Why does everyone hate Peryite?

WhiteCoatSyndrome · October 2017

We got a few hints from Fa-Nuit-Hen, but nothing concrete:

Trying to keep ahead of it all keeps Peryite mighty busy, but nobody's really sorry for him—after all, he earned it."

What makes a Prince a Prince? A broad and well-defined sphere of influence that enables clarity of purpose and focused expression of will. My sphere of influence is well-defined but not particularly broad, so I am a mere demiprince—an entity of power and consequence far outstripping that of any mortal, but trivial compared to the Greater Princes. I have ambitions, of course, like every Ada, but I keep them within my sphere, lest I suffer the same fate as you-know-who.

Lyranth seems to show some contempt for him as well, but gives no reason why. As far as we know he's the weakest of the Daedric Princes so it's unlikely to be due to any particular threat his level of power poses. So what did he do to anger the rest of Oblivion?

starkerealm · October 2017

Well, Peryite's domain is tasks and chores. Maybe he's the one who keeps leaving post-its on the break room fridge admonishing Mehrunes Dagon for not cleaning up the coffee pots he's broken, and Namira for eating every ham sandwich left in the fridge for more than fifteen minutes.

KeiruNicrom · October 2017

I believe those quotes you gave give a large part of the answers you seek.

My sphere of influence is well-defined but not particularly broad

Power to daedra is based on the level of control and broadness of their "spheres". Whether this is to Daedric political power or literal strength/energy remains a question.

I have ambitions, of course, like every Ada, but I keep them within my sphere, lest I suffer the same fate as you-know-who

If we assume the you-know-who is Peryite (no not Tom Riddle), then this is hinting that he tried controlling things beyond his sphere. Perhaps he tried to take control of another princes sphere, or took in too many "minor spheres" and spread his power too thin. This would be a decent reason why he is referred to as "The Taskmaster". It would take considerable time and power to look after all his spheres and realms, leaving him little time to deal with other princes, and for this they look down on him. The other Princes could also be jealous of how many spheres/realms he has taken for himself and hate him for this reason

Following this logic the reasoning why he is considered the weakest even though he has more spheres and realms is because he does not have the proper control over them due to spreading his attention/power too thin amongst them. Imagine having a finite amount of building material, you get more of the material for each piece of land you own but the land pieces are irregularly shaped and the material you get per piece is lesser or greater based on the size of the land. Peryite owning much land would try to use the material evenly amongst his land creating one very wide but very short city, meanwhile Boethiah would have one large piece of land and build a very tall city with a smaller area. Boethiah would be considered more prestigious and powerful, but Peryite controls more which would make Boethiah angry.

Tyrobag · October 2017

I have ambitions, of course, like every Ada, but I keep them within my sphere, lest I suffer the same fate as you-know-who.

KeiruNicrom wrote: »

If we assume the you-know-who is Peryite (no not Tom Riddle),

Actually, Its more likely that "you-know-who" is Jyggalag, as we know that is the exact reason why he was cursed to become Sheogorath.

casparian · October 2017

You might be interested in this.

WhiteCoatSyndrome · October 2017

Tyrobag wrote: »

Actually, Its more likely that "you-know-who" is Jyggalag, as we know that is the exact reason why he was cursed to become Sheogorath.

That's actually very unlikely, as Fa-Nuit-Hen doesn't mention Jyggalag once by name in the entire QA. He'd be referring back to someone he never referenced in the first place.

TelvanniWizard · October 2017

Peryte smells.

Tyrobag · October 2017

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Tyrobag wrote: »

Actually, Its more likely that "you-know-who" is Jyggalag, as we know that is the exact reason why he was cursed to become Sheogorath.

That's actually very unlikely, as Fa-Nuit-Hen doesn't mention Jyggalag once by name in the entire QA. He'd be referring back to someone he never referenced in the first place.

"You-Know-Who" is an avoidance of a name, It implies that one should know who they are talking about without it being said. If he had already used the name, it would have been pointless. As far as we know Jyggalag is the only Daedric Price that was punished for gaining too much power, and we do know that, meaning that we do indeed know who.

Not that any of it really matters that much, since its just a forum QA and not in any game its non-canon. So no new information can be taken from it.

WhiteCoatSyndrome · October 2017

Tyrobag wrote: »

"You-Know-Who" is an avoidance of a name, It implies that one should know who they are talking about without it being said.

Except that in order to know who, he would have had to make some previous reference because otherwise the reader does not, in fact, know. He never did reference the Daedric Prince of Order previously, so Jyggalag is out.

Tyrobag · October 2017

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Tyrobag wrote: »

"You-Know-Who" is an avoidance of a name, It implies that one should know who they are talking about without it being said.

Except that in order to know who, he would have had to make some previous reference because otherwise the reader does not, in fact, know. He never did reference the Daedric Prince of Order previously, so Jyggalag is out.

You completely ignored what I just said. Calling someone "You-Know-Who" only makes sense if their actual name has NOT already come up, otherwise why the heck did you just suddenly decide you didn't want to say it?

Jyggalag is the only one that makes sense, as among the Daedra (and the players) it is common knowledge.

Per your own reference: in Harry Potter they never said "First Voldimort Killed James. Next You-Know-Who killed Lilly." It would be confusing and sounds like a separate person, because its supposed to be used to refer to someone who should be known without being directly mentioned."You-Know-Who" is used to avoid saying a name, its not used simply as a pronoun.

WhiteCoatSyndrome · October 2017

Tyrobag wrote: »

You completely ignored what I just said. Calling someone "You-Know-Who" only makes sense if their actual name has NOT already come up, otherwise why the heck did you just suddenly decide you didn't want to say it?

That's because you're speaking nonsense. That only works if both parties already know who is being referred to, and Jyggalag is very obscure as Daedric Princes go. Fa-Nuit-Hen is likely to be in on that bit of knowledge, but the reader? Jyggalag only featured prominently in one expansion in Oblivion; in ESO he gets...I think a grand total of a single mention in one lorebook. No distinct quests in Skyrim, Morrowind, or ESO, and his appearance in ESIV wasn't that recent.

And yes, 'you know who' is sufficiently vague as to require at least one direct reference beforehand. There are a lot of potential 'you know whos' out there. For example, Fa-Nuit-Hen could just as easily been referring to Mannimarco, but it makes no conversational sense to refer so obliquely to someone who hadn't even come up in the conversation beforehand. Peryite came up once, was established as someone Fa-Nuit-Hen doesn't care for, and it is perfectly reasonable for FNH to refer to him indirectly after that point as a way of snubbing him.

Also, by your own words, Jyggalag was cursed for becoming too powerful, not for going outside his sphere of influence.