—Torvesard
Ithelia, known as the Prince of Paths, the Mistress of the Untraveled Road, the Unseen, the Fate-Changer, the Dark Reflection, the Last Tomorrow, the Unweaver and She Who Saw and Wept is the Daedric Prince of Paths.[1][2] Some believe her will has some kind of relation to unbound Prisoners.[3] She supposedly had the ability to shape destiny, alter fate and rearrange its strands according to her whim. Considering this power a threat to the order of the universe, Hermaeus Mora erased all traces of her memory from existence in order to preserve reality.[4] Ithelia left behind her loyal servant, Torvesard, as a contingency plan in her absence.[5] As of 2E 582, she was unknown to the academic community,[6][4] though some scholars had uncovered evidence of forgotten Ayleid deities.[7][8]
Ithelia's realm of Oblivion is Mirrormoor.[9]
HistoryEdit
Star OrphanEdit
Originally the eldest member of the Star-Orphans, Magna Ge that followed the parabolas that led away from Magnus, Ithelia was known as the White Star, the Prime Archon and the Queen of Fates Unwritten. She was responsible for deciding that fate had a chance to be born.[3]
When Ithelia was shown the Infinite Abyss and the Indeterminate Sea (Mora Obscura), she discovered the Indefinite Limits of Lorkh-Apeiron. Thus she realized not only the harmony within duality that exists beyond the simple dichotomy of Anui-El and Sithis, but that this unity of opposites contained starlight and endless possibility beyond cosmic interplay. Ithelia was thus named "the Colors of Light", who saw the "madness of the Time God" and the "first challenge of his shadow", who in nothingness saw those endless possibilities first. Ithelia saw that linear time was layered upon endless possibility by the afixing of Ada-Mantia and its Zero Stone, a stable spire afixed by a stone of nothing possible,[UOL 1][10][11] and thus did Aka disappear in the South and learn why his insanity is all that is and could be. From this lesson, the Prime Archon endeavored to cleave a path through the everything to reach Numancia. The goal of her Ayleid followers was to use violence against Man to bring forth a Numinous Paravant, whose metaphysical nature would give them unbound hands and the ability to achieve Ithelia's goal, to break the shackles of fate and give every being the world and history they desired.[3][12]
Ithelia found worshippers in the Mythic Era. Her Ayleid followers prayed and offered sacrifices to her before embarking on a journey.[UOL 2] She had a significant amount of ties to the region known today as the West Weald.[9]
ImprisonmentEdit
At some point in the Merethic Era, after Ithelia used her power to alter fate to avert a coming catastrophe, Mora examined her fate threads and perceived that Ithelia's power had already caused irreparable damage to the fabric of fate and that, if allowed to continue, her very existence endangered all of reality. Mora's fears intensified when Ithelia created her Loom of the Untraveled Road, a great fate altering engine via which she intended to tap into the power of the Many Paths and give every being their own desired history, breaking the shackles of fate. Perceiving that the Many Paths were splintering under Ithelia's "unnatural manipulations" and foreseeing that reality would shatter in the attempt to achieve what Ithelia desired if the Loom was used, Mora took action.[4][12][13][14][15][16][17]
Eventually an alliance was formed between Hermaeus Mora and Azura, Boethiah and Mephala. Before they took action, Mora attempted to warn Ithelia to stop her planned use of the Loom and attempt to change fate one last time at the city of Niryastare, but she refused.[12][18] The three Princes allied with Mora than possessed the bodies of their chosen mortal followers and met in secret, using a submerged shrine of Hermaeus Mora located in the ruined city of Anudnabia, which had been dragged under the waves by Ithelia through her power over fate, to enter the Mythos of Apocrypha via a Demiplane of Hermaeus Mora connected to it, thus entering a place which Ithelia's powers over fate couldn't perceive, to plan out their attack without being discovered. The allied Princes created artifacts designed to counteract Ithelia's powers over fate. Azura crafted the Lamp of Clarity, which could illuminate the presence of Ithelia and her Unseen on any Path, and open portals to that Path to reach her.[12][13][19] Boethiah created the blade Abolisher, which could open and close portals, and even sever the connections between Paths.[12][4][13][19][20] Mephala crafted the Skein of Secrets, which could locate the presence of Ithelia and her Unseen, normally invisible to magical observation, by tracking the effects of their powers being used.[19][21] And Mora crafted the Echonir, which could track down and expunge any lingering memories of Ithelia.[13] Thus prepared, the allied Princes and their armies attacked. Ithelia was ultimately cornered within the Ayleid city of Miscarcand, which was a great shrine to her.[22] She was defeated through the combined efforts of the other Princes, drained of her powers to the extent of having no more strength than a mortal,[13] and imprisoned within the Mythos, the core of Apocrypha, a place her own powers couldn't perceive. However, before she was sealed away, two things occurred. The first was that Ithelia enacted a failsafe within the mind of her scion, Torvesard, that would allow him to one day recall events associated with her imprisonment in the form of dreams and lead him to the path of freeing her.[15][12][23] The second was that, through her own powers to perceive fate and the Many Paths, Ithelia saw that Hermaeus Mora was correct about the threat she represented, a discovery she would forget due to her imprisonment.[12] With Ithelia imprisoned, the four Princes designed a plan to erase the very memory of her existence from reality, so that the danger would never return.[4][24][25][26][27]
Two of the other Princes whose support Hermaeus Mora sought in this matter were Vaermina and Peryite. However, Mora's attempt to secure their approval for his plans proved futile. Despite Mora's insistence that Ithelia represented a grave danger to reality, Vaermina and Peryite argued that she shouldn't be punished solely because of something she might do, and that the spheres of the Princes were sancrosanct. Believing that Hermaeus Mora was overstepping his boundaries, the two Princes refused to support him. It was than that Mora revealed he was going to proceed with his plan regardless. Mora shattered the statue of Vaermina and cast his spell, removing the memory of Ithelia from every mind across all reality.[28][29] Ithelia's imprisonment was complete, and would become Mora's most guarded secret, the only recollection of the event in existence split between three Glyphics within Apocrypha.[1][30][4]
