Lore:Mehrunes Dagon

Mehrunes Dagon (formally, the Exalted and Most Puissant Lord, Gerent of Dagon, Mehrunes),  also called the Black Daedra Lord,  Prince of Ambition,  Prince of Disaster and Destruction,  Master of Razors,  Sovereign of Destruction, the Flame Tyrant, the Father of Cataclysm, , the Flame-Father,  the '''Mer-Pride's End,  and known to the Khajiit as Merrunz.  He is the Daedric Prince of Darkness and Destruction,  whose sphere encompasses destruction, change, revolution, energy, and ambition.  The Lord of Fire and Flood  is associated with natural dangers like fires or earthquakes.  Flash floods, thunderstorms, and other natural disasters have been linked to communions between him and his cultists.  The Prince is also said to be the author of the Mysterium Xarxes''.   Mehrunes Dagon has an insatiable hunger for destruction. 

Xivilai Moath and Faydra Shardai are Dagon's adoptive children.  There is a belief that Mehrunes Dagon is allied with Hircine,  though Lyranth the Foolkiller claims that if such an arrangement exists, it would be obscure outside their own circle.  Enemies of the Prince of Destruction include Ebonarm,  Akatosh,  and Molag Bal, with whom Dagon shares a bitter rivalry—the two have been known to meddle in each other's schemes when the opportunity arises.  It is also rumored that the Prince hates Nocturnal.  Dagon's protonymic is Lehkelogah   and his neonymic is Djehkeleho-dehbe-effehezepeh.  The Prince's summoning day coincides with the Warriors Festival, the 20  of Sun's Dusk.   
 

Mythology
thumb|left|Page one of the Mysterium Xarxes
The Mysterium Xarxes
 
Little is known of the contents of the Mysterium Xarxes outside of the alleged translations given in Mankar Camoran's Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes.   While the Commentaries were known to be used in the Third Era to surreptitiously recruit members into Dagon's cult, the Mythic Dawn,  they also contain a peculiar account of the Prince's origins. 

According to the Commentaries, the Magna Ge secretly created Mehrunes Dagon in "the very bowels of Lyg".  Lyg, it is claimed, is an "Adjacent Place", a sort of parallel version of Tamriel,  and the domain of a deity known as "the Upstart who vanishes".  Lyg, the "Mundex Terrene", was once ruled by dreugh-kings from the "nineteen and nine and nine" seas, who waged endless wars against each other's "slave oceans".

Dagon was created to be a prince of good, and was imbued him with Oblivion's most precious asset, hope. The Prince began a revolution, "threw down Lyg", and "cracked his face".  He let the lowly slaves know free will, and stirred them to violence against their masters.  His "red legion" overthrew the tyrant dreughs, toppled the towers of CHIM-EL GHARJYG, destroyed great cities, and slaughtered the templars of the Upstart. Hope spread like a "brush-fire" as the world was set Free.  Hence his title of the '''Sea's Flame Redeemer. 

Regardless of the veracity of this account, the tome played a role in the assassination of Uriel Septim VII and his heirs, starting the Oblivion Crisis.  
 

Worship and Culture
thumb|right|An emblem representing Mehrunes Dagon
In most cultures, Mehrunes Dagon is little more than a god of bloodshed and betrayal.  Dagon revels in destruction on a grand scale, from mass murder to deaths resulting from floods or earthquakes. He leaves a swath of devastation whenever he manifests. In fact, even attempting to summon the Prince is frequently fatal for the conjurer and any bystanders. Trafficking with Dagon or his cultists is abhorred by most of Tamriel, and is outright illegal in many places, where the punishment can be as severe as death.   .

He has a vested interest in showing flagrant displays of power to attract followers to his various cults and assert his influence on Nirn.  He is an especially important deity in Morrowind, where he is the Second of the Four Corners of the House of Troubles.   Worshippers of Dagon tend to be arsonists, setting buildings, animals, and even people on fire. Signs of cultist activity include unusual tremors, an uncharacteristic lack of rain and sudden onsets of unseasonably heavy rain as they attempt to incite natural disasters. Those who worship the Prince tend to bear the symbol of a fiery, rising sun.  Dagon's cults have a tendency to plan deep and long-burgeoning conspiracies. 
 

Argonians
The Sul-Xan Tribe consist of naga worshippers of chaos and death, and see Mehrunes Dagon as the True Egg-Child of Sithis.  This title can be understood from a pre-Duskfall perspective, when the old ruling class of Black Marsh believed that Sithis was a malevolent destructive force,  much like Dagon. The Sul-Xan embrace only "the darkest, cruelest beliefs, and scorn the rest as weakness."  Thus, they sacrifice outsiders and other Argonians alike in hopes of one day summoning Mehrunes Dagon to bring blood and destruction across Black Marsh,  and eventually the entire world. 

