It's not considered a side quest if you are honinh your skills in the form of knowledge for miraaks case before he attempts to take on the world. However miraak was maybe a bit too confident in his ability to not only take on the dragon cult but also his old dragon masters at the same time before gaining all his knowledge first. And that's why Mora saved miraak and pulled him within apocrypha befor his defeat.
@@Kenlac92 legend of Zelda Majora's mask did do this insanely well where actually doing side quest not only progress the story but also helps you gameplay wise.
@@Ghostcharm TBF, he did have a shout that could one shot dragons and drain their health for himself. Sure, it probably wouldn't have insta killed Alduin, but it almost definitely would have hurt him quite a bit. Add that to his ability to summon Daedric creatures via Hermaeus Mora's assistance and I think it's Game Over for Alduin.
@@smitefulaxe1344 yes but that was used against regular dragons. Alduin is the World Eater, a draconic semi-god of death. No normal dragon. It likely would have been as useless against Alduin as a training or rusty arrow fired by a novice archer with a plain basic longbow. Or a fire spell against a flame atronach.
@@smitefulaxe1344 it is very likely that it's not even a shout. It's more like a command to his dragon followers for them to give up their souls. Don't quote me on that though. I might be wrong
I wouldn't necessarily say that, he had to hone his skills to. First he had to hone his skills as a dragon priest through the dragons, which means he had to learn the language as well as learn some magic. And while on his quest for knowledge he ran into a little black book somewhere insults time, which he opened up to find apocrypha we're hermaeus Mora approached him and then that's when the relationship changed, and Miraak abandoned the Dov For Hire knowledge through hermaeus Mora. But Miraak was overconfident within his capability to handle the dragons and subdue Alduin for his own purpose. Miraak was not prepared as he thought he was, when vahlok in a legion of dragons came after him at his temple with Solstheim where they almost defeated him, as hermaeus Mora saved him and pulled him with in apocrypha where he became hermaeus Mora's loyal servant. And as Miraak was his loyal servant, he began to feel like he got enough power so that he could return, but hermaeus Mora didn't want him to leave, so Miraak learned everything he could so that he could escape from apocrypha. Then the last Dragonborn showed up, and showed a much higher skill and ability then Miraak. But I believe that's kind of backwards when it comes to the story. I personally believe that Miraak should have been much stronger than the last Dragonborn, especially with the centuries of knowledge he had under his belt with in apocrypha. He shouldn't have been so easily defeated and he should have been given a much larger campaign for the last Dragonborn to defeat.
Alternate Ending: You refuse to kill Miraak. Hermaus Mora gets angry and begins shooting the Dragonborn with purple lightning. Miraak then gets up and throws Hermaus More down a reactor shaft. Er... actually, nevermind.
Miraak turned his back on his destiny to slay and enslave dragons for his own gain just like the dragon born turned his back on his/her destiny in favor of crafting endless potions and iron daggers. The parallels are uncanny....
I sincerely believe Dragon Aspect shout is basically super saiyan for dragonborns, thus the fight between our dragonborn and miraak mustve been absolutely EPIC
Miraak felt more like the main villain than Alduin. Bethesda has this thing for making a fun, but weak in writing game and then come out with a really well written and fun DLC. It happened twice, the Dragonborn dlc and then the Far Harbor dlc. Both having some really good writing and pretty much answering all the critiques in the main game.
''I could've slain Alduin myself'' Dude got absolutely bodied by a dragon priest, so good luck fighting Alduin buddy Edit: Guys stop making stupid comments and deleting them, at least stick by your argument
@@Riqq44 So are you implying that the Jailor is stronger than Alduin, and implying that he wouldn't also try to overthrow the dragons with this power? Miraak was Dragonborn I don't think he'd be weaker than Vahlok
Something that should be mentioned about Miraak's power and knowledge, is that he ascended his understanding of the Thu'um to a new level that the Last Dragonborn doesn't have: the four worded shout "Zii Los Di Du", the shout he uses on his dragon servants to forcibly tear their souls from their living body to recover his strengths and wounds, and his ability to command a soul of the dragons you've slain to be absorbed by him. Miraak would've been the most devastating character if he arrived on Tamriel, the power to bend the will of earth, livings things and dragons to his command, and when it suites him, tear a dragon's soul from its living body. Nothing would've stopped him, his arrogance was what got him cornered with Herma Mora watching him try to escape and the Last Dragonborn coming to end his plans and him.
@Instinct I think he just means the amount of time we've messed with time for the sole purpose of killing Nazeem. On the other hand though, the elder scrolls has total freedom in regards to morality (other than quest design of course) so you can have an absolutely abhorrent disgusting fiend be the last dragonborn. Sure you kill Alduin to save the world, but that is comparable to a mafioso killing the boss cause the business he was doing would kill them all. Basically just cause you kill Alduin doesn't make you heroic, however it does technically make you a hero, as now you've saved all the future sacrifices to daedric princes and soul gem fuel in the world.
It's my own theory that Miraak was becoming so much of a threat that the entire Dragon Cult got together, made an incredibly overpowered mask, picked their most powerful priest to wield it and sicced him on Miraak, Vahlok defeated Miraak and since he was loyal to the cult he gave the mask back to them to keep on their vault in Bromjunaar and then accepted the duty of Jailer to keep an eye on things. The cult kept the mask just on the off-chance that Miraak comes back. Konahrik is Vahlok's mask and he wielded its overwhelming power to beat Miraak way back when.
Miraak defied his dragon masters for personal power, Defied his people then Akatosh when he refused to kill Alduin. Finally he defied his new master in hermaeus mora. Miraak is the personification of living in dissonance with the natural world. Whenever a fate lay in front of him, he denied it out of spite and personal gain. I'm not a huge Elder Scrolls lore junky. I've read some of it. But these sorts of stories seem to come up a lot. That in the ElderScrolls universe there's a "Right way to live". Venturing away from that leads to dark places where powerful predators lay in wait to take advantage of the selfish. Miraak seems like the embodiment of that theme.
Massively underrated Villain... i sometimes wish Bethesda would just put the spectacle behind their Villains and go deeper into them. Miraak felt cut short.
I always thought that "seeking knowledge" was a huge overarching theme when it comes to The Elder Scrolls. After all that's how you level up: practice skills, learn, get stronger. That being said the Dragonborn is quite vulnerable, maybe even uniquely so, to the pursuit of knowledge. Fitting, then, that Hermaus Mora seeks to claim them.
Which is why I believe that Miraak should have bean, a much larger threat on the last Dragonborn. However Bethesda seemed to have screwed that up royally. Miraak was not much of a threat to the last Dragonborn.
@@5226-p1e I disagree. Although the Miraak we encounter wasn’t nearly as powerful as he might have been, the method by which Bethesda presented him was perfect. We encounter him not when he is about to conquer Tamriel, but when he is still building up his strength. Miraak is a threat we must eliminate now, before he grows too powerful to stop. It makes perfect sense, and prevents the overbuilding of expectations.
@@stubbydingo6901 So my comments had more to do with the fact that he was within Apocrypha for roughly 4,000 years honing his skills alongside hermaus Mora. Maybe time stood still and it felt like time wasn't passing, or perhaps time was passing and because he didn't age while within apocrypha, you can only assume that he did far more research within apocrypha, and there is evidence of this of course. One example is he was able to create his own shout that literally kills dragons, although it's possible that Hermes Mora created that shout as well as the shout to bend the will of a dragon. However he had a lot of other abilities that not even the last dragonborn after defeating him could obtain for himself. For example, he had the ability to steal a dragon's soul from The last dragonborn to him while he was within another dimension of apocrypha, while at the same time being completely invincible if the dragonborn tried to attack him. He also had the ability to force people to build his shrines during the times when they were supposed to be asleep, and it wasn't just one or two people in the village it was multiple people in a village and various parts of the island. He created himself some worshipers and caretakers or cultists as they were better known. however I suppose that he was weaker while within apocrypha, and it's possible that Hermes Mora gave the player more capability to handle a fight against Miraak, meaning that it was quite possibly a boost in strength that Hermes Mora gave the last dragonborn in order to fight against the first dragonborn. Everybody who has played the game has been able to beat mirak no problem, but that's because of game reasons, they only had one ending created for this story arc, they could have created an alternate ending, one where he escapes and is far more powerful then the last dragonborn, story wise I had an idea of how this could end more epically and could extend the story to a far better ending than what was provided. But of course that was just a fanfiction of mine, people in the comment section seem to have loved it, but it's been a while since I've thought about that story arc so I can only tell you bits and pieces about it.
@@5226-p1e But who’s to say that he spent all this time perfecting his combat capabilities? Apocrypha is a dimension of knowledge, but said knowledge doesn’t necessarily produce a better fighter. I think it’s also quite possible that he spent the majority of his time in Apocrypha learning how to bend others to his will, rather than making himself more powerful. His actions throughout the DLC prove this: he creates the Bend Will shout, captures a dragon, makes the creatures of Apocrypha serve him, and hypnotized people across Solstheim. My understanding of the situation was that, because he was so preoccupied with building his forces and learning how to control them, he lacked the capacity to actually engage in combat with another powerful being.