Prelude to ReturnEdit
In 2E 582, the Daedric Prince Ithelia returned to Aurbic affairs. Vaermina and Peryite invaded and nearly destroyed Apocrypha via a realm corroding plague unleashed by the Taskmaster, in their efforts to retrieve the Glyphics that held the last recollection of Ithelia. Though the two Princes were foiled with the aid of the Vestige, in the chaos, the Dremora Torvesard managed to recover the final Glyphic and regain his lost memories of Ithelia.[4][31][15][13][32][33] With Torvesard's memories restored, Hermaeus Mora's spell started to weaken, causing other servants of Ithelia to start recovering some of their lost knowledge. These servants of the Prince of Paths started looking for artifacts which would help with the release and restoration of their Prince.[15][27] Concurrently, the Recollection, a Bosmer cult of Ayleid revivalists dedicated to Ithelia, formed from the descendants of her ancient worshippers that had fled to Valenwood, under the leadership of Valenwood nobleman Nantharion Rayn. Plagued by the feeling of an "aching hole" in the world, an "emptiness where something should be but nothing is", the Recollection formed with the goal of restoring their Prince and lost realm, an event dubbed the "Day of Remembering".[34][35][36][37][38]
The Blind, a powerful Daedric servant of Ithelia aided by her cultists, the Blind Path, attacked the Maelstrom Arena's Bedlam Veil in an effort to retrieve the Echonir.[39][40] The Recollection attacked the Oathsworn Pit, training grounds of the Oathsworn, an Orcish warrior sect dedicated to Malacath, in an effort to retrieve the Staff of Many Paths,[41][42][43] and Torvesard himself sought out the relics of the three Princes that had delivered Ithelia's defeat, the Lamp of Clarity, the sword Abolisher, and the Skein of Secrets.[27] Though the Recollection and Blind Path were repelled with the aid of the Vestige and the Echonir wasn't seized,[39] the Staff of Many Paths was taken by the Recollection.[43]
Investigating the threads of fate and witnessing memories of the events of Ithelia's imprisonment, Leramil the Wise and the Vestige hunted down Torvesard, who managed to steal Abolisher from the hidden shrine of Boethiah where it was kept. Through the submerged shrine of Anudnabia and the use of Abolisher, Torvesard at last entered the Mythos and made his attempt to free his Prince. The Dremora summoned other Daedra of Ithelia to hinder the Vestige that was hunting him, and used Abolisher to cut open the path into the spire that served as Ithelia's prison. However, to the surprise of everyone present, the prison was already empty, and Ithelia had escaped. It was than that Torvesard realized the truth, in his remembering Ithelia, some of his Prince's lost power was restored and she broke free. Torvesard fled through a portal, determined to seek out his Prince, who he believed would be drawn to places or things her fragmentary memories recalled from when she was locked away. Hermaus Mora than appeared to confirm Torvesard's hypothesis, the spire itself had never been Ithelia's prison, the act of being forgotten itself had been the the prison. The moment Torvesard remembered his Prince, the ability of Ithelia's shackles to keep her began to wane. Incapable of seeing what would come next, Mora sent the Vestige and Leramil away to await a new path to open.[27][15][13][4]
Around the same time, Tho'at Replicanum, a Daedra Lord associated with Ithelia[UOL 3][44][9] who had taken on the form of "vivified ink", invaded the Infinite Archive, an Adjunct Realm of Apocrypha, in search of something. Prior to this event many fateline connections between the Index, the archival mechanism that restored things within the realm that were destroyed, and its contents broke. Tho'at splintered her Nymic and imbued it into the tomes of the Archive, allowing her to create a potentially infinite number of Maligraphies, Daedric facsimiles of vivified ink that replicated the creatures and objects described in the texts that spawned them, extensions of Tho'at herself.[45][46]
In response to the invasion Master Malkhest, caretaker of the Archive, used Seekers to recruit adventurers to combat the Maligraphies.[47] With the aid of the Vestige, Malkhest gathered enough Nymic fragments from the vanquished Maligraphies to summon Tho'at Replicanum and banish her. However, in addition to creating Maligraphic copies of the creatures in the tomes, Tho'at had already replicated herself hundreds of times across the Archive by creating Maligraphic copies of herself. Though replicas, each Tho'at Replicanum copy had a slightly different Nymic, so they were all separate beings to one another, and different Nymics had to be gathered to banish each. The Vestige and Malkhest would continue working to banish the spreading presence of Tho'at and the Maligraphies from the Infinite Archive.[45][48]
Return and RestorationEdit
In the West Weald, the Recollection used the Staff of Many Paths to imbue the Greenspring Seeds which Greenspeakers normally use to grow new sections of forest with Daedric energies that strengthened and corrupted the magic, creating Wildburn Seeds which they used to cause a thick jungle to cover much of the West Weald overnight, and as a consequence created the Wildburn on its outskirts, an area of magical corruption of the land that mutated living beings.[49][50][51][52][19][53] Nantharion then led a group of peaceful Bosmer settlers from Malabal Tor into this new forest, which he named the Dawnwood. As the self-appointed King of Dawnwood, Nantharion established the town of Vashabar, building it atop the lost Ayleid ruins of Miscarcand. Along with many of Vashabar's inhabitants, King Nantharion abandoned the Green Pact in favor of a new philosophy known as the Dawnway.[52][54][22] At the same time, Mirrormoor Incursions, mystical events which involved Ithelia's realm of Mirrormoor bleeding into Nirn, started taking place in various locations in the Weald as the Daedra of Mirrormoor looked for their Prince.[55]
Still deprived of most of her memories and power, Ithelia herself wandered the West Weald until she was drawn to the ruins of Elenglynn, once a citadel of Ithelia worshipping Ayleids.[13][12][56]
