The Daedric Princes in Elder Scrolls: A Complete Guide

Daedric Princes are god-like rulers of Oblivion in The Elder Scrolls lore—immortal beings who each represent a specific sphere of existence. There are exactly 17 Daedric Princes, ranging from Azura, the Queen of Dawn and Dusk, to Mehrunes Dagon, the Prince of Destruction.

They aren’t good or evil, but their morality is all over the map. Players know them best for their artifacts like Azura’s Star, the Wabbajack, and Mehrunes’ Razor.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this article:

• What makes a Daedric Prince different
• Each Prince’s domain and personality
• Famous artifacts and their powers
• How mortals summon and worship them
• Notable conflicts between the Princes

Who are the Daedric Princes?

Definition and Nature

Daedric Princes rule the planes of Oblivion. When the et’Ada were forming reality, these entities refused to participate in creating Mundus (the mortal world). Instead, they carved out their own domains from themselves.

They’re called “Princes” regardless of how they appear. Some manifest as male, others as female, and a few shift between both.

You can’t truly kill a Daedric Prince. As the mortal Sotha Sil learned after years of study, defeating them is impossible. They reform, reshape, and return. Their consciousness is tied to their domains—destroy the domain, and they’ll rebuild it. Attack the Prince, and they’ll manifest again.

What makes a Prince a Prince is their “broad and well-defined sphere of influence.” According to Demiprince Fa-Nuit-Hen, this clarity of purpose separates them from lesser Daedra. Lesser Daedra can be strong, but they lack a Prince’s focused control over a core concept.

Spheres of Influence

Each Prince controls a particular sphere—a concept or domain they govern. These aren’t just titles. They define the Prince’s entire being.

Azura rules dawn and dusk, the in-between moments. Hircine commands the hunt. Hermaeus Mora hoards forbidden knowledge. Molag Bal embodies domination.

These spheres shape everything about them: their appearance, their domain, their followers, and their goals.

Some spheres overlap or conflict. Mephala deals in secrets and murder, while Nocturnal claims darkness and mystery. Both operate in shadow, but their methods differ. Mephala spins webs of intrigue. Nocturnal simply is the darkness—unknowable and distant.

The spheres aren’t arbitrary. They represent fundamental forces or concepts in existence. Some are physical (like Peryite’s pestilence), others philosophical (like Jyggalag’s order), and many fall somewhere in between.

The Planes of Oblivion

Each Prince (except Jyggalag) rules their own plane of Oblivion. These aren’t just locations—they’re extensions of the Prince themselves.

These planes can be infinite in size. Hermaeus Mora’s Apocrypha contains endless libraries. Hircine’s Hunting Grounds stretch forever.

The planes shift and change according to their master’s whim. If Sheogorath wants his Shivering Isles to split between mania and dementia, they split.

Mortal minds struggle to comprehend these places. What you perceive as “grass” in a Daedric plane is just your brain’s attempt to make sense of chaos. The actual substance might be nothing like grass at all—just raw Chaotic Creatia shaped by your expectations.

Some Princes control multiple domains. These “adjunct realms” or border realms exist within their main plane’s fabric.

Beyond the Princes’ domains, over 37,000 other planes exist. Some are pocket realms created by lesser Daedra. Others are autonomous chaos realms. The total number is considered infinite.

Power, Pacts, and Hierarchy

The Princes recognize some among their number as stronger than others. Azura lists eight who “stand above their lesser kith”: Azura herself, Boethiah, Hermaeus Mora, Hircine, Malacath, Mehrunes Dagon, Molag Bal, and Sheogorath.

These eight signed the Coldharbour Compact with Sotha Sil.

Nocturnal claims the title of Ur-dra, meaning “eldest and most formidable.” Both the Psijic Order and Imperial Geographical Society support this claim, stating that nearly all Princes recognize it. The ancient Khajiit, however, used the same title for Namira.

The Pact Primordial prevents Princes from invading each other’s domains. Certain rituals can bypass this, but the Princes generally keep to their own planes.

When they do clash, it’s through proxies, schemes, and mortal pawns.

The Coldharbour Compact goes further. It restricts how the signatory Princes can interact with Nirn (the mortal world). They can’t manifest unless summoned through specific intermediaries like witches or sorcerers.

This protection works both ways—mortals also face restrictions traveling to those Princes’ planes.

The Seventeen Known Daedric Princes

Azura, Prince of Dawn and Dusk

Azura governs the twilight hours, the magical in-between times of dawn and dusk. She also rules over mystery, prophecy, fate, and vanity.

Her domain, Moonshadow, is described as too beautiful for mortals to understand.