@@stubbydingo6901 Yes I suppose that could be a possibility, however he didn't create the bend Will shout, that was Hermes mora. But it could be attributed to what you are talking about, in the game he doesn't fight you with weapons found within the world, he is stuck fighting you with weapons created from within apocrypha and zero armor except for his mask when he fights the player. He's wearing robes to fight you, the player in almost all playthroughs is typically wearing some amount of armor, where he is just wearing robes that have a few special enchantments on them that give special boons alongside his shouts. You also have to consider this, Hermes Mora was significantly getting annoyed by Miraak, and he wanted a new champion, however I find that story arc to be kind of mediocre, because he essentially wanted to get rid of his protege that he has had within his realm serving him for however many years he's been with him. Only to trade him up for the last dragonborn who doesn't really serve Hermes mora in a direct way. Basically the last dragonborn has all the freedom to leave Apocrypha and do whatever he damn well pleases within the world of nirn after fighting against Miraak who was essentially spreading the word of hermas Mora, sure through the dialogue you can essentially say that Hermes Mora is your lord, however you can also deny him, and he will still help you defeat Miraak. Speaking about the dialogue, Hermes Mora mentions within the story that you have no hope in defeating Miraak without his help, which suggests that he gave the last dragonborn not only shouts but was able to match the last dragonborn power alongside Miraak's full power. This is all established within the lore, I'm not saying that in the game you can't beat him without it, you probably can no problem if you were to use some console commands and Skip past helping hermas Mora and defeat him through regular means, but within the lore you would not have been able to defeat him without Hermes Mora's help. It's funny, because I remember writing a fanfiction based off of this concept of an alternate ending, and how the situation would go something like this. The last dragonborn is preoccupied with the idea that Alduin is a much bigger threat to the world, so The last dragonborn travels to sovngarde while in the meantime Miraak makes his move in escaping apocrypha to establish his ruling over nirn. In this fanfiction story of mine, I explained that while the last dragonborn is within sovngarde, time moves slower because it's the realm of the gods, but outside on nirn, time flows a little bit faster, which allows Miraak to take over both solstheim and Skyrim in what seems like a relatively short period of time, and during this time miraak essentially takes advantage of the civil war and essentially bends the will of both factions stormcloaks and the imperials to his will in order to maintain his control over each hold, they all tried to fight him, but his Ben will shout was too strong. The dragons also tried to fight him, but again has been Will shout was too strong, and he was able to do this by taking over the people of Skyrim and forcing them to building more shrines for himself using the standing stones and getting the people under his control, effectively changing the entire landscape of both Skyrim and Solstheim under his direct control. So when the last dragonborn returns, there's another foe that he needs to defeat when he returns to nirn. People actually really loved this version of events in the comment sections that I've posted it in. I was just writing it for fun and the passion for the lore and wanted to provide an alternate ending that made Miraak seem far more powerful than what we were given within the game. I never did finish that story, but a lot of people loved it and wanted me to continue, I'm pretty good at writing some stories, but there are some directions in a story that I'm not so good at, and I was trying to see if other writers were willing to help in continuing the story to give the story a more varied in depth storyline then what I provided, but unfortunately I wasn't able to Garner much support, I guess not a whole lot of people are very creative or they just want you to finish it. I could very well have finished it, but I wanted to get help in making the story a lot more epic, because I was also running into somewhat writer's block, and I ended up going into some other fanfiction stories unrelated to the elder scrolls games. I apologize for all the typos, I'm using my phone and it's very difficult to fix all the errors.
I think it would be great to do a villainpedia of each daedric princes or at least the more evil ones like Mehrunes Dagon with the Oblivion Crisis or Molag Bal
@@dylan__dog true. Dagon is more like a chaotic force of nature (which may explain the Crimson Dawn's beliefs, they see him the same way the DB see Sithis) in comparison to Bal, the literal lord of torture and a word that looks like rope (since youtube randomly censors words now)
@@alpharius2omegaboogaloo384 yet Dagon is also the embodiment of hope, ambition and rebellion against authority and tyranny Dagon is, like the guy above said, chaotic, but not evil
The comparison to Star Wars goes even further if you count The Last Dragonborn as Luke Skywalker, The Last Dragonborn fights against Miraak while Hermaeus Mora watches, knowing that he will win in the end no matter what, just as Luke fought Vader in front of the Emperor. This is different however in the sense that this is more of a dark ending where The Last Dragonborn submits to Hermaeus Mora, which could have easily happened in Star Wars if Luke turned to the dark side.
Bugthesda took Elder Scrolls from the complex, multi layered Nerevarine prophecy, Tribunal & Dagoth Ur to imitating Star Wars. Really went down hill in their story writing.
Miraak was underused. Should have been in the base game, but not something you could fight until the end. Honestly, this is a problem TES games have had for a long time, the villains usually aren't very engaging.
Having to meet one antagonist in multiple points of the game really makes some great tension but seeing alduin was not cool because hes motivations and philosophy was lacking. Maybe there could have been amazing trinity of the dragonborn, alduin and miraak. Like at first miraak wants to use alduins power, then when miraak sees dragonborns potential he tries to work with (in reality use and betray) the dragonborn too to get adluins soul to himself. Then after you killing alduin you need to face miraak too. I really liked the oblivions head cult leader but in oblivion too, cyrodiil never seemed to be in any real danger. In the battle of bruma there was like 10 daedra only and not many more in the imperial city. In skyrim you don´t really see alduin do anything bad and dragons rarely even attack big cities.
I think part of the reason for that is because there is no urgent Rush 2 finish any missions in the game. Every Quest starts when you start it, and you can pretty much leave any Quest and do something else for a while and come back to the other Quest only for it to not progress at all while you were gone. Because of this, there is no precedent in defeating the main protagonist with enough urgency where you might have to fight your battles unprepared. This game allows you to prepare for every Quest with many different side quests to properly hone your skills, so that when you fight the big bad guys, it's like they were not much of a threat. Because you're overly prepared by the time you meet them. There is a mod on the Nexus that's basically permits that the end of the world will happen within a year, and if you have a mod that advances time while you do stuff, if you do not kill Alduin in a certain time frame, the world will end as the world eater will win and the end times will be here. That is the only mod I know of that does this. If there was an urgency just like this for all the other quests was in Skyrim, then it would make the player prioritize certain missions over others causing an alternate ending for some of these quests. And in some cases, this type of outcome would be a cause for a better story.
"Mr. Miraak, any comment on how you called the dragonborn weak in your speech, as your dying by their hand?" Miraak: "uhhhh, your not supposed to be here, actually."
It took me time to realize that the dragonborn pretty much only exist because Akatosh couldn't be bothered with keeping his children in check and instead thrusted that burden upon the mortals for them to sort out themselves.
@@kp-legacy-5477not all of them akatosh is an exception because he has the soul of anu-iel who has the soul of anu and even if he's broken down to a billion peices he still outclass every god(daedric/aedric) heck even a full potential dragonborne could ascend to godhood (Tiber septim and wulfhaurt for example, then being dragonbornes also played a role in the talos oversoul+shezzrin stuff)
Miraak also has his own unique 4 word shout, Zii Los Dii Du which translates to something roughly as “Your Soul is Mine to Devour” the only 4 word shout.
"May he be rewarded for his service as I am" was a really deep cut. This man is impaled by a tentacle like a goddamn magical girl anime and he's still insulting you.
1 thing. Dragon Blood simply makes it quick and easy to use the Thu'um. Normal mortals got access to the art also via The Dragon God. Unlike the player, learning the reality bending language demands Many, many, *MANY* years of training.
Only Nords have the racially exclusive and innate ability to learn the Thu'um and it's exactly as you say only by years of training The in-game lore also confirms this when Ulfric himself says: "Any Nord with training can learn the Thu'um" The only other way for a non Nord to have the ability to use the Thu'um is they must be born with it as a dragonborn
@@rejvaik00 i think all races can shout, at least men (not sure about mer but there is one story about nurarion the perfect, but i think he received the power from clavicus vile), though nords are culturally invested in it and practice it while other races do not care enough as it is very time consuming and requires much dedication and practice. though pre-skyrim it was definitely a nord/dragonborn only thing
@@rejvaik00 it isn't, there are multiple examples of other races having tonal magic that is similar to the thu'um, such as sword singing, tonal architecture, greenspeaking, twilight cantors, etc, that can be learned by other races. some races have more of an affinity to certain things, and nords have an affinity to the thu'um. other races CAN learn the thu'um, it just takes that much more dedication and practice. it's the same way how other races can learn about tonal architecture, even though they aren't dwemer, or how other races can learn sword singing, even though they arent redguards. it's a technique really, one that requires a lifetime to learn (for those without a talent), and another to start to master. the ebony warrior is a redguard and can shout and nurarion the perfect is an altmer who could shout. those are two specific examples, but i'd really argue the issue is that culturally, the greybeards 1) want paarthunax kept a secret 2) want people to believe the thu'um was a gift from kyne in order to preserve #1 3) don't like teaching non-nords. en.uesp.net/wiki/General:Michael_Kirkbride%27s_Posts "Can races besides Nords learn the Thu'um? Yes. This should be clear from TESV: Skyrim. Also, contrary to popular belief, the Thu’um may have been granted to the Nords by Kyne, but it did not originate with her. Rather, the Thu’um is a special subset of a greater power, and one of the weaker ones at that."
