Lore:Meridia

, Lady of Infinite Energies,  the Bright Lady,  the Strict but Fair Arbiter of Inner Luminance,  the Sunfire,  the Radiant One,  the Keeper,   the Lady of Light    and the  Prince of Life  is the Daedric Prince "of Life and Light",  associated with the energies of living things.   The Sunburst is her symbol.  She has a great and everlasting hatred for the undead and will greatly reward any who eliminate them from the world. As such, Meridia has a reputation for benevolence,  and is one of the few Daedric Princes who is usually not considered to be wholly evil.  Her day of summoning is the 13  of Morningstar. 

In spite of this, she is referred to as the Glister Witch  or the Lady of Greed by those who view her less favorably, with a habit of collecting live human specimens to satiate said greed.   To her enemies, Meridia is known for her violent loathing of disorder, irrational anger towards entities she deems impure, and hatred of mortal free will and defiance.   As with most Princes, Meridia sees mortals as "assets" primarily for use as a means to an end.   Meridia can bestow upon mortals immortality, at the cost of their will, becoming those known as the Purified; slaves to her command, cleansed of disease, death, and free will.  People who join the ranks of the Purified are both those that willingly pledge to serve Meridia and the unwilling, such as those that defy her.    Meridia also granted immortality to her champion,  , the ancient Ayleid enemy of  .   Her Aurorans and Umaril returned during the time of the   to seek vengeance on the Divines.  

Her sphere of energy and life often brings her into direct conflict with many of the other Princes of Oblivion.  The most notable example of these feuds is her eternal battle with the Daedric Prince of Domination, Molag Bal.  During the waning days of the Ayleid Empire, Meridia would be responsible for the destruction of the  -worshipping  Ayleid city of Abagarlas,  commanding her knights in the Merida-worshipping Ayleid city of Delodiil to invade after discovering a great and terrible weapon known as the   was gifted to Abagarlas by the Lord of Domination himself.  This feud would continue well into the Second Era, where Meridia's assistance was instrumental in stopping Molag Bal's  . Denizens of Molag Bal's realm of   refer to Meridia as the Shining Bitch, and her worshipers are often locked away and tortured within the  .  Her other notable enemies include  , who once drained Meridia of her power in her quest to rewrite reality,  and  , the God of War who dislikes most Daedric Princes.    
 

Mythology
Khajiiti Beliefs
Ancient texts claim that Merid-Nunda, False Spirit of Greed, The Orphaned Glimmer is the daughter of  , who loved only himself and his own creations. Magrus did not take a mate but instead forged children of the  . Merid-Nunda is a cold spirit, born of light without love. She is intellect without wisdom, knowledge without purpose. She is the consort of demons, and some songs blame her for orchestrating the death of mighty  . When Merid-Nunda dared assault the Lattice with intent (being the first to do so, alongside Dagon and Molagh),   struck her down before the Varliance Gate and dragged her away from it. She then cast Merid-Nunda into the   and bound her there with mirrors. The nomads say she has since escaped.  Modern Khajiit may not acknowledge the Merid-Nunda myths, as the   cult altered or removed many of their deities following the creation of the   Confederacy,  and she is not mentioned in the modern creation story told by Clan Mother Ahnissi.  

Ayleid Pantheon
Meridia was an extremely important figure for the Ayleids, as she was considered the personification of their fourth element, light.  The Ayleids often depicted Meridia with wings and a cowl. 

Meridia was the patron deity of Garlas Malatar, a city which was built upon the  . Its ruler,  , was a devout worshiper of Meridia who dedicated his life and city to her veneration. He was considered a favorite of the Daedric Prince, second only to her champion, Umaril the Unfeathered. She gifted the city with a relic known as the  , which shone above the city with her unquenchable light. It was a literal and metaphorical beacon, visible for great distances. 

Skyrim
Meridia has a   on  , whose priests were hospitable and more than willing to provide travelers with food and warm beds. The temple's caretakers closed its doors to conduct secret rites during the feasts of High Sun and Low Sun.  While many of the local Nords in nearby Solitude found Meridia's worship to be heretical, the temple was more or less left alone. 

Rumor holds that the Direfrost Flame and the Torch of Heirs, ancient relics of the   clan, were created by Meridia to distress the Daedra. 

Worship
Meridian cultists adorn their armor with patterns resembling scales, wings and rays of light, true to the motifs present in Meridian imagery. Flowing lines which represent the energy of Meridia are a common form of symbolism. Mastery of motion is a cornerstone in the fighting techniques of those revering Meridia. As such, supple leather that allows for easy movement is a hallmark in Meridian cultists' leg armor. Light and vibration affect crystals, so Meridian cultists carry crystals into battle, believing it allows Meridia to bless their moves directly. Their weapons are designed to snap skeletons' bones and deal utmost damage to necromancers, some of Meridia's enemies. 

History
First Era
The Hollow City
thumb|right|The Hollow City
Long ago, a city existed upon Nirn which was devoted to Meridia. Meridia gifted her people the  , relics whose power protected the city and made life easier for its inhabitants. Molag Bal sent minions from Coldharbour to destroy it, but the warriors and mages of the city managed to seal the gates and protect everyone within.  Everyone outside the gates was slaughtered. The Ayleid King Laloriaran Dynar was visiting the city, and he quickly took command of the city's defenses.

The Ayleid King single-handedly protected the gates. As he fought, he prayed, and Meridia answered.  She felt compassion for her worshipers, but also saw an opportunity: Molag Bal's portal worked both ways. She filled the Lights of Meridia with even more of her divine power, warded the city and pushed it into Coldharbour.  The Lights of Meridia and the city's inhabitants were scattered across Coldharbour when the city entered the realm. Many of the city's inhabitants were captured or slain, and the Lights were stolen by the minions of Molag Bal. Despite the fact that not all of her people survived, Meridia still accomplished a major feat; she had sent a portion of her realm into Molag Bal's domain, and he could not touch it.  This tactic would pay off in the years to come. 

