turned Montclair vampires close in on him.
- Cant Hold Their Liquor: In Verandis' flashback, she's completely plastered after a relatively small amount of wine.
- Covert Pervert: She evidently watched enough of Darien Gautier's seduction of an enemy guard captain to pop up immediately afterwards and offer some snarky congratulations.
- Does Not Know Her Own Strength: She gets carried away feeding at Ravenwatch manor, and has to be cautioned to go easy by Verandis.
- Undying Loyalty: To Verandis.
Baron Wylon Montclair
Once part of the noble triumvirate that governed Rivenspire (alongside Countess Tamrith and Baron Dorell), he's gone rogue and now wants to have all of it for himself.
- Arc Villain: For Rivenspire arc.
- Anti-Villain: Wylon was desperately trying to save his dying wife and his efforts end up turning him into a vampire and driving him insane.
- Bald of Evil: A sympathetic variant at any rate.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Courtesy of being voiced by Crispin Freeman.
- Never My Fault: Montclair seemingly places all of the blame on Verandis Ravenwatch for every misfortune that befell him.
- While Verandis was indeed complicit in the idea to use the Lightless Hollow to try and cure Leila Montclair of her illness, he did so at the behest (and later scornful demand) of Wylon himself, following very sketchy (and likely deliberately falsified) instructions provided by Reezal-Jul, an Argonian alchemist and necromancer that Montclair himself hired.
- Despite him not having the foggiest idea what the Hollow even does, he still angrily chastised and commanded Verandis to activate it anyway, resulting in him and his family being turned into vampires and bloodfiends, forcing Verandis to Mercy Kill Leila after she went berserk from the pain and attacked him. Somehow, in his twisted mind, Wylon saw this as an act of murder and betrayal, wilfully ignoring the fact that he's the cause of all of this.
- Later on, after the Vestige had slain his daughter Lleraya to liberate Northpoint, Wylon heaped that onto the pile as well, and remains indignant to the bitter end.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Specifically, accidentally turned by Verandis after he came into contact with an Ayleid Artifact of Doom.
- Tragic Monster: He could have avoided being turned into a vampire had he simply accepted his wife's death.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Verandis. The death of Wylon's wife and Verandis's failure to save her disintegrated the friendship.
Reezal-Jul
An Argonian necromancer who formerly served King Ranser, he now serves as one of Baron Montclair's top lieutenants.
- Avenging the Villain: He seeks to devastate the Covenant to avenge King Ranser.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Manages to be this for Rivenspire despite likely being the first Montclair character defeated, since his desire for revenge against the Covenant and his manipulations of Baron Montclair kickstarted the plot.
- Manipulative Bastard: Discussed in his journals. Of the three nobles ruling Rivenspire, Reezal-Jul ingratiated himself with Montclair because he would be the easiest to manipulate. Indeed, he uses Leila Montclair's terminal illness to play both Baron Montclair and Verandis Ravenwatch like fiddles.
- Mind Wipe: He pulls this on Verandis, obscuring his own role in the Face–Heel Turn of Baron Montclair.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Lampshaded by Captain Janeve, who notes that she's met many Argonians who are calm and connected to nature — but Reezal-Jul is the very opposite of that.
- Night of the Living Mooks: His ultimate goal is to command an army of undead, noting that he loves how obedient and unquestioning they are.
- Revenge: His journal reveals that he knew exactly what the Lightless Remnant was capable of all along, and manipulated Montclair into unleashing its power in order to take revenge on the Covenant for King Ranser's death.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In his backstory, he abandoned King Ranser when the latter was cornered at Traitor's Tor.
- The Starscream: He personally wishes to rule Rivenspire (and whatever else he can conquer), with the strong implication that he intends to betray Montclair after the latter has outlived his use.
- The Unfettered: Reezal-Jul has no moral compunctions and holds no personal loyalties sacred in his pursuit of personal power. His experiments on the townsfolk of Crestshade are nothing short of an atrocity.
Throne Keeper Farvad
The high priest of the Yokudan god Tu'whacca. He claims that his god speaks to him through his thoughts, and he quickly becomes one of the Vestige's main allies against the Withered Hand in the Alik'r Desert.
- Badass Preacher: He is a simple priest, but he is more than capable of defending himself.
- Guest-Star Party Member: He is one of the three major Alikr' Desert characters who can assist you during the final battle against Shiri and Suturah.
- Hearing Voices: He claims to be able to communicate with Tu'whacca this way, and there's a surprisingly large amount of evidence that it may be genuine.
- Heroic BSoD: At the climax of the Alik'r Desert arc, he suffers a momentary one after being forced to kill a zombie in self-defense (attacking the dead is considered a major dishonor in Redguard culture).
The Withered Hand
Decades ago, a powerful necromancer called Suturah raised an army of undead and marched on the Alik'r, determined to conquer it and transform it into a kingdom of death. Under the leadership of Fahara'jad and with the aide of the Ash'abah exiles, the Redguards were able to defeat the undead and Suturah himself was slain. Now, his twin sons Uwafa and Alasan have formed a cult of necromancers, seeking to finish what their father started.
- Avenging the Villain: Shiri makes it clear that she is not happy about her brothers' deaths when you finally confront her.
- Evil Former Friend: Prince Azah claims that Uwafa and Alasan were once his childhood friends and they all studied together, but on reflection admits that their friendship was likely an act on the brothers' part.
- Genre Savvy: They take full advantage of the fact that Redguard culture forbids harming the dead.
- The Mole: Unbeknownst to anyone but the Withered Hand themselves, Suturah had a third child: Shiri, who poses as the assistant of a prominent archaeologist in order to spy on the Vestige and their allies.