Can we talk about how Akatosh has 2 rebellious sons like creates the literal eater if worlds and it just goes "ehhhhh but what if I ruled them instead" then you create the dragonborn to stop Alduin and they're just like "ehhhhhh this tentacle monster is kinda cool, peace out"
I believe there are meant to be parallels with the closing DLC of Oblivion. The hero of that game was caught up in Sheogorath’s games and made to be his successor, it’s implied Skyrim’s Sheogorath is the same hero, now the god of madness. How unfortunate would it be, if at the end of civilization when ES6 comes out, some quest with Hermaeus Mora pits you up against a unique servant, the only Dragonborn in the game, a mere puppet of a higher power?
Awesome video and some cool points about how Miraak turned his back on prophecy and how eventually, The Last Dragonborn took his place :) I think I would love a video on Dormin from Shadow of the Colossus wanting to be resurrected and using the main character, or Kreia from KOTOR 2 wanting to destroy the Force/free the universe from the Force's influence.
14:00 you know, based on info we’re were given by the creators. I think this is what the dev team of the Skyrim: Extended Cut are trying to accomplish when they said they’re are trying to work it out where they were giving Miraak a larger presence into the game by tying him to the main quest
just a tip on a thing some people of tes community believe, miraak did not almost died against the dragon priest, he was locked on because he could not be defeated, as hermaeus mora had the knowledge about the dragonborn powera even before the first dragonborn himself, mora knew only a dragon or a another dragonborn could kill him and really claim his soul, remember the quest of molag bal where it calims the soul of the boethiah priest? why mora needed us dragonborn in first place to finish him? miraak was in mora oblivion realm, a place where mora was the sovereign, the absolute ruler, and yet miraak was doing whatever he wanted, even defying herma mora, only akatosh can claim a dragons souls as they are part of him in first place,if you want, just learn about it on akatosh creation history, dragons are fragments of its overflowing existence, so are the dragonborn soul as its just a dragon soul inside a mortal body with dragon blood, and to finalize this idead just remember even if mora kill miraak it is us who absorb miraak soul together with all other dragon souls he had, not mora but us, the dragonborn, miraak was a broken toy for mora, so he need a new one capable of really killing once for all the old annoying toy, thats also a explanation as to why our character can mess with all other daedric princes without any consequence, molag bal does not even treat us about claiming our soul, molag just outright treat us to die by the hands of another servant of his that will take the mace from us, also other daedric princes behave like that, remember the azura owned the nerevar, and sheogorath essence possessed the champion of cyrodill, but its different with dragonborn, no one claimed his soul, even mora kept miraak alive for centuries because he could not claim his soul, but by owning the last living dragonborn that absorbed miraak he could keep miraak soul for himself in some sense, mora does not like to lose, even miraak warned us that mora just wanted to use us, well a texted a lot, for anyone who actually read this thing, thank you hahaha.
I would definitely watch a series that you could call Aedrapedia and Daedrapedia, for example. As soon as I started watching this I desperately wanted a Hermaeus Mora video, then I realised I'm not that familiar with the rest of them either. Would be keen if you are! The same with the Nine too. I like this layout.
I'm doing a Dwemer racs playthrough similar to Mirraaks story. It's pretty fun. He's a Dwemer Battlesmith. A expert warrior who was also obsessed with knowlege in all categories mostly that of combat prowess, anything warrior and eventually magic related despite the spite he recieved of his peers who did not believe in magic much other than use as tools. So after many years he decides to leave his Dwemer city in Hammerfel in search of more knowlege and perfecting himself as a warrior in all aspects be it magic or metal. He reads a book about the Daedra. He learns more in depth of Hermaeous Mora whom is obsessed with secret knowlege. He seeks him out. And that's where the story starts.
I really don't understand how Bethesda didn't get the voice actors who played Delphine, Esbern, Arngeir, Paarthurnax, or Alduin to record some additional dialogue about Miraak. His cultists attack as soon as the player completes the quest "The Way of the Voice" early in the main story. There are now two re-releases of this game that include the DLC and don't acknowledge this massive plot hole.
I like how you do a little reminder/informative bit on general things in the games so that even people who aren't familiar with the character/setting have a leg in. Also I can now say I've watched your whole library, thus far. :D
Love these villainpedias. I can’t wait to start getting some heroes and even others. Nerevar, Talos, Sheo or any of the daedra, lorkhan himself or even vivec would all be so nice to see broke down like this
I love this series, keep it up bro, much love. Just going through breakup with my girlfriend and its the only thing keeping me not crying in my free time. Thanks
It would've been cool if there was some path to convince Miraak to give up his old wonder conquering ideas and join up with you instead. I wanted to screw over Daedra in a playthrough, and it sucks that we can't pull a giant "fuck you" to Hermaes Mora like stealing his champion from his realm. Woulda been cool to have a fellow dragonborn as a companion.
@Jusey1 Um... Sorry I dont know literally everything about the lore, I only said that because when I saw this video I had jus finished the main story in ESO and saw when he was in Cold Harbour suffering forever after his betrayal of Molag Bal, thats all, chill
I've just discovered your channel and it's probably the best example of a weird time thing with videos. Your 10 minute videos feel like they're 30mins+ (in a good way) But your 30mins+ videos feel like 10 minutes.
For your following video, I suggest M'aiq the Liar. Telling bare-faced lies and benefiting from them throughout eons of time makes him the ultimate evil for Villainpedia.
Would've been cool if you could side with him, like you could side with Elijah in Dead money in FNV. Edit: ALSO, it almost seems as if he was supposed to be in main game at some point, rather then locked in a DLC.
Miraak companion is a great mod, and gives a great alternate ending in defeating him. And could also make for a great alternate story of having him help aid you on your quest to defeat Alduin. I was attempting to do this with the ebony warrior as well to take on my journey. Having them both come with me to skaldofin killing draugr deathlordz as well as the dragons guarding the portal to sovngarde. The interesting thing but nobody ever really talks about, is how this portal was constructed to sovngarde. In the game it's always assumed that it was always there, but I believe that it was constructed through the aid of Alduin and perhaps some very skilled Mages that he ruled over within that time in history. And perhaps at the time the draugrs were really just devout priests was very powerful abilities and shouts to Aid him in battle.
Idk why but some of my fave villains are: Wind Waker's Ganondorf, King Dedede (for the meme of it), Wolf McDonnell from StarFox, and Giovanni from Pokemon (HeartGold/SoulSilver gives him a lot more depth), But I might just be a Nintendo junkie haha.
7:15 This reminds me of the idea of Christ as Second Adam (Christ fulfilling the covenant that Adam failed in). Probably wasn't intended, but is a pretty strong idea in mythology in general, so might have been an influence. The gap being about 4000 years for both is also kinda interesting
It would actually be rather interesting if there was a game that had to do with the beginning of the Earth, that would basically tell a Bible story but it would allow the player freedom of choice to get a certain outcome within the overall story. I doubt that game would ever be made though.
Man you are fucking underrated this series is an awesome idea you deserve a lot more views I just cannot believe it I first I thought it said 877K cause my brain would not accepts anything else LOL. I hope to see more of these Villainpedia videos and look forward to even more within the Elder Scrolls lore. Great stuff man.
Your wrong at the beginning about the Dragonborn any nord can learn the thuum but only the Dragonborn can absorb there souls. They are a mortal with the soul of a dragon. But apart from that great video love lore videos. Keep this series going forever lol.
For the first time in almost 20 years of studying TES lore, I finally saw a historically precise map of ancient Tamriel - Solstheim still as a part of the continent -.
Love these videos. Just found them with the dagoth one. I'm going to spam it but I'd love to see this done for the metal gear villains. Feel like its ripe with content for you and you buttery voice.
Being dragon born is not simply being able to shout…everyone can shout with time and devotion. What makes DBs different is the fact they can learn to shout very quickly and have a stronger voice naturally than those who have studied a long time!
I love these videos! I enjoy getting lost in elder scrolls lore, since being introduced to the game 2 years ago. These videos are just detailed enough to get immersed in, but not too dense where you get sick of them half way through lol
this series is seriously so good, please keep it up. Would love to see more Elder Scrolls entries, I think the way you explain background lore while adding your own twists and opinions is so engaging.
I believe Vahlock did not win through sheer power. I believe he won through sacrificing soldiers and used his magic in order to defeat him. Another explanation is that Miraak grew arrogant with how much more powerful he was compared to Vahlock and Vahlock punished him for it and putting him on the backfoot and putting him in the need to flee. Either way I do not believe Vahlock was stronger than Miraak.