She’s considered one of the “good” Princes. Azura cares about her followers’ well-being—unusual among Daedra. She wants their love above all else and feels pain when they don’t love themselves.

But “good” doesn’t mean harmless. When the Tribunal—Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil—broke their oath to her and used the Heart of Lorkhan to become gods, Azura cursed the entire Chimer race.

Their golden skin turned ashen gray, their eyes turned red, and they became the Dunmer. She held this grudge for millennia.

She aided the Nerevarine in toppling the Tribunal. According to the Five Songs of King Wulfharth, Alandro Sul is her immortal son. The Khajiit credit her with creating them from Bosmer and introducing moon sugar to their culture.

• Sphere: Dawn and Dusk, Mystery, Prophecy, Fate
• Domain: Moonshadow
• Artifact: Azura’s Star (reusable soul gem)
• Servants: Winged Twilights
• Summoning Day: 21st of First Seed

Boethiah, Prince of Plots

Boethiah rules over deceit, conspiracy, assassination, treason, and unlawful overthrow of authority. She (though sometimes depicted as male) appears as a great caped warrior.

She’s known as the Schemer, the Dark Warrior, and He-Who-Destroys and She-Who-Erases.

To Boethiah, battle is a blessing. She only cares about blood. Worshippers hold brutal competitions in her honor, often killing each other.

The Hunger, skeletal Daedra in eternal starvation, are associated with her in Morrowind.

She led the Chimer away from the Aldmer, guided them through the prophet Veloth to Morrowind, and is credited as the foundation of Dunmer civilization. The Dunmer once counted her among the “Good Daedra” and considered her the Anticipation of Almalexia.

Boethiah consumed the Aedra Trinimac, creating Malacath and transforming Trinimac’s followers into Orcs.

• Sphere: Deceit, Conspiracy, Assassination, Treason
• Domain: Attribution’s Share (Tournament of Ten Bloods)
• Artifacts: Ebony Mail, Goldbrand, Fearstruck
• Servants: The Hunger
• Enemies: Molag Bal (arch-enemy)
• Summoning Day: 2nd of Sun’s Dusk

Clavicus Vile, Prince of Bargains

Clavicus Vile grants power and wishes through pacts and ritual invocations. He’s the consummate politician of Oblivion, appearing as a jovial horned figure.

He finds eternity boring, so he entertains himself by watching and meddling in mortal affairs.

His companion, the shapeshifting dog Barbas, is always by his side. Vile stores up to half his power in Barbas. Some speculate they’re actually two halves of the same being—Vile’s social nature wouldn’t allow him to exist alone.

He’s a patron to vampires, granting them social standing and intelligence so they can hold power among mortals. His schemes aren’t always malicious. He’s been known to reward mortals for eliminating threats to the public, though always serving his own interests.

His domain, the Fields of Regret, appears as idyllic countryside dotted with merchant cities and meadows. But the air smells of both perfume and rotting flesh.

The sky shows greenish-gray streaks alongside blue and white clouds.

• Sphere: Bargains, Power, Wishes
• Domain: Fields of Regret
• Artifacts: Masque of Clavicus Vile, Umbra Sword, Feyfolken (possessed quill)
• Companion: Barbas (stores half of Vile’s power)
• Enemies: Ebonarm
• Summoning Day: 1st of Morning Star

Hermaeus Mora, Prince of Knowledge

Hermaeus Mora is forbidden knowledge given form. His sphere encompasses knowledge, memory, fate, and the past and future as read in the stars.

He hoards all secrets and seeks to possess everything that can be known.

He appears as a grotesque mass of tentacles, eyes, and claws. Sometimes, he manifests as a featureless purple vortex known as the Wretched Abyss. He rarely takes a humanoid form.

His voice thunders, and he’s described as being composed of “orbs without end.”

His domain, Apocrypha, is an endless library of black books without titles. Ghosts search forever for knowledge they’ll never find. Seekers, Lurkers, and Watchers serve him.

The Mythos, deep beneath Apocrypha’s Ichor Sea, is supposedly where Mora first whispered the concept of knowledge into being.

Mora calls himself “the riddle unsolvable, the door unopenable, the book unreadable, the question unanswerable.” He’s multitudes but takes singular form so mortal minds don’t crumble.

• Sphere: Forbidden Knowledge, Memory, Fate
• Domain: Apocrypha (endless library)
• Artifact: Oghma Infinium (contains “knowledge of the ages”)
• Servants: Seekers, Lurkers, Watchers, Watchlings
• Enemies: Vaermina
• Summoning Day: 5th of First Seed

Hircine, Prince of the Hunt

Hircine is the Hunt given divine form. His sphere covers the sport of Daedra, the greatest game, and the chase and sacrifice of mortals.

