So, I was reading a bit on the UESP about the Mythic Dawn and the Dark Brotherhood. But I have never really understood what the whole point of that faction is? They kill people now and then. So? At least the Mythic Dawn has a goal; to counquer Tamriel. But what about the DB? What's their goal?

They are pretty much payed assasins.

What I posted in another thread:

To appease the Night Mother and Sithis, I think. That seems to be their only real goal.

At least, that's the vibe I got from them while doing their quests.

Only in OB <_<

Their religion is an interesting topic, and a frequent source of debate around here. Yes, Oblivion portrayed them fairly stereotypically, but in truth their true values can be traced back to the Morag Tong.

Theories differ depending on the sources, but the generally accepted theory is that Mephala created the schism between the two factions for whatever reasons she does things. I personally believe it has ties to Vivec, and the Tong switching over to him, though they still worship Mephala in practice. The Night Mother, Sithis, and all that jargon is just Mephala messing with these guys. Yes they are mainly contract killers on the surface, but their deeper values are more religious (though not as ritualistic as the Tong).

Think about it this way, the Tong were like the old cult, who came to be before the "modern" world of Tamriel. Back before globalization of Tamriel, and the spread of the Empire. The Brotherhood resulted from several conflicts, all of which had to do with changing times (the Tong didn't want to alter their practices, holding to tradition. They were the fundamentalist assassins). The group that would become the Dark Brotherhood split away because: they wanted to kill for money, they didn't want to obey Vivec, the Night Mother (Mephala) instigated them, and a desire to spread outside of Morrowind (in a new extra-legal organization).

Now, I believe that the assassins in the group differ as widely as any organization. Their beliefs over why they are killing are all different, but their common interests keep them together. Some may be more religious, some may only be in it for the money, some might just be crazy. But no matter what they all follow, more or less, the rules and dogma of their group, because that's what the head of their group tells them to do.

Concerning the Night Mother: there are usually three accepted forms of the Night Mother. The mortal assassin who takes up the title as a symbol of respect and authority (Severa Magia), the ghost we see in OB (I am of the opinion that this is just Mephala appearing to mortals), and the Daedra who controls the Lucky Old Lady statue and gives blessings and the like. So either it's a mortal title or Mephala.

Sithis: Sithis is a non-entity. He is a force of nature. He is not anything, he does not think, he does not care about sacrafices. However, mortals, in their misguided views and traditions, worship him, misinterpreting his meaning of Void to be some dark diety. What the Brotherhood is worshipping is Mephala, make no mistake.

On the Tong: The Tong are a bit less clear. They are a ritualistic organization of Morrowind, made legal by Vivec. They still honor Mephala, but Vivec pretty much calls the shots, though most decisions fall to the Grandmaster. All in all they are pretty much awesome B)

Anyway, I hope that cleared a few things up. The Brotherhood are assassins for hire that praise Mephala and take their contracts from her. They are way cooler in lore than in Oblivion.


EDIT: Indeed, but this is a DB discussion, no need to elaborate on the Tong right now.

They only kill marked House-members (Every Darkelf in Morrowind is born into a house, but most don't care about their quests and stuff.) Thisway, Houses avoid straight up war.

The DB is the same, but will kill anyone for money.

Slowly, the DB branches in both Morrowind and Cyrodiil have moved away from worship of Mephala, although as said before, it is possible that she is pulling the strings. The Cyrodiilic branch worships Sithis and a seemingly mortal ghost as the Night Mother; this could be explained either as Mephala or due to the the power of myth making their beliefs real. Likewise, the Morrowind branch seems aligned, or at least allied, with Mehrunes Dagon, as they are allied with his cultists, and at least one of their number apparently worships him.

Edit: Typo

They're a death-cult that worships Sithis via the medium of murder, which takes the form of assassination. I presume this is because Sithis values an important, guarded life taken for a reason much more thna a random killing. They aren't in it for profit, hence the requirement fo Francois Motierre to sacrifice his mother to allow them to fake his death, but the money they earn is a side bonus, and probably provides the cash flow needed to run operations smoothly and attract recruits.

They have a Dark Brotherhood for the same reason they have religion.