"Miraak is basically a sentient player character in the Mythical Era who chose not to do the Main Storyline of his game, which was full of choices and freedom to do whatever. One who chose to just chill-out and free-roam in Solstheim/The very north of skyrim and then to Apocrypha to explore it. The Last Dragonborn was the programmed NPC that is forced to do the main storyline. his game has no choice, *he has to do so* " (Very Long Side-Note: If Bethesda's writing in Story-Telling was fantastic, Like how it was in Morrowind with Vivec. With him Explaining to the Neveraine ((The player in TES III)) when asked why he wouldn't fight back, if the incarnate attacked him (paraphrased): "Not only am I racked with guilt for betraying your trust, your word and for murdering you. Which I lament, With each and every single day that passes for what I did to you at the heart of the mountain, Alongside Almalxia and Sotha. But I know that It would be futile and all for naught, for I know you could just simply turn back time at will ((Its never directly explained _why_ he can, but I like to believe it's either the will of Azura or A after-effect from the blast when Kagrenac first struck the heart, lore wise)). To avoid the pain that I inflict upon you and never-endingly persist till you do succeed in doing so. Always knowing That I could never succeed in killing you again, if I even could or would want to. But unlike you, who avoids the pain I inflict on you in those fights: With each and every single time you take a swing, stab or use your magics upon me; I will always feel that pain, everytime. There is no escape nor avoidance from it" ((This is obviously in reference to the player character: saving and reloading)). They could've done a similar opportunity with Miraak, to do some really sick burns and put salt in the wound, make him truly feel superior to him: "Inferior Dragonborn, you come to me and at my own home. Thinking that you are a free-man: A man who can choose to do what he wants, when he wants. One who can follow his own destiny. But in reality to what you are: you are nothing but to be made a mere glorified serf, a Slave. Bound to his pre-made destiny by his superior masters, A proverbial chess piece. always moved and forced to do the will of others to the letter but never his own. For I *am* your superior, For I broke the chains of destiny that have both binded and were set before me, choosed my own path in life. For unlike you; I have freely chose to serve Mora upon my own Accord. However when the time comes for us to finally fight: For I know, You will be forced to be made Mora's servant. To seek the knowledge to able to defeat or match me in combat. For you *are* my lesser". _Death Rattle_ "And here you are, Servant of Heronimus. I die, A true free-man who choosed his own Fate......Can you say the same, O'Great Slayer of the World-Eater?")
Besides all this; I kinda personally wanted Dragonborn, to be more so about Hircine and The blood-Moon. Basically a part 2, it was already pretty much set up for'em to do; It's a new era, hircine's hunt of the isle didn't start yet. Could've made A Great werewolf dlc to compliment Dawnguard's vampire dlc and make it also a good throwback. The story also could've been finally about ending His Enteral Hunt on the isle once a Era (or you could be his champion instead; being rewarded by either being a super-charged Where-thing of choice or get a older-games styled Saviours Hide: nearly-OP, As fuck) so much, more could have been done. In my opinion.
Imagine being trap just outside of the material plain wielding the power of the Dragonborn at its fullest, armed with forbidden knowledges, studying all you could of the arcane arts as well as the world for thousands of years, biding you time for the moment you can potentially use it after careful and precise planning.... And then some over encumbered asshole slowly walks up and beats the absolute brakes off of you while stuffing their face.
My favorite thing about the end of Dragonborn, was getting Hermaeus Mora to finish filling out my punch card of Daedric Princes I'd sold my soul to over the course of Skyrim.
Wish we got more stories from the other dragon priests as well. We get some information from the likes of Hevnoraak, Rahgot, Otar, Vahlok and Morokei. Nahkriin clearly is of high standing by guarding the portal to sovengarde. Ahzidal has probably the most information to go on besides Miraak himself, but the rest are vague and up to speculation of their origins and current circumstances in the game. Instead what we mostly get is dangly spooky men with magic and masks.
Honestly though, I do like that many of the dragon priests are blank slate bosses while a select few get incredible backstories (Miraak, Morokei, Vahlok, etc). It somewhat helps flesh out the idea that the TES world is bigger than you'll ever know. You'll never get the full story of every dragon priest, and you're left to imagine what you can. Morokei got some nice screen time in ESO too. Had me giggling like a kid when the one-and-only Morokei popped up to yell at me.
Miraak: "Here in my temple, I just bent the will of this new Dragon. It's fun to fly around the skies of Apocrypha here in this Daedric Plane of Oblivion. But do you know what I like more than materialistic things? *Knowledge*, the Forbidden Knowledge of Apocrypha."
I absolutely devoured all your ...-pedia videos, but somehow I missed this one so it's time to change that. Thanks for making these, it is so fantastic to revisit old friends and foes from years ago. I love your videos so much, can't wait for the next one.
Miraak: yeah i could’ve killed Alduin but uhh I was a lil busy
i was uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..
ay square up dragonborn
hey it's not his fault, he was just doing some sidequests smh
Nah he was just min maxing his build
Suddenly on my second playthrough of the game I can sympathize with Miraak so much.
@@basedbattledroid3507 Suddenly on my 237th playthrough i can sympathize Miraak as of why he chose to abandon the main quest and choose side quests.
You forgot to mention Herma Mora's most powerful ability, not allowing you to skip his dialogue lol
It takes him 200 years to talk
Unfortunately, most, if not all Daedric Princes have this powerful ability.
"A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON!"
NO PLEASE NOT AGAIN
Herma OH YOU LEARNING THIS SHIT Mora
Hermaeus Mora; Prince of Knowledge, The Keeper of Secrets, and He Who Kills Speedruns.
Miraaks story is what happens when the MC has consequences and decides to do side quests only
That is the most horrifying idea I have ever heard.
Im waiting for a game to use that concept as a plot device.
MC?
It's not considered a side quest if you are honinh your skills in the form of knowledge for miraaks case before he attempts to take on the world.
However miraak was maybe a bit too confident in his ability to not only take on the dragon cult but also his old dragon masters at the same time before gaining all his knowledge first.
And that's why Mora saved miraak and pulled him within apocrypha befor his defeat.
@@Kenlac92 legend of Zelda Majora's mask did do this insanely well where actually doing side quest not only progress the story but also helps you gameplay wise.
I could've slain Alduin
Proof: Trust me bro
sources: my ass
@@Ghostcharm TBF, he did have a shout that could one shot dragons and drain their health for himself. Sure, it probably wouldn't have insta killed Alduin, but it almost definitely would have hurt him quite a bit. Add that to his ability to summon Daedric creatures via Hermaeus Mora's assistance and I think it's Game Over for Alduin.
@@smitefulaxe1344 it's likely he developed that shout whilst inside of Apocrypha
@@smitefulaxe1344 yes but that was used against regular dragons. Alduin is the World Eater, a draconic semi-god of death. No normal dragon. It likely would have been as useless against Alduin as a training or rusty arrow fired by a novice archer with a plain basic longbow. Or a fire spell against a flame atronach.
@@smitefulaxe1344 it is very likely that it's not even a shout. It's more like a command to his dragon followers for them to give up their souls. Don't quote me on that though. I might be wrong
The player Dragonborne had to grind shitty dungeons but Miraak just got a daedric lovecraftian sugar daddy and a library card
Sir this is a Wendy's
I wouldn't necessarily say that, he had to hone his skills to.
First he had to hone his skills as a dragon priest through the dragons, which means he had to learn the language as well as learn some magic.
And while on his quest for knowledge he ran into a little black book somewhere insults time, which he opened up to find apocrypha we're hermaeus Mora approached him and then that's when the relationship changed, and Miraak abandoned the Dov For Hire knowledge through hermaeus Mora.
But Miraak was overconfident within his capability to handle the dragons and subdue Alduin for his own purpose.
Miraak was not prepared as he thought he was, when vahlok in a legion of dragons came after him at his temple with Solstheim where they almost defeated him, as hermaeus Mora saved him and pulled him with in apocrypha where he became hermaeus Mora's loyal servant.
And as Miraak was his loyal servant, he began to feel like he got enough power so that he could return, but hermaeus Mora didn't want him to leave, so Miraak learned everything he could so that he could escape from apocrypha.
Then the last Dragonborn showed up, and showed a much higher skill and ability then Miraak.
But I believe that's kind of backwards when it comes to the story.
I personally believe that Miraak should have been much stronger than the last Dragonborn, especially with the centuries of knowledge he had under his belt with in apocrypha.
He shouldn't have been so easily defeated and he should have been given a much larger campaign for the last Dragonborn to defeat.
This comment is an underrated masterpiece.
Dude he had to get fucked by dragons to learn those abilities
Every player deals with the Daedric Princess like a harem anime what do you mean lol
Miraak really was just chilling underground on solstheim during the events of morrowind huh
Dagoth Ur was a god. How could he kill a god? smh what grand and intoxicating innocence...
@@lakesidefiddle8051 yeah, he just wanted nerevar to look upon the heart
There was no recall or intervention in that place. There was no escape.
@@lakesidefiddle8051 Shame on you, sweet (first) Dragonborn
He wasn't underground. He was in a plane of Oblivion, probably reading a book.
Alternate Ending: You refuse to kill Miraak. Hermaus Mora gets angry and begins shooting the Dragonborn with purple lightning. Miraak then gets up and throws Hermaus More down a reactor shaft.
Er... actually, nevermind.
You can also use Bend Will shout about 6 times I believe and it'll get Miraak as a Companion thru the Fight
At the end he can become a Follower
@@paulywoodtheprince*IF you have mod for that, but yeah
Miraak turned his back on his destiny to slay and enslave dragons for his own gain just like the dragon born turned his back on his/her destiny in favor of crafting endless potions and iron daggers.
