| “ | As balangua, Ehlnada racuvar!
(By my power, the mortal gods shall be cast down!) |
„ |
| ~ Umaril the Unfeathered |
Umaril, also known as Umaril the Unfeathered, is the main antagonist and final boss fight of the Knights of the Nine DLC for the 2006 action role-playing high fantasy video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Umaril was a king of the Ayleids - a now dead race of elves that ruled the land known as Cyrodiil, the current seat of power and the homeland of the Imperials. The Imperial City was literally built on the ruins of the Ayleid Empire and Umaril was the last great king of said empire to keep the races of humans down. Though he was slain in ages past, during the events of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion he will return from the dead - reborn and on the single-minded quest to exterminate the races of men, starting with the temples to their gods. Umaril is uninvolved with the plots of the main-game and has virtually nothing to do with Mehrunes Dagon, but rather his rebirth happened to occur at the same time as Dagon's plot and so he poses a threat to civilized society even as portals to the hell-like Oblivion are opening up across the land.
He is voiced by actor, Wes Johnson, who voices most Imperial male characters in the game, as well as the Daedric Princes Malacath, Sheogorath, and Jyggalag.
History[]
First Era (Living Rule)[]
Umaril was said to be the son of an Ayleid mother and a divine father, no contradiction has been offered to this claim, though said father has not been identified. His demi-god station afforded him increased physical traits and a connection to the spiritual world. Umaril became a devout supplicant to the Daedric Prince Meridia - Prince of Light and Spirit. Ayleids had enslaved the races of men, seeing them as an inferior species, though one that could follow orders. The human races used as slaves were either the Atmorans (of the north, hardy and strong but defiant), the Redguards (from the Western continent of Hammerfell and across the sea before that, rarer in the main-land but still seen as acceptable slaves), and the Nedes (a now extinct race of humans, most common of Cyrodiilic mainland). Like the rest of Ayleid society, he owned slaves, but even among Ayleids, he was cruel, sadistic and abusive to his slaves. The Ayleids began a breeding program with the Nedes; While they had started this before Umaril's birth, seeing their lord's half-divine abilities accelerated the program tremendously. It is unknown if Umaril had a direct hand in the program, but based on his birth and attitude towards humans, it is very likely he was at-least in support of it, if not a main proponent. Normally in Tamriel, while inter-racial children can have traits of both parents, they firmly are always of the specific race of their mother; The Ayleids sought to defy this, with a generation spanning breeding method. The Ayleids would breed-with (rape) their Nede slaves, then "breed with" the children, and the children's children, and so on - until the Ayleids had an entire slave-race of half-elves. Umaril was no different in this regard and his personal slaves were all part of the program.
Eventually one of the slaves, a Nedic woman named Alessia arose. Alessia was a slave whose prayers for freedom were eventually answered. Upon being freed she fled to a city known as Sancre Tor. She received three visions there and believed she was a prophet of the gods, and that it was her purpose to both spread a pantheon among the other Imperial slaves, and to lead her people to freedom against Umaril. Alessia built up Sancre Tor's population with escaped-slaves - and among them taught of a merger between the tribal totems of Skyrim to the north and the Elven Aedra - these entities began being referred to as "The Eight Divines" and as a cultural mesh of primitive human and primordial elf, were widely accepted as the true state of divinity among the races of men. The humans and other elves were in agreement that the Ayleid gods "the Daedric Princes" were not gods (just very powerful spirits) only fueled the faith, as the Imperials were glad to see their enslavers as literally godless savages. Alessia built up her army for years, but waited for a sign from the Divines to strike Umaril, one day a knight named Pelinal Whitestrake wandered into Sancre Tor to rest, his armor covered from head-to-toe in the blood of Ayleids, as he was looking for both holy purpose and a chance to kill as many elves as he possibly could - Alessia took Pelinal's arrival as her sign. With Pelinal Whitestrake leading the charge and Alessia supplying the Imperial army and outfitting it with arms and armor there was a massive slave rebellions - the leaders of this rebellions being the Knights of the Eight, for under Alessia they had found holy purpose.
Umaril at first tried to put down the rebellion with one of his battalions but had underestimated the shear number of slaves and they were slaughtered. As Umaril sent more substantial forces to crush Pelinal and Alessia, he prayed to his patron - Meridia. Umaril offered his soul to Meridia, that he might be as one with her upon his death, Meridia accepted the tribute and Umaril was assured rebirth if slain and immunity to the wrath of the gods of the slaves. By the time Pelinal reached Umaril, he was going by the title "The Unfeathered", for he was Meridia's only holy arbiter without wings, and with him an army of Aurorans - Meridia's golden soldiers. Umaril's Aurorans cut Pelinal down, nearly to death, but Umaril stayed them as he came to finish him off. Despite his weakened state, Pelinal slew Umaril in battle, though the members of his court killed Pelinal in return (cutting him into eight pieces in mockery of his gods). Before he died, Umaril proclaimed Meridia would see him return. Umaril's Aurorans vanished as he died, and his court were swiftly captured by the Imperials, though Alessia offered mercy for those willing to renounce their superiority to the races of humans, none agreed and were all killed. Upon freeing Umaril's personal slaves, Alessia and her followers were baffled to see that the Alyeids had actually done what they set-out-to-do, and they were a new breed of humans, a mixed species race called "Man-Mer"; The slaves rejected any tie to elven ancestry and refused to be classified as mer, they would colloquially become known as "Bretons" - appearing human but with a natural resistance to magic and grasping the basics of magic easily. Through mixed breeding, and according to Alessia 'the blessing of the Divines' the Nedes eventually became the Imperials. Because of his tie to both the origins of the Imperial and Breton races, Umaril was talked of with scorn, mockery, and hatred for generations to come in the newly awakened human societies.
