TESO:Loremaster's archive/Divayth Fyr answers your questions

By Divayth Fyr, 2E 582

Vivec and Mephala stated, "As known in the West, Mephala is the demon prince of murder, sex, and secrets. All of these themes contain subtle aspects and violent ones (assassination/genocide, courtship/orgy, tact/poetic truths); Mephala is understood paradoxically to contain and integrate these contradictory themes." How does this make him/her a "Good" Daedra? If anything, Mephala is just a "Better" Daedra. – Dylan Barnes: Divayth says: “Your question can most charitably be described as simple-minded. See my enclosed essay.”

Good morning, I'm a soldier in the army of the Ebonheart Pact, and there's Nord calling himself Bruhn Crimson Fur. He is very dumb and can't even get the basics of Four Corners of the House of Troubles, but he asked me to write this question to you. I apologize in advance, but here it is - "Hey, Dark Elf. I battled a Dremora a couple of months ago and he called his master Malog Bear, Keeper of Coldharbour since the fall of Lyg. I don’t give a damn about that Lyg, but ask that magic-pagic guy of yours if that means Molag Bear wasn't such a huge bastard before, but started out as a lowly Dremora." - Teryn Redoran: Divayth says: “Your attempts at humor are both feeble and dim. Therefore I predict a great future for you as a comedian in the cornerclubs, as you will surely appeal to the masses.”

I have often heard that Mephala's sphere of influence is obscured to mortals. Yet, from all available evidence, we can (with a fair amount of certainty) conclude that her sphere is spiders, and spiderweb-like manipulation of mortal fates, or “schemes,” to put it plainly. This sphere is, however, held by Molag Bal, the God of Schemes. Considering that Mephala is a "Good Daedra" whereas Molag Bal is a "Bad Daedra," I am curious to know if there is any known conflict between the two. – Sathron: Divayth says: “Though your question is poorly stated, there is a germ of sense in what you ask. Suffice to say that the schemes of the Prince Molag Bal, though ambitious in scale, are entirely lacking in the subtlety and nuance of those of the Webspinner.”

So I've been thinking about the Ebony blade and Ebony Mail, which are both artifacts for their respective Daedric Princes' champions. However, we know that Ebony is the blood of Lorkhan's heart solidified. How, then, is it that not one, but two Daedric Princes have artifacts specifically made from Ebony? Did Boethiah and Mephala trick Lorkhan into believing that they would both sacrifice themselves to creation and later tell Auri-El and Trinimac (after creation) when they knew that the Aedra were pissed? – Mr_Flippers: Divayth says: “Ah, the transmundane entity who jocularly styles himself ‘Mister Flippers’ deigns to grace us with a question. And a good one—as any question I cannot definitively answer is, by definition, a good question. Boethiah and Mephala are certainly among the Princes whose existence antedates the creation of the (current) Mundus, and given their natures it is beyond conjecture that they couldn’t resist meddling with said creation in some way, shape, or form. But could they ‘trick’ Lorkhan, whose very essence was chicanery? Consider: Ebony is a substance whose acquisition and use tempts mortals into acts of achievement that transcend their usual limitations. Did Lorkhan ‘intend’ this? Alas, the concept is self-referential, and therefore nugatory.”