Dunmer
In Morrowind, Mehrunes Dagon is the God of Destruction  the Horror,  the Destroyer-God,  and the King of Blood  (contrasting his title of the Hope of Blood) . It is said that when the prophet Veloth led the Chimer to Resdayn (now Morrowind), they were joined by a number of Daedric ancestral spirits, among them Mehrunes Dagon.  At first, these Daedra Lords were worshipped as gods.  However, when the Tribunal came to power in the early First Era, Daedra were venerated as lesser spirits, subservient to the Almsivi. 

Not content with this power shift, Malacath, Molag Bal, Sheogorath, and Dagon rebelled against the new Temple, which caused much strife among the Great Houses.  These Rebel Daedra, or Bad Daedra,  became the Four Corners of the House of Troubles, who tempt the Dunmer away from the orthodoxy.  Nevertheless, the Dunmer consider these four to be holy in that they serve as Testing Gods who must be appeased.   Dagon represents Morrowind's near-inhospitable terrain,  and also tests the Dunmeri will to live and prosper. 

thumb|left|Mehrunes Dagon's shrine in Lore:Ald Sotha|Ald Sotha
According to legend, Mehrunes Dagon once threatened to heave a large rock at the Dunmer of Maar Gan. Vivec outwitted the Prince, taunting Dagon and making himself the rock's target. The rock itself was enshrined there, becoming known as the "Magic Rock of Maar Gan", and it became a pilgrimage site. Pilgrims would have to re-create the situation during a pilgrimage. A Dremora named Anhaedra was bound by Vivec to fill Dagon's role, and would have to endure taunts from pilgrims and try to harm them while they were protected by a powerful blessing.  

Another legend involves a duel between Vivec and the Prince of Destruction, the latter of whom was unarmed. Rather than dishonoring himself by fighting an  unarmed opponent, Vivec offered Dagon his own silver longsword. The Prince's Dremora were impressed by this honorable act of chivalry. The Temple claims that although they are enemies, the Dremora share a bond of respect and courtesy with the followers of the Tribunal. As part of the Pilgrimages of the Seven Graces, pilgrims seeking to join the Tribunal Temple must visit the Shrine of Courtesy in Vivec City's Puzzle Canal. A Dremora named Krazzt was bound here. Filling the role of Vivec, the pilgrim must be courteous and offer a silver longsword to Krazzt, who represents Mehrunes Dagon.  
 

Khajiit
In the Khajiiti pantheon, Mehrunes Dagon is Merrunz,  (also spelled Mehrunnez)  who is also called Daegon,   the Fire-Cat,  and the Demon Cat.  One of the children of Fadomai's second litter, Merrunz was given the nickname '''Ja'Khajiit'''—"kitten" in Ta'agra—by his mother due to his wild, destructive nature.   Similarly, the Khajiit often depict Merrunz as a "destructive kitten". 

According to pre-ri'Datta texts, at some point in time, Merrunz was exiled by his father, Ahnurr. Rather than journeying through the Many Paths of Time, Merrunz chose to venture into the Great Darkness. There, he was defeated by the Demon King Molagh and tortured until the world was created. Ultimately, Merrunz was freed by Molagh's wife, who used his destructive nature to attack the Lunar Lattice. Merrunz enjoyed this and became a "kinslayer", and has since been known as the demon Dagon.  

The duality of Khajiiti worship of the Fire-Cat can be seen early in Elsweyr's history. During Darloc Brae's reign, cultists of Merrunz burned down the Grand Archive in  , which contained the province's records from the  . However, despite his worship of the Prince of Destruction, the warlord went through great lengths to preserve the remaining texts and hide them across Elsweyr, placing them in smaller vaults and archives.  Darloc Brae showcased an ambition much like Merrunz, conquering Anequina and the surrounding territories, with some areas erected in Daegon's name. 
 

Reachmen
To the Reachfolk, Mehrunes Dagon is the spirit of ambition and destruction, and is known as the Lord of Ambition. Life in the Reach is harsh, and its inhabitants always strive to improve. This drive to become greater eventually leads some to turn to Mehrunes Dagon. 

Order of the Waking Flame
thumb|right|Dagon's connection to Magnus and the Magna Ge depicted
The Order of the Waking Flame embraced Sister Celdina's beliefs that Mehrunes Dagon was created by the Magna Ge to unmake the flawed creation of Mundus in accordance to Magnus's plans.  To them, Mundus is a place of pain and suffering, thus they looked to Dagon to move past their mortal perils, hoping that he would purge the impurities of existence so that it may emerge anew.   This contrasted the ideas of Lyranth, who believes that when the Magna Ge fled, they spat on the conviction of the Aedra that remained to finish creating Mundus, and Dagon's emergence and sphere may be reflective of the destruction caused by their abandonment. 

