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 Molag Bal in his realm of Coldharbour - ©ZeniMax | ||||
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| Race | Daedra | |||
| Spouse | Vivec (allegedly) | |||
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Molag Bal,[N 1] known as the God of Schemes, is a Daedric Prince whose sphere is domination and enslavement of mortals. He ultimately seeks dominion over all things, particularly the mortal world of Nirn. He spreads strife and discord in the mortal realms to bring them under his sway, allowing him to harvest mortals' souls. To this end he has pulled some parts of Nirn into his own daedric realm of Coldharbour, or even recreated locations like the Imperial City, in an effort to satisfy his desire for conquest.
Molag Bal values patience and cunning. He often deceives those he deals with, and has no trouble waiting exceedingly long periods of time for his plans to come to fruition. He also takes great pleasure in the suffering of mortals, and often has them tortured for his amusement, particularly mortal servants that fail him. Those who fall into his clutches are forced to labour ceaselessly for his benefit. The Prince has a penchant for necromancy, often employing the use of the risen dead and forcing his followers to serve beyond the grave. This makes him a popular patron for some necromancers. He is also capable of preserving living mortals far beyond their normal lifespan to prolong their suffering.
Molag Bal has a long-standing rivalry with the Daedric Princes Meridia and Boethiah, and also holds a deep disdain for Arkay.
Appearance and Character[]
As a Daedric Prince, Molag Bal has the power to take any form he pleases, and is indeed depicted in various ways by sculptors who have made statues of him. However, he is known to take forms which intimidate individuals, striking fear into their hearts and encouraging submission with his mere visage.
His most common appearance is a face with ridged horns, aquatic frills, and sharp fangs. He possesses a broad, sinewy, muscular frame carried by digitigrade legs with hips crowned by jagged protrusions. A row of spikes runs from the top of his head down the length of his back, and a bony tail extends from the base of his spine, ending in a tri-tipped axe-shaped structure. Ridges jut up from his sternum, lining the space where the base of his neck and his shoulders meet to frame a horned head with frills on each side. Molag Bal's face is reminiscent of a bare skull: a sunken nose, dark circles around light blue eyes topped by pronounced eyebrows, angled cheeks, and rows of long teeth as sharp as blades. Small spikes line his chin. His flesh is blue-grey in coloration, and his horns are black. His extremities grow darker in colour as they extend further away from his torso: while his shoulders are blue-grey, his hands are almost dark enough to match his black claws.
In ancient times before even the Merethic Era it is said that the dreugh ruled most of Nirn, and they worshipped a being known as the Ruddy Man. This deity was in fact Molag Bal himself, who took the form of a mighty and massive dreugh, ruling his watery realm as a tyrannical king. Based on this it appears that the Prince changes his visage depending on what civilisation he might interact with, always finding a form which strikes the most fear into mortals and servants.
Some artists have interpreted him as a bipedal creature with the head of a reptile, long claws, three digits on each hand, and digitigrade legs on paws shaped like that of a lion or a large reptile. These depictions possess aquatic frills, and occasionally horns. Molag Bal once manifested as a green-skinned humanoid with red eyes, elven ears, the legs of a goat, a long, thin tail, a goat-like face, and curved black horns. It is also said that a bright red mist poured over Gilverdale in a wave, engulfing building after building in its wake, with Molag Bal arriving as a smiling, red-skinned giant. On the otherh and, some Ayleid sculptors of the Ayleid Empire depicted him as a wolf-life figure.
It was discovered by the Five Companions in 2E 582 that if one were to cut into Molag Bal's physical form, a viscous blue substance would leak from the wound. This may simply be blue blood, but some have speculated it to be Azure Plasm, an abundant substance found across Coldharbour.
