Summary
The heroic fantasy of theElder Scrollswould not be complete without including a memorable and powerful opposing force, be they a scheming noble or an ancient god. But what became of the big bad from each game? Doubtless, nothing good (if the player evergot around to finishing the main questline, at least).
Each foe had attempted to manifest their designs through nefarious means, and their failures had far-reaching consequences, both in the land of the living and on their eternal souls. Whether they met their demise or otherwise, their legacies continue to be felt across the Dawn’s Beauty. Spoilers ahead for every mainline game in the series.
The first ofThe Elder Scrolls' villains, Jagar Tharn, was an Imperial battlemage who saw fit to imprison Emperor Uriel VIIin one of the planes of Oblivion, impersonate him on the throne, and rule the empire in secret. Before the events ofArena, Tharn was seduced by Queen Barenziah of Morrowind to extract the whereabouts of the Staff of Chaos, which he used to imprison the Emporer. While historical accounts inTESare always murky, it is said that Barenziah went as far as bearing his son.
After the Eternal Champion reunited the broken pieces of the Staff of Chaos and recharged it with Tharn’s Jewel of Fire, Tharn was destroyed. According toTESwriter and designer Ted Peterson, “Tharn is dead,” adding that he is “actually worse off.” Peterson did not elaborate on this (presumably, he became the plaything of Mehrunes Dagon in his realm of Oblivion) but added that it is entirely possible that his son may have lived but would have been spirited away to be raised by another noble family in another part of Tamriel. Given his mother’s lineage, this would make his son a Dunmer.
Althoughpowerful monsters and dream godsoften take the mantle of evil inThe Elder Scrolls, the central villain inDaggerfall’s Illiac Bayis revealed to be a scheming noble looking to grab more power for himself through conspiracy and assassination. The killer of King Lysandus, Lord Woodborne, owned up to his treachery moments before being put down by Emperor Uriel Septim VII’s agent.
With his death, the undead king of Daggerfall finally took his rest. Before he parted from the world, Woodborne disclosed his partner in the king’s murder: his own son, Gothryd. The player could then choose whether to break ties with Gothryd, the current king (or do his bidding by bringing him the key to the Numidium, a powerful weapon that he would use to bring the Illiac Bay under Daggerfall’s rule). Canonically,both events happened simultaneously(along with other mysterious, seemingly contradictory happenings) thanks to the Warp in the West.
Having been betrayed by Morrowind’s Tribunal in the First Era, the leader of the forgotten Sixth House haunted the dreams of those across Vvardenfell following a divine slumber under the still-beating heart ofthe trickster god, Lorkhan. He promised to crush those who wronged him and conquer Tamriel upon the completion of his own Numidium, a walking brass god, which he would call the “Akulakhan.”
After severing his connection with Lorkhan’s heart, Dagoth Ur became mortal and was bested by the Nerevarine at the end ofMorrowind’s main questline. Upon his death, his body and influence disappeared, and he left behind only his mask. This artifact made its way to Solstheim, where, in the fourth era, a Dunmer named Erdan Relvel became corrupted by it and its “evil whisperings,” and with it, he learned how to raise ash zombies. He was ultimately defeated by the Last Dragonborn.
The god of change, revolution, ambition, and destruction may well be the most formidable villain of the series, aseven the player characterwas not able to defeat him by the end ofOblivion. Thankfully, Akatosh imbued Martin Septim with the power of a dragon, and in a dramatic confrontation over the Temple of the One, he managed to put him down. All his subtle schemes brought him so close and yet so far. Being a Daedric prince, Mehrunes Dagon was, of course, only inconvenienced by his demise. After the resolution of the Oblivion Crisis, he was sent back to the Deadlands to rule once again.
He appeared again to tempt the Last Dragonborn with his Razor and plotted to open an Oblivion gate in Skyrim, from which he could mount another invasion. Using remnants of the Mythic Dawn cult, the initiators of the Oblivion Crisis at the end of the third era, Mehrunes Dagon had a dormant gate built. When the Last Dragonborn came to put a stop to his plans, they inadvertently opened the gate with their dragon blood. While the cult was defeated in the Deadlands, the gate remained open still and is now guarded by the Vigil of Stendarr.
After being thrust forward in time by thousands of years, Alduin, the greatest of Akatosh’s children, known as the World Eater to some, suddenly appeared over the Throat of the World inSkyrim’s fourth era, hungry to reclaim his lost power to resume his conquest. He sourced his power from the souls of the dead in the Nordic afterlife, Sovngarde. Once the Last Dragonborn learned how to dominate dragons with a shout, they discovered the entrance to Sovngarde, where they faced off with the First Dragon.
After a climactic battle, Alduin was defeated. Unlike all of the dragons vanquished before, the soul ofthe most powerful dragon in Nirndid not leave his body, and thus the Last Dragonborn could not absorb it. According to a scholar inThe Elder Scrolls: Online, when a dragon’s soul leaves its body, it may simply return to Akatosh. If this is the case, then Alduin could make an appearance at some point in the future when he may return to fulfill his original role as the reclaimer and recycler of worlds.