The Vestige and Leramil started investigating the disturbances in the threads of fate in order to find a solution to the developing crisis. While searching Elenglynn the pair encountered Ithelia, who was shown a brief memory of one of her past confrontantions with Hermaeus Mora over her manipulations of fate before disappearing.[13][12][56] The Vestige also investigated Feldagard Keep which had been invaded by the Recollection and Shardborn Daedra under the command of Ithelia's lieutenant, Shardmarshall Vargas, who was using Abolisher to allow the invaders into the keep through a portal. The Vestige repelled the attack with the aid of Tribune Alea Idolus, followed Vargas through a portal to Mirrormoor, and took Abolisher from her.[56][57][58][14][53] Lastly, the Vestige investigated the fate disturbances near Vashabar with the aid of Beragon Sharp-Dagger, uncovering the involvement of King Nantharion and the Recollection with the Wildburn. Nantharion attempted to use the Staff of Many Paths to create a new Wildburn Seed, but the interruption of the ritual by the Vestige caused the Seed's energies to be released prematurely, destroying the Recollection's living fortress of Hoperoot. [49][50][51][52][19][53]
Following a memory of Ithelia revealed by the Echonir at Hoperoot, the Vestige than journeyed to the Outcast Inn. There they encountered Leramil, who had been investigating a dangerous knot developing in the threads of fate leading to the location. Leramil explained that some unknown force within was tangling the fate threads and causing them to form a knot, disrupting and decoupling the bonds of cause and effect upon which existence was built and making it possible for impossible events such as a town erupting in flames without a single spark being struck, to occur. Leramil warned that, should the force tangling the threads persist for long enough, the threads could snap, causing localized reality itself to collapse and erasing everything present from existence. Inside the inn, the Vestige encountered Ithelia, whose presence had been causing the Many Paths to converge on the location, warping the surroundings, tangling the threads of fate, and pulling the echoes of beings from other Paths into reality, trapping the between the two worlds. Ithelia, whose mind was clouded by all the realities converging around her, asked the Vestige for their aid in creating a drink called Sage's Dream, that would help her regain control. While investigating the inn's cellar with the Vestige, Ithelia uncovered the Lamp of Clarity that was buried there. The Lamp, which was imbued with Azura's will, revealed and opened a series of portals to other Paths, from where the Vestige would have to gather the drink's ingredients. In those alternate timelines, the Vestige viewed how other versions of Ithelia had reacted to their defeat. One remained defiant to the end, one gave up hope and surrendered, and one grew so enraged that she used her power over fate to cause the entire Path to unravel through expanding reality tears that shredded that timeline whole, even as Hermaeus Mora desperately tried to put a stop to it. In the end, the Vestige succeeded in brewing the Sage's Dream, revealed as a brew formed from the essence of many of Ithelia's "reflections" from different Paths, which allows her to incorporate knowledge and power from them thus connecting all alternate Ithelias across the Many Paths even more strongly. Now in control of herself, and with more of her memory and power restored, Ithelia lamented her nature as a Daedric Prince and what it had lead to, and departed.[13][12][59]
Investigating the ruins of Niryastare at the behest of Beragon, who had tracked the Recollection there, the Vestige recovered the last relic, the Skein of Secrets, and uncovered Nantharion's plan. The Wildburn Seeds were intended to reawaken the magic of the Ayleids sleeping beneath the West Weald, so that the Recollection could use the power of the Great Well of Miscarcand, a repository of immense power. At Miscarcand the group made their way to the Well, escaping a memory within which Vargas had locked them through the power of Abolisher in the process. Nantharion attempted to use the Staff to drain the energies of the Great Well in order to restore Ithelia to her ancient power and create a Wildburn that'd cover all of the West Weald. Though Nantharion was slain, the servants of Ithelia retrieved the Staff and channeled the Well's power into her, restoring her ancient might.[52][19][14][53][22]
The Star Falls AgainEdit
Though the Shardborn continued their incursions against the West Weald, Beragon surmised that their attacks were only meant to serve as a distraction to prevent the discovery of Ithelia's true plan. At Beragon's behest, the Vestige used the Skein of Secrets to track Ithelia's presence to the Ayleid ruins of Wendir. In the ruins, the Vestige used Abolisher to tear open a planar disturbance that Leramil sensed, a portal that had been closed, which the group, consisting of the Vestige, Beragon, Leramil, and Alea, crossed to find themselves in an unknown section of Fargrave. The group found themselves in a realm that was gradually transforming, with crystals growing from every surface. Leramil realized that Fargrave had once been part of Mirrormoor, and was simply responding to the return of its Prince.[16][13][19]
The group were confronted by Shardmarshall Vargas, who used her power to banish Beragon and Alea to a different Path, described as a dark and timeless reflection of reality that is the world one can see through mirrors, with Leramil only barely shielding the Vestige and herself from suffering the same fate. Using the Echonir, the Vestige and Leramil reached an inactive magical gate, which they reopened via using the Lampf of Clarity to access a version of reality where it was still functional. The gate lead to a sub-plane within the realm where the Loom of the Untraveled Road was housed. Encountering a dead end, the Vestige attempted to use the Skein of Secrets to find a path forward, but the artifact's energies were drained by a magical trap Ithelia had set in place to prevent the relics of the three Princes from being used against her within her realm again. Out of options, Leramil attempted to open a portal to the Loom, but the spell was diverted by Shardmarshall Vargas, transporting the pair to Ithelia's former prison instead. Within the prison, Leramil realized that the surrounding mirrors were actually windows into different Paths. The Vestige used the Lamp of Clarity to open them, allowing Beragon and Alea back into reality, but draining the Lamp's energy as well. The group than used Abolisher to open a portal back to the Loom.[16][13][19][14]
