Something's been bugging me. Lately, after watching the recent voice cast vid where they talked about Molag Bal's personality and goals, he just seemed like a Mehrunes Dagon the Second to me.

So far Molag Bal strikes me as a direct copy of Dagon , what with the plan to merge realms because rawwwr destruction, Tamriel is mine.
They might as well have just used Dagon...


Do we really need what seems like another meathead god into senseless destruction like Mehrunes, with the twist [ !!! ] that he prefers purple over crimsom red?

Where's Molag Bal's true personality? He was supposed to be evil, twisted and cunning.

Hell, a succubus/inccubus NPC at some point in the story who'd try to sway the PC or a high-status NPC to the dark side would be neat, and they don't exactly have to be obscene , either. An attractive charming, likeable woman or man with a silver tongue would be enough.
It would show Molag Bal's nature. Instead they just have him sending brutes upon brutes on Tamriel's way in order to take it by force.

Well he is the "Lord of Domination" so to dominate is in his nature.

But I get where you're coming from, it is kinda lame imo.

Molag Bal wants to enslave people and Dominate them while Mehrunes Dagon just want to destroy the world and everything in it. We do not know the story (yet) how the story will play out. They do have different goals in mind.

Khajiit calls Mehrunes Dagon a kitten because nothing is more destructive then a kitten.

Yeah, I can agree to a point with you, when the developers have been talking about Molag Bal's plans, I found there were a few too similarities. You could argue the difference between Bal and Dagon is that one is trying to populate Tamriel whilst the other wants to bring it into their own land; their methods might be different but in the the result is still very much the same.

The mentality behind a daedric prince is going this because they can, there's no cause and effect, just effect.

Molag Bal is (if you haven't looked into what these daedric princes are about) one of the four corners of "The House of Troubles" along with Mehrunes Dagon, Sheogorath, Malacath, according to the Dunmer. As far as the mortals of Nirn are concerned, they exist is to cause pain, suffering and havoc for them and that is their purpose.

As far as we have seen of Cold Harbour it is lacking of the striking personality that is prewritten in the lore. On the evidence we have seen so far is that Molag Bal is another run of the mill bad guy, looking to kill people, chain their souls up in lines and wait in a queue that's going nowhere in a depressing landscape with a blue sky. But that's as bad as story for this game can get, the absolute worse it could possibly be.

The worldspace of Cold Harbour could only be better than that.

This. There's a subtle but important distinction between domination and destruction.

Except Mehrunes' goal wasn't to entirely destroy Tamriel into nothingness, he wanted to reclaim it as a realm so he could rule it as he saw fit, since he felt it was his birthright if you've read a bit about his origins . He wouldn't want to destroy one of his own realms, especially his most favored one. One of his epithets is Prince of Change as well, after all.

The senseless destruction part was merely his manner of approach. He planned on beating Tamriel just hard enough 'til it would give in, so he could change it into what he felt was right.
A direct, forceful approach was his trademark.

That is my problem with Bal. He seems to be doing the exact same thing, attempting to claim Tamriel as his own through brute force, repeated invasions and destruction 'til it gives in so he can rule it as he sees fit.
Where's his cunning? His reviling schemes? The corruption or seducing of mortals?

Dagon had no issue with killing every living thing on Nirn, he wanted to burn it to the ground. Bal is NOT killing everyone senselessly, he is turning them into his servants by taking their soul, also, Bal wants to keep the world relatively intact, as ColdHarbour is a mirror image of Tamriel.

No idea on that one. NDA and all that. Yes, such themes would certainly cement his originality and distinguish him from Dagon. Guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's the angle they take for the main story, won't we?

Gosh, I'll be glad once this NDA drops.

I don't see the issue here. They are both Daedric princes and both love to create havoc; most Daedric princes share some sort or personality traits, usually something that borders with interacting with men and mer negatively.

Making Molag Bal the main antagonist makes far more sense to me than Mehrunes Dagon. One wants domination, while the other wants destruction. I'm sure they player will come across Mehrunes Dagon sometime in their journey, though.

Furthermore, Mehrunes Dagon can't hold a stick to Molag Bal. Mehrunes little butter-knife compared to Molag Bal's mace? No contest! (except for the insta-kill...)

Yeah, the NDA is my only hope for Bal right now. I'm speaking out of their descriptions of him on the official vids and articles so far, here.

Dagon wanted the realm mostly intact as well,as he held Tamriel dear. Just not so much her inhabitants.
He claims it's his "birthright", why would he want destroy his own realm into nothingness?

And it is their respective treatment of the inhabitants that is the key distinction here. Bal enslaves them, Dagon largely just wipes them out.

Dagon wanted to create a " "hell" on nirn", he did not care about the looks of the place.

As I said, it's their manner of approach towards their goal, not the goal itself that bugs me.
Dagon was pretty much a meathead, attempting to take everything through brute force and strenght.

So far we haven't heard of any of Molag Bal's classic vile schemes. He seems to be attempting to conquer Tamriel through might alone as well, thus mimicking Dagon.

Let us look at Mr. Mehrunes Dagon's own plane for a sec:

Seas of lava, ruin towers, bunt land -- sounds like of land full with destruction to me. He wants to fill Tamriel with seas of lava, ruin and destroy cities and burn the land to a crisp.

I do not see Mr. Molag Bal doing this to Tamriel -- more like he just wants to make slaves of everyone.

How about tricking the entire Arcane university to blow a hole through space/time, allowing him to even invade as much as he has, and then basically controlling the 2nd era empire. Before the game has even started, he has done FAR more damage then Dagon ever did.

Where exactly comes this might into play, though? He's not even invading Nirn, the Daedra you fight at Dark Anchors are merely there to defend them. The anchors are supposed to pull Nirn into his realm, which fits his theme of subjugation quite well.

His schemes are mainly employed by his servants on Tamriel, namely Mannimarco and Abnur Tharn. I mean, their Daedra cult took over the Empire through schemes, that should count for something?

Not entirely accurate, and I can't correct you due to NDA, but either way, valid point. The control he has over the Elder Council is far more subtle than anything Dagon pulled. The heroes of ESO aren't fighting an invasion, they're mounting a rebellion.

I do think his ultimate ambitious goal is to color everything purple,though.
A true master of evil! Purple is so last era!

Oh NDA, how I loathe thee.