The cult's High Chronicler documented epics involving Mehrunes Dagon. One teaches that Dagon does not back away from bargains. Summoned by the Enchanter Arebath for his dominion over fire and flood, the clash between Dagon's flames and Arabeth's tidal spell purged the local blighted wildlife, ensuring that lush flora would rise from the ashes.  Another story tells of the Prince invading Coldharbour to rescue the enslaved souls of his followers from Molag Bal. The true believers that refused to bend instead took it upon themselves to engage in subterfuge, thwarting Molag Bal and his minions whenever they could. Mehrunes Dagon rewarded those that endured with the means of their escape; a powerful explosion that rattled Coldharbour. The destruction allowed Dagon to manifest within the realm, where he engaged in combat with Molag Bal. Though Dagon's mere avatar was not able to defeat Molag Bal in his full power, this distraction bought enough time for his followers to escape into the Deadlands. 

The Mythic Dawn
thumb|right|120px|Banner of the Mythic Dawn
The Mythic Dawn was once one of the most secretive and mysterious of Daedric cults  before gaining infamy due to its role in the Oblivion Crisis.  The cult's beliefs were largely shaped by the teachings of its leader, Mankar Camoran, and his Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes.    The name "Mythic Dawn" is a reference to the Dawn Era, the time before the creation of the world. Camoran believed he and his disciples were destined to rule over a reborn, "liberated" Tamriel, ushering in a new Dawn.  

Central to the cult's beliefs was the claim that the Divines are not gods, merely pretenders who have tricked mortals ever since they betrayed and attempted to destroy Lorkhan. The cult believes the Daedra are the true gods of the universe, as they cannot die. Camoran also asserted that Lorkhan is one of the Daedra, and offered this as to why the Heart of Lorkhan could not be destroyed. Furthermore, as a Daedric Prince, Lorkhan has his own plane of Oblivion—Tamriel.  Thus, Mehrunes Dagon undertook the Oblivion Crisis not to destroy Tamriel, but to "liberate the Occupied Lands" from the Aedra. 

In Tamriel, the cult called their enemies the "Dragon's Blood"—a reference to the covenant between Akatosh and Queen Alessia which protected Nirn from the forces of Oblivion.  More prosaically, it refers to the line of rulers keeping the Dragonfires alight.  In particular, Mankar Camoran had a "long duel" with the Septim Dynasty,  dating back to the reign of Tiber Septim, when it is speculated the Commentaries were written. 

Mehrunes the Razor, Mehrunes the Thieftaker, Mehrunes Godsbody, and Mehrunes the Red Arms That Went Up, are among some of the names given to the Prince of Destruction in the Mythic Dawn Commentaries. 
 

History
First Era
thumb|left|The ruins of Varsa Baalim
In ancient times, Dagon created a construct known as the Nefarivigum to challenge those who drew near to undertake a trial. One who passed the trial would be deemed worthy of wielding Mehrunes' Razor. Located in Cyrodiil, the Nefarivigum was discovered by the ancient Ayleids, who arrogantly believed they could turn away any who sought the Razor. To this end, they built the vast, ringed city of Varsa Baalim during the height of Ayleid civilization. For many years, pilgrims came to Varsa Baalim seeking the Razor, but the Ayleids turned them away. One day in the early years of the First Era, a vampire infiltrated the city. Before long, the city was infested with undead and thrust into chaos. The city suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. None know what happened, but Varsa Baalim seemingly vanished into the mountains of the Eastern Nibenay Basin. 

Mehrunes Dagon and his forces destroyed Ald Sotha, home of House Sotha, sometime in the early First Era. A young Sotha Sil was the only known survivor of this incident, having been rescued by Vivec.  

In response to the destruction of Gilverdale at the hands of Molag Bal, Sotha Sil, now a living god, sought out eight of the most influential Daedric Princes. Mehrunes Dagon was among them, and between the 3rd and 5th of Rain's Hand in  , a deal was made which would become known as the Coldharbour Compact.  Little is known about the Compact, but it is theorized that it seeks to prevent the Princes from directly manifesting on  ,  and only permits them to commune with certain intermediaries, such as witches and sorcerers. 
thumb|right|Depiction of Almalexia's battle with Mehrunes Dagon
Mehrunes Dagon's general attitude towards the Coldharbour Compact was that of indifference. To him, Sotha Sil was a mere mortal mechanist that was to be crushed like he did his childhood home, and no compact was to keep him from destroying Nirn.  This sentiment would manifest a few months later in Sun's Dusk of 1E 2920. The Skeffington Coven of High Rock took in an exiled Dunmeri woman named  , the former lover of the Duke of  ,  .  However, after a trip to  , the Skeffington Coven was massacred by an   raiding party. Turala was falsely led to believe that the massacre was the work of assassins sent by Brindisi Dorom himself. Enraged, the witch called forth the Prince of Destruction to destroy Mournhold and slay her former lover, and he complied. 