The parallels are uncanny....
I sincerely believe Dragon Aspect shout is basically super saiyan for dragonborns, thus the fight between our dragonborn and miraak mustve been absolutely EPIC
not nearly enough yelling though
@@Ghostcharm are you kidding its literally called shouting XD
@@albertluttig1974 That changes nothing. Still not enough yelling
(jk)
@@albertluttig1974 they should’ve reduced the CD on shouts during the fight with Miraak. That would’ve made it more epic.
@@smolaether oh absolutely they should have
Miraak felt more like the main villain than Alduin. Bethesda has this thing for making a fun, but weak in writing game and then come out with a really well written and fun DLC. It happened twice, the Dragonborn dlc and then the Far Harbor dlc. Both having some really good writing and pretty much answering all the critiques in the main game.
''I could've slain Alduin myself''
Dude got absolutely bodied by a dragon priest, so good luck fighting Alduin buddy
Edit: Guys stop making stupid comments and deleting them, at least stick by your argument
That’s more. Of testament to vahlocks power if anything. Miraak could have definitely beaten alduin
@@Riqq44 That's really interesting, but I disagree
@@the-annoyinator oh I was. Trying be disrespectful or anything 😭
@@the-annoyinator ?
@@Riqq44 So are you implying that the Jailor is stronger than Alduin, and implying that he wouldn't also try to overthrow the dragons with this power? Miraak was Dragonborn I don't think he'd be weaker than Vahlok
Something that should be mentioned about Miraak's power and knowledge, is that he ascended his understanding of the Thu'um to a new level that the Last Dragonborn doesn't have: the four worded shout "Zii Los Di Du", the shout he uses on his dragon servants to forcibly tear their souls from their living body to recover his strengths and wounds, and his ability to command a soul of the dragons you've slain to be absorbed by him. Miraak would've been the most devastating character if he arrived on Tamriel, the power to bend the will of earth, livings things and dragons to his command, and when it suites him, tear a dragon's soul from its living body. Nothing would've stopped him, his arrogance was what got him cornered with Herma Mora watching him try to escape and the Last Dragonborn coming to end his plans and him.
@Instinct I mean, the PC may be the protagonist, but very rarely the hero.
@Instinct
I think he just means the amount of time we've messed with time for the sole purpose of killing Nazeem.
On the other hand though, the elder scrolls has total freedom in regards to morality (other than quest design of course) so you can have an absolutely abhorrent disgusting fiend be the last dragonborn. Sure you kill Alduin to save the world, but that is comparable to a mafioso killing the boss cause the business he was doing would kill them all.
Basically just cause you kill Alduin doesn't make you heroic, however it does technically make you a hero, as now you've saved all the future sacrifices to daedric princes and soul gem fuel in the world.
and the last dragonborn has that power now since he absorbed Miraak's soul.
it's not a shout, it's an order.
Considering that Miraak has to say the dragon's name in that shout, technically it's a seven word shout since dragon names are shouts themselves.
It's my own theory that Miraak was becoming so much of a threat that the entire Dragon Cult got together, made an incredibly overpowered mask, picked their most powerful priest to wield it and sicced him on Miraak, Vahlok defeated Miraak and since he was loyal to the cult he gave the mask back to them to keep on their vault in Bromjunaar and then accepted the duty of Jailer to keep an eye on things. The cult kept the mask just on the off-chance that Miraak comes back.
Konahrik is Vahlok's mask and he wielded its overwhelming power to beat Miraak way back when.
Miraak defied his dragon masters for personal power, Defied his people then Akatosh when he refused to kill Alduin. Finally he defied his new master in hermaeus mora. Miraak is the personification of living in dissonance with the natural world. Whenever a fate lay in front of him, he denied it out of spite and personal gain. I'm not a huge Elder Scrolls lore junky. I've read some of it. But these sorts of stories seem to come up a lot. That in the ElderScrolls universe there's a "Right way to live". Venturing away from that leads to dark places where powerful predators lay in wait to take advantage of the selfish. Miraak seems like the embodiment of that theme.
Massively underrated Villain... i sometimes wish Bethesda would just put the spectacle behind their Villains and go deeper into them. Miraak felt cut short.
I always thought that "seeking knowledge" was a huge overarching theme when it comes to The Elder Scrolls. After all that's how you level up: practice skills, learn, get stronger. That being said the Dragonborn is quite vulnerable, maybe even uniquely so, to the pursuit of knowledge. Fitting, then, that Hermaus Mora seeks to claim them.
Which is why I believe that Miraak should have bean, a much larger threat on the last Dragonborn.
However Bethesda seemed to have screwed that up royally.
Miraak was not much of a threat to the last Dragonborn.
@@5226-p1e I disagree. Although the Miraak we encounter wasn’t nearly as powerful as he might have been, the method by which Bethesda presented him was perfect. We encounter him not when he is about to conquer Tamriel, but when he is still building up his strength. Miraak is a threat we must eliminate now, before he grows too powerful to stop. It makes perfect sense, and prevents the overbuilding of expectations.
@@stubbydingo6901
So my comments had more to do with the fact that he was within Apocrypha for roughly 4,000 years honing his skills alongside hermaus Mora.
Maybe time stood still and it felt like time wasn't passing, or perhaps time was passing and because he didn't age while within apocrypha, you can only assume that he did far more research within apocrypha, and there is evidence of this of course.
One example is he was able to create his own shout that literally kills dragons, although it's possible that Hermes Mora created that shout as well as the shout to bend the will of a dragon.
However he had a lot of other abilities that not even the last dragonborn after defeating him could obtain for himself.
For example, he had the ability to steal a dragon's soul from The last dragonborn to him while he was within another dimension of apocrypha, while at the same time being completely invincible if the dragonborn tried to attack him.
He also had the ability to force people to build his shrines during the times when they were supposed to be asleep, and it wasn't just one or two people in the village it was multiple people in a village and various parts of the island.
He created himself some worshipers and caretakers or cultists as they were better known.
however I suppose that he was weaker while within apocrypha, and it's possible that Hermes Mora gave the player more capability to handle a fight against Miraak, meaning that it was quite possibly a boost in strength that Hermes Mora gave the last dragonborn in order to fight against the first dragonborn.
Everybody who has played the game has been able to beat mirak no problem, but that's because of game reasons, they only had one ending created for this story arc, they could have created an alternate ending, one where he escapes and is far more powerful then the last dragonborn, story wise I had an idea of how this could end more epically and could extend the story to a far better ending than what was provided.
But of course that was just a fanfiction of mine, people in the comment section seem to have loved it, but it's been a while since I've thought about that story arc so I can only tell you bits and pieces about it.
@@5226-p1e But who’s to say that he spent all this time perfecting his combat capabilities? Apocrypha is a dimension of knowledge, but said knowledge doesn’t necessarily produce a better fighter.
I think it’s also quite possible that he spent the majority of his time in Apocrypha learning how to bend others to his will, rather than making himself more powerful. His actions throughout the DLC prove this: he creates the Bend Will shout, captures a dragon, makes the creatures of Apocrypha serve him, and hypnotized people across Solstheim.
My understanding of the situation was that, because he was so preoccupied with building his forces and learning how to control them, he lacked the capacity to actually engage in combat with another powerful being.
@@stubbydingo6901
Yes I suppose that could be a possibility, however he didn't create the bend Will shout, that was Hermes mora.
But it could be attributed to what you are talking about, in the game he doesn't fight you with weapons found within the world, he is stuck fighting you with weapons created from within apocrypha and zero armor except for his mask when he fights the player.
He's wearing robes to fight you, the player in almost all playthroughs is typically wearing some amount of armor, where he is just wearing robes that have a few special enchantments on them that give special boons alongside his shouts.
You also have to consider this, Hermes Mora was significantly getting annoyed by Miraak, and he wanted a new champion, however I find that story arc to be kind of mediocre, because he essentially wanted to get rid of his protege that he has had within his realm serving him for however many years he's been with him.
Only to trade him up for the last dragonborn who doesn't really serve Hermes mora in a direct way.
Basically the last dragonborn has all the freedom to leave Apocrypha and do whatever he damn well pleases within the world of nirn after fighting against Miraak who was essentially spreading the word of hermas Mora, sure through the dialogue you can essentially say that Hermes Mora is your lord, however you can also deny him, and he will still help you defeat Miraak.
Speaking about the dialogue, Hermes Mora mentions within the story that you have no hope in defeating Miraak without his help, which suggests that he gave the last dragonborn not only shouts but was able to match the last dragonborn power alongside Miraak's full power.
This is all established within the lore, I'm not saying that in the game you can't beat him without it, you probably can no problem if you were to use some console commands and Skip past helping hermas Mora and defeat him through regular means, but within the lore you would not have been able to defeat him without Hermes Mora's help.
It's funny, because I remember writing a fanfiction based off of this concept of an alternate ending, and how the situation would go something like this.
The last dragonborn is preoccupied with the idea that Alduin is a much bigger threat to the world, so The last dragonborn travels to sovngarde while in the meantime Miraak makes his move in escaping apocrypha to establish his ruling over nirn.