Molag Bal is arrogant, calculating, and cares little for the welfare of mortalkind. He views pacifism as a form of weakness. He is also fond of ostentatious and macabre displays of power, occasionally going out of his way to hold elaborate ceremonies. He is also keen on depriving mortals of free will. To this end, Molag Bal wields a form of mind magic: he intrudes upon the minds of mortals as a form of torture. It is an invasive, agonising experience. By forcing his way into a mortal's mind, he can show them horrific visions. He also does this to daedra, particularly magically-gifted Xivkyn. This practice has unintended risks, as mortals who have had a mental connection to the Prince forced upon them can see through his eyes if they concentrate hard enough. Molag Bal can feel the presence of one who accomplishes such a task, and he doesn't appreciate the trespass. Some mortals have had their force of will completely sapped as a result of Molag Bal tampering with their mind.
It is said among the dremora that serve him that while his favoured weapon is a mace, his second proffered weapon is an axe. However, none are brave enough to confirm this by asking him.
Titles[]
Molag Bal has been known by many titles by various cultures on Nirn. The most common on Tamriel include the God of Schemes, the Harvester of Souls, the Lord of Domination, the Lord of Domination, and the Lord of Brutality. Followers of the Prince tend to call him the Dark Lord, the Dark Master, and the Dread Lord, using his true name in reverence.
He has also been known by other titles by the mortals of Tamriel, although these are less popular: the Harvester, the Lord of Corruption, the Tormentor of Men, the Lord of Troubles, the Sower of Strife, and the Prince of Murder, the last of which is most commonly used by servants of the Daedric Prince Meridia.
The King of Rape was a title attributed to Molag Bal by Vivec, drawing from the Prince's brutal nature. He has also been called the Schemer, the Prince of Pain, and the Captain of Corruption, particularly by mummers and bards. He has also been called the Dark Father, the Father of Vampires, the Lord of the Undead, and the Father of Undeath, all either in connection to his role as the progenitor of vampires, or the patron of necromancy. However, he has also been called the Defiler by the scion of Lamae Bal, a woman raped by the Prince who became the first vampire. Such vampires have also called him the Father of Torment and the King of Corruption, reflecting his role as someone who bestowed torment and corruption upon Lamae.
History[]
Prehistory[]
According to some legends, before even the Merethic Era Nirn was a largely water-based planet ruled by the dreugh. At the time the planet was known as "Lyg", and Molag Bal reigned supreme as a dreugh king during this time. His proclivity for domination and control led him to gradually play on the frequent clashes and wars between dreugh clans, eventually pulling them under his sway and becoming their god-king, whom they called the "Ruddy Man". As the Ruddy Man, the Prince was "spiny and armoured and made for the sea", according to the 36 Lessons of Vivec, taking the form of a massive and intimidating dreugh.
The Magna Ge took pity on the perpetually subjugated world and bound together to create a rival to Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon. Dagon compelled the dreugh to rebellion against their tyrannical god-king, raising a "red legion" and allegedly destroying an entire continent. Thus, Molag Bal's grip on Lyg was severed, and the mortal world was permitted to carry on without the despotic control of a god-king.
Merethic Era[]
Birth of the Vampires[]
In Skyrim sometime in the Middle Merethic Era (though before the founding of the Ayleid Empire), there lived a Nedic priestess of Arkay known as Lamae Beolfag. Molag Bal, as an avid wielder of necromancy, despised the god Arkay for daring to hold sway over the cycle of life and death. In a brutal mockery of Arkay's cycle, Molag Bal dared to corrupt the young priestess and brutally raped her, leaving her viciously mangled. Upon finishing the assault, Bal shed a single drop of his blood upon Lamae's brow before abandoning her to die. The comatose Lamae was found by a nomadic Nedic tribe, who took her in and tried to tend to her wounds. Despite their best efforts, Lamae succumbed to her assault and perished. To the horror of the tribespeople, they noticed that despite being dead the wounds of the priestess healed in full. Fearful of what the unnatural healing meant, and sorrowful over not being able to save the girl, they wrapped her in modest roughspun and lit a pyre to cremate her. However, upon being engulfed by the flames Lamae awoke in a state of undeath, the first vampire. Lamae massacred and feasted upon the nomads that had tried to help her. She eviscerated the women and children, disembowelling them and strewing their torn bodies across their camp. The nomadic men, however, she raped and violated as savagely as she herself had been violated by Molag Bal. Upon returning to her senses, Lamae desperately prayed to Arkay for salvation, but her prayers went unanswered, leaving her in a state of utter abandonment. Molag Bal's defilement was complete, and the curse of vampirism was born.