During the carnage, Almalexia and Sotha Sil arrived to stop the Prince. The battlefield was lit by a barrage of flame which fell indiscriminately. Almalexia plunged Hopesfire into Dagon's flesh and carved him from within. Meanwhile, Sotha Sil, enacting vengeance for Ald Sotha, used "god-bronze whips" to lash the Prince into submission. Wounded, Sil allegedly whispered Dagon's Nymic, and the Prince "exploded throughout all time".   Defeated, Dagon sought to have a final laugh, and flung a piece of Mournhold into his realm with the inhabitants intact.  After his banishment, Sotha Sil sealed the planar doors between Nirn and the Deadlands, blocking off all access for Dagon as further punishment for breaking the Coldharbour Compact. 

The Clockwork Apostles believe that this battle between Mehrunes Dagon and the Tribunal marked the birth of "Sarmissonays'um ghoul-thing[s]", which emerged from Dagon's own flayed skin.  Indeed, the Ruinachs, a four-armed race of Daedra, are thought by some scholars, mages, and even the Ruinachs themselves, to have emerged from Dagon's flesh in the wake of his battle against Almalexia. 

It is unknown what event prompted Dagon to begin working on a method to breach the Luminal Barriers. Some possibilities include (but are not limited to) when the Dragonfires were established by  ,  or after Dagon was punished for breaking the Coldharbour Compact.  Regardless, Dagon began working on methods to bridge a path between his realm and Nirn to start his invasion, and so he began refining his dimension hopping technology.  The initial stages involved simple circular Oblivion Portals, but this would later develop into the framed doorways known as Oblivion Gates. 
 

Second Era
thumb|right|Mehrunes Dagon bargaining with the Longhouse Emperors	
Emperor Durcorach allied with a Witchman coven, the  . With their help, Durcorach subdued all rival clans through means involving Daedric bargains. By  , he became warlord commanding two thousand soldiers, which rose to ten thousand by  .  A deal was struck with Mehrunes Dagon to have Durcorach crowned, with his sorcerers performing countless tasks in wait for the day when the "final part of the arrangement" would be carried out, and Dagon would "claim his due" with the  . 
 	
After Emperorship was passed to him, Moricar "forged" the Ambitions, which were later entrusted to his son, Leovic. Although the bargain was intended to maintain the Longhouse Emperors' grip over Tamriel long after Durcorach's death, Leovic's decision to legalize Daedra worship led to a  , which ended in Duke   slaying Leovic in the Imperial Throne Room.  Before his death, Leovic managed to hide the Four Ambitions across Tamriel, where they would be lost for a time. 

After the Soulburst
thumb|left|Dagon communes with the Veiled Queen through a flame
Mehrunes Dagon did not launch an invasion into Tamriel immediately after the   in  .  Circa  , displeased with the rise of the tolerant Queen Ayrenn and her (First) Aldmeri Dominion, High Kinlady Estre donned the role of the leader of the Altmeri separatists known as the Veiled Heritance. In her desperate attempt to impede the pass of Queen Ayrenn and her troops to Firsthold, she made a pact with Dagon. Estre summoned Daedra from the Deadlands in Dawnbreak's abandoned mine. The Daedra set the town alight and murdered its citizens until the   intervened and organized an evacuation. The marines managed to stop the hordes from spreading across the area, and an Eye of the Queen came and defeated the Dremora that orchestrated the assault.  

Per her agreement with Mehrunes Dagon, High Kinlady Estre unleashed more Daedra upon Torinaan, a holy site of the Eight Divines in the north. She then moved on to her ultimate target, the city of  .  Here, she was let into the city by its ruler,  , who remained oblivious to her true nature. Once inside, she opened four Oblivion Gates across the city, allowing her Daedric army to lay siege to Firsthold and kidnap the kinlord. Estre was slain by a hero and the Oblivion Gates were closed, but most of Firsthold was left in ruins. 