In this fanfiction story of mine, I explained that while the last dragonborn is within sovngarde, time moves slower because it's the realm of the gods, but outside on nirn, time flows a little bit faster, which allows Miraak to take over both solstheim and Skyrim in what seems like a relatively short period of time, and during this time miraak essentially takes advantage of the civil war and essentially bends the will of both factions stormcloaks and the imperials to his will in order to maintain his control over each hold, they all tried to fight him, but his Ben will shout was too strong.
The dragons also tried to fight him, but again has been Will shout was too strong, and he was able to do this by taking over the people of Skyrim and forcing them to building more shrines for himself using the standing stones and getting the people under his control, effectively changing the entire landscape of both Skyrim and Solstheim under his direct control.
So when the last dragonborn returns, there's another foe that he needs to defeat when he returns to nirn.
People actually really loved this version of events in the comment sections that I've posted it in.
I was just writing it for fun and the passion for the lore and wanted to provide an alternate ending that made Miraak seem far more powerful than what we were given within the game.
I never did finish that story, but a lot of people loved it and wanted me to continue, I'm pretty good at writing some stories, but there are some directions in a story that I'm not so good at, and I was trying to see if other writers were willing to help in continuing the story to give the story a more varied in depth storyline then what I provided, but unfortunately I wasn't able to Garner much support, I guess not a whole lot of people are very creative or they just want you to finish it.
I could very well have finished it, but I wanted to get help in making the story a lot more epic, because I was also running into somewhat writer's block, and I ended up going into some other fanfiction stories unrelated to the elder scrolls games.
I apologize for all the typos, I'm using my phone and it's very difficult to fix all the errors.
I think it would be great to do a villainpedia of each daedric princes or at least the more evil ones like Mehrunes Dagon with the Oblivion Crisis or Molag Bal
Most definitely on the list
Molag is truly evil but Dagon is not
@@dylan__dog Dagon just likes killing people and breaking things.
@@dylan__dog true. Dagon is more like a chaotic force of nature (which may explain the Crimson Dawn's beliefs, they see him the same way the DB see Sithis) in comparison to Bal, the literal lord of torture and a word that looks like rope (since youtube randomly censors words now)
@@alpharius2omegaboogaloo384 yet Dagon is also the embodiment of hope, ambition and rebellion against authority and tyranny
Dagon is, like the guy above said, chaotic, but not evil
Lore wise all the boss fights were way more intense then they were in the game
The mod that lets you fight Herma Mora together and have Miraak as a follower is one of my favourite mods, he's such a cool character
The comparison to Star Wars goes even further if you count The Last Dragonborn as Luke Skywalker, The Last Dragonborn fights against Miraak while Hermaeus Mora watches, knowing that he will win in the end no matter what, just as Luke fought Vader in front of the Emperor. This is different however in the sense that this is more of a dark ending where The Last Dragonborn submits to Hermaeus Mora, which could have easily happened in Star Wars if Luke turned to the dark side.
well said. nice profile picture too my man - kotor 1 is my favorite videogame ever made :) thanks for watching!
@@Ghostcharm KOTOR 1 is your favorite game!? Your taste is pure perfection, dude!
@@Ghostcharm Why not cover some of those characters, would love your take on them.
Bugthesda took Elder Scrolls from the complex, multi layered Nerevarine prophecy, Tribunal & Dagoth Ur to imitating Star Wars. Really went down hill in their story writing.
I watched your Vilainpedia you made for Dagoth and I loved it ! Didn't think you'd continue doing theses, but you made my day ! Cheers
More on the way!
Miraak was underused. Should have been in the base game, but not something you could fight until the end. Honestly, this is a problem TES games have had for a long time, the villains usually aren't very engaging.
Having to meet one antagonist in multiple points of the game really makes some great tension but seeing alduin was not cool because hes motivations and philosophy was lacking. Maybe there could have been amazing trinity of the dragonborn, alduin and miraak. Like at first miraak wants to use alduins power, then when miraak sees dragonborns potential he tries to work with (in reality use and betray) the dragonborn too to get adluins soul to himself. Then after you killing alduin you need to face miraak too. I really liked the oblivions head cult leader but in oblivion too, cyrodiil never seemed to be in any real danger. In the battle of bruma there was like 10 daedra only and not many more in the imperial city. In skyrim you don´t really see alduin do anything bad and dragons rarely even attack big cities.
I think part of the reason for that is because there is no urgent Rush 2 finish any missions in the game.
Every Quest starts when you start it, and you can pretty much leave any Quest and do something else for a while and come back to the other Quest only for it to not progress at all while you were gone.
Because of this, there is no precedent in defeating the main protagonist with enough urgency where you might have to fight your battles unprepared.
This game allows you to prepare for every Quest with many different side quests to properly hone your skills, so that when you fight the big bad guys, it's like they were not much of a threat.
Because you're overly prepared by the time you meet them.
There is a mod on the Nexus that's basically permits that the end of the world will happen within a year, and if you have a mod that advances time while you do stuff, if you do not kill Alduin in a certain time frame, the world will end as the world eater will win and the end times will be here.
That is the only mod I know of that does this.
If there was an urgency just like this for all the other quests was in Skyrim, then it would make the player prioritize certain missions over others causing an alternate ending for some of these quests.
And in some cases, this type of outcome would be a cause for a better story.
bruh what dagoth ur and mankhar camoran are both great. Hell even jagar tharn is pretty good and he's the first antagonist
"Mr. Miraak, any comment on how you called the dragonborn weak in your speech, as your dying by their hand?"
Miraak: "uhhhh, your not supposed to be here, actually."
Mirrak: So the first Dragonborn meets the last Dragonbor-
Dovahkin: Onni-chan!
Mirrak: oh no.
I just become blind after seeing ur comment
I love this comment
so this is what happens when you meet miraak in a heavily modded loverslab playthrough
@@alabboop5342 :)
(modded) Miraak: Ah, watashi no imouto wa DAAAAAAAAISUKIIIIIII desu~
(gosh, what even am I typing...)
“Killed dozens of dragons”. My boy added a new pile of dragon bones below the mages guild everyday he woke up.
It took me time to realize that the dragonborn pretty much only exist because Akatosh couldn't be bothered with keeping his children in check and instead thrusted that burden upon the mortals for them to sort out themselves.
More likely the 9 gods are weak as all fuck and that this is the best akatosh could probably do
@@kp-legacy-5477not all of them akatosh is an exception because he has the soul of anu-iel who has the soul of anu and even if he's broken down to a billion peices he still outclass every god(daedric/aedric) heck even a full potential dragonborne could ascend to godhood (Tiber septim and wulfhaurt for example, then being dragonbornes also played a role in the talos oversoul+shezzrin stuff)
Miraak also has his own unique 4 word shout, Zii Los Dii Du which translates to something roughly as “Your Soul is Mine to Devour” the only 4 word shout.
"May he be rewarded for his service as I am" was a really deep cut. This man is impaled by a tentacle like a goddamn magical girl anime and he's still insulting you.
1 thing. Dragon Blood simply makes it quick and easy to use the Thu'um. Normal mortals got access to the art also via The Dragon God. Unlike the player, learning the reality bending language demands Many, many, *MANY* years of training.
Only Nords have the racially exclusive and innate ability to learn the Thu'um and it's exactly as you say only by years of training
The in-game lore also confirms this when Ulfric himself says:
"Any Nord with training can learn the Thu'um"
The only other way for a non Nord to have the ability to use the Thu'um is they must be born with it as a dragonborn
@@rejvaik00 i think all races can shout, at least men (not sure about mer but there is one story about nurarion the perfect, but i think he received the power from clavicus vile), though nords are culturally invested in it and practice it while other races do not care enough as it is very time consuming and requires much dedication and practice. though pre-skyrim it was definitely a nord/dragonborn only thing
@@Corramel no buddy it's not, it's exclusive to Nords unless you are blessed at birth by akatosh as dragon born
@@rejvaik00 it isn't, there are multiple examples of other races having tonal magic that is similar to the thu'um, such as sword singing, tonal architecture, greenspeaking, twilight cantors, etc, that can be learned by other races. some races have more of an affinity to certain things, and nords have an affinity to the thu'um. other races CAN learn the thu'um, it just takes that much more dedication and practice. it's the same way how other races can learn about tonal architecture, even though they aren't dwemer, or how other races can learn sword singing, even though they arent redguards. it's a technique really, one that requires a lifetime to learn (for those without a talent), and another to start to master.
the ebony warrior is a redguard and can shout and nurarion the perfect is an altmer who could shout. those are two specific examples, but i'd really argue the issue is that culturally, the greybeards
1) want paarthunax kept a secret
2) want people to believe the thu'um was a gift from kyne in order to preserve #1
3) don't like teaching non-nords.
en.uesp.net/wiki/General:Michael_Kirkbride%27s_Posts
"Can races besides Nords learn the Thu'um?
Yes. This should be clear from TESV: Skyrim.
Also, contrary to popular belief, the Thu’um may have been granted to the Nords by Kyne, but it did not originate with her. Rather, the Thu’um is a special subset of a greater power, and one of the weaker ones at that."
