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| “ | Fool! Did you think Molag Bal, the Lord of Domination, would so easily reward you? | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal to the Dragonborn. |
| “ | Still you fight on? Do you care nothing for your own existence? | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal to the Vestige. |
| “ | Worm! You think you can betray the Lord of Brutality and Domination without consequence? You will pay for your arrogance! You will writhe in agony for the rest of eternity! Your tortured screams will echo throughout Oblivion to serve as a warning to others! | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal discovering Mannimarco's attempt to replace him as a Daedric God. |
Molag Bal is one of the main antagonists of The Elder Scrolls franchise.
He is an evil Daedric Prince whose sphere of influence is domination and enslavement of mortals. While Mehrunes Dagon is a more active threat, Molag Bal is by far the more malevolent. He is known as the "King of Rape" and his purpose is to collect mortal souls and bring them under his power, and to create suffering in the mortal realm; This would make him quite literally a Satan figure, or at least one of such figures along with Sithis the entity of The Void (primordial nothingness) and Mephala, Daedric Prince of corruption, strife and betrayal. Molag Bal's plane of Oblivion is called "Coldharbour", and it is a warped copy of the mortal realm Nirn but in a more hellish form.
He was voiced by Jonathan Bryce in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Christopher Cory Smith (who also voiced Kunikazu Okumura in Persona 5 and Thales in Fire Emblem: Three Houses) in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Malcolm McDowell (who also played Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange, the title character in Caligula, Captain Von Berkow in The Passage, Lord Maliss in Happily Ever After, Gangster in Gangster No.1, Colonel F. E. Cochrane in Blue Thunder, Metallo in Superman: The Animated Series, Arnold Gundars in I Spy, Tolian Soran in Star Trek Generations, Kesslee in Tank Girl, Death in the Castlevania animated series, Andrej Evilenko in Evilenko, Arkady Duvall in Batman: The Animated Series, Geoffrey Tolwyn in the Wing Commander video game series, Marcus Kane in Doomsday, Dr. Monty in Call of Duty: Black Ops III, James Moriarty in Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes, Leonard Wolf in Silent Hill: Revelation, Veris Hydan in Star Wars: Rebels, Tower in Phineas and Ferb, The Shaman in the Aladdin TV series, Merlyn the Archer in DC Showcase: Green Arrow, Sinclair in Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, Mad Mod in Teen Titans, Jonas Slaughter in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Dr. Calico in Bolt, John Henry Eden in Fallout 3, Mayor Scamboli in Pinocchio 3000, John Rainbird in Firestarter: Rekindled, Lord Fathom in Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Jorhan Stahl in Killzone 3, Zarm in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Ogthar in Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone, and Daniel Linderman in Heroes) in The Elder Scrolls Online.
Biography[]
Vampirism[]
It is said that Molag Bal created the first vampire. Molag Bal has a strong hatred of the Divine of death, Arkay, who controls the flow of mortal souls, diverting the pure and righteous from Molag's grasp. To subvert Arkay's hold on mortal souls Molag Bal made the first vampire, Lamae Beolfag. Molag Bal converted Lamae Beolfag into a vampire by raping her, Lamae was pure in both heart and body and when defiled by the cruel Daedra, Lamae's purity seemed to completely invert. Once Lamae was reborn a vampire she turned from a pure-hearted, shy young lady into a blood-and-pain-obsessed monster. After the massacre of a nomad clan who had found her body and attempted to give her a proper funeral, she strolled off to kill, feed, and sire more of her kind.
Molag Bal was very pleased with Lamae's turning and the creature he had unleashed upon the world, for Lamae would convert others, and them still others, corrupting the mortal races. Though most infected with vampirism become instinct governed savages, not all vampires are evil and many can resist their blood lust, either through sheer willpower (as feeding is not essential for vampires to live) or by finding alternate means of food; such as using bandits and outlaws as a food source instead of hapless civilians, a few vampires have even found willing volunteers to allow them to feed off of every few days, without draining all their blood. But even conscientious vampires are subject to Molag Bal and the Lord of Domination still holds title to their souls upon their deaths. Molag Bal had created vampires as a means to rob otherwise good and pure souls from Arkay, in effect being able to claim souls via a spreadable disease that rendered the otherwise all-powerful and benevolent Arkay a non-sequitur.