He’s depicted with a deer skull head and antlers, armed with a great spear, with a wolf companion.

He created lycanthropy. All were-creatures owe their condition to him, making him the Father of Manbeasts. Lycanthropes call it Hircine’s Gift or Hircine’s Curse, depending on whether they embrace or hate their nature.

He claims the souls of skinshifters when they die, regardless of worship.

His domain, the Hunting Grounds, is an endless forest where he and his Huntsmen pursue great beasts, mortals, and even other Daedra. The Reachmen believe he has five aspects relating to different animals and types of hunters.

Hircine values sportsmanship. His Law of Fair Hunt prohibits cheating prey out of a chance to escape.

He respects those who overcome his hunts, even rewarding mortals who turn his game against him.

• Sphere: The Hunt, Sport, Chase, Lycanthropy
• Domain: The Hunting Grounds (endless forest)
• Artifacts: Cuirass of the Savior’s Hide, Hircine’s Ring, Spear of Bitter Mercy
• Servants: Huntsmen
• Summoning Day: 5th of Mid Year

Ithelia, Prince of Paths

Ithelia governs paths, untraveled roads, and fate itself. She had the power to shape destiny, alter fate, and rearrange reality’s strands according to her will.

This made her too dangerous to exist.

Hermaeus Mora erased her from existence. Working with Azura, Boethiah, and Mephala, he wiped all memory of her from reality to preserve its fabric. Only her servant Torvesard remained as a contingency.

In 2E 582, Torvesard—allied with Peryite and Vaermina—managed to restore memory of his Prince and free her. Ithelia began reclaiming her power, threatening reality itself.

With the Vestige’s help and Hermaeus Mora’s support, she finally saw the destruction her path would cause.

She accepted exile to a world without magic, with no possibility of return. The connection between that reality and Tamriel was severed using the artifact Abolisher.

Hermaeus Mora then erased her existence again, leaving only the Vestige and himself with any memory of her.

• Sphere: Paths, Fate, Untraveled Roads
• Domain: Mirrormoor and the Many Paths
• Status: Erased from existence (twice)
• Worshippers: Ancient Ayleids
• Current Knowledge: None (Fourth Era academics have no record)

Jyggalag, Prince of Order

Jyggalag represents perfect order and logical deduction. His great library once contained a prediction of every action that would ever occur on Mundus or in Oblivion.

Calculated before they happened.

The other Princes feared him. They cursed him to become Sheogorath, Prince of Madness—his complete opposite. For eons, Jyggalag spent most of his existence as the Mad God.

He only returned to his true form during the Greymarch, a periodic event where he would destroy the Shivering Isles.

At the end of the Third Era, during the events in the Shivering Isles, the Hero of Kvatch broke this cycle. Jyggalag was freed from his curse and became separate from Sheogorath.

He returned to Oblivion in his true form.

He appears as a crystalline knight—stern, bleak, and colorless. His forces, the Knights of Order, spawn from obelisks and lack any originality.

Apostles of Sotha Sil noted that Jyggalag was close to Sotha Sil in principle. Of all Daedra, only the “Gray Prince of Order” knew his nature and went mad from the knowing.

• Sphere: Perfect Order, Logical Deduction
• Forces: Knights of Order
• Status: Freed from curse, separate from Sheogorath
• Domain: None (consequence of millennia as Sheogorath)
• Summoning Day: Unknown

Malacath, Prince of the Ostracized

Malacath governs the spurned and ostracized, keeping the sworn oath and the bloody curse. His sphere includes patronage of the betrayed, conflict, anguish, and broken promises.

Orcs know him as Mauloch, Nords as Orkey, and Khajiit as Orkha.

He was once the Aedra Trinimac. When Boethiah consumed Trinimac, the remains became Malacath, and Trinimac’s followers transformed into Orcs. His fellow Princes allegedly don’t recognize him as a true Daedric Prince.

Fitting for the patron of outcasts.

Despite this, Azura counts him among the strongest Princes. He signed the Coldharbour Compact. Sheogorath includes him among the Daedric siblings.

By his own account, he’s now equal to the other Princes in power, regardless of his origin.

His domain, the Ashpit, is harsh—nothing but dust, palaces of smoke, and vaporous creatures. The oversized but dim-witted Ogrim serve him.

He takes patronage over Goblin-ken races, protecting and guiding them.

Malacath loves vengeance. He’s straightforward, unlike some sources that credit him with lies and deception.