In the Loom, Ithelia's plan was revealed. It was a great fate-altering engine, a series of portals within portals leading to the Many Paths that would allow Ithelia to access alternate histories from within the Paths and weave them into reality. Ithelia intended to use the Loom to rewrite history so that her conflict with the Princes had never occurred, and ultimately to break the shackles of fate by giving each and every being their own desired history. Leramil explained that the Loom had been the threat Mora foresaw, as its use would not produce Ithelia's intended outcome, but rather cause reality itself to shatter in its attempt to reshape itself as Ithelia desired. The group confronted Shardmarshall Vargas while Ithelia drew in power from the Many Paths through the Loom and Torvesard helped his Prince. The Shardmarshall was defeated, and the Vestige used Abolisher to sunder the portals making up the Loom, destroying it, but also depleting Abolisher's energies in the process. An enraged Ithelia, now filled with so much power from the Many Paths it overwhelmed even her control, vanished.[16][13][19][14]
Soon after, the Watchling fate-auditor of Hermaeus Mora, Scruut, appeared, warning of terrifying disturbances in fate that would soon unravel all reality. Tracking the disturbance, the Vestige, Scruut, and Leramil, discovered a disturbing truth. Ithelia's power was causing distortions of fate so severe they were developing into reality tears, holes in the fabric of reality itself, the result of a piece of existence itself having been destroyed due to instabilities in fate. Visible as rifts in space filled with nothingness, they would shred and destroy fate threads surrounding them, and erase from existence anything unfortunate enough to touch them. The rifts would keep manifesting more and more across various locations and planes of existence, causing reality to crumble a bit further with each passing moment, multiplying and growing until all existence itself was undone, akin to pulling on a loose thread until one's whole tunic unravels.[60][13][17]
With the danger greater than ever, the Vestige took the depleted relics to hidden shrines of the three Princes that had created them, restoring their power. The group than returned to the Loom of the Untraveled road, still an unstable area that could lead to one becoming lost in the Paths despite the Loom's destruction, and used the Echonir to reveal Ithelia's location. The memory revealed Ithelia's final plan, if Hermaeus Mora wouldn't allow her to reclaim her realm of Mirrormoor, than she'd simply take Apocrypha from him and rebuild Mirrormoor upon its ruins. The Vestige than left for Ceyond, to retrieve a shard from one of the first Daedra Ithelia had made, the Primordial Shattered Titan. With the shard, an artifact that could stop Ithelia could be created. The Vestige retrieved the shard but, in the process, they were confronted by Torvesard, who used a reality tear in an attempt to erase them from existence. The Vestige was pushed out of the way by Curate Gadayn, who was erased instead.[60][13][17][15]
With the shard, and an arcane ritual, the group created the Mirror of Truth, an artifact that could make whoever looked upon it to reflect upon their innermost self and desires. They than took a portal to Apocrypha to stop Ithelia. In Apocrypha, the realm was gradually being overwritten by Ithelia's presence into a place resembling Mirrormoor, overgrown with crystals, and filled with Shardborn and iconography of Ithelia herself. Separated from Scruut, who had to depart to counteract the reality tears that were manifesting even within Apocrypha itself, the group used the relics to make their way to Hermaeus Mora's sanctum. Mora had been imprisoned by Ithelia, and was having his powers drained by Ithelia and the Staff of Many Paths, which Torvesard was wielding. The Vestige confronted Ithelia while Torvesard continued to drain Mora, and used the Mirror of Truth on her. Given clarity by the artifact, Ithelia explained that, before her imprisonment, she'd understood that Mora's prediction was accurate, and that she'd made her Scions like Torvesard to avert a fate that ultimately had to pass, somethng she forgot when she was sealed away. Now it was too late, the power she'd taken from the Loom was overwhelming, and would soon shatter her newfound clarity and plunge her into rage-filled madness. Ithelia conceded to be imprisoned once more. However, hearing this, a desperate Torvesard turned the Staff of Many Paths on her, absorbing both her power and that of Hermaeus Mora into himself, and imprisoning both Princes. The Vestige and their allies, summoned by Leramil through portals, bested Torvesard, as he could not yet control the divine power he'd absorbed.[60][13][17][15][61]
Freed, Ithelia returned Mora's power to him, and dispersed the overwhelming energies within herself into the Void. She than unmade Torvesard's vestige, leading to his permanent end, as he swore he'd never stop attempting to restore his Prince and her realm. In her prison within the spire once more Ithelia explained that, no matter what, she was still a Daedric Prince, and Daedric Princes were unchanging. Even now her power sought to make its way back to her, dooming her to madness and fury once more. Just as had occurred when she'd been drained of her power and imprisoned the first time, her innate nature would eventually inevitably set her free and restore her powers. That chaotic restoration process gradually taking place was what had caused the fate tangle at the Outcast Inn. It was than that the Vestige proposed a new solution. If the restoration of Ithelia's freedom and power were inevitable in a reality where Daedra and magic existed, than perhaps a reality within the Many Paths where such concepts were not present could contain Ithelia. Though initially reluctant to accept this new solution, believing that the eternal nature of Daedra, meant only imprisonment would work, Mora conceded. Mora's gaze located the required Path, and Ithelia and Mora together opened the portal to it. Before Ithelia walked through, she thanked the Vestige for showing her there was always a way, and granted Leramil a glimpse into the Many Paths, knowledge that was meant to assuage her grief over the erasure of Gadayn. When Ithelia stepped through, Mora had the Vestige use Abolisher to sever the connection between realities, so that Ithelia could not return and endanger the world again.[13][61][15][4]
Forgotten LegacyEdit