They say that the Night Mother knows every time you kill somebody, so more likely than not it's probably Mephala. "Your killing has been observed by forces unknown...." sounds a lot more like a Daedric Prince that noticed a blip on the radar than a mortal spirit who can be easily fooled, tricked and deceived.

That's my perception of it anyway.

Play something other than Oblivion! They only the Cyrodiil branch seem to be filled with religious psychos, everywhere else they're assassins for profit.

Not with any normal spirit, but with the power of myth stemming from those that believe in and worship her, it's possible.

Awesome post.

After reading that, I want to play Morrowind as an Assassin again.

Maybe in Oblivion where they kind of screwed the pooch on that one, but to get invited into the Brotherhood in DF, you had to be known as a murderer by killing several people. I think it was something like 15 peasants.

Sorry, Sithis isn't a diety, he really can't be worshipped, nor does he value anything. Yes, they are in it for profit, it was one of several reasons they are not the Tong. Hence my post...



Eh, Oblivion game mechanics aren't a good basis for lore. I think a much better proof for Mephala is that she is pretty much the only diety that would accept such a cult, and they came from the Tong. Much easier for an already existing diety to do so than some kind of mortal to ascend via worshippers. Though I suppose that would be possible; I'm not too sure about mantling.

Thanks for the answers. Interesting stuff. But another thing I don't really get is why does Sithis want only assassins, not mages, necromancers, sorcerers, or warriors, or most importantly; priests. The other Daedric princes and Gods have followers from all different backgrounds, while the only ones that seem to worship Sithis, Mephala, and the Night Mother are assassins?

This is how the Dark Brotherhood chooses to venerate Sithis. Others will worship their own way, I suppose. Sithis worship is stupid and quite rare.

Sithis is the beginning place, a violent void, dreaming new dreams; finishing them for the sake of new ones to develop. Anu was the inevitable idea to learn survival, by fathering new dreams. I bring this up, because Sithis prefers dreams, like Anu, to perish.

That's what I wrote for a previous topic. It is the foundation of DB philosophy, or my understanding of it. Kill Anu's children.

We had a number of threads about a statue somewheres in a DB cave that appears to be lacking a heart ... so proweler and others speculated maybe the DB in OB/cyrodiil are actually whorshipping the god of men ... whose heart was torn out and thrown into the sea ... maybes causing a volcano to rise from the sea-bed = Red Mountain and Vvardenfell? A certain God who is said to be a sub-gradient of Sithis?

Also it seems strange to think that The Morag Tong came before the Db if as some here seem to think it belonged to Vekh?

Hows about Ithe Morag Tong belonged to Mephala originally ... then Vekh and the Tribunal usurped the place of the Princes/good Daedra and took control so Mephala - feeling a bit miffed then split of the DB and operated it mostly in other Provinces out of Vekh's reach?

For Sithis, he does appear to be an aspect of Lorkhan, as yes, his statue has a hole around where his heart should be (technically it should be on the left side of his chest, but I doubt the Crimson Scars really cared)

As for the Morag Tong and the Dark Brotherhood's origin, I think http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Brothers_of_Darknessshould help. It appears there was a split somewhere along the line.

yes - interesting that the Dark Brotherhood should have to emerge in secrecy whereas the Morag Tong was able to emerge with its original name into the open ... someting missing there?

Hardly surprsing : the dunmer culture has a place for assasination. It's not exactly accepted, but there's still a legitimate niche for it. The rest of Tamriel don't shares that view, which means the Dark Brotherhood had to hide. It's likely they did it to keep the Morag Tong from interfering too.

Now as far as the name change, since the DB views itself as the progressive, and wanted to expand out of Morrowind, it's logical for them to ditch the old dunmer name and pick a new, open-minded name to mark their difference.

I think you have something there Manu, but equally I feel you have missed the sense of the wiki link that Crimson posted - it looks fairly cannon to me.

Although the observations about Lorkhan are from forum members it may be that they are in accord with 'the hidden agenda' that the devs call loads of stuff they have not put into the games yet ...

http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac87/MartutTES/ScreenShot67.jpg

Night Mother's got a freaky amount of arms...

Oh waaait...

http://www.uesp.net/w/images/images.new/5/5c/Mephala.gif

Black Hands Mephala with her Black Hands councils/babies? Which is to say murderers. They venerate the other mortal act. obviously