I was simply thinking and perhaps it has been said before, a number of the Daedra seem to be a particular aspect of the devil. Mehrunes Dagon is the aspect of destruction and fire, Sanguine of debauchery, Clavicus Vile of the classic 'contract' and Boethia of Deceit and treachery.

what do you wanna have us to say? XD

anyway... that isn't a suprise for me at all... i think for no-one.... since Oblivion and it's lords is inspired by the underworld.... and it's lords... so also the devil....

True, though the TES cosmology is more complex than just good and evil. I heard once that that Daedra can be thought of as fallen angels, though, and there is an aspect of that in them as far as I can see. They are ultimate selfishness, and the Daedra didn't want to participate in the creation of the Mundus.

I geuss they're all just representations of things, Sanguine is like Bachus. And Molag Bal is like Mars.

And the devil is just a collection of ideas and traits from earlier gods (most annoyingly, some trickster-god traits, making tutoring myth more difficult)

So it's a vicious circle of recycling mythology.

And who said all of these things are always "bad?"

Well Elder Scrolls IS satanic, as you can cast spells and summon demons!

With some extras - Molag Bal's notion of spears isn't as limited as what Ares/Mars would consider. Just as Vivec...

the daedra princes are more than a partoionnig of satanic imagery, and shouldn't be cosider as evil. It's more accurate to consider tham as amoral - that is completely removed from ortal notion of morality. All of them have positive and negative aspects morality-wise.

Comparing the Daedra to aspects of the Devil can only be done from a vaguely defined christian morality. Morality being highly subjective, only you can answer your own question.


That being said, yea, allot of classical stuff is in there. But that's kinda obvious.

Why does that make them selfish? Maybe they're just not suicidal...

Interesting point. Although since the player encounters three Aedric avatars during "Morrowind", not all the Aedra sacrificed themselves, I guess. The Nine are still capable of independent thought, and can create avatars.

Of course, first you have to define what you mean by "devil." Most people think this is a dude who rules and underworld, has red skin, horns, and a pitchfork, and has hordes of demons at his beck and call. Is that what you mean?

Really, though, the Daedra more like various different deities from sundry mythologies. Minus all the ones about fertility, peace, and nature. I guess those are the Aedra, since those aspects are more people-centric. The lack of any benign Daedra sort of makes their interactions with the Mundus more on the malevolent side. After reading Battlespire, the lesser Daedra seem to just be different beings with their own politics, hierarchies, and agendas. The rules are different (no Dreamsleeve), the plane(s) are different, but they aren't really evil - they are intelligent, and don't seem to mind chatting with "man-flesh." Just as the Dunmer and Nord are old enemies, or the Redguard Crowns fought against the Imperial invasion.

I think it would be really boring if the Daedric princes were just all "hur hur, let's go screw up the Mundus and kill people." They had existences before Nirn was created. What did they do?

casting spells has nothing to do with Satan and you cant summon daemons - just daedra.

Well, they did sorta sacrifice themselves in a sense they cut off an arm or a leg for the creation of Mundus, instead of their entire selves like Yffre. As such, they're quite weakened, but not powerless.


Well, from what I gather about daedra, they really didn't have much of a purpose pre-mundus. With Mundus around, they made their own personal world, so they could have total control of it, and not have weaken themselves for a bunch of weaker gits. I'd say, other than Dagon, each of the daedric lords like Mundus, since it gives them something to do. Dagon is the exception, for he wants to go back and be the Leper Demon King and continue to cut corners. However, Mundus prevents this, so he constantly tries to destroy it.

Yes, they are aspects of the devil, the less desirable aspects absorbed by pagan gods into the devil over time when Chiristanity was gaining steam as a legitimately recognized religion in the Roman Empire. Just like... well, pretty much most of any fictional mythology. I mean, TES is included in this, it's all other myths mixed around and names changed and mashed together. So while there are virtually no 1:1 matches of TES to real world mythology/theology, there's very little in TES that isn't also somewhere else in some form. like...

Sangunie is like a darker Bacchus minus his part-human aspect.
The Enantinomorph is seen almost everywhere, but most famously in Arthur vs. Lancelot over Guinervere.
CHIM is, well, have you ever sat and listened to an ex-hippie who never left the sixties? I have.
The Nerevarine is the full heroic cycle of zero to hero, using pretty much every benchmark of the cycle such as recieving boons from the gods, going into "the underworld" or at least deep underground, and returning alive, missing paent/parents.
Mantling is taking literally the Greek mythological metaphorical idea of imitating the greatest of heroes. In that, you would gain eternal fame. In this, you become them.