With Ithelia gone, the tears in reality were repaired through use of a spell originating from Hermaeus Mora himself. The spell was cast at nexus points in reality, locations which naturally resonate throughout the realms, allowing the energies opposite to the force that created the tears to be inserted into the fabric of reality and resonate across Aurbis, beginning the restoration of all damage to fate, though completion of the process would take some time. The energy that counteracted the damage came from the relics of the three Princes, Abolisher, the Lamp of Clarity, and the Skein of Secrets, which permanently lost their Daedric power and were rendered mundane objects.[60][13][62]
Following Ithelia's departure, Hermaeus Mora cast his spell, and Ithelia's memory was removed from every mind across all reality once more, replaced only by recollections of Torvesard's scheme with Vaermina and Peryite, and the Recollection cult. Mirrormoor itself would be remembered, but only as a shattered ruin, whose inhabitants were masterless. Hermaeus Mora and the Vestige, who had earned the Prince's trust, would be the only ones to remember the truth, the last reminder of the Prince of Paths and of a world that might've been. However, though Ithelia was gone, seemingly forever, when questioned on the matter, Mora conceded that even he could not always see the final path the future would take.[63][62]
WorshipEdit
AyleidsEdit
The Ayleids of Essondul and Elenglynn worshipped Ithelia as the Prince of Paths.[64][12] The Ayleids of the city of Miscarcand also revered Ithelia, and it was in that city that Ithelia and her defenders made their last stand against the other Princes.[53][52] Ayleid worshippers of Ithelia believed that they had to enact violence against Man, so that their actions would usher in a Numinous Paravant that would usher in Ithelia's goal of cleaving through everything to break the shackles of fate and reach Numancia.[3][12] The Temple of Julianos in Skingrad was built atop the ruins of an ancient Ayleid temple, which was originally dedicated to another divinity. Scholars have speculated that the divinity in question might have been an unknown Daedric Prince, as the symbols and iconography found at the site did not match any of the known Daedric Princes.[7]
Some Bosmeri scholars of the Second Era speculated that the Ayleids, may have worshipped another deity forgotten to the history. Vague and frantic inscriptions and imagery, are associated with her, conveying a sense of urgency and confusion. They suggested that the Ayleids were grappling to remember a forgotten deity or perhaps an individual central to their worship. One inscription alluded to the idea of setting someone free—possibly a slave or the deity themselves—but the details remain unclear. Some theorize that this figure was once venerated by the Ayleids before being taken away, lost to both time and the world.[8]
BosmerEdit
The Recollection was a Bosmer cult dedicated to Ithelia. They felt a certain emptiness plaguing Nirn, an "aching hole" where something should be, but nothing is.[34] They sought to fix it by recovering "what was forgotten" and restoring Ithelia.[35]
Blind PathEdit
The Blind Path were a cult that served the Blind, a powerful Daedric servant of Ithelia.After undergoing the trials for membership, all members would don blindfolds and never remove them.[39][40]
ArtifactsEdit
Loom of the Untraveled RoadEdit
The Loom of the Untraveled Road is a Daedric apparatus of unimaginable power created by Ithelia. It is said to be what Hermaeus Mora feared, leading to him taking action against Ithelia. Described as a series of portals within portals leading to the Many Paths, it is more of a place than an engine, residing within a pocket dimension within Fargrave. With the Loom Ithelia is said to be able to reshape the fates, accessing alternate fates and histories from the Many Paths and weaving them into reality, or even granting each being their own desired history to break fate's shackles. Places that were part of Mirrormoor are said to be fundamentally connected to the Loom, and artifacts used in such locations will have their power drained by the Loom as it gains power. Through the Loom Ithelia can also draw immense amounts of power from the Many Paths, though the untold amounts of energy ultimately overwhelm her, transforming her into the Last Tomorrow, the threat Hermaeus Mora foresaw. Even after being destroyed through the use of Boethiah's Blade, Abolisher, the Loom still radiates power, preventing approach through portal magic and making the area around the Loom itself unstable, threatening anyone lingering there with the possibility of becoming lost in the Many Paths.
The Staff of Many PathsEdit
The Staff of Many Paths was a powerful artifact named for the Many Paths, associated with the Daedric Prince Ithelia and filled with her power. It had the ability to drain, hold, and imbue beings and objects with energy.
The Staff was long guarded by the Oathsworn, followers of Malacath within their training ground of the Oathsworn Pit, until it was stolen by the Recollection, a Bosmeri cult that revered Ithelia. It is said that around the Staff strange things would often happen, weapons going missing, or initiates somehow thrashing a veteran trainer during their first lessons, causing the relic to be locked away. The Recollection would use the Staff to imbue the Greenspring Seeds which Greenspeakers normally use to grow new sections of forest with Daedric energies that strengthened and corrupted the magic, creating Wildburn Seeds which they used to cause a thick jungle to cover much of the West Weald overnight, and to create the Wildburn, a magical corruption of the land that mutated living beings. The leader of the Recollection, King Nantharion, attempted to use the Staff to create a new Wildburn Seed, but the interruption of the ritual by the Vestige caused the Seed's energies to be released prematurely, destroying the Recollection's living fortress of Hoperoot.
At Miscarcand Nantharion attempted to use the Staff to drain the energies of the great Ayleid Well in order to restore Ithelia to her ancient power and create a Wildburn that'd cover all of the West Weald. Though Nantharion was slain, the servants of Ithelia retrieved the Staff and channeled the Well's power into her, restoring her ancient might. The Staff was last seen during Ithelia's attempted takeover of Apocrypha, wielded by Torvesard, who used the artifact to drain the power of Hermaeus Mora and imbue Ithelia with it. After Ithelia was granted clarity by the Mirror of Truth and decided to put an end to her plans, a desperate Torvesard turned the Staff on his Prince, absorbing the combined power of both Ithelia and Hermaeus Mora into himself and imprisoning both. Torvesard used the Staff to channel his power in battle. After Torvesard's defeat the Staff vanished in a flash of light and the stolen powers were returned to their respective Princes, the artifact's fate is not known.
