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Elder Scrolls

"You remember the last time you tried to make someone invisible? For a week all my organs were on display for everyone to see."
―Glim, complaining about the time Annaïg turned him invisible[src]

Mere-Glim, otherwise known as Wuthilul or Glim,[1] was an Argonian who lived in Lilmoth, Black Marsh, four decades after the Oblivion Crisis, and 160 years before the return of Alduin. He is childhood friends with Annaïg Hoïnart, a Breton girl. Together they embark on a quest, to rid Tamriel of the demonic floating city of Umbriel.

According to the situation he was called by different names, even thinking in different ways. When he spoke to Tamrielic-speaking people he was Mere-Glim the Argonian, which cut his thoughts into human shapes. When he spoke to his mother or siblings he was Wuthilul the Saxhleel. When he spoke with a Saxhleel from the deep forest, or even with a member of the An-Xileel, he was a Lukiul, "assimilated," because his family had been living under Imperial ways for so long. When he spoke with Annaïg he was Glim.[1]

The Infernal City[]

Mere-Glim and Annaïg lived together, spending their days sharing adventures and enjoying their evenings by drinking all of her father's wine in Lilmoth. Annaïg always convinced Glim to take part in dangerous activities or try her potions on him. Once, they nearly got arrested during one of their little adventures. Glim had cousins in Lilmoth whom he occasionally spent time with when not with Annaïg.

One day Annaïg persuaded Glim to investigate someone Annaïg suspected of being a werecrocodile. They investigated the werecrocodile's lair, only to get themselves caught in a Skooma den. The smugglers sighted them, so they had to run. They made it to the roof, but there was a fifty-foot fall. Annaïg provided Glim a flying potion. Glim didn't trust her, the last time she gave him a potion crafted by her it made his skin translucent. He finally decided to give it a try. The potion worked fairly well, and they landed on the ground. They ran as fast as they could to Annaïg's home and celebrated their adventure with a bottle of wine.

They talked about visiting other places such as the Imperial City, but Glim didn't want to leave Lilmoth. Glim told her friend about a flying city that was approaching Lilmoth through the sea. Annaïg was excited about the flying city.[2]

They woke up with a hangover. Annaïg inquired Glim about the flying city. Taig Hoïnart joined the conversation. He told them that everything had started when Urvwen, a crazy old Psijic priest, said he felt something out in the deep water. After the conversation, Annaïg sent Glim to discover what Urvwen had to say, while she improved her flying potion. The Psijic told him the the flying city was almost here. He revealed that it might come from Oblivion. Glim wasn't very concerned about it and he went to find his cousins and procure a bottle of Theilul.[1]

Glim received a message from Annaïg through Coo. He realized that Annaïg was in trouble, so he ran to help her. Annaïg told him that she had been forced to take a ship to Cyrodiil. Her father feared that the flying city could destroy Lilmoth, and he had sold their house to buy her a ticket. Glim swam until he reached the boat where Annaïg was being transported. He secretly saved her, and he towed her up to the shore. They talked about the possibility of returning to Lilmoth, but if Urvwen was right, there was nothing to do. Annaïg thought that they could reach the flying city from a hill if they used her flying potion. They drank the potion and ended up in the flying city.[3]

Once in the city, they saw how the Hist instructed the Lukiul, the assimilated Argonians, not to run away from the destruction, but rather just stand there. The An-Xileel had temporarily gone away, returning once everything was over. The dead bodies came back to life as undead. They wandered through the city until they heard some people talking in a mer dialect. Annaïg, who had studied Ehlnofex, understood that they had seen them arrive to the city, and they were searching for them. They came across a man called Wemreddle. He realized that they were the intruders who were being searched. However, he told them that he wasn't going to blow the whistle. He hated his life in the flying city, and he hoped that they could help him escape.[4]

Wemreddle betrayed them, and he warned the chefs about them. The chefs saw an opportunity to progress as cooks by using the knowledge of the newcomers. They fought among them for Annaïg and Glim. Finally, a chef called Qijne won and demanded them to come with her.[5]

Qijne ordered them to learn about the ingredients they used in her kitchen. Annaïg lied her telling that Glim knew as much about cooking and ingredients as she knew, so that they remained together. It was obvious that Glim didn't know much about cooking, so he was taken from the kitchen to be interrogated. A man asked him what he was good at. Glim told him that he could swim fast and dive indefinitely. He was sent to the sump, a place where he could be useful.[6]

The sump was the place where the Umbrielians were born. The skraws had to look after the protoforms that later grew into the Umbrielians. Wert, one of the skraws, explained Glim what he had to do. The rest of the skraws couldn't breathe underwater, so they breath some vapors that allowed them to do so. However, they were very noxious, the skraws usually died young. Wert warned him to stay away from the bottom of the sump. Ingenium, the device that took care of the souls that animated new Umbrielians and powered Umbriel, was stored there.

