| “ | My son will learn that I am not a doll that can be cast aside when he tires of me! I shall take this sanctuary, and from the souls within compose a song of screams and torment. | „ |
| ~ Morathi, Sorceress of Ghrond |
Morathi the Hag Sorceress, also known as the Mother of the Druchii[5] and First Hag of the Queens is a Dark Elf and one of most powerful Dark Magic users in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. She was the second wife of the Legendary High Elf Aenarion the Defender as well as the mother (and rumored lover)[6] of his second son, Malekith the Witch King.
She is known as Morathi-Khaine in Age of Sigmar and, in a ritual gone awry, produces two God-Spawn with Slaanesh: Dexcessa and Synessa.
Overview[]
Characteristics[]
| “ | As ever he was Astonished by her beauty. He doubted there had ever been a woman as lovely as Morathi. | „ |
| ~ Aenarion, as he looks upon Morathi |
Morathi as she appears in the Total War video games.
Morathi is commonly described as the most beautiful woman in the world, so preternaturally so that she easily sways the hearts and minds of any who look upon her. While some of this is natural, the supernatural effects are the work of dark, ancient sorceries and all of it serves to aid the Hag Sorceress in her schemes and plots. Morathi is pale skinned with voluminous jet black hair that falls in thick ringlets down to her back. She has blue eyes and sharp, lovely features which become even moreso when she is angered. Morathi did not wear much despite living in the eternally-frozen clime of Naggaroth. Her armor was scant, serpentine-themed, and crowned with a helmet bearing many horns. There was shadowing around her eyes and the paleness of her flesh darkened towards the ends of arms and legs.
Magics were woven into her hands, that caused pleasure when they made physical contact with other beings.[7]
Despite her beauty, Morathi was cold and ruthless.[8] Even those she loved would not be fully shielded from her schemes and she often raged and plotted against the edicts of her son Malekith. One such scheme involved the death of her son's wife, Allisara, as the Queen Mother feared the love between the Wood Elf and the Witch King would dim the fires of Malekith's hatred and distract him from their shared goal of getting him on the Throne of Ulthuan.[9]
Morathi was hedonistic, enjoying the adoration and servitude of her many thralls and provoking unbridled lust in them simply by being in their presence. However, she was also world-weary after being alive for over six-thousand years. She was power hungry and desired godhood; true godhood, not the ego-stroking fascimile she currently enjoyed. But a part of her would also welcome death, should fate deliver it upon her. At times, she would reminesce on her late husband Aenarion and the many ways the current day would be different if she, and other pivotal figures of the past, had taken different paths than what they ultimately chose.[10]
Morathi had a Dark Pegasus, named Sulephet, that she could ride into battle.
Warhammer Fantasy[]
Queen of Ulthuan[]
| “ | Remember that you are the son of Aenarion. Remember than you are the son of Morathi. In your blood flows the greatest strength of this isle. | „ |
| ~ Morathi, to child Maliketh[11] |
Morathi is a long-lived she-elf, having existed before the Sundering which split the elven people into the Druchii and Asur, Dark Elves and High Elves respectively. She was born before the Coming of Chaos, some six milleniums ago, before war and strife had touched the world.[12] At the age of eleven, she was gifted with the ability to see visions in her dreams and had seen the coming of the Chaos Gods and their Daemons long before their actual arrival. However, tended to by the great, nurturing power of the Old Ones, the long, golden reign of the first Everqueen, and softened by a life of beauty and luxury, other elves did not understand her and therefore, did not believe her until Chaos did indeed come.[13]
Morathi and her Dark Pegasus.
