Just some basic questions. Do they/would they: eat, sleep, read books?

They probably don't have to eat or sleep, but that's no reason to assume they don't. Being Daedra, they're immortal, but as far as daily maintenance of their current physical incarnation, they may have to eat/sleep in order to keep the body running properly. As far as reading, they seem too warlike to take to books, and I have yet to find any sort of bookshelf in any Oblivion gate.

They may eat, if only for the enjoyment of food's taste (I doubt they need to do it).

Several of the Dremora in Oblivion make references to feasting on your flesh and blood so I'm pretty sure they can, although it's not necessary to survive.

I believe the higher ranked Dremoras and Dremoras Wizards read the books written by Tamriel's mortals to gather information about them or better understand them.
The realms in the Oblivion Gates are more like outposts than villages or cities so it might be why you never see a bookshelf (or actual furniture except benches) that fill the towers. If there are no bed in the towers, I suppose they don't sleep either.

I'm not sure where the Daedric scripture originated from, but seeing as it's called Daedric and that the letter "ohm" (o) is found on lots of doors in Oblivion, then yes, I think that Daedra (or at least Dremora's) do read.

Thanks!

Yes..of course the higher ranking Dremora read books!

Lord Dagon is an author himself. I imagine his Mysterium Xarxes is something akin to a bible for the Dremora priesthood and warrior castes.

Well the Daedra seem to be split into 2 types: The intelligent daedra and the not-so-intelligent daedra. Intelligent Daedra are the more human daedra with their own ranks, such as the Dremora, Golden Saints, and Dark Seducers. The unintelligent daedra are the ones that are very beast-like such as daedroths, scamps, and spider daedra. I don't know if the intelligent daedra eat, but I'm pretty sure they can read and create their own alphabet. They probably can eat too, but for more of a pleasure thing then actually needing nourishment like mortals. The beast-like Daedra however, seem to act like nothing more then savage animals and monsters, like the ones on Nirn.

Although there's a pretty interesting contradiction between some of the older games and newer ones. Scamps and Spider Daedra talked in Battlespire, I believe, and Daedroth could cast offensive spells in Morrowind, implying a high Intelligence.

Well then again, the nature of the Daedra have been changed in nearly every game, such as the way in Morrowind the Daedric Princes were presented like the Greek Gods, while in Oblivion they were potrayed more demonically. Maybe the intelligence of the Daedra also changes?

Sheogorath says that Daedra constantly change, because they represent change itself. That's part of his dialogue in Shivering Isles. I think a few fundamental things about them stay the same but there's a lot about a Prince and his realm that can change from era to era. For one, the Dremora have served Dagon for a very long time but not always.

And the Daedra don't seem particularly demonic in any conventional sense to me in Oblivion. Only Dagon. His realm seems to be like something out of Doom. But he IS the Prince of Destruction.

If anything the least moral of the Daedra by human standards is Molag Bal. He enjoyed corrupting a good Paladin and stealing his soul. That to me is much more horrifying than opening red portals and spewing demons out.

I think you're not being very open-minded to the other darker Daedra. There is more to being a demon then being a little red guy with horns trying to take people to hell, demons generally cause corruption and chaos among mortals, and are believed to be responsible for certain "bad" events. for instance, Mephala likes to get mortals to kill each other just for her pleasure, and Boethia makes mortals fight in his tournaments and claims the souls of the loosers. As for Mehrunes dagon himself, he also likes to trick his followers into worshipping him and going to "paradise" where they end up getting tortured by Daedra. These Daedra do cause mortals to do some bad things and most of them end up getting their souls in the process, like Molag Bal. So he's not the only "Soul Corrupter", he's just the one who is most known for it.

Now in my opinion, some of the Daedric Princes seem to request that the player do some crueler quests compared to Morrowind. Plus since the Imperials view them as demonic, it would make sense for them to behave demonically in Oblivion. Plus like you said, they tend to change a lot. But there is always something about them that remains the same.

Dagon doesn't do those things - Mankar does. I'd wager that a lot of what happens in Oblivion - Kvatch's destruction, for example, and the Great Gate at Bruma - is Mankar's plan. Dagon just seems to allocate resources, as it says in Jearl's orders.

And I also highly doubt that Daedra take the souls of mortals, unless those mortals are bound to their realm. The only possible occurence of a Daedra taking a soul from Aetherius is Azura when the Nerevarine was born, and even then that may have been because Nerevar was bound to her realm, anyway.

Daedra do indeed take the Souls of Mortals, Just not from Aetherius. Clavicus Vile does this on frequent occasions with ones who play his game in fact.