He has no love for any other Prince.

• Sphere: The Ostracized, Oaths, Curses, Betrayal
• Domain: The Ashpit (dust, smoke, vapor)
• Artifacts: Volendrung, The Scourge (effective against other Daedra)
• Servants: Ogrim
• Origin: Once the Aedra Trinimac
• Summoning Day: 8th of Frost Fall

Mehrunes Dagon, Prince of Destruction

Mehrunes Dagon embodies destruction, change, revolution, energy, and ambition. He’s associated with natural disasters: fires, earthquakes, floods, thunderstorms.

Flash floods and other catastrophes mark communions between him and his cultists.

His destruction serves a purpose: violent change and rebellion. All his aspects root in Change, one of the Eleven Forces.

That force flows strongly through his domain, the Deadlands—a place of perpetual torture and blasted landscapes.

He has an insatiable hunger for destruction. Of all Princes, he shows the most animosity toward Nirn’s species.

Since Daedra can’t truly be destroyed, mortals are his only targets for practicing destruction.

He assisted Jagar Tharn’s usurpation by invading the Battlespire. He destroyed Mournhold at the end of the First Era and Ald Sotha, Sotha Sil’s birthplace.

At the end of the Third Era, he precipitated the Oblivion Crisis, fully manifesting on Tamriel before being defeated by the Hero of Kvatch and Martin Septim.

His adoptive children are the Xivilai Moath and Faydra Shardai. He once had the Dark Seducer Si’ess as his paramour.

• Sphere: Destruction, Change, Revolution, Ambition
• Domain: The Deadlands (perpetual torture, blasted landscapes)
• Artifact: Mehrunes’ Razor, Daedric Crescents
• Enemies: Ebonarm, Akatosh, Molag Bal
• Summoning Day: 20th of Sun’s Dusk

Mephala, Prince of Secrets

Mephala deals in murder, lies, sex, and secrets, constantly weaving webs of intrigue and terror. Her sphere is described as obscured to mortals.

She’s the Webspinner, Plot-Weaver, Spider God, Queen of the Eight Shadows of Murder, and the Whispering Lady.

She sees mortal affairs as a web. Pull one thread, and everything unravels. To her, the Aurbis is an interconnected system of action and consequence.

She spins new threads to influence outcomes. She does nothing without purpose and interferes for her own amusement.

She values secrets and mysteries above all. Those who stumble upon her shrines may hear forbidden secrets whispered in their ears.

Hermaeus Mora is sometimes called her sibling—he collects all knowledge, but she cares only about obscure, undisclosed information.

Mephala takes pleasure in strife. A ruined marriage, false evidence triggering war between peaceful factions—she finds these amusing.

Long, thin silver hair marks her champions. She and her followers care little for mortal safety.

• Sphere: Murder, Lies, Sex, Secrets
• Domain: The Spiral Skein
• Artifacts: Ring of Khajiit, Obsidian Husk, Ebony Blade
• Enemies: Ebonarm, Peryite
• Worshippers: Morag Tong (initially)
• Summoning Day: 13th of Frostfall

Meridia, Prince of Life and Light

Meridia is the Prince of Life and Light, associated with living energies. She has an extreme hatred for the undead and will reward anyone who eliminates them.

Her symbol is the Sunburst.

Her reputation is mixed. Some see her as benevolent—one of the few non-evil Princes. Others know her as the Glister Witch or Lady of Greed, with a habit of collecting live human specimens.

To her enemies, she’s violent, obsessive, and self-righteous, with irrational anger toward entities she deems impure.

She loathes disorder and hates mortal free will and defiance. She believes free will should surrender to passion, that “destiny is fulfilled for the vessel.”

She sees mortals as assets—means to ends.

She can grant immortality at the cost of will. The Purified are her slaves, cleansed of disease, death, and free will.

Some join willingly; others are forced. She granted immortality to Umaril the Unfeathered, the ancient Ayleid enemy of Pelinal Whitestrake.

• Sphere: Life, Light, Living Energy
• Domain: The Colored Rooms
• Artifact: Dawnbreaker (effective against undead)
• Servants: Aurorans, The Purified
• Enemies: Molag Bal (eternal foe), Nocturnal, Ebonarm
• Summoning Day: 13th of Morningstar

Molag Bal, Prince of Domination

Molag Bal rules domination and enslavement of mortals. His ultimate goal is harvesting all mortal souls, bringing them under his control by spreading strife and discord.

He obsessively collects soul gems and has dragged pieces of Nirn into his domain. The more souls he has, the more he wants.