Later that year, Dagon's Razor Master, Erthas, attacked the Bosmeri village of Whisper Grove. The forest was set ablaze, the village was overrun by Dagonites, and a portal to the Deadlands was opened to to stir the chaos. The Undaunted were hired by the village's leader, Gilraen, to slay the Dagonites and push back the Daedra. After Erthas' death, Mehrunes Dagon himself offered to seal the portal if Gilraen agreed to meet with him in the Deadlands. Gilraen agreed, and the portal was shut.  Mehrunes Dagon gave Gilraen the means to survive in the Deadlands as a Razor Master, namely his eponymous Razor. 

Several months later, Gilraen's husband, Fingaenion, reopened the portal in a desperate bid to save his wife. He hired the Undaunted to enter Oblivion and retrieve her, but they failed.  Another group of Undaunted arrived hours later and successfully intervened. The adventurers went through the portal Fingaenion re-opened to enter the Knives of Discord, a region ruled by one of Mehrunes Dagon's lieutenants, Valkyn Skoria.  The Undaunted rescued Gilraen and their comrades, slew the Valkyn, and closed the portal.  Gilraen was worried that Mehrunes Dagon would seek her out, given that she facilitated the slaying of one of his lieutenants and fled the realm with his Razor. 

The Ambitions and Cataclysts
thumb|left|Mehrunes Dagon, invading Fort Redmane
A chance encounter with the Bosmer Eveli Sharp-Arrow in Black Drake Villa, and two further encounters with the Dremora Lyranth - first in the Cauldron, and subsequently led the Vestige an invitation to meet in a remote dungeon (various reports place this dungeon in Rivenspire, Malabal Tor or Shadowfen) which revealed the existence of a secret involving the fallen Longhouse Emperors dynasty, a cult known as the Order of the Waking Flame, and a weapon of some sort known as "The Four Ambitions" and associated with Mehrunes Dagon. A list was found, of people who were apparently in on the secret - mostly but not all of them were members of Emperor Leovic's Elder Council, and some apparently knew part of the secret but none knew all: and one by one they were being murdered - apparently by the Dark Brotherhood.   

The Vestige would work with Eveli Sharp-Arrow to uncover the mystery, and warn the surviving councilors, many which were known to be in the Cyrodiilic region of Blackwood. Of them, most had reconciled themselves to the fall of the Longhouse Emperors, and managed to hang on to positions of regional importance - for instance, Councilor Tarnian Lovidicus had taken a place in the governing triumvirate of Leyawiin.  However, Councilor Ertus Vandacia still harbored designs of seizing power for himself - the Daedric power of the pact with Dagon, the Imperial Throne, and the Four Ambitions themselves, whatever they might be: and it was he and his Order of the Waking who proved to be responsible for the murder of many of his fellow councilors, and not the Dark Brotherhood.  

thumb|left|A possible future where Mehrunes Dagon took over Tamriel, alongside Vandacia
The Vestige and allies would race to uncover the Four Ambitions before Ertus Vandacia could acquire them. The Ambitions would turn out not to be conventional weapons, but instead were in fact people, and apparently innocent well-meaning people at that - but, people whose purpose was to have been empowered at birth with power they could not control, by the sacrifice of their parents (a deed committed by Vandacia) and later to be sacrificed themselves by one who sought to seize their power.  Vandacia duly deployed an army to capture the three Ambitions that had yet been found, who were quickly moved from the indefensible civilian city of Gideon to the much more sturdy Imperial-built Fort Redmane. The bulk of his army was defeated outside the walls, but Vandacia and a powerful group of cultists were able to get into the castle with portal magic.  

The Ambition, Destron, used his power to destroy a large troop of cultists but was in turn slain by Vandacia, who seized his power and attempted to declare himself Emperor, even as Mehrunes Dagon himself was drawn in by the destruction and attempted to merge Tamriel into the Deadlands. Vandacia himself was slain, and the new world-merge was prevented, and Dagon banished. The two known surviving Ambitions, Sombren and Calia, realised that their power was already too great and uncontrollable to remain in Tamriel until they could channel it, and they would have to hide in the Deadlands where it seemed to be dampened: meanwhile the Vestige, now entitled the Hero of Blackwood, resolved to search for the missing fourth Ambition. 
thumb|right|The realms merging at Fort Sundercliff
Mehrunes Dagon looked to take over the demi plane of Fargrave, as it was a convenient way station between Nirn and the rest of Oblivion. Unfortunately for the Prince, infighting erupted between Sister Celdina's Waking Flame and Valkynaz Nokvroz of the Ruinblood Clan over who would take credit over the utilization of the Cataclysts; machines that remake Daedra into living disasters. It only hampered Dagon's plans, and allowed for the defeat of both factions. After discovering that the Four Ambitions were actually imbued with Dagon's nymic.  Mehrunes Dagon was summoned to Tamriel by the Ambition   using the power of the Four Ambitions. A portal was opened between Fort Sundercliff and Dagon's capital of   in the Deadlands, resulting in the instant destruction of the fort and the surrounding town. Upon manifesting on Tamriel, Dagon once more began the process of merging his realm with Nirn using the power of the Ambitions. However, Dagon and Sombren were followed by a force of mortals and Daedra led by the Vestige, who interrupted the ritual. Another Ambition,  , was able to steal power back from Sombren and used Dagon's egonymic to bind and weaken the Prince. With the help of the Vestige, Dagon's physical form was destroyed and he was banished to the furthest corner of the Deadlands via the use of his egonymic. This reversed the attempted merging of the realms, mitigating the destruction that had been caused to Sundercliff and the surrounding landscape. 

