Barbas Barbas is the dog companion of the Daedric Prince Clavicus Vile . He is a shape shifting Daedra that often takes on the appearance of a Dog , but is known to take on the form of a Scamp named Creeper . History . Merethic Era . Cave drawings dating back to the Merethic Era depict Clavicus Vile with a dog by his side , most likely being Barbas . Second Era . Planemeld . In 2E 582 , a novice Altmer mage known as Pircalmo was tasked by the Bosmer living in Willowgrove , Valenwood to clear out the nearby woods . However , Pircalmo ' s experience with magic was often limited by his constant errors and problems dealing with magic . Before trying to cast his spell , Pircalmo wished for it to work well . Unknown to Pircalmo , his wish was granted to him by the Daedric Prince Clavicus Vile , who had an ancient and forgotten shrine in a cave close by . Pircalmo ' s spell worked in that it transported a large group of dangerous Atronach s from Oblivion to burn down the woods . Having seemingly failed the contract , Pircalmo ' s wife was taken by the local Bosmer to be murdered and devoured . Fortunately , the Vestige found the shrine , which Barbas had been bound to due to Pircalmo ' s wish . The Vestige then destroyed the shrine , freeing Barbas and banishing the atronachs back to Oblivion before Pircalmo ' s wife could be hurt . The same year , Barbas appeared as Creeper when an Orsimer merchant by the name of Zagrugh summoned a scamp to be his personal assistant . Zagrugh ran a general goods store beneath the city of Mournhold , in a Dunmer ancestral tomb which had been taken over by criminals . Zagrugh had hoped that a summoned being from Oblivion would be more trustworthy and loyal than his previous employees , who had all stolen items from his store . Strangely , Zagrugh ' s corpse was later found , and his assistant Creeper took over the store . Meeting with Cyrus . When the hero Cyrus travelled to Clavicus Vile ' s realm in 2E 864 in search of his sister Iszara ' s soul , Barbas took a liking to Cyrus and transformed his face into multiple creatures , and also imitated Cyrus ' face . Vile noted that Barbas likes being a dog as well as other different things . Third Era . Time in Morrowind . In 3E 427 , Barbas took on the appearance of a Scamp called Creeper to live and trade goods with a group of Orsimer in Caldera , Vvardenfell in the province of Morrowind . Oblivion Crisis . In 3E 433 , during the Oblivion Crisis , Clavicus Vile tasked the Hero of Kvatch with obtaining the sword of Umbra . Barbas foresaw the chaos and destruction that the sword would bring to Clavicus Vile ' s Realm of Oblivion , and left his master ' s side to manifest himself as a statue of a dog . Through the statue , Barbas talked with the hero in an attempt to make it so the hero would not want to bring the sword to Vile . This attempt proved futile , as the sword was given back to the Prince . Fourth Era . The Umbriel Crisis . The being known as Umbra later took much of Clavicus Vile ' s power and created the floating city Umbriel , leaving Vile ' s realm of Oblivion greatly damaged . When Ezhmaar Sul and the prince of the Empire , Attrebus Mede travelled to Clavicus Vile ' s realm to make a deal with the Prince , Barbas helped in negotiations between Vile , Sul and Attrebus . Meeting with the last Dragonborn . In 4E 201 , Clavicus Vile had forsaken Barbas due to an argument they had , and due to a pure annoyance of his servant . Barbas , in the form of a dog , was left wandering the forest of southern Skyrim . This weakened Vile ' s power , making it so that he could only manifest in Mundus in close proximity to one of his shrines . The inhabitants of Falkreath noticed a stray dog , and so when the Last Dragonborn was tasked by Falkreath ' s blacksmith to find the stray dog , the dog revealed that he was Barbas after being found by the Dragonborn and asked the Dragonborn to help him end his quarrel with Vile . The two traveled to the Prince ' s shrine in Haemar ' s Shame , and Clavicus Vile had the Last Dragonborn obtain an artifact of Vile ' s known as the Rueful Axe . After obtaining the axe , Vile then said that the Dragonborn could keep the axe if they would kill Barbas in his mortal form , banishing him back to Oblivion for a few centuries and allowing Clavicus Vile to use the full extent of his power ; or to continue with the original pact , forcing Vile to take both the axe and Barbas back with him . Appearances .