[Spoilers] Did Molag Bal corrupt one of the Shadows of Rajhin?

VerboseQuips · February 2016

Warning: This post contains spoilers about a quest in the Aldmeri Dominion storyline.

I have been quite puzzled by the "A lasting winter" quest in the Aldmeri Dominion.

I always found Rajhin fun and had quite positive feelings about Him, but when I met His shadow in the Falinesti Winter Site, I lost all my sympathy for Him. To cut a long story short, the Shadow tried to force a woman into a sexual intercourse by delving her husband into a perpetual sleep and depriving her of sleep, and then presenting the intercourse as the only remedy to His curse. When she refused, He imprisoned her into an icy crypt guarded by forst trolls. You help her to break out of her jail, only for her to discover that her home, the entire Falinesty has been concealed by the Thief God, and that only way back home is to submit herself to the Shadow of Rajhin. Rajhin's mantle also corrupted Endarë and tricked her into killing her own soldiers.

My feelings towards Rajhin had turned, in half an hour, into "What a cruel monster!" and I found it very bitter that He ultimately triumphed.

Then I noticed something. Nothing in this quest is utterly linked to thievery, nor fitting Rajhin supposed light-hearted humour. Stealing one's heart is supposed to be seduction, but there is no attempt by Rajhin at seducing Nairumë. There is no humourous joke in making one lose her husband. In fact, all of this is rather bound to Molag Bal's sphere of influence. An attempt of *** (there is no other word to describe pressuring and torturing someone into accepting a sexual intercourse), physical (sleep deprivation, cold) and psychological (the sleeping husband can't save her, she can't go home when she finally breaks out) torture, eternal sequestration in an icy jail, brutality (the trolls, the slaughtering of the Jade Dragoons) and stealing a city from Nirn itself. All this completely lies in the Dominion of Molag Bal.

So in my opinion, this quest raises a very obvious question. Did the Prince of Domination corrupt one of the seven Shadows? And if so, is it part of a larger Scheme?

Edit :
I just found this on teslore : https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/32j4pc/mephala_and_falinesti/
When thinking to it, the Shadow's behaviour is also suiting Mephala's sphere of sex, murder, secrets and contradictions.

Daraugh · February 2016

Interesting thoughts! The contradictions hold true, as part of Molag Bal's sphere is *** but Mephala sets it as the centerpiece of this scheme. She takes an aspect of the Trickster God and twists it into something cruel, something that would torture him as much as the woman he is forced to torture. Wow, do Daedric princes ever work together on things? It seems like there's influences of both Mephala and Molag Bal here.

Enodoc · February 2016

Daraugh wrote: »

Wow, do Daedric princes ever work together on things? It seems like there's influences of both Mephala and Molag Bal here.

They do sometimes, I think, but not those two. Pretty sure they hate each other.

Daraugh · February 2016

It would fit with Mephala then, to cast a misdirection and make it point more to Molag Bal than to herself. The fact that we find out that Mephala is at the end of it could show how skillfully she can twist and pervert not only one of Rahjin's Shadows but but our perceptions. Since Mephala is one of the upcoming dlc subjects, maybe we get to rescue the Shadow of Rahjin, that would be awesome!