Third Era
thumb|right|The remains of a village on Caecilly Island
At some point before the year   (and possibly before the Interregnum),  Chimere Graegyn, a Direnni retainer and noted Daedra summoner, made a pact with Mehrunes Dagon. The conjurer deceived the Prince, tricking him into swearing an oath he had no intention of keeping. Chimere wore the Armor of the Savior's Hide, and it protected him from the blows of oathbreakers (as Dagon now was), which gave Chimere enough time to banish Dagon to Oblivion by invoking the Prince's protonymic.  

However, Dagon still had enough time to strike back; as he was sucked into the Void, the Prince channeled his remaining power into a curse. As per the initial pact, Graegyn desired to "live forever in his home town among the happy voices of his friends and countrymen". Dagon reinterpreted this request literally, dragging Chimere and the entirety of his home of Caecilly Island into Oblivion with him. Everyone else was instantly slain, and Chimere (still aging) was cursed to live forever, surrounded by the voices of his friends. The plane where the island wound up became known as the Chimera of Desolation.  

The Imperial Simulacrum
thumb|right|Jagar Tharn
Mehrunes Dagon was instrumental in Jagar Tharn's imposture and assumption of the Imperial throne on  .  After Jagar banished Emperor Uriel Septim VII and Talin Warhaft  with the Staff of Chaos,   the sovereign was kept in bondage by Dagon in one of his dark prisons  somewhere in Oblivion, where he experienced nothing but inexplicable and haunting nightmares.  This period where Jagar ruled would become known as the Imperial Simulacrum.

After his father's numerous failed attempts at invading the Battlespire in the past,  Xivilai Moath took it upon himself to engineer Jagar Tharn's involvement in the Spire's fall.  Indeed, Mehrunes Dagon and his forces were free to invade this war college thanks to the resulting bargain,  and in exchange they were to slay the five mighty battlemage administers who governed it. Jagar hoped this would free him from the troublesome competition for his position as Imperial Battlemage of Tamriel, as these administers were traditionally selected for it. 
thumb|left|Mehrunes Dagon and his armies
In  , Mehrunes Dagon collected his prize.  The Prince's forces, led by Imago Storm of Clan Dremora, mustered in the Havoc Wellhead, then rampaged through two other planes of Oblivion—the Shade Perilous of Nocturnal   and the Soul Cairn—before invading the Battlespire itself. 

Shade Perilous was home to two Daedra clans, the lordless Seducers and the Nocturnals who had given them refuge. The Nocturnals were imprisoned in their own demense as the Seducers were bent to Dagon's will. However, some Seducers willingly entered his service, and these converts were remade in the image of Dagon's greed and treachery, making them much more powerful—and giving them wings.   These "Dark Seducers"  joined the ranks of the invasion forces, with some being given Daedric Crescents to wield in battle.  One Dark Seducer in particular became Mehrunes Dagon's bodyguard and lover, and was entrusted by the Prince with one of his artifacts, the Sword of the Moon Reiver.   Once the Battlespire was taken, the Weir Gate, the portal to Tamriel, was sealed with Dagon's personal warding sigil.  

Unaware of these events, a pair of apprentice battlemages, Shadow Legion aspirants, entered the Battlespire after it had fallen. One apprentice went ahead, leaving behind notes and helpful items, but was ultimately captured by the Daedra and brought to Dagon's hunting lodge before the Prince himself.   The other apprentice went in search of the first (and for a way back to Tamriel) by fighting through, bluffing past, and making deals with the various forces, Daedric and otherwise, along the way. 

thumb|right|The Battlespire
After following the trail back to the Shade Perilous, the apprentice befriended the Nocturnals and freed their leader, Jaciel Morgen.  Curiously, Clan Dremora also offered its assistance, for while Mehrunes Dagon had allowed his armies to enter Shade Perilous and use it as a waystation for the assault on the Battlespire, he had not sanctioned its overthrow or occupation. Instead of negotiating for passage or showing restraint, Dagon's protégés and adoptive children, Faydra Shardai of the Fire Daedra clan and Xivilai Moath of the Frost Daedra clan, decided to crush their long-time enemies, the Nocturnals. The Dremora believed this needed to be undone in order to rectify things. 