She was rescued by Aenarion from a Band of Slaaneshi Worshippers and would from that day forward entangle herself in many of his doings.[14] Alreadly matchlessly beautiful, Morathi used ancient sorceries to amplify the effects of her appearance; even Aenarion, twisted and changed forever after stepping into the Flame of Asuryan and picking up Widowmaker, blade of the Murder God Khaine, found himself drawn into her dark and twisted passions. However, he did not abase himself as other elf men did and in failing to do so, Morathi had sensed a challenge in him. She tried to woo him, wake him from his grief with her attention, but in trying to snare him by playing at love, she had found and felt the real thing for him.[15] A schemer and manipulator by nature, Morathi was nonetheless instrumental in the mitigating the perpetual burden of bearing the Curse of Khaine in her husband. She brewed potions that allowed him to sleep and calmed him and her embrace allowed the Pheonix King brief respite from the horror of his reality. She also fought alongside him, drawing up battle plans and strategies that resulted in innumerable victories for the elves in earlier days of their history.[16]
Perhaps the greatest thing she would do was bear his second son, Malekith, and thus teach the cursed Pheonix King that there were softer emotions within him still and give him something worth fighting for. However, all of her love for him, their son, and her promises of a life together did not sway Aenarion away from his duty of stopping the second daemonic incursion.[17] Wearily mounting his dragon Indraugnir's back, and leaving his weeping wife to her tears, the Pheonix King rode to meet his destiny.[18]
Morathi herself felt a myriad of emotions for Aenarion, intrigued at the coldness within him that she could not seem to touch and drawn by the way her enchanted beauty could not overwhelm him. She felt lust, respect, hatred, and anger for Aenarion-- but also love. However, her love and beauty and convincing did not stop the Pheonix King from facing down Chaos, a battle he would not return from.[19] This left Morathi with Malekith as his sole parent and the Hag Sorceress was determined to put her son on the Throne of Ulthuan. However, the other Princes of the realm were uncertain about Malekith's character, as he had been raised in wild Nagarythe with grim Aenarion and Manipulative Morathi as parents. Ultimately, the doubters won out and another elf named Bel Shanaar was elected as Pheonix King in Malekith's place, something the Sorceress ranted and railed against furiously.[20]
The Age of Betrayal[]
Morathi was the founder and Leader of the Pleasure Cults that were slowly ensnaring the souls of the Asur and growing in influence each day, challenging the authority of the Second Pheonix King, Bel Shanaar. She had struck pacts with many dark powers, namely the Prince of Pleasure Slaanesh, first among her patrons. Through these cults, the Pheonix Throne was undermined and it's authority challenged, but Malekith would return from his worldy travels oversea and declare war on the Cults of Pleasure, seeking to be the Hero of Ulthuan his father once was in ages past.
Her son Malekith would eventually discover her involvement but would publically grant her no clemency, having her imprisoned. In truth, mother and son both desired Bel Shaanar's fall and schemed together to see it achieved.[21] When Malekith is rejected and maimed by the Flames of Asuryan after the assassination of Bel Shanaar, Morathi and other loyalists of the Prince of Ulthuan would spirit him away to heal, crossing the sea on Great Ships and finding Naggoroth, the Land of Chill. Once he was entombed in his ensorcelled Iron Armor, Malekith and Morathi would kick off The Sundering, which would split elven society into the Dark Elves and the High Elves. They would be driven off in the civil war, fleeing Ulthuan their massive city-ships, but would return with fire and blood in time.
Mother of the Druchii[]
| “ | Morathi is the mother of the Witch King and second only to him in power. | „ |
| ~ The Hag Sorceress[22] |
Morathi in Naggarond.
As Queen Mother of the Witch King, Morathi rules unchallenged from the City of Ghrond. It was she who founded the Conclave of Dark Magic.[23]. She is a Witch Elf, a High Priestess of Khaine, but this is a mere cover for her true alliance with the Dark Prince. Malekith had long banned the open worship of Slaanesh and his pleasure cultists in Naggaroth, with the penalty being death, but Morathi had kept such cults alive in secret.
She occassionally finds herself at odds with her willful son Malekith and has a bitter rival in the Crone Hellebron, an elf even older than she who suspects her religious loyalties. Though a capable fighter and sorceror, Morathi prefers to work from the background, using spies and thralls to see her will completed. She supports Malekith's rule, but has not quite accepted it herself, and is liable to rebel against him in small ways. Malekith tolerates these rebellions, so long as the tithes from mineral-rich Ghrond are generous in scope.[24]
According to the Keeper of Secrets N'Kari, Morathi was one of its many conquests and the Daemon even insinuated that he, not Aenarion, was the sire of Malekith. However, it is possible the Keeper of Secrets only said as much to get a rise from the Witch King and insult his mother.[25]
Before the final invasion of Ulthuan, the Archmage Caledor Dragontamer visits her in her dreams and promises her doom and destruction at his hands.[26]
The End Times[]
| “ | Are you out there now, old ghost? Can you see me? Do you understand what I do and do you shiver at the thought? For millenia you have woven and re-woven your ancient fraying spell, and for millenia I have tried to unravel it. The day is fast approaching when I will succeed and this world will be changed forever. | „ |
| ~ Morathi, as she muses on Caledor Dragontamer[27] |
| “ | Your race is run child. Meet your end with the dignity of your heritage. | „ |
| ~ Caledor, chiding Morathi as she struggles in his grip. |
Morathi accompanies Malekith on his final crusade against Ulthuan as the Warhammer World ends. However, upon seeing Tyrion, who both strongly resembled her late love Aenarion and had even picked up the Sword of Khaine as he had, she grows obsessed with the new Bearer of the Destroyer. She visits his tent in the form of Drusala, dropping the glamour and secuding Tyrion with her beauty and her wiles.
