Elder Scrolls
Register
Advertisement
Elder Scrolls

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?"
―Legate 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

Early Life

"All my life I fought for the Chimer. I skirmished with the Dwemer and drove beasts from the Ashlands, until a greater threat loomed."
―Legate 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 exercised control over 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 west and 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][10] To the south, the Chimer regularly raided the various Argonian tribes of northern Black Marsh in order to acquire the ever-increasing numbers of slaves their society required.[11] Finally, in addition to these more organized threats, the Chimer were also forced to contend with the aggressive local fauna.[2]

General Balreth

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.[12] 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 stripped many Chimer villages of their defenses, forcing Sadal and Balreth to sacrifice large numbers of their warriors in an effort to acquire enough time to evacuate civilians stranded in the path of the Nedic invasion.[1][3]

Although they prevented their forces from suffering complete annihilation by retreating, the situation confronting the brothers and their armies grew grimmer with each passing year. Incapable of defeating the Nedes by conventional means, Sadal and Balreth allowed Nedic raiders to besiege the isolated Chimer cities and raze their farmlands, depriving the brothers of local supplies and reinforcements.[3] The situation seemed even more hopeless following a Nedic offensive to the north that effectively severed their connection to the Inner Sea, and thus, from any support from Vvardenfell.[1] In short, the Nedes now controlled the vast majority of Stonefalls and appeared on the cusp of a decisive victory over the Chimer.[1]

Death and Transformation

"There could be no peace with the Nedes. I became one of the Brothers to serve my people."
―Legate Sadal[src]

With their armies reduced to a small force of battle-hardened veterans, their supplies severely diminished, and their ability to retreat further denied by the Nedes, Sadal and Balreth found themselves surrounded in the mountainous and lava-covered subregion of Stonefalls known as Zabamat.[1][5] As the situation appeared increasingly dire, a group of sorcerers under the brothers' command devised a failsafe strategy they believed capable of winning the war for the Chimer.[2][4] In their desperation to save their people from destruction, Sadal and Balreth agreed to this strategy, positioning their remaining forces amidst the ruins of a Daedric temple complex.[1][3] These ruins - highly defensible due to their location within a canyon situated atop a waterfall - served as a major source of Daedric energy, which the Chimer sorcerers required in order to power the arcane ritual at the center of their strategy to defeat the Nedes: the Ritual of Calling.[4][5]

Sadal

The ritual transformed Legate Sadal into the powerful and flaming bone colossus known as Sadal, one of the Brothers of Strife.

Eventually, the brothers lured a Nedic army under the command of Warchief Ornskar into a climactic battle within the ruins, setting into motion the series of events that ultimately determined the outcome of the conflict.[3][4][5] While Sadal and Balreth underwent preparations for the ritual at the center altar, the bulk of their soldiers took up defensive positions and engaged the Nedic warriors along the river in front of the ruins as part of a desperate ploy for time.[4][5] The battle quickly turned into a bloodbath as the Nedes overwhelmed and slaughtered the Chimer forces.[4]

At the beginning of the battle, however, the brothers had also dispatched a champion to assist the sorcerers Nilae and Turoni in acquiring the two ingredients required to complete the ritual: Nedic blood and Daedric essences.[4][5] The first of these - Nedic blood - the champion acquired by killing Warchief Ornskar and several of her soldiers, cutting out their hearts and bringing them to the ritual altar.[4][5] In order to attain the second ingredient, Chimer acolytes summoned a pair of powerful fire atronachs, one containing an essence of fire and the other containing an essence of wrath.[5][13] The champion subsequently defeated both of the atronachs, collecting their essences and delivering them to the sorcerers.[5]

With all of the ingredients acquired and the Nedes slowly enveloping their position, Nilae and Turoni initiated the Ritual of Calling.[5] Invoking the name of Veloth - the legendary prophet who led the Chimer on their exodus from the Summerset Isles to Resdayn - and ordering the champion to pray at the altar, the sorcerers sacrificed the brothers in order to save the Chimer from annihilation.[5][10] The ritual resulted in the deaths of both Sadal and Balreth, transforming them into a pair of powerful and flaming bone colossuses known as the Brothers of Strife.[5]

Post Mortem

Legacy

Personality

Interactions

Window on the Past

[?]

The Brothers Will Rise

[?]

Dialogue

Show: Window on the Past

"Wait. This is where the final battle took place. Why am I here?"

Help me understand the past. Tell me about the battle. "All my life I fought for the Chimer. I skirmished with the Dwemer and drove beasts from the Ashlands, until a greater threat loomed. The Nedes struck Stonefalls with a lust for territory and slaughter. They were men of the north, violent and cruel."
The Chimer were losing? "My brother and I were the greatest generals of the Chimer. Yet even we couldn't stem the tide of Nedic muscle and iron. We were desperate. The sorcerers' plan to create the Brothers of Strife offered us a way out."
And you took it. "There could be no peace with the Nedes. I became one of the Brothers to serve my people."
Thank you, Sadal.
Show: The Brothers Will Rise

"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."

What have they told you? "They've created a spell to fill us with raw elemental power, greater than our enemies can stand - if it works. What they can't say is what happens to us. Will my brother and I remain or will we be nothing but beasts of destruction?"
Are you ready for this? "Yes, I must be. 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?"
Good luck, Sadal.

Appearances

References

Advertisement