He values patience and cunning. He deceives those he deals with and waits exceedingly long for his plans to bear fruit. He takes pleasure in mortal suffering, often torturing them for amusement.

Those in his clutches labor endlessly. He uses necromancy, forcing followers to serve beyond death.

His domain, Coldharbour, is a dark, twisted imitation of Tamriel. Denizens there call Meridia the “Shining Bitch” and torture her worshippers in the Lightless Oubliette.

He’s acknowledged as the father of several children. Ozzozachar is his son, a Daedric Titan.

His daughter, Molag Grunda, a Winged Twilight, took a Frost Atronach named Nomeg Gwai as her consort. Bal banished them both to punish them for eternity.

He’s the father of vampires, creating them by raping Lamae Bal, a priestess of Arkay.

• Sphere: Domination, Enslavement of Mortals
• Domain: Coldharbour (twisted imitation of Tamriel)
• Artifact: Mace of Molag Bal (Vampire’s Mace)
• Enemies: Ebonarm, Boethiah, Meridia, Lamae Bal, Arkay
• Summoning Day: 20th of Evening Star

Namira, Prince of Ancient Darkness

Namira is the ancient Darkness itself. She rules spirits and shadows, and is patron of vermin, squalor, slugs, spiders, and things that inspire instinctive revulsion.

Khajiit believe all creatures feeding on rotten flesh are her spies.

She’s associated with beggars and the “beggaring gifts” of disease, pity, and disregard. She bears some connection to eternity.

Khajiit believe she’s a spirit of infinite planes. She sees herself as the rightful ruler of all spirits.

Mortals ensnared by her are tortured until they forget who they were and know only Namira. Ancient Khajiit called her an Ur-dra—”eldest and most formidable” of the Princes.

A title also claimed by Nocturnal.

The energies of both Namira and Hermaeus Mora appear as “roiling darkness,” so similar they need decorative elements to tell them apart. This has led scholars to theorize they share a close relationship.

In some creation stories, she’s responsible for corrupting Lorkhan or making a deal with him during Mundus’ creation.

• Sphere: Ancient Darkness, Spirits, Shadows, Decay
• Domain: The Scuttling Void
• Artifact: Ring of Namira (restores health and stamina when feasting on slain enemies)
• Enemies: Azurah, Twilight Cantors, Khenarthi, Ebonarm
• Summoning Day: 9th of Second Seed

Nocturnal, Prince of Night and Mystery

Nocturnal governs night, darkness, and mystery. She’s the Lady of Shadows, the Unfathomable, Empress of Murk, Shadow Queen, and Mother of Shadows.

She’s depicted alongside jet-black ravens and crows that can speak.

She claims the title of Ur-dra: eldest and strongest of the Princes. The Imperial Geographical Society says nearly all Princes recognize this.

Sotha Sil and the Psijic Order both use this title for her. The ancient Khajiit, however, used it for Namira instead.

Nocturnal claims “before Oblivion, there was Nocturnal.” Her followers believe she predates current reality. She says she’s part of the original void, from the black blood of the Dark Heart of Lorkhaj—a piece of “primal Void.”

She’s said to shape the night itself. Her domain is the Evergloam, which has a permanent conduit to Mundus called the Twilight Sepulcher.

She doesn’t court worshippers, treating them with indifference. Yet the Nightingales are her sworn servants—she even calls her worshippers “slaves.”

• Sphere: Night, Darkness, Mystery
• Domain: The Evergloam (permanent conduit: Twilight Sepulcher)
• Artifacts: Gray Cowl, Skeleton Key (both aid thieves)
• Enemies: Ebonarm, Meridia, Mehrunes Dagon, Azura
• Summoning Day: 3rd of Hearth Fire (can be summoned anytime at shrines)

Peryite, Prince of Pestilence

Peryite is the Taskmaster, ruling pestilence, natural order (distinct from Jyggalag’s perfect order), and tasks. His sphere includes ordering the lowest orders of Oblivion.

He’s known as the Bringer of Disease and Pestilence, Blighted Lord, and Lord of Abundant Pus and Bountiful Vomit.

He appears as a green four-legged dragon. This resemblance to Akatosh is considered some primordial jest. He also manifests as ghostly vermin like skeevers.

The coiling, snake-like dragon and the skeever are his sacred symbols. Kyne gives him the spirits of skeevers when they die.

He “blesses” worshippers with diseases and ranks among the more destructive Princes. According to his followers, he hates variation—offerings of disease should always be of the same strain.

Peryite ranks among the weakest Princes despite his destructive sphere.