The Arcane KnotEdit
The Arcane Knot is a dangerous and deeply unstable mystical object of incredible power. It is said that if reality can be thought of as a great glass mirror then, when that mirror breaks, the result is many mirrors, many realities. The Arcane Knot is said to possess the power to treat the mirror as if it never broke, to connect the different realities and even allow one to cross over from one to the next. The Knot's influence can have various effects such as granting the one holding it incredible power, causing the size of their physical form to increase, or spawning Glass Atronachs, but it is deeply volatile and will eventually consume the holder and everyone around them, infusing them with Temporal Splinters that build up into a destructive Arcane Fracture, and draining and eating away at them until they disappear into the Knot itself. It is said that even momentary exposure to the Knot can cause one's very animus to shatter and thus surviving in its presence for any period of time is impressive. For a long time the Arcane Knot was held deep within the Lucent Citadel in Fargrave, its origin and intended function were completely unkown and even among Fargrave's Daedra there were only a select few that could remember the citadel. In 2E 582 an expedition of Mirrormoor Daedra attempted to retrieve the Arcane Knot, as their leader believed it belonged to them. A group of adventurers defeated the Daedra and retrieved the Arcane Knot, surviving its influence long enough to contain its chaotic power within the Null Arca, a Daedric device created to supress dangerous magical objects. With the potential calamity the Mirrormoor Daedra could've caused with the Knot prevented, the contained object was taken away for study by Scribes of Hermaeus Mora.
Mirror of TruthEdit
The Mirror of Truth was an artifact associated with the Daedric Prince Ithelia, it was said that those who looked upon it would reflect upon their innermost desires and self.
It was created by the Vestige, the Watchling fate-auditor Scruut, and Leramil the Wise, using a shard from a Primordial Shattered Titan, a powerful Shattered Shard that was one of Ithelia's first creations, as the focus. The forging of the Mirror was achieved through a ritual that utilized Boethiah's blade Abolisher, Azura's Lamp of Clarity, and Mephala's Skein of Secrets.
Ithelia and FateEdit
As Mistress of the Untraveled Road, Ithelia, is said to possess the power to unravel the strands of fate and rearrange them to suit her every whim, shaping destiny itself to her liking. By her mere presence, even unwittingly, Ithelia can influence the threads of fate, causing them to tangle and knot together, or drag echoes of fates and beings from other realities to the reality where she resides, trapping them between worlds. When in control of her power, it is said that Ithelia possesses the power to shift existence itself and that reality and fate have to accommodate whatever she decides to do. According to Ithelia and her servants, while in her seat of Mirrormoor and using her Loom of the Untraveled Road, Ithelia can rewrite history and weave a new reality to suit her whims, unlock possibilities, undo mistakes, weave alternate versions of history from the Many Paths into reality to replace the history that exists, or even grant every single being that exists their own history comprised solely of things they desire. This power to alter fate is not without its dangers however, as through Ithelia exerting her power, anomalies in fate such as fate knots, and eventually even reality tears can form, endangering existence itself. When sufficiently enraged Ithelia can use this power to unravel reality itself around her, shredding existence until nothing remains. Though reality and fate have to shift to accommodate Ithelia's choices, they might shatter in the attempt to do so. For this potential to endanger reality, either willingly or as a side effect, Ithelia was given the title the Last Tomorrow, the prophesized destroyer of reality and a force which threatens the very pillars of causality upon which reality stands, by Hermaeus Mora. Due to the nature of her power, Ithelia's presence is said to untether all consequences, causing fate's threads in her immediate surroundings to seemingly vanish and so effectively disabling the fate sight of those who can perceive them.[4][13][15][12]
As a Star-Orphan of the Magna Ge before becoming a Daedric Prince, Ithelia, the White Star and Queen of Fates Unwritten, was said to dictate that fate have a chance to be born. Additionally, she is said to will that a Prisoner Unbound, beings that can forge their own fate, always exist.[65]
As a Daedric Prince, after Ithelia used her power to alter fate to avert a coming catastrophe, Mora examined her fate threads and perceived that Ithelia's power had already caused irreparable damage to the fabric of fate and that, if allowed to continue, her very existence endangered all of reality. Mora's fears intensified when Ithelia created her Loom of the Untraveled Road, a great fate altering engine via which she intended to tap into the power of the Many Paths and give every being their own desired history, breaking the shackles of fate. Believing that Ithelia's plans would result in the end of reality, Mora repeatedly confronted her to stop, but she refused to listen. Because of this Mora, Azura, Boethiah, and Mephala, warred against Ithelia and imprisoned her within the Mythos, the core of Apocrypha, after which Mora erased all memory of her existence from reality.[4][13][15][12][66]
The Staff of Many Paths was a powerful artifact associated with Ithelia, capable of causing strange phenomena such as a novice soundly defeating an expert warrior or objects to disappear to take place around it. The Staff also possessed the ability to drain, hold, and imbue beings and objects with immense amounts of energy. After Torvesard, its last known wielder, was defeated, the artifact vanished in a flash of light and its fate is unknown.[14][51][22][61]
Ithelia and the Many PathsEdit
As the Prince of Paths, Ithelia can perceive all the Many Paths at once. Though she can't outright control the Many Paths, she can travel between them, or follow their threads and reach out to alter their fates. All alternate Ithelias across the Many Paths are connected to one another, a connection strengthened when Ithelia imbibes the Sage's Dream, a brew formed from the essence of many of her "reflections" from different Paths, which allows her to incorporate knowledge and power from them. Ithelia can also share her perception of the Many Paths with others, allowing them to briefly view the Many Paths as she herself does.[12][4][13]
Through her power to influence the Many Paths, Ithelia is said to be able to reshape the fates. Using her Loom of the Untraveled Road, a series of portals within portals leading to the Many Paths, it is said Ithelia can access alternate fates and histories and weave them into reality to replace the history that exists. Ithelia's ultimate goal prior to her imprisonment was to use the Loom to give each being their own desired history and so break fate's shackles entirely.[12][13][14][15] Fearing that Ithelia's unnatural manipulations, which had already caused the Many Paths to splinter, would lead to the end of reality, Hermaeus Mora and three allied Daedric Princes took action to imprison her.[4]
MirrormoorEdit
Mirrormoor was the realm of the Daedric Prince Ithelia, Mistress of the Untraveled Road. Fargrave is a fragment of this forgotten realm.