In their way back, they were attacked by a sheartooth. Wert tried to impale the sheartooth with a lance, but he was hit by the creature. Glim managed to wound the sheartooth with his claws. Glim towed Wert into the surface, saving his life. After thanking him, he told him that the sump and the Ingenium would probably start producing Umbrielians with the body of Argonians.[7]

Glim tried to find ways to contact or at least find Annaïg when nobody was looking at him. He discovered a place where there were some trees very similar to the Hist. He met a girl called Fhena. Glim talked to her about Black Marsh, and how he ended up working in the sump. Glim asked her if she knew how to reach the kitchens from there. Fhena could ask a friend of hers. They agreed to meet another time in the same place. Glim return back to the sump, only to be scolded by Eryob. He accused him of doing Wert's job. He hit Glim, who felt to the floor in pain.[8]

Fhena revealed to Glim that Annaïg had become very popular in the kitchens. She was now working in Toel's kitchen. Fhena offered to ask Kalmo where Toel's kitchen was, but Glim feared that it could rise many questions. Glim kissed Fhena to express his gratitude, but Fhena, who wasn't used to Tamrielic traditions thought that Glim was asking her to procreate.

That night, Glim was awakened by other skraws. They were astonished that he had stood up to the overseer. They told him that they were tired of breathing the vapors. They wanted to change their way of life. Glim saw a chance to create a resistance, so he accepted leading them in their secret rebellion. He explained that if the sabotaged the Fringe Gyre, they could draw the attention of the lords. First of all, he asked them to make maps of Umbriel.[9]

Glim sent Annaïg a letter through one of the skraws. He told her that he had found her, and that they could contact through the skraws. Annaïg answered back telling him that she had everything ready to escape from Umbriel. They agree to meet at midnight at the dock.[10]

Glim and Annaïg finally met again after a long time. Annaïg provided him a flying potion, and they left Umbriel. After they walked away from the flying island, Annaïg realized that their bodies became incorporeal. They had spent too much time in Umbriel, and now they were part of it. They returned to Umbriel thinking that they would have the chance to escape someday.[11][12]

Lord of Souls[]

Mere-Glim continued preparing the rebellion of the skraws. He met Annaïg weekly thanks to the maps the skraws had drawn. Glim told her about the skraws and his secret revolt. He asked Annaïg to craft potions that could allow the skraws breath underwater without having to use the vapors, but Annaïg couldn't do it without being noticed.[13]

Annaïg sent a letter to Glim asking him to gather detailed information concerning Phmer's kitchen. He initially was reluctant to do it, but he remembered that they were working to save Tamriel. In addition, he tasked the skraws the first big mission of their rebellion, to sabotage some middens.

Glim met Fhena in the usual place. He had brought her kraken barnacles. Glim proceeded to ask her about the trees in Umbriel because they reminded him of the Hist of Black Marsh. Fhena couldn't tell him much, but to Glim's surprise, she told him that the trees sang. Fhena took Glim's hand and pressed it to the bark. Glim didn't notice anything at first, but he recognized the same song that the Hist sang, in a bit simpler version.[14]

Glim told Annaïg about the trees in Umbriel. They produced the proforms the Umbrielians started as. Then the Ingenium gave them a soul. Annaïg proposed poisoning them, which would, in essence, destroy Umbriel, but Glim refused to do so, since it would affect all of the Umbrielians. In their next meeting, Glim demanded Annaïg's weapons of sabotage for the skraws. Annaïg asked him to sabotage the kitchens to attract some attention. The kitchens would blame each other, and Toel's kitchen could benefit the most from this situation.[15]

Fhena took Glim branch riding through the trees of Umbriel. She told Glim that some Umbrielians just let it go and never came back to Umbriel. They died to be born again, just as Argonians did in Black Marsh. Glim feared that Fhena could die branch riding, so he made her promise that she wouldn't do it again.