During Ulthuan's final hours, Morathi intentionally weakens the Great Vortex after she witnesses her son and new lover both fall upon the field of battle, intending to deliver the Elven Kingdom and every soul upon it to the belly of the Dark Prince, Slaanesh. However, Teclis is able to dispel the Vortex and thus close the rift. Before he is ejected from the mortal Realm, the angered Slaanesh manages to grab Morathi and Caledor, pulling in the two elves to consume them. Morathi screams as Slaanesh's claw closes around them both.[28]
However, Morathi is ever difficult to control or contain, and she manages to escape the Dark Princes gullet, falling instead in the umbralic sea of the Realm of Ulgu.
Age of Sigmar[]
Morathi-Khaine[]
| “ | Proclaiming herself Khaine reborn, the goddess Morathi bestrides the realms, summoning snaking tendrils of shadow magic to tear apart her enemies. She is a master of manipulation and deception, endlessly cunning and depthlessly cruel. | „ |
| ~ Morathi's Warscroll[29] |
After the death of the world, Morathi was one of the very few elves who avoided consumption by Slaanesh. She would later go on to usurp the worship of the Murder God Khaine, naming herself his High Oracle.[30]
The Goddess Morathi and her followers.
While Tyrion, Teclis, and Malekith had all achieved Godhood after the death of the Warhammer World, Morathi had not. Furthermore, Slaanesh continued to be the ancient nemesis of the entire race of elves, promptly the newly-made Elven Gods to take steps to see him bound for good. They managed to trap Slaanesh in a prison between Ulgu and Hysh, but Morathi was not convinced of the integrity of this prison. The Hag Sorceress had dealt with Slaaneshi for many centuries, but the elven gods dismissed her concerns. Still, while Slaanesh was imprisoned, Morathi made a bid for her own Godhood. Using a ritual, she formed a link between the material realm and Slaanesh's soul-engorged gut, travelling inside the body of the Prince of Pleasure to consume the King-Souls he had feasted on in the previous world. However, one of the souls, implied to be the first Pheonix King Aenarion, causes her to hesitate and this hesitance causes the ritual to go awry.[31]
Morathi emerges as Morathi-Khaine, taking her own godhood from the body of the Perfect Prince, but she inadvertently creates the twins Synessa and Dexcessa.
Gallery[]
[]
References[]
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Maliketh (Time of Legends)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Sword of Caledor (William King)
- ↑ Dark Pact: Morathi Allies With Slaanesh (Storm of Chaos)
- ↑ Dark Pact: Morathi Allies With Slaanesh (Storm of Chaos)
- ↑ Total War: Warhammer II (PC Game)
- ↑ Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (4th Edition)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Sword of Caledor (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer: Invasion TCG (Morathi)
- ↑ Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves (8th Edition)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Sword of Caledor (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Maliketh (Time of Legends)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Sword of Caledor (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Bane of Malekith (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (8th Edition)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Sword of Caledor (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Bane of Malekith (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Blood of Aenarion (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (8th Edition)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Blood of Aenarion (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (8th Edition)
- ↑ Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (8th Edition)
- ↑ Dark Pact: Morathi Allies With Slaanesh (Storm of Chaos)
- ↑ Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (8th Edition)
- ↑ Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves (8th Edition)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Bane of Malekith (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Bane of Malekith (William King)
- ↑ Warhammer Fantasy: Sword of Caledor (William King)
- ↑ The End Times: Khaine (Warhammer Fantasy)
- ↑ Age Of Sigmar: Morathi Unleashed
- ↑ 6 times Morathi Upstaged The Gods Themselves (Warhammer Community)
- ↑ Broken Realms: Morathi (Age of Sigmar)