- Thanatos Gambit: Alasan allows himself to be killed so that his Wraith can corrupt his Ansei Ward. Thankfully, some quick thinking on the Vestige and their allies' parts prevents this.
- The Undead: Naturally, as a necromancer cult, they have a lot of these at their disposal. Suturah himself is risen as a Lich during the final battle.
Queen Arzhela
King Emeric's cousin and the recently-widowed Queen of Evermore.
- Big Good: For the Evermore-centric half of the Bangkorai arc.
- Outliving One's Offspring: The Reachman invaders killed both of her children. You can actually meet both in sidequests, as they are temporarily revived by supernatural means. Princess Elara can survive as the Sentinel of Viridian Forest, but Prince Adrien must die again as a Daedra was trying to use his corpse as a vessel.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Even though she's handed over authority of Evermore to her brother-in-law, you first meet her at the chapel where she's treating the wounded, trying to do something constructive for the city while she's grieving. When you present her with evidence that Duke Renchant is planning to hand Evermore to the Empire, she wastes no time in organizing a resistance and helping to defeat the attempted takeover.
King Kurog
- Voiced by: JB Blanc
- Alas, Poor Villain: Even after his plans have been exposed and foiled, the people of Orsinium still mourn him as an ultimately well intentioned leader who simply went too far.
- Apologetic Attacker: When Forgemother Angra poisons you in the penultimate Orsinium main quest, just before you pass out he genuinely apologizes that it had to come to this, as he did consider you a friend.
- Big Bad: Of Orsinium, as he is secretly plotting a mass genocidal purge of his people in order to forcibly convert them to the worship of Trinimac instead of Malacath.
- Big Eater: Described as such in The Chronicles of King Kurog, and he frequently holds meetings at his favorite cornerclub in Orsinium.
- The Fundamentalist: He is extremely adamant in his belief that the worship of Trinimac is essential to the Orcs' survival. So much so that he is willing to do a lot of morally reprehensible things to accomplish it.
- My Beloved Smother: Many characters remark on the power Kurog's mother wields over him, and after their deaths, she is assigned much of the blame for Kurog's Face–Heel Turn.
- Odd Friendship: With Emeric, at least on the surface, as Kurog is blunt and brash while Emeric is diplomatic and refined. However underneath, both men are not so different as they are both highly ambitious for themselves and their kingdoms.
- Out of Focus: Despite being a racial leader, before Orsinium he barely had any presence in the main game. In fact, the only time he truly appears is as an illusion during the Mages Guild arc.
- Polygamy: A standard practice for Orc leaders, Kurog and his mother go a step further by handpicking an enormous network of wives for pragmatic and political purposes.
- Turns Red: During the final battle of Orsinium, if Forge-Mother Alga is defeated before him, he flies into a rage and gains a significant damage boost.
- Unwitting Pawn: many Orcs consider him one to Emeric, with one such Orc outright defecting to the Dominion due to this belief. Its also heavily implied that his Face–Heel Turn in Orsinium was due in part to manipulations by his mother, Forgemother Angra.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: His shield-wives are VERY willing and able to fight to the death to defend him. Including against you.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: As brutal as his methods and goals are, he genuinely believes its for the good of the Orcs.
Lady Clarisse Laurent
A Breton noblewoman, scholar, and treasure hunter, she and her loyal manservant/Butt-Monkey Stibbons can be found on a variety of expeditions across the Daggerfall Covenant and other parts of Tamriel.
- Comedic Sociopathy: She is a hilariously awful boss to her manservant Stibbons, and is unrepentantly responsible for a variety of terrible and demeaning things that happen to him.
- Flanderization: While she has a bit of contempt with Stibbons in the past, Blackwood has her act like a raving lunatic with her complaining about her manservant's entire existence to the point that it makes you wonder why hasn't she permanently got rid of him.
- Perspective Flip: In High Isle, her and Stibbons' usual roles are switched. This time, she's the one in trouble (in this case, possessed by the amnesiac ghost of an All Flags Navy admiral), and Stibbons is the one who needs the Vestige's help to save her.
- Pet the Dog: In Coldharbour, Lady Laurent has an extremely rare moment of concern for Stibbons and sends the player to rescue him from the Spurned Peak.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: Despite her pretensions of scholarly exploration, most of the actual accomplishments of her expeditions are done by the player character.
- Recurring Character: She and Stibbons appear across several zones in the Daggerfall Covenant, join the invasion force in Coldharbour, and pop up again in Orsinium, Vvardenfell, Murkmire, Blackwood, and High Isle.
- Upper-Class Twit: She is a noble from Daggerfall whose aspirations of greatness far exceed her actual abilities.
Stibbons
Lady Laurent's loyal manservant, he endures a variety of bizarre misfortunes as a result of his adventures with her.
- Damned by Faint Praise: An item in his possession was given to him by Lady Laurent "in recognition of years of adequate service."
- Extreme Doormat: To Lady Laurent, rushing to obey even her most outlandish and dangerous demands.
- Fatal Attractor: In Coldharbour, he is twice the object of daedric affections.
- Grand Theft Me: Depending on the player's decision in an early quest in Glenumbra, it is entirely possible for Stibbons to be permanently possessed by an ancient Breton ghost, which will be referenced on subsequent quests.
- Iron Butt Monkey: Without fail, every quest involving Stibbons ends with him being subjected to some bizarre, painful or humiliating misfortune. In one quest, he is turned into an egg.
- Sycophantic Servant: Stibbons is absolutely loyal to Lady Laurent no matter how much physical torment and demeaning abuse she heaps upon him. In one quest when she fires him, he's devastated, and goes all-out to get re-hired by her.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Finally gets a break in High Isle, where this time he gets to help save Laurent from a perilous situation. Even when it seems like his bad luck will show up again, he quickly countered it and even used it to his advantage to help break the curse.