In the Middle Merethic Era, shortly after the corruption of Lamae Beolfag but before the founding of the Ayleid Empire, a Nord king known as Harkon Volkihar ruled over a large portion of Skyrim. His appetite for power was unsatiable, and above all feared losing all he had gained in death. He began exploring the dark arts to grow his power and find a way to escape death. He eventually learned of vampirism and sought it out for himself and his family, turning them into pure-blooded vampires due to their close blood-relation to the first vampire, Laemae. Harkon gave both his wife and daughter to Molag Bal so that he would purify their vampiric blood even further by turning them into Daughters of Coldharbour as he had done with Lamae Beolfag. Molag Bal agreed to this, and violated both women in the same violent and vicious fashion in which he violated Lamae. Their blood was thereafter purified.
Daedra Worship in the Ayleid Empire[]
Worship of Molag Bal and the other Daedric Princes had become widespread in the Ayleid Empire after its founding in the Middle Merethic Era. This style of worship was known as the Alvarlic faith, wherein worshippers venerated both the gods of the Altmer as well as the Princes. Under this form of worship, Ayleids worshipped many gods including Molag Bal (known to the Ayleids as 'Mola Gbal'), asking them for favours and power. At some point, the House Arana of Abagarlas made Molag Bal their patron deity, elevating him above all other gods and Princes, and using his gifts to make their army the most feared in the Empire.
First Era[]
Ayleid Internal Conflict & Downfall[]
In the early First Era the Ayleid Empire went through a crisis of faith catalysed by the inability to elect a new High King. This conflict was called the Narfinsel Schism and was fought to decide the future of the Alvarlic faith, with aedraphiles wanting to remove all Daedric Princes from the pantheon and return to only worshipping the aedra, while the daedraphiles fought to preserve Alvarlism's unique dual-worship of both the Princes and regular gods. With the aid of powers gained by the Princes, including Molag Bal, the daedraphiles won and the aedraphiles were expelled from the Empire.
In 1E 239 the War of the Shrine broke out between the Ayleid kingdoms of Abagarlas and Delodiil after King Cenedelin III Larethal of Delodiil disparaged the shrine to Molag Bal built by the artisans of King Anumaril Arana of Abagarlas. King Anumaril led a quasi-holy war against the Larethals that ended in a pyrrhic victory after his own capital was sacked.
In 1E 242 the Alessian Slave Rebellion erupted in Cyrod, spurred by the Slave-Queen Alessia and her armies of freedmen. With divine support she rallied the enslaved populace of the Ayleid Empire against their masters, even successfully bringing in foreign allies to aid in the Ayleids' destruction. Despite support from the Daedric Princes, the Empire was thoroughly defeated by their over-sized enemy. Daedra worship was thereafter abolished in Cyrod, not to be revived until millennia later under the reign of Leovic I Longhouse of the Empire of Cyrodiil.
Second Era[]
It is suspected that Molag Bal is responsible for the creation of the first soul gems, as the first black soul gems were stolen from his realm of Coldharbour by the Order of the Black Worm in the early Second Era. This later went on to progress the field of necromancy and revolutionise the field of enchantment.
Planemeld[]
A Dark Anchor merging Nirn into Coldharbour - ©ZeniMax
At some point in the mid-Second Era Molag Bal hatched a plan to merge Nirn with Coldharbour, which became known as the Planemeld. Instrumental to his machinations was the leader of the Worm Cult, Mannimarco, who rallied his cult to Molag Bal's cause and made great strides to see his vision made a reality. During Varen's Rebellion in 2E 576, Mannimarco aligned himself with Duke Varen Aquilarios of Chorrol, supporting his claim to the Ruby Throne against Leovic I Longhouse. In 2E 579 Varen was betrayed by Mannimarco during a ceremony to supposedly turn himself into a Dragonborn. Instead, the ceremony caused the Soulburst, tearing the vale between Nirn and Oblivion, and allowing Molag Bal to commence the Planemeld.