Third Era (rebirth)[]
In the late third era, 433 T.E., Umaril returned, suddenly and with a vengeance. It had taken many centuries for his spirit to accrue enough power to re-manifest a body, but upon his physical return to Tamriel his mind was focused on overthrowing the empire of men, starting with their sponsors, The Divines. His first attack was on the temple in the county of Anvil, the priests an parishioners inside, slaughtered by Aurorans. The Aurorans vanished as soon as the last of the occupants was dead and went to re-group for the next attack. A prophet of the Nine Divines was warning the citizens of Anvil of Umaril the Unfeathered's return. Eventually he caught the attention of The Hero of Kvatch - a prisoner who had escaped, with the help of the late emperor Uriel Septim VII, before his assassination, and had gone to the city of Kvatch to save their late savior's heir from an invasion from the realms of Oblivion. In Anvil though, the Hero of Kvatch hears word of the tragedy at the Temple and that Umaril is returning, and this temple is but the first of the Nine county temples to be destroyed, that once all the temples to the Divines are gone, Umaril The Unfeathered will surely take-back all of Cyrodiil, with their gods cut-off from them. The Prophet makes note that while this might seem like a proclamation on Umaril's part to prioritize the Divines before invading the Empire, there is more to it. For Meridia had made him immune to being slain by the forces of the Divines, but that in the eras since his death and rebirth, there had ascended a new god, establisher of the current royal-bloodline Tiber-Septim/Talos - the "Ninth Divine". The Prophet notes that though Talos is the key to exploiting a loop-hole in Meridia's blessing on Umaril, that blessing could only be undone with more than "Eight Divines" and so to slay Umaril the Hero of Kvatch needs to reform Pelinal's order, this time not as "The Knights of the Eight", but as "The Knights of the Nine". The Hero of Kvatch takes up the new title in the order as "The Divine Crusader" and goes on a pilgrimage to each of the way-shrines of the Divines - unmarked sites in the wilderness. Upon completing the pilgrimage, the Divine Crusader is given a vision from Pelinal Whitestrake who reveals the location of his signet ring, and a monastery used by his order. Taking the ring and using it on a decal of the Nine, reveals a secret passage to a tomb of the last of the order, their ghosts, brought forth by Talos to give council in slaying Umaril the Unfeathered. The Knights of the Nine had and either lost or were slain with relics of the Nine-Divines, that retrieving all of them will represent the power of each Divine and with the entire set of holy arms an armor, as long as the Crusader stays divorced from sinning, Umaril can be slain, body and soul.
Umaril sends his Aurorans to destroy three more temples before the relics are all gathered (at least one can be saved), but once all are gathered The Divine Crusader has built up a following in the religious community and can have up to Eight followers, with the Crusader as the Ninth of the Knights. Upon the gathering of the relics the Prophet returns on behalf of the Divines to reveal a vision of Umaril's location - the now forgotten but mostly intact ruins of Garlas Malatar. Charging into Garlas Malatar and dealing with the Aurorans, Umaril the Unfeathered is reached at the center. Though the Divine Crusader must go on alone to battle Umaril the Unfeathered as the other Eight Knights hold off the Aurorans. Though hardy, super-strong and passively reflecting magic, Umaril will be slain by the Divine Crusader, as did Pelinal before him. With a prayer to Talos, the Crusader is transported to the spiritual realm to slay Umaril's spirit so it may never return, and a new battle is fought in the skies above Tamriel, when the battle is over and Umaril is slain, the Crusader seemingly falls to the ground, but awakens in the tomb of the Knights of The Nine. They reveal that the Crusader had actually died upon besting Umaril and was taken to the tomb to be interred as a holy-hero, but that he has just spontaneously sprung back to life. The Knights claim awe for witnessing the miracle of the Divines bringing someone entirely back from the dead, before departing themselves to return to their previous afterlives, though this time redeemed from their various failures to protect the relics. Leaving the tomb of the Knights of the Nine is proof to the living members of the order, and all Tamriel that the power of the Divines is more than just theory, but demonstrably real and that with the Nine working through their Divine Crusader Umaril the Unfeathered had been permanently slain.
Aftermath[]
Oddly enough though the events of the Knights of the Nine were objectively documented and spread to all Tamriel as a recognizable fact, complete with Umaril the Unfeathered's second death, the elven supremacist group - The Thalmor, still contest that there cannot be "Nine Divines", that because he was human, Talos is a "heretical false god". However the Thalmor offer no alternative explanation to how Umaril was beaten despite historically recognizing his resurrection. As some of the Knights of the Nine were elves, at least one was a high elf like them, the Thalmor cannot even claim the return of Umaril the Unfeathered as Imperial propaganda, and each culture has eye-witnesses to the event. By Thalmor logic Umaril the Unfeathered should still be alive and walking around, the absurdity of which is likely why they never draw attention to the events of his return.
Notes[]
- Though Meridia is his divine sponsor, the Daedric Prince spends no time defending, validating or speaking of Umaril - likely due to him being little more than an obligation to her, and she makes no attempts to save him once a Ninth Divine is involved in breaking past her blessing of immortality.
- Umaril the Unfeathered appears as a card in the Elder Scrolls Legends card-game. When slain he returns but unable to act for a time.
- Umaril is unseen during the events of Elder Scrolls Online, but mentioned briefly by one Ayleid in a letter, who witnessed his death; Said Ayleid is bringing one of the eight pieces of Pelinal back as an effigy after seeing him slay Umaril.