His domain is the Pits, where the lowest orders of Oblivion are guarded. The domain is usually unreachable by mortal means, so most information about it comes from other Princes’ reports.

• Sphere: Pestilence, Natural Order, Tasks
• Domain: The Pits (guards lowest orders of Oblivion)
• Artifact: Spell Breaker (enchanted shield protecting against harmful magic)
• Enemies: Mephala, Vaermina
• Summoning Day: Unknown

Sanguine, Prince of Revelry

Sanguine rules hedonistic revelry, debauchery, wild orgies, and passionate indulgences of darker natures. He’s the Lord of Revelry, Blood-Made-Pleasure, and Prince of Lust.

“Anything in excess” is his motto.

He appears as a portly yet muscular crimson-skinned man with a demonic head, horns, and tusks, usually holding a bottle or with a companion at hand. He controls thousands of small planes called the Myriad Realms of Revelry.

His planes are places visitors can customize to their whims. Whatever form of revelry you desire, Sanguine provides.

He doesn’t seek worship or make grand schemes. He simply embodies indulgence and excess in all forms.

He’s an ally of Vaermina, though this seems odd given their different spheres.

• Sphere: Revelry, Debauchery, Indulgence, Lust
• Domains: Myriad Realms of Revelry (thousands of customizable planes)
• Artifact: Sanguine Rose
• Allies: Vaermina
• Summoning Day: Unknown (can be contacted through many shrines)

Sheogorath, Prince of Madness

Sheogorath is the Prince of Madness, chaos, and lunacy. His motives are unknowable.

He’s the Mad God, Skooma Cat, Lord of the Never-There, and Sovereign of the Shivering Isles. Khajiit call him the Trickster. Dunmer count him among the Four Corners of the House of Troubles.

He was once Jyggalag. The other Princes feared the Prince of Order so much they cursed him to become his opposite. For ages, Jyggalag spent most of his existence as Sheogorath.

He only returned to his true form during the Greymarch. At the end of the Third Era, the Hero of Kvatch broke this cycle, and the two became separate beings.

He appears as a well-dressed man with a cane—so common it’s been coined “Gentleman With a Cane.” His domain, the Shivering Isles (also called the Madhouse), splits between Mania and Dementia.

Visiting supposedly costs you your sanity forever. The Golden Saints and Dark Seducers serve him.

He’s been called the “Sithis-shaped hole” of the world, created when Lorkhan’s heart was torn out. He plays tricks on mortals and Daedra alike.

“Fearful obedience” of Sheogorath is common in Tamriel, and he plays a role in Dunmer religious practice.

• Sphere: Madness, Chaos, Lunacy
• Domain: Shivering Isles/Madhouse (splits between Mania and Dementia)
• Artifacts: Wabbajack, Staff of the Everscamp, Staff of Sheogorath, Gambolpuddy, Fork of Horripilation, Folium Discognitum, Spear of Bitter Mercy (shared with Hircine)
• Servants: Golden Saints, Dark Seducers
• Origin: Cursed form of Jyggalag (now separate)
• Summoning Day: 2nd of Sun’s Dawn (can be summoned on another Prince’s day during a storm)

Vaermina, Prince of Dreams and Nightmares

Vaermina rules dreams and nightmares, evil omens, corruption, and decay. She’s the Gifter, Dreamweaver, Queen of Nightmares, and Lady of Corruption and Decay.

All mortals fall under her influence as they sleep.

She’s destructive for destruction’s sake—torture is her method. She’s disgusted by mortals with moral compasses, taking pleasure in those who commit outrageous sins or kill for power.

She hungers for mortal memories, collecting them from her citadel and leaving victims with visions of horror and despair.

Her domain, Quagmire, is a nightmare land where reality shifts every few minutes, becoming increasingly horrifying. Lightning triggers shifts—suddenly you’re in a dark castle, then a den of beasts, then a moonlit swamp, then a casket where you see yourself buried.

Her priests are master alchemists. Vaermina’s Torpor is particularly valuable on the black market for its ability to let users enter “The Dreamstride,” experiencing another person’s dreams.

• Sphere: Dreams, Nightmares, Corruption, Decay
• Domain: Quagmire (nightmare land with shifting reality)
• Artifact: Skull of Corruption
• Enemies: Ebonarm, Boethiah, Peryite, Hermaeus Mora, Azura
• Allies: Sanguine
• Summoning Day: 10th of Sun’s Height

Mortal Interaction and Worship

Worshippers and Cults

Daedric worship is common across Tamriel, even if mainstream religions forbid it. Shrines dot the land—some hidden, some out in the open.