Glim discovered some men armed in the sump. They weren't skraws, so he followed them hidden. Those men discovered Wert sabotaging the water filters of the kitchens. Glim launched a surprise attack. Glim moved much faster than them underwater, so he didn't have much trouble fighting them. The man who seemed to be the leader opposed more resistance. He told him that he was Chef Toel, and he demanded to let him go. Glim refused to do so, so Toel used his power to make Glim's muscles clenched uncontrollably. Just then, Annaïg realized it was Glim who was attacking them, so she killed Toel. Annaïg and Glim arranged to clean the place and hide Toel's body near Phmer's kitchen. Nobody knew what happened besides them.[16]

The lords finally discovered that the skraws were the ones responsible for the recent malfunctions of Umbriel. They sent guards to capture Glim. Wert warned Glim about the incoming guards, but he refused to escape. The guards wounded him with a spear in the face. Oluth confessed that they had broken a tree-root feed and left their sign there. He pushed Glim to the water just when more guards poured in. An harpoon hit him, but he managed to escape.[17]

Glim woke up disorientated. He had swam up to where he usually met Fhena. Fhena found him severely wounded, so she healed him. Glim intended to go back to help the skraws with their rebellion, but Fhena convinced him to stay with her. After a few days, Fhena couldn't hold Glim back any longer. When Glim jumped into the water he realized his body was being paralyzed.[18]

Lord Umbriel had asked Annaïg to kill Glim. Annaïg decided to poison him. However, the drug she put in the water made his body grow a crystal, a matrix containing his soul, his thoughts, his memories. She recreated Glim as an Umbrielian. When the protoform grew Glim would be reborn conserving his thoughts and feelings. If Annaïg hadn't killed Glim, someone else would have, and she wouldn't have been able to help him.[19]

Glim was reborn as an Umbrielian. Fhena and Annaïg explained him what had happened. Glim didn't understand it at first, but when Annaïg explained it to him he enraged and left for the Fringe Gyre. Fhena went after him to try to talk some sense into him. Glim realized that the trees had changed their song. Fhena told him that it had changed a pair of days after his death. Glim realized that the trees had shaped him to do something, he had to save the trees from being poisoned by Annaïg.[20]

Glim run back to Annaïg's kitchen. He begged her to stop the poison, but Attrebus had failed to defeat Lord Umbriel wielding Umbra, their only option was to poison the trees. Annaïg asked Glim to go to the Skraw caves and bring Attrebus. Glim demanded her to give him the antidote. Annaïg remembered a time when they had been innocent children, and there were no betrayals and heartsickness. She finally agreed to give him the antidote.

Glim found Attrebus and Sul with the skraws. The skraws informed him that they were all getting sick at once. Glim knew what he had to do, he opened the vial of the antidote and drank it all. Glim guided Attrebus and Sul back to Annaïg. When they arrived, they realized that Vuhon was with her, he had discovered she was the responsible for poisoning the trees. Annaïg told them that Lord Umbriel's soul was being stored in the Ingenium.

Glim, Attrebus and Sul headed to the Ingenium. Attrebus asked Glim to use the trees to take Umbriel out of Tamriel, even if it meant being trapped forever. Glim tried to do it, but Lord Umbriel was more powerful than him, countermanding him. They had to jump to the sump to save time and arrive to the Ingenium faster. Once in the water, Glim towed Attrebus and Sul to the bottom. Once they reached the room where the Ingenium was being stored, Glim attacked Vuhon without success.[21]

Attrebus stabbed the Ingenium with the Umbra, Umbra (the being) was expelled from Vuhon's body and returned to the blade. Attrebus was decided to kill Vuhon, but doing so would make Umbriel collapse into the Imperial City. He told him that he would allow Glim to remove it from this plane. Attrebus and Glim returned with Annaïg and Fhena. They had a sad farewell, and Annaïg and Attrebus left for the Imperial City after drinking flying potions.[22]

Glim guided Umbriel to the tree's home, the Realm of the Hist. Fhena and Glim have a final conversation where they said that they liked the place, and that it would be their home from then on.[23]

Studies[]

Annaig is known to have studied the "dead language" of Ehlnofex, which is similar to what the Vehrumas on Umbriel speak. Glim could not properly communicate with the inhabitants of Umbriel until he was given a potion of some kind by the overseer of the sump.[4]

Quotes[]

  • "What happened? I thought I died. I was sure I died. Where are my wounds?"
  • "Only that I don’t know where we are. At first I imagined that we would be returned to Clavicus Vile’s realm, but although I’ve never been there, I don’t think this can be that place."

Appearances[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part one chapter three
  2. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part one chapter one
  3. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part one chapter four to five
  4. 4.0 4.1 An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part one chapter six
  5. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part one chapter seven
  6. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part one chapter eight
  7. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part two chapter two
  8. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part three chapter one
  9. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part three chapter six
  10. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part three chapter eight
  11. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, part three chapter ten
  12. An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, epilogue
  13. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part one chapter two
  14. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part one chapter four
  15. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part one chapter seven
  16. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part one chapter nine
  17. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part two chapter two
  18. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part two chapter eight
  19. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part three chapter one
  20. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part three chapter six
  21. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part three chapter eight
  22. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, part three chapter nine
  23. An Elder Scrolls Novel: Lord of Souls, epilogue
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