As children, we admire our heroes.
As adults, we understand our villains.
Can't hate the man too much. He was just too busy doing side quest.
Doing side quests to hone his skills, but he eventually bit off more than he could chew.
As young adults*
Actualized adults understand the necessity of both and how they interplay.
I cheer on villains
As Miraak, I totally could've killed Alduin
Love how if the Star Wars reference lines up then we all play skyrim as Obi Wan. Do a villainpedia on Blue from Pokéman
Pretty sure it's Vahlok who's the Obi-Wan in regards to Skyrim, while we pretty much play the role of Luke.
Can we talk about how Akatosh has 2 rebellious sons like creates the literal eater if worlds and it just goes "ehhhhh but what if I ruled them instead" then you create the dragonborn to stop Alduin and they're just like "ehhhhhh this tentacle monster is kinda cool, peace out"
I kind of want to see an episode on Ulysses from Fallout New Vegas
I personally think Elijah or Caesar would be really cool
@@cornonthekobi Elijah maybe but I already feel like I know what Caesar's motives are
Ulysses is not a villian, nor a "hero"
@@SourChicken1856 he's still the main antagonist of Lonesome Roads despite what his moral alignment is
@@dixierekt8096 hes more a rival to the pc
I would love a Hemaeus Mora Villainpedia, or any other evil daedric princes
Calling the daedra “evil” is kind of redundant
@@zeche8477 well kinda yeah, but on the "evil" scale I meant, like molag bal
@@raphael8951 I don’t think there is a scale. Meridia and molag bal are equally evil, molag bal is just honest about it.
@@zeche8477 makes sense
Hermaeus Mora isn't evil, he's just knowledge hungry. He doesn't want to hurt people, he just really really wants to know everything
I believe there are meant to be parallels with the closing DLC of Oblivion. The hero of that game was caught up in Sheogorath’s games and made to be his successor, it’s implied Skyrim’s Sheogorath is the same hero, now the god of madness. How unfortunate would it be, if at the end of civilization when ES6 comes out, some quest with Hermaeus Mora pits you up against a unique servant, the only Dragonborn in the game, a mere puppet of a higher power?
Haha I was thinking of Sauruman the White when you were referencing Vader
Kagrenak will return...
Miraak is TES version of Ulysses.
Your channel is criminally underrated
Awesome video and some cool points about how Miraak turned his back on prophecy and how eventually, The Last Dragonborn took his place :) I think I would love a video on Dormin from Shadow of the Colossus wanting to be resurrected and using the main character, or Kreia from KOTOR 2 wanting to destroy the Force/free the universe from the Force's influence.
14:00 you know, based on info we’re were given by the creators. I think this is what the dev team of the Skyrim: Extended Cut are trying to accomplish when they said they’re are trying to work it out where they were giving Miraak a larger presence into the game by tying him to the main quest
Yeah, even back when I first played the DLC back in 2014 I thought Miraak had a Vader vibe.
So that makes three well known pop culture characters with very similar character arches Vader, Arthas, and Miraak.
just a tip on a thing some people of tes community believe, miraak did not almost died against the dragon priest, he was locked on because he could not be defeated, as hermaeus mora had the knowledge about the dragonborn powera even before the first dragonborn himself, mora knew only a dragon or a another dragonborn could kill him and really claim his soul, remember the quest of molag bal where it calims the soul of the boethiah priest? why mora needed us dragonborn in first place to finish him? miraak was in mora oblivion realm, a place where mora was the sovereign, the absolute ruler, and yet miraak was doing whatever he wanted, even defying herma mora, only akatosh can claim a dragons souls as they are part of him in first place,if you want, just learn about it on akatosh creation history, dragons are fragments of its overflowing existence, so are the dragonborn soul as its just a dragon soul inside a mortal body with dragon blood, and to finalize this idead just remember even if mora kill miraak it is us who absorb miraak soul together with all other dragon souls he had, not mora but us, the dragonborn, miraak was a broken toy for mora, so he need a new one capable of really killing once for all the old annoying toy, thats also a explanation as to why our character can mess with all other daedric princes without any consequence, molag bal does not even treat us about claiming our soul, molag just outright treat us to die by the hands of another servant of his that will take the mace from us, also other daedric princes behave like that, remember the azura owned the nerevar, and sheogorath essence possessed the champion of cyrodill, but its different with dragonborn, no one claimed his soul, even mora kept miraak alive for centuries because he could not claim his soul, but by owning the last living dragonborn that absorbed miraak he could keep miraak soul for himself in some sense, mora does not like to lose, even miraak warned us that mora just wanted to use us, well a texted a lot, for anyone who actually read this thing, thank you hahaha.
You actually make a really good point. Cheers for writing it down, mate
Me after bodying Miraak at our final battle: not so tough without a sneak attack now are you
To answer your emd question, I second that curiosity about Hermaeus Mora.
*end
Bro I wanna see a reenactment of the fight between Miraak and Vahlok
I would definitely watch a series that you could call Aedrapedia and Daedrapedia, for example. As soon as I started watching this I desperately wanted a Hermaeus Mora video, then I realised I'm not that familiar with the rest of them either. Would be keen if you are! The same with the Nine too. I like this layout.
This dude is the biggest troll of elder scrolls coming and stealing your dragon souls pretty much every time
Mom said is my turn in the Apochrypha
I'm doing a Dwemer racs playthrough similar to Mirraaks story. It's pretty fun. He's a Dwemer Battlesmith. A expert warrior who was also obsessed with knowlege in all categories mostly that of combat prowess, anything warrior and eventually magic related despite the spite he recieved of his peers who did not believe in magic much other than use as tools. So after many years he decides to leave his Dwemer city in Hammerfel in search of more knowlege and perfecting himself as a warrior in all aspects be it magic or metal. He reads a book about the Daedra. He learns more in depth of Hermaeous Mora whom is obsessed with secret knowlege. He seeks him out. And that's where the story starts.
I really don't understand how Bethesda didn't get the voice actors who played Delphine, Esbern, Arngeir, Paarthurnax, or Alduin to record some additional dialogue about Miraak. His cultists attack as soon as the player completes the quest "The Way of the Voice" early in the main story. There are now two re-releases of this game that include the DLC and don't acknowledge this massive plot hole.
I like how you do a little reminder/informative bit on general things in the games so that even people who aren't familiar with the character/setting have a leg in. Also I can now say I've watched your whole library, thus far. :D
Love these villainpedias. I can’t wait to start getting some heroes and even others. Nerevar, Talos, Sheo or any of the daedra, lorkhan himself or even vivec would all be so nice to see broke down like this
I always forget why I loved skyrim so much when I was younger but these types of videos remind me why I held it so closely growing up
I love this series, keep it up bro, much love. Just going through breakup with my girlfriend and its the only thing keeping me not crying in my free time. Thanks
Thanks for watching dude. Keep your head up, it gets better everyday believe me I’ve been there. ❤️
YES. THANK you for making a video on Miraak!
I saw this video and decided to binge your channel, dude you put an amazing amount of effort into these videos.
thanks for binging buddy. i really really enjoy the process of making them and learning new things with video editing etc. appreciate it!
A video on Herma Mora would be incredible ! There is so much to unpack with his character.
It would've been cool if there was some path to convince Miraak to give up his old wonder conquering ideas and join up with you instead. I wanted to screw over Daedra in a playthrough, and it sucks that we can't pull a giant "fuck you" to Hermaes Mora like stealing his champion from his realm. Woulda been cool to have a fellow dragonborn as a companion.
any chance on doing a villanpedia for Mannimarco?
that dude really jus be forever suffering in Cold Harbour lol
mfs rlly be trying to do arkay dirty like that
@Jusey1 Um... Sorry I dont know literally everything about the lore, I only said that because when I saw this video I had jus finished the main story in ESO and saw when he was in Cold Harbour suffering forever after his betrayal of Molag Bal, thats all, chill
@Jusey1 oh ok
I've just discovered your channel and it's probably the best example of a weird time thing with videos.
Your 10 minute videos feel like they're 30mins+ (in a good way)
But your 30mins+ videos feel like 10 minutes.
I like to think Miraak could also serve as a kind of satire for players who ignore the urgency of the main plot, and go off and do their own thing
"Kept his sanity intact"
Debatable
For your following video, I suggest M'aiq the Liar. Telling bare-faced lies and benefiting from them throughout eons of time makes him the ultimate evil for Villainpedia.
Yes
Just found your videos through the Dagoth Ur one, very impressed by the quality you deserve more subs.
Would've been cool if you could side with him, like you could side with Elijah in Dead money in FNV.
Edit: ALSO, it almost seems as if he was supposed to be in main game at some point, rather then locked in a DLC.
I would love to have him bend the knee and join me as a companion. Ah but alas I play on console not PC
@@buckywuck xbox? because if so you still can. just look up "Miraak companion" or something
Miraak companion is a great mod, and gives a great alternate ending in defeating him.
And could also make for a great alternate story of having him help aid you on your quest to defeat Alduin.
I was attempting to do this with the ebony warrior as well to take on my journey.
Having them both come with me to skaldofin killing draugr deathlordz as well as the dragons guarding the portal to sovngarde.
