I can think of three logical explanations:

1 - She hasn't been actively using/depleting her Divine powers to the extent that Vivec has.

In certain texts it mentions that Vivec is by far the most widely traveled of the Tribunal and is their public face. It's possible that between all that and constantly shifting into alternate dimensions, he eats up quite a bit of his Divinity on a regular basis.

Almalexia on the other hand is secluded in her fortress and doesn't even heal or walk among the people any more. I think because she's greedy to hold onto her dwindling powers.

2 - She was a higher class in society than Vivec. This is not confirmed 100% but in certain lore she was spoken of as a Queen of Morrowind even before she was a god. She was the wife of Nerevar whereas Vivec was a simple advisor and son of a Netchiman. Perhaps "highborne" Dunmer have slightly stronger souls naturally.

3 - Her "character class", in the RPG sense, was more physically imposing than Vivec's. Whereas Vivec combined elements of the Thief, the swordsman and the rogue, Almalexia was a flat out holy warrior type, the closest thing to the classic DnD Paladin which exists in Dunmer culture. It's possible her lifestyle and training conditioned her body and spirit to be much more durable than Vivec's. Even though Vivec was a mighty expert swordsman trained by some of the best, his true abilities were of word craft and subtlety. Therefore logically he'd have a lower vitality than her.

Or...Vivec really does not have a soul, and that Ayam soul values is actually 500, and the 1000 part is what is left of their divineness :deal:

Thanks for all the great answers so far. I think it makes a lot more sense to me now.

I definitely like the "she has briasts" answer the brest, uh, the best, but for an actual answer I'm leaning towards the "she sought more power/divinity" thing. It may not be supported in lore but it is definitely supported in the flow of the story during gameplay.

Any other plausible theories out there, post em if you got em.

I think the only soul gem in the game that will hold either of their souls IS Azura's Star, if I'm not mistaken. You have to trap one of them, then use for something. I usually create an uber sword or some type of enchanted weapon with it. Then after you've enchanted something with the first soul, thus clearing Azura's Star, you can go after the other "god".

It's the only way I've ever done it. If there's another way others handle their godly soul-trapping I'd love to read about it.


Btw, I doubt simply mentioning the name "Azura's Star" in and of itself constitutes a spoiler. A spoiler would be telling everyone where it is.

Plus it's not even a main quest item.

Not that even that would be necessary around here.



I believe it's that Almalexia is a lot happier than Vivec, and if Oblivion taught me anything it's that happy people have colossal souls.

No disrespect....but that doesn't really make sense...

I think you had to be there.

I think you may also have needed to be me.

:shrug:

Happier, I don't know. I remember when I first saw her all those years ago when I first played the game, I thought damn she's quite hot, but later when she had her, um, meltdown forcing me to take certain negatively aggressive actions against her, well.... it sort of took the shine off her appeal if you get my drift.

Had she been a little happier, well...

On the plus side *I* was quite happy, at the outcome. Her soul served to create one hell of an uber sword. I think I put a "cast when strikes" absorb health 30-100 for 3 seconds enchantment on it, damn that sword rocked.

My soul is swelling just writing about it.

MmmHmmmm soul...sure. Mmmhmmmm

Curiously, Vehk had a much greater magicka capacity than Ayem had.

Perhaps he bound his soul into holding up Lie Rock or whatever the heck we're calling it now.

or she has the ego the size of cyrodil

Maybe Vehk used some part of his soul in order to maintain the Ghostgate (even if you kill him after the main quest, he may have put too much of himself in this task to recover the soul he lost).

On the other hand, I think that when Ayem returned to Mournhold, she was so obsessed by her loss of power that she became, somehow, less active on maintaining the Ghostfence. She did all of what was possible to keep every bit of power she had left. Anyway, during the events of Tribunal, she had the energies of the Shrine of the Dead and of Barilzar's Mazed Band at her disposal, and their power could reinforce her soul as well.

Is it just me, or does it seem like too much thought into what, in my opinion, can be easily explained as a game mechanic?

It's cool to try to justify things in game with lore, but I think this thread has gone on too long...

This is sort of the whole point of the Lore Forum. Almost everything can be classified as either a "game mechanic" or "bit of fluff that has no real bearing". But it is a good intellectual excersize to attempt to string together an entirety from (usually) unlinked points.

In other words, for some of us, this is fun.

Is it even lore correct that they can be Soul Trapped? Shouldn't they be protected by Arkay's Law?

Not too sure how you mean.

Doubt Arkay can stop soul trapping; his sphere is the CAPACITY of life and death. He essentially allows death.

They can only be trapped because they are 'Creatures' in the CS. And it must have been obvious that the kids would love those powergaming soul trophies you get from them.

It's just a discussion, nothing to get bent over.

discussions are good.



Or that, yes. Good point.

In the book "http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/arkay_enemy.shtml", Mannimarco, the King of Worms (presumably) states that "Arkay's Blessing prevents the souls of men, beastmen, and elves from being used without consent. Arkay's Law prevents those buried with the proper rituals from being raised to serve my children's will. As you know, my children, Arkay's Blessing is flexible to those with daring, but Arkay's Law is unwavering."

___The Word Merchant of Julianos

Oh, I'm not getting bent. It just seem to me there isn't really a need for so much discussion on something that technically can't be proven. And if it can, someone hasn't done so yet.



edit: I'm losin' it...

I honestly don't know how to answer the god-soultrapping thing; logic would tell you otherwise, but this IS TES after all...

Startin' to chock this up to game mechanics again...

Takes a while before you realize its use. In that respect I kinda like Oblivions One Great Soulgem Fits All mechanic.

I forgot that that was even possible in Oblivion....

The more and more I don't play Oblivion...the more and more I feel like a [censored]...

:confused: Not sure what you mean/are referring to (I've played Oblivion).

946000 was getting hung up on game mechanics, so I joked that in with the Oblivion mechanics he wouldn't have to worry about it. The tribunal would all have had Grand Souls.

Now that I've explained it, it's not funny anymore ofcourse.