Mirromoor is a large desert wasteland filled with gargantuan skeletons and surrounded by an auroral sky. While Ithelia is active, it is filled by shattered mirrors and crystalline structures and the sky is fractured by cracks. Those elements were not present in Fargrave before Ithelia's return.
After Ithelia was exiled to a different reality, Mirrormoor and its denizens remained known, but Ithelia was erased from everyone's memory once more by Hermaeus Mora, her plane of Mirrormoor remaining as a shattered ruin, whose inhabitants are masterless. [63] Despite her banishment, the power of Ithelia and Mirrormoor continued to emanate across the threads of fate, marking some with its forbidden knowledge and leaving some among those who visited the realm changed. It is said that those touched in this manner could not recall who or what had changed them, retaining only dim memories of the event, like shards of glass scattered on the ground.[68][69]
ServantsEdit
The Shardborn are the Dremora servants of Ithelia.[9] For milennia, the Dremora Torvesard was Ithelia's last remaining servant, having had just enough of his memory preserved to come and save her.[5] Ithelia has many glass-like crystalline servants in her service, they often took more familiar forms such as dragons, mantikoras, mind terrors, and hollow sentinels.[9][70] Among her more unique servants are Crystal Atronachs, Crystaljacks, Fractured Remnants, Mirrorplasms, Shattered Shards, and Skeletal Shards.
Tho'at Replicanum is a Daedra Lord composed of living glass like these servants, who was responsible for invading the Infinite Archive.[44] The Blind was a glass-like large Dremora servant of Ithelia who invaded the Bedlam Veil.[40]
Ithelia's Daedric servants, the Unseen, such as the Dremora Torvesard, also possess a degree of ability to manipulate the strands of fate. This allows them to accomplish tasks such as entering the Eyes of Mora without the corresponding key and even to alter the memories of the Prince contained there, thereby rewriting the event depicted itself. In addition this ability to influence fate has been used against enemies, be it to banish them to the Many Paths, casting them through both physical distance and realities, or to use reality tears to erase them from existence. They are not visible to the gaze of other Daedric Princes, even that of Hermaeus Mora, which is why they're called the Unseen, but their presence can be felt indirectly through the distortion they cause in fate's threads.[4][13][14][15][12]
Because of the ability they and their Prince possess to influence fate, the Daedra of Mirrormoor believe that there is no fate that can't be altered. To reflect this belief, they often wear designs of glimmering threads upon their skin, to remind themselves that one's fate and future are one's own making.[71] Mirrormoor Daedra believed themselves to be the owners of the Arcane Knot, a dangerous mystical object said to possess the power to connect the different realities, the Many Paths, to one another, treating them as if they'd never been separate to begin with, and even allowing one to cross over from one to the next. The Knot was long held within the Lucent Citadel in Fargrave, until a group of adventurers retrieved it for the Scribes of Mora, having defeated the Mirrormoor Daedra attempting to reclaim it.[72][73][74][75]
Crystal Atronachs of Ithelia
Various Mirrormoor Daedra
Tho'at Replicanum in the form of a Glass dragon
Mirrorplasm
Stri the Fate-Eater
A Primordial Shattered Titan, one of Ithelia's first creations
Dexxiuk the Glass Mantikora
A Crystal Atronach
Darkshard
A Skeletal Shard
A crystaljack
A Mirrorworm
GalleryEdit
Ithelia (ESO Cinematic)
Ithelia prepares to escape (ESO Cinematic)
Ithelia ascending (ESO Cinematic)
Another shot of Ithelia (ESO Cinematic)
Ithelia reemerging (ESO Cinematic)
Statue of the Forgotten Prince
Depiction of Ithelia
Prince Ithelia
Concept art
High resolution art of Ithelia from the official Elder Scrolls Online site
Artwork featuring Ithelia (center)
Ithelia in Skingrad (ESO Cinematic)
NotesEdit
- The imprisonment of Ithelia must have occurred in the Merethic Era, given that she was defeated after Resdayn was settled.[76]
- Sotha Sil referred to Fargrave as "a shattered ruin of reflection and sorrow", making it possible that he might have known some elements of the realm's past.[77]
- In Betrayal of the Second Era, the Bosmer Deslandra attempted to enact an event known as the Great Nullification, which would forever sever the flow of magicka and its influences on Mundus.[78]:52[79]:50[80]:38[81]:19 In some playthroughs where the heroes are defeated, she can succeed, leaving one of those failed playthroughs as a potential reality Ithelia could have exiled herself to.
