Boethiah

"Lord of Plots, Deceiver of Nations, Devourer of Trinimac. The Queen of Shadows, Goddess of Destruction, He-Who-Destroys and She-Who-Erases...Many are our lord's lofty names, but they befit only us mortals. Intone her mighty names from now until the end of time - it is for naught. Names mean nothing to our Lord. She cares for those who care for themselves, whose hearts are full of purpose, whose lives are full of deeds."

- Priestess of Boethiah

Boethiah (in Daedric script, ) is the Daedric prince who rules over deceit, conspiracy, secret plots of murder, assassination, treason, and unlawful overthrow of authority. Boethiah is depicted as a great caped warrior, often in a stoic pose. She is also known as the Anticipation of Almalexia. Boethiah loves competition and battle, and this nature is manifested in her quest in Oblivion, transporting the player to her realm of Oblivion for a tournament to decide who is truly worthy of Goldbrand, an enchanted katana with a gold-colored blade.

Heralded by the Prophet Veloth, Boethiah is the original god-ancestor of the Dunmer. Through her illuminations, the eventual 'Chimer', or Changed Folk, renounced all ties to the Aldmer and founded a new nation based on Daedric principles. All manner of Dark Elven cultural 'advances' are attributed to Boethiah, from philosophy to magic to 'responsible' architecture. Ancient Velothi allegories are uniformly heroic successes of Boethiah over enemies of every type, foundation stories of Chimeri struggle.

Personality and traits
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Like all Daedra, Boethiah does not have a gender in the traditional, human sense but she/he has both male and female genitals with the penis being at top and the vagina being under the penis. In traditional depictions of the Daedric Lord, she appears as a strong, caped warrior wielding a giant golden Katana. However, she is depicted occasionally as a man. Her followers claim she is the most overtly acting of all Daedric Princes. She appears to enjoy battle and conflict, and her cults often stage huge tournaments to the death to win her favor.

Even among scholars, who reject the common notion that Daedra are all "demons", Boethiah is one of the Daedric Princes consistently viewed as "evil" in the traditional sense (but see below for the Dunmeri view). She uses her mortal followers for sport, caring more about spilling their blood than anything else. Like Molag Bal or Mehrunes Dagon, Boethiah takes actual delight in the death and destruction she is causing mortals, and actively strives to torment mortals.

The Dunmer
Boethiah is one of the three Daedric Princes (along with Azura and Mephala) directly responsible for the existence of the Dunmer as a distinct race. During the Mythical Era, the Aldmer worshiped the Aedra Trinimac as their chief god. These early mer generally lamented their mortal existence as being caused by the trickery of Lorkhan, who manipulated the gods into giving up their immortality to create Nirn. Boethiah approached a group of Trinimac's followers and began preaching to them an alternative viewpoint: that the Aldmer were weak and unworthy of their immortality, and that their mortal existence was a trial which all mer had to endure. (The Dunmer often refer to their mortal lifetime as 'The Testing'.)

To accomplish her goal, Boethiah took on the form of Trinimac herself, and spoke with Trinimac's own voice. Thus, she was able to convince a group of mer, who took the name Chimer (Changed Ones) and followed their leader Veloth to their new home in Morrowind. Boethiah taught the Chimer many ways to be different from the Aldmer, including their current clan-based political system and their style of architecture. In most versions of the legend, Boethiah was the source of these ideas, while Azura and Mephala aided the Chimer in implementing them.

Boethiah continued to play a key role in the religious practices of the Chimer even after they became the Dunmer. Along with Azura and Mephala, Boethiah is worshipped as one of the three "good" Daedra, in opposition to the four "bad" Daedra of the House of Troubles. According to Tribunal dogma, Boethiah is the Anticipation of Almalexia, and submitted to Tribunal rule. Given Azura's attitudes towards the Tribunal, who make the same claim about her, this is most likely more propaganda than history.

Etymology
Like many of the Daedra, Boethiah's name appears in numerous variations across many eras and cultures. Her Cyrodiilic shrine, in the Valus Mountains near the Morrowind border, is called the Boethia's Shrine, and the spelling Boethia occasionally appears in writings. This spelling appears most often associated with her feminine form, though the shrine in Cyrodiil speaks with a male voice. Most scholarly texts, such as On Oblivion or The Book of Daedra, use the form Boethiah. The name may also be a reference to Boethius, a late-Roman-era philosopher.¹

Artifacts
Other than Goldbrand, Boethiah is associated with artifacts Ebony Mail and Fearstruck. The Ebony Mail can still be found these days, though it is difficult. The reports show that the latest wielder was the Nerevarine which found the mail in the Mount Assarnibibi. The Fearstruck on the other hand according to "The Story of Lyrisius", was destroyed in the Akaviri raid, circa 1E 2703.

Ebony Mail
Ebony Mail is one of the most powerful cuirasses. If judged worthy, its power grants the wearer invulnerability to all common magical attacks that drain talents and health. Eternal Champion was one of the owners of the mail. It was hidden in Black Marsh after the previous owner, a warrior named Helath Stormbinder, lost the favors of Boethiah. Following a strange map, the Eternal Champion eventually found the resting place of the mail and retrieved it for his war against Jagar Tharn. Later on, Boethiah also rewarded the Ebony Mail to the Hero of Daggerfall, after he finished a simple elimination job.

Goldbrand
After the Apotheosis of the Tribunal, Boethiah's Morrowind shrine lays forgotten and unused in the northwest of Hla Oad, Vvardenfell, underwater. Boethiah asks the Nerevarine to make a new shrine for her The Nerevarine asked Duma gro-Lag, a famous sculptor of Caldera. Using the sketch in the book "Boethiah's Glory", the orcish sculptor built a new shrine for Boethiah over at Khartag Point, Vvardenfell, Morrowind. After the new shrine was finished, the Nerevarine was rewarded with Goldbrand. The Champion of Cyrodiil was also rewarded with this Goldbrand after he finished Boethiah's test - The Tournament of Ten Bloods - a test of combat skill, where the Champion of Cyrodiil has to defeat ten of Boethiah's champions.

Trivia

 * Mehra Nabisi speaks to Boethiah in Where Were You When the Dragon Broke?, who confirms that the Aedra had indeed appeared, and re-written history.
 * Boethiah is invoked in the book Withershins
 * Sotha Sil met with Boethiah on the 3rd of Rain's Hand, 3E 2920
 * Boethiah is sometimes referred to as having a male personna. However, the other Daedric Lords refer to her as female. For example, during a quest in Skyrim, Molag Bal states: "... my rival, Boethiah, had her priest desecrate it..."
 * In Oblivion, Boethiah is depicted as a man, but in Skyrim, she is depicted as a woman.
 * Boethiah is voiced by Jean Gilpin, who also lends her voice to Elenwen, Meridia, and Meredith in Dragon Age 2.

Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
 * The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
 * The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim