I'm unsure if anyone has ever made a thread like this which brings so many theories up at once.

1. I see this as plausible. He was already alive when Nerevar died and belonged to a known house, so he wouldn't have been eligible to be the Nerevarine who would contract the blight but later be unaffected by it. I also know of no mention where Divayth contracts any sicknesses.
2. If 1 is plausible, then 2 is also plausible. Divayth does not want fame, or glory, or followers, or anything other than knowledge and to experiment with it. His intentions have been described as murky by at least 1 member of the Psijic Order and it's difficult to know what he truly wants. I personally think he presents himself as a protector of secrets, and that he conducts himself in a way that implies that he wishes to protect people from those secrets. Even less plausible is the fact that he would make the journey to replenish his immortality at the heart each year like the Tribunal had to- he would likely see that as a nonsensical journey and port right to it, or have something in place to grant him the immortality.
3. it is known that he was a practitioner of Flesh Magic and would eventually go on to create clones of himself, each of which are female and are referred to as daughters. It is not known (at least, by me) if he actually makes exact versions from himself or what he does with those clones. There's also a mention of him using cloning chambers. Using logic from science in our own world and the experiment with Dolly, he would likely be limited to cloning himself a limited number of times before succumbing to random mutations or symptoms of elderly related illnesses as stem cell telomeres are shorter in the elderly and in the cloned. However, this is a world with magic and it's difficult to say if this is even a factor.
4. Divayth is a strong independent dark elf who don't need no house, yet he is a proud house Telvanni member. I grew suspicious that he might have relatives who he trains as acolytes who give their body to him willingly, as being selected to continue his legacy would be seen as an honor for the house. This is a type of possession that exists in this franchise, but I suspect the mind would have to be wiped or adequately prepared before he hops bodies.
5. As mentioned before, he presents himself as a protector of secrets. He also labels Mephala and Boethia alongside Azura as "good" daedra, at least to the dunmer. Mephala is the Daedric Prince of Secrets- it is said that every spider that exists is her spy. Divayth also knows Mephala's intentions but never shares them. It's quite possible that Mephala sees him as an important person in their plans within plans and may have either granted him secrets to longevity, or made them available to him to make him think he learned the secrets himself.
6. We have seen in the Deadlands that there are areas, such as the Wretched Spire, wherein being there for 1 month can equate to being on Nirn for 1 year or more. Divayth frequents areas outside of Nirn and oftentimes seems to be in a hurry be elsewhere. With time miosis occuring in this manner on nirn, it's possible that the sightings of him which may seem years apart to the world are really hours or minutes apart for him.
7. This seems to be a popular theory. Big magic = big life span. As stated before, he dabbles in flesh magic. Is it possible that he uses magic on himself to live longer be rejuvinating his body? As stated before, conventional "real world" logic would indicate that a process of rapid regeneration would accelerate aging, he would have to know the secrets to reverse aging in order to rejuvinate his body.
8. Here we have then Men and Mer argument. Dunmer life expectancy is assuredly longer than the non-elf races. Include the fact that he was a Chimer and basically did a forced race change due to Azura's curse, there's no data I know of on whether this shortened or lengthened his life expectancy.
9. It is said that he and Sotha Sil were/are close, or as close as one can be to a former classmate-turned-god. Sil himself seems to be without equal but may have considered Divayth a friend. It's also possible that Divayth in his prime died at some point, and with Sotha Sil coming to terms with his ascension while grieving, he manifested a replica of Divayth. This could explain why Divayth seems to operate in the best interests of protecting his race as well as Nirn as a whole, and how he could succomb to aging after Sil's death. I find this theory to be possible, though Sotha Sil would be marked as hypocritical as he has stated ""Life and death. It's all part of the ongoing circle. As long as you remember them, they will never be forgotten" and how the guardians of his city who get injured are made of clockwork, not organic flesh. His philosophy would have had to have changed over time. This theory would in turn either have to imply that Divayth is either clockwork, or that Sotha Sil made this decision to fully restore his friend while in an emotional state.


Personally I'm mostly in favor of #6. On top of Dunmer life expectancy being long, it is true that he frequents daedric planes where time passes differently. We also don't know the full effects of Azura's curse on those who had to transition, who frequent as many planes as Divayth does. I'm uncertain if his longevity has to do with him simply avoiding battle in pursuit of knowledge and visiting far-off planes or if his arcane prowess and some artifact is the credit for his longevity. I also find it plausible that he, at some point, contracted Corprus (or a different version of it) and cured himself of the negative effects without ever telling anyone. I have negative bias against #7 as that is simply too simple of an argument to use without any proper explanation- I do believe there's a trick to his longevity but that it's exploitable, replicatable, or reversible- so it goes against self interest for him to share the secret as it may wound him, and it may have disastrous results if everyone learned the trick and was suddenly able to live for thousands of years.

I also find it odd that he doesn't procreate and instead chooses to make copies of himself (though that may play into his narcissism)- but this supports the sotha sil creating a copy of him argument. I'll backpedal for a second and state that Divayth has stated how daedra "are incapable of creation. They can only imitate, manipulate, and exaggerate." With divine insight and power to match the daedra and put them in their place, like Jyggalag was able to, I don't think that Sil's power surpasses theirs. This can start a whole debate over whether Sil was more powerful than all the daedra, or if he simply leveraged an easily exploitable fact that would expose their weaknesses if they violated the agreement. But if it's true that Divayth died and what exists now is an imitation of Divayth created by either Sotha Sil or another daedric entity, then it would give credit to this theory. Conversely, it can be argued that he is a champion of some aedric entity. Truth is, his death isn't mentioned anywhere and this theory is just that, a theory- one that is conditional that he died at some point and had to come back, but there is evidence to suggest that he is an imitation of life rather than having life himself, which makes this possible.

Maybe I missed something, but this character is very elusive and keeps his intentions and secrets to himself much of the time, so he is not above lying to keep his secrets or to save face. I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts on this.

VaranisArano wrote: »

I think he's just that good.

Though the Psijic Order explicitly connects long lifespan to magic. As Ulliceta gra-Kogg says, she's ""Something like three hundred and fifty years. Give or take a decade. I know what you're thinking. She looks spritely for her age, right? Long life comes with the robes. The Psijics don't think you can learn much of anything in a normal Orc lifetime." And we know she's alive well into the 3rd Era prior to TES Oblivion while Hannibal Traven was playing Mages Guild politics about teaching necromancy.

This loops back around to the man and mer argument, for orcs are Orsimer. For certain races it's true that they have less people using magic, and this can correlate to a lower life expectancy. For orcs, this is especially true- many die proudly in battle or are victim to blood magic, but it may be due to racial bias that the Psijics thought lowly of orc life expectancy. The game seems biased against them as well, as the only well-kept orcs seem to be associated with areas of less conflict (namely, the mage's guild) while they as a race have been represented to have much inter-clan conflict. This explanation seems to amalgamate 7 and 8.