Lesser Daedra in the Elder Scrolls Novels: A survey : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:51 pm

“Are you some sort of daedra?”

Glim gaped his mouth. “You know what daedra are?” He asked. “The man we talked to below didn't.”

“Why should he?” the man said. “We have incorporated daedra in the past, but none exist here now. Are you daedra?”

“No.”

“Very well, good, that makes things less complicated...”

Indeed.

This is a survey of lesser daedra in the two Elder Scrolls novels by Greg Keyes. I am attempting to identify all the unique species of lesser daedra (or ex-daedra) within the novel, as well as assess what little we may know about them. As you'll see, some are easier to declare as daedra than others. There are also comments in the novels about the nature of daedra and even their relationship with the summoner, but for the sake of increased brevity I'm ignoring these.

Now, to the lesser daedra, generally in the order of their appearance.

I. Possession by Moth

A sudden snap and flurry sounded behind them, and they turned just in time to see a handful of dark figures come hurtling out of some dark apertures in the stone wall. At first her only impression was of wings rushing by, but one of the things circled tight, came back, and beat around their heads before settling on long, insectile legs.

It resembled a moth, albeit a moth nearly her size. Its wings were voluptuous, velvety, dark green and black. Its head was merely a black polished globe with a long, wickedly sharp needle projecting out like a nose. Its six legs, ticking nervously beneath it, ended in similar points.

These curious creatures, here approaching Annaig and Glim, are seemingly responsible for Umbriel's legion of undead groupies. Shortly after the passage above, the book records how these "moths" leave Umbriel's bubble, turning into mere ghosts of themselves and trailing behind them long silver strands that resemble a spider's web. As the moths dive into the struggle below, Annaig remarks pointedly on how the moths vanish; though the silver strands curve upward and back into the lower reaches of Umbriel.

While nothing in these initial passages suggests that the moth-like creatures observed here are daedra, it is revealed later on in the book that the corpse hordes scuttling in Umbriel's shadow are not actually zombies, but corpses animated by daedra.

Is this about the flying city or what-have-you? Because the College of Whisphers has the most up-to-date information on those things. I've just seen their most recent report – fascinating, really. The things aren't bonewalkers – they're more like flesh atronachs, although they don't respond the same to arcane stimuli.”

“My mom is buried back there,” she said. “Do you think they'll bring her back?”

“Nah, they like fresher bodies than that. Anyway, it wouldn't really be your mom, just your mom's body with a daedra in it.”

In my mind, this would all strongly suggest that the creatures we observe flying down from Umbriel are in fact daedra themselves. We are already aware that daedra can both animate forms they are bound to (atronachs) as well as posess living individuals (as seen in TES II and LoS).

They are also refered to daedra in another context - that of the defenders of Umbriel during the Legion's famous levitating assault as the floating city moved into the Heartlands:

When they got near Umbriel, she saw something coming to meet them. She had seen them before; they looked like birds, at least from a distance. They would drop down and then appear to dissolve, turning into trails of smoke. Brennus told her that they were the spirits that took over the bodies of the newly dead, and lost corporeal form when they passed through the rim of the bubble of Oblivion the city traveled in.

The Synod managed to spell almost three thousand of them airborne, but some sort of flying daedra killed them all in short order.

It is still unclear as to what these daedra are called, or to which daedric prince they may be loyal to (if any at all). The obvious choice may be Clavicus Vile's realm, since it appears these daedra have been instrumental to Umbriel's function, given that they can transcend Vile's protective bubble. The actions of the "wormies" below and the defense of Umbriel from the legion suggest they may possess more than merely an animal intelligence,

II. Sul's Abomination

Attrebus had the barest glimpse of something horrible before he found himself...he turned his gaze up and saw the thing again, a phantasmal mass of chitinoid limbs and wings that felt like a scorpion and hornet and spider all together. A lot of the strands – including those holding him – had been shattered by its arrival, but plenty were groping at it now from farther away, trying to wrap it up as it surged toward Vuhon. It tore through them, but they slowed it down.

In all likelihood, this bizarre abomination one of the several daedra that Sul summons, although we know little more about it. It is interesting, though, that Sul only begins to summon it when he was told indirectly by Vuhon that they were in Oblivion, perhaps implying that whatever this thing is, it could not be summoned outside of Oblivion. We also know that the act of summoning caused Sul a lot of pain. I didn't think this was a common symptom of conjuration. In any case, its the last time we see it.

III. Arese's First Summon

But there was a clap like thunder, and the man went staggering back, and in the next instant something appeared, something horrible. Colin had a glimpse of slits of green balefire, scales, and claws like sickles. The man almost managed to scream before his lungs and viscera were splattered across the room. Then the thing turned on Colin, snarling.

Arese's first summon (as seen by Colin). It is also described panting and having a slouching posture. My immediate thought was of a scalon (Shivering Isles) but that's really just a wild guess based on the description. Anyways, as far as I remember, there wasn't any evidence for scalon being daedra in the first place.

IV: Not a Ghost
There is quite a lot of descriptive information given about this daedra, so I'm just quoting the most condensed bits:

It contorted in his overvision, a chimera that refused to settle on a shape, then bloomed fully into Mundus, the world, and brought harm to him. He failed to dodge its blow, but whatever hit him still wasn't actually matter; it was worse, traveling through his arm, through every layer of muscle, every vessel of blood, the bone and spongy marrow, leaving detailed and unbelievable agony behind. At first he thought the arm was actually off, but then he saw it was still there, a mass of spasming muscle.

During this encounter, Colin also describes the creature as letting off a shrill scream that shattered the windows of the building they were in. The daedra could also be apparently harmed with (what I believe) was a glass dagger, and has some sort of apparant "center". A yellowish mist sometimes accompanies its attacks. And while it is not made clear here, it is later directly refered to a daedra by the librarian of the Oculatus:

“The thing you're talking about is a very specific variety of daedra. They were often summoned by the Nibenese battlemages who ruled during the times of the Alessian order, but after the War of Righteousness, the relationship they cultivated with this species deteriorated. The knowledge to summon them was lost, or almost so – confined to this volume, do you understand?

This is particularly interesting to the storyline itself (lets ignore that and stay on topic), it gives us more of a backstory to this particular type of daedra than we actually have for most. And yet we don't have a name, which is quite frustrating. The initial description reminded me of a will-o-the-wisp, but this is all rather highly unlikely given what we're told later. Also worthy of note is that Colin later dealt with one of these daedra by using a little box called an Ayleid Soul Maze. In many ways it reminds me of the vampire-warding trick of throwing a bowl of rice in the its path, which the monster (OCD must be a symptom of vampirism) must count before proceding.

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NOT THE END. We still have more things to cover. Look this over for now, and feel free to discuss. I'll try to finish this tomorrow.

» Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:43 pm

I was always under the assumption that Arese's summon was simply a Daedroth. It certainly sounds similar to its Oblivion iteration.

» Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:15 pm

I was always under the assumption that Arese's summon was simply a Daedroth. It certainly sounds similar to its Oblivion iteration.

That was generally what I was thinking. Or a Vermai/Clannfear/Hunger.