Are unicorns daedra?

Danikat

Bit of a random question, but it's something I've been wondering about. We know that unicorns are native to Hircine's realm of the Hunting Grounds and only appear in Tamriel when he brings them here to hunt in new terrain. But does that mean they're a kind of daedra? Or does it mean there are creatures other than daedra which are native to Oblivion?

On a related note are there any other examples of seemingly non-daedric creatures native to Oblivion?

Saturnana

One is mentioned in the lore book King Edward, depicting the unicorn on Nirn instead of in a daedric realm. This - alongside the fact that in the book, Edward himself is more surprised with seeing a unicorn than seeing a golden dragon - leads me to believe that they're not daedra. If unicorns were daedra, Hircine's realm would probably be overflowing with them (or at least we'd be seeing waaaay more of them than just one single example over the course of all TES games.

EDIT:
With a bit of googling, I also found the lore book The Light and the Dark, which states: ""Destruction of a fire daedra strengthens the Light and weakens the Dark just a little. In the same manner, destruction of a unicorn strengthens the Dark."
^ This seems to suggest that unicorns are not daedra. Otherwise, destroying one would strengthen the light and not the dark.

EDIT 2:
Yes, it seems entirely possible for non-daedric creatures to be native to an oblivion realm. Sheogorath's Shivering Isles has Gnarls, Elytras and Baliwogs not found anywhere else, though one could question whether these Oblivion DLC creatures create a precedent for unicorns.

Danikat

Thanks for that, it's interesting information.

I wonder if there's a clear distinction between daedra and non-daedric creatures from Oblivion. If I remember correctly daedra cannot permanently die, they always reform sooner or later. Presumably that's not the case with the non-daedric ones. Or maybe it is...maybe there's only 1 unicorn which is repeatedly killed by Hircine or his followers and then re-forms to be hunted again. (That would explain why it was so angry about any sign of violence in Oblivion.)

Nestor

Daedra are Ammoral, so the usual rules do not apply. That being said, there are Daedra that lean more to the mer view of good or light and those that lean towards the bad or dark view. Azura and Meridia can be quite ruthless if they feel the need to, where even Sheogorath is not always evil.

I am not sure if unicorns exist in daedric plane in the same way as other deadric creatures do. Perhaps their effect on the world is the same as any other object of beauty, the loss makes the world less appealing, rather than more evil in a direct manner. But, the impact of their loss can open the way for more evil through the apathy of despair.

ghastley

My take on unicorns is that they are normal horses, raised in special circumstances - i.e. under the sustained influence of a virgin. That makes them rare, of course, and they revert (permanently) if separated from the virgin for too long, or if anything "happens" to her.

I implemented that as part of a mod for TES IV: Oblivion. The Unicorn that was the target of Hircine's quest got a rider.

Danikat

ghastley wrote: »

My take on unicorns is that they are normal horses, raised in special circumstances - i.e. under the sustained influence of a virgin. That makes them rare, of course, and they revert (permanently) if separated from the virgin for too long, or if anything "happens" to her.

I implemented that as part of a mod for TES IV: Oblivion. The Unicorn that was the target of Hircine's quest got a rider.

That's a really cool theory and it's great that you made it a mod, but I'm specifically asking about TES lore, not fan additions or traditional ideas of unicorns in general mythology. As far as I know there's no mention of an association between unicorns and virgins in TES. The book King Edward mentions that the title character believes a unicorn would not carry a person who is evil, but even that's contradicted later on.

Bruccius

I would presume they are Aedric in origins.

Reason being that in TES IV's quest, the Unicorn is defended by minotaurs of the grove; surely Kynareth is trying to protect this being from harm? Why would Kynareth care for a Daedra?

Tucker3711

Unicorns are evil. Period.