The Elder Scrolls Online[]
Molag Bal as he appears in Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls Online, the prequel to the main series, features Molag Bal as the main antagonist. In the game Molag Bal, acting through his supplicant, Mannimarco, conspires to con the rulers of Cyrodiil into destroying the Amulet of Kings, thus breaking their compact with the Divines to keep Oblivion and Nirn separate and allowing Molag Bal to begin formal conquest of the world with the theft and domination of the souls of men.
Soul Shrivens
While Mannimarco plays at manipulating the Imperial Empire from behind the scenes Molag Bal is far less concerned with physical rule and far more concerned with sending souls from Nirn to Coldharbour. At the behest of his lord and as part of his basic necromantic practices, Mannimarco frequently rounds up citizens to be sacrificed, removes their souls from their bodies, and pledges them to Molag Bal, sending them to Coldharbour. Once in Coldharbour the spirits of those sacrificed languish for as long as they need to until their wills are broken and eventually become Soul Shrivens, emotionless shadows of their former selves, governed either by feral madness or by the direct will of Molag Bal himself.
The Elder Scrolls Online starts on the premise that the player characters have been sacrificed and are imprisoned in Coldharbour but will escape thanks to a Prophet, a Nord warrior named Lyris Titanborn, and their determination. While Coldharbour is soon escaped as a mere tutorial stage, the player will spend the rest of the game trying to defeat Molag Bal and reclaim possession of their soul, which while intact is still in Molag Bal's collection in Coldharbour.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind[]
In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Molag Bal is the only one who can cure the player if they become a vampire and will only do this for them if they first kill his daughter, a demon called Molag Grunda, who he hates because she is in love with a Frost Atronach named Nomeg Gwai. When they are killed they are both banished to Molag Bal's realm to be punished for eternity.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion[]
In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Molag Bal's quest involves Melus Petilius, a man who disgusts Molag Bal because he is such a good person. Petilius was a local hero who gave up violence forever when his wife died, and Molag Bal wants the player to provoke him into killing them (he "saves" you when this happens so you don't die) with a cursed mace by attacking Petilius while he is praying at his wife's grave, thereby damning his soul.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim[]
His quest in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, titled "The House of Horrors", involves an abandoned building that was built over his shrine. First, his voice takes hold of both the player and another man, a Vigilant of Stendarr, Vigilant Tyranus, who is venturing into the house with them, forcing the player to kill him. Then, has the player kidnaps a priest of Boethiah, a rival Daedric Prince, named Logrolf the Willful, and forces him to restore the Mace of Molag Bal, which he desecrated, before killing him. Twice. The first time the Dragonborn kills Logrolf, Molag revives him with a malicious laugh at how weak and frail the human body is. The second time, after Logrolf finally cracks and forsakes Boethiah for Molag, Molag orders the Dragonborn to kill him once and for all. With it done, the Mace of Molag Bal is restored and granted to the Dragonborn, while Molag excuses himself to deal with Logrolf's soul in Oblivion, but tells the Dragonborn to take care of the house while he's away, leaving with another malicious laugh.
Personality[]
Molag Bal is obsessed with the domination of others, as befits his status as Daedric Lord of Domination. His hatred of Arkay was based on someone being able to hold souls out of his reach.
Rivalries[]
Molag Bal has a rivalry with Sheogorath - Daedric Prince of Madness and Creativity, Boethiah - Daedric Prince of Insurrection and Slaughter, Meridia - Daedric Prince of Spirit and Light, and Mehrunes Dagon - Daedric Prince of Destruction and Change.
Sheogorath[]
Sheogorath has outwitted each Daedric Prince by making bets with them and then beating them by thinking outside the box of what the bet called for to utterly humiliate them. As of this point, it is unwritten what Molag Bal's bet with Sheogorath was, but he lost it. Molag Bal hates being out-done by admitted fools. Though Molag Bal and Sheogorath dislike each other, this manifests as nothing more than snipes at others' expense.
Boethiah[]
His dislike of Boethiah is their conflict sphere, as he/she instigates rebellion and defilement of authority; Boethiah hates domination and would see the submissive die rather than unquestionably serve, so he/she encourages mortals to murder any who would restrain them. While neither Molag Bal nor Boethiah has much love for mortals, Molag Bal believes that mortals exist to be dominated and thus mortals only feel at peace when they are kept in their place, but Boethiah feels that defying authority is what gives mortal purpose.
Meridia[]
Molag Bal's dislike of Meridia is far more pronounced. Meridia is the Daedric Prince of "Life's energies" AKA the flow of souls, and she sees undead as abominations, as such she HATES Molag Bal for in essence creating a spreadable disease of undeath, in vampirism. In The Elder Scrolls Online, Meridia will be one of the benefactors to help the players, though it is less for their righteous cause and more just to spite Molag Bal.