left|Mehrunes Dagon (Battlespire)|left|thumb
However, the path from the Shade Perilous led to the Chimera of Desolation, where the apprentice became the hare in a Great Hunt.  While the Dremora could offer little help there,  the apprentice was able to survive and locate (the now very old) Chimere Graegyn. Chimere drew on his past experience with Mehrunes Dagon to help the apprentice escape the realm, offering up the Savior's Hide and Dagon's protonymic in the process, though by this time, the Prince had added an unknown neonymic as well.  

Once through the Chimera, the apprentice wound up in the Havoc Wellhead, and came face to face with Grand Vizier Imago Storm of the Dremora. Storm was of the opinion that with the conquest of the Shade Perilous combined with the taking of the Battlespire, Clan Dagon had "overreached its resources and  ". He felt it best if Faydra, Xivilai, and Mehrunes Dagon himself were temporarily removed from the picture so he could restore order and stability to Clan Dagon.  Storm then gave the neonymics of all three to the apprentice, as the mortal had little choice but to go along with this plan.  

After dealing with the lesser Daedra, the apprentice portaled into the Deadlands near Dagon's hunting lodge, the Prince's personal pleasure palace.  According to the Dremora, banishing Mehrunes Dagon required the Armor of the Savior's Hide, his proto- and neonymics, the "aid of absent friends", a bit of hope, and a weapon made from Dagon's own substance, the Sword of the Moon Reiver.  This last item was soon taken by force from Dagon's Dark Seducer lover, and the apprentices battled up a mountainside and entered the lodge to face Dagon himself. 

Mehrunes Dagon was waiting in his inner sanctum with the first aspirant, who was chained from the ceiling and paralyzed. The Lord of Destruction smugly thanked the mortal for bringing him so many valuable magic items, though he was perturbed that the Savior's Hide prevented the paralytic effect. And more so when the apprentice revealed knowledge of Dagon's nymics. But the Prince remained smug until the apprentice revealed the Moon Reiver, at which point he decided to take action. But in that moment, the apprentice summoned Jaciel to the battle; her sudden appearance momentarily distracted Dagon, giving the apprentice enough time to strike.  Dagon was sucked back into the Void, being "compressed into an ever-smaller volume" before vanishing.  

With Mehrunes Dagon gone, Jagar Tharn lost his backing and was destined to fail.  Circa  , when the Eternal Champion reunited the eight pieces of the Staff of Chaos and linked it to the Jewel of Fire, the combined energies of Tharn's lifeforce and the staff were released in a powerful surge of energy, culminating in the destruction of the Battlemage. The release of energy opened a gate to free Uriel Septim VII and Talin Warhaft from Dagon's prison,  and destroyed much of the Palace interior.  As a result of his defeat, speculation suggests that Dagon himself would one day come back with a newly found hatred for the Empire.  Naturally, agents of Dagon were implicated in Jagar's displacement of the Emperor, and were hunted down.  
 

Fifth Century
Mehrunes Dagon was not gone long. Sometime around  , he was summoned by an agent of the Blades in the Iliac Bay region. The Prince offered the agent "power" in exchange for killing a wayward Frost Daedra in a nearby dungeon. Once this was done, the agent received Mehrunes' Razor as a reward. 

In  , the Nerevarine visited Mehrunes Dagon's shrine off the coast of Vvardenfell and summoned the Prince. As a test of worthiness, Dagon sent the hero after his Razor, which had been stolen by an "unworthy" elf and lost in a tomb. The Nerevarine retrieved the artifact, and was allowed to keep it after the Prince restored it to its former glory. 
 

thumb|right|Mehrunes Dagon during the Oblivion Crisis
The Oblivion Crisis
In  , the final year of the Third Era, Mehrunes Dagon invaded Nirn in what came to be known as the Oblivion Crisis.  Dagon plotted to destroy the Septim bloodline and open gates to Oblivion throughout Cyrodiil to launch an invasion. His motivation for this invasion is unclear; the Mythic Dawn, Dagon worshippers, claimed Nirn was Dagon's plane to begin with. The Mythic Dawn worked to bring about the coming of Dagon by assassinating the Emperor and his three known heirs. The cult focused on the eternal dawn on which Dagon would come to cleanse the world of all non-followers. In order to recover the Amulet of Kings and foil Dagon's plans, the Champion of Cyrodiil had to recover the Mysterium Xarxes, a book written by Dagon himself, so that Martin Septim could open a portal to the Paradise of Mankar Camoran, where the amulet was being kept. Dagon himself made a short but dramatic appearance as a gigantic four-armed humanoid armed with an axe and talons at the climax of the Crisis.  At the  's  , Martin Septim shattered the Amulet of Kings, transforming himself into an avatar of Akatosh (and thereby mantling him).  Dagon was handily defeated, after which the avatar turned into a statue at the center of the ruined temple, a reminder of Martin's sacrifice, which led to the common belief that the forces of Oblivion could never again openly threaten the people of Tamriel.  
 