Molag Bal used Dark Anchors to pull Nirn into his realm of Coldharbour, unleashing hundreds of thousands of his daedric servants across Tamriel. Meanwhile, the Worm Cult and loyalist Imperial soldiers occupied the Imperial City in the name of Molag Bal, opening a large Anchor on top of the White-Gold Tower to pull the city into Oblivion. At some point in 2E 582 Mannimarco attempted to betray Molag Bal by using the Amulet of Kings to imbue himself with Bal's power and replace him as the Lord of Domination. Mannimarco's plans were foiled by the Five Companions, who thwarted him long enough for Molag Bal to catch wind of what he was trying to do. The leader of the Worm Cult was thereafter captured and imprisoned within Coldharbour, tortured relentlessly for his treachery.
Towards the end of 2E 582 a Great Council was held between the belligerents of the Three Banners War in an attempt to cease the devastating war and turn a united front against Molag Bal's invasion. While the three sides were not able to agree on a ceasefire, they did agree to provide aid and resources to the Mages and Fighters Guilds, who were tasked to enter Coldharbour and put a stop to the Planemeld. The two guilds eventually succeeded in stopping Molag Bal's invasion with the aid of the Daedric Prince Meridia, destroying the Great Shackle which powered the Planemeld.
To ensure that Molag Bal would not be able to rebuild and resume his invasion for many centuries to come, the Five Companions remained in Coldharbour to confront the Prince himself. Using the power of the Amulet of Kings they were successful in banishing Molag Bal to the Void, at least temporarily. This restored the land he had captured on Nirn, and freed the souls he had enslaved during his invasion.
Third Era[]
Fourth Era[]
Practices[]
Prayers[]
Death[]
Artefacts[]
Molag Bal has created several artefacts over the millennia, each bringing untold horrors and pain to Tamriel, and furthering Bal's endless quest for total domination:
- The Mace of Molag Bal, a mace often wielded by the Daedric Prince. Upon striking someone with it the mace drains power and energy from the victim, transferring it to the mace's wielder.
- The Mortuum Vivicus, a large non-physical magical artefact capable of holding and harnessing thousands of souls. When used it had the power to lay waste to thousands, if not all of Tamriel.
Quotes by Molag Bal[]
Had you bowed before me and accepted eternal servitude, I would have protected you. There are worse masters than I. Far worse.
—Molag Bal
The dark machinations of Oblivion are far more complex than anything your mortal senses can comprehend.
—Molag Bal
Tamriel is ripe, and I have all of eternity to reap its harvest of flesh! Death comes for you and all children of the Mundus on black wings!
—Molag Bal
Quotes about Molag Bal[]
Indiscriminate death. Set upon by the gnawing and the rabid. Cyrodiil's candle flickers and is snuffed. Servants and superiors—no one is spared the sharp tooth, ridged blade, or diseased hook, barb, or beak. And Molag Bal will watch from his palace in Coldharbour where everything stares back at him with his own face, and he will gloat, and mock, and gorge on the souls of mortals.
—Flaccus Terentius's writings in The Improved Emperor's Guide to Tamriel
Molag Bal is a master of all forms of domination over mortals, including the arts of illusion. As a matter of course the Lord of Brutality prefers lies to the truth — except when the truth is more cruel.
—writings of an unknown daedric scholar
Mehrunes Dagon revels in direct destruction — his cultists will set your city on fire and burn it to the ground. Molag Bal exists to dominate and deceive — his cultists will persuade you that a plague is loose, and the only way to stop it is to burn your city down yourself.
—Flaminius Auctor
The first vampire came from Molag Bal. She... was not a willing subject, but she was still the first.
—Serana Volkihar about Lamae Bal
Notes[]
- ↑ Literally meaning "Stone-Fire" in Ehlnofex.
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