The interesting thing but nobody ever really talks about, is how this portal was constructed to sovngarde.
In the game it's always assumed that it was always there, but I believe that it was constructed through the aid of Alduin and perhaps some very skilled Mages that he ruled over within that time in history.
And perhaps at the time the draugrs were really just devout priests was very powerful abilities and shouts to Aid him in battle.
Wait, you could side with Elijah? Wtf
@@serotonin.scavenger yeah, secret ending.
Idk why but some of my fave villains are: Wind Waker's Ganondorf, King Dedede (for the meme of it), Wolf McDonnell from StarFox, and Giovanni from Pokemon (HeartGold/SoulSilver gives him a lot more depth), But I might just be a Nintendo junkie haha.
Two of those are on my list. You’ll have to wait and see which ones 😎
7:15 This reminds me of the idea of Christ as Second Adam (Christ fulfilling the covenant that Adam failed in). Probably wasn't intended, but is a pretty strong idea in mythology in general, so might have been an influence. The gap being about 4000 years for both is also kinda interesting
It would actually be rather interesting if there was a game that had to do with the beginning of the Earth, that would basically tell a Bible story but it would allow the player freedom of choice to get a certain outcome within the overall story.
I doubt that game would ever be made though.
Imagine the Big J shouting at ppl tho
Its nice you explain the basic terms first for anyone who might be late too the show, good stuff.
Miraak jumping you in Sovngarde amid the mists created by Alduin would be cool.
The Stranger from the walking dead, season 1. It's gonna be very short.
Man you are fucking underrated this series is an awesome idea you deserve a lot more views I just cannot believe it I first I thought it said 877K cause my brain would not accepts anything else LOL. I hope to see more of these Villainpedia videos and look forward to even more within the Elder Scrolls lore. Great stuff man.
thanks a lot for the kind words and welcome to the family!
very nice now make a video on Tiber Septim please :)
Your wrong at the beginning about the Dragonborn any nord can learn the thuum but only the Dragonborn can absorb there souls. They are a mortal with the soul of a dragon. But apart from that great video love lore videos. Keep this series going forever lol.
For the first time in almost 20 years of studying TES lore, I finally saw a historically precise map of ancient Tamriel - Solstheim still as a part of the continent -.
Love these videos. Just found them with the dagoth one. I'm going to spam it but I'd love to see this done for the metal gear villains. Feel like its ripe with content for you and you buttery voice.
Being dragon born is not simply being able to shout…everyone can shout with time and devotion. What makes DBs different is the fact they can learn to shout very quickly and have a stronger voice naturally than those who have studied a long time!
Omg a hermaeus mora video would be so incredible. Tbh, a deep dive into any of the daedra or even the gods would be sick!
This video could be 2 hours long. I love to hear about this crazy bastard called Miraak.
Can't wait for all your new stuff man. If I can help lemme know. I talk with Stone regularly. Let me know (:
damn thanks for the support man!!
Keep it up, no seriously PLEASE keep it up; and make a patreon bro this content is Au79
thank you much bro. more comin, belee dat
hermeuos mora is one of my absolute fav. deadra and i would love a video about him
you gonna be big one day
I love these videos! I enjoy getting lost in elder scrolls lore, since being introduced to the game 2 years ago. These videos are just detailed enough to get immersed in, but not too dense where you get sick of them half way through lol
this series is seriously so good, please keep it up. Would love to see more Elder Scrolls entries, I think the way you explain background lore while adding your own twists and opinions is so engaging.
I believe Vahlock did not win through sheer power. I believe he won through sacrificing soldiers and used his magic in order to defeat him. Another explanation is that Miraak grew arrogant with how much more powerful he was compared to Vahlock and Vahlock punished him for it and putting him on the backfoot and putting him in the need to flee. Either way I do not believe Vahlock was stronger than Miraak.
"Miraak is basically a sentient player character in the Mythical Era who chose not to do the Main Storyline of his game, which was full of choices and freedom to do whatever. One who chose to just chill-out and free-roam in Solstheim/The very north of skyrim and then to Apocrypha to explore it. The Last Dragonborn was the programmed NPC that is forced to do the main storyline. his game has no choice, *he has to do so* "
(Very Long Side-Note: If Bethesda's writing in Story-Telling was fantastic, Like how it was in Morrowind with Vivec.
With him Explaining to the Neveraine ((The player in TES III)) when asked why he wouldn't fight back, if the incarnate attacked him (paraphrased): "Not only am I racked with guilt for betraying your trust, your word and for murdering you. Which I lament, With each and every single day that passes for what I did to you at the heart of the mountain, Alongside Almalxia and Sotha. But I know that It would be futile and all for naught, for I know you could just simply turn back time at will ((Its never directly explained _why_ he can, but I like to believe it's either the will of Azura or A after-effect from the blast when Kagrenac first struck the heart, lore wise)). To avoid the pain that I inflict upon you and never-endingly persist till you do succeed in doing so. Always knowing That I could never succeed in killing you again, if I even could or would want to. But unlike you, who avoids the pain I inflict on you in those fights: With each and every single time you take a swing, stab or use your magics upon me; I will always feel that pain, everytime. There is no escape nor avoidance from it" ((This is obviously in reference to the player character: saving and reloading)).
They could've done a similar opportunity with Miraak, to do some really sick burns and put salt in the wound, make him truly feel superior to him: "Inferior Dragonborn, you come to me and at my own home. Thinking that you are a free-man: A man who can choose to do what he wants, when he wants. One who can follow his own destiny. But in reality to what you are: you are nothing but to be made a mere glorified serf, a Slave. Bound to his pre-made destiny by his superior masters, A proverbial chess piece. always moved and forced to do the will of others to the letter but never his own. For I *am* your superior, For I broke the chains of destiny that have both binded and were set before me, choosed my own path in life. For unlike you; I have freely chose to serve Mora upon my own Accord. However when the time comes for us to finally fight: For I know, You will be forced to be made Mora's servant. To seek the knowledge to able to defeat or match me in combat. For you *are* my lesser".
_Death Rattle_
"And here you are, Servant of Heronimus. I die, A true free-man who choosed his own Fate......Can you say the same, O'Great Slayer of the World-Eater?")
Besides all this; I kinda personally wanted Dragonborn, to be more so about Hircine and The blood-Moon. Basically a part 2, it was already pretty much set up for'em to do; It's a new era, hircine's hunt of the isle didn't start yet. Could've made A Great werewolf dlc to compliment Dawnguard's vampire dlc and make it also a good throwback. The story also could've been finally about ending His Enteral Hunt on the isle once a Era (or you could be his champion instead; being rewarded by either being a super-charged Where-thing of choice or get a older-games styled Saviours Hide: nearly-OP, As fuck) so much, more could have been done. In my opinion.
Imagine being trap just outside of the material plain wielding the power of the Dragonborn at its fullest, armed with forbidden knowledges, studying all you could of the arcane arts as well as the world for thousands of years, biding you time for the moment you can potentially use it after careful and precise planning....
And then some over encumbered asshole slowly walks up and beats the absolute brakes off of you while stuffing their face.
My favorite thing about the end of Dragonborn, was getting Hermaeus Mora to finish filling out my punch card of Daedric Princes I'd sold my soul to over the course of Skyrim.
Wish we got more stories from the other dragon priests as well. We get some information from the likes of Hevnoraak, Rahgot, Otar, Vahlok and Morokei. Nahkriin clearly is of high standing by guarding the portal to sovengarde. Ahzidal has probably the most information to go on besides Miraak himself, but the rest are vague and up to speculation of their origins and current circumstances in the game. Instead what we mostly get is dangly spooky men with magic and masks.
Honestly though, I do like that many of the dragon priests are blank slate bosses while a select few get incredible backstories (Miraak, Morokei, Vahlok, etc). It somewhat helps flesh out the idea that the TES world is bigger than you'll ever know. You'll never get the full story of every dragon priest, and you're left to imagine what you can.
Morokei got some nice screen time in ESO too. Had me giggling like a kid when the one-and-only Morokei popped up to yell at me.
I never thought miraak was that cool until I watched this video ngl
Miraak: "Here in my temple, I just bent the will of this new Dragon. It's fun to fly around the skies of Apocrypha here in this Daedric Plane of Oblivion. But do you know what I like more than materialistic things? *Knowledge*, the Forbidden Knowledge of Apocrypha."
There was actually some cut content where mirak could have redeemed himself I believe. I wanna say there was even some recorded dialog
I love his design
I always remember that once beated miraak and wearing his clothes that I started to get real powerful in the game.
expected to see 200k subs or something, disappointed that the algorithm hasnt swept this gem up yet. good stuff man, subbed
Super well made! Definitely going to have a look at your other videos!
Thanks a lot for watching my friend :) many more for you to enjoy and more coming
I absolutely devoured all your ...-pedia videos, but somehow I missed this one so it's time to change that.
Thanks for making these, it is so fantastic to revisit old friends and foes from years ago. I love your videos so much, can't wait for the next one.
Miraak built shouts in a cave, with a box of scraps!
They cut a secret sending in the game where u can redeem miraak and fight Herma Mora and get miraak as a companion