- The Nine Coruscations, a religious text of Ayleid origins, mentions the "Numinous Paravant", a being with "unbound hands", and thus the potential to achieve the goal of Ithelia to reach Numancia, breaking the shackles of fate and giving everyone their own desired history. Ithelia's Ayleid worshippers seemed to believe they could somehow cause the Numinous Paravant to appear by commiting violence against Man. The Numinous Paravant might've been Saint Alessia, who rebelled against the Ayleids, and one of whose titles is "Paravant".[3][12]
- The ultimate goal of Ithelia, a former Magna Ge, is described in the The Nine Coruscations, an Ayleid religious text, as cleaving through everything to reach "Numancia", the breaking of the shackles of fate and the limitations of linear time imposed by Ada-Mantia, to give every being their own desired history.[3][12] In the Mythic Dawn Commentaries, the term "Nu-Mantia" is used by Mankar Camoran as an exclamation associated with "liberty" and the "promise of paradise", the goal of the Mythic Dawn. As Mehrunes Dagon, the Mythic Dawn's patron deity, is said in the same text to have been created by the Magna Ge, the two concepts might be related.[82]
- Wandering Spirits recounts the tale of Akha, who vanished in the South, with Alkosh, who has himself been described as both weaver and embodiment of time's all-encompassing tapestry,[83] appearing in his place, and bearing his crown and rule of his kingdoms across the Many Paths. This event might be the same as the disappearance of Aka linked to the afixing of Ada-Mantia that Ithelia is said to have witnessed, from a different cultural perspective.[84]
ReferencesEdit
- ^ a b Hermaeus Mora's dialogue during Chronicle of Fate in ESO: Necrom
- ^ Torvesard's dialogue during Prisoner of Fate in ESO
- ^ a b c d e f The Nine Coruscations — Star-Queen Varalias
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Hermaeus Mora's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b Torvesard's dialogue in ESO: Necrom
- ^ Azandar al-Cybiades' dialogue in ESO: Necrom
- ^ a b The Shield of Julianos — Father Haderus Donton
- ^ a b Gandrinar's dialogue in ESO: Gold Road
- ^ a b c d e ESO 2024 Global Reveal
- ^ Before the Ages of Man — Aicantar of Shimerene
- ^ Aurbic Enigma 4: The Elden Tree — Beredalmo the Signifier
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Ithelia's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Leramil's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b c d e f g h Shardmarshal Vargas' dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Torvesard's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b c d Events of The Untraveled Road in ESO
- ^ a b c d Events of Ithelia's Fury in ESO
- ^ Events of Relics of the Three Princes in ESO
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Beragon's dialogue in ESO
- ^ Tribune Alea Idolus' dialogue in ESO
- ^ Echonir Examination in ESO
- ^ a b c d Events of King Nantharion's Gambit in ESO
- ^ Torvesard's Journal — Torvesard
- ^ Priest Dandera Helas' dialogue in ESO
- ^ Acolyte Dugikh' dialogue in ESO
- ^ Adept Rakzzin-jo's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b c d Events of Prisoner of Fate in ESO
- ^ Events of A Hidden Fate in ESO
- ^ Vaermina's dialogue in ESO
- ^ The vision from the Glyphic of Lost Memories, witnessed during Chronicle of Fate in ESO: Necrom
- ^ Events of ESO: Necrom
- ^ A Calamity of Fate quest in ESO
- ^ An Unhealthy Fate quest in ESO
- ^ a b Faenalir's Letter — Faenalir
- ^ a b Niborwen's Journal — Niborwen
- ^ The Day of Remembering
- ^ A Call for Recollection
- ^ Warning to the Weald — The Recollection
- ^ a b c Events of The Forgotten Vault in ESO
- ^ a b c Initiate's Last Sight — Initiate Dalan Emax
- ^ Dulzush Forgefire's dialogue in ESO
- ^ Chief Bazrag's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b Events of Victory Through Strife in ESO
- ^ a b Loremaster's Archive - Infinite Archive — Master Malkhest
- ^ a b Master Malkhest's dialogue during the quest The Margins of Ire in ESO
- ^ Loremaster's Archive - Infinite Archive — Master Malkhest
- ^ Aiding the Infinite Archive quest in ESO
- ^ Master Malkhest's dialogue during the quest Replication Elimination in ESO
- ^ a b Greenspeaker Darolith's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b Greenspeaker Sorilen's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b c Events of Seeds of Suspicion in ESO
- ^ a b c d e King Nantharion's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b c d e Tribune Alea Idolus' dialogue in ESO
- ^ Meet the Character - Nantharion — Beragon
- ^ Mirrormoor Incursions in ESO
- ^ a b c Events of Paths of Chaos in ESO
- ^ Events of The Missing Cohort in ESO
- ^ Events of Hold the Line in ESO
- ^ Events of Many Paths in ESO
- ^ a b c d Scruut's dialogue in ESO
- ^ a b c Events of Fate of the Forgotten Prince in ESO
- ^ a b Events of In Memory Of in ESO: Gold Road
- ^ a b Discussion with Hermaeus Mora during In Memory Of in ESO: Gold Road
- ^ Greenspeaker Sorilen's dialogue during When the Ground Shook in ESO
- ^ The Nine Coruscations — Star-Queen Varalias
- ^ Adept Rakzzin-jo's dialogue in ESO
- ^ Mirrmor Moor Metamorphosis description in ESO
- ^ Mirrormoor Memory Body Marking description in ESO
- ^ Mirrormoor Memory Face Marking description in ESO
- ^ The Forgotten Vault quest in ESO: Scions of Ithelia
- ^ Threads of Mirrormoor Face Art in ESO
- ^ Keshargo's dialogue in ESO
- ^ Neletai's dialogue in ESO
- ^ Scribe Nairoline's Letter in ESO
- ^ Events of The Knot Awaits in ESO
- ^ Curate Gadayn's dialogue during Prisoner of Fate in ESO
- ^ Loremaster's Archive - The Clockwork City — Proctor Tarvus
- ^ Betrayal of the Second Era Cyrodiil Gazetteer
- ^ Betrayal of the Second Era High Rock Gazetteer
- ^ Betrayal of the Second Era Valenwood Gazetteer
- ^ Betrayal of the Second Era Limited Edition Art and Lore Book
- ^ Mythic Dawn Commentaries — Mankar Camoran
- ^ Ja'darri's dialogue in ESO: Dragonhold
- ^ The Wandering Spirits — Amun-dro, the Silent Priest
Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.
- ^ Nu-Mantia Intercept — Nu-Hatta, The Imperial Library
- ^ TheGamer — ESO Narrative Director Hints At Ithelia Being Wiped From History Again, time stamp 25:33-26:08
- ^ Youtube Stream of ESO's 10-Year Anniversary Celebration Livestream, time stamp 38:53-39:36