Vaermina's Nightmares

Jusey1 · August 2017

Okay, honestly this isn't much of a normal discussion or theorizing of lore, but rather just something funny I wanna share. Long time ago when I had the original Skyrim on my PC and before I even had a chance to get and play ESO... I made a fun little mod with the main idea of it being connected with Vaermina, the Daedric Prince of Dreams, Nightmares, etc... And I wanted to give the place some sort of unique enemy to it, something that could possibly look like Daedra of Vaermina and can be done with what I have in the Skyrim engine... Ended up using the black ghostly skeletons that you fight in a Daedric Quest for Meridia to do such that and just called them "Nightmares", or well... Nightmare RANK (Nightmare Archer, Nightmare Knight, etc. You get the idea). Gave them their own nonplayable gear and everything, and boom. Had me a main enemy type for the mod.

Thing is, I wasn't sure on how lore-friendly this could potentially be. For all I know, what I did is completely wrong and Vaermina's Daedra are something far far more crazier than just ghostly skeletons that can change shape into a mortal's worst fear... But, the other night I did a quest in ESO in The Rift. A quest related to Vaermina and about her "demons" as the citizens put it... Vaermina's nightmares for the citizens being well...

It made me laugh. I took a shot in the dark a long time ago and just finding out now that it is technically lore friendly or potentially anyways. This is ESO after-all and this game isn't necessary lore friendly in a lot of it's own way, after-all. Still, it made me laugh and thought I could share a funny lore realization moment with other people in the community.

Tyrobag · August 2017

Actually, you are correct. Although we know very little of the specifics of the Daedra that inhabit Quagmire, they almost certainly possess the ability to shapeshift (or disguise themselves with illusion) into various forms that terrify mortals. This due to the nature of Quagmire itself, "It is a realm of horrors, where reality shifts upon itself in seemingly impossible ways. Every few minutes, lightning flashes and the realm morphs into a terrifying scene, each one more frightening than the last." This shift in reality as lightning strikes would also require the denizens of Quagmire to change with it. The forms seen above are likely the forms they took for this particular assault. It could be their true forms, but its unlikely. Who knows, perhaps these Daedra simply have no form until somebody looks at them?

Jusey1 · August 2017

Tyrobag wrote: »

Who knows, perhaps these Daedra simply have no form until somebody looks at them?

That is actually my idea, or theory, for Vaermina's daedra. They are "shadows" which can take the form of well anything if it is necessary. I considered their skeleton form to be more of a their combatic form. The one which they use if there are no fears to really use. This is mostly because the human skeleton is probably the best skeleton you can have for maximum combat ability.

If the target has no known fears, then the target will have to fight these skeletons version of them. Which is the case for the player. The game cannot read the player's fear or the player's character's fear because it is completely in our heads, nowhere in the game's data. So, to use, Vaermina's daedra will just take the form of these skeletons and fight us directly rather than taking the form of some sort of nightmare or fear.