Doing a little research into TES lore again, has there ever been recorded accounts of a Demi-God in Nirn or in the TES universe? I would think the Nerevarine would be considered a demi god in a sense but would the player (your game character) be considered one given that each role he/she is thrown into a plot where it seems no mortal man would survive. Thoughts?

Cultural heroes maybe, but Trinimac, the mortal incarnations of Shezzar, Umbaril, and the bull with wings person are demi-gods. Well, in that they're semi-divine, or a lower subset of divinity towards the aedra.

Bleh, my explaining skills aren't working right now.

By bull wings person you mean Morihaus? Yes and the difference between The Nerevarine and the Semi/Demi-Gods Hellmouth mentioned is that The Nerevarine is of humble origins, even though he/she is an incarnation of Indoril Nerevar.
The semi-divine afore mentioned are exactly that; of divine spark and origin - They manage to do some amazing things too.

The Nerevarine is just a exceptional, destined being but not really divine in my opinion.

Yes, that's the one... I was too lazy to find his name

A few people I can think of who might possibly fall under demi-god status:

Alessia (?)
Morihaus
Pelinal Whitestrake/Hans the Fox/Harald Harry-Breeks
Umaril the Unfeathered
Trinimac
Auriel (he may have simply been a direct avatar of Akatosh)
Saint Veloth (maybe...they sent Trinimac to stop him, implying that it would take a being of great power to impede his march)
The Tribunal are a different kind of demi-god, one whose powers are sapped or leeched from a divine source. That would classify Dagoth Ur as one, too
Reman Cyrodill (strongly hinted. His birth was extremely unusual)
Tiber Septim (?)


You'll note that I'm not at all sure about some of these, and others I probably overlooked.

I agree with that list. What about others who are born as mortals, but become gods, though? Can Sheogorath be considered to be a demi-god after the latest Greymarch? May the heroes of TES series, as possible Shezzarines, be considered demi-gods, especially in the case of the CoC, who seems to have become both the Divine Crusader and Sheogorath?

I think those people mantled/place held.

I would consider a demi god someone who got near-godlike powers from inheritance or from "tapping" in the case of the Tribunal. Someone who mantles or placeholds for a deity gains power from the "walking ways" or symbolism. For instance, the Divine Crusader emulated the footsteps of Pelinal Whitestrake and gathered what was left of his remains in the form of his divine armor and weapons, and when equipping them appeared to be Pelinal and gained his powers. It goes back to the idea I had in the thread about whether the Nerevarine was the Blookdskaal - what matters is the Hero, the identity is not important. Pelinal is an idea rather than an individual.

With Sheogorath it's even more complicated because it's implied the Sheogorath the CoC took the place of wasn't the original himself, but some dude named Arden Sul. Maybe, due to the nature of Sheogorath being a prison/alter ego for Jyggalag, there never WAS an original.

Then can we assume the Divine Crusader is a demi-god or not? If the Divine Crusader is Pelinal, in a sense, then is he/she not a demi-god?

Tiber and Alessia, no. Both are mortals who were touched by the divines. The Tribunal wholly became gods, but then lost it. Reman... I'd argue to not be a demi-god, but definitely blessed completely by the divines and birthed by Tamriel. Plus, Reman died a mortal's death.

As for new sheo and Pelinal, the former is now a Daedric Prince, and the latter was an avatar of Shezzar.

Their godhood completely relied on an artifact, a chunk of an actual god. If you have to siphon your powers from another god, would that make you a full god? It seems like complete divinity would not be able to be taken away.

I am pretty sure the Tribunal would lose their attained powers completely over time, as what happened to Almalexia - I don't know if we could actually ever know for sure though. If Vivec is still alive, he grows weaker by the day until he is completely mortal once again.


I agree. We have to be careful, the word Demi-God almost implies a direct avatar or descendant/offspring of a God.

Well I don't agree at all..if it's an avatar, it's an avatar. If it's a demi-god, it's a demi-god. Those are clearly two different things.

We have a couple of characters who are specifically implied to be avatars, literally gods in mortal guise. Wulf was one, as were the handful of people you had the option of rescuing while questing for artifacts in the Imperial Cult. These were literally mortal disguises for Divines.