Twilight of the Ayleids
Sometime after the  ,  various Ayleid kingdoms launched a desperate search for the fabled Wrathstone, which they believed would lead them to a weapon that would be their salvation against the encroaching forces of the  . An expedition marched to the   city of  , in the hold of   in  , where it was rumored the Wrathstone was held. The Ayleids besieged Mzulft, but failed to breach it or retrieve the artifact.  At the time, the Ayleids were unaware that the Dwemer only possessed the left half of the Wrathstone, and that half was stored not at Mzulft, but at nearby Kagrenzel. 

After the failure of the raid on Mzulft, Meridia appeared to her faithful with a cryptic warning that the Ayleid Empire would soon fall, and gifted the right half of the Wrathstone to the city of  .  At the time, Garlas Malatar was ruled by King  , who was one of Meridia's most devout and favored adherents after Umaril the Unfeathered.  To keep his piece of the Wrathstone safe,  Narilmor did not provide aid nor asylum to the desperate Ayleid refugees from other kingdoms, and locked them out of his city.  The inhabitants of Garlas Malatar were not heard of again. Although Garlas Malatar was eventually besieged by men, some accounts have suggested that the attackers did not even make it inside Narilmor's city before it collapsed into ruin; it was suggested that the city fell from within, brought down by internal conflict or sabotage. 

Second Era
Planemeld
thumb|right|"The Dark Prince will need stronger chains than that to stop me."
During the Planemeld and the  , Cyrodiil was left in ruins and the provinces were divided by the few were left to oppose the invading Daedra. Meridia had her servant,  , assassinate the leader of the   in order to assume the role of guildmaster. Under Daedric command and funded by the wealth of Meridia's worshipers,  the guild began refusing all other contracts and focused its efforts on destroying   and opposing Molag Bal's schemes.   Meanwhile, the   were reformed following the prophesized arrival of the  , who freed the Companions from Bal's clutches and reclaimed the Amulet of Kings, defeating   in the process. 

Disguised as a mortal, Meridia welcomed the Vestige along with the Fighters and   guilds into the  , which she had thrown into Coldharbour in years past. She allowed them to plot their assault on Molag Bal's citadel within its walls.  Meridia waited within her city as King Laloriaran Dynar and the   returned to her city.  When the guilds finally invaded Molag Bal's fortress, Meridia personally manifested in the   to destroy it. She erected a forcefield to prevent Molag Bal from harming the Warriors of Light as they destroyed the Dark Anchors within the vortex. The power of the Light of Meridia was unleashed at the focal upon of the vortex, the Planar Vortex was destroyed. 

The Vestige later faced Molag Bal at the seat of his power and defeated him. This released untold measures of souls from the Prince's grasp. Meridia plucked the Hero's soul as it escaped the realm, and allowed the Vestige to reunite with it in the Colored Rooms. 

The Triad
thumb|right|Darien sacrifices himself to return the last of Meridia's power to Dawnbreaker
Meridia sent her   to foil the  's plans. The Knight was kidnapped by agents of  , and Dawnbreaker was shattered. The Vestige sought Meridia's aid in repairing the blade. Meridia added to its power, enabling it to be used to locate her Knight. Nocturnal then invaded the Colored Rooms, abruptly ending the Hero's correspondence with the Daedric Prince.  

With Meridia incapacitated, only the Golden Knight was left to enact her plans. Dawnbreaker was corrupted by Nocturnal during later conflicts,  and the Knight, realizing that he was the last Light of Meridia, sacrificed himself to purge the darkness from the artifact. The Vestige used Dawnbreaker to defeat Nocturnal at the  's summit, ending the Triad's threat to Tamriel. 

Later that year, Meridia's temple at Mount Kilkreath was ravaged by a  . Many of her worshipers were killed or transformed into undead monsters. The remnants of her priesthood delved into the temple and retrieved a relic imbued with her light, known as  .  It had the power to channel Meridia's light and purge the temple of corruption. One of the surviving priests used the relic to seal the temple following the disaster. 

Third Era
Meridia has gifted many different Daedric artifacts to her champions over the years, though some of these relics are associated with other Daedric Princes. Sometime around  , an agent of the Blades received the Ring of Khajiiti from Meridia after defeating a sorcerer who betrayed her. 

In  , Meridia charged the Champion of Cyrodiil with the task of destroying necromancers who were raiding tombs for corpses to raise an army of the undead, again in return for this ring.  The same hero also defeated her champion, Umaril the Unfeathered, who had returned from Oblivion after his defeat in the First Era. 

Fourth Era
Meridia offered the sword Dawnbreaker to the Last Dragonborn in   in return for helping her cleanse her temple, which had become tainted by a necromancer and the shades of the corpses he desecrated. 

Artifacts
thumb|right|Dawnbreaker (Legends)
Dawnbreaker
 
 
thumb|right|Ring of Khajiiti (Oblivion)
Ring of Khajiiti
 
 
thumb|right|The Opal Charm
Opal Charm
 
 
thumb|right|The Prismatic Core
The Prismatic Core
 
 
thumb|right|Meridia's beacon (Skyrim)
Meridia's Beacon
 
 
The Colored Rooms
 

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

Books




Notes
The Invocation of the Pocket Guide to the Empire, First Edition, states that Meridia "contains the Plenum".
Mankar Camoran once claimed that the realm of Coldharbour belongs to Meridia, in spite of it belonging to her enemy Molag Bal.  

Gallery
 

References