thumb|left|Making an offering to the Prince of Destruction
Fourth Era
In  , Sul opened a portal to Oblivion that he and Attrebus Mede used to enter the planes of Oblivion, traveling through different planes including the Deadlands.  

By  , Mehrunes' Razor was in Skyrim, having been broken into three pieces. The Last Dragonborn collected these for the   in Dawnstar, and was offered the restored Razor by Dagon in exchange for killing the museum's proprietor. 
thumb|right|The unclosable Oblivion Gate, bypassing Martin's sacrifice (Skyrim)
Despite his defeat in the Oblivion Crisis, Mehrunes Dagon was still determined to invade Nirn, and set up a scheme to bypass the liminal barrier. He was aware of the existence of the Prophecy of the Dragonborn, and sought to use it to his advantage. For this purpose, he had a Dunmer named Vonos revive the Mythic Dawn, who led them to a buried Mythic Dawn temple within Skyrim, where they were tasked with reconstructing a dormant Oblivion Gate. After stopping the cult's retrieval of the Great Welkynd Stone from the Ayleid ruins of Rielle, the Last Dragonborn journeyed to the cult's temple. There, they slew Vonos with the Great Welkynd stone in their belongings, and it was revealed that this was all a ploy. 

As the Last Dragonborn was blessed by Akatosh himself, the same being that sealed the jaws of Oblivion would by extension be the key to opening them again.  Though it was only one Oblivion gate, this unwittingly sacrifice produced a foothold that could not be closed as the Sigil Stone was disposed of to prevent its closure; even if Dagon was defeated here, he could still rebuild and try again.  Regardless, the Last Dragonborn entered into the Deadlands and defeated Valkyn Methats and Gatanas, who were to serve as heralds for the initial assault on Tamriel. Afterwards, the Vigil of Stendarr arrived and put it upon themselves to guard the portal.   
 

Artifacts
thumb|right|150px|A Daedric Crescent
Daedric Crescent
 
 

thumb|right|150px|The Deadland Hammer
Deadland Hammer
 
 

thumb|right|150px|Groundsplitters
Groundsplitters
 
 

thumb|right|150px|Mehrunes' Razor
Mehrunes' Razor
 
 

thumb|right|150px|Front cover of the Mysterium Xarxes
Mysterium Xarxes
 
 

thumb|right|150px|The Spear of Bitter Mercy
Spear of Bitter Mercy
 
 

thumb|right|150px|The Sword of the Moon Reiver
Sword of the Moon Reiver
 
 

The Deadlands
thumb|left|The Deadlands
 
 

Servants
thumb|right|A Watcher that serves Mehrunes Dagon
Numerous Daedra serve the Mehrunes Dagon, most notably the kinsmen of Clan Dremora. The Dremora are said to resemble their patron "in pride, fixed purpose, and lack of subtlety", but also value honor and loyalty to the Clan and to Dagon. Among the ranks of the Dremora are the Valkynaz (or "princes"), members of the Valkyn, Mehrunes Dagon's personal guard. Below them are the Markynaz (or "grand dukes"), members of the Markyn, his Council of Lords.  The Clan operates out of the Havoc Wellhead and is led by one of Dagon's top lieutenants, Grand Vizier Imago Storm. 

Daedroth, clannfear, watchers, Xivilai and scamps are a common sight in Dagon's legions.    As they do beneath other Princes, scamps function as servants and menials. Magma Scamps are native to the Deadlands.  The Ruinachs are Mehrunes Dagon's elite marauders. They possess immense physical strength, and are unflinchingly loyal to their Prince. These red-skinned, four-armed Daedra resemble their master. 

Other Realms
The Chimera of Desolation
thumb|left|The Chapel of the Innocent Quarry in the Chimera of Desolation
 
 

Deadlight
thumb|left|Realm of Deadlight
 
 

The Havoc Wellhead
thumb|left|The gates to a Daedric encampment
 
 

Citadels
Mehrunes Dagon is rumored to house his legions in seven hundred and seventy-seven impregnable citadels. 

See Also
For game specific information see the Daggerfall, Battlespire, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, and ESO articles.

Books












Notes





Gallery
 

References