Mehrunes Dagon[]
Molag Bal's dislike of Mehrunes Dagon is due to a conflict of interests as Dagon wants to destroy everything, whereas if everything is destroyed, there would be nothing for Bal to rule. In Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Mehrunes Dagon is the source of the Oblivion Crisis where portals to the Deadlands open up across Nirn and Dagon's daedric forces march out en-masse to overtake and destroy the world. Visiting Molag Bal's shrine shows he despises Mehrunes Dagon for this.
Though Molag Bal himself had opened up rifts to Oblivion years ago that was before The Compact - a peace-accord between the Daedric Princes and the Divines, not to directly physically walk-on, attack, or invade the mortal world. Mehrunes Dagon gets around this by arranging the symbol of the mortal's devotion to the Divines - The Amulet of Kings, being stolen, thus giving him leeway to invade; But Molag Bal still feels it is a violation of the Compact and sees Mehrunes Dagon as a grasping brute just looking for an excuse to destroy even though he and the other Daedric Princes were honoring the spirit of their pact, despite how easily they could destroy the world too if they were willing to sacrifice their credibility.
Jyggalag[]
Molag Bal's dislike of his other Daedric brethren pales in comparison to one, Daedric Prince, for he is the only Daedric Prince so powerful, so authoritative and so efficient that Molag Bal united with all his other brethren to defeat him — Jyggalag. Jyggalag was the Daedric Prince of Order. He had worked out formulas to essentially deconstruct the concept of individuality. He was so able to combat the chaos that he was able to steal other planes of Oblivion from the other Daedric Princes piece-by-piece. Molag Bal, like all the other Daedric Princes, was outraged that his chaotic hellscape, was being pruned back for a plane of boring sterilized "order".
For one single time in history, the Daedric Princes all set aside their rivalries and joined together to defeat a foe — Jyggalag. As he was immortal the other Daedric Princes overcame the issue by attacking Jyggalag on a psychological level — cursing him with madness, and turning him from Jyggalag — the boring, controlling, god of order, into Sheogorath — the insane, imaginative god of madness. Though Sheogorath now thinks of Jyggalag as a different being, Jyggalag still exists on a subconscious level, hence why Sheogorath is pruned to spiteful bets and disgraces of his fellow Daedric Prices. Whatever other rivals Molag Bal has, he has never been willing to team up with another Daedric Prince, let alone all of them, to take on any such rival, indicating that Jyggalag was Molag Bal's truest enemy.
Gallery[]
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Quotes[]
| “ | Revenge? No. I want submission. I want the priest who did this to bend his knee and give me his soul. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Another mortal come to do my bidding. I only wish suffering and death. You will bring me both. I want to see a man brought to the edge. Near Brindle's home, you will find Melus Petilius a good man an honorable man. He disgusts me. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | As you are doing this for me, I'll save your miserable life. Probably. Get out of my stright. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Another man damned. Another soul ruined. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Menta Na has grown careless and lazy. He sits in his wretched cave while life on the surface goes on unmolested. He was spawned a creature of terror! His role is to sow fear and discord among men and mee, yet he is content to stay in his cave and mock my will! | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Yes sacrifice those servants in my name. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | You do not know fear yet? I shall make you afraid! | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Wretches all my servants are wretches! | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | You must bow to me or die. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Your death will be nothing to me. You are but a minor distinction. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | My subjects failed me. They deserve to be destroyed. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Fool! Every drop of blood you spill to defeat me only gives me more strength. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | The skins of those you love will fly as banners. | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Has your tiny little mortal mind snapped? | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal wants to break the heroes' minds. |
| “ | You are less than nothing! | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
| “ | Your mind is naked to me! I can taste your fear! You're fertile for seeds of eternal torment! | „ |
| ~ Molag Bal |
External Link[]
Molag Bal on the Elder Scrolls Wiki.
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  Villains
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Primordial Gods and Forces Daedric Princes Daedra Dragons Vampires Frostbite Spiders Ayleids Aldmeri Dominion Imperial Legion The Longhouse Emperors Thieves Guild/Nightingales Order of the Waking Flame Dark Brotherhood Blackwood Company Order of the Black Worm Glenmoril Witches Stormcloaks Penitus Oculatus Legion Zero Tribunal Sixth House Dragon Cult/Dragon Priests Dwemer Dunmer Draugr Soul Cairn Gray Host The Ascendant Order Creatures Others | ||