A demi-god, on the other hand, doesn't directly represent a god. It's often the offspring of a god, or the offspring of an offspring (et. cetera). An avatar can be destroyed, but that won't destroy the original Divine behind it obviously. Akatosh manifested as a huge golden dragon and fought Dagon, who was also an avatar. Both avatars were destroyed, but neither god is dead, obviously.

However, when Morihaus died, he was just dead. Because he wasn't necessarily immortal. He was a demi-god. A semi-divine. Umaril is the same way. There are ways to utterly destroy the offspring of a god because their blood is diluted somewhat. The farther down the line you get, the easier it is, I imagine. The great-grandchild of an Et-Ada would be nearly indistinguishable from a mere mortal, perhaps with a slightly longer lifespan and physical stamina. Obviously Umaril had extra help from Meridia because he "sold his soul for rock and roll" to gain a sort of Voldemort-esque form of immortality, which could obviously be severed regardless with a powerful enchantment.

So would CoC count as one , I have seen what has been said about when he/she got the crusaders relics and whatnot but I don't think what happened in the Shivering Isles makes he/she a demi-god though. He/she was trained to rule the Isles not to become a god, sure he/she has some abilities like a god and the staff to be able to rule the Isles so is CoC just a plain lucky mortal that might become a demi-god or.......not sure here.

No you're spot on, especially in regards to Demi-Gods being offspring which was what I was trying to say - My use of the word avatar wasn't right at all.

Current consensus says don't believe game mechanics and the CoC is now Sheo, unless told otherwise. If you want reason why he isn't as awesome, the CoC still needs to grow somewhat into the new Sheogorath. He's the new actor replacing the old, and needs to work on some of his line delivery. Given that the new book had a brief time in the Shivering Ilse, the CoC is still the madgod.

As such, the CoC was always the madgod, even though he/she didn't know it at the time.

True very true , but at the end of Shivering Isles main quest while Jygglag was talking to you that the main character would after to grow to his/her position and only time will tell if the main character may become a god, overall I guess we will find out ether the next book or TESV, and if not that maybe never or farther in the future.

Another interpretation:
The et'Ada didn't give birth, but, rather, each was procedurally corrupted, by limits the Space God imposed upon creation, as recorded in spirtual gradients. Just something to think about.

Then again, Jyggy was defeated by the new Sheogorath when all prediction said the CoC was going to die a horrible death.

I wonder if the act of replacing Sheogorath somehow severed Jyggalag from the realm, hence not only weakening him, but able to leave the realm forever.

There is no linear time outside Mundas; Akatosh cannot control the order of what happens inside those free of his grasp. Therefore I find it quite plausible that Arden Sul IS the PC.

Hrmm...there is something that is nagging in the back of my head, so stay here with me. From what we know, the realm of the prince is the prince itself. So, before Sheogorath, the Shivering Ilse was Jyggy. However, upon Jyggy's defeat, he says he's now free, but the realm is still there as the new Sheogorath. However, before Sheogorath and Jyggy used to be one and the same being. So, does this mean Jyggy's own body has been taken over by a mortal now made god?

To be honest, I've always felt like they aren't the realms, but are somehow connected or bound to them. Hence why they shape the realms but do not seem to have absolute control over them.

Or, perhaps there was something akin to the Divine Pact that took place in the Isles, on a smaller scale.

Hmmm interesting......


When now CoC is the ruler of the Isles so I guess what you said makes sense so CoC a god now? My my my my ........lore this is the stuff I love about it :spotted owl:

I've always thought that parts of Jyggy who had resisted maddness (such as the order crystals) just shot out into oblivion and formed a smaller, weaker version of Jygglyag.

You replace Jyggalag's actor as well. Like you said, they are one being, emulating the immortal polarity of Anu-Padomey, Akatosh and Lorkhan. Notice Jyggalag didn't have a face, until the old Sheogorath was relieved of his post. You free them both, essentially.


What makes you believe they don't have absolute power, in their realms? Because they don't have the power to contradict their rule?


The Convention. The realms appear similar, because they originate from the same point, according to the one architect's design.

Maybe that will change. I suppose it's always possible.