- For the creature, see Sadal.
- "I wonder what the lens of history will show when our people look back on this day? Will my brother and I be remembered as the saviors of our race? Or will we be known as monsters and horrors?"
- ―Sadal[src]
Legate Sadal was a Chimer military commander who led the defense of Stonefalls during the Nedic invasion of Resdayn in the First Era.[1][2] Alongside his brother, General Balreth, Sadal suffered numerous defeats at the hands of the Nedic invaders and proved incapable of halting their advance by conventional means.[1] In an act of desperation, the brothers lured the Nedes into a climactic battle amidst the ruins of a Daedric temple complex located in central Stonefalls.[3][4] While their soldiers defended the ruins against the Nedes, Sadal and Balreth sacrificed themselves in an arcane ritual that transformed them into the Brothers of Strife - a pair of powerful, flaming bone colossuses.[5] These twin harbingers of destruction decimated both the Chimer and Nedic armies, laying waste to the surrounding area until mages from Vvardenfell managed to confine them atop the Tormented Spire and Ash Mountain.[1]
Many centuries after their deaths, Sadal and Balreth were revered by the Chimer and Dunmer as great military leaders.[1] The brothers were immortalized with a pair of enormous stone statues that were erected at the site of their sacrifice.[1][6] In the year 2E 582, Vunal Telvanni summoned Sadal from the afterlife in order to discover more information about the chain of events that resulted in the creation of the Brothers of Strife.[7]
Background
- "All my life I fought for the Chimer. I skirmished with the Dwemer and drove beasts from the Ashlands, until a greater threat loomed."
- ―Sadal[src]
Although very little information exists regarding their childhood, Sadal and his brother Balreth were likely born to Chimer parents in the early years of the First Era.[6][8] At the time, the fledgling Chimer kingdom of Resdayn controlled large swathes of territory along the shores of the Inner Sea, particularly in the regions of Stonefalls and Vvardenfell.[1] Most of this territory, however, remained vulnerable to attack as Resdayn was surrounded by hostile neighbors. To the north, lay the agnostic and technologically advanced Dwemer city-states with which the Chimer had fought numerous wars in the name of religion and territorial expansion.[9] To the south, the Chimer regularly raided the various Argonian tribes of northern Black Marsh in order to acquire the ever-growing numbers of slaves their society required.[10] Finally, in addition to these more organized threats, the Chimer were also forced to contend with the aggressive local fauna.[2]
Sadal's brother, General Balreth, with whom he shared command of the Chimer armies during the Nedic invasion of Stonefalls in the First Era.
Born into this tumultuous environment, Sadal served his people as a warrior for the majority of his life.[2] Against the familiar foes of the Chimer, such as the Dwemer and the wild beasts of the Ashlands, Sadal honed his skills as both warrior and leader.[2] Eventually, he achieved the rank of legate, and in the process, gained a reputation as one of the greatest military leaders of the Chimer.[1][2]
However, Sadal and the Chimer had yet to face the unfamiliar foe that would ultimately prove their greatest challenge - a precursor race of men known as the Nedes.[11] Emerging from the frozen tundras and mountains of Skyrim, these forebears of the Nords invaded the lands of Resdayn from the west.[1] The Nedic warchiefs led parties of raiders that pillaged and burned throughout Stonefalls, massacring any mer they discovered along the way.[1][3] Initial attempts by the Chimer to diplomatically resolve the conflict were violently rebuffed by the Nedes as they pushed further into Chimer territory.[1]
As the greatest military leaders available to Resdayn, Sadal and his brother Balreth were called upon to command the Chimer armies in their attempt to expel the Nedic invaders.[1] The brothers subsequently launched an offensive aiming to drive the Nedes from the Ashlands; however, their advance proved untenable and their armies were forced into defensive positions for the remainder of the conflict.[1] Over the next several years, further Nedic incursions gradually pushed the brothers and their forces deeper into the interior of Stonefalls.[1] Their slow, incremental retreat forced Sadal and Balreth to sacrifice many of their warriors in order to acquire enough time to evacuate Chimer civilians stranded in the path of the Nedic invasion.[1][3]
While Sadal and Balreth retreated in order to prevent their forces from suffering complete annihilation, the Nedes besieged the isolated Chimer cities and razed their farmlands.[3] In the aftermath of an offensive that secured the Inner Sea, the Nedic invaders effectively severed the brothers' connection to supplies and reinforcements from Vvardenfell.[1] Sadal and Balreth found themselves surrounded in the mountainous subregion of Stonefalls known as Zabamat - their armies reduced to a small force of battle-hardened veterans, their supplies severely diminished, and their ability to retreat denied by the Nedes.[1] In their desperation to save the Chimer from destruction, Sadal and Balreth agreed to a failsafe strategy devised by the sorcerers under their command.[2][3] The brothers positioned their remaining forces in the ruins of a Daedric temple complex located between the twin volcanoes that dominated the Stonefalls landscape: the Tormented Spire and Ash Mountain.[1][3]
Post mortem
Legacy
Personality
Interactions
Window on the Past
The Brothers Will Rise
Dialogue
| Show: Window on the Past |
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"Wait. This is where the final battle took place. Why am I here?"
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| Show: The Brothers Will Rise |
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"The Chimer were powerful. We thought we could face any challenge. Even at the end, we were arrogant and proud. But I will not believe our sacrifice was in vain." "Quickly, soldier. Speak with Turoni. We have little time left, and my brother grows angrier by the moment." "I don't know if I can go through with this, soldier. These sorcerers ask much. Everything, in fact."
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Appearances
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 The Brothers of Strife
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Dialogue with Legate Sadal
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Dialogue with General Balreth
- ↑ Dialogue with Sorcerer Nilae
- ↑ Events of "The Brothers Will Rise"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Dialogue with Sorcerer Vunal
- ↑ Events of "Window on the Past"
- ↑ Notes on Racial Phylogeny
- ↑ Pocket Guide to the Empire, Third Edition: Morrowind
- ↑ Dialogue with Ix-Utha
- ↑ Frontier, Conquest