No 1:1, but they are strikingly simmilar.

You can't summon Demons without mods (just Undead and Daedra), and spellcasting isn't inherently "satanic".

I think it was a joke. Bsck in medieval times any spellcasting was considered 'of the devil."

First, the gods die.

"Finally, the magical beings of Mythic Aurbis told the ultimate story -- that of their own death. For some this was an artistic transfiguration into the concrete, non-magical substance of the world. For others, this was a war in which all were slain, their bodies becoming the substance of the world. For yet others, this was a romantic marriage and parenthood, with the parent spirits naturally having to die and give way to the succeeding mortal races."http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/monomyth.shtml

Then, they're brought back.

"The people of et'Ada believed for so long and so well, that their beliefs may, just may, have drawn upon the energies surrounding Tamriel to bring the gods themselves into being. If that is so, the conflict between the Light and the Dark provided the energy, and the et'Adans the structure, that created the gods of Tamriel."http://www.imperial-library.info/dfbooks/b055_lightdark.shtml

That's mythopoeic forces for you...

Destruction and chaos are important and beautiful actors in the stage that is the Universe. The Mortal races are driven by the fear of these forces, and the process of creation invokes them in the transfiguration of substances.

I suppose one problem with this whole idea is that the "devil" when referring to the culturally-accepted Judeo-christian version is a putrid combo of things the church didn't like about pagan religions, in much the same way that many christian holidays are actually pagan celebrations given a fresh coat of holy water. Thus, one might make the comparison between daedra and devil, but you miss the positive aspects of their spheres and even the benefits of what may seem like a negative aspect. Its an unfair comparison by far that shines a overly negative light upon the daedra.

You see the thing is, there was no question presented in the OP. He was making a statement about an observation; he wasn't asking if those were aspects of 'the devil' or if the daedra had those aspects, that much is understood just by his posts content...

And Mr. Troll says, "Chomp chomp chomp... yummy!"

It's hardly much of a surprise that Daedra embody aspects of the devil. The Elder Scrolls fans will tell you that "Daedra are not demons!" and all that, and this is technically true, at least in the sense that real world religious beliefs which mention demons would apply the term. Because such beliefs don't exist in the Elder Scrolls world. Just as you'll never hear anyone mention any deities someone you know might worship in the Elder Scrolls. But that one source of inspiration for at least some of the Daedra comes from the typical fantasy notion of demons (Of course, everyone's demons are different in some way or another, but in the fantasy RPGs that inspired the Elder Scrolls, they often have certain similarities.). Dremora are one of the most obvious examples. Daedric Princes though seem to take as much, if not more, from real world polytheistic pantheons like the Greek gods than they do from any interpretation of what you'd read in the Bible.

In fact, from the start, they were probably meant to be basically generic demons, it's just that as the series progressed, Bethesda started trying to make them more different, like they did with with most of the rest of the world.

Although it's notable that the terms "devil" and "demon" have both been used in the Elder Scrolls, one books says that "demons" are just a mistranslation of Daedra, and in Morrowind, followers of the Tribunal would often refer to Dagoth Ur as "the devil", fitting, considering that he is the enemy of their gods and has been known to tempt people to his ends, other uses of the term though seem to just be meant in a derogatory sense and not meant to invoke parallels to any belief systems held by anyone on Earth.

Azura isn't particular demonic. That's not to say she is "good", but she isn't "evil" either. But then, none of the daedra could be described as good or evil really.

See, everyone references the Greek Pantheon. Why not MesoAmerican? Or Polynesian? I mean, you want some 'gods' that like blood and death, look no further than some of the scary dudes the Aztecs and such worshiped. The religions were all death-obsessed and death-crazy, it is kind of frightening. Compared to them, the Daedra are down-right cuddly. At least they don't ask for a few gory human sacrifices to make the sun come up. Or if it is your Birthday.

???
There is no christianity in TES, therefore no devil.
ALso, agree with Alasiage. Check out my avvy, it's a mixtex funeral mask, of the aztec god Tezcatlipoca. Also known as the smoking mirror, he made Mehrunes Dagon look like a kindergarten bully.

Satan and demons are fallen angels who defied God and were cast out of Heaven. Daedra Lords are dieties in TES series and Lesser Daedra are their servents. Big difference.