Entire cults organize around specific Princes, with hierarchies, rituals, and dedicated followers.

Mortals worship for many reasons: power, knowledge, protection, or simple fear. While most Princes accept followers, their attitudes differ.

Sheogorath treats them like toys. Nocturnal is indifferent. Azura craves their love.

Worship can change a person physically, altering their eyes. The mental effects are more concerning, often creating a “slavish mentality.”

Nocturnal even calls her followers “slaves.” One of Azura’s devoted agents was so obsessed they constantly daydreamed about her, unconcerned with the world around them.

Mainstream authorities—particularly the Nine Divines‘ churches—mount witch-hunting expeditions to drive out Daedric cults. These encounters often reveal the questionable sanity that comes from Prince worship.

But the cults persist, hidden in corners, maintaining their shrines and performing their rituals.

Some cultures integrate Daedric worship into their traditions. The Dunmer once revered three Princes as the “Good Daedra.”

The Khajiit have their own interpretations, calling Azura “Azurah” and incorporating her into creation myths.

Summoning and Making Deals

You can summon a Daedric Prince. The process typically requires a consecrated shrine, though other methods exist.

Each Prince has a summoning day—specific dates when contact is most reliable. Some Princes can be reached on different days under certain conditions.

Summoning usually involves a quest or task. The Prince sets a challenge, and if you complete it, you receive a reward—often a Daedric artifact.

These quests are rarely straightforward. They’re tests of character, ability, or will. Sometimes they’re just entertainment for the Prince.

The rewards are real. Azura’s Star, the Wabbajack, Mehrunes’ Razor, Volendrung—these artifacts hold genuine power.

But they come with risks. Clavicus Vile is famous for granting wishes that backfire. His deals have loopholes.

Mephala’s gifts often lead to betrayal or murder. Molag Bal’s boons corrupt.

The Coldharbour Compact limits some Princes. The eight signatories can’t manifest on Nirn unless summoned by specific intermediaries: witches, sorcerers, certain ritualists.

This works both ways—mortals face restrictions traveling to those Princes’ planes.

Not all interactions require summoning. Princes can reach out to mortals. They appear in dreams, send visions, or manifest avatars.

Boethiah uses avatars to get involved in important events, testing heroes and commoners alike. These avatars vanish when their purpose is served, leaving strange stories behind.

The Dangers of Patronage

Dealing with Daedric Princes is a gamble. They are extremists by nature, and their “blessings” often become curses.

Take Hircine’s Gift of lycanthropy. It grants incredible strength, but Hircine claims your soul in the end. You’ll spend eternity in his Hunting Grounds, either as the hunter or the hunted.

Molag Bal offers a different kind of horror. He might grant long life, but only to prolong your suffering.

He forces mortals to labor endlessly and serves them beyond death through necromancy. His “gift” of vampirism comes with eternal hunger and the need to prey on others.

Hermaeus Mora offers knowledge, but the cost is steep. He ensnares mortals with secrets.

What starts as curiosity becomes obsession. His Black Books drive readers mad. Those who delve too deep lose themselves in Apocrypha’s infinite libraries, becoming servants forever searching for knowledge they’ll never possess.

Several Princes actively harm their followers. Boethiah only cares about blood—worshippers kill each other in competitions for her favor.

Vaermina leaves followers with nightmares and horror. Namira tortures those ensnared by her until they forget who they were.

The “benevolent” Princes aren’t safe either. Azura cursed an entire race for betrayal.

Meridia grants immortality at the cost of free will, turning followers into mindless Purified. Even her fight against the undead comes from her hatred of disorder, not compassion for mortals.

Notable Histories and Relationships

The Curse of Jyggalag

Jyggalag was the Prince of Order. His great library predicted every action that would ever occur, calculated before events happened.

He knew the logical outcome of all things. This made him strong—too strong.

The other Princes feared him. Not because he was aggressive, but because his nature represented a threat.

Perfect order in a domain defined by chaos? Unacceptable. So they banded together and cursed him.

The curse transformed Jyggalag into Sheogorath—his complete opposite. Perfect order became utter madness.

Logical deduction became unknowable chaos. For eons, Jyggalag existed primarily as the Mad God, trapped in a form antithetical to his nature.

But the curse had a loophole. During the Greymarch, a periodic event, Jyggalag would return to his true form.

He’d manifest as the Prince of Order and crusade against the Shivering Isles, destroying everything. Then the curse would reassert itself, and he’d become Sheogorath again.

This cycle repeated endlessly.

At the end of the Third Era, the Hero of Kvatch entered the Shivering Isles during a Greymarch. Through a series of events, they resisted Jyggalag’s forces and broke the cycle.