As for Dagon, he also is the Daedric Prince of Revolutions, and even if the Oblivion Crisis didn't cleanse (destroy) the world, it sent Ripples throughout the Empire's Provinces. The entire thing may have been Dagon's Plan and he could have been Using Mankar Cameron as a puppet.

Muthsera,

I would enjoy nothing more than to thoroughly explore your query, however I am (irl) quite pressed for time at the moment, so I will leave you with the following notion, coupled with the hope that I can get back to this question later on tonight with a more extensive examination. The aforesaid notion is that the Daedric Realm of Hermaeus Mora is known as "Apocrypha", which is described as follows:

"...an endless library, shelves stretching on in every direction, stacks on top of stacks. Pages floated on a mystical wind that he could not feel. Every book had a black cover with no title. He could see no one, but felt the presence of ghosts moving through the stacks, rifling through books, ever searching. ... It was Apocrypha. The home of Hermaeus-Mora, where all forbidden knowledge can be found." (http://www.imperial-library.info/obbooks/doors_oblivion.shtml)

I hope this helps, for I remain...


Yours in the Scrolls,


___The Word Merchant of Julianos

Yes. Also, let's not discount our old friends The Creeper and Lustidrike.

But why would there be Dremora in Hermaeus Mora's plane?

Muthsera,

I suppose that I was actually answering a question not technically asked, which was "do DAEDRA eat, sleep, etc." Thank you for pointing that out. So, its "do DREMORA sleep, eat, etc.?"

I have found nothing specific for Dremora and eating, but as for sleeping, I can assume that they do not voluntarily sleep:

It is said that Dremora, because they are Daedra, do not truly die, but that upon their physical form being destroyed, the process of awaiting for their animus to recreate another body (what they call being in "the Darkness") is akin to what mortals feel when they sleep, and they do not like it. (See http://www.imperial-library.info/book_daedra/index.shtml#banishment)

Was anyone else disappointed by the disposition of the dremoras in Oblivion? They seemed far from how they were described in Morrowind... can't imagine the Oblivion ones making a pact of courtesy with Vivec.

I call Morrowhiner on you!

Ever talked to Kathutet?

The Dremora where much more talkative in Battlespire. I read some of the dialog over on TIL, and the dremora are quite intriguing! You have to kill them, but at least they taunt you and scheme. In Morrowind, the non-hostile ones just bad-mouth your character. In Oblivion, they are depicted as mindless demons incapable of coherent speech.

I disagree here, I think mankar is a big-headed pawn at best. as for soul taking and all that, probably depends. I think that some mortals are given that blessing or curse depending on thier own beliefs, relations and deeds.


That may be more an issue of writing quality than lore.

well in oblivion they were soldiers in an invading army! NO time for talking.

Besides, haven't you ever encountered Dremora in ruins or when you steal from altars in Morrowind? They're all about KILLING AND RAMPAGIN!

They were soldiers in an invading army in Battlespire, and they had plenty to talk, even if it meant insulting you and such.

Given that there are several instances of scamps that will talk to you in Morrowind (one even trades with you.) I'd imagine that scamps are intelligent, they're not necessarily very smart, but they're intelligent enough at least to talk and buy and sell stuff, plus, one book describes them as having small thoughts, as opposed to no thoughts, which suggests to me that they're intelligent, just rather stupid and simple minded, and since spider daedra look pretty human in the areas above the waist, I'd expect that they're intelligent too, I don't know about clannfears, hungers and such though, they haven't displayed much to suggest that they show much intelligence. However, I'd guess that Daedra CAN eat, since they seem to have fully formed mouths, and while it's not confirmed, given that they have hearts, I'd guess that they have other parts that you'd expect to see in mortals as well, such as digestive organs, now do they need to eat? Being immortal, I'd go with those who say they probably don't have the needs mortals possess like the need to eat or sleep.



You never got many chances to talk to Dremora in Oblivion, most of what you heard from them was combat taunts, and in the few cases where you would have real dialog with them, I didn't get the impression that what they said was all that different from what the very small number who would talk to you in Morrowind might tell you, I mean, threatening to [censored] your corpse is hardly something really deep, and the hostile ones don't even say the word, in Oblivion, they at least had combat taunts like human enemies would have.



Bandits and other hostile NPCs don't have much to say to you in Morrowind and Oblivion either, if they are part of quests, they might give you a brief monologue explaining their motives, but if they're just the usual bandits in caves, the only words you're likely to hear from them are "Die fetcher!" or "I'm just warming up, you pathetic worm!"