Lore:Neloth

is a Mage Lord and Councilor of  .  In  , he was Master of  , and resided there in the tower of   where his Mouth was Arara Uvulas.  He sported a collection of rare treasures, which at one point included  ,  although these were often stolen by other Telvanni.  He also enjoyed kidnapping the daughters of   Councilors, an interest he shared with another prominent Telvanni,  .  A gifted enchanter, he studied and collected staffs made by Azra Nightwielder and showed a fondness for   tea.  Along with the other Telvanni councilors, he recognized the Nerevarine as Hortator. 

During his time in Sadrith Mora, several of his fellow Telvanni councilors were thought to have been assassinated at the behest of   of the Mages Guild.  Neloth survived and went on to become the most powerful wizard of House Telvanni, maybe even the most powerful wizard in all of Morrowind.  

Prior to the eruption of   in  , Neloth moved to   where he grew his citadel,  , and the surrounding buildings with cuttings he brought from Morrowind.  He was also responsible for transporting several silt striders to Solstheim, though none seemed to have survived.  It was around this time that he began studying the ash and molten rocks that landed on the shores of Solstheim from Red Mountain. He named them heart stones and learned that they had the capacity to raise ash spawn from pieces of bone buried in the nearby ash. Neloth deduced that because they lay next to the   for millennia, some vestige of its power must have seeped into them. This led him to believe that they held secrets that had the potential to unlock great power.  Using his knowledge of heart stones, he created a staff enchanter, an exceptional feat beyond the skill of many wizards and mages. Powered by a large heart stone, it was capable of enchanting staves from all schools of magic, provided a heart stone was used in the imbuing process.   

In addition to his arcane research, Neloth also pursued an interest in acquiring   artifacts, particularly those attributed to Hermaeus Mora. He spent many years searching for the   without success, but did manage to recover a Black Book, one of the many tomes of esoteric knowledge scattered throughout the world. Using this book, he located another in the ruins of Nchardak, a Dwemer ruin on the east coast of Solstheim. After exploring a small part of the ruins, he discovered that the book was sealed within a protective case that he was unable to open. He elected to seal the ruins shut to keep out any meddlers until he could find a way to unlock the case.  Decades later, he took on the services of a mycologist named Elynea Mothren, who became responsible for nurturing his tower, and later an apprentice named Ildari Sarothril. Ildari was headstrong with a strong interest in magic, while her desire for power caused her to continually push Neloth to teach her more.  

Continuing his research into heart stones, Neloth began performing necropsies on spriggans, which led him to believe that a heart stone could be implanted in a person's chest, granting them great power. He considered replacing his own heart with a heart stone, but instead performed the surgery on Ildari. Although Ildari claimed that Neloth betrayed her, he and Elynea maintained that her desire for power led her to volunteer for the experiment.    In  , Neloth performed the surgery that resulted in Ildari's heart being replaced with a heart stone, but the experiment failed and Ildari seemed to die as a result. Neloth, mildly annoyed by the setback, had her buried in the cemetery behind Tel Mithryn.  It was after this that he took on Talvas Fathryon as his new apprentice, as he continued his research. 

In  , he began to study the effects of  's mind control on the residents of Solstheim, and its connection with Hermaeus Mora.  With the aid of the Last Dragonborn, he returned to Nchardak and was successful in recovering the black book that was held there. The book was instrumental in helping the Last Dragonborn defeat Miraak and break his hold over Solstheim.  Around this time, he also discovered that his former apprentice Ildari was still alive and sought revenge for his failed experiment on her. After the death of his steward and the withering of his tower, he was successful in thwarting her plans with the help of the Last Dragonborn.  He planned on returning to   after finishing his research on heart stones and the ash spawn. 

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See Also
For game-specific information, see the Morrowind and Dragonborn articles.

References