Jyggalag was freed. He and Sheogorath became separate entities.

Jyggalag returned to Oblivion in his true form—the crystalline knight, stern and colorless. But he had no domain.

Millennia as Sheogorath left him without a plane to call his own. What he’s done since, where he’s gone, remains unknown.

The Creation of Malacath

Trinimac was an Aedra—one of the divine spirits who participated in creating Mundus. He was strong and had devoted followers among what would become the Orcs.

Boethiah consumed him. Not metaphorically—she ate the Aedra.

The act transformed Trinimac into Malacath, a Daedric Prince of the spurned and ostracized. His followers underwent a similar transformation, becoming the Orcs.

This origin makes Malacath unique among Princes. He started as an Aedra and became a Daedra through violence.

His peers allegedly don’t recognize him as a true Daedric Prince. He’s described as “weak but vengeful,” not acknowledged by other Princes as a Lord of Oblivion.

But the reality is more complex. Azura counts him among the strongest Princes.

He signed the Coldharbour Compact alongside seven others. Sheogorath includes him among Daedric siblings.

By current accounts, Malacath is now equal to other Princes in power, regardless of how he came to be.

Some Orcs reject this story. They don’t see Malacath as their god.

Instead, they worship Trinimac, believing he still exists somewhere, uncorrupted. These Orcs view Malacath not as a Daedric Prince but as a demon wearing Trinimac’s skin.

Malacath himself seems unbothered by debates about his legitimacy. He loves vengeance.

He protects outcasts, the betrayed, and the ostracized. His sphere fits him perfectly—the Prince that other Princes reject, patron of those society rejects.

Alliances and Rivalries

The Princes maintain complex relationships. They’re called siblings regardless of their actual origins, and they treat each other accordingly—with rivalry, alliances, betrayal, and occasional cooperation.

Molag Bal and Boethiah are arch-enemies. They’re in perpetual conflict.

Bal also has bitter rivalries with Mehrunes Dagon and Meridia. His hatred for Meridia led to him destroying the Ayleid city of Abagarlas after they received a weapon from him.

Meridia commanded her knights in Delodiil to invade in response.

Meridia and Molag Bal continued their feud into the Second Era. During the Planemeld, when Bal tried to drag Nirn into Coldharbour, Meridia worked against him, assisting the Five Companions.

Some alliances do exist. Vaermina and Sanguine are allies despite their different spheres.

At one point, Malacath allied with Mephala. Azura was once allied with Molag Bal, strange considering their different natures.

The relationships shift and change. Lyranth the Foolkiller says mortal concepts of “friend” and “foe” can’t capture the complexity between Princes.

They sometimes pursue parallel interests that make them act together. Hircine and Mehrunes Dagon allegedly have some alliance, though details remain obscure outside their circle.

Four Princes—Hermaeus Mora, Azura, Boethiah, and Mephala—worked together to erase Ithelia from existence. This coalition saw her power over paths and fate as a threat to reality itself.

They succeeded, twice erasing all memory of her.

The Pact Primordial prevents Princes from invading each other’s planes. When they do clash, it’s through schemes, proxies, and mortal pawns.

The Princes keep their own counsel on matters of this scale, making their true relationships difficult for mortals to understand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you kill a Daedric Prince?

No. Daedric Princes can’t be killed. Their consciousness is tied to their planes of Oblivion.

If you “defeat” a Prince, they simply reform and return. Sotha Sil, one of the few mortals to study them at length, confirmed this.

Are all Daedric Princes evil?

Not exactly. They aren’t “good” or “evil” by mortal standards—they’re extremists representing specific spheres.

Azura and Meridia are sometimes called “good,” but both have cursed entire races or stripped followers of free will. The Princes operate by their own logic, not human morality.

Which Daedric Prince is the strongest?

Nocturnal claims the title of Ur-dra (“eldest and strongest”), and most Princes recognize this. However, ancient Khajiit used the same title for Namira.

Azura lists eight particularly strong Princes: herself, Boethiah, Hermaeus Mora, Hircine, Malacath, Mehrunes Dagon, Molag Bal, and Sheogorath. Before his curse, Jyggalag was feared by all other Princes, suggesting he was the strongest.

Do I get to keep my soul if I serve a Daedric Prince?

Usually not. Most Princes claim the souls of their followers.

Hircine claims all lycanthropes regardless of worship. Molag Bal harvests souls obsessively. Some Princes, like Nocturnal, openly call their followers “slaves.”

Your soul becomes currency in deals with Princes, and they rarely give it back.