Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-93.209.251.189-20150202043536

I know that Daedric Princes cannot be truly measured in terms of mortal moral values, but I'd nevertheless like to rate them by how the scholars of Nirn would see them in terms of the good old D&D alignment system. With the caveat that we probably need two levels of evil (lesser evil and evil) to differentiate between guys like Clavicus Vile, who is only a douchebag, and Mehrunes Dagon who tried to conquer Nirn. (Note that I'm no D&D player and only used the alignment system a few times, so I may use it wrongly)

"Good" Daedra:

Azura - Neutral Good. To quote the Daedric Princes Page: "Azura is one of the few Daedra who might be considered "good" by mortal standards, due to her concern for her followers' well-being." She also cursed the Chimer, but I think she's still quite nice for a Daedra. Also, it was only a change of skin colour, which isn't really debilitating.

Meridia - Lawful Good (unless you're undead, that is). Kind of the Paladin Class among the Daedra. Despises Undead, protects the living.

"Neutral" Daedra:

Hircine - True Neutral. He's a hunter, which is probably not considered particularly despicable for a medieval-ish society. He showed up once as an antagonist in Bloodmoon, but I started playing TES with Oblivion and cannot tell how mean he actually was... by everything I've read, he only wanted a good hunt.

Nocturnal - True Neutral. Although she's associated with the Thieves Guild, she actually only stands for mystery, which I consider neutral in nature. Also, remember the dialog with her and Karliah at the end of the TG quest line.

Sheogorath - Chaotic Neutral (emphasis on "chaotic"). He has some violent streeks when he talks ("I'm so happy I could rip out your intestines and strangle you with them" or so), but he's the god-king of his entire small realm, inhabited by mortals, who he treats as "not quite equals" (I've read this expression somewhere on this wiki), but not particularly bad. The Chaotic-thing should be self-evident.

"Lesser evil" Daedra:

Periyte - Lawful Lesser Evil. He's associated with pestilence, otherwise I would have put him into the neutral category. He asks mortals to do tasks and likes order, hence lawful.

Sanguine - Chaotic Lesser Evil. He's associated with hedonism, debauchery, and other things that are considered socially unacceptable but not necessarily violent or so. Personally, I'd put him into the neutral category, but that's probably a quite liberal point of view.

Clavicus Vile - Chaotic Lesser Evil. He likes to trick mortals into deals that "accidentally" turn out to be chiefly beneficial for him. He doesn't really live up to "with great power comes great responsibility", but he at least doesn't invade a planet or so.

Malacath - Neutral Lesser Evil. Skyrim loading texts may describe him as more evil than I do, but although he's considered quite violent, he at least protects the Orcs, which is nice.

"Evil" Daedra:

Mephala - Chaotic Evil. A darker version of Clavicus Vile. She also tricks, but her tricks turn out to influence (that is, end) the lives of a larger number of people, see her Oblivion quest.

Namira - Neutral Evil. I haven't thought about her much, but I guess the people of Tamriel consider cannibalism as taboo as most cultures on earth.

Vaermina - Neutral Evil. Haven't thought about her much, either, but mental torture qualifies for "evil" imo.

Boethiah - Chaotic Evil. Pitting Warriors of ten races against each other isn't nice. Neither is making someone kill a follower. Plus an entire camp of worshippers.

Mehrunes Dagon - Chaotic Evil. Four words: Oblivion Main Quest Line.

Molag Bal - Chaotic Evil. The Mehrunes Dagon of Online. Plus he's responsible for Vampires. The proces of creating Daughters of Coldharbor isn't nice either.

Hard to classify:

Jyggalag - Could be Lawful Neutral, when we just look at his attributes: Logic, Reason, Order. I especially like the first two of these, which is why I'm reluctant to rate him more evil than "neutral". Also, they are amoral (not to be conused with immoral) - neither Good nor Evil. However, he was quite a dick when it came to the Shivering Isles Main Quest. There, he was more like Lawful Evil.

Hermaeus Mora - My first guess would be Lawful Neutral, again. He's similar to Jyggalag, but focusses more on having knowledge than on the process of how to obtain it. These are also attributes I like. The "forbidden knowledge" thing is a bit more complicated: Why is it forbidden? Because it can become dangerous if it is used? Because of cryptic religious reasons? However, I don't think that this knowledge would not be particularly devastating in the right hands (Daedric Princes wouldn't be my first choice when it comes to the "right hands", though.)

But let's count the number of deaths inflicted by HM just in Oblvion and Skyrim: Oblivion: 10 people killed on his behalf because he wanted their souls. Probably for some dubious experiments. Or it's just his way to obtain souls. We all know that Daedra want souls. Skyrim: A Dun-, Alt-, Bos-, Orsi- and Falmer killed because Septimus Signus, who was influenced by HM, required their blood. Septimus Signus, Storn Cragstrider and Miraak were killed by him directly. That's a death toll of 18, which is roughly on par with that